A Curse of Competence

18

^^ Philosopher's Stone (Stable) ^^

Standing on water was rather easy, with my Boots; they dispersed my weight properly so that I didn't have enough weight per square centimeter to break the surface tension of the water, so I ran across its surface towards the damnable lightning dragon that'd just knocked me out of the sky like a bug zapper, rebuilding my Barrier Spells as I went and crafting a spear made of ice; metal was not the material I wanted to use against a monster that spat lightning, after all. Each of its spines emitted an aura of danger, beyond the lightning arcing off of them which was almost no danger to me at all, (due to the Kirin Scales in my gauntlets, greaves, helmet, and Boots,) there was something else there, something I was unaware of... then I remembered: Lionfish had Poisonous Spines, that was why they were so hard to kill and get rid of naturally in an ecosystem without any poisonous animals; the predators didn't have natural poison resistance and therefore couldn't thin their numbers at all.

The spear of ice shot forward in a perfectly executed thrust towards the unprotected throat of the creature, its fish-like face snarling and hissing at me as it reared its head back for another breath attack, but I'd forgotten another important factor: it was a sea creature, and its muscles and organs were protected by a thick layer of fat beneath its already-tough draconic hide, so the spear glanced off of the slippery hide without piercing through. It did, however, leave behind a long line of ice crystals that made the creature scream in pain and recoil away from me. "Mother was right, it's weak to the Cold... alright, how about this?!?" I leapt back into the air and away from its striking spines, which it used much like a scorpion used its tail, then threw the spear at the face of the sea-dragon, forcing it to dodge and dive to the side further away from me to avoid it. Using that time, I drew the wand of the Alicorn, and drew a swift barrier spell to leech the heat from the water around us and turn it into ice. It would take a few minutes to work, because of how low the freezing temperature of salt water was, so my other hand painstakingly drew a different circle, blasting a fireball at the ground it was standing on; the flames did nothing at all to the creature, and it didn't even bother dodging, but I didn't care, because the spell I was using to absorb heat also absorbed the explosion of the fireball, giving me back the Mana I'd spent. I threw several more, one at a time, trying to distract it and block its view so it didn't spit lightning at me again, and I was rewarded when I saw ice crystals beginning to grow on the rock that the dragon was perched on. My fireballs melted this ice instantly, but it also meant that the ice on the water was thickening enough it might be able to handle the creature's weight... for a few moments.

'As much as I'd like to let you do this on your own, Princess, you are running low on Mana. Hovering like this without expanding your wings is incredibly wasteful.' Cenir saved the day rather spectacularly, reminding me that I couldn't do this all day, and I quickly created a barrier to stand on, connected to the floor of the bay some twenty meters below me, instead of just hovering with Magic. 'Much better, but do work more quickly, please? Whatever plan you've got, get it started now, because your mother and father are very near to interfering.'

"I'm working on it, give me a minute!!!" I responded hotly out loud, and then mixed it up by throwing an icicle lance instead of a fireball, causing confusion for the beast as it was suddenly wounded, where before it'd been only mildly annoyed by my fireballs. Next I called up a marine layer of fog to cover the hardened ice around the rock, forcing it up until it covered the beast's head in height, and summoned the Kelpie Stag. "Make an illusory copy of me in the Fog, and help me trick the enemy into stepping on the ice!!!"

The massive horse snorted at me in amusement, trotting through the fog without a care, before suddenly rocketing out with a terrified whinny. 'WHY ARE YOU FIGHTING A DRAGON?!?!?'