ACT III
THE PARVIAN MESS
"Anything that can go wrong will definitely go wrong." Hans knew of this saying as Rudolf had mentioned it many times while hunting. And Hans realised it again as his strategy like he had feared ended up failing - going downhill like the setting sun. Though Delimira had succeeded in killing first Ursa, their original goal of attracting his kin did not come to fruition. He sighed looking at the darkening sky and started mumbling facts
"Ursa has stiff necks, which makes it difficult for them to turn their heads." he said, turning to her and adding, "That's the way to fight them - "
"Wait!, fight? " she interrupted, looking straight at him, her questioning eyes apparent.
Feeling her gaze and knowing how startled she was, Hans pointed at the cave and answered her,
"Yes, you are gonna fight them head-on, the night is almost here. We won't survive the night without that cave."
She grimaced, accepting the limited options and thought of how to confront the beasts, contemplating using GurgesDomitor as her last resort. It was her most powerful yet taxing spell, but even with that she was not confident about taking two beast head on and if one escaped then she would be at his mercy. On the other hand, using it inside was a surefire way to target both at the same time with precision. However, she knew it wasn't safe to use inside the cave. It could make the cave damp and unusable, or even cause a cave-in.
Turning to Hans, she asked,
"You said we can't survive the night, but can't we attack them at night?"
"We can" Hans replied, "But beast sense became sharp in the night while our dulls down"
"Mine won't change" Delimira confirmed.
Hans was also the same so he judged that attacking at night would be the better option, particularly since they had secured food and clothing. The shelter could wait a bit longer. While Delimira was working on constructing a makeshift shelter, unfortunately, she witnessed Hans skinning the animal, promptly making her queasy.
He waited patiently for Delimira to calm down and then covered her with the thick hide he had managed to skin. It was smelly, but it provided warmth, and Delimira accepted it gratefully. While her expressions betrayed her gratefulness as she made some awkward faces due to the smell, so Hans covered her in flowers to mask the odour. This made her look like a big bokeh, and Hans found it amusing, causing him to suppress his laughter by covering his mouth.
However, Delimira grumpily interrupted him by pointing at the carcass and demanding,
"Stop fooling around and tell me why they didn't follow him."
Hans cleared his throat, stopping his grin and secured every edible part while binding the rest on a makeshift cart for later use. "One of the possible reasons for Ursa’s home already in a situation of what we are plotting to do." He explained tightening the grip.
Delimira in surprise, clarified,
"But I did not see anything else",
"The Invader is probably further inside," shaking his head, he continued, "And since the cave is loosely guarded and the captives are not running, it only means there is no hope for them to escape. That also means the invading beast is strong."
As he continued explaining, they reached the cave after a brief walk. Delimira mentally prepared herself for the fight against two Ursa and possibly something even scarier. As she was getting ready mentally, she couldn't help but notice Hans dragging the first Ursa's remains behind. she asked, not knowing his intentions,
"What's with the luggage?"
"To provoke our friends inside", He explained with a grin that showed it was not a necessity but solely for his amusement.
However, they were taken aback by a shocking sight: one of the Ursas was trampling on the other two that Delimira had seen earlier. This Ursa was twice the size and had several scars on its rear. It was of the same species, but far stronger, bigger, and definitely more frightening.
"Damn it, damn," Hans panicked and shouted, "Winters screw the cave, just flood it". His actions were justified as the Ursa inside the cave was not just common second class, but Ursa Major, an evolved form of the same race reaching class three easily.
The Ursa glared at the two and attacked first, conjuring a boulder from seemingly nowhere and throwing it at Delimira. Hans had already moved away from the entrance while she barely dodged the projectile. She found the Ursa Major approaching her, sending shivers of fear down her spine. and shackling her in place.
"He's using his Origin power to instil fear in you. Wake up, Winters!" Hans bellowed, snapping her out of a trance, adding "Go inside right now. If he comes out of the cave, we can kiss Glory Wars goodbye,"
He warned urgently, whipping her inside with a conjured vine and heard her cursing at him but he shouted back.
" Flood the damned cave".
Hans's demands were obeyed by her, although she feared for the stability of the location. A whirlpool formed, enveloping Ursa Major and trapping him within. The swift current carried him away on multiple rotations until he was finally ejected out of the cave from the vortex. Whereas Hans used the same vine that had hurled Delimira into the depths to retrieve her quickly out of the cave.
Despite her frustration with Hans, she refrained from lashing out at him, since the situation in front demanded her full attention. Once they emerged from the area, she noticed Ursa Major attempting to rise, disoriented and shivering as his wet fur rapidly froze. Not wasting the golden chance, she added more water to the fur,
Before the beast could get rid of his disorientation, the rain of frozen water bullets struck his rear like a dwarven Gatling gun. Agonized screams escaped the creature as he whirled around, seeking the culprit who flooded his new home. But as he turned, Delimira fired another offensive spell,
She carefully aimed the attack on his snout, aiming to finish this once and for all but the beast roared and the sheer pressure from the mana-filled roar, nullified the spell-like nothing.
