Spell Weaver [Book 2 Complete]

Olivia hissed through her teeth, and Alex could see her gripping both of her daggers in a white knuckled grip.

Alex looked around them and saw that the monsters appearing on the ridge were only congregating on the eastern ridge, from deeper in the convergence area.

"Shit," he said, walking to the edge of Sam's Refuge and peering down into the black that separated the two groups. He lifted his head in time to see the first of the monsters howl and descend the slope in a reckless, bloodthirsty charge.

Breathing in deeply, he used his movement skill to dash to the nearest geyser of mana.

Guess I need to do this after all.

He used his mana threads to form a spell circle and kept it as small as possible, worried about pulling in any of the Night aspected mana. He activated the circle with a pulse and used his [Mana Siphon] to pull as hard as possible.

Months ago, when he'd used the same spell circle on the sun elves' ritual, it had felt akin to molten fire flooding his spiritual veins. It had injured him in the long run, and he hadn't even been able to pull as much as he might like due to the limitation of his mana channels.

No such limitation existed now.

Drawing with the full force of his skill, his mana was topped off in only a couple of seconds, with his body feeling no negative side effects. If anything, his veins felt chilled, as if a pleasant breeze had blown through his body.

He lifted his free hand and began to split his attention, creating a lightning bolt spell circle. "Watch out," he said to Olivia, who stood nearby. She moved aside, but stayed at the ready, watching the approaching wave of black.

Alex cast one circle after the next, feeling like a modern-day machine gun. His mana wasn't a contributing factor in the equation any longer. His damage potential was only limited by how quickly he could form and activate spell circles.

For the first time in a long time, Alex switched the spell in his [Spell Storage] slot. Instead of a barrier, he now stored the offensive lightning spell. With the System's ability to use much more of his Willpower than he naturally could, the spell circles formed in a fraction of the time, and the next circle was in place and ready to fire before the other one had finished flashing from his vision.

Lightning cracked down over and over, to the point that everyone else in the group covered their ears. He knew that to them, it looked like he was merely standing with one palm close to the ground, and lobbing lightning bolts like it was nothing with the other.

Notifications began to appear in his vision, and he saw blue motes of light rise into the air and drift toward his location.

The smell of the air around them changed, and in the dozen seconds or so that it took for the front row of monsters to barrel down the crater's wall, Alex had cast nearly twice as many bolts of lightning.

Despite the devastating damage of his spells and the lightning's natural tendency to branch off and hit nearby creatures, it wasn't anywhere near enough to stop the growing horde.

When he realized this, his heart dropped.

"Sam, we need to move back—"

His command was cut short as the front of the wave reached the Triskürm. The first five creatures stepped onto the doorway, but were anything but exempt from its pull. As a group, they'd taken less than three steps before the hands of shadowy Night reached up and began to latch onto their limbs. The hands were of varying sizes and shapes, though their power was clear. When a creature of the Night was ensnared, it didn't take another step, but instead was slowly pulled into the portal below.

Each member of the party watched with wide eyes as the next wave hit the ground and stepped on their fading comrades, only to make it another step further through the shadowy terrain, before they too were trapped and being pulled to the domain from which they'd come.

"Holy smokes," Mark said as both of his limbs slowly fell to his side.

Alex relaxed along with him, letting go of his siphoning skill and pausing his torrent of offensive spells. He let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding, relieved they now had a few minutes of reprieve.

Looking at the group, he found Nox lying next to the aspect of Concealment's body, his large maw latched onto the partially deflated corpse. The sight was enough to almost make him gag, but he looked away, knowing that the companion had a lot to gain by draining the essence of the aspect.

Alex flopped onto the ground next to Sam. The healer had calmed considerably with Sarah's help and sat with his eyes closed, concentrating on maintaining a sense of calm.

"How are you doing, buddy?"

"I'm okay. I can't think about it more right now," Sam said with a shaky voice.

