The Liberomancer [Isekai Progression LitRPG]

"That was quite the tactic there, Master Liberomancer," Drake said, watching the sorry state the dryad forces were currently in.

"Right, right, so here's what I did," explaining things in more detail to him. The other supporting Liberomancers around us heard my explanation too, with some even running over just to figure out what had happened.

"Incredible!"

"Ah, so it was a combo!"

"He used a Rank Three spell and a Rank Three skill together to get an effect almost equivalent to a Rank Four spell!"

"Master Liberomancers are in a league of their own, huh?"

"I've never seen nor heard of that kind of combo before!"

"It's almost like we have not one, but two Rank Four Liberomancers with us."

"That really was amazing," Drake said, almost reluctantly.

"Uh, thanks, but it wasn't really all that special," I said. The reason why it was so effective was because of a special weakness that the dryads had, and I wouldn't have even been able to do this had it not been for the fact that Granny Qi had very generously given me that grimoire. I could've tried the combo with [Fireball], but its effects would be lessened with a weaker fire spell.

"No, it really was amazing, I haven't seen anything like that," Drake said. "That very well might be what ends up turning the tides of an upcoming fight."

I couldn't really get why everyone was so amazed by this - yes, it was a combo, but it wasn't exactly some sort of 10,000 IQ move. The spider got stronger if fire was cast on it, and I used this 'defensive' ability of it to my advantage against an enemy who was weak to fire.

There were much stronger combos that had existed in history. The most famous was one used by the Ruler of the Astral Winds. He had conquered a city by the name of Limarea far away from Chipker, and the citizens had initially surrendered without a fight when his army had approached the city gates. As he continued with his campaign further into the country, however, one day the citizens rebelled and killed the token garrison he had stationed within the city.

In response, he had simply flown back to the city on his own, not bothering to bring his army with him. With a simple wave of his hand the entire city, which was said to house between two and three hundred thousand citizens, sank into the earth and none of its inhabitants were ever seen again. By the standards of that day, and of this world, this was still something seen to be quite cruel - it was not unheard of for a city that behaved in such a way to be razed to the ground, but what took people by surprise was how it was done within a matter of seconds. The Ruler of the Astral Winds had either used three Rank Four skills with one Rank Five spell to carry this out, or three Rank Five spells and skills - it was not fully clear based on the sources we had, as the Ruler of the Astral Winds had never made his full power or potential clear before he was assassinated, but that was the strongest combo that had been seen in history.

Compared to that, what I had done today seemed like nothing more than an elaborate party trick.

As I thought about it though, I could see why they were making such a big deal about it.

While this world felt a lot like a video game with the skills and spells it had - if this had been a video game, you would usually have some sort of shop in the middle of town or what not that would have infinite copies of whatever grimoires you wanted to buy. Additionally, monsters when killed would drop grimoires, there would be treasure chests in dungeons that had legendary grimoires, and completing certain quests would also give you grimoires. It would be easy to make a competitive set in such a scenario.

But, this world was not like that. If you wanted a grimoire and you couldn't make it yourself, someone else in the world had to make it for you - and that led to all sorts of logistical issues.

It was hard enough to find even a few grimoires that you really wanted. Many Rank Three Liberomancers specialized as fire elementalists not because they particularly liked it, but simply because those were the only real grimoires you could easily find in this country.

As such, finding two or three Rank Three grimoires that could combo with each other synergistically in this way was but a dream for many. I had especially lucked out in that it was effective against the dryads.

Even though it was just luck, I had a feeling some of the people around me were thinking 'had he planned this all out months in advance?' though that was far from the case.

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There were many looks of wonder, not just from the Liberomancers, but the ordinary draftsmen on the wall as well. Few of them had ever seen an actual offensive spell, and to them, this recent display must have seemed like something right out of a bard's tale.

Amidst all the praise, there was a sentence that was repeated over and over almost verbatim: "It's true what they say, there is no strongest spell, only the strongest spellcaster."

I had heard Granny Qi tell me that a few times, but I had assumed it was just one of those platitudes that old people give out. Turns out that this was actually a far more popular saying than I had originally assumed. There are multiple nuggets of wisdom hidden in that line if you think about it.

