“Gods, Lanek… Could you even still see him when you fired?” Liv asked in shock, looking down at the sea troll’s body. There was a hole bored completely through the creature’s chest. Neither Liv nor Lanek knew where the projectile had landed as there were no signs of destruction anywhere else.
Lanek shrugged. “Yeah, I could see him. It wasn’t hard to target and hit him, he was moving in a straight line away from me, occasionally doing that crazy jump of his. I’m pretty sure that we can’t find where the sphere landed because it caught him in mid-air. What the hell was he, anyway? I couldn’t move like that even when I was using my whip and [Shinobi] skills.”
“I’m going to guess they at least had an [Acrobat] subclass. Their main class could have been anything from [Swashbuckler] to [Lancer] based on their fighting style. You should know by now that there are way more classes than any of us are aware of, including new ones being made by the System whenever some unknown requirements are met.”
“Fair enough. Do I have to worry about more like that when we fight the trolls?” Lanek asked.
“I wouldn’t be surprised. The sea trolls almost always have at least a handful of individuals on their ships that have high mobility and dexterity. I would imagine that it is very useful when fighting another ship. Just imagine how easy it would be for someone like this unfortunate bastard here to leap onto an enemy ship and skewer their leader in the middle of a fight.”
“Good to know. Sadly, I don’t think [Mass Driver] will be as helpful if we have to fight more like this one. I can’t track enemies with it, so a moving target would be pretty hard to hit and a fast enough enemy could probably dodge it if they saw it coming. It’s also not something I can whip out in a close quarters fight.” Lanek said, explaining how his new skill worked.
“Well, then it’s a good thing that you decided to leave the close quarters fighting to myself and the rest of us, isn’t it? Just keep trusting us to keep the enemy away and Maximilian to keep you safe up close and use those ranged skills of yours.”
“I know, it’s just hard to stay at a distance when I see you guys getting in close and putting yourselves in danger.” Lanek responded.
“I get it, I really do. Look at it this way, we are all capable melee fighters, but you’re the only one we have here that can use long-range offensive magic. Yeah, I have my [Ice Spear] ability, but it is much less destructive and has a much shorter range than your spells. It’s best suited for enhancing an existing weapon. You need to remember that you’re the best caster we have, so focus on that role because, and no offense, but there are fighters in this party that are better than you in close combat.”
Lanek nodded and promised to work on it. He knew she was right, he had already committed to his role change after all. It did sting a bit to hear her say that others in the party were better fighters than him, but he had to admit that was true, and the smug feelings he was receiving from Kazuma and Sanguineus all but confirmed that those two counted themselves among that group. Hell, Liv herself is a better fighter than I am. I have only been able to keep ahead of her because of my stats and abilities. With equal stats and no special abilities, she would destroy me thanks to her lifetime of struggling to survive in this world and her training.
That’s really not a gap that can be closed quickly, either. I don’t care how much of a prodigy someone is, real life doesn’t work like anime or movies. I can’t just blast through a training regimen for a couple of months or weeks and be able to fight on par with people who have dedicated their lives to it. No, I’m better off making my own way and coming up with my own approach, and I think [Mass Driver] is just the beginning of that.
After collecting the reward stones and valuables from the fallen trolls, Lanek requested that they return to their camp. “Now that I’ve got some more reward stones, I want to look at some new ranged spells. Can’t hurt to make a few preparations, can it?”
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Liv quickly agreed and led the way back to their previous camp. This time, Lanek had enough mana and time to connect the trees with [Nature’s Rampart] and build them a proper shelter. It was a tiny shelter that would be hard to spot amid the tall grass, but everyone felt far more secure within the walls. Lanek made himself comfortable while Kazuma and Sanguineus took off to do some hunting. Meanwhile, a still exhausted Pharaoh had fallen asleep next to Lanek.
While Liv kept watch, Lanek dove into the shop and looked at his options. What he wanted was a spell that he could tie to his spheres, something like a fireball. However, he knew that it was unlikely that he would have access to such as spell as the shop only showed him skills and spells available to nature-based classes. His suspicions turned out to be correct as there were none of the old RPG tropes available to him. No fireballs, lightning bolts, or even balls of acid.
However, there were more than a few useful options, as long as he got a bit creative with them. After giving serious thought to his selection, he finally decided on three spells.
Conjure Spear [Common]
Create a spear from a bit of wood. The spear is completely mundane and should only be relied upon as a last resort due to its low durability.
MP Cost: 10
Heat Metal [Uncommon]
Causes metal to become unbearably hot and inflict fire damage. This spell is best used to disarm an opponent rather than as a true offensive option due to its limited range of three meters from the caster.
MP Cost: 20
Shockwave [Uncommon]
Causes a kinetic blast that extends outward in all directions from the caster. This spell is best suited as a defensive measure due to its focus on the caster and its relatively nonlethal nature.
MP Cost: 20
Man, I’m starting to feel like a real caster now that I’ve got a few more spells in my arsenal. Let’s just hope these work the way I hope they do. Lanek thought as he withdrew his growing supply of spheres and began etching symbols upon them. As soon as he had bought the new spells, he had also been given the knowledge of what symbol to use to inscribe those spells onto an object. While he worked on his spheres, he couldn’t help but notice that he had also learned the symbol for [Splintering Dart] as well. Oh, this is going to get interesting…
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Lanek worked for hours, shocked that he was able to inscribe so many spells without running out of mana. It turned out that his mana gear and race were already paying off. While Liv slept, Lanek had gone off into the night to test out his newly inscribed projectiles and making adjustments as he went. The results had been promising, but he would have to wait and see how they would work in actual combat.
Thankfully, he wouldn’t have to wait too long as he stared at the beach in the distance from Maximilian’s back. The trip to the beach had been uneventful as the leader of the trolls had apparently decided that losing one patrol and what was likely one of their stronger warriors was enough and had recalled the crew into a defensive position around their damaged ship.
The trolls knew that he was there, that was clear from the shouts echoing up from the beach. It only made sense as not only was the terrain all around him fairly flat, but their priest had been reaching out with their mana periodically. Lanek had detected it, but was not proficient enough to divert it without attracting the priest’s attention. However, what the trolls were not seeing was the presence of Kazuma, Sanguineus, Liv, and Yuri stalking toward them from further north under the concealment of Pharaoh’s illusions. This had been the first mistake he had seen the trolls make as once they detected him, their full attention seem to be focused on him and him alone.
Lanek chuckled. I guess I can’t blame them, I would be pretty suspicious and freaked out if I saw just one person staring down my camp too. Let’s hope that caution keeps them from charging me, otherwise I am probably pretty screwed.
A moment later, a horn blared from the troll camp and two trolls emerged from the damaged ship. One was dressed in robes while clutching a large mace in one hand, presumably the priest. The other troll was a hulking brute that was easily the size of Talwarg, wielding a wickedly barbed spear.
Looks like the leaders. Here goes nothing...