Chapter 10 – Big Things
"The winds are gathering."
That's what Vyrdrun said before they stopped their walk for the day.
They followed the road the merchant came from for a short while. Two weeks to travel by cart. That's what he said. Of course, the road didn't go straight there. It curved and split and joined with others, as much as a worn dirt road could. The map Reina saw before didn't even show the roads. Plenty of plains and forests were between them and the country to the west, not to mention whatever would be in that country.
As a matter of fact, 'country' was a bit generous of a term. She got a look at something like a world map in the shop in town. A rough estimate based on the size of Savia and comparing it to the many other 'countries' led her to believe the total depicted area was about twice the size of Japan. That was only the land area, not including a few rather large seas, numerous lakes, and impassable mountain ranges. The territories seemed more like large prefectures from Japan than full countries. There were dozens of them, too.
Their destination had two nations between them. The first one was larger than the second overall, but the length of the second meant they'd spend about the same amount of time in each.
But before all that, they had to reach the border. And before that, they stopped for the night to rest and eat, and for Vyrdrun to do his thing.
Reina rested in the constructed hut, watching as Vyrdrun stoked the flames of the pit beneath the metal pot. She hadn't noticed it before, but his previous hut had a collection bin for the rain on the side. That's what he used to get his last batch of violet rain, and he used a similar design here. The pink/purple clouds had already dispersed, leaving Vyrdrun to boil the rain in his magic metal pot.
Now that she wasn't in peril, she was able to notice other effects of the rain. While the falling water beat against the roof, she felt her body grow tired. She also felt nauseous from it, which continued even after. It wasn't just from the water vapor in the air. According to Vyrdrun, the magic from the rain seeped into the land around them and would linger for an hour or so until the land absorbed the effects.
To distract herself from the slight nausea, Reina went through her hair using a simple brush she got from town. She made some soap with her weapon using cheap ingredients she got in the adventurers shop. A nearby river allowed her to clean herself up a bit before the rain came down.
"Are you well, Reina?" Vyrdrun asked her.
"Mm." She nodded, continuing her work on her hair. "What are you going to do with the rain water?"
"If I come across another Gromnar tribe, I can trade it. Otherwise, I'll make a potion with it." He said.
"What kind of potion?" Reina started with the more practical part of his answer.
"Whatever I need." He responded.
Once more, it seemed like something Vyrdrun didn't want to go into. Reina really wasn't that bad at making conversations, but it was starting to feel that way. That's why it was a surprise when Vyrdrun quickly glanced at her before resuming his work, and then spoke.
"I can make potions to increase some of my stats for a time. Some can expand my magic, letting me cast spells similar to mages."
Reina smiled at his answer. He was starting to speak more about himself with her.
"How's your magic different from humans'?" He'd mentioned they were different before, but never went further.
"Humans make contracts with spirits individually." Vyrdrun explained. "They must agree to terms or restrictions set by the spirit to grasp its knowledge. Gromnar can't do this. Instead, a few of us can encourage the lesser spirits to aid us, borrowing their knowledge for spells."
"There are lesser spirits?" Reina asked.
"Yes, all around us." Vyrdrun answered. "Humans can't make contracts with them. They are weaker and don't have a strong sense of self, but they can be influenced by some of my kind."
Reina thought about that. "So the reason you don't use more offensive magic is because the spirits can't or don't want to?"
"In a sense, I suppose. They tend to reflect the area around them. If there was a fire nearby, I could create a blaze in my hands and hurl it at an enemy."
Reina may have previously asked if he could shoot fire from his hands. She let out a chuckle. "I guess I need to learn more about how mages and priests cast spells. It all just sounds like magic to me."
Vyrdrun gave a short laugh. "I suppose it would. The magic I use is usually more subtle, not flashy like the mages I've seen in my travels. Making this hut or manipulating my treated metal is usually the extent of it."
"That doesn't mean it's not impressive. You were able to help me and that kid with the sickness from the rain. Oh!" Reina remembered another feat he accomplished. "The guard from that town. You canceled his spell, right?"
