Q, Kukis and Cinnamon all walked over to the village center and waited for the arrival of Brie and Phanos. While they waited, Q continued to use [Spell Analysis] and managed to get the flight, sustain and speed runes all at around 80-90%. After a bit of waiting, Brie and Phanos showed up. The moment the two caught sight of their group, they seemed temporarily surprised by the appearance of Cinnamon, but still approached quickly. “Q, I would like to start off by apologizing. I meant no harm with my actions, as cruel as they might have seemed.” Phanos bowed deeply.
It looked like you meant plenty of harm! Q thought as she remembered Phanos’ vicious look from a while back. Not that it really matters though. Since she’s apologized, I guess I’ll forgive her. Though I will make sure to get back at her for this at some other time... After a few seconds of silence, Q said, “It’s fine. I’m sure you had your own reasons for doing what you did.”
“I must also apologize.” Brie added. “Never would I have thought that Phanos would go that far to confirm whether or not you were someone to be trusted…”
“Oh? It sounds like you already knew that Phanos would do something like that.” Q wore an accusatory expression.
“Uh, th-that is to say…” Brie trailed off, at a loss for words. For a moment Phanos seemed to turn hostile again as she saw Brie’s dejected face. Q’s next action completely flipped their expectations though, as she simply laughed.
“HAH! Did you think I would hold a grudge? I don’t really mind Phanos being overprotective. If anything that makes me pretty happy, since I now know that there’s someone who will always be there to help you Brie.” Q smiled gently. “Oh right, here’s some money the Grand Witches gave us. Don’t question it, just accept it.” She shoved the coin pouches into their hands. “So onto more serious talk, do you two want to help us capture the Underground Library?”
“Q…” Brie let out a sigh as it seemed she was relieved. “Yes, we would be happy to join you.”
“Before we set off, may I know who that person in the back is?” Phanos indicated Cinnamon.
“Hello there, my name is Cinnamon, but you can call me Cinn if you like. I enjoy spending time with Q, and… that’s about it.” She hugged Q who only laughed in return. Brie and Phanos raised an eyebrow at this open display of affection, but just as quickly shrugged it off.
“A pleasure to meet you Cinn. I am Brie, and this is my… servant, Phanos.”
Phanos smiled and introduced herself. “Yes, my name is Phanos. I am here solely to serve milady in her travels.”
“Hmm…” Cinnamon and Phanos stared at each other, and both had the exact same thought: It seems like I can get along well with this person. But if they try to harm Q/Lady Brie… Sparks flew between them as they wore strained smiles on their faces..
“Let’s not waste any time then!” Kukis jumped into the conversation. “To the Library! That is, if you’re ready of course.”
“Please give me a moment to make adequate preparations.” Phanos ran off somewhere, while Brie watched her with a concerned look.
“Does she ‘test’ people often?” Q asked.
“...Yes. More than I would like to admit.” Brie had a bitter face. “Whenever I meet a new person, Phanos would investigate them thoroughly. Oftentimes Phanos’... antics, can get a bit extreme and has caused those people to avoid me or cut off contact.”
“You should really talk to her about that, because it sounds like Phanos is half the reason you don’t have a lot of friends.”
“That much I know but… Phanos has never stopped despite my warnings. The most I can do is restrain Phanos’ actions as best I can, but in the end…” Brie let out a heavy sigh. “Do not misunderstand though, Phanos is a very precious person to me, and is someone I deeply care about.”
“Hmm… that’s quite a pickle you’re in Brie.” Q went into deep thought. Although Phanos seems to be a big problem, Brie doesn’t plan to fix it anytime soon… So in the end I’d need to convince Phanos to tone it down a bit. Turning to Kukis, she asked, “What do you think Cookie?”
“Sounds like some serious stuff. I think we should talk to Phanos, but I’m not sure how that’ll turn out.” Kukis said in an uncertain tone.
“And you Cinn?” Q asked the angel who was still hugging her.
