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A long but thin green tentacle hung from my hand. Swinging it from left to right, I waited patiently. My prey was fierce and unrelenting, looking out for the perfect moment to strike the tentacle. Small, abrupt, and incomplete feints were tempting me to withdraw the tentacle, but I knew better than to let the beast win over me. It wasn’t our first battle, and I doubted it would be our last. Understanding me well, the monster finally attacked. Launching itself into the air, it used one of its heads to bite the tentacle. I tried to withdraw, but at last, I was far too slow. At this point, even if I would try to get the monster off forcefully, it would simply use two other heads to hang on the tentacle.

“How long is this gonna last?” I wondered.

It has been a little while since Shadow Emery had abandoned me. While playing with Hybry was always fun, there was a limit to what I could endure while listening to all the fighting going on outside. Still feeling some pain here and there, Hybry had bested me way too many times to the point I doubted I could win any game against him. I couldn’t blame my injuries anymore, this was a pure skill issue.

Just like she asked me, I was waiting for help inside one of the fortress rooms. It was just beside the entrance leading to the middle of the fortress, so I would immediately know if somebody were to enter or exit.

With most of the bleeding stopped, Tenta didn’t need to stretch as much anymore to cover all my wounds.

Tired of losing to a cute monster, I wanted to test something I thought about. During my fight with the Shadow Killer, I used a simple Flash fire spell to put him on fire inside his armour. While I got what I wanted, I didn’t expect to put his armour on fire. I was pretty sure metal can burn, but not that easily. The heat shouldn’t have been close enough to obtain such an effect. One way or another, the fire I used had a secondary effect I never thought or knew about.

It was also strange that I wasn’t as burned as much as I thought I would by my own spell. As far as I knew, a fire affinity didn’t help that much when engulfed in flames. While I thought about it, the fire didn’t seem as damaging to him as I expected, which could explain why he lasted that long while on fire.

Shadow Emery did say to rest and get some mana back, but it wasn’t like I couldn’t experiment a little. My reserve was still low, so going crazy was off the chart.

Opening my right hand, I cast the same fire spell I used before, just smaller. Burning in my hand, the flame looked almost normal, but I could see a very faint green melting with the orange and red. Also intrigued by the strange colour of the fire, Hybry picked up in his mouth a wood stick he found and gave it to me. Sitting in my lap, he was curious to see if the wood would burn normally. Playing with fire, that I could do.

Putting the stick on fire, I watched the wood burn slowly. Observing the fire, it ate the wood slower than normal. The damage was there and still unforgiving, but it took longer than it would have with a regular fire to get the same result. When the stick was almost entirely consumed, I used a small water spell to extinguish it. The spell should have been enough, but strangely, the stick was still burning with the fire still going strong.

Curious to see if water could extinguish it at all, I created a small water ball around the fire. Keeping the water as solid as I could with the little mana I had, I held the thing in my hand. While the stick was long gone and became just ash, the fire was going strong. Consuming I didn’t know what for fuel, one thing was sure, this thing wouldn’t die on its own.

Then I realized something. What I just did was a new version of Lavanda’s Inferno Bomb. The biggest difference was that instead of trapping the fire in a prison of wind that would increase its firepower, I used a water ball instead.

Wondering why nobody or even Lavanda tried this sooner, I launched the most basic of fire spells and trapped it in a water ball. Unlike before, this one was extinguished instantly.

There was something different about that fire, and I wanted to know what. The flame was getting weaker with time, but it shouldn’t have lasted more than one second in the first place. In the spirit of having just created a variant of Lavanda’s Inferno Bomb, I threw the ball at a decorative shield hanging from the wall on the opposite side of the room.

Breaker on impact, the water splashed everything near the point of impact. As for the flame that was inside, well, it found a new source of fuel and was now stuck on the shield, eating it away. I wondered for a second what the hell I just created.

Then it hit me, this was a form of highly corrosive fire that could survive on far less fuel than normal. The flame was weaker and smaller by all standards, but it made up for it in sheer survivability.

How my regular spell turned into this corrosive fire was unknown. My mind immediately started to think about possible alternative fire forms. Maybe I could have created something much more flammable or even explosive. Was it possible to turn fire into lava? If the fire turned corrosive because of my affinity with plague, could it turn into lava if mixed with an earth affinity? Could I change the water parameter too?

I could change water into acid or poison, if I could do the same but turn it into a different kind of liquid or water, then could I create much more dangerous spells? My mind was racing with ideas, ranging from turning water into soap or alcohol to pure hydrogen and maybe even …!!!

