Book 2 Chapter 24 (Patreon)

“Advanced Dungeon Combat works differently from the Beginner and Intermediate courses,” Professor Wolfhammer explained. “We’re going to spend every First and Third-day focusing on individual improvement and training in duos or trios of my choosing.”

“Why not party combat?” Caitlin asked. “I only plan to delve with parties that include my Alexander—”

“I know your goals well, Miss Woodson. However, parties often have to separate while delving. Sometimes, it's not their choice. Occasionally, divide and conquer is the best strategy, or you might need to assault multiple distant points simultaneously. Several advanced dungeons also have mechanisms demanding complex activation methods. If you’re serious about delving, you need to learn how to function as smaller units within your party.

“For example, your magic is ill-suited for stealth,” Professor Wolfhammer continued. “Ernest has the same problem. Meanwhile, Alexander and Nox’s skillsets make them excellent at scouting and sneaking around. You might need to focus on distracting a larger force while the other two sneak around them to steal something or target a more dangerous target. Am I making myself clear?”

“Yes, professor,” Caitlin answered.

“Great. On every Fifth or Sixthday, you’ll head into the dungeon under the city as a party. A more experienced delver or one of my more powerful summons will accompany you. I’ll meet with you all individually or in your parties to provide instruction, too. It’s challenging to pass the course in one semester, and I refuse to reduce the requirements. However, I’ll make an effort to provide enough of my time to make it possible for anyone willing to put in the effort.”

It came as no surprise when Professor Wolfhammer instructed Joey Greengrass to train with Nox’s party. He divided them into two squads. Caitlin, Ernest, and Lillin would function as one unit, and Alexander, Joey, and Nox would function as the other. He instructed the parties and their individual halves to spread themselves across the rooftop arenas and discuss their powers and the best methods of working together. He encouraged them to do demonstrations as well and provided summons to act as their opponents.

Lillin expressed her disappointment at separating from Nox. They almost always fought together and had excellent non-verbal communication. The professor retorted by calling their reliance on one another a weakness. He believed they needed to learn to function independently of one another and also learn to work effectively with others. Neither of them argued. Since the party knew about her secret, she didn’t need to hide her true strength from them. Nox made her promise not to use her mimic-born abilities in class or around anyone who didn’t already know about their contract.

“Are you Kris’ apprentice, too?” Joey asked once they were far enough from everyone else.

“We refer to her as Professor Kris while on campus,” Nox replied. “And, yes. She sponsored me last semester.”

“She told me about you. You hate Sundarshahar, too. Kris—Professor Kris said we’d get along well.”

Nox paused at the mention of Sundarshahar. He didn’t expect to end up working with anyone personally affected by the Archon-ranked dungeon. “I suppose that’s something we’ll need to discuss at another time. Why don’t you tell me about your magic and preferred combat style for the time being? We need to figure out how to deal with today’s class.”

“I’m a warlock,” Joey answered.

The other two men exchanged confused looks when he didn’t continue. “That doesn’t tell us a lot,” Alexander said. “We don’t need to know the details of your contract or how everything works, but it would help if you tell us about your primary spells.”

“I conjure, Manipulate, and Shape Djin Fire.” The matter-of-fact way of speaking suggested Joey expected them to know what he meant. When they didn’t react, he continued. “It adopts the properties of whatever cantrip I pair with it. Forge Touch makes it hot. Cold Snap creates frostfire—for encasing things in ice or creating barricades.” A glass spearhead floated out of his coat pocket and hovered over his left shoulder. “It can attack things that get closer than two arm’s length.”

“Interesting,” Nox mumbled, wondering whether Djinn Fire had the ability to adapt to whatever essence it met. Even though Joey was Kris’ new apprentice, he kept his thoughts to himself. The two men barely knew each other, and he wished to keep his cards close to his chest.

“That sounds versatile,” Alexander said. He summoned five squirrels. Each of them had varying colors and physiologies. One’s spine fur stood on end, creating furry spikes. Lightning arced between them. Meanwhile, the two largest ones—they stood as big as medium-sized dogs—had auras similar to those of Aether Warriors. “I’m a summoner. The squirrels can scout, disable traps, pick locks, distract, trip, and be general nuisances.” He pointed at the three empowered varieties. “They’re obviously more powerful, but I can’t have as many of them out at a time.”

“Demonstrations will help a lot more than us just talking about what we can do,” Nox said, manifesting Ratra’s Bow and releasing his Artisan’s Arm.

Alchemical oil coatings caught the afternoon sunlight, giving the tool a gorgeous sheen. Nox had created a handful of attachments that clipped onto equidistant segments. Their sockets contained gravity essence, and Nox hoped the accompanying runes would consume them to repel a blow. They were more to protect the arm from damage than his person. It had sturdy construction, and the modeling would force most blows to glance off it. However, Nox wanted to err on the side of caution and worried he’d get stuck without it as he had after the tournament duel with Edward.

“Arcane Archer. I can’t think of a better phrase to describe my skill set. I use alchemical creations and generally have an arsenal of preserved essences on my person, too, but I don’t today.”

“Hold on a moment,” Alexander stopped Nox when he moved towards the wolf-centaur waiting for them. It was smaller than the specimens they faced the previous semester. However, it wore metal armor, armguards, and epaulets. It carried a wolf-head hammer and a shield with a similar motif. The creature also had a pole hammer slung across its back. The summon’s eyes carried far more intelligence than the variants Nox had faced before. “These things are close to Professor Wolfhammer’s most powerful variants. Are you sure you want to face it alone? Demonstrating on the scarecrows might be a better idea.”