Reina had tested Cutting Edge against a muck crab they came across, which turned into tonight's dinner. With her spirit distracting it, she was able to cut into the monster with little problem thanks to the spell. Concentrating on the spell wasn't difficult, but she had plenty of space to do so.
"A better way to look at it is I returned the energy to how it should be." Vyrdrun said. "Mages make harsh changes to the world around them using spirits. By their nature, the spells they use aren't permanent. I simply unravel what is quickly sewn together."
"Hm." That was food for thought. That might also be why humans and Gromnar didn't get along, if people like Vyrdrun could just stop their spells from working. Then again, it might not have been that well known. Martin didn't seem to think much of giants, and that guard was shocked when Vyrdrun wasn't cut to pieces.
"And did you learn to do magic? Or, were you born with it?" It sounded like something not available to everyone if only a few Gromnar could use it.
"In a sense…" Once again, it felt like a topic she shouldn't pry into.
"I see." She gave him a nod to his none-answer.
She let the conversation end there for now. She already got more out of him than any of their talks before, so this was a good step.
Instead, she looked over the forms she got from absorbing the extra gear from the shop. Most of them were pretty weak and only gave +1 stat bonuses, but a few stood out.
Rope Totem
(abilities locked) Equip Bonus: Skill "Deft Strike"
Equip Effect: Rope
Candle Totem
(abilities locked) Equip Bonus: low-light vision up
Equip Effect: Light
The Candle Totem was pretty handy, able to make a small flame on its wick. It didn't actually burn and couldn't light a fire, so that was all it was really good for.
The Rope Totem, on the other hand, gave a nice skill. She tested it out earlier. It launched a quick attack from her using her spirit, but only if her spirit wasn't already out. It probably needed to be previously forged, too. The SP cost was low and the cooldown was short. Best of all, she didn't need to say the skill name out loud. The ability to make as much rope as she needed—even if it only existed while the totem was equipped—was also handy.
Reina turned to her light meal, just finished cooking over the fire. She took a bite out of the crab meat before looking at Vyrdrun's helping. For someone his size, she thought he'd eat much more. His portion wasn't small, still twice the size of hers, but she didn't eat as much as others to begin with.
"I wish I was better at talking." Reina thought. "Once I'm more used to him, I'm sure I'll be able to start conversations more easily."
With their meal finished, the two got ready for bed. Reina unfurled her bedroll while Vyrdrun prepared the monster pelt they'd used previously. She was glad she had her own things now so they didn't need to share. It was odd that he didn't want a bedroll for himself, though getting one large enough would have been more costly anyway. Gromnar were comfortable on softened ground, so one wasn't needed, apparently.
One thing Reina did want to get for him was a better weapon. She asked to look over his metal rod and found its stats to be not so great, even when made into a weapon. Unfortunately, the only thing she had in her drops that was remotely suitable was a short spear. It was barely long enough for him and not much better. Despite him not normally using weapons, even Reina new a spear as pretty simple to use. The tradeoff would be him not being able to grapple with monsters as easily with it in the way.
Next time they reached a town, she'd get him a spear to use whenever needed. Hopefully, it'd be strong enough for him to use without breaking.
~Forging Legends~
"Now!"
With Reina's call, Vyrdrun stomped forward. The two krindar in front of him dodged to the sides, though one was slower than the other. The bleeding wound on the slow one gave an opening for Reina to strike with her Krindar Athame. A swift strike to its heart was all it took to put the monster down. The other one had to dodge swipes from her spirit, letting Vyrdrun get close enough to slam a fist into it. The monster stilled after that, granting them XP.
"Level 17." Reina smiled at the notification. They were able to hunt a few of these this morning, with these giving her just enough to level up. With no more monsters around, Reina dismissed her spirit and got to work re-forging it.
