Chapter 53 (Patreon)

“Spirits are a curious existence. They can move freely in the physical and ethereal realms. Most prefer to stick to one, while others can phase between them simultaneously. Spirits gave humanity access to magic long before Ygg and the druids came to our world. One needed to befriend the mysterious entities before gaining their strength and favor. Spirits were common. We lived alongside them peacefully. Now, they stay away to avoid becoming slaves to our magic. Only the rare summoner or spirit caller interacts with them. It’s worth seeking out the spirits and winning their favor. They hate the natural imbalance caused by the dungeons and their lords. If we can forge a relationship between our two worlds, perhaps an alliance against the gods can help turn the endless war’s tide.” -Udit ‘Diya’ Sen, Rune Scholar, Spirit Friend.

Most of the party believed that Annabelle’s magic rendered Otis redundant. They were right, but Nox refused to rely on her for everything or needed a chaperone whenever he ventured out after dark. Besides, Annabelle couldn’t warn everyone and support him while locked in a melee. He wanted to reduce the burden on her while functioning independently from the rest of the party.

Annabelle’s Danger Sense warned her of the worst possible paths and the degree of danger each contained. She also could often divine the best possible decisions to make. However, when too much came at her once, she struggled. Fighting increasingly large numbers of wolves had helped the young woman discover her limitations. The spells overloaded her with information, and she failed to decipher everything. Annabelle’s advisors recommended she create a planet dedicated to mind magic in the future. It would complement her current spell set while naturally enhancing her brain’s processing power and memory retention ability.

Meanwhile, Otis didn’t need to divide his attention in multiple directions. He only focused on detecting threats and finding the best route to escape them. While Annabelle floundered, trying to deal with the many variables and find the best space to face them, the gremlin highlighted an escape route.

Nox pulled Annabelle along as he broke into a sprint, deactivating Ratra’s Bow so they’d be harder to spot. Hooded figures emerged from the alleys as they sprinted past. They gave chase, but Nox had already taken a sip from his flask. The Haste cantrip and Annabelle's sigil made her faster; it wasn’t long before she dragged him behind her. She led them down an alley, ending the hail of missed darts.

The pair were less than fifty feet from the closest tavern when Annabelle skidded to a halt. Nox bumped into her, and the pair almost ended up as a tangle of limbs on the floor. “They’re trying to cut us off!” The alley met a perpendicular lane six feet ahead of them.

Otis chirped, sharing an image of people sprinting to meet them from both directions. Nox saw no choice but to turn the lane into a dead end. He knew sending his belt pouch home was a bad idea. He fished out a thimble-sized vial, fed it a spark using Galvanizing Touch, and threw it at where the two side roads met. It shattered, but nothing happened.

Three armed hooded figures emerged from around the corner. Annabelle angled herself in front of Nox and switched her weapon to its medium-length form. Otherwise, the spearhead would catch on the nearby walls. The smallest of the trio stepped forward.

“I hear you’re an interesting one, Ratra.” The rogue was female and spoke with an Imperian accent. “Would you like to come with us willingly, or do you want to make this difficult.”

“Please make it difficult,” said one of her taller companions.

Just as the man stepped forward, white foam appeared at his feet. It expanded rapidly, covering his lower half before he could react. It got the third person, too, but the woman successfully moved away from her companions. The foam continued to grow, hardening from the ground up. One of the men got his head caught within the white mass, while the other managed to get half of his torso out. Fortunately, his weapon-carrying arm remained trapped in the foam. Panicked screams burst from the man.

Now that Nox’s Shaping skills had improved, he could do more than create arrowheads. He had made several hollow thumb-sized vials of essence glass carrying the Slow cantrip. When the material reverted to its natural form, it delayed the Trap Foam’s effects, making it perfect for such situations.

Annabelle wasted no time and charged the third attacker. Unfortunately, the woman appeared more skilled and better prepared than the group that jumped Nox. Unknown fluid burst from her palm and shot at Annabelle, forcing a dodge. Then the two clashed.

Nox’s first instinct was to assist her, but Otis warned him of more hostels behind them. The gremlin had the sense to stick to Nox, a bigger creature capable of protecting him, rather than fleeing. Several figures entered the alleyway just as he turned around. The pursuers didn’t have a lot of room to dodge.

The pouch Nox carried primarily housed an emergency stash of recovery pills, smoke pellets, and Trap Foam. Using any of them was out of the question. Noxious gases would affect Annabelle as much as the attackers. Meanwhile, Trap Foam would trap the two of them in the alley. Nox had left most of his essences at home except for the few preshaped into arrowheads. He grabbed one at random, extended a mana arrow from it, and fired.

Experimentation had taught him that an essence glass arrowhead with a mana body was a poor projectile. The weight imbalance severely reduced the range and came with a power cost. Fortunately, he didn’t need the arrow to go far. It struck the leading rogue, and an explosion of orange flame followed. It was made using the real fire Louis had mixed into his Fae Fire attack spell. Nox only had a half-dozen arrowheads and had planned on saving them until the next delve.

