Chapter 62: Spell Weaving (I)

Dawn counted thirteen of those green pests encircling them. There were more spread out at the back. Even counting them all, it wouldn't be the largest pack she had single-handedly dispatched. With a swift intake of breath, she awoke her mana.

I need to take care of this swiftly, she thought, clutching her staff.

Yet she had barely poured a couple of breaths of mana into her staff when she was lifted off her feet and found herself darting away. It was Ember. With one arm, he pulled her over his shoulder and dashed off without warning.

"Hey, what are you—?"

Her voice was soon drowned out by a bombardment as a number of goblin bombs exploded around them.

"Just hold on for a bit," he said. A kinetic wave lashed out from him, fighting off the explosive force.

Finding an opening, his form blurred, still carrying her as he thrust his sabre into one of the goblins at the forefront. Even with only a little mana imbued into the tier 6 blade, it met no obstruction, digging through the goblin's bone armour to claim its life.

His next targets came just as swiftly. Two goblins, brandishing a club and an axe.

Ember sent one flying with a tier 3 Kinetic Push and dealt with the other using his blade. Although his new weapon was not the exact dimensions of his old one, his form moved with perfect fluidity, the sabre narrowly avoiding the axe's edge before cleaving through the goblin's arm.

With its arm severed, the goblin cried out hysterically. A single swing would have ended its misery when Dawn cried out, "Look out!"

A few arrows shot towards them from the rear. Although not all of them were aimed perfectly, there were still a couple that would plunge into them, unless she did something about it.

However, as soon as the words left her lips, Ember sprang off his feet in the opposite direction from where the arrows had come. Dawn still cast a Force Shield as more arrows targeted them. Ember darted around within the encirclement, still carrying her as though she were some helpless kitten.

It's going to take a while, it seems. She sighed silently.

She could only blame herself for this misunderstanding. Yes, the bloodline spell had taken too much out of her. It was more her physical capabilities than her mana foundation, however. She could still craft most of her elementary spells and even some intermediary ones with little effort. They wouldn't be highly explosive, but they would still be enough against goblins. Not to mention all the trump cards she had on her person.

Unfortunately, Dawn had presented herself as a helpless lamb waiting to be slaughtered before Ember.

She had wanted to test him and see his true colours when he found out she was completely vulnerable. He seemed trustworthy enough, but she wasn't sure. She had already burned herself once not too long ago to be completely careless.

Thankfully, not everyone came with the intention of robbing her. As much as she was satisfied with his display so far, she was quite pleased with her quick thinking in coming up with the test.

But then these goblin pests had to arrive.

Perhaps I should just let him carry on with them, she thought, eyeing the goblins around them.

Although Ember was under a lot of pressure and wasn't having an easy time, he didn't panic. His highest priority seemed to be keeping them injury-free, as he evaded and ran around more than he dispatched the goblins. It was only when he found a clear opening that he acted.

But once the encirclement closed around them, he found less and less ground to cover.

Then an arrow found purchase in his calf.

He swore under his breath, pain blazing through his shin.

Dawn almost had it, ready to fling out a spell to end the conflict as soon as possible.

But then the boy spoke up.

"Do not worry. These goblins are nothing. I will just need a moment—"

He had to cut himself off to parry the thunderous axe aimed at his head. Pouring a striking amount of mana into the shadow-enchanted sabre, he countered. A shadowy blade of light hurled from the sabre's edge, cleaving through both the axe and the goblin's head alike with no resistance.

With the opening in their formation, Ember tried to break away, but soon three more of its kin blocked his path. Three was one too many for him to dispatch while still carrying her.

Though outnumbered, he impeded their advance with another Kinetic Push.

"Can you hold onto my neck with your arms?" he asked.

"Mhm?"

She acquiesced almost immediately, her arms coiling over his shoulders.

"Thank you."

Now with both of his arms free, he dashed towards the goblin on his left, his blade blazing with shadowy tendrils. He thrust the dark sabre into its neck without hesitation. As soon as a shadowy light burst from the back of its neck, he ripped the blade free and struck its companion.

Disregarding his mana reserves, he poured all the mana he could into the blade, hacking through the goblins' crude weapons to sever their limbs and necks.

A couple of goblin bombs almost exploded on them. Ember managed to evade one while Dawn secretly dispatched the other, hurling it back among the goblins' ranks.

