“I’m sorry for how I treated you in the past, please let me help with the hunt and don’t leave me alone with him.”

Thera had just gotten back to the house after discussing what they could try with Sachel and Ralia in the event Ben couldn’t make anything, but as soon as they set foot inside Skoe had immediately prostrated before her, throwing his face into the ground to try to show his sincerity.

“Ben’s trying to improve things for the village as well as make something to help Sachel, don’t be a baby.” She told him coldly, trying to walk past him despite the fact he wasn’t giving up.

“Not only is that guy insane, he’s a slave driver! I’ve gotten the zeroth level in both woodworking and torsion enhancement because of how much he’s made me do! I hadn’t even heard of torsion enhancement! That isn’t even mentioning whatever he’d been doing to my mind for the last few hours!”

Hmm, I guess he has been expecting Skoe to keep up with his work pace a bit more than he usually does from other people, but then again who cares? It’s still to help the village and his friend, he can deal.

“Again, don’t be a baby. You must have noticed Ben’s worked just as hard for even longer hours, can the mighty warrior not keep up with the humble craftsman?”

Even if she knew describing Ben like that was a ridiculous understatement she really wanted to drive the point home, and while he continued to grovel Ralia had her own question.

“Ben, what have you been doing to his mind that has him like this?”

“An excellent question but nothing much. I needed to make a tool that could interact with the user's thoughts so I tried creating something that would let him use complex mind. I guess the feeling of constantly growing another mind or two as I fiddled with it was a little disorienting, that’s all. Either way, don’t worry about it because I was able to make what you’d asked for. Kind of at least.”

“You created a tool that would let us track them!” Sachel asked, eyes sparkling with hope.

“Again, kind of,” He handed over what looked like five small quartz cups and began to explain how they worked. “Basically these are mind control helmets with some mental enhancement aspects. If you capture some of the bats and give them simple instructions they should obey. It needs to be simple to understand though, I’m basically making word speak+ interact with the concepts that exist in their brains already, so stick to things like ‘go home’ or ‘come here’ for best results, anything more complicated than a few simple words probably won’t get through. Two things to remember is that I haven’t had a chance to test them for, well legal reasons, and also that you’ll have to get them to come back to you every now and then to replenish the mana as it drains. You might be able to make the bats fill it themselves, but I wouldn’t count on it.”

While Sachel was viewing him with respect, seeing a dependable apostle that was able to come through with her challenging request, both Ralia and Skoe were looking at him in horror at so easily admitting to creating a mind control enchantment. 

Thera wasn’t overly surprised, given that she’d seen some of the tools he’d created in the past and knew what he was aiming for in the future, but the fact he’d gone from getting the request to completing it so fast was still impressive, she’d thought it would take at least a couple days before he’d come up with a solution.

She looked back down to the ground where Skoe continued to beg her. If Ben’s tool really did work then they’d probably be led to a large group of them, possibly more than the three of them could reasonably handle. If they wanted to get it done quickly then this was probably the best option.

“Fine, you can join us for the hunt so long as you don’t do anything stupid.”

“So you forgive me?”

“What? No, don't be an idiot. I still don’t like you but it seems like we might need more hands. I’m not going to put myself in danger when I can use you to reduce the risk.”

It also makes things a bit easier if we need to run away, if he’s really sorry I’m sure he won’t mind protecting everyone as we get to safety.

Whatever the reason, he was just grateful to be out of Ben’s grasp and Sachel was happy to have the extra hands before moving on to discuss payment.

“Alright, how much do you want for these?” She asked, bracing herself for the worst. There weren’t many enchanters that could pull together something like that, especially without any proper tools to place it on, and she was expecting to spend a long while destitute, paying off both this and the money she owed him for getting her released from the pit she was being imprisoned in, but he shocked her with a different offer.

“Instead of money, how about this, I get one favour from you. I don’t have anything in mind right now, but if I ever need help I get your help, sound good?”

Her teammates were off to the side, gesturing wildly not to take the deal, thinking he was the sort of man that would ask something unreasonable and they should just owe him more money instead, but she didn’t notice, not giving them a glace as she happily agreed with the apostle of the god she had so much faith in.

