[1.42] Powers Combined (Part 1)
First, Gelic Multi-Bounced toward the enemy, building up speed and height with each skip. Then when she could cover the rest in a single bound, she activated Jump Good, letting her pick the spot about a dozen feet directly above the Malignant’s head. As soon as she reached her mark, Flutter activated to keep her floating in place. She didn’t have long, just a few seconds, or the MP drain to sustain her flight would run out with her low reserves.
So she stared down at her foe, lining up her shot, and then released her non-flapping wings. Plunge! The second she started to fall, her descent sped up as if she’d been launched. With her dagger primed, it was like she’d become a piercing missile. So it was time to finish it up with a Stab! At the last second, the Malignant stared up at her, just in time to greet its death before it erupted into Essence a second later.
[Malignant Lv.6 defeated. Gained 47 Essence]
[Might notably increased]
[Might has improved from Pathetic to Weak]
[Competence notably increased]
[Destruction Attunement notably increased]
[Stab Lv.3]
[Might increased]
[Destruction Attunement increased]
[Plunge Lv.2]
[Might increased]
[Creativity increased]
[Destruction Attunement increased]
[Combo Skill: Airstrike Lv.1 unlocked]
[Might increased]
[Creativity notably increased]
[Balletic Attunement increased]
[Destruction Attunement increased]
A lot of messages again, to the point that Angelica almost missed the new interesting thing on account of it. Like when she had too many notifications that she hadn’t been in the right situation to receive, maybe there was a way to lessen the repeated filler. Hey, Demon Growth System, do you think you could combine all the Worth and Attunement increases?
[Acceptable]
Oh wow, she didn’t expect it to be so easy. Of course, she wouldn’t know if it had actually done something until the next batch came her way, but she was hopeful. There was also something else she’d noticed. Some of the Essence hadn’t gone to her. A bit of it twinkled up into the sky, toward Xinder’s direction. Her best guess was that since he did some of the damage, he got some of the pay. Seemed fair, and she got the bulk, so it must be roughly proportional to contribution.
“Good work, Gelic,” Rastille came running over. “Didn’t know you were capable of such things. I’m pleasantly surprised. Vystal’s Demon has finished taking care of the rest, so we’re ready to head onto the next batch.”
Ah yes, next batch, of course there would be more after all that. And it wasn’t like they could just pack it in halfway through, call it a job well done when there would still be more of these things out there targeting humans, even if they weren’t too dangerous. Actually, the Imp had just experienced just how dangerous they could be. Since they couldn’t be seen by humans, that punchy brat could easily kill someone if it felt the desire.
Best to exterminate the pests before they bare their fangs. She wouldn’t be able to sit with it otherwise. If someone got injured because of a Malignant she left to fester, it’d bother her for some time. She was the type to dwell on things and think about everything she’d done wrong. Overanalyzing was one of her favorite pastimes and biggest reasons she had low self-esteem.
“Okay, sure.” Gelic mentally prepared herself for the more work still yet to come. “But uhh, can I ride with you guys this time? My M- my mana can’t handle more running around the city.” She half expected to be told no, because that felt like what a snobby Summoner would say, scoffing at a Demon daring to act like an acquaintance rather than a servant. Fortunately, Rastille was more level headed. She expected to sit in the truck bed, but he had been so kind as to allow her to sit upfront on the armrest between him and Sperado.
Speaking of which, Gelic had a question for the man who had done literally nothing to aid in their hunt so far. She turned to the lackadaisical layabout who looked ready to fall asleep while staring out the window. “So, uhh, you like gonna do anything or what? Haven’t even seen your Demon. Do you even have one? Wait, don’t tell me, you failed to bind one too!”
“Oh, I have a Demon.” Sperado responded in a way that she couldn’t tell if he was offended or amused by the accusation. “There just hasn’t been anything worthy of calling upon it yet. You and the bird seem capable enough of handling the small-fry.”
Rastille apparently felt the need to jump in and somewhat refute the claim, spilling the gossip. “Sperado isn’t very good at controlling his Demon. Or perhaps it would be fairer to say, it’s too powerful for him. Not to shame him, though. It’d be too much for any of us.”
The Imp nestled in, readying herself for storytime. One thing she’d noticed about her master is he did like to drone on about things. Not that Angelica was one to complain. He’d been a wealth of information thus far.
“Back when we were just a trio of Disciples, Sperado was very lucky, or perhaps rather unlucky enough to summon a Ghoul and bind it. They’re mid-tier Demons as I’m sure you know, but far more than us Disciples can handle. No one below a proper Summoner rank should even be attempting it, maybe a prodigious Apprentice at best. Which is essentially what the Sect did, raising his rank immediately, even if he hadn’t really earned it yet, so people would ask less questions.
“Problem is, the Ghoul takes a considerable amount of mana for him to keep Bound, let alone give Orders to. He keeps it locked away most of the time, which the Demon seems content with, and will give it small Orders when he has the energy to spare. Unfortunately, the only way to properly raise his rank and mana capacity is to use the Demon, so he’s regularly tapped out. But he makes sure to keep enough for a few Orders in case of emergency. Having the Ghoul as insurance allows Vystal and I to be a bit more proactive with our Demons, since it’s there as a safety net.”
Gelic wanted to say she had newfound respect for him, but after another good look at his face, she just couldn’t bring herself to force it. “Well that explains why you look so tired and are just sitting around all the time.”
