NOVEL NEXT Book 3 - Chapter 23
The monsters in the next column exploded.
They're not taking this seriously. Jeru pointed at the human-sized walking corn husks. The Cornmen have the passive <Explosive Body>. It might read, 'The kernels on their skin explode when exposed to heat', but it's a delayed reaction. If you let one of those suckers get close to the group… The blue Elf mimicked an explosion with his hands.
Penelope stared at the man only she could see.
"What?" Jeru sighed as he read what she was thinking. "Look, I get that sometimes I let you experience things for yourself first."
Sometimes?
"Okay, most of the time when it's not going to get someone else killed." He pointed at Patrick, who was finishing up the battle plan. "Pat isn't taking this seriously and it's going to cause a reset because of how many people you're going to lose."
How do you want me to handle this? Penelope eyed the line of monsters that were preparing to charge the moment they entered the square. She'd been able to force the monsters back farther since now she could summon another set of <Light Torrent> out of the first one and move the new floating balls another 100 feet into the square while only needing to put a hand inside the square. The extra distance wasn't much considering each square was 1,500 feet wide, but it was a few more seconds they were able to postpone the fighting.
"Use <Mud Slide> to gum up the battlefield." Jeru pointed at the trees. "The Shideks are able to climb trees, so it won't stop them, but it'll slow down everything else."
The Tanks for the column had shark heads and bodies, but instead of fins, they sprouted eight spindly legs. They stood so tall that some of the shorter people were barely going to have to duck to go under the black and blue striped monster.
Is the mud going to slow them down anyway? Penelope looked at the pointed legs. They don't really have feet to get weighed down or slip.
"It's going to slow them down either way." Jeru pointed at the burned out space on the other side of the barrier. "It helps that the burn squad clears away all the underbrush, but they don't incinerate all the trees." He shrugged. "But they're going to attack from the air when they can."
Gotcha. Penelope looked at all the monsters in the square. The Hicko had wings, but they were built like a turkey without a neck. Their monstrous head was almost as large as the gray feathered body and its mouth split the head almost in half. So while they had wings, the Debuffer monster wasn't going to be using them for any flight longer than a hop.
Other than the disproportionate bird, there weren't any other monsters with wings. The yellow-feathered Rapten also looked like a bird, but it had knees like a dinosaur and claws at the end of its arms, with no wing feathers. The Speed monster had eight red eyes and a beak full of teeth, which promised a lot of pain to anyone who was caught in its mouth or within range of its claws.
"The feathers will get gummed up by the mud." Jeru chuckled. "So don't worry about them. Your main focus needs to be on the popcorn."
Penelope's response was cut off as Patrick walked past her into the square. Without a chance to plead her case for the need for caution to the others, Penelope forged in after him.
She dumped <Mud Slide> in front of the monsters.
The mana cost for using the spell with eight <Light Balls> out wasn't as high as with the full twelve, but it was still enough that she needed to take a mana potion before she felt comfortable focusing down the explosive monsters.
"What did you do that for?" Patrick growled as he turned around. "Now we're going to be in a standoff!"
"Those corn monsters are creeping me out." Penelope forced a shiver to emphasize her point. "You never let anything that explodes get close to you in video games!"
"This isn't a VIDEO GAME!" Patrick clenched his fists and then punched the wall. "This is real life and you can't treat this like a video game or people are going to die!" He pointed through the opening around his shield. "Your goopey terrain makes the fight last longer, which means we have to take the full two days to clear this instead of getting a break in between!" He took a deep breath. "Just because you're scared doesn't mean you need to make the rest of us work harder!" He jabbed his hand at Circe. "Get her up on the roof while I think of a way to salvage this."
Penelope touched Circe's arm and fled with her friend without uttering a word.
"Wow…" Circe notched an arrow and looked for a target in range. "That was harsh. Want me to go back down there and kick him in the baby maker?"
"He's not wrong." Penelope glanced on either side of them to check how the other groups were doing. With the mud in front of their group, the monsters had split in half and were ignoring the bunker. "His delivery was a little heavy-handed, but he wasn't wrong."
"You did what you thought was best." Circe kept her eyes on the monsters, who were staying out of her range. "We're having to pivot, so a heads-up would've been nice, but I trust you."
"Sorry." Penelope turned her attention to the right group. "I need to go help them."
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"Go." Circe turned towards the left group. "I'll try to cover them from here and if Sir Grumpypants wants to throw a fit about it, then I know how to shut him up." She mimicked kicking her foot.
"Just…" Penelope sighed. "Thanks."
"I've always got your back." Circe grinned, then nodded at the monsters. "Now, go show them what Hell really is."
Penelope <Blinked> away, pulling all of her <Light Balls> towards her. As they flew over the monsters, she released <Knives Out> from as many as she could until it dropped her mana too low to cast another spell, then she downed a Mana Potion.
"You really need to watch how many of those you take." Jeru warned. "The physical addiction might go away across resets, but there is a mental portion of it that sticks with you."
The minty liquid got in her lungs as she gagged at his warning.
Why haven't you said something!
