.
The abrupt motions of the demons must have set off the alraune’s defensive instincts. She let out a cry somewhat like a woman’s scream, but with the overtones of a big cat’s snarl as she reared back with her arms spread, hands curling into claws. Her tendrils sprang up from the ground in a warding posture.
While the wraiths searched around, screeching angry curses, the mage held up her magic focus and chanted. I think I heard one Regaritan word I recognized, “Zedzh!”, meaning ‘Attack’, but it wasn’t an attack spell that came spilling forth from the twisted root. A cloud of demonic mana billowed forth, flooding the area with a sulfurous stink.
As the cloud spilled past us, one of the wraiths pointed straight at us and screeched, “Vaase!”
The archer turned her bow my direction as I recognized that they were somehow seeing through my cloak. I managed to untangle myself from Brigitte and get my hand on Durandal’s grip while the archer drew and fired. A [Shield of Oranos] appeared and blocked the arrow as the holy sword took action.
I didn’t have time to fumble around to retrieve the Starfire Jade Writing Brush from my belt-wallet, so I just pulled Fire from my core while holding my left palm out at her and chanted, “[Fireball!]”
The [Fireball] spell is weird. It can be held, it can be thrown like a baseball, or it can propel itself at a chosen speed up to whatever is the highest speed the mage can manage. I sometimes feel like it is three completely different spells, but it really is one spell. It’s just responding according to mental control.
The effect I can manage without using a magic focus is limited, only softball sized, but it travels at a decent speed. It would have hit the archer hag, but one of the wraiths intercepted it with his sword, which flared with demonic mana as it struck my attack and destroyed it.
Some wraiths and hags can fly, but only short distances, and they can’t typically manage the speeds I can. I wanted to get Brigitte to safety and then respond to the demons with more force. The two wraiths remaining in the back row went into a crude stealth and flew up over the heads of the others, propelling themselves at high speed, but rather than coming down directly upon us, they somersaulted above us and flew beyond, to land behind us.
With fairy sense, I could feel Brigitte spinning around to get behind me. She was planning to cover my back.
While facing the three other wraiths– one of the wraiths initially knocked down had not gotten up– I yelled, “Can you see them?”
“Just barely!”
Two wraiths against Brigitte’s twin daggers was not an even-up fight. I needed to change the scenario quickly so I could get her out of here. I had lost my chance to just take off as I originally planned, thanks to a moment of uncertainty about whether I could keep my grip on her. I had been wrapping my arms around her from behind, with her pack between us.
I yelled “[Holy Strike]” and swung Durandal horizontally. The oversized version of [Wind Scythe] flew forth.
The trio advancing on me held their blades vertically with perfect coordination and blocked the [Holy Strike]… or tried, anyway. As demonic mana flared from their weapons, it struck them with enough force to blow them backward. But their technique had successfully shielded them and the hags they protected. They stopped themselves just before reaching the hags.
They may be class E, but Wraiths are seriously strong. And their blades were clearly strong magic weapons. This was trouble.
The [Shield of Oranos] blossomed into existence again. The hag archer had launched a second arrow while I was concentrating on the wraiths.
I couldn’t abandon Brigitte to attack the crew in front of me, so I chose a different tack. Holding my wings up high to avoid striking my companion, I spun around, grabbing her around the hips, beneath her pack, and charged the oncoming pair. She let out a yelp as I snagged her. I couldn’t fly straight like this, with her in one arm and off-balance, but I could use my wings to propel us forward while yelling “[Fortress!]”
The wraiths had been cautious, so they had only just then advanced on us after getting in position in front of Brigitte at a safe distance. Otherwise, the [Fortress of Gaia] would not have formed in time. It did form, right in their face, and it was moving with us because Durandal was its center.
Physics on Huade is a funny thing, especially when magic is involved. Sometimes you do things with magic, and there is no ‘equal and opposite reaction’. Other times, you have to deal with recoil and momentum and everything else Newton wants to see.
And then there’s times when you seem to have it both ways. My [Fortress] plowed into the wraiths, stopping their charge and pushing them backwards, but only a little, since they were no lightweights. Wraiths are tough. The collision brought me and Brigitte, the beneficiaries of Durandal’s shield, to an instant halt.
So it was like hitting a barrier while riding in a car, right? Nope. We just stopped, with no recoil at all. Maybe Senhion could explain it. I can’t. The best explanation I can offer is that the shield couldn’t go through them, so the spell did the next best thing and stopped us in order to remain active.
The wraith pair, as perfectly coordinated as the trio, struck at the [Fortress] with a palm attack loaded with demonic mana. This time, we were shoved backward. The attack didn’t get through the shield to reach us, it just sent us and the shield backward together.
I had hoped to have a chance to scoop Brigitte up properly and fly. It wasn’t happening yet.
