Chapter 141: Archmage (1)

The sound of a loud impact reverberated through the air, causing Agni to pause for the briefest of moments and glance behind her.

"What is it?" Katrin whispered, forgetting herself due to the commotion which filled the air.

"Agni!" Katrin suddenly shouted as she gripped the succubus by the shoulder and yanked her backwards. Agni was completely caught off guard by Katrin's actions but she was even more disarmed by the mass of black which blasted by her with insane speed.

Agni's expression contorted in disbelief as something that resembled a cannonball flew by just centimeters from her current position.

*If I would have gotten hit with that…* Agni thought as an unpleasant image flashed through her mind.

*What was that?* Agni transmitted to Katrin.

*I don't know. But it can't be good.* Agni responded. She glanced into the distance where the mass of black landed, just less than a dozen or so meters from their location. She could tell as much from the sound of heavy impact.

*Katrin! Agni! Where are you? Are you okay?* It was Oliver's voice, he sounded gravely concerned.

*Yes. We're okay. What just happened?* Agni asked, there was a sense of unease which settled over her -- the feeling made her more anxious by the second. They had already run a significant distance in such a short time, so far that they could no longer see the other party members through the thick miasma.

Suddenly Agni felt exposed, if anything were to happen she and Katrin alone would not be able to handle it. They were disconnected from everyone else, despite being within running distance.

*Are you both okay? Are you injured?* Oliver asked with the same sense of urgency.

*Y-Yea. We're fine. We almost got taken out by some kind of attack. What's going on?*

*Listen. That last attack...it wasn't normal. You need to find the Doyenne right now and return. If she's unconscious, wake her, if she won't wake bring her with you!* Oliver remarked. Given all that happened within the past few minutes Agni never thought to question what she would find in "that direction", only that she should go there. She trusted the elf's orders enough that she felt comfortable doing so despite not clearly understanding. With Oliver's latest order, things now finally made sense. The two white lights in the distance--

*Agni. Look.* Katrin's transmission echoed through the succubus's mind, drawing her attention. Katrin was facing a different direction than their destination, one that matched the trajectory of the unknown mass.

There within the mist Agni saw an alarming sight. A dark and growing shadow began to form itself, growing from the ground. It rose upwards until reaching a height of several meters. She watched, anxious to understand the sense of heightened caution that was slowly overtaking her. The black mass looked like a misshapen tree trunk without limbs or a root after just a few seconds.

She and Katrin observed carefully as the shadow sprouted two appendages from either side of its body, clueing them into the threat.

*Grimlock!* Agni transmitted to Katrin as she took up a battle stance. The black shadow formed into a humanoid shape as legs and arms burst forth from the central mass. The newly formed creature stood motionless within the mist for what seemed like an eternity of seconds. Agni and Katrin waited with bated breath as they studied the situation.

Their job was to rescue, it was the sole task of their role on the mission.

*It's just one Grimlock…* Agni thought as she took in a deep breath and focused her attention.

*Katrin, go towards the light. Vivian is waiting there.*

*What? What are you going to do Agni?* Katrin asked immediately.

*I can hold it off long enough for you to get to Vivian.*

*Agni-- there's no telling if you can handle that creature.* Katrin transmitted, Agni could tell that Katrin was on edge, and rightly so. One of the most prominent teachings that Bracha herself drilled into the women was to never fight a battle if you were doubtful of success. Yet in the situation, did they even have a choice?

Unfortunately the choice was made for them. The creature sprung into action the moment Agni's attention became lax.

*Go!* Agni shouted as she stepped forward, preparing for the impending battle. Katrin seemed thoroughly displeased, yet she had no other option. She gritted her teeth and dashed towards the faintly glowing orb of light in the distance. At least she wanted to--

*Where did it go?* Katrin transmitted as she stopped in her tracks. Agni barely had time to register the unfolding events as her foe deftly switched directions, angling for a strike against Katrin. Agni's eyes widened as she struggled to dash towards Katrin, arm outstretched. Katrin turned to face her attacker, yet despite this she was also caught unaware. No spell she could sling would be fast enough to protect her from the approaching threat.

