Retreat

12 DMG

John’s blow caused the arbalist to jerk forward. Its armor buckled under the strike, denting from left shoulder to right hip. John pulled back as Aeolia surged forward, her glaive glowing with wind magic.

The sentry bot brought its left arm up as a defense and John noticed that it was composed entirely of the silvery zilhavrum. Its armored arm met Aeolia’s downward strike and a harsh screech filled the air, echoing off the crumbling buildings. The green wind fluctuated and Aeolia’s face morphed from determined focus to confused worry as her magic was disrupted.

15 DMG

The drone lifted its right arm, completely unfazed even as Aeolia’s attack cleaved through its left arm, and fired its crossbow. Aeolia quickly shrank to her innate size, just avoiding the projectile, and she pulled away, darting around the wounded machine.

‘It disrupted Aeolia’s magic,’ John thought as he moved in to attack while the drone tried to hone in on Aeolia. ‘That has to be because of zilhavrum. And it didn’t happen before because she only hit the mundane metal or there’s not enough on the armor to have a visible effect like that. At least we can break it.’

John swung his sword in a high horizontal sweep aimed at the robot’s right arm, intending on limiting its offensive capacity. The arbalist twisted around sharply, blocking the attack with its own weapon.

4 DMG

Then it took a step towards John and jabbed with its cut left forearm.

-12 HP

John let out a grunt as the clean-cut silver limb punched through his coat and into his side, blood seeping into his damaged clothing. The outerwear’s defensive Attribute prevented the strike from pressing more than a few centimeters into his gut, though the impact pushed the air from his lungs, leaving him stunned.

The drone **** John’s blade aside and readied to fire its crossbow when Aeolia flew in between it and John, a torrent of wind larger than a baseball swirling around her glaive. She fired the tempest into the drone’s chest, launching the mechanical soldier through the air and into a building.

15 DMG

The impact caused the weakened facade to crumble, trapping the robot under enough bricks to obscure most of its body. Satisfied their assailant was restrained, Aeolia turned to John.

“You okay?” she asked anxiously, eyes locked to the spot of blood under his hand.

“Pain’s going away,” John answered with a slight smile. “Kind of sucks I’m below half health though.”

The sound of shifting rubble drew their attention to the fallen robot, its ill-equipped limbs trying to remove the debris pinning it.

“Any idea how much damage we’ve dealt to that hunk of junk?” Aeolia questioned, perching on John’s shoulder.

“Somewhere around fifty,” John answered, quickly running through the numbers. “Kind of hard to tell at a glance since I think a good amount of that is internal damage. Its armor might be hard, but those impacts can’t be good for it.”

“Just gotta keep knocking it around until it breaks, huh?” Aeolia muttered. “I’m not sure how long I could keep that up. When it blocked my attack, that armored part **** me to use a lot more mana than I normally would have had to.”

John glanced at her mana bar. “Yeah, we’re both under half, you more than me. I think we should make the most of what we have left and just go in with one strong attack. If we get the timing right, I think an Amplified strike with a wind blade could cleave through its head or stab right through its eye.”

Aeolia hummed as she considered their options. “I think trying the precision move will be easier to do. I don’t want to waste any more mana and I can get closer when I’m at my natural size.”

“Right,” John said, swapping his sword out for Senka. “In case things go south, I can try to use Shadow Snare to give you an opening.”

Aeolia nodded. “Then let’s do this and regroup back with Vivian.”

She took off from John’s shoulder and he followed after her, ready to employ his skill at Aeolia’s prompt. During their planning, the drone had managed to uncover its torso and was slowly sitting up. It caught sight of their approach and moved to aim its weapon at one of them. The string began to cock back, then stopped halfway; the mechanism had been damaged when it had blocked John’s attack.

Aeolia smirked at their good fortune and began to gather wind on her blade, a green tempest growing. She flew towards the drone’s face and, with a defiant cry, thrust her weapon towards the lenses that served as one of its eyes, the wind extending like a shot. John triggered Amplify as Aeolia cried, his spell flowing into hers, boosting the power and length of her strike.

