Nevertheless, we push through.
We clear the area around a large warehouse where the second praetorian is located.
“Fella, come out and play with us!” Liv says, walking into the building, boots clacking on the hard plascrete floor. “We have treats!” The warehouse is full of shelves that block our view. But the air is eerily quiet, there is definitely something here.
I laugh lightly. “Liv please don't taunt the very scary monster that wants to eat us alive.”
“Oh don’t be such a scaredy cat. How scary could it possibly be?” Liv asks.
On cue, a battle cry echoes around the room, and the air suddenly heats up several dozen degrees. The shelf to our left explodes as a wave of blue fire crashes through it, right towards Liv.
“Ah fuck.” She turns and manages to get her shield up with only milliseconds to spare. The fire hits her like a truck and her feet dig into the ground, the plascrete cracking under the pressure. The silver shield gains a faint orange glow, which is crazy since silver aetherium has a ridiculously high specific heat capacity.
Wasting no time, I jump up onto a shelf and start running across them in the direction of the fire. A few dozen meters away I find the source of the fire. A [Demon Grand Mage Lvl 220 200 (Praetorian)]. The monster is about two meters tall, has a large black cloak and has a large staff that it holds in both hands, a stream of fire pouring out of it right towards Liv.
“A level 200! It's a mage fella too, that's crazy.” I relay to the others. I jump down and Blink right next to the mage, I angle my dagger to go right into its throat.
It bounces off some sort of barrier a few centimeters away. I get thrown back as all the force I put in rebounds into my arm.
I land right next to Violet, she glances at me and then speeds past. “Idiot, let me show you how it is done!” She shouts.
She lunges towards the monster, her blade charging with aether and she meets the barrier with a clashing sound. It tries to push back, but the skill she uses is able to break past the barrier and her blade pierces right into the monster.
The mage roars its defiance, and stops its fire. Then it releases a shockwave that sends Violet flying and crashing into a nearby shelf. The shockwave also knocks down other nearby shelves with a lot of noise and kicks up a small cloud of dust.
It wastes no time and makes use of the obscured vision, conjuring dozens of spikes of earth simultaneously and launching them at all of us.
I dodge out of the way of one spike, only for another to catch me in the arm, I hear a cracking sound and a sharp pain in my arm.
Moxie manages to deflect the spikes with a gust of wind, shielding Stephen who is standing next to her. Damn, wish I would've thought of that, I should practice air magic more, it is my worst element.
Moxie fires back at the mage with a series of fireballs and even a few light lances, but its barrier is restored and they get harmlessly absorbed.
It is hard to believe, but I think the demon’s ‘mouth’ forms into a smile. It gives me the chills.
I get back onto my feet and turn to see Violet moving again, though the side of her head is bleeding, I hope she is okay. Head wounds are no joke, I wouldn't want anything to happen to that wonderful brain of hers.
Stephen manages to get a few shots off, and they penetrate the barrier and actually do some damage. Naturally, the monster does not like that and Liv is forced to step in and block a bolt of lightning that goes right for Stephen’s head.
Violet launches herself towards the demon, and I follow a bit behind her. As I run I push almost half my mana into a Fireball. The spell produces a pure white fire that I have never seen before. Perhaps pushing more than necessary into a spell makes it stronger, rather than just larger?
Violet breaks the barrier, and in the seconds before it reforms, I throw the Fireball right at the mage. Violet and I jump back as the fire consumes the mage, and it screams.
But then to our horror, its staff glows with aether, and the Fireball starts swirling around the staff. The mage then throws my Fireball right at me. Just great.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
My uninjured arm gets a pretty bad burn as I fail to fully dodge it. I would’ve been cooked alive if it hit me dead on. I Blink next to Moxie and she gives me a look, but heals me.
Liv has been trying to use her taunt, but it only seems to draw one or two attacks from the mage before it wears off. She looks upset, but I think it's a good thing, as she gets quite badly damaged with every attack. I don’t think she could withstand its full onslaught.
The mage continues to alternate between fire, lightning and earth. We manage to avoid any severe damage, but we are unable to score any meaningful hits.
Also, we are getting slower the longer the fight goes in.
Violet and I attack the demon again, this time I forgo the spell and manage to land a nice hit with my dagger, digging deeply into its armor. As my blade is still inside the monster, its head turns a full 180 degrees and its disgusting black eyes stare into my own.
It smiles.