Delimira knew that using GurgesDomitor always exacted a high toll on her mana reserves. Even now, she felt her reserves running perilously low. Yet, if she had not used the spell earlier, she would never have been able to corner the Ursa Major as effectively as she had. She calculated, with the mana left in her, only one or two more heavy spells she can conjure, so she decided to gamble on a new thought strategy.
It was also Aredhel’s spell, which blended the power of fire and earth elements to mimic a volcanic eruption. However, Delimira lacked the necessary mana reserves and mastery over the fire element to replicate the spell accurately. But her half-baked spell was what she was aiming for.
The spell caused the ground to give way, swallowing up the Ursa Major half and she seized the opportunity to launch another spell, exploiting Ursa's submerged position.
This conjured up a treacherous quagmire that ensnared the Ursa Major, gradually sapping away his strength. And within moments, the quagmire froze solid, encasing the beast in ice and burying him halfway into the ground.
Seeing her fight, Hans thought, had he been an examiner, he would have awarded Delimira a score of 90 out of 100. The only deduction was due to her lack of mana to complete the job. Nevertheless, her ability to think on her feet and carefully ration her mana consumption was admirable. Not a single spell, except WindSlash, had been wasted.
He extended his hand towards the Ursa Major, his palms facing the exhaustive creature. The orca vines slithered forward, entangling themselves around the creature's neck. With a swift clench of his fist, the vines applied pressure and snapped Ursa's neck in one fell swoop.
He turned to Delimira, acknowledging her and offering his support as she basked in the glory of her first victory over a class three beast. But there was one doubt he had about the Ursa Major, it shouldn't be this easy to beat a class three since he barely used any Orign attacks and as he excavated the creature from the pit, he noticed a not-so-old injury that had weakened the Ursa and contributed to its defeat. Clearing his earlier doubt, he decided not to rain on Delimira's parade. She was overjoyed to have slain a class three beast.
However, Hans was troubled by the nature of the injury on the Ursa Major. The wounds appeared to be caused by javelins or spears, weapons typically used by the evil monkeys of Frozen Tooth. Hans began to mutter to himself, considering the possibility that the natives might have been hunting the Ursa and now they might target them.
As if on cue, an evil monkey emerged from afar, charging towards them, ravaging everything in its path. it was still hundreds of metres far so Hans quickly moved to stand beside Delimira, recognising that she already gave her best in the fight with Ursa Major and was in no way near a level of fighting let alone dodging the attacks of the incoming foe.
With a sense of urgency, Hans swiftly stretched three mana paths for seedBullets, predicting the position of Evil Monkey. But his eyes were busy scanning the surrounding area for any signs of movement as he knew that the Evil monkeys of Frozen Tooth often travelled in packs, and he braced himself for the possibility of a full-blown assault. But as he waited, filling his entire surrounding with Ensare and SharpDeath, he noticed only one figure approaching in the distance.
Realizing that the Evil monkey was alone, he put his trap spells on standby and hesitated for a moment, considering his options. He weighed the consequences of attacking the natives first, as it could provoke a full-scale retaliation from the rest of their village. Alternatively, if he didn't act quickly, the lone native could slip away and inform the others of their presence.
Although it was a risky gamble, Hans and Delimira were preparing to face the impending threat of the Evil monkey. However, as the native approached at a clear distance, they noticed that it was running toward them in a panicked frenzy as if it were being pursued by something else. Before they could react, a powerful and unfamiliar attack struck him.
Instantly, the evil monkey was charred to a crisp as a bolt of lightning surged from a distance
Hans strained his eyes to see because it was not an aura skill but a spell and Rudolf clearly was not a mage. He focused more and saw an unfamiliar magic approaching him. Quickly, he pushed Delimira behind, and she too sensed the impending danger. Fearfully, she asked, "What now?"
"Shh," Hans covered her mouth. He knew that survival was unlikely, but he still had a trump card up his sleeve - VeganCarnage, his most unreliable yet powerful attack.
Having set up numerous traps in anticipation of the evil monkey's arrival, all they could do now was wait for their unsuspecting foes to fall into their trap. However, they soon realized that these enemies were no fools.
Meanwhile, Hans kept mumbling,
"Please, don't be Xandor, anything but that madman..."
