Abominations made of torn up plants and clods of dirt charged towards us. Of the original group more than twelve remained, though some of those were on fire. Those that had the fortune to dig up healthier plants with high water content would sputter out in a few moments, but some were very twiggy and flammable. I wondered if they might even set alight similar neighbors, or if their unstable running motion might help blow out the flames.
Extra immediately split into groups, following my plan to separate the pack. They took some shots with their weapons as they did so, maybe a bit more vigorously than I would have. If they did too much damage they might not leave any for the teens.
Ramen was the one with the longest range of those of us present, though I expected Meter would get there eventually. Once he learned a proper offensive spell, there had to be a good way to combine it with spatial magic. We hadn’t had time to test if he could learn other things I knew, and the only directly offensive spatial spell I knew was far beyond his capabilities. He might kill himself trying to use that amount of mana, though more likely he’d just knock himself out. Better not to risk it, though.
A javelin flew, and I was surprised at how accurate Ramen was against a moving target. He’d only had a few days of training, after all. It turned out he really must have some talent. The locals here didn’t try to train anyone in something they didn’t have potential for- except maybe Inasyah- so I couldn’t really compare the difference. Either way, he shattered some branches and really disrupted the integrity of one of the four ‘legged’ monsters. Another toss and the thing was twitching on the ground. Since it didn’t appear to have any major organs, it likely wouldn’t die quickly. Maybe there was something better to target, but it wasn’t obvious and sufficient damage worked well enough.
I retreated towards the new ‘heroes’, making sure I didn’t have too many extras following me. Counting the one that Ramen had taken down, there were five. Next up was Lana, ready to toss a vial of magically terrible acid at them. I prepared to dodge her. Just in case. I hadn’t seen that portion of her training, so I wasn’t sure if she was only talented at making such things.
Presuming she was aiming for the one she hit, I thought it went fine. It splashed on the ‘hindquarters’ of the plant thing instead of its front, but that might not be relevantly different. Again, no organs. Or faces. The main issue was that some of the acid splashed backwards onto the barren ground instead of the creature, but what got onto it seemed quite effective. It clung to the organic matter and rapidly ate through it, such that the back left leg had trouble functioning as a leg in a matter of moments. The creature slowed, and that allowed her to chuck a couple more vials at it, melting much of its front. Not bad at all.
As far as our fledgling combatants went, the one of most concern was Ayat. Not because I didn’t think she was capable, but because she had to actually engage in melee combat. She did have Stoneskin, though, so I was willing to wait and see.
First I took down another one with my staff to make sure nobody got overwhelmed. Then I handed it to Meter. “It’s set to lightning mode,” I commented. “You can jab it into the center of one of those guys or take a good swing. Just connect.”
“M-me?”
“They did teach you to use a staff as a weapon,” I pointed out. Not much, granted. But it wasn’t fair if he was the only one left out here.
I didn't think he was like me. He probably didn’t need to fight. Even so, being left out would be problematic. He might not get experience or whatever sort of growth opportunities the others obtained, and he might feel lacking later for not participating.
Meter nervously clutched the staff and took an overhead swing while letting out a strange warcry. That overhead swing was pretty much the only way he could have really screwed up, if he hit the ground in front of the creature instead of it. Fortunately the creature’s forward momentum wasn’t easy to stop, or it simply didn’t understand threats properly. Either way, it barreled forward such that he actually hit it. Or grazed it, but my real staff was enchanted.
Electricity was dangerous, but the power was low enough that it shouldn’t kill humans when struck. It could still cause damage to almost anything it came in contact with, and the plant creature was no different.
Meter was tackled to the ground, wildly flailing my staff at the thing and screaming. I could have helped him, yes, but… he was fine. It didn’t actually seem that strong, and I was pretty sure he’d more fallen backwards than been pushed. It battered at him, but he had Stoneskin. And he was hitting the thing enough for most of the mana in my staff to drain out in a few moments, which would certainly finish it off.
If not, Malaliel would. She and Inasyah were prepared to engage immediately. Midnight could provide additional magic support if I missed something. They did see the value in the kids fighting, though.
I wondered if the knights would have given them as much safety. Presumably they would have at least thinned their numbers, but… I doubted any of them had defensive magic. So they would have had to rely on their minorly enchanted gear.
Ayat was dancing around one. At least they’d taught her to move. Also, though they said her weapon was a rapier it actually appeared to have some amount of sharp edge. She was causing a good bit of damage as the creature tried to sweep at her. Of the four she might be the least suited to fighting plant creatures of this sort, but she was capable. It would be a shame to exclude anyone.
Not long later, all of the creatures were dead. Extra had killed all of the ones that peeled off towards them long before, their lasers and non-laser guns having carved through the relatively weak creatures. Once they took a decent amount of damage, they crumpled into mere piles of refuse that only held the idea of their prior shapes.
Malaliel surveyed the scene. “Good. That’s resolved, so we don’t have to worry about these creatures attacking nearby villages and devastating their crops. Do you sense any more nearby?”
I didn’t sense any, and some simple divinations didn’t pick up any threats either. “Looks like we’re clear,” I said after a few minutes. “Now for the next step.”
Malaliel and I spoke at the same time.
“Removing the curse.” “Having a talk with the Demon King.”
Midnight smirked as he approached. Not that most people would have been able to read that expression. Mostly, I got it through his emotions. “Of course you’d suggest that, Turlough.”
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Isn’t that what we’re here to resolve?” I said. “They’re not gonna stop grabbing people until that’s dealt with. Also, we don’t know what sort of side effects the curse might have. It would be awful if removing it did something to these kids.”