I immediately began trying to modify the nature of the water I could create. For safety and mana reasons, I started with minuscule doses and worked my way from substances to substances. Just like when I created my acid, I did it by trial and error, the difference was that this time I didn’t have any specific sample I was aiming for.

Relaxing on my lap, Hybry didn’t drink any of the liquid I created for flammability reasons but did help me by using his poison and acid to see the effect it had on the modified water. To economize even more mana, I took the still-burning metal shield and used the fire on it to test the flammability and properties of the liquids.

After a dozen minutes of endless testing, I had found multiple substances that were close to what was available on Earth, like bug spray, a kind of plant oil, something akin to ink and even a slimy almost solid-liquid. Then I found one of humanity's greatest inventions for the better and definitively worse.

Suddenly, a bright yellow light resembling the sun illuminated the room through the window.

Before I was able to investigate, “Emery!!!” I heard someone scream.

“Please give me something to destroy!” I yelled back.

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Five minutes earlier/ Caryly

In the dark light offered by the behemoth moon, two dark silhouettes could barely be seen fighting in the sky. From those on the ground, the only sign that something was happening up there was the sparkle of fireballs the two monsters in the sky were firing.

Flying as fast as he could, Randal dodged a rain of fireballs with a quick dive followed by side barrels. Following behind him was a night wyvern. Even if the two were close to the same colour, a deep shade of black, the night wyvern was nearly unseeable in the dark of the night.

Holding up on Randal's back were Lavanda and Caryly. The elf aimed her bow loaded with an arrow filled with light mana at the target following them. After adjusting for the wind, travelling speed and dozens of fireballs between her target and herself, she fired. Half a second before she released her shot, she lost sight of the wyvern, its scales adjusting to the darkness. She watched the light arrow hit nothing until she caught another glimpse of the night wyvern, still unscathed.

“Dammit, I can’t hit it!”

“Try again, we just need one good hit!” Lavanda yelled as she launched a gust of wind, disrupting the trajectory of a few fireballs that would have hit them otherwise.

This little game had been going on for a little while now. Neither side was going to give up until they had killed their enemies. Randal firepower was stronger than the other wyvern, but his attacks were useless when he couldn’t even see what he was aiming for. The wyvern kept shooting fireballs, only to go invisible when it was done. The woman riding it was wearing an extremely similar black dress, so whenever the wyvern was hiding, she was hidden too.

They had successfully taken minimal damage when they were ambushed, Randal having moved to take the brunt of the hit before it could injure the ladies on his back. His scales were solid and highly resistant to fire, but that didn’t mean he could take them all day. Both in stamina and resistance, he had his limit.

To keep her familiar as safe as she could, Lavanda used a multitude of wind spells to disrupt the hundreds of fireballs shot at them. If this continued, she would run out of mana, which would doom them. Caryly was by far their best chance of hitting the enemy back, but no matter how many arrows she used, they all missed at the last second. Despite the constant creation of light sources with the hundreds of fireballs, it seemed as if its scales were adapting to the light sources in less than a second after its arrival.

“What do we do? We won’t last forever, we need a plan!” Caryly yelled.

“If you could at least hit it with one light arrow, then I could help Randal fireballs track the mana source. No matter how good that bitch is at hiding in the dark, she won’t be able to hide the mana emanation. That would be like trying to hide the sun.”

“I have been trying since the start, but it keeps disappearing before I can react.”

“I could use the special po-”

“Don’t use that ever again!” Caryly screamed in Lavanda's ears.

Caryly continued on a softer, but still serious tone. “I said nothing when I saw you pack it in your pouch because I thought we wouldn’t need it but don’t use it!”

“I don’t think we have a choice!”

“I said no! Remember what happened the last time you used it? You got exiled from the country, it’s going to be much worse this time. The only reason you’re back is because it’s been too long for anybody to know you anymore. The king was kind enough to spare you at the time as thanks for your services, but they made it a law since then. All those who possess or use blood magic are to be executed! I told you, you won’t be able to escape death this time.”

“Are you kidding me? You are arguing right now while we are barely avoiding a fireball shower! Unless you have a better idea, that potion is our best bet. I just have to hope that nobody can recognize blood magic when they see it.”

“Don’t use it, I find a way.”

On her friend's insistence, Lavanda waited. If it came to saving their lives, she didn’t care if it made her a wanted target again. Avoiding another volley of fireballs by the skin of their teeth, she was about to open the pouch containing the potion when Caryly stopped her.

