Arnold Orellan shoved his hands forward.

The dozens of orbs—of all manner of colours, sizes, effects and types—that had been spinning around him like a tornado suddenly stopped spiralling, and soared towards all five of us.

We had only a split second to react, and my instinct was to protect the most vulnerable among us. I flung a hand back towards Corminar, opening a portal underneath him which he fell through before the blue orb could close it, and he tumbled to the ground at Val and my’s feet. I then opened up another portal just ahead of us, with no more than a second to spare. It caught most of the spells heading in our direction, sending them into the sea at our right—I’d not had enough time to think about where to aim them—but still a few slipped through after the portal was forcibly closed. One of these spells—a fire spell, naturally, considering I’d decided not to spend Mana on Ash Husk—caught my arm, searing the skin from it.

Up ahead, the charging Arzak and Lore had caught most of the spells, but where I’d shielded three of us with portals, Arzak had chosen to use her own body. She’d spun around as the spells had shot off towards us, wrapping her giant arms around Lore and preventing him from getting hit even once—which was more than I had managed.

Unfortunately, this also caused the old orc to collapse onto the floor.

‘Val!’ I shouted, pointing to our severely injured friend.

‘On it!’

I opened a portal to help Val close the distance, but Arnold’s magicks threatened to slam it shut before she could step through. I let it close myself, deciding not to risk any injury to Val, in case Arnold’s spell stopped the portals from not closing around living beings.

Arnold raised his hands again, summoning the same storm of all kinds of sorcery, but we knew what to expect, this time. I opened another portal amidst the tornado of magicks, and each of the orbs soared through… straight into the Iron Sea, where the high sorcerer lost control of them.

In the mean time, Corminar launched arrow after arrow after arrow into the enemy, but the man knocked all but one away with invisible, fleeting wards. The one that hit caught Arnold in the shoulder, and I thought at first that it hadn’t done much damage. But then I saw the telltale black growths on the sorcerer’s skin that told me that Corminar had seen fit to use a poisoned arrow—a decision I was fully on board with.

Lore, too, had been on the move. While we’d both charged towards Arnold, he had the advantage, being both closer and larger of build. The barbarian reached the enemy as the sorcerer—possessing magicks of so many kinds, it seemed—finished healing the poison before it could take root proper. Lore swung his Bane sword at Arnold, but the sorcerer raised his hands just in time to summon another ward to stop the blow. Lore pushed against the magical barrier, grunting as he put all his weight into it, but soon it became as clear to him as it was to me that he wasn’t going to win this one. He spun like a ballerina—a strange sight on a man his size—and swung again with his sword. Arnold moved to summon a ward once more, to stop it, but it became clear very quickly that hurting the man hadn’t been Lore’s intention this time.

As he slammed sword into ward, Lore slipped his hand into the sorcerer’s pocket, and the depth raider squealed as it ran up the barbarian’s arm to perch on his shoulder.

With the enemy distracted by Lore’s attack, Corminar was able to slip another arrow past Arnold’s wards—this one also poison-coated. The sorcerer slapped a hand to his neck to wrench the arrow out, blood spraying everywhere, and he was fast enough that not much of the poison could take hold.

I pressed the attack, arriving at Lore’s side with my admittedly much smaller blade in hand, and together we sliced and stabbed at the enemy. Even with blood trickling from his neck, Arnold was able to fend off melee attacks from the both of us, though it did seem to strain him to do so. My knife hit ward not like a solid surface, but in fact sinking part way into it. I tried pressing my weight into the knife and activating Closed Reach, but it seemed the wards were effective against magicks too—my ability didn’t do anything.

When I thought finally we might overwhelmed Arnold Orellan, he seemed to get a new lease of life. His eyes, once brown, turned blue, and the wards grew larger, pressing into Lore and my’s attacks, forcing us away from him. And behind them, he began to summon his whirlwind of spells once more.

On Lore’s shoulder, the depth raider squeaked, apparently becoming enchanted by whatever abilities the sorcerer was making use of. I glanced its large, dark eyes growing wide, staring at Arnold and the magicks he was conjuring. The squeaking grew ever more excited-sounding with every passing moment.

‘Val…?’ I cried out as I continued to try to slip blade past ward. ‘How you doing? We need a hand over here.’

‘It’s bad!’ came the reply. ‘It’s going to take some time.’

‘Just get her stable, we—’

The wards suddenly merged, and expanded, and a wall of magicks blasted out from the high sorcerer, sending Lore and I flying through the air to land with a heavy thunk, me atop him. Arzak’s unconscious body slid across the dirt, bashing up against a tree stump, and Val slid after her. Even Corminar, furthest away from the enemy, almost fell from his feet, though Urlwan and the other elves arrived at his side to steady him.

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‘I don’t like this…’ I muttered, staggering off Lore and back to my feet, and I turned back to the enemy to see that his power was growing ever more so.

