Return to Jorgaldur Volume II: the druid archer

Swarm boss (II)

Three more rushed towards them, but were stopped by Wind Push, and killed off with arrows while the sisters were falling back, something they did until they reached a crossroads and took refuge in a side tunnel. A couple of times they hadn't been able to stop them completely, so they had received some blows and scratches, but nothing too serious.

While being out of the direct vision of the insects, these couldn't launch themselves directly against them, but not for that reason they stopped chasing them. Some of those insects soon found themselves in front of their preys, although a Wind Abyss was attacking them.

They couldn't continue using Catapult, because they were too close, and the furthest ones didn't have a direct trajectory, they didn't even see them. So, those insects faced them directly, as they had before. Soon, they were crowded enough to be Light Pillar's prey. And it happened twice more.

They couldn't get those insects as close together as the first two times, so they wasted some mana in comparison, but they managed to lower their numbers greatly.

The lynx stepped forward, and started leaping and nailing hers claws here and there, drawing their attention, as Goldmi was riddling them with arrows. Little by little, less and less were remaining, which allowed the feline to attack more and dodge less.

Finally, they managed to get rid of the last of those insects, so they moved slowly back to the cave, while recovering strength along the way.

There were barely twenty which were protecting the passage to the next floor, and the archer got rid of them one by one from a distance. When the last of them disappeared, they felt that they had earned some experience, thus confirming that they had won, so a little fairy showed up to do the hard work of pick up all the arrows.

As always, they regained their strength before advancing to the next floor. And, as always, the first thing they did was to check if there was something around.

"Two on the right. They're together."

"Let's take a look."

The elf looked at her sister with a strange grimace, as she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. That joke was repeating too much. The feline felt her gaze, turned, and stuck out her long tongue, which almost got the elf to lose control and laugh out loud.

It wasn't long before they saw two circular and flat objects, with a yellowish glow, and that were rapidly rotating on themselves, while floating. They lunged towards the feline, who could barely avoid them, while the archer shot three different arrows to discover their weaknesses.

The physical arrow didn't seem to inflict any damage, and hardly the wind one, but the mana arrow did. The claws didn't seem to be effective either, but the Purifying Touch imbued in them was. They were level 24 beings, fast, apparently immune to physical damage, and vulnerable to magic.

"Skeet shooting," murmured the elf with a half smile, while finishing off the second of them.

They were fast, but Goldmi's marksmanship wasn't something to be underestimated, even against moving objects. She had found that a physical arrow with Purifying Touch was fairly effective, but not as much as an Ethereal one.

Her sister had received a couple of attacks, which had slightly scorched her fur, but nothing serious, and it was evident that she wasn't worried.

"These are fast, it'll be interesting. But I think we should rest and eat something first. A cake, for example."

The elf sighed, although her amused smile was revealing her true feelings.

"That's cheating," the lynx complained.

She had hinted that she wanted a cake, and had been thrilled when her sister had accepted, despite the elf's mischievous smile, and the feeling that she was up to something. And yes, she was cooking a cake, but not a dessert cake, but a meat pie. However, when she tasted it, she forgot her reluctance and began to devour it.

Meanwhile, the elf was eating distractedly, while checking her inventory and looking for ingredients to make meals that would give them the best possible bonuses. She didn't have many, and couldn't get more ingredients there, but she managed to find a few to make level 23 and 28 dishes. The first was slightly below hers, and the second couldn't be used yet, but they'd have to settle for it.

Unfortunately, even though she never threw anything away, she had started to learn the cooking profession at a higher level, so she had neither prepared meals nor had too many ingredients of the current levels. And the ones she had bought, ready to be consumed, had already been used in the game a long time ago.

Actually, she did have ingredients and meals prepared, but of too high level. And while she had verified that they could eat them, she had also verified that they weren't getting any bonuses. In fact, they were almost always eating dishes of much higher levels than theirs.

For dessert, the lynx had to make do with thin sponge cakes rolled up on themselves, and filled with an iced cream, which caused her to freeze for a moment when biting it too quickly, since she didn't expect their teeth to find something so cold.

"You could have told that it was frozen!" she complained, while her sister was laughing, not sorry at all.

Although it only took her a few seconds to forget it, the ones it took to recover and to slowly start to savor the iced dessert. The fact that the elf woke up the next morning sneezing, because some of her sister's hairs had found the inside of her nose, was just an accident. Or so the feline assured, not very convincingly, so she was about to eat dehydrated rations for breakfast.

But, luckily for her, her wide and bright eyes, which were staring at her sister like a cute helpless puppy, completely disarmed her. Although, rather than reaching her heart, rather than being overwhelmed by the tenderness of her gaze, the elf had to beg her to stop doing it, because her belly was hurting from laughing so much.

And it is that, although that look can be adorable in a cub, in an adult lynx that she had seen fighting fiercely against her enemies, it was hilarious. At least for Goldmi.

So, before going out to explore the dungeon, they enjoyed a hot chocolate with what seemed to the lynx a strange but delicious pastry, called churros, and which were introduced into the chocolate to be soaked by it.

The feline had some troubles mastering the process, often being stained by the dark and thick liquid, and with little help from her sister, who had trouble controlling her laughter. And who was wondering how the felines of that world could eat anything. Or if, maybe, it was just her sister.