ROTTLE- Chapter 169- Fire Ball

[Anomalous World Enchantment Detected]

Pain seared through Aiden’s blackened arm as if with a personal vendetta—as if the arm had wronged it somehow. He dropped to his knees. The fingers of his normal hand dug into the blackened one, as if trying to rip the pain out.

“Aiden.” There was panic in Ted’s voice, and he was already move.

Aiden shook his head violently. “No!”

He couldn’t have Ted getting too close. With World Enchantments, you could never be too careful. An abnormal World Enchantment cast by someone as enigmatic and old as Alobam required greater care.

Aiden raised his head, looked at everyone present. They all had worry on their faces. Elami had nothing but curiosity, as if whatever went wrong would not affect him and he knew it.

I need to know more about him, Aiden thought, not really surprised that his brain could be thinking about that at a time like this.

In the chaos of pain and thoughts, his interface popped up once more.

[World Enchantment of Illusion detected]

Aiden frowned through his pain. Why would Alobam imbue his arm with a world enchantment of illusion? What good was it supposed to do?

Dimensional mana, he thought.

If Alobam could be trusted to look out for his benefit, then it wouldn’t be out of place to assume that the giant would grant him an enchantment that would help the rest of the world to not see him as anything demonic. It would probably hide his dimensional traits and skills from prying eyes.

But that was if he could trust the giant to look out for him.

[You are currently being used as the power source for World Enchantment of Illusion]

Aiden’s reaction to the notification was instantaneous.

Nope. Not happening.

Anyone with half a brain knew not to play the role of being the source of an enchantment. It rarely ever ended well.

Then again, the [Sage] that was teaching Jang Su had seen his arm and had decided to give him a world enchantment as well. What were the odds that his arm could actually handle world enchantments.

Again, he looked at those around him. Ted. Zen. An unconscious Valdan. He was willing to risk it to learn more about his arm.

Are you willing to risk them? The thought came from the depths of his heart.

He had only one answer. No.

“ONCOT!” he roared.

The brute of a man was in front of him in the blink of an eye. He was large and strong. Powerful. He was also the person with the highest level in the group. At least Aiden liked to think so, he hadn’t checked the man’s level since Trackback.

Aiden met the man’s eyes and offered a single command. “Take them away from me.”

He didn’t know how to man was going to pull it off. As powerful as he was, Aiden knew for a fact that Ted could take him in a fight. It would be a tough one, but Ted would win. Aiden was sure of it. Then the man certainly couldn’t carry more than two people at a time.

So why had he ordered him? Because Oncot was the only person present who Aiden knew would obey his command. It was simply the way with the tribe.

Oncot nodded once.

There was so much certainty in the man’s eyes that Aiden felt at ease. Whatever happened to him, at least the others would be safe. He did not fear for his safety. He did not think he was going to die. What Aiden was certain of was that whatever was going to happen was something he could handle, it would just be really painful.

Once that was done, he would come back for them. He would find them.

Aiden only had enough time to see Elami walk up to one of the corpses, once again abandoning Valdan on the back of his jepat, to stand before one of the monster corpses. He had an unreadable expression as he placed a hand on the creature. But there was also something about the [Healer]’s face. It seemed harder than usual, almost familiar too—as if he had seen the man before, perhaps in his past life.

What is he doing?

It was his last thought through the pain when Oncot’s hand landed on his shoulder. At first, Aiden was confused, then understanding dawned on him. He had asked the man to achieve the impossible, to get the others away from him.

The man was doing just that.

Oncot brought their faces together, looked Aiden in his eyes and spoke.

“Live… Blood man.”

Aiden only had enough time to be shocked by the man’s clear and precise accent in the common tongue before he was sent sailing through the air. The wind rushed through his ears. His arms hurt as if someone was trying to rip it off and attach it back at the same time. While it all happened, Aiden watched everyone become nothing but ants in his view.

If you don’t do something, you will take damage when you fall, he told himself, shifting his perspective to the problem at hand.

[World Enchantment of Illusion does not take effect]

Aiden paused. What the hell?

Had it been a false worry? What was happening?

The pain in his arm subsided and Aiden’s thoughts were easier to piece together once more. Now that his mind was clearer, he realized that he had actually been in possession of a possible solution to the enchantment problem. He had a weaving that he hadn’t used since getting the blackened arm but could’ve worked.

Weave of Lesser Madness.

It would’ve disrupted the flow of mana inside him. Such internal attack could’ve broken the flow of the enchantment and its connection to him, too. It would’ve worked.

