"Hey! Please! Can I take a break?! This is torture, I'm tired!" Tom shouted from the front.
"Well, that's too damn bad!" Drake shouted back, turning back to Megan, "Ok, this buff is very good. Can you keep it up indefinitely?" he asked.
Megan shifted a bit before answering, obviously not sure if she should tell him or not.
"Y-yes… I have a mana regeneration skill that allows me to keep it casted. As long as it's the only spell I am using…" Megan answered.
"Seriously! I could really use a break!" Tom yelled again.
"You're fine! Suck it up!" Drake told him, turning his attention back to Megan, "Oh? What are these other buffs then?" he asked.
Megan pursed her lips, moving her head slightly to look at Tom behind Drake.
"Are you sure he's alright?" she asked.
"He's fine, Jacqueline is watching him. And I can see where everything is with my aura sense. If you're that worried why not cast some of those buffs on him then like Julia is doing?" Drake told her, raising a brow.
Megan's face scrunched up slightly at the jab, "My other spells deal with stamina and combat effectiveness… I say stamina but it also includes regeneration, the latter is a longer cooldown so I rarely use it," she explained reluctantly.
"Does it have drawbacks?" Drake asked seriously.
"No… Just a large amount of mana and a long cooldown. The regeneration spell can be used with my main spell without problems…" she clarified.
Drake put his hand to his chin in thought, "You're basically a pure buff class then huh… Could have really used that type of information earlier," he sighed, "What's done is done though. Alright, let's see them in action," Drake said finally, then pointing to Claire, "Claire, you have a new water buffing spell also you said? Let's see it."
"Are you sure? It has a pretty big cost and cooldown as well. I won't be able to cast it for a while," she answered, stepping up next to him.
"It's fine. I get the general gist from the descriptions, but reading them and experiencing them is a whole different thing. I also want Tom to experience them as well, he needs to get used to buff magic sooner or later being a tank," he explained, "First up Miss Gumpy," Drake smiled, extending his arm out as if giving her the stage.
Megan grumbled to herself but stepped forward nonetheless.
"I'm not grumpy… I just don't fucking like you…" she mumbled.
After cursing out Drake, she took a breath, holding her staff in both her hand as she closed her eyes, beginning her chant.
"In the name of she who is the light in the dark," she began, a white magic circle forming below her, "To which all are welcome. These unworthy servants seek sanctuary," another magic circle forming above Tom's head, "Foster of Light!"
Beads and rays of angelic light were casted down on Tom, bathing him in brilliant white light as his body glowed momentarily before it dimmed and he shouted in joy.
"Oh hell yeah!" Tom shouted, throwing his shield into an Ant, it flying backward several feet compared to before when he would only knock them back a few inches, "This is amazing! I feel great!"
Megan heaved a breath exhaling before wiping her brow.
"Don't forget it only lasts so long Tom!" Drake shouted to him, "Don't get too far ah- Lost him already. I'm going to have to go get him, susmaryosep…." Drake sighed walking forward into the sea of ants.
A few moments later, Drake was dragging a flailing Tom by the scruff of his armor.
"Why are you holding me back! I can take this whole damn place on!" Tom shouted, flailing his arms and shield wildly.
"Yes, yes, you're very strong with buffs…" Drake sighed, "But stay where I can see you."
"I'm not a kid dude!" Tom retorted.
Drake narrowed his eyes, "Ten, nine, eight, seven…" Drake counted aloud looking at the confident Tom, "Two, one."
And then Megan's buff ran out, the duration passing, and Tom deflated, his brows raising as if he just realized what he had said and who he had said it to.
"M-my bad…." Tom said, scratching the back of his head.
"Right. Just reel it in… I can't have you dying, I don't want to have to go find another comic relief character this late into the game," Drake snickered.
"Hey, I do more than just that…" Tom sighed, turning to the Ants.
"I know you do, Tom. Keep it up, and keep your head on next time," Drake laughed, patting him on the shoulder.
Drake walked back to the group with a smile on his face, "Ok, where were we before I had to go catch a runaway… Oh yeah. Megan, second buff now."
Megan had recovered from casting the previous spell and nodded.
"This one affects a group instead of just one person, but it is an area of effect," she explained.
Drake gave a nod understanding what she meant as he walked back over to Tom. Then giving a wave signaling for her to cast the spell.
Megan closed her eyes again, a magic circle forming at her feet as she began chanting.
"Tired soldiers, may the grace of the Mother touch your weary bodies. So that her light will replenish you on your beaten path. Fortifying Light!" Megan casted.
This time a luminescent bubble formed around Drake and Tom, filling with rays of bright light before popping.
[You have been affected by beneficial magic]
[50% Increase in Stamina Regeneration for 4 Minutes and 53 Seconds]
[25% Increase in Vitality and Mana Regeneration for 4 Minutes and 53 Seconds]
Drake whistled, "Wow, now that's a buff. Is it just me or are buffer classes ridiculously strong…" Drake mused.
Next to Drake Tom roared again, raising his shield high into the air. His triumphant shout only lasted a few moments before Drake pulled him back again forced to drag him to the group as he took care of the Ants for the duration of the spell.
When Drake finished, he walked back to the group, looking down at the sitting Tom.
"I'm sorry…." Tom said in a mumble.
Drake sighed, "It's alright, you're still getting used to it," he laughed, "We have to get it right so just work on it bit by bit."
