I looked at the opposition. One group broke out of their [Lightning cage] and tried to break out the other. The reinforcements had 5 more elder like individuals, 3 that could be a threat while the rest was cannon fodder.


    I identified 1 elder, 1 potential threat, and 3 cannon fodder that could interfere with teleports and took note of them. I could easily assassinate the cannon fodder, but not sure about the others. I could kill them simultaneously and attempt to do as much damage as possible in the confusion to the potential threat individual.


    Hmm, this sucks. What would Greg do in this situation? Probably not attempt it.


    I’m not getting anywhere with that…. Maybe I need to think outside the box. How do I do that? It''s easier said than done.


    Mana levels decent, stamina decent, physical health, perfect. Giana is overpowered. Since physical health has the highest value, I should try something that pulls the most out of this. How about some sort of counter that deals damage based on how much damage I''ve taken this battle? Let''s see, what magic have I stolen that I could use here?


    Access to my archive was limited while I had no tails out, but it came up with [Blood counter], I found the magic circle of it, but I wasn''t sure if I could cast this, so I would have to draw the circle.


    Let’s think, did I take that much damage? It wasn’t a lot, but at least it will hurt. I could mess with some runes to amplify the percentage it throws back. 100% is a bit lame. I''ll try for 250%!


    The more I thought about this idea, the more I thought that it''s better if the idols don’t join our group, they would rip me apart for attempting something like this.


    Enough time had passed, so I could receive [Frozen skin] stacks. I first made 3 shadow clones that would draw this magic circle in stealth. I would have to let them draw it on a different spot and lure that group over there.


    Furthermore, I would have one shot with that [Blood Counter] though. If I mess up, I might actually die. I still had 3 layers of illusion on myself, so I could take 5 hits from [Frozen skin] then 3 deaths from the illusion layers and then 7 more actual lives. I needed to cast 5 water skills to gain the [Frozen Skin] stacks, though.


    It was time for triple clones. Their debuts had been quite disappointing because there was a lot of other stuff going on, but they would be able to shine now! I gave myself a [frost Cloak] and laid some [Frost Traps] and voilà! I had 5 layers of [Frozen Skin].


    The stalkers finally broke out of the lightning cage.


    I snuck up to one of the 3 cannon fodder that was jamming the teleports, 2 of my shadow clones snuck up to the other 2, and we assassinated them simultaneously with a dagger to the heart. They would normally get sucked up in my dimensional pocket for incineration but I had to avoid anything that could give away that I was a 9t.


    It was a painful reminder that I didn’t fight like a 9t at all, as they would have otherwise found out instantly. It was a bit of a disgrace. I would be similar to a dog that can’t dog, a cat that can’t cat or a duck that can’t duck; a failure.


    Confusion set in and I set one triple-clone to explode in the middle of their group from stealth to make this worse. I set the other 2 free while the shadow clones worked together to form another triple clone.


    I moved through the steam and turned it into an acid mist. An icicle on my palm and delivered a palm strike on my target''s chest. The icicle shattered, and he reacted by trying to punch me, but I evaded.


    I should''ve used frost magic for that…


    The acid mist cleared, and it did a number on the cannon fodder. Red hair chick looked more messed up than ever and seemed super pissed, so I pretended to run away from her, to frustrate her more.


    “Yeah! You run! We will hunt you down to the ends of the earth and hang your head up as a trophy! Guys let''s get him!”


    Thank you, Red hair chick, for making this easy for me. But the steam explosion took out half of the cannon fodder, not bad.


    The lightning elder seemed to have developed quite a grudge against me. He sent a lightning crow at me and I swapped myself with a triple clone that got hit and bloated. It sped up and started to harass lightning elder. The triple clone was getting pelted by attacks and was already close to exploding. My shadow clones finished a triple clone and went to make another one.


    The triple clone got a very powerful ice [Dragon] technique off at the lightning elder before it violently exploded.


    The explosion was loud and violent and sent everyone nearby flying. The new triple-point clone took up the place of the previous one and everyone was cautious. The explosion just now fucked up the lightning elder. He had burns all over his body and missed an arm.


    I rubbed my hands as I identified a weak link, and it was time to whale on this elder. I was close to the magic circle, so I could try and push back to make sure it didn''t look like I was trying to lure them.


