“Are you kidding me, little duchess? Did you forget where we are?” Valanil was stunned. All she wanted to do take the little whiner and beat into her who was who, but out of the corner of her eye she saw the lix getting ready to rush over to defend his master’s female. And that was the last thing she needed.
“If you want to meet them here, go for it. That’s your choice. But we’re leaving.” Valanil found the strength to swallow her emotions, though there wasn’t a hint of deference in her voice. She was going to have to deal with the little upstart later, something that was definitely going to happen. The kid had picked a great time to flash her teeth.
“Valia’s right — this is a great position,” Tailyn said, taking the girl’s side after evaluating the rooms and angles. “The fire won’t bounce back, and if it doesn’t work on them, I can always just switch to cold rings from the other side of the wall.”
“Are you two serious? Ka-Do-Gir just told us that Vu-Rga specializes in summoning, and that means his students are going to summon, too. And do you really think the Nemean lion is the only thing that can stand up to magic? They’re going to chew you up and spit you out!”
“If fire and ice don’t work, we have the bukamonster, jungle call, and the lix,” Tailyn replied with a serenity beyond his years. After thinking for a moment, he continued with a question. “Although, what did you want to suggest? What’s the best spot in your opinion?”
Valanil peered through the transparent wall as if looking for help. The squad of lixes had already climbed two of the five floors without slowing down in the slightest. On the one hand, that was a good thing — they were going to be tired by the time they got there. On the other, it showed how strong they were. She wouldn’t have been able to run up the stairs that quickly.
“The stairs,” the herbalist said, pointing at the passageway between the floors. “That’s the best spot for us.”
“The fire won’t be able to fill the whole space.” Valia was all in, destroying every last semblance of a relationship between her and the herbalist as she looked around at the open area beginning right at the end of the stairs. “Maybe you forgot, but Tailyn’s fire has set borders, and there’s nothing for it to bounce off of down there. The lixes will just step to the side, wait for a minute, and head up the stairs. And then, yes, they’ll definitely chew us up.”
The herbalist’s expression turned stony despite the hurricane that raged inside. The whiner wasn’t just casting aspersions on her abilities; she was pointing out her mistakes, too. The girl was right — the stairs weren’t the best option. But the woman wasn’t about to admit that.
“Tailyn, we have to go!” Valanil said, turning to the boy. “The little duchess is wrong.”
“No, we’re going to stay right here,” Tailyn replied as he took up a position by the passageway. “Valanil, get bukamonster ready. Valia, have jungle call up. Ka-Do-Gir, you head down to the passageway — you’re going to be my eyes. As soon as the lixes show up, run back, and I’ll cut loose with my fire. Everyone, let’s go!”
Valanil’s face darkened, though she said nothing, just going over to the wall. She decided not to say another word to the two kids who’d suddenly decided they were great strategists. They could fight on their own. If it came to it, she could figure out how to cut a deal with the lixes.
A couple minutes later, the beasts appeared. They pounded noisily up to the top floor and kept going without stopping for a second.
“Go!” Ka-Do-Gir yelled as he rushed back past Tailyn.
Ka-Li.
The boy went right ahead and invested twenty charges in his wave of fire. Heat blasted the air, and the flames quickly found a way out by hitting the wall and bouncing past it. Valanil pressed herself up against the glass wall to see what happened. Presumably, the lixes weren’t going to just run idiotically into the trap — they had to have a surprise ready.
And that was what happened. After twenty seconds of fiery chaos, nobody had gotten a notification about the lixes sustaining losses. Thirty-five of them had been alive before it; thirty-five were alive after it. On the other side of the glass, a shadow painfully familiar to the herbalist flashed by, and part of the fire died away long before it was supposed to. The shadow flitted by one more time, putting out another section of flames.
“Hydras!” Valanil yelled, dashing over to Tailyn and standing between him and the room with the fire. “No more magic — they’re using hydras!”
Tailyn froze, chills running unpleasantly down his spine. Valia’s book had told him about hydras, creatures mages hated the most because they could absorb spells cast at them to become even stronger. The magical fire spawned by the boy’s card was sweeter than honey for them. And he’d sent out twenty charges… It was terrifying just to think about what the monsters had turned into. They only used physical attacks, skipping magic, but that didn’t make things any better since their short legs carried around three heads that battered away relentlessly at opponents. Besides their personal shields, they also had scales thick enough to withstand a direct hit from a crossbow bolt. Things were looking grim.
“Valia, get jungle call ready!”
“That won’t help,” Valanil practically spat as she began pulling out elixir after elixir. “Whatever we could summon is also magic, so the hydras would eat them without a second thought. What do you have for alchemy?”
“Acid, fire, freeze. Ten of each. If need be, I can make more pretty quickly.”
