“What's wrong!?” The man asked the two girls.
“Several monsters are approaching beneath the sand, they come from the north.” Fara rapidly explained as she ran towards the sleeping caravan. “And judging from their mana, they are…”
“Santipedes.” confirmed Liz.
“Can we avoid them?” The man asked.
“No… coming right to us.” Liz explained.
“Then we better get some light to fight them better.”
Fara and Liz nodded as each decided their roles, Fara and the man would wake everyone up while Liz created a light spell.
“Ah, you have at least detected them.” Mr Frol, who was calmly stepping out of the only roofed wagon of the caravan, said. “I thought I would have to alert you myself.”
Their confusion only lasted for a second, of course a level 50+ knight would detect the monsters faster than them. On top of that, if push came to shove, he could easily survive this encounter.
When Fara had woken up almost half of the caravan, Liz finally finished the preparations of her spell.
“!Ɉʜϱin ɘʜɈ ni noɔɒɘd ɒ ɘʞil ɘniʜƧ. Flare”
A simple blue orb of mana flew docens of metres into the sky, and once it stopped raising, blue light started flowing out of it.
Now that the sky was almost as bright as midday the shifts in the sand became more and more clear.
Liz saw the first three Sandtepides leaping out of the sand, and rapidly used Stalk Soul on them.
Infant Santipede —> lvl 23
Infant Santipede —> lvl 26
Infant Santipede —> lvl 27
“kcuF” Liz cursed.
Seeing the enemy they were about to face, everyone rapidly moved towards their respective parties, and started covering for their flaws.
‘But my stupid team doesn't have a tank nor a heavy hitter!” Liz cursed.
Liz focused on the mana around her, waiting for the sandtepides to be in reach of her traps.
“Grasp.”
Instantly, a claw of blue mana bursted from the sand, taking hold of the weakest sandtepide. After taking a minute to process the scene before him, Gustav launched himself towards the sandtepide’s head, mallet in hand.
The poor monster didn’t have a chance to defend itself, and the mallet collided with its head, destroying it with a single hit.
Notice:...
“Keep capturing them and I’ll continue to smash them, got it?” He asked the girl.
Liz simply nodded and rearmed her trap, preparing two more and waiting next to gustav. She used this little moment of respite to look around the battlefield, catching a glimpse of Dere using a shortsword to slice one of a monster’s legs.
‘They seem to be doing fine.’
Another monster leaped towards them, but Liz exploded one needle over it, making it collapse on the floor.
“.ni tif ot tsuj nahc modnar. Bind” She launched several threads to the monster, binding its legs together. Unfortunately, she couldn’t completely stop its movement without some better preparations.
Not expecting the monster to move, Gustav missed his strike by little more than some centimetres, but enough to make the monster survive.
“Fuck!” Screamed Gustav as the monster kicked him with its tail, sending him flying away.
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Another sandtepide rushed towards Liz, who was now completely alone.
“...flesreh dnefed nac ehs ekil ton sti ,egam 61 level roop eht sucof stel ,esruoc fO” Liz muttered before shaping her mana like a simple baton and bending her knees slightly, preparing to braze the monster’s strike.
And she was simply thrown away.
“...”
‘System, give all the points from adaptability to strength…’
Instantly, she felt a rush of power filling her muscles, she felt like she could carry the whole wagon with ease now. However, she also felt how her mana lost some cohesion, forcing her to exert a conscious effort to maintain it.
She bent her knees again, preparing to receive the sandtepide’s strike once more.
This time, when the monster was almost close enough to reach her with its front legs, she leaped to the right dodging its strike completely.
“Liberate.”
Then, a little pebble of mana she had left behind exploded, throwing the monsters towards her again, and she hit its head with all the strength she had.
The chitin scales that covered its head shattered and black blood started to flow from the wound.
Liz quickly changed the tip of her baton, turning it into a short spear, and thrust it deep inside the opened wound.
She took out most of the spear, but left the tip behind, and rapidly jumped away.
“Liberate.”
Instantly, the santepide’s head exploded, and Liz looked around the battlefield, looking for her allies, and her next victim.