The moment played out in slow motion as the Grimlock's features were revealed. It was an exact replica of the four armed Fused Grimlock which Bracha waged a desperate battle. It was then that Agni realized fully what happened.

*It--it cloned itself?!* Agni leapt forward with all of her might, but she knew it wouldn't be enough. The creature lunged, raising both of it's left arms to prepare a powerful blow -- only to burst into flames just centimeters from Katrin.

Agni watched as the creature froze in place as blue flames began to consume it from the inside out. It then fell to the ground, killed instantly by a single blow which pierced the creature's chest clean through. The weapon was familiar to her, the sword of Vivian Lex, Kitsune Class, Rank 3 Adventurer and leader of Mystic Tower Chapel. The blue flames of Fox Fire burned vividly, consuming even the black ash of the slain creature as its body quickly turned into fuel.

*I told you. No fighting.* Vivian's voice echoed through the transmission as Agni watched the extended katana retract into the distance. Only the faint glow of a fading blue light gave away Vivian's position.

*Vivian!* With the sight of the fox demon walking her way, Agni shrugged off some of the accumulated tension on her shoulders.

*Let's go.* Vivian said as she walked past both adventurers, she had a clear destination in mind and a date with a Grimlock.

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Oliver crouched next to Gigi, using what little magic he'd managed to recover just to ease her pain. At the same time he watched the wounded Fused Grimlock like a hawk. What happened after Gigi was struck vividly flashed through his mind.

"Tsk! Dammit!" Oliver shouted as he flicked his arm outwards like a whip, causing a long thin string of purple energy to fly forth and grab Gigi by the arm. He tugged with all of his might, just as the black mass began to carry the Spellsword off into the distance along with it. His grip on her arm was the only thing preventing Gigi from being carried away.

Oliver's eyes widened with disbelief as he shot a glance towards the billowing ploom of lingering magical energy. There, dead center amongst the chaos, was the Fused Grimlock. It's body was bloody, battered and broken in many places -- but it was very much still alive.

By contrast Bracha stood just meters away, swept up in the same disbelief that carried Oliver's thoughts. It was apparent to Oliver that she intended to finish the creature with that attack -- yet for Oliver he quickly realized this would not be possible.

His Archmage ability, 'Evil Eye' had several abilities. One of them was to activate stored spells. The ability was limited but useful in the sense that Oliver would be able to cast any stored spell free of mana. Instead using the stored spell would trigger a 'penalty', a cost proportionate to the spell's strength.

In some cases, the number of uses would be limited to a certain duration of time, others Oliver would receive a temporary debuff or countless other things. Another restriction was that Oliver could only store spells he'd already learned, with the caveat that powerful spells would syphon a portion of his health in the process.

Because of the less savory restrictions of 'Evil Eye' Oliver stored simple utility spells, ones that carried no penalties for use. His favorite was a spell called 'Discerning Gaze'. Discerning Gaze allowed the user to scan, assess and compile information on a target. This info could then be used to give the user a rough estimate of strength.

This estimate would be displayed in a way that made the most sense for the person using the spell. Some Archmages would see a spectrum of colors, each used to represent strength. Others might see simple or complex numbers, categories or other such rating systems.

For Oliver, the spell revealed three numbers. The first two were called Physical and Magical Potential. Numerically these ratings ranged from 0 to 999 and represented an estimate of a target's physical and magical prowess. The third number was labeled Overall Strength by Oliver, an averaged number which represented the strength of a target.

Because the spell only provided estimates , Oliver tried not to rely on it religiously. Yet when faced with an extremely powerful or unknown enemy it proved invaluable. This was one such case. Oliver used his Discerning Eye once at the start of the mission, and at the start of the battle with each unknown entity. Despite Bracha's unusual powerup, she still rated much lower on the Physical Potential scale. Her attacks were largely ineffective against the creature's dense and muscular build.

