Astral Threads, Ch 16: Garild’s Lawn (Patreon)

Following behind Uncle Snake, Sam and the other four walked onto the field outside the governor’s mansion. It was obvious now where the damage had come from, and as Garild trailed behind the rest of them, his features turned paler. It looked like he was already imagining how this would go.

“Why don’t I sit this one out?” he muttered as he looked between Sam and Uncle Snake. “He’s my guest, and it would be a shame to offend him. I couldn’t bear the responsibility.”

“Lazy.” Uncle Snake’s response was accompanied by a lightning fast flick of his hand at the back of Garild’s head, which sent the man tumbling forward. “Stop trying to get out of it. Your time in the capital taught you to be too shrewd for your own good. Find the heart you had in your youth, when you had nothing but the fire in your heart and cold steel to sustain you.”

As Garild pulled himself back to his feet, Sam analyzed him for the first time in a while.

Garild Morlan. Aether Mage-Storm Knight. Level 175.

The governor was still the same level he had been during the alignment. Sam shook his head slightly when he saw that. It was hard to gain experience for higher levels around here, especially as a combat class, but it did look like the governor had been dragging his feet. Perhaps that was why Snake was being hard on him.

Sam wasn’t sure what to make of the envoy yet, except that he was obviously dangerous. It was the first time he’d been around someone that he truly felt could kill him. He didn’t like it. He might be able to teleport away or to summon the squad of Sky Guards, but the golems were only Level 200. It was unlikely they’d be able to help much.

The main reason he was going along with this duel idea was that the assassin was clearly fishing for information about who he was. He didn’t exactly appreciate that, but trading a bit of information about his abilities for a lead on the artifacts was worth it. It would also let him try out the skills he’d learned in the relic on real opponents, which were more varied in their abilities than the golems he’d trained with so far.

What actually kept him here, however, was that despite the threat Snake presented, there was a sense of honor about him. It radiated from his stance and his gestures, underpinning the assassin’s every movement. The invitation as a guest should give him a certain amount of protection.

He pushed the concern to the back of his mind as he considered how to deal with all four opponents at once. He was confident in winning one on one, since he could shift between melee and magic, but taking on all four would be troublesome. Garild was a mage and lightning brawler hybrid, the adventurer was a melee mix of some type, there was the bishop with his brawling and healing support build, or however that worked, and then there was the acid mage, who probably had some enchanted artifacts of his own.

It was going to be messy.

Despite that, he didn’t plan to hold back. Most of his battles had been real ones, except for a little bit of training here and there, and as long as the damage could be healed, then so be it. They even had a healer right here. His blood began to sing and essence rushed along his meridians as he glanced over at the bishop.

“I’ve been looking forward to our duel,” the bishop said as he met Sam’s eyes. A spark of delight flared in his expression as he pressed his callused hands together and bowed. “I would be honored to train with you. My name is Artemius.”

“The pay is good enough,” the swordsman agreed shortly. He was examining Sam from head to toe as they headed to the middle of the field. “You’ve got quite the reputation in the city. I’m curious what you’re made of. May as well find out. I’m called Jores.”

“He’s disrupted all of the enchanting trade here with his shop!” the acid mage spluttered angrily as he shook his head, speaking up for the first time as he made his displeasure known. “Everyone knows that he’s the one supplying that Hastern! None of those runes are like anything I’ve ever seen before! If he wants to duel, he has to hand over a secret for each loss.”

“You’ve already taken the payment.” Uncle Snake’s hand cut through the air as he silenced the wizard. “You will fight him or you will fight me. And I will not go easy on you if you break our contract.”

“That’s Patsek,” Garild said as he waved at the mage. “He’s been complaining about your connection to that shop for a week. Just ignore him.”

The mage was forced to give up his protests as the four of them arrived at the center of the lawn, but his hands were curled into angry fists. Either Sam’s enchanting had been causing more of an impact than he’d thought or the mage was used to getting his way.

Of the four of them, Garild was the most reluctant to participate in the duel. He dragged his feet as they formed a loose circle around Sam. He was also the only one who had seen Sam fight before.

“You don’t know what he’s like,” he muttered. “He tore apart a Terror with his bare hands. This is a terrible idea.”

“Interesting,” Uncle Snake said with a grin that made the area turn cold. “I would have liked to see that. Now, quit wasting time. Attack him!”

Instantly, Sam teleported away from the circle as a steel blade of energy cut through the space where he had been. It was just in time as the adventurer head, Jores, followed up with a lunge that sliced after it. He was faster on his feet than Sam by at least 25%, his movements graceful as he adjusted and spun around, searching for his target.

Sam reappeared fifty feet to the side of the group as crystal flame rippled all around him. He didn’t know anything about the capabilities of Jores or Patsek, nor very much about Artemius except for his position as bishop. He wasn’t surprised, however, as he teleported away again and a white-wreathed fist blasted through the area where he’d been standing, followed by a hissing wave of green acid.

“Short-range teleportation?” Snake’s eyebrows rose as he gave Garild a dark glance. “Get to work.”

