The malodorous mustelids poured down the hill at us in a ferocious wave of stench and hostility.
Nora was the first to step forward. “I’ve got this! These guys are definitely flammable!” She began to chant the textbook words to Ignis, obviously wanting to prove herself after our last skirmish.
Vernie, however, grabbed my arm and yanked me off balance. “Rae-Rae, this isn’t right! These creatures don’t act like this! I know them! Something is very, very wrong!” She knew demonic beasts? What exactly had she been up to these past seven years?
I fought back my initial urge to just discount her statement outright, searched her face, and saw a mix of sincerity and desperation. “Okay,” I agreed uncomfortably. “But we’ve got to stop them somehow!” Their screeches signified they were out for our blood.
“I know, I know, but we can’t just murder them! Stop Nora, before she burns them to a crisp!” Murder? Exterminating those angry, smelly beasts equates to murder in her mind?
Ah, no one ever said it would be easy being the Holy Captain. “Nora!” I shouted. “Uh, crowd control, non-lethal?” It was a suggestion more than anything, but I knew better than to order her around.
Nora’s brow furrowed with concentration as she continued casting her spell, but she managed a nod. As the wave of mustelids drew closer, Nora’s chanting crescendoed, reaching a climax when the creatures were about fifty feet away.
“Ignis! Impedimentum Ignis!” Nora roared, slashing her hand from left to right across the path of the malodorous mustelids, then up, back, and down, forming a perfectly square box of flames around them all with 10 foot high walls. Impedimentum? The addition of the fancy-sounding word and articulate gestures really made all the difference!
I heard a few angry screeches as some of the braver mustelids tested the walls, earning them the painful knowledge that this was no mere illusion spell. The smell of their burning fur wafted in the breeze, making the odor in the area all the worse.
Nora sagged with the effort she just exerted. “That should hold them for a minute or two, anyway,” she panted. “I don’t think I’ll be able to pull that off again for a while, so everyone else needs to take their turn this round!” Did she think we were just playing some sort of tabletop game?
Raeonna… She helped me with the demonic beasts back when we first arrived, but I hadn’t heard a peep from her since then. Maybe I could call on her wisdom once more? Raeonna?
…But there was no reply. I remembered Raelina seemed more focused on doing anything she could to find her parents, but she was a local… albeit an ancient one. Maybe she had dealt with them in the past?
However, she, too, was nowhere to be found. Was it really all that empty in my head?
“Vernie…” I finally focused on the person who claimed to be an expert. “Do you have any ideas about what their problem is?” I asked. “I mean, other than us, apparently.”
“The Matriarch must be upset. If we can calm her down, the rest will follow.” Vernie squinted at the roaring flames. “She’s not with the others in there… but she should be somewhere close by with direct sight over the battlegrounds.”
It was Tetora’s sharp eyes that spotted her first. “There,” he pointed resolutely. “At the top of the hill, in the eastern mountain’s shadow. I'll go knock some sense into her myself.”
Aleph loomed in front of him, blocking his path. “You will do no such thing. You are still in no condition to be engaging in combat!”
“I am a warrior, not an invalid! Get out of my way!”
No, none of that now! Damn it! Everyone is supposed to get along! But even I was failing at that. “Iron Tiger Tetora!” I bellowed. “Stand down!”
“You dare to question my–”
“I don’t question your ability, skill, strength, commitment, whatever! However, right now I question your judgment! Of course you would win, but at what cost? Have a little faith in your companions and let them handle this. Stop trying to handle everything yourself!” Hypocrisy isn’t an uncommon trait of a fledgling leader, right?
“... Fine! Just take care of it quickly,” he conceded with a snort. What a stubborn, obstinate fool. That’s probably why I got along with him so well.
The Matriarch was dancing with anger at her thwarted attack. Like most enraged beings, she was way beyond listening to reason, but I felt like I could almost understand her indignant hisses and screeches. Perhaps it was because she was standing on two feet, or maybe it was just her body language. In fact, her flying fastball fists of furry fury might have even been comical if… wait. Comical… Irrational inspiration struck me.
