Walk on the Wild Side

There are pixies around here. The divots in the trees serve as their home, Amy relayed, and looking out the window, John saw what she was talking about. Carved into the side of many trees they passed were circular openings, and John could see light in some of them. I advise that we speed up.

“Phoebe, we’ve entered pixie territory. We should speed up,” John said, causing Phoebe to smack her head on the bottom of the motorcycle she was working on.

“Ouch! Right! Some of the convoy can be a little inconsistent at speeds higher than this. I’m pushing them as-is. If we speed up by even five more kilometers per hour, the chance of one of the cars breaking down is pretty high. I’ve been meaning to update those engines but… the new vehicle has taken most of my time.”

“Give me a second,” John said, looking out of the windshield to his knowledgeable ally. What’s the worst the pixies could do? Speeding up could result in system failure.

Depends on how aggressive and smart they are. It could range anywhere from attacking the vehicles and destroying them to get what’s inside to making rude gestures at us, Amy responded, slowing down on Quickpaw until she was beside John, looking through the window at him. Quickpaw’s scent should keep them away. If speeding up is dangerous, it’s in our best interest to see how we fare.

“We’ll keep our speed,” John said, one of the tiny monsters flying out of a nearby tree ahead. It was a tiny pinkish humanoid with black beady eyes, and its terror-stricken face transformed into a malevolent grin once Quickpaw passed it. It scratched constantly at the roof, and John saw dozens more flying to do the same to the other cars. After a few seconds, a beam of sunlight shone through where vicious claws had peeled the roof open. “What’s the roof made out of?”

“Steel, why?” Phoebe asked, looking at him curiously as he attached magnetic plates to the bottom of his boots.

“I’m going out there,” John said, opening the window and Jumping through it. He used the double jump of his boots to get back onto the lead car, stomping down the pixie as he landed. Everyone, do whatever you can to keep the pixies away from the convoy.

As soon as the thought was sent, he saw a large explosion at the back, followed by Mandruzzo floating up, propelling himself forward with bubbles and Abigail rocketing forward with her flames. Cinder, make sure Abigail doesn’t burn the forest down.

As you wish, master, Cinder replied, flying forward and absorbing the flame from a nearby tree the eager pyromancer had set alight.

John felt his foot being pushed back up, and looked down in shock to see the pixie he had stomped on push him away. These things are strong! Everyone be careful!

Summoning his guns to his hand, he shot the tiny creature with Ebony. He was shocked to see it tank the bullet, but relieved when it slowly floated down to the ground, too injured to keep fighting. Amy, do these things have any weaknesses?

They show the same resilience to elemental, arcane, and physical damage but their flight is magical, not biological. So everyone should use any anti-magic abilities they have. Her voice sounded into his head as he swept the area with a weak, channeled Mana Bolt. Dozens of pixies swarmed toward him, more annoyed than injured, and once the swarm had nearly closed in, he activated Sip the Mana. As one the pests fell like pebbles, sliding off the curved roof to the ground below.

For each that fell, two replaced it. They flew in droves out of their tree-homes, eager to take what they could from these intruders. John watched as a herd harassed Amy atop her steed with sticks and stones, going nowhere near the ferocious beast. Didn’t you say Quickpaw would keep them away?

He is! This must be a small fraction of the colony! Quickpaw leapt over the convoy to the other side, causing the pixies harassing him and his master to scatter. What started as a low rumbling turned into a guttural, ferocious roar from the Centicore. As the sound rippled through the forest, all the pixies either dropped like stones or flew away as fast as they could. Each roar rolled into the next for a full minute, until Amy soothingly stroked the beast’s neck, compelling it to stop. Quickpaw is getting tired out. John, can you pick me up while I summon Ignis?

On it! John replied, Jumping between the cars until he reached her, near the middle. He Jumped down, took her hand, and Jumped forward again to the lead car and through the window. Quickpaw, content with his master’s praise, slowly faded away, back to her bestiary.

“Phoebe, speed the convoy up. Quickpaw got us to the outskirts of the colony, but with him gone, we need to leave now,” Amy ordered, grasping the middle fang on her necklace. A portal appeared in the air, and Ignis leapt out of it, yipping happily and trotting between Amy and John, rubbing against them.

“Good to see you too, Ignis,” John said, petting the fox for a few moments before turning to Phoebe. “You heard her! I’ll get back outside.”

As John exited through the window, Amy exited with Ignis through the door. Looking toward the end of the convoy, he saw a swirling mass of blue, green, and pink. All of the pixies they had previously encountered were enraged, and gaining on them quickly. “Phoebe! Faster! And close the window!”

Mandruzzo, Abigail, Amy, to the back of the convoy! We have to keep them back! John commanded, heading back himself. He shaped a thick line with Mana Construct, curved in a ‘C’ shape and around five meters long. He awkwardly held the object as he landed on the last car.

