NOVEL NEXT Chapter 102: A brief chase
Shouldn’t have much trouble getting back, he said. Make a bit of a stir and then make a run for it, he said.
Levin was silently cursing at Rolwen as they jumped from roof-top to roof-top. The fact they were able to jump a 1 story building with the absurd physical strength they had in this world was about the only reason they were able to get away from that teleporting guy.
Around the same time they found out the gathering at the temple was some kind of testing to get in to the mage’s academy, they’d also noticed the attention of the mages had zeroed in on them once again. There was no doubt this time. The mages were interested in the two of them specifically.
Unlike last time though, this time they’d given chase. Then, some guy teleported in front of them. He started with his back facing away from them, and then he turned around and looked at them with a warm smile.
{Hey there now, what has you boys so worried you would want to run off like that?} The man asked, and then chuckled. {I am uncertain what it is you might be afraid of, but perhaps it might be some concern you brought with you from your previous life in the other world?}
That comment had shocked them both. But, there were others closing in on them fast from behind, and it really did not feel like it would be a good idea to be caught right now.
{Yes, I can tell these things.} He said. {Those from your world have a distinctive effect on the mana around you. Although, for you two, it seems a little different from the others. Perhaps… well, no matter. We would be quite glad to have those like you at our academy. We can teach you a great deal about this world you would not get anywhere else.}
{We already have a master!} Rolwen shouted, and then grabbed Levin’s hand. “This way!” He said, and then made it up to the roof top with a single leap. After that, Levin was quick on his heels.
And that brought them to right now, running away from the mages as they leapt from roof-top to street and back to roof-top again, with the soul objective of fleeing the city.
The problem was, these mages seemed to have an entire array of tools at their disposal that they were unfamiliar with. Every time they thought they were about to lose them, one of their number would gain some sudden burst of speed or somehow manage to predict where they were going to go, heading them off before they could make a clean get-away.
There was even one occasion where Levin got caught by one of them. The man had grabbed him by the wrist. He might have not been able to escape that grip if it hadn’t been the wrist he was wearing his living weapon on.
In his distress, the wrist-band had grown thorns, causing the man to yelp in pain and instantly let go. It was only a few steps later that Levin had even realized what happened.
He started chuckling when the thought caught up with him.
“Ha, are you actually enjoying this?” Rolwen goaded him.
“I just got my living weapon to do something!” He crowed as they kept dodging and weaving through the streets and buildings.
“Haha! Well, Asa has always told us our meditation is designed to give us the best insights and advancement when we are under duress. I guess this is what it took for you to finally wake up those skills!”
“Yeah.” Levin agreed as he was beginning to see the appeal of this whole trouble-making approach toward life.
“Don’t get too full of yourself though. These guys are pretty clearly not trying to kill us. It would just be a little hard to avoid spilling all the beans if they were to capture and interrogate us. Can’t let that happen, so it’s probably best we just skedaddle outta here.”
“Yeah, this mission’s fucked.” Levin said, with a huge grin.
“Wooow! Did you just say fucked?” Rolwen chuckled.
“What? You swear like that all the damn time!”
“Oh, listen to the kid who’s balls just dropped. Think it might be a little early for you to go on swearing like a sailor. The whole bad-boy thing doesn’t really work for you that well.” Rolwen goaded.
Levin groaned. There he goes with the belittling attitude again. Every time he tries to get out of the box and express himself, it felt like Rolwen was always stuffing him back in. He was jealous when Levin was able to do Earth magic first, and now he’s suddenly acting all high and mighty now that he was the first to get to the fire stage of the 5 elements meditation.
Sometimes he wished he could just strike out on his own and be free of this prick for a while. It just felt like, as long as he was around Rolwen, he was being constantly held back. If he were only gone…
He stopped himself from letting his mind go down that road. It didn’t matter anyway. It’s not like Asa would kick Rolwen out of the group any time soon, and the idea of leaving the group himself to wander around these lands was terrifying.
Perhaps taking these mages up on their offer could be an option, but that also didn’t seem like a great idea. It would probably just be going from one suffocating system to another anyway. Besides, he could never just abandon Asa.