“Why not just tell her about yourself? If the reason she ‘strongly investigates’ people is because she doesn’t know anything about them or their character. So maybe if you gave her some information she’s looking for she’ll calm down a bit?” Cinnamon was playing with Q’s hair, and started fondling her ears. While she was doing this she happened to wake up Schorl who was sleeping again. When it woke up and locked eyes with Cinnamon, it blinked for a few seconds before it’s eyes were filled with hostility. The angel and salamander then began an intense match for territorial rights over Q’s ears.
“That sounds reasonable.” Q didn’t seem to mind the battle happening atop her head. “Let’s find a chance to talk to her during our trip in the library then.”
“Yeah.” Kukis nodded in agreement.
As if on cue, Phanos appeared behind the group without a sound and said, “My preparations are complete. Shall we head to the library then?” Her appearance caused Kukis to jump in surprise, and while Q already knew about Phanos’ disappearing ability she was still startled. Brie and Cinnamon weren’t fazed at all by this though, most likely because Brie already knew about Phanos’ ability, and Cinnamon was focused on defending Q’s right ear that she managed to capture with great difficulty.
The group began to move, and Q forcefully stopped the fight between Cinnamon and Schorl, who seemed to gain a strange sense of camaraderie. They then went into the town hall and made their way down to the library, chatting about random things as they made their way down the stairs. Their talk came to a stop as they faced the giant doors, and they all brought out their weapons as they headed inside the library.
While Q, Brie, Kukis and Phanos were all familiar with each other’s weaponry, they hadn’t seen Cinnamon’s yet, so they all looked at her with anticipation. Cinnamon giggled, and then brought out a long, thin spear that was almost a head taller than herself. “This is the weapon that i’m using. As for my role in battle… would you mind if I took on the first enemy alone to demonstrate my skills?” The rest of the girls agreed, and they began to search for an enemy that Cinnamon could fight.
In no time they found a small group of transparent-looking animals. These animals were called ‘spirits’, and Q and Kukis had encountered them before when they were training with Haeldrix. They were the most abundant creature in the library, and came in all sorts of shapes and sizes. These animals could only be damaged by magic attacks, and if you tried to touch them you would simply pass through (much to Q’s distress). What was unfair though is that the spirits could still hit you with physical attacks, but in exchange those attacks could still be blocked with a magical barrier of any kind.
[Spirit] - Level 24
[Spirit] - Level 23
[Spirit] - Level 22
[Spirit] - Level 24
[Spirit] - Level 25
“Are you okay facing this much Cinn?” Q seemed a little worried.
“Of course! My class and build was made for this in the first place.” Cinnamon cast a spell and ran forward to meet the spirits in battle. As a slight glow appeared around her wings and her spear, Q used [Spell Analysis] and obtained some new runes.
[Reinforce rune analysis: 47%]
[Strength rune analysis: 60%]
[Hard rune analysis: 52%]
Ooh. It looks like Cinnamon’s using some self-buffs to make herself stronger. but what bothers me is that there’s a ‘Hard’ rune… does that mean there’s a ‘Soft’ rune out there!? Q unwittingly gained a new goal once she analyzed the spells that Cinnamon used. While Q was burning in anticipation of a soft rune, Cinnamon began to fight against the spirits.
Cinnamon’s spear work was incredibly professional, as every single move she made was perfectly efficient and calculated, and she managed to strike the spirits with every hit. When she stabbed one spirit and it disappeared, her movements dulled for a moment and the rest of the spirits jumped forward! In response, Cinnamon folded her wings around herself. The spirits’ attacks bounced off her wings, and she spread them out to blow them away and began to engage them again.
“She is very good with a spear. I wonder if I could duel with her sometime…” Brie was particularly impressed by her spear handling.
“Yeah, she’s handling the mobs pretty well. Not only that, she’s keeping them only focused on her.” Kukis noticed that whenever a spirit would try to head to their party, Cinnamon would always get in its way or attack it to keep its focus on her.
“Her movements seem a bit… too perfect.” Rather than being impressed, Phanos became more wary of Cinnamon.
“She uh… had a really good teacher.” Q’s half-hearted explanation seemed to satisfy the rest of the members. Darn it Cinnamon, I told you to keep your capabilities to that of average humans! Q’s silent complaint seemed to be acknowledged as one of the spirits got through Cinnamon’s defences and attacked her!
