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They entered the fort and slammed the surviving half of the door shut.
Emily hurt. Everything ached, but her spirit was growing more and more sore with the repeated use of her Talent. It wasn’t exactly as she had told everyone at the auction. While that hadn’t exactly been a lie, it wasn’t the full truth either.
Her Talent didn’t exactly double the power of spells, but it was close enough especially at the start.
She looked down to her wrist as they came into the fort. If she stopped absorbing the [Cracked Mana Bolt] and let it settle into her spirit, her [Bolt] would do four times as much damage. The problem was, if she did that, the skill would be at her outer spirit, and the mana cost of the skill would go up. While she could fix its location, it would take months of meditation to move the skill through her spirit once the initial absorption of the skill ended.
If her and her sister’s lives were actually at risk, the choice would be easy, but with only a fake death, it didn’t seem worth it. They would lose their points, but this war wasn’t going to be short, and they could be earned back easily enough.
She once again cursed herself for starting with [Cracked Mana Bolt] instead of [Fireball]. She wouldn’t care about dumping that skill into her outer spirit. It would only be used in conjunction with the rest of her chain, not for its damage. She had more water spells that would be better to cast later.
[Water Bubble] also got an increase in effect, and it was an amazing defensive choice if she needed it.
They were about to get screwed over because some kingdom leader was a coward. If they had arrived an hour ago, when they were supposed to, this wouldn’t be a problem. If they had arrived and attacked the rear of the enemy, they could have easily held the fort against two hundred people with fifty.
Matt grabbed her attention as the door slammed shut. He quickly spoke, “My Concept gives mana. Most of it is focused inward.”
She almost didn’t believe him. Melee types like him always went with hitting hard. It was the best way to increase damage, but as she thought about it, it made sense. The man always sat near empty with his mana, but that made sense if his Concept was feeding him mana.
She felt her spirit churn as mana flowed into her from somewhere. It was like water was being poured down her metaphysical spine. Not uncomfortable, but a completely new sensation.
“I can’t do this forever, but I can get you all back to near full, then I’ll run out. I’d appreciate you keeping this quiet, but I can’t let us die when I might be able to make a difference.”
Emily nodded to herself. That was a sign of trust. It also explained how he cast things like [Hail] without his mana changing its level. But with an armor Talent that made it free, she could see the logical steps to giving his excess mana to his mages and turning that into a Concept. No, now that she thought about it…it was a flawless move.
She knew the man was smart, but that was out-of-the-box thinking.
“I won’t say anything.”
Her sister echoed her sentiment, and Conor nodded his agreement. He was clearly using [Endurance] with the free mana to heal quickly, and had his eyes closed while rubbing the area around the wound.
Annie, the first to reach full mana, said, “I’m going to slip outside and try to create some havoc.”
Emily was going to protest, but Matt beat her to it. “No. It’s better to have you do that in here.”
Emily didn’t like that either, but it was an improvement, so she held her tongue.
They peered through the destroyed doorway and saw the queendom fighters moving forward.
Liz said, “We already blocked the second floor door with some stone rubble. We can hold and bleed them as we climb upward when we get pushed back. Headquarters seems to want to hold this place, and they want us to hold out while they get another team here.”
Her sister spat, “Yeah, because that went so well before. f**k them. When we get back, I’m finding and stabbing that coward of a leader.”
Emily agreed with the sentiment, and from Liz’s curled lip and Matt’s armored stance, they seemed to as well.
At the pounding of feet, Emily turned to the door and shot out a [Water Bullet], quickly followed by a [Bolt]. Her Talent increased the effect of the last skill, and [Bolt] normally had a slight chance to jump from person to person, if there was leftover energy. When it was twice as strong, the spell almost always took out two people. She wasn’t sure if that was the army watchers being cautious, or if it would take more hits to really kill someone.
It wasn’t a pretty thought, but she was pretty sure that with both [Fireball] and [Cracked Mana Bolt], she would be hitting seven times harder. That was a jump of nearly a Tier and a half. It was a scary, but exciting thought. She needed to find a way to solve the problem of spiritual strain and mana cost.
Her mental eye went to the blue armored man in front of her guarding her front. With Matt’s Concept, while she couldn’t cast indefinitely, she could get as far as her spirit let her. The thought that she needed to keep close to him was quashed ruthlessly. She wasn’t her parents, who used everyone near them. She liked Matt, and firmly made up her mind to never ask the man for mana.
He was a friend not a resource.
It was still a welcome novelty, as she cast without care to her reserves. She didn’t worry about saving her attacks for the optimal attack and just cast [Water Bullet] and [Bolt] as fast as her spirit let her.
Two queendom fighters shoved their way into the door, and Matt and Conor stood firm, taking blow after blow. They were more a makeshift wall of skill and steel, but they held admirably.
She cast her combo once again, and the front two people vanished.
They were settling into a rhythm when Annie messaged them all, “They’re breaking into the second floor. Earth mage or something.”
All of them cursed, and a rain of [Hail] burst out on the door, causing a pile-up as they all ran to the rear and up the stairs.
Matt threw himself at a man who, even when cut nearly in half, didn’t disappear, and instead quickly fused together with a burst of lightning. They were entangled, and Emily had no idea who would come out on top. She cast her combo at another two people and watched as they vanished.
Conor intercepted a man in armor with a pink undershirt who cast [Force Bolt] at the frontliners’ armor joints. Conor took the hit without a sound, even as she saw blood fly. She tried to give him a hand, when the world went white.
- Writer
