"This is just bullshit!" Lyze said as he jumped over a charging giant blue crab. "Crabs are supposed to walk sideways! Not forwards!"
"Aim for its vital spots Lyze." Noir called out. "There is no point in attacking its shell."
"Its vitals are covered by this shell you old geezer!" Lyze shot back as he dodged another swipe of the abnormally large pincer claw.
They were in the 25th floor fighting its renowned water monsters. For the most part it wasn't so bad since it just meant you had to kill a whole lot of fish that were unusually large. Essentially just a large fishing trip. That was until a Blue Crab dragged itself out of the water.
It had an appearance exactly like that of its smaller counterpart except that it's carapace was metallic in nature and it charged forwards like a bull right at the boy. Which had been a serious surprise to Lyze, because although he was aware that crabs could walk forwards if they wanted to, the sheer speed at which it ran suggested that it was perfectly adapted to run at the same speed no matter how it ran.
The problem was that he had no idea of the anatomy of a crab, so even though Excalibur was sharp enough to cause damage to the carapace, a fighter like Lyze who depended upon killing monsters by striking through their vital organs found themselves in the deep end, no pun intended. He was not a swordsman of heavy and wild slashes after all, although he was perfectly capable of it, but one of tack and precision.
The crustation bastard however was proving to be a very difficult target to resist the temptation of using {Disaster} on it though.
"Guess I'll have to do it the gross way then." Lyze said as he landed in front of the beast and crouched down with his sword pointing upwards at a 45 degree angle. The Blue crab came barging towards him, shrieking in anger and murderous intent as its legs stabbed rocks and rubble apart. Lyze waited for the risky yet timed moment. If he didn't do this properly, the crab trampling him would be the least of his concerns.
When it was exactly three feet in front of him, the crab's mandibles opened to promptly chomp his head off. And it was that exact same time that Lyze stood up and drove his sword forwards with both arms, plunging Excalibur deep into the crabs maw as it pierced its palates and punctured it brain. The Blue Crab let out a horrific squealing noise before its flailing legs went limp and its body burst into dark smoke.
Lyze paid no mind to the core dropping as he withdrew his sword, staring at his beautiful blade now marred with crab blood and disgusting gooey matter that had collected in its mouth. Cringing heavily in disgust, he waved his sword around to get it all off before wiping it on some moss growing nearby.
"Not the way I would have done it son." Noir said as he walked up to him. "I wanted you to learn by itself but there is actually one weakspot on the outside of its body."
"And that was?"
"A little opening in the middle of its belly. A little partition that is not as thick as the rest of its shells. If you've been to restaurants in the Far East, although I'm certain you haven't, you'd see chefs puncturing that same spot on normal crabs to kill them instantly and begin cooking. The Blue Crabs are the same; you just have to be smart about it."
"Thanks for the tip." Lyze grumbled. 'I knew I should have watched more Gordon Ramsay!'
"I have to say though, you are doing quite well for your first time in the Water Temple." Noir said. "It took me several fights to figure out how to kill a blue crab...without doing what you did since I too was not keen on being eaten...but it was only when I tricked it into tumbling off a small cliff and making it flop on its back as it did so did I find the weakspot. After that it was a simple thrust into the belly with my spear."
"You don't use a spear anymore though do you, old man?"
"I'm still very well capable. Just because I'm old, don't underestimate me youngster. Experience can win against power more times than you think."
"I'm aware. But what about overwhelming, reality changing power huh?"
"Such powers only belong to a god Lyze. And none of that is permitted to exist in lower realms by way of the Pact."
Lyze had his back turned to his mentor, so Noir didn't see the pained smile of irony plastered across the boy's lips.
...
A little further on, they came across a little dip in the terrain that led them between two pools of water. Finn ordered the wagons to go along in single file while assigning adventurers to take one cart down slowly and then climb back up again so the wagons didn't just zoom down and drive itself into any body of water nearby.
While this was going on, Lyze slid down the slope on Riveria's permission to go scout the pools for any monsters. As he had come to know, there were monsters, even large ones that were easily capable of ambush from the water. Such as when an aqua serpent tried to snatch him from the shore once. He'd thrown a fire ball down its throat, then impaled its snout onto Excalibur to keep it from retreating back into the water and putting out the fire in its belly which eventually cooked it from the inside out.
He scanned the pools using Thread before waving back to the executives. "All clear!"
