A Barrier of our own

Matilda shrugged in the gloom at Rebecca’s question. “Technically, it doesn’t stun, it just… persuades them to look elsewhere for prey. I wasn’t sure it was going to work, but it was the only thing I could think of. It’s supposed to be a song to ward pests off from plants, although the illustration that went with it had something a bit larger than your average aphid or slug so I hoped it might do something.”

The novice nodded, then turned back to the darkness ahead. “John, how many more of those bolts can you cast, in the event we run into more rats?”

Frowning, John checked his mana. “One, maybe two at a push? Assume one, or we risk me running out of juice and losing the glow on my staff. Let’s get out of these tunnels as soon as we can, then figure out our next steps from there. I do not want to have to fight in the dark.”

No one disagreed with that statement, the trio moving rapidly through the warren. To John’s immense relief, no further rodents appeared to add to the all-over bruise he was pretty sure he’d be getting after the combination of his earlier sparring with Lucas and the series of rat-bites he’d taken making sure none of the rodents got to Matilda.

As soon as they got outside, Rebecca led them back to where they’d entered the Barrier before calling a halt. “That should be far enough to be safe if any scavengers smell the blood in the air. Now, umm…” she paused, seeming to lose her confidence as soon as they were safe from the combat encounter. Glancing between the other two, she gestured vaguely as she tried to sound authoritative once more. “I think I’ve got a pretty good idea of how strong you are now, Matilda. And, umm, John. So you were thinking about trying an artificial Barrier? I think if we make one in a sensible location, it should be safe enough with the three of us. Somewhere with plenty of plants though so Matilda can do her thing…”

John nodded, then glanced at his status and grimaced. “Probably a good thing that we’ll need to be somewhere other than the junkyard for that. It’s going to take me about an hour to get my mana topped back off… unless you’ve got any mana potions kicking around?”

The novice shook her head. “No, and even if I did, you should avoid using them out of combat. It’s a bad habit to get into to drink potions unless it’s an emergency. The Lady provides.” The whole sentence had the feeling of being her just repeating something she’d been taught as far as John was concerned, and he absentmindedly wondered what the blue-eyed woman would make of Flyx and her alchemy while he checked his experience. They’d killed a lot of rats - and thanks to his guiding bolts, he seemed to have gotten some credit for most of Rebecca’s kills as well.

That said, the XP he’d gained for the novice’s kills was way less than he’d gotten for the ones Matilda had assisted with. The reason seemed to be simple enough, he was getting less experience for helping people not in his party kill things which alongside the level difference seemed to reduce the amount of experience he earned. Sure, he was now just over a tenth of the way to his next level, but he’d have been quite a bit closer if Rebecca had also been in the party…

“Rebecca?” he asked as the trio left the junkyard and began walking towards the bus stop. While John had been lost in his own thoughts about experience and the party system, the women had taken the lead on deciding where to go; apparently, a lot of green spaces already had natural barriers, but the footpath down by the river had both ample greenery and a few secluded spots to drop in and out of the Abyss out of sight of mundane folk.

At the sound of his voice, the novice glanced up from where she’d been double checking her bag was sealed tight so no one on the bus spotted she was toting a sword and shield around. “What is it, John?”

Explaining the party system to Rebecca had taken them most of the bus ride back into town. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him, as much as his vague description of ‘a way of helping everyone grow stronger faster’ wasn’t something that commonly came up within her experience in the Order. It didn’t help that John himself wasn’t entirely sure if people he partied up with would gain experience or not - given all he could see was Matilda’s healthbar, he wasn’t sure if she was gaining experience alongside him or if she’d have to train her skills entirely the normal way, through hard work and practice.

Stepping off the bus and making their way down the embankment to a spot on the riverside path between bridge supports that was out of sight of most of the nearby roads, John opted for the simplest option to prove he was telling the truth about the party system at least and invited Rebecca. Her squeak of surprise and hesitant prodding at the box that appeared in front of her made Matilda grin, and the appearance of another health bar in John’s status screens gave him a lot more confidence as they checked the coast was clear.

“We can go through some of the other stuff you can see with this system later on,” John said, before swallowing hard. “Before I take us into the Barrier, you should both know that the last time I did this, I had to fight some things that were pretty tough. What’s our plan if we run into something too strong for us, Rebecca?”

The novice jolted, clearly having been lost in her thoughts at the evidence of John’s party existing. “Umm… Hide, hope it moves far enough away that we can leave the barrier. With three of us going in at once, there should be a large enough area for us to find a place we can escape from. Failing that… hit and run tactics with Matilda’s vines to slow whatever it is down, until we drop it over the course of hours or days and then deal with the fallout for being away that long when we get back to the mundane world.”

That suggestion didn’t help John’s nerves, but he knew that if he didn’t try this now, he never would - and he needed to get stronger quickly if he was to help Malal’s siblings. With a deep breath, he took Matilda and Rebecca’s hands and activated a skill he’d not used since his first night in the Abyss, summoning a new artificial Barrier.

Around them, the light flickered as overhead an oil-slick spread rapidly across the sky, arcing down in the distance in either direction they looked along the footpath. The bridge above them twisted, battered metal plates appearing as the oil-slick descended, while the grass underfoot grew and yellowed, twisting from a well maintained walkway into abandoned scrub-land.

All three of them jumped, letting go of each other’s hands as a chime sounded. John glanced at his status and blinked. “My skill leveled up?” he said without thinking, pulling up the notification as Rebecca glanced around nervously; in the interest of keeping things simple, they’d skipped telling the novice that only those in a party with John would hear his system noises and so she was clearly concerned that anything hostile in the Barrier with them might be drawn by the sound.

As Matilda reassured the blue-eyed woman and the pair took a moment to look around properly, John took in the notification that had appeared.

On the plus side, he could now at least somewhat control what they would be getting into in the future. On the down side, for it to level up from a single use… John had a sinking feeling that the reason the skill had improved so quickly was that there was going to be far more to this barrier than just a nice walk along the river.