– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 216, Season of the Rising Moon, Day 19 –

The earth was quaking and thunder rumbled in the sky, which was covered in dark clouds.

Terry’s head swiveled around as he tried to grasp the situation.

The mana distortion at the dome’s entrance was shifting repeatedly. While Terry was not sure exactly what kind of phenomenon this was, he understood it to be a result of space magic.

Maybe…

Terry grit his teeth and tightly grasped the barrier spears in his hands.

There are too many channelers between me and the entrance.

Terry subconsciously looked towards Amelia, who was flying in the sky while battling several channelers and one of the Venom Siblings. Terry bit his lower lip.

Wait, why doesn’t she teleport anymore to dodge?

Terry narrowed his eyes and then burst his mana.

A larger spatial seal activated together with the barrier at the entrance?

A shattering sound rang in Terry’s ears, which confirmed Terry’s suspicion.

Inside the dome, Anand raised an eyebrow and glanced towards the training grounds in mild surprise. He quickly confirmed that only the outer seal had been broken while the inner spatial seals inside the dome and inside the reception hall were still unperturbed.

Anand shrugged and continued observing Matteo’s condition.

Occasionally, Anand added his own attacks on top of those from the channelers that were facing Matteo. In contrast to the channeler’s magic, Anand relied on proper spellwork and carefully chose his aspects to influence Matteo’s elemental mana.

Outside the dome, Terry was relieved to see Amelia teleporting again. She immediately used the chance to incinerate two of the channelers.

Shortly afterwards, Terry sensed her mana signature reappearing near the dome’s entrance.

Amelia tapped her staff on the floor and a strong barrier appeared around her while she analysed the phenomenon at the entrance.

“Not good,” murmured Amelia. She heard a voice in her mind. “No, Dargo, I’m afraid this is more than just a spatial barrier. There is something resembling a dimensional gate in front of it. Well-anchored, too. The anchors are protected inside the dome.”

Amelia shook her head. “Unless we take care of that first, your nullification mana won’t even reach the barrier.”

“It appears to constantly shift and reconstruct itself as well. If we don’t take it down in one go, then…” Amelia grimaced. “Waste it, I knew that Anand was a capable dimensional mage, but I did not expect him to rival Jee. I can try to erase the spellwork, but I’ll need time for that.”

“What?” exclaimed Amelia as she listened to Dargones. “Damn these Venom bastards! They’re now targeting the wounded in the back?” She gnashed her teeth.

*CRASH* The sound of her barrier shattering took Amelia by surprise. She instinctively teleported a short distance away.

A giant silver fist with white crystals on the knuckles swished through her previous location.

“The Vigilant and the Virtuous protect this place,” spoke the giant, silver-clad woman as blades rotated along her arms and legs. “You may leave now.”

Amelia clicked her tongue and unleashed a barrage of fireballs before teleporting away.

Terry observed all this from a distance before he rejoined the charge of Guardians that were assaulting the channelers lingering in front of the dome’s entrance.

***

Terry was slapped out of the air by a green translucent palm. He barely managed to transfix one of his imprinted spring pearls to slow down his fall before he impacted on the ground.

Terry spat out the blood in his mouth and immediately stood up with his barrier spears still in hand.

Damn long-range attacks… They have grown wary of close-combat due to my spell… Burst techniques are less helpful in this…

Terry moved his eyes between the woman with wings made of ice that was his original opponent and the man with twin-pupils that had just ambushed him.

I could handle that ice channeler, but these floating palms of the Bodhi Tree are a problem. Way too fast…

Terry took solace in the fact that not far from him, a few of the older Guardians had broken further through.

Even if I can’t beat them, the more I can engage here, the better…

Terry clenched his teeth and inhaled deeply.

The winged woman forcefully beat her wings and a volley of sharp icicles fell down towards Terry.

Terry jumped away from the attack’s center and fleetingly channeled mana into the barrier inscription to block without wasting mana.

His mana detection field was disturbed from yet another direction and Terry rapidly positioned his second barrier spear.

