Forest of Desire (The Alchemist Book #2): LitRPG Series Page 15

  Ka-Li.

  When the lightning hit him, Zagarad twitched and looked over at the tunnel. There were two more people over there. One was just eleven; the other’s parameters, including his name, were all locked. Whispering his code word, the mage expected to see an enormous chunk of ice go flying off at the strange boy, but instead he was treated to a message about how he couldn’t use magic for two seconds. That was nothing compared to how long he and his partner had already spent in the cave, though it was an eternity in a magic battle.

  “What the hell?!” Meney yelled, and another bolt of lightning hit Zagarad. Not only did it keep him without magic for another two seconds; it also did solid damage.

  No, he had to do something about that.

  Sphere of reflection.

  Tailyn took another deep breath without taking his eyes off his opponents. They clearly hadn’t been expecting to be stripped of their magic. Glancing at each other, they tried to fire off another round of icicles, but nothing happened. The boy muttered his syllables over and over again. Suddenly, some kind of field appeared around Zagarad, presumably some kind of additional protection, though that didn’t bother Tailyn. He could burn his way through it, too. But that’s not what happened. The next charge of electricity ricocheted off the sphere, hit the boy, did damage, and even left him without his magic. For the very same two seconds. And right after that, almost as if it had been waiting, an icicle threw him against the wall.

  1880 damage received.

  Movement speed reduced by 50%.

  Shield level reduced. Remaining: 1811.

  It was a level three card. He was up against opponents with level three cards. And that was when Tailyn panicked, not even able to restore his shields. While his cards were right there in front of him, those same two seconds were taking forever to tick by. Tailyn leaped back into the tunnel just as another icicle whipped by. The mages had figured out what was going on and counterattacked far too quickly.

  “Retreat!” Valanil yelled, and she and the lix followed the kids’ example. The summoned monsters were too much for them, especially when the mages began using their deadly cards. But the problem was that they didn’t jump into the same tunnel as Tailyn and Valia. They were opposite each other.

  Valanil went in first, the lix behind to cover and give her the chance to shoot back at the monster coming at them. And there was only one — the academy mages had sent the second into the tunnel with the children. Finally, the two seconds were over, and Tailyn could enhance his shield, though the weakness debuff kept him from sending it too high. Everyone else in the group was in the same position.

  The bukamonster lost the advantage of bulk and height in the tunnel. Barely able to keep moving forward, it crawled slowly, turning itself into a target. Both Tailyn and Valia went to work on the level thirty creature. The problem there, however, was that the creature had partial immunity to magic in addition to its absurd personal shield — about two thirds of all the damage the pair threw at it was wasted. The narrow passageway was littered with embers and ice shards.

  But however powerful the creature was, two mages in that confined space was too much for it.

  “Get back! Stay away — I’m going to launch some fire!” Tailyn yelled as he cycled through his cards. It was time to bring out the serious weaponry and see what the academy mages had to say about it.

  “Go! I’m taking a potion,” Valanil replied. That was enough for Tailyn.

  To make sure he hit the mages, Tailyn had to get to the very edge of the tunnel. He found a spot where he was out of sight but could bounce his waves off a wall and hit the enemy, took a deep breath, and got to work.

  Ka-Li.

  You used Wave of Fire-II 10 times.

  Charges remaining: 140 of 150.

  Mana -10 (897).

  The raging fire cut loose, and the boy had to dash off just to make sure it didn’t bounce off another wall and hit him. That kept him from seeing how everything played out. A new pair of bukamonsters appeared, though they couldn’t do much against the fire, frying to a crisp almost immediately. But the academy mages were fine. Hidden behind their sphere of reflection, they weathered the storm with just the perspiration on their faces to show for it — their air conditioning system couldn’t handle the heat. Both Meney and Zagarad realized their opponent had pulled out the best shot he had, pumping all his resources into it, and they were just waiting for the flames to die out before heading out themselves to hunt. It had been a while since intelligent creatures had wandered in. Generally speaking, it was a dumb animal that happened across the entrance, and the change of pace was invigorating.

  When the shadow flashed by Meney’s face, it took him a second to realize what it was. He jumped and tried to take a step back, only he was already up against the mysterious door. And as the shadow formed, everything inside him went cold despite the scorching heat — he’d recognized the stiletto pushing through the sphere of reflection. It was the personal weapon Crobar enchanted personally for each graduate. And judging by the ease with which it slipped into the sphere of reflection, its owner had turned down all the available enhancements in favor of just one ability: shield disregard. The slender, needle-like blade paused for just a couple seconds before penetrating Meney’s eye and finding his brain. Valanil yanked it back out and whirled around to face Zaradar.

  “A Crobar assassin?!” the latter yelped, even trying to attack, though it was too late. He was relying too heavily on magic that protected him from just about any damage. Any damage except the kind done by personal weapons belonging to mage hunters.

  You destroyed level 27 and 32 creatures.

  Status change: combat complete.

