Magical Engineering

“Duck!” Elicec yelled as the flames rolled over us. It was a little late, but around me, we all still managed to hit the ground, avoiding the brunt of the blast. The moment the fire passed I released my tools from storage as people started scrambling into action, following some of Elicec’s rapid commands.

“Corey, get on its back. Connie can you give us something to react faster? Rabyn try to pin it down,” Elicec said. He had said more, but in the roar of the creature that followed the blast, those were the only words I managed to catch entirely.

Taking an educated guess at what he wanted me to do, I sent the tools after the dragon while I started dropping heat resistant shields around everyone. Next to me, Rabyn let loose with a flurry of knives, somehow more than I had ever seen the man throw at once. While the barrage all hit the dragon, the vast majority of them clinked off its scales. Its head pivoted back to us as the roar finally subsided, being replaced by a smile.

As more fire rained down on us, I felt the mana drain of the the shields quickly reverse. Just as I had hoped with this idea, all the shields held, and my mana pool was back up to full. The fact that the dragon appeared to be fire-based, though made me wish I had had enough material to add another elemental orb or two to the tools. Eventually, I wanted all of them, but for now, I’d settle for just one more. I had some other ideas for the last spot.

“When did you get so good at shields?” Elicec yelled as his brother swept out an elongate scythe toward the dragon, catching its legs. The dragon howled at the attack.

“That was how I spent yesterday. I decided I needed to focus on something for the tenth floor, and it just seemed like a good way to really help the squad,” I replied over the dragon’s new screams.

This battle so far was going easier than I’d have expected. That meant one of two things: Mel had underestimated us, specifically me, again, or there was more coming. I suspected the second option was the most likely, but I wasn’t sure just what.

“Elicec, I’m going to break off Alpha to scout the area. I have a bad feeling Mel has some surprises in store for us,” I yelled.

“Good idea,” he replied, in between blasts of ice shooting out of his hands.

I opened my chat window to let Alpha know the plan.