A sharp piece of gold impacted on the spear’s barrier. Terry spotted the nearest mana signature matching a follower of the Bright Lady.

Good for me. The more, the better… Right?

Terry sharply exhaled. He channeled mana into his radiating light inscriptions to create a strobe light effect while concentrating on his mana sense.

Several translucent green palms came flying towards Terry.

Terry returned one barrier spear to his storage bracelet and air-jumped above the initial barrage while throwing several octavum needles that transfixed shortly after.

Two bladed gold pieces that had been flying towards Terry were caught by his Immovable Object spell and also remained transfixed in the air.

Terry dashed towards the twin-pupiled man.

The man sneered and sent more palms forward while the two other channelers repositioned themselves.

Terry rapidly transfixed a septimum shield in front of himself while somersaulting under the cover behind it. Upside-down, Terry transfixed his boots and channeled a torrent of mana into his bidirectional attraction inscriptions.

The winged woman was pulled towards the transfixed throwing needles. While she was temporarily caught off-guard and the strobe light effect made it difficult to make out the transfixed needles, she instinctively became wary.

Bladed gold pieces were flying at Terry and he struck out with his barrier spear, activated the Immovable Object imprint in the attachment, and then grabbed on tightly to resist the bidirectional attraction force while channeling mana to strengthen the barrier.

The winged woman frantically beat her wings and unleashed another volley of icicles.

Terry suddenly disrupted all his transfixed equipment and allowed himself to be carried into the air. His upward movement allowed him to dodge the golden blades and he used his barrier spear to protect himself from the icicles.

The sudden change in force caused the woman to flutter involuntarily.

Terry air-jumped upwards, which further interfered with the woman’s flying rhythm.

Terry retrieved his second barrier spear and summoned a small but intense barrier, which he moved forward and beyond the spear’s tip.

Terry somersaulted again. He transfixed his boots and relied on his inscribed gloves to interfere with the woman’s beating of her wings. He used one of his spears to block incoming palms while relying on his hands-free casting to block the few gold pieces coming from the other direction.

Terry’s hands-free casting was much more reliable when he was able to see the incoming projectiles instead of relying on the delayed feedback from his mana detection field. Therefore, Terry maintained visual contact with the channeler of the Bright Lady while keeping his mana sense locked on the winged woman.

Terry continued pulling the winged woman while subtly moving his second spear with the detached barrier…

As soon as Terry knew the woman to be between himself and the detached barrier, he burst his mana and air-jumped down towards the floor.

The woman, who had already been fluttering uncontrollably, frantically tried to steady herself when on top of the gloves’s attraction force, she was suddenly smacked by a small barrier exactly where one of her wings was attached to her back.

Before the woman was able to recover herself, she was pulled onto a throwing needle and screamed in pain.

Terry stopped his inscriptions as soon as he knew that he had succeeded. However, before he was able to reorient himself on the ground, another translucent green palm appeared in front of him.

Terry failed to activate his barrier spear in time and instead ducked his head behind his bracers and transfixed them in place.

Crap!

Terry realized his mistake as soon as he felt his lower body slammed backwards and his elbows got twisted. He hurriedly disrupted his own imprint and was thrown backwards.

In his flight, Terry realized that there were golden projectiles coming from behind. Unfortunately for Terry, transfixing the projectiles was not an option when he was currently flying into their direction.

Terry clenched his teeth when a spiked ball of gold hit him in the stomach below his septimum plate.

He suppressed the desire to scream and transfixed his extension pearl. He air-jumped once and the extended coil spring allowed him to rotate upwards and out of the way of other projectiles.

Crap!

Translucent green palms were flying right into his new trajectory.

Terry growled and used his free hand to unleash a disruption discharge in order to disrupt his transfixed coil spring pearl and to weaken the floating palm of mana. Fortunately, the pearls connected to the extension coil spring did not have a mana-osmotic protection where they faced Terry.

Crap crap crap!

A spherical mass of fire-aspected mana was flung at Terry from yet another direction. The protective pendant that Sigille had gifted him activated. A personal shield appeared and blocked most of the intense mana attack.

