Mage Among Superheroes

We spent the night in the magic of Shelter. I wasn't any good at camping, so a proper roof over our head was important. Midnight and I did have some supplies in Storage for emergencies, but it would require very specific circumstances to not just use Shelter instead of spending a similar amount of mana pulling things out of Storage. In some ways we were limited by quantity- weight and size- but mainly it was about getting the right stuff out.

Storage didn't drop out random junk or anything, but keeping in mind a whole set of stuff at once was difficult. It was easier to take things out a few pieces at a time, thus the greater mana costs. But ultimately… tents just weren't as comfortable as beds. Even if the beds were still mediocre. Living in a city the majority of a time, I really didn't have a huge incentive to upgrade Shelter. A couple natural upgrades from experimentation was where things had settled at.

We were on rations for a few days- mainly Power Brigade energy bars. We also had canned tuna for people who were interested.

Though Shelter would probably have held up just fine at altitude, we didn't camp on a mountaintop. We were really trying to avoid altitude sickness. Instead, we might develop entirely new forms of sickness involving Teleporting high and low frequently. That's what we had Bandage for, as she had some magic for fixing general problems. Plus, we might get attacked.

On that topic, we got attacked. Not by people- we were far too strange for anyone to want to be associated with in any way. Plus we were obviously magical. I wasn't certain that banditry was as infrequent as I had once been led to believe, but I could think of various reasons it would be a poor career choice. Like Divination magic.

Anyway, if there had been that sort of trouble we would have just Teleported away. When we ran into danger on a mountaintop, we didn't have a good angle to go anywhere. It also came rather suddenly.

A rush of cold washed over us out of nowhere. Our foes blended perfectly into the background, so when icy cold threatened to destroy us… our Energy Ward spells all pretty much disappeared.

Spellshot was the first to react. His gun was up in an instant and the cracking sound echoed across the snow a moment later. I didn't know what he was shooting at, and it turned out neither did he. His bullet hit a snowbank and exploded into sparkles of light that clung to everything.

That was how we made out the shape of a number of giant winter wolves. They didn't seem particularly enthusiastic about getting bright lights in their eyes, and their whines might have given them away even if they weren't outlined. It was especially effective when they moved.

"Bandage!" I began to call out commands. Someone had to. "Refresh cold wards!" We needed to get her to master multicasting. It saved both time and mana. "Punk Monk! Cover our rear! Inasyah-"

She howled. I saw her form shift as claws grew from her fingers and a snout extended from her face. I wondered if she had forgotten that she was carrying a weapon, or if something about wolves triggered her. She leapt forward… at least remembering that she had wings as she went. She swooped low over one of the targets, missing with her outstretched claw as it ducked down.

Well, at least she couldn't feasibly infect any of these guys. They were already wolves. Whether her fighting style worked was up to her, I supposed.

I gathered mana for Stoneskin- a full Multicasting, specifically. I couldn't make use of every upgrade I had because Multicasting didn't quite have that many upgrades, but it was still efficient enough that I could handle it alone. I used some of the material components that were in my pockets, as usual.

I hadn't come up with something specific for Midnight to do, but he both shot a laser from his suit- something he didn't do that often during our normal activities because they were military grade and normal thugs were not- as well as casting a spell. Specifically, he summoned Ignis.

The Moderate version. If we were going to use him for combat, bigger was better. Snow turned to water and almost instantly to steam beneath him as he appeared, carrying a rock. "I thought the cold might be bad for him, so I thought it might help?" Midnight tried to explain.

We'd never been so mean as to test how bad cold and water were for Ignis. "Could have gone with air, but I don't think that really lets him fly. Hey Ignis, we want to fight those wolves."

He nodded seriously. In this form he was still smaller than a human, but not as small as the Lesser version. He took commands from me just fine, though I wasn't sure if it was because of the Familiar Bond or if he just figured it out. Maybe Midnight could magically command him not to listen, but that really wasn't something we needed to concern ourselves with.

Ignis took the rock he was carrying and dropped it in front of him, rolling it along. It began to build up a coating of fresh powdery snow, and it seemed like he might be making a snowman. Somehow, that snow didn't evaporate under his touch- and there was less under his feet. I really didn't understand how any of it worked, but I was going to have to go with magic.

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As expected, the winter wolves tried to move to surround us. They were chest high- which was pretty massive considering they were on all fours. Among the sparkles I could pick out seven of them, moving easily through the snow. Ignis fended off one, and Inasyah was harassing one more.

