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1.9
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The problems with fighting a Mana Beast were many.
If you couldn’t drive it away swiftly, it became a battle of attrition. If it became a battle of attrition, the enemy would only grow stronger as the air grew thinner and more poisonous as less mana was available. And if there was less mana, that meant spending the internal pool of mana that all elves were born with.
Which lead to their bodies shutting down.
Which lead to death if they weren’t moved to an unaffected area.
In short, stalling for time was perhaps the most dangerous part of fighting a Beast, but with the village under attack, it was the only option that Jasmine could see that allowed for the highest number of lives to be saved.
“Shields up!”
Gather.
Shape.
Harden.
Motes of blue light coalesced around her body, the shape of an eggshell blossoming in her mind as her own power mingled with the exterior mana, gave it a round form, and finally hardened the end result as a plume of putrid flames washed over her, cracks and bits flying off at the force of the blast.
But it held.
Others were not so lucky.
To her side, she could see some of the round projections of light had broken too soon, or failed to form in time, the flames blasting the guards back as they rolled around to put out the fire on their bodies.
Clustering together like this had issues.
If all of them were drawing on the mana around them to fight while contesting the Beast’s control over it at the same time, it meant that there simply wasn’t enough to go around. Anything higher than a third grade spell would fizzle out or plain not work. And the more spells they used the less mana they had to work with.
It was a terrible conundrum.
“Spears, now!”
Behind her, one of Aspen’s lieutenants rushed forth, a long shaft of solid mana flying through a gap on her shield with perfect aim and timing, sinking into the side of the beast’s face with a meaty thunk.
It didn’t explode.
Nor did it pierce all that deeply.
Pinecones.
“Shields!”
This time there were less of them, and the monster’s charge despite being short still hit the cluster of mana shells with all the weight of its body, just the force alone sent more of the Guards flying back, the flames on its mane erupting around its body and setting end more trees alight as the group was pushed back a few dozen feet.
Jasmine’s body screamed in protest.
Barely holding onto the remains of her shell, she pulled the mana back inside, before it could dissipate. A small reprieve from the draining presence of the burning creature, jumping back just as its body released a fresh burst of smoke and embers.
“Archers!”
Up in the trees yet to burn, a fresh barrage of arrows rained down on the back of the creature, the squeal of fury reverberating through the village as its wounds sizzled and flesh erupted with mana, knitting itself back together, regrowing skin and fur.
It was distracted.
Gather.
Flow.
Dowse.
The spell lacked shape, it was only an amorphous blob of blue light, until its form softened and flowed through the air like drops of rain in the wind, a see-through crystaline and blue liquid which flowed between Jasmine’s hands, deftly moved by the spellcrafter the liquid shot towards the beasts.
A column of steam and a squeal of fury erupted from the spot, the area which had been catching fire and spreading became soggy and muddy with the blast of liquid.
‘Barely enough.’ Jasmine let out a shaky breath.
Spells were becoming harder.
Even for her, the only reason she hadn’t fallen below the second grade spell was due to having a higher than average amount of mana in her body, plus her own study and practice with Spellcrafting. The Guards were flagging, a Mana Beast as large as this one was simply beyond them.
Frankly it was beyond even her.
‘We should have called those hunters.’ She bit her lip.
The Governor, as it turned out, had the right idea.
Hunters would have been better equipped to deal with this, even if she and the village guard were barely holding on for the time, they simply didn’t have the experience of fighting Mana Beasts that the Hunters would… because most of them had never seen one of the monsters before.
Knowledge wasn’t enough.
‘Something else to do when I have the time.’
If she had time after this.
“Formation!” The Guard responded to her call, forming a new line with smaller, thinner shields as the enemy recovered its bearings. Breathing ragged, shoulders sagged, the air itself seemingly choked the life out of the elves as the monster’s presence grew stronger and spread wider, many who’d been fighting had long since fallen unconscious.
Others had to be dragged away by the evacuating villagers.
The situation was dire, and of their initial forces, they had a third left.
A fresh wave of flames spread from the Beasts, evaporating the liquid mana she’d used to dowse the previous blats, the air felt muggy and unbearably warm. Beads of sweat crawled down the side of her face, her clothes clung to her uncomfortably, and her head pounded from a migraine as she still somehow resisted the fatigue.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
‘One more time.’
They just needed to hold up a little while longer.
Just enough to give the villagers time to put some distance between them and the fight.
There was a shift in the air as the Boar pulled itself back to its feet, hooves dragging through the scorched earth, preparing to charge. The pressure emanating from it seemed to hit them all at once as the creature changed and shifted before their very eyes, mane extending and flaring alight, tusks growing and curving ever so slightly.
A second pair of eyes grew atop the first as the creature’s domain pulsed and washed over them.
Jasmine coughed.
The air had become poison.
Across from her she could see the mana shells give away, the guards choking without mana just as she had, incapable of moving as the Beast pawed the ground and rushed forward, setting the world alight as it approached them faster and faster. Time itself slowed to a crawl as the elves tried and failed to move away.
The assistant blinked blearily.
She hoped the others managed to escape in time.
