Ifound Wolverine with an injured little girl on his back. The sunlight wolf was somewhat damp from the rain, but his mana automatically dried, perhaps even cleaned his fur. Not that that would save him from a bath.
“Take her back to the camp. We’ve got someone there willing to help,” I told him after giving her some health potion. Wolverine barked his acknowledgement, licked my face, and then rushed toward the camp. Mandi and I dashed forward, stopping minutes later to take in the sight of the chaos. There were a few people trying to run. The unconscious bodies on the ground steeled my determination.
“Nate,” I heard Nuwa say. I turned to her. “What should we do? I can’t push back miasma for all of them. I don’t have any mana potions left.”
The healer seemed as if she’d pass out from exhaustion at any moment. She was currently assisting a man who looked to be in his eighties, applying flickering healing light. She’d keel over just to help every single one of these people.
“Do any other potion makers have miasma or poison cures?” I asked.
“There was only a gnome alchemist, but he ran out,” Nuwa said. “Did you…?”
“No time for that,” I said, knowing damn well she was about to ask if I sensed the bastard responsible for this mess. We didn’t need more panic on top of panic.
“This is all the Lord Ruler’s fault,” the old man suddenly snapped. “We’ve been asking for a medical supply restock for months and he ignored us because we’re a D-ranked town. Apparently, the thousands of people here aren’t worthy enough to live on the same Wanda-created land as the others. We tried to hire doctors or healers on our own, but the Lady wanted to be careful with her funding. She said the Lord Ruler wouldn’t be bailing us out if she spent irresponsibly.”
“We have to go,” I said, not wanting to stay behind for more of the old man’s rant. It wasn’t surprising at this point how the Lord Ruler treated towns that didn’t meet his expectations. Yet they still had to pay taxes. “Have you seen Harmony?”
“Not in this crowd, but I believe she’s trying to help as many people as possible,” Nuwa said. “I hope. Healing potions won’t help her much if she came into contact with the miasma.”
I pulled out my new antidote steam blast potion and tossed it into the crowd. The cloud of pure white began to push back some of the black.
I felt Aku’s presence suddenly vanish. His summon surely wasn’t over already. How much energy did he spend?
[Receiving update…]
[Peace Spawner’s Culling. People poisoned: 31,500. People dead: 0. People cured: 500. Hellspawn left: 1.]
[Warning! You are needed. Danger!]
Five hundred cured, likely due to a collaboration between my antidote bomb, Nuwa, and the alchemist. But this simply wasn’t enough. I passed a few of the blighted potions to the healer and moved forward. The system suddenly highlighted an area of infected people. Okay, it didn’t. But wouldn’t that be the least it could do? Make things faster?
Suddenly, all I saw was red as I turned the corner with Mandi just a short distance behind, checking for any missed patients.
However… despite being struck by lightning, nothing happened, aside from some minor tingling. System, what happened? I thought, hoping for a reply. It actually did.
[Combat logs accessed…]
[Some red lightning strikes are blood lightning. You are blood lightning tempered and significantly less affected.]
[Yukihara’s power and defense slightly reforged.]
My eyes widened and I wasted no time summoning the spell book fairy. Her eyes widened too, then she looked at me to pout.
“What took you so long?”
“Poison,” I replied simply, then continued moving. “You’d better eat as much as you can.”
With the spell book awakened, my stats increased. And while the only one that I technically needed was luck or maybe perception, if they were a thing, I tuned out the extra juice just to toss more antidote bombs. Mandi manually dripped potion on anyone I missed.
My danger senses suddenly raged, but it was too late. The red, non-blood lightning struck. I just barely activated my forcefield ring in time. The barrier shattered and the building in the distance grew really close, really fast before I painfully crashed through it.
Now I knew how that reptide felt, because holy shit, was I pissed. Not wanting to cause more damage, I downed a health potion and calmly picked my sorry ass out of the rubble. Thankfully, no one was inside. So no, not the cliché of two lovers doing their business while absolute chaos happened outside. A cat did stare at me, though, judging the guy blasted into its home deep within its green eyes.
When I returned to the outside, my danger senses immediately sparked again. Instead of stopping this time, I kept running, but not too fast. The lightning was obviously unnatural, but it felt too orchestrated.
