Power tested

The ground was rough and cold, but it was the only thing they had. What John smelt was even more dreary, that of blood and the humidity and moss in the cave. It could not be a worse situation, as the wolves were still twenty meters away from them, standing in front of the Mana wall John had put up. The pack was waiting for its chance, and attacking once in a while to check their defences. If John’s new skill popup was to be believed, that would not be long, and the bar on the side of his interface confirmed that fear. The heat of the cave didn’t help matters either, it was humid, and the body heat of all of them was concentrated into that small place. John suspected something else was also at work. The whole group was breathing louder and more quickly by this point, and obviously feeling the effects of it. Nonetheless, they sat around there, trying to figure out what to do.

“Does anyone have any ideas?” John asked for the second time in the last ten minutes. There was once again silence and that did not help the hopeless atmosphere.

“Maybe there’s another way out?” Yan suggested, her tone muted.

“That’s the first thing I searched for once I got stuck in here,” Charlotte said in return, quietly.

“So our only way out is through the wolves… Just perfect,” the sarcasm was obvious in Matthews voice.

“Then we shouldn’t try going out there without a plan,” Bass seemed the least stressed out of all of them, but she was still far more serious than usual.

“And we’re back to square one,” John’s frustration was mounting, and his mental state was currently the only thing separating them and a vicious mauling.

“Hey, we’ll be alright everyone. The important thing is that we don’t panic, alright?” Bass quickly said, touching John’s shoulder lightly as she continued, “especially you, we don’t know how stable that Mana wall of your is, if you just learned it yesterday. So no losing focus!” she was like a ray of light in the damp darkness of the cave.

“Bass is right, the longer we stay here the better shape we’re in, at least in the near future... And there’s not like there are an infinite amount of them,” Yan agreed.

“Let’s see if we can prepare for whenever they break it then,” John stated, and they all went about doing exactly that.

“There’s some mud near the entrance, I’ll see if I can move it to trip up the wolves as they enter,” the shapeshifter immediately turned to the entrance.

“I’ll h-heal Yan and you John, since you guys are still in-injured,” Charlotte briskly said, pressing her once again gloveless hands against John’s wounds. This time John could feel them, they were unnaturally cold, and as she healed him he felt a sense of wrongness take over his pain.

“My ice should be able to supply water for us, I’ll see if I can find a container of some sort. If not, well, Yennifer will require some help with trapping the entrance.”

“I’ll see if my vibrations can scare them off,” Bass said shortly but cheerily

It seemed all of them had been moved to action by Bass, but that didn’t surprise John.

'She’s far more suited to leadership than I am… I wonder why Ingrid ever thought it was a good idea to bring me in,’ what he knew was that there was no use thinking about it, he had his own goal to focus on. Recovering as much Mana as possible while keeping Arcane Barrier active. He felt the Mana needed to repair it draining every time they attacked, his regeneration outweighed it only by the slightest margin, as it only needed repair sporadically. Problem was, the cost to keep it up was increasing as time went on as the number of wolves increased. That was a significant issue for keeping the wolves out, but also something to deal with after he had some measure of offense. With that thought in mind, he looked back over Arcane Barrier’s new skill sheet.

'It’s incredible how much of a difference learning that little bit from Ingrid made… I guess this is what happens when my powers work in tandem with the system instead of against it, good that I tried it too, otherwise we’d all be dead by now,' he chuckled quietly and in a bitter fashion, the thought was awful on every level.

Charlotte gave him a steely stare and spoke up, “I’m finished, but I’m not sure you are completely healed,” she moved her hands off John, and he felt the coldness go without it. Along with that he noticed a slight insistent headache missing as well. As if a small needle had stopped bumping against his skull.

“I’m fine,” he responded quickly.

“Alright,” she moved on to Yan quickly, beginning to heal her wounds.

With John’s limited Mana supply, he decided to summon a few rounds of Arcane Bolts with the staff from his inventory, hoping that would be enough to combat the wolves. It was also quite likely that the rest could handle a greater amount than he could.

'I might not be the best leader… But I can rely on them. They’re my team, after all,'

Bass looked over to him as she continued to stream sounds through the Barrier. Every time it scared off a few wolves, but they were slowly getting used to it. Almost reading his mind, she spoke, “we’ll all get through this together, alright? Us supporting each other is what makes us a team!”

“Yeah, you’re right…” John said, looking over at the others.

While Charlotte had healed him, Yan had made somewhat solid walls out of the mud at the entrance. They looked fragile, but they were almost as tall as the wolves, and would at least slow them as they came in. At this point they covered about half of the area leading into the cave. Matthew was currently working on hollowing out a stone to put water into.

