More was a little exaggerated. Eight critters came to investigate, all of them weak, slow, and clumsy compared to the big abomibunny. We made short work of them. In the end, I got the finishing blow on the nightmare bunny and felt the little tingles as my Class jumped another level.
We also brought extra clothes for Val because I know her by now through and through. Some adventurer’s outfits from Mom’s wardrobe. It was almost a given she’d ruin at least one set which makes me think… just what kind of armor would be suitable for Val once it’s time to set out.
But more importantly, If Mom’s clothes fit her perfectly or Gods forbid are snug on her, I’ll strangle my friend without hesitation. I'll put her down for the greater good. I just barely started to grow the right curves so if a mother’s clothes are close to her size, I’ll see red. Blood will spill.
“Eli, what was that thing you made?” Dad inquiries now that the coast is relatively clear.
“You know damn well I can’t explain it.” I give him the look for asking something stupid.
“Right.” He scratches the back of his head. “It was pretty. And pretty scorching. Like some sort of fire-lighting.”
“Close.” I nod, without giving any actual hints. “But now is not the time to test my newest toy.” Although, now is the perfect time actually,
But we’re not yet done here.
Val promptly gets herself clothed, which turns out to be a loose fit to her fortune, and we venture deeper, no longer trying to move cautiously. The numbers are culled and the big one is defeated. In case another of those nasty monsters shows up we already know how to deal with it but let’s pray it doesn’t come to that. We didn’t bring that many clothes.
The trails of ravaged nature and bloody bits lead us to a hole dug in the side of a small hill. I hate all and every forest and just by one glance am gonna hate moving underground into a burrow even more. Although I doubt we’ll find any traps here so there’s at least that.
We debate a little if Mom should go first in case we meet something too strong or if Valka should take the lead. Parents against the kids. Valka is adamant about being the shield and I take her side. This is our adventure. The parents counter with hard facts and sound reasoning… so we just dash in there first. Childish? Yeah, so what?
Some grumbling and empty threats are not enough to dissuade us so the adults can only graciously accept the line-up. Although everyone knows there’ll be consequences. We crawl deeper and deeper with a gentle slope until all of Solaire’s light from outside is cut off and I take its place with a gentle kindle. Less than a minute of dirtying our clothes later, cries echo from ahead of us. High-pitched cries in the dozens.
“Get ready to move fast.” Dad whispers as we approach. “We found them.”
I dim the light as we crawl closer to what feels like the last curve, just when an anguished shriek assaults our ears. Our cue to move.
As we burst out into the spacious cavern I blast radiance at full power for two specific reasons. One so we can see and two because anyone living in almost complete darkness will get their eyes roasted instantly.
What welcomes us inside is very different from the hordes of enemies I expected. My strike of brightness gets retaliated by a revolting smell and a deeper nightmarish scream. There are many of them, yes, but…
[Rabbit lvl 32]
[Rabbit lvl 8]
Rabbit lvl 23]
…
Their numbers are in the tens if not hundreds, crawling on the ground with their disfigured bodies. It’s hard to describe… the higher up the ladder of advancement they are, the less messed up they look. That’s the only way to put it into words.
In the deepest corner of darkness, however, is another creature.
[Rab-olf-hor-snake lvl 162]
“Just as I feared.” Dad mutters. “A man-made chimera.”
One body of many creatures. As if a child took different animals and kneaded them together. The belly and back legs of a horse with snake heads connected to where the horse’s tail should be. The upper part of a wolf is glued to the horse with the head of a rabbit whaling from the rib like a loud tumor. All held together by stitches and bloated blistering flesh.
An abomination. A living blasphemy towards nature.
“Girls,” Dad whispers. “destroy everything that moves!”
“What is-” I mumble with disgust in my voice yet still unable to avert my eyes.
“Just-” He raises his voice. “I’ll explain after. This is still your mission but things are a little more serious now. Luna, keep an eye on them and be very careful. I need to check something, maybe whoever made that is still around.”
Fire lights in my palm before I start incinerating all the tiny babies. They scream and squeal and flee but the flames find them all one after the other. Judging by how their adult counterparts acted I’m almost sure even existing is painful for them… I’m not saying this is mercy but I definitely won't have nightmares haunting me for this massacre.
Valka doesn’t bother too much with those insignificant threats and strides straight at the big one. After just a peek at its body, something became very clear. It’s mostly immobile. The entire purpose of its existence is to mass-produce these… things for reasons I don’t want to explore.
Amidst the carnage, as Val approaches the abomination flails with its many legs before the mouth of the rabbit opens and some vile liquid spills out. As it touches the ground the stone dissolves with a putrid smell. A defensive mechanism fitting for such a creature.
