Chapter 2 The End of Prayers
Mercenary: Clay
Elementalist: Rita
Acrobat: Odia
Paladin: Clint
Clint had a bad feeling about his party. He was completely aware of the risks of joining random groups who constantly screamed their lungs out, requesting clerics, force users and the like. It wasn't the fact that the acrobat was a lousy shot or that the elementalist was wearing a dress several sizes too small in hopes of making her flat chest look bigger when in reality she is just making what is flat... Even flatter.
No, the bad feeling that sent shivers down his spine and the butterflies in his stomach into overdrive was the fact that the leader of the party, was a mercenary.
Now, Clint had no problem with mercenaries, in fact, he found their raw power and ability to prevent mobs from gathering incredibly useful (all elementalists and force users would beg to differ at this juncture).
This particular mercenary however, had either been dropped too many times on the head, or had been beaten in the same place too many times while training.
"So... Why are we in Sleeper's Temple again?" Rita asked, visibly annoyed at Clay's incompetency.
"I was told that the objective were poison pills. If my information is not wrong, they are found from the mouth of a manticore. I do not sense a manticore anywhere in this temple." Odia said, her head darting around, keeping a lookout while pointing out her observations.
"I guess we took a wrong turn guys, no biggie." Clay said as he laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head.
"Wrong turn? There was a damn sign pointing the direction to Prayers Resting Place! Why you ignored it I personally have no clue!" Rita snarled, putting away her grimoire before smacking the back of Clay's head with her hand.
"It could have been a trap by the monsters. You know, to mislead us! Just because you throw fire and ice around doesn't mean you know everything!" Clay retorted, rubbing his the spot Rita had hit him.
"Oh I'll show you throwing fire and ice around!" Rita snapped, conjuring fire in one hand and ice in the other before launching both at Clay.
Swiftly stepping forward, Clint stuck out his shield arm, blocking both the fireball and ice piece as he shook his head at Rita.
"An idiot, an elf, and a mute. I'm screwed." Rita muttered, pulling out her grimoire and settling down on a nearby grass patch and reading it.
"Arguing won't get us anywhere, we should focus on the task at hand and get the poison pills afterwards. The faster we finish, the faster we can start on our real quest, yes?" Odia said, attempting to mediate the rift that had been created in the party.
"If you're so good, do it yourself. I'd enjoy watching you try with that pussy bow of yours." Rita said, not looking up from her grimoire.
"It's a SHORT bow. Why you keep making references to felines is totally irrelevant. I am aware of my inability to clear whole crowds like you, that is why
I am suggesting we cooperate for now."
Nodding at Odia, Clint started off on the path into the temple, followed by Clay and Odia herself while a grumpy Rita brought up the rear.
After traveling down the path, Clay's party were blocked by a large door that was flanked by two protection seals.
"They're not working!" Clay yelled, slamming his axe into one of the crystals.
"Over here!" Odia yelled, running after Clint, who had taken the hidden stairway to the right.
Heading to the hidden seal and activating it, Clint turned around and gave a quick nod to Odia as he started to slowly jog back to the stairs when he suddenly stopped.
"Clint?" Odia asked, eyebrows raised as Clint looked left and right, when suddenly an ambush of monsters leaped from the shadows, surrounding Clint.
"Smite!" Clint yelled, drawing his mace and finally speaking as he somersaulted into the air before slamming it into the ground sending a bolt of lightning into the ground, releasing an electric shockwave that rippled outwards, engulfing all the nearby goblins and dark elves.
Standing up again, Clint sheathed his weapon even before all the monsters hit the ground, corpses and random items strewn all over the place. Making the sign of the cross, Clint closed his eyes and said a quick prayer before joining the party at the two protection seals that had been deactivated by Clay and Rita.
"Like oh my goodness! Did he just speak?" Rita said, her voice carrying a hint of sarcasm as she mockingly studied Clint from top to bottom.
"..." Clint shrugged without saying a word.
"Oh, he's caught the mute virus again." Rita said with a sigh, shaking her head, her hair flowing like the models in a shampoo commercial.
"Whoa." Clay muttered, watching Rita's hair flow back and forth.
"Watch yourself flyboy, I'm way outta your league." Rita said with a smirk, sending a small wisp of fire over her shoulder making Clay stumble as he avoided the flame or get his eyebrows singed.
As the doors opened revealing a group of resting shamans in the next clearing, Clay drew his axe out dashing towards the shamans with a battle cry, "It's hammer time!"
"Dude you carry an axe." Rita muttered as she shook her head, rushing forwards as well, sitting on her staff like a broomstick before igniting it, "Flame Road!"