You’re thinking about the wrong things, he scolded himself as he felt himself begin to descend, the trees that now suddenly surrounded him, rushing to meet him.

How far did he throw me?

Questions later. Solutions, now!

Aiden turned, adjusted himself, then brought his hands together. His mind ran through all the different enchantments that he knew, things that could break his fall. His mind was coming up short.

Then, out of nowhere, answers started coming.

[Impact Absorption].

[Wind cushion].

[Levitate].

[Light Body].

[Stone Skin].

[Altered Terrain].

[Guardian Ward].

He had options. They came rushing at him as fast as the sea of trees beneath. Aiden only had one problem. In his past life, he had been an [Enchanter] who had studied both enchantments and spells. Right now, all his ideas were not enchantments.

They were spells.

The trees came fast now. In the next minute, he would find himself among them. He needed something.

Think, you bastard, think, he cussed. Eleven years of enchanting, you’ve got to have something!

And he did.

[Blink].

There was nothing with him to use [Unarmed Engrave] on to give him a blink item, but that didn’t matter, he had a storage space. If he could just time it right, he could send it flying at an angle and blink to the item.

Aiden grinned. Smart ass motherfucker.

He reached into his storage space, already picking out the tree that he would settle on when he froze.

He had no blink dagger or item in his storage space. It had all been spent while teaching the others the technique, and he had not taken out time to restock since he could simply do so with any piece of wood or stone.

But I had a blink dagger before…

His thought trailed off as he realized what had happened to it. He’d given it to Ted. Aiden’s hands came together in a last-ditch effort while he braced for impact as the trees rushed up to meet him, swallowing him whole.

Fuck.

…

Estabel’s feet carried her through the sea of trees. She bent and turned, twisted when she had to as she fled from her pursuers. She could hear herself panting. Her robes had caught in many branches on her run, but what surprised her was the single tear in it.

Her robe was not something that should’ve been easily torn by a tree branch. But she did her best to pay it no attention as she ran for her survival.

Through her glasses, she saw the world differently. There were arrows, red or green. There were yellow arrows, most of which she ignored. There were also curving lines that led her through the trees, picking her paths. But these lines were not consistent. On a whim, they could change directions, forcing her to make a very sharp right.

The arrow guiding her currently made a sharp V, sending her backwards. Cussing under her breath, she ignored it, choosing to leap for a tree.

She pulled her staff forward with visible effort, fighting against the mana weight of it and cast a spell.

[You have used intermediate spell Reverse Gravity]

The orb atop the staff glowed slightly, then the mana in the atmosphere came alive. It wrapped itself around her like a translucent dome and carried her high. Estabel let it, jumping in the direction of the tree she wanted. She had ignored the direction her glasses had given her because she could not risk turning back, not with the things that were chasing her.

All she could do was hope that the direction she had chosen to go in was not too dangerous for her to handle.

Half-way through her rise, her eyes widened at the massive snake curled around the entire tree from step to tree top. How had she not seen it, even with her glasses on. Her spectacles were spelled to see through illusions.

Illusions are different from camouflage, she scolded herself as she canceled [Reverse Gravity] and channeled a different spell.

[You have used intermediate spell Mana Shield]

A fine sphere of pale blue mana lit up in front of her. At the exact same time, the snake with a head large enough to swallow three of her whole struck. Its head snapped out, batting her to the side.

The attack struck her shield, leaving her unharmed. The shield glowed bright, cracking slightly. Estabel frowned. She still had a lot to learn in crafting a perfect [Mana Shield] spell. She always ended up putting in too much mana or too little mana. With too little mana, the spell would come undone, failing to activate properly. If the mana is not precise, she could end up underestimating her opponent and the shield would not hold out. With too much mana, the shield would crumble in on itself, and its mana weight would make it difficult, almost impossible, to hold up before it crumbles.

Shooting through the air, Estabel cast another spell.

[Magical staff function in progress]

[Dual Cast activated]

[You have used intermediate spell Feather Body]

Estabel felt hollow not light. It was an eerie feeling, as if she was empty. Disconcerting as it was, it did it’s job, she felt the wind behind her back get a little more solid. [Feather body] lightened a person’s weight, that increased air resistance, making them fall slower or fly slower.

But Estabel wasn’t done yet. She wasn’t safe yet. Bright yellow eyes as large as her torso looked at her. As if possessing some intelligence that told it that she would not die from the fall, the snake struck once more.

Estabel would be lying if she said that she did not panic a little bit. But panic was not among the things that were known to kill a [Mage].

She held her staff out, her mana shield still protecting her, and cast another spell.