Valka backs away and keeps a respectable distance because although she can take hits, melting is a whole other thing.
The smoke rising from the ground however warns me of an even greater danger than that living lump of mixed flesh. Air. Savant rightfully points out that either the fire breathes or we do. I’m not big on sharing, especially when it comes to my oxygen so the fire has to go. Except for a little spark I keep, which grows and shrinks a few times, before I hurl it into the same mouth the vomit came out of.
The abomination howls as the flames lick its throat before a muted explosion blows the head off.
No notification.
“It’s still alive!” I yell for Valka to move.
I know there are three heads on the body, snake, wolf, and rabbit, a bit too many like everything else, but it’s really stupid that we need to kill all three.
As if sensing their mother's anguish the surviving little shits step up and snap their sharp little teeth at my leg legs. They fail to even bite through my boots but earn a few earth spikes nonetheless. I can’t afford distractions or underestimating my enemy no matter how small.
The wolf head obviously takes offense to me blowing off part of its… their body and begins to spit flames. Because of course it had to be fire deep underground with the stench of twenty burning corpses already filling the air.
“I’ll take the tail.” Valka swirls and leaves the fire to me.
I get that magic is basically her weakness, with fire, in particular, being a huge pain in the ass, but she can’t avoid it forever. Maybe she really should wear armor. Then again if she avoids damage altogether her healing abilities become redundant…
Shelving that thought for later I gather the moisture from the walls of the cavern and whip the wolf head’s jaw shut before more fire can pour out. Literally pour, as in the saliva dripping from between its teeth keeps on burning on the floor.
Not that I complain about my opponent, quite the opposite. The target can hardly move and uses fire of all things. Time to implement something Savant taught me about fire and its three main ingredients.
I leisurely walk a little closer to the wolf head, keeping eye contact all the way, daring it to attack and suffer the same fate as the rabbit. Once comfortably in my control range, I grasp the air around it and pull, pull it all away until the flames are extinguished. The creature, or at least this part of it, lashes out, biting at the air around it with little success.
That's right everything has to breathe, even flames and even this abomination. So I continue the taxing process of suffocation via magic and wait.
And wait…
Why the fuck is it still moving when the body can't get any… don't tell me it's the snake part supplying the entire hulking body with oxygen.
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“Any progress Val?” I glance her way for the first time since this little tussle began.
It ain't looking stellar. The snake keeps slipping from her grasp while the horse legs deliver nasty kicks at any opportune moment.
“Working on it.” She grunts as a hoof meets her ribs again causing a muted crack.
I can see anger steadily rising in her eyes. The situation is similar to when I played with her back in Fort Karon, except this thing is way below her intelligence. Getting hit without a chance to retaliate must suck.
Since this means I need to deal with my own salivating problem I stop shifting the air, sending instead a sharp spike of earth right at the wolf’s throat. The damn thing is surprisingly fast, biting down on the spike and melting it with its fiery saliva in seconds.
With my concentration focused back on keeping the air away, there's little room left for a proper move. On the other hand, if I don't keep the fires down they’ll end up on Valka.
So I pull the forbidden card. “Do something Val! Stop being so useless. Or do you enjoy the beating?” I mock her without pulling my punches.
“Shut the fuck up!” She growls and throws herself forward again. “This piece of…ARGH!”
Oh, there it is. She’s beyond any caution now.
“Don't let it bite you!” I want her just in case the poison was more potent than her healing.
“It's not poisonous.” I hear Dad's voice from behind. “It has no large poison fangs, it's safe.”
Safe my ass! And what’s stopping you from giving a hand, huh? Just a moment ago killing everything here was so important, now you’re smiling like back when I played with the old gang in the park. I’m convinced my parents fall into the bad parent category, but at the same time, I can’t imagine myself treating my future children any differently.
Valka goes ham and starts bashing the backside of the gorse instead of going for the head of the snake. Her fists meet flesh and bone with enraged fury while the kicks in return keep raining on her, only elicit grunts and roars. No more backing off. The primitive combat style called me stronger, me tougher’ goes on until Val turns the legs into paste and finally grabs the slithering serpent and with a mighty pull rips it off the body entirely.
With only one nose left to breathe and even that one deprived of air, the body slowly stops flailing. On its own at least. The berserker is still at it, breaking every intact bone she can get her hands on. When the wolf head finally goes limp I turn once again to earth magic and make sure to turn the brain into mush.
Thank the Gods, I was starting to run dangerously low on mana.
[Your group has triumphed over the enemy [The Mosaic Beast - Fire lvl 165] - [Relentless Beast of Hunger - Earth lvl 12].]
