Ch 73: Solar Stream
I saw how Azu easily defeated the salt and pepper dragon and realized that I was using [Tsunami] wrongly. I used it so that I could use free spells whenever often having to waste free charges on skills like [Frost cloak] or the like because the situation needs it. When used in a combo attack like Azu demonstrated it is almost impossible to waste charges. Also, the freedom with which she used that water magic was inspiring. I had a good 300 pink spears chasing me but I had no idea how to get rid of them. The last time we blasted the whole pink broccoli. Azu tried to one-shot the root with the [Vaporize] I taught her but it didn't work. Maybe because the root is way bigger than the part that we can see. [Vaporize] only works on things you have a good grasp on of how big they are, if you fail to transfer enough heat into something because it is way bigger than you expect it to be it will just get spread out and heat it up only a bit.
I say that but… I drop a [Foxfire: winter’s end] on the root. I used up the mana I gathered from using frost attacks here and there but it didn't make a dent in the root. Is it fire-resistant? I landed on the root and made all the spears crash into it. It got rid of the spears but not a scratch. We might need Raishin to go ham on this thing. I’m not sure if letting Azu loose on this is going to be safe… I saw Raishin blasting some big shades in the distance. The echoes were picking up in frequency but oddly enough Boshi town turning into a jungle didn't get echoed. Is it because nature energy isn't magic? It behaves like magic but it is not. I decided to fire a nature energy blast at a random spot. A tree sprouted and grew where the blast hit, I shot another blast this time vines popped out. So inconsistent! I fired off several identical blasts but the results were random. I can't use this in combat… I want consistency… I dodged some newly formed spears. I will check those spots for echoes later.
“Ice cream time!” I dodged Azu and more spears. I lured all the spears and made them crash into the root again. I got caught by Azu. Ugh, gimme a second, I will make you some ice cream soon.
“This situation doesn't seem to improve, were things like this too the last timeline?” Hmm, yeah.
“You kept your promise and didn't die right?” Of course, not I’m super careful! Azu gave me a skeptical look.
“You do know that your race is known for having non-existent risk assessment?” Ugh, why does everyone keep bringing that up? I used [Confusion] on a big shade that was about to swipe us but it didn't get one shot. Woops! We jumped away from the swipe
“Here! This! This is what I mean!” Azu blasted the shade. Just coincidence!
“Enough coincidence that this is consistent in every member of your race?” Uhh, yeah?
“I guess I need to keep a closer eye on you!” Wait ok! Fine, I’ll be more careful! I crashed more spears into the root but it seemed perfectly fine. Most of the shades walking around got dealt with the help of the echoes.
“Hehe, too late, you’re stuck with me now!” I dodged another spear and Azu. Azu pouted.
“Hmfp! How are you supposed to make ice cream for me with all these distractions? It's time for them to go!” Uhh, wait! Don’t do anything crazy! I got this! I made 3 shadow clones and sent 2 to distract the spears while the other one went to deal with shades that got close.
“Oooh, so many tails!” They are not for you to play with! They can deal with this for now. I hid us with some illusions and made some ice cream.
“Hehe, it's like a date!” Right, maybe I should let my clone deal with this.
“Nooo! I'll behave!” What would your suggestion be if this gets worse? I finished making the ice cream and gave Azu her portion.
“Hmm, I think the best way is to get rid of this root.” She tapped her hand on the root. We were sitting on it. And looked over a half-destroyed Boshi town. “This ice cream is really good! You could make a living off it!” Hmm, I guess, I’m not hurting for gold so I can do whatever I want till I run out which might even be never, which reminds me I have to sell some rubies today.
“Ohh, can I come with you?” Eh? It's just something boring, there is also a high chance that my buddies need some help. I dropped the illusion layers and looked for my buddies. Gregory was taking a nap and Raishin was blasting shades to his heart's content. I looked for Ted underground, it seems he was heading up.
Let’s help Ted! I grabbed Azu with my tail and teleported to where Ted was. Whoa! I grabbed Ted and teleported back. It looks like an apocalypse here… Why is the sky pink and why are your tails black? Palette swap.
“So fluffy!” Azu was assaulting my tails again. Is everything alright with her? Honestly, I don't know, something might be wrong with her head but she was a great help.
So, are you changing profession to witch tamer? Not funny.
\So, what is the plan? It seems Raishin is having the time of his life there. I don't see Greg. Greg is taking a nap. I explained to Ted what happened on my side, I omitted the part about what I saw behind that window though. I also told him what I knew happened to Greg and Raishin.
Seems everyone had a rough time. Yeah, I have to go sell some rubies later but we first need to try and destroy this root.
Hmm, from what you've said our only chance is maybe Raishin’s [Solar stream] or we need to unleash Azu on it. Let's try the [Solar stream] idea first. I told you about how she defeated the dragon but seeing it puts way more emphasis on how strong she is. We also don't know if she is running on a timer or if she is running with a certain amount of resources, we should use her as a trump card.
