Everyone turned to the right to see Roman, holding Ariyana in his arms in a princess carry fashion. Ariyana coughed a few times before replying, “Yeah. Yeah. Can you put me down now? It’s kind of awkward being carried by someone almost half my height.”
Roman grinned teasingly. “Now can do princess. That creature is about to race back this way, and I don’t think you can run well in the sand.”
Frowning, Ariyana retorted, “I’m not a princess and even if that’s true it’s not like you can…” Her voice died down as she looked at Roman’s feet.
As she did this everyone else noticed something was off too. The first thing they noticed after getting a better look was Roman’s feet weren’t sunk in the sand like everyone else’s. Instead, he was standing on the sand like it was solid ground. The other thing they noticed was that Roman had a constant glow of Earth Mana around his entire body. The last was a small Earth colored orb that was pulsing out in a constant flux sending Earth Mana towards his body.
Before Ariyana or anyone else could say anything, the Sand Flea Swarm sprinted straight for them. Roman took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. After he did this Ariyana noticed the focus in his eyes right before he started running away. The swarm of Sand Flea Crabs gained in speed as they focused on catching the two.
Tabby shot an Air Pocket after an Air Pocket at the Swarm each time it tried to reach a Sand Flea formed pincer at it. Each shot landed against a Sand Flea Crab and made it fly out of the swarm. Artem swung at one of the creatures with his Mace as Liam slammed his hammer against another. Artem was able to hit his mace on his target three more times ending its life before it could escape into the sand. Liam’s target was only hit twice and was able to escape before the final blow was struck.
Liam clicked his tongue before looking to see if there were more for him to attack. Artem and Avery were finishing off the ones that Tabby knocked out as Mercer chanted his Icicle Lance spell. As Liam scanned the area he noticed there was one missing from the group. Before he could call out he felt a surge of mana being channeled in the air.
Liam looked up to see Blair channeling Gravity Mana. After channeling what she believed to be enough, she chanted her Gravity Well spell. As soon as she finished the last of the words, a purple orb with a pitch black center formed in front of her. She watched the Sand Flea Swarm’s movement and tried to time when she would throw it while aiming. After feeling like she had a good trajectory, she threw the spell down right in front of the creatures.
Liam watched as the Gravity Well Orb soared through the air. With the Sand Flea Swarm’s full attention on Roman and Ariyana, the creatures didn’t see it coming their way. That was Liam thought, until the orb reached a certain distance from them. Liam wasn’t able to tell the moment, but as soon as it got close enough, all the Sand Flea Crabs within the storm of bodies suddenly stopped, locked eyes on the orb, and the swiftly sank into the sand.
Liam was about to let out a frustrated scream, but then noticed something around the Gravity Well orb. There were several of the Sand Flea Crabs stuck within the spell’s radius. Their legs skittered in the air as their pincers clacked violently. Angry and scared shrills escaped their mouths as they realized they were trapped with heir underbellies exposed.
Mercer quickly snapped a few arrows into them. It had taken five arrows each to kill them. Roman let Ariyana down as they stared at the dead floating creatures within the spell. Before anyone could say anything, Roman’s ears suddenly twitch making him snap his head around to see the Sand Flea Swarm burst out from underneath the sand.
To everyone’s surprise, the swarm of Sand Flea Crabs had opened the middle of the body as they continued to swim around each other to reveal a light brown Sand Flea Crab that was bigger than the others. Its eyes glared at each of them as sand poured out of its mouth in a frothing like manner. Liam quickly took this time to assess the creature to see if it was different and got his answer.
[Sand Flea Swarm Chief. 500/500 HP. 420/650 MP. Level – 14.]
“That must be the actual Wave Boss,” Blair stated as she landed on the sand, her axe gripped tightly in her left hand.
“What is it doing? Why hasn’t it attacked us?” Ariyana asked, unsure what to do.
“I think it’s because of the Gravity Well,” Liam replied. “It’s wary of it and doesn’t want to lose any more of the creatures that makes…” Liam rolled his hand trying to come up with the best word. After a moment had passed and he couldn’t find an appropriate one, he just finished with, “whatever that is.”
“Such an articulate way to say it,” Avery teased with a smile before looking back at the creature.
Liam ignored her, knowing full well he would only embarrass himself if he tried to defend himself. Instead he asked, “Got any ideas Mercer?”
“We need to figure out how to separate that specific one from the others,” Mercer said. “I think that is what is holding them all together.”
“Okay, how do we do that?” Blair questioned.
“I think…,” Mercer started to say until the ground beneath them started to rumble.
Everyone quickly looked at the Sand Flea Swarm. They went on high alert as the sand beneath the swarm of creatures started rippling outwards. The ripples started off small as it moved like a wave outwards before stopping just inches away from them. those small ripples then started to grow, inch by inch until a foot rose up and crashed down, mimicking a wave from the sea.
