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1.1
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Something was wrong.
Basil might not have been very old, but he knew his Clan’s land as well as any elf. He knew that for the past few decades, no Mana Beast had been sighted so deep in Elf territory, that for the most part things had been calm, save for the rumblings of conflict from the far off frontier and the give and taken between them and the Mana Beasts.
‘Something like this… shouldn’t be here.’
Ducking behind a tree, the young elf gawked as the serpent-like neck of the avian beast thrashed about. Snapping branches and denting smaller trees as the creature crawled forward, dragging its weight closer to the outpost.
Scratch being large, that thing was huge.
Larger than any picture he’d ever seen of a Mana Beast.
There was a horrible noise, a high pitched screech that made him stumble as he scrambled to put together the flare spell, the orb of mana struggling to maintain its shape as the air thinned the closer the massive beast got. Before potting like a soap bubble. The mana dispersing into blue dust in the air.
Dammit.
The Mana Beast was too close.
He couldn’t contest its control over the surrounding mana.
The closer it got, the less mana there would be available to them. Only those with enough mana in their bodies, and a strong control would be able to wrest together enough to put together spells. Both things that he himself lacked.
‘Need to put some distance.’
Peeking behind his hiding place he barely caught a glimpse of Hemlock forming a small blade from Mana, stabbing it into the head holding him aloft, the other two moving in after him before Ghoti dashed forwards as if unbothered by how thin the air was and how cold and lifeless the space around the beast became.
And as he stepped closer and closer, Basil felt it.
A spark.
A fleeting warmth emanating from the void that was the human.
Then a rush of wind as his blade met the side of the beast’s second head, a loud thunder echoing on Basil’s ears as the human stood his ground and the monster’s head shot backwards, its skull cracking against a nearby tree with a pained squawk as the other two recovered.
Diving for him like serpents.
The man jumped backwards, barely avoiding the lunge, the bird’s beak sinking into the ground as the third head chased after him.
“Burst!”
A trio of arrows peppered it from the side, shining blue, the constructs lasted for all but a second before exploding in a shower of sparks, the force for the explosion driving the last head back.
Hemlock didn’t look… great.
Not bad, but being in proximity to a Mana Beast wasn’t good for any elf, period.
That he could breathe, let alone fight was a testament to the older elf’s skill… or to his stubbornness. Hunters and Guards usually had the most practice and experience using Mana to fight. They were the ones meant to handle the threat of Mana Beasts. Basil had barely gotten any practice done, and his spells were losing shape faster than he could put them together.
The larger the beast, the wider the area affected by them.
The mana that they needed to live.
The mana they used to fight, build, and make their own food.
Mana Beasts were a calamity not because of their size and strength, but because their presence threatened everything about their civilization. The longer they were left alone, the larger they would grow and the more widespread the effect would be, until it became impossible for any mana to be drawn upon.
The air would become toxic.
The land would become infertile to them.
Their spells would unravel and their homes would die as none other than the beast would have absolute dominion over the mana that was so precious to life itself. A reason why parties were put together to kill these creatures.
‘They shouldn’t be able to fight at all.’
He could barely form spells, yet somehow Hemlock was keeping up.
If only barely.
And Ghoti? He wasn’t moving as fast as before, but he didn’t seem to be at all bothered by the environment around the Beast. His strength hadn’t dulled a bit as he batted away the lunge of the three headed monster, bobbing and weaving between the strikes, swinging his sword as if the hunk of metal had a chance at hurting the mass of mana-infused flesh.
The blade merely bounced off.
‘This should be far enough.’
Running through woods, Basil felt the weight lift from his shoulders as fresher, untainted air filled his chest and the sensation of vigor returned to him. More importantly, the orb of light he’d been struggling to shape finally solidified properly, the mana slowly absorbing the instructions he passed onto it before being flung into the air.
‘Fly away.’
An instruction to move swiftly and weightlessly.
‘Burst.’
An instruction to violently disperse.
‘Thunder.’
An instruction to loudly call for attention.
The end result was a simple flare spell which blew up above the trees with a distinct he’d been taught to mimic by the older Guards. Distinct sounds and lights meant different threats. Time was off the essence however, so Basil hoped that he’d been close enough for them to notice the signal.
Basil shuddered.
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He could feel that thing’s presence growing stronger. His breathes grew shallower as he took off on another run.
There was no way he could contest that thing.
It was unnatural.
How did something this big and this dangerous make it all the way to Pineskeep? Surely some other village or patrol would have sensed it and warned them. There is no way it could have simply appeared from thin air, not like a lesser Mana Beast might have. If its influence kept growing like this, then he might as well not have fired off that signal.
They would be feeling it from the village soon enough.
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Fly.
Pierce.
Burst.
Envisioning the shape of the arrow. Calling upon his own mana, forming the desired shell around it, and then imparting the commands needed for the spell to fulfill its task. Those were the basics of magic passed down the Woods Clan from generation to generation, mentor to student.
