For the next week, they continued on their journey, following Viana’s lead. With nothing major coming up or happening to hinder their progress or stop them. By now, they were back into the forest where powerful creatures reside. A different part than where they were before, as the forest itself may as well have been its own country. They had to pass through it to the other side, it was the only way to get to the dragons.
Viana stopped as she heard something coming from somewhere to their left. Lucy created a forcefield around the three as something smashed into it and bounced back. It was a half monkey half rat like creature that was at the height of their knees. Brownish black fur covered it, with rat ears and tail, along with little sharp teeth. Claw like hands and feet. “What the hell is that thing?” Ardonis asked.
“I’m not entirely sure…” Viana said. “Some ancient places like where the dragons live, I know. But you have to remember, I was sealed away for fifty thousand years. Whatever creatures exist now are far different than the ones back then.”
“Well, whatever it is, it’s going to pay for daring to attack us,” Lucy said as purple arcane arrows appeared around her. Pointing her finger at the monkey creature, the arrows shot forward at lightning speed. It dodged the first, punched the second, and wrapped its long tail around the third before it dissipated. Lucy blinked, “That… wasn’t supposed to happen. There was enough magic in that to deal with things close to my restricted level.”
The monkey-rat screeched as it charged, and she created a floating spike in her hand made with even more power than the arrows that she threw at it as it lunged. It hit the thing dead center in the chest and knocked it back, causing it to hit the ground. However, there was no more spike, nor was there any visible damage on the creature.
All three of them blinked, “So uhm… problem…” Lucy said. “I think this thing may be immune to magic because nothing I’m doing is having much of an effect.”
This time, as the monkey-rat charged, she tried a holding spell. The magical chains that sprouted from the ground all simply dissipated as they came into contact. Ardonis stepped forward and kicked the thing as hard as he could. Launching it back through a couple of trees.
There was a cry of pain, and the thing was still alive, however, it was clear that damage was taken. Judging from the blood and limp arm, and instead of trying to charge again, it ran away while whimpering.
“So… magic immune creatures,” Ardonis said, “Powerful creatures that can survive being kicked through trees. And the three of us are magic users, with only one able to actually cast. It seems we may have had a bit of an oversight here. I mean, we already knew we were in a deadly forest with powerful creatures.”
“Yes, however, none of us figured that they’d have magic immunity,” Lucy said. “Magic resistance, sure, but I could have broken through that, total immunity though? Not so much.”
“And I unfortunately can’t conjure up some weapons from my realm without possibly drawing attention to us,” Viana chimed in.
Ardonis sighed, “Well, mistake taken and learned, at least it wasn’t something too powerful for us to scare away. I’d rather be taught this lesson now than later with an even more powerful creature that could really do some damage to us.”
“So what do you think we should do?” Lucy asked. “Backtrack to a town and get some weapons? We’ve been completing assignments along the way, so we have a good bit of gold.”
Ardonis nodded, “That’s what I was thinking we should do. Get some good weapons and then come back and try again. I mean, being the son of a war god, I was forced to master a few different weapons. I should have brought the ones he had given me a while back, but I didn’t think about it. The last time I used a weapon was over twenty years ago.”
Lucy grunted in agreement, “I only have my wand here, and as you know, that isn’t exactly a physical weapon. What about you, Viana, any skills in martial weapons?”
She grinned, “Probably more than Mr. Son of war god over here. What would you say is your most liked proficient weapon? I’ll decide what to get for myself based on that.”
“Swords are really what I specialize in,” he answered, “My father always did try and get me to be a Spellsword, honestly. At the time, I didn’t have much interest, though. I figured, why be a Spellsword if I could just fling powerful spells left and right while having a barrier around me. If I knew I’d come to regret it, I would have taken it more seriously.”
She nodded, “So a one-handed sword for speed, agility, and finesse. Able to shoot off spells, enhance yourself with them, and what have you, while moving into close-range combat. That would cover all your bases. And the mental image I have of that suits you quite well. As for me… well, I always did prefer the archery route. My magic is more so of the illusionary nature anyway. You know, outside of conjuring things up from my realm, but that’s just part of being a genie.”
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“So we have me as our distant mage spellcaster, Ardonis the more frontline Spellsword, and the ranger illusionist. Add in a specialized healer and an actual frontliner, and we have a well-rounded team.”