The governor sighed, but lightning crackled across his skin as he darted forward, heading for the spot where Sam reappeared, and with that, all four of the peak fighters in Highfold were after him.

Sam kept a constant flow of the area in his mind with Crystal Focus as he tracked their positions. He could already tell that Artimius and Jores had a higher Agility than him, and Garild probably did as well.

In terms of pure strength, he could take blows from any of them on his Essence Shield or battle aura, but not directly. Their main attributes were probably 400-500, while his Constitution was less than half of that. If he were their level, it would be a different matter.

Fortunately, his spells were just as dangerous to them. Of the four, he was the least concerned about the mage and then Garild. The hardest fights would be the bishop and Jores.

A white and cobalt arc of lightning from Garild slashed across the field toward him at the same time as a wave of acid spheres, while Artemius was summoning some glowing white spear that looked unpleasant. Sam teleported away again as he evaluated the attacks, the movement costing him only a few points of essence as the area where he’d been standing was destroyed.

When he reappeared, a slow smile tugged at his lips.

He’d only seen a few things they could do, but it was enough to get a general feeling for their abilities. Teleportation was easier than ever, but that didn’t mean he planned to keep doing it. That wouldn’t be enough to convince Snake to hand over the information on the artifacts.

He’d come here to see a warrior, not a gopher.

“You’re going to make sure they don’t die, right?” Sam’s voice rippled across the field toward Snake as he disappeared again, sliding past a slash from Jores and fading into existence a few dozen feet away. The words were calm and collected. Teleporting was much more efficient than shielding against all the attacks.

“I’ll rescue them at the last moment,” Snake agreed with a laugh as he folded his arms across his chest. “I was wondering why you kept dodging. There’s no need to be so gentle. And no defensive artifacts!”

“Good enough.” Sam’s words became gravelly as he fell into the flow of the skills he’d learned from the relic and adjusted his plan. Doing it without artifacts would be harder. His initial idea had been to just sweep the field with the charges in his bracers.

With Snake’s words ringing in their ears, his opponents shifted tactics as well, no longer content with probes. A tidal wave of acid ten feet high and twice that wide washed across the field from Patsek, flooding the area as it headed toward Sam, and a rain of steel blades sliced toward him from Jores, their edges shining with a bright grey energy.

The attacks didn’t stop there. The fighters were old hands at their craft and they followed up immediately

Jores was a lunging blur of armored grey smoke, half transparent as his body shimmered with flecks of iron. Patsek was surrounded by a swirling shield of wind that hissed as it corroded the area around him. The runes on his robe came to life as he floated into the air and spears of acid began to rain down at Sam.

Sam ignored them both as he spun in place, his hands covered in a shimmering Essence Shield, and grabbed Garild’s wrist. He twisted in place as he fell into the stances from the relic, shifting his weight as he flung the governor toward the acid wall. Lightning exploded across his vision as he continued the movement, but he didn’t pay attention to Garild’s fate.

The bishop was standing across from him, waiting patiently, as he gave him a small bow. He wasn’t the type to sneak attack. Sam shook his head slightly as he gathered wind and crystal flame around him, accelerating his steps, and disappeared again.

When he reappeared this time, a torrent of wind and flame was whipping around his body in a spiral as crystal flame poured out from him in waves. Glimmering runes of brilliant sapphire and white light danced through it like stars in the sky and a cloak of runes flowed down from his shoulders.

A Starfire formed in his hand, its flames a deep sapphire surrounding the core star rune. He tossed it at Patsek, who was still hovering in the air. He seemed to think that his position would give him an advantage, but his maneuverability was a flaw.

A moment later, he had to teleport away again as a spear of white light from Artemius’s tore through the area where he was standing, but a swathe of runes left behind by his cloak floated where he had been. As he reappeared, they exploded into lances of crystal flame that targeted Artemius, forcing him to shield behind his bracers as layers of mana surrounded him. The shield cracked, its layers disintegrating as the bishop was forced to step back and reinforce it.

They were good, but their abilities still felt standard. They didn’t have legendary or unique classes, only rare at most. Even the natural concepts they had touched on, like Jores’ sense of steel or Garild’s lightning, were limited, and the bishop’s abilities from the World Core were not designed to harm Sam.

The four were dangerous for their attributes more than anything else. If he hadn’t improved his teleportation, they could have pinned him down and he would have taken the brunt of their attacks on his shield. That would drain his essence and turn the fight into a straight up brawl, but fortunately that wasn’t the case.

That meant it was a good time to try out a couple of new spells he’d been working on. Swirling bands of crystal flame wrapped around each other in his left hand, layering themselves one on top of another to form a dense sphere. At the heart of it, there was a small empty space.

In his other hand, a brilliant arc of energy condensed into a crystal flame spear that shimmered with green moonlight.

At that moment, Jores’s rain of blades hammered into his shield as the man sprinted toward him. The Steel Swordsman’s body was still half smoke, which made it a good test. Sam spun out of the line of attack as he tossed the sphere at him.

