A Gamer Into Trails

As always, Giliath demands your power stones!

*****

As I mused that in my mind, Tio was now ready to cast her Art. It only took one or two moments for us to see Lechter's figure dart further inside the roaming darkness, only to come back shortly after.

"I got 'em, Young Master, kiddo! All twelve are coming right for us!", Lechter's voice yelled at us. We suddenly started to hear lots of shuffling, and many 'shashasha' voices angrily yelling at Lechter. It looks like he really riled those spiders up!

"Twelve monsters detected at our noon position!", Tio shouted. Sure enough, she qas quick to see what was happening, even though the figures weren't that visible yet. They only had faint outlines within the darkness. Lechter became visible again, making a mad dash toward us.

This was our que. I rushed out halfway with Lechter rapidly closing in. It didn't take long to see many figures appear from within the darkness before us. Spider after spider after spider came rushing forward.

"Come at me, you bastards!", I yelled out. As I said that, Lechter's speed increased, swiftly running passed me. He quickly arrived at Tio's side. He entered his own combat stance, just in case anything were to happen. We were acting as a Party now. While he readied himself, an invisible wave of energy suddenly spread out from beneath my feet. It was similar to Combat Aura, but it wasn't. It was a red energy that was released from the Taunt I used.

[Ding! Guardian Set's Craft, Taunt, has been used. -50 EP. Current EP: 6850/6900]

This red energy quickly spread out before me, causing the several Mottled Killers to enter a momentary daze. They angrily started yelling at me after that with more 'shasha' noises. It looks like I got all of them. Nice!

I also saw two red spider Monsters within that group of spiders. Those were the much more dangerous Mottled Murders. Their venom was very bad. You really can't get hit by that. Seeing me successfully use my Craft, Tio was quick to respond with her own Art.

"Arts activate...", Tio uttered. A large blue swirl appeared around her body, quickly starting to cast an Art. Time passed again, and those twelve spiders were all closing in my direction. This wasn't turn-based like the games, so we couldn't lose any time here. Tio acted swiftly in response, and in just another short moment or two, her Art was ready.

"Aerial!", Tio yelled, brandishing her staff outward. Seeing space start to distort before me, I ended my Taunt, and quickly backed away. I knew what was coming, and so did Lechter, so we both jumped behind Tio. What came next was wind whipping our hair. Green energy began to materialize before the dazed spiders. Being completely surrounded, a large tornado made up of wind orbal energy came out. It was as if we were suddenly caught in a storm!

My clothes were fluttering with the nearby winds, which grew fiercer and fiercer over time. It looks like all of them were successfully caught in the mini tornado. It grew larger and larger, shooting its winds upward toward the top of the tunnel. It even blasted its rocks away, pelting down at the spiders.

Poof. Poof. Poof. Poof.

One after another, the spiders were killed dead in their tracks. The Art began to dissipate, and as the winds died down, more of the Mottled Killers started to vanish from sight, entering the void. Tio was killing them one after another in quick succession. Even the two Mottled Murders didn't make it out alive. They too perished!

Along with their bodies vanishing into thin air, I saw several damage numbers show up. Seeing as we were safe behind Tio, I glanced toward those damage numbers, and they sure were big ones alright. Tio is already a tiny monster herself!

Tio still had her Researcher's Orbal Staff equipped during her casting of Aerial. While her first effect only boosted Water Element Efficacy, the offset of that damage should come from Aerial, considering Aerial's Skill Power was higher than your typical beginner Craft or Art. Plus, the battle began when Lechter attracted those spiders over here. By the time he arrived beside us to Tio casting her Art, her ATS buff effect from the Staff's second effect was still active. She was getting boosted damage from that too!

These spiders did not have any boosted damage received against wind, so that's why I thought Aerial's Skill Power alone should offset that. And it looks like it did. I still saw twelve huge damage numbers. Not a single spider was spared!

