108. Chapter
"That was kind of weird," stated Camilla while we were rushing to the second-floor balcony. "What was that woman's deal, bossing you around all of a sudden?"
I shrugged. "Elves tend to do that... it was the same with Aria. They see me as a clueless child, not as an adult. I grew up among humans, so... I tend to think of myself as old, not young. It's weird." I paused, giving a sidelong glance to each of my companions until my gaze fixated on the back of Alita's head. "Also, you girls are kind of doing it too, in case you didn't notice."
Alita didn't look back but answered anyway, feeling that my words were mostly pointed at her. "What am I to do with you when you don't seem to care about your well-being? Either way, I don't want to see you hurt if it is avoidable. Should I remind you that we came along to safeguard you?"
I snorted. "Yeah, I thought you came along to make sure I didn't get all the glory for myself."
Hilde chuckled behind me. "That too, but it was not the main reason. You surely don't believe that yourself, Lora." I glanced her way suspiciously but didn't say anything else.
"Besides, we just love to tease you. It relieves stress, you know," Hilde added, out of nowhere.
I blinked. "What about my stress?" Hilde's eyes widened, and then she looked at me with a lascivious expression. "We have Alita to take care of that, don't we?"
I stopped, taken aback by the little imp's shamelessness. She, of course, had already bounced out of my direct reach, grinning like a fool. Fully expecting a whack to the head and rightfully so.
"Hilde..." I grumbled threateningly, causing the other lass to burst into a series of giggles as she hid behind Elin.
Sighing deeply, I added in a mocking tone. "Keep this up, and I might just decide to join this elven lady when we get back. She doesn't seem the kind who would treat me like this."
Hilde laughed, mimicking Niana's voice as she said it. "It's Lady Mage, didn't you listen to her? Right... she will instead lecture you all day and treat you like a baby." Her eyes glinted with mischief as she added. "Is that it? Do you want to be pampered?"
"Shut up," I grunted.
"Thought so... Ah?!" Hilde smirked impishly but couldn't finish her sentence.
With a wave of my wrist, I unleashed a precise telekinetic force that almost elegantly managed to sweep Hilde off her feet, causing her to fall on her bum, resulting in a heavy rattle of armor and an awkward silence afterward.
"You deserved that, stupid. Don't mess with the party's mage." Alita scolded from the side.
Nobody helped Hilde up as we walked past her, leaving the momentarily stunned dwarf in a hasty panic to crawl to her feet and get behind us. I could hear her grumbling silently, "It's not fair. She could have caught me properly at least."
Elin whispered over to her friend. "It's not the right time for your games, Hilde."
The younger girl bristled. "I know, but if we are going to die anyway, then I want to tease the elf."
"Are you stupid or what?" Elin grumbled. "Who said we are going to die? Time to pull yourself together instead of being a pain in the butt."
"Fine..."
We reached the second floor, relieved to see that there were only a few injured here, compared to the first floor. Along with a bunch of adventurers who were presently shooting arrows into the enemy lines. Using the windows or the balcony itself as a cover. We greeted them in passing and headed to the balcony to join the fray.
The structure was made of solid stone and was suitably robust as an improvised cover. A spell could still blow it off, but fortunately, there were no signs of the enemy mages. Perhaps they used up all their magic to unleash the earthquake, I hoped silently, but didn't truly believe it to be that convenient.
The balcony provided a layer of defense and stability while allowing a near bird's-eye view over the battle that by now practically engulfed the entire square and several connecting streets. I could see from my new position that adventurers were already occupying most of the nearby houses, using their elevated positions to rain arrows into enemy lines. Some particularly adventurous individuals even managed to climb out onto the rooftops and were shooting at the invaders from there.
Seeing the black armored horde below, made up of different races such as orcs, goblins, and dark elven slaves of various half-breeds, all united by their cruel desires to plunder, kill, and rape, was a hair-raising sight to behold. The way they rushed into the square, destroying everything in their wake, no matter if it posed a threat or not, showed they did it just for the sake of destruction and the sick joy they experienced through it.
The adventurers were standing their ground against the vicious enemy attack for now. Sadly, the adventurers weren't soldiers. Their strong suit was not open combat but making traps, laying ambushes, fighting from behind barricades, and turning the lay of the land to their advantage.
Luckily, the adventurers in question were more aware of this fact than anyone else and, having enough time, turned the square into a barricaded labyrinth layered with simple but effective traps and artificial choke points.
Their preparation allowed them to face the enemy soldiers only in small, controllable numbers. From our point of view, however, it was clear that the intruders were doing their best to dismantle the barricades, planning to eventually overrun the defensive formation. Not that they had much luck in that for the time being.
After all, adventurers were a versatile people. A surprising number of them had access to simple spellwork, throwing around small-scale or single-target spells left and right with remarkable accuracy. They were specifically targeting and killing the ones who tried to climb or damage the barricades.