`Damn. I’m thirsty. Guess even I’m not that immune to physical needs. There’s more than that, it’s that same drained feeling I had last time. I wonder why it’s happening… A good question for later, I suppose. In the meanwhile lets see if some strategic use of Orb of Light can help scare of the wolves,’ he swiftly went to assist Bass in guarding the entrance.

“Hey, came here to help you Bass.”

“Good, I appreciate all the help I can get it. You alright though? Never seen you this pale before,” her voice sounded genuinely concerned.

“Yeah, just feel tired somehow. Not sure how to describe it.”

“I’ve heard that you can generate Mana without expending energy, but it looks like even you have your limits. Just like it takes a mental toll to cast spells, it takes a physical toll too,” she was far less upbeat than usual, “I’m sure it’ll be alright though, we’ll get out of here soon…” she quickly turned to Matthew, “hurry up with that water York!” her tone was not of ridicule, unlike every other time John had heard her talk to the ice mage.

“You don’t need to worry about me,” John said, before being shot a steely glance by Bass and being **** to sit down behind the walls, leaning his back on one of the walls.

From there, his Orb of Light still did enough to scare off some wolves, so he cycled it regularly every minute or so. Otherwise, all he could do was look around, and over the next twenty minutes he watched the others. Yan completed the wall about ten minutes after he began resting, and John was somehow getting more tired by the second.

Some time later, the wolves learned that his and Bass’ actions were simply tricks and resumed attacking the Barrier. About twenty minutes after Yan finished the wall, John was given water out of the half hollowed stone. That did help his situation, but nonetheless they all seemed **** for a magic solution to their issue.

Charlotte had finished healing Yan moments afterwards, and she was the next to drink. Her situation was strangely the best out of them, even though she had been stuck there long before the other members of the group.

'I need to find out what her deal is, and soon. I can’t rely on her as long as she keeps hiding something like this,' he was concerned, and their time and his Mana were running out.

“5 minutes left, at this rate,” he said, his breathing at this point almost erratic. It was getting harder to concentrate, as John felt every attack on the Barrier chipping away at him.

“The rest of us are drinking and then we’re saving all our Mana to fight them when they come in. York, can you take the water out of the mud now that it’s built up?” Bass instructed the cryomancer. She continued, mumbling under her breath “that should make it at least a little more stable…”

“The rest of us should rest then?” Yan turned to Bass.

“Yeah,” she had taken command of the situation, and John was entirely grateful.

Another wave of wolves rammed against the Barrier, clawing at it. The drain of Mana hit John like a brick wall, and he felt his focus slipping. Blackness filled his vision, and the barrier fell apart.

In the corner of his eye the others rushed into ready stances, they had noticed what had happened. All of them heard the noise of the wolves rushing into the cavern.

Yan’s hands became claws again, and the first few wolves to reach her were torn apart. Bass’ attacks continued, pushing back and disabling some of the wolves. The sound of crunching bones and the howls of **** were all John could hear, as he wavered in and out of consciousness. The smell was even more horrible than before, the metallic blood combined with the dampness of the cave that made it feel like every inch of his body was covered with it… A moment later, he felt a warm liquid on his hand, blood had sprayed over the wall from a wolf Matthew had killed. The next wave of wolves got over the wall as quickly as they appeared, John didn’t know how and he was in no state to figure it out either. Charlotte suddenly stood in front of John, between him and the action. He couldn’t see what she was doing, but he could see the bodies piling up under her. The room had become much colder and black light seemed to concentrate around her. That’s when John lost consciousness.

He woke up sometime later, the cavern was clear of bodies apart from his friends. All of them were once again sat in a circle, looking at John as he opened his eyes.

“You’re finally awake!” Bass shouted over to John.

“Yeah, I feel awful,” a headache was ringing through his brain, threatening to break it.

'Clearly I have my limits too… I really should ask Ingrid if I can avoid this in the future,' the pain was slowly subsiding, but it was still preventing him from focusing on too much in particular. Yan quickly got up and brought him the hollowed out rock, which was once again full of water. She returned back to the others a bit after.

“This can’t hurt, my brain feels like it’s going to explode,” he said, drinking as much as he could before placing it down near him.

“You drained too much Mana,” Matthew stated.

"Yeah… You really should be more careful John," said Bass.

"Why? What happens if I don't?" John said, regretting it immediately afterwards.

"Mana comes from the mind, and once the mind is stressed above its limits, it shuts down… After that, it comes from the soul," Yan responded to him, her voice solemn.