“The point isn’t battling to victory,” Nox replied. “We’re only demonstrating what we can do and then retreating.” He yelled at the summon. “Don’t kill me. Alright? I just want to test my current strength against you. We’ll face you for a minute each.”

The summon nodded.

“Fine.” Alexander sighed. “Michelle warned us to prepare for your eccentricities.”

“We’re all a little nuts. You’ll get used to it.”

Joey appeared amused by the exchange but didn’t add to it.

The wolf-centaur kicked off the ground as soon as Nox cast Haste on himself. He drew Ratra’s Bow while simultaneously channeling Crystalize Essence and his first moon’s spell. Mana flowed from his core through his weapon’s glove half and then solidified as an almost perfect crystal arrow. At a glance, it looked like a sculpture crafted by the city’s best glass Shapers. Unlike their work, the fletching had the flexibility of feathers.

Hand-sized essence crystal spikes manifested, revolving around the arrowhead. When Nox released the projectile, they all took off at once. His Animation planet’s spell kicked in, and the arrow rotated, too, as it took flight. The essence shards flew faster, blurring and appearing like a solid ring around the arrow.

Much to Nox’s delight, the wolf-centaur attempted blocking instead of dodging. The projectile struck the summon’s shield and shattered it on contact. The attack didn’t stop there and shredded the arm holding it and the connected shoulder, too. Despite the damage, the creature continued its charge. It raised the hammer and brought it down toward Nox’s shoulder. He cast a quick spell before dodging.

The wolf-centaur’s top half slowed as it met an invisible conjured spell. Meanwhile, its hammer swung wild, arcing through where Nox had stood moments ago. The unbalanced movement almost threw it off balance.

The Artisan’s Arm moved like a tail, helping Nox maintain balance. He hadn’t had much time to practice moving under the effects of Haste. Instead of worrying about stability, Nox drew Ratra’s bow again. He didn’t have the time to prepare a second empowered shot and opted for a simple arrow animated to spin and drill into its target. Unfortunately, he only managed a graze. Yet the projectile ripped through the unarmored section just below the wolf-centaur’s breastplate. Nox almost fell as he turned and fled, attempting to create distance between him and his opponent, but the Artisan’s Arm pushed off the ground. He staggered for a moment, but the fifth limb assisted him again, and he ran as fast as his legs could carry him.

When Nox spun around, he was surprised to find the wolf-centaur standing where he had left it. No vapors rose from the wounds like the specimens he had faced before. Instead, the flesh warped and stitched itself closed. Then the beast pointed its hammer at Nox, and a swirling blue-white energy sphere manifested above the head. Despite the several feet between them, he could feel the cold emanating from it. Lightning also crackled around the spell as it shot toward him.

“Surrender, Nox!” Alexander yelled. “That thing is too powerful.”

He ignored the younger Woodson. Nox cast the new spell in his star, and a translucent sphere surrounded him. The barrier resembled frosted glass as its energies swirled. When the attacking spell struck it, he felt the mana scatter. A moment later, sapphire and golden crystals clattered around Nox’s feet.

Instead of casting another spell, the wolf-centaur threw the hammer. It flew too fast for Nox to dodge. So, he fell to his knees, and the Artisan’s Arm twisted in front of his face. The weapon glanced off the tool before striking the ground to his left. Cracks spiderwebbed a couple of feet from the impact point.

The wolf-centaur once again stood its ground when Nox reacted with another empowered arrow. Its arms blurred as it drew and swung the pole hammer in a singular motion. The blow destroyed the arrow and the accompanying shards. Whatever magic the weapon contained reverted the essence crystals to their natural form before they touched the ground. It swung its weapon again, and an invisible shockwave passed through the Crystallize Essence barrier and threw him off his feet. The Artisan’s Arm attempted to stop his fall once again but failed.

Nox landed awkwardly on his side. Ratra’s Bow slipped out of his grip and reverted to its inert form. The chain that linked the metal grip to his belt kept it from rolling away. Nox scrambled after it, but a heavy wolf foot stomped the ground in front of his face, stopping him.

“Alright.” Nox sighed, looking up at the summon standing over him. “I surrender. You win this round, Professor.”

“When did you figure it out?” The creature spoke with Professor Wolfhammer’s voice.

“The eyes,” Nox answered. “The eyes told me you were directly looking through its eyes. Or a part of you, at least.”

“You’re too sharp for your own good. Good job. Don’t rely on the Artisan’s Arm too much. I want you to train under Haste’s effects without the Artisan’s Arm. Using it as a tail is good, but you’ll end up with bad habits.”

“How did your last attack get through Crystallize Essence, though? It should block all arcane attacks.”

“It was a wind blast. The mana and essence fuelling never left the polehammer. I wanted to highlight that your new spell won’t protect you from all seemingly arcane attacks. Layer the barrier with Slow fields or a physical shield spell. Don’t get me wrong, Nox. It’s a brilliant spell. You blocked an adept-ranked attack. But you won’t always be correct about your opponents’ attacks. Crystallize Essence might block all the arcane elements, and a hidden physical bit will sneak through and kill you.”

“Thanks, Professor,” Nox said. “I’ll keep that in mind.”