Chapter 47: The Next Best Thing (Patreon)

Zed ducked out of the way, rolling in the dirt as a wave of ice froze where he’d been standing. By the time he was back to his feet Ash was already casting another spell, icicles as large as Zed’s arm gathering about her.

“You’ve got to move faster,” Oliver called from the sidelines.

Zed’s finger was already moving, drawing a rune as he watched Ash. She smirked at him, flaunting her superiority. A single icicle shot out from amongst the rest, blasting at him with a deadly accuracy and he raised his hand, activating a rune.

· You have cast basic rune [Force].

The rune glowed a soft purple and a wave of force aura blasted forward. The icicle coming at him shattered on impact and the rune-spell kept its path forward.

Ash’s smirk slipped slightly and she conjured another spellform, her hand held out in front of her. Her lips moved as she chanted the spellform and the air in front of her warped and shifted. Zed’s rune-spell struck the empty air, shattering on impact, however, the spikes of ice that weren’t protected by Ash’ spell were blasted away.

· Basic rune [Force] has applied effect [Knockback] on [Mana shield].

· Spell [Mana shield] has resisted effect [knockback].

Ash dropped her hand and the mana shield dissipated. Zed met her smirk with discomfort in his eyes and darted forward. Ash had three icicle’s left around her and she released them like bullets fired from a gun. Zed switched up his advance, darting from side to side as he ran forward.

An icicle caught him in the neck as he barely avoided it, nicking a small line as it past. Zed ignored it as well as the pain, evading the remaining two as he charged forward. Normally, his mind would be left addled without his tomahawk, but Ivan had been teaching him unarmed combat long enough for him to hold some level of confidence without the weapon.

He got to Ash only to have her summon a wall of water between them.

Zed charged forward, running through it as it froze from the ground up. He was doused in water and was already out the other side before the entire wall could turn to ice.

He landed on the other side, ducking a swipe from a large grotesque length of ice Ash swung at him. He weaved away from it, refusing to think of how it would’ve opened his neck if he had been a moment slower.

Zed’s feet carried him forward, treading a path into Ash’s reach so that using the icicle was made difficult. When he met her, he launched a flurry of blows she evaded with a level of skill he didn’t think she had. Ash didn’t waste her time blocking what she could evade as she tried to create enough space to bring her grotesque weapon of ice to bear. Zed worried fighting her when she could use the weapon would lead to an immediate defeat so he was determined to keep the combat too close for a weapon.

Zed kept them abreast, attacking with a mix of open palm strikes and closed fists. Occasionally, his legs went after hers and she evaded just as easily.

Zed felt a disturbance in the air to his side and his hand moved. He drafted his rune and his hand sent it flying.

· You have cast basic rune [Force].

· Basic rune [Force] has applied effect [Knockback] on spellform [Water sprite].

· Effect [Knockback] has disrupted spellform [Water sprite].

Whatever the spellform had been, it shattered under the weight of his attack before being born and Ash capitulated on Zed’s momentary lack of two hands. She weaved beneath Zed’s single arm, stepping past him so that she appeared at his back and spun away from him. Her ice weapon spun with her, leaving a line of red along Zed’s back.

“FUCKING HELL!” Zed roared in pain as he staggered forward.

He turned almost immediately to find a grin on Ash’s face. He could already feel the injury healing so he had very little to complain about. It didn’t change the fact that he hadn’t liked that.

“And time!” Oliver announced, raising a pocket watch.

Ash slipped out of her combat mode and the shards of broken ice that littered the whole place slowly evaporated now that she had released her command over her spellforms. The length of ice in her hold turned to water and dowsed the grass beneath them.

“You’re getting better,” she told Zed.

“Yea,” he grumbled. “A lot of good that does if you keep opening my skin every time.”

“You have a regenerating attribute, Zed,” Oliver said, approaching them from the sidelines. “So stop complaining.”

“Remind me again why I can’t bring the tomahawk,” Zed said innocently.

Ash laughed.

“Because I don’t have a regenerative attribute,” she said as all three of them met at a point. “And also because you wouldn’t hit a pretty lady, would you?”

“Pretty, I can agree with,” Zed said. “But lady’s kind of stretching it, don’t you think?”

Ash’s fist was a blur as she punched him playfully in the stomach. Zed placed a hand over his stomach and bent at the waist.

Ash gasped in surprise. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I didn’t think I put too much force. I’m really sorry.”

Zed raised a hand to stall the apology. “It’s good,” he said, rising back up. “You just took me by surprise, is all.”

Oliver shook his head, worry still on her face. Zed found it surprising. Not too long ago she’d been okay with blasting him to the roof with water and letting Jason lead him into violence.

