Chapter 268: Foreigner

Chapter 268: Foreigner

When faced with an unknown monster, striking first was a time-honored and proven tactic.

And so, Jamus chose violence.

Arcane Bolt!

He’d come a long way since joining Ascension, and while he hadn’t progressed in the traditional sense—via cap-ups and additional skills—there was simply no comparison between the him of then and the him of now.

Part of it was equipment, but more than that, it was conditioning. Through renting accolades to train his synchronization; work with stat-rings, first, then the Malleable Earring later; and endless hours spent under Winter’s influence, he was a changed man. As such, when he released the quick-fired blast of purple-blue energy, he did it with the benefit of Guide Sending. Using the metamagic was as easy to him now as breathing, whereas before, even attempting to do so would have promised a crippling headache for days to come.

It was to his complete shock, then, that his magic found the enemy.

Ascension had changed him in other ways. His target had not been the monster, but instead a patch of sand at its feet. He’d intended to warn it off on the outside chance that it was an animal—or a Shifter, for that matter. Direct assault tended to preclude diplomacy.

Instead, the alien creature had leapt forward the moment it saw his shot, jumped, then snapped it out of the air with another resounding clack of its mandibles. The projectile detonated on impact, of course, but to little effect. The beast simply landed and shook its head, mandibles clacking again and again as if it was trying to rid itself of a foul taste.

“It’s a tough one!” Jamus yelled as those vertical eye slits locked onto him once more.

His Focus wasn’t boosted right now—the Accolades he’d bound and left in Ascension’s armory being more of a defensive nature—but that bolt should still have done north of three hundred damage. More than enough to kill an unawakened animal of that size outright.

Naturally, he fired again, but not before wafting himself higher with Levitation and dumping fifty points into Focus. He didn’t take them from anywhere; he used unallocated points to push himself over the limit. Tallheart’s earring was fit for a silver, after all.

The bone cat—for he had to call it something—calmly hopped aside in response to his second shot, seemingly having judged Arcane energy not to be to its taste. Unfortunately for it, Jamus hadn’t planned on taking a warning shot this time. A swift flick of his fingers was all Guide Sending needed to send the projectile hooking into the creature’s flank.

The impact and detonation against the monster’s bony armor caused it to twitch—hopefully in pain, but realistically just surprise—and then it was sprinting at him faster than a horse could run, still with that same eerily smooth movement.

“It’s going to jump for me!” Jamus predicted. “Be ready!”

Realistically, only Staavo would be a factor against something like this, at level ten, with both melee and magic capabilities. Tarny had a sword but no skills to back it up, only hours spent in Samson’s lessons. He’d bound the Ice Bolt accolade for this mission, but it was likewise unsupported, and despite being level nine, he was still a Logistics Beacon and thus completely unsuited to combat. The biggest liability by far, though, was Shu at level four. While he had Hard Light and some metamagic making it versatile, he was not a fighter. Jamus had never once seen him attend combat practice. He was a specialist, not a combatant.

The time for worrying after others ended as the creature leapt, the force of its launch kicking up a plume of sand. Jamus loosed yet another Arcane Bolt, raised himself with Levitation, then, not willing to leave to chance that it couldn’t alter its flight midair, reached for a different piece of magic.

Arcane Bulwark!

Unperturbed by the lack of support, the spell’s translucent barrier hummed into being in midair. It was just as rigid and rectangular as it would have been on the ground but angled to rest between him and the creature’s razor jaws.

Jamus got a great view of the impact as the whatever-it-was piled face first into the obstruction, its segmented body collapsing into itself like Rain’s telescope. The Bulwark flared, static radiating out from the point of impact, the entire construct twisting and wobbling in a way Jamus had never seen before. But then, it snapped back to normal in a similarly unprecedented manner.

What was that?

At the same time, an explosion of frost against the creature’s belly told him that either Staavo or Tarny had taken the chance for an easy shot. The creature rebounded, falling away, and not to be left behind, Jamus grabbed his hat with one hand as he canceled Levitation. Were he alone, staying in the air would have been the smart choice, but there was no way he would leave his allies alone with this thing, not when his barrier had proven effective.

Landing first with a heavy whump ahead of him, the bone cat whirled toward Staavo only to take a second Ice Bolt right in the face.

The old man stood with his falchion in the high guard of 9th Sparrow, his other hand thrust forward after having launched the magic. Ninety degrees from him, Tarny loosed a similar bolt, taking the creature in its side, forcing it to divert its attention for a moment. A second hit from Staavo made it whip back around, settling its aggression on the one-legged Spellsword.

Recency targeting, perhaps?

The creature launched itself forward, and Jamus loosed another Arcane Bolt despite knowing the slow-flying magic wouldn’t get there in time.

Staavo didn’t panic, though, sweeping his toe in an arc across the sand in front of him before he dove to the side. As the bone cat landed where he’d been standing, it encountered Frozen Slick. Disappointingly, it didn’t go down on the patch of treacherous magical ice, but the sudden slip of its clawed forelimbs forced it to scramble for traction.

Jamus flicked his fingers as his Arcane Bolt caught up. Guide Sending wasn’t true homing, merely allowing manual control of a projectile in flight, but long hours of practice had perfected his timing.

The translucent ball of energy found the back of the creature’s knee, where there was a notable gap in the plating. As before, the detonation didn’t appear to do much, but the bony head whipped around, ignoring Staavo struggling back to his feet nearby in favor of returning its slitted glare to its latest attacker.

