The clerk at the academy’s entrance looked at Lith’s group like they were a bunch of lunatics.
“Normally, a group of five would be perfect, but the academy advises against going into the forest. We lack staff, so in case anything happens rescue teams might come late, as in very late.
“Also, a lot of magical beasts have been hurt or died, so they may hold a grudge against humans. Are you sure you aren’t willing to reconsider? Remember that you can’t open Warp Steps in the academy’s proximity without a special pass.”
The group nodded in unison. Even if they couldn’t get inside the academy, they could still escape from whatever danger they met. They paid the required merit points and left through the front gate.
“Do we walk or fly?” Lith asked. The trip was already different from what he had planned, so he wasn’t in a hurry.
“Walk. The mining town is only twenty kilometers from the academy.” Phloria replied after checking on a map.
“It should only take us five or six hours to get there. We can use that time to enjoy the scenery while we search for magical plants or natural treasures. Nothing prevents us from flying in case we get tired of walking.”
Phloria took the lead of the group and Lith asked her to teach him how to read a map. He was still a city man. He wasn’t able to understand where he was without looking at the sun. Over the years, he had explored the Trawn woods until he knew it like the back of his hand.
The forest surrounding the academy had denser vegetation, making it hard to walk in a straight line. Having packed provisions from the canteen, they had no need to hunt, yet Lith would use Life Vision from time to time to check his surroundings.
The deeper they went into the forest, the more his hunter instinct told him there was something wrong. There was little wildlife around, too little considering that during the attack, Balkor’s undead had no reason to bother normal animals.
Even if some of them had run away from their dens, after so much time they were supposed to have returned. Unless something had happened.
Despite Lith’s group was very conscious of their surroundings, they didn’t find any magical treasure during the first two hours. On the other hand, they would often get lost forcing someone to fly and take note of the respective positions of the sun and the academy.
Phloria knew how to read a map, at least in theory. It was her first time putting her knowledge to use, hence she was prone to mistakes.
“I still can’t use dimensional magic.” Lith informed the rest of the group after another failed attempt.
“You can.” Quylla lectured him, taking something out of her dimensional amulet.
“It’s just that the academy arrays prevent any kind of long range spell aside from the flying ones. We can still Blink or Switch, but any dimensional corridor that stretches for more than ten meters gets disrupted.”
“How do you know so much about the academy?” Lith checked the books in Soluspedia and there was only vague information about the nature of the arrays. Also, unlike him, Quylla hadn’t performed experiments along the way.
It was hard to miss someone chanting.
“I’d like to tell you that I discovered it while we were walking, but the truth is that after I completed dimensional magic and Necromancy both, I had too much free time on my hands.
“So, when you guys have your specialization classes I spend a lot of time in the library. Professor Rudd is often there and he loves talking about dimensional magic. He taught me a lot during our conversations.
He isn’t so bad once you know him better.”
Lith nodded. He actually had his reservations about the Professor, but he didn’t have the time or will to talk about him. His instincts kept telling him that something was wrong, but neither Life Vision nor mana sense perceived a threat.
Unbeknownst to the group, Professor Farg had been following them ever since they had left the academy. She kept her distance, using an artifact to not lose track of them.
‘According to Lady Tyris, the target is an Awakened one. If I get too close, he’ll spot me with Life Vision.’ She thought.
‘I don’t know what their goal is, but their behavior is definitely suspicious. The group keeps moving erratically, if it wasn’t for the artifact I would have lost them already. The girl leading them is a master of misdirection, worthy of her mother.’
“You have no idea where we are, am I right?” Friya asked.
“No, you are not.” Phloria flew above the trees, returning a few seconds later.
“I’m getting the hang of this, don’t worry.”
“Stay on your toes, guys.” Lith warned them, sniffing the air and recognizing a familiar smell.
“Clackers incoming.” They were now close enough to allow him to distinguish their pseudo chirping from the real birds sounds.
Everyone readied their weapon, but no one was worried. They had all improved by leaps and bounds since the mock exam and Clackers were only a threat if they managed to catch their victim by surprise.
When the monsters swarmed them from all directions, including from above, they didn’t fell so confident anymore. What made them worry wasn’t their numbers, but their size.
Clackers were spider type magical beasts, they had black bodies covered in long bristles that served as sensory organs, with red dots all over. They were supposed to be as big as a Labrador tops, but the ones attacking them were the size of a human being.
Yurial would have liked to curse at their bad luck, but he was too busy casting a barrier to deflect the acidic spit he was sure their enemies would employ.
Yet instead of using their webs and long range attacks, the Clackers on the trees cut their threads, falling through the air barrier while even bigger specimens were charging head on.
Phloria and Friya had already activated Full Guard, a Mage Knight spell that gave them complete combat awareness of their surroundings in a radius of 1.5 metres (5 feet). Phloria quickly reached Yurial, while Friya did the same for Quylla.
The two quickly killed all the spiders that had landed close to their friends. Their swords could easily cut through the enemies, while their flaming shields conjured out of fire and earth would intercept the incoming attacks and inflict painful burns.
The role of a Mage Knight was to buy enough time for their allies to cast their spells.
Lith dodged a falling Clacker squashing its head with a single hand before it could even land. After facing a Valor, he could hardly consider those oversized arachnids a threat.