You’re okay letting the others get physical but you don’t want to be like them? He wondered.

“Can I get my shirt back?” he asked.

“No,” Oliver replied. “Not until you’ve gotten home and washed the blood off your back. I’m already running out of all the clothes I have. Ima—At this rate I’ll start walking about naked.”

Zed cocked a knowing brow at Oliver but Oliver said nothing further on the topic. Oliver had almost mentioned the girlfriend Ash wasn’t supposed to be aware of.

They were out in an open field Zed had seen a few times during his walkabouts in town. It was situated at the edge of town and looked like it might have once been used for celebratory gatherings. He couldn’t be sure.

· You have gained +1 Strength.

· You have gained +1 Wil.

· You have gained +1 Speed.

· You have gained +8 Exp.

· Exp to category 2: 1670/2500.

Zed dismissed the notifications.

Since his first escapade with Ivan to fight the Hulking Puppy, the man had taken him out of town a few more times. He was learning how to fight with Ivan and the man felt it was important to put the things his body had learned to use. Apparently, while Ivan taught him how to fight against other people, Zed’s body was learning better reactions and quicker judgements during a fight. The results showed each time he faced off against a monster. He still ended the fight bloodied but he was receiving less injuries with each fight.

When Ivan had told him he needed to practice his skill against mages closer to his category, he’d pitched the idea to Oliver who’d suggested he follow him and Ash the extra mile after their morning runs.

Apparently, the extra mile meant running all the way to one end of town, coming to the field they currently stood in, and sparring.

According to Oliver, he and Ash only sparred occasionally. Most of the time they practiced their spellforms, mixing those from their specialization with those that existed outside the scope of their specialization.

The rule of Zed’s engagement with Ash was to try and land a hit on her while avoiding being hit by her. In simpler terms, the first hit won.

During their spar, Oliver would stand on the side line with a pocket watch he’d collected from before Zed had met them from a place he claimed he couldn’t remember. He would time their spar until Ash landed a blow on Zed, which was all the time.

They kept Zed’s tomahawk away from their sparring sessions so that in the event that he was successful, he didn’t leave Ash with an injury that prevented her from going on an immediate monster hunt if she was needed urgently. A similar level of consideration was not afforded Zed since his regeneration attribute had him healing from most injuries very quickly. Oliver and Ash claimed the more they used a spellform, the easier it was the use. It got stronger, activated faster, and cost less mana. As long as Zed did not break a bone too severely, he would be up and running in a matter of time. And he was willing to take a few blows here and there in a fight if it helped grow his attribute. He was already doing that whenever he went out to fight anyway.

Zed’s first spar with Ash had ended in three minutes. His second had ended in five. The last spar had ended in eight. He was getting better, lasting longer, but that was by Oliver and Ash’s standards.

As for his standards, it was difficult to feel progress with thirteen spars and thirteen losses. Ash was two categories stronger but it did little to massage the defeats.

……………………………………………

“How did I do?” Zed asked as they started their walk back home.

“fourteen minutes,” Oliver said.

“Really?!” Ash asked, shocked. “That’s double last time.”

“You don’t sound happy for me,” Zed pointed out.

“I’m not supposed to,” Ash told him. “You lasting longer against me is a sign that you’re getting better at this. However, it’s also a sign that I’m getting worse. I’m two categories ahead of you; I’m supposed to be able to hit you faster than that. In fact, I should be wiping the floor with you.”

“She’s right,” Oliver said. “It can be disappointing for her.”

“No,” Zed shook his head. “It’s supposed to be like this since you don’t have Chuck Norris teaching you how to fight.”

“You don’t have Chuck Norris teaching you how to fight either,” Ash pointed out.

Zed shrugged. “Ivan’s the next best thing, though.”

“How’s that going, by the way?” Oliver asked.

“Horribly,” Zed groaned. “It’s almost as if he doesn’t care that he’s far stronger than me. He just keeps punching and swinging and kicking like we’re in the same rank. I swear each punch is like a gunshot wound.”

Oliver chuckled. “I’ve been told he’s not very good at holding back.”

“You’ve been told?” Zed asked, confused. “Didn’t he teach you guys?”

“No,” Ash answered, tying her hair back up. “He taught Jason, though, but not us.”

“Why not?”

“We were already acceptably good by the time we got to town,” Oliver said. “It was considered a poor use of his time teaching people who already knew how to fight.”

“So you guys were self-taught?” Zed asked. Somehow that made him feel bad.

Ash must’ve noticed because she said, “We took karate in school, if that explains things better.”

“It doesn’t,” Zed grumbled.

“Talking about feeling better,” Oliver said. “I hope that coat is in pristine condition.”