As it sped through the air, the spell grew in size. Arcing bands of crystal flame burned across the surface like a frozen sun. Jores attacked, his sword slicing toward the sphere to break the spell, and his blade cut through the center in a grey flash. For a moment, it looked like he would succeed as the sphere split apart.

Then the sphere expanded. The layers of crystal flame separated, arcing outward in sizzling bands as they curved around the area with the swordsman at the center. An instant later, there were a dozen arcs coiling around Jores, trapping him inside as they began to shrink.

The swordsman struggled as he slashed at the spell’s structure, but the attacks cut through the crystal flame with no effect, the layers restoring themselves in the wake of the blade. The only effect was the sword slowly freezing over. Although they looked hot, those flames were colder than the peaks of the Western Reaches.

The layers shrank toward the center of the sphere as they continued to spin, their movement turning them into spiraling blades. Jores roared as a steel-colored shroud appeared around him, transforming his skin to some type of armor, but he couldn’t break free. A moment later, he was gone and the spell disintegrated into crystal shards as Snake grabbed him.

Crystal Prison is a good name.

The thought flickered through Sam’s mind as he turned toward Patsek, who had been flung away from the impact of the Starfire, and hurled the green-tinted spear in his hand. The spell was a crystal flame structure infused with Silvas’s aura. He’d been working on making crystal flame harder and condensing it like ice, and this was the result. The only problem was that it was slow to form, which meant he had to make a choice if he wanted to wrap things up.

Silvas’s Spear tore through the air.

It was modeled after what he remembered from the moon’s strike on the Blood Elemental, his moonlight aura and crystal flame refined together into a dozen interlocking layers with moon runes burning along the length.

The spear tore through a green acid shield and Patsek disappeared a moment later as Snake yanked him out of the way, but the delay in forming the spear gave Garild and Artemius a chance to deliver their own blows. Crystal Focus was spread out and Sam saw the attacks coming, but his essence was flowing in the wrong pattern to teleport. The best he could do was shift his stance and condensed an Essence Shield across his skin.

Garild and Artemius were both brawlers with magical attacks and they moved like they’d fought together many times, which perhaps they had. They came at him from both sides, one high and one low. Garild’s leg flashed toward Sam’s knee, outlined in a dark blue crackle of lightning, and Artemius’s fist headed for his neck as it glowed with a sharp silver-white aura that matched his bracers.

Garild’s lightning kick slammed into Sam’s leg and the shield reinforcing it. Cobalt sparks crashed against his shield in a thunderous crackle. The shield held, but Sam’s essence dipped noticeably at the same time as Artemius’s attack landed, his fist hammering into the back of Sam’s shoulder as he tilted his waist. The force of the combined blows made him stagger to the side as he adjusted his shield.

The two were too well-trained to let him go and they followed up immediately. A surge of lightning rose out from Garild in a point-blank bolt and Artemius was surrounded by a circular spell-form that poured energy into his hands, increasing their weight and density.

Sam slid to the side, shifting his position again in the patterns he’d learned from Foundations of Melee Combat as he dodged. The Cloak of Runes around him flared outward, swirling into a field of fiery sapphire runes that swept over the position where he’d just been and wrapping Artemius and Garild both in a shroud.

Star runes flickered in the cloak like diamonds in a blue ocean, and then Sam was gone, teleporting away as the area exploded. A white blur flickered through the explosion and then both Garild and Artemius were gone, pulled away before they could get more than singed.

Both of them were dumped off to the side of the field, next to Jores and Patsek, who looked frustrated. Sam’s essence had reached half as he reappeared on the other side of the field.

“That’s enough,” Uncle Snake said with a chuckle as he reappeared in front of Sam. His cheekbones stood out like blades as he grinned, their edges highlighted by the black streaks cutting across them. “They aren’t your opponents, especially not when you’re jumping all around. Let’s see if you can do the same against me, and if you have any more of those strange spells.”

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Sam flew backwards across the lawn and slammed into the ground with an explosion that rocked the area as a fountain of earth shot up from below him. He no longer had any questions about where the craters had come from or why Garild looked like a raccoon.

Uncle Snake was so fast that he didn’t even have time to see what hit him, much less to teleport out of the way. After three exchanges, his Essence Shield had been broken in a dozen places, all from simple kicks or punches, and now the assassin was amusing himself by creating a pattern of holes in the dirt.

It looked like a snake, obviously, curving around in a sinuous arc. Apparently, he’d been working on it earlier, and there were even different depths to the holes to give it a nicely textured appearance from the air.

Sam spit out a mouthful of dirt as he stood back up, grateful that they were fighting here instead of on stone. He’d never expected to beat the clansman, but he was embarrassed by just how easily he was getting his teeth handed to him.

“The snake’s almost done,” the envoy said with a grin. “Maybe I should try a star next. You seem to like those. Show me who you are, Hunter!”

Flickers of crystal flame and runes floated in the air around Sam as he gathered his essence. This time, his height increased and his horns curled higher back over his head as he activated his battle aura.