Some sort of lightning attack struck us from behind, failing to get through, but then I heard angry snarls and the sound of swordplay. I wrapped my arms around Brigitte again, somehow managing to keep a grip on Durandal, and beat my wings rapidly, rising into the air. As I feared, I didn’t have a firm grip, and had to get back to the ground before I lost her, so I immediately landed on the opposite side of the alraune’s clearing.
Navigating an alraune’s grounds is a tricky thing. She can reach anywhere in the cleared space– she’s the one keeping it clear of trees and tall shrubs, after all– but her tendrils don’t have enough strength to grab large prey in the outermost pace or so. She is only able to dig out any seedlings that threaten to encroach her space, and maybe grab a rabbit or squirrel. We had been staying within that outermost space, and I managed to reach it before losing my grip on Brigitte.
I was disappointed to find that the demonic mana fog that was rendering us visible was still reaching this far. I had hoped to be out of it so I could take a moment to get a proper grip on Brigitte. Instead, the demons saw my entire flight. The two wraiths came bounding after us, and the archer aimed at us.
The wraiths remaining with the archer and mage were battling something barely visible, outlined in the fog. It had bird wings and a human figure, and was striking at their defenses with considerable mana.
Whatever it was, it was an ally for the time being. I couldn’t send a [Holy Smite] that direction for fear of hitting it.
I had to leave the arrow to Durandal, as the wraiths were coming straight at me. I held the blade horizontally, as if I was going to bunt a baseball, took aim at the one who was coming almost directly at me, and yelled, “[Holy Strike!]”
The magic circle formed and an arbalest-scale [Magic Arrow] blasted out. This time, the demon’s defenses weren’t quite as effective. It struck him squarely, halting his trajectory and dropping him onto one of the alraune’s broad leaves, about two paces from her stalk. It was behind her back, but intelligent monsters rarely depend upon sight alone. Her leaf curled around him and her tendrils pounced on him.
The other wraith was headed toward Brigitte. As I hurriedly chanted, “[Fortification]”, and poured Earth into Durandal, I stepped in front of her to intercept him, risking the reach of the tendrils. It was awkward, because I couldn’t backswing properly without hitting my partner, but I was able to parry his blow.
As I was busy with that, the incoming arrow struck Durandal’s [Shield of Oranos], but gave off a flash of light and continued through. I braced to take an arrow when I hadn’t had a chance yet to cover myself in [Body Fortification].
Brigitte yelled “[Break!]” with her hand held up and a flood of Earth mana piled out of her, blasting the arrow apart.
She has a lot of thief and hunter skills, but that looked a lot like a spell. I had never seen her cast a magic spell before, but I didn’t have time to be stunned. I was busy battling the remaining wraith.
Or not. He had strayed into the alraune’s range. Her tendril wrapped around his waist and pulled him backwards. He let out an angry, hissing cry and began hacking at it as more tendrils closed in for the kill.
Of course, I didn’t interfere. The alraune could have all the wraiths if she wanted. I grabbed Brigitte and bounded again, shooting for a spot near our mystery ally.
“What are you doing?” Brigitte yelped.
“There’s somebody helping us! I’m returning the favor!”
Really, I was reacting out of habit. It’s bad when your fighting team gets too spread out to support one another. Consolidate, coordinate and counterattack. It was just Royal Knights training in action.
Only one more Holy attack, My Lady. Two, if you give me mana, but I’m running short of strength.
I hit the ground with Brigitte on the far side of me from the demons, which is where I wanted her. I turned to see the archer drawing on me again. I let go of Brigitte and blasted another “[Fireball!]” at the archer, but it was late. Fortunately, Durandal used [Fortress of Gaia] this time. Whatever the magic was that had penetrated [Shield of Oranos] wasn’t able to overcome [Fortress]. The arrow struck it and flashed, but dropped on the spot.
The mage was firing demonic bullets repeatedly at the half-visible ally, who was defeating them with his blade. Two of the three wraiths were down. The third had to turn and defend against me. I still had the [Fortification] magic on Durandal’s blade, so I couldn’t coat with the opposing Wind mana. I coated with Fire and laid into him. It was a two-handed blade against my bastard sword held single-handed, but it was fairy against wraith, about even.
Which, naturally, gave me a cheat called my left hand. I went to a two-handed grip and redoubled my attack, driving him backward and then running him through. As his weapon dropped, I made sure with a decapitating strike.
Turning, I found that the now-undefended hag mage had just blown the ally backward. Fortunately, nobody was behind her, and nobody was left to get in the way. I pointed at her with Durandal and ordered, “[Holy Smite!]”
The circle formed and the Earth mana fist flew out. It struck her and propelled her into the forest, taking out trees as she flew. I stared for a moment at the clear path of destruction I had just made out to the edge of the forest.
I turned back toward our ally. The demonic fog was dissipating, but he had dropped his cloak, so he had become fully visible.
Brigitte stared wide-eyed at him, her ears back and her tail high, holding her daggers ready to defend herself. My brain finally registered who exactly had come to our rescue, and I brought Durandal back up to ready.