[Magical staff function in progress]

[Triple Cast activated]

[You have used intermediate spell Explosion]

The air in front of the staff ignited. It sparked just in front of the shield. The snake’s eyes widened in realization, but it had already struck. The mana turned a bright orange, exploding with a loud boom the moment the snake’s head slipped into the space.

[You have dealt a Critical Blow!]

The notification was succeeded by the shriek of the creature. That, too, was succeeded by pain and the taste of metal as Estabel slammed into a tree. [Feather Body] had reduced her weight, but she had still been slapped away. There was only so much weight she could safely be reduced by with an intermediary spell.

[You have been dealt a fatal blow!]

With no notification informing her that she had slain the monster, Estabel forced herself to turn to the side, pushing away from the tree. Everything hurt.

Ignoring the notification, she pulled herself to her feet and resumed her escape. Thinking better about it, she should’ve sacrificed [Feather body] for a different spell.

When she’d joined the Mage Radiants, she had seen a lot of [Mage]s sparring matches and had always wondered why [Mage]s didn’t use a spell that would’ve been better to use than the one that they did.

The answer she had grown to know was simple. Being a [Mage] required a lot of brain power. In a split second you were supposed to recall all the spell in your arsenal and pick the one that not only worked best for the situation, but the one that you knew you had also perfected.

A poorly crafted spell was as bad as choosing the wrong spell for the situation.

Moving through the trees at a much slower speed, the guiding lines in front of her bade her to move in a straight line as she released all the spells she had invoked. Estabel obeyed the line, occasionally looking behind her. Each time she did, the line moved with her, adjusting to her new line of sight and curving sharply to guide her back to the path in front.

How did this happen? She groaned, limping forward, picking up pace with the pain in her back. At her level and with her magical robe, she wasn’t supposed to have taken this much damage. From her basic medical knowledge and her perception stat, she could tell that not only had she broken her ribs, each lung had at least two rib bones piercing them.

Slamming into a tree was not supposed to her caused her this much damage through her robe.

Frowning at her current situation, she moved her staff and cast another spell. Now that she was spellcasting with it, she did not have to struggle through the mana weight of it.

Maybe I bit off more than I can chew with this one.

The mana weight was trying to slow her down. She considered removing some spells when she returned to the organization but rethought the entire idea. If she started removing spells, it would reduce the durability of the staff, eroding the orb a little. It would make adding spells harder.

No. She would not reduce it. She would sweat it out until she was accustomed to the weight.

[You have used Intermediary spell Self-Heal]

…

[Health 64%]

The air turned forest green, and Estabel breathed it in. It with a touch of relief. It was reminiscent of when she was littler, in a time before she’d gained her level. Like having a nose blocked with snot, only for it to suddenly free up. The relief was sweet. But the feeling as the bones from her broken ribs pulled themselves out of her lungs as they reset was sweeter.

A red arrow popped up to her left suddenly. Estabel turned, leveling her staff even as she continued to move in the direction of the line, and fired.

Red was an aggressive non-human that was twenty levels below her and any level above her. Yellow was an aggressive human that met the same requirement, and green was anything fifty levels below her, human or not.

[Magical staff function in progress]

[Dual Cast activated]

[You have used intermediary spell Fire Ball]

Estabel didn’t even wait to see the outcome, charging forward as the lines guided her. relatively safe with nothing chasing her, she figured she probably owed the snake some gratitude. Striking her away midair had probably thrown her off her initial trajectory by so large a margin that the monsters that had initially been chasing her must’ve lost her scent or track or whatever it was they had been using to follow her.

She still didn’t understand how things had gone to shit. One moment she had had nothing to worry about but the arrogance of her scout and the comfortable stress of being a leader. The next moment, she had lost one of her subordinates to an arrow to the face.

A proper wielder of the [Mage] class had enough contingencies in place to survive a normal physical surprise attack. The fact that the arrow had slain her subordinate meant that their attacker had been careful. Either that or he had known he was attacking a [Mage] class and had acted accordingly.

The first to go down had been her subordinate. Then the scout had died, burnt alive by a skill. The [Enchanter], Yertit, had—to her surprise—fled successfully through the use of enchantments.

That had left Estabel and the rest of her subordinates to survive together. It had been an impossible task to survive an ambush of sixteen men—and those were the numbers she could see. In the fight, they had torn through enough of their enemies, but they had lost numbers too.

Pain filled Estabel’s heart at the memory of her dying subordinates. She should’ve been better, powerful. She should’ve been stronger.

Alas, she had not been. And the tears in her robe and the state of her mana and health stats reminded her of it.