Although Oliver couldn't use the special Glyphs created by Bracha he understood their intent. The white glyph was designed for healing and restoration, while the black was geared towards destruction. Yet even with these powerful glyphs and a mysterious force empowering her, Bracha was only a support type martial class against an offense type enemy of unprecedented strength.

There was also another reason the creature survived.

As Oliver inspected the Fused Grimlock, he realized that the creature was clad in a thin layer of miasma. Much like the tentacle creature, this new threat called upon a last minute defensive ability to save it's own hide.

"Tsk!" Oliver clicked his tongue audibly as a sense of annoyance settled upon him. His mind was furiously churning as he searched for a way to contribute to the battle. Oliver's original answer to this problem was to find and recover the remaining members of the attack team.

The thick miasma and chaotic battles made it impossible to check on either of them but regardless Oliver had no doubt -- their protective smocks would easily deflect at least one near fatal blow. Furthermore, he wasn't concerned about Vivian Lex so much as Ryo. Even as Oliver replayed the blow which knocked Ryo out of battle he could only imagine the worst.

Cracked ribs, perhaps punctured lungs. Internal bleeding, and possibly a broken arm or leg. Oliver's only solace was the party hud, which allowed members of the same party to monitor the health and mana of each other. Of the two injured people, only Ryo showed signs of damaged health.

When Bracha activated the sun and moon glyphs, Oliver noticed Ryo's vitality steadily regenerate. The fact that their locations became visible from the glyph's magic was a fortunate secondary effect. With this Oliver made a plan to contribute.

Yet, with one unexpected attack by the Fused Grimlock managed to undo all of his planning. Oliver never expected a ranged attack, much less such a powerful one. Agni and Katrin were somehow okay, but Gigi took a monstrous blow head on. Oliver gazed down at the redhead, briefly taking in the state of her. Bloodied and battered, these were the two words which described her best. Her breathing was shallow, despite the fact that she was also unconscious.

It was at times like this that Oliver cursed his predilection for offense based magic. Being an Archmage, he simply needed to witness spells in order to acquire the means to use them. This in turn led to a rush for knowledge that often ignored spells deemed less 'powerful'. Oliver was now sorely regretting this serious lack of study.

Now, as he knelt near the unconscious Spellsword, Oliver could only cast low level healing spells. He focused on the most grievous of her wounds first, healing her internal organs before moving onto the bones. Gigi's arm was broken in several places, her flesh was mangled and purple from the intense impact of the blow. The impact was so intense that Gigi's armor cracked, shattering or forcing bits of metal in all directions -- including her abdomen and chest.

*Even with the protective smock, she nearly died.*

Oliver gritted his teeth as he glanced down briefly at his patient. She showed no signs of movement, though her breathing had begun to stabilize. It was a far cry from her damaged state after being struck but she was still far from healed.

"Is she -- is she okay!?" Gates shouted as he drew near and practically skidded to his knees along the ground. The concern in his expression was overflowing, almost to the point of being distraught.

*Transmit, don't speak. Secondly, do you or any of the others have potions? Anything at all?* Oliver transmitted. Oliver suddenly regretted using his own potions so rashly just minutes before.

Gates shook his head as he gazed down at Gigi. The sight of her left him speechless. Gigi's arm was still purple and blue, though the color was slowly returning to it.

"W-what the hell is that?" Gates asked, his eyes fixed upon something in the distance.

*Gates.. Use the transmission--* Oliver glanced up, then over in the direction that Gates was now looking.

*Take her to Dealla and stay there.* Oliver transmitted as he got to his feet. He noted the time left on his 'Discerning Eye' cooldown.

*I'll have to use it and deal with the consequences.* He thought as he once again activated his Evil Eye's secondary ability. The numbers appeared after a short moment, affirming to Oliver exactly what he feared.

*This thing...is almost as strong as the Fused one.* Oliver gritted his teeth as a second Fused Grimlock slowly shuffled towards the battlefield.