Finn sent him a thumbs up before ordering the first cart to begin descending. As Lyze stood up from his knee, Thread picked upon on several lifeforms flying towards him from behind. He dodged to the side as the first one flew by his ear, and thudding into the ground by Ais's foot, making the girl jump back in shock as the thing had been too fast for her to even see coming.
It had the appearance of a bird, with an unnaturally needle-sharp beak. It was sort of resemblant of a woodpecker. Dain grimaced before stomping on it with his foot.
"Iguazu! Get down!" He shouted as the adventurers saw a whole flock coming their way. All but the level fives who were the only ones that could track their movements stayed standing as the others crouched or put their shields above their heads.
Tsubaki pulled up her naginata and sliced one that tried to impale her through the shoulder. Gareth just stood rock still as the Iguazu smashed into his chestplate and died right there from the impact. These monster smashed so hard into him, even their cores were shattered into worthless fragments.
"I see your armour is holding up well and fine this time around." Tsubaki smiled.
"No small part in thanks to you." Gareth smiled as he slapped one aside which had been aiming for his face. "Hm?" He then noticed what Lyze was doing below them at the end of the slope. He was moving his body around in random yet eerily fluid motions...almost as if he were dancing. And with each movement he made, an Iguazu missed him by a hair's breadth.
"What's he doing?" Tsubaki asked.
"He's avoiding the Iguazu." Finn answered plainly.
"I know WHAT he's doing. I mean what is it he's doing."
"Believe me, if I knew I'd tell you." Finn said. "But from what I'm seeing, not a single Iguazu has managed to get him yet. And before, he was dodging with enough space between his body and the monsters. But as this has gone on, his dodges have brought him closer to being impaled."
"On the contrary..." Noir said. "...I'd say he's becoming more accurate. Only making just enough movement to let the little birds miss him, and little enough that he can instantly move back. Its quit rhythmic if I must say."
"How is he doing this?" Riveria asked as she blocked one monster which her staff.
Lyze had simply relinquished his forceful control over his body and allowed Thread to guide his movements to avoid being hit by the birds. But as time went on, even though he got better, he couldn't resist the urge to take back control. Humans hate not having absolute authority over themselves, and so the longer he allowed Thread to control his body, the more he desired his body back even though he was in danger...and the harder it was for him to keep going like this.
He reached for Excalibur with one turn and swept its out of its holster in his cloak. All the executives saw was a series of flashes before about 30 Iguazu around the boy simultaneously burst into ashes and the others swerved around him to avoid the same fate as he collapsed to his feet.
His muscles which had been autonomously moving moments before began throbbing and vibrating with pain, like the strain of forcefully pulling a heavy weight that you were simply not ready to pull yet. His muscles began spasming and popping out of control to the extent that his skin began bubbling like the surface of boiling water, mainly around his bare arms and his legs.
The executives saw this and immediately rushed down the slope to aid him, just as the next Iguazu flock began to turn around. Deciding to just risk it, Riveria began imagining as hard as she could the images Lyze taught her to see while holding her palm upwards. There was a spit of sparks in her hands and she gritted her teeth at the failure.
The two swarms that had diverged around Lyze re-joined as they turned and began hurtling back collectively towards the boy, their attention focused on him as he had been the one they all missed and the one to kill most of them. Seeing him down and out of commission at the moment was a temptation too great to pass up and they narrowed in on his head.
Seeing that the chances between her reaching the boy first or the birds starting to slim, Riveria focused harder, screaming aloud in her mind the images she wanted to see and there was a second sputter of magic before stream of yellow flames dashed between Lyze and the descending Iguazu, acting as a shield through which the birds burned to a crisp, letting none of them through as the few remaining monster avoided the fire and began flying in other directions.
Which was a mistake on the Iguazus' part because it is by their nature that they attack in flocks which intimidate the adventurers and make them back off. Singularly, they were not much of a threat and could be easily singled out.
And Elves are deadly archers.
Riveria quickly knelt down by the boy and held the head of her staff close to his face and began chanting as a green glow surrounded her staff. Slowly, the boy's muscle spasms began to lessen but it was quickly nullified as Lyze grabbed the stuff with his hand.
"{Magic Cancel}." He said and the green glow surrounding him and the staff shattered like an eggshell and all the good that the healing spell was doing was reversed.
"What are you doing?!" Riveria said harshly.
"I don't want you to heal me." Lyze said while still gritting his teeth from the pain.