"No problem. You're doing great," Alex said, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Guys, come over here. Let's regroup."

"Don't you think we should get moving?" Sarah asked.

"I don't see a reason to right now. The longer we stay out here, in Sam's trait, the more of them blindly run into the Triskürm."

"Less we need to fight," Jonathan agreed.

"Exactly. So come on, let's sit for a second and think about next steps." As everyone came to join them on the rocky ledge near the crystal's base, Alex allocated his three free points and was surprised to see an additional window appear in his vision.

His eyebrows climbed under the brim of his hat, and he realized what had happened. His recent level up to 49 and the addition of his Free Points had finally pushed him past the 1000 Willpower mark. He'd almost forgotten about the title he'd gotten the first time he was in this Rift, when the System had marked him as the first person in his integration to pass the 100 stat-point threshold.

The fact that his Willpower now applied to his aura control was a bit confusing, as he hadn't spent much time learning about aura.

His eyes flicked over to Sarah, who still sat near Jon, talking quietly.

Pushing the thought to the side, he made a mental note to talk with her later when they were in a safer environment. With the new changes, he checked his full status for the first time in several days.

He marveled at the transformation of his stats. Since entering the Rift a little more than four months before, several of his stats had almost doubled. The increased stat gain from his Epic Rarity class was a lifesaver for his unique trait limitation. He'd nearly gained twenty levels in total, and even though the frequent dopamine rush of levels had slowed down, he had been able to consistently train up a few of his most-used skills to the peak of Journeyman proficiency.

"So, where do we go from here?" Jonathan asked calmly, despite the tense situation.

"Well, for the most part, the plan hasn't changed. We destroyed the outer pylon, and the next step is to locate Unity and push through the Night to get there. We'll need Valtherion to do a bit of scouting from above to make sure we're going in the right direction, but the push to Unity should be the hardest step in the whole mission."

"Remember, we don't need to kill him, though," Olivia said. "Unity doesn't need to be defeated for Nox to use [Consume] on him. We also don't need to slaughter our way there. If we can use a wedge and push through, we can get to Unity and bail before we exhaust ourselves on the sea of monsters."

Everyone nodded. "Yeah, I agree. Val, can you go up and take a quick look for us? Let me know when you find Unity and see if you can get close to its location. Make sure you stay safe. And don't mess with the Karrions again, remember what happened a few weeks ago."

"Stupid black snakes are bad at flying. I will show them."

"Just be safe. We need information first, and then we can go into fighting. Then you can attack as many of them as you want." Alex removed the map from his spatial item as his bond took to the sky. He updated the route that they'd taken and where they currently were. "Look here," he pointed in the direction from which the monsters had come over the ridge. "This is where I think we're going to need to go. The goal is going to be to push through hard and get to Unity. Just like Olivia said, we will need to spread out, gain a foothold, and defend Nox. The goal isn't to take on the aspect directly, just to give Nox the time he needs to consume it.

"Mark and Jonathan, that means we'll lean on you two a lot. The rest of us will be moving around you and supporting as much as we can while Nox does his thing."

Both of the large men nodded.

"I think Mark's new Bastion class makes him a bit better suited to this sort of thing, but Jon, I've seen your power with those axes. Can you hold your ground while in {Rage}?"

"Probably not," he said unapologetically. "When I let it take over, it will take away any self-control completely. I'll just be killing what's in front of me."

"Hmm. Okay, how long can you hold it off?"

"With her? As long as we need to," he said while motioning to Sarah.

"All right, that can work. Sarah, your main goal is to keep him out of the rage state until I call for it. Then we'll just point you at the group and let you loose."

"Sounds about right," Jon said.

"What about me?" Olivia asked.

"You can take a flex position like normal. We won't need you scouting, so you can rotate between helping our flanks and getting Nox to where he needs to go. That's the main objective after all."

"Right," she answered.

