There was something crouching in the tree branches. Four long, thin legs grew from a rotund torso that resembled a large cocoon. Threads—no, tentacles—sprouted from its body here and there, clinging to branches and tree trunks around it, holding the giant in the air. It almost resembled a giant arachnid. Part of the “cocoon” portion was open, almost like its chelicerae, revealing a human face. It looked like a human had been devoured by a massive spider, but it was really...
A third Zanaffar?!
The face belonged to the armor’s wearer. He had the trademark attractive elven features, although he looked closer to thirty or forty—in human terms, of course. In actuality, he could have easily been over a hundred years old.
He’d exposed his face to cast a spell for sure. These guys couldn’t use magic while completely encased in their Zanaffars, so he’d cracked it open to summon the plant golems. I suspected he’d probably been the one to call them up in the fight where we’d reunited with Amelia and Zel too.
Just as the fog lifted and I could see around me, his mouth moved. “Olglous.”
That spell again?!
Instantly, vines sprouted from the plant golems, lashing toward us! Left with no other recourse...
“Flare Arrow!” I released the spell I’d chanted to kill the plant golems on the vines. We couldn’t afford to get tangled up in them right now!
The vines streaked at my flaming arrows, and when viridian met vermilion, the green was blasted away while the red was sent flying. In the end, the last of the vines overpowered the fire. But then...
“Flare Arrow!” Zel unleashed his own spell! He burned through almost all of the remaining vines, right into the golems beyond!
Kracka-pop! Any plant golems that took a direct hit were fried. Gourry then cleaned up the last of the vines with his blade. And...
“Zeifrit.” The arachnid Zanaffar— Oh, forget it. “Spider” used an incantation, conjuring a gigantic ball of flame that appeared in the space between him and us. The thing took up half my field of vision!
Not good! Was his plan to distract us with the plant golems while he whipped up this little number?!
“Tch!” Gourry chucked a stone at the ball of flame. This strategy was effective at triggering human-cast Fireball spells while en route to their targets, but...
This particular burning ball of flame devoured the stone undeterred, continuing on its course!
Not sparing a second, Alaina tried a spell of her own. “Airplosion.”
Pow! There was an audible burst of air just beneath the approaching fireball. The torrent of air detonated it, and we were left stumbling around in a daze as the blazing tornado washed over us. Through the raging torrent around us, we could hear a voiceless scream ring out.
The air had blown the fireball back, so while we were treated to a blazing-hot wind, Spider had taken the full wrath of the fiery blast—and if his armor was still open at the time, he’d have taken it straight to the face!
Once the flames cleared, we could see Spider in a rage. A sound like a scream whistled around us as his armor’s legs and tentacles tore fruitlessly through the air. He’d lost his balance and hit the ground, where he continued to writhe. Dude was clearly in serious pain.
Gourry wasn’t about to miss this chance! Even if a Zanaffar could block attack magic, that didn’t mean it was immune to physical attacks. And Spider couldn’t so much as see at the moment! Gourry dove skillfully through the wildly swinging tentacles and raised his sword, but before he could bring it down... he turned and sliced through empty air instead!
What in the—
“Impossible!” Sagan shouted from a good distance away.
“It can’t be!” I heard Alaina shout in surprise from right beside me.
I wasn’t sure what had just happened, but I assumed it had to have been an attack from Tessius and Sagan. I turned to see two figures coming toward us. From afar, I could recognize Sagan’s Cyclops armor, partially opened. I was sure he was going to use some kind of spell, but then...
“Lukoria?!” Tessius, whose armor I’ll call “Horns,” shouted when he saw his writhing friend. (Lukoria was presumably Spider guy.) Horns then fired off a shot of laser breath to drive us away from Spider, keeping us from finishing the job!
Okay! Time to make the most of the situation! I’ll make it look like I’m gonna try to finish off Spider and attack another of these guys instead! If all goes well, I could end the whole—
As I was mid-thought, a set of wings blocked out the blue sky visible through the canopy. Vabwabwabwabwoosh! When it did, streaks of light rained down all around us!
Was that... laser breath?! Thankfully, none of it had hit us, but was that winged thing a fourth Zanaffar?! How many of them are there?!
This was the best shot we’d have at finishing off Spider, but if our foe had aerial units in their ranks, we couldn’t chance it. We could end up dead for our troubles.
“Retreat!” I shouted.
“Right!” Gourry responded.
“Foggul.” Alaina produced a new wave of white mist. I had no doubt it would both quench the remnants of Lukoria’s fiery blast and help shield us from the enemy’s sight.
“Alaina! Is there anywhere for us to hide out other than the city?” I asked her.
