Ahead they saw a granite cliff rising above the tree tops, bisecting the forest. At the same time the cliff came into view they could hear chanting. When they approached the tree line they could only look on in horror. Nine trees were obviously dead with their leaves curled and brown on their limbs. When the wind shifted toward them, they could now smell a musty stale odor that must be coming from the trees. The chanting was coming from a human in purple robes, standing in front of the tenth tree. He was gesturing in time with the chant. Streamers of white mist were flowing from the tree into a fist size crystal held in his right hand. When his chant finished, a moment later, the tree split with a crack, the leaves browned, and suddenly fell in a cloud to the ground. The smell got worse as the human carefully lowered the crystal into a small chest at his feet, pulled a new crystal out, and walked over to a new tree. Two goblins waiting behind him lifted the chest carefully to place it by his new position where he began to chant again.

The four of them pulled back with furious expressions on there faces. It took everything they had not to run out there and start shooting at the mage. However, he was just part of the problem. There was a large sixty-foot boat anchored off shore with four smaller boats pulled up on the sand. Four trolls stood by the boats and an eight-foot-tall humanoid creature wrapped completely in metal stood fifteen feet behind the mage. Inspecting the metal man identified him as an Iron Golem. Two small groups of goblins milled around between the boats and the mage. Finally, there were numerous tracks heading to the north and south along the beach tree line. They put their heads together to figure out their plan of attack. The mage was obviously strong, but the monsters could overwhelm them if they just focused on him. Sandy’s mana was full. She decided to handle the monsters and the others would attack the mage. Her magic was the best they had for suppressing a large group. Mel handed each of them a potion of speed, which would increase their movement speed by 20%. Then Bal cast Nature’s Call, which summoned creatures from the woods to help. The creatures would take a few minutes to arrive, but they could not wait. Then each of them cast a shield spell.

Sandy pulled a large spiral shell with yellow and black stripes from her inventory and pushed it through her belt for easy access. It was one of the best shells she has found. It would take half of her mana if she used it. She pulled out two common spiral shell like the one she used earlier on the group of five goblins. She held one in each hand. Bal would lead the attack as he had an arrow of frost, which should greatly reduce the casting rate of the mage if he could hit him. They all prepared to strike. As Bal released his arrow, Mel and Zack were only a moment behind. Sandy focused on the two groups of goblins first. They all had crossbows. They could easily turn the tide of battle if they got in any hits. Mana poured into the two shells rapidly as she released the two spells one after another. This left her light headed for a moment. She felt satisfied as the foot-long shell shards hit all the goblins, killing most and downing the rest.

Sandy pulled out a one-inch pearl. It was a birthday gift from her father. She focused mana into it as the Golem drew a sword and started to rush the others. The pearl consumed a quarter of her mana. The sand under the Golem exploded in all directions, leaving a deep hole, which it fell into. Sandy wished she had enough mana to put the sand back to bury the Golem. However, her mana pool was already getting below half as she swallowed a strong mana potion taken from her inventory. She looked to the mage to see how things were going and cursed. The mage was unharmed though one of the two goblins with him are dead with five arrows in him. The other had three in his chest while he stood panting beside the mage. Sandy realized why the mage was uninjured when Bal fired another arrow. Instead of hitting the mage, the arrow curved in mid-flight to hit the goblin, killing it. The mage had used the time given to him by his minion’s death to cast a spell. A ten-foot-high wall of sand rose from the ground in front of him leaving a pit ten-foot deep and thirty-foot long. She could hear the mage shouting at the trolls, which were already running toward them with large clubs in their hands. Sandy could hear the mage start to chant again. She now faced the dilemma of who to concentrate on. Mel slung his bow around his back and started to climb a tree to get an angle to shoot over the wall at the mage.

Sandy fingered the large shell at her waist, but to use it she would need to be able to see the mage. Instead she pulled a bright red shell out of her inventory while Bal and Zack shot fire arrows at one of the trolls. Trolls could heal quickly from anything except fire damage. However, Bal and Zack didn’t have a lot of mana and would probably run out taking down just the one troll. She focused her mana into the shell that fit in her palm as sweat stung her eyes. By the time she released her spell, the trolls had covered half the distance and were at a full sprint. The spell shot from the shell in Sandy’s hand. It etched a line of fire in the sand which exploded upward in a wall of fire in front the three closest trolls. The trolls were running far too fast to stop. They emerged from the wall of fire drenched in flames. Unlike a normal wall of fire, which only caused damage while passing through it, this one coated anything in liquid fire. The downside was the wall of fire would burn out quickly, but in this case that didn’t matter. Sandy watched coldly as the trolls dropped to the sand, rolled, and trashed to try to put out the fire to no avail. The fourth troll was also down with over a dozen flaming arrows through it.

Sandy turned her focus back to the mage. She was deciding whether she should bring down the wall or run around it when the mage stopped chanting. The hole containing the Golem suddenly filled in, spitting the Golem onto the sand. The Golem was still holding its sword and started to stand when Bal hit it in the head with an arrow. The arrow glanced off its head, leaving a small bright scar in the metal. That was not good. If their arrows did so little damage, they would have to focus completely on the Golem. This would mean ignoring the mage, which was a very bad idea. With a quick decision, Sandy swallowed a pill of greater restoration. It was supposed to be for emergencies. It would increase her mana and stamina regeneration to double its normal rate.

“I will handle the Golem, take care of the mage.” Sandy yelled. She pulled out a pale blue shell and ran at the Golem as fast as she could.

Each step drained a significant remainder of her mana. The Golem focused on her after she yelled and calmly waited to meet her charge. Directly in front of the Golem, she dived under its sword swing, sliding in the sand. She carefully cupped the shell in her hands, fiercely grinning as she focused on the Golem. Mana exploded from the shell when a torrential geyser of water struck it. The powerful stream of water dented its chest before catapulting the Golem high into the air. The Golem hit the ocean with a huge splash 100 feet from shore. Its sword was sent flying into the waves along the shore.