[Your group has triumphed over the enemy [Grafted Rabbit of Madness - Life lvl 165] - [Excruciated Wrath - Fire lvl 77.]
…
[You have triumphed over the enemy [Juvenile Abomination- Life lvl 31].]
[You have triumphed over the enemy [Juvenile Abomination - Life lvl 14].]
…
[Your group has triumphed over the enemy [Menagerie Monstrosity - Fire lvl 162] - [Cursed Brood - Life lvl 31].]
Damn, we’ve outdone ourselves. A little adventure killing some weak monsters en masse… Yeah, that was the plan. Plans are just an illusion.
[Your Class [Nature’s Partner in the Dance] has reached lvl 113-> 115, +4 Free Points, +8 Speed, +4 Endurance, +15 Intelligence, +16 Focus, +2 Dexterity, +14 Mana, +16 Willpower, +2 Fortitude.]
[Your class Skill [Arcane Mastery] has reached lvl 94-> 97.]
[Your class Skill [Action for Reaction] has reached lvl 88-> 92.]
[Your class Skill [Mana Perception ] has reached lvl 92.]
[Your class Skill [Arcane Focus] has reached lvl 83-> 88.]
[Your class Skill [Ethereal Stage ] has reached lvl 64-> 67.]
[Your class Skill [Rythmic Strides] has reached lvl 58-> 59.]
Most definitely not the results of a light adventure. And I prefer it this way.
[The general Skill [Savant] has reached lvl 82-> 84.]
[The general Skill [Dodging] has reached lvl 94-> 95.]
[The general Skill [Premonition] has reached lvl 96-> 97.]
[The general Skill [Maintained Magic] has reached lvl 80.]
[The general Skill [Serene Spellcrafting] has reached lvl 81-> 83.]
[The general Skill [Martial Instinct] has reached lvl 67-> 69.]
Honestly, this almost feels like more than I deserve. Especially with this one as the cherry on top…
[The Skill [Serene Spellcrafting] has fulfilled all prerequisites to evolve. Would you like to merge [Serene Spellcrafting] with [Arcane Focus]?
[Y/N]
Relatively overlapping Skills, quite useful ones that almost always level up together… I wonder if there’ll ever come an evolution I’d deny.
Yes!
[Your Skills [Serene Spellcraftinglvl 83] and [Arcane Focus lvl 88] have merged into the Class Skill [Focal Mana Trance lvl 85].]
Oh, no choice this time? I mean it’s not the same as back then but I still like to have multiple options. Let’s see…
Focal Mana Trance: Your mind is already one with mana, seething with magic and forged through hardships. In that bastion of focus, you brew your spells and weave the arcane faster and more accurately, shielded from nuisances. But when the walls are in danger it is necessary to take up arms and ride out in unprecedented force. It is a temporary outburst, an exhausting one, sacrificing precision for power but a necessary one, so that you may have a bastion to retreat to and rest. (-1 mana/level)
Ouch, another mana drain. But the focus is still there, I now have an empty Skill slot and that ride-out part… Let’s give it a shot.
As the Skill activates I feel my mind catch on fire, similar to getting zapped coupled with something cold running through my body. I dip my toe into fire magic and exhale. The air shimmers and travels until it meats a long-dead baby bunny, basically melting its skin in an instant.
Then the Skill deactives.
The headache is bad, I almost fall over because I wasn’t expecting anything like this but I can only grin as the pain slowly lessens.
That’s… damn… damn I could’ve wiped the floor with Val if I had this back then. Add to that a little practice with plasma and I’m good to go. Give me any noble brat from the Academy and I’ll bash their heads in. Rhetorically, I don’t want to kill anyone, especially when there might be political ramifications.
“Done!” I declare triumphantly before turning to Dad. “So, care to explain now? What was that-”
“RAGH!” Bam, bam, bam. “DIE!”
“Valka it's already fucking dead. Chill out!” I yell at her because there’s no other way to get through once the reason has been pushed to the background.
As useful as it is when she throws all concerns and survival instincts to the wind it's just as, if not more, cumbersome. She turns dumb and animal-like, eating hit after hit even after her mana supply is bone dry. And this isn’t even a Skill…
Bennett sure does have his work cut out for him and while progress is apparent there’s still too much… whatever that self-destructive fighting style is left in my friend. That and pride but there’s no way the old man can fix that.
“Who’s useless now, huh?” She grins at me wickedly with her ragged breathing slowly returning to normal.
At least it does wonders for her Skills.
“I took down two heads so you better not bring up who’s stronger again.” I stop her before that topic comes up again. “Mom, could you give her another change of clothes? And Dad, explanation, now!” My confidence and attitude are both sky-high after the glorious victory.