Taking off after Clay, Rita reached Clay easily while shooting forwards on her staff even giving Clay a wink as she overtook him.
"Hey! No fair!" Clay cried, dashing faster to try and keep up, not noticing the shadow that flipped over him.
"Chain trampoline!" Odia whispered, somersaulting through the air after tumbling forwards.
"Spiral kick!" twisting through the air, using her momentum to drive her foot into one of the shamans, slamming him into his brethren.
"Circle shot!" Spinning her legs in midair to generate enough momentum to shoot arrows in every direction before righting herself in midair.
"Eagle Dive!" Flipping one final time in the air, letting gravity take over and slamming into the ground, kicking up dust and sending the shamans flying in different directions as the struggled to get to their feet and fail, Odia affectionately plucked her bowstring as Clay ground to a halt beside her with Rita hopping off her staff and summoning it back into her hand.
"That was SO cool!" Clay said as his face reflected his awe.
"Keep your form like that and we'll have no problem with the manticore later!" Rita said happily clapping Odia on the back gently.
Turning to the last member of the group, Odia's expectations of what Clint would say about her performance were written on her face until she remembered he rarely ever said a word.
Looking down disappointed, Odia only looked up when a strong yet gentle hand tapped her on the shoulder, with Clint smiling and giving her a thumbs up.
"Oh my gawd, did he just do that?!" Rita yelled in a valley girl accent shaking her head to make certain of what she just saw.
Giving Rita a cursory glance, Clint followed the group as they made their way down the steps to a large door flanked by another set of protection seals.
"Those two don't work until you've triggered the hidden one! Follow me!" Clay yelled, raising his axe and charging to the left.
"Come on Odia there are awesome treasures on this side!" Rita squealed, dragging Odia to the other side.
Shrugging his shoulders, Clint took off towards the left, following Clay's dust trail where Clay had just attempted to seal the protection stone when another ambush sprang out from the shadows!
"Take this! Punishing swing!" Clay yelled, swinging his axe and tossing a bomb on the end of his axe at the monsters, disorienting them when the bomb exploded.
Stepping in carefully to gather power, Clay spun on a perfect 360 while in the middle of the monsters, "Circle Swing!"
Sending monsters flying in all directions, Clay stabbed his axe into the ground and pointed at Clint, "Well, what do you think? Pretty cool huh?"
To be honest, Clint had seen it all before, in fact, Clint had practically memorized every jobs, bread and butter combinations in order to fit his own skills in between, the ultimate support strategy.
Giving Clay one of his customary shrugs that said, "Not bad.", Clint was the first to notice that behind Clay, one of the trolls was alive and struggling to it's feet.
Dashing forward, Clint pulled out his mace and yelled, "Holy Relic! Come forth!" before swinging his mace down, crushing the troll and sending Clay sprawling from the shockwave.
"Whoa what the?!" Clay said as he rolled just in time turning to see the dying troll, "Thanks man."
Nodding in reply, Clint unsealed the protection stone before joining Rita and Odia at the door, both of them laden with trinkets and loot from their short trip to the chest on the right.
Entering the next field without much problems, Odia suddenly stopped and signaled the others to follow suit.
"Over there... 3 Minotaurs are waiting on ambush behind the fences." she said, "We should proceed with caution."
"Yeah yeah, easy peasy!" Clay yelled, running up to the three ominous looking magic crystals hovering in midair.
"Wait Clay, I think those..."
"Ring... Bombs!" Clay yelled, slamming his axe into the ground causing a massive explosion in front of him and shattering all three crystals at the same time.
"Clay you idiot! Those crystals..." Rita yelled, stopping short when all three fences collapsed, the minotaurs running out at full speed.
Dashing forwards, Clay raised his axe at the ready not noticing the Minotaur to his left ready to slam its own axe down on him.
"Freezing swords!" Rita yelled, erecting swords of ice out of the ground in front of the left Minotaur, stabbing it's raised arms causing it to roar in pain.
Leaping into the fray with a chain trampoline, Odia took aim at the nearest Minotaur, the center one before closing her eyes and reopening them, a blue glow now shining from her eyes.
"Odia?" Clay and Rita whispered, eyes wide in shock and awe.
"The wind is my ally, ready to bring forth the wrath of tempests. In peace it is but a gentle breeze, but in battle it is a power to be reckoned with! Astral Illusion!"
Leaping into the air again, Odia twisted her body in a corkscrew motion kicking the center Minotaur twice before attacking all three with a rapid flurry of kicks.
