I Died and Became a Chapter 449 449: Onward

Rhys t the charge with Wind Step, dodging under the first swipe, around the second, then inside the creature's guard, where its size beca a disadvantage.

The yeti tried to grab him, to use its superior strength to crush him, but Rhys was too fast now. He danced around the creature's attempts at grappling, his daggers finding vital points with precision that would have seed impossible fifty days ago.

Finally, the yeti's movents slowed as accumulated damage caught up with it. Rhys didn't give it a chance to recover. One final thrust through the creature's throat, lightning discharging directly into its brain, and the yeti collapsed.

The steam was beginning to clear, revealing the remaining enemies.

'Stamina check,' Slyph said worriedly. 'You're at about sixty percent. The Contractee state is draining you faster than normal.'

Rhys could feel it too.

The green tattoos covering his body were pulsing more slowly now, Slyph's power still flowing through him but at a diminished rate as his stamina depleted.

He needed to end this fight soon, before exhaustion beca a bigger threat than the enemies themselves.

The ice demons attacked first, both casting simultaneously.

This ti their spell was different. Instead of direct blasts, they created walls of ice that rose from the floor, trying to trap Rhys in a confined space where the buffalo could charge him without room to dodge.

It was clever.

But Rhys had trained against similar tactics with Pho, who'd created far more complex trap scenarios using his ice magic.

Instead of trying to escape the ice walls, Rhys embraced them.

He activated Wind Step and ran directly at the nearest wall, then used his enhanced wind magic to carry him up and over it in a leap that would have been impossible without Slyph's boost.

He ca down on the other side directly in front of one of the ice demons.

The demon tried to defend itself, creating a shield of frozen magic that would have stopped regular attacks. But Tempest's Edge wasn't standard, and Rhys's lightning magic was enhanced by both his equipnt and Slyph's power.

His daggers punched through the ice shield like it was paper, and the lightning that followed destroyed the demon's core in a single devastating discharge.

The second demon reacted by creating distance, clearly recognizing that close combat with Rhys was suicide.

It began casting what looked like a more powerful spell.

Rhys didn't give it ti to complete the casting.

"Wind Blade!" he called, extending one dagger forward as he channeled wind magic into a compressed cutting edge that flew through the air at incredible speed.

The wind blade struck the demon mid-cast, interrupting the spell and causing a backlash explosion of ice magic that damaged the demon's own body.

The creature staggered, its concentration broken, magical feedback causing visible cracks in its icy form.

Rhys closed the distance with Wind Step, his daggers finishing what the wind blade had started. Lightning discharged into the demon's damaged core, and the creature shattered into fragnts.

That left three ice buffalo, and they were already charging.

Three massive creatures, each weighing a ton, their horns glowing with frozen magic, moving with enough force to shatter stone.

Rhys had three seconds before impact.

Not enough ti to dodge all three.

He needed sothing different. Sothing he'd only practiced in training, never used in real combat.

'Slyph,' Rhys thought through their connection. 'Maximum wind boost. Channel everything you have into my next spell.'

'That'll drain you completely,' Slyph warned. 'You'll drop out of Contractee state imdiately after.'

'I know. Do it anyway.'

He felt Slyph's power surge, the green tattoos covering his body flaring brilliantly as she channeled every bit of enhancent she could provide. His wind magic responded, swelling to levels that made the air around him ripple visibly.

Rhys thrust both daggers forward and scread the technique na with every bit of will he possessed:

"TEMPEST'S FURY!"

It was a technique from the Advanced Elental Fusion manual that Death had sold him. A combination of wind, water, and lightning that created a localized storm powerful enough to devastate everything in a targeted area.

Wind erupted from Rhys's position in an explosive burst that filled the entire entry hall.

The gale-force currents carried water vapor that condensed into rain, and through that rain, lightning struck in dozens of simultaneous bolts.

The three charging buffalo were caught in the technique's area of effect before they could react. Lightning struck them repeatedly; the water enhanced conductivity, and the wind prevented escape.

Their frozen magic offered no protection against the electricity that ca from every direction at once.

All three buffalo collapsed simultaneously, their bodies smoking from electrical burns, their magical cores destroyed by the overwhelming assault.

Then the technique ended, and Rhys collapsed to one knee as exhaustion crashed over him.

The green tattoos covering his body faded completely, Slyph's power withdrawing as he dropped out of Contractee state.

'Told you it would drain you,' Slyph said, though her voice carried satisfaction alongside the scolding. 'But that was beautiful.'

Rhys was breathing hard, his stamina depleted by twenty percent, his mana reserves even lower.

The entry hall was destroyed.

Scorch marks covered the walls, the ice floor was cracked and lting, and the bodies of defeated enemies were scattered everywhere.

But he'd won. Against twenty Dread-rank enemies, he'd erged victorious.

"Not bad," Pho's voice ca from the shattered gate, and Rhys looked up to see the Deathfrost Demon standing there with his arms crossed. "Though your stamina managent remains terrible. Using Tempest's Fury when you were already at sixty percent stamina was strategically questionable."

"It worked," Rhys said defensively.

"This ti," Pho acknowledged. "But what if there had been reinforcents? What if the Drake had been in this room instead of deeper in the fortress? You'd be too exhausted to fight effectively, and you'd die because you wasted resources on a flashy technique when more efficient thods existed."

The criticism stung because it was accurate. Rhys could have used water prisons on individual buffalo, picked them off one at a ti, and conserved his stamina for whatever ca next.

But he'd panicked slightly when facing three simultaneous charges, and defaulted to overwhelming force instead of tactical precision.

"However," Pho continued, his blank white eyes sohow conveying approval despite his harsh words, "you adapted to changing circumstances, used your abilities creatively, and survived against superior numbers. That's acceptable progress for soone with only fifty days of real training."

Coming from Pho, that was practically a glowing endorsent.

Rhys forced himself to stand despite his exhaustion, his hands still gripping Tempest's Edge even though his arms were shaking slightly. "How long until I can fight again?"

"Depends on your recovery rate," Pho replied. "With your current stamina and mana levels, I'd recomnd at least thirty minutes of rest before engaging more enemies. Longer if you want to be at optimal capability."

Rhys looked deeper into the fortress, where corridors led further into the structure. Sowhere in there, the Ice Drake waited.

"We don't have thirty minutes," Rhys said quietly. "If I rest here, more enemies might gather. Or the Drake might co to investigate the noise. Better to push forward while I still can."

'Rhys, that's crazy,' Slyph protested. 'You're exhausted. Your mana is barely above empty. One more serious fight and you'll...'

"I'll figure it out." Rhys interrupted gently.

He started walking toward the nearest corridor, his steps steady despite his exhaustion. Behind him, he heard Pho make a sound.