135 – Sidekick Gains

Scrappy weaved through the obstacles, straining her muscles and her limbs in ways she didn’t think possible. It wasn’t easy. In fact, it was the opposite of easy. It was painful, tiring and extremely taxing on her mind, but the more attempts at the course she took, the better she became at it.

It was at her third try that she finally understood why Sir Albert was making her do this. She had to grow accustomed to her new human body if she wanted to make the best of it, and having a skill without knowing what her body could do would do nothing good for her.

So, she gritted her teeth, grinding them against each other as she demanded every ounce of strength, coordination and balance from her body. It took a long time, or what at least felt like a long time, but eventually she stood at the end of the fading obstacle course, covered in sweat and mud, eyes shining with pride and happiness. She had done it, she had completed the quest and gotten her skill.

“Good job!” Albert told her, beaming with pride. He himself felt a bit guilty for not having watched her all the way through the course.

He felt like she deserved better than this, no matter the fact that he had had other things to do. He shook his head, trying not to sour his mood any more than it already was. The whole Lina debacle had been weird to say the least.

Scrappy beamed at the praise, and her eyes darted back and forth as she read through the description of her new skill.

“Do you have a status now? Something?”

“Ah, I have uh… I think I can show you, that I can. Let me try.”

A gentle tug reached Albert’s mind, like a knock on a far away door. He accepted the request coming from Scrappy’s own form of magic, and watched with interest as a feeble temporary connection was established between his mind and something made of mana and Doom, inexplicably linked together and clearly belonging to her.

The connection itself was ethereal and odd, starting off as mana and Doom and terminating as something different when it met his own absence of magical energy. Nonetheless, the connection was functional and stable, and soon a blue box appeared in his vision. Scrappy’s status.

Name: Scrap “Scrappy” Foundling Race: Human* Class: Black Cat - LOCKED Attributes: LOCKED Skills: Dodge (growth)

 

Albert hummed, focusing on the skill now.

Dodge (growth)

The ability to sense and dodge incoming attacks. As your proficiency with this skill grows, you will be able to sense attacks better, faster, and further into the future. Likewise, your ability to dodge them will increase, allowing your body to move in otherwise impossible ways.

 

“Interesting.” Albert said. “No skill levels. How does it feel?”

“Like a new arm! It’s weird.” Scrappy said.

“A new arm?”

“I feel like I have a new limb, that I do. I—”

Albert suddenly tossed a stone at her. He had materialized it in his hand using Power, making the attack as unpredictable as possible and yet, despite the considerable speed at which he threw the stone, the girl moved and jerked her body so that his throw only managed to hit empty air.

“Impressive. Seems to give you instinctive as well as adapted neural pathways. Very good. It should grow very strong once you train it enough.”

Scrappy nodded. “I will train it, Sir, that I will. If you… could help me with that?”

“Of course.” The obstacle course vanished into iridescent soap bubbles, and Albert felt a semblance of the spent power return to him for some reason. In the background of his mind, he felt a shuffle. Jeff was taking notes and compiling models.

“But not now.” He continued. “Someone came through the Bastion gate already, and more are bound to notice. Not to mention the mana saturation is increasing. We need to get moving.”

They set off, walking for a few minutes in silence. Scrappy kept testing her skill, moving around and about, dodging invisible enemies that she was making up in her mind as if she was fighting a battle. Albert, instead, studied the walls of the cave, more and more convinced that he knew where it would end up.

“I have an inkling I might know where this cave leads.” Albert said.

“You do?” Scrappy looked up.

They were making their way at a quick but not hurried pace towards the exit. With some luck, Lina might have cleared up whatever remained of the thing the B-rankers were fighting, or perhaps the thing was gone, and the coast was clear.

“I think it might lead to Tulebord village, or close to it. Last time I saw this strange form of ice and monsters—” he tossed a fireball right at that moment, and when Scrappy’s eyes widened in wonder, he felt that the effort of tracking the ice creature and waiting for the best moment to dispatch of it had been worth it. Theatrics. “Well, last time I saw them I was in the Spinetree mountains close to the village. And the cave here might be connected to the cave system there.”

The tunnel finally opened up to a frozen underground lake, an eerie sight of deep blue and azure light, encased in frost. The ceiling of the cave was not far, but the jagged and pointy rocks were enshrouded in mist, cold and damp. At the other side of the lake were many signs of battle, felled formations and cracks in the ice. Three dark figures could be seen, their features too hard to make out from a distance. It was clear, however, that two were on the ground while one paced among them, hands on his head.

All three looked like men, the team of B-rankers Albert had tricked into using the die to enter the catacombs. There was no sign of current battle, although the scars in the terrain led all the way to a narrow passage in the ice, which the standing figure avoided in his frantic pacing.

The echo of his voice reached Albert’s ears, dissonant words impossible to make out. Scrappy could hear it too, and her face darkened as she understood what she was seeing. At the same time, the reek of Doom energy reached Albert’s magical metaphorical nose. Meanwhile, Lina was nowhere to be seen. Strange.

The B-ranker spotted them before they crossed even half of the frozen lake, the ice thick enough not to be a problem. He yelled.

“You!” His voice was broken, mad, insane. “You caused this!”

Albert stopped, a protective hand shoving Scrappy behind him. “Be ready.” He whispered. “I caused what?” He replied loudly once Scrappy was safe behind his – now quite noticeable – bulk.