Windows opened above their heads, and mana lamps were added to the firelight. Screams followed the explosion's aftermath, and the leading pursuers rolled on the ground, struggling to extinguish their burning cloaks and hoods. Nox didn’t give them a chance to recover. He followed up with a mana arrow empowered with an exceptionally potent Slow cantrip. It trapped the burning in a slowing field while spiraling essence crystals shredded their flesh. He immediately followed up with another essence crystal arrowhead.

In the dark, Nox struggled to differentiate between them. The second arrowhead activated with an even louder explosion. There was no light show or flames. Instead, the air rippled, and the surrounding walls cracked. Even though he stood close to two dozen feet from the explosion, the force almost knocked Nox off his feet, too.

“By the gods’ saggy nuts.” It was one of dropping one of Mou’s favorite curses. Nox hadn’t expected much from sound essence. When making the arrowhead, he imagined it would create a deafening screech that stunned foes, especially beasts with sensitive hearing. The results were far more devastating.

Four groaning bodies lay at the alley’s mouth. The rest of the pursuers had fled, and Nox heard muted yells in the distance. He hoped the chaos had attracted the guards. Nox returned his attention to Annabelle. Her left arm hung limp against her torso. The coat’s sleeve had suffered several slices around the bicep, and blood dripped from her hand. Meanwhile, Annabelle’s opponent lay at her feet immobile.

When Nox approached Annabelle, she swayed and collapsed into his arms. He held out a healing and stamina recovery pill in front of her mouth. When she didn’t take them voluntarily, Nox infused them with a tendril of lightning before parting her lips and pushing them in.

“Swallow,” Nox told Annabelle.

Much to his relief, she obeyed. Her eyes refocused and put less weight on him. “I’m sorry,” Annabelle said after steadying herself. She knelt down and retrieved her weapon from the rogue’s gut. “She was better than me.”

“We were outnumbered.”

No sound rose from the seven-foot-tall block of solidified foam. The man hanging half out of it had fallen unconscious. His enveloped companion’s exposed extremities didn’t twitch. Nox guessed the attacker had suffocated.

When the guards arrived, Nox and Annabelle were forced to surrender their weapons. They let Otis stay, and the gremlin occasionally chirped, sniffing around the fallen. The pair were questioned, and Nox dissolved the foam. Witness statements followed. Then the guard captain arrived, and the process repeated.

Everyone watching from the window corroborated Nox and Annabelle’s stories. A couple heard raised voices and saw the couple face a trio of hooded assailants. Nox trapped two, and Annabelle faced the third. An explosion stirred the rest of the residents. Many of them were furious as the second boom shattered their windowpanes. They wanted compensation from Nox.

Fortunately, the guard captain took Nox and Annabelle’s side. They cleared the duo of fault and responsibility before returning their weapons. The residents would receive compensation from the dead and captured rogues. Some carried gold and silver coins. All of them had weapons of decent quality. Selling them would fetch decent money, too.

Witnesses from nearby taverns reported hooded figures sprinting down the street after the second explosion. A guard cast a spell, conjuring a trail of wisps. He and half of his colleagues followed the floating lights. One of them had a winged fox to follow the criminals’ scent.

Of the second rogues in the alley, three had died. As Nox predicted, one suffocated in the foam, and his sonic arrow slew another. Annabelle killed her melee opponent, too. The guards woke and dragged the four remaining individuals away despite their injuries. Meanwhile, a cart appeared to carry the rest away.

Instead of releasing Nox and Annabelle, the guards escorted them to the nearest constabulary station. A heavy-set spectacled man took their testimonies, and a healer attended to her arm. The midnight bell rang before the pair were finally released. A carriage took them back to campus.

After the fight and Annabelle’s injury, neither she nor Nox were in the mood for more. However, despite Otis’ presence, she refused to let him return to his apartment alone. Annabelle cleaned herself up and retired to her bedroom, leaving Nox to slumber in the lounge.

Adrenaline had long left Nox’s body. Yet he struggled to fall asleep. He lay on a couch, much too fine for student accommodation wearing nothing but his underwear. Annabelle had insisted he not wrinkle his new clothes and provided a long satin robe for covering. It lay on the floor, and Nox draped himself in a long wooly blanket. The rogues occupied his thoughts.

The woman Annabelle killed knew his name. They were targeting him. This time, he doubted Edward was responsible for the assault. The rogues were well organized, knew the streets, and had better training. They would've won if not for Trap Foam and the advantageous battlefield. He wondered if someone was targeting Noxian Brews or if there was something more at play.

Lord Gedge might’ve received word of his younger son facing defeat at Nox’s hands. The man might have sent assassins. Then he recalled the woman wanted him to accompany them somewhere. If the rogues wished to murder him, they would’ve done it in the alley and taken his body elsewhere.

Kris hadn’t mentioned any apparent patterns or connections between the missing students and mages. They only had one thing in common: the abductees were all commoners. Some were children of vassals or retainers but didn’t come from any notable names. As far as the guards and professors could tell, the targets were random.

Someone was out to get Nox, and he needed to figure out why.