She had only survived the ambush because the chaos of the fight had drawn the attention of the monsters in the area. Estabel had not survived by her abilities but by luck, and it pissed her off. If only she had the mana reserves to keep the spells on the glasses active at all times the ambush would never have happened.

Once more, her thoughts went to Aiden and his blackened arm. The mana around the arm had been reacting to it in such a strange mana—staying away from it. It had amazed her when she’d met him the second time.

It also cost me a staff.

But what was a magical staff in the face of what could potentially be a breakthrough in mana studies?

“I have to—”

Estabel heard it before her glasses sensed it. The sounds of crunching dried grass even in humid air. The movement as if something was rolling over it instead of stepping on it.

The line guiding her turned a sharp left. A crimson red arrow appeared to her right. Estabel was already moving, spells lighting up in her mind.

[Magical staff function in progress]

[Triple Cast activated]

[You have used intermediate spell Explosion]

…

[You have used intermediate skill Binding Vineyard]

…

[You have used intermediate skill Mana Shield]

The air ignited as the staff’s mana reserves tanked.

Out from behind a stray tree, the snake burst out with a fury. Its tongue darted out as it hissed. The air exploded and [Explosion] caught it in the side, throwing its attack astray. But Estabel was not lolled into a false sense of safety. She had aimed it properly. The snakes new trajectory sent it straight into the part of [Binding Vineyard]. Vines erupted from the ground, green and strong and began wrapping themselves around the creature.

Estabel held [Mana Shield] up. The last thing she needed was to be taken down by some random surprise attack.

The vines shattered, the snake ripping itself from their grasp without much effort. Estabel frowned at the sight.

Just how high is its level?

[You have used skill Detect]

Estabel’s breath caught in her throat.

[Illusory Serpent- LvL201]

She swallowed.

She couldn’t win against that. It was suicide.

Without hesitation, she turned and ran. The serpent darted forward. Panic tried to tangle her legs. Maybe running had been the wrong choice. She should have stood and fought, thought about it.

Panic doesn’t kill those who wield the [Mage] class.

But the effects of it do, she realized a little belatedly as a massive tail slammed into her mana shield, shattering it on impact.

“That’s enough of that,” someone said.

Estabel opened her eyes, not knowing when she had closed it. It was a pathetic excuse for a response to being attacked by a [Mage]. She had spells. She should’ve thought, she should’ve cast.

The tail, though it had shattered her shield, had not struck her. Instead, it was locked in midair, whisps of golden light streaking through it. At the end of the tail was a golden colored piece of paper. It was rectangular, as large as her hand.

Someone stepped out from behind a tree. His clothes were pristine, a gentle white cassock that had no right being so white in a forest.

A priest? She thought.

No, she corrected herself, noting that the robe only looked like a cassock.

When she saw the man’s long flowing hair, however, she knew what he was. Long and a blonde so deep it was almost white, it was immaculate.

Estabel frowned mentally as her answer came.

A [Saint].

Saint Clerent. She remembered the man. She had first met him in the Naranoff manor where she’d met Aiden.

The snake responded to the [Saint]’s presence with a loud shriek, one of challenge. The man did not look fazed. In fact, he looked as if the creature’s very existence was a waste of his time.

His hand flicked out a rectangular pieces of brown paper flew at the creature.

“I see you have done it some damage,” he said, strolling up to the Estabel. “Is it a prey that you were hunting on your own?”

Estabel fought back the urge to give him a scathing look. Anyone with half a brain would take one look at the situation and know that she was the prey.

“No,” she answered, behooved to do so.

Saint Clerent paused, thoughtful for a moment as the pieces of paper hovered in the air in front of the snake.

“Then we will handle the beast.” He stepped forward, moving past her. “And if we cannot, then I will. That said…”

He raised his hand, open palm held out to the snake. Estabel was flabbergasted by how whatever skill he was using was able to keep the creature struggling in place. But that seemed unimportant as the pieces of paper began circling the creature, almost nineteen pieces in total.

“Cast fireball,” Clerent said calmly.

Estabel didn’t like being bossed around by a [Saint], but she didn’t argue. She raised her staff and pointed it at the snake. Seeing this, it struggled harder, more violently.

[You have cast intermediate spell Fire ba—

Something fell out of the sky with terrifying speed. It broke through the papers, shattering whatever Saint Clerent had done to the snake to keep it in place, and hit the ground with a boom.

It dug itself a small crater.

Estabel was distracted.

“[Mage], no!” Clerent called out.

The weight of reality returned to Estabel.

Violence returned to the world.

The serpent struck.