By Spell and Blade (Part 2)

OVER THE NEXT HOUR, Cerys drilled me in a variety of spells commonly used in battle. The elemental spells were easy to understand, given I’d already used many of them before. The same went with teleportation, charm and scrying, but the principles of barrier spells were completely new to me.

Back in the temple, and later in the forest, I had experimented with barriers made of raw mana. Alas, they weren’t durable, and took too much energy to maintain. Cerys, however, taught me the knack of it.

The way mages do it is to transform the raw mana into a glass-like substance. It’s brittle, but the strength can be improved by stacking multiple layers, so that only the top ones shatter when taking a hit. This gives the mage some breathing room to rebuild the broken layers, regenerating the ward to its full strength.

To counter a barrier, you can either pummel it with spells faster than it can be regenerated, or try to overwhelm it with one concentrated hit. Doing the latter is more difficult, but gives the defender less time to react. Incidentally, when the girls were ambushed in the forest, the cultists were trying to beat Cerys by chaining multiple spells.

“You arrived in the nick of time,” Xana said, recalling the incident. “I was so ready to die taking one of them with me, but you swooped in like a hero to my rescue.”

“To our rescue,” Amelia corrected. “I prayed to Lady Faydan at the time, so it was only a given she would send her champion.”

“Come on,” I said, scratching my head. “I don’t mean to splash you with cold water, but I don’t know anything about being Faydan’s champion.”

“Oh?” Amelia replied, raising an eyebrow. “So you mean to say you just happened to arrive to Krysterios in the chamber of the Dread Dragon, undetected, and claimed its power without any divine guidance?”

I mean. If she puts it that way…

“There’s not a chance Faydan wasn’t involved,” Cerys followed up. “She does have a history of appointing unlikely champions and leaving them to their fate. That’s her domain, after all. But even if she hasn’t talked to you, and likely never will, the fact remains that she’s the deity most likely to have brought you here.”

So me getting shitfaced and lost in the jungle was part of my fate? Gee, thank you, Lady Faydan. Could’ve pitched the idea to me and I would’ve come here on my own.

“Just give up on it,” Xana said with a shrug. “Amelia won’t budge on this.”

Unwavering faith, huh? That’s a paladin for you.

Guess I’ll be stuck with the moniker of “Champion of Faydan” in the Briar Hall.

“In any case,” Cerys said, “I’d like to wrap up the magic lesson here. I’ll need time to design a proper curriculum, taking John’s innate spellcasting into account. Would you mind taking over, Amelia?”

“Gladly,” she replied, before tossing me a wooden sword. “Up for a spar, John?”

“Sure,” I said, taking guard as Cerys and Xana stepped back to give us space. “You’ll go easy on me, right?”

Uh. I don’t like that silence.

“Right?”

* * *

SHE BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF ME.

“Keep moving!” Amelia commanded, “You’d be long dead if this was a real fight! Raise your guard, and have at thee!”

“I’m trying!” I yelled back, parrying blow after blow from her. I’m heavily relying on my magic barrier, but even at full strength, Amelia can still pierce through it. I just learned the spell from Cerys, so I haven’t mastered it yet.

“Dodge!” Xana called, a moment before Amelia thrust her blade at my barrier once more. Even though she’s also using a wooden sword, it’s engulfed with her magic energy, making it more than a match to my defenses.

With a loud crash, my barrier shattered, and the tip of Amelia’s sword dug into my solar plexus. Fortunately, she dispersed the mana before the hit landed, so all I had to show for the stab was a bad bruise.

“Match!” Cerys called, bringing our duel to an end.

“Holy shit, you’re strong…” I said, struggling to breathe even with my draconic resilience. Fighting at full strength, I could definitely defeat Amelia, but I’m not about to turn into a dragon on her. In human form, alas, she has me beat.

“You’re not bad yourself,” said Amelia, before kneeling down and placing her hand on my shoulder. At her touch, I could feel a warm, soothing sensation flowing into me. It must be healing magic.

“Just make sure not to be overconfident,” she added. “Your magic is powerful, but you’re a complete novice when it comes to martial arts. It would be best if you acted as a dedicated caster like Cerys.”

“Eh, I’m not sure that will work,” I replied. “If I go full caster, our team comp will have three ranged party members, and only you as frontline. That would leave you overstretched, and our backline will crumble if pressured.”

Amelia paused at my explanation. She seemed to be in agreement.

“I can fight in the front,” Xana suggested. “I’ve trained plenty with Amelia, so it won’t be a problem.”

She looked eager to switch roles, but...

“That won’t do,” Amelia shut her down. “When it comes to melee, you’re best suited for ambushing, or hit-and-run tactics. You’d be wasted if you’re drawn to a protracted fight.”

Yeah, I can see that. Xana is short and lightweight, which is excellent for stealth, but terrible for brawling. If she tries to play the role of a tank, she’ll get whacked.

“So says you, but I’ve gotten stronger lately,” Xana insisted.

“It’s not about strength,” Amelia rebuffed. “It’s about aptitude. You’re made for ranged combat or stealth, not frontline duty.”

“You think so?” Xana replied, her eyes narrowed into a frown. “Then try me.”

“Very well,” Amelia accepted the fight, raising her battle stance.

The atmosphere is getting tense.

Xana pulled out a pair of wooden daggers. By the looks of it, she’d intended to join the practice from the start, but ended up challenging Amelia to a duel.

Cerys discreetly pulled me back, and prepared to referee the battle.

“Ready…” she started, Xana lowering her posture, Amelia remaining as firm and immutable as an entrenched rock.

“Fight!”

Xana shot forward like an arrow herself, capitalizing on her speed to seize the initiative. She swung at Amelia with one of her daggers, holding the other in reserve to punch through Amelia’s defense once she parried the first blow.

However, Amelia didn’t block with her sword.

She didn’t need to, for she was a paladin… and as a spellcaster, she could raise a magic barrier of her own.

Xana’s dagger bounced off of Amelia’s ward, and her impetus turned against her, as she found herself about to crash into a solid wall of arcane glass. Xana tried to kick back against the barrier, but Amelia dropped the spell before she could make contact, throwing Xana completely off balance.

The poor catgirl was met with Amelia’s knee to her stomach.

She staggered backwards, but Amelia didn’t spare her any time to recover. She swung her wooden sword at Xana, who desperately managed to parry the first two blows, but was decisively overwhelmed by the third.

No matter Xana’s confidence, Amelia had mopped the floor with her.

“That’s dirty…” Xana said through gritted teeth, her head downcast. “You never said you would use magic.”

“I never said I wouldn’t,” was Amelia’s stone-cold answer. “We’re not playing around, Xana. Our enemies will do everything at their disposal to kill us. If this were a real fight, you’d be dead.”

A chill ran down my spine.

Amelia had said the same words to me before, but to see them directed at Xana, it completely changed the nuance. I’m but a rookie, while Xana is an A-Rank adventurer. I can’t imagine how much it must sting for her to hear Amelia tell her that.

Xana, however, didn’t reply.

She just stood up and left, without saying a word, without looking at any of us. All we could hear was the door to her room upstairs being shut with a loud, painful thud.

Though Amelia hadn’t struck Xana, she cut deeper than mere flesh and bone.