Charging my Dragon Magic Burst, I aimed a hand at the sky, boosted by Yukihara, my D-ranked spell book. The clouds in the sky just briefly parted to reveal the fucking Grim Reaper.
Okay, it probably wasn’t him, but a skeleton monster in a black cloak holding a giant bone staff was close enough. It vanished, presence shrouded, clouds covering it up. Fortunately, I analyzed it in time.
[Enemy Analysis.]
[Wraith Monstrosity. Type: Hellspawn. Rank: Void. Affinity: Darkness. Super Hostile. Miasma monster.]
I knew it’d be inaccessible for now, but as soon as the lightning storm reignited, I’d do my best to destroy the hellspawn. Or get some help for my team.
Seeing Alexander and Milia ahead, I rushed toward them. “Here, take these. Toss them in poisoned crowds. It will sting just a little but will cure the miasma. Just one per large crowd.”
Milia let out a breath of relief. “You are a beacon of brilliance. I was so worried about curing this many people. Even Nuwa couldn’t do so. Poor girl’s dangerously low on mana.”
“Why haven’t I learned mana potions yet?” I asked.
“Because that’s a rare recipe, even guarded by royal potion makers, lad,” Alexander said. “Now, Sir Nate, if I may make a suggestion, go find Chenzu. You’ll hear his lute. He’s got the power to push back clouds of miasma.”
“But he’s also really low on mana,” Milia explained. “Also, I’m not so sure if there are many royal potion makers left. I’ve heard rumors of Red Alchemists contracted with the kingdom from time to time, but the Peace Spawner made the Lord Ruler wary of them.”
I waved them off and began jogging. Along the way, I noticed the twerp and Ramon, gave the duo the same instructions as the others, and moved on. The results showed as I drew closer and closer to the sound of a frantic lute.
[Receiving update…]
[Peace Spawner’s Culling. People poisoned: 21,500. People dead: 0. People cured: 10,500. Hellspawn left: 1.]
[Warning! You are needed. Danger!]
“Hey Chenzu,” I called out to him. The annoying and dreaded sense of danger blasted through my mind. Knowing my ring didn’t stand a chance, even if it wasn’t out of juice, I dove to the side. The red lightning smashed into my previous spot, leaving behind a crater at least a few meters wide and deep.
Chenzu hurried to my side. “Here, take these and toss them in crowds,” I quickly told him. “Where’s Harmony?”
“She’s—”
I pushed Chenzu out of the way, then summoned Onix from my ring with the mental command of him shielding me. The rock golem did so without hesitation. I felt a smash like that from getting hit by a car, before the weight on top of me became the sensation of many small pebbles. The lightning had blown Onix to pieces.
There went my last bit of defense, but at least I was still alive.
I handed more antidote bombs to Chenzu. “Give some to Harmony. If she’s infected by the miasma, make sure she gets some on her too.”
Chenzu nodded and took off. I focused my attention on the smug bastard in the sky.
“Fuck, you’re annoying,” I said. “Alright, you big bastard, let’s settle this.”
[BOSS fight, phase 2 begin!]
The clouds parted again, but instead of a day sky behind it, what I saw was blood red. It descended considerably, bone staff in hand, its pose seeming relaxed.
“Human, human, human. You are but a nuisance. A fool, daring to challenge me.”
The giant wraith, which had to be at least thirty feet tall, vanished, then reappeared just a few meters in front of me, airborne. I flung a bottle of basic purification in its direction so fast that it nearly turned invisible. It did jack-diddly shit to it, shifting my perspective on what was considered undead and not. For one, the analyze did work on it. It worked on the last wraith I fought too.
The first bolt of lightning nearly hit, followed by three more, but I was long on the run. Dragon Magic Burst charged, I aimed into the air to release, but the wraith vanished. It reappeared right above me. A red sphere of lightning accompanied it.
I was grazed by the magic, but it was enough to lock my muscles and get a yell out of me and I fell back to the earth, landing hard.
The wraith vanished and reappeared in the sky several meters away, staff raised. It waited until I fully stood, recovered, to laugh demonically.