Two more krindar corpses entered her weapon, along with two more tokens. She put both into her Krindar Athame with the others, increasing her attack even more. This weapon had the highest attack stat and Reina was quickly optimizing it for just that. She'd done the same with Muck Crab Totem and hill doll tokens for defense and Muck Crab Claw Athame and forest doll tokens for agility. The muck crab tokens increased defense more than the hill doll tokens on their own, but she got more out of the many more hill doll tokens she had for now.
She didn't bother placing anything into her Caskalt Athame form besides a weaker damage buff from her Monster Gacha. It wasn't as strong anyway and she'd only use it against high defense enemies. The Cutting Edge spell would more than make up the difference.
While swapping weapons wasn't quick enough to attack, block, and attack again in quick succession, she'd be able prepare for bigger, telegraphed attacks from monsters and then counterattack.
"Ready?" Vyrdrun asked as he approached with his arm lowered.
"Yeah." Reina came close, letting Vyrdrun scoop her up.
She was a bit uncomfortable with the action. Seeing that giant in the town…she didn't want Vyrdrun to think she saw him that way. He likely didn't, given the situation. If they were to reach the Dragon Hourglass in time, they needed to keep a good pace. Vyrdrun's longer strides made it harder for Reina to keep up when he wasn't slowing himself down. He was the one who offered to carry her like this, so she accepted it.
What's more, they weren't going to be following the roads. The plains and forests between them and their destination would have monsters to fight, which would slow them down, but it was also a more direct path. They'd get there in about the same amount of time as traveling on the roads, with the added benefit of gaining levels.
It was also a good opportunity to practice fighting together. Vyrdrun had some magic, though it wasn't flashy like slinging fireballs. He'd instead shape his enchanted metal into a long club and use that when needed, though he preferred his fists and legs. Reina could use her forged spirit to set up attacks with him, with her joining in when the enemy was more agile, like krindars.
They continued to walk through the lightly forested area. When potential enemies were near, Vyrdrun set her on the ground to prepare.
Soon enough, they came across the corpses of several krindar, prompting such a motion.
A quick observation showed the pair of bodies had numerous holes in them, small amounts of blood around the openings. The bodies looked smaller than normal, as if they were sunken in on themselves.
"What happened here?" Reina asked aloud as she slowly got closer.
"They appear to have been drained." Vyrdrun said, pointing to the wounds. "There are a few monsters I know of that do so."
No sooner had he said as much that something squirmed from under one of the bodies and shot up. Fortunately, Reina had her athame handy and cut it in half. When it landed, Reina found it to be a centipede, though a bit larger than it should be.
"I already don't like this." Reina muttered, lowering herself to absorb it along with the dead krindar. It wasn't enough to reveal a new weapon form.
"We should be careful." Vyrdrun warned. "I've heard these monsters often hunt in large numbers."
That was an unpleasant thought. Dozens or hundreds of these things crawling all around her…she wasn't afraid of insects, per se, but she wasn't about to hold one that big.
Chittering noises sounded around them. Reina jolted and looked up, seeing exactly what she didn't want to see. Camouflaged in the greenery were three very large centipedes. 'Large' wasn't an accurate word. They were almost bigger than Vyrdrun. The pincers on their heads dripped with a dull green liquid.
"Forge Spirit!" Reina swapped her weapon form at the same time she called out her skill, switching to the Muck Crab Totem. She didn't know how hard these things hit, so she prepared her best defense.
The lowest one arched back and sprung forward from the tree, slamming into her spirit. The dripping pincers embedded into her spirit's shoulder, though it only dealt a small amount of damage. The spirit gripped the centipede in its hands, keeping it from retreating. The long body of it squirmed around, trying to pull itself free.
The other two centipedes leapt from the tree as well. Both aimed for Vyrdrun, who was able to grab one from the air near its head. The other bit into his arm and began to wrap itself around him.
"Hold on!" Reina called, switching back to the Krindar Athame. She swung it at the segmented body around Vyrdrun's hip, cutting deep and letting sickly yellow blood spill from the wound.