"I have a couple times." Jeru held up fingers as he counted silently. "You've just either ignored me because you thought you had it under control or because you weren't taking very many." He motioned at the empty vial in her hand. "But you're downing at least one of those every square and usually more than one lately."
So I'm supposed to what? Sit back with almost no Mana and watch everyone else fight?
"You could always start using a physical weapon, but at this point, you'd need a full reset and to completely change your fighting style." He pointed at the charging Dasheer. "Monster."
The stubby legs on the brown-furred monsters were only a foot long, which was very disproportionate for a horse whose shoulders were above her own. The rack of antlers on top of its head spread wide like a moose, but with multiple sharp points and plenty of smaller bristles covering the rack. Instead of flat teeth like a herbivore, the Dasheer sported a mouth full of razor-sharp carnivorous teeth. The upside was that they were very slow, which gave her plenty of time to focus her spell. A single cast of <Knives Out> was enough to kill one of them, allowing her to wipe out the group of four bearing down on her before they were able to get close.
Ding!
Experience +0.67
Experience +0.67
Experience +0.67
Experience +0.67
You are now Level Thirty
Stats increased: Speed +1, Magic +1
You have learned: Light Mastery T2
Well, there's the cap for this floor. Penelope turned her attention to the Corn Men. I need to stop those before they get to the group.
An explosion behind her let her know that it was already too late.
"Elliot got hit, but nobody died." Jeru pointed at the explosive monsters that were getting too close to the other group.
Another explosion shook the square. Penelope gritted her teeth and <Blinked> behind the group of charging elementals.
"I'M OVER HERE!" She pulled both her wands out and flicked them like she was directing a band. The <Light Balls> above her responded, moving over the five elementals and unloading a cast of <Knives Out> each. The other three spells targeted three Shideks. Each spell was enough to finish off the monster it targeted. Penelope <Blinked> over to the group.
"Dang, girl, you're making us look bad!" Whitney held up her hand for a high-five.
"Yeah, save some for us!" Stephen released a wave of fire at the monsters.
Another explosion rocked the square.
"What's going on over there?" Worry covered Fae Anna's face as she looked across the battlefield.
"You need a wall!"
"Archer, WALL!" Penelope grabbed Fae Anna and Whitney and <Blinked>. Her <Carry On> passive was only supposed to allow a single extra person, so trying to pull two people fizzled the spell but let her move just over ten feet away from the explosion.
Dirt rained down on them as the dead elementals popped. Penelope covered the two women with her body the best she could.
"AHH!"
Part of a body landed next to her. Penelope kept her head down and threw her <Light Balls> at the two Shideks that had made it around Archer's <Stone Wall> while the elementals had been exploding. <Blinking> had drained almost all the mana she had left over, so there wasn't anything she could do except drop the eight <Light Balls> on the monster towering over them.
The blue and black striped monster gurgled as the spell tore into its side, then it dropped next to them.
Whitney rolled over and drew her bow, aiming at the Shidek on the other side of them. "SKYLAR!"
A pillar of flames engulfed the back of the monster. Stephen coughed as he stumbled, then fell unconscious, but his spell was enough to kill it. Fae Anna stared in horror as Skylar fell out of the monster's mouth, her right arm no longer attached to her body.
Raptens leapt on top of the wall, with Archer backing away from the Shadow Demons.
A spell formed in Penelope's mind, but the wave of dizziness told her that if she cast it, she'd knock herself as unconscious as Stephen. Jeru's warning echoed as the voice inside her head repeated it, but he was too far away for her to hear. If she didn't take a mana potion right now, they were all going to die.
Penelope tried not to think about how they'd already lost Theodora. The older woman had taken over the task of making vines and wood for their group, but what was left of her was on the ground to Penelope's left. Whitney was shooting what she could, but the Archer couldn't stop the Shadows that were coming around the wall.
The minty liquid spread relief down Penelope's throat as her mana recharged. <Light Balls> flared to life between them and the four Shadow Knights.
"DIE." The weight of loss released an anger inside her that needed to be released. The constant fighting was wearing on her. The need to focus that pain and loss on those who were making her suffer couldn't be contained anymore. Tears flowed down her cheeks and <Light Bolts> rained down from all twelve of the <Light Balls> in front of her. Another Mana Potion touched her lips as the spells kept zapping the Demons. Her arms ran cold and it felt like someone was squeezing the air out of her lungs, but she didn't stop. These monsters had killed more of her friends and she wasn't content to simply kill them. She wanted them gone.
Her shoulders sagged as the Shadow Demons vanished. Her lips begged for another potion even though there were no more threats around.
"PENELOPE!" Jeru slapped her across the face as she raised the vial to her lips. "SNAP OUT OF IT!"
Penelope blinked as her brain registered his touch. She knew he hadn't really hit her, but the sensation had been enough to pull her out of the daze that she'd been in. Her body longed to feel the rush of Mana, but it was no longer a need, simply a hunger.
She put the lid back on the bottle and dropped it into her pocket. She looked around at the devastation. The barrier was down, but it was obvious that it wasn't a good win.
"How bad is it?"