The first to join him was Abigail, who dug her heels into the roof to stay stable on it. Mandruzzo was quick to follow, dispelling the bubbles he floated on and clinging to the side of the large car. Cinder, having taken care of all stray flames, disappeared back into him. Amy was last, riding Ignis alongside the convoy. “I’m going to stall the swarm. While I’m buying time, I want everyone to charge up a powerful attack. When I’m clear, let loose.”

Abigail set down into a wide stance, gathering all of the flames across her body into her left hand and generating more. Mandruzzo clapped his hands together, slowly pulling them apart and forming a bigger and bigger bubble. Ignis’ mouth glowed orange as fire welled up inside.

John leapt off the back of the car, slamming the ‘C’ shape down onto the ground. Activating Mana Construct, he fed mana into it and watched it grow up and out, becoming taller and thicker. The swarm of pixies crashed into it, the creatures too dimwitted to simply go around the translucent blue wall. Hairline fractures spiderwebbed across it, and John watched his mana as he reinforced the wall, counting each meter the last car moved and reserving another ten mana for Jump as he pumped energy into this reinforcement.

After ten seconds of back and forth, the wall crashed down, finally shattered. Using the rest of his mana in a single use of Jump, John surged back toward his friends. He was a foot short, and desperately thrust forward his hand as the gap again widened, the cars moving too fast for him to catch.

Hands occupied, Mandruzzo jerked his neck, bubbles inside his vest flowing out and wrapping around John, bringing him closer. Abigail crouched down, pulling John up with her free hand. “Everyone, now!”

Glancing back first to make sure he was okay, Abigail unleashed all the flames she had collected. The light of the sun was overwhelmed by the terrifying mass of flame surging from the pyromancer’s palm. A massive blast of fire erupted forth, bathing the entire horde of pixies in brilliant orange flame. This dropped half the horde, but that still left plenty to chase. Ignis followed up with a large fireball that was massively destructive as well, but John hardly registered it after Abigail’s attack.

After the flames dissipated and the smoke cleared, Mandruzzo fired his giant bubble. He fired a rapid beam of tiny bubbles into the slow giant. They morphed together, feeding into its size and speed. Instead of popping on contact, the diminutive creatures flew into it, trapped inside and unable to fly out. Once the rest of the aggressors were trapped, the bubble mage clapped his hands. “Teps Oceus - 300,000,000 Volts!”

Electricity arced from the inner walls of the bubble, thoroughly frying all of its prisoners. The convoy continued onward, away from the neutralized threat. John watched the tiny dimwits shrink more and more into the distance, physically unharmed but a little drained from his suddenly empty mana pool.

“Good job, team,” John said, rolling off his side. He stood up, made a little more difficult due to being magnetically attached to the roof by the bottom of his feet.

Pixie Horde defeated! (EXP split between party members)
Level up!

Slowly, some of the pixies floated back up, but the convoy was already far in the distance. One intrepid soul made an attempt to follow, but quickly ran out of steam, too zapped and burned to persist.

“You were almost left behind, signor!” Mandruzzo exclaimed, patting John on the back. “That was a bold move!”

“I had total faith in all of you,” John said, looking between the three powerhouses, “but I am glad not to be anywhere near the receiving end of any of those attacks.”

Abigail squeezed him in a big, happy bear hug as Cinder floated back toward them in her incorporeal form, having insured that Abigail’s controlled attack didn’t decimate the trees. That was dangerous, master. I worry your ambitions may spread you too thin. You and my previous master are alike in that way.

That’s why I’m not doing this alone. They have my back, John thought, able to breathe again as Abigail released him from her hug. “Alright everyone, back into position. We’re not in the clear yet!”

Amy sped up to get back to the front, and Mandruzzo and Abigail stayed in place. My Charisma seems to be doing fine right now, and Intellect will give me more mana to work with. I’ll get that to fifty first.

Entering in the ten stat points, John’s intellect was boosted to forty-four. With his perk point he took My Turn. I need more comeback mechanics. Hey dev, can you drop another patch please?

My Turn, Endurance Perk
When an enemy deals 20% or more of your HP damage in a single hit, add 20% of that damage as bonus damage to your next attack.

After a few moments of silence, he sighed internally, It was worth a shot. He stopped in the middle of the convoy, bending over the side and tapping on the window. Grace, do you have any food I could nab?

Me? Bring food along during a mission? Never, Grace replied, sticking a bag of tortilla chips out of the window for him to grab. And I won’t hear you accuse me of doing it again!

Right, I should know better than to insult you like that, John responded, stowing the bag into his inventory and Jumping forward, to the lead car.

“Phoebe, open the window!” John shouted as loud as he could, wondering even still if he could be heard over the rushing wind. Thankfully he could, and he was soon inside.