Discordant Note | TBATE

Chapter 12: Budget Bushcraft

Toren Daen

The grohd opened its mouth, a familiar swirl of green wind growing in its throat. I leapt to another branch hastily, stumbling as I righted myself. Behind me, the branch I had been on was obliterated by a sphere of compressed air. I could hear the would crack and shatter, sending splinters flying in every direction. I retaliated with my pulse pounding in my ears, quickly summoning a fireball the size of my fist before my hand.

It rocketed towards the lizard, who was still latched onto the tree with its tail wrapped around the trunk. It opened its mouth once more, another ball of wind rocketing toward my spell. They collided midair in a burst of heat and light, covering my vision.

My senses screamed at me again, but I didn't have time to locate another branch. I leaped anyway, dropping the twenty or so feet to the ground and rolling fitfully. Thankfully, my mana shroud didn't shatter this time, but my will-o'-wisp spell winked out as my concentration failed for a moment, leaving me to scramble to my feet in the dark wildly. I hastily recast the light spell, only to be greeted by an even worse situation.

Another grohd was latched onto the branch I had escaped from, and now both of the creatures watched me from above with predatory eyes.

I couldn't let them snipe me from above. I considered booking it to the stream, where the terrain was flat and the monsters would be forced to fight me on the ground.

That would be smarter. But the entire point I had entered this forest was to grow and test myself against things that would be immensely difficult otherwise. I needed to face these beasts head-on, in their own environment and beat them. And I was confident I could do it.

The beast closest to me opened its mouth, the orange spines on its back beginning to glow slightly. Undaunted, I thrust my hand into my pouch, retrieving a handful of stones. The other grohd skittered up the tree, momentarily out of my sight.

A sphere of wind thundered towards me, surprisingly quiet for the power I knew was in it. I gathered mana in my legs, heightening the strengthening more before weaving around the oncoming projectile, Lady Dawn's teachings already coming into play. In the same instant, I used my tried-and-true telekinesis to blast the mana beast with a shotgun shell of stone.

The stones pelted the monster with satisfying thunks, also knocking small holes into the clarwood tree the beast was perched on. It toppled off the branch with a pained screech, falling to the forest floor two stories below.

I sensed another sphere of wind hurtling toward me from above. I dodged to the side, but the impact of the wind on the ground blew me farther than I expected. I tumbled slightly, but this time my will-o'-wisp lights didn't vanish.

Good.

The beast I had knocked from the tree was struggling painfully on the forest floor, a few small wounds caused by rocks leaking bits of blood. I hadn't done as much damage as I wanted to because of the distance, unfortunately. Unwilling to let it recover, I conjured another fireball, letting it blast off at the prone grohd. It impacted, burning the creature in a cacophony of pained snarls.

I had to dodge another wind ball from the forest canopy again. It was easier this time, but I still didn't know where the other was in the upper branches of the trees. A quick glance to the other grohd revealed a smoking corpse, charred by my spell. I grinned slightly as I scanned the treetops.

I focused on my other spell, a sound grenade. I poured more mana into this one, focusing on creating as much of a disturbance as possible. A small orb of solid mana appeared in my palm, about as big as a baseball. The inside rippled with colors that made my head hurt slightly.