Before Terry could recover, a translucent green palm slammed into him and for a moment, Terry only saw black.

Terry rolled on the floor while spitting blood. When he had finally come to a stop, he coughed up another mouthful of blood and staggered back onto his feet while swaying back and forth.

Choices.

Terry stared at the opponents in front of him and used his bidirectional attraction gloves to collect his barrier spears from the ground.

I could really use some more mana right now…

Terry wished he had used his mana containers more sparingly. The day really dragged on with opponent after opponent and many of them not much weaker than Terry. Nevertheless, Terry stopped himself from lingering on regrets.

Focus.

He weakly put one foot in front of the other with barrier spears in hand.

Actions.

“That’s enough, Terry.” Amelia appeared next to him. “Take a break. Losing another whaka is not in Matteo’s interest either.”

“I can…” Terry desperately wanted to do more.

“No.” Amelia transferred Terry to the back where she brought those that were too injured to fight.

Afterwards, Amelia hurled a blast of chain lightning at the channelers and then flew up into the sky to engage the Venom Siblings again.

Amelia quickly scanned the area to check if there were any injured from Matteo’s side whom she should evacuate. Her mana sense and teleportation abilities made her the best suited for the task.

However, Amelia always had to keep an eye on the Venom Siblings. If they were unable to tie the Venom Siblings down, then massive casualties would follow.

Amelia clicked her tongue and decided to first engage the Venom Siblings before doing another sweep of evacuations.

***

Terry found himself in the middle of what looked like an improvised infirmary. He recognized several of the wounded as well as some of the few healers running around. All of them had stood on Matteo’s side.

Terry grimaced when he spotted Derek, whose leg was twisted at an unnatural angle and who was being treated by a healer. Rosheen was standing next to Derek and held his hand while Derek clenched his teeth through the pain.

Terry also spotted Isabella. Fortunately, she did not seem to have suffered any major wounds, but had simply run out of mana and was only suffering from exhaustion and the unfamiliar feeling of weakness that came with an empty mana pool.

“Any fatal injuries?” asked a voice.

Terry dazedly turned to the purple-robed man. The man wore a stern expression, but his eyes showed concern. Terry shook his head weakly.

“That’s good then, we are short-staffed here and running out of mana to keep up with the patients.” The man quickly moved on to the next potential patient.

Terry felt like tearing out his hair that had become sticky from dried blood.

I’m too weak… If I had at least had some healing spells, I—

Terry paused when he remembered something. As if he was in a trance, he retrieved a wand from his dimensional bag. He stared at it before shaking his head with an almost maniacal expression.

“I’m an idiot…” Terry subconsciously began moving items from his dimensional bag to his storage bracelets. “Such an idiot…”

Terry laid one hand on his crafter’s pendant and began summoning the contents.

“I was so focused on Whaka Sigille…” Terry shook his head. “On Whaka Matteo. I almost forgot that I had more whaka than that.”

A large shelf appeared in the middle of the infirmary. Terry grabbed a number of potions, pills, and salves, and distributed them among his storage bracelets.

“What the—?” The purple-robed man looked back and his jaw met the floor. “Wait, are those…?”

Terry gulped down different potions one after the other.

Health. Mana. Blood Replenishment. Soothing Mind.

He swallowed two pills.

Invigoration. Rubber Skin. Regeneration.

Terry began shimmering. Steam rose from his skin.

He smashed some other bottles on the floor. A vapor emerged from below, which Terry inhaled without hesitation.

Mana Channel Strengthening. Mana Flow Smoothening.

Terry gripped a scroll while locking onto the mana signatures in the infirmary. He grit his teeth against the headache of managing so many targets and pushed through until everyone was covered.

“Even if my whaka aren’t present, they’re still with me. ” Terry ripped the scroll in half as a high-level healing spell enveloped all the people that Terry had marked. “With us.”

Today, I’ll use all of the gifts my whaka sent me. Now or never. Today, I’ll use all I have…

Under the stunned eyes of everyone present, Terry rushed towards the battlefield once more.

