Chapter 77 - Magic Battle Training II
Jonas recognized the idea from his spell, not even two exchanges ago. He had no reason to avoid the spell, but to give Bryn a closer experience to the battle level he was about to partake in, Jonas over-extended himself to avoid freezing his foot. The strange movement allowed Bryn to shift his weight toward the left leg as his body moved forward, pulling back both hands and bringing Akusashi to his chest, his wrists twisted clockwise, pointing its tip at Jonas's head. Bryn kicked the ground to rush at the man, his sword and movement trying to take advantage of Jonas's free form and positioning.
Jonas's gaze fixated on the blade tip as he prized the young man. He assessed the attack as fatal in most battles at Bryn's level and experience. Unfortunately for Bryn, Jonas had the speed and expertise to exploit his size and the weapon's lack of length. Jonas calculated the minimal distance he would have to keep so as not to find Akusashi in his movements, allowing his body to bend down as his left foot reached the ground.
Bryn saw the evasion with excitement; there was no way the first trap would catch Mr. Jonas, or he would have been too nice on their first exchange. Bryn allowed his momentum to step forward with his left leg, rotating the blade along its soul so that the blade would aim at Jonas's direction. The rotation from the left step allowed him to pull the sword, still pressuring the opponent.
Excellent movement, kid; there is no hesitation. I'm not sure if it is a complement to my skill or if you really wouldn't mind taking my life… Jonas thought as his right hand grabbed the ground, and his left foot was launched as a whip in a backward rotation, aimed at Bryn's front ankle. He was so fast that dust rose from the floor wherever his feet traveled.
Shit, I over accelerated! Jonas thought as his half-turn was almost done.
Still, with an expectation, there is time to test the remaining possibilities. Bryn knew that, once again, his reach was a problem even with Akusashi giving him another half of his arm size. As both his body kept the blade toward Jonas, his core pulses of mana went to different locations. His plan had three parts: to defend and attack.
Clenching his abdomen and legs as fast as he could, he lowered his center of gravity as much as he could. Bryn caused the accumulated humidity all over his body to freeze like an Ice sculpture, forming a sequence of small water spheres between his leg and the incoming lower-spinning kick. To finish it, he froze two meters to his right side and let his right hand off his sword.
The smile on Jonas's face simply increased as he noticed the faun's reaction time. Analyzing, Jonas knew no member of the troll's hunting party would be able to evade such a defensive matter in time. Still, he wasn't the troll, and his point was also to humble Bryn. Jonas created a tornado around his hill, about to contact Bryn's water sphere.
As the spells clashed, the sequence of ice walls dissipated the water sphere's pressure on Bryn's side, and as both the strength from Jonas's rotation, Bryn hooved to his right. He felt pain in the area that god hit, but his leg still worked.
As he glided, his legs extended, sending him flying right. He used his right wrist to send mana to the ground. A few ice spikes used the water droplets in the ground to form and were sent toward Jona's direction in a triangular formation about ten inches apart.
Jonas's rotation continued smoothly as he finished his low kick. He felt the mana fluctuations and, without looking, jumped away to avoid the spikes' hit.
Touching the floor, Jonas sprinted toward the faun, still composing himself, but it was too late. He readied a right punch with the same tornado around his hand and went for Bryn's face.
Looking at the incoming blow, Bryn knew. Even if his instinct noticed it, his mana sense could read the mana covering the right hand, and his eyes and brain could tell what he would need to do to avoid it; it was impossible. His body didn't have the speed to do what needed to be done. He smiled and exhaled the air in his lungs.
It's time to see the difference in power. I thought Bryn as he braced for impact.
The shock wave of the blow was strong enough that Bryn deepened his hooves a few inches in the ground. Both his arms fell like jelly down to the sides. His face was exposed, and Jonas saw his eyes still sharp. A quick mana sense allowed Jonas to read Bryn's core, which was completely depleted. His body was still shining, but he was losing any strength left fast, Bryn said quietly before hitting the ground. "At least one hit…"
Jonas expanded the mana sense, finding dozens of smaller ice spikes. Each had enough power to compare with the one Bryn used to hurt the dark-skinned and red-haired trolls. Their trajectory was elliptical, with him as one of the focus points and different speeds and angles from him to the second focus point. The spells were much faster than Bryn's physical attacks, so they reached the region where Jonas stood in the blink of an eye.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
The incredible number of spells and the curving trajectories impede Jonas from finishing Bryn, even though it costs him to deplete his mana.
Jonas was happy with the spectacle; the forest, torn by the attack, now looked like Swiss cheese wherever the trees survived. Jonas looked down from the sky; with Bryn at the center, six squished circles were rotating the ice spikes at incredible speeds. The amount of spells and their movement allowed him to see something similar to a six-point snowflake in shape.
