14 – Reunited with the Wizards

“Myrl, I can barely feel my toes! Let alone my…”

“This wind is colder than a frostboar’s taint!”

“And how would you know what a…”

“JUST FOCUS ON THE BATTLE, FOR URK’S SAKE!”

The wizards’ voices echoed down the tunnel as I approached the heart of the volcano. Finding the entrance wasn’t too difficult. After my battle with the goblin army, I chugged a healing potion, absorbed the remaining orbs, and even broke through to level 7.

As much as I wanted to upgrade the hell out of my current spells, [Healing Water] was just too useful to pass up, and I was afraid if I didn’t learn it now, it might drop off the spell choices for good.

At its current level, it produced a small amount of mana-infused water that could be manipulated to heal minor cuts and puncture wounds. Not very effective compared to the potent healing potions Bagavash had given me, but I figured I might not always have the luxury of having those in my inventory.

The final ascent up the side of the volcano was steep and hard going. The trail was barely discernible in a sea of loose rock. Halfway up, I rolled my ankle and gouged the tender skin there on a rock covered in orange lichen.

I still had one health potion left, but I figured it was the perfect time to test out [Healing Water]. Besides, it only cost 42 mana to cast at its current level.

I pointed my badly damaged staff at the wound. It was covered in scorch marks and notches from being hit with goblin weapons. I figured I’d need to upgrade to a real staff rather than a practice one after this whole rift ordeal was over.

I summoned the spell circle in my awareness. Where the void magic spell circles all had a very geometric, arcane look to them, this water magic spell was composed of graceful contours and whorls as if it had been based on the flow of water itself.

I channeled the mana from my orb out through the staff and into the pattern of the spell circle. Staff casting was becoming much more intuitive after all the practice I’d given it, and it was much faster than tracing the spell circles out by hand.

When the glyph was complete, I incanted the spell’s name, and the mana glowed a deep blue. In the air, right above my ankle, appeared a floating glob of sparkly water, like it was catching the sunlight and refracting it in a million tiny flecks of gold.

It took a second to get the hang of it, but I was able to manipulate the healing water with my staff, having it settle on the gash like a salve. It felt amazing. The mana-infused water immediately soothed the pain. It glowed once, and when it faded, the wound was completely healed. Pretty neat.

I got back up and continued my trek up the mountain.

The flares of lightning from the crater were getting more intense, and I knew the battle was heating up. If the wizards hadn’t killed this boss yet, then it must be pretty powerful.

The faint trail in the rock led to a hollowed-out hole from an old lava flow. It reminded me of these lava tubes my parents had taken me to as a kid. I was worried I might run into more of those lava-spitting spiders, but the tunnel was empty.

I made my way forward using a small amount of mana as a light, but that was soon unnecessary as the tunnel became lit by the fires of lava somewhere up ahead.

That’s when I heard the wizards’ voices.

They were arguing about some freezing wind spell Myrl was casting.

I rounded a corner, and there they were.

Myrl, Bagavash, Linli, and Erl stood on an outcropping of rock over a bubbling pool of lava. The four of them were gathered in the center of a whirlwind spell that looked like it had little ice particles in it.

And dangling in front of them from a thick cord of silk attached somewhere far above was the biggest spider I had ever seen. It made the ones we fought yesterday look like ants.

The thing was probably 20 feet long. It was like a Hummer with legs. It swung back and forth on its web, jumping from the walls of the volcano and spewing fountains of molten rock at the wizards.

It was currently enraged. Thanks to Myrl’s spell, the lava would hit the cyclone of freezing air and turn to hardened pieces of basalt that would be cast uselessly into the pit below.

Bagavash was busy hurling [Ball Lightning] at the creature from the safety of the freezing whirlwind, while Erl cast [Fireball] after [Fireball], sending huge balls of flaming mana down on the monster.

But it was quick, and the attacks that it didn’t manage to avoid bounced off its shiny black carapace, causing little to no damage.

Linli caught sight of me as I watched the chaos from the tunnel opening.

“What in the… the boy’s alive! Lads, he made it after all!”

The wizards all paused mid-battle and turned to look at me.

Then they cheered.

I’m not afraid to admit it. I cried in that moment. I don’t know why. Maybe it was everything I had been through since being separated from them. Or maybe it was just the fact that these four dudes cared about me.

Yeah. I think that was it.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Bagavash said. “Get over here. It’s not safe outside the whirlwind. There’s a lava-spewing spider about, if you couldn’t tell.”

The thing shrieked and lunged at the wizards, but it was buffeted away by the icy wind. For a level 1 spell, it was surprisingly effective against this lava spider. Maybe the power of spells went up slightly with the level of the caster, even if the spell itself wasn’t upgraded. I’d have to ask the wizards about that later.

I ran across the outcropping. The temperature went from unbearably hot to absolutely freezing as Myrl created an opening for me to join them inside the cyclone.

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“We thought for sure you were a goner,” Myrl said, his attention focused on maintaining the icy wind spell. “Well, Linli did. I held out hope that you would make it.”

“That’s not true!” Linli piped up. He was back to his normal size, although his clothes were significantly shredded from his augmentation the day before. “I said he was probably a goner. Statistically speaking, a level 2 wizard shouldn’t survive a rift like this unaccompanied.”

“I’m level 7 now, actually,” I announced with some pride in my voice.

“Aw, our little baby’s all grown up,” Linli said.

“You look like shit, lad,” Bagavash said, summoning a lightning bolt from the open crater above and striking the spider square in the abdomen. “What happened to you?”

The thing hissed and let out another jet of molten rock that immediately hardened into stone as it met Myrl’s spell, getting caught in the wind and tumbling away.

“You know what? Let’s talk about that later,” Bagavash said. “Just stay in the middle of us. As long as you’re within the cyclone, you should be safe.”

“Any chance you could make it a little warmer in here?” Linli said, clasping his bare arms against himself and shivering.

“Silly gnome,” Erl said. “The spell would not work if it were any warmer.”

“I know that, you big oaf!” Linli said. “I was just saying.”

“Will you two cut it out?” Bagavash said. “We need to focus. This thing seems to be resistant to fire and lightning magic, which is unfortunate because mine and Erl’s spells are hardly doing any damage to it. We’re whittling it down, but at this rate, we won’t kill it before Myrl runs out of mana.

“I could try [Void Thread],” I suggested. “It worked on the smaller spiders. Once their exoskeleton was punctured, they quickly lost all their… juices.”

“Worth a shot,” Bagavash said, not even looking at me as [Ball Lightning] arced out from the end of his staff.

The boss was quick, scrabbling from one side of the volcano to the other and swinging across the abyss on its web of silk when the wizards’ spells got too close.

I did my best to anticipate its movements and conjured the spell circle for [Void Thread]. The narrow beam shot out and lanced the monster in its bulbous abdomen.

A few drops of thick ichor swelled from the puncture, but that was it. No streams of black goo. No loss of internal pressure. The beast was unfazed.

“That was… anticlimactic,” Linli said.

“Linli, will you buff Myrl or something?” Bagavash said. “The commentary is not helping bring this thing down.”

Linli rolled his eyes and pointed his staff at Myrl. “[Caster’s High].” A spell circle appeared and bathed Myrl in a lavender glow. The cyclone of freezing wind visibly raged harder.

“Not that he needs it,” Linli grumbled. “Man’s high enough as it is…”