The last chance

Finding the right runes to use is a lot more difficult than I thought. Not only are there so many, but each of the spells they translate to needs to be well understood as well. Take the [Ring of fire] spell for example. If I use that when Shalia or Leona are around me, I would end up hurting both them and my enemies. But then it might be safe to use with Wendy nearby? I guess it depends whether the fire is considered magical or not.

In short, I need to understand the spells first and learn the runes after. Which of course leads me to having to learn spells from pretty much all the magic elements. Good lord, and my father was a master at this? With up to 15 runes that he could keep active? I tried seeing how many I can have active at the same time. When I charged the 4th [Illumination] rune the 1st one lost its power. Once more, I am reminded at what a skilled mage my dad must have been.

Fortunately, Kiara is sometimes here to explain the spells to me. She’s not here all the times though. But Shalia and Ryul have also taken a habit of visiting regularly. So whenever Kiara isn’t here, I can ask Shalia about earth, light and nature spells. Although she regularly needs to take a break with Ryul. The poor guy really is not the reading type.

At the last day of our week with Dante, I feel I have found the best 3 runes for now. See, Dante’s training method has been a lot different from Kiara’s. Kiara tests us by fighting in 1 on 1 battles. Dante has all of us fight him at the same time. I can see the reasoning behind their methods, though. Kiara makes us understand our skills and has us figure out how to rely on ourselves. Dante teaches us to work together and rely on our teammates. Both of these are useful and necessary and i am grateful at both our mentors for these lessons.

So far, we have not been able to defeat Dante. But now, on our last day with him as our mentor, I really want to put everything into it, just to be able to say ‘We did it’.

This noon, during lunch, Dante is eating at a different table, so we can discuss our strategy. I inform the others which runes I’m going to use and when I will use them. Wendy says that she would like to go to the armory first and adjust her armor and weapons.

When lunch time is over, we head to the usual training ground, without Wendy of course, and we wait until she has her new gear. She has exchanged her shoes for some knee-high leather boots. Her gambeson is also gone, replaced by a dress, and the chainmail is also replaced with a few selectively chosen pieces of plate armor. One piece on her chest, pauldrons on each of her shoulders, and also some plates across her arms and elbows including some metal gloves.

“Do you like it?” Wendy asks. “It’s a lot more fashionable. And the dress is actually armor too, look.”

Wendy then grabs the lower end of her dress and flips it over, showing us that on the inside, her dress is laced with small metal plates. That is actually quite smart. Her opponents will think her dress is a weak spot, but in actuality it is secretly armored. Though she is kindof exposing her panties a bit by her little ‘show and tell’.

“Wendy! There are guys here!” Leona reminds her.

“So? I don’t hear them complaining.” Wendy replies.

Dante raises his hand and answers, “This one isn’t going to.” Which draws a sideways glance from Miranda.

Ryul has already looked away, which Shalia seems to approve of.

At any rate, it is time for us to start and hopefully finally defeat Dante.

We start with the positions of our team members. Leona, as our best fighter, goes up front. Then she gets flanked on her left by Ryul and on her right by Wendy, our other melee fighters. Behind Leona is Shalia, our mage. I am on Shalia’s right, because as a spellcaster I can be ranged like her, but with my sword I can come in and defend Shalia if necessary. Miranda, whose [Cleave] skill allows her to be ranged, is on Shalia’s left. She too can come in and defend Shalia in case she is being attacked.
Leona goes first, activating her [Iron Will], which increases both her strength and defense. Then she heads in and draws Dante’s attention.
While Leona has got Dante’s attention, Ryul and Wendy both circle around Dante to try and flank him. Wendy keeps her shield up and tries to provoke Dante with her spear.
Ryul instead moves into his [Earth’s stance]. This way he can access his [Forbidden Chakra] for more speed and strength. He also activates his [Mantra] to increase his speed and strength even more.
Shalia also uses her [Sunlight Shield] on Ryul, which will keep him safe from the damage Dante could deal to him.
Miranda and I both bide our time until we see an opening, like when none of our melee fighters is blocking our path. Then either Miranda uses her [Cleave] skill or I use my [Water Ball] spell. But at the same time, I keep my hands close to a scroll of paper I’ve got hidden on my belt.

