Ends of Magic

Nathan turned away from the pursuing legionaries, focusing on the ground ahead of him as he sprinted down the hill. He jumped over the knee-high wall that marked the edge of the camp and was into the open pasture surrounding the Agmon camp.

Tripping now would be bad. Time to rely on that sprinting!

The fanciful voice spoke again, sounding like it belonged in a throne room instead of a battlefield. “Company, accelerate! Our foes shall be hindered in their footsteps!” The entire group of Agmon legionaries gave a warcry at the declaration, backing up the officer’s words with a wall of sound.

The shout washed over Nathan and his feet suddenly slowed. The effect didn’t cancel his sprinting, but it felt like he had to will his feet forward individually. His Rage spiked at the feeling of an external mental influence on him.

It’s like that [Slavemaster] from the slave raiding party way back when. I need to remember I’m not immune to mind-affecting skills, just magic. And this one’s a lot more powerful than that one was. It’s backed by the legionaries somehow.

“Our advance is ceaseless! Our legs carry…” then there was another crack of Sarah’s rifle, and the officer’s voice cut out. Nathan glanced behind him again, and saw a nearly headless body slumping to the ground. The Agmon legionaries had been ready for another yell, but with their officer’s death their voices were staggered and discordant, accomplishing nothing.

Making a note to do something nice for Sarah later.I wonder if his helmet would have saved him.

Unfortunately, the legionnaires were catching up. They were charging as a disciplined unit, shields bobbing in unison as they closed the gap to Nathan.

He fought against the effect that still constrained his legs. It was strong. Nathan leaned into his Rage, pushing against the effect to keep his momentum up. [Juggernaught’s Inertia] was working against the skill, preventing him from stopping entirely. But it looked like it was going to slow him just long enough for the nearly twenty legionaries to catch up.

The Heirs and the Forest Rangers were in front of Nathan, and he ran to meet them. Aarl, Khachi, Farist and Orym had formed up into the front line, while Selnoa and Stella were just behind. Nathan didn’t see Zanwin, the rogue presumably hiding somewhere.

Selnoa and Stella stopped moving and started casting spells. Stella was first, flinging a curving lightning bolt that arced over Nathan’s head and impacted with a blast of thunder. Nathan wanted to look and see what effect it had had, but he was too busy trying to keep ahead of the disciplined charge of the Agmon legionaries. The ground under Nathan’s feet tried to turn to sucking mud, but Nathan managed to stabilize his footing and the effect didn’t slow him.

Mid-tier Sprinting 6 achieved!

The effect on his legs finally broke, and Nathan sprinted forward to meet the Adventurers, who’d set themselves to receive the charge of the legionaries. He waved his hands to gesture them to turn back, but it was too late. So Nathan joined his teammates, turning to face the approaching soldiers. He flexed his regrown hand and checked his stamina.

Stamina: 259/690

I did a lot of healing under pressure in the past few minutes. I’m feeling jilted that it wasn't worth another Regenerate rank.

The spell Selnoa had cast had turned the ground to a muddy mire, but the legionaries had powered through it without slowing too much. It had managed to disrupt their formation, and they approached with shields up and spears leveled. The gathered legionaries shouted a disciplined battle cry. “Agmon and Glory!”

In response, Khachi intoned a prayer which cut across the night. “By my faith and my god, by the righteous battle we engage in to protect our homes, we shall be protected!” His armor flashed blindingly, a directed beam of holy light that caused several legionaries to stagger and others to jerk their shields up to protect their eyes.

Into that gap Aarl leapt, wielding an enchanted saber in each hand. The force blade flickered out and cut through several spear shafts, while the lightning blade collided with an upraised shield. There was a thunderous detonation and the legionary holding the shield was thrown nearly ten feet backward.

Those who’d had their spears cut dropped the useless sticks and pulled out swords or wands, beginning to circle Aarl as he blew another legionary away and threatened others with his oversized force-blade.

The other Adventurers weren’t having any of that, coming forward to relieve their comrade. Farist sneakily maneuvered behind a legionary and sunk his longsword into his back, but was thrown away by a quick elbow when the legionary spun to face him. Another soldier tried to close in on him, but an arrow sprouted from his shoulder. He turned, snarling and ripping free a wand to fire lightning bolts in the direction of the trees where the arrow had come from. Another legionary stepped into the gap, threatening Farist in turn.

Orym ran up next to Aarl, bashing away a spear with her shield before bringing her ax down like a falling anvil. The legionary caught the blow and forced the big lionfolk woman to jump back or be spitted by his spear. Another attacked her from the side and she slid around his spear, kicking him backwards.

Khachi was more careful, matching a trio of legionaries with his broad and glowing shield. They tested his shield with their spears and then cautiously advanced, wary of his divine-glowing weaponry. Another ‘crack’ of Sarah’s rifle sounded and one of the three staggered, but did not fall. A couple of legionaries stepped back from the fight and started hurling lightning bolts in the approximate direction of Sarah.

