RavensDagger

  Chapter Two Hundred and Twelve - Mist Opportunities

  I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to feel as I watched Emmanuel run into the fog, the light hanging off his barding swinging around and turning a big spot of the haze into a glowing ball within which I could only just make out the cervid.

  I decided to settle on being somewhat frustrated. “Mister Emmanuel! No!”

  “e at me! Don’t hide yourself away, there’s no point in any of that. I won’t allow a threat to exist that could harm my charges!”

  My mouth worked for a bit. I was looking for something to say, but couldn’t think of anything. Instead, I rubbed at my forehead.

  “Now you know what it’s like dealing with you,” Amaryllis called from her room.

  I huffed back at her. I was nothing like that.

  “Shall we save him?” Bastion asked. I had the impression he hadn’t moved from his room at all.

  A go the side showed Howard shaking his head. The fishman looked a bit saddened. “We’ve lost every person that’s stepped out into the fog. Maybe you folk are strohan us, or luckier, but we never figured what sort of monster lives in that mist.”

  I chewed on my bottom lip for only a sed before moving over to the door. It was all bars, and I figured I could definitely squeeze between them. Reag a hand out, I touched the fog. It was strange, like brushing cotton dy, but wet.

  Like flig a switch, I let my ing magic around me as an aura and had it push against the fog. It removed some of it, but not very much. I sched my nose and tried to figure out why. The obvious answer was that I was just ing the fog of any impurities, but the fog itself wasn’t something dirty, it was just water.

  So, I could just barely improve visibility. Not great.

  “Amaryllis, I need lots of light, and lots of heat,” I called out. “Awen, you get ready to shoot at anything that’s not one of us? Bastion, I’ll need your help for this.” I chucked off my backpack, then gave my ade to Howard who seemed to cat right away.

  I had to squeeze in sideways, but it wasn’t too hard to slip through the gate. I had to wiggle my shoulders, and my tail bumped the etal bars, but soon enough I was through.

  Hoassed me my ade.

  “What are you pnning?” Amaryllis asked. She was waving her wand about, and soon a couple of little balls of light appeared that she flung out into the room. They mostly dropped to the floor, and one of them plopped into the pond. Still, they cast some light in the fog.

  “I’m pnning on making sure that Emmanuel doesn’t die,” I said as I twisted my grip around on my spade. I pushed more magito my ing aura, and the fog became just a bit clearer. Amaryllis was flinging more lights around, enough that I could make out the wooden pier beh my feet, and the edge of the bridge. Emmanuel was more or less in the middle of that bridge, judging by the light still ing from his barding.

  With one hand on my spade, and the haft of it tucked under my arm for stability, I raised my free hand and started to make a fireball. Not the many little fireballs that I liked using, but a single bigger one. I wanted a bunch of heat to melt away the fog.

  I retty sure it wouldn’t work exactly as I wanted, but there was no harm in trying.

  As soon as I took off towards the cervid, the sounds from my friends lessened. Amaryllis’ muttering became muted, and I could hardly hear Awen’s ents back to our nervous harpy friend.

  I moved slowly. Not only did I want to avoid going for a sudden swim, I didn’t want to run into any sort of ambush.

  If this fog was meant to hide some sort of mohen that monster was likely able to see through the fog, or maybe it had other sehat the fog didn’t tamper with. Smell, maybe? Or really good hearing? Maybe somethiirely different.

  “Ah-hah, there you are!”

  I spun towards Emmahen ‘eeped’ as he swung something my way.

  I ducked, then fttened my ears down just in time to avoid having them clipped short as a sword hummed over my head.

  “Hey!” I shouted.

  “Oh,” Emmanuel said. He looked down at me, then carefully brought his sword back to his side. “Five me, I thought you were some vile monster.”

  “I’m not a monster! And even if I was, you shouldn’t just go swinging a sword like that!”

  “She’s right.”

  Both Emmanuel and I jumped and turned as Bastion walked out of the fog. The sylph was looking around, sword still in its sheath, but his hand was on its hilt. “You’re quiet,” I said.

  “It’s good to be quiet, at times. We should return to the room; the three of us together should be able to use the entrance as a chokepoint until the fog clears.”

  That sounded a lot better than being stuck out here in the open. “Alrig--” I began to say.

  Something heavy a slorped its way around my waist. I looked down, the fireball I still held onto providing plenty of light by which to see a huge purple-ish tongue grabbi was slimy, with drool pooling on it and leaking down to the ground with a sptter. My ing aura, still on, was wig away at the drool.

  “Uh,” I said.

  Then I was yanked back.

  I screamed as I flew across the room.

  It wasn’t a very long flight, my feet scraped against the ground, and I kicked out, trying to find purchase a moment before my butt smacked the ground. Even when I was on my back, the tentacle thi on tugging me backwards.