“You killed them!” The man said, screaming so loud it echoed across the tunnel. “You killed them with your cursed die. They were my ticket out, now I am stuck here! You!”

With each word, the man’s voice grew in pitch, trembling with barely contained rage. It was clear he was going to attack them no matter what. Albert scanned him, finding the body of the ranker to be riddled with Doom energy, a twisted and contorted version of the purer Doom energy suffusing Scrappy’s body. It was far more powerful and dense than it had been in the catacombs.

Albert spoke, aiming to buy himself some time. “Two unlucky ones, your friends. Ones, get it? Cause they rolled a one. That’ll teach ya. No gambling on these premises.”

His eyes settled on the two lying on the ice. The other man screamed. “You did this.” He growled. “I’ll end you.”

“Me?” Albert chuckled. “They did it, not me. Draw a one, you die. That’s the rules man. They knew it, they played the game anyway. Or, perhaps…” he let the words linger. “You made them do it against their will? Did you, now?”

That was enough to make the B-ranker snap. But it was all good, because Albert was ready. He suddenly turned to Scrappy. “Run. Find cover.”

The girl immediately started running back towards where they came from. Albert put himself between them, just as the magical energy finished gathering around the B-ranker and rocks enveloped in flame began to materialize around him. However, something was wrong.

“I will kill you!” The B-ranker snapped, and the energy moved.

Albert suddenly realized the problem. The energy was too much, far beyond what the man should have been able to generate. There was only one possible explanation for this: Doom had somehow interfered and granted him much more might than normally possible.

Albert had no time to plan. Instead, he did the first thing that came to mind to make sure he could withstand the incoming barrage: he added new constraints to the use of his Power so that it would be stronger within the now narrower confines of its existence. It would be harder, but he had Jeff to help him.

One, two, three steps. At the third step Albert focused and parried the incoming barrage with the magical implement he had fabricated as soon as the B-ranker attacked, while Jeff tracked the projectiles. As he parried, Albert paced towards the man who wanted him dead more than anything in the world. He walked calmly, his vision flooded with vectors of attack and defense, and center of it all was the selected manifestation of his Power, a compromise between versatility, effectiveness and restrictions.

***

Lina watched from her hiding spot. As soon as she had reached the larger cavern, she had noticed the corpses on the ice and had managed to hide herself from the enraged man standing in the middle of the corpses of his former teammates. Even unable to grasp his features, she knew he was mad with rage, covered in blood and gore not from a fight but from the desecration of the corpses themselves.

At first, Lina did not understand. But then she heard what the strange, dangerous elf-man Albert said, and something resonated within her. Soon, any need to understand vanished from her mind, replaced by a red haze. She was angry, so angry. How could Albert be so disrespectful? Like plucked strings, a discordant chorus of emotions invaded her mind, finding purchase in her thoughts. She had no idea what they were, or where they came from, but at that moment she didn’t even suspect they might be alien, coming from somewhere outside of her.

Almost as if to confirm her suspicions when Albert arrived in the room, little girl in tow, the first thing he did was taunt the B-ranker into an even madder rage. Lina grimaced. She knew of people like this, like Albert. She knew they were bad news and this knowledge had been why she had fled as soon as she saw Albert’s race, behavior, and his magic.

Now, he could be an opportunity. Let them fight each other, and she could slip around them unnoticed. She debated with herself, for a long moment, whether she should join the fight. The debate suddenly ended when the B-ranker began to attack. It was a veritable storm of flaming projectiles, like an inferno of fire and lava being shot at Albert from afar.

She had never thought the man would be a mage, and now she blessed her lucky stars for not having shown herself – she could have never withstood such a barrage of projectiles.

Albert on the other hand… he suddenly appeared between the girl and the B-rank. The man shot more projectiles while Albert advanced slowly, one step after the other, deliberate and calculated. It was eerie, and not only because of the blank expression on the elf’s face. There was something in his hands, like a rope of luminous power that terminated in a ball of impossible black metal. He swung it around, and every third of his slow deliberate steps he intercepted the projectiles being sent his way and reflected them back.

Perfect parries, all of them. Lina’s jaw dropped.

Suddenly the tide of battle changed. The B-ranker was on the back foot, and through visible strain and struggle Albert managed to send every projectile unerringly back to the sender.

Until they ceased. The B-ranker had found something, gaze settling on a dark part of the cave. Lina followed it until she too saw the small figure of the girl in the distance, at the other side of the large room. New projectiles were fired and, in mere moments, they all converged towards the girl. Albert tried to throw himself to the side, to protect her, but his magic failed the moment he fell out of step and he was too far to intercept more than a couple stay shots with his body.

Lina gasped when the loud explosion rocked the cavern. The projectiles were even more dangerous than she thought.

Lina gasped again when she saw the nimble girl walk away from the explosion unscathed, as if she had never been hit in the first place. But more projectiles followed, and the girl paled. Albert cursed, saying something she didn’t understand, and shot to his feet at an impossible speed. He struggled forward, unsteadily but incredibly quick, towards the girl.

“Idiot.” Lina muttered to herself despite her judgment. “You should have gone for the ranker first.”

Gritting her teeth, Lina joined the battle. The discordant tune in her mind roared, but she ignored it. For a moment her rage was nothing but a sharp blade, hers to shape and use like a tool. Against the B-ranker.