Chapter 23

Smoke.

It is hard to describe the intense primal fear that is engrained in all of us, when you smell the scent of deep thick smoke on the air. Somehow your body tenses, as all of your senses are brought to that primal source of fear.

Even now, I have it, the fear as miles and miles of woods are being burned off in the distance. A natural forest fire that is undeniable in scope and grandeur.

Flames rise, ripple, billow, and bulge before releasing acrid black smoke.

Somehow it is that sight of billowing smoke that is not cinematic at all, along with the scent that the game never got quite right that spark true fear within me.

Just taking a few steps cause me to tense up with fear.

“Cover your face,” Rydel shouts, as he pulls up his inner shirt and then with a moderate application of water magic causes the undershirt to stick to his mouth.

I do the same, but once again placing my veil over my face. As I am moving my mask into place, Rydel comes over and coats the outer layer of the mask in water.

Suddenly my body goes from shock of smoke to shock of drowning, but that is only a momentary effect. By the time I am over my own fear of drowning, thanks to the random water on my nose, I see that Rydel has also helped Marie with her own wet cloth around her face.

The entire process only took a matter of seconds but felt like hours, particularly as I could feel the force and strain of power coming from my left, from the side that the crazed pyromancer was setting the world ablaze.

“Run!” Rydel shouted and began taking off almost immediately after our emergency clothing alteration was met.

Seconds, that is literally how long that slight action took, and yet it was too much.

Wind Burst.

Rydel never slowing down, showed that his training with Magister Carthwright was not just for show, as he began casting while running.

A simple spell, Wind Burst, which as the name suggests would fire out a gust of wind directly in front of him.

The wind was important as it helped cut a line into the thick dark cloud of smoke that was filling the countryside and cutting down our visibility.

Only with the newfound ability to breathe through filtering cloth and the ability to sort of see where we are going do I realize that something is off.

Pulse.

I almost feel the slight tremors of movement. The way one would expect to feel a multi-ton tyrannosaurus trying to stealthily walk across the plains, while each step causes a mini earthquake in its wake.

Then as one, we all turn to see what had to be the most badass scene of inevitability I’ve ever experienced in this world.

Thud, thump, thud.

A dark robed figure covered in a long flowing black cloak and showing a bleached white face bone of a werebear calmly strode forward. All while the giant staff that they held in their right hand seemed to glow and radiate power in waves that was mesmerizingly undeniable.

Just from seeing the giant figure casually strolling forward from the blazing inferno that they both created and seemed to control, given that the flames seemed to move forward with each step they took.

Seeing that long robed figure, I realized two things.

First, I realized they were right-handed, as that was the hand they held their staff in. A quick mental note to look showed that I was currently holding my own stolen Modifiable Beginner’s Staff of Arcane Repair in my left hand. Thus, giving further credence to the idea that the dark and ominous boss monster for this region was right-handed.

The second thing I realized was that we were fucked. Not only could this creature seemingly control the flames, which their control seemed to be augmented by the glowing staff in their hand. But they could also seemingly control the smoke created from the flames. This was proven, when the faint trail through the smoke that Rydel had created a moment ago suddenly snaked back together from both ends.

With the path completely closed off, Rydel once again tried another Wind Burst, but that one too was cut down almost faster than the first.

All the while, the only clear path of sight was between us and the boss monster for this area.

I used to always hate and wonder how the fights were so forced. It was always like, there is terrain all around, why don’t you run until you are uphill and fighting downhill. Now, seeing the wonky world mechanics, I can’t help but be impressed with the way we are now encircled and all but forced to battle this monster.

A monster that is either floating, or nine feet tall, or possibly both.

I say floating as the liner of their long black cloak does not seem to touch the ground. Also, they are clearly either wearing clothes that elongate their body, or are just an abnormally tall monster creature with seemingly short tyrannosaurus arms.

“Do something,” Marie shouted, but rather than talking to Rydel as one would expect, she grabbed my arm and all but beckoned me to look at her.

“What?” Was all I could manage, momentarily turning away from the monster who was still coming, even though they were just over a hundred meters away.

Turning to look at Marie, I saw that her eyes were glowing with a near icy stare. The kind that would send shivers down anyone’s spine.

“Save me,” Marie said, her voice emphatic as she seemed to speak in the same tone she had a moment ago, when she gave the prophecy. The one about leaving early to apparently avoid this.

“Okay,” I say, then try to move my left arm, my staff holding arm, only to realize she is still holding onto my robe with a death grip.

“Okay,” I repeat, this time a little more patiently.

With my second time, Marie finally let go of my sleeve.

With my arm now free to cast as needed, I pause and then nod once before turning to face the incoming boss monster.

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Seeing the wide area of control the boss monster has, I get an idea.

I know that staff is likely a relic of some kind. As with almost all things powerful and magic, I assume it is related to the Ancient’s and their lost magical technologies. With that thought in mind, I realize what I need to do.