It was simple.
Effectively so.
Perhaps because their ancestors had to contend with the Mana Beasts as they fought to liberate the land where his kin now resided. It made sense for the basis of all Spellcraft to be calling upon one’s own reserve of mana. So long as you had enough, you would be able to cast a spell even under the beast’s influence.
But there was a downside.
Not being able to draw upon the ambient mana meant spending more of your own.
‘That’s three more arrows. Eight to go.’
The impact of the constructs on the monster’s heads was fierce, puncturing the tough skin before rupturing to deepen the wound. Or so the spell was meant to work. The most basic combat spell taught by the Guard.
Magic Arrow.
It was something every elf knew how to do.
‘It’s barely doing anything.’ Hemlock cursed under his breath.
It was simply not enough. Even if he could pierce the hide and do some damage, the Beast would just shrug it off and heal, pulling from its own massive reserves to rebuild the flesh and bone his arrows had sheared off. Mana beasts weren’t creatures of flesh and blood, after all, they were masses of mana wearing flesh and blood.
‘Form. Rebound.’
Bouncing off of a small plate of mana, Hemlock barely ducked over another lunge, the bird’s head piercing onto the side of the large tree behind him.
Rebound.
He formed another one, bouncing off mid air just in time to avoid the second head.
Only to miss the third.
‘Pinec-’
“Piss off, you overfed turkey!”
A rush of air and a flare of warmth heralded the armored man’s charge, the side of his blade digging into the monster’s skull, but not breaking the skin, before sending it barreling backwards.
Hemlock felt it for a moment.
As if the creature’s hold over the ambient Mana had broken for all of a few seconds.
He took a deep breath, pulling in as much as he could to refill his own mana, before the air eventually became stale once more, the creature’s focus faltering for but a short moment before reestablishing itself.
“You okay there?”
Ghoti called from the side, looking no worse for wear despite acting as his meat shield.
“Somehow, thanks to you.”
The human twirled his sword, taking a wide stance.
“Things are only gonna get tougher from here on. Think the kid managed to get away?”
Pursuing his lips, the older elf considered the question.
“The flare just now must have been his doing. It shouldn’t be long until the guards take notice.”
That meant they would have to hold it off until they did.
“How long can you go for?”
“I will manage.”
Not nearly long enough, Hemlock wanted to say.
He was neither a warrior, nor a hunter. If not for the human’s help and ability to fight the creature, he would have gotten killed twice over by now. There was a reason he chose to flee from that giant boar earlier, he just didn’t have the skill and experience to fight without support, and this beast wouldn’t let them run away.
The three heads reared back for another attack.
Ghoti moved before they could.
There was a flare of… something. The familiar light he’d witnessed before as it overflowed from the human’s body, spreading like flames.
He swung his sword, blocking one of the heads.
It immediately bounced off, as if hitting a stone wall.
Hemlock didn’t question it, he merely acted upon the opening.
‘Fly, Burst, Ignite’
Hemlock tossed the mana sphere at the other two heads, the spell igniting and exploding as they lunged towards the human. A screech of fright thundered as the creature shied away from the flames.
“Fire works?”
Hemlock smirked in satisfaction.
“Mana or not, it is still a beast. Fire frightens them.”
Didn’t mean that it was stupid. Do the same trick enough times and any beast would wisen up to it. Either way, Hemlock didn’t have enough mana to pull off something like this constantly. Three step spells were barely working, and anything lower would probably just dissolve without leaving a scratch.
‘Form, Harden, Extend’
Feeling the drain on his mana, Hemlock took a deep steadying breath, the formless mass of energy steadily taking the shape of a thin spear. The spell barely held its shape, but the amount of mana he spent made it resist the beast’s pull on it.
“Got a plan?”
“We hold it here until help arrives. Then we move away once the Guards engage it. They should be better equipped to deal with it than us.”
Hopefully.
“Just have to hold it there?”
The human was planning something, Hemlock could tell.
“How many spells do you have left?”
Hemlock took a moment to register the question.
“One, maybe two if I am careful.” He couldn’t recover mana fast enough. That he managed to use more than the usual three spells with his own power was nothing short of exceptional. Let along inside an area under the influence of such a massive beast.
“Save them for now.”
There was a sharp hissing noise of air as it rushed through the gaps of the human’s armor.
What was he planning?
Up until now, Hemlock hadn’t known what to think of the strange heat spreading from the void in his senses that was the human. At first he thought it had been a trick of his mind, or imagination, something unlike the mana he was accustomed to feeling within himself or his clansmen.
Now?
Now he knew for sure it was there.
It was spreading, growing, pulsing as if alive… almost like.
‘A heartbeat?’
There was a tense moment of silence as one of the heads reared back to strike them from the side, Ghoti turning to block its way just as he had before. The air around him grew sweltering hot for a brief moment, enveloping not just the elf but the beast’s head as it approached…
Before the flame burst outwards.
And the monster’s head exploded.
“Reinforce.”