The centipede hissed in pain, releasing its hold on Vyrdrun's arm as it looked down at Reina. It snapped its head toward her, only to be grabbed by Vyrdrun's other hand. A thrust to its head from Reina's athame stopped any more movement from the monster.
From there, it was simple enough to kill the other one Vyrdrun held and then finish off the one her spirit grappled with. Long bodies dropped to the ground, letting the pair collect themselves.
"Are you alright?" Reina asked, looking at his wound.
"I'll be fine." Vyrdrun said, wiping his hand over the punctures.
"Are they venomous? I don't like the look of those wounds."
Vyrdrun nodded. "They are, but it won't affect me. I can slow the effects of poisons that enter my body with magic until I get a chance to purge them, which I'll start doing."
Reina smiled at that. Despite not being flashy, his magic looked to have many more uses.
"What about your spirit?" Vyrdrun asked. "It was bitten as well."
Reina looked at her forged spirit, noting the small wound on it. The wound didn't seem that severe, though she did see a small amount of…stuffing come out.
"Oh right, the template I added to it gave it the 'construct' trait. I guess that really does mean poisons and stuff won't affect it." Reina realized. She didn't know how much poison and venom would hurt it before, since it was still a physical spirit she made, but that was something to test out later.
"It's fine." Reina assured him. She then took the opportunity to absorb the monsters.
Monstrous Centipede Totem
(abilities locked) Equip Bonus: Forge "Centipede Sting"
Another ability to apply to her spirit. The totem looked like the head of one of those centipedes, and Reina really didn't care for it. The stats didn't put it above any of her optimized weapon forms, nor did it work as an all-around form, so the equip bonus was all it'd be good for. A quick check told her the tokens from the monsters would increase poison resistance.
Reina lowered herself slightly, hands resting on her knees. She didn't even realize how much adrenaline went through her until it was gone. Except for the demon girl in the castle, nothing got her body that worked up, even running from the violet rain. The battle was short and the monsters were weak, but damn if they didn't look terrifying.
Still, it provided them yet another chance to work together in a fight.
"I'm glad that's over." Reina breathed steadily, ready to get a move on.
~The Next Day~
"Centipede Sting!"
Her spirit lurched its head down, the mandibles on it piercing the monster's head and injecting a poison into it. Not that it was necessary. The sting itself dealt good damage and already finished off the monster.
With it now dead, her spirit let it go, the mass of black slumping to the ground. Reina's eyes wavered as she stared into the eight on the dead spider.
The giant spider. The giant spider that was, like the centipedes yesterday, as big as Vyrdrun.
Reina's eye twitched as she absorbed the monster into her weapon.
"Okay. Now it's over." Reina breathed out.
~The Day After~
"Web!"
With a swing of her Krindar Athame, thick webbing flew out and attached itself to…a very large wasp. The monster fell to the ground, flapping its wings in a vain attempt to free itself from its prison.
"Spider Bite!"
With her next skill, her spirit launched itself at the prey and punctured its body with another set of mandibles. The wasp ceased its struggle and gave the two of them its XP.
Reina's dull eyes looked over the monster before she slowly moved to absorb it as well.
"I'm sure…there's no more." Reina's breath was shallow as she hobbled over to Vyrdrun.
~The Third Day~
"Reina, are you well?" Vyrdrun asked, carrying her through more woods.
"Hm." She didn't look at him when she answered, keeping her bloodshot eyes forward.
There was a reason for that.
Monstrous Spider Athame
(abilities locked) Equip Bonus: Forge "Spider Bite"
Monstrous Spider Silk Totem
(abilities locked) Equip Bonus: Skill "Web"
Monstrous Beetle Totem
(abilities locked) Equip Bonus: defense 2
Monstrous Wasp Totem
(abilities locked) Equip Bonus: spirit attack 3
Monstrous Wasp Stinger Athame
(abilities locked) Equip Bonus: attack 2
Monstrous Soldier Ant Totem
(abilities locked) Equip Bonus: spirit attack 2
Monstrous Leech Totem
(abilities locked) Equip Bonus: Forge Points up (small)
Insect Template unlocked!