"WHY? WHY? You're obviously in pain! Why are you denying basic help and needs Lyze?" Riveria asked, tempted to grab him by the collar and scold him but it looked as if simply moving caused him great pain.
"Because I need to get used to the aftermath of this technique. Healing spells leaves me no room to adapt and next time the aftermath will hit me just as hard."
"And what if next time it happens and you're surrounded by more dangerous monsters, what will you do?" Finn raised a brow.
"Well, then I have you." Lyze gave him a pained smile, even while his muscles still throbbed and contracted uncontrollably.
Finn gave him a deadpan before sighing. "No more staying at the front Lyze. Stay behind the vanguard."
"I was already there."
"I mean you are not allowed to do any more scouting ahead until you've completely recovered from this. I don't believe you can do so anyway once we go deeper." Finn without looking span his spear and thrusted upwards, skewering one of the supersonic birds and killing it instantly. "What was that anyway Lyze? What did you do?"
"Something I call a 'Dance of Evasion'." Lyze said. "A period where I temporarily surrender control of my body to external forces and let instinct guide them to get me out of danger." Lyze tried to stand up, stumbled and fell back on his knee again while gasping. "But obviously, your head is not supposed to be disconnected from your limbs, so them moving autonomously is a new experience to the muscles...a very strenuous exercise that is nothing but a heavy burden on them. But like any burden, you learn how to lift and carry it with practice and over time."
"In a place that is not the dungeon lad." Gareth gave him a light bonk on the head with a closed fist since the head was not in pain. "You think you'll be able to stand by the time we get the carts down here?"
"Yeah."
"Then I'll stay with him." Riveria said. "You two go and help the others make their way down. We've also got to look out for any more flocks coming our way."
"Agreed." Finn said before looking down at Lyze. "If you're not up by then, I'm telling Aki to carry you."
Lyze spluttered and hissed (ironically) in outrage and indignation as Finn walked off with a frown that slowly melted into a shit-eating grin.
Fortunately, Lyze managed to get up in time. Unfortunately, he had to walk beside Riveria the whole time and not fight any more monsters that day because he was still shaking, even though they encountered so many more. Of course he could be excused for the ones that spawned on top of him but Riveria grabbed onto his cloak every time he actively tried to go out and hunt a monster.
...
"What was that spell you used by the way?" Riveria asked him as they made their way to the next campsite designated by Finn. They had run out of time and so could not get past the 27th floor that day.
"Which one?"
"The one that broke my healing spell."
"Oh. It's called 'Magic Cancel'. And as indicative as its name, it is basically immediate cancellation of magic being worked on one's self or another target."
"Does that work for all spells?"
"In my experience, only spells that are as powerful as yours are and below. Spells that are more powerful requires a higher level of cancellation magic which I simply can't do yet."
"And that would be called?"
"'Absolute Cancel'."
"Is its name indicative of its function too?"
"Yes."
"...Magic nullification spells. Whatever next?"
Lyze smirked a little. "I see that you've been practicing a whole lot more on wordless casting. That streamfire earlier was quite powerful."
"Indeed. I'd say I'll be as good at it as you in time. Perhaps even better."
"I doubt you'll be more powerful than me Riveria. Fire is kind of my main specialty."
"Better, not stronger."
"Even so, you can only do fire at the moment. I on the other hand can use wind, water, earth, psychic power and all kinds of stuff not mentioning non-elemental spells too."
"Like going invisible I assume?" Riveria asked sarcastically.
"No, invisibility is also elemental magic."
"...How?"
"Invisibility is simply the blending of light around the body. If light does not touch you, then the eye cannot see you since your eyes need light simply to see things."
"Then by that logic, would you yourself not be able to see if light does not reach you, assuming such an abstract theory is correct."
"No because light is still reaching other objects, which is why I'd still be able to see you."
"How would it be considered elemental magic then?"
"Because I consider light another force of nature too. It's part of the convention."
"...Would you happen to be able to use such magic at the moment?" Riveria asked.
Lyze put a finger to his lips in thought. "You know, I've never actually tried."
"Oh, right." Riveria said as she chose to speak nothing more on the matter, especially as they reached the campsite and Lyze went about unpacking his tent.
But when she was sure he was out of sight, she quickly withdrew a small notebook and a stick of lead and jotted a quick few notes down. When she was satisfied that she had recorded all she'd wanted to, she put it away back in her robe and began supervising the patrol selections.
What could she say? She was an academic.
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