Spellshot picked out his target, imbuing his bullets with the Firebolt spell. The first shot barely even fazed his target, but that didn't stop him from doing it again- and again. It was likely he'd take it down soon, even if they weren't actually vulnerable to fire more than any other thing with fur.

It didn't seem the winter wolves could immediately overwhelm us with ice again, or maybe they thought tooth and claws were better. As they approached, Punk Monk stepped atop the snow and rushed towards an incoming trio. She held her staff, twisting it to release a spear point. I thought it only did that from one end, but a moment later it extended from both.

They tried to flank her, but she fended them off with fancy footwork, kicking off of the snow and off of their snouts while fending them off with the more obvious points of her weapon. Most of her magical effort seemed to be going into not sinking into the snow, but I was pretty sure she could keep up that rate of usage for a while. Unhindered by the terrain, she was far more agile than her foes and their tender noses expected.

That left one more coming trying to sneak around behind us. Bandage was busy refreshing people's defenses, so she didn't have the spare capacity to fight a giant wolf. She wasn't as fragile as people might expect of some healers, but that didn't mean we should let her be attacked.

I gathered mana for a lightning spell. It shouldn't be something beasts like these should be familiar with, though fire also wasn't that common. Mostly, it was the most powerful spell I felt confident using in the current circumstances. People might not appreciate me using Meteor Swarm on icy peaks.

I blasted a Chain Lightning through the approaching target, catching two of the ones harrying our monk at the same time. It was the sort of spell with the power to stop a superhuman's heart, but the winter wolves endured. They were injured, but even the primary target didn't fall.

Midnight surrounded the two of us with a Fire Shield as it charged us, forcing it to hesitate right before its leap. I was fairly certain the spell wasn't going to last as long as normal with the reaction it was having with the surrounding snow, but it didn't need to last long. Small skirmishes didn't tend to last long, even when they felt like it.

More lasers, claws, and a good bit of fire and lightning abounded. Punk Monk was crazy enough to block a lunging wolf with her forearm as it chomped down, at the same time letting it impale itself on her double-ended spear. Stoneskin and Francois' work did keep her arm from turning into the wolf's lunch, but it was still a risky move.

The remaining two engaged with her hesitated just a moment- or at least that was what I thought. Instead, they were taking a breath. Shards of ice and cold sprayed out, ready to drain what heat she had. With a swish of her weapon, she cut apart the mists, the trail where her weapon went remaining in place and causing most of the spray to bypass her.

Rather than following up, however, the wolves turned and sprinted away. It wasn't beneficial for them to fight to the death, really. They had just thought they could win. Unfortunately, their pack was more or less devastated.

"Whew," Spellshot said. "That was a bit of a surprise."

I nodded. I was quite drained of mana- close to my halfway point, which was the normal 'empty'. "They can't have been tracking us for very long."

Bandage looked at them. "Are their pelts worth anything? It seems like a shame to just leave these bodies here."

"Something will probably eat them," I said. "They're probably quite valuable but uh… I sure don't know how to skin a wolf."

Ignis waved as he faded away. He seemed to have shrunk during the course of the battle, but he held on until the end.

"Ammo, please," Spellshot held out his hand. He could only carry so much. I tossed him a small box he had given to me for Storage.

"I… kind of know what I'm doing," Bandage commented. "I want to at least try."

She was already breathing heavily. The rest of us weren't in great shape, so we needed a break.

"Just don't pass out," I said. I didn't intend to sit in the snow, but Punk Monk sure did. Or Iron Hawk, since that name was good too. She looked quite comfortable, grinning. "Something good happen?" I asked.

"I pretty much got a level from the rough travel already," she commented. "Mountaintop training seems to be good for a monk. This battle got me another half a level."

"Hmm. Me too," I commented. Of course, I got extra experience from battle… and needed more. Still, it was almost half a level- and enough to get me to 44. Nothing particularly exciting, but the points were welcome. I could get any spell I wanted, but I knew I should wait to make a decision.

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The break was critical, but we were still exhausted when we finally got to a better vantage point. Bandage had gotten two and a half usable pelts, with another ruined and the rest simply left for time. We couldn't fit whole winter wolves into Storage.

There wasn't another mountain range in view, and though we could have gone further along the range Midnight and I combined what mana we regenerated to land us down below. I cast Shelter with my low mana- there wouldn't be any devastating side effects if that didn't work, unlike Teleport. I did make sure to give the hut a shake to make sure it was going to hold up.

I was glad we only had another couple of days of traveling this way- it turned out Teleportation really helped with such things- because I really didn't want to fight more things on top of mountains where my lungs burned from strain and sheer cold.

They should fight us where we were comfortable. I'd like to do that more.