“Get ready to run,” I say, as I begin to focus my will and feeling both my single circle mark of the Ancient come to life, along with the recently reattuned stolen staff, I feel a spell construct form in my mind.

The construct is large, far larger than I could ever create on my own.

But with the two aides, I feel that there is almost a third, or maybe a fourth dimension that I can now access to throw additional layers and effects of the spell I am constructing.

I know the staff allows me to cast Arcane Repair spells at a tier higher, and I wondered how that would be possible. But now, with the aid of this staff, I see how it would be possible.

For an extra Tier of spell work would not have been possible without this extra dimension offered by the staff to facilitate the minor changes needed.

Then I start casting and linking both my base spell to the augmented portion within my staff. Using the portion in the staff as basically a refractive lens that will sharpen and focus the initial spell and make it at least twice as potent as the original.

Then I say the magic words.

Perfect Disruption Field.

Magical riffle.

There is a moment where everything stops, and I swear this is where a drop in music would happen as suddenly everything went silent for a second. Most of this probably had to do with the fact that my spell seemed to combat each and every sound wave, magical frequency, or other alternative energy wave that might be able to be disrupted.

To put it succinctly, not only did my spell work against magical effects, but it was so powerful that for the moment it also cut out sound. For a second, I could almost swear that it caused a momentary flash of darkness, before the lights came back on. Though that could have just been my blinking, I don’t know.

What I do know is that with my Disruption Field in effect, a few things happen all at once. First, the overwhelming pressure I’ve been feeling on my head begins to release itself almost instantly, the same way the tension seems to relax from a sudden summer rain.

I also see something that I didn’t quite expect.

Ooof!

The nine foot tall larger than life monster collapsed to the ground.

As they do, I see a number of magical items and effects blaze to life once more. Seeing the boss down I decide to put my recently practiced Multi-Casting Skill to work, as I begin firing Bolt after Bolt, after Intermediate Bolt all at the boss.

Shattering.

Shatter.

Shatter.

The unmistakable sounds of reflective shards breaking with each strike are heard. Letting me know that the monster has shielding in place.

In fact, now that I have a chance to see everything. I am fairly certain that these shields are being channeled through the brightly glowing silver necklace that the boss is wearing.

How do I know it is a glowing silver necklace? Simple, it is glowing so much from the mana being pumped into it by the boss that it is now appearing through the dark threads of the oversized black robe that the boss monster is wearing.

Though I am fairly certain by now that this is not actually a monster, but someone disguised as an old legendary monster of the forests.

Normally casting in such a way is a waste.

First, we are far too early on in the adventure to be taking on a monster of this level and caliber.

Normally.

However, the developers and programmers likely never accounted for someone like me. Someone who would train diligently for months on end, mainly because I wasn’t allowed to log out, but diligently nonetheless. Everyday I worked to push myself that much further, all so I could push my Arcane Repair to the A+ rating it was at currently.

This, along with my new staff attuned to help me cast Arcane Repair spells that much better, let me focus my will on once again improving possibly the best attack spell in the game to the next level.

Mentally I split my attention.

I rain down an endless barrage of Arcane Repair Bolts.

Pop.

Crackle.

Pop.

By now the force and speed of my casting is still intense, still relentless, but I see the boss figure staggering to their feet. Using the large staff as a balance, they impale the brightly glowing staff into the ground, all while trying to push themselves up.

This is where my focusing on improving my Dual Casting, to Multi Casting is going to pay off. While I have been hammering down an endless barrage of Perfect Bolt spells. I have been using the free space within my staff to work on the next phase of the spell.

Starting with the framework for the vastly improved Intermediate Bolt, my mind begins to expand as I use the staff to create the next step in the Intermediate Bolt’s evolution.

The spell can’t come quickly enough, as the boss is just about to rise up to their feet, meaning I need to strike at this exact moment.

At the moment when their main body is constantly being protected by applied shielding from an Ancient artifact around their neck is focused on protecting their body. A body that is close to the ground, all while the tip of their Ancient Staff is standing tall, almost six feet high in the air, as the overly pompous staff of power that it is. Fortunately, in this case, the overly compensating size of the staff works out perfectly, as I am fairly certain the top of the staff. That is, the top part where the power cores and anchoring spell wires are fused together. That part should be outside of the protection bubble being generated and constantly refreshed by the over used necklace of the boss.

Focusing on the top portion of the staff, right at the overcharged power crystal, I focus my mind and release the new spell that is only made possible thanks to my new overpowered staff.

Perfect Enhanced Intermediate Bolt

I see it, watching the path of my Bolt the entire way to its glowing red target. A target that seems to stare back defiantly, as if it is the eye of some great efreet monster that is only momentarily being contained by the restrictions imposed on it by the staff.

There is contact, as my supercharged Bolt strikes defiantly into the almost blinking eye of fire. Then the world changes again, for a second time in as many minutes.

KA-BOOMMM!

The moment my Bolt met the glowing power core of the staff, a wave of violent force was released, hurling me backwards, as I felt my body roll and rumble across the fields.