“Nora,” I asked tentatively. “Do you have enough juice for a wind spell?”
“Juice?” she gave me a flat look, signifying once again I had uttered something outside of her range of preferred word choices. “Yes, but how would that help, exactly?”
“Um… fastball special?” I suggested, already trying to picture myself as a strong, aerodynamic superhero who laughs in the face of danger. Oh right, the sword. One or two practice sessions was not enough to make me proficient. I quickly unbelted it, choosing the staff I could control better instead. Too bad I didn’t have a virtual inventory to hide the sword in, but I’d probably just fill it up with shiny rocks and other useless sundries. Although… some rocks I found here and there but had to leave behind were really nice… Wait, focus, Rachel! Superhero, remember? Superheroes can do absolutely anything they put their minds to. “Ready for takeoff!”
Her face lit up for a moment before a slightly worried frown crossed her face. “You better stick the landing!” she warned.
I can do this, I told myself again. I just have to. Thinking back on my fight with the boat-oar-sized sword wielding brigand, I focused on how I had felt in the moment: strong, confident, and empowered by the trust my friends and teachers had in me. Those very feelings came rushing back and a warm, glowing aura appeared around me. “I’ll stick like glue!” Maybe not exactly her words, but I was sure I captured her general sentiment. That was the trick, right? Visualize to actualize!
“Wh–” Nora stopped short, leaving her question for later. “Start sprinting. On three, jump!”
I ran, focusing all the power in my lower half. When Nora hit three, I jumped as high as I could. My amity-assisted jump would have earned me gold, even before Nora’s spell caught my backside.
“Ventos!” Noral yelled.
As I rocketed toward the mustelid matriarch, I heard Nora’s voice receding behind me as she added, “Good luck! Don’t splat!” Splat? I could splat? Why did she have to say that?! That would hurt! I stumbled some then over the very thought of incurring injury, my aura momentarily flickering.
Fortunately, I was able to catch myself with a slap to the ground before tumbling out of control, but I then realized I overshot the Matriarch by a few yards. I sprung to my feet and turned just as the giant mustelid was on me with a blur of teeth and claws. She was too close to bring my staff in for a full strike, but between it and my armor, I turned away her speedy blows with a few lucky but mostly intended moves of my staff. She kept coming in a relentless stream of swings and cuts with her razor-sharp claws, her natural weapons flashing high and low, trying to find the opening in my defenses. Her jaws snapped out bites at my face to drive me back, and I just knew those fangs were sharp enough to end my part in this story quickly.
At first, I thought it was simply the shadow cast from a nearby mountain, but then I noticed she was covered in darkness. A gloomy, almost sticky miasma had surrounded her, oozing from the outer edges of her eyes. I wracked my brain even as I gave up ground, trying to troubleshoot her malady. Was it… concentrated animus? Could it be disrupted, just like how I managed with that enlisted demon? But the staff hadn’t sparked even once since it had come into contact with her, so I remained doubtful. While still doing my best to avoid each and every blow and snap of her jaws, I tried to formulate a new plan.
I dared to glance back down the mountainside and saw the wall of flames had diminished to half of their original height. A few mustelids were successful in high-jumping over them. Attrition was out; I needed to end this quickly. I needed to just get in for a punch or a slap somehow… Well, it’d be worth a try, anyway. Otherwise, I’d have to end up doing something even worse.
A hazardous idea came to my mind, and I executed it before I could second guess myself. I gave her a chance to use those teeth that she was so eager to use. With a wet slam, her jaws closed on my staff. Perfect! Releasing my staff, I caught her next blow of her claws with a chest block, sweeping my other hand up into a grab on her arm. The surprised creature lost precious moments fighting with my staff, allowing me to pull her close to me while retracting my blocking hand for a punch before she could disengage. As expected, she didn’t bother trying to escape, but went for a bite to my throat instead. Fancy armor, don’t fail me now, I silently prayed as I jerked my upper body to the side, taking her teeth on my shoulder pauldron.