“This way!” She turned and we followed, fleeing into the mist.
Our magical lights illuminated earthen walls covered in moss. The air around us was cool and crisp, and the earth below us was largely odorless.
“I don’t think they’ll find us here,” Alaina said as we arrived in a slightly more open space.
“This place...” I looked all around, although nothing was especially surprising. There were just a few mossy pillars supporting a roof and walls. “Is this an old mine shaft?”
“Yes. I found it when I was searching for their base,” she said with a nod.
After we’d fled the scene, the Hounds hadn’t given chase. Perhaps they’d prioritized saving Lukoria, the Spider wearer, or perhaps they’d just lost sight of us in the mist. Either way, Alaina had gotten us to safety here.
The abandoned shaft looked quite old. The entrance was half buried and hidden by underbrush, and if Alaina hadn’t pointed it out, I never would have realized it was there. In fact, if you’d asked me to find it again on my own a day and a half later, I doubt I could have.
Alaina took in a small breath. “Lina.” She fixed her eyes on mine and walked straight at me.
Well, here we go... I met her gaze and gritted my teeth. Alaina then suddenly averted her eyes, spun on her heel, and walked right back the way she’d come.
“Wait a minute.” I grabbed her shoulder from behind.
“Wh-What is it, Lina?”
“C’mon! You were radiating ‘Destroying the forest just to distract Tessius is unforgivable! I’m going to give you an earful!’ energy! Why’d you chicken out?!”
“Your eyes were scary.”
“I didn’t do any of that for fun, okay? I figured I’d deserve a good slap after the fact!”
“Oh... I could never slap you, Lina. What if I broke my hand?”
“You wouldn’t, damn it! What do you think my head’s made of? Er, anyhoo... I knew you wouldn’t like it, but it was the only way I could think of to get the Hounds away from the city. I apologize. I really am sorry,” I said genuinely.
“I’m glad you’re repentant... Ah. Of course, that doesn’t excuse you from burning any more of the forest in the future!”
“I won’t, I won’t!” I said, frantically waving my hands. The forest was an important resource to more than just the elves. The city of smiths also depended on it for its livelihood. I’d done what I’d had to do in the moment, but it’s not like I get off on committing arson, y’know?
“Speaking of fire... that Spider guy conjured those plant golems to get us to dispel the mist, then used the opportunity to cast that big ball o’ flame. Are elves okay with that kind of thing?”
“I’m sure he intended to put the fire out right after he finished us off, but... Well, everyone has their own moral compass. There are elves who can’t stand the idea of snapping a single twig, and there are those who can turn a blind eye to all manner of things if they serve the greater good. I’m personally rather opposed to the idea of fire in the forest.”
“Yeah, I don’t want to harm the forest either, but if it’s the only way to put a check on the Forest Hounds... I said I’d torch more of it if they attacked the city again, so I think they’ll prioritize me over Atessa for now.”
“But that also means we can’t return to the city,” Zelgadis put in. “If they realize we’re there...”
“They’ll blow us away with the city. Nice and efficient, from their point of view,” I said, scratching my head.
If Tessius and his group had wanted to, they could have started with Zanaffar laser breath a-go-go and reduced Atessa to rubble. There were likely two reasons they hadn’t done that in their earlier attack. One was that their goal wasn’t destruction; it was to frighten the humans into abandoning the city. The other was that razing the city outright would likely turn all of humankind against them. But now that I’d threatened their precious forest, there was a real danger that they’d level the place—and us right along with it.
“So we’ll have to squat here for a while and sneak back to town from time to time to restock... or something like that. Obviously there’s a chance they’ll find us here after a few days, and they’re bound to be scouring the forest in the meantime. Staying too long could be trouble.”
“Couldn’t we just leave the area?” Alaina asked. “If they won’t attack the city until they find you, we could keep them in check indefinitely by simply going somewhere they’ll never find us.”
“I thought of that too... But if they find out we’ve scarpered, they’ll attack the city on the spot. Which means fleeing’s not an option.”
“You think we stand a chance here?” Zelgadis asked.
I nodded. “The reason Team Tessius started causing trouble after so long on the down-low is because they got their Zanaffars. So if we defeat those Zanaffars, destroy them, or otherwise prove they’re not the insta-win button they think they are, the Hounds should back down. Zanaffars are scary, but they’re not invincible. Attack spells won’t work on them when they’re all sealed up, but they’ll have to open up if they want to use attack spells of their own. Plus, any physical attacks that’ll overpower the armor entity itself should still get through. That rules out normal swords, of course... but Gourry’s just might do the trick.”
“Me?” Gourry, who’d been spacing out, suddenly looked my way when he heard his name.