Book 5: Chapter 39 (1/2)
Tafel took in a deep breath. Her horns glowed blue, and hundreds of thin ice pillars emerged from the ground. She turned towards Vur. “Turn off your fire.”
Vur grunted, and the phoenix flames enveloping the area dispersed. With all the ice pillars around, unless the kirlopion was the size of a small puppy, there was no way for it to move without breaking anything. As expected, there was a crunching sound, and a line of ice pillars were destroyed, the destruction clearly heading towards Tafel.
Tafel stood her ground and opened a portal in front of the invisible creature’s path, but like the thin pillars of ice, the purple portal shattered like glass. Tafel’s eyes widened, and she dove to the side. A burning pain cut across her back, and she let out a shout. She gritted her teeth and scrambled back onto her feet before promptly diving to the side again. A gash appeared on the ground where she had just been standing. Heavy footsteps thudded, and four footprints were left in the ground.
Vur snorted, but before he could do anything, Tafel shouted, “Don’t come over!”
“You’re planning on fighting this alone?” Emile asked, his head popping out from Tafel’s collar. He struggled free and burst out of her robes. “Don’t bring me to die with you!”
Tafel glared at the empty space in front of her, and her horns glowed silver. The faint image of a clock’s face appeared beneath her feet. The second hand on the clock ticked faster and faster until it was speeding around, practically turning into a silver circle. Tafel’s image became blurred, and she stepped to the side. A second later, the ground exploded where she had been moments before. Ice pillars grew out of the ground in the blink of an eye, and multiple lightning bolts flew out of Tafel’s hand, shooting the space the invisible creature occupied.
“I already told you, magic doesn’t work on a kirlopion,” the Recordkeeper said.
“I still have to try,” Tafel said, her words coming out of her mouth so fast they almost sounded like a single syllable. “I can’t believe everything you say.”
The ice pillars in front of Tafel shattered, and she dashed to the side, leaving afterimages as she went. She had spaced the ice pillars a little further apart than before, trying to obtain an estimation of the invisible creature’s size. Surprisingly, it wasn’t that large. At most, it was the size of a baby dragon like Gloria or Ramon. Something as large as that could wrestle ten dragons at once? She didn’t believe it, but there wasn’t really a way to test it.
Tafel retreated while throwing fireballs made of phoenix flames at the invisible creature, but there was nothing to indicate if she was doing damage to it or not. No marks were left behind, and the creature didn’t let out any sounds. Ice, fire, and lightning had no effect. Portals couldn’t affect the beast either. If she had her sword, she could try stabbing it, but she had forgotten to retrieve it and take it with her thanks to her sudden meeting with Vur. After all, when she had Vur, why would she need a sword?
“Do you want my help?” Vur asked from the sidelines. The two phoenixes were perched on his shoulders, evidently having determined him as the safest place to be.