“Absolutely! Anything you need, me and the others will help you with it!”

Her party visibly deflated as Sachel promised away not only herself, but them as well, but she didn’t notice, instead focusing her full attention to making a plan for what they hoped would be their last hunt.

 

---

 

Sachel had made the plan, leaving the beginning and most important part to Thera.

“Are you ready?” The half dryad asked her, which she returned with a nod, slipping off her cloak and preparing for however many would come.

It always took a few minutes for them to show up, so as they waited she began removing the charm from vast quantities of her dark mana, all in preparation for a single spell. Ever since she acquired the skill, her speed and ability to do so had improved, even if it left her magic useless outside of certain situations like this where she had plenty of time to prepare, but that didn’t matter. Any improvement to her magic was improvement overall, and having the ability in her arsenal was proving handy as she felt the spell in her mind take shape.

“They’re coming,” Ralia spoke quietly, warning the rest as Thera stretched out her staff.

The mana and spell both felt they were going to burst from her, but she did her best to keep it under control. They just needed a few more seconds, just until she got her eyes on the bats to know where to fire.

Just a few more seconds, just a little more. She told herself, feeling sweat form on her brow as she did before the first bat came into her line of sight, meaning the others would be close enough that it wouldn’t matter.

In a feeling of release, no longer suppressing that temperamental mana, she fired it out towards the bats and watched as they fell to the ground, one by one, getting a total of nine of them with her spell, sleep.

“Great work,” Sachel told her encouragingly as she went to each of them, killing four while putting the small hats on the rest, giving each a little shake as she did, trying to pull them from their induced rest.

It took a bit of waiting, but one by one they all woke up and stared at them, seeming filled with expectations as they did.

Sachel took a breath, knowing that if this didn’t work they’d have to try all over again to come up with a solution as she made her request. “Stay close and head home.”

She’d discussed the matter with her god who believed that would be the most complex phrase they could understand with the effects of world speak placed on their brains and held her breath, not daring to hope too hard as she did.

There was no need to worry though, Ben’s work paid off. The large bats flew close to the ground and just in front of them, bringing them all up to a jog to follow along as they did, going towards where the others could be found.

 

---

 

“This is insane,” Ralia muttered. As the one with the best eyesight at night, she was best equipped to judge where they were going and how many they were up against so she had taken the lead following the bats as hours passed.

None of them had expected to find where all of the bats had been coming from close by, but they’d followed for so long that it would only be an hour or two before the sun began to rise before they’d caught sight of their targets.

There was a chill in the air as deep in the woods, hundreds of frost bats made their home in the trees, altering the environment to match their desires as they coated everything in a thick layer of frost. Ralia was already shivering and wrapped herself around Sachel for warmth, as the rest of them tried to figure out how to deal with it.

“So if this is where they’re coming from then that means we have to get rid of all of them?” Skoe asked in shock. “There’s no way, this is too many.”

“We’ve worked too hard to just give up,” Sachel argued. “Thera, do you think you’ll be able to disrupt enough of them that we could stand a chance?”

“Maybe, but it looks like Ralia won’t be able to fight, and to get the effect you’re looking for my staff won’t be able to hold up.”

“Your earth magic’s improved, right? We don’t need to worry about damaging any of these trees, so do you think you’ll be able to use any more spells after?”

“Not well. I can use my telekinesis in tandem with my earth magic to fire earth bullets, but it’s slow. I wouldn’t recommend depending on it.”

“Every bit helps. Besides, I think we can make it work. The light will be up soon so they should be resting. If we just wait for that we should be able to catch them all off guard. As long as you disrupt them and are able to do a bit of attacking, me and Skoe will handle the rest.”

While not perfect, it was the best idea they had and they agreed to wait it out, backing off a little bit to try and let Ralia recover from the cold.

Unfortunately, even the best-laid plans don’t always work, and this was far from the best of plans. Some passing bats, out and returning to the others, spotted them where they sat and let out a high-pitched shriek, seemingly calling the colony over in a massive drove.

