Return to Jorgaldur Volume I: the battle mage

Spiders vs elves

Eldi had fought the dungeon spiders, but these were different. Not only were they alive, but they had a certain degree of intelligence, and were even able to cooperate with each other.

Those four Spit a potent poison at the battle mage, who used Feline Response to dodge it and reach the elves. They looked at him dumbfounded, and more when he cast Band-Aid for Everyone a couple of times, healing them of their wounds. Although it wasn't enough for those who were lying on the ground, they had been poisoned.

There were several empty flasks on the ground, of potions that had been previously used. They had been attacked by surprise by spiders and poisoned, and those who were lying on the ground had lied, claiming to be healthy for their companions to take the antidotes, as they didn't have enough. It was evident that their age was considerably older, and they had decided to sacrifice for the youngest.

Eldi approached them without a word and without being stopped. He had healed them and got rid of one of the spiders, as well as they were too busy defending themselves against arachnids to stop the newcomer's fast movements. They expected that reinforcement to have antidotes, but not that he could heal their companions without them. It was a healer's spell, not a warrior's one.

He cast Cure Poison and Regenerate on both wounded, which were the most surprised. The poison had lost its effect and they were recovering. In fact, he could have healed them completely, but he couldn't afford to spend too much mana. He could need it.

The elves' arrows were piercing the spiders, many of which had lost some of their eyes, and had several of them nailed in their body. But, unlike spears, they weren't able to pierce through them completely, not to mention that they had covered much of the clearing with spiderwebs, making it difficult to hit them. In addition to harassing their preys continuously with poison. The elves were defending themselves with some kind of Wind Shields, but it was obvious that they were tired and had spent a lot of mana.

They thanked the newcomer, but the situation remained critical, so they could barely stop to exchange a few words. They were far from being out of danger, although the prospects had improved. Not only did they have that stranger, but the two wounded elves, although weak, could join the fight.

Then, the stranger did something that surprised them again. He surrounded them with Burning Walls on all sides except one, the side he had come from, and in which there was one less spider. That way, it made the attack of the spiders more difficult, since they didn't dare to cross them.

"Can you cover me?" he asked for.

"Yes, of course," answered an elf whose tired and dirty look was far from what one would expect of the elves in a fantasy world. And it's not that her teammates were any better.

Eldi ran forward, while the elves concentrated their arrows on those four spiders, except for two of them, who were responsible for protecting them from the poison that was thrown over the Walls, poison whose path was now longer and more inaccurate.

The arrows were a little more powerful than before, for both the strength of the elves and the magic they were imbuing had improved. Eldi had granted them some blessings, in addition to an Area of Attack. And, although stunned, they didn't hesitate to take advantage of those gifts against their enemies, while wondering how anyone could have such disparate abilities.

The spiders, distracted by the elven attacks, and confident in the effectiveness of their spiderwebs, didn't pay enough attention to the one who was approaching them. The Burning Aura took care of the threads that barred his way, and he sent his assistants to pick up the spears, and to dismember the spider that had already died, while attacking another one with another two spears and a hammer.

Having left it half-dying, he was going to attack another one when he was forced to dodge again with Feline Response. Three new spiders had appeared, and more were approaching, forcing him to retreat to the elves.

"Why are there so many of those bugs!?" exclaimed Eldi.

"We don't know. That is what we had come to find out. Or retreat if we found too many. We should inform them to burn this part of the forest, they are too dangerous. Surely, they'll do if we don't return."

The battle mage stared at them for a moment. The situation was quite dangerous, and was worsening each second. But the elf's words gave him an idea.

"So, can I start burning it now?"

"There is too much humidity. Even if you manage to start a fire, it'll end up extinguishing. Coordination and materials are needed to maintain it," denied one of the elves.

They didn't know how to address the strange newcomer, who had come out of nowhere and had begun to fight at their side without a word. It was a somewhat strange situation, but they couldn't stop answering him.

"I think I can burn enough so we can escape. Can you control it?" Eldi asked again.

Goldmi was able to do it in the game, and he had seen that several of those elves were skilled in wind magic. They nodded, somewhat skeptical that he could fulfill what he had said, skepticism that disappeared as soon as they saw what he was taking out of nowhere.

"Help me throw them."

The elves didn't hesitate. There were more and more spiders, and that could help them escape. Some of them threw the containers full of resin to the front, pouring their contents on trees and spider webs. Meanwhile, the others protected them from the venom that was being spit by those spiders. When Eldi imbued one of the arrows of an elf with fire, and it fell on a tree, the whole area began to burn.

Eldi faced two spiders that rushed towards them, fleeing the fire. He used Abyss to stop and damage them, next attacking their legs, alternating Abyss and Double Edge to end the resistance of those arachnids. With five of their legs cut, they were no longer able to stand up, while the fire hadn't stopped burning on their backs, and several elves had joined the attack.

Meanwhile, other elves controlled the wind to drive the fire to a specific area, opening a small tunnel between trees, spiders and webs. Then, they took care of pushing the fire to the sides, creating a kind of flaming wall that kept the spiders at bay, and allowed them to flee through there.

Intimidated by the fire, the spiders didn't try to stop them, so they only had to endure the extreme heat that was surrounding them. Eldi followed the elves through the forest, everybody alert to the appearance of more spiders, which didn't pursue them, since speed isn't one of their qualities. Once they had escaped their trap, their preys were out of reach.