With a flick of her wrist, Cinnamon sent the spirit flying back and then cast a healing spell. Her health was restored very quickly. The spirits were now all gathered up in front of her, and at this point Cinnamon changed her fighting stance by folding one wing in front of her while the other protected her back. Her spear then poked out slightly from her front wing.
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“That stance is reminiscent of the fighting style of the ancient spartans.” Phanos said. “I didn’t think that it would be performed in real-life... Not that this is real-life though.”
“It works doesn’t it?” Q smiled as she watched Cinnamon decimate the enemies. Any attempt to attack her would result in the enemies getting pushed back by her wings, and once they were staggered she quickly followed up with a sharp stab to a vital spot. It had only been a few minutes, but she already finished dealing with the spirits and she turned around to rejoin the group.
“What did you think?” Cinnamon asked Q. “I decided to be a tank since I heard your party doesn’t have one. I also have some healing spells just in case someone is low on health. My physical and magical reinforcements are able to give me a boost in attack for some time, so I can also fulfill the role of damage dealing if needed.”
“It’s perfect!” Q then leaned in and whispered, “I told you to keep your abilities at the level of an average human didn’t I?”
“Of course it’s average.” She whispered back. “Average for martial arts experts that is…”
“......You got me there.” Q realized she never specified what ‘normal’ was, so Cinnamon used this to her advantage. “Fine, just don’t overdo it with the ‘perfectly calculated’ attacks okay?”
“You two going to keep whispering, or are you going to help us clear this dungeon?” Kukis approached from behind and tapped Q on the shoulder.
“Ah, sorry. Let’s do this!”
And so, the girl’s ‘dungeon capture’ began.
*****
The first floor was originally simple for the girls to clear, but now with the addition of Cinnamon it became laughably easy. Their most pressing concern of not having a tank was now solved, and the girls could display their skills to the fullest without being afraid of retaliation. Kukis was the one who benefitted the most from this, since she could cast more powerful spells without being interrupted. Her spells consisted of far more destructive magics, like a small whirlpool to gather and damage the enemies, or a giant boulder rolling forward to crush them.
Phanos also became more reserved and fulfilled her role of support perfectly. She focused mainly on using her hexes to weaken groups of enemies, and whenever an enemy would start to use a troublesome attack she’d throw a knife at it. Brie on the other hand didn’t really change at all, as she was right beside Cinnamon, slashing at the enemies. What did change was that when she swung her sword a magic spell would occasionally fly forward from it. Sometimes the little symbols engraved on her armor would glow when an enemy got close, but she’d usually dispatch them by the time they even thought of hitting her. When she was asked about this later by Q, it turned out that they were defensive spells and enchantments on her armor, but since she avoided all attacks they never activated.
Q’s attack rate also increased since she was able to focus on making good rune circles. After a few rounds of enemies she decided to try using runes with her [Magic Fist]. Ever since her spells had all been taken away, only [Tri-Spark] would work with it, but she wondered if she could use her runes instead. It took her a while, but she figured out that if she imagined a rune and then used [Magic Fist], the rune would appear on her hand, and when she punched something it would activate the rune. She tried it again with rune circles, but it took longer for her to properly imagine it and it also took up more mana.
In this fashion they cleared the first floor, and quickly proceeded to the second which had an earth-based motif. Q, Brie and Kukis were absolutely demolishing this floor’s enemies with their fire spells since most of them were made out of wood, so they went through without any problems. At one point a giant elemental made of trees made an appearance, but it was quickly blasted with fire spells. “This is sort of disappointing to be honest.” Q said as they were walking down the stairs to the third floor. “Is it just because we’re overpowered now, or is it because the library’s balance is bad?”
“It’s more like fighting against enemies weak to a single element will naturally make this easy.” Kukis responded. “I think the witch class was pretty much made to take on this place as long as they have a tank. Actually as long as I have a tank I’m gold.”
“You’re welcome.” Cinnamon smiled.
“Haha, yeah thanks. A stronger mini boss or something would be nice though.”
