Our group continued to move at a fast walking pace. That should let us catch up to Jerome soon enough. “He wasn’t running,” Izzy commented. “So he should have been safe at this point. He spent some time trudging around here, though.”
“Why?” Tylissa asked, sparing me the question.
“I’m not sure,” Izzy frowned. “There’s nothing. Though maybe something was sitting there in the dirt? There’s an indentation.”
I looked at it and shook my head. “I don’t feel any magic. But it could have easily faded overnight, if there was any.”
“Let’s get moving then,” Izzy said. “I found where he left this place from. Let’s go.”
I was sure glad we had Izzy, because I couldn’t find half the ‘obvious’ signs of Jerome passing by. I could probably track someone in boots through heavy mud, but only finding occasional shoe prints in slightly softer soil or broken twigs would have left me lost in like, 5 minutes tops.
“There’s the cave,” Izzy said. “Midnight, it’s time for the thing.”
Midnight was the designated Locate Object caster, given that he hadn’t been the one to nearly flatten himself by completely running out of mana. At least, he had a bit more.
I felt the mana flowing through Midnight and then… confusion. “What’s…” I halfway stopped myself from saying what’s wrong. Tylissa was already worried enough. “What kind of signal are you getting? Is he too far?”
Midnight shook his head as he hung on to my shoulder. “No, that’s not it. Instead of a clear, straight line, I’m kinda getting… and area? Like, he could be anywhere in that arc,” Midnight gestured. “And either end is just as likely as the middle.”
“But he’s close, right?” Shockwave said. “And that way?” Midnight nodded. Shockwave was off, their seemingly infinite stamina sustained by a significant amount of training and Power Brigade Energy Bars. And like half a gallon of espresso. We took a few steps, and Shockwave was back. “That way!” Shockwave pointed. “Hurry!”
That wasn’t good. My mind considered various things. I could Haste myself and Midnight, Tylissa, Izzy, or Great Girl. Any of which would leave me out of mana again and one or two people ahead of the pack. I suppressed my urge to rush, and instead just took off running. Everyone else began to pull ahead- the two scouts because they had improved movement speed, and Great Girl because her legs were longer. Like, twice as long as mine now, with her shifting into a twelve foot tall combat form.
Haste was looking pretty good, but showing up and being unable to do any actual combat magic seemed kinda… wrong. Besides, it couldn’t be much further since it was within range of Locate Object… and the handful of seconds Shockwave took to travel back and forth indicated it was about the same.
The slightly faster group was involved in a lot of shouting and stuff, and when the line of trees broke I saw Jerome surrounded by a number of snarling, growling… people. He was crouched down, a Shield spell floating in front of him, his position by a tree putting his whole body in cover for more than 180 degrees. Smart position, but he couldn’t really retaliate against the… ten people around him shooting crossbows. Including the ones behind him in that angle he didn’t have covered.
I watched as three bolts sailed through the air, intent on piercing right through my apprentices back and into his organs. Then there was a blue blur and they were gone.
“Turlough, what do we do?” Great Girl called out. “They’re humanoid!”
At least, that was what people told me she said later. Instead, I heard… nothing but the sound of blood pumping in my ears. I was already running towards the nearest werewolf, in their hybrid forms they had snouts and teeth and claws, but still the arms and legs to use things like their crossbows and the swords they carried.
Once I had a good angle I just chucked my most damaging spell at full force. Sonic Lance was enough to destroy my six times upgraded Force Armor five times- each of which was basically sufficient to kill a normal person. All sorts of lycanthropes were tougher than normal people, but they had a couple weaknesses. Silver was good against them, and magic was nearly fully effective, though their bodies had some natural durability to them.
Considering Sonic Lance was enough to take out some heavy supers, the guy didn’t have a chance. The scale armor on his chest shattered along with his ribs. All of that shoved into his heart and lungs, toppling him over with hardly more than a shocked look on his face.
“Get the hell away from Jerome!”
Angry as I was, I was basically cognizant of my mana. I’d been scarfing down the mana in the crystals I had like candy, and I really didn’t want to know what Doctor Martinez was going to say about the state of my veins right now, but I needed every bit of mana I could get for this situation. And I was still mostly out, so I made sure to grab the guy’s sword off his corpse.
I pointed my finger at the next closest guy. There was another ‘secret’. Wolves didn’t like fire. Therefore werewolves didn’t like fire. Not because of some mystical connection or a lack of mental capacity to recognize what it was, but because nobody liked fire being thrust into their face. My target mostly ducked the Firebolt, but I got his ear. He seemed to think that I would just run into his sword as he lazily pointed it at me, and he was half right. As I thrust into his gut and he thrust into my chest, my Force Armor shattered, but it did its job of deflection and he only stabbed through unimportant guts. What was even down there, kidneys and intestines and crap? My sword angled up into his heart… and the guy staggered back. But he wouldn’t be done from just that. I activated Shocking Grasp, channeling it through the metal sword and cooking him from the inside.
I was aware of others fighting around me, Midnight hanging back because of his size and low mana. Shockwave darted about, blocking bolts or finding time to strike a few blows on the enemy. Tylissa fought her way towards Jerome directly, while Izzy supported me against the few nearby.
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I honestly don’t remember much else that happened after that, except the next thing. Something bit into my arm, claws tore into my sides. There was also a bigger guy with a bigger sword, some sort of pack leader or werewolf lord or something. I vaguely recall Great Girl hitting him with one of his pack mates, then elbow dropping onto the pile they created.