Both of them saw it was not an individual but a group, a party per see and it was stopped in their tracks by a mage, who had spotted the traps. Hans clicked his tongue, realising that his handiwork had been discovered. But what truly terrified him was the wicked tone of a knight's voice as that man shouted, looking at the two
"JACKPOT"
***
AnnouncementNEXT : THE MISS TELEPORTATION
ACT III
THE PARVIAN MESS
"Anything that can go wrong will definitely go wrong." Hans knew of this saying as Rudolf had mentioned it many times while hunting. And Hans realised it again as his strategy like he had feared ended up failing - going downhill like the setting sun. Though Delimira had succeeded in killing first Ursa, their original goal of attracting his kin did not come to fruition. He sighed looking at the darkening sky and started mumbling facts
"Ursa has stiff necks, which makes it difficult for them to turn their heads." he said, turning to her and adding, "That's the way to fight them - "
"Wait!, fight? " she interrupted, looking straight at him, her questioning eyes apparent.
Feeling her gaze and knowing how startled she was, Hans pointed at the cave and answered her,
"Yes, you are gonna fight them head-on, the night is almost here. We won't survive the night without that cave."
She grimaced, accepting the limited options and thought of how to confront the beasts, contemplating using GurgesDomitor as her last resort. It was her most powerful yet taxing spell, but even with that she was not confident about taking two beast head on and if one escaped then she would be at his mercy. On the other hand, using it inside was a surefire way to target both at the same time with precision. However, she knew it wasn't safe to use inside the cave. It could make the cave damp and unusable, or even cause a cave-in.
Turning to Hans, she asked,
"You said we can't survive the night, but can't we attack them at night?"
"We can" Hans replied, "But beast sense became sharp in the night while our dulls down"
"Mine won't change" Delimira confirmed.
Hans was also the same so he judged that attacking at night would be the better option, particularly since they had secured food and clothing. The shelter could wait a bit longer. While Delimira was working on constructing a makeshift shelter, unfortunately, she witnessed Hans skinning the animal, promptly making her queasy.
He waited patiently for Delimira to calm down and then covered her with the thick hide he had managed to skin. It was smelly, but it provided warmth, and Delimira accepted it gratefully. While her expressions betrayed her gratefulness as she made some awkward faces due to the smell, so Hans covered her in flowers to mask the odour. This made her look like a big bokeh, and Hans found it amusing, causing him to suppress his laughter by covering his mouth.
However, Delimira grumpily interrupted him by pointing at the carcass and demanding,
"Stop fooling around and tell me why they didn't follow him."
Hans cleared his throat, stopping his grin and secured every edible part while binding the rest on a makeshift cart for later use. "One of the possible reasons for Ursa’s home already in a situation of what we are plotting to do." He explained tightening the grip.
Delimira in surprise, clarified,
"But I did not see anything else",
"The Invader is probably further inside," shaking his head, he continued, "And since the cave is loosely guarded and the captives are not running, it only means there is no hope for them to escape. That also means the invading beast is strong."
As he continued explaining, they reached the cave after a brief walk. Delimira mentally prepared herself for the fight against two Ursa and possibly something even scarier. As she was getting ready mentally, she couldn't help but notice Hans dragging the first Ursa's remains behind. she asked, not knowing his intentions,
"What's with the luggage?"
"To provoke our friends inside", He explained with a grin that showed it was not a necessity but solely for his amusement.
However, they were taken aback by a shocking sight: one of the Ursas was trampling on the other two that Delimira had seen earlier. This Ursa was twice the size and had several scars on its rear. It was of the same species, but far stronger, bigger, and definitely more frightening.
"Damn it, damn," Hans panicked and shouted, "Winters screw the cave, just flood it". His actions were justified as the Ursa inside the cave was not just common second class, but Ursa Major, an evolved form of the same race reaching class three easily.
The Ursa glared at the two and attacked first, conjuring a boulder from seemingly nowhere and throwing it at Delimira. Hans had already moved away from the entrance while she barely dodged the projectile. She found the Ursa Major approaching her, sending shivers of fear down her spine. and shackling her in place.
"He's using his Origin power to instil fear in you. Wake up, Winters!" Hans bellowed, snapping her out of a trance, adding "Go inside right now. If he comes out of the cave, we can kiss Glory Wars goodbye,"
He warned urgently, whipping her inside with a conjured vine and heard her cursing at him but he shouted back.
" Flood the damned cave".
Hans's demands were obeyed by her, although she feared for the stability of the location. A whirlpool formed, enveloping Ursa Major and trapping him within. The swift current carried him away on multiple rotations until he was finally ejected out of the cave from the vortex. Whereas Hans used the same vine that had hurled Delimira into the depths to retrieve her quickly out of the cave.
Despite her frustration with Hans, she refrained from lashing out at him, since the situation in front demanded her full attention. Once they emerged from the area, she noticed Ursa Major attempting to rise, disoriented and shivering as his wet fur rapidly froze. Not wasting the golden chance, she added more water to the fur,
Before the beast could get rid of his disorientation, the rain of frozen water bullets struck his rear like a dwarven Gatling gun. Agonized screams escaped the creature as he whirled around, seeking the culprit who flooded his new home. But as he turned, Delimira fired another offensive spell,
She carefully aimed the attack on his snout, aiming to finish this once and for all but the beast roared and the sheer pressure from the mana-filled roar, nullified the spell-like nothing.
