Nick watched on as he ran, impressed by their proficiency and teamwork. His appreciative grin melted into a worried frown only a heartbeat later. The enchanted missile struck the closest weasel head-on before shattering in a ball of flame, inflicting no appreciable damage whatsoever.
When he took a closer look, he saw that a wide swath of the beast’s hide had transformed into what appeared to be solid stone, evidence of a powerful spell or ability at work.
Ok, he nodded in understanding. The situation is a lot worse than I thought. By now, Sophia and Nick were drawing close to the site of the battle. So far, none of the combatants had noticed their arrival. He began planning out his attack, hoping that the weasels’ stone form was directed and not automatic. That a surprise attack could pierce their formidable protection.
Nick turned his head as a flash of red light appeared beside him, coalescing into the form of a spear-tongue frog, the summon keeping pace with his partner as she ran.
She just figured out how to summon them while on the move. Incredible. A heartbeat later, a frostfury wasp popped into existence above her shoulder, and she raised her dagger, poised to strike.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Nick took a moment to appreciate the sheer level of mastery that Sophia displayed with her abilities. Powers that she had been granted only a few weeks prior.
Nick had learned mana dart weeks earlier, but he still had to concentrate for two uninterrupted seconds to conjure each spell. On that note, he stopped long enough to prepare three darts now, using the last chunk of mana in his core.
He was too far away to use piercing ray, since the spell could only be directed the moment that it was set free, unlike his darts, which would orbit his head for several minutes before dispersing. The brief delay let Sophia take the lead, and she darted across the final stretch of marsh grass between herself and the trapped party.
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I hope that our powers are effective. We just burned through the last of our mana, since we didn’t start this fight full. Regardless, he trusted his partner’s judgement. With Sophia’s battlefield awareness skill, her grasp of small group tactics was superior to his own. On par with any top-level gamer from his old life.
Nick would have loved to have faced off against such a competent opponent back in the day, but fighting by her side was even more rewarding. Thus, despite the seriousness of the situation, he found himself intensely curious. Fascinated to learn how she would initiate the fight.
After summoning his third dart, Nick looked out over the battlefield while running at full speed, checking out the changes that had taken place over the last handful of heartbeats. It seemed that the besieged trio had been hard-pressed during the interim.
The woman holding the spear now had a bleeding gash along one arm, and the other warrior was drenched in sweat. The man had set aside his crossbow and taken the spear from his injured comrade, trying his best to keep the rock weasels from overwhelming them, despite his obvious inexperience in wielding the long weapon.
By now, the trio was exhausted. It was only a matter of time before they went down or took a serious wound. Just as Nick burned some stamina to press his body into a greater burst of speed, the beasts made their move.
Screaming a battle cry, both weasels’ bodies turned to stone, leaving only their joints soft to preserve their mobility. The beasts rushed forward in unison, brushing spear and sword aside as they converged upon the injured woman with lethal intent.
In that moment, Nick thought that the woman was done for. Sophia wouldn’t arrive for a few more seconds and he was still out of range of his darts. But then the spear-wielding warrior recovered her weapon from the crossbowman, blood running freely down her arm, staining her white robes crimson. Nick saw something coalesce around her body, and suddenly, the woman sped up.
For the next two seconds, her movements were increased by a factor of ten. She let loose over twenty attacks in the span of a breath, unleashing a furious barrage against her stone enemies by activating what had to be a top tier ability.
Although the shaft of her weapon became a living blur of wood and steel, she was unable to pierce the weasels’ rocky hides. On a brighter note, her barrage bought them precious seconds, driving the beasts back and away from her party. Just before the weasels released their full-body transformations, the spear shattered, shorn fragments splashing into the surrounding water.
It appeared that the beasts had been enraged by weathering the fierce attack, because they surged forward to settle the score with a ravenous gleam in their eyes.