Thunderstorm quickly put out the grass fire, and Karl sighed in relief that the skill creation process had actually worked.
“That is absolutely ridiculous. Why was it splitting? Is it supposed to do that?” Dana asked.
“There were Earth Mice. The spell used Chain Lightning to stabilize it, but that made it arc to nearby targets. I think that it’s overall a success. The system didn’t call it an Epic Grade skill or anything, but if the energy cost is reasonable, it should be one of the most powerful area attack spells that I have.” Karl explained.
“Well, it will make Hawk happy, anyhow. Wait, he can use it, right?”
Karl smiled at the panicked look on Dana’s face. “Yeah, he can use it. So can Remi.”
Ophelia began to laugh, and everyone turned to see what was so amusing.
“I can see it now. Just fire tornadoes all over the battlefield, randomly duplicating every time they get too close to something. It will be utter chaos. Nowhere will be safe, and we won’t even be able to work with allies without risking them getting a fire cyclone to the face.
It’s both the greatest and most horrific spell that I’ve ever seen. It doesn’t even spare the grass. When you cast a normal fire magic spell, it doesn’t target the ground unless it actually lights the target on fire, but those things leave a burnt path as they wander.” She explained between giggles.
“I might need a bit of practice with the targeting.” Karl admitted.
“But are you even in control of the additional ones? The first one that you created sat in one spot, but the rest didn’t.”
“Minor technical difficulty. But it’s an effective group combat spell. Besides, if there are no extra targets, I can just create the vortex on top of the enemy and make them fight their way out.”
Tessa shook her head and began to hang a silk sheet between the wagon and the large boulder beside them, so she could set up a fire pit underneath. It didn’t seem like it was going to rain naturally tonight, but the tarp would keep the light contained, in case something was watching.
Lotus grew the firewood to warm the area, while Ophelia and Dana strung out the hammock nets for the evening.
“Has anyone else noticed that the air here smells funny? It’s like there is something rotten, but I can’t figure out where it’s coming from.” Lotus asked as she finished lighting the campfire.
Karl sniffed the air, and yes, there was some smell of rotting vegetation, but that was normal for any wilderness area.
“Nothing out of the usual. Do you think it might be something like that weird feeling before the last monster spawn?” Karl asked.
Tessa frowned. “It might. You were the one who felt the strangeness last time, or at least the one that felt it the most powerfully. Tonight it is Lotus. Perhaps we should sleep early and prepare to be awake at midnight, in case of an attack?”
“That’s probably a good idea. If nothing appears in the middle of the night, it might happen at dawn, or it might be the next night. The area around Oakhamping felt wrong for days before the monster spawn.” Karl explained.
That night, everyone slept armoured, much to Karl’s dismay. What was the point of sharing a hammock with a lumpy suit of chain mail? Even if it was covered in the soft silk of the outfit that Rae had made for Dana, armour still wasn’t fun to cuddle with.
Rae mentally nudged Karl just before midnight, so he would be the first awake if there was anything happening. Karl woke the others, and they lay in the wagon, waiting for news from Rae, who would be able to see the enemy from the furthest distance.
Karl waited, watching the distance for heat signatures.
They watched for a half hour, and Karl was about to relax when movement in the distance caught his attention. However, it didn’t give off a heat signature, it was the same temperature as the ground and the trees.
But it was moving, and from over a slight rise, there were more moving objects.
“We have motion in the distance, but they seem to be cold-blooded. They’re not giving off a heat signature. I am just seeing them with echolocation. The amount of noise that they are making while they move makes them fairly easy to spot.”
“So, a reptile species, or possibly something unexpected.” Tessa whispered.
Reptiles would be the best option. At least Karl had a good idea how to deal with them. But most of the reptiles that they had come across, the monster varieties at least, were warm-blooded.
Even the Naga, who appeared to be snakes, were warm-blooded.
With movement in the distance, everyone got out of bed to prepare for an attack.
Even the low light vision that Karl had inherited from Hawk was no use at that distance, they were just vague shapes in the long grass, as Hawk’s night vision wasn’t colour vision. But they were bipedal, and not much larger than humans.
However, as they got a bit closer, the details were easier to pick out. However, that wasn’t helping Karl in his attempts to determine what the threat level was.
There were lizardfolk, Orcs, some Demons, humans and others just walking around aimlessly.
“I don’t know what is going on. They’re all cold as the surrounding plants, but it looks like humans, orcs and other monsters.” Karl whispered.
“More slime monsters? They might be mimicking things that they’ve seen recently.” Tessa suggested.
“That is a possibility. Or it might be some sort of spectre. They don’t have an internal temperature, but they’re much more uncommon.” Ophelia added.
Dana looked around in the dark, unable to see much of anything beyond the radius of the firelight.
“There is one more thing that they could be.” She whispered.
“The Undead.”
Karl looked out at the variety of species, the way they didn’t seem to have any animosity for each other or any urge to gather. Combined with the fact that they had just appeared at midnight, but didn’t take any proactive actions to do anything but slowly walk in random directions, and it did look like a setup from a horror movie set.
It was too soon to say for certain, but if they were stuck in a zombie spawn, he would no longer be surprised. They had encountered enough abnormal activity since joining the Academy that he wasn’t putting anything outside the realm of possibility.
Even if they had been told by those in charge that it wouldn’t happen.
The fire had burnt down to embers, but it wouldn’t be easy for the creatures to sense anyhow, being surrounded by the tarps to keep the light in.
“I need to check the other side of the rock and make certain that there isn’t anything sneaking up on us. Then we can start planning for how to deal with whatever spawn we’re stuck in.” Karl whispered.
“Fighting in the dark is going to suck.” Ophelia sighed.
“If we need to, we can make light. It’s better than risking a mistake in the dark. I’ll be back in a few seconds.”
Karl moved around the boulder to scout the area. If there were monsters close enough to be a real threat, Rae would have sensed them by now, but Karl wanted to see with his own eyes, so he had a clear grasp of the situation.
In the distance, there were hundreds of the same assorted monsters and humans with no heat signature, all wandering aimlessly in the dark. At least nothing had appeared right on top of their group this time.
They weren’t going to get much sleep tonight, but they weren’t in immediate danger.
