The feeling was strange. Asher panicked as the magic circle picked him up. It was like falling and standing at the same time. Weightless but heavy. Every part that disappeared tingle before breaking apart. The silver light blinded him and burned his eyes. It was like being wiped around over and over with no direction. Asher felt like he was being stretched and dragged out. Then it stopped.
An eerie silence fell over him. Asher blinked his eyes open slowly. When he could finally fully open his eyes, he was in awe as he found himself in a forest. Ura untied her rope and jumped high into the air. The gust that resulted from her jump was enough to knock Asher over. She climbed through the sky like a rocket. The trees were about 30 meters tall, but she rocketed past the tops like they were nothing.
As she descended, Asher spotted a light green circle under her boot. "She has wind magic. And was able to jump that high with it safely. Wow." Asher could not help but say in awe.
Herta leaned over. "She is a dragoon. It makes sense."
"Dragoon?" Asher question.
"A specialist-type that focuses on aerial combat. She could stay up there for hours if she wanted." Herta smiled softly. Asher was right. Watching her graceful descent was like watching an armored Valkyrie coming from heaven. "She is finding out where we end up and how far we are from the town."
"Town? I thought we were going to a dungeon." Asher did not fully understand the procedure, but he was sure they would go to a dungeon and not to town.
"You must have a death wish to go directly to the dungeon." Old man Melios scoffed. "The dungeon town, Heovan. It is a town just outside the dungeon and will be our base of operation for the foreseeable future. We can stock up on anything we need while there."
Ura finally landed, and Kel handed her a map. She pointed to the group's current location, and they finally had a direction. As they walked, Melios quizzed Asher on his magical knowledge, and he made sure to correct Asher when he got something wrong. Melios seemed like the kind of guy who liked to show off that he was the most intelligent person in the room yet had no idea how to take a hint.
Kel spoke up. "Give the kid a break. You can expect him to get all of those questions correct. I mean, seriously, what 10-year-old would understand magic theory?"
"Well, this one seems to be able to grasp it. He got five questions correct so far. Besides, every moment is a moment that could be spent learning." Melios retorted. "Life is an endless battle for knowledge."
'How on brand,' Asher thought to himself. "Ummm... How far are we walking? Not to complain, but we have been walking for about two hours." Asher perked up, trying to change the subject before Melios asked about Elemental Physics.
"It is another hour, and we will be at the town gate," Kel smiled, "In the meantime... Why don't we get to know our newest member? What skills have you got? We all know you have the spatial element. What else you got?" Everyone looked at Asher, wanting to know what he was about to say.
Asher's stomach sank. 'Can we go back to Melios' impossible quiz?' Asher hated icebreakers in his past life, and this felt just like that. After some hesitation, Asher pulled up his sleeves, showing the two tattoos on his forearms. "I have the taming element." His arm flashed with lime-colored light as a tiny hummingbird and ragdoll appeared. "This is Themis." The little bird fluttered about back and forth.
"It is so pretty. I don't think I have ever seen such pretty feathers." Herta reached to touch Themis, but it got startled and fluttered its wings, making a purple cloud float off her feathers. The purple cloud traveled to Herta, and her body went limb and fell to the ground. "I....Ca.t...m..ve.."
"Herta!!!" Everyone rushed to her side except Asher, Melios, and Ura.
"You think with her experience, she would know not to get too close to even a tamed familiar, especially if the tamer is inexperienced," Ura stated rather harshly while glaring at Asher, whose familiar was the cause of this mess. Asher signed for Themis to perch on his shoulder.
"I am sorry, I just got Themis the other day. He sometimes does what he wants." Asher apologized.
"Don't worry about it. New familiars are hard to control. Besides, Herta is always getting into trouble like this," Melios sighs heavily, "She can't help herself when she sees a cute creature. This situation has happened so many times she has the skill, high poison resistance." Melios looks at Themis carefully, making sure to keep his distance. "That is an agate sylph, correct? The only poison it can make is a mild paralytic, so she should be fine soon."
Themis rubbed its little head against Asher's chin. "It seems you two get along very well. I am impressed you managed to get your hands on an Agate Sylph. They are constantly flying around looking for rare flowers to drink from." Ura commented.
Kel picked up Herta, and the group continued down the path toward the town. Asher felt like his breath was caught in the back of his throat. Asher spent most days looking at Corin from the Duke's manor, but this would be the first town he would be visiting a new town. The path led up a hill that overlooked the town. It was very different from Corin.
Asher was not sure what he was expecting. The town was a quaint little rural village town. However, large stone gates stood against the tall cliff that overlooked the town. "Are those?"
"The dungeon gates. They were put up to keep the monsters from coming out of the dungeon." Ura stated flatly upon seeing Asher's questioning look.
"How often does that happen?"
"Enough for them to install that giant stone gate?" Ura gave no more consideration to Asher's question. As the group approached the town, a giant crash rang out over it. Everyone exchanged looks and ran down to the town.
As the group arrived, a massive ant-like monster threw a carriage. The carriage tumbled through the air toward them. Kel tossed Herta's limp body to Ura. Kel darted forward, planting his feet firmly in front of the carriage. He readied himself and threw a single punch. As Kel's fist moved toward the carriage, flames engulfed the fist. When the burning fist hit the carriage, a massive explosion broke the carriage into pieces.