When I came back to rational thought, the first thing I saw was Midnight’s face as he sat on my chest. “Welcome back buddy. You alright?”
“Depends. How’s Jerome?”
“I’m okay!” he called from over to the side.
“Then I’m fine,” I grinned.
“Like hell you are,” Midnight said. “I was just being polite. You got a sword through your guts and bite marks so deep I could see the other side of your bicep. You’re lucky our friends have some idea how to patch a guy up. But we really need to get you back to a real doctor.”
“Yeah, alright,” I nodded. It hurt, even though my head was basically uninjured. “Lemme just…”
As I tried to sit up, Midnight stepped forward and put his paws directly on my face. “Down. They’re putting together a stretcher. You’re getting carried out of here properly.”
I groaned, but the attempt at movement had convinced me. “Okay.”
“Hey, Turlough. Or Izzy, I guess.” Sophia came into view, looking concerned. “So like, those were werewolves, right?”
“Yeah,” I nodded.
“You concerned about them being people?” Izzy asked. “Because yes, they are. And no, I don’t regret stabbing them in the eyes.”
“I was more concerned about the thing where they bit like… all of us. We won’t contract lycanthropy right?”
I frowned. “Uh… it’s probably fine. Earth has wolfsbane, right? We just need to take some before the next full moon and maybe see a doctor.”
“Great. And when is that?” Sophia asked.
“I don’t keep track of that stuff,” I shrugged. “We can look it up when we get back.”
“... should we just leave things like this?” she looked around. “Bodies and stuff.”
I grimaced. “Bring me… the sword. That big one.” The leader had of course had a larger weapon. It was still in the reasonable category- practical sword width, less than five pounds. Sophia got it for me, putting it next to me. I reached out and used Storage. “No point in wasting that. I might need a sword.”
“Hey! That’s not fair!” Izzy called out. “They didn’t let me keep my swords!”
“You’re just a civilian,” I grinned. “I’m a mercenary.”
“You’ll still need to get a license for it,” Great Girl spoiled my fun. “And you should really avoid using anything like that.”
“Yeah yeah, don’t kill people. I get it. I’ve been very responsible, even with magic that’s difficult to control.” My eye twitched. “But I’m not letting werewolves kill Jerome.”
“Chill dude,” Great Girl shook her head. “I get it. I didn’t exactly hold back either. Now let’s get moving.”
Stretchers were supposed to be carried by two people- one in front and one in back. Out of our group we had, from smallest to largest, Midnight at the size of a cat, Izzy as a halfling pretty close to three feet tall, Jerome as a young teen, Shockwave, Tylissa whose build wasn’t exactly big, then myself and Great Girl at the top depending on her current size. Even when she was shorter than Tylissa in her natural size, she was still stronger.
In short, Tylissa and Great Girl were the only options for the stretcher. Great Girl refused to let Tylissa help with her injuries so… instead Great Girl just grew extra large and carried me sideways, her arms slung under the supports on either end. It seemed kind of awkward for her, but I appreciated the help.
I looked at Midnight, riding by my feet. “Should I be dizzy?”
“That’s the blood loss.”
“Right. Hopefully that’s not getting worse.”
Seeing Great Girl bite her lip, I decided to end that topic and proceeded to slowly pass out for the rest of our journey.
I woke up when we were back at the portal location. “So…” I said. “You remember how we barely opened the portal on the way in? And the part where we then used more magic and I passed out after a battle?”
Everyone grimaced.
“I’m just saying we need to wait a couple hours for me to fill up on mana completely.” My internal bleeding was probably minimal anyway. It would be fine.
“... I understand,” Izzy said with a frown. “Just… once you can get the portal open, we need to take you through.”
“Yeah. It’ll be… a bit.” Man, I really wished I could just stay passed out, but I could slightly increase my mana recovery by concentrating, and I didn’t want to miss my best opportunity. I’d really like to be properly treated regardless of whether or not I was still bleeding internally.
When I felt properly restored, Midnight and I coordinated once more. “Remember, yank us through last,” I said to Great Girl. “Just drag the stretcher. We can’t make it big enough for you to carry it through.”
“I don’t suppose you can bring us directly back to the Power Brigade?” she asked.
“Hah,” even a fake laugh hurt. “Even if the place didn’t have all kinds of stuff that would prevent that, I’m only confident in going directly back to that field.” And by ‘confident’, I meant ‘vaguely positive that it was possible’. Midnight and I shared a look, but once more I felt more confidence from him than I thought justified.
Not wanting to spend any more time, I reached out for the twice-portal which was nothing again, just a place where a portal had been. I was fairly certain it was still better than nothing. I wasn’t going to gamble on spells I couldn’t really use.
Interestingly enough, it felt easier. Maybe the extra practice, or the full mana, or my coordination with Midnight, or maybe I imagined it. I still almost passed out, but the portal opened up and people dashed through, and then as promised I was dragged past. My position gave me a good look up at the night sky, and the large, round moon. “Huh. Guess it’s tonight.”
That was about the time Jerome started crying out in pain, clutching his arms. At the same time Sophia and Tylissa began howling at the sky.
Author’s note: I just want to say I rolled dice for this, and while two of these had a pretty decent chance of something negative happening, one of these people had the highest bonus by a significant margin and got the second worst result. How fun! Personally, I like this result quite a bit.