She hissed in frustration, but it cut off abruptly as I drove my fist into her gut. I put only a little strength into the blow, instead focusing on pushing my inner amity out through my fist. For a tense moment, I wasn’t sure it had worked, but then she convulsed in my arms, fell limp, and slumped towards the ground. Oh no, had I done… the unspeakable?!
I eased her down as best I could, anxious to find any signs of life. She took a breath, thankfully, and then I could see the other changes in her. The thick miasma was gone and her face was no longer contorted in rage.
Her eyes opened, and at first, panic gripped her even as I backed away. She hissed several times as she also started to retreat before suddenly freezing in place.
“H… hey now…!”
She sniffed tentatively at the air, and her mangy ears popped up, one after the other. When she finally realized I just wasn’t interested in exchanging blows anymore, she let out a languid sigh. She even managed to look embarrassed about the whole thing by flattening her ears to the side and giving me frequent, sidelong glances.
“It’s okay, I know you weren’t exactly yourself just now,” I murmured. Then I turned toward the bottom of the hill, where the walls of the flame cage were dying out. I pointed both awkwardly and urgently. “Um… Can you please stop them before someone gets hurt?”
Even though she didn’t speak, she seemed to understand what I wanted right away. She bounded up to a cliff edge and let forth an ear-piercing screech, causing the rest of the mustelid pack to freeze in place. Half a dozen of them had already managed to encircle Aleph and Vernie, but they suddenly fell back at the Matriarch’s resounding cry. Aleph, however, quickly snatched one of the slower ones by the scruff of its neck, perhaps as insurance for the others to keep themselves in check.
“Um. So… how about we negotiate a peace treaty?” I asked hopefully.
The Matriarch gave me another suspicious look, then bounded down towards her pack. After she turned back and screeched at me insistently, I followed her down the hillside carefully.
Euphridia
Omake
Nora: Fastball special?
Rae: Fastball special!
Tetora: A secret fighting technique from the next world. I wish to master it!
Rae: Uh…. It’ll be a little hard to get you the serialized superhero sacred scrolls…
The malodorous mustelids poured down the hill at us in a ferocious wave of stench and hostility.
Nora was the first to step forward. “I’ve got this! These guys are definitely flammable!” She began to chant the textbook words to Ignis, obviously wanting to prove herself after our last skirmish.
Vernie, however, grabbed my arm and yanked me off balance. “Rae-Rae, this isn’t right! These creatures don’t act like this! I know them! Something is very, very wrong!” She knew demonic beasts? What exactly had she been up to these past seven years?
I fought back my initial urge to just discount her statement outright, searched her face, and saw a mix of sincerity and desperation. “Okay,” I agreed uncomfortably. “But we’ve got to stop them somehow!” Their screeches signified they were out for our blood.
“I know, I know, but we can’t just murder them! Stop Nora, before she burns them to a crisp!” Murder? Exterminating those angry, smelly beasts equates to murder in her mind?
Ah, no one ever said it would be easy being the Holy Captain. “Nora!” I shouted. “Uh, crowd control, non-lethal?” It was a suggestion more than anything, but I knew better than to order her around.
Nora’s brow furrowed with concentration as she continued casting her spell, but she managed a nod. As the wave of mustelids drew closer, Nora’s chanting crescendoed, reaching a climax when the creatures were about fifty feet away.
“Ignis! Impedimentum Ignis!” Nora roared, slashing her hand from left to right across the path of the malodorous mustelids, then up, back, and down, forming a perfectly square box of flames around them all with 10 foot high walls. Impedimentum? The addition of the fancy-sounding word and articulate gestures really made all the difference!
I heard a few angry screeches as some of the braver mustelids tested the walls, earning them the painful knowledge that this was no mere illusion spell. The smell of their burning fur wafted in the breeze, making the odor in the area all the worse.
Nora sagged with the effort she just exerted. “That should hold them for a minute or two, anyway,” she panted. “I don’t think I’ll be able to pull that off again for a while, so everyone else needs to take their turn this round!” Did she think we were just playing some sort of tabletop game?