“No, he’s always been like that.” Rastille wasn’t going to let his Sect-mate get away with it so easily. “But having the Ghoul is a good excuse to avoid actively taking part in the hunts, which is understandable, but he also uses it as a means to get out of most other chores and duties. He was on the verge of getting kicked out, but now he gets special treatment, the pride of the Sect. Hopefully, one day, he’ll actually live up to it.”
In response to this critique, Sperado yawned and went back to gazing out the window.
Damn, there was a lot of drama to be had here, but that was where Angelica lost interest. Instead of probing further, she looked at herself with Scrying Eye since there were some deets to dig into.
[Combo Skills are the combination of Skills executed in a specific order to achieve a desired effect. The Demon Growth System will assist in deploying the Combo Skill, so that only it needs to be triggered. A Combo Skill will consume less MP than the sum of its parts while also boosting the potency of the output. The creation and utilization of Combo Skills is heavily reliant upon an individual’s Creativity. Combo Skills do not appear on the Skill Weave and can only be crafted from already-learned Skills]
That was awesome! So all that work Gelic had to perform so that she could attack from above could now just be used as a single Skill. And it cost less while delivering more. Praise be to her creativity. Her time as an artist was starting to pay dividends. And it would actually lead to her making even more actual money. Plus, the Combo Skill she’d acquired had such a cool name. No notes there unlike many other things the DGS spat at her recently.
[Airstrike Lv.1 | Utilizes the skills Jump Good, Plunge, and Stab, or any other direct-attack Skill, to strike an enemy with significant force from an advantageous aerial position. Flutter, or any other movement control Skill may be utilized to improve stability and accuracy]
Hmm, interesting that Flutter wasn’t a necessary component of that. Maybe with Airstrike, she could just sort of do it naturally and fluidly without the pause to hover, but that would make it harder to aim, at least without practice. Also interesting was that Multi-Bounce wasn’t included. Apparently it didn’t care how or even if she built speed, so long as she ended it with Jump Good to get to the right spot. Angelica had never been one for violence, more the kinda gal who liked imagining ill will on others than inflicting it, but she was genuinely excited to try it out.
And it wasn’t long before they reached their next battlefield. The location, however, came as a bit of a shock. “Eh, m- an elementary school?” What she’d wanted to say was “my elementary school,” but that would have raised all sorts of questions. Sure as scuff, it was Salt Lick Elementary School—they were “The Horses” for all their sports teams—where she’d spent many of her formative years.
And in the past more-than-a-decade, it honestly hadn’t changed very much at all. What had significantly changed, though, was the playground around back. That had been completely overhauled from the dinky rust riddled metal equipment that Angelica remembered from the good ol’ days. Nothing said fun childhood like getting scratched by an edge that was just a bit too sharp and then getting sent to the nurse’s office for a tetanus shot, then having her mother come to pick her up because she cried too much when they stuck in the needle.
Wait… Dots were starting to connect in her mind. Hadn’t one of her mother’s projects when she was about that age been budgeting for new playground equipment city wide? Sadly, it had been something Angelica had never gotten to see bear fruit since she was off at boarding school in her middle school years when it was completed, but apparently it had turned out rather well with durable, safe, fun-looking and long-lasting playground equipment. So… Angelica had been the cause of all that? You’re welcome, children of today!
Unfortunately, all the changes weren’t exactly positive. Notably, the vibrant and joyous playground was absolutely freaking teeming with Malignants. Holy Vissiem there were so many, dozens by a quick count. Why were they at a school? It made her feel all kinds of icky thinking that these nightmarish otherworldly creatures were hanging around, draining kids of their power and energy while they were supposed to be having a respite from the woes of public education.
“Malignants don’t typically go after very young children,” Rastille explained unprompted. Gelic wasn’t going to complain, though. He definitely liked explaining things. Either the man loved to hear himself talk, or he had a natural teaching instinct. Not wanting to ruin her impression of him, she chose to believe it was the latter.
“With their smaller bodies and shorter lives lived, they typically don’t have a lot of mana. And what they do possess isn’t stagnant enough for a Malignant’s tastes. But when kids roughly reach the age of ten, I guess that’s when they’re suddenly ripe enough, and they can be targeted like any adult. That also happens to be around the time that kids will become aware of their Magical Proficiency if they have any, usually leading to them being pulled from public schools and placed elsewhere, removing the dilution that a primary school would have. Coupled with the large population, it’s become a Malignant feeding ground.”
“Ah, I remember when I awoke,” Sperado dove into the conversation. “Saw an Imp just hanging around in our kitchen, spying on us. I threw all my mother’s best china at it. Turns out, that Imp was watching me for just that reason, suspecting that I’d see it around then. It had been sent by one of our Sect’s High Summoners for scouting. They came and found me the very next day. We’ll turn you into a Summoner… Per- Sperado.”
Oops, he almost just said his real name there, didn’t he? It was probably something like Perry or Percival or Persnickety. Probably not that last one, but it’d be funny. Anyways, Gelic’s motivation was building. She didn’t really like the idea of kids being described as ripe food, so it made her really want to clear out these buffet goers.
And apparently, she wasn’t the only one. Her master went to the bed of his truck and opened a large toolbox. First, he grabbed a large case out of it and chucked it in Sperado’s direction, who reluctantly caught it, seeming annoyed that he was expected to do something. The second thing was a large sledgehammer that Rastille swung up and rested the head of on his shoulder.
“Since there’s so many, we’ll help out this time too.” Her burly master had always been a bit stalwart since they’d met, but now he looked like a proper man of action. “Let’s destroy them all!”