“What the hell is it doing now?” Avery scowled as she looked at them before looking at her companions.
“I don’t know. How the hell would I…,” Ariyana started to say until she realized what it was going to do. “We need to run. Now!”
Before anyone could ask what she figured out, the sand rose beneath the Sand Flea Swarm, lifting them up high into the air. Artem, Avery, Blair, Mercer, and Liam turned around and started running away from the rising sand. Being in the back of the group, Liam noticed Roman wasn’t moving. He then saw a shine flash in his eyes before Roman started running. However, instead of him running away with them, he was heading towards the rising wave of sand.
Liam turned around as Roman sprinted past him and shouted, “Roman!”
Everyone stopped and turned around to see what was going on and watched as Roman reached the base of the sand wave. They all reached out and shouted his name, but stopped as they saw him race up the wave. Liam saw Roman’s lips move, almost like he was chanting something, but couldn’t hear it through the shrieks and shrills of the Sand Flea Crabs that were swimming faster and faster on the tip of the sand wave.
They then watched as the Orb of Earth shot into Roman. With their Mana Sight still on, they watched as all the Earth Mana shift from around his body and to his right fist after pushing off of the sand and dove right into the mound of sand that formed the top of the wave. A couple moments later, Roman burst through the sand underneath the Sand Flea Swarm.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
His right fist, where all the Earth Mana had coalesced to, was covered in sand that hardened before two small spikes and one large one formed. Right before he came into contact with the swarm of creatures, Roman threw a hard right punch. Their stomach dropped as everyone watched as his body was engulfed into the swarm. However, their fear of him being attacked and swallowed by the swarm disappeared as the Sand Flea Swarm Chief erupted from the top of the swarm, the large, hardened spike on Roman’s right fist plunged into its underbelly.
The large wave of sand stopped moving the moment the Wave Boss was separated from the swarm body and came raining down, along with the panicked bodies of the Sand Flea Crabs that couldn’t maintain its swarm body. To everyone’s delight, majority of the creatures fell within the radius of the Gravity Well spell and were sucked up, underbellies exposed as the rest either fell on their backs or were able to dive right into the sand to get away.
Avery’s eyes fell on the creatures that were trapped with the gravity spell. An idea popped in her mind, and she quickly ran back to the edge of the spell, channeled as much Fire Mana as she could, chanted a spell, and released a wave of fire onto the trapped creatures. Mercer joined her as he shot arrow after arrow on the creatures that weren’t getting the wave of flames directly on them.
Liam watched as Roman pulled his fist out and away from the Wave Boss and punched him once more. The force of his punch was powerful enough to send the creature flying away from him. Not wanting to let the monster reach the sand, Blair opened her wings and pushed herself as hard as she could off of the sand and rocketed towards the creature. She carried her axe underneath her as she flew, but the moment she was within striking distance, she gripped it with both hands and yanked as hard as she could upwards into the air, slicing the creature in half.
Not wanting to be the only ones not doing anything, Ariyana, Liam, and Artem went on taking care of the creatures that weren’t trapped in the Gravity Well and were either burning to a crisp or becoming a pin cushion. It had taken them a few minutes before the final creature was finally slain before the notification appeared before them.
[Congratulations! You have defeated the 2nd Wave Boss Sand Flea Swarm Chief and its Sand Flea Swarm!]
Liam fell to his back on the sand as he breathed heavily. He could feel his body grow heavy from all the running he did. He let out a few laughs before coughing a few times. He reached into his inventory and pulled out a water to cool his parched throat. After he finished drinking he heard Roman let out a loud roar of victory.
Surprised that it had taken him this long to celebrate their victory, Liam sat up and was about to say something but stopped as Roman’s body lit up. Everyone was shocked and confused on what was going on. Liam was confused as well, but not like the others. He was confused because this felt familiar. He felt like what was going on with Roman was something that had happened to him as well. Trying to remember what why it felt familiar he wracked his brain. Right before he gave up, he finally remembered why it was familiar. He had the same thing happen to him when he evolved his class.
Remembering that, Liam quickly stood up and shouted, “You evolved your class?!”
Artem’s, Avery’s, Ariyana’s, Blair’s, and Mercer’s eyes widened as they looked from Liam to Roman. Roman turned around and grinned widely at them before giving them a nod and shouting, “Hell yeah I did!”
“Holy shit Roman!” Avery yelled out as she swiftly got to her feet.
The others let out gasps and their own congratulations as Blair asked, “What did you get?”
Trying to calm himself, Roman responded, “I got three different options. My first was Pugilist. My second was Stone Mage, and the last was Earthen Pugilist.”
