Chapter 79 - Field of Flames
Rachel
The warriors were getting pushed back. Jonathan was the only one still holding the gate against the raiders and he wouldn't last forever. Rachel did the best she could to eliminate as many as possible.
She cast [Fire Lance] and multiple [Fire Arrow]s on repeat. Every once in a while she would have to cast one of her more costly skills. [Fire Wall] and [Flame Pillar] were both great area denial skills but they came with the cost of increased mana.
Both area skills took more mana than over 5 [Fire Arrows]. Fighting the waves was always a balancing act for her, juggling mana cost for spells versus effect.
A well-placed [Flame Pillar] could do more damage than 5 [Fire Arrows] but it all came down to timing and positioning. When the tutorial started, she would go overboard and blaze through her mana pool too fast with more powerful skills.
The waves beat that habit out of her. She was of no help to anybody if she was out of mana. She hadn't even taken up training with a weapon, putting all her time into practicing the arcane.
As a result, she was the best at it. She could weave the strongest spells and [Ritual Cast] with the most people. She could cast a spell using up to 5 people's mana pools and they didn't even have to be mages.
No other mage here could claim the same. It was an achievement she was proud of and one that worked to kill the boss on multiple occasions. If only she could have used it to save her son. Thinking of Kyle still hurt.
She was powerful, sure, but she alone couldn't take down the bosses. If it weren't for Jonathan and Chris keeping it at bay, she would be a sitting duck squashed as easily as an ant.
As the warriors holding the gate dwindled, she resorted to more powerful spells. She knew from experience that Jonathan could handle a little flame. She still tried to shield him from the brunt of her spells using [Fire Manipulation] but he could take a hit.
The man was a walking tank. Even more so than Chris in some aspects. Chris could take a fireball to the face and walk away unscathed just because of his stats, Jonathan had skills that produced the same effect.
His earth armor was notoriously hard to get through using fire. The flames just weren't able to pierce the armor and the force was the only thing that did damage.