Chapter 37: Drakelings

Chapter 37: Drakelings

We rested for a few hours, and then began our journey to the Drakeling nest. With my seventh Level under my belt, I was practicing Noxious Grasp faster than ever during the journey, casting a second of the Spell about once every 25 seconds. Erani, on the other hand, was casting much less often. Compared to Noxious Grasp’s 3.76 Mana Cost, her Firebolt was more than ten times as much for a single cast, so the amount of time between her casts was in the range of minutes, rather than seconds.

That didn’t mean it was any easier on her, of course. She was casting less often, but spending much more Mana – and thus effort – each time. I could see as much in her facial expression every time she shot one of the balls of fire into the afternoon sky.

“It’s absolutely insane that you did this when you were lost before,” she panted at one point as we walked along the way to the Gray Drakeling nest.

“Isn’t it equally insane that you’re doing it now?”

“I have you to hold me accountable. I would’ve given up hours ago if you weren’t here.”

“Well, at least you know yourself,” I laughed. “But really, don’t be so hard on yourself. It pretty quickly became a sort of crutch for me, if I’m being honest. Even when it was still uncomfortable, I was practicing when I was also dying of thirst, so the familiar sensation of the casting sort of gave me relief. Even if it did cause pain at the same time.

“Well, I don’t know, can you try stabbing me in the leg or something? Maybe that’ll distract me.”

I laughed and shook my head. “Even if that was a good idea, I can’t stab you with anything, remember? Stupid Magic-Type Class weapon limitations.”

“Oh, yeah, I sort of forgot about that,” she said. “I’m used to using my Enchanted knife.”

“Yeah,” I said, looking down at my hands. “Still not sure how I feel about having the Minute Mage Class. Obviously, I don’t like having to deal with the Demons, but even if that wasn’t a factor, part of me still wishes I could’ve gotten the Swordsman Class. That’s what I trained for. But then, Minute Mage feels so much more incredible. And, not to seem shallow, but it feels good to have something unique. But still. I got a point in Strength from Recursive Growth, and, well, it just felt so right. A single point is small, negligible, but... I just can’t shake the feeling that that’s what I should be doing.”

Erani nodded, and for a minute or two, we simply walked in silence. But eventually, she spoke. “I’ve always wondered how you can fight the way you do.”

“What?”

“I mean, normally, a Magic-Type Classer stays in the back, behind the Melee-Types. We cast our Spells in safety. Not just because we have a low Endurance, either. Casting takes concentration, and focusing on a fistfight alongside that would be completely impossible. But you’re capable of doing it. You have this arsenal of Spells that’s uniquely crafted toward your style, and you have the fighting sense to actually pull it off.” She looked at me. “What were the other Spells offered to you during your first Spell Choice?”

“Firebolt and Holy Strength. Why?”

“I think that if any other person was in your situation, stranded like that, they would’ve picked Firebolt. I would have done it in a heartbeat, actually. Not even a moment’s deliberation. Anyone else would’ve felt like Noxious Grasp was terrible. It forces you to get up close with your enemies, and that’s the opposite of how a Magic-Type should fight. But, well, you didn’t think like a Magic-Type. I also think that if anyone was in your situation, and they picked Firebolt, they would have died for it. Level zeroes don’t just survive days in the wilderness like that. Hells, they rarely survive hours. There’s a reason that ‘find this person who’s missing in the wilderness’ jobs are normally just called ‘corpse retrieval’. So, well, I think there’s more that’s unique about you than just your Class.”

I thought about what Erani told me as we continued walking. Ironically, what she said seemed to motivate her more than it did me, and I watched her try harder than ever with her casting practice.

Along the way, we killed a couple more small creatures. Some of them attacked us first, while others we ambushed. Either way, it ended with us gaining a little bit more XP.

After a couple hours of walking, we finally got to our second destination: the Gray Drakeling aerie. The sun was just beginning to set before us as we approached. According to the job flier, the Drakelings were nested atop a rocky crag in the area. It wasn’t difficult to find, jutting out from the treetops in an incredibly unnatural fashion. The spiky rock formation was tall and thin, like a gigantic nail drilled into the earth.