Three days. They spent three days going through mostly forests with the occasional small meadow. In that time, she saw so, so many giant insects. None of them were all that dangerous given Vyrdrun's size and strength and her summoned spirit. The spider was the worst with its webbing, but even that couldn't match them. If Reina had to guess, a rounded party of four or five level 15 adventurers could have handled what they fought, provided they had antitoxins for venom and the monsters didn't group up more than they did.
The XP gains were decent. Reina got up to level 22 with Vyrdrun now at level 25. It was more than enough to let her use one of the first weapon forms she got.
Thunderstruck Doll Totem
(abilities locked) Equip Bonus: attack 5, agility 5, Forge "Charge"
Equip Effect: Static Field
It was easily her strongest and most well-rounded weapon form. The attack, agility, and defense stats of it surpassed the three weapon forms she began optimizing. The Forge ability let her spirit rush to an enemy and deliver a strong attack, while the equip effect surrounded her and her spirit with a weak electric field that damaged enemies who attacked them. If she had more weapon forms like this, she'd optimize each one for a different stat.
But, truly, she'd trade it right away for a good night's sleep.
When she laid her head down for the night, her mind was plague by creepy-crawly creatures. They'd swarm around her, covering her body with their far-too-many limbs, nipping and biting at her. Her vision would go black with the sheer number of bodies that poured over her.
That was to say, she got only a few hours of sleep since the first giant insect they fought.
"We can rest if you're tired." Vyrdrun offered.
"No!" Reina quickly responded. "No. The sooner we're away from all these…things, the better."
Once they were out of the land of giant insects, Reina was sure she'd sleep well again. Hopefully she didn't develop some sort of mental tick from all these insects. It didn't help that they actually ate some of them. Reina had rations, but it was better to save them for emergencies. She'd argue the idea of eating giant insects was an emergency, but Vyrdrun had no problem with them. And despite what her body seemed to think, she refused to admit they tasted even slightly like chicken.
At first, Reina was glad—if not slightly fearful—of seeing these monsters straight from her tabletop game's monster books. She started to feel like she knew what to do. Of course, coming face-to-face with a spider that was as big as her traveling companion put a damper on that. It wasn't strong, it really wasn't. That didn't stop it from haunting her dreams.
"With the exception of the largest ones, these monsters are some of the weakest in the game. So why…why do they freak me out so much!?" Reina questioned it, but knew the reason. A cockroach wasn't dangerous, but she wouldn't want to deal with one of those either.
She was thankful the Thunderstruck Doll Totem became available. The Monstrous Spider Athame was looking to replace her Krindar Athame for attack. Spider legs stretched out from where the blade met the hilt and she didn't want to be reminded of everything she went through these past few days. She got enough of that from her forged spirit…
She didn't want to use it. She really didn't want to use it. The Insect Template she got from all those weapon forms…it made her forged spirit look like…she didn't even want to describe it. The back, largest segment had eight legs like a spider. The following half-dozen segments had a set of limbs each. The face had its normal set of mandibles, plus the two sets from her selected Forge abilities. The whole thing was about twice as long as it was with the Doll Template.
"Why!? Healing Touch didn't make it look any different! I get that it needs these body parts to use those skills, but why!?" Reina knew the answer to that too. She just didn't want to accept that with great power came unsightly additions.
The new template, plus the four Forge abilities, maxed out her spirit's Forge Points. If she got another one, she'd swap out Centipede Sting since its venom was weaker than the spider one. She'd really like to. It just made her forged spirit look that much more monstrous. She got more points with levels, so she might not be able to justify it.
"Hahaha!"
Reina's eyes darted around at the sound. "Did you hear that?"
"I heard nothing." Vyrdrun responded, stopping his walk. "What was it?"