I scream as it casts a lightning bolt right into me, with no chance for me to dodge. Inside my armor I smell the scent of burnt flesh and steel. The mage tosses me away and I land in a pile next to a collapsed shelf.
Violet watches me fall, and charges right back in towards the demon. She tries attacking it, but it takes a single step, its first of the fight. It dodges the attack and hits Violet with a gust of wind, and she gets thrown away and impacts a support column with a loud thud.
She goes still.
The mage, now actually moving, walks over to Liv. She raises her shield, but the mage simply summons a spike of earth behind her. Shields are only useful if the attack actually hits them it seems. Liv does get a good hit in, taking one of the demon’s arms, but it is no use as she gets thrown off to the side like a tin can.
Moxie doesn't fare any better, as the mage gets up close and personal, and she loses her only advantage of range.
The demon turns to Stephen and he freezes as it walks up to him. It hits him over the head with its staff as Stephen is unable to fight back in melee.
We lay scattered around the room, battered, and if not broken, too bruised to fight back. It would seem that we were completely outmatched in this fight. Its ability to cast so many spells and redirect our own really made it impossible to fight. Perhaps Violet and Stephen could’ve slowly chipped its health away.
But that presumes it does not have some form of regeneration.
Maka, I feel warm, like the ability is burning to be used. Lemon says. Perhaps it is worth the cost.
Lemon is right, we don’t really have any other options at this point.
I grab a hold of Dimensional Shift, but just before I yank it, two figures crash through the ceiling. Their silver armor is glowing with aether, and they look just plain awesome.
My mind is foggy, but I think the taller one is Lucien, and the shorter one must be Tien.
The demon mage doesn't stand a chance. Tien walks towards the mage and pokes the barrier. A large crack sounds, and the barrier shatters, and the air ripples from a shockwave, crushing the demon and breaking its core.
The monster we were struggling against was felled by Tien with a single finger. I start laughing maniacally.
Lucien turns to look right at me. “Maka, don’t you even think about it.” He speaks sternly. I let go of Dimensional Shift. Some part of me recoils, sad that it doesn't get to wield the power. Lucien walks, or rather appears, next to me. “Perhaps we should’ve intervened a bit sooner. Oh well, it's too late for such things now, get up cadet!”
Lucien activates some skill and I feel healing go through my body. Orders of magnitude more potent than Moxie’s. He heals the others in similar fashion.
I stand up and Tien immediately slaps me on the back. “Good work boyo, you almost won!”
I look at her smile and roll my eyes. “Uh, sure, that is how it was happening.”
“Ha, that's a good outlook to have.”
The FAUD wanders into the room and sets up. Lucien leans against the device with all of us gathered around him. “Normally requiring guardian assistance would require you to retreat.” We all groan, that would mean our hard work has gone to waste. “But, you cadets are not normal. So you will be staying to finish this hive. After all, the demon mage was simply a bad matchup, you should do fine with the rest of the monsters.”
We all sigh in relief.
“Ya’ll wouldn’t believe how badly Bellaris is kicking herself though.” Tien laughs. “She seemed about ready to slap herself for letting ya’ll go into this place and nearly die.”
“She isn’t confident in our abilities?” I say.
Lucien bursts into laughter. “She always does these things… I swear every time we got into a hard situation she would blame herself and sulk for days.”
“That seems very unlike her.” Stephen comments, smiling.
“That’s Bel for you. Now, we should be going, good luck, cadets.” Lucien and Tien wave at us, and they soar back into the sky, making another set of holes in the roof.
I look at my squadmates, and we all just stare at each other for several seconds. Someone laughs, then it quickly spreads to all of us. Even Violet joins in, her beautiful laugh easily noticeable above all the others.
Stephen clears his throat. “Well then, all that we can do is continue on, eh?”
That is exactly what we shall do. We might face setbacks every once in a while, but we must simply persevere.
After all, we have some monsters to eradicate.
[Scout has leveled up! Lvl 164 -> Lvl 168]
[Mage has leveled up! Lvl 160 -> Lvl 162]
[Average Level is now 165]
[Lemon has leveled up! Lvl 142 -> Lvl 148]
[Stealth has leveled up! Lvl 20 -> Lvl 21]
[Trace Clues has leveled up! Lvl 11 -> Lvl 13]
[Meditate has leveled up! Lvl 9 -> Lvl 13]
Next Chapter: Burnt Steel
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