“Fly straight up, I got an idea!”

“You heard her, Randal, fly straight up!”

Pushing the power of his wings to their limits, Randal aimed for the sky as fast as he could. Flying in such a way made him much more vulnerable to attacks than he normally would. Knowing that Lavanda did her best to protect him on her own with as many spells as she knew. Winds deflectors to disrupt the pathing of anything coming close, water barrier extinguishing fireballs, firewalls blocking the view and forcing the enemy to attack from another side, her own fireballs shower to neutralize the projectiles. She burned her mana in the hope that her friend's plan would work, whatever it was.

No, giving up on the pursuit, the woman ordered her night wyvern to circle while climbing up in the sky. This forced the fast monster to fly in predictable ways to keep up with Randal powerful wings, making it easier for him to gain altitude faster.

Despite Lavanda's efforts, her familiar was still hit with a handful of fire projectiles. While weak, she still wished to save her dear wyvern from as much as she could. Behind her, Caryly was looking at the enemy following them. Her eyes were focused, like a hunter tracking the movement of its prey, only waiting for the perfect shot.

When she saw the enemy repeat the same flight pattern as demonstrated earlier, she knew it was her chance.

“Randal!” Caryly said. “ Shoot a fireball straight down. As big as your throat can endure and as bright as the sun!”

Not waiting for confirmation, Randal kept flying while he bent his head downwards and opened his mouth wide. Nothing came out as a small orange light built up in his neck. As the air was sucked in, its intensity grew until it seemed as if a yellow explosion was about to explode in his neck.

His mouth expanded more than it possibly should have been able to as the gargantuan fireball was expelled downwards. Randal broke a few jaw bones in the process, and blood was filling his mouth as his ragged breath tried to fill his tired lungs with air. His ascension was slowed by the pain, but just like the knight he was, he endured it nonetheless.

At least as large as a football field, the humongous fireball shined as bright as the sun, if not more.

Fortunately for the night wyvern, he had plenty of time to dodge the fireball coming from above. With both his master and his eyes focused on the injured target, keeping the climb, none of the two noticed the silhouette coming down way faster than the monstrous fireball ever could.

With the help of wind propulsion, Caryly had dived past the side of the fireball and was aiming her bow at the target more than 150 meters away. When she finished adding light mana to the tip of her arrow, she let go of the shot.

Adding a wind spell on top of it for better propulsion, the arrow flew right under the fireball as the wyvern was right about to go right past it.

“ROAAAAAAAAAHHHH” Penetrating deep in the side just a few inches away from the rider's leg, the light mana emanating from the arrow tip has been made so that anyone looking for it in a kilometre radius would be able to track it easily.

The woman saw the light glowing from the wound and understood the potential danger such magical tracking could offer, and immediately tried to take it off her mount. Grasping the wood, she yanked it out without a care for the pain it would do to her wyvern. Made for situations like this, the arrow tip was shaped like a harpoon with a weak shaft, making it almost impossible to take off without proper care. What she had done not only caused a lot more pain than necessary to the wyvern but was also useless.

“LAVANDA, NOWWWWWWWWW!”

“Take this!” At the signal she had been waiting for, Lavanda concentrated all the mana she had left in manipulating the fireball. Controlling such a massive amount of fire wasn’t easy, even for her.

The further an element was away, the harder it was to control and the more mana it cost to control. Such feet would leave her mana dry long before achieving anything, but that is where the light arrow came in. By spending some mana, she could redirect and somewhat automatize the fireball to follow the light mana, which was so easy to sense that it became visible even to the naked eye.

The wyvern rider's face turned to fear. She saw the gargantuan fireball that should have been easy to avoid coming straight for her face.

“Get me out of here, now!” She yelled at her mount.

Flying away as fast as it could, the wyvern's speed was no match for the field-size fireball and it wouldn’t take long before impact.

The heat became more intense as it approached, the light shining behind like a call to the void waiting for her. She didn’t know if her sweat was from the heat or her fear of what was gonna happen. Uncertain about what she could do, she looked down. The ground was a few thousand feet of gravity away. Since she had left the fighting to her ride, she had plenty of mana left in stock. There were multiple ways of landing safely with the help of spells, but the experience of a free fall was never easy on the mind. Only the truly crazy would do it without hesitation.

Seconds before it was too late, she was shaking, her hands were wet and her heartbeat was speed-running life. “FUCK IT,” Unfastening the rope buckling her to her ride, she let go of the rein and jumped off the side of her creature without looking back.