  I could barely see anything in the fog, but that didn’t mean I didn’t have options. I was still towing along my huge fireball, after all.

  Reag up and behind me, I aimed along the length of the tentacle, then fired.

  The fog hissed as the fireball shot through it. I saw a glimpse of something dark and slimey a moment before the fireball impacted with a burst of unleashed fme.

  The monster in the darkness screeched.

  I wished that the tentacle grabbing me loosened, but instead it seemed to spasm tighter around me and pulled me even faster.

  Grunting, I spped the ft of my foot down and jumped as best I could into the air. With a kick, I was able to twist around and properly see the monster pulling at me through the mists.

  Tentacle Toad, Level 8, Hungry.

  I wasn’t about to let some toad eat me!

  I screamed as I swung my ade around, timing it with the toad pulliowards its mouth. It had a huge mouth, ed by dozens of questiacles. That didn’t protect it from the heavy bonk of my spade on its head.

  A big puff of fog came p out from some slits ooad’s sides and back, like strange smokey gills. That’s where the fog was ing from!

  The spade shook so hard I had to grit my teeth and grip as hard as I could to keep hold of it.

  Moving quick, I pnted a foot at the base of the tentacle toad’s jaw, and anht on its face, in a pose that felt like trying to walk up a staircase while skipping a few steps.

  The tentacle around my waist tugged again, and those around its mouth started to wiggle towards my legs.

  So I raised my spade and brought it down in another heavy bonk.

  The tentacle toad didn’t let up.

  “Fihen!” I said. Aiming a hand down at its mouth, I unleashed a wave of S-tier ing magic down its throat and all over its open mouth.

  There was slimy drool and pools of saliva in there before I started. By the time my magic petered out, the toad’s mouth was as dry as sandpaper.

  It croaked, tongue unwinding around me aing me go to fall back.

  As soon as I had a foot on solid ground, I bounced back a step or two, then took in my surroundings. I was... he far end of the room, not too far from the doorway.

  “I?! I?!” croaked the toad.

  “Nuh-uh,” I replied.

  It had a mean look in its eyes as it worked its mouth, probably trying to do something about the dryness. Then its tongue shot out at me.

  This time, I was ready for it.

  The metal head of my spade thumped against the tongue, sending it flickering off to the side. An opening!

  I raised my hand and prepared a sitle fireball. It was all I had time for, I figured. It wasn’t even anything special, just a fireball made with stickier fire mana. I let it loose and watched it whistle over to the toad where it spshed against its head. The fire stu though, creating a little patch of light in the fog.

  Grinning, I leapt backwards a few times.

  The toad followed, and with that little patch of fire on its head, it was easy as pie to see where it was.

  “I?! I?!” it screamed at me.

  “I?! I?!” aoad said from within the fog.

  I felt a chill go down my spi that. There were more than one? Of course there was more than one! I felt quite silly. Oacle toad I could probably take on. It was beh my level, and I retty sure I could whittle it down with a few more smacks and maybe a fireball or three.

  Two of them? More?

  “Guys!” I called out.

  “Miss Broccoli?” came Bastion’s voice from off to the side. I twisted and spotted a faint but growing light there. The light resolved into Bastion and Emmanuel, both of them looking a shade ed. “Are you well?” the sylph asked as he rejoined me.

  “Yeah,” I said. “There are tentacle toads in the fog. They’re making the fog, I think.”

  “I see,” he said. “Then killing one or two of them should improve visibility a little. Is that one of them there?”

  I followed his pointing finger and found a patch of light moving closer with big slow hops. The toad I’d hit with my fireball. It was still burning. “Yep, that’s one of them.”

  “Worry not, Miss Broccoli! I shall skewer that toad in the name of Emmanuel Aldein Von Chadsbourne!” Emmanuel said, a moment before charging into the dark.

  “If he were in my unit, I’d court-martial him on principle alone,” Bastion said.

  “He’s... okay, so he’s pretty bad,” I said. “But let’s not leave him to fight all on his own. We should help.”

  “He put himself into this mess, and dragged us along with him,” Bastion said. “Ohis is doh, I expect we will be having a versation with Mister Von Chadsbourne. His unprofessional behaviour is fine up until the point where it endangers us.”

  Emmanuel screamed, not in pain, but more... like a kid who thought screaming would make attacks hit harder.

  “I?! I?!” the toad responded.

  “Right, I’m going to have a chat with him. But let’s maybe save him first?”

  “I suppose we do that much,” Bastion agreed. He pulled his sword out of its scabbard, flicked it ohen started walking into the mists. “Let’s get this over with.”

  “Ah, wait for me!” I said as I ran after him.

  I didn’t want to miss out on the ce to practice when I had someone like Bastion watg over me. Plus, getting a level up before Amaryllis would really motivate her petitive spirit.

  It was time to teach these toads a lesson about fighting buns.

  ***

  RavensDagger

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