The first was the most obvious meaning - many of this world's equivalent of mad scientists had attempted to make 'one spell to conquer all' and failed terribly at it. There could be no spell that was useful in all scenarios. If you made a spell that could deal heavy damage to a single target, it would not be useful against a large army. If you increased its area of effect, it would get weaker. Take [Crimson Lance], a spell that was very overpowered for being Rank One. Against an enemy like the dryads however, it was incredibly weak. Fire elemental spells were good against the dryads, but would be worthless against something like the Tyrant Arachnea.

The second interpretation was the importance of experience when casting spells. I hadn't been able to practice [Grand Fireball] before today as there was no real opportunity to practice with a spell that destructive, and so had not been able to use it fully and ended up missing twice.

The third pearl of wisdom was that a good build was more important than having a single good spell. You needed spells and skills that synergized with each other to be really effective, and also a few counters to deal with uncommon scenarios.

The fourth and final way of interpreting it was the importance of using combos for synergistic effects.

That said, despite how often the line was repeated, I had to note that when it came to the most straightforward interpretation of the line there had never been a truly 'strongest spellcaster' in all of history. You could maybe mention Serragnin but I couldn't really see how she'd count, and while the Ruler of the Astral Winds was considered invincible by most of his enemies while he was alive, he had still been caught off guard and killed.

"Great work, Master Liberomancer!"

"As expected of a genius!"

More compliments flowed like water, and though I knew most of them were undeserved, it still felt nice to be appreciated after quite a long time of what felt like being trampled on by society in general ever since I'd first spawned in Arconia. Things had improved after becoming a Master Liberomancer, but lately the stress of managing conflicts all over the city had whittled my patience down. Overall, it just felt nice to know that all of the effort I had put in up to this point had paid off.

My good mood didn't last for long as a few hours later, the dryads regrouped and some of them, a smaller group than before but sizeable nonetheless, were organizing another attack.

"They're coming via the sea!" someone noticed.

It looks like they really had been terrorized by the Tyrant Arachnea and so decided on a different avenue of invasion - perhaps assuming that the Tyrant Arachnea could not do well in the water.

Then again, I wasn't sure how well they could do in the seawater either. Most freshwater plants could not survive in saline water, which is why we had assumed that likewise, the salt water would be toxic to the dryads as well though we had little to no evidence that confirmed it.

It looked like they could survive in it long enough to make their way towards the city through the sea-facing side though. I doubted they could stay in the salt water for too long, but it wasn't like they died within minutes of entering it either.

"I have a spell that could take care of them over the water," Drake said.

"I think I have one too," I said. "But they need to come closer."

We watched as they approached, and as the water became shallower, they became faster. The dryads floated in the water much like driftwood it seemed, and though they couldn't swim very fast, they could still kick and wade their way towards us given enough time.

As they got closer, they also became more crowded, likely because they knew they would need to attack as a mob to break through our defenses, or perhaps as a result of the current bringing them closer together.

But this was also the right time to use our spells.

"[Shark Tornado]!" I yelled out. I still couldn't get over the fact that the plot of Sharknado managed to make a successful grimoire, let alone the fact that there was a spell like this in this world.

A burst of whirlwind appeared over the sea and I willed it to move towards the dryads. It was way smaller than the one in the movie, but still looked quite deadly. This was a hybrid wind and water elemental spell - though this came with a few caveats. Half of the damage dealt was wind and the other half was water, so if it was not cast over a body of water it would only deal fifty percent of its actual potential in the form of wind damage. Because of this limitation, it was not as good as something like [Grand Fireball] generally speaking, though it was quite suitable for a sea-based assault like this.

Within the whirlwind generated by the spell, I could see the shadows of small beasts being carried along with the wind stream. If something was not cut to pieces by the wind or drowned and crushed by the water's force, they would be sucked inside the center where they would be munched upon by numerous shark teeth. Unfortunately, this latter effect was of limited use against creatures like the dryads which were not made of regular flesh and bone and whose bark resisted the shark teeth to a very large extent. However, the spell was effective at tossing and scattering them around as the dryads were thrown about and smashed, oftentimes being crushed into pulp by the force of the wind.

Drake unleashed his own spell to deal with them. "[Great Whirlpool]!" he said, as a group of dryads was sucked into a large water vortex, helpless against the current. Their natural buoyancy did nothing to save them as they disappeared beneath the waves, presumably to be smashed against the seafloor by the force of the whirlpool.