Tom nodded seriously, getting to his feet before walking back over to the oncoming wave of Ants.
"You're being surprisingly nice," Chelsea said.
"I'm always nice, what are you talking about?" Drake replied.
Drake turned around, finding several pairs of skeptical gazes pointed in his direction.
"What? I'm nice!" he said again, unable to hold back his smile, "Never mind that. Claire, are you ready?"
Claire moved forward from the rest of the group, her face puffed up into a pout," Finally addressing me…? Aren't I supposed to be your girlfriend…" she huffed, turning her head.
"Haha…." Drake laughed wryly, "The spell please," he asked.
She gave him a cold glare but began chanting her spell.
Claire's new spell was one that affected water magic. Somewhat the same as her other buff did so to lightning. It was niche and only benefited one elemental type at a time. And from what she had told Drake, the cooldown and cost were similar to her Storm Caller's Rising.
"Let my voice rouse the tides, hear the storm that brews deep within my heart!" Claire hummed, a blue magic circle forming underneath her, "Let the waves crash against the world like all of her fury! Let us be your tools that flood the earth!" she continued the rumbling of the spell reaching a fever pitch as water began to surface from the ground ebbing out of the magic circle around her feet, "Tempest's Beckoning!"
Claire finished her incantation the sound of waves roaring against the coast sounding as the magic circle beneath her vanished. She stood triumphantly, but shakily, a smile on her face. A far cry to the girl who first collapsed performing her first spell on the rampart just a few weeks ago.
[You have been affected by beneficial magic]
[All water-affiliated magic and spells will deal 100% more damage for the next 2 minutes]
[All water-affiliated magic and spells will have their cost reduced by 50% for the next two minutes]
[All water-affiliated magic and spells will regenerate 1% of mana cost on kill]
Drake smiled, snapping his mask back into place. Putting his hand on Tom's shoulder as he pulled him back behind him.
"Can't let this buff go to waste. Don't worry I got this one, Tom," Drake said, cracking his knuckles and turning over his shoulder to Claire, "Knew I could count on my girl for the big finale," he smiled.
Claire turned her head, still upset, but she couldn't hide the small shade of red from her ears that poked out from her dirty blonde hair.
Drake turned back to the monsters that were ever present even with them reducing their ways of replenishing their numbers.
"Playtime is over! Time to clear the board!"
Drake clapped his hands together a shard of ice forming in between them. He threw the shard into the air crushing it with another clap of his hands, his hair and tattoos cascading over to white.
"Heretical Endowment! Single! Ice!" Drake roared, changing to his endowment to boost his magic damage further.
Spreading both his hands forward Drake's eyes turned fierce.
"Hunt!"
Instantly ten instances of blue magic circles formed in front of Drake, each one forming a ball of water that shifted into a jagged tooth.
"La" Drake shouted loudly, the teeth rippling with power as he infused more and more mana into them, each one becoming a small torrent of power, "Gota!"
Finishing the chant, the spells fired off small serrated rockets in water form, tearing and slicing through every ant in their wake, slowly drenching the entire area around them.
The water spells even went as far as to reach the last Hive entrance in the distance. Drake continued to fire off the spell one after another relentlessly as his mana continued to replenish with each tens of kills, eventually stacking to hundreds.
When Drake saw the entire field was soaked, and water began to pool around the ants that were spared and the new ones that began to run out of the entrance to replenish their numbers, he placed his rings into his inventory, a sleek wooden staff replacing them in his hands.
Drake willed the magic circles to converge, forming a larger ball of water. Pointing his staff forward he chanted again.
"Cascada."
The ball rippled and frothed the water shimmering with a faint green light as he dumped his replenished stores of mana into the spell. The ball of water roaring forward through the army of Ants before it, swallowing up anything and everything in its wake before it reached the center of the battlement.
"Burst."
The spell exploded in a cascading ripple of thunderous booms, the water flying out in sharp pointed needles that pierced everything in its surroundings, once again covering the field in water.
A trail of water led back to Drake's feet. Most of the ants on the surface had died, and notifications flooded his peripheral but he wasn't done yet. He needed to wipe out every single one on the surface so they could begin their assault on the hive below.
Drake kneeled touching the trail, a snow white magic circle forming on the tip of his index finger.
"Ice Age," Drake whispered, his finger touching the water as it instantly froze, spreading out onto the field in front of him covering everything that was touched by water into a frozen statue of ice.
The frost continued to spread immediately killing and freezing every ant in place. The ground becoming a slick reflective sheet of glass. The only imperfections, the ants frozen in time on the surface. The ice continued forward to the Hive Entrance freezing the ground then shooting upwards covering it with a door of thick ice.
Drake stood, taking in his handiwork for only a moment.
Throwing the end of staff into the line of ice below him shouted once more.
"Shatter!"
A crack shot out from the impact, spreading out like a spiderweb on the glass-like surface until it covered every inch of the ice he had just made. Then with a snap of Drake's fingers, the ice shattered into pieces, becoming small specs of snow. Converting the remnants of the Ants in flecks of white on the ground.
[Congratulations! You have increased to Elemental Miller Level 22] [40 Free Stats have been awarded]
[Title Awarded: Incectocide]
"Really? You couldn't have done that before putting me through an entire day of getting insect goo all over me?!" Tom grumbled.