It looked unnatural because, chances were, it was. High-Level Classers – especially Magic-Types – were notorious for casting Spells or using Talents that left the land before them permanently scarred. You could immediately tell if the place you were in had previously been a battleground between High-Leveled individuals because there would be gigantic holes in the ground, rock formations like the one before us, or even permanent magical curses on the landscape.

We arrived at the rocky spire, ready to fight the Drakes – or, rather, Drakelings. Drakelings were technically just the juvenile versions of Drakes, but there were many differences between the two different types of monster – enough to classify them as different species.

The most obvious difference was that Drakes were much, much more dangerous than Drakelings. If a single Drake decided to attack me and Erani, we’d be doomed. But taking on an entire nest of Drakelings wouldn’t be much of a problem. In addition, there was a reason they were called ‘Gray’ Drakelings. Drakes all had colors, and those colors corresponded with the power it would have. Green Drakes gained access to poison, Blue Drakes lightning, Red Drakes fire, and so on.

Drakelings, on the other hand, had no specialization in a single element. Instead, they had a small amount of each. Once they grew into Drakes, they would keep one power and lose the rest. In that sense, Drakelings were a bit harder to fight than Drakes, since they were less predictable. But their Stats and overall power was dwarfed by their adult versions.

That was why there were often jobs put out by the city to clear out nests of Drakelings. Drakes were menaces of the areas they controlled, and often took entire coordinated groups to kill, whereas Drakelings were small, easy jobs to take care of. Thankfully, Drakes followed the reproduction strategy of ‘have a bunch of kids all over the place, leave them alone, and maybe some of them will make it out alive’, so there was never any danger of angering the parents when clearing the nests, either.

“You ready?” Erani asked me.

“Yep. Let’s do this.”

She lifted her hands into the air, and then formed and shot off an Explosive Firebolt at the tower of stone. It collided and shook the spire, pieces of rock cracking and tumbling off. Immediately, there was a hair-raising chorus of shrieks coming from the area, and, from a small edge jutting from the crag, out flew a trio of Gray Drakelings.

The monsters’ leathery wings flapped through the air as they searched for their attackers. They all had a similar look, each about two or three paces in length, and with a wingspan of five. After a moment, they saw us and dove, beelining in our direction.

Erani readied herself, but held off on her Firebolts. At that distance and speed, it would be impossible to hit the flying targets with a projectile Spell.

An instantaneous Curse, however...

You have cursed Level 10 Gray Drakeling with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 6.08 Health and 4.86 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 12.2.

49.7 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 390.

You have cursed Level 13 Gray Drakeling with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 6.08 Health and 4.86 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 12.2.

49.7 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 341.

You have cursed Level 12 Gray Drakeling with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 6.08 Health and 4.86 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 12.2.

49.7 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 291.

Immediately, the three monsters stuttered, breaking their course toward us and careening to the ground. Their wings were suddenly not quite fast enough to carry their bodies through the air.

Erani and I moved into action as the Drakelings moved to crash into us. She leapt out of the way, keeping her distance from the monsters, while I leapt forward, getting directly in their path. Once they hit the ground, their large bodies kicking up dirt and dust in the crash, Erani fired off her Firebolts, the Spells exploding against the Drakelings’ hard hides.

Two of the monsters immediately got to their feet and charged at me. I may have drained their Dexterity well enough to crash their flight, but they could certainly still move around. I took a few steps back, firing off Rays of Frost at my duo of attackers as I did.

You have struck Level 12 Gray Drakeling for 41 damage using Ray of Frost.

But as it charged at me, Erani nailed it in the back with an Explosive Firebolt, and it stumbled to the ground. The other Level 13 Drakeling was still struggling to its feet after my barrage of Rays of Frost, so I felt like she had things handled.

I turned around and faced my original adversary, the Level 12 Drakeling. It had turned to face me, and was preparing to shoot another ball of fire my way. I dashed forward, dodging to the side as the Drakeling spat the head-sized flaming sphere at me.