Delimira knew that using GurgesDomitor always exacted a high toll on her mana reserves. Even now, she felt her reserves running perilously low. Yet, if she had not used the spell earlier, she would never have been able to corner the Ursa Major as effectively as she had. She calculated, with the mana left in her, only one or two more heavy spells she can conjure, so she decided to gamble on a new thought strategy.
It was also Aredhel’s spell, which blended the power of fire and earth elements to mimic a volcanic eruption. However, Delimira lacked the necessary mana reserves and mastery over the fire element to replicate the spell accurately. But her half-baked spell was what she was aiming for.
The spell caused the ground to give way, swallowing up the Ursa Major half and she seized the opportunity to launch another spell, exploiting Ursa's submerged position.
This conjured up a treacherous quagmire that ensnared the Ursa Major, gradually sapping away his strength. And within moments, the quagmire froze solid, encasing the beast in ice and burying him halfway into the ground.
Seeing her fight, Hans thought, had he been an examiner, he would have awarded Delimira a score of 90 out of 100. The only deduction was due to her lack of mana to complete the job. Nevertheless, her ability to think on her feet and carefully ration her mana consumption was admirable. Not a single spell, except WindSlash, had been wasted.
He extended his hand towards the Ursa Major, his palms facing the exhaustive creature. The orca vines slithered forward, entangling themselves around the creature's neck. With a swift clench of his fist, the vines applied pressure and snapped Ursa's neck in one fell swoop.
He turned to Delimira, acknowledging her and offering his support as she basked in the glory of her first victory over a class three beast. But there was one doubt he had about the Ursa Major, it shouldn't be this easy to beat a class three since he barely used any Orign attacks and as he excavated the creature from the pit, he noticed a not-so-old injury that had weakened the Ursa and contributed to its defeat. Clearing his earlier doubt, he decided not to rain on Delimira's parade. She was overjoyed to have slain a class three beast.
However, Hans was troubled by the nature of the injury on the Ursa Major. The wounds appeared to be caused by javelins or spears, weapons typically used by the evil monkeys of Frozen Tooth. Hans began to mutter to himself, considering the possibility that the natives might have been hunting the Ursa and now they might target them.
As if on cue, an evil monkey emerged from afar, charging towards them, ravaging everything in its path. it was still hundreds of metres far so Hans quickly moved to stand beside Delimira, recognising that she already gave her best in the fight with Ursa Major and was in no way near a level of fighting let alone dodging the attacks of the incoming foe.
With a sense of urgency, Hans swiftly stretched three mana paths for seedBullets, predicting the position of Evil Monkey. But his eyes were busy scanning the surrounding area for any signs of movement as he knew that the Evil monkeys of Frozen Tooth often travelled in packs, and he braced himself for the possibility of a full-blown assault. But as he waited, filling his entire surrounding with Ensare and SharpDeath, he noticed only one figure approaching in the distance.
Realizing that the Evil monkey was alone, he put his trap spells on standby and hesitated for a moment, considering his options. He weighed the consequences of attacking the natives first, as it could provoke a full-scale retaliation from the rest of their village. Alternatively, if he didn't act quickly, the lone native could slip away and inform the others of their presence.
Although it was a risky gamble, Hans and Delimira were preparing to face the impending threat of the Evil monkey. However, as the native approached at a clear distance, they noticed that it was running toward them in a panicked frenzy as if it were being pursued by something else. Before they could react, a powerful and unfamiliar attack struck him.
Instantly, the evil monkey was charred to a crisp as a bolt of lightning surged from a distance
Hans strained his eyes to see because it was not an aura skill but a spell and Rudolf clearly was not a mage. He focused more and saw an unfamiliar magic approaching him. Quickly, he pushed Delimira behind, and she too sensed the impending danger. Fearfully, she asked, "What now?"
"Shh," Hans covered her mouth. He knew that survival was unlikely, but he still had a trump card up his sleeve - VeganCarnage, his most unreliable yet powerful attack.
Having set up numerous traps in anticipation of the evil monkey's arrival, all they could do now was wait for their unsuspecting foes to fall into their trap. However, they soon realized that these enemies were no fools.
Meanwhile, Hans kept mumbling,
"Please, don't be Xandor, anything but that madman..."
Both of them saw it was not an individual but a group, a party per see and it was stopped in their tracks by a mage, who had spotted the traps. Hans clicked his tongue, realising that his handiwork had been discovered. But what truly terrified him was the wicked tone of a knight's voice as that man shouted, looking at the two
"JACKPOT"
***
AnnouncementNEXT : THE MISS TELEPORTATION