"Good. When Nox is finished, we're going to peel away and come down south, this way," he said while moving his finger in a 'U' shape on the map. "This way we avoid doubling back and into any monsters that were pursuing us. We cut south, moving as fast as we can with movement skills, and then pull north when we get out of the convergence zone." Naturally, Alex felt his eyes flick to Jonathan throughout the plan. He hoped to gauge the seasoned veteran's reaction to find points of displeasure in his plan based on facial reactions, but none came. He seemed unbothered by the plan, content to nod with the instruction.

Mark looked over to where the creatures continued to blindly charge into the doorway in an attempt to get to Alex and their team. "It feels like we're in a raft."

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

The comment rang true to Alex, feeling like they were stranded on a raft in the middle of a black lake. "Luckily, we're not stranded. There's no rush for now. All of you should take some time to recover. Regain your mana and eat a bit of Gabby's food."

Some time went by as the group made themselves comfortable- or at least, as comfortable as they could be on a disintegrating monster, blood sacrifices, and an outcropping of rocks and shattered crystal. Each of them checked their equipment and refreshed their buffs, discussing movement plans and order of training when they finished with the mission.

Val returned, curling up next to Alex and showing him on the map with his tail where he'd seen enemy movements and Unity's revealed location. With the concealing fog lifted after the destruction of both the outer pylon and the aspect, their enemy was left without cover. "Big first snake here. Sleeping with lots of mana and very bad. Was scary when I think about it."

Alex listened to his chatter and consoled his bond, taking notes and engaging with his scattered thoughts.

Olivia joined him shortly after that and brought up an interesting topic: "You know what I find odd? Why was Concealment so easy to kill? Has the convergence already started? I thought they would be so much more powerful than that, and that the timing we were trying to line everything up for was the convergence."

"That's an interesting thought. I really don't know… but my best guess? The entire area here is the convergence. The two don't need to actually be together for things to happen. And I'm not sure how 'easy' Concealment would normally be to kill. It was high D Rank, I think my Willpower is just so high at this point to be pretty solidly into C Rank levels of power. You know, I just got an upgrade to my world first title for hitting a thousand Willpower?"

"Holy shit. Well, so does that mean that killing Concealment will make killing Unity harder?"

"Maybe? I doubt it, though. Unity is still in here, and the convergence still seems to be going, even after the destruction of the crystal. It's just… a bit less impactful."

"That makes sense. Just wanted to bring it up. Nox is done with Concealment, by the way." She stood and brushed her hands on her pants.

His gaze followed her as she stood, and in the air behind her, he saw a small spot of mana. It wasn't any bigger than a tennis ball, and it was made of purple mana. Curious, he fired off a blast of wind toward it, well over the heads of his friends, and stood to inspect it closer.

As soon as he did, it vanished, leaving him to wonder if it was remnant mana of Concealment in the air. Out of an abundance of caution, he checked his mind to ensure it wasn't being affected by anything.

When he confirmed it was clear of influence, he returned his interest to Concealment's body, walking over to and starting to inspect it. He could still sense a powerful signature of mana coming from it, and despite the gruesome work that it required, he decided to delve into it.

He rolled up his sleeves and started to cut into the aspect's corpse. He came away with three items. A D-Rank mana stone, an elongated organ that carried a lot of the purple and blue mana, and one of its many eyes that was still intact. His harvesting attempt was clumsy and he ruined several of them, but on his final one, it came away clean enough that the System recognized it as a material.

It was this final item that caused the System window to appear in vision.

Alex's eyes went wide as he read the notification. He'd been wondering how exotic of a material he'd have to wait for in order to see a reaction from the Heavenly Eye. He mentally pushed at the window, prompting it for more information.

Remembering Maelis's earlier advice, he restrained himself and simply dismissed the window, rather than selecting either of the options.

If he had the time, Alex would have loved to dive into the potential upgrade and determining what it might mean for his kit, but it was Sam who broke his concentration.