----------------------------------------
Dere woke up to the alarmed screams of the wagon next to her, quickly grabbing her daggers and looking around, trying to understand what was going on.
“We are under attack, looks like a group of santipedes stumble against us.” Iso informed her. “We should try to find Lise and join another team.”
Dere nodded and jumped off the wagon, looking for their mage. Suddenly the sand in front of her exploded, and a towering monster with pale orange chitin scales jumped towards her.
“Dash.” Instantly, Dere became much faster, rushing through the monster’s left side, cutting the exposed flesh of his joints.
She heard Iso chanting, it’d be two more seconds until his barrier could be summoned. She moved beneath the monster’s body and dodge its impaling legs.
Her mental clock clicked, and she ignored the next attack to perform her own, aiming for the joint of its first left right leg.
“Barrier.” Just as expected, a shield of green mana blocked the monster’s strike, allowing her to freely exploit its opening.
“Rock cannon.” Before Dere could sever the monster’s limb, a single medium size rock crashed against its head, making the monster stumble backwards.
“Use this, your daggers won’t cut deep enough.” Said Fara, throwing a shortsword towards her.
Dere sheathed her dagger and grabbed the sword, trying to get used to the new weight. “Thanks.” She said, turning her body to the bleeding monster.
This time, her weapon was long enough to pierce through the monster’s eyes, reaching its brain.
“Can you help us find Lise?” Iso asked.
“She is fine, Gustav is with her.”
Iso and Dere sighed in relief, even if Lise was an extremely competent mage, she still lacked spells to pierce the monster’s scales.
Now that they knew that their friend was safe, as safe as one could be in the battlefield, they formed a defensive formation with Dere as the vanguard.
“We should slowly make our way to the campfire, there will be more allies over there.” Fara said once she finished chanting her next spell.
Dere simply nodded and moved to the side, giving her free line of sight to attack the monster. “Rock cannon.”
The monster manaded to move slightly to the right, making the projectile shatter his left scale instead.
Fara clicked her tongue and started chanting a different spell. “Mana, burn away…”
Dere noticed the different chant and thrusted her sword against the open wound, paying close attention to the mage's voice.
“Fireball.” “Dash.”
Instantly, Dere moved several metres away from the monster just before an explosion of flames scorched its flesh.
Notice…
Confirming the kill, Dere turned towards Fara. “Twenty seconds till my next dash.”
Fara nodded, starting to chant another rock cannon, before Gustav flew between them.
“Huh!?”
The three of them stared at the bald middle aged man lying several metres behind them. “Lise!” Dere screamed as she turned around, looking for the little girl.
“May your blessing…” Iso discarded his barrier and prepared to cast heal on the man.
When Dere finally saw Liz, she shivered. The little girl was standing alone before a massive sandtipede. Suddenly, Dere felt her danger sense activate, not because of the monsters, but because of Liz. It was like she instantly gained several levels.
“How!?” She screamed when Liz shattered the monster’s head.
Fara and Iso looked as confused as her, they always saw Liz as a competent but fragile mage. Seeing her defeat a monster in a battle of physical might was simply beyond their expectations.
A moment later, the head of the sandtipede exploded, and Liz started running towards them, faster than what she usually was.
“Lise, that was amazing, how did you do that!?” Dere asked her excitedly.
“Later.” Liz answered, looking at the next approaching monster.
The three of them nodded, whatever was the reason for her sudden strength, it didn’t change their current situation.
As they readied themselves to fight the next monster, the shining orb of mana Liz had created flickered, before shutting down completely.
Instantly, Liz forced all her mana to glow, allowing them to see the nearby monsters, but compromising the rest of the caravan, who were further away from her.
“Hey little girl, focus on the lights, we’ll cover you.” Said Gustav, whose wounds have finally finished healing thanks to Iso’s magic.
“Thanks…” Liz said before closing her eyes and focusing on her mana, feeling how her grip was much weaker than before.
“.thgin eht fo ruoh tsekrad eht ni rats a ekil enihs ,sredro ym wollof dna eciov ym raeh anam. Flare.”
A new orb of mana flew high into the sky, shining bright enough to lit every corner of the battlefield, then, everyone froze.
Juvenile Santipede —> lvl 52