55 DMG Critical Hit

135(7) EXP

The enhanced wind blade pierced the scope that served as one of its eyes and carved through the back of its skull in an instant, fading away like a dying breeze. The drone remained still for a moment before it fell upon the pile of bricks and vanished into nothingness, replaced with a small pile of loot.

“Looks like we rolled low on the loot table,” John commented as he walked to collect their winnings: a small bundle of cash, a telescoping lens and a helmet made of scrap held together with zilhavrum. “I’ll go over these when we get back to…”

His words died in his throat as the illusion around the central building fluctuated and two metallic figures marched out. The pair were nearly a matching set: crafted in the same salvaged armor, one hand grasping a sword of silvery zilhavrum, the other hand hidden behind a shield of the same material. The only difference between the two was the one that had taken the lead position wore a helmet with a prominent central ridge while the other was smooth.

“Run!” John shouted, quickly stowing the loot before he booked it towards their base, Aeolia flying close behind him.

“Are we going to try and lure them into a trap?” she asked as they raced back to safety.

“If we get the chance, yeah,” John answered, twisting his head back to see the mechanical soldiers marching steadily after them. “But I’d be okay with just bunkering down. Last thing we need right now is them muscling their way through Vivian’s traps and attacking us.”

“Then we shouldn’t head straight to the base,” Aeolia said, pulling ahead of John. “I’ll zip ahead to give Vivian the heads up. You run around the block. Try to break line of sight as often as possible.”

An idea popped into John’s head, and before Aeolia could pull too far ahead, he shouted, “See if Vivian can do that image distortion thing when I get close.”

“Got it,” she shouted back before she poured on the speed and darted away. John slowed his steps slightly and turned down a small alleyway between two buildings, jumping over a pile of rubble. He ran down to the end and paused at the far opening, turning back to see whether his pursuers remained on his tail.

When they came into view, John bolted away, the sounds of their metal feet echoing after him. He ran down the completely unfamiliar street, his mind focused on calculating where he’d need to turn.

‘Just a little more,’ he thought, eyeing an intersection about two dozen meters ahead. ‘Turning down there should put me on the street behind our base.’

John twisted around before he reached the turn, finding the robotic swordsmen still following; their relentless march had increased in pace and they were now only around twenty or so meters behind him. They reacted to John’s short pause and their steady gait transitioned into a full-on rush.

Panic fueled adrenaline coursed through John’s body and he dashed down the side street. It only took a second for him to catch sight of their chosen building, and he pushed himself harder to make it to safety.

The clanking boots grew closer as John began to reach his limits, his burning legs unable to maintain his speed. A flash of light blinded him for a second, causing him to almost lose his footing.

“Keep moving,” Aeolia’s voice shouted from ahead and John followed her orders, expecting her to launch an attack at the machines at his heels. Instead, the steady beat of metal feet began to fade. Whatever was happening, John’s curiosity was abated by his desire to not die and he maintained his path towards the building’s rear entrance, where Aeolia and Vivian stood.

The redhead had her hands splayed in front of her, her index fingers and thumbs arrayed in a diamond shape, a look of concentration on her face. John slowed as he approached and risked a backward glance. His armored pursuers had vanished, their heavy footfalls growing fainter as they moved away.

Vivian let her hands fall limply to her side and took a deep breath. “That was a little more intensive than I thought it would be.”

John cast a glance at her mana bar and saw it had dropped precipitously, hovering around the twenty-five percent mark. Before he could ask any questions, the girls ushered him into the building. Once safely ensconced, John looked at Vivian and asked, “You okay?”

She gave him a tired, slightly bitter smile. “You guys are the ones putting yourselves on the line. I’ve just been support.”

“We’d be besieged right now without you,” Aeolia chimed in. “Nothing wrong with being support.”

“I know,” Vivian said, sounding rather resigned. “It’s just…”

“It’s just you want to do more,” Aeolia finished her statement, her words carrying weight to them. “My grandfather said something to my brother once. He was more a mage type and the rest of us were more adept at direct fighting or just being sneaky. After a while, he started to get bummed out since there wasn’t a lot we could do to help him in terms of direct training. Grandfather told him the only thing he could do was give him this advice: Power comes in different forms. There are always those who can’t do one thing but excel in something else. Never stop trying to improve those skills. The only thing that’s unforgivable is allowing yourself to remain stagnant.”