    Nilah got drawn and a [Winter bite] quick draw got sent at the lightning elder. A sword elder tried to block me, but he was not as fast as me.


    Too bad! You can play with the new triple clone.


    The lightning elder got pressured while my shadow clones were going for triple clone mass production.


    One triple clone that was part of the original 3 got completely ignored and froze over, turning it almost immobile.


    A big attack came at me which gave me a chance to demonstrate the true strength of my [Triple-Point Clones].


    I threw an ice cube at it and swapped the immobile triple clone with it. It absorbed the attack and started to move and harass the elders. Any time they ignored a triple clone, I used it to body-block attacks from them, and they were getting tired of it.


    They put the cannon fodder on duty to find out where the triple clones were coming from because I wasn’t actively making them. There were 5 on the field at the moment, and the 6th was being made.


    I pulled energy out of the clones that got close to exploding and used these to throw attacks around. Nilah got released in fox form, and she started to terrorize the cannon fodder.


    It was a good 20 minutes where I was dominating the scene when this started to slowly shift. I had completely forgotten this, but spirit magic can overpower frost magic as both are ‘lost magic’ causing Nilah to take a lot of damage for the first time ever.


    I beckoned her, petted her, and urged her to turn back into a sword.


    I’m sorry Nilah, I’m a terrible pet owner. I won’t do this again.


    Nilah made a fog before she turned back into my sword, and I used this chance to run away to where the magic circle was waiting. It seemed like I was trapped, but I could probably leave whenever I wanted.


    “Hah! Huff, puff, we finally got you! You have nowhere to run!” Red hair chick said, exhausted. The morale of this group wasn''t as high as I had hoped.


    The Tattoo elder rallied the stalkers and transformed. Not the skill, but he was probably switching his spirit. “This youngster is very skilled at stalling and running away, it would be a shame to kill him, let''s make sure he joins our clan later on!”


    “Are you mad? He killed Urbo, Jsef, and Diddely” Another elder said.


    Now, now, gentlemen, don’t be so hasty, you''ll each get a chance to meet them!


    “Cocky and a good trash talker, I kind of like him, he certainly has skill, I agree we should try to recruit him.” Tattoo Elder said who seemed to have taken a liking to me.


    Do I get unlimited salmon if I join you guys?


    Tattoo elder frowned. “Of course not! Don’t be ridiculous!”


    Then suck it!


    I connected to the air leyline currents and started [Drowning Pulse].


    “Not this again! Gramps! We need to stop this! This guy is a skilled water user!”


    Wait Tattoo guy is red head’s grandpa?


    My target punched the ground and made huge holes in the ground, draining the water. I upped the tempo, attempting to flood those holes. He was busy keeping it up. Unfortunately for him, I wasn’t alone. A triple clone used [Blindside] and [Vanishing ripple]. While he was being kept airborne, the water level started to rise.


    Another fire golem appeared.


    I disconnected from the leyline currents to switch back to magic. I have to find a way to effectively mix the use of magic and Dragonvein, because disconnecting and reconnecting is annoying.


    [Tsunami] rolled out, creating more chaos on the battlefield.


    “Oh shit!”


    The fire golem was no more. I used, [Azure shark] and [Azure spear], the spear hit my target and severely damaged him. I used another [Azure Spear], wielded it and put pressure on my target.


    I swapped myself with a triple clone that got relatively ignored. 2 triple clones went at the lightning elder who was one foot in the grave when something invisible grabbed me and attempted to crush me. It broke through 3 layers of [frozen skin] before I could get out. I had no idea what that was, but I’m toast if I get hit by that grab again. I slipped away and dropped into stealth.


    My target, someone responsible for blocking teleports, was engaged with a triple clone while 2 other triple clones tried to finish off the lightning elder.


    Something behind me glowed red, and a red light flew out and hit all my enemies. It forced them to go into [Berserk Mode]. Even though I normally wouldn''t mind because they won''t be able to defeat me even in berserk mode, but they will become way sturdier in this, and I needed to just kill 2 more. Getting a boost in raw power, magical power and sturdiness in exchange for their rational decision-making skills was questionable, however, as they still couldn’t hit me.


    I snuck up behind my target.


    The triple clone charged at him and I fired off a [Flame Nova] at his back, blasting him into my triple clone and forcing the clone to explode. This explosion was way stronger than the others and blew the guy into pieces.