There wasn’t an audience yet, the miasma causing too much chaos, but if people were to discover me as a magician at this point, I just wouldn’t give a damn.
With just one last water spirit potion left, I pulled it out, but before I could drink, a red lightning bolt struck and exploded it. All liquid evaporated into steam.
“I missed,” the wraith said simply.
“So we’ve got a comedian,” I said as I unleashed my magic toward him. I knew it’d dodge, so I sprinted toward the camp instead. You could almost call it gliding with my speed. I abruptly halted when a giant pillar of red lightning erupted from the ground just ahead.
“Well?” Yukihara asked as she suddenly appeared on my shoulder.
“Fine,” I said coldly. “Let’s see if it works.”
From the spell book, I activated the Blood Lightning Cage. Figuring the magic was doomed to fail, I prepared to sprint a new direction, but to my surprise it worked. Blood lightning erupted around the giant wraith, trapping it in a cage. It did not like that, roaring and banging, its eyes as surprised as mine.
“Well, would you look at that,” I said. “Trapped like a rabbit.”
Knowing I had little time before he broke out and teleported away, I charged up a massive Dragon Magic Burst. This time, it struck true.
And did jack-diddly shit. The wraith took no damage whatsoever, or shook it off like an itch. I decided to fire blood lightning instead.
To my surprise, the wraith roared, its anger shaking the entirety of Fire Stone. The cage that held him eventually shattered, snuffing out my approaching stream of blood lightning.
“That’s not good,” Yukihara said, hiding behind me.
“Cowering on the first real hit, Yukihara?” I asked the little fairy.
“Don’t say my name aloud!” she whined. “I’ll remember our moments together as I get away and he’s eating you.”
“Don’t write me off so gruesomely,” I said.
“Don’t call a strategic retreat cowardice!” Yukihara snapped.
One thing I hated to admit to myself at this moment was the exhaustion. The feeling of mana drain, having made enough potions to cure thousands of people, fought hellspawn, and now the wraith.
“You managed to bypass my natural barriers and fumble with arrogance,” the wraith said, his voice booming and echoing throughout the town. “Such is the repetitious nature of humankind. You shall know despair!” It raised its staff into the air. “All of you die. Judgment Storm!”
“That’s not grand tier, but it is still dangerous. It’s gold tier,” Yukihara said.
I ignored her, digging in the depths of my core and channeling as much blood lightning as possible. To prevent the wraith from easily dodging, I turned the entire sky into a web of my magic.
However, it didn’t stop the wraith’s attack, no matter how much it howled in agony. It was a thirty-foot-tall giant, but I still needed to know if my physical attacks could do any damage. Too bad flying wasn’t possible.
“We are in some serious trouble!” Yukihara cried, right in my damn ear. “The people are going to—”
With the massive buildup of energy, I wasn’t sure if I could conjure up a counter in time, let alone an effective one.
Suddenly, Mandi burst from seemingly nowhere, flying up to its head and chucked what could equal a bucketful of runes onto the monster. They unleashed flames, electricity, and mini-geysers of what felt like ultra-compressed mana.
Mandi quickly flew away as the creature grabbed its burning face, screaming, reminding me that wraiths took the feeling of pain quite hard.
The opening I’d been waiting for had finally arrived.
“Mandi, you are so getting some contribution points for this,” I said as I charged everything I had in me. One hand overflowing with my Dragon Magic Burst, one hand with blood lightning. My body threatened to convulse, break down, which answered an experiment I’d been meaning to try. Dual wielding.
Ignoring the pain, I let it all go. Somehow, I ended up unleashing twin red beams, which merged into one. Yes, I was so low on mana that I couldn’t hold Dragon Magic Burst’s proper shape. However, it did the trick.
The magic smashed into the wraith’s face. For just a moment, I thought this was going to fail, that I’d stumbled upon an unkillable monster. Then it imploded. The remaining colors of white and red mana collapsed into itself, vanishing moments later like fireworks.
[Receiving update…]
[Peace Spawner’s Culling. People poisoned: 11,500. People dead: 0. People cured: 20,500. Hellspawn left: ?]
The hellspawn status giving me a question mark annoyed me, but they were clearly all gone, at least for now. The Peace Spawner could create more, could fuck us over. I however doubted he was in this region anymore, the dickhead.