As I got closer, the Drakeling got visibly hesitant, obviously cautious of me getting back onto its wings like I had been before. It backed away from me, snapping at me with its massive mouth to try and scare me off. But I knew that if it was acting so cautiously, it had to have been low on Health, and probably too low on Stamina to use its electricity element again.

Crippling Chill has worn off of Level 10 Gray Drakeling.

You have struck Level 10 Gray Drakeling for 91 damage and drained 73 Stamina over the course of 15 seconds using Crippling Chill.

Crippling Chill has worn off of Level 13 Gray Drakeling.

You have struck Level 13 Gray Drakeling for 91 damage and drained 73 Stamina over the course of 15 seconds using Crippling Chill.

Crippling Chill has worn off of Level 12 Gray Drakeling.

You have struck Level 12 Gray Drakeling for 91 damage and drained 73 Stamina over the course of 15 seconds using Crippling Chill.

I glanced behind me as the notifications of Crippling Chill wearing off the monsters flooded in. Erani still seemed to be doing fine, despite her two enemies suddenly regaining their lost Stats. The Health they’d lost from our combined barrage of Spells seemed to weaken them enough for her to be able to handle them.

I turned back to the Drakeling I was fighting. It’d benefited from the burst of speed, too, and it was now harder than ever to get close to it. However, Crippling Chill wearing off also meant that I could cast it again.

I charged at it, and it prepared to intercept me. But just as I was about to reach it, I cast the Spell again.

You have cursed Level 12 Gray Drakeling with Crippling Chill. For the next 15 seconds, it loses 6.08 Health and 4.86 Stamina each second, and its Dexterity score is lowered by 12.2.

49.7 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 41.

Stunned by the sudden loss of Stats, it wasn’t able to stop me from dashing by it and leaping onto its back, wrapping my hands around its wings once again. It screeched in surprise, desperately trying to throw me off.

I held tight though, and the weakened and damaged monster didn’t have the strength to throw me or the Stamina to electrocute me. It seemed I’d won.

But just as I thought that, the Drakeling craned its neck and lashed out, biting at me with its teeth. It seemed like it missed – it simply wasn’t flexible enough to reach me. But, as I watched, I realized that I wasn’t its target. The beast’s teeth sank into its own flesh, and it tore away a chunk of its body.

Blood poured out of the open wound, and spilled all across my body. My skin sizzled as I remembered, a bit belatedly, that a Drakeling’s blood was incredibly acidic.

You have been burned by acid. 23 damage.

Your Health is 39.

I lost my grip, frantically brushing the painful liquid away from my skin.

You have been burned by acid. 12 damage.

Your Health is 27.

I fell to the ground, crawling away from the profusely bleeding Drakeling.

You have been burned by acid. 4 damage.

Your Health is 23.

You have struck Level 12 Gray Drakeling for 110 damage and drained 55 Stamina over the course of 7.1 seconds using Noxious Grasp.

26.6 Mana Cost. Your Mana is 17.

I was worried about the Drakeling taking advantage of my damaged state, but when I looked over at it, I realized that it seemed to have problems of its own to deal with. It’d collapsed to the ground in the struggle, and seemed completely incapable of getting back up. With its Health and Stamina still being continually sapped by Crippling Chill, it seemed like that last attack had taken away the final bits of its strength.

After a few more seconds, the Spell chipped away at the last of the creature’s Health, and it died.

You have offered major contribution toward the slaying of Level 12 Gray Drakeling.

You have earned 130 XP. Your XP is 149.

I turned around to see Erani also finishing off the badly-damaged Drakelings she was fighting. It seemed she had things handled, and I was too low on Mana to help, so instead, I simply watched the brief lightshow of fiery explosions.

She finished them shortly, and I received two more notifications.

You have offered moderate contribution toward the slaying of Level 13 Gray Drakeling.

You have earned 88 XP. Your XP is 237.

You have offered minor contribution toward the slaying of Level 10 Gray Drakeling.

You have earned 29 XP. Your XP is 266.

And with that, the fight was over.