Aethan's gaze sharpened, his Aether churning.
He retreated calmly, watching as wind began to rush out from the three holes and accumulate before him.
In no time flat, three faceless, humanoid creatures formed and began attacking him.
Aethan moved swiftly, dodging awkward blows coming from the flying creatures.
They lacked finesse and cooperation, attacking at every opportunity. Their movements were like that of newborns; decisive, yet stupid, most of the time.
They didn't think twice before committing to an attack, not caring if it hindered them in the process.
'Wraiths,' Aethan thought, trying to grasp the intricacies of the creatures moving about.
They were formed from the holes in the walls… or more likely, from something within the walls.
The wind didn't come from within the wall, but had gathered when the wall opened up, affirming his thoughts of it being the work of an object.
The object, whatever it was, was, perhaps, what had created the Wraiths and imbued them with the command to attack him. He had sensed the change in the flow of energy in the air when the walls opened, and it made him think up to this point.
Aethan's gaze seemed to glaze over as he stared right through the Wind Wraiths, or rather, right into them.
"There!"
Volt Edge sparked, streaking forward in a line of blue and silver, slicing through the Wind Wraith with little resistance and cutting at a small glass-like pebble within it.
CRACK!
The Wind Wraith howled and wailed one last time, its body displacing before dispersing in all directions.
Aethan's brow furrowed as he felt the Mana scattering with the wraith shoot towards him and tug at his pores.
'Loot?' Aethan blinked, puzzled. 'Aether as a reward? Merek never mentioned this.'
He didn't know if loot could come in the form of Aether too; Merek didn't tell him.
Aethan opened up his pores upon sensing no ill intent from the Aether, and it flooded his pathways, circulating around his body and entering his Core.
His Affinity for the Wind aspect of Galethunder increased, along with his cultivation, by a small margin.
The feeling was refreshing, somewhat, and he resisted the urge to relax his mind and let down his guard.
But he couldn't do that.
There were still two more Wraiths attacking him with all they had.
Even while analyzing the battle, cultivating and thinking about unrelated things, he was still able to keep up with the Wraiths pace.
Still, something had caught his attention as the battle played out, and he almost got hit.
The Wraiths were adapting and getting better, their momentum was rising, and they were getting used to their body, their actions becoming more fine tuned.
Though they were humanoid, they were still formless beings made of compressed wind currents. They could change shape at will, with the shapes they could take limited by their own imaginations.
Aethan couldn't tell if they were actually living beings or just creations with one goal and intent. If it was the former, then they could turn out to be more dangerous than they seemed, but if it was the latter, then…
"Hmm," Aethan mumbled, feeling the danger they radiated spike up without warning.
Just as he made a move to end the farce and destroy the glass-like pebble powering them, Aether took shape within the Wraiths, shaping into a crescent blade and emitting from their hands in a swinging motion.
Aethan reacted to their attack swiftly and twisted his body out of the way of two scythes of wind, watching as they flew past him with shocking velocity and destroyed more spikes on the wall behind.
Coincidentally and unfortunately, Aethan's steps triggered two traps at the same time, and he was forced to dodge three spikes shooting towards his vitals at the same time.
Aethan pivoted on the balls of his feet, ducking under a spike, whipping an arm backwards and deflecting another, before sheathing Volt Edge and grabbing the last out of the air.
In one fluid motion, the momentum of the spike was killed as his Aether forced it to stop. He arched his back lightly, coating the spike with Galethunder Aether then snapping his body back into a throwing position, letting the spike fly off.
From the angle he threw it at, the spike tore right into the pebble of the Wraiths, before hitting the other and slowing it down.
The space in the tunnel didn't let the Wraiths come at him at the same time, and they had to attack one at a time. But as they adapted, shifting and morphing their bodies to create openings, they got used to their powers and were able to coordinate an attack, attacking him at the same time.
Aethan didn't hesitate to move forward the instant the Wraith was taken down, and destroy the core of the last of the first Wraiths, just as five more formed behind him.
Wailing sounds filled the air again as the Wraiths surged towards him, and Aethan got serious.
'I need to be careful,' his mind spun as he retreated. 'If all the spikes get blown off, then I might not be so lucky to leave this place in one piece.'
It was quite bold of him to believe he could still leave alive if all the spikes were blown off, and all the Wind Wraiths were released all at once.
There were at least over fifty spikes just in his ten meters sensory range alone, not to talk of the rest along the tunnel.
But… he had a reason for being so confident.
One hand held Silent Fang, while the other was free.
These Wraiths were like a godsend opportunity for him, and he wasn't going to hesitate to take it.
Whatever reward he was going to receive from the Dungeon might pale in comparison to what he was about to gain from these Wraiths.
If his speculations were right, then he was going to leave this Dungeon with a rarely-seen-before mastery over Wind Elemental Magic.
Aethan smirked, activating Blood Essence Extraction on his free hand and watching as the Wraiths sprang at him.
"Come,"