The Adventurer mages weren’t idle, though they seemed to be focusing on neutralizing the legionaries who’d pulled wands. Selnoa dropped some kind of darkness spell on the back half of the group of soldiers while Stella threw up a few force barriers to protect herself and Selnoa from counterfire. She then stepped back and started channeling an especially large spell, forming a ball of crackling lightning in her hands.

Nathan mostly just got stabbed. He tried to rush a pair of legionaries looking to flank and get to the mages. They aimed their spears towards him and he tried to grab the spearheads and throw them aside. The legionaries pulled the spears back a few feet before stabbing forward. One got him in the shoulder, the other in the gut.

I’m just not very good at fighting people who specialize in melee fighting. And why do these people always aim for the gut? Rude.

Zanwin popped out behind the soldiers, stabbing each of them in the kidneys with daggers held in each hand. They winced as one. One of them turned, dropping his spear to pull out a sword. Zanwin ducked away from that soldier, circling the other one, who continued to focus on Nathan.

That soldier yanked his spear out of Nathan’s shoulder and thrust it backwards, bashing Zanwin across the face with the metal ball on the back end as the Knuld man stabbed him again. Zanwin staggered back and the legionary with a sword swung, cutting through the small man’s arm above the elbow and deep into his torso.

Nathan leapt forward, dodging around the legionary facing him and throwing his shoulder into the orc who was bringing his sword back for another blow. Nathan’s momentum was enough to topple the tall soldier, and Nathan flashed more healing to the skin to hold the wound closed as he scooped up Zanwin to run away from the legionaries. He quickly circled around them to get back to the other Adventurers.

“Fall back!” cried Farist, clutching a puncture wound in his chest as he staggered away. Khachi, Aarl and Orym traded a few more blows with the remaining upright legionaries. They were giving better than they got, but were getting surrounded. Then Stella cried out a warning and they all leapt backwards. Her right hand was sheathed in crackling electricity, struggling to escape her grip as her braid writhed behind her like a serpent. Her other hand snapped out, rapidly pointing at Khachi, Aarl and Orym in turn as Stella's eyes flickered like an arc welder.

Then she unleashed her [Chain Lightning] spell. It arced from legionary to legionary. Some managed to catch it on their shields, but the spell continued to arc, catching some from behind. The arcs danced around the Adventurers Stella had pointed to, and while their hair stood on end they weren’t zapped. That didn’t apply to Nathan, and a few streamers of lightning connected with him, recharging his stamina by fifty points.

The spell made Zanwin buck and twitch in Nathan’s arms, and he had to slow down a moment to avoid dropping the small rogue, whose wounds were bleeding freely.

Maybe I should consider being able to heal other people than myself.

Then they were away, sprinting back towards the forest and the cover of Zanwin’s traps. The legionaries pursued, but without an officer to Command them they weren’t able to catch up. Then they started running into the traps and slowed down further. Stella turned and threw a fireball, causing the legionaries still on their feet to hunker behind their shields to endure the blast. A few who’d been tripped up by the traps were thrown around like rag dolls.

After that and another arrow from Byns they ceased the pursuit, hoisting their injured and beginning to return to their camp, staying low behind their shield to dissuade any ranged fire.

The adventurers jogged a hundred feet further into the forest before Farist called a stop. He was wheezing and coughing, sipping a healing potion as he coughed out a bloody froth.

“Healing, now!” Nathan called out, setting Zanwin against the ground. The Knuld man was unconscious, and Nathan’s arms were slick with the blood from both himself and his cargo. Zanwin didn’t look good, with blood slowly pumping from his stump of an arm and the deep wound in his side.

Khachi was there in an instant, laying glowing hands on the rogue to stem the flow of blood and start the wounds closing. The red traceries of electricity burns also started fading as Nathan stepped away so as not to interfere with the process.

Farist was also slumped against a tree, gritting his teeth as a bloody froth continued to bubble up from his punctured lung. Selnoa was casting healing spells on him as he continued to drink his potion, and it seemed to be helping.

Nathan looked around, seeing that Aarl and Stella were keeping watch, looking for any pursuit and keeping an eye out for Sarah and Byns. Aarl was mostly unharmed, with a few light cuts that were oozing blood on his exposed upper arms, and some scratches across his enchanted vambraces.

As Selnoa cast another healing spell, the Knuld mage looked over at Stella. “Was that a tier six spell? [Chain Lightning]? How?”

Stella turned back, the bright blue glow in her eyes fading. “I wasn’t taught in tiers like Gale does. But I think you’d call it tier-five? Targeting is handled by a second mana type.”

“But…” Selnoa shook her head, looking at her wounded teammates and the mostly uninjured Heirs. “Young Dragons indeed.”

Byns ran up a few moments later. She was bleeding from her scalp, though the source of the wound wasn’t obvious. Selnoa bustled over to heal her up, but Byns waved her off and turned to Nathan “I was expecting you to disable the siege-spike, not blow it up! Blasphemous dust blocked my view until you ran out of it.” Then she saw Zanwin slumped on the ground, a pool of blood spreading beneath him. “Oh no!”