Arnold Orellan’s newly summoned tornado of spells grew greater than we’d seen before. Far greater. It twirled far into the sky, the man floating in the air, his eyes glowing with the sheer blue light of absolute sorcery.

And the depth raider, too, began to glow.

‘Guys…’ Lore said. ‘Guys… we gotta…’

‘Soldiers!’ Corminar cried out. ‘On my mark, release!’ I turned to see the elven diplomats lined up behind Corminar, a bow in each hand, the arrow tips coated in a substance that could only be some kind of poison. Lieutenant Cladenor’s eyes were on me. ‘As with the pyroknight,’ he shouted to—no, commanded—me. ‘Into the sea.’

I nodded my understanding as the elf turned to Val, but my witch friend was ahead of him. She nodded. ‘I see where you’re going with this.’

‘Soldiers? Fire!’

Seven elves fired as one. Though many of the arrows were blocked by spinning orbs or summoned wards, two of them slipped through, and met their mark. The sorcerer’s spells began to flicker, and then fade away, and I glanced at Corminar just long enough to hear him explain. ‘Poison of Manahalting. Ted’s ideas aren’t all bad.’

I didn’t know how long the effect would last for—I couldn’t imagine long, if Corminar was new to this particular poison—so I launched into action. I flung one hand forward and one towards the Iron Sea, and I opened a portal below where Arnold was falling.

As the sorcerer slipped through the portal, landing in the sea with a splash, the depth raider began to crackle, radiating the same glow as Arnold’s eyes had moments earlier. Lore dropped it to the ground, backing off slowly. ‘Hurry!’ he roared.

Val jumped across the beach to the edge of the Iron Sea, and she pressed her hands in the water once more. Huge lightning magicks shot out from her hands, making her limbs tremble as she sucked up the pain of her spell rebounding upon her. And then all of the storm energy suddenly shot towards the high sorcerer.

Without access to his mana reserves, Arnold could not defend himself, and more importantly… he couldn’t heal. Only when we got the notification that he was defeated did Val stop her spell, and she staggered away from the water, then tumbled to the ground.

Level 38 High Sorcerer of Managlass defeated!

Worldbending — +7,900xp

Worldbending increased to level 33!

Worldbending increased to level 34!

Worldbending increased to level 35!

Base Points gained — +6 INT, +6 Free Points (INT/WIS/CHA)

Ability selection unlocked

…

It was quite the victory, and quite the display of the team working as one, but there wasn’t time to celebrate. All eyes turned to the depth raider.

Had we just made a huge mistake, exposing it to that kind of power?

I drew my knife and readied myself.

"Styk"

Level 14 Bladespinner

Base Stats:

Vitality — 32

Intelligence — 130

Dexterity — 69

Strength — 63

Wisdom — 48

Charisma — 29

Skills:

Worldbending — Level 35

Knifework — Level 28

Stealth — Level 15

Needlework — Level 12

Identification — Level 10

Abilities:

Slice — Slice the enemy for physical damage worth weapon’s base damage and additional damage scaling on [STR].

Stab II — Put your weight behind your wielded blade and force the tip through tougher hides and armour. Damage scales on [STR], increased by an additional 20%.

Execution II — Attack a target while undetected for +200% damage.

Closed Reach — Bend reality to narrow the gap between blade and target by up to 8 inches. Uses mana.

Mana-Fuelled — Passive. Optionally, use mana in place of stamina to activate Knifework abilities.

Local Portal II — Create a portal to another location within current range of sight or within a ten yard radius. Uses mana/second.

Portal Slice — Passive. Portals can now be spawned within non-sentient objects. Doing so slices through all objects that are not reinforced by magic.

Tamed Portals — Passive. Increased efficiency of portal magicks means that your portal glow is reduced by 50%, making them less likely to be detected by enemies.

Ash Husk — Convert your flesh to ash, strengthening it against flame for ten minutes. Gain 50% resistance to fire attacks.

Shrill Perimeter — Create a perimeter wall of 20 foot radius, invisible to all but those adept in magicks. If an enemy crosses this perimeter, this spell releases the shriek of a banshee.

Warped Shield — Passive. If an enemy strikes you with a low-level melee weapon, Warp Shield automatically activates to open a portal that deflects this attack. You must not have any portals currently active. Uses mana on activation.

Stealth Attack — Passive. 50% boost to damage when unnoticed by enemy.

In Plain Sight — When activated, you have a heightened abilitiy to hide in plain sight, and are able to spot opportunities to break from combat at a higher rate. Scales on [WIS].

Stitch — Create a basic stitch in common fabrics. Ability scales on [CHA].

Cloth Armour — Craft a cloth armour of higher quality, dependent on materials, time and skill level.

Active Effects:

Legacy of Sisyphus:

XP gain increased by +900%