"Great, I really am hearing voices. I thought that stopped after getting some real rest." Reina moaned. "Well, I haven't been sleeping lately…"
"It's nothing." Reina sighed. "Let's just keep moving."
With a nod, Vyrdrun resumed his pace.
"Hahaha!"
Eyes twitching, Reina looked in the direction she heard the laughter from. There was nothing there, save more trees. No rustling bushes, no beady eyes from some other giant insect, nothing.
A deep breath later and Reina was focused on their forward movement.
"Hahahahahahahahaha!"
Reina grit her teeth. She leapt from Vyrdrun's arm and landed on the ground. "Alright, fine!" Throwing her hands in the air, she began stalking towards the source of the laughter.
"Whatever! I'll go see what it is if it won't stop! Hallucination or not, I did see those clouds form above me before thanks to the laughing. Maybe forging a contract with my soul gave me a sixth sense or something, I don't know!" Anything to stop the laughing that only just began to quiet when she headed toward it.
Trees passed her by as she weaved around them, searching for whatever her soul or her subconscious or whatever it was wanted her to find. If anything, it was probably whatever it was that she started to smell. It was something burning, if she wasn't mistaken.
A few trees later and she found the source. It was indeed something burning, a large spider, but the rest of the sight gained her attention. The first thing she noticed was the living large spider with its back to her. It wasn't as big as some of the other ones they've faced, but its abdomen was much larger. Without a doubt, this was a mother spider.
The evidence of that was the second thing that got her attention. Dozens upon dozens of palm-sized spiders were skittering on the ground around it. That paled in comparison to the hundred-some that were swarming a tree of all things.
Reina gave Vyrdrun a look that he returned with a nod. The monsters would spot them before they could get away, so it was better to attack quickly.
"Forge Spirit!"
The giant spider spun around and gave a loud hiss at them.
"Charge!"
That was all it had time for before Reina sent in her forged spirit to attack. It rammed into the spider, biting at its head with mandibles aplenty. Reina found she didn't need to call out the Forge abilities for them to function, but it sure felt cathartic at the moment.
The spider babies didn't waste any time changing their target. The swarm fell off the tree quickly and started skittering on the ground toward them.
Vyrdrun stepped forward, his metal fashioned into a long staff he used to sweep at the spiders. He was perfect as a frontliner here. His defense was high enough to mostly shrug off these small spiders and he could stave off the venom they managed to inject him with should they reach him.
That left Reina and her forged spirit to deal with the giant spider.
Try as it might, the spider couldn't get her spirit off of it. Its front legs pushed as it tried to back up, but the spirit kept with it. Bites and scratches were exchanged between spider and insect-spider-spirit. The twitching of legs indicated the Static Field was doing its job. When the spider went to the end of the forged spirit's range, it stopped moving. It couldn't pull back any further due to the invisible boundary.
Reina didn't need it to move back more anyway. The mother spider was already away from her babies. Despite his makeshift weapon not being the best quality, Vyrdrun was easily able to kill multiple spiders with every swing. Tiny bits of XP kept appearing in Reina's vision.
Deciding now was the time, Reina quickly moved forward, Thunderstruck Doll Totem in hand. Despite its name and appearance, the weapon was sturdy. It would have to be from what Reina was able to do with it before, and what she planned to do with it now.
The back of the spider arced up and released a glob of webbing at her. She was able to sidestep it and continue on, picking up her speed into a charge.
One of the front legs swung out at her, forcing her to duck under it. She rammed the totem into the leg, setting off a light shock and bending it somewhat awkwardly from the blunt force. With that side clear of imminent threat, Reina rose the totem above her head.
"Die!" She cried out, bringing it down on the side of the spider's head. It jerked back from the impact, but her spirt kept it from moving out from her range. "Die and stop haunting my dreams!"
She brought her totem down again and again, yellow ooze beginning to leak out of its head. It screeched, trying to redirect its venomous jaw to her but the forged spirit kept it back. Soon enough, it collapsed on the ground, it mandibles weakly biting at her spirit. With one final strike, the totem cracked the spider's skull, submerging into its brain matter.