    I lost all my [Frozen skin] stacks on that, though. The crater was frozen over and some stalkers in berserk slipped into the crater and couldn’t get out as they kept slipping back into the crater.


    Ugh, there is goer everywhere.


    My [Frost Cloak] had been a great call as it protected me from blood splatters and meat chunks.


    Mana was still decent, stamina getting low, and physical health was still perfect. My plan wasn''t going well so far, but at least I wasn''t getting close to dying.


    I narrowly avoided a laser.  Oh, hell no! Not another laser.


    A triple clone absorbed the next laser and exploded. I instantly turned around, used an [Eternal winter] quick draw and finally finished off the lightning elder.


    One target left. He wasn''t doing much to help his allies. Another triple clone exploded, but there were no casualties this time.


    My triple clones were thinning out. I got hit by that invisible grab again, but now I knew where it was coming from. My last target was responsible for it. Unfortunately, I took a lot of damage in that grab. My last triple clone could deal some damage to him because his power probably prevents him from moving.


    My last triple clone exploded and only took 2 cannon fodder with him. But he reformed! 10% chance to reform coming in clutch! This startled my enemies, and I used this moment to go into stealth while wondering if this was enough damage.


    I had gone from perfect health to I-wish-I-dodged-that. I activated the magic circle of [Blood Counter] and started to feel dizzy. It took a lot of mana from me and I started to feel nauseous. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Did I mess up in its runic structure? The circle glowed in red and black ominous light and blasted the area. Everyone in the circle including me took a massive amount of damage. I dropped to the floor all bloodied. I should have been immune to its effect, but I must have made a mistake somewhere.


    I shattered an illusion to fix my body, but for some reason, this set off the magic circle again.


    Ugh, don''t tell me this is a causality-type magic circle.


    Note to self: don''t mess with any skills that have ‘blood’ in their name. I was wondering if shattering my last 2 layers would have any point if whatever I do, I take this damage. Would ‘dying’ and breaking this illusion layer remove this?


    I took a large axe to the chest. An illusion layer shattered, and I was back to my bloodied self.


    Ok, this sucks. Fortunately, everyone was in a similar condition. I created a blood clone and it finished off Axeguy


    I guess this is the reason the chicks didn’t want me to go alone. All cannon fodder was dead now, only elders and several capable fighters were left. Somehow red hair and her sister were still alive. Are they cockroaches?


    My blood clone was dealing with those that could still put up a fight, but it was still outnumbered. I tried to get up but was struggling. If I could just kill the guy that blocks teleports, the girls can get away.


    I was circulating nature energy like crazy, and greenery started to grow around me. My injuries didn''t seem to heal that well. Some mana of that blood magic circle was still in my wounds and interfering with it.


    For some reason, it pulled out almost all my mana. I looked through my archive to check where I picked it up.


    Oh, from the taboo section in the library of Witchaven. I should''ve known. I should create a category for taboo magic or ‘use it at my own risk category’. I swapped myself with a corpse to evade incoming attacks and I got gripped again.


    I guess this is where I will lose my last illusion layer. I covered myself in frost to make sure I could last long enough to break free, but my mana was almost spent, as was my stamina. I managed to escape before they could kill me, but I almost fainted from blood loss and the last illusion layer broke. I took some quail from my dimensional pocket and started eating it while I swapped myself away from danger.


    The usefulness was debatable as I vomited everything because of the lingering nausea. I started making small flames to attempt to trigger my passive, which I had gotten from Azu in Boshi Town, to remove the nausea.


    I got it after the 5th try and started eating some more quail.


    “He is weak! Kill him!” Red head said, while wheezing heavily.


    I used [Frozen ground] and froze their pants to the floor. All my shadow clones got obliterated with that [Blood counter] and my blood clone wasn’t doing so well. I coughed out blood and felt weakness spread through my body. A feeling of regret washed over me.


    I regret going easy on these assholes, now they''re getting away with it. I was supposed to take things seriously, and I still messed around. Am I fighting against my nature by being trying to be serious?


    I can''t count on the help of the spirits, these stalkers made sure to scare them away. I will never know if that Cee Horze spirit, I freed, was the real Cee Horze. The spirits that just got released tried to help me, but they were weakened. One spirit suggested calling Giana but I don''t know how I feel about that idea. I told the spirits to try and keep the idols safe. Some of these stalkers might decide that I''m already dead and go look for them.