"Uh, Alex," he said while pointing at the crest of the crater.

"Fuck," Alex said, quickly stowing the valuable items in his bracer. With a second glance, he turned back and placed his left palm on the aspect of concealment. With a mental thought, he stored the entire body in the spatial storage, no longer concerned with the carrying capacity. "When did it get there?"

"I don't know. I just saw it staring and watching us."

The rest of the group joined them in staring at the large, multi-armed shadow standing over them. It simply watched for around a minute before it raised its voice at several of the other Night creatures nearby. Many were still trying to run down the hill and cross the section of black to get at them, though this new foe seemed wise enough to stop the gathered horde from continuing to waste their bodies this way.

Alex and the rest of the team grew increasingly uncomfortable as the tension rose over the next ten minutes. It became apparent that the entire situation had changed with the arrival of their new opponent.

Even though he couldn't scan it because of the distance, Sarah's enhanced perception must have allowed her [Analyze] skill to reach a further range than his own eye. "The readout says that it's a level 57 Night Commander."

"So what, it's making the horde wait and group up?" Mark asked in disbelief.

"It looks like it. This isn't good," Alex said. He looked around and suddenly Sam's protection area felt like a life raft, rather than an oasis in a desert. "I feel like we need to get ready to move now. Before, waiting while they threw themselves into the Triskürm was all right. But if they're grouping up with an intelligent commander, we need to move before they have an army waiting for us."

"Now might be the time for a big spell?" Olivia suggested hopefully.

"I think you're right," Alex said, not taking his eyes off the ridge. With the arrival of the commander, the order of things had changed. The creatures of the Night were no longer charging mindlessly down the hill and were forming orderly ranks. "I've got something I want to try, anyway."

It was hard for him to keep the smile from his face as he thought about pulling off an impressive spell that none of them had seen yet. It was all theory, but he believed he had what he needed to succeed.

"Give me just a minute or two. I want to try and add a second rune slot to my spell circles, and I think we should dismiss the mana spinners. Their combat style won't work well for a fight like this," he said confidently. He removed his wand and pointed it over the side of the crater that they'd approached from. He sent several bolts in a predetermined pattern into the air, signaling for their many-legged friends to retreat.

He then crossed the short distance back to the geyser and began to weave his [Mana Threads] into the complex shape of a spell circle. He had toyed with the concept before, but hadn't seen it through to creation. This particular design was special. It held four more control nodes to stabilize the structure, and the most defining difference was the additional catalyst node.

He felt its unstable nature as the form was shaped and dismissed it. He tried twice more, drawing on the nearby mana to keep himself topped off, but felt frustration build as each attempt shook under the strain of holding a second rune.

"I don't understand. The nodes stabilized the structure enough to hold a rune. Why wouldn't it work for a second? The single rune doesn't even feel enough to strain the current structure… what am I missing?"

"Uh, Alex?" Sarah called nervously. "I'm not sure that now is the time to figure it out…" She pointed at the Ridge, and they saw two large creatures join the ranks behind the commander. They were so tall that all that could be seen from their lower vantage was from their waist up, but even then, they were a good bit taller than the commander.

His mind raced, and he knew that she was right. But an unexpected thought occurred to him.

Why won't two work? Two!

He shifted his position and adjusted his plan. "Okay, this should definitely work." Just like normal, he activated his [Mirage] and [Parallel Mind] combination. This time, though, he attempted something new.

His second self, the mirage, formed a large spell circle. It was roughly the size of a wagon wheel and was created with the alteration spell circle base. Meaning that anything passing through it would be altered. Most of the time, this was his own wand bolts, and just like normal, he used the spark rune on this alteration spell circle.

What was critically different about the scenario, was that Alex, the true Alex, formed a normal sized spell circle using the directional spell base and the breeze rune. In theory, this should send a massive, channeled blast of wind toward the ridge above them, and as it passed through the second, larger circle, it should gain power and become augmented by the spark rune.