Raeonna… She helped me with the demonic beasts back when we first arrived, but I hadn’t heard a peep from her since then. Maybe I could call on her wisdom once more? Raeonna?
…But there was no reply. I remembered Raelina seemed more focused on doing anything she could to find her parents, but she was a local… albeit an ancient one. Maybe she had dealt with them in the past?
However, she, too, was nowhere to be found. Was it really all that empty in my head?
“Vernie…” I finally focused on the person who claimed to be an expert. “Do you have any ideas about what their problem is?” I asked. “I mean, other than us, apparently.”
“The Matriarch must be upset. If we can calm her down, the rest will follow.” Vernie squinted at the roaring flames. “She’s not with the others in there… but she should be somewhere close by with direct sight over the battlegrounds.”
It was Tetora’s sharp eyes that spotted her first. “There,” he pointed resolutely. “At the top of the hill, in the eastern mountain’s shadow. I'll go knock some sense into her myself.”
Aleph loomed in front of him, blocking his path. “You will do no such thing. You are still in no condition to be engaging in combat!”
“I am a warrior, not an invalid! Get out of my way!”
No, none of that now! Damn it! Everyone is supposed to get along! But even I was failing at that. “Iron Tiger Tetora!” I bellowed. “Stand down!”
“You dare to question my–”
“I don’t question your ability, skill, strength, commitment, whatever! However, right now I question your judgment! Of course you would win, but at what cost? Have a little faith in your companions and let them handle this. Stop trying to handle everything yourself!” Hypocrisy isn’t an uncommon trait of a fledgling leader, right?
“... Fine! Just take care of it quickly,” he conceded with a snort. What a stubborn, obstinate fool. That’s probably why I got along with him so well.
The Matriarch was dancing with anger at her thwarted attack. Like most enraged beings, she was way beyond listening to reason, but I felt like I could almost understand her indignant hisses and screeches. Perhaps it was because she was standing on two feet, or maybe it was just her body language. In fact, her flying fastball fists of furry fury might have even been comical if… wait. Comical… Irrational inspiration struck me.
“Nora,” I asked tentatively. “Do you have enough juice for a wind spell?”
“Juice?” she gave me a flat look, signifying once again I had uttered something outside of her range of preferred word choices. “Yes, but how would that help, exactly?”
“Um… fastball special?” I suggested, already trying to picture myself as a strong, aerodynamic superhero who laughs in the face of danger. Oh right, the sword. One or two practice sessions was not enough to make me proficient. I quickly unbelted it, choosing the staff I could control better instead. Too bad I didn’t have a virtual inventory to hide the sword in, but I’d probably just fill it up with shiny rocks and other useless sundries. Although… some rocks I found here and there but had to leave behind were really nice… Wait, focus, Rachel! Superhero, remember? Superheroes can do absolutely anything they put their minds to. “Ready for takeoff!”
Her face lit up for a moment before a slightly worried frown crossed her face. “You better stick the landing!” she warned.
I can do this, I told myself again. I just have to. Thinking back on my fight with the boat-oar-sized sword wielding brigand, I focused on how I had felt in the moment: strong, confident, and empowered by the trust my friends and teachers had in me. Those very feelings came rushing back and a warm, glowing aura appeared around me. “I’ll stick like glue!” Maybe not exactly her words, but I was sure I captured her general sentiment. That was the trick, right? Visualize to actualize!
“Wh–” Nora stopped short, leaving her question for later. “Start sprinting. On three, jump!”
I ran, focusing all the power in my lower half. When Nora hit three, I jumped as high as I could. My amity-assisted jump would have earned me gold, even before Nora’s spell caught my backside.
“Ventos!” Noral yelled.
As I rocketed toward the mustelid matriarch, I heard Nora’s voice receding behind me as she added, “Good luck! Don’t splat!” Splat? I could splat? Why did she have to say that?! That would hurt! I stumbled some then over the very thought of incurring injury, my aura momentarily flickering.