XP flashed in her vision once again.
With the larger spider dead, the sound of metal hitting earth ceased. Reina turned to look and saw the small spiders run off in all directions. Without their mother to back them up, they quickly lost the will to fight.
"Hah…" Reina let out a breath. With her totem already in the spider, she absorbed it easily. No new forms were revealed, likely because it was the same type of spider she'd already absorbed.
All that was left was to gather up the remaining dead spiders. She sent her spirit to start helping with that.
"Are they gone?"
Reina looked around. She saw no one else with her and Vyrdrun. "Oh god, I'm hearing more voices now."
"No, I heard it too." Vyrdrun said the most comforting words she could hear at the moment.
"Over here!" The voice called again.
Reina turned to the source: the tree the spiders were crawling all over. The bark on the tree began to waver, almost like a pond that was disturbed with a stone. Like a slowly surfacing water creature, something began to emerge. Two round things pushed out of the liquid bark, followed by a dark curtain flap and shiny rocks.
Reina's eyes twitched before she rubbed them, realizing she was probably more tired than she initially thought. When she looked again, she saw a woman literally stepping out of a tree.
The shiny rocks were a few rings on her fingers and an amulet around her neck. The curtain was her black robes, which hugged her figure. They went down close to her shins, ending in a pair of dark brown boots. A slit near the side of the front of her dress lead up past her thigh and revealed a generous amount of leg. It went up and covered her chest, which Reina realized were the large mounds she first saw.
The last pieces of clothing became visible as the woman fully came out. A dark red cloak that looked a bit tattered lay across her shoulders. Long, violet hair draped over her shoulders as well. Atop her head was a wide brimmed hat that ended in a jagged point, something similar looking to a lightning bolt.
"Well, that's a witch's outfit if I ever saw one. Scantily clad, too. I wonder if she can cast Meteor Swarm." Reina thought back to her previous thoughts on wearing such a thing.
"Thanks for that." The woman said, closing her eyes and leaning her back against the solid-again tree. She took in soothing breaths, her large chest heaving at the action.
"You're welcome…" Reina replied, not quite sure what all was going on. "Did you really just come out of a tree?"
"Hm?" The woman peeked at her from beneath her hat. "Oh, yes. I learned a spell that lets me hide in plants, assuming they're big enough."
"Oddly specific." Reina mused, but she recalled a spell from her games to do the same in stone, so why not?
The spirit approached Reina with a heap of dead spiders in its mandibles. She held out her totem, letting the spiders fall into the violet gem.
"Oh my~." The woman let out as she watched. "You wouldn't happen to be a hero, would you? I've heard they have weapons that can do such a thing."
Reina grunted in response. Not the most sociable thing to do, but she was pretty tired. It was partly the reason she didn't think to hide it, that and not being in a town with lots of people to talk about it. "Yeah. I'm the Spirit Forger."
"Oh~? That's—" The woman took a single step before dipping to the ground, hissing in pain.
"You okay?" Reina asked, taking a step forward as her forged spirit went to collect more.
"Mhm." She responded with a nod, caressing the front of her shapely exposed leg. Reina noticed a splotch of blood there. "Healing Hands!"
The wound quickly closed, leaving only the blood.
"Ah…That's better." The woman breathed an easy sigh. She looked up, first at Vyrdrun and then Reina. "Would either of you happen to have an antitoxin? I have silver."
"Uh, sure." Reina nodded, walking over and pulling an antitoxin from her weapon's gem. She was able to find a few plants in the forests that could be used as ingredients for her auto-crafting.
The woman reached under her cloak as she stood and pulled out a coin purse, picking out five silver simoleons and exchanged them for the vial.
"Thanks." She said, uncorking it and downing it quickly.
"No problem." Reina said. She could have asked Vyrdrun if he could purge whatever venom was in the woman with his magic, but they did need money for later. Besides, she paid more than what Reina saw was the price for one in town.
