Jaycee stepped forward and a fireball shot out from his wand, smashing the door and damaging the beaver behind it. Moments later several arrows and mana bolts landed on the beaver who hadn't even been able to process the door blowing up in its face. The beaver died and was immediately replaced by a wild dog. The wild dog clawed its way past the rotund beaver's body.
The same fate befell it as well except faster. It seemed the beavers had a higher vitality stat and could take more damage than the dogs. The pressure on Jaycee was forcing him to minimize the amount of mana he spent on each attack. During his defense of the room, he began developing his mana control much faster than he was before.
Soon enough funnels of flame shot from his wand incinerating the beasts. Most of them were only levels 1-5 and could be taken down with just a good few blasts from Jaycee. The beasts only got a few feet from the door before dying and a wall of bodies was starting to build up. "Switch!" Jaycee shouted while rotating out of order with Omari.
MP: 106/150
His mana reserves were still ok. The fire wand had been treating him well and he could create more powerful and fast spells for cheaper. He would compare it to trying to fill a bucket with water whenever he casted a spell. With the old staff he had, there were a lot of holes in its bucket, taking extra energy to finish a spell. But the wand had fewer holes. It didn't have none, but it was better and helped him understand mana a little more.
He rolled his shoulder and wiped the seat off his forehead. He was not immune from his own flames and the room was starting to get hotter and hotter. As more and more beasts began piling up on the stairs they began coming out two at a time as that stacked on top of eachother. The one on top always fell awkwardly and lunged at the closest person.
Omari's sword cleaved straight through one's skull killing it instantly. The man was like a powerhouse using his shield and sword in a perfect combination. He smashed the beasts back and let the other warriors do some damage. Things were going well though. They had enough numbers to be at least somewhat rested.
The healer would occasionally heal a warrior who got injured but not much else was different. But by the end, the air stank of blood and a pile of bodies reached into the air. They were all exhausted and had been pushed to the edges of their strength. Omari was covered in blood and his sword was chipped in several places. Him and Jaycee did the most work easily but there was still one enemy.
Screeching as it entered the room the large dog sized beaver smashed its tail saying the room. Jaycee had less than a third of his mana left and didn't feel super comfortable. This beast was level 8 and was higher quality than the other beavers. It's fur looked slim and he had a feeling it might be hard to kill this beast. Quickly it lunged for Omari who stood closest.
A spear of flame slammed into its side throwing it toward the other side of the room. One of the warriors stabbed on the stunned beast but found his weapon slip off its coat. Jaycee had been right in the dime. The beast secreted some sort of oil that seemed to make it hard to cut.
Unfortunately it seemed to be not flammable which would've saved them a lot of time. Finding no purchase the man took a step back surprised. After recovering the beaver jumped and spun in the air slamming its tail into the man's chest. He was thrown across the room landing next of Jaycee in a pile. The man was dead. His ribcage had been completely shattered by the strike and stabbed into his heart and lungs.
Jaycees eyes widened as he turned to the beast. It was wreaking havoc on the other side and made Omari move forward trying to get its attention. Another one of them died before Omari could smash his shield into the beast. Jaycee had not seriously considered the threat of the leader of these beasts. Once he blasted the thing across the room he wasn't worried about its strength. But he realized the rest if the group simply wasn't built to fight such a beast.
Even he was unsure if he could beat it as his mana reserves were getting low. If it was just him and Omari the thing would be very dead. But instead, its attacking everything but the only two beings capable of stopping it. It was decently fast and clearly had a lot of health. The arrows and swords were mostly useless and only inflicted minor damage.
The other mages weren't strong enough for their mana bolts to deal a decent amount of damage, if they could even hit the thing. Omari and Jaycee chased after the beast as it killed more and more of their group mates. But no matter what they did they couldn't pin the rodent down. They could only put themselves in between 3 people and the beast. It was so frustrating watching this beast kill everyone while they're essentially helpless.
Omari was seething as the beast's semi-intelligent eyes analyzed the last 5 humans. The two in the front could challenge it, but its goal was to kill as many humans as possible and the three behind them were just like the rest. The beast seemed to be settling on what to do. Omari shuffled side to side to match the beast. His brown eyes trained intensely on his enemy. His arms were tired and his stamina was running low.