If Bryn had looked at the spell from Jonas's point of view, he would have seen nearly what he had imagined—the spikes protecting him from all sides as the model for an atom's nucleus from Rutherford.
With Bryn unconscious, there was no mana to replenish the spell, so the ice spikes only maintained their orbit, speed, and rotation for two seconds after his body touched the ground. Jonas went down to the floor and looked at the young faun lying there. The fur from its legs around his hooves, the landed pants and shirt from the village, the callus hands from all the training he had endured, his body even paler than usual after the mana depletion.
Jonas said nothing and simply started to walk toward their camp. A circular piece of the ground around Bryn started levitating and gliding near Jonas, following him. As he arrived at the camp, the structure under Bryn disintegrated as if it were sand, landing him safely and slowly on the floor. Jonas prepared a fire, took a few potions from his ring, left them next to Bryn, and then walked away from the camp.
In the mountains, Lysander watched over the group. They were currently catching a Celestial Elk. The creature usually had one of two elements: earth or water. Some myths told stories about them being the most important creatures in nature as if they were responsible for improving and protecting the forests. Unlike regular creatures, the antlers from the Celestial Elk could become as powerful as gemstones if the creature was strong and ancient.
The group had improved its hunting capabilities as a whole; everyone had adapted to the others' abilities and styles. The caravan was responsible for most of the work. Luca allowed the other party members to perform more relevant tasks in front, but Zara, Amelia, and Kaelar took some time to adapt to the challenges.
The group had faced some threats before, and their level allowed them to deal with anything nonmagical with confidence, but magical beasts were on a different level. One must have a certain amount of experience and brilliance to deal with them. From Lysanders perspective, the group could be trained to be proper adventurers, but it would take time. What hindered their development was the person with the least amount of kills or damage dealt, Michelle.
After the facedown with the Arcane Grizzly, the group faced another five magical beasts. All of them were of different races, even if their attuned element were the same. In every single one, it didn't matter the place, time, or who was in trouble with the creature; an arrow perfectly timed would eintervene. Initially, Lysander thought Michelle was attacking whenever she could; that is how it looked at their first fight.
Like with the bear, Lysander noticed a few arrows during their second challenge. Still, each created an opportunity for the others to land a hit on the creature, block an attack or spell, or create a small opening for the group to reposition. To confirm his suspicions, he forbade Michelle to help the group with this hunt. Instead, he asked her to watch with him and narrate what she saw.
Currently, Amelia, Daniel, and Kaelar circulated the elk. Thrain and Zara, opposite each other, were a bit further back. The last line of attack, Kwame and Luca, formed a perpendicular line with the previous two.
"Uncle Ly, I don't see how the elk could run…"
"True, their formation seems solid. What would you do?"
"Hmm, I try to protect the fragile and help the strong…"
What a minded way of dealing with a challenging situation. I wish I were eight like her. Lysander thought before continuing.
"Good, that is the support's hole. But how would you do it?"
"Usually, Daniel and Kwame strike first, so I would probably wait for their move. If the elk went in Amelia's direction, I would scare it away!" Michelle said as she waved her legs one at a time from the branch. They were looking at the fight from above.
"Michelle, could you hunt a magical beast alone?" Lysander asked the young lady.
She looked at him with goggling eyes before turning the irises another way.
“Are you going to tell father or uncle?”
Lysander remained silent; she knew he would always share relevant information with Gabriel.
“Fine, I’ll let you know I already hunted more than one!” Michelle exclaimed as her hand held the pendant that hid her actual skill and status from an appraisal.
Lysander’s serene face trembled a bit before he continued.
“Would you mind showing me your current skill then?” He asked, looking at the fight below.
The elk had its time counted, and its attacks were not connecting. The groups had found a good formation and flow for dealing with individual magical creatures without overwhelming power.
“Yes! But you have to cook it just for me later!”
Lysander smiled at the youngster as his hand patted the top of her head.
“Deal.”
Michelle was the first to move, Lysander following her closely. He used mana sense to locate possible targets around the area, discovering two mana signatures in the region. When using mana sense far away, the exact location was never perceived, only the direction in which the signature was at.
Coincidentally or not, the stronger signal was in a straight line in the direction Michelle moved. With every minute that passed, the mana signature grew stronger.
After running a few miles, Michelle slowed down. Along with her speed, Lysander noticed that her body calmed, her breathing diminished causing her presence to almost instantly blend with the environment.
Lysander could tell that the creature before them was strong, his mana sense couldn't tell its battle capabilities, but it had at least as much mana as the arcane grizzly he helped them defeat.
She hid among the snow and a few trees, making her way into the mana source's position. Before anything else, Michelle used once again the thinnest layer of mana sense she could, registering both the directions a following attack could come from and where she should make her escape. Looking down, the mana signature had come from a big horn similar to the one Thrain had been following weeks prior.
"Uncle Ly, does this one count?" she whispered, bringing her bow forth.