Koff, koff!
A cloud of dust filled the air. To think he’d assault us with raw mana, not magic. Quite honestly, I hadn’t even considered the possibility before. He attacked us with wind without having to cast a wind spell.
Though there probably weren’t many out there who could manage this reckless attack. The MP cost was nothing to sneeze at, after all. While surprise attacks were effective, this had to be a last-ditch effort.
In other words, Grist was feeling cornered. He could likely only manage that attack a few more times, if at all.
But a few more attacks like that wouldn’t leave us unharmed. Dragging this battle out any longer would put us in a tough spot ourselves.
I winced in pain as I ripped a twig out of my thigh. It had to have come from that blast. I cast some healing magic immediately. I’d be fine. “But what about the others...?”
Thankfully, the blast had cleared a section of the fog, allowing me to use my detection magic. I quickly activated it to check the others’ whereabouts. They were all alive. Mana would gradually seep out of corpses, so if they were dead, I would have known immediately. The fact that their mana levels remained constant proved they were still kicking.
For now, I breathed a sigh of relief. We were all still standing. As long as we were alive, we could get out of this.
Therion was the one I was most worried about. I hadn’t cast any buffs on him. Not only had I lacked the time, I had focused my spells around Daggers to protect Claira. Maybe it was a bit presumptuous of me, but I did feel kind of guilty for leaving him out.
“A-Are you okay?” I asked, turning to where I thought Therion had to be. I found him encased in ice armor and behind an ice wall, though he hadn’t been able to fully defend against the strike, as his right arm was heavily injured.
“Therion!” cried Claira from far away. I turned back to find Daggers holding her back from approaching any farther.
“Stay back!” shouted Therion.
Grist approached, cackling as he watched their exchange. “Hey, there. You doing all right? You don’t look so hot. Sure you don’t need her power?”
“Hah! You ain’t looking too hot yourself. I can take you on alone, bastard,” said Therion, his eyes glinting with menace.
Grist put on a creepy grin, speaking slowly. “Yeah? Well, I guess this marks your end, then.” He attempted the same attack, this time from a closer distance.
So that was it. He’d repeat that same attack over and over to keep this battle short.
However, I had already predicted as much.
“Hah!” I cast a speed buff on myself, ran up to Grist, and exploded my mana right into his face. I was using the same blast attack he had just demonstrated for us. While the force was weak, it was effective from up close. Right now, his mana armor was effectively neutralized. His attention had been focused on Therion, which made him a surprisingly easy target. However...
“Stay out of my damn way!” Therion was furious.
“But you clearly can’t do this on your own, can you?”
“Shut up! What the hell can you do anyway?!” shouted Therion, upping his fury.
“Well, you’re right. Maybe I won’t be much help, but...” But I couldn’t just leave him to fight alone. From Therion’s perspective, maybe my spells really did basically amount to nothing. But if I could help him even a little, I wanted to. Despite his protest, I cast some healing magic and buffs on him.
“Hey, bastard! What’d you just do?!”
“Maybe it doesn’t inspire much confidence, but I cast some buffs and healing magic.”
“Without an enchantment?” he asked.
“Yup.”
Therion silently looked down at his hand. I really messed up, didn’t I? It couldn’t be nice having buffs forced on you.
“Sorry, I guess I really am—”
“No. This is good.”
“Huh?” I couldn’t hide my shock.
“Hey. Help me out a bit here,” he demanded, emitting cold air from his right hand.
“No, that was just—”
“Just shut up and give me a hand, damn it!”
“R-Right...”
“Don’t get the wrong idea. We’ve just got the same goals. I’m not acknowledging you or anything.”
“G-Got it.”
I—Lloyd—stood shoulder to shoulder with Therion, the Hero of Crystal.
“I-I can’t believe Therion would team up with someone!” said Claira, watching on in complete disbelief.