Jaycee acted like the man's shadow. He watched the beast over Omari's shoulder and stayed close. If the range in his fire magic wasn't so bad he could've acted earlier and saved some people, but he was afraid that if he stepped away from Omari the beast would take the chance to kill him. He didn't know if it would succeed but he wasn't gonna bet on it. The smart people moved behind them and only two other than the healer remained. One was a light warrior and the other was an archer. "Do not leave our side, be as careful as possible." Omari said, his voice shaking.
He didn't like watching those people die while slowly lumbering around. A part of him regretted picking his class now as the heavy armor stopped him from being able to chase the faster beast. Finally the beast acted darting toward one of the people behind the two. And just as Omari acted it stopped and instead turned to Omari who had left himself open in hopes of intercepting the beast. It sunk its teeth into his shoulder in between his armor and in one motion tore the man's arm off. Omari screamed in rage and swung his shield on his other arm smashing into the beast sending it backwards.
Jaycee's eyes were wide as he tried to raise his wand to stop it. It worked with incredible efficiency as it jumped and tore out the throats of the light warrior and archer. Blood splashed against Jaycee's face as he turned red. He hated this damn beaver. It was the perfect kind of enemy that could dismantle a bunch of low-level people. Its body made it nearly invulnerable to most people unless they struck very specific spots like its eyes.
A powerful blast of fire stopped it from killing the healer and blasted it away. Omari was on one knee clutching his stump and breathing heavily. Jaycee was left without his shield and was now fully exposed to the beast. It moved quickly. Jaycee used all 3 of his free points and put them into agility. He needed to be as fast as possible in this fight. He darted forward, trying to make space between him and everyone else.
Immediately mana exploded from the tip of his wand creating a wall of fire that smashed into the beast. It burst through the flames and charged at Jaycee. He side stepped but the beast moved quickly, slashing his arm with its teeth. It tore a large enough part of his arm for him to drop his wand and scream in pain. His fist connected with the creature's head.
Mana exploded from his fist, increasing the damage even more. It was starting to look pretty beat up at this point, but Jaycee was no better. Blood was pouring out of his arm, and he stumbled from side to side. But his eyes were different. He didn't have any goofy or unserious thoughts in this moment. He had to kill this beast. It wasn't a want, like normal. Jaycee was a master of self denial, but this was a need. He needed this animal dead, and by his hands. The mana in the air swirled sound him as he tried harder than ever before.
Normally when he plays with mana it would be experimental and lighthearted. Mostly because Jaycee hated not being immediately good at something, and didn't wanna take it seriously in case he wasn't. It would've destroyed his confidence to find out the base of his class could barely be used by him. He moved the mana around him and felt it respond to his will. It moved almost like a current, its energy finally coalescing in Jaycees hands. He had dropped his wand, and the normal mana bolts weren't going to cut it here.
So he had to transform the mana around his hands into fire mana. He didn't know how to do this and he was certain it was out of his league right now. But he had been introduced to the element through the wand, and he felt like he could do the change the wand did himself. He felt the energy deeply around his hands and flicked a mental switch. Flames erupted around his hands and began to burn his skin. He didn't know how to protect himself from the flames but he didn't need it for long. His whole awakening took only a second.
As the beaver recovered and attacked Jaycee, the boy looked like a boxer, his hands in front of him on fire. They were in great pain and he was at least getting first degree burns. But the small amount of natural mana dispersed by his body protected him slightly. He ducked and slipped to the side of the beast planting a strong right hook into it.
He could see the imprint of his fist in the beaver as it stumbled back. It spit out blood and glared at Jaycee before trying to dart toward the people behind him. Jaycees added speed allowed him to jump on the beast and smash its head with his fist. Each blow stunned the beast and made it resist less.
Jaycee was on top of the beaver slamming his fire fists repeatedly into the back of its skull. Its body twitched with each blow. Jaycee didn't stop until it's skull was broken and his fist plunged into its brain. He slowly sat back on the things furry back and sighed. Blood covered his face and chest. The flames stopped abruptly and the mana in the air settled.
MP: 1/150