RFC-Mini Arc: The Temple-Part 10 (Patreon)

“Something’s wrong,” Cloud murmurs, confirming my thoughts.

“Oi!” I shout as she walks forward. It’s one thing facing down a normal monster, I’ve seen enough to be confident in her methods, but it’s entirely different boldly approaching a monster, or anything, that is clearly out of its mind.

She ignores me, of course. “Dammit!” I mutter as it takes notice of her, hands tightly gripping the top of the fence.

I can hear her trying to comfort the thing, ignoring the way it snarls. She walks with her hands lowered, palms out. Leaving herself open. Vulnerable. Practically begging to be attacked.

The beast obliges, launching itself at her. I have to bite my tongue to keep from shouting out a warning, not wanting to distract her. Luckily, she dodges, throwing herself to the side and rolling back to her feet as it charges at her again.

She catches it like usual but she must have misjudged its strength as it tackles her. I have one foot on the fence, ready to help, when she throws the creature off. Her face is a bloody mess but still calm as she gets to her feet again, ready for its next move. But it surprises her again.

Ignoring her, it runs at the fence full speed, slamming into the wood with a tremendous crash.

The Ring may be constructed of wood but that means nothing. I have lifted those planks. They’re heavy and held in place by thick iron nails. Someone hoping to test its durability would be better off pretending the Ring is made of steel.

The monster breaks through, but at a steep price. Despite her many injuries, the only damage Cloud inflicted on the creatures was ruffling its fur with her holds.

The impact against the fence leaves it dazed, the creature stumbling before losing its balance. Dozens of splinters litter its face and upper body, little whines of pain that belong to a kicked puppy escaping its throat as blood mats its fur. Yet it doesn’t lie down.

The beast flails as it clumsily regains its feet. Eyes fixed on the hills in the distance, it leaps forward. Forgetting the chain attached to the thick collar around its neck and falling with a yelp.

Then it truly goes crazy.

It turns its claws on itself, tearing at the chain and collar. A useless gesture. The monster’s claws slip right off without leaving a scratch. It does manage to injure itself, worsening its injuries from ramming the fence.

It’s killing itself in its desperation to get free, howling from the pain but seeming unable to control itself.

Then Cloud is there, running into the whirlwind of desperate anger. Another crazy one, ignoring pain and injury in pursuit of her objective. Which is removing the collar.

She fights the damn thing to help it and once its free, it repays her by swatting her away.

She remarked earlier that it was tired. Well, so is she. Anyone would be, fighting all day, magically enhanced physique or not.

She goes down and she’s slow to get up. Her regeneration is still there but it’s not fast enough to put her back into the fight. Not fast enough for her to get back to her feet as it prepares to finish her off.

I pause a single moment to look around, taking in the tense bodies of the other breakers, none making any moves to help. Then I’m racing across the grass.

No magic because of my audience but I don’t need it. Giving it my all, I reach them before the creature finishes opening its maw. Lowering my center of gravity, I slam into its side.

The creature is launched away before it can pounce, hitting the ground hard. It doesn’t get a chance to recover as I deliver a harsh stomp to its head, dazing it. My hands grab its muzzle tightly, smothering its weak growls. I can snap its neck as easy as breaking a twig—

“Wait!”

I glance over my shoulder toward Cloud in disbelief. The hand over her stomach may be the only thing keeping her guts where they belong and yet her eyes are determined, staring at me with reproach. “Are you serious? This thing was going to kill you!” Damn thing is still fighting me!

“Death is the last option.” She struggles to her feet. “Something is wrong. I know I don’t have the right to ask this of you—”

“Ah, shut up, shut up! You’re about to say something stupid, aren’t you? I won’t hurt your pup, saints save me.” With a grunt of annoyance, I imitate what she did earlier, pushing the monster’s head to the ground and kneeling to keep it there. Your struggles aren’t going to have any power if you can’t get to your feet, heh. “I’m not doing this all night.”

“You don’t have to. I suspect something has come between this communion. I declare this to be tainted, postponed until the taint has been found. I’ll send for a mender.”

I watch her hobble to the Ring, turning away once she starts talking with Bear. A weird snarl draws my attention to the monster I have pinned. Oh, how times have changed. The me before meeting that glorious elemental could never imagine the me of now. Amazing the way life can go. Back then, I was a joke of a caster. Now, I can do…this.

I start building a spell in my mind. Distance, negligible. Do need a targeting variable. Those are especially tricky as it is no easy thing to define anything. It can take between five to twenty variables to define a rock, depending on how exotic it is. Defining a person? Don’t even try unless you’re on Geneva’s level. The variables and coefficients are dizzying. I’d be amazed if a human caster has the skill to define so much as a blade of grass. It’s why magic isn’t guaranteed to hit its target and has to be aimed properly.

Luckily, I have my hands on the monster. Now, rather defining enough of it for the spell to differentiate it from the surrounding environment, I can only specify what I want to affect. Which is still ridiculously long, taking me several minutes.

However, it’s the hardest part. Once it’s done, I add the action variables, instructions for the mana to follow. Let’s see…movement and intensity are enough for you. The final part of the spell is the coefficient to power it. Focusing on my core, I channel the mana into the spell, releasing it with a sigh.

Beneath me, the monster stiffens, its struggles abruptly ceasing. Paralysis spell. A pain to learn but so effective~ Geneva assures me that nothing is better for taking captives or subduing unruly opponents. Of course, I also learned the ‘deactivator’ spell, how to reverse its effects.

I hope you’re comfortable, pup, because you’re not moving a muscle until this mender shows up.