Chapter 82: Slimes Fight Back (2)

As Gates finished his spells three magical beings appeared before him, each resembling a small humanoid no larger than a 3 month old child. One was wreathed in flames with black eyes and orange pupils. The next made of water with white eyes and black pupils, the final was made completely of earth, patches of grass and bits of rock protruded randomly from its body and its eyes were yellow with green tinted pupils. This trio of spirits represented the limits of Gates' powers as a Spirit Mage.

In general there were two paths a magic user could choose upon learning of their abilities. One was to choose general abilities which would compliment their class abilities, the other was to choose general abilities which would further strengthen their class abilities. Gates decided to go all in. As a Spirit Mage he could summon spirits from the nearby environment, or even make pacts with spirits so that he would always be able to use them. At current, his limit was 3 pact spirits which, when summoned would reserve 30% of his mana per spirit. The remaining 10% could be used freely, but Gates didn't care about that -- he simply used that mana to reinforce himself during battle.

Gates held his staff facing the slime and used his bond with his spirits to begin the attack.

"Ariadna. When you see a chance to jump in -- take it." Gates said as the earth and water spirits took action.

"Merri. Take this." Gates next instructed as his flame spirit floated over to the minotaur. It hovered before her, the flames which composed its body flared up before it reverted into a wisp of flames and entered Merri's shield.

Though the gear was severely damaged it still functioned and the energy caused the shield to glow bright red. Merri nodded in affirmation, finally shaking away her doubts as she stepped forward besides Gates.

"This is stupid." Ariadna said as she too stepped forth, both of her hands were bubbling with overflowing darkness energy.

"We should just run. It's not worth risking First Death over." She added, though the expression on her face suggested she was feeling up to the challenge regardless.

"Some fights you can't run away from." Sypha said as he finally got to his feet. He pulled the protruding slime shard from his shoulder and lifted his hands, bringing them together as he clasped them. Once more a barrier of protection covered each of the party members as the battle began in earnest. At the same time a thin, threadlike strand of light appeared just centimeters before Sypha's hands and floated over to his wound. The thread formed a needle made of light near one end and began sewing his cut, stitching the flesh back together. It happened in less than two seconds and as soon as the sewing was done the wound healed itself ,as good as new.

Meanwhile Katrin had been carefully observing the Gunge Slime after its attack and she used the time to prepare several Scribe style magic attacks. Much like what she'd done against Fargo, the snatcher, she used the pages of her Grimoire to load several spells. She was now prepared to release them upon her unwitting foe. She noticed that Gates' Earth spirit seemed to be having the most effect. The Earth spirit which was sent upwards into the air above the battlefield would occasionally puff its stomach and fire sharpened shards of earth and rock towards the slime. These easily pierced its soft body and even remained embedded in the Gunge slime's flesh. In addition to this, Katrin also noticed several large chunks of dirt and rock from her own earth strike which still persisted inside the slime. Armed with this knowledge she decided on her plan of attack.

Agni too took a few moments to prepare for battle, but in a different way. Since the Gunge Slime was within range to be Whispered she tried it various times. The way Agni could tell whether Whisper worked successfully was a feeling. It was like a strand of "connection" between her and her target. What's more, over time she'd developed a sense for the possibility of using Whisper, and now she was sensing that Whispering the Slime was impossible.

*But why? It works on Fulger Stags.* Agni wondered. Despite the fact that she "felt" Whisper wouldn't work against this particular enemy she also "felt" that she could compel a foe like this.

*Maybe I don't have the right kind of skill?* After making a mental note of this Agni decided to switch tactics.

*If fire isn't effective. Maybe lightning.* In terms of the elements which were easiest to use, fire and wind came first. Earth, while simple to use, traveled too slowly for Agni's taste. Darkness element was similarly slow but it also felt "alive", as if simply by using it the element would slowly consume her. She'd never bothered to attempt using Light element magic, but seeing as how the creature was immune to it Agni decided against it. Lightning wasn't difficult to handle persay, but in order to avoid injuring oneself knowledge of how electricity behaved was important.

"Short surges. Short surges." Agni said as she gritted her teeth and focused on imagining a sphere of mana within her abdomen. She next imagined threads of mana coiling upwards through her chest and along her arm, slowly snaking into electricity as it reached her fingertips. The result was a short blast of lightning which struck the slime like a high impact spear. She repeated this several times, zapping the creature until the mass of mana she'd set aside was consumed. With each blast the Slime quivered as the electricity flowed through its body causing it to wobble.

As if the spell was sending its senses into disarray, the surface of the slime's body stretched and receded. She'd been so consumed in casting the spell that Agni finally noticed all eyes were on her for a brief moment.

"W-what?" She asked.

"Nothing.." Gates replied as he commanded his spirits to attack.

*What the hell? She's using Outer and Inner casting at the same time? I've never even heard of that.* Gates thought to himself, and he was certain all of the other magic users felt the same even if Agni wasn't aware.