It was a shame about Pineskeep though…
‘I’ve always loved this place.’
▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅
The beast surged forward, intent on skewing them.
And then it exploded.
Not in the way she expected. Jasmine thought it would have been much hotter and painful if she was dead. Instead she opened her eyes to a shower of drizzling mana as something pierced the side of the boar, throwing it off its course and onto its back with a blast of liquid and steam.
The steam spread over to them, and she breathed in the free mana as an overwhelmingly familiar presence surged forward. Clashing with the monster’s.
“You are late, Aspen.”
“Its Captain!” The shorter woman, perched atop one of the trees further away behind them, snapped, having somehow heard her.
Seriously, this was the worst job ever.
Making her hold out like this. They better give her a raise.
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Caladium was a coward.
He knew that by heart.
The lesser son of greater parents, too scared to stand up and demand what was rightfully his. Content to skulk away to parts unknown when he couldn’t stomach to put himself in opposition to his family and their ways, removing himself from their city, abandoning the pursuit for the seat that should have been his by birth.
He left.
He accepted the post in Pineskeep, hoping that if he worked hard enough, he could prove that his lack of talent in other areas could be forgiven and that his mind would be what was most important in the end.
Only it wasn’t.
Knowing how to administrate a city didn’t help if you were raided by monsters.
Caladium thought they had more time and with a good plan and enough cajoling he would have been capable of solving it before it became too much of an issue. His intent was good, and his plan was sound, he just didn’t have the time he needed. And that his mind leaned on that excuse just drove further how much of a coward he was.
Incapable of fighting.
A mediocre spell crafter at best.
All he had to fall back on were his charisma and his people’s skills. But you couldn’t bribe or convince a monster not to burn down your home. So the most he could do was guide the evacuation efforts as best he could while watching the village guard put up as good of a fight as they could in the distance.
“Elderly and children first. Mages last! Guards at the rear!”
Pineskeep wasn’t supposed to go anywhere.
He wasn’t supposed to go anywhere.
Eventually, some other town would grow and either swallow up their small piece of territory, or the population would grow bored and move onto a different place. With only a few centuries existing, it was unlikely that a single elf’s administration, no matter how good, would be able to turn a lone community in the woods into anything resembling the glory of the Royal Capital.
This incident proved it.
“Governor, where are we going?” One of the handful of guards called to him.
Caladium wished he had a good answer.
“We’ll head west, towards the river. From there we can follow it to Havensbark.” Gloxinia might have been a spiteful old crone, but she wouldn’t turn away her brethren in need of help. And the sooner they could warn her about the rampaging Mana Beast, the better.
There was a roar in the distance, a cloud of steam rising over in the distance.
“Is that-”
“The Captain is here.” One of the guards perked up. To his side, he could hear the whispered conversation, a twinge of hope kindling in his chest. The mana in the air was still thin, feeling like he’d been dunked into the river, Caladium turned to the Head of Spellcraft, his fellow elder shaping a glob of mana into the shape of a bird.
Or at least trying to.
“Not fair enough?”
The older elf sighed, shaking his head.
Long distance messages, and other types of communication spellcraft took time and energy to put together. Even the most basic construct made to deliver a message could only be made once you were past the third step, or had enough Mana that you could skip the gathering external mana part altogether.
Not that he could help there.
Transferring mana under these circumstances would all but kill him, and the same went for everyone.
“Sir, we have movement.”
Caladium stiffened. Immediately, the few guard’s who followed them formed a line between the villagers and the presence they all felt. Caladium didn’t know how it must have felt to his clansmen, but to him, mana was experienced as warmth in his body. A more tactile approach to those who could hear, or see it.
But this?
This was different.
He couldn’t feel it, the familiar warmth. Instead it was as if a blizzard swept through the woods around them, hard wind flaying his skin as the guards formed spears and shields, just as unnerved as him. If the monster rampaging behind them was a raging inferno that threatened to engulf them, this new presence might as well have frozen them in place as it approached.
The governor stood back, ready to order a retreat.
And then a woman wearing a rob burst through the treeline.
“Ms. Zinnia?” The physician? What was she doing here-
“Governor, you look suitably pale. I see that mana deprivation has started taking its toll.” As candid as ever, the older woman completely ignored him, the line of guards and their very pointy spears in lieu of looking over her own shoulder.
“Patient, I’ve located the villagers!”
Caladium gawked.
Who was she talking to? There was nothing there-
And then the blizzard stepped through the woods, and his blood froze in his veins.
“I have a name, you weirdo.”
A… walking suit of armor?
More strangely, a walking suit of armor that talked and had no presence at all, as if a cold voice had opened up like a gaping maw in the world. And on his back, he carried a very sickly looking blonde elf, who looked every bit as queasy as Caladium felt.
“It seems we’ve made it in time.” Hemlock sighed from his perch.
The Physician ignored them.
“Who… what is that?” He couldn’t help but ask.
The walking suit of armor sighed, looking at the spears which were now pointed at it with annoyance.
“You’re being rescued, please don’t resist.”
The elf on his back palmed his face in embarassment.