    I told the spirits to try and be discreet about helping the idols. Most spirits went to help those 2, but a minor wind spirit tried to heal me but exhausted its spirit energy and returned to the spirit world. A sad sight, but I finally had the strength to stand up.


    "You are quite stubborn you know… just surrender! I will even make you my man after I become Giana! You can still be together!" Red head said, who was missing some teeth.


    What makes you think that I want to be near any disgusting spirit hunters?


    "Then die!" A rainbow of attacks fired off, and I swapped myself with my last target. He took most of those attacks for me. My body was in a bad shape, so I could only rely on racial skills and magic. Nilah gave me the mana that she had stored up which confused the redhead.


    “Huh? How? Where did you get that mana from!?”


    My pet.


    “We killed your pet!”


    Incorrec!


    I could easily turn this around if I get my tails out, but I will have a target on my back for the rest of my life from another group that I don''t want to deal with. I decided to tough it out and focus on killing the elder who was jamming teleports.


    They started to ignore my blood clone and go after me.


    Some of them split off and I used this chance to let my blood clone make 3 triple clones. Because he''s not a shadow clone he has an easier time making these. He made 3 more for 6 total before he got killed.


    A triple clone got caught in the crossfire and exploded.


    "Shit! It''s these clones again!" The Tattoo elder said, but something felt off. I sensed deception, but I couldn''t exactly tell what was going on, as I had a million things to keep track of.


    A triple clone took out 2 strong guys and dealt a lot of damage. It had to stick close to me because the stalkers got cautious with these around. A triple clone created a sword out of frost, and that put them on alert.However, the clone couldn''t do much because it was made for 90% frost and thus super slow and it was showing.


    They got lulled in a false sense of security, and I pulled energy out of other triple clones and put it in this one. At 30% filled steam, it was as fast as a leopard beast kin.


    "How do we deal with these clones without them exploding?" Redhead’s sister asked as these triple clones were chasing her.


    "Just ignore them!" Redhead responded while she was hiding behind a barrier.


    "But he can move energy between them, and they become indestructible when you ignore them!" Redhead’s sister said as she pointed at some triple clones that had frozen over.


    “Hit them enough so that they don''t become a threat and don''t become indestructible, then!” Redhead said. I noticed that Redhead has good advice, but is quite useless herself and doesn’t necessarily heed her own advice. Strange people come in all shapes and sizes, I suppose.


    I kept moving energy around between the triple clones and pouring mana in those that were a bit too slow while the enemies were bickering.


    Support skills started to go out between the stalkers, and I concluded that this is the reason I''m starting to lose. They tried to cc my clones, but that didn''t work. I''m a master in cc, those petty tricks don''t work on me except for that invisible grip. My clone reacted to something, and I swapped myself with my clone. It got hit with the grip, and it started to gain more steam.


    "Shit you grabbed the clone!"


    I covered myself in frost and started to chant magic because I had difficulties activating magic circles in succession. I had made sure that this magic wasn’t stolen from the taboo section.


    Force of nature, power of the sky hide the face of the sun and show your frown, show thee ire and strike those opposing me and deliver thee crimson judgment! [Fulminate!]


    "Why did nobody interrupt his cast?!" The redhead said while throwing a tantrum. She posed a good question, though; everyone was busy, so why didn’t she interrupt my cast? Anyway, not my problem.


    The skies got cloudy and a wicked red thunderbolt struck the area. Its main target was me, but everyone in the direct surroundings got blasted. I got the [Fulmination] status. It was a fancy way to imbue yourself with lightning, but I didn’t have the mental focus to imbue myself as I normally did, and [Blood and Thunder] would be a last resort.


    [Fulminate] allows me to easily imbue my attacks with 2 elements. My triple clones also got [Fulmination], which was the whole point of this. They didn''t need to get hit now to gain steam now.


    "Don''t relent, these are his death throes!" Target Gripguy shouted. It would be nice if he keeled over so that I can teleport away.


    I sent 2 triple clones after Target Gripguy but some guy started throwing white beads at me.


    They exploded and caused a bright flash, unfortunately for him, I don''t care about this as I’m immune to almost anything that causes vision impairment, besides hypersensitivity, but they don’t know that.