Valanil just about dropped a flask of alchemical fire on the ground when she heard the boy. Just like that, he’d mentioned that he had a virtual workshop, and that was impressive. Since she’d already known about his store, she’d assumed the little squirt had picked up the salamander potions there, but no — he had his own workshop. What was next? A crystal farm? Still, the herbalist quickly regained control of herself. There would be time to deal with the kid later.
“Give everything to the lix and go make another ten of each. Do you have the materials?”
“Yes,” Tailyn replied as he materialized an armful of glass.
“Would you deign to help, your highness?” the herbalist asked sarcastically with a nod toward the elixir arsenal. “We’re going to have to do some throwing. Tailyn, why are you still here? Hop to it!”
Ten of each elixir meant it was going to take a few minutes. The boy ran off to the far corner to make sure he wouldn’t catch a stray blow and jumped into his workshop. Waving off the different greetings and other nonsense, he quickly spent three hundred coins on the ingredients he was going to need before popping off flask after flask. Ten bottles of alchemical fire. They were pretty powerful even considering they would only burn for forty-five seconds — that was enough. Then, it was time for ten flasks of acid, also lasting just forty-five seconds each, though that was also enough to burn through just about anything in the world. Except glass. Finally, there were ten ice explosions. All of them created a space with a temperature of minus eighty degrees. And while that wasn’t much, it was sufficient to hold back an overly zealous opponent’s attack.
“Tailyn, where are you?!” Valanil’s shrill scream broke through his workshop, and Tailyn left without even finishing the last flask. With no time to look around and evaluate the situation, he found himself staring down the open maw of a terrifying creature. The wave of fire had turned out to work in the group’s favor, however — having swallowed it, the hydras had gotten both stronger and bigger. Too big, in fact, to fit comfortably through the passageway. One of them was stuck in the door as it tried to reach the boy, and all three heads were snapping their teeth just a couple meters away. With each passing second, they got just a little closer. The creature was squirming its way past the obstacle.
The group had run off into another room to get away from the monster’s teeth. The only problem was that they’d forgotten about Tailyn, and they were yelling as loudly as they could to get his attention. And while alchemical fire was burning merrily on the hydra’s body, it didn’t
look to be doing any damage. The creature’s scales were impervious to acid, fire, and cold, making it the perfect weapon for taking out mages.
Tailyn’s usual calm fell over him. The boy was no longer worried by the heads chomping at the bit to get at him — he knew what to do.
“Valia, can you see this thing?” Tailyn asked, dropping his elixirs back into his virtual inventory.
“Yes,” the girl replied as she sniffed and choked back her tears. “Tailyn, don’t die!”
“I’m not planning on it. Attack it with magic! Now! Fire everything you have except for jungle call — we’ll be needing it a bit later. Go!”
Setting an example for her, Tailyn sent ten ice rings flying. The hydra even stopped jumping around, just letting its tongue hang out in satisfaction. No sooner had the white glow of magic descended on the monster, than it absorbed every last bit. But that was what Tailyn had been going for. He was going to feed the creature everything it wanted.
“Valia, come on!” Tailyn yelled as he switched cards. Since nothing was bouncing off the monster, he could use his favorite weapon — his wave of fire.
Icicles flew toward the hydra’s flank, disappearing before even touching the creature’s body. All three of its heads broke out in a happy grin, at least assuming it could grin in the first place. Magic. Sweet, sweet magic. The monster stopped moving, just letting the little human delights spend their cards making it stronger and bigger…
Bigger?
Ka-Li.
You used Wave of Fire-II 30 times.
Charges remaining: 100 of 150.
Yes, bigger.
A minute later, the hydra absorbed the last of the wave of fire and realized something was wrong. Its heads had grown to an unheard-of size and began to get in the way of each other even as their opponent continued firing delicious magic. The only problem was that the ancient structure built three thousand years before hadn’t been designed to hold something that big. Icicles and lightning rained down on the creature, growing it even larger, and finally Tailyn got the result he was waiting for.
Something was going to give, either the gigantic hydra or the tomb. Happily, the ancients had built the tomb well, and there was an unpleasant crunch that elicited a look of pain and horror in the hydra’s eyes. The passageway it hadn’t been able to get through had shattered its scales. Free of its confines, the creature’s body continued to expand, cutting itself open on the wall. The room was filled with a nasty black goo, and another icicle hit the creature in the side. Only that one wasn’t absorbed. Burrowing into the scales, it shook the hydra’s body and left an enormous hole behind.
“It worked!” Valanil exclaimed happily.
The hydra’s heads were no longer moving. Its eyes rolled back, its tongues lolled out, and suddenly the whole mass blinked and disappeared as though it had never been there. Even the black goo that had splashed out of it evaporated. The shaman had deactivated its pet and everything else connected to it.
From the direction of the passageway, a thunderous roar broke out, and the next creature came charging through. Three heads appeared to lock in on the boy still standing in his spot. Without waiting for instructions, Valanil began sending icicles slamming into it, getting the creature ready to get stuck in the passageway the same as its friend had. And that’s exactly what happened. The idiotic monster surged forward in blind rage only to find itself unable to go any further.
