Low-Fantasy Occultist

Chapter 444

Nick flew around a spray of wet clay bullets, levitating just enough to avoid slipping in the mud of the riverbank.

The mud elemental charged past him and smashed into the water, instantly drawing more moisture to replenish the damage it had taken during the lunge.

A few yards away, Gaelen pivoted smoothly around three limbs, his blade slicing through a construct's torso with a perfect horizontal cut. The top part of the monster splashed into the stream, but instead of falling apart, the muddy sludge simply flowed back together. The clay pulled itself up from the water and quickly reattached to the legs.

However, unlike the first failed attempt, this time the monster was more sluggish, and Nick could sense a lingering energy within it that hadn’t been there before.

Yeah, curses can be pretty nasty like that. He’s not using his personal blade, but I guess there’s no need to against these guys.

Rhea seemed to take offense at the monsters and was now locked in a transmutation battle with three of them at once, constantly shifting her part of the battlefield and trying to block their access to their most vital resource.

But of the three, the most interesting was Elia.

A ring of pure, golden fire bloomed around the Miko, pushing back a larger elemental that attempted to flank her. The holy flames dried the mud instantly, causing its arm to crack and disintegrate into dust.

The monster reached into the mud to reform the limb, but Elia clawed at the air, and golden fire engulfed the construct, purging the animating mana and reducing the entire creature to a pile of dry, lifeless earth.

It was an effortless display of superiority, and Nick observed the holy fire with a critical eye, rapidly dissecting the spell's mechanics.

She has become stronger, though not as much as Rhea proportionally. There probably weren’t many occasions that required her to flex her muscles, since the beastmen have been doing so well.

Still, her divine flame had given him an idea, and this was the perfect chance to test a theory he had been developing since that lesson on divine magic in Tholm’s classroom.

Nick flew back, dodging another clumsy thrust from an elemental and using a gust of wind to redirect the mud bullets coming from behind. Then, he reached out with his senses, gathering the ambient ether in the surrounding air.

He lacked a patron deity to grant him divine flames, and he had no natural affinity for the fire element. In the past, trying to cast a flame spell would have produced a weak result that used too much energy for too little gain. But his soul was now much stronger, a fortress of will capable of enforcing its own rules on reality, and he was no longer as limited.

He had already proven he could serve as his own conceptual anchor. He used his sense of justice to sharpen his wind spells and his pride to give his kinetic magic its impossible qualities. He just needed the right emotional spark to ignite the fire.

As Nick ducked under a swinging fist of mud, he focused, shaping the gathered ether into the simple framework of a basic fireball.

Without a natural affinity and the peace of mind needed to cast, the mana resisted him. It felt sluggish and rebellious, like trying to fold thick leather with one hand.

If he had been in a non-combat situation, he could have easily taken his time to overcome this obstacle through sheer control, but he didn’t want that. His best work often came under duress, and if he had to somehow put together a powerful fire spell without the affinity, he had to do this when his mind was in overdrive.

He needed a conceptual spark, something to help him connect the elemental with the spiritual. What fuels fire?

The answer to that was simple.

Zeal. The fierce, relentless drive to push ahead, to conquer obstacles and transform the world through pure determination.

With that in mind, Nick embedded his spiritual authority into the raw spellform. He imposed his zeal on the stubborn mana, compressing it through the density of his soul. The friction within his coils grew, creating an uncomfortable heat in his chest, but he kept the construct stable.

As he wove out of the way of another strike, the elemental's clay fingers brushed the edge of his clothes.

This is nothing compared to what I have done and what I will have to do. A mere stepping stone on my Path. Now, work, damnit!

Finally, the spell took hold, and a sphere of deep crimson flame ignited in the palm of his free hand.

It lacked the effortless refinement of his other elemental spells. It felt entirely brute-forced, like a heavy, vibrating orb of aggression, but it radiated a blistering heat, and against an enemy this weak, it was enough.

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Nick stopped retreating. He planted his boots in the mud and faced the charging construct, compressing the fireball further, shrinking it down until it was a blindingly bright point of heat hovering just above his index finger.

After a moment of hesitation, he tapped into his wind affinity, weaving an invisible spiral current around the flame to feed it oxygen and guide its path, then pointed his finger at the monster's chest.

Yeah, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I’ll have time to perfect it; for now, it just needs to work.

A thin, scorching beam of fire darted across the muddy bank and struck the elemental dead center, flash-baking it. The water inside the creature's body instantly turned to steam with a violent hiss, and the rapid expansion tore it apart, shattering the baked clay from the inside out.

The elemental shattered into a spray of brittle pottery fragments, utterly destroying its internal structure. It collapsed into the mud and did not regenerate.

Nick exhaled slowly, feeling the minor strain in his coils fade. The spell was rough, but it worked, and now that he had a starting point, he could refine it with time and effort.

SYSTEM NOTIFICATION!

You have created a new spell! [Zealous Flame] [Novice]!

+13,400 Exp

You have defeated [Mud Elemental - Lv. 30]

+7,500 Exp

With that settled, he turned his focus to the remaining enemies. Gaelen was currently keeping four of them busy, weaving his blade in a defensive pattern that kept the mud constructs off balance, even though his frustration was evident as his cuts kept healing despite his curse. The increased number of elementals allowed them to retreat safely without exposing themselves to his wrath.

