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135. The Strategy
🕑 Added 2024-08-17 14:00:06 +0000 UTCHe held his breath as he jumped through the barrier, watching Wisp closely. The barrier shimmered over his body, and he and Wisp both landed smoothly on the other side. Ike let out a breath. “We’re through.”
“Awesome. See you on the other side.” Waving a foreleg, Wisp hopped off his shoulder and scurried away. In a few steps, she vanished into the leaves.
Ike watched her go. He waited a few moments, then dashed toward the camp himself. He pulled the wolf pelt tighter around his face, making sure his whole body was covered. Ike cut around the two guards and sprinted toward the circle of tents. The mages milled around, no more aware of his intentions now than they’d been moments earlier. He breezed past, not too worried about mages catching a glimpse or two of him. They’d have more to worry about in a moment.
He hopped up onto the cage and crouched there, letting the wolf pelt settle around him. A few of the mages looked around, but no one looked up at him and the cage. Sitting atop it, the chaotic flow of mana was intense. It roiled in his veins and boiled in his core. He took tiny breaths and shut out as much of it as he could. Even so, it ate at him. The surging mana left him off-balance and on the verge of sick. He looked down at the caged kid and pressed his lips together. Whatever he was, there was no way this chaotic mana felt good. He didn’t know why Mont was so upset, but he didn’t need to. He was upset for his own reasons, even without understanding everything.
“Hang in there. We’re going to get you out of there.”
The boy shifted, just a little. He looked up at Ike, having a good line of visibility from below. Their eyes met. Ike gave him a reassuring smile.
The boy lifted his hand. It quaked like a leaf in the wind, then dropped back to the cage floor.
At that, a fire burned in Ike’s chest. He gritted his teeth. No matter what, he was getting the boy out of this.
One of the black-robed mages abruptly jerked backward. The others turned toward him, only for thin white lines to latch onto their shoulders and yank them, as well. Sticky white thread shot across the camp from seemingly all directions at once. The black mages drew their weapons and slashed at it, to no avail. Their swords bounced off. Some of them lost their weapons to the thread as the sticky stuff bound them up.
One of the mages swiped his sword at the thread. The green light of a skill shone around the blade, and he slashed through. His eyes lit. “Use cutting skills, and—”
“Inferno!” Wisp shouted. Her voice echoed across the forest, so that even Ike had a hard time telling from whence it came. The men whirled, preparing to attack, only for a fireball to come from everywhere and nowhere. The flames raced down the thread, lighting the highly flammable stuff on fire.
In his mind’s eye, he saw Wisp, grinning a little sheepishly as she had moments ago. “I didn’t succeed at fireproof thread, but I did develop a new attack. That’s good enough, right?”
He snorted. It’s pretty good, Wisp.
On cue, Ike burned one of the talismans he’d taken off the rich man. The mages who had blocked toward the exterior of camp startled as the ‘same fire’ hit them from the rear at the same time. They whirled, searching for the culprit.
More threads shot in, replacing the ones Wisp had burned up in her first attack. The mages fanned out into the woods, but didn’t go far. Whether they were wary of leaving the boy unguarded or wary of the phantom fire mage within the tents, they hung close. That gave Wisp free reign to wreak havoc from beyond the reach of their attacks. One after another, black-robed mages vanished into the forest. Bloodcurdling screams sounded out from the places they disappeared to, and then silence. The other mages would chase after their brethren, but never arrived fast enough to catch Wisp.
Meanwhile, Ike cast Ice Armor over himself. He reached out his hands and pressed his palms against the upper front joints of the cage, and sent Ice Armor down into the cracks in the welds. Creaking and cracking, the ice slowly wedged the iron open. He glanced up, checking that none of the mages had noticed the noise. No one looked his way, too busy searching for Wisp in the forest to spare a glance for a few creaks.
The front of the cage cracked. Ike grabbed the bars and bent them backward, pulling with all his strength. The cage bent open. He glanced around to guarantee that the mages were still distracted, then hopped inside. Ike grabbed the chain in both hands and snapped it. A small part of him marveled at his own strength, that he was able to snap metal so easily, but another part laughed. He was a mage now. Capable of all the same marvels. It should be no surprise that mortal chains were nothing to him.
The boy struggled to his feet. Ike offered him a hand, but the boy obstinently stood on his own. He wobbled, barely able to hold himself up. Nonetheless, he stood on his own. Defiantly.
Sharp eyes narrowed at Ike. The boy bared his teeth.
“Hold that in, kid. Now isn’t the time. Right now, we have to run for it, or someone way stronger than me is gonna this whole camp like a bug,” Ike told him. He offered the boy a hand again. The wolfskin fell back as he did it, revealing his front, but he didn’t have the time to care about that.
One of the black-robed mages turned. He jolted, then turned again. “Hey! Stop!”
The boy jumped. No longer hesitating, he took Ike’s hand. Ike held on tight and hopped out of the cage, pulling the boy after him.
Two black-robed mages jumped at Ike. Ike lifted his arm, gathering lightning in his palm. He stretched it out toward the nearer mage and launched a blob of aether at the man.
The lightning chased the aether. It connected to the black-robed mages’ chest and blasted him backward.
Holy shit! Nice! Did that count as a skill?
[Name: Ike | Age: 15 | Status: Nm | Rank: 2 [Abyss Dweller]]
Skills: Common: 11 | Bronze 3 | Silver 2 | Gold 1 | Rare 2 | … | Unique: 4
Common: All-Around Runner Lvl 8 | Razor Handling Lvl 9 | Spear Handling Lvl 4 | Axe Handling Lvl 4 | Sword Handling Lvl 9 | Bow Handling Lvl 1 | Primitive Crafting Lvl 8
Bronze: Sensory Enhancement Lvl 9 | Mana Manipulation Lvl 5 | Lunam Manipulation Lvl 0 | Aether Manipulation Lvl 0
Silver: Flurry of Kicks Lvl 3 | Chlorophyll Lvl 1
Gold: Shockwave Punch Lvl 3 | Ice Armor Lvl 2
Rare: Salamander Healing Lvl 9 | River-Splitting Sword Lvl 7
Unique: Lightning Dash Lvl 9 | Lightning Grasp Lvl 8 | Lightning Clad Lvl 3 | Lightning Caller Lvl 3
Ike frowned. I didn’t get a lightning-thrower skill, but I did get Aether Manipulation. I guess that’s better than nothing.
The boy wasn’t any older than five, and sized to match. Ike scooped him up and dashed away. The black-robed mages gave chase, but a Shockwave Punch thrown behind him tossed them into Wisp’s thread. She bound them up like the others, then chased after Ike.
“Go, go, go!” Wisp urged.
“How much time do we have left?” Ike asked.
“Not enough!” She reverted to her giant spider form and sprinted away, swooping from tree to tree.
Behind them, the mountain began to rumble. Ike glanced over his shoulder.
Rocks bounced down the slope, tearing the earth open. Trees tumbled as the wave of earth slammed into them. Cracking and snapping, they rolled down the mountain. Birds took to the sky. Animals fled openly. The landslide coursed toward them, moving faster than Ike had ever seen one move before.
The boy clutched tighter to his shoulder. Ike bit his lip and charged on. Lightning sparked after him as he dashed down the mountain. Holy shit! What the hell is Mont? How powerful is he?
Comments
Willow Moss
So exciting, I can't wait to read more! Thank you for the chapter.
Tom C
Tftc!