“Recency targeting!” Jamus called, reasonably sure of it as the beast hurtled toward him. “Someone else take aggro!”

Arcane Bulwark

The bone cat slammed into the barrier that appeared before it even harder than the first time, the strange static and distortion returning before the barrier snapped back.

Seriously, what is that about?

As the monster picked itself up, Jamus took a closer look at it through the translucent magic protecting him, not finding its eyes within the vertical slits in its armored skull. What he saw instead was darkness. Just unbroken black.

“You know, I did,” Shu said flatly.

“It seems to have some disruptive ability,” Jamus said, struggling to keep up with the creature’s rapid zigzagging. “Fortunately, it also seems to have acquired a distrust for my Bulwark.”

“What in the hells was that spear?” Tarny asked.

“A very long, very thin barrier,” Shu said. “It should not have pierced its defense. I suspect Staavo removed its Health buffer.”

“No, that’s not it,” Jamus said firmly, wincing as the thing abandoned its attempt to get around and charged straight into his latest Bulwark. As before, the construct fuzzed and twisted, threatening failure before snapping back into place. “I hit it after Staavo, too, and it did little.”

“Weak to light, huh?” Staavo asked, twirling his falchion.

“I know what you’re thinking, and don’t try it,” said Tarny. “Light Cut will get you killed. Just use another Glacial Nail.”

The beast once more struck the barrier, this time with a claw, and was repulsed. When the magic snapped back, cracks spiderwebbed its surface, more like what Jamus would have expected had it been damaged traditionally.

“Be ready!” Jamus shouted as the monster reared back, exposing rubbery purple flesh. Seeing Staavo’s rise to point in the correct direction, he summoned a new Bulwark directly above them. The one in front vanished just as the beast brought its taloned claws down to smash through the barrier that was no longer there.

“Gotcha!” Staavo yelled triumphantly, launching another razor-sharp icicle to punch into the creature’s chest. Tarny followed this up with an Ice Bolt for good measure, the beast falling back to all fours and sending the icy spike deeper into its innards. Still, it did not cry out, and Jamus was quick to summon a new Arcane Bulwark before it as it furiously surged forward.

“Huh,” Staavo said. “Thought that would do it. Nailed it good, though. Nailed, get it? Maybe one more to seal the deal?”

“No, look,” Shu said urgently, pointing. “Its side. It’s already healed.”

“Oh, that’s just great,” Tarny moaned.

The beast faked a charge, then darted left before Jamus placed another Bulwark in its way.

“What is this thing?” Staavo asked in frustration.

“How long can you continue, Jamus?” Shu asked.

“Not indefinitely,” Jamus said, his voice clipped with concentration and the pain of a growing headache. His boosted Focus was taking a toll, and the beast was clearly Arcane-resistant. Acknowledging that fact, he shifted half the extra points to Clarity and uninvested the rest. That way, he might actually make it to the point where his mana ran out.

“Can you Levitate us away?” Tarny asked.

“Possibly, but—“ Jamus cut himself off, forced to summon a Bulwark in midair as the creature attempted a leap. Rather than crash into it, it bounded off, the barrier fuzzing as it soared over them. The instant it landed, it propelled itself forward only to stop short as he placed yet another wall of Arcane energy in its path. He took a deep breath, then shook his head as he continued. “As I was saying, possibly, but the effort to keep us aloft would drain my mana even more quickly than this. I do not think it will simply give up should we float away.”

“So, what then?” Tarny asked, switching to Winter. “We play this game all night?”

“Winter won’t be enough for that,” Jamus warned, though the illusory chill was welcome. Despite having done less running than the others, the heat had him drenched in sweat.

“Just ‘cause it heals doesn’t mean it heals forever,” Staavo said, arm raised. “Give me another opening, Jamus, and this time use the whip. We grind it down, or it grinds us down.”

“It won’t fall for that again,” Jamus said, watching as the beast tried pressing its way through the barrier rather than recoiling as it had after every previous collision. The Arcane magic hated this, but held. “It’s learning. Trying new techniques. Whatever this thing is, it’s no monster, not without the system giving it a name.”

“Oi, ugly bone shit,” Staavo said. “You’re not people, are you? If you’re people, would you kindly fuck off?”

“We surrender!” Tarny called, waving his hands. “Back off if you accept!”

The beast didn’t so much as look at either of them.

Jamus couldn’t quite say why, but he was beginning to think the thing was deaf. It had no ears that he could see, and though it was hard to tell with its armored body, it didn’t appear to be breathing. “We all know where this thing came from,” he said, raising his whip in preparation. “Barrier down in three. Two. One!”

Staavo and Tarny both loosed their spells as Jamus lashed out, but the creature merely hunkered down, anticipating the strikes. Ice shattered against bone, finding nothing to dig into, and the whip fuzzed with impotent static. It wasn’t even clear if the system had accepted the bone cat as a valid target.

And then, as the beast prepared to lunge and Jamus prepared to summon another barrier, there was a deafening thump accompanied by a loud, sickening crunch. The bone cat appeared to vanish, replaced by a tidal wave of dark blood, sand, and shards of bone that failed to reach the party before they were blasted backward.

“Apologies,” said a familiar woman’s voice. “Not a bad effort, but I’m afraid you weren’t making much progress.”

“La—“ Jamus began as he whirled, only for the name to freeze on his tongue. There stood not just Lavarro, bedecked in full Adamant regalia, but a dozen soldiers as well.

“Hello,” Lavarro said, smiling sweetly. “I’m Dominus Anya, and I have...questions.”