    A triple clone blasted an area with electrified water. I deflected a fire augmented punch from Redhead and fell on my butt. The weight difference was too big, and I was in terrible condition.


    I got up and took out a Phoenix Flower but it got sniped by a laser.


    Lasers suck…


    I used [frozen ground] and skated around my foes and stuck close to a triple clone. I was a bit worried because 2 bloodied elders and Tattoo Elder had not moved in a while, they weren''t dead, so they must be planning something.


    A punch got blocked, and I got sent flying into a sturdy tree. It made me pass out for a couple seconds, and 2 triple clones stopped what they were doing and protected me. This proved that I was starting to lose control over them.


    I needed them to keep up the pressure, so I could get the kill on Target Gripguy. The clones were starting to react to my innate survival instinct, which wouldn''t benefit me in the long run. [Fulmination] had dropped since I passed out and Nilah tried to return to her fox form, but I stashed her in my dimensional pocket as I can’t have her get injured too.


    I tried to get up, but I didn''t have the strength. I circulated nature energy, but it was inadequate.


    This was a problem. I do have 7 lives yes, but dying and losing 1 life will just put me in the same state as before I died, so getting one shot is preferable to my current state.


    My triple clones were putting up a good defense. These stalkers were still afraid of the explosions because none of them were healthy. An explosion at the wrong time might mess them up.


    The 3 triple clones in the distance started heading over here, and my enemies reacted appropriately. "The other clones are approaching!"


    Energy got sent to the approaching triple clones, which forced them to explode. The explosion caused chaos, and I abused the chaos to attempt to kill Target Gripguy by sending another triple clone after him.


    Unfortunately, nobody died in that explosion.


    I took a fire attack, luckily it was a fire attack. The next one resembled a laser. I hate lasers. I braced myself when a lot of spirits appearing and a crystal wall spawned in front of me. I got healed, punched and slapped. For unexplainable reasons, that punch and slap hurt more than any damage I took today, even though 1 of those had 0 firepower.


    "Please don''t ever do that again!"


    "I''m glad you''re still alive!" Followed by a hug. I looked at the spirits that just appeared, and they feigned ignorance. They stepped out of line, but I''m thankful nonetheless.


    "So, what did you do to get yourself killed?" Noelle put an unnecessary amount of crystal armor on me.


    Hey! I didn''t die! Yet…


    "Agnis… I just checked your status, what are all these curses on you! Who did this to you!" Giana looked at the stalkers and started to look feisty, as if she was ready to take on all these stalkers at once.


    Uhh, oh that, don''t mind those, that''s normal, I had those before.


    An emergency call went out to get Zen Agnis back as Giana was starting to leak charm magic. I’m glad that they’re here, but it seems I still can’t catch a break. "... Noelle"


    "Go for it, I’ll keep these guys busy while you cure this idiot, try to cure the ''idiot'' status too if you can"


    How rude!


    Giana dragged me to the side because I was still exhausted.


    "Hey Agnis, what''s the deal with these clones? They don’t look like you, did you get a head injury too?" Noelle poked a triple clone.


    They explode.


    Noelle slowly backed off. "So, these were causing those explosions…"


    How did you guys get here so fast?


    Giana twirled her finger and a refreshing veil fell on me. "The spirits boosted our speed, now stop being difficult, let me dispel those curses on you!"


    I''m fine! I just need stamina to get back in the fight!


    "Absolutely not! You are going to do reckless things if I restore your stamina! I will deal with these curses first. How are you even alive with all these? Aren''t you in constant pain?" Something tells me that saying ‘You get used to it’ is the wrong answer.


    "And if you say ''I''m used to it'' you will get another slap!"


    Uhm pass!


    I got headlocked again.


    Trying to finish me off, eh?


    "I''m glad that you can joke around, but the situation is serious. Can you imagine how we felt when your illusion suddenly dropped? I know you mean well, but please… don''t ever do that again." I guess my illusions dropped when I briefly passed out.


    I''m sorry…


    I got released from the headlock.


    "I know you''re not sorry, you''re just sorry that you got caught, but that''s fine, I got to do better too." Giana got up and gave Noelle some support.


    It seems that 4 triple clones and Noelle made an excellent stall team.