Farist got to his feet, wiping a final bit of blood away from his lips. “Those legionaries will have wounded aplenty from that stunt of yours. And if the siege-spike has been destroyed, they’ll retreat. What did you do?”

Nathan smirked, recalling his sabotage of the magical battering ram and deciding to lighten the mood with some phallic humor. “I climbed on that giant rod and figured out how to turn it on for good. It couldn’t stop spraying all of its magic out the tip until it was drained dry. They’ll need to replace an enchantment on the front and fully recharge it before it’s useful again.”

The Heirs all winced, while Farist just looked confused for a moment. Then Orym guffawed, Byns started laughing and Farist tried to join her, but ended up coughing instead. Selnoa shot Nathan a disbelieving look as she was trying to heal Byns’ head wound.

Farist was smiling now. “We’ll only get the notification on the fight once we leave the area.. Did we kill any? I don’t think any of what I saw would kill an Agmon Legionary. Unless your spell was strong enough to truly boil a brain.” He gestured to Stella, who mutely shook her head, looking a bit green at the suggestion.

“I killed two.” Sarah walked into the circle, moving slowly in the forest. She looked tired.

Orym looked up at her. “Did you now?” Her voice held a trace of skepticism.

Nathan backed Sarah up. “Yeah. The guard at the top of the ridge - you saw him fall? He’s dead, mostly decapitated. Also a guy in fancy armor who I think was the officer. He took off his helmet after being on the wrong end of the siege-spike, and Sarah removed his head as a parting gift.” He bowed his head towards her. "I think they would have caught me with his skills."

Byns looked at Sarah suspiciously. “I did see the guard fall. What weapon you use for that? Stanel’s bag-tricks and all, but I’d need some arrows enchanted to rival dragon’s breath to have an effect like that on an Agmon legionary.”

The [Ranged Specialist] had winced at Nathan’s summary description of her kills. She was now looking at the ground, refusing to answer the Bho [Ranger]’s question.

I don’t think she’s killed a person before. That or she’s keeping the guns a secret. Probably for the best.

Aarl turned back, gesturing for Stella and Nathan to keep watch, then went over to comfort his sister. He gave her a hug and whispered something into her ear that made her chuckle. They then sat down next to each other, leaning against a tree.

Scanning the woods, Nathan didn’t see any signs of pursuit. He could vaguely see the lights of the Agmon camp through the trees, but other than the quiet discussions of the Adventurers there were no other sounds. He turned back towards the others. “Should we wait to see if they depart, or return to Bridgeguard?”

“We can return, and then keep watch on the bridge for the next few days. We’ve demonstrated we can injure and kill them from a distance, so they won’t attack a fortification they can’t easily get through.” Farist looked around, gauging the Adventurers. “Are we ready to move? I’ll be happy to get the levels from that fight. Ten times our number in Agmon legionaries? Even if we didn’t kill many it should be worth some levels. Unlike that damn River Cutter.”

Selnoa turned to Khachi, who was just standing up from where he’d been focused on Zanwin. “How is my brother?”

Khachi looked down, satisfied. “Ask him yourself.”

The wounded Knuld awkwardly pushed himself to his feet. He was still missing his left arm, but aside from that injury he looked mostly healthy - his broken nose was healed and the electricity burns were gone. Most impressively, the only trace of the sword wound that had cut nearly a third of the way into Zanwin’s torso was torn armor and blood. He still favored that side, and it seemed tender.

“I cannot replace the arm, you will have to return to a specialist healer for that.” Khachi looked disappointed in himself.

Zanwin and his sister embraced, and he looked up at the Heirs over her shoulder. Each word was terse, but he didn’t spare them. “That was a dangerous encounter. But we succeeded, and survived. I would work with you again. Preferably after this is fixed." He indicated his stump. "Would it be acceptable to leave now?”

They all headed back towards Bridgeguard. Both teams were tired, but decided against camping. For one thing, they didn’t want to be caught in case the Agmon soldiers decided to pursue, and also didn’t want to be jumped by any of the predators that lived out here.

As they rejoined the road, Nathan received a familiar blue box.

You have leveled up to level 65! Congratulations, you and your teammates have handicapped an Agmon raiding party!

Sarah’s eyes were wide. “I think that guy was nobility. Count Kunal Mirial.”

Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Magic Absorption 7

Permanent Talent 2: High-tier Regeneration 9

Talent 3: High-tier Slow Fall 4

Class: Spellbreaker Juggernaut level 65

Stamina: 156/750

Juggernaut's Wrath

Antimagic Momentum

Raging Thrill

Juggernaut's Inertia

Unarmored Resilience

Utility skills:

High-tier Focused Mind 9

High-tier Earnestness 3

Mid-tier Sprinting 6

High-tier Spellsense 4

Mid-tier Notice 9

Mid-tier Identify 7

Mid-tier Dodging Footwork 5

High-tier Enhanced Memory 3

Mid-tier Lecturing 2

Mid-tier Tumbling 2