Lith took out from his pocket dimension the daggers he had enchanted during his Forgemaster classes.
It was a good occasion to put them to test, since their blades were short enough to perfectly integrate with his hand to hand techniques. Lith darted forward, intercepting the bigger ones that were charging at them.
He infused his body with both air and fire magic, boosting his strength and speed.
A single fist was enough to crush the head of a Clacker bold enough to try biting him. Being Lith alone against dozens, the spiders thought they would make short work of him, realizing their mistake only when it was too late.
Lith moved so fast that their sensory organs could barely determine his position. Whenever he approached an enemy, a gaping wound would appear. Between his talent in locating vital spots and his weapons, every one of his strikes was crippling if not lethal.
Despite the daggers’ average quality, Lith’s strength coupled with their enchantments was more than enough to pierce the monsters’ exoskeleton and then open them up like they were made of paper.
One of the weapons he was wielding was enchanted with air magic and the other with fire magic. The former was enveloped by air currents enhancing its edge to the point it could cut through stone.
The latter’s blade was so hot that it would make its victims’ blood and innards boil with every strike. Even if they managed to survive, the wounded Clackers were in so much pain they could only curl up on the ground writhing uncontrollably.
Lith had chosen those daggers because he wanted to see if evolved arachnids would feel fear for their lives or compassion for their kin. Judging from their reactions to their fallen brethren’s screams of agony the answer was yes to both.
The Clackers in front of Lith stopped advancing, using the acid spit to keep him away from their wounded companions. Lith grinned, while with a twist of his fists he took control of the incoming attacks with water magic and sent them back to where they came from.
The spiders were caught by surprise. Most of them were still spitting while their bodies started to suffer from the effects of their own acid. Lith then stomped his left foot on the ground, transmitting his mana and will, making rock spears erupt from the ground that impaled his enemies.
All the Clackers around him were dead or in agony, so he threw a glance over his shoulder to check the others.
Despite their best efforts, his four companions were already surrounded.
“Rings!” Yurial shouted, releasing the spells he had stored to repel the waves of Clackers without wasting time to chant. The girls followed his lead, using the barrage of spells to break free from the encirclement and turn their enemies into mincemeat.
Lith rushed back to help them, only to discover his teammates had the situation under control.
Quylla was using quick tier three spells to kill the Clackers above their heads while Yurial used a mix of first magic and tier one spells to block all kind of long ranged attacks directed against the four of them.
Each one of his spells was too weak to harm the enemies, but he could cast them fast enough to deflect the acidic spits and burn the webs the Clackers were throwing at them before they could do any damage.
Friya and Phloria were swinging their swords non stop, cutting apart those that came too close. Unlike Lith’s daggers, their swords would penetrate deeply into the enemy and then release a dark magic pulse that made their organs collapse.
Mage Knights’ specialty was the ability to summon an elemental tower shield that would float in the air according to their will, which always left them with a free hand to use potions or cast Mage Knight spells.
The one they were using at the moment was called Phantom Blade. Their weapons were engulfed in mystical energies that using their blades as a template, could temporarily extend them tripling their attack range.
Phantom Blades were made of light, hence they were weightless, giving the Mage Knight complete freedom of movement. The downside was that extending the blade would require focus and mana
Since they couldn’t always keep it active, they used it in short bursts whenever the situation allowed for it. Even if the spell’s effects only lasted for the duration of a single slash, it was enough for them to mow down small groups of enemies at once, making their numerical advantage useless.
It was only a matter of time before all the Clackers were killed, yet they refused to retreat.
‘It’s amazing how much we have all progressed in these few months. During the mock exam, a much smaller group of Clackers almost wiped out my team. It was more balanced in term of talents, but there was no teamwork or coordination.
No matter how many spiders come at them, they will not break through. Time to finish this!’ Lith thought.
To have his hands free to cast his strongest air spell, he put the daggers away in his pocket dimension. Ever since the last breakthrough, his attunement with the world energy had greatly increased, but some Clackers were still too close to his companions for comfort.
Manipulating a spell with his mind alone was too risky. Lith’s hands glowed with a yellow energy, that he used to draw several circles that floated in the air while he was mouthing gibberish in case someone was watching him.
Then, he joined his palms before moving them toward the battlefield. From each circle erupted a bolt of lightning aimed at the nearest enemy. The spiders from the trees screeched to warn their companions on the ground about the impending danger.
The lightning bolts moved in a zig zag pattern, slower than normal, but still very fast. Most thunderbolts struck their target, leaving behind a pungent smell of ozone and burnt flesh.
Some Clackers managed to dodge them at the last second, yet the result remained the same. The thunderbolts simply chased after them, moving on the next target as soon as the first one was no more.
Farg and Lith’s companions alike remained amazed noticing that each lightning resembled a snake in both motions and appearance. Lith had conjured ten of them, controlling one with each finger, as he had learned during the necromancy classes.
Be they undead or energy masses, they were all puppets dancing in his hand. He never stopped advancing during the assault, giving him a better view of allies and enemies alike.
His legs never left the ground, he simply slid one foot in front of the other, using his whole body to control the mana flow of the spell with surgical precision until only the five youths were left standing.