Thankfully, dispatching the three goblins created the opening they required to dash out of the encirclement. The pack still pursued them. Not to mention that more of their numbers were concentrated ahead.

"You're going to burn away all your mana at this rate," she said.

A tier 6 blade was powerful, but that power came at the expense of mana.

He grunted in acknowledgement.

"Don't overextend yourself with the blade."

She hesitated for a moment. "Well, I promised you magic lessons. Let's begin now."

Dawn contemplated what advice she could give that would be useful to him immediately. She couldn't just explain spells he had likely never heard of. Ultimately, he had to work with Kinetic Force and unstructured spells, so she began from there.

"Your Kinetic Push," she said. "It may be effective, but a significant portion of its force still disperses before striking your target. A tier 3 Kinetic Push could easily crush the muscles and snap the bones of these goblins. Listen carefully. Pick no more than three breaths of mana. Simply applying more of your kinetic mana won't always equate to a more potent spell. Think of mana as only the fuel for your spell, while your Will is the wand running the show.

"I know all this," Ember barked, unimpressed.

"Concentrate your Will," she continued, "and compress the mana into thin strands of thread."

He acquiesced only after Dawn pricked his chest with a finger.

Even with his blade remaining steadfast, he had no trouble multitasking his mana into existence. He extended three threads of mana towards a goblin on his far right, Kinetic Force surging through them at his command.

A promising seed indeed, as her grandfather would say.

"Do not let it spring right out of your grasp," she advised. "Stitch the three threads into one. Make the flow of mana even and let it coalesce into a single point at the tip of your threads."

"That sounds tricky," he mumbled, his form dancing through the battlefield, blade flashing against the green flesh of the goblins while his breaths of mana remained extended. "To a single point..."

"Wait for it... you've almost got it."

To Dawn's surprise, he managed to unite the three threads and concentrate the force into a single point far quicker than she had imagined.

He must have tremendous strength of Will to manage that, she thought.

"Now."

Ember unleashed his Will.

At once, the concentrated force hammered into the poor goblin's torso.

It couldn't even let out a shriek before its body was hurled several metres away, its bone armour cracking on impact.

"Not bad."

Although the spell might have failed to crush its heart, the goblin was unlikely to continue the assault. Well, even if it stood back up, it would be powerless against his sabre.

Ember prepared another Kinetic Push. He needed no more encouragement. Keeping his breaths of mana extended, he bided his time. With so many goblins hounding him, he didn't have to wait long.

He slammed it into the ugly face of a hobgoblin, causing it to collapse to the ground, blood spraying from its nose and mouth.

With a swift lurch, he plunged atop its chest. With the blade clasped in a reverse grip, he thrust it into the bloody wound and drove it through its skull.

Dawn felt a little nauseous. She calmed herself with a Will enforcement exercise, only to notice the boy's audacity.

Now he had extended nine breaths of mana in three different directions, preparing three separate spells. He truly was not someone lacking confidence.

Of course, he wouldn't fail miserably, though it would be quite an endeavour to divide his Will three ways.

The first Kinetic Push was sublime. Ember flung it into a goblin that lunged at him, tossing it aside. The second wasn't lacking either, battering a goblin at point-blank range while he slipped past it to thrust a kick into another goblin's chest before ending its misery.

For the last one, he extended it farther and didn't unleash it immediately.

If Dawn believed that was the extent of his audacity, she had definitely given him too little credit.

Ember didn't actually disperse the force. Instead, he let it flow, connecting the end of his mana to a hobgoblin.

"Are you...?"

At the very last moment, he shifted the direction of the force, yanking the kinetic energy towards himself. The sudden pull plucked the goblin off its feet, dragging its hideous form into the air.

Ember sprang forth. With his blade bursting with dark light, he swung in a clean, merciless arc at the destitute form of the goblin.

"That's more like it," he growled.

The next instant, the two halves of the goblin fell to either side, purplish ichor bursting into the air.

Ember swiftly dashed away to avoid the spray.

"Did you just..." Dawn frowned. "Did you just use Kinetic Pull?"

The spell was obviously not as sublime or potent as his Kinetic Push, but she wasn't mistaken in recognising it.

At least, it wasn't beyond the potency of a tier 2 spell, or else the backlash he would have suffered would have deteriorated his health once again, as most of the impact would have been transferred back to him. Thankfully, the spell had lost most of its power in dragging the goblin.

Still, Dawn couldn't help but shake her head. She would need to give this reckless boy a good talking-to once they were finished here.