My water elemental was looming above the enemy formations, unfazed by their attempts to harm it with arrows or thrown spears. The projectiles were harmlessly phasing through its fluid-based body, sometimes falling back into the enemy lines. As far as I know, the elemental doesn't possess a core; therefore, it doesn't provide an obvious weakness.
That said, the golem's drain on my mana was not something to shrug off. I could already feel its effects, not to mention Undine was already half of her original size. She could only unleash several more attacks before needing a refill.
We anxiously leaned against the stone railing, watching the flow of the battle below our feet. The sight was not something you could ever get used to.
My attention once again wandered to my golem as I saw the water that made up its body begin boiling. Magically condensed cool water created a dense outer layer, while its innermost section turned hotter in a strange manner that didn't allow the evaporating steam to escape to the outside.
The expanding hot steam remained locked inside its stomach, all the while the pressure grew enormously. There was a tense second when the golem's body wobbled uncontrollably, struggling to contain the enormous pressure inside. We watched with bated breath as steam began to leak into the air against the golem's best efforts, filling the battlefield with an alarming sound that reminded me of a thousand boiling teapots screaming in a deadly warning. The otherworldly noise made the small hairs stand on end all over my body.
A scream cut through the air in the tongue of the dark ones. "TAKE COVER!"
Then, the golem softened its outer layer in a small section, finally allowing the pressure to escape in a controlled, directional expulsion, drawing out a deadly arc across the battlefield.
The sizzling sound of a steam explosion compressed into a thin layer of boiling water and hot steam cut through the enemy lines, cooking and partially cooking anything it touched. It barely mattered if the victims wore armor, as the boiling water and steam got through the tiniest of cracks, heating the metal itself to an unbearable level that burned the wearer alive. We watched, mesmerized by the sight of the affected enemy soldiers throwing themselves on the ground and rolling around in a wild panic. The desperate screams that followed as the sound of sizzling flesh abated felt like a slap to the face.
Then came the cheers.
Half of the battlefield burst into loud battle cries and cheers both inside the building and down the street, seeing how their hateful enemies scattered like cockroaches under the magical attack. Ready to take advantage of the enemy's momentary distraction.
Fuck... Undine is downright terrifying. Can I even unsummon it? I wondered why my palm was beginning to feel clammy for some reason.
I jolted out of my befuddled state as a wide hand slapped me in the back. "Not bad for an elf!" I heard the compliment coming from one of the veterans who were part of our earlier escort.
I nodded towards him with an uncertain smile as I recognized the man who was already reloading his ridiculously sized crossbow, standing beside me, along with several others occupying the balcony.
Gulping drily, I glanced back at the chaos below.
I definitely wasn't eager to figure out what the enraged enemy would do to us after I cooked their comrades alive. Even if seeing the catatonically writhing heavily armored orcs kept reminding me of a freshly cooked lobster.
I shook my head. NO! Bad, Selora! BAD! Thinking like that usually makes you eat your words in a second. Luckily, I didn't speak them out loud. Huh, crisis averted!
Bonus quest for the day: don't get captured, because these guys will rip off your head if they realize you were the mage responsible for those spells.
I spared a withering glance at my golem, seeing how its water mass lost another third of its previous size. The golem was almost out of juice. Probably one or at most two more shots, and we had yet to see the end of the enemy forces. No matter how many my golem kills, if they keep replacing the fallen, we will find ourselves in a pinch.
I closed my eyes and focused, preparing my chosen spell. It worked once, and I was quite comfortable with this spell, especially seeing all the water that had been splashed across a large section of the battlefield. Perhaps this is my first proper spell combination. Sometimes I doubted that I would live to see this day.
I took a firm hold of my silvery staff and, with a deep breath, started the incantation. I did not shout the words across the battlefield like it was often done in anime. I simply focused and spoke in a gentle tone, like talking over tea on a cold winter day, and the magic listened.
"Winter of the coldest north, frozen rivers, and blinding snow. Hear my woe! For those who do not fear, the coldest grasp of nature shall be the first to learn of its apathy." I chanted the spell and felt the cold sense of control coming over me, my heavily sweating skin shivering from the icy breeze that seemed to surround my form. It herded my scattered thoughts towards a single goal.
Hilde and the others, hearing my incantation, took the cue and sprang to action. Alita stepped back and stood by the door, watching our rear. Elin seemed to follow her lead, weapons ready and drawn, looking for any incoming danger. Hilde picked up a discarded crossbow lying in a corner while Camilla was already shooting the third shot with her looted dark elven one-handed crossbow into the enemy lines.
The eerie whistling sound rose above the field, alerting everyone that my golem was about to unleash another attack.
The tension was stifling. The sounds of battle were once again drowned out by the screaming golem, but I ignored it this time, my mind focusing on the carefully forming ice shards above my head. Magical ice as strong as steel, each icicle between two and a maximum of three inches in length.
The golem's attack once again whipped across the battlefield, but I only knew it from the distant sounds of cheers and the explosion of heat and mana.
