Spell Weaver [Book 2 Complete]

The cavern echoed with the sounds of combat. Grunts of rage and the clang of metal reverberated from the walls, matching the flickering shadows. Those shadows cast by the lantern were distracting to the normal vision of his right eye, where the monsters they faced seemed to blend with their own shadows.

However, a bolt of black mana was easy to track with his Heavenly Eye, and he was ready for it. He flicked out his hand to place a barrier between Sam and the caster before exploding forward to close the distance. Mid-dash, he swapped his wand for his sword and flew toward the Crescent Warlock.

He had only covered half the distance when he spotted the bolt in his peripheral vision. Horror gripped him as he watched it pass straight through his barrier spell as if it weren’t there.

Digging his feet into the ground, he stopped abruptly, turned back to his healer, and pushed off with all his available Strength. Even as he did so, he could tell that he wasn’t going to make it there in time.

“Sam!”

The younger man turned his head just before the sickly black bolt slammed into his chest. Sam’s face contorted into pain and fear as he clutched at his chest and dropped his staff. Wood clattered on stone, and somehow the sound was louder in Alex’s ears than the surrounding combat. An inky skull of magic appeared over Sam’s head and looked to be laughing as Sam turned to run in panic.

Before Alex had covered half the distance, a bloom of verdant green light exploded from Sam. Flecks of nature attuned mana from his skill settled like leaves on the wind before a second burst came, and a bulb appeared over his head. As the bulb bloomed, it covered and shattered the skull imagery.

Sam turned with calm and clear eyes. He scanned his current position before using his movement skill to reclaim his staff. When Alex landed next to him, the healer raised an eyebrow at him. “What?”

“I— but you…” Alex stuttered before letting out an explosive breath of relief. “My bad. Great use of your new skill.” He shook his head at his foolishness before turning back to the Night’s Apostle with a wicked grin. For the first time since entering the Rift, he felt himself push aside his concern for his friends.

The final shape of a plan formed in his mind as Alex fell into his normal rhythm. He created space from the caster and threw bolts at it while dropping his leather-bound notebook into his left hand from the bracer.

Val, I’m going to make a ritual over his head. Use your new [Mana Breath] through it when I distract him.

A loud screech could be heard over the cries of the other creature, and Alex quickly formed a spell circle to throw a bolt of lightning. His mana was getting low, and he knew he’d have just enough to create and power the ritual. Lightning lashed forward and struck the creature again, causing it to tense and shake momentarily.

In that window, he formed a ritual circle over the beast’s head and dropped his wand into the ring, while removing a small pouch of ash and flint.

The ritual formed, and he found it easy compared to all the spell circle work he’d been doing lately. He altered the base component for the ritual on the fly, adjusting the three triangles that directed energy outward. Instead, he used a square base within the circle to contain the energy, as he did with the gust ritual that altered mana bolts that passed through it.