I Died and Became a Noble's Heir-Chapter 449: Onward

Rhys met the charge with Wind Step, dodging under the first swipe, around the second, then inside the creature's guard, where its size became 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 seemed impossible fifty days ago.

Finally, the yeti's movements 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 became a bigger threat than the enemies themselves.

The ice demons attacked first, both casting simultaneously.

This time 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 came 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 equipment 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 time 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 fragments.

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. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Not enough time to dodge all three.

He needed something different. Something 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 immediately 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 enhancement she could provide. His wind magic responded, swelling to levels that made the air around him ripple visibly.

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

"TEMPEST'S FURY!"

It was a technique from the Advanced Elemental 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 came 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 melting, and the bodies of defeated enemies were scattered everywhere.

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

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

"It worked," Rhys said defensively.

"This time," Pho acknowledged. "But what if there had been reinforcements? 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 methods existed."

The criticism stung because it was accurate. Rhys could have used water prisons on individual buffalo, picked them off one at a time, and conserved his stamina for whatever came 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 somehow 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 someone with only fifty days of real training."

Coming from Pho, that was practically a glowing endorsement.

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 recommend 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. Somewhere 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 come 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.