[-1187!] [-1246!] [-1186!] [-1218!] [-1235!] [-1174!] [-1216!] (Lv7 Mottled Killers x7)

[-1178!] [-1204!] [-1212!] (Lv8 Mottled Killers x3)

[-1189!] [-1206!] (Lv9s Mottled Murders x2)

"Phew. They really are dying with one cast of Aerial...", Tio mused, seeing one spider vanish into thin air, one after another. Twelve damage figures showed up, making the single cast of Aerial a success. Sadly, there were no critical hits. There are Quartz to artificially raise this stat externally, but the chance to deliver these blows were pretty rare to begin with. Tio was lucky to deliver those critical hits earlier in the previous two battles. The odds evened out during this one.

"These Monsters don't have high defenses against Arts, plus they had their abilities lowered to match your current Combat Parameters. That's how I see it, anyways.", Lechter guessed, after recalling the explanation I had given Lechter. Hearing Lechter say that, I smiled. He was really quick to catch on, as usual.

"Yep. I like that quick wit of yours, Lechter. You're easy to grasp what happens around you. If I was still the Party Leader, we would definitely have a much harder time against these spiders. You did well, Tio. I'm glad you were able to finish them off in one shot.", I said. I truly was happy for Tio.

This wasn't the games. Tio wasn't nerfed. This was her true prowess, and it was already starting to display in battle. She does insane damage with her Arts, and hopefully it continues to stay that way.

Since the battle ended, I reached my hand out, and patted Tio's head. She winced her eyes slightly, but didn't deny the head pat. She closed her eyes, making her eyelids two crescent moons.

"You did well, Tio.", I said to Tio, ruffling her hair. I truly was happy for her.

"Mmm. This just goes to show how effective Arts can be against Monsters. It's still a new field for combat techniques, but this will be good data to go through later.", Tio explained.

Oh, right. I almost forgot Tio was still researching how the Orbal Staff responds to one's Combat Orbment. She sure can use this data of casting Arts for her research later. I don't think we'll get to see any limits her staff can do. It does beg the question, though. If she completely drains her EP, will her staff break?

I don't know if I want to see that happen, personally. Haha!

Joking aside, we ended our moment of happiness, after clearing out fifteen Mottled Killers, and two Mottled Murders. We now had two of the three quest conditions fulfilled. That meant only the Boss was left to finish this Instance Dungeon off!

"That it will. For now, we've cleared most of this Instance Dungeon. You probably felt that you got stronger again, right, Tio?", I asked.

"I saw that weird yellow glow around my body again when those spiders vanished. Shortly after, those "Level Up" notices spoke inside my mind, and I felt a tiny bit stronger after that. Is this your ability at play?", Tio mused, recalling what had happened after the battle.

"Yup. That's basically it. We "Level Up" to get stronger. As we grow stronger, it'll display our Combat Parameters with new, and heightened amounts. We just finished that battle, and like you said, we received several notifications. We don't have to fight the Boss immediately, so why don't we review our Statuses again to see how much we've improved from that fight?", I suggested to the two.

"Fine by me. I don't feel many threats in this tunnel anymore. I do sense one big baddie much further in the back. I didn't go all the way to the end of the tunnel, or I would have attracted that mole too.", Lechter explained.

"Let's do that. I'm curious to see how much I've improved. If there is a way we can archive this "ability" of yours into the Orbal Network too, we'll be able to start comparing...", Tio responded, entering her own world of what to do from here on.

I was a step ahead of her for that in particular. I've already started recording my own growths over periods of time on my personal laptop. But what she said does make sense to me, I've only recorded mine. I haven't had a chance to record others yet, so it will be good to do that!

For the time being, we wandered toward a safe area in the tunnel, to which most of it was safe by now, according to what Lechter said. Only the Boss remained at the very end of the tunnel within that darkness. It wasn't going to approach us, so we had enough time to view our updated Status. I started going through each notification we received, and it was substantial, alright!

*

[Aerial]

Attack Range: Medium-Large

Skill Power: 175%

Damage Type: Wind

EP Cost: 30