After killing a few more monsters with Durandal and absorbing their MP into myself, I was back in the condition where I could cast a few spells without my MP supplies dropping into the mental danger zone, so it was about time to try how different Water Wall would be in comparison to the Fire Wall.
(Water Wall!)
Yes, the activation of the spell was a success, and soon I have watched as a wall made out of water was erected in front of me from, sprawling from the floor to the ceiling, and blocking most of the corridor with itself. Technically it should work in the same way as Fire Wall does, meaning that it should deal damage to whatever tried to pass through it, but will that really be the case?
With Fire Wall it was obvious that the flames would cause harm upon contact, by now that I took a closer look at this Water Wall, it was not made from swirling, torrential water like Water Storm was, but from normal, still water shaped like an elongated square. Will something like that really be able to successfully stop monsters from coming near us? Maybe it was supposed to act like a trap that would drown them to death? Or maybe Water Wall is meant strictly for blocking fire-based attacks?
After a few minutes the spell stopped working, and the water that made up the Water Wall lost its form and fell onto the floor, splashing a generous amount of liquid over my pants as well. Okay, what did we learn from this unfortunate misshap? That apparently, unlike Fire Magic, where the flames go *poof* and disappear when the spell is finished, water used in the Water Magic spells actually stays behind. That's kinda like… like fir and water in real life I guess? You know, with how flames from fires have to be either put out or they have to die on their own but whenever there is a flood then all the water has to be pumped out manually because it won't evaporate on its own? So that's normal, right? Or not? Well shit, I don't know anymore, because now that I am in a world where magic seems to be a rare but integral part of the world I am not really sure what the criteria for being considered 「normal」 actually are.
「Roxanne, do you think it is safe to drink the water created through Water Magic spells? Because to be frank, using all of those Fire Magic spells made my throat kinda dry.」
「I am pretty sure that water is safe to drink. It's just regular water after all.」
Yeah, since it's normal, plain-ass water, then drinking it should theoretically be okay to drink it. Also, if it's safe to drink, then it could serve more than one purpose. For example: from now on, we won't have to carry heavy water bottles with us whenever we would fancy a drink. But perhaps we should still carry one or two of them with us just in case? Yeah, that sounds like a reasonable thing to do.
The next two Needlewoods Lv.2 we encountered were slain by me with four Fireballs, two for each one of them. Two spells needed just to defeat a Lv.2 monster. That result is far from an ideal one where I would dispose of a single enemy with a single spell, but I guess it cannot be helped for now.
Anyway, now that I tested both Fire Magic and Water Magic, the next on waiting to be tested out was Wind Magic. If the patterns from the two previous tests also apply here, then something should happen once I chant the name of the spell.
(Windball!)
I chanted the name of the spell in my mind, but to my surprise, nothing happened. Huh? Strange, that's not how it went the past two times. Maybe I should try some different names?
(Wind Arrow! Wind Storm! Wind Strike! Wind Cast!)
I tried all the different names that I could think of, but the result was one and the same each time: nope, nope, nope and… that's right, you guessed it, nope. And here I thought that since Fireball and Waterball worked, Windball would be the correct one as well. No matter, we just have to keep trying with the combinations of different words.
(Airball! Thrustball! Galeball! Typhoonball! Tornadoball! Breezeball!)
Oh, looks like that last one was it. When I thought about the name Breezeball, a ball made out of compressed air was formed in my hand and then flew forward at great speed. Or at least I assume that's what happened, because whatever I created with that command was invisible to my naked eye, and the sound of the wind cutting through the air around me was the only audible indication that something happened at all.
So that was a breeze, huh? Part of me was hoping for something more epic like a tornado, but since this is the Beginner-level magic then I guess expecting something like that right from the get-go was more than a little unreasonable. Maybe it will come later as I will obtain more advanced levels of magic mastery, but for now this is what I have to make-do with.
The opponent that would act as a test-subject for my Wind Magic testing was a Green Caterpillar. As soon as it appeared in my line of sight, I created a Breezeball and hurled it straight at it, expecting it to be hit one hundred percent since this attack was practically invisible, but just before it hit the Caterpillar bastard, it rolled over to the side and avoided taking any damage whatsoever! How was it able to dodge my Breezeball? Was it somehow able to sense it?! No, don't think about it for now. Once more. Just focus on attacking it with magic once more! And since now would be as good of a time to do so as any, I waited for the Green Caterpillar to get closer and tried Using Breeze Wall to see how it would look.
(Breeze Wall!)
I thought about it, and then a wall made out of invisible air formed before me and the Green Caterpillar. Alright, at the very least the spell seemed to have worked properly. Just as I predicted, it was must have been a wall made from colorless air, transparent and invisible to my eyes just like the Breezeball. Alright, come on, you stupid caterpillar, go ahead and charge head first into it for a real nasty surprise!
I waited for the gory fireworks to pop up, because I assumed that once the Green Caterpillar gets trapped in the Breeze Wall it would rear I up to shreds, but once again, it stopped right in front of it as if it sensed the danger it was about to walk into. And then the son of a bitch actually had the audacity to activate an orange magic circle under itself, meaning it was preparing to use a skill of its own! If this is the same web spitting attack that caught me once before, then I am screwed!
I just don't get it! Breeze Wall should be practically invisible, so then how was this mindless monster able to stop right before he walked into such a perfect trap? And not only this once! It was able to avoid the Breezeball I threw at it earlier, so in hindsight I guess I should have expected it to avoid Breeze Wall as well.
The problem now is that it was getting ready to use its Skill. Form what I remember the webbing the Green Caterpillar spat last time had a pretty wide spread, so there is a possibility that even with the Breeze Wall deployed some of it might still hit me. But hey, such protection is better than no protection at all, so if I can use it to minimize the potential damage done to me, then you can be sure as hell that I am going to use it! And if I'm really lucky, then Breeze Wall might just block the entire Web Spit attack altogether!
A few moments later, the Green Caterpillar unleashed its Skill. From where I was standing, it looked like it was waiting for the exact moment where my Breeze Wall would begin to disappear. Ugh! Another L that is entirely my fault! I should have backed away to a safer distance while there was still a wall dividing us! Roxanne managed to get away in time, but I got hit with the sticky webbing, and while I was struggling to free myself out of it, Green Caterpillar used that opportunity to hit me with a ramming attack. Thankfully this one attack was not enough to seriously damage me, and when it was going at me with a second one I already broke my Durandal-wielding hand at it, killing it instantly.