"Formation 3," Kel spoke with authority. Everyone jumped into action. Ura tossed Herta to Asher, who was knocked over by the weight.
"Don't just throw me like a rag doll," Herta whined, but Herta had closed the 50-meter distance already. She stabbed her spear with blinding speed. When the ant attacked with its pinchers at Ura, she leaped over the ant, stabbing it five more times before landing gracefully behind the massive monster.
The group surrounded the monster. Killa recklessly charged headfirst. He raised his shield and used it to smack the ant in the face. His sword took a glowing shin as it arced into the ant's pincher. The sword bounced off, causing Killa to stumble back. The ant lunged at Killa in anger. The pinchers twice the size of Killa closed in around him, and they stopped just short of cleaving Killa in two by a barrier. "If anyone wants to cut it..." Killa grimly joked.
Melios held his staff into the air, creating a massively complex magic circle. The circle turned into several serpents made from lightning. They snaked around the ant's body, binding it and biting into its exoskeleton. The ant hissed and roared in pain. It saw the source of its pain and charged toward Melios with a vengeance.
Kel moved in between them. He delivered a flaming upward kick to the ant's chin, causing its entire body to fly upward. Kel thrust his palm into its now exposed underside. "Divine push." The ant's body was thrown backward by a gust of wind. The ant squirmed and tried to get back onto its legs. Ura dug her spear into its neck, killing it.
As it died, it let out a dying screech. Two new ants charge out of the village to scream at the group for their dead comrade. "Two more inbound," Klee ordered the other to move in on the two with skill and precision. Each of them could respond and adequately react to another movement.
Asher set Herta's limb body against a tree. "There..." Asher was not happy about having Herta thrown in his face like she was. He missed most of the fight. He wanted to watch and see how the others fought.
Herta was beginning to move her limbs weakly. She has not regained her full range of motion, but her color has already started to return. "Thank you, Varas. You are a good kid."
"Remind me again why we can't use an antidote to fix this." Asher gestured towards Herta.
"Because I will be back to full health soon. So, using a potion would be a waste. We have to save them for emergencies." Herta smirked.
"This doesn't classify as an emergency." Asher pointed to the others fighting the ants.
"Nah, this is kind of standard for us." Herta seemed confident in the other's abilities.
Asher watched the other strategies and movements. Most of the attacks had short moments where a circle formed before disappearing. The group complimented each other well. Killa acted as the tank, making the ant focus on him. Ura would jump around, striking fast and always just out of reach. Kel would ensure the ants wouldn't try to escape by cutting off their routes. Melios rained down spell after spell.
"Hey, Herta. Why does Kel shout attack names? Seem embarrassing." Asher asked.
Herta snorted, "How can you not know that? It is a momentary focusing trick. Attacks are more powerful if you visualize the spell effect more clearly. So, shouting the name can make you visualize exactly what you want it to do in just a second."
"I am still learning. And besides, I am not the one who got paralyzed from trying to pet a bird." Asher retorted.
Herta laughed. She opened her mouth to say something, but her smile immediately disappeared. "Varas, Behind you!!" She shouted. Asher turned to see the massive open mouth of an ant about to eat him.
Asher's brain stopped. Not sure whether to run, fight, or accept his death. As the pincher closed in on him, a soft light blocked them from closing. Asher turned to see Herta struggling to hold a glowing amulet. It was a magic item, which meant a limited time before it was extended.
"Varas, you need to get ready to run." Herta's deminer was completely serious.
"If I leave then you will..."
"I know what will happen, but you are not equipped for this. You're just a porter. No one will blame you for running."
"A Potion!!! I can grab a..."
"No time. It takes time for those to have a significant effect. You have to run." Herta was right. If it was 50% antidote, then maybe but they only had 25%. They would take at least 1 minute to flush out the poison. Asher looked at the ant, trying to bite its way into the barrier. They would be dead in half that time.
Asher began running through scenarios in his head. Most end with Herta or both of them dead. Then, one crossed his mind. He summoned his water bow and aimed for the ant's open mouth. "Drop the barrier when I say." Asher stood at the ready.
"Are you stupid? I told you to run. I will be..." Asher gave Herta a look that told her he would ignore everything she said. Asher began to pour a large amount of mana into the bow. The arrow that was created from the largely dense and concentrated to the point that it looked like glass.
"Now." Herta dropped the barrier the moment Asher shot the arrow. Asher was not good at archery. He could not have helped the others as they were too far away, but at this distance, no skill was needed. The arrow flew into the ant's mouth, causing a reaction that knocked Asher backward. The arrow exploded into gallons and gallons of water that flooded the ant's mouth and poured out. The ant choked and gargled as it fell over.
[Notice: You have killed a Fiend Hill Ant. A reward will be given for your first kill of this species. You have gained: 135 EXP]
Asher looked at the ant's corpse. It had drowned in the middle of a forest. The others joined Asher and Herta immediately after killing the other two ants. "What was that? What happened?" Everyone was worried about Asher and Herta. After the explosion Asher caused, it was understandable. Asher had to admit. It was nice to have someone so worried about him.