Fortunately, I was able to catch myself with a slap to the ground before tumbling out of control, but I then realized I overshot the Matriarch by a few yards. I sprung to my feet and turned just as the giant mustelid was on me with a blur of teeth and claws. She was too close to bring my staff in for a full strike, but between it and my armor, I turned away her speedy blows with a few lucky but mostly intended moves of my staff. She kept coming in a relentless stream of swings and cuts with her razor-sharp claws, her natural weapons flashing high and low, trying to find the opening in my defenses. Her jaws snapped out bites at my face to drive me back, and I just knew those fangs were sharp enough to end my part in this story quickly.
At first, I thought it was simply the shadow cast from a nearby mountain, but then I noticed she was covered in darkness. A gloomy, almost sticky miasma had surrounded her, oozing from the outer edges of her eyes. I wracked my brain even as I gave up ground, trying to troubleshoot her malady. Was it… concentrated animus? Could it be disrupted, just like how I managed with that enlisted demon? But the staff hadn’t sparked even once since it had come into contact with her, so I remained doubtful. While still doing my best to avoid each and every blow and snap of her jaws, I tried to formulate a new plan.
I dared to glance back down the mountainside and saw the wall of flames had diminished to half of their original height. A few mustelids were successful in high-jumping over them. Attrition was out; I needed to end this quickly. I needed to just get in for a punch or a slap somehow… Well, it’d be worth a try, anyway. Otherwise, I’d have to end up doing something even worse.
A hazardous idea came to my mind, and I executed it before I could second guess myself. I gave her a chance to use those teeth that she was so eager to use. With a wet slam, her jaws closed on my staff. Perfect! Releasing my staff, I caught her next blow of her claws with a chest block, sweeping my other hand up into a grab on her arm. The surprised creature lost precious moments fighting with my staff, allowing me to pull her close to me while retracting my blocking hand for a punch before she could disengage. As expected, she didn’t bother trying to escape, but went for a bite to my throat instead. Fancy armor, don’t fail me now, I silently prayed as I jerked my upper body to the side, taking her teeth on my shoulder pauldron.
She hissed in frustration, but it cut off abruptly as I drove my fist into her gut. I put only a little strength into the blow, instead focusing on pushing my inner amity out through my fist. For a tense moment, I wasn’t sure it had worked, but then she convulsed in my arms, fell limp, and slumped towards the ground. Oh no, had I done… the unspeakable?!
I eased her down as best I could, anxious to find any signs of life. She took a breath, thankfully, and then I could see the other changes in her. The thick miasma was gone and her face was no longer contorted in rage.
Her eyes opened, and at first, panic gripped her even as I backed away. She hissed several times as she also started to retreat before suddenly freezing in place.
“H… hey now…!”
She sniffed tentatively at the air, and her mangy ears popped up, one after the other. When she finally realized I just wasn’t interested in exchanging blows anymore, she let out a languid sigh. She even managed to look embarrassed about the whole thing by flattening her ears to the side and giving me frequent, sidelong glances.
“It’s okay, I know you weren’t exactly yourself just now,” I murmured. Then I turned toward the bottom of the hill, where the walls of the flame cage were dying out. I pointed both awkwardly and urgently. “Um… Can you please stop them before someone gets hurt?”
Even though she didn’t speak, she seemed to understand what I wanted right away. She bounded up to a cliff edge and let forth an ear-piercing screech, causing the rest of the mustelid pack to freeze in place. Half a dozen of them had already managed to encircle Aleph and Vernie, but they suddenly fell back at the Matriarch’s resounding cry. Aleph, however, quickly snatched one of the slower ones by the scruff of its neck, perhaps as insurance for the others to keep themselves in check.
“Um. So… how about we negotiate a peace treaty?” I asked hopefully.
The Matriarch gave me another suspicious look, then bounded down towards her pack. After she turned back and screeched at me insistently, I followed her down the hillside carefully.
Euphridia
Omake
Nora: Fastball special?
Rae: Fastball special!
Tetora: A secret fighting technique from the next world. I wish to master it!
Rae: Uh…. It’ll be a little hard to get you the serialized superhero sacred scrolls…