“Those are some good words,” Vivian said, her mood improved. “Anyway, no time for this. We’ve got to form a plan to deal with those two robots, right?”

“Yeah,” John agreed. “We’re going to have a good amount of time to think up a plan. Running pretty low on health and mana.”

“I think the mana situation’s a group problem,” Aeolia said. “You want to try that ability of the battery?”

“It couldn’t hurt,” John replied, calling the battery to his left hand, the sleek black box and copper lines forming an interesting contrast to the wooden ring he wore on his index finger. He pulled up the ring’s Evocation, reading it carefully.

“My ring’s effect says it boosts restorative effects by ten percent,” John said. “I don’t think it would increase natural mana and health regeneration, but it should amplify the effect of Surge Field. Might even make the health regen on the ring better.”

“So you’re going to combine them?” Vivian asked. “Have you done that before?”

“Yes,” John answered. “And no, I haven’t combined Evocations before. Don’t really have the mana to chain them together, but these two make too good of a combo to not try. It should boost the mana regen rate by sixteen times.”

“Is it worth using both?” Vivian pondered, casually adjusting her glasses.

“Not for me,” John answered. “Roughly, it’ll cost me around forty to do this and I’ll get back somewhere around twenty. But all of us are low on mana, and this’ll help you two get back to full. It’s better for the team to go all out.”

“He’s got a point,” Aeolia said. “These new enemies have gear that screws up magic that comes in contact with them. Your skills still work on them, Vivian, so I think we’ll need to make them key to our strategy. I do think you should drink that last health potion, John. I don’t like how low that bar is getting.”

John glanced at his health display and grimaced at how empty it was. “Yeah, I’ll drink it. Not worth keeping it if I can get taken out in one hit later.”

“Let’s get upstairs,” Vivian offered. “So we can keep an eye out.”

John and Aeolia nodded in agreement and the trio trekked upstairs. They looked out the windows for any sign that the two robots had caught on to them, but the ruined streets remained barren.

“Looks clear out there,” John commented. “Ready to get this going?”

“It’s on you,” Aeolia answered while Vivian nodded.

John took a breath and triggered both Evocations. His mana shifted in an unfamiliar way; at first it split into two and was drawn into both items, then it flowed back into one before a 3 meter wide ring of interwoven pale purple and vibrant blue streams formed around them.

Achievement Unlocked: Unified Arcana
Cast two Evocations together and produce an effect greater than if done separately.
Reward: Evocation modification, Ritual Cast, added to skill.
P.S.: Added the effect retroactively. You’re welcome.

“Okay, I am so going to work out which Evocations I need to combine,” John said with a grin as he processed his upgrade and crunched the numbers. “Our innate regenerations are up by fourteen and a half times. Less of a boost to outside factors but that’s a trade-off I can live with.”

“I already feel pretty recharged,” Aeolia commented, a fact supported by her mana bar filling. Vivian’s likewise was recovering at a good pace.

“I’m regening at a rate of eight a minute,” John reported, extracting the last of his gifted health potions and downing it before his newest effect ran out. The minor boost only increased the points to twenty-six, but it was better than nothing and his health was restored to just under full.

Healing settled, John pulled up Evocation’s info sheet to further explore his latest upgrade.

Ritual Cast: This Skill Modifier allows you to combine the Evocations of (Skill Lv.) items. Total cost is reduced by 25% of the combined total, durability costs remain unchanged and only one instance of Evocation casting cost is needed.

“Still have to worry about breaking my items,” John muttered. “At least there’s a cost reduction. Wonder if there’s anything more to Skill Modifiers? Only one way to find out.”

A quick tap brought up more information.

Skill Modifiers: Allow for altered applications of a skill. Unlocked when certain conditions are met, as Achievement or Quest rewards. Only one Skill Modifier can be applied at this time and can only be swapped out after a twenty-four hour period.

“Bit of a bummer that last bit,” Aeolia commented.

“At least I only have one, so it's not a big worry right now,” John said before frowning. “But at least I know I can get more and stack them.”