“Knowing you, you probably went with the Earthen Pugilist, right?” Ariyana asked, already knowing the answer.
“Yeah,” Roman stated. “While the pugilist path was what I was aiming for, the regular pugilist class was straight physical based, no bonuses to magic uses or anything. Stone Mage was a straight Magic class with a focus on Earth Magic. While I use Earth magic a lot, being just a mage class with no focus on punching things isn’t what I want. The last class, Earthen Pugilist is mixture of both, giving me a bonus to using Earth Magic and I can still punch things.”
“There has to be more than just that though right?” Mercer asked. “Was there a description of the class or anything that explains it better?”
“Oh, yeah. There was. Hold on,” Roman stated, his excitement still showing full on his face. “It says, The Earthen Pugilist is a start down a path for those who are interested in learning how to blend the elements with martial arts. The Earthen Pugilist is a foundation class to learn how to create a strong body by blending Earth Magic on the body and fists. Through learning applications of using Earth Magic on the body, the user can learn how to utilize magic with a melee attack style thus paving the way to learn how to wield the other elements.”
Mercer let out a whistle as he wrote down what Roman had stated. He then continued to write more as Roman continued, “I think I only got this class thanks to what I learned from the Mystical Trance.”
“Oh? Why do you say that?” Avery asked.
“Well thanks to you guys for allowing me to watch the Sand Flea Crabs, I was able to learn how to channel Earth Mana as I moved around instead of having to stand still. Thanks to that, before I ran up the sand wave I felt like there was something missing from what I was trying to learn. After charging in and jumping through the sand, I was able to gather the sand around my fist and harden it. After I did that I learned an ability called Stone Fist. Stone Fist allows me to gather materials related to rocks and stone around my fist, compress it, and use it as an attack.”
“Damn, that’s pretty cool,” Artem stated as he patted Roman on his shoulder.
“I also received a couple new Class related abilities and skills. I have to look them over really quick before I tell you all what they are,” Roman stated as he looked back at his notifications.
“Alright, we’ll have Liam harvest what he can and loot the wave boss as you do that,” Mercer informed as he looked at Liam.
Liam nodded before pulling his Spectral Lantern out and harvested the soul orbs hovering around. He then made his way over to the first Sand Crab Flea and tried to harvest it. After harvesting the Sand Flea Crabs that were still around, Liam had learned there wasn’t a lot he could get from them.
Their meat wasn’t edible. It wasn’t because they were poisonous or anything, their meat was just not fit to consume for people. They could use it for fishing bait, but that was it. Their shells, however, still had Earth Mana lingering on them. It took him a bit to realize that, but after he had finally realized it, he broke off the shells into small pieces before learning how to properly harvest them into slightly bigger pieces. He made a mental note to ask Uncle Naro why the Earth Mana was still lingering on them and what exactly he would be able to do with them.
He quickly made his way over to the wave boss and asked, “Did anything good drop?”
“Kind of,” Mercer replied as he handed the object to Liam.
Liam looked at it and recognized it as a necklace. Liam laughed as he stared at the design. Even though the material was made out of metal, the shapes the metal took was that of a Sand Flea Crab. They were connected to each other through their pincers pinching the other pincers. He assessed it to see what the necklace could do.
[Sand Swarm Earthen Necklace. Item Type- Accessory (Neck). Item Rarity – Uncommon. Item Quality – Average. + 10 to defense. + 10% increase to Earth Magic. Effect – Sand Cushion. Description – By channeling Earth Mana into the Sand Swarm Earthen Necklace, a swarm of sand will gather and soften physical blows being landed on any part of the wearer’s body.]
“Well that’s interesting,” Liam muttered after reading it. He looked back at the necklace and thought, The effect this necklace has is pretty handy for someone who uses Earth Magic. You can essentially use it to train Earth Mana Manipulation during a fight much like my fiery liquid vial. However, even with that effect I still think it looks too funny. He then looked at Mercer and asked, “Going to give it to Roman?”
Mercer looked at him then at the others who shook their heads. Roman was still standing off to the side reading his notifications, not knowing what they were planning. Mercer then looked at Liam and said, “I think its unanimous. Hey Roman! Looks like you’re getting another piece of loot.”
“Huh?” Roman muttered before looking at the others. He then spotted the necklace in Mercer’s hands, read the notification after assessing it and said, “Sweet, that will be helpful for sure. And the design looks pretty sweet too.”
Ariyana’s and Avery’s mouth dropped at Roman’s words as Liam, Artem, and Blair shook their heads. Mercer held back the laughter that was bubbling inside him. Before it could escape his lips, the ground started trembling. The strength of this trembling was enough to knock everyone off their feet. Alert and slightly panicky, the group looked all over for what caused the shaking. Their eyes widened suddenly as they found what changes were made. The changes came from the sea.