Scared to hell, the wyvern had only a brief moment to notice that its master had abandoned it when the fire arrived.

“ROAAAAAAAHHHHH……..” Doing it works fast, the fireball exploded, burning, toasting and turning the outside of the night wyvern into a more than well-done steak.

Alive, unconscious or dead. The wyvern fell down the sky harder than a zapped fly. The woman who had been riding it was nowhere to be found.

In her free fall, Caryly waited until she was nearly 100 metres away from the ground and then used a wind spell to decelerate her speed. Starting slow, she gradually began to slow down more and more until she was completely stopped a single foot away from the ground. Not too far away from the out-of-commission enemy night wyvern.

She found herself near the middle of the fortress. A lot of eyes had been turned toward the spectacle that had been happening in the sky and it seemed nobody had noticed her landing.

Flying in an unstable way, Randal did his best to stay stable and land without crashing. When he touched the ground, his legs gave up.

Rushing at his side, Caryly approached the wyvern's head and checked his injuries.

An exhausted Lavanda climbed down his back and joined her friend in the medical assessment. “Please warn me before you do something like that again.”

“Sorry, I was too focused to warn you.”

Giving Randal their full attention, the two began using what mana they had left to patch up Randal wounds. Lavanda didn’t hesitate to use her healing potions to kill the pain and make sure he wouldn’t suffer. On top of that, she gave him his favourite red fruit, which he gobbled up in a single bite to not worsen his injuries.

“You did great,” Caryly said softly. “Sorry to have put this on you. That fireball was magnificent.”

His response was a draconic and rather brute purr.

Randal thick scales had protected him from most of the damage he had sustained during the fire shower. The few that were burned or destroyed would fall off and grow back with time and rest. Lavanda never thought they would encounter such a difficult opponent during this raid. Even if the enemy was nowhere to be found, there were still bandits fighting for their lives.

Seeing that their big reinforcement was lost, dozens of bandits surrendered to the adventurers. The fortress had been ransacked by the flames, and bodies were littering the field as far as the eye could see. While the raid wasn’t over, their fight was done. They did their part.

Lavanda looked around, but couldn’t see Emery or her group anywhere. She wondered if she should go search for the girl, but the thought of leaving Randal behind stopped her. Even if Caryly stayed with him, they were still in enemy territory and he was a rather unmissable target. She knew he would never let her undefended and she would do the same for him.

Tired, both women relaxed against Randal's side. They could feel his powerful heartbeat on their back, which put them at ease.

"Just like old time," Caryly smiled.

They just had to hope that their girls didn’t encounter anyone they couldn’t handle. To her knowledge, the only one who could pose a real challenge was the woman who previously rode the night wyvern. Even if her body hadn’t been found, what were the odds that she survived the fall and that in such a big fortress, filled with adventurers and bandits, she ended up finding Emery and the others of all people? Very slim chances. At least, she hoped so.

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https://pixai.art/artwork/1739611085979461234?utm_source=copy_web

https://pixai.art/artwork/1739615959936395670?utm_source=copy_web

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I now have a Buy Me a Coffee page if you feel like supporting me and the story. Don't worry, I won't purposefully delay chapters behind a paywall. If a chapter is not published, that means it is not done yet. The Buy Me a Coffee is only here if you feel like it. You get no exclusive content for it, only my thanks and Emery smile. Have a nice day.

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/EmmanMP

Two other things

1: I have started to properly edit the old chapters with all the edit suggestions. Thank you all for the endless amount of help. This will take me a little while to finish, especially with the amount of grammar mistakes I make each time. 

2: I have started, on Scribble Hub, a glossary of Better Off In Another World. At the time of writing this, only Emery's glossary is done, but many more will come with time. Feel free to leave a comment about which character, magic or landscape glossary you want to read the most. https://www.scribblehub.com/series/832791/better-off-in-another-world/

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Poll section

I realized that despite Emery getting the All Thing about Summoning book from Lavanda, she hasn't used it to summon a creature yet. She only used it to learn the familiar bonding ritual and her storage summoning.

Do you want her to summon a creature or entity with a summoning ritual? This entity would, for all intent and purposes, act like another familiar, although it would be closer to Shadow Emery or Mizuko in terms of interaction.

I included a few options, but I won't add them to the main group without finding a way to include them properly in the story. She won't just feel like summoning something. As always, I am open to suggestions.

You get two votes on this one.