Arcanist In Another World-Chapter 17: The Ward

Valens had once seen a group of old grannies soak all their clothes in a giant basin, flush them with water and soap, let them rest for a good fifteen minutes, then hang them together over a rope stretched between two houses to dry.

This strange creature looked just like those, except it was bigger in size, and had limbs instead of sleeves. Dark tendrils stretched randomly from inside of it, dozens of them just floating about. It had no eyes, no nose, or a mouth. Nothing that suggested it was a living thing. Red words floated in and out above it.

[Necromancer’s Ward - ???]

“Bah!” Nomad pursed his rotten lips at it. “This one’s a clever one, then? He even patched the holes feeding into the main cave with Keepers.”

“A damned Ward,” the woman cursed under her breath once she saw it. She raised the spear hesitantly, creeping toward the side wall, gazing at Nomad as if she expected him to do something.

“What? You want me to handle that? Look at its tendrils! I’m basically naked below the waist. They’d get my bones good if I try to make a move on it. You go first.”

“You’re an undead! Don’t tell me you fear a Ward.”

Nomad pulled his left fist up. “I don’t fear that creature, woman. I just don’t see a point in me going in blind. It’s over Level 100. You do it. Got some good healing out of nowhere, didn’t you? Pulled your ass out just when you were about to kiss the death in the lips, have we not? Show us your appreciation, then. Poke it with that stick.”

Valens felt a bit odd that the shadowy mass just stood there while the two bickered back and forth. The creature almost seemed unaware. Or uncaring, now he thought about it.

Is it alive, at all? Or capable of perception?

“Can someone tell me what the hell is that thing?” he voiced out the question with mild annoyance. “Why does it not move?”

The woman gave him a side-eyed glance, eyes raw and narrowed down. Valens then thought asking questions about things that appeared to be common knowledge probably wouldn’t help him to quench the suspicion burning in those blue eyes.

So what? I’ve lost my memories, haven’t I? Divine grace or not, you can’t blame a man for that.

Nomad, instead, snorted at the woman before giving him an understanding nod. He pointed a finger at the mass. “I’m not aware of the particulars, but you can think of that thing as a foul blend of rotten flesh animated by the Necromancer’s magic. It won’t do anything as long as we’re out of its range.”

“What happens when we get close?”

“That—“

“Those tendrils latch onto you,” the woman said through clenched teeth. “And never let go.”

“That was my piece. You’re crossing too many lines here!” Nomad grabbed his sword and glared into her face before turning slowly to Valens. “But that’s about right. They like to use these things as keepers and guards. Dangerous creations, and nasty ones too.”

Interesting…

Sound vision, and Resonance didn’t seem to trigger it, which gave Valens some time to study its unique frequencies. He caught some new tunes there, oddly reminding him of a snake’s skin that was about to be shed off. Except, the touch of tunes had a softer sound here, closer to a human’s skin. Under that were the tell-tale echoes of rotten flesh, mixed with some cartilage and softened… knee caps? Finger bones? Sounded like a mix of those two.

A balmy, softened mangle of human skin, blended into three bodies’ worth of flesh and some bones. That rot underneath keeps them all animated by itself. How does that work, exactly?

Valens had seen his fair share of death during his service. He even assisted some criminal cases and got to witness creative ways of killing. But this could be the most ingenious, and yet horrifying creation he’d ever laid eyes upon. A thing that shouldn’t have existed.

“Let me go over my stats first,” he said, fingers itching as he felt around his mana pool. Healing the woman cost him more than half of his mana, some of which renewed during their brief trudge here, which put him barely above half, but he still had those levels he’d gained from dealing the steelmoles.

Show me my status.

Name: Valens Kosthal

Age: 22

Race: Human (Ancient)

Class: Arcane Healer(Ancient)

Level: 45

Experience: 54%

…

Free Points: 100

Uhh… I can’t get used to this.

Seeing his name there still made his skin crawl, but he tried to look past that and focused on his stats.

That’s a lot of points.

The moles were higher level than all of the skeletons he’d come across by now, so it wasn’t that surprising he got a bunch of levels from that painful sequence. Twenty levels, to be precise, which came with about one hundred stat points.

I wonder if I should start considering the other stats?

He gazed at the woman and Nomad, scowling in thought. By the density of their bones, the woman was likely somewhere around the same level with Nomad, and that meant she must've poured dozens of points into Endurance and Vitality stats as well. Her inner muscle tissues and bones were nearly harder than steel, after all.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

That was why Valens doubted if there was any merit in focusing on other stats. Sure, he could strengthen his body by focusing on Strength, Endurance and the likes, but that would mean he would be steering away from the Intelligence and Wisdom pair. And if, and this was a big if, there were creatures out there that could pierce easily through the bones of a warrior like Nomad and this woman, then a few stats in Endurance probably wouldn’t make any difference for him.

More is always better. I should go with that.

In the end, he poured all of his recently gained stats to where his true strength lay, namely the Intelligence and Wisdom pair, but for good measure he put ten stats into Dexterity as well. It was a useful stat that gave his body an airy feeling as if he was about to float, which also made it easier to move through this rotten cave.

When he felt the gurgling rivers of mana pouring into his mana source, he closed his eyes in bliss and cared not whether the other two gave him strange glances.

Feels like a cold, nice shower!

As always, the feeling was gone after a moment, replaced by the sudden swelling in his mana source. Valens smiled, and checked his status once again.