  The fire died away, and Valanil turned around to see that she was alone. Nobody had heard the mage’s cry. She wasn’t going to have to kill anyone. Tailyn appeared and ran over, and he was about to bend over the bodies when Valanil stopped him.

  “Did you not learn your lesson, you idiot? They have level ten protection from marauders — both of them! Are you trying to get an armageddon started right here? Until you get your marauder up to level fifteen, you’re not allowed to touch mage bodies. Got it? Or do I need to beat it into your head with a sledgehammer? You have a whole lix here to get your loot for you — he’s your hands from now on. Nod if you understand me.”

  The boy fell silent, not expecting to be told off like that, but he nodded. Valanil terrified him when she was angry.

  “Excellent. Valia, you take the bodies. See what they have, and I’ll figure out what they were up to.”

  Group renamed. New name: Way home.

  Loot division type selected for Way home: divine will.

  Almost all the notebooks had burned up, leaving just a couple at the bottom of the stack. Valanil pulled out a lamp and looked to see what the notations were about.

  324877

  324878

  324879…

  It was a sequence of numbers increasing by one. That was what filled both notebooks, and presumably the blackened ones, as well. The mages really had been trying to figure out the code to the door. Thinking back, Valanil realized the one punching in the numbers had tapped ten of them right before being attacked. How many years had they been at it?

  The woman went over to the door, placed a hand on it, and listened closely. Nothing. It was cold, thick, solid. Magic wasn’t going to get through it. A flask full of acid went flying, and the green liquid splashing across the metal, though it just rolled off harmlessly and hissed when it hit the stone ground. That wasn’t an option. And while Valanil didn’t really have anything else to try, she assumed the mages had worked through every option they could think of before coming to the conclusion that figuring out the code was the only way through. As luck would have it, they couldn’t even ask the pair what was on the other side.

  Valia stepped closer to the scorched bodies, looked away, and placed a hand on one of them, trying to get the whole thing over as quickly as possible.

  Lo
ot received:

  12522 gold.

  588 coins.

  Valanil Revolt receives Bukamonster-III card.

  Valanil Revolt receives complete level III outfit.

  Valanil Revolt receives Ice Strike-III card (2).

  Valia Levor receives complete level III outfit.

  Ka-Do-Gir receives Sphere of Reflection-III.

  Tailyn Vlashich receives Intellect-III ring.

  “What kind of distribution is that?!” The cave resounded with Tailyn’s frustrated yell, and the rest of the group doubled over in laughter. The god had never screwed the boy over that thoroughly when it came to the loot.

  Chapter 11

  “VALIA, COULD I ask you a personal question?” Tailyn even pushed his face guard back to make sure nobody could hear him. The girl’s heart both skipped a beat and thumped faster — a personal question… The older girls often giggled about that topic, casting condescending glances at the younger ones as they did as if to tell them they needed to grow up a little first. But there it was. Her turn to grow up. It was exciting… In fact, it was so exciting her palms grew instantly sweaty. What was he going to ask? It was his first question… After looking over at Valanil and Ka-Do-Gir to see that they were still working on the closed door, the girl opened her own face guard and whispered back with cheeks slightly flushed.

  “Go ahead.”

  “Why did we attack the mages?”

  The girl’s jaw dropped — that was the last question she’d been expecting. For a while, Valia stared at Tailyn in shock at his blockheaded ignorance, as, really, ignorant he was, until she finally burst out in undisguised annoyance.

  “Idiot!”

  “I’m serious!” Tailyn didn’t have a clue what to write her sudden change of demeanor off to, so he decided to just keep going. “What did the mages do to deserve us attacking them? Valanil just jumped right in so confidently that I didn’t really think about it, and then there wasn’t time to talk once everything got going. But still! You and I are trying to get into the academy, and they’re all mages. So why are we just killing one after another? I’m confused…”

  “And you couldn’t think about that earlier?” Valia hissed furiously. Apparently, her friends were right — she was too young for real personal questions. Although, it was possible her chosen one was just a dumb, uneducated hillbilly.

  “The answer is simple, my boy,” Valanil said as she came over. She’d heard the whole thing — neither Tailyn nor Valia had turned off their microphones. “Why don’t you try to guess for yourself? I’ll give you a few hints. This tunnel isn’t on the map you got from the black lix, and they’re the real owners of these lands. The entrance, as you may have noticed, wasn’t exactly well-traversed. If it hadn’t been for Keran, we would never have found out about it, and there wasn’t anyone besides those two mages anywhere near here. Then, they were working quietly and without light just to make sure they didn’t attract unexpected guests. The door clearly belongs to someone at the academy, and they’re in no hurry to chat about it — when I was there, I heard nothing about work going on in the Gray Lands. So, my boy, you tell me. Was attacking a good idea?”

  Tailyn hadn’t looked at the problem from that angle. Certainly, it would have been much simpler for the mages to destroy their group rather than find out how they’d gotten into the passageway, not to mention what they were doing there. If they were trying to break through the door in secret, they would have done anything to conceal that secret. And four accidental witnesses were the last thing they needed.