Work wasn’t done just yet, we still had to finish this, so I chugged an energy potion and pushed on, passing potion bombs and instructions to anyone healthy.
The darkness hadn’t passed, covering up my fight with the giant wraith. That and the chaos.
If Mandi pushed aside her initial terror, then my other apprentices did so for sure. I felt proud of these kids. Just wait until I told their parents. We were going to throw a celebration for them.
I could feel the presence of my soon-to-be dryad wife working her ass off too, her compassion and strength casting over the area like a beacon of hope.
All in all, it was nice not to be in on this alone.
I wondered if any of the other potion makers knew how to create mana potions.
Harmony, having received healing from Chenzu’s antidote, pushed herself through exhaustion to cure as many people as possible. The large crowds forced her to be separated from the beastkin. Wolverine had passed her with a tiny girl on his back at least an hour or so ago. Honestly, the teenager just wasn’t sure how much time passed.
What she hadn’t hallucinated, however, was the giant skeleton creature, a wraith, casting down serious magic at something. Then she felt her teacher’s mana, a lot of it. She also felt his presence shrink over time. Before hope was lost, something happened that changed the tide, allowing Nate to destroy the monster that towered everything in the skies.
Harmony wondered who else witnessed this display of impossible power. There weren’t many records of humans being able to successfully defeat powerful wraiths. Not that they commonly appeared, let alone attacked towns.
As she made her way onto a new street, searching for crowds or homes with people still inside, someone called out to her.
“Ah-ho, it looks like we’ll be having a good time after all.”
Harmony’s eyes darkened as she spun. Walking toward her was someone who the guards declared dead. Silvus, however, did not look as he did before, not entirely.
His short hair was now silver, and his eyes took on an unholy, bright, nearly glowing violet. In addition to suddenly becoming an inhuman magician… a reddish aura outlined the young man. A disgusting smirk curved across his face.
“Without that dragon turd here, things will get interesting,” Silvus continued, licking his lips. “Getting devoured is a lot more pleasurable than it sounds, for—”
In an instant, Harmony armed herself with the S-ranked wand and fired a massive magic bolt, nailing the arrogant prick in the face. The force of the magic rocketed him meters away.
The anger within shattered the wall between the peak of Novice and the first realm of the Initiates. She would not let this creature with the guise of a dead man ruin it for her.
Silvus hopped back to his feet, sneering. “How long can you fight it, human!”
He suddenly vanished, appearing right in front of the girl. She turned his fist to the side, almost as if Milia was there, guiding her arm, dodged his second fist, then punched toward the monster’s stomach.
Unfortunately, she met a solid wall. Silvus smiled nastily, his hand aimed at her, glowing bright. Being distracted by that allowed his sudden kick to connect, followed by another.
Harmony held her wand tighter as she hit the paved stone ground, a grunt escaping her throat. For just a moment, she almost expected someone to come save her. After all, she was just eighteen, new to magic and combat, and truly didn’t know what she was doing. Just a child in the eyes of the universe.
Wanda’s jiggling bottom.
Then the anger at such thoughts forced her to stand. One painful attack wasn’t enough to keep her down. Her first real fight would not end like this.
She wiped the blood from her lips and smiled. Silvus frowned.
“You like being thrown down, do you, human?” the monster asked. “It is nothing short of a miracle that you’re able to withstand my presence.”
The disdain for humans in his voice disgusted Harmony, and she internally vowed not to let this prick walk away.
Mentally thanking Nate for the aura training, Harmony leapt out of the path of the purple mana ball Silvus fired, took aim, and poured everything she had into a magic bolt. It struck like the lightning in the sky.
Silvus took no time rushing back toward her, furious. Harmony’s wand was already sheathed as she held out her right hand, forming something incredible. The mana sword burst into existence, taking on the same blue as her aura.
Silvus’s eyes widened too late.
As his head rolled, it burst into purple flames. A moment later, those flames turned into ashes as pale as snow.
The blade flickered as Harmony relaxed, losing her concentration. Eyes filled with determination, she took a deep breath and hurried off to help with the poison curing effort.
“There will be no life lost today.”
