Their claws are sharp, their teeth are deadly and the strange elastic shadow stuff that makes up their bodies is both strong and malleable, allowing them to twist and contort themselves to an alarming degree. Not quite to the same level Crinis can, but stretching out their arms to attack a few extra feet is easily within their capabilities.
Tiny has no issues wading into the battle. With his skills upgraded, he can clear his way through the mobs with more vigour than before. Particularly since his fist skills have reached a new tier.
“Raaaaaaah!” Tiny roars as his fists begin to glow with bright light.
Thrusting one massive fist, Tiny unleashes his strength in a colossal blow that smashes the monsters directly in front of him. But it doesn’t stop there.
Boom!
When his fist stops moving, the light continues forward as a mighty ape paw, scattering monsters ten feet away from Tiny as they suffer the impact of his tier three Boxing skills.
As the monsters begin to try and swarm, Tiny swivels on his heel and unleashes a devastating hook that blasts an arc of light around him, smashing the smaller creatures around him to the ground.
Haha! Didn’t see that coming, did you?
Crinis has also improved her abilities. Her limbs reach out farther than before and with greater agility to snag monsters from the crowd, lifting them up before entangling them with more tentacles and crushing them.
Nice!
By purchasing a few skills and mutating her body, the tennis ball that devours all, including hope, has increased her skill at manipulating her tentacles as well as their strength and flexibility. All in all, she poses a much larger threat. I honestly can’t wait until she evolves, it’ll be exciting to see how she’ll grow!
Not wanting to waste any more time I hastily whip up a water construct and start feeding Mana through it. The entire process is more fluid than before, the Transformation construct being pieced together with practiced ease. I’ve made thousands of these stupid things recently. It would be impossible for me to not improve.
Not only that!
I start weaving water bolts with both of my sub-brains, flinging them into the crowd and knocking monsters down with each fierce impact. With my main mind, I start to work on something special.
Operating the Transformation construct carefully, I split off a third stream of water Mana and begin to condense it, crushing the Mana down under the weight of my mind. Steadily, the outline of a water bolt frame begins to form, made entirely of condensed Mana.
I really have to grind down my focus to achieve this, but it’s one thing I’ve been practicing lately and the results are… interesting.
As the battle rages, I spend precious seconds assembling my spell. With Tiny and Crinis at the front line I’m not worried. They could handle this wave on their own, I’m just here for the experience.
Once the frame is finished, I begin to power the spell with condensed Mana. With the shape of the spell formed of condensed Mana, the construct holds up better when also filled with the volatile stuff. When it’s finally powered and ready to cast, I take careful aim to ensure I allow plenty of leeway so my own pets aren’t caught in the blast.
Fire!
The water bolt, a deeper and darker blue than the others, almost as if it were formed of water from the deep ocean, materialises above my head and rockets forth.
The monsters don’t have time to react before it impacts amongst them.
BOOOOOOM!
Like a crashing wave, water explodes amongst the monsters, blasting them into the walls and crushing them into the ground. The spray from the impact is so strong it cuts into their bodies, leaving gaping wounds, and in some cases severing limbs.
Yikes!
Condensed spells are really no joke!
95. Compression Obsession
As the rather explosive effect of my Compressed water bolt fades and the monsters begin to recover as more flood into the narrow tunnel to trample over the fallen, I take a little time to reflect on the success of the spell.
Certainly better than I thought.
After witnessing the awesome effects of Forceful Mana spells when using the compressed energy to fuel a spell, I began to experiment with forming an entire spell from compressed Mana. The structure, from beginning to end, weaved with those threads and then the entire thing filled right to the top. My test results were promising, to say the least.
All the extra practice with water Mana pays hefty dividends also. When Water Magic Affinity hit Level five, I immediately pumped it up to Advanced Water Magic, which is already Level two. I also ranked up Forceful Mana to boot. Never doubt my gains!
However, this was my first time putting the spells to use in actual combat. I wanted to test them in a controlled situation and started with the most harmless of all my spells, the water bolt, but the little testing I’d done with gravity spells had been somewhat alarming. I wasn’t quite ready to put them to use just yet. Maybe in a more open space.
This first test was a rousing success! Not only was the primary target completely pulverised, but the splash effect had a vicious cut to it as well, increasing the area of effect potential.
I’m really quite excited for the next one.
I stop my sub-brains from casting spells and begin to focus all of my mental energies on my next task. Dividing the labour between my minds, I begin to stockpile compressed Mana as best I can, and simultaneously weave a Forceful Water Cannon. The shaping of the spell I handle myself, as it’s by far the most difficult task.
Beneath me, Tiny and Crinis continue to battle away, smashing monsters all over the place, but making sure to leave them on a sliver of life as much as possible. Tiny has a lot of issues controlling his strength, and is just as likely to knock a monster’s head clean off by mistake. Crinis has far more finesse. Like lightning, her limbs snap out to pluck up a monster, and she wrings it out like a soggy cloth before dropping it on a growing pile of severely wounded monsters behind her.
Perfect.
Nearly there now.
Eagerly I begin to fuel my constructed spell. The trick I found in my test run is that I can’t quite transform Mana and then compress it fast enough to keep up with the demands of the spell. Meaning, I ran out of juice and the spell failed only a few seconds after I cast it. Those few seconds had been enough to drill a hole three feet in the tunnel walls though, so I’m expecting good things.
To prevent the spell from such a premature failure this time, I’ve been carefully amassing a stockpile of compressed water Mana as I go. Judging by the rate of consumption, I think I have roughly fifteen seconds or so for the spell to operate.
I’m looking forward to this.
Forceful Water Cannon—Fire!
Just above my head, an ominously blue glowing ball flickers into existence. What comes out is less a Water Cannon and more of a Water Beam. The monsters hit are less damaged but rather… dissected. It cuts straight through them! As the water blasts straight through the monsters, it impacts against the tunnel floor and a vicious hissing noise fills the air as it starts boring a hole through the dirt and stone.
Hastily I direct the spell to zigzag its way up the tunnel and delight in the chaos caused.
[You have defeated…]
[You have defeated…]
[You have defeated…]
[You have defeated…]