  “Keran knew the code phrase, but he didn’t tell us in time. Or he didn’t want to,” Valanil continued. “And just for future reference, Tailyn, if you want to ask Valia about something not related to your relationship, don’t use the phrase ‘personal question.’ It has a very different meaning.”

  About their relationship? Tailyn glanced over at Valia awkwardly. Hugging and cuddling was one thing, and a great thing at that. But talking about it… No, he definitely wasn’t ready for that. Perhaps, when he grew up…in another two hundred years or so.

  “This belongs to you.” Valanil materialized the complete outfit she’d gotten and held it out to Tailyn. “We’ll take care of the amulet and staff later — I don’t like owing people.”

  “Oh, right!” Valia said, also handing Tailyn the outfit she’d gotten.

  “Don’t even think about going to level four right now,” the herbalist said when she saw the boy’s thoughtful face. Just like when he’d bought them, he’d gotten a message asking if he wanted to combine them to boost the level.

  “Sweetie, how’s your wisdom? Up to eight yet?”

  “Yes,” Valia replied after a pause. Giving your parameters away wasn’t the best idea, but the fact that Tailyn trusted the strange woman meant she could, as well.

  “In that case, here.” Valanil handed over an Ice Strike-III card. “Call it a gesture of good will, no strings attached, no payment needed. That’ll make you a better weapon.”

  While everyone was passing loot around, Tailyn checked out the ring he’d gotten.

  Intellect-III ring. Description: a rare item and a great find for any mage. Intellect +5; magic attack +10.

  Having already figured out what the sphere of reflection was, Tailyn decided against taking it from Ka-Do-Gir. The lix spent his time jumping around right in the enemy’s face, so he needed universal protection he could roll out in a matter of moments. It didn’t require using a card, it attached to a hip, and it reflected spells back at whoever was casting them. And while it only lasted two minutes, it was like the protective barrier in that it didn’t keep you from using cards. If things got hot, the lix would have a way to survive.

  “Have you figured out what the door is?” Tailyn asked, anxious to broach any topic except those personal questions.

  “Yes, of course,” Valanil replied with a snort. “Those mages have been here for years, but it only took the lix and me a few seconds to figure out what’s on the other side and why the academy needs it. Should we tell you the code, or can you guess it yourself?”

  “It was just a simple question. Why do you have to go off on him like that?” Valia asked. She didn’t like anyone else getting on her boy’s case. That was her job.

  “Because it was a stupid question,” Valanil shot back. “Tailyn needs to learn which questions are appropriate, and which he should think through on his own. Your world is pretty harsh when it comes to that. Or am I wrong, little duchess?”

  Valia looked like she’d been hit with a belt — only her father talked with her like that. But the herbalist was right. Tailyn was too naïve, there was a lot he didn’t know, and he was a heartless blockhead on top of it. Hillbilly.

  “Tailyn, show us your map.” Once Valanil was sure nobody else was after her role as group leader, she calmed down. It was time to work. A few selections later, and the boy projected a stunningly detailed map of the Gray Lands. The lix lit a lamp and held it up to illuminate the area.

  “We’re right here,” the herbalist said, jabbing a finger at the middle of their mountain. “Heading back isn’t an option — Berad and the black lixes are over there. They’ll have their noses to the ground trying to find us. On the other side, the tunnel’s taking us here. The empire’s nearest point is two weeks away, though we’ll have to cross this area, Tartila Mine. And while I’m not sure what that is, I have no desire to get a closer look. The lixes stay away; we should, too. So, we’ll have to go around, and that’s a problem — the mountains are on one side, and the Forest of Desire is on the other.”

  “Why is that a problem?” Valia asked when the woman fell silent.

  “Because Tailyn won’t be able to get in. We have our slave markings, so the security system will let us through, but he doesn’t. They’ll kill him. And that’s a problem.”

  An uncomfortable silence draped itself over the group.

  “Are you sure? Tailyn doesn’t have…” Valia stopped when she realized it wasn’t her
secret to share.

  “I’m perfectly well aware he’s only partially initiated,” Valanil replied, deciding to place a couple of her cards on the table. “That’s how he got regeneration and card saturation, and it’s also how he was able to access the terminals in the City of the Dead. But this is different. The protection is against everyone who tries to get in.”

  “Then why did you agree when Keran wanted to take us there?” Tailyn asked in surprise.

  “Because I didn’t see any other way to get away from Berad,” Valanil said nervously. She didn’t want to answer awkward questions. Of course, she’d just been trying to lull the mage into a false sense of security, but was she really going to tell the two kids that?

  “By the way, Tailyn, you need to figure out what to do about the lix,” the herbalist said. “He doesn’t understand our conversation, and you end up having to constantly translate. That takes too much time. It could get us killed in battle, too. No, he needs to learn our language. Give me one of your crystals, and I’ll make that happen.”

  Valia glanced at the boy in surprise, and his face darkened. He knew how passionate the girl was about the law. Crystals, or at least holding them, were a capital crime — the empire kept close tabs on its interests.