Name: Valens Kosthal

Age: 22

Race: Human (Ancient)

Class: Arcane Healer (Ancient)

Level: 45

Experience: 54%

Trait: Resonance(Ancient)

Skills (8/10):

Lifesurge (Master) - lvl 3

Lifeward (Master) - lvl 3

Blockage (Master) - lvl 1

Light Feet (Master) - lvl 2

Fireball (Adept) - lvl 7

Apathy (Master) - lvl 4

Inferno (Adept) - lvl 2

Gale (Master) - lvl 2

Updat𝒆d fr𝑜m freewebnøvel.com.

Stats:

Endurance - 12

Vitality- 13

Strength - 15

Dexterity - 25

Intelligence - 173

Wisdom - 87

Free Points: 0

General Skills (3/10):

Laran Language (Ancient) - lvl ??

Identify(Basic)- lvl 1

Mana Manipulation (Master) - lvl 8

He nearly established the 2:1 ratio with his Intelligence and Wisdom pair, which pushed his renewal rate to the maximum. He also had a few levels in some skills, especially the Fireball that had grown into Adept rating.

Mocking my expertise, have you? Telling me that my Fireball and Inferno are not yet enough to be regarded as Master-level skills, huh?

It had a point, though, Valens had to admit. There was something innately wrong in the Fireball's Resonance, which must’ve affected the Inferno’s rating as well. He would have to take a deep look at it when he got time.

“What are we waiting for?” the woman said as her lips curled into a frown.

Nomad shrugged.

Valens raised a finger at them with a beaming smile. “I’m now ready to give it a try.”

“You do what now?” the woman arched an eyebrow.

“Watch,” Valens said, reaching to his mana source while eyeing the abomination that stood before them.

Worst case, I have two meatheads before me. That ought to count for something.

Fingertips blazed alive as the Fireball’s frequencies bloomed in his mind. The recently changed spell had white flames mixed within its crimson, round shell. It cast a warm glow over the giant mass’s sprawling form. Not only that, he could feel a certain hunger within the flames as well.

The increase in my Intelligence stat definitely did some work.

Something clanked. Loud. The woman’s spear tip thudded against the ground. She stared at the Fireball with the same eyes she had when Valens pulled her out of the death’s grip, mouth slightly opened.

Valens nodded at her with a blank face, and flung the Fireball blazing into Ward's body, keeping the mana threads bound to his pool.

It streaked across the distance coated with light, sending fiery droplets about the cave that splashed and hissed against the cold walls. A fascinating shower of lights. When it came close to the wriggling tendrils the Resonance changed.

A dozen shadowy limps made for the burning ball, quick as whips, barely making a sound. Their tips sharpened and drilled into the Fireball from different angles. A set of wet squelches sounded in Valens’s mind, as if someone had poked a body of water with spearheads.

He felt a tug on his fingers. Mana threads bounding the Fireball to his mana pool stretched tight as though they were about to snap. The tendrils were trying to suck the spell’s mana dry.

It was a good attempt, Valens had to admit, but those tendrils might have as well tried to force their way through solid steel if they thought they could best a Resonant Healer’s control. A smile parted his lips. He forced more mana through the bond and shelled the threads with broader, thicker mana strings to keep the spell active.

That done, he managed a Lifeward around the Fireball to track every movement of the tendrils' invisible teeth. They nibbled stubbornly at the outer strings and tried to find their way into the spell’s core. Valens waved a contemptuous hand when they tore off a dozen holes in the outer shell. It took him but a moment to patch them back.

Finally, the Fireball crashed into the main mass of the Ward. A shrill shriek exploded in the Resonance, barely felt by Nomad and the woman from the blank looks on their faces. They were busy staring at the Ward’s body within which now blazed a ball of crimson fury with wanton abandonment.

“Holy Spirits,” the woman mumbled weakly, one hand clenched tight around the spear. It took her a moment to tear her gaze away from the creature to glance back at Valens. “You… You’re not a Priest but a Mage?!”

“Oh, he’s both of those things alright,” Nomad sneered at her. He seemed strangely proud of him, of Valens being a healer and a mage both, as if it was a feat they’d only decided to disclose now just to grant a moment of pure shock to the woman.

Valens would’ve cherished her reaction a touch more had it not for the sudden pull at the mana strings. He cast his gaze upon the creature and saw it withdraw all its tendrils. They blended seamlessly back into the mass, shadows squirming as they warped into a single, uniform shape that seemed somewhere between a human and an undead.

“Oh, it's pissed,” Nomad said, raising his sword, urging the woman with a glare. “Get your spear up, woman, and pull that head out of your ass. The bastard’s coming.”

The woman fumbled with the spear’s shaft and moved shakily over to Nomad. She stole a glance from Valens, eyebrows dancing, before regarding the now humanoid Ward with a spear pointed at its chest where the Fireball still burned.

Valens watched with his face twisted up in confusion. Picking the tunes of the creature’s Resonance was like exploring a house built over on a small piece of rock. It just didn’t make any sense how it was all holding up. How, indeed, was that small lump of rotten mana guiding the creature as though a miniature brain that lacked any sort of thought?

It certainly wasn’t capable of feeling pain. That much was made clear to him. The Fireball still squirmed in the thick of its patched-up body, but it seemed hardly aware. When Valens tried to see if he could set the creature’s whole body ablaze by letting the Fireball explode within its chest, that rotten mana somehow pressed upon the spell like an invisible palm.

Using my trick against me, are you?

The rotten mana shifted. The Ward’s feet were planted on the ground, then they were off, then the creature was making a cut through Nomad and the woman in a streak of lusterless black. Valens had been keeping an ear over its frequencies, trying to understand the shift, trusting the two meatheads before him to keep him safe on the account that the creature would have a humanoid way of fighting.

That, unfortunately, seemed like a grave mistake.

It was coming at him, now, and coming at him fast like a spear drilling through the air.

…..