Return to Jorgaldur Volume V: Reunion (2)

Against an army (VI)

Kan Golge took a step back due to the onslaught of Rough Arrows with Propel and Light Arrows with Light Overload. The first two hit the miasma around him hard, thus affecting the advance of the vampire, or whatever he had half become. The last ones eroded and purified him. He could refill the lost miasma, but it was annoying, too annoying.

The vampire brought his hands together to condense a sphere of miasma and launched it at Goldmi. He wanted to get rid of the annoying elf before advancing on the rest.

As the sphere shot towards her, she redirected the Light Arrows she had Held as soon as she had seen it appear. They exploded upon impact, with great purifying force. However, the sphere contained much more miasma than the mana arrows, so it continued forward despite the impact.

She had aimed all her arrows at the bottom of the sphere, and they all hit almost at once. With this, she managed to alter its trajectory slightly, which caused it to pass several meters above and crash into the ground in the distance.

The explosion was devastating, and left a hole between the losts that were crowding behind. The power that their enemy had accumulated was terrible.

"Ready!" Eldi then exclaimed.

"Sister, now!" Goldmi asked.

"I'm going!" the goshawk fell in a dive.

Thanks to Remote Control, the elf launched a Light Pillar through her winged sister, who briefly closed her eyes so as not to be blinded. A small area was totally purified, without miasma or losts. After that, the albino bird went back up to deal with more winged losts.

They soon began to fill the empty space, but not before a figure fell in the center of the circle. Gjaki had thrown herself to the ground to propel Eldi with her legs. She with Blood to the Feet and he with Kangaroo Power had managed to multiply the impulse, at the cost of enormous stress on their legs. The high human had applied a Basic Healing on himself, while the vampiress had left it to Self-Regeneration.

With Gravity and Weightlessness, he was able to control the distance precisely, and not fall too harshly. Despite this, the landing created a small sinkhole under his feet, and he was even tempted to cast another Basic Healing.

As soon as he landed, the losts rushed at him. Suddenly, there was a living nearby, out of nowhere.

He didn't flinch. He didn't even grasp any of his weapons. Simply, an increasingly intense heat erupted from him and expanded in all directions.

Ever since they had left the Source, Eldi had been absorbing the power of the red sun. He had lost some of that accumulation during his journey through the depths, through the labyrinth, but he had had time afterward to regain it, and continue accumulating. Not only had they been following Kan Golge, but they had been fighting the losts for quite a while.

Because of this, he had needed to keep some of his concentration on the spell, so he had taken a somewhat more passive attitude. Otherwise, he might not have stayed still surrounded by an Ice Rink.

Without a doubt, at any moment his concentration could have been broken, which would have meant losing all the work. Now, it was finally bearing fruit.

Ignite released all that power accumulated over hours in a great explosion of fire, with him at its epicenter.

Goldmi and the goshawk's Light Pillar had created a small space without any lost or miasma. Ignite didn't purify the miasma, but the radius of action was incomparably larger. After all, it was a spell that required hours of preparation, and used a power greater than what the battle mage had himself.

They had chosen the place because it was far enough away from their companions and close enough to their enemy. Hundreds of losts were incinerated, only those that were far enough away were saved.

"What's that!? Shit!!!" Kan Golge exclaimed.

The fire front expanded too quickly for him to flee. He had no choice but to gather all his power to defend by surrounding himself by a dense sphere of miasma.

The lost he was on barely lasted a few moments, but he remained floating, as he was pushed by the explosion. The Miasma Shield protected him from the direct impact, but only partially from the high temperatures. His armor was melting, and his skin, flesh and muscles were also affected.

"AAAAAAAARRRGGHHH!!!" he screamed from the pain that the attack inflicted on him. He didn't remember ever feeling so much, except, perhaps, that time.

Meanwhile, the elf, the vampiress and the lynx were attacking the corrupted beings that were between the limits of the spell and Eldi. This time, it wasn't about conserving mana, but about getting rid of them as quickly as possible.

Several Light Traps were triggered at various spots, as soon as the three arrows that formed them fell into their positions. Goldmi also came to the front to launch a pair of Twisters. They advanced inexorably towards their enemies, and tore them to pieces.

The lynx, wrapped in flames, was throwing Fireballs while Jumping between the corrupted beings. She was protected by Steel Skin and some extra blessings, and she didn't hesitate to Chew or Shred her enemies. The feline even Shrank to dodge an attack from a scorpion with two sharp tails. She returned to her full size when she was under the arthropod to attack it from out of range of its pincers, and of the stingers on both tails.

Gjaki rushed towards her enemies, and dodged them, while holding her resistant threads with both hands. She jumped on the corrupted turtle she had seen from afar, held the threads tightly, and raised and sharpened them with Live Thread and Lethal Thread. Then, she activated Lethal Net to trap every enemy between the adamantine threads in her deadly trap.

While the vampiress dodged the attack of a corrupted mantis' blade, and let it stick into the turtle, Goldmi threw Lightballs at the corrupted beings gathered by her companion. The spell was a bit slow and inaccurate compared to her arrows, but it was ideal against stationary enemies.

Some plants began to sprout under their feet. They had expanded in that direction and purified the underground, but the losts had prevented them from emerging. Now, they could gain ground.

Gjaki and the lynx headed towards where Kan Golge had been, while Eldi was recovering from the effort. Releasing so much power at once had been exhausting.

Suddenly, he took out a shield, summoned Great Guardian and even raised a Rock Wall in front of him. He was thrown backwards, as his shield blocked a dangerous sphere of miasma. Luckily, it wasn't as powerful as the one that had been fired at Goldmi.

It wasn't long before they discovered the enraged silhouette of their enemy, whose appearance was deplorable. Even some of his bones were visible, his precious armor was half melted, and he had lost many of his artifacts. However, his wounds were healing at a speed that made Gjaki's Self-Regeneration look like child's play.

It was unclear whether it was flesh or miasma that was growing, but they had no time to worry about that either. Their enemy was in front of them.