In theory…

Part of him was glad that Maelis was asleep.

As both spell circles hung in the air, he checked his own work and had his mirage do the same.

"Alex…" Jonathan spoke up for the first time, signaling the growing concern of the group.

"I know, I know. Look… this one is going to work. I need you guys to step back. No, like, more than that. Come over this way." He waved them over with his free hand, and his mirage-self giggled with glee at what was about to happen.

"What are you doing?" Sarah said dubiously. "I'm really starting to hate when you have that look."

"It really is followed by something ridiculous," Mark sighed.

"Every time," Sam agreed. As he repositioned with the group behind Alex, the green sanctuary of his {Nature's Refuge} moved with him at the center point.

"When this goes off, we need to rush to the other side and start our push through. Mark, you're leading the charge. Sam, make sure to keep up with him so we can all move… Hold onto your hats," he said while leaning forward and literally using his free hand to grab onto the brim of his hat. Once the team gave their ready confirmations, he pulsed his mana into the spell circles simultaneously.

The result was both more and less than he'd hoped for at the same time.

A percussive blast slammed into the entire group, significantly louder than he had been expecting, as the blast was stronger than most of the other breeze spells he'd cast. The resulting tunnel of wind swirled forward and transferred through the spark spell. The combination of both elements created a clap of thunder and a secondary burst of wind in an area around the spells.

It buffeted the group, causing all of them to stumble, and even Sam to fall backward, though Olivia caught his arm and held him up.

The damage from the combined spells was not as devastating as he'd hoped. At least, not when compared to the oversized ritual spells he'd cast in recent memory. It was, however, almost more effective than they needed in the given situation.

A pressurized blast of electrical wind slammed into the crater's ridge with enough force to cause a ground-shaking explosion. A section of the sloped wall exploded in a shower of dirt and Night debris. Monsters went flying, and cries of pain could be heard over the panicked noises of his own party.

The wind around them died down, and his dirtied white robes and leather hat stopped billowing against the stream of air. He laughed at the sheer mayhem that had been created. While the blast didn't cause major structural damage, it created a powerful shockwave that knocked enemies flat and sent electrical currents through those caught in its path. The sheer power of the disc of air caused panic in the gathering ranks, which gave them the opening Alex had been hoping for.

He might normally describe his directional spells as a punch of power. There was a lot of impact damage and quite a bit of follow through as well. This spell on the other hand, landed like a slap. It's flat cylindrical nature causing a loud whump on impact.

Mark charged forward without needing further instruction. Their group formed up smoothly and followed close behind him, and pushed up the slope. The trip out was much easier than the first time he and Olivia had made the journey, as the dirt was much more packed and the tunneled out opening of the ridge meant they had less distance to climb.

They pushed through in a wedge with Alex, Olivia, and Jonathan lashing out at the few monsters aware enough to see them pushing through the confusion.

After passing through the initial opening, they found there to be far fewer monsters, allowing them to move faster in the direction that Val had determined. This left them to fight as they moved, namely through Alex and Sarah taking out the monsters brave enough to pull ahead of their pack and attempting to strike at their rear. Each attempt was met with a ruthless application of spell work or Sarah's growing archery skills and an arrow through the eye.

The Night commander was fast, moving on two legs like a humanoid, all six of its arms pumping and holding weapons, though the team was just as fast.

At a terse command from Alex, they all used their movement skills in a practiced tempo. It kept them all in their proper formation while staying ahead of the ordinary monster pack. It wasn't until they were almost to Unity's position that the commander could catch up to them, and the group was forced to pivot.

"We have to cripple him quickly. Mark, Olivia, with me. Jon, keep pushing forward and make sure we have a defensible position near Unity. Sam and Sarah float between." He looked up and saw the Karrions circling overhead. "Val, take care of the Karrions!"