While we are fighting like this, I am waiting for the fighters to give me an opportunity. We’ve discussed this ahead of time, so they know what I am waiting for and what they are supposed to do when I either succeed or fail. Then the moment happens.

Ryul and Leona both back off from Dante and Wendy keeps his attention on her. This is when I grab the paper from my belt. The one with three charged runes on it. I put my finger on the [Migraine] rune and activate it. Then I point at Dante and cast it.
I remember how effective [Migraine] is from when Kiara used it on me on the last day of her mentorship. I can’t wait to see how effective it is on Dante. But I also don’t want to accidentally cast it on Leona or Ryul, hence why I had to wait until they backed off from Dante. Wendy, because of her [Null Field], doesn’t have to worry about me miscasting my spell. If I do miscast and I accidentally target her, her [Null Field] will cancel out the spell before it resolves.
Unfortunately, Dante has a way of keeping my team members between him and me. So as the [Migraine] speeds towards Dante, he suddenly hides behind Wendy and my spell gets canceled out. Oh well, better that it gets canceled by Wendy then it having effect on Leona or Ryul. Time for plan B.

I bring my attention back to the paper with the 3 runes. The [Migraine] rune has already been spent, so I go to the next one, [Gust]. It is an air spell and I cast it in the direction of Wendy and Dante. This time Wendy’s [Null Field] is not getting in the way. After all, the magic resolves at my hand, a long distance away from Wendy. And while the generation of the air current might be magical in nature, the air being pushed towards Wendy is non-magical and she will not cancel it. I know this, because last night I tested all three runes one Wendy and all worked as predicted.

With Wendy in between me and Dante, her back is at me so the gust merely affects her hair and maybe also her dress. Dante instead has the gust blowing into his eyes, making it difficult for him to see. This is the point where I had told Leona to get back in.

Like agreed, Leona runs towards Dante, who because of my air spell was not able to pay attention to her. Leona then cast her light magic spell, [Divine Chains], while she was running past Dante. This spell binds him to her and forces him to stay close to him.
Sure enough, a bright white rope appears from Leona’s hips, ties itself around Dante’s hips. But when Leona is about to pull him away from Wendy, she is unable to do so. Looks like Dante is strong enough to resist Leona’s pull and so that means Leona is now stuck to him. He is an A rank after all. But at least now, instead of a team member between Dante and myself, we have Dante in between a team member and myself. Time for my third rune.

Like discussed, Wendy now backs off, giving me a clear opening to Dante. I place my finger on the third rune on my paper scroll. I activate the rune, a **** magic spell named [Enfeeble] and cast it on Dante. This time I succeed in casting the spell on him. The effect of this one is that Dante’s strength is getting sapped away and he becomes weaker. This of course means Wendy needs to stay away from Dante for the time being. If she gets too close to him, the [Enfeeble] spell will be canceled and Dante will be back at full strength.

“What the hell? None of you is supposed to know **** magic!” Dante complains.

This is when first Miranda and Shalia cast some ranged attacks on Dante to weaken him. The attacks bounce off against his armor, but I’m sure it left him with some bruises where he got hit. After that, Ryul goes in and disarms him.

As soon as Dante’s great sword is on the ground, Leona calls for him to yield. Sure enough, Dante then says “I yield!”

We all cheer. Leona ends the [Divine Chains] she had on Dante. Wendy comes close to him so her [Null Field] cancels out the [Enfeeble] I placed on him.

“Alright, first off, congratulations on defeating me.” Dante says. “Secondly, how in the hell did you guys cast a **** magic spell? None of you is supposed to have that kind of magic.”

I then show Dante my adventurer card and let him know I’ve gotten the [Rune Master] skill. Then I also show him the scroll with the runes for [Migraine], [Gust] and [Enfeeble].

“I see. Now it makes sense.” Dante says. “And congradulations on becoming a rune master, Darx. That is not a common skill.”

“Now, gather around, all.” Dante says, addressing everyone. “I’ve got a little reward for the lot of you for your success.”