“Well…” The purple-robed man regained his composure and broke out into a wide smile. “It appears, we have a rich young master on our side.” He turned to those around him. “Don’t just stand around like bumbling fools, distribute the potions! Clean up the remaining scratches. Make yourself useful or do you want our young benefactor to handle everything? Move your asses!”

In a matter of seconds, the infirmary was bustling with activity.

Meanwhile, at the back of the battlefield, a glowing Terry was gripping another scroll. He ripped the scroll in half and another high-level healing spell bolstered the forces siding with Matteo.

Those that had been pushed back were suddenly invigorated and crashed into their opponents once more. Some that had suffered an injury were able to use the unexpected opportunity to fell their opponents outright.

Terry air-jumped over the battlefield and retrieved another scroll. This scroll was the only one that came with an additional warning by Samuel.

Terry locked onto the enemies’ mana signatures. When Terry ripped the scroll in half, lightning roared and slammed into each and every one of the mana signatures that Terry had marked.

“Greetings from Arcana.” Terry growled as he rushed past the shocked enemies.

The other Guardians used the chance to eliminate those of Willow’s faction before they could recover.

“Stay close to him!” shouted a man in green scale armor. “If we don’t have to worry about healing, we can push through!”

Another Guardian wrinkled his forehead. “Right, but do we have any idea how many of these scrolls he has? Scrolls at that level cost a fortune and then some. I mean—” He held his tongue as soon as he saw Terry rip another scroll to heal the next line of allies.

The Guardian with wrinkled forehead blinked. “Nevermind.” He drew his swords and rushed after Terry with eager eyes. “Worth a shot.”

Further in the front, Terry was assaulted from all sides. The channelers and Guildheads from Willow’s faction had noticed that they had lost the comparative advantage that the healing abilities of the Bright Lady offered. They had identified Terry as the cause and intended to get rid of him.

Terry dodged what he could without swaying from his path towards the dome’s entrance. He grit his teeth when a blade formed of shadow managed to cut through his cloud badger leather and tear a painful gash into his side.

Terry used a burst technique to quickly get some distance.

Not about me…

Terry exhaled sharply through his teeth.

All of us together…

Terry ignored the newest assailant just like he ignored the pain and itching from the wound that was already closing thanks to the stacked effects of the consumables and the last healing spell from the scrolls.

Terry suppressed his desire to engage the opponents that wounded him. He suppressed the instinct to dodge non-lethal projectiles when it would mean losing his speed and momentum.

As soon as Terry managed to lock onto a larger number of allied Guardians, he ripped the next scroll apart.

The constant cycling of mana beyond his limits caused Terry’s breathing to become erratic.

The successive guidance of high-level spell mana towards a large number of targets gave him a tremendous headache.

A translucent palm slammed into Terry from behind.

Terry spat a mixture of bile and blood. He clenched his teeth against the pain. He fixed his dislocated shoulder while continuing to run.

I wonder if this is what Devon always feels like… Terry smiled mirthlessly. “Exhausting.”

Get used to it.

Terry ripped another scroll.

While Terry continued moving forward and healing the allies in his path, the allied Guardians behind him started to steamroll their opponents.

The reinforcements from the infirmary joined the healed Guardians from the furthest back and crashed into the next battle line.

With every successive line broken, their momentum increased.

Not only did they gather more and more numbers, with the reassurance of regular healing spells, the experts were now also free to focus on offense and accept a few injuries in exchange for pressing on.

“Damn you,” cursed a woman with poison-aspected mana. She channeled mana into her boots to step into the air.

Before she could unleash her poison-aspected discharge, an intense wind blade slammed into her back. Several lightning bolts followed and the woman fell to the floor.

Amelia appeared right on top of her with a mana blade extended from the tip of her staff. She pierced the mana blade into the woman’s skull.

Not far away, a man and a woman howled in rage.

“One sibling down, two more to go.” Amelia spoke with cold eyes. She soared into the air and spoke for Dargones’s ears. “Terry has created an opportunity. If you can keep them busy, I can try to analyze the spatial barrier again.” She teleported away.

***