Chapter 246: Furies (2/2)
He glanced up at the sky, but couldn't see anything.
”Like most of their kind, they are largely intangible unless trying to interact with the world. Ordinarily, one of them would use their scream to incapacitate their chosen prey, and then manifest to torture them to death, but the scream itself can kill if someone is exposed to it long enough. They aren't particularly dangerous if you have a strong enough will, but this...”
”What?”
”There are hundreds...no, thousands of them, all acting in unison. This is unnatural. Someone has deliberately created these creatures, and harnessed them expressly for the purpose of making war on the living. It is an abomination, in the truest sense of the word.”
Tal's words were as flat and emotionless, but Mike could clearly feel her anger burning through the haze of coldness that usually colored her statements. It was getting to the point that he didn't even need to try to sense her mood.
”So...what should we do?” He asked, vaguely wondering if simply throwing some kind of spell into the air might solve this problem.
”Don't know. Thinking.” She fired back in her usual choppy phrases.
He looked around at the soldiers who were still writhing on the ground in agony. A few of them had stopped moving altogether, and were feebly gasping for air. Clearly, there wasn't much time left to act.
[Ghostly enemies usually required a magic attack in games, so should I just try to hit them with fireball or something?]
Determining that it was worth a try, he started gathering his mana and preparing his chant, when a hand gripped his other shoulder.
”I wouldn't do that, if I were you. Its a good thought, but it won't accomplish much beside making you a target.” Instructor Johnathan grunted with a pained look on his face that slowly morphed into relief. Apparently, he was benefiting from Tal's effect. ”You can't really hurt them while they are incorporeal. You have to make them manifest first. Its what makes Furies so damn annoying.”
”That's troubling. Have you dealt with them before?”
”I've fought a few in the most recent war with Lacot, but they're supposed to be rare. To create thousands of these things...I can only imagine what kind of atrocities were committed.” Johnathan frowned for a second, then looked down at him. ”You were the one who summoned that storm, right?”
”Um, yes...”
The teacher grumbled something to himself, too quiet to hear, before continuing. ”That means you're pretty advanced in Air Magic, right?”
”Well, yes. Currently its my highest tier elemental magic skill.” [Unless you count Healing Magic.]
”Then we'll need you to create an air wall over the encampment, and set it to oscillate until it blocks sound. I'll teach you the chant, pay attention.”
Johnathan pulled out a dagger, and began drawing the characters in the dirt. It didn't take him long to finish. ”Now, the hard part will be adjust your mana output to cover the camp in its entirety, but if you can make that storm, this shouldn't be too difficult. Let's give it a good run through before you try it for real.”
[Hm, its pretty similar to that air shield spell I was playing around with back at the University. I bet if I altered the words a bit, I can get just the right kind of effect.]
Not wanting to waste any time, he summoned his mana and began chanting. He noticed his instructor catching the changes he'd made to the words with a look of alarm, which faded a little as a gust of wind whipped past them. With it came blessed silence.
Mike had to concentrate, since even with his enhanced control over Air Magic, it was difficult to maintain the spell's shape while keeping it vibrating intensely enough to block out the scream. However, he could still take note of his surroundings, especially the stricken soldiers who were slowly recovering. Of course, that included the instructor's grim face as he fixed Mike with an intense glare.
”That was stupid, boy. Not only did you use a different chant than the one I told you to, but you did so without telling me. That is a much bigger problem. I don't care if you have a better spell for the situation, but you need to communicate it. Surprising your comrades is a good way to get all of you killed. If you were one of my men, I'd have you pulling night duty for months for that kind of shit.” Johnathan growled.
”Sorry, but I was worried about time. It didn't look like the soldiers could last much longer.”
”That's true enough. Your actions probably saved several lives. Why do you think I'm letting you go with a lecture? Just don't repeat this mistake.” His teacher replied coldly.
[Yep, he's still terrifying.]
Mike gulped, and then asked, ”So, what's next? How do we deal with the root of the problem?”
The instructor turned towards Tal and shouted, ”Girl! You're a Pact Mage, right?”
She nodded emotionlessly, but Mike could tell she was a little annoyed.
”Good. You'll be dealing with them, then. I'll explain the method.”