The air was thick with the sounds of wings beating and they needed to spring into action far earlier than they’d expected. Ralia was still freezing but trying to do what she could by taking her beast form, while Skoe readied his swords and shields and Sachel readied her own earth magic, creating blades of dirt to spin above her.

Of all of them, Thera took the lead, doing what she’d planned and preparing a life magic spell of massive proportions. She couldn’t be sure the entire group was flying towards them, so she needed to make it bigger than she’d initially planned to try and stretch back farther, gathering enough of the life mana within her and forcing it through the small staff that she felt it begin to crack in her hands before the spell was even released, and exerting every bit of control she could manage, forcefully firing it off before it turned to dust in her hand.

 

<LIFE MAGIC LEVEL INCREASED>

 

The outcome of her spell had been more powerful than any she’d used before, and its effect was apparent. While they couldn’t be sure they were dead, almost two-thirds of the bats flying their way collapsed to the ground, leaving Sachel and Skoe to handle the rest.

Sachel focused on acting on the ones at a distance, tearing through the swarm with her earthen saw while Skoe covered her, attacking any bat that managed to grow too close. They had the advantage for the time being, the bats being thoroughly disoriented by Thera’s spell and the immediate loss of so many of their colony, but they couldn’t be sure the effects would last and they had to make the time count.

Thera herself deviated from the initial plan slightly, trusting the others to manage as she did. It would be disastrous if the bats she’d taken out were alive and able to get up after some rest, so she did her best to account for that, using her earth magic to raise a cloud of dust over the bodies, the same way she would be able to when her level was low, but with the benefits of her skill having increased so much since then that she was able to bring it down with overwhelming force, the bats on the ground unable to avoid the attack as the forest filled with the sounds of bones snapping.

The others to their credit kept working at chipping through the numbers as she attempted her attack again, curious if it could be of any use on the ones still flying, but with less success. It looked like she’d gotten a couple, but any that weren’t taken down by her first attack had enough mobility to adjust their bodies as they felt the pressure form against it, avoiding the majority of its effect.

It was possible she might be able to get a bit more out of that strategy, but for the time being she focused on what she’d agreed to do, creating her oversized earth bullets and throwing them into the approaching mass.

It wasn’t nearly as quick as what the others were managing with their attacks, but she more than made up for it with volume, taking out tens of them as her boulder sailed through the air.

In the heat of battle, it was impossible to know how long they’d been at it, but it was clear exhaustion was setting in. Sachel’s attacks were slowing as she tried to conserve mana, and the swings of Skoe’s swords had been losing power as well, but one of them stopped. The bats were beginning to come to their senses and had been working in tandem on an attack, so slow that none had noticed, but now they were all feeling the effects. 

The severe chill in the air was a result of the water in it slowly being frozen, a layer of frost forming against all of their equipment as they fought. It had barely been noticeable at first, but as they all lost body heat flecks of ice began to form on their skin as well.

Skoe was filling his role as the front line warrior, doing his best to take the attacks for the mages as the fight went on with his injuries beginning to pile up. Something had to give.

“Thera, I think I can manage to deal with the frost and keep them attacking for a bit, but I’ll be spent. Is there anything you can manage?” Sachel asked, feeling the sting of the ice on her flesh.

“That depends, do you mind if your staff is destroyed?”

“Ha, not much of a price if it gets this over with and we all live. Think you can get Ben to make me a new one after?”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

Sachel let out a chuckle, doing her best to ignore the feeling of the frost seeping into her bones as she threw managing her mana to the wind, instead pulling all of the water in the area to her, completely depriving the bats of their means of wearing them out as she did so and handed the staff to Thera.

Removing the frost wasn’t warming her up, but at the very least she wasn’t getting any colder as she prepared her spell. This wasn’t a staff Ben had prepared specifically for her, which meant it wasn’t built to resist her magic. Staves like that had always been difficult for her to use, but it was far better than not having one, and she attempted the same thing she’d done before to all of the bats on the ground, but at a much bigger scale, Raising thick clouds of dirt and dust into the sky before bringing it crashing down with such force that no bat could reasonable react in time as pebbles and dust ripped through flesh, finally bringing the battle to a close.

<EARTH MAGIC LEVEL INCREASED>