“Cookie, you do realize that saying that-” Q’s words were stopped as she saw what lay before them in the third floor. Instead of the groups of enemies wandering around the ash-covered floor, there was only one in the center of the floor which stared at them. An elemental made of wood was waiting there, but this time there was fire coming out of the cracks in its joints. “Yeah, that’s what happens.”
[Greater Elemental of Fire and Earth] - Level 40
“This looks way more fun though!” Kukis instantly prepared a water spell while everyone else got into position. The elemental swung its fists in fury, and whenever it came into contact with the ground fire would come out as a wave! This time the girls actually had to put in a bit of effort to dodge the attacks since the waves were wide and would hit them if they were careless. Kukis stayed behind Cinnamon and shot out jets of water to extinguish the fire on the elemental’s body. At first it worked and the fire was extinguished, but then it unbelievably began to heal the elemental when the water touched its wooden body!
Q then attacked the extinguished part with a [Tri-Spark], and though it caused the elemental to burn again, it still did a ridiculous amount of damage. Now Q and Brie cast water spells to extinguish the elemental, and Kukis hit it with a powerful fire spell. Phanos also worked to restrict the elemental’s movements, while Cinnamon did her best in protecting the group by directly taking on the elemental’s attacks. They were able to beat it after 10 minutes of repeating this process, and they were relatively tired by the end.
“Damn it Cookie, see what happens when you set up flags?” Q slumped her shoulders. They were already making their way to the next floor after a moment of rest.
“I thought you wanted it to be more challenging though?” A confused Kukis replied.
“No, the battle was fine. It’s just that whenever you say something like that, the game seems to… grant wishes, so to speak.”
“That is true to an extent.” Cinnamon spoke up. “Most environments are dynamic and depending on how easily you clear them, the game makes up for it and increases the difficulty. It did the same thing in the tutorial you know?”
“That is very interesting, but my tutorial was not difficult at all.” Brie closed her eyes as if she was remembering her tutorial. “Many enemies were covered in armor but fighting them was simple. At the end they brought out a very large suit of armor with floating pieces… Yes, much like that one.” Brie pointed to their front which had yet another elemental. On the fourth floor the elemental was still made out of wood and still had fire spurting out from it, but this time it’s arms and legs were disconnected from its body, and the girls could see visible gusts of wind supporting them in place.
[Greater Elemental of Earth, Fire and Water] - Level 45
“I think you’re just too strong for this world.” Q smiled. “Now, let’s figure out how to take this guy down!” This time the elemental had to be attacked by using earth magic to knock its limbs out from the sky, then extinguishing the fire on it with water magic, and the finally burning the wood with fire magic. Of course the elemental wouldn’t simply sit there and take hits, as it’s arms and legs would fly around the room and slam down on the ground, creating larger waves of fire (which were probably strengthened from the wind magic). The room itself also seemed to hinder their progress, as books would fly all over the place and would constantly block their line of sight or even fly towards them, forcing them to dodge or deal with the book.
Cinnamon’s job became a lot harder as well, as she had to deal with attacks from all directions while still trying to protect the girls. Sometimes the arms and legs of the elemental would clash together with each other, creating a larger shockwave than usual which would hit all the girls without exception. Luckily for her, besides Kukis who had to stay stationary most of the time, the others were very good at dodging so she only healed them when they got hurt. While the arms and legs of the elemental were flying around all over the place, the torso stayed stationary with the head. This didn’t mean that it was vulnerable though. When Q tried to approach it to attack, the torso began to spin rapidly in place and created a mini fire tornado that dealt damage and pushed her back.
This time it took them about 20 minutes to defeat the elemental as it had more health and they had to focus more on dodging rather than damage dealing. Their health and mana were also running low, and they all felt relatively exhausted, so they began to rest in the floor and made preparations for the rest of the library...
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Warlocks indeed.
So does anyone know how to delete a thread? (like, the entire post so it disappears) Because you know, I just wanted to make announcements instead of posting what seemed to be a chapter DX.
Anyway, me and my friend were talking about the advantages and disadvantages of hard copies of games vs. digital copies, and we're both on the hard copy side. What about you guys? Do you prefer a hard copy of a game or a digital copy?
Fun-fact: The first Compact Disc was released in 1982