“Speaking of,” Ardonis said, “Mind doing the honor of porting us back to the last town we were at? Assuming all goes well, we should be there and back with new weapons within the hour.”
“Sounds good to me.”
After the three reoriented themselves from the teleport, they found themselves close to the outskirts of the last town they were at. The inhabitants of this place were mostly humans with some elves. After asking for directions, they found their way to a smithy shop to try and get some weapons.
“How can I help you?” the elf behind the counter asked as they walked into the shop. He is nearly a foot taller than Ardonis and had a good amount of muscle. No doubt from all of his work at the forge. He had long, braided silver hair, green eyes, and a few scars on his arms. He looked slightly on edge from the three hooded strangers who entered the shop.
“We are here in search of weapons to help us deal with monsters in the forest,” Ardonis spoke, “Our journey takes us through them, but it became quite clear that we went rather… under prepared. We are predominantly magic users you see.”
He smirked, “And let me guess, you ran into one of those magic immune Romank’s right?”
“If you mean the rat monkey thing, then yes,” Lucy responded.
He laughed, “I heard they give magic users quite the tough time. The question is, are any of you good with weapons?”
Ardonis nodded, “Yes, we may be magic users, but my father imposed swordsmanship on me from a young age. If you have a good one available, I’ll be glad to pay for it. Vi here is good with a bow, and Lu will remain as our sole caster.”
“A good composition,” he crossed his arms, “But if you want one of the good weapons, you’ll have to prove your skill to me. The blacksmith doesn’t let just anyone take his work, you know.”
“Wait, you aren’t the blacksmith?” Viana asked.
He laughed, “Personally, I consider myself one, but the old coot that practically lives in the forge thinks otherwise. And until I get his seal of approval, I’m stuck as his apprentice. Anyway, if you would follow me to the back behind the store, we can test your skills. And as much as I value privacy, if you could take off the hoods, that would put me on an easy track to trusting you.”
“Unfortunately, I don’t think that will be possible,” Ardonis said. “It would be best for everyone that way. You yourself would be in less danger for not knowing.”
“Well, putting together recent events, I can make a pretty good assumption of who you are. And in this place at least, any enemy of the goddess is a friend of ours.”
“How did you know it was the goddess?” Lucy asked before she could stop herself.
He raised a brow, “A master blacksmith would certainly have a way of telling. Besides, the magic was familiar, it was one of her angels. I had met one before in the past. So it was a surprise to feel that presence again in the direction of a port town.”
“You met one of her angels and lived to tell the tale?” Viana gasped.
He nodded as he looked down, “Not a very fond memory, and it was a couple of hundred years ago when I was nothing but a young elf.”
He clenched his fists, “But I will never forget that presence for as long as I live.” He looked back up at them, “I’m not entirely sure how or why you have the goddess after you. But I will do whatever I can to assist if it means sticking it to her. Besides, Alashtak is the only god I’ll believe in. Even if he no longer watches over this planet.”
“Out of curiosity,” Ardonis said, “How did you know for sure we were the ones that basically survived an assassination attempt from a goddess? Based on the information I gave, regardless of recent events, it could have been something totally different.”
“A couple different reasons, other than obviously hiding yourselves from the spontaneous wanted status. You were also heading through the forest, clearly your destination lies on the other side of it. And there are only a couple of things over on that side. One of which would be the powerful and much widely feared dragons. A powerful ally if you could find one willing to go against the goddess.”
Ardonis flipped back his hood, “You are quite clever, I have to say, I’m impressed with that reasoning. I’ll decide to trust you, but knowing who we are comes with a price. You are probably going to have a target on your back.”
He waved Ardonis off, “Nothing I’m not used to. I’m already considered a heretic in many countries as it is. Besides, everyone could use allies against that bitch. The name’s Nilons, a pleasure to meet you. Though I have to admit, your appearance is certainly uncommon for a human.”
Ardonis smirked, “Who says that’s what I am? But I can’t go around revealing all of my secrets. So, about this test, I assume the weapons that we want are from that master of yours?”
Nilons nodded, “That is correct, and he’s the one you’ll have to prove your skills to. Oh and the old fuck may live in that forge, but he's aware of our entire conversation. So you don’t have to worry on that front either. He has the same stance as I do, though the god he worships is different than mine. Natural, considering that he’s a dwarf. Anyway, follow me to the back, I’m sure he’s already going to be out there by the time we are.”
