Chapter 28: Dungeon delving, part 6

After they had breakfast, they got up and Rina summoned some light wisps to guide their path. Soon, they ended up with a fork in the road.

"Jar, you go left. Yar, you go right," Thomas commanded, and he sat down to wait for the two crocodiles to do just that. Karl translated, and the two beasts were off.

"Do you really think that we should be letting them go alone?" Rina asked. She didn't doubt that the slimes could protect themselves. A look at their muscled bodies covered in thick scales could counter her doubts in a minute's time. Yet, she still felt that the two crocodile-slimes were simply not smart enough to come back.

"Nothing bad will happen. Do you want to train?" Thomas asked. He took out his harp, and his fingers hovered over the strings.

"You want to train that black miasma, right?" The elf asked and her companion nodded.

"I can send it to places, but it is sluggish," he said, and looked at her with a hopeful gaze.

"Sure, let us get this show on the road," Rina took out her bow. "You make them and have them fly in patterns; I will use them as target practice."

"Deal," Thomas began playing the mournful tune, and a couple of black miasma balls came into existence. He made them dance around Rina. Hops and flips. Little twirls. She aimed her bow at the nearest one, and let loose an arrow.

Only for Thomas to change the tune, and have the ball twirl out of the arrow's reach. It began spinning in place, and then he made it go up, towards the ceiling.

"This won't be easy, then," the elf muttered under her nose, and aimed at the same ball. She let loose another arrow, only for the dark-haired adventurer to change the tune again, and for the ball to dart off to the left. It again spun in place, then it began to lazily float around.

"What are you trying to tell me with all that spinning?" Rina bit out. Thomas chuckled.

"Well, it is unclear to me why the balls spin. They just do. Don't get frustrated now," but Rina had a red mist over her eyes. So, she nocked another arrow.

The ball was by the entrance. Almost invisible in the darkness. Rina let loose three arrows in quick succession. One to the left, one to where the ball was, and one to the right. She should have let loose two more, for the ball dived.

Soft laughter broke Rina out of her trance. She saw Thomas laughing as he played.

"Having fun, are you?" She snapped, as the summoner nodded. "Well, watch this."

Rina turned away from the nimble ball, and took aim at the other ones. She readied more mana than for a single arrow, and let loose a barrage.

Yet, Thomas made the tune more energetic, and the balls formed into a single big ball, that was hard enough to have the arrows bounce off it.

"That is cheating, Thomas," she turned to him, only to see him staring in amazement at the ball.

"I just wanted them to dive," it became clear to the elf then, that what Thomas was doing now was not exercising control over the balls, but rather, simply animating them.

"Well, it is high time that you trained as well. Come on, Thomas, make them move the way you want them to," Rina commanded.

Thomas began to play the tune he had played when the nimble ball had dived. As one, the balls began to dive and rise back up. Rina smirked, and took aim for another barrage. When she let it loose, Thomas played the tune that made the balls merge into a single one, and the balls were saved.

"Argh!" Rina would have stormed off, if there was anywhere to storm off to. There was not, so she observed the balls. They were still a part of the giant ball, so, she tried to find something missing in the merged miasma creation.

She saw something move from the corner of her eye, and noticed the nimble ball making its way towards the big one. It was close to Thomas. Hovering over his ear.

Without thinking, she let loose an arrow, and it finally hit true. Thomas fell on the ground from the shock of an arrow being aimed at him. He blinked at the disappearing ball, and pointed a finger at his companion.

"Rina, you could have taken out my eye," he protested. Only for the elf to smirk down at him.

"Never keep your mobs behind yourself," she simply told him, as Thomas's eyes narrowed. He began to play a more erratic tune, that had something like a nail on a board quality to it. Rina looked behind her, only to see the big ball turning into a cat, and growling at her.

"Good kitty?" She tried, and then she had to run. The cat left burn marks on the stone, and Rina didn't want to see what sort of marks it would leave on her. She reached the fork in the road, and the cat jumped before her.

"Nowhere to run, Rina," for a second, the elf could have sworn that Thomas sounded ominous.

"Come now, Tommy, I was just playing," Rina managed a weak laugh, yet, the cat didn't stop its advance.

"Really? It didn't look like it," Thomas growled behind her. Rina backed away until she hit something solid. She turned behind her and saw Thomas. In a second, she got an idea. Getting behind him, she used him as a shield against the cat.

"You can't summon a thing like that outside of battle. I was just playing, Tommy," Rina said again, as Thomas began to chuckle.

"Ha, got you," the elf couldn't believe her ears. Thomas had played a prank on her. With no remorse, she hit him over the head.

"Training is over, jackass. I am not speaking to you until we get out of this dungeon," Rina snapped, and stormed off to wait at the right fork in the road.