Return to Jorgaldur Volume I: the battle mage

Lost forest

Eldi decided to fight alone. Some looked at him with arrogance, certain that, like so many others before him, he would soon regret, and beg to be part of a group. The support groups were the first to realize that there was something special about that human who Melingor himself had received

The rule was to have a group in sight on each side, in order to come to each other aid if necessary, what was called support groups. Those who were close to the human were surprised that he offered them blessings, which they accepted willingly, for any help was more than welcome. However, that meant that he couldn't have many other skills or spells at his disposal, or that would have been if he weren't a visitor.

More than once they stopped to admire the inconceivable variety of means, be his martial skills or his spells, some of which they had never seen. Also notable was the quality of his equipment, or the amount of magical power he possessed, or perhaps the speed at which he was recovering it. He could even renew the blessings every half hour, or heal them. It is also true that the high human didn't only do it for altruism, but also benefited from it, sharing part of the experience that the other groups obtained through their help in the form of blessings.

He was in a slightly lower area of his level, between 55 and 57, as he had preferred not to force himself, in order to become familiar with those enemies. The first one he faced was something similar to a panther, whose fur had become much stiffer, stabbing and dark, as well as its eyes darker and reddish. Its level was 57, and it attacked him as soon as it saw him.

He soon noticed that the aggressiveness of those beings was stronger than normal. They seemed obsessed with killing their enemies in whatever way, to the point of being reckless and predictable. When he pushed it away with Propel, the lost immediately turned around and pounced back at him, crossing through the Burning Wall and crashing back into the hammer, which sent it back, again through the fire.

It should be noted that there was no danger of burning that part of the forest, because the darkened trees didn't burn easily. In fact, they would have burned it a long time ago if they could. It burned little by little if there was a continuous source of fire, but they couldn't be used as fuel to spread it.

The third time the corrupted feline pounced at its enemy, with open jaws and with claws stretched to try to catch him, it met a Burning Spear instead of the hammer, which entered through its mouth and pierced it. Eldi had used Perforating Impact, impaling and burning it from within.

Although they had already explained it to him, it wasn't the same to see in person how the body disintegrated when the unnatural life came to an end.

He then picked up the Burning Spear and threw it with Javelin to one of the nearby trees, because he wanted to check its effect. After that, he wielded the axe and approached, waiting to be attacked by the beings that defended the perimeter of the Lost Forest.

Another of those felines, two snakes almost ten meters long and a kind of deer came out to meet him. The appearance of the deer, which should have been a herbivore, was as sinister as the others. From its bones, spikes had protruded through its skin, and its expression was equally threatening.

At different speeds, the four threw themselves on him. Their levels were between 55 and 57, and they didn't hesitate to cross the Burning Wall instead of making a detour, after which they met a Frozen and a Lightning ones, since Eldi wanted to check how effective each one of them was. The result was as expected, since none of those beings was especially vulnerable or resistant to those elements.

He countered the phanter and deer attacks with Dancing Axe, but stopped using it when the snakes approached. He was afraid that it wouldn't be effective against their enveloping attack, although he was surprised when they chose another type of strategy. They jumped on themselves, creating a kind of tremor that was intended to bring him down. And it did to the panther and the deer, but not to their main objective, since he was using Stability.

He took advantage of the fact that two of them were on the ground to attack them, managing to cut the neck of the deer and one of the legs of the cat. When the snakes ceased in their efforts and it managed to get up, its attack potential had greatly diminished. Even so, it tried to attack while the snakes cast a blackish poison that Eldi decided to ignore. He preferred to renew Projectiles against me? than lose the opportunity to kill one of his enemies while it was still alone.

The big cat jumped at him, driven by its hind legs, and with more speed than it seemed possible, since it was one of its skills. However, the attack was less dangerous now that it had one less claw, which didn't seem to cause pain, or even bleed.

Its enemy had seen that attack before, three times, so he again made it swallow a Burning Spear, dodging it at the same time to the less dangerous side, the one without a claw. Pierced and burned from its insides, it died even before the snakes approached.

The two reptiles formed a kind of Metal Spring with their body, so they were propelled towards a being that they felt they needed to destroy, because he was alive. Their goal was to surround him with their bodies and crush him, but he used Feline Response to dodge them and get out of reach, leaving a Frozen Wall in place, with the aim of slowing them down. And while they were on the Wall, he used Abyss continuously to not let them out of there.

They weren't as vulnerable to fire as the other snakes he had found in the jungle, but neither was their body so resistant. Shred and Abyss were enough to keep them at bay and end their lives. He could have added some Burning or Frozen Blast, but he had consumed more mana than energy, so he preferred to save it.

When the body of both snakes disintegrated, he threw the Burning Spear that was still on the ground against the same tree as before, and waited to see its effect, while recovering mana and energy. He wouldn't come closer until it was at 100%. If they wanted to attack him, he was waiting for them there.