Leaping into the air before they could respond, Odia eagle dived on the spot, sending them staggering backwards from the shockwave before summoning a dome of turbulent winds sending all three Minotaurs flying backwards, accompanied by their goblin minions.
"Odia, you shouldn't use your signature move so freely, it takes it's toll on your body you know..." Rita said, sighing as she tossed a bottle of blue liquid for Odia to drink.
"My body is still in decent condition. Shall we continue?" Odia asked, heading to the innermost sanctum of the temple.
As the four intrepid adventurers headed through the doors, they were sealed shut once Rita who was the last member entered the sanctum. Losing no time, the Minotaur carrying a huge golden axe took it's cue to roar and charge at them.
"Stance of FAITH!" Clint yelled, running forwards and sticking his shield out in front of him, blocking every axe attack the Minotaur threw at him.
"Eat this! Rolling spin!" Clay yelled, leaping into the air, somersaulting and spinning over the Minotaur's head, slashing it with his axe blade.
"Freezing field!" Rita yelled, stabbing the ground, chilling all monsters around the Minotaur. Swinging her free hand, Rita let loose a handful of Phoenix shaped flames at the nearby monsters.
Using her chain trampoline, Odia deftly avoided the surrounding goblins as they were hit by the flames and started to suffer from heavy burns. Before she could respond, Rita snapped her fingers, "Ignite!"
Covering her face as each goblin exploded spontaneously, Odia noticed a few unburnt goblin stragglers running towards Rita to avenge their fallen brothers, Rita too busy laughing to notice.
Reverse tumbling back to Rita, Odia held a small ball of wind in her hand before expanding it, sending all the surrounding goblins flying away much to Rita's displeasure.
"My hair!" Rita cried, touching her now messed up hair due to Odia's attack, "It took forever to comb!"
"Truly a question needs to be asked, are you a fashion stylist or a sorceress." Odia sniggered.
"Why can't I be both?" Rita muttered, trying to repair the damage.
At that moment, Clint's stance wore off and he immediately started blocking to continue protecting everyone else from the Minotaur's attacks.
Twirling her staff twice, Rita cackled like a maniac while unleashing a river of fire on the Minotaur's back from the tip of her staff.
"Whirlwind!" Clay yelled, positioning himself near the legs and spinning round mercilessly cutting at anything that came close to him, Odia and Rita included.
"Hey watch it!" Rita yelled, raising a wall of ice to protect her from friendly fire as Odia took advantage of the new wall and leaped onto it using it to somersault over the Minotaur while firing a few shots into its eyes.
Finally losing interest in Clint, the Minotaur roared in pain as it swung back its axe, glowing blue as it prepared an attack that would almost definitely cleave even mountains in half.
Signaling for the party to scatter, Clint ran forwards as the Minotaur swung, sliding under the attack and retaliating with a shield bash that caused the Minotaur to stagger.
"Holy relic! Come forth!" Clint yelled, swinging his mace forwards instead of downwards, summoning a giant relic that shot forwards, slamming through the Minotaur's chest and piercing it's hide, killing it at last.
Sighing as he shoved his axe into the ground, Clay took a deep breath, "Man, I don't think I can make a round through Prayers Resting Place today."
"Man, is that all you've got? Typical of men, to lose their stamina after only one round." Rita sneered, picking up one of the coin bags and attempting to weigh it by passing it between her hands.
"I agree with Clay Rita, we should take this opportunity to treat our wounds and make preparations for our next expedition. I need to fine tune my bowstring as well." Odia said, opening Rita's coin bag and taking a few silvers out much to Rita's chagrin.
Leaving the dungeon weary and well paid, Clay's party separated as soon as they reached the village, promising to meet again in 6 hours as soon as they had finished attending to any pressing matters.
Heading to his favorite spot under the hidden oak tree, Clint lay down and polished his mace absentmindedly, mentally reviewing what had happened.
Her hairdresser the first stop on her agenda, Rita resolved to never stand too close to Odia especially when she was going to do anything involving wind.
Stopping by the weapons smith, Clay was attempting to add another axe blade on top of his axe, four blades would be better than two, he reasoned as the blacksmith shook his head at Clay's large scale imitation of Clint's mace before personally removing it despite Clay's protests.
Odia had leaped up to one of the buildings and was now restringing her bow with affection, even varnishing the Yew lovingly.
End of part 1
Authors Note: Dear Mina, if you just leave a credit footnote at the end saying that the work was translated and who the original author is I don't mind you translating it into Russian. Sorry but leaving a guest review leaves me no way to contact you unless you register and create an account so I had to write my reply here. (email links are removed by the system when sent via private message or review so all i see are empty brackets)