After finishing the potion, the woman let out another sigh. She looked curiously behind Reina, where her spirit brought over another batch of corpses. It deposited those and went back for more.
"So, what's a hero and a Gromnar doing in these forests?" The woman asked, looking over at Vyrdrun as he approached and gave him a wink. "Preparing to fight the Waves of Destruction?"
"That, and the Demon Lord." Reina felt her eye twitch at the woman's flirtatious manner.
"Demon Lord?" She turned to Reina. "Another one?"
"Yeah, that's why I was summoned. Initially, anyway." She lowered her voice at the last part, but the witch-looking woman seemed to hear her. "I was summoned by the prince of this country for that."
"Oh~?" The woman gave her an appraising look.
Reina didn't like that look. She couldn't tell if it was the woman's attitude or because of how tired she was. Or because of those things of hers sitting at eye level.
"Yeah." Reina begrudgingly confirmed. "But the capital was attacked. The prince was killed, and I don't know how many others."
"O-Oh…I see…" That got her to change her look. Reina felt oddly satisfied by that.
"So, what are you doing here?" Reina decided to ask instead.
"Me?" The woman pointed to herself, a smile back on her face. "Well, I was hired to help protect a small merchant convoy. They were headed where I wanted to go anyway, so I thought I'd get paid for it. A band of brigands drove us off our path and forced us into the forest. Then, when the vermin that live here attacked, they left me behind. Rotten little…"
"Probably aren't that good at your job." Reina prodded.
"Oh~? You think so~?" The woman held a hand to her mouth, holding back a smirk. "I assure you, I'm quite the accomplished wizard, little girl."
Reina raised her eyebrow as her eye twitched again. She knew a lack of sleep was aggravating her mental state, but she didn't want to let that comment go. Disbelief in the woman's abilities aside, she was surprised she didn't call herself a witch. The outfit matched it perfectly, especially with how she was advertising her chest to the world.
A loud hiss and a screech cut off any retort Reina could make. A few hundred feet away, a large group of centipedes was making their way toward them. They probably smelled the spider's blood in the air or something. Thankfully, they were much smaller than the ones they fought their first day walking through this accursed forest, about the size of cats. Three were about as big as Reina, but there were so many of the smaller ones.
"Let me show you." The wizard woman gave Reina a wink, trailing a finger under Reina's chin as she walked past her. "It'll be easy without them crowding me."
Reina and Vyrdrun watched, the former waiting to see what she could do.
"Send me a party invite if you want a bit of the XP~." She said over her shoulder.
Reina did just that. She didn't see a name, only her self-proclaimed title of 'Wizard'.
The wizard lifted her hands in the air and aimed them at the approaching mob.
"Twin Fireball!" She called out.
Two red orbs shot out from her extended hands. Two of the unlucky larger centipedes at the front were the first to be enveloped in the bursting flames. The rest were engulfed as well, their lives ending with horrid screeching. The catharsis by proxy would help Reina sleep this night for sure.
Not all of the centipedes were hit, but dozens died from the spell. Those that remained, including the surviving large one, quickly decided it wasn't worth the trouble and ran back. It seemed a strange choice for monsters that acted so dumb to Reina and Vyrdrun before. Fire seemed to be something they wanted to avoid.
"Well, what do you think?" The wizard asked as she turned around, showing off her…assets with the motion. The fire quickly died out behind her from the thankfully wet vegetation. If it hadn't rained yesterday, that might have been a problem.
"Huh. She kills bugs good. I guess she isn't all talk, even if she's a bit annoying." Reina watched the wizard smile proudly with her hands on her generous hips. Seeing the burning insects was very pleasing. "Maybe I should hire her."
Author's Notes:
Every adventuring party needs a big chested sorceress, change my mind.
The magic Vyrdrun does is like a pseudo dragon vein with much less punch. It still uses the same medium, the knowledge/spell instructions from spirits, and the user's own MP. Thought I might clear that up here before it gets explained better later.
