Return to Jorgaldur Volume II: the druid archer

Raid

She waited uneasily on the bed while the feline was devouring the food that she could give her there without anyone looking. She was worried, and when the drelf walked through the door, that worry only increased, since her friend looked somewhat downcast and pensive.

"How did it go?" she asked.

Only then did Maldoa lift her head and grinned widely, while raising her thumb in victory.

"Oh come on, tell me," the elf grew impatient, and dragged her to sit next to her.

Maldoa was moved, and hastened to raise a barrier so as not to be heard.

"Well, first I got a good scolding," she laughed.

"You shouldn't be joking about it," Goldmi censured.

"Haha. It's not the first time," she shrugged and stuck out her tongue. "Then, they ordered me to watch you. And follow you. At least, until you get tired of me."

She said it half laughing, but was watching the elf's reaction. She feared that her friend would find her a nuisance, or that she was being spied on. But a hug indicated otherwise.

"I'm glad!"

"So, can we celebrate with that cream filling cake you were talking about?"

"Gluttonous..." the archer reproved her, and made her laugh.

As expected, she had to get more cream-filled cakes than Maldoa could eat, because the lynx wasn't going to miss that opportunity. And why deny it, it wasn't that Goldmi resisted accompanying them.

This time, they didn't stay up late. After two nights in a row, the sleep was starting to take its toll. Besides, there were plans for tomorrow, plans from the higher ups that she had passed on to those in charge of the fort.

That morning, all the groups were summoned for a joint operation planned by the high command. They spread out in front of the corrupted forest, some in backup, and some in front.

It was a dangerous operation, as such a large contingent could bring in many enemies to ambush them, and they were in their territory. That, of course, if there was a general to call them, if the one from that area hadn't been eliminated. In addition, they had the backing of Maldoa in the shadows. There were also two other warriors of similar level, who had arrived to support the operation.

Although they trusted their command, everyone was a little nervous. Goldmi continually cast Life Detection to look for changes, as well as she was scanning all directions with Hawkeye. Although she found some losts, they were isolated beings, some of which she eliminated by herself.

The troops at the front were in charged of attacking the corrupted forest itself, mostly with axes, many infused with Purifying Touch. They had separated Goldmi from her group, with the complicity of the drelf. She was in disguise, alongside one of the high-level reinforcements. Her tasks were adding blessing to the weapons, and continuing with her surveillance. If a general appeared, she was their ace up their sleeve.

The lynx, for her part, was a member of an advance party. With her senses and her speed, she was ideal for the job, plus she found it more entertaining than waiting behind. The feline didn't hesitate to hunt down as many corrupted beings as she encountered, or to back off towards the rest of the group if she needed help. She had only done so when she had found three together. After leading them to a group of five allies, the group of six had taken care of the losts.

The objective was to gain ground from the corrupted forest, thus weakening the miasma in the more remote areas, and giving them a chance to recover in the future. It was normally an extremely dangerous task, so they were taking advantage of the opportunity that had presented itself.

The corrupted trees tried to defend themselves. However, while they can be dangerous when fighting other losts in the forest, they were too slow on their own to pose a threat to those axe-wielding warriors.

"Ten!" The feline exclaimed through the link.

"This isn't a game..." protested the elf, who only had killed three. Of course, from her position, it was difficult to get many.

The truth was, despite that, she was gaining a great deal of experience through the blessings. It was true that the corrupted trees didn't give much, and that their level wasn't very high, but there were more than fifty warriors attacking them, for which it was accumulating without stopping. By the end of the day, after a day of cleaning, between the lynx, herself and the downed trees, she had risen to level 35.

At level 33, she had recovered Slide, a spell that creates a thin cushion of air underfoot, which allows sliding like wearing skates. She had it at 10, as both she and Gjaki loved it. The combination with Shoot Anyway was quite interesting.

It must be said that Eldi had managed to stay on his feet with those skates, but he had been far from feeling comfortable, from being the butt of the mockery of his companions. It had a mana cost to keep it active, although less relevant at higher levels.

At 34, it was Light Trap, which consists of shooting three arrows similar to Light Arrow. Once they hit the ground around their target, they create a trap, by blinding and encircling it with purifying power. It also forces its target to take considerable damage if it is vulnerable to that power and wants to cross it. It can be exploded, so dealing damage to creatures of darkness. The spell lasts half a minute by each affinity, which was at 8, as it was very useful to blind powerful enemies. It could distract them for a few very valuable seconds.

Finally, at level 35, there was Wind Trap, which is analogous to the previous one. It surrounds the target with a kind of tornado, which is dangerous to cross for those who are vulnerable to slashing damage, and impossible if they aren't able to counteract the force of the wind. She had leveled it up to 7, as it was quite effective against groups of small enemies, such as swarms of insects.

Regarding skills, these three were common in all classes, although not always equally effective. They were resistance to poison, paralysis and illusions.

On the other hand, she had raised Purifying Touch to 10, after hours of not only nonstop applying it, but continually doing its job against the corrupted forest. Mana Link had reached 9, Life Link had reached 7, Alarm had reached 6, and Vegetable Home had reached 4. Several of them had done it shortly before reaching the outpost.

Going up three levels in one day was certainly good news, as much as Gjaki would have accused her of leeching, but it also meant saying goodbye to her group. There was little point in staying there.