Okay, to be fair this one was too easy. Immobile and dangerous when you get close, just like a hedgehog. The ugliest hedgehog ever. I could’ve probably killed it by just slinging rocks until they crushed the last breath out of that botched puzzle of bodies.
Dad looks around the cavern once more and I provide light so he can check that indeed everything has perished. “That creature… it wasn’t born like that. A Fleshgrafter created that abomination by merging multiple creatures.” He explains.
That part was kinda obvious. I mean who in their right mind would think Aelion made something that abhorrent? There was a clear line where the horse began and the wolf ended.
Dad continues. “This is forbidden.” Well, no shit. “There are rules in place, strict rules. The Epros Conventions has an entire paragraph dedicated to the art of fleshcraft. Creating a chimera is among the most serious crimes stated in it. And now we stepped into royal shit. The best we can do is damage control” He turns to Mom now. “Can you take care of them alone? I’ll run back and report. That way we might avoid the grasp of the Lawbringers.”
Oh, c’mon. This was supposed to be a simple quick mission slaughtering bunnies and now this? “Why not go together? Besides, that was one lackluster explanation. We should stick-”
“Go,” Mom shoos her man away. “I’ll just hand them their asses if they don’t behave.” Her eyes narrow on us, challenging us to try her. “If they act though, benefitting a seasoned fighter, then they should be prepared to be treated as one.”
I, for one, certainly won't give that a try.
“Be good and kill any rabbits you find, okay girls?” Dad flashes an amused smile and disappears down the tunnel we arrived through.
That leaves us three girls…in a cavern far from Solarie’s light, with smoldering corpses, pools of blood, and the smell of roasted rabbit. Not my idea of a girl’s trip.
Since there’s nothing useful or charming left down here, quite the opposite really, we make a quick exit.
Once out I take a deep breath, venting all the putrid smell from my body. “Well, that was something.” I stretch, still attentive to our surroundings. “Is this how adventures usually go, Mom?”
“Unexpected things happen every now and then.” She says, quite aloof compared to Dad’s previous attitude. “Sometimes things go way smoother than expected, others… let’s this falls into the mildly bad category. Nobody died, even without our help, and the task is finished. We might lose our next few days though.”
“Things turned to shit, as usual.” I complain. Not that surprising when you add two Blessing backlashes together.
“Oh shush.” Mom flicks my ear. “If it were too easy then you’d be complaining all the same.”
“Yeah yeah, can we go home now? I don’t want to sleep outside.”
“And I’d love to wash… everything.” Val adds, trying to get all the liquified rabbit out of her hair.
“I guess. Even if we leave any of the little monsters behind, the people coming to investigate will just burn the whole forest down together with them.” Mom leans her spear leisurely on her shoulder. “We’re done here.”
***
Despite our early departure around noon, we didn’t make our way to the nearest settlement, to stay overnight. We set off straight towards Granhall.
Mom argued that the whole camping and nightwatch thing didn’t really work out the last time meaning we needed some more practice. She also relieved herself from the task with the pretext of ‘so you learn to rely on yourselves’ and ‘it’s for your own good’. A heap of crap that was.
Without Dad to keep me company or anything to try its luck eating us the night was suffering. I couldn’t even play with some magic not to wake anyone up by making too much sound or noise. With nothing but time on my hand my thoughts settled on the topic of second class and what might come in handy for my schooldays.
A scribe or some sort of learning Class is definitely up there to help me soak up as much knowledge as possible. Or maybe just a few general Skills to cram all the stuff into my head…
Except all of that sounded like such a waste. Besides, picking up a Warrior Class like Mom is still not entirely out of the picture yet, something I could clearly push during my years there… Another Mage Class also had its appeal.
Kicking Valka out of her bedroll without waking Mom was a chore on its own. She was grumpy and uncooperative until I deceivingly offered to do her part as well. I knew she’d knock me out cold before allowing herself to become deadweight.
The roles got reversed and she had to strongarm me into going to sleep. I took her bedroll because it was already warm and closed my eyes without a hint of guilt.
The next day a little after noon we arrive at the dreadful gates of Granhall. The passage of eternal gossip and queuing. To our surprise, we don’t have to stand in line at all.
“You must be Luna. And these two fought the creature.” An armored woman addresses us in a stoic, commanding tone with four others standing to her back.
Her gear looks nothing like that of the guards, Valerian soldiers, or adventurers. It screams magic with marvelous craftsmanship in gray and gold colors.
“I must ask you to follow me. We have questions.” She says and rests her hand on the pommel of the sword at her waist.
At least we can skip the line I guess.