The group we had decided to ambush was consisting of five nymphs and a dryad, the nymphs were all equipped with their standard garb of soft, bark-like armour and a long spear, the dryad had a staff in hand, a staff that was glowing in an eartheren, brown light when I took a look with Lenore’s vision. With a short word to Adra, I designated the dryad as our first target, I was unsure what the deal with the staff was, but I would rather not find out the hard way, so even if it was harder to take out the one at the center of a formation first, we would try. They were in a rather simple formation, two nymphs up front, followed a few steps behind by another nymph and the dryad and, again a few steps behind, the last two nymphs. The two paired nymphs kept about five steps apart, the dryad and the last nymph were far closer together, maybe two steps apart. The depression they were walking in was clear of trees or shrubbery, allowing them to keep their formation without having to take obstructions into accounts.

Once they were close enough Adra started, once again, chanting some sort of spell under her breath, some sort of damage-boost if I had to guess. At the same time, I was considering how exactly I wanted to make my first strike and went with the tried and true method of throwing an icicle inscribed with shatter-runes. To do so, I had to keep control of the spell as the icicle manifested, channelling the power instead of simply dumping it at once, so I had time to use my Ice Magic to inscribe the shatter-runes into the projectile. Once the projectile was ready, I could let the spell go, while keeping the shatter-runes linked to my mind. It took at least thirty seconds to use the spell like that, and a lot of power, so using it in most circumstances was out, but to use it in an ambush was valid.

Sigmir gave us a countdown, so we both attacked at just the same moment, Adra with her bow, shooting an arrow glowing with azure light, I with the prepared Icicle, shedding glittering, silver-blue particles. Both projectiles aimed for a gap between the two nymphs up front and just bypassed them, when things happened. The dryad managed to react, and suddenly an earthen barrier shot out of the ground, taking the impact from both projectiles. The thinner arrow managed to penetrate but it had lost its glow and was visibly slower and the ensuing hit was no more than a tap, easily taken by her armour. The thicker icicle did even worse, not even managing to pass through the wall but sticking in it. Using the shatter-runes, I caused it to explode into a shower of razor sharp shards but even those were mostly absorbed by the wall. The rest managed to wound the two nymphs up front and a few struck the dryad but without any telling effect. At least, now I had an idea what the staff did, it allowed the dryad to rapidly cast spells.

While Sigmir; Ylva and Rai went out to confront them, Adra simply continued shooting arrows at them. After a moment, I decided that I would keep back, ready to answer their actions as needed. They demonstrated good coordination, the two wounded nymphs falling back a little, bracketing the dryad, and the other three getting into a formation with the nymph that had been next to the dryad in the center. That one also turned a bracelet into a shield, giving them better coverage against attacks.

Once their formation was established, they started to charge us, not even trying to flee. But it made sense, when in an ambush, do the unexpected. It gave you better chances to get away and it avoided possible traps laid by the ambusher. Or maybe they just thought they were stronger and would simply kill us. As they charged, three earthen spears shot from around the dryad in an attempt to soften us up. Within a split-second I decided to take a page out of the dryad’s playbook and use our surroundings to my advantage, not trying to conjure the ice needed but simply use what ice and snow was around us. The result were three thick and hard-packed snowballs, hurtling against the spears and throwing them off-course. I had no need to fully block them, simply making sure that they got nowhere near us was enough and easily accomplished.

Adra’s arrows on the other hand were almost as ineffective. The first was blocked by the shield-bearing nymph, one was dodged but a third managed to sink into the shoulder of one of the nymphs up front.

When the three nymphs up front started clashing with Sigmir, they managed to match her, forcing her into all-out defense, even with one of them wounded. Rai demonstrated that he had some talent in being unseen, and hid behind Sigmir at first, then suddenly darting out and jamming a blade into the wounded nymph’s side, forcing her back.

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However, the chaotic melee between all of them made it impossible for Adra to continue shooting for fear of hitting our allies. She would either have to move far enough to shoot past their fight at their backline or join the melee. She decided to move, while I, not seeing any more attacks from the dryad, flared my cloak to let three of my shuttles fly. They were directly controlled, giving me much better targeting so I could harass the nymphs, but first, I tried to surprise the already wounded nymph and finish her off. Three shuttles, attacking from three directions, made dodging hard and her wounds took their toll, slowing her down and causing my shuttles to strike true. The dryad might have been able to help, but she was busy chanting something under her breath. The nymph I had targeted fell and would not live much longer, of that I was sure. The two nymphs fighting with Rai and Sigmir looked worse for wear as well, but had managed to escape serious wounds.

I figured that whatever the dryad was chanting, it would be much better if she never finished her chant, so I focused my attacks on her - even using all six shuttles - but the two wounded nymphs did their best to stop me and managed to do so, even as they suffered wound after wound, worsening their condition. Just as I decided to kill them first, the dryad finished her chant and all of them were enveloped by a green glow and their wounds started to visibly heal - but not only that; they also moved faster and their attacks seemed to hit harder. By now, Sigmir and Rai had managed to kill off the weaker of their foes, so there were still three nymphs and a dryad left.

With a thought, I took my shuttles back, as the two formerly wounded nymphs joined their compatriots, leaving the dryad at the back. A quick look revealed that my hope worked out, there was blood on them, so, while Ylva retreated into her Hallow and Sigmir went into her frenzy-mode, I combined two things I had already managed to try something new. With the blood of the two nymphs as a focus, I attacked their minds. I felt Lenore’s mind join mine and activated Overflow, pouring Astral Power into a crude attack, simply using my power as a hammer to smash them. The effect was quite pronounced, both nymphs stumbled and almost fell, allowing Sigmir to get two lethal strikes in. Luckily I was only attacking their minds, never gaining entrance, or the backlash would have been bad.

As I had done so, Adra had pinned down the dryad, forcing her to rely on her earth magic to block her arrows or be turned into a pin-cushion, so our situation looked a lot better. Sigmir, in her red-armoured, golden-eyed frenzy mode, was overpowering the buffed-up nymph, allowing Rai to slip in and cause nasty wounds. I decided to help with the dryad, and added my own attacks, using my shuttles, to Adra’s barrage. The dryad thought to flee, trying for the close-by woods under the cover of a hastily thrown up cloud of dust, but thanks to Lenore’s vision, I was able to strike her fleeing form. Either Rai or Sigmir had managed to finish their opponent, so the fight was over.

A quick look at the EXP showed some nice advancement, and I had gained some skill-levels as well.

Severed Nymph died You gain 2300 EXP. For killing an opponent without a Traveller in your party, you gain Bonus EXP . . . Unbound Dryad died You gain 10000 EXP. For killing an opponent 9 levels above you, you gain Bonus EXP For killing an opponent without a Traveller in your party, you gain Bonus EXP Severed Nymph Guardian died You gain 2700 EXP. For killing an opponent 18 levels above you, you gain Bonus EXP For killing an opponent without a Traveller in your party, you gain Bonus EXP

Skill increased You increased your skill: Blood Magic [37/100]

Skill increased You increased your skill: Mind Magic [7/60]

I quickly checked Sigmir out, healing her wounds and alleviating the backlash she suffered from the usage of Ylva’s special skill before we all left the scene, just in case someone had heard our fight. I did pick up the staff used by the dryad, just in case I could learn something from it. Unlike the normal gear used by nymphs or dryads, it was not made out of wood and linked to its owner’s life, a link that made it useless after the owner died. Its material was more akin to rock or maybe crystal and seemed to have survived the death of the dryad just fine. I would have to study it, it had been a useful tool for the dryad, something I would not mind to use for myself.