Look at you being reasonable. I almost was wondering who you are. Hey, come on I'm not that reckless!
Hmm, not sure about that but let's try and get Raishin over here. Oh, that is quite easy.
-Hey, Raishin, Azu is going to hug you if you can come here immediately- Raishin instantly teleported onto a high building, looked around, spotted us, and teleported toward us.
Sup! What do I need to do? We need you to drop your strongest [Solar stream] on this root here. He looked at the root that we were standing on.
We will get blasted if we stay on it though. We understand that how strong is your strongest [Solar stream] compared to the one we have seen before.
Dunno. Right, I will link you up with my eyes in a bit then we can figure it out. Hey Azu?... Azu? Azu didn't seem to hear me so I hid all my tails.
“Hey!” Can you give Raishin a hug? He needs it; I will take my tails back out afterward.
“With pleasure!” Agnis! You are the best friend ever! Raishin got a long hug from Azu. I picked everyone up with my tails and teleported to the napping Greg, picked him up too, and chained teleports to the mountain which is above Potato Village. It is a good thing I didn't vaporize it, yet.
Right, just like us you’ve also worked hard Raishin so now we need your full focus on blasting that tree! Sure! Uhm, I can't do it like this though... I love this hug Azu but I need a bit of space!
“You all are so warm!” Azu went to hug Ted. Whoa! Oh, good one Ted keep her busy while we vaporize the root. I linked up my eyes with Raishin.
Aah, my head! Just deal with it, you remember what we did the last time right?
Uhh, I needed to do this and this, right? Yeah, but now just put as much power in it that's comfortable for you.
So, like this? … Guys, we’re still a bit too close… Wait what?
Yup. I looked for a suitable mountain to teleport to. There were some with frozen peaks, they wouldn't be that comfortable for my buddies but I can just make some fire for them. I selected a mountain and chain teleported to it and made a ring of fire around us.
Was that all the energy you could put into it? I can put in a bit more but then I will need to start generating a lot of energy to power it. Ok, let's go for this.
Go for it! It seemed like nothing happened but Raishin looked like he felt a bit weak as a lot of energy left his body. We sat down and saw a timer appear. Azu was still hugging Ted.
Guys help? Welcome to my world. Phew, haven't been this tired in a while.
I'll just get some shades out before we forget. I put one on Greg too he might wake up and get his retinas blasted. We chatted a bit. 3 minutes before the solar stream would hit Greg woke up and we caught him up to the situation. My tail got assaulted again by a blue-haired witch.
Ooh, it is coming! Raishin and I did a countdown and the whole area got blasted. Light and fire rained down for 5 minutes before it calmed down.
Did it work? Hey! Come on this is bullshit! What is going on?
“Oh my, this is a problem” Agnis can you link Ted and me up with your eyes? I linked them up. What we saw was an enormous hole in the ground. There was one problem, although it did look like it took a considerable amount of damage the root was still where we had left it.
What is that thing made of… I think you will need to generate a lot of energy and then blast it to destroy it. When are you able to blast it again with this? Because it doesn't seem the echo of your [Solar stream] does damage. Oof, I should be able to use it the day after tomorrow. Hmm, so what do we do in the meantime? And I think we will be running out of time if that also doesn't work, we might have to rely on Azu. Azu flexed her right biceps.
“Leave it to me!” How about we check on the hum... People down below? Hmm, did I hear that right? They did annoy you too, didn't they? I won't go back there sorry, not only because I don't care what happens to most of them but because there is still that! I opened the correct filter which showed the big hole in the dimensional fabric, the [firewall], and the obvious root that was sticking out of it.
Oh, that looks like a big problem indeed. Do you know what to do with it? Not really, I have simulations running but my instinct tells me that as long as the root is sticking out of it, I won't be able to fix it. Hmm, that makes sense. Hey, Ted want to join me in the arduous task of closing up that hole in the ground?
Oof, sure.
“Ooh! I can help too!” Sure!
“You two make sure to take some rest!” Wait I still need to check on various things!
“You have had 2 long days without rest, you can do that later.” Meh, I'm fine. Azu made a weird bubble around us.
“This bubble will only break after 8 hours have passed, and it has a spatiotemporal lock so no cheating with time magic or hopping into dimensions where time flows differently! If I notice that you still escaped it, I will use my secret skill [1001 Azu hugs] on you!” Sleep it is then… Wow so easy, hey Azu do you want to join our team?
Not you too Greg! Shoo, go rest!
“I will think about it, I want to but I still have some loose ends I need to deal with after I break out.” Fair enough. Raishin seemed to have dropped asleep already. As I see Azu take Ted and Greg away, I curled up in my tails. Only after doing this did, I realize how tired I was. It was a good thing I still had clones around. 2 got caught in the blast but 1 escaped and went to sell the rubies.