Rise of the Nightmare Crestmaster

Aldrich didn't wear any armor he was just wearing casual clothes he brought from the real world. A brown shirt and some trousers, nothing too special.

He didn't need any traditional armor anymore, his body was enough for regular swords and arrows. At this point a normal set of plates would only hinder and annoy him.

Of course the story is different if it was a wondrous item or a magic plate.

But that was a difficult request. He didn't know much about the magic items of the nightmare realm but he knew enough about wondrous items.

Grade one wondrous items, have a limited number of usages, they were powerful but exhausted quickly, the counter point was their cheap price.

Grade two items were much more powerful and their power was endless as long as there was a sufficient supply of Ether. The down side was that they require attunement to use them.

Attunment was not a simple matter for Crestmasters, it meant establishing a link between the user and the wondrous item. A link like that represented a danger to Crestmasters.

If the item was destroyed it would leave a mental scar on the Crestmaster, it took some time to heal something like that. Worse still if it was destroyed in battle the shocking pain would leave one incapacitated.

However, Aldrich noticed something. If he was not wrong then, grade one wondrous items were equivalent to +3 magic items in the nightmare realm. But, without the weakness of running out of power.

Basically one can use the +3 items like grade one wondrous items without worrying about changing it later.

Aldrich jumped over the rooftops when he suddenly felt something approaching from behind. Fast. He turned around and deflected the arrow with a slap.

With a smirk he changed direction, he saw where the arrow came from at last, with his enhanced vision he could finally see the bastards that shot at his back from the dark.

With a speed faster than a galloping horse he charged toward the taller buildings, it was not a short distance. A normal man wouldn't even dream of making this kind of shot.

As he was running and jumping toward his target he was aware of three more arrows heading his way. He didn't do anything. The arrows missed him.

He was moving quickly and getting closer and closer to the archers so it was only natural that the field of view narrowed, along with his speed he didn't have to do anything.

With a jump he latched on to the windowsill and before he could pull himself up his hand was kicked, roughly. Aldrich didn't flinch or pull his hand back, it didn't hurt that much.

He levered himself and with one quick motion he kicked the monster sending it flying to the opposite wall.

Malformed husk Lv.2

There were two archers other than the one he kicked away. The two of them had thrown away their archery kit and aimed at him with a dagger and a short sword.

These Lv.2 were different from their lower level counterparts, the were made up almost entirely of bone.

Very strange bone that was jagged and spiked, their hands were sculpted into bone claws and their abdomens still had organs and dangling flesh.

Aldrich broke every one of them with a punch, the first one he kicked was already in pieces. He got a handy 54 orbs, and most importantly some small revenge on theses assholes.

Next he targeted the closest gathering of Malformed husks in the street, it was akin to a marching army of disorder and madness. And Aldrich plunged right into it.

The Malformed husks reacted to his presence immediately, the were all Lv.1 and most of them were unarmed. They tried to tear him to pieces with their claws and bite him with their fangs.

But it was all in vain. He was only annoyed by these attacks, he summoned his sword from his crest and slashed away at these monsters. The sword cleaved them bone and flesh alike with of knife cutting through cake.

The sea of husks were put in a blender, a tornado of blades, seemingly many and one simultaneously cutting them and ending their miserable existence.

He faced a slight challenge when a group of Lv.3 Malformed husks were attracted over by the noise and joined the army striking at him and retreating soon after.

Aldrich had to use his Aurora barrier to protect himself, the level 3 husks were armed and very powerful similar to the armored husk in pure strength and even possessed a semblance of intelligence.

They were two meters tall and armed with axes and war-hammers, they used real combat techniques and could even block a half hearted attack from Aldrich.

But ultimately they weren't much, Aldrich switched to the offensive after gauging their power. He didn't want to risk it without knowing the full extent of their abilities, but it turned out to be a needless worry.

Aldrich stopped using his barrier and switched to the offensive, with a stomp that pushed the husks away for a moment he bent his back and pulled his sword in a reverse grip.

Red flames burned on the body of the sword of subjugation, the flames of damnation had the ability to inhibit healing and regeneration to a certain extent. And of course regular burning.

It needed three seconds of charging to unleash a big attack. However short it may be, it was too long in a critical moment.

A level three husk sensed the chance and jumped in the air towards Aldrich, with a heavy mace in hand. A single strike might not kill Aldrich but it was enough to disrupt his focus and cause a backlash from the skill.

But Aldrich, seeing the on coming husk couldn't contain his grin. The husk was skewered midair and suspended there, defying the rules of gravity.

The level three husks stared in disbelief and fear in their monstrous hearts at the illogical scene.