“We’ll have to start making lists to keep all your powers in check,” Vivian chimed in as the restorative ring faded. “I suppose it's time to strategize, yes?”

“Yep,” John answered. “I did pick up two items. Should give them a once over. See if they can give us any useful tools or insight.”

He withdrew the two new items, placing the helmet on the ground and lifted the scope to his eye. It was a squat cylinder of dull steel etched with symbols with a lens of black glass set inside, its diameter no longer than his index finger.

“Well, not as good as my goggles in terms of magnification,” John said as he rolled the lens between his fingers. “As for the other Attribute and Evocation…”

Identification Tag: Mark up to three targets, allowing them to be visible through up to a meter of solid material.

“Interesting,” John finished, bringing the lens to his left eye and lining it up with Vivian. At a thought, a faint blue light bloomed around her. He turned towards Aeolia and repeated the process on her, setting her aglow in yellow. He then lifted his hand over the lens, the magically induced illumination shining through the impediment.

“Might be useful for scouting,” John commented, handing the item to Aeolia. “As good as the Evocation is, I only have one real ranged attack and I think it’d be better to have two visual enhancers for the team.”

“Not a bad idea,” Aeolia said, looking through the lens. “How about the other thing?”

John picked up the helmet at her prompt, turning the mostly smooth piece of armor in his hands.

“Only two Attributes,” John muttered with a frown.

“They all can’t be loaded with cool things,” Aeolia supplied.

“Perhaps the cobbled-together nature of the helmet limits the number,” Vivian theorised.

John pursed his lips in thought. “That makes sense. I think things made from less magical stuff have less Attributes on them. We’ve already seen the first Attribute, so let’s see what Ready Adaptation does.”

Ready Adaptation: This item more readily accepts modifications to its form or other Attributes.

“Looks like I’ll be using this to experiment with,” John said. “Haven’t had the time or disposable material to play around with Craftsmanship. There are options to add or modify Attributes, and I haven’t even looked at upgrading items physically.”

“What does this last detail mean?” Vivian asked, pointing to the ‘Armor Set’ portion of the display.

“Well,” John answered, “some gear that goes together gets bonuses depending on how many pieces of that set I’m wearing. From the first couple of armor pieces I got, it seems like they’re based on real things from somewhere out there, so I figure the bonuses are related to something about that group or culture.”

“Interesting,” Vivian murmured, eyes alight with curiosity as she examined the helmet more closely, giving John an unplanned view down her cleavage. He shifted slightly, forcing his eyes away from the unexpected show.

“You know he could pull up the info on it,” Aeolia chirped cheekily, her lips drawn into a sly smile. “You don’t need to comb over it like you're an archaeologist.”

Vivian straightened up, her face beginning to match her hair. “Oh! Yes, um, let’s do that. Sorry, got carried away.”

“It’s not a problem,” John said quickly. “But yeah, we should review the last bit of gear info and move on to planning our next move.”

Cyriam Restored Armor Set: After their creators and masters had completely died out, the Machines of Cyriam reactivated after their long slumber and have now begun following their creators' footsteps of conquest. Until they can fully restore their industry, they make do with salvaged materials, tailoring them to best fit the mission as needed.

Set Bonus: 2 Pieces:+5% Intelligence, 3 Pieces:+5% Strength, 4 Pieces:+5%Health and Mana Regeneration, 5 Pieces: Self-Restoration.

“Great,” Aeolia commented dryly, “robot uprising.”

“It's fascinating,” Vivian countered, her embarrassment over her over-exuberance replaced with a sense of awe. “This certainly seems like good proof that your ability is replicating actual things or at least basing them on real things.”

“Not making me feel any better about the killer robots, Vivian,” Aeolia shot back, before shaking her head. “And speaking of killer robots, how are we going to deal with the two swordy ones running around outside?”

“They were pretty fast,” John recounted, “and they’ve got shields too. I didn’t look at them for too long, but they may have been zilhavrum.”

“So they’re magic resistant. Great,” Aeolia bemoaned.

“But not immune to magic effects that don’t come in contact,” Vivian muttered. “They didn’t see through my refraction of John.”

John mulled over the limited information about their foes, then reviewed what he and the girls brought to the table.