He hadn't even finished his instructions, but as they went out, each member reacted to their role, trusting the rest to follow suit and Alex's call to be the right one.

The attacking trio formed with Mark in the lead and prepared to meet the commander. Alex got a good look at the humanoid monster. Similar to the Crescent Warlock he'd fought several months before, it was long-limbed and unnaturally tall. Each arm held a wicked-looking blade, and it moved close to the ground, occasionally stowing a weapon to use the hand to propel itself faster along the ground. It had a flowing mane of jet-black fur that ran from his skull to his lower back and small horns on the forehead that pointed downward.

He'd never seen something before that he could so accurately classify as a demon. This hideous beast of the Night looked like it reaped souls and conquered armies.

"Hup!" Mark called, lifting his right foot and slamming it down in a wider-than-normal stance. Slabs of dirt rose up from the ground and began to rotate around him and his raised shield. At the same time, his taunt skill activated and drew the attention of the commander, who had been focused on Jonathan's retreating back.

In a fluid movement, as if it were his plan all along, his arm drew back and came down in a heavy blow as he spun. Mark's shield caught the blow, and it was strong enough to push the tank back several inches.

"Ha!" Mark called. "That's it?"

Several more blows followed. Two were caught on his shield, with another two being caught on the protective earthen shields from his skill. In the frustration that followed, the monster's full attention fell on Mark, and it lifted all of its arms, leapt into the air, and brought them down in a powerful blow on Mark's head.

Luckily, he'd been prepared and activated his evolved class's active skill, [Gate Keeper]. He took a knee and lifted his shield to his shoulder while a dome of mana surrounded him. For the next several seconds, there was next to nothing that could kill him in their level range, and he easily took the deadly overhead slam from the commander.

The moment the commander landed and lost his balance, finding absolute resistance when he'd been expecting the feeble human to crumble, was what Alex had been waiting for. He activated his targeted anchor spell, pinning his lower body in place.

Unfortunately, his spell circle wasn't big enough to encompass the commander's large frame, but it accomplished what it needed to.

From his own shadow, Olivia emerged. Her two wicked daggers went to work on the fleshy tendons behind his legs. Despite her slashing, the beast stayed upright and focused on Mark.

It wasn't until Alex's anchor spell wore off and the pressure holding everything anchored to the ground that the commander collapsed in a heap. Critical elastic tendons and muscles had been sliced with precision, before their rogue flitted out of combat and reappeared next to Alex.

Knowing that her duty was done, Olivia was already moving to follow Jonathan with the injured Nox in her shadow.

Alex and Mark stayed in position, ensuring it was disabled, before joining her in the sprint toward Unity's location. As he took his first few steps, two heavy thuds could be heard to his left, and he saw several arm length snakes fall to the dark, rocky ground.

He glanced up once and saw Val swooping in and out of a small swarm of the poisonous air-adders. They'd learned quickly that he was the most apt to deal with them, not just because of his flight ability, but because their poison was magical by nature, and his natural [Magic Resistance] passive made the fight easy for him.

As they came up a small hill to the flat terrain that Valtherion had directed them toward, Alex's breath caught in his throat. There, curled in a tight coil toward the back of the plateau, was a snake of huge proportions. The black scales seemed to carry a mix of shifting oils and ethereal smoke that confused his mundane vision to look at. His Heavenly Eye saw three streams of grey, purple, and blue mana streaming toward it. One from the East, one from the south, and one much weaker stream from the west — the direction of their shattered pylon.

A single white scar was on the front of its nose, just above the upper lip. The scar on Alex's back began to tingle, and his heart beat faster. When he scanned the creature, he knew he wasn't wrong and realized what must have happened and what Valtherion meant.

There was no doubt in his mind, and as he saw a blood red eye snap open and make eye contact with him, his blood ran cold.

The title below that name had once shown up to his scan as 'The Firstborn of Rakshasi.'