Then, as I finished forming the twentieth of the icicles, I opened my eyes. Each frozen blade was carefully held above me with telekinesis. I parted the blades into two groups, then, with careful manipulation, I began rotating half of them around their axis.
I have been practicing my magic since the previous battle, and this was one of the tricks I learned while playing around in the practice field.
Creating smaller projectiles while giving them sideways momentum can make up for the difference in size. It was surprisingly mana-efficient even with the extra effort with telekinesis. It was extremely cost-effective when you used it to lift or manipulate smaller objects. Lifting things that were heavier than ten kilograms was where the ability began to strain your mana. Under that weight, though, it was super useful and barely cost mana.
Looking over the battlefield, I found a tight spot where the enemy soldiers were trying to squeeze themselves through a freshly made opening in one of the barricades, and with a wave of my staff, I accelerated the deadly ice shards. However, instead of letting them loose as I did in the previous battle, I kept my hold on the projectiles, allowing me a subtle level of control over the exact arc they wrote through the air.
The control wasn't absolute; it was more like a gentle nudge that only slightly modified their flight. Turning near misses into hits, while complete misses remained as they were.
It also required me to see my enemy, but that was not an issue right now.
The shards hit. Sharp screeches of metal against ice with metallic toughness spiked through the air as previously moving bodies dropped to the ground, barely noticed among the general cavalcade of combat.
The few soldiers who grew witness to the fate of their brethren, though, jumped back in terror, looking for the source of the attack. Feeling several gazes wandering towards my position. I realized that perhaps leaving ten of my glinting and rotating ice shards hovering above my head was not the wisest of decisions.
I quickly let loose the next volley of shards simultaneously with the orc's screech and wild hand gestures as he pointed at my location before the very shards shredded him apart, along with a handful of his companions.
That said... The pitter-patter of arrows hitting against stone began like a landslide around the balcony. Hearing one of the men cry out beside me, then dropping on his back with an arrow stuck through his eye, was not exactly the sight I hoped for.
Elin and Alita suddenly appeared by my side, both of them holding up a shield above our heads, and then they grabbed each of my arms and began to pull me away from the balcony and into the building. The sounds of arrows knocking against their shields left an ominous ringing in our ears. Hilde and Camilla followed our example, Camilla jumping through a broken window while Hilde practically hurled herself along with some unknown adventurers through the door, arrows bouncing off their heels and plate-covered backs as the ground became hot under their feet.
I stared at the chaos unfolding around me as I was pulled behind some nearby crates serving as improvised cover, and all three of us dropped down, lying in a tangled mess of limbs and hair, breathing heavily. I found myself sandwiched between Alita and Elin, who were still holding their shields, a handful of arrows stuck in them.
Alita dropped the shield beside her. Cursing aloud while shaking her hand in the air. "Fucking bastards! You girls, alright?"
Elin nodded. "They didn't hit me, I think," she spoke, her voice shaky from all the adrenaline, clutching her chest in an attempt to calm down.
"I am fine, too... unlike your hand, Alita." I looked at her hand. It was covered in blood as one of the arrows pierced through the shield and cut her left hand in the process.
She winced. "Yeah, these shields are no good against crossbows... damn it!" She paused before adding, "It's only a flesh wound, though, barely piercing the armor. " She turned back to me, taking in the sight as I lay on my back pressed between them like sardines in a can."
The brunette suddenly leaned in and took a sample of my lips. My eyes widened, and a sudden wave of heat burst into my face, ignoring the unnatural coldness created by my magic.
She leaned away after being hit in the ribs by Elin, who seemed particularly exasperated by the situation. "Seriously, is this really the right time for this?" She complained, but Alita didn't seem to care as she whispered into my ear.
"Nice spells, Elfie. Hope you liked the reward, too." My breathing hitched as I tried to make sense of the situation. Alita's words from the morning echoing through my head: you like it or not, it doesn't need to be more complicated than that.
My cheeks flushed as I nodded, showing my appreciation.
Camilla's frustrated voice ruined the mood as the girl shouted from the other side of the room. "I am fine too, by the way! Just knocked over and got partly stuck in some broken furniture." She complained as sounds of breaking and haphazardly falling items echoed from her direction. "Oh, and I also cleaned some spider webs with my hair, but generally I am all right. No need to worry, guys!"
Some of the nearby adventurers started laughing at Camilla's antics, moving over to help her out of the tight spot she found herself in.
Hilde snorted, her voice following Camilla's. "I am alright too. Got a few more dents in my plate." She was lying beside the veteran adventurer and a few younger ones not far from us.
"Good to hear that," Elin shouted nervously.
In the meantime, Alita spared me another glance and whispered, knowing that my ears would pick up her words, even when others wouldn't.
"Next time, you are not getting away from me." My body tensed, heat flushing my chest as I wondered if what she said really meant what I thought it meant.
I didn't have much time to ponder as an unfamiliar voice of a man cut through the air.
"Fireball!" A powerful explosion shook the battlefield outside.
My heart dropped as I feared the consequences of a mass destruction spell directed by the enemy.