“Do it!” the herbalist yelled, and a wave of fire burst out. Tailyn didn’t let up. His first breath was enough for thirty charges. His second gave him another twenty. After that, he switched to lightning and fireballs — the hydra needed as much magic as they could give it.
The situation repeated itself. The creature grew and grew until its scales gave in under the pressure, black goo came oozing out, and the body began to blink, only just then Tailyn dashed forward. Away from the group. Valia’s cry caught him right at the passageway that had destroyed the hydras, though the boy had given himself exactly one second to carry out his plan. But even that turned out to be a lot. Steel claws slammed into his body, but that wasn’t enough to stop him.
Ka-Li.
You used Wave of Fire-II 10 times.
Charges remaining: 40 of 150.
You destroyed more than 10 creatures at least 10 levels above you.
You received a level-up for one random attribute.
Cartographer +1 (3).
The lix was too late. It was just a moment, but that was enough for Tailyn’s elixir-enhanced magic to wreak havoc on the creatures who’d come running up. And while the combat status didn’t change, the number of enemies they were up against dropped to twenty-three, most of which were the level two and three marauders working on the tomb.
“That was dangerous, my boy, but you timed it well. Good job,” Valanil said before pointedly avoiding a look in Valia’s direction and continuing. “I hope this battle went to show that there can only be one leader in the group. And as long as we’re in the Gray Lands, little duchess, you’re going to follow my orders. Whine and flash your teeth one more time, and I’m afraid you won’t see your precious father again. That’s not a threat. I’m just stating facts. It would have been much easier to take out the hydras on the stairs the way I said — any questions about that?”
Valia wasn’t used to speaking with people who had their backs turned to her, so she was forced to remain silent. And while she knew all too well that the herbalist was twisting the facts to suit her narrative, the latter was right about one thing. There could only be one leader, and that leader definitely wasn’t Valia. Tailyn? Maybe, but not yet. And not the lix.
“Excellent,” Valanil continued, taking the silence as agreement. “Tailyn, grab the loot, and let’s keep moving. There’s a lot more for us to do.”
The herbalist stepped away from the glass and couldn’t hold back her surprise — it was knocked out of its frame in one corner. If the hydra had been just a bit luckier and gotten stuck in the opening rather than in the corridor… It was scary to think what might have happened. Peering through the hole, the herbalist grunted. Her perception had finally kicked in to show her who they were up against.
And that was when the woman’s heart began beating wildly. She could see the details of the mages hanging above the red acid.
Forian Tarn (human). Mage. Age 33. Level 32.
Vavon Der (human). Mage. Age 288. Level 144.
Turning to the girl, who was still trying to figure out how to react to the herbalist’s claim to leadership of the group, Valanil asked her a question.
“Valia, are you sure the Nemean lion killed Magistrate Vavon?”
Chapter 16
Loot received:
4233 gold.
6200 coins.
Valanil Revolt receives Hydra epic card.
Valanil Revolt receives level II complete outfit (3).
Valia Levor receives Hydra epic card.
Valia Levor receives level II complete outfit (3).
Ka-Do-Gir receives level II complete outfit (3).
Ka-Do-Gir receives level II steel claws (5).
Tailyn Vlashich receives level II complete outfit (3).
Tailyn Vlashich receives level II steel claws (5).
***
Active Marauder attribute detected. Analyzing bodies…
***
Location maps updated (7).
THE WALL OF TEXT that popped up in front of the boy quieted for a moment the fire burning in his chest. He even forgot about his mentor hanging down below, though that wasn’t for long — he’d finally found out why Forian hadn’t come back to the town when he got the news about Dort. Why he hadn’t come back to take Tailyn to the academy. It all turned out to be because the pride of the academy and one of its most promising recent graduates had been working for the black lixes as a mana source.
“It’s a shame I won’t be able to use this. It would come in handy,” Valia said, looking down sadly at her new hydra card. It only had two charges
left, and it wasn’t possible to recharge it, though even that wouldn’t have been a problem if she’d been able to use the magic-devouring monster. And even though it didn’t live long — just wisdom minutes — that would have been enough to destroy Vu-Rga. The real problem was the combat status that was in no hurry to go anywhere. The crossed swords still flashed red, and there were twenty-three more opponents left to take out.
“Well, there’s one option,” Tailyn said as he glanced thoughtfully at the door. It was on the opposite side of their floor. “But it would be a risk.”
“You’re thinking about leaving the tomb and getting mixed up in the guards’ tentacles?” Valanil asked with a chuckle. “Not the brightest of ideas, to be honest. Right up your alley.”
“The guards might not be there,” the boy said. But even Valia wasn’t going to back him up.
“No, Tailyn, we can’t take that kind of a risk.”
Forest of Desire (The Alchemist Book #2): LitRPG Series Page 22
