TBATE - Strings of Fate

15 - Hot and Cold

--ARTHUR--

After preparing for a while, we continued to descend into the dungeon. There were only five floors in this dungeon, and we had already cleared the first. The second floor had many more snarlers, but they weren't all in one group. By fighting five to eight of them at a time, we were able to pass through the second floor easily. Because we were fighting less at a time, the rest of the party let Tessia and I handle most of them.

On the third floor, however, we encountered a problem.

"Shit! They all saw us."

We all readied our weapons as Adam cursed. His curses were not unfounded, however. In the cavern we were at the entrance to, there were about fifty snarlers rushing towards us. I tightened my grip on my sword out of fear but stood my ground as I waited for Helen's guidance.

"Angela, help me pick them off before they get here." They both got to work, and Helen spoke again as she unleashed several arrows in the span of a few seconds.

"Durden, try to stall part of their group again. Adam, keep an eye on Tessia. Jasmine, keep an eye on Art. Tessia and Art, time to show us you're part of the team, not a burden."

Tessia and I nodded and engaged the enemy. I focused my attention solely on the fight in front of me, trusting Helen and the other conjurers to tell me if any unexpected developments occurred. I slashed and stabbed, letting my strikes flow into the next according to my instinct.

Each snarler took many strikes to kill, which frustrated me. I started using mana to apply an explosive power to each blow, and felt I was approaching a breakthrough.

I screamed, in excitement, exertion, frustration, fear, and about a million other emotions as I cleaved downward towards the snarler I was fighting. As my sword traveled towards my foe, something in my head clicked, and time seemed to slow down as I watched it ignite in a brilliant red flame.

My strike, augmented by my newly unlocked fire attribute, tore through the snarler's defenses, slicing completely through its shoulder and cauterizing the wound as it went.

Another snarler leaped at me, and I lowered myself under its leap and stepped forward to dodge it completely. As I did this, I thrust my sword upwards in a stab towards its heart. My sword burned through its thick fur coat and buried itself in its chest, reaching its heart in one stab.

I thought in amazement about how augmenting myself with an element was much more effective than augmenting myself with pure mana. I wondered why that was while I continued to fight off my next foe. I sunk into the familiar rhythm of following my instincts to allow my strikes to connect and flow into each other.

Stab. Upwards slash. Downwards slash. Backhand pommel strike. Backhand slash. Stab.

As I kept attacking, I felt that I was close to something else. Something more. I continued. Downwards slash. Forehand slash. Parry. Pommel strike. Backhand slash.

Then, as I prepared a finishing stab on yet another snarler, I felt the same click in my head that I felt earlier. Like a dam had been broken inside me, I allowed the new feeling of power to wash over my blade, condensing into water.

As I watched the water form around my blade, I felt that something was wrong. Wouldn't the water just extinguish the fire that was already on my blade?

Knowing it was too late to go back, I tried my best to follow through with my attack. As my stab started piercing its skin, it was stopped a couple inches short of its heart. I realized that my strike's power was diminished slightly since the fire was now covered in a layer of water.