His spirits danced to his command, the Earth spirit floated upwards, higher above the battlefield to take up a superior vantage point while the Water element proceeded forth spewing water pellets as it circled around the slime. Gates' focus was solely on the enemy, his goal was to whittle away at the creature's strength as much and as quickly as possible. To this end the water spirit continually circled the slime, drawing its attention from the Earth spirit as it fired group after group of water pellets. The magic infused water reverberated through the air as it smashed against the gelatinous flesh of the Gunge Slime.

In response the slime fired even more pellets of slime, several of them tore through the spirit sprite, but due to the composure of its body the creature simply reformed itself. On the other hand Gates felt a bit of physical strain, a consequence of being a summoner type caster.

"Katrin. Are you ready?" Agni asked. She'd only been lingering to give Katrin as much time as she needed at this point.

"Almost. A few more seconds." Katrin responded without breaking concentration. Meanwhile Merri had taken to circling the Gunge slime as well, stepping forth a few steps ahead of Gates who resembled a maestro directing his choir.

"Something seems weird." Ariadna whispered to herself as she watched the battle. The slime hadn't moved very much at all in the past half a minute. The water attacks were pelting the creature mercilessly, while it seemed as if Agni's lightning did significant damage. If this monster was deathly weak against elemental magic, why wasn't it trying to avoid any of the strikes levied its way?

"Are they not even hurting it?" She wondered aloud, thus she decided to test her theory. The power of a Trickster lied in the ability of misdirection against one or more foes. With everyone's gaze centered on the slime Ariadna became practically invisible, even to her own allies. Rather than invisible, perhaps unnoticeable was a better way to describe it. She circled around the slime as well, closely following the water spirit as she did so. Only when she directly passed into Gates line of sight did he register Ariadna was no longer behind him.

"It's too much." She whispered to herself before breaking off from the battle and taking a place next to Agni.

"What is it?" Agni asked as Ariadna stopped next to her.

"The mass of slime is absorbing almost all of those attacks. I mean...I'm sure some damage is being done but we will really need some powerful spells to put a dent in this thing's vitality." Ariadna explained.

"Wait. How did you know I was here before I spoke?" The black haired Trickster asked.

"I don't understand the question." Agni responded, at that moment Katrin tapped her on the shoulder, signaling that she was ready to release her spells.

Ariadna stepped back, though she still wondered why her Trickster misdirection didn't work on the Succubus. Katrin stepped forth , making her way towards Gates' side as she commanded her Grimoire to act. The book flew forward from her side and upwards into the air, soon it took its place directly above the creature, hoving just one meter above its crown. The pages of the Grimoire turned quickly and each flutter released an earth spell -- in this instance a spike of earth which jutted forth like a spear. The attacks were released one by one in rapid succession, fifteen total as they pierced through the slime down to the ground.

Everyone nearby, with the exception of Agni, watched on in awe as Katrin littered the creature's body with earth spears. The creature could do little else but quiver as the strikes laid into it, and finally the attack ended -- but Katrin wasn't done.

Katrin raised her hands, calling forth another large spire of earth from beneath. This spire was twice as thick and easily pierced the creature nearly splitting it in half. She followed this up by another attack of the same magnitude which further gouged the slimy flesh of the creature until it was completely pinned and pierced amidst a mass of earthen spikes.

"Holy shit! Did she just release over a dozen spells back to back? How is that even possible?" Ariadna practically shouted, the loudest anyone had ever heard her be. Gates was completely floored, so much so that he lost focus of his water spirit for just a moment.

"That's...really impressive... " Even the normally quiet Sypha was forced to respond.

"We did it! Although I didn't get to do anything." Merri said as she watched the mass of rock spires and slime gel shift beneath her gaze.

*It's not dead!* Shula shouted in Agni's mind.

*Really? That seems like overkill. Are you sure?* Agni asked.

*Positive. Look.*

Just as Agni cast her glance towards the mass of rock and ooze, a loud cracking sound reverberated through the air followed by a pop. The mass of earth spires and spears imploded inwards on themselves as the Gunge Slime constricted itself, crushing them in the process. The ends which protruded from its green flesh fell to the ground while the bits remaining inside were condensed , pressed into spheres of dirt and gravel.

"Something's not right." Agni said as a sense of unease began to overwhelm her. The sensation was faint at first, she watched the creature's movement as it shrank smaller and smaller. Eventually it was one third of its original size and as it ceased moving the sense of dread reached a fever pitch in the back of Agni's mind.

"It's about to attack!" She shouted as she moved to dash towards Katrin and Gates, who'd stepped towards the front of the battle line in hopes to end the skirmish. The mass of slime began to shake and shudder. Then the contents of its body, the compressed spheres of dirt and dust, were expelled in all directions as the creature bloomed to its original size in an instant.