Hazel watched as Nycteris bit the head of another Fractured Human and ripped it off from its shoulders. The Fractured creature then crumbled to the ground as the cracks on its body spread all over, completely engulfing it before breaking apart like glass.
Several more Fractured humans attempted to take down the Nightwing Bat, but he whipped his tail at them, sending them tumbling to the ground. Raising his tail above them, Nycteris slammed it against his foes, crushing them.
Meanwhile, Hazel and Astrid did their best to reduce the number of enemies the Nightwing had to deal with. The dark elf sent a volley of arrows hailing down on the horde, making sure to keep Nycteris out of range of her attack.
The storm of projectiles pelted the Fractured humans like rain, striking them down with malicious intent. Some of them were peppered with arrows, hitting their skulls, torsos, and limbs all at the same time before they went down and shattered.
Astrid didn’t let up though and continued to notch her arrows and shoot, making sure to aim her projectiles at a vital area of the Fractured Humans to instantly kill it. She was firing like a machine gun, each arrow she launched, another one was right behind it in a split second.
Hazel witnessed this with widened eyes, amazed at how proficient her partner was with her bow. Of course, she wasn’t the only one pulling her weight in the team.
Using her free hand that wasn’t holding the magic staff, Hazel activated her telekinesis, levitating a nearby pebble and hurling it at a nearby Fractured Human. Her aim was a little off, and instead of hitting its skull, she nicked its shoulder as the stone flew off god knows where.
“Tch…!” She irritably clicked her tongue. “I really need to work on my aim with this spell.”
Just before she attempted to lift another pebble with Telekinesis, Hazel could feel a slight headache throbbing between her eyes. She slightly staggered but managed to use her staff to keep herself from collapsing.
“Hazel, are you alright?” Astrid called out to her with a hint of concern in her voice.
“I’m fine…” Hazel huffed, grimacing from the headache. “Just a little tired. Using Telekinesis consumes a lot more Mana than my other spells.”
The dark elf nodded and moved in front of Hazel. “Stay behind me until you get you’re strength back, alright? We can’t have you collapsing on the spot while in the middle of a fight.”
“Okay…”
Listening to Astrid, Hazel took a moment to collect herself, allowing her depleted mana to get replenished. She leaned against her staff, using it as a cane to keep herself from collapsing. Heavy breaths escaped her lips as she stared at the horde around them.
She shouldn’t have been too reliant on using Telekinesis in the fight. Unlike her other spells, it constantly drained her mana for as long as it was activated. While Mana Bolt, Mana Shield, Baneful Sickle, and Decay used a fixed amount of mana to be cast, Telekinesis would continuously drain Hazel’s energy until she either stopped using the spell or ran out of Mana.
Just lifting and hurling a pebble a few times put the mage in her current predicament. Of course, Hazel knew that this would happen. Especially when the Description even said it as well. But because she was so eager to learn and use the spell, she completely overlooked how drained she would get by utilizing it a few times.
Thankfully, she wasn’t completely depleted over her mana, which would’ve been possible if not for The Necklace of the Arcane, increasing her Intelligence stat by twenty points. If that stat remained at thirty points, then she likely wouldn’t have been capable of using Telekinesis as long as she had before nearly reached the limit.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
However, because of how much mana Telekinesis was consuming, Hazel was going be putting more points into her Intelligence and Wisdom Stat to make things a little more manageable for her.
Which was frustrating considering that her Intelligence stat was in the sixties now thanks to her ring and dress. This showed just how taxing the spell was for Hazel to use, in both mana and experience.
Thankfully, she technically didn’t have to worry about her physical stats anymore since she had Astrid and Nycteris backing her up. However, in the future, she would like to do at least get them to at least twenty points shortly.
It didn’t take long before Hazel’s mana was replenished, once she noticed that her splitting headache was gone and felt less drained than before. With her energy back, Hazel rejoined the fight, assisting from a distance like before.
She hurled a Baneful Sickle at the Fractured Humans, tearing through the horde as her vision was filled with kill notification.
“Nycteris!” She called out to her familiar. “Fly up in the air and slam into the ground!”
The Nightwing turned to Hazel and nodded. He then expanded his wings and ascended into the sky. The Horde raised their heads to stare up at their enemy flying away from them, not knowing that their fate would be sealed if they didn’t attempt to flee in the next few seconds.
Once Nycteris was high enough in the air, at least around the height of the Clock Tower, he immediately dove down back to the street at blind speed. And like a meteor, the Nightwing slammed into the ground, creating a massive shockwave that blew away all the Fractured Humans in the vicinity.
Hazel and Astrid even witnessed some of the horde soar past them before crashing into buildings or the ground itself. This move seemed to have done the trick since as soon as the monsters crashed, their bodies shattered in an instant, filling the street with purple light fragments disbursing into the air.
The player duo watched the light show in awe as Nycteris barreled toward Hazel like a puppy running to its owner. He then lovingly nudged his head against her body while staring at her.
“Was that…to your liking…master?” He asked with an eager and hopeful expression.
“Yes, it was,” Hazel said, rubbing Nycteris’s head. “You did a good job, Nycteris!”
Before Hazel could continue praising her familiar, an abrupt coughing sound pulled her attention away as she looked over at Astrid, who was the source of the noise.
“Check his level before you do all of that, now,” Astrid reminded with a scolding tone.
“Oh, right…” Hazel remembered with a wry smile. “My bad.” She rubbed the back of her head nervously.
Before Astrid pestered further, the mage used identify on Nycteris, immediately seeing that her familiar was now level four. Hazel beamed with joy at her Nightwing’s rapid growth and proceeded to pet him as a reward.
“You’re level four now, Nycteris!” She noted with a singing voice. “Only six more levels and you’ll be level ten!”
Nycteris wasn’t the only one who was making some improvements as evident by the panel flashing before Hazel’s eyes.
[Telekinesis is now Rank 2!]
She finally managed to get Telekinesis to Rank 2. Although she didn’t expect her spell to allow her to lift heavy objects, this was still an improvement since she was making her spell stronger.
Just to be safe, Hazel mentally pulled up the Telekinesis spell description to see if there were any changes.
Rank 2
A spell that allows the User to manipulate objects without touching them. Lifting slightly heavier objects like blades or large rocks is easier to manipulate with Telekinesis.
“Cool, I can lift weapons now.” She smiled while cocking a brow at a certain phrase in the description. “And large rocks, apparently.”
This was quite the improvement that Hazel was expecting. However, it was also a welcomed one since it allowed Hazel to do more with telekinesis.
Hazel was a bit disappointed that she hadn’t hit Level fifteen yet, but she expected this to happen since the Fractured Humans were barely past Level Three. If she wanted to level up, then she needed to fight stronger enemies.
But that would come after helping Nycteris reach level ten. Since he was their main fighter, he needed to get stronger so he could protect Hazel and Astrid from enemies.
“Should we keep going?” Hazel asked Astrid.
The Dark elf shook her head. “No, it would likely be better if we took a break. You already reached your limit, so if we push it any further, then it would cause more issues than benefits.”
“Alright, then. Let’s go find a place to relax for now.”
“Agreed,” Astrid nodded.
“Understood…master.”
Feeling more or less satisfied with their progress, the trio decided to take their first break within the City Island.