Nick wasn’t exactly sure why he was holding back- or maybe he was cautious about relying on his cursed blade too much- but there was no reason to keep fighting now that he had what he needed.

“Gaelen, step back," Nick called out, raising his hand once more.

Fortunately, Gaelen didn't question the order. He deflected a heavy swing, stepped back quickly to disengage, and cleared his line of sight.

Nick repeated the process, creating two separate heat points. His coils thrummed as they handled the multi-casting with surprising stability despite the unfamiliar mana, and he unleashed the beams simultaneously.

They flashed, striking the remaining elementals, and once again, the rapid vaporization of internal water caused the mud constructs to flash-bake and shatter, leaving only broken shards of dry clay scattered across the riverbank.

The last two fell in much the same way.

SYSTEM NOTIFICATION!

You have participated in the defeat of [Mud Elemental - Lv. 32] x2

You have participated in the defeat of [Mud Elemental - Lv. 31] x2

+27,200 Exp

It was hardly enough experience to be worth mentioning, and given how annoying the monsters were to fight, it was no surprise most adventurers avoided this part of the forest.

The glade fell quiet, save for the gentle trickling of the rivulet.

With a grunt, Gaelen lowered his blade, glancing at the piles of shattered clay before looking at Nick. He sheathed his weapon with a sharp click and gave a quick nod. "I didn't take you for a pyromancer.”

"I'm not," Nick replied, letting the lingering heat dissipate from his hand as he examined his palm; the skin was slightly flushed, but his coils were perfectly fine. "Lacking an affinity makes the conversion process incredibly inefficient. It takes twice the mana it should.”

If we encounter a high-level fire beast eventually, I might try to absorb its core to make the process smoother, but I won’t settle for something weak. The days when a simple thunderhoof was enough to change my soul are long gone.

That was an unfortunate side effect of greatly enhancing his soul. It was much stronger than anyone else’s at his level, giving him increased flexibility and resilience. However, to incorporate new elements, he would need to go through a much more complex ritual than the basic one he had previously used, and would need more powerful ingredients.

"It was a good attempt," Elia agreed with a teasing smile, stepping lightly over her own prey to join them. "Though we should keep moving. The noise of the steam will likely attract scavengers, and the ether here feels restless.”

Nick nodded, gesturing across the stream. “Yeah, there’s nothing worth fighting around these parts. Let's cross.”

As they pushed farther on the opposite bank, the environment began to change. The familiar pine and oak trees of the outer Green Ocean slowly gave way to older, more twisted plants. The bark of the trees took on a dark, hardened texture he knew for a fact would resist an axe without a scratch, and thick, thorny vines hung heavily from the canopy, blocking out most of the sunlight.

There was still enough light to see since it was morning, but they’d be left in the dark by late afternoon.

Rhea took the lead for a while, scanning the underbrush. She stopped often, carefully gathering rare reagents that only grew in the deeper woods, which she hadn’t had time to visit much lately.

She extracted the glowing sap from a cluster of Blood-root ferns and carefully clipped the leaves of a Whisper-weed, storing the delicate materials in the padded pouches on her belt.

"The plants here are incredible," Rhea noted, snipping a thorny vine that had tried to curl around her boot. "Everything is worth something. It's prime harvesting ground, but I guess having to fight so many monsters to get here makes it hard for the normal gatherers to reach.”

It was barely a walk for Nick, but for those stuck at the early levels, reaching this point was more of a fantasy and would likely lead to an early grave rather than great wealth.

They stopped a few hours later in a relatively dry clearing to share a quick meal. They sat on the exposed roots of an ancient tree, passing around cheese and cured meats that Nick had requested the Manor's kitchens prepare.

Sometimes, I hate being noble, but in moments like this, I can’t deny that it’s nice.

The silence of the deep woods was soothing, unbroken by the usual sounds of chirping birds or rustling insects.

While Nick chewed his food, his senses reached outward in a wide net, filtering through the chaotic background noise of the forest's natural mana.

Suddenly, he stopped mid-bite and turned abruptly to the north-west.

"What is it?" Gaelen asked instantly.

"Someone is fighting," Nick said, standing up and brushing the crumbs off his cloak. "About a mile out.”

Rhea frowned, packing her remaining rations away. "Adventurers? They must be decently strong to be this deep in the woods?”

“Eh, not really," Nick denied. Normally, he would let the wild take care of itself. The Green Ocean was a dangerous place, and those who entered it knew the risks. But the emotional signatures broadcasting through the ether felt like pure terror. The mana in that direction was swirling with desperate, frantic energy, and he got the sense it wasn’t their fault they were in that situation, considering their helpless anger. "They are being overrun. We need to move.”

Fortunately, there was no debate, even though Gaelen scoffed under his breath. The four of them broke into a sprint, weaving through the dense flora, and Nick led the way, following the ripples in the ether like a bloodhound tracking a scent.

They breached the treeline a few minutes later and reached the edge of a rocky ravine.

Below, three local adventurers were backed against a steep limestone outcrop. Two of them, a spearman and a rogue, were bleeding heavily from deep cuts, their armor torn apart. The third, a mage holding a battered wooden staff, was frantically casting weak kinetic shields against a relentless assault of spiked, slithering vines.

Nick quickly identified the attacker as a Vine Devil, one of the monsters that once led the wave against Floria.