Trees and branches spun and danced overhead for a second, before being replaced by blades of grass and stone, only to be replaced by yet more dancing trees as I spun about wildly, bouncing against the ground. With each crash and impact, I felt bones break and pop.

Then finally the rolling stopped, and all I felt was pain.

Pain, and what could only be the sensation of fluids gently rolling down my ears.

Mental note, I will not do that again.

That was my last thought, before I felt my consciousness fading.

Looking up, I saw the bright blue sky, and somehow wondered how they got the sky to be that shade of perfect. No pollution, even the now dying wisps of smoke that could be seen only seemed to add to the texture and vortex of colors that were present up above. The sky wasn’t just blue, but there were faint streaks of clouds, different shades of blue, as the sun appeared to be setting off in the distance.

It was oddly beautiful.

Too beautiful, at least for a game world.

“Maybe I was wrong,” was all I could say while staring up into the sun, and feeling the immense amount of pain I was currently in. All while feeling the taste of lingering smoke in the air. There were too many sensations for this to be a game. Also, this level of pain would never be allowed, should never be allowed. The pain was excruciating.

Worst of all, my mind felt like it was mush. Like I knew there was something I could do to help, but only if my mind wasn’t so fuzzy. I had hit my head, at least once, maybe twice during that spin, but this was pain on another level.

Garble.

There was the distant sound of someone speaking far away.

Oddly enough, I thought I knew the voice.

Touch.

A figure blurred into my peripheral and then main vision, before resting a hand on my chest.

Their hand seemed to find a broken rib, which instantly caused me to gasp in pain. At least, I thought I was gasping, but my lungs and chest felt tight, as if everything was being restricted.

GASP!

“Hold on,” the voice of Marie said with a whisper. Why was she whispering?

Was the boss nearby?

Did I get them?

Then before my mind could get too much further, I felt crisp refreshing bursts of energy.

Healing Touch

Almost immediately I felt the burning and explosive pain within my lungs begin to alleviate, as I felt my ribs crack and pop back into place.

Then finally the fog within my mind lifted, and I realized she was using Healing Magic, magic that I could also use, and could have used to avoid most of the pain I was experiencing just moments ago.

Breathe.

Finally, after a few minutes, or maybe seconds of her continually Healing me, I can take breaths free of pain.

“Oh, thank you.” I finally say, feeling relaxed, but exhausted from the energies that are still running through me. I can tell I am fine physically, though from a stamina point of view, I might be low for a few moments.

“You had me so worried,” Marie stated now using her hand that is still on my chest, she balances herself while leaning forward to stare at my face.

As she moves forward, I cannot help but wince in pain slightly.

“Ahh!”

“Are you okay?” Marie asks, fear evident in her tone as she looks me over for more injuries.

“You are smooshing my boob!” I manage.

“Oh, OHH!” Marie shouts before jumping up from me, of course by jumping up she pushes further down on said boob, but I begin to feel better almost immediately after that.

There is a pause, before I realize.

“Rydel?” I ask, shooting up to a sitting posture.

“I’m here,” Rydel stated walking forward with the charred remains of the top portion of the staff I just attacked in his hands.

“You survived?” I ask, getting to my feet, which Marie instantly runs over to hold out a hand to help with. A hand that I easily take in my still somewhat groggy state.

“Yeah, I managed to erect a barrier,” Rydel said, a look of anger and something else filling his face.

There was clearly something more to his moody gestures, but I was too preoccupied with the part of the staff in his hands to go down that rabbit hole of deciphering male emotions.

“Is that?” I ask, while pointing at the broken piece of materials in his hand.

“Yeah, you destroyed their staff.” Rydel said flippantly as he handed the broken staff portion to me.

I take the staff, and sure enough, nothing magical remains to be found.

Looking form the staff, to the area where the boss had once stood, all I see is a black charred mark.

“Did I get them?” I ask, wondering how hard I had to hit someone to make them vaporize.

“Hah, no. They Teleported away after the strike destroyed their staff,” Marie noted.

“Oh.” Was all I could say to that.

Then looking around, I could see the remainder of the devastation. There were still some fires going up the hill, where the boss had come from, but they were nowhere near the inferno that they were before. Still, they would be tough to get through. Also, the smoke that had been seemingly moving around to block our movements was now clear. Well mostly clear, there were still faint trails of lingering smoke trails all over, but for the most part they were beginning to dissipate on their own.

“Come on, it looks like we will still have to go to the caverns just in case.” Rydel said.

With that, I could tell that something had clearly happened, but I couldn’t exactly understand why the normally over jovial pretty boy was suddenly so moody.

“Okay,” was all I could say.

Marie silently nodded, apparently realizing that she too shouldn’t talk to the overly emotional upper classman.

Then without any word or fanfare we began walking.

I gave one quick look to Marie with a raised eyebrow before gesturing with my eyes at Rydel.

For her part Marie just shrugged, before we both began following the most powerful caster available, if only for the few odd missions.

Silence.

Yep, glad it is not weird.