by Dakota Krout
Finn didn’t celebrate the kill, but moved on; coldly and methodically targeting an encroaching Jelly on the left that was making its way toward them along the wall.
Dead ahead, Geffrey was bellowing while his body smoked and his health lurched and dropped in steady increments. He absorbed a fair number of attacks on his shield and armor, but there were just so many of the creatures. The man was lying into them with his axe, splitting the Jellies in two to slow them down, but the damage never seemed to take.
The creatures quickly reformed, no worse for the wear but as angry as brainless lumps could be. There was a whoosh as a churning fireball erupted, exploding against Geffrey’s shield and rocking the big man back on his heels. The Jellies closed in even faster, more of the creature’s working to flank him from the left and the right.
Sam felt a twinge of panic: Geffrey was going to die if he didn’t do something. But what could he do? He hadn’t even taken his Basics of Offensive Spell Casters course yet! He wasn’t prepared for this! Suddenly he was wishing he’d taken the cleric class after all, that tutorial was probably way more fun and gentle.
But this was no time for doubt. A word from his Trial floated up to the top of his mind: Decide. He could run away or he could confront these monsters just as he’d confronted those Trollish bullies in the bathroom. The choice was a no brainer. “Finn, watch my back and make sure those things don’t get behind me!”
“What? I’m better at this than you are.” Finn scoffed as he readied his next spell.
Sam waded into a gap just behind Geffrey, keeping a safe distance from the nearest Jelly. He didn’t have a weapon, but he had finally remembered that he was a weapon. Acting on instinct—perhaps the single greatest tool in the Sorcerer’s arsenal—Sam stuck both arms out at an angle, so they made a ‘V’, and began spamming Wind Blade, firing compressed air blasts from each hand. Although Sam knew the spell would be invisible to the naked eye, the results were obvious to anyone who could see. Jellies staggered away, goo cartwheeling through the air as they fell, sliced cleanly apart.
Using both hands was slower than casting it with just one hand, and he had a misfire every third attack or so, but it hardly mattered. Sam was still casting a spell every two and a half seconds. Since he could alternate hands he was firing continuously, blasting away Jellies to either side of his tanky guard. Wind Blade wasn’t powerful enough to kill the monsters straight out, but two or three shots seemed to do the trick in most cases.
Mana manipulation had reduced his overall reserve pool, true, but he still felt like he could do this all day. A surge of exhilaration sprinted through him. Now this was what he’d come for! Action. Adventure. Monsters and battle! Magic!
“On your right!” Finn called out from behind him. “Above!”
Sam swiveled his head and caught sight of a basketball sized Jelly clinging to the ceiling just above him.
It dropped like a penny from the Empire State building.
Frantic, Sam leapt to the right, throwing himself into a roll just as he’d done a hundred times in Judo. Except, in Judo he hadn’t been wearing Mage robes and he hadn’t been in knee-deep sewage. Sam avoided the falling creature by inches, but got a face full of rancid filth for his effort and his health took a beating as well, costing him eight of his sixty Health Points.
He quickly gained his feet, gasping as he tried not to throw up all over himself. The blob was encroaching on his personal space, but an ice spike ripped through the air, parting the blob and killing it in an instant. Sam swiped a hand across his face, clearing the gunk from his eyes, then spun, searching for any other threats.
There were none.
The fighting had happened so fast… and just like that it was all over. Sixteen dead in a matter of a few seconds of desperate struggle. From the look of things, Finn had done the bulk of the heavy lifting. But a win was a win, and Sam felt inordinately excited, especially when he received an onslaught of notices, one right after the other:
Experience increased due to low average party level! Exp: 240 (Sentient Jelly x 16) (10 per Jelly * 1.5 difficulty).
Quest updated: The Arcane Path II (Ongoing). As a Licensed Mage and Novice of the Mage College, you are required to complete daily chores or officially sanctioned Assignments on behalf of the College! Today you must clear the sewers beneath Ardania of Sentient Jellies! 16/50 complete.
Skill gained: Dual casting (Novice I). Not having a weapon in one hand may make it harder to fend off attacks, but you have found a way to make yourself deadly without needing to hold a stick or pointy chunk of metal! Whether casting the same spell or a different one, as long as you only need a single hand for each spell, you are able to cast two at once! Effect: Cast two spells at the same time. Increase casting time by 51-1n% where ‘n’ is skill level. 33% chance of failing due to faltering spell stability, +1n% spell stability per skill level.
Sam grinned like a maniac as he read over the messages. Was the College kind of the worst? Yes. Was Octavius the human equivalent of rotten milk? Sure. Was Sam covered in grim and sewage? Obviously. But boy oh boy was he having a blast right now.
“Alright, then,” Geffrey pulled a vial with red liquid from a pouch at his side. “You lot better get rooting around for the Monster Cores, and then we’re off. We have thirty-four more of these things to kill before we’re done for the day. Best to be quick about it.”
Sam didn’t relish the idea of clawing through raw sewage barehanded for monster cores, but if this was the worst thing that he had to do with the college, maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.
BIBLIOMANCER
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