Malaliel frowned. “You think it would… injure them?” Clearly she didn’t want to be more explicit about the potential dangers with them listening in.
“It could,” I said. Or it might remove their powers. That would suck. “We’d have to get more familiar with it to know. And the locals might be better at that.”
The kids were all still breathing hard. Apparently, they needed more cardio. That wasn’t even a real workout. Ayat slowly approached closer. “Wouldn’t the… phew… the princess and stuff be the best source?”
“Only if they didn’t lie to us,” I said. “The knights that we’ve captured should know something. We can check in on that.”
And determine if the agents from Extra could move back and forth between dimensions. Because if it was just non-powered people showing up here that got them stuck… well, I might have done some inconvenient things. But there was no way I trusted the knights to handle combat while keeping people safe. Several of us would have been fighting handicapped or not at all.
-----
I was tempted to make somewhere nicer for discussions, but I settled for two simple castings of Shelter. The temperature wasn’t that bad yet, but without any plant matter to absorb the heat it was looking like it would be pretty awful.
We needed to have separate places because the kids couldn’t be involved in all of the discussions. I didn’t want to say worrying things in front of them.
“So anyway, I could probably level the castle.”
“Again,” Malaliel said. “That’s a last resort. There’s already plenty of potential for strife with us capturing the knights.”
“It’s not as many as the people this dimension abducted, so they should suck it up.”
Midnight was, of course, a useful voice of reason. “They won’t see it that way though.”
That didn’t make me care, but I did get it. “It’s what we had to do at the time.”
Malaliel nodded. “I agree. But we still want to limit future troubles. If they simply believe some disaster happened, it might be for the best. At this point returning to Zuresh would be troublesome. And the other countries might not be more welcoming.”
“And thus,” I said. “We go deeper into the Demon Lands.”
Malaliel groaned. “You want to take children into a true war zone?”
We didn’t actually have windows on this temporary building, but I made a performative gesture of looking across the horizon. “I don’t see any armies. You think thirty-six people can take on an entire country’s military?”
“No. Which is why we shouldn’t try either.”
“We have to at least try to talk.”
“I agree,” Malaliel said. “But that doesn’t mean we can just walk up to them!”
“They might shoot us down if we’re flying and I don’t think teleporting would put them at ease.”
She shook her head. “That’s not what I meant. They’re just as likely to attack us on foot. We don’t know any symbols of peace, here. A group of armed individuals-”
“What if it was just one?” I said.
Midnight bristled. “I’m not letting you go alone.”
“What if they only knew about one?” I clarified. “It could also be Malaliel, I guess. Translation works on other people.”
“I should be involved,” she agreed. “However… if there are any actual demons here I don’t know if I could properly interact with them.”
“Inasyah?” I suggested.
The other angel shook her head. “I’d probably try to eat them.”
“Why would-”
“I’d instinctively feel threatened by demons, like Malaliel,” Inasyah explained. “And if I was, I’d probably transform. I doubt I’d have great control over my lycanthropy in such a situation. Best case? I claw them to death so we don’t accidentally end up with demon-werewolfs.”
“That said,” Malaliel took back the conversation. “We should be involved. If you can confirm there aren’t any demons in a particular group, we can negotiate. We need information, and perhaps a local group could give it… if only to spite their enemies. What will you do to protect yourself?”
“Magic,” I said. “Also, I might not feel like a hero, if they are looking for such things. Since I don’t appear to be cursed the same way. I can also Dimension Door like-” I snapped my finger, then appeared behind Malaliel. “This.”
I’d need more than that tiny instant to go further, but with any real warning I could get outside a village, war camp, or whatever.
“I also have reason to believe they don’t all directly sense mana,” I commented. “That’s speculation, but they only manipulate it with gestures and incantations. So they might not know I’m doing anything before I complete a spell.”
I was wearing my Power Brigade outfit openly now. It hadn’t really fit with the dumb robes I was given, so I’d changed when I got an opportunity. If I needed to appear different, I could use Disguise to change my clothing. Or the rest of my appearance, but I liked looking like me.
“A decent plan,” Malaliel finally admitted. “But let’s consider the alternatives. How likely is it that you could remove this curse yourself?”
“There’s an actual spell for it,” I said. “It would depend on the strength. I might need to understand the underlying magic better too. It’s not guaranteed, especially with the default power.” I did some quick calculations. “I could pay for five upgrades, but I’d rather not. I could spend some time trying to detect things from the kids, but I don’t know if they’d be happy just waiting around.”
“We’ll have to speak with them about the potential risks,” Malaliel said. “We can determine how patient they might be. If we could get them somewhere secure, I would be more willing to devote many days to study but…” she looked around.
“Yeah,” I shrugged. “I don’t think I can make a better place and reliably be able to remove curses.”
I did have the points to learn both Magnificent Mansion and Remove Curse, though. Plus a single upgrade to the latter. My Advanced Divination magic should be good enough to figure out something about how things worked in a short time, but it would be better if I was basing things off of a specific spell.
“Whatever we do,” I said. “We have to stick together. Two groups max if we absolutely have to, one with each of Midnight and me.”
Malaliel agreed. It wasn’t like in New Bay, where there was extensive communication infrastructure. Even if we had local radio extenders they were generally far shorter range. The sightlines we had in the current barren area were probably about as far as we would have wanted to go anyway.
We had limited knowledge of the local terrain and no maps- unless we could find some in the knight’s gear. It was ultimately better just to stay together but if we had to split up, having people with a permanent magical bond was probably a useful feature.