Suddenly, the ground directly in front of them darkened in color. It was too close for them to stop their momentum. And Levin, distracted as he was, turned out being helpless to prevent what happened next.
The very moment his feet landed on this dark patch of ground, his feet suddenly lost traction and they slipped right out from under him. He yelped as he wound up face-first in the gross and grimy dirt.
He heard Rolwen yelp as well. He saw his companion off to the side, still up-right in an awkward position as though he was riding a surf-board and struggling to keep control over it.
Suddenly, he went into a dive-roll, one of the ukemi that they’d learned training with Asa. He followed Rolwen’s motion, and saw he had gotten into position next to one of the mages who had apparently been waiting for them on the other side of this slippery patch. Despite being half the man’s height, he was grappling with him and managed to trip the guy up and throw him face, first straight into the greasy patch he had just left, and just within Levin’s reach to use as a purchase to steady himself.
Then, Rolwen was standing right at the edge of the greasy patch in a fighting stance. A perfect ring of flames began to dance around him and Levin at about shoulder height, covering a good 2 meters around them, and very conveniently placing the edge of the fire ring directly above the downed mage’s head. This was the fire kata's instant response stance, one which allowed near perfect prediction of the enemy's movements so long as they were within this ring and enabling superior responses to any action they took. It usually did not manifest in flames like this, but of course the visual spectacle made for a pretty good bluff in this situation.
“Back off!” Rolwen growled at the mages gathering around them, and then shook his head and groaned at himself. {Back away from us!}
{Excellent job. That is enough.} The man who had been constantly teleporting about said. He seemed to have some kind of leadership position in the group, and all the other mages took a less aggressive stance the moment he spoke as they all started looking to him.
The man smiled down at Rolwen as Levin used the downed mage’s body to pull himself off of the grease slick ground and into a standing position.
All the while, the mage’s apparent leader gently smiled and seemed to be admiring the flames lazily circling around Rolwen.
{Marvelous.} The mage said. {Although the flames are weak, this level of control suggests magic of the second tier at the least. And yet, you cast the spell instantaneously and without a chant. There is also an intimidation effect layered on top of it, and I am certain it has other effects to it as well. The flames are merely a visual representation of some kind, correct? The spell’s true effects will only manifest if one of us attempts to enter that circle of flame.}
The man nodded in satisfaction with his own assessment. {I would advise against moving too much, Sawyer. Perhaps they will allow you to crawl away, but I get the impression the spell’s effects will also trigger if you attempt to make any moves toward them.} He said, and then locked eyes with Rolwen once again. {So, have I assessed the effects of this spell correctly? I have never really seen anything quite like it, so I am trying to make the best assessment I can based on the way the magical energies are weaving over one another.}
Rolwen gave Levin an assessing look, as though he was trying to check and make sure he was secure. Levin, for his part, had gotten his footing back and was now getting himself into an alert and ready position. Upon doing so, he deployed the earth kata equivalent of the same move Rolwen was performing. It did not have a proper name, but with the help of Rimir they had discovered that it automatically deployed the preliminary earth spell ‘territory,’ whenever they stood at the ready for any kind of combat. This, apparently, had the effect of increasing the effects of gravity and also reenforcing the ground, allowing them to move in a manner far more like how they expected things to work back on Earth, while simultaneously placing the natives of this world at a distinct disadvantage.
All in all, this version of the ‘territory’ spell was a de-buff for everyone in the area. However, their bodies were naturally stronger, which meant that they were able to weather the effects of this ‘de-buff’ a lot better than anyone else they were likely to encounter.
The most powerful effects of this earth territory though was that it had a very sharp and sudden cut-off line. It only extended for about 4 feet, and everyone outside of that range was completely unaffected. 4 feet is also the approximate engagement distance in melee combat. Meaning when you are squaring off against someone, the person casting this spell would be the only one under it’s effects. However, the moment you moved in, or the opponent moved in, the other guy would very suddenly feel the sharp increase in gravity the moment before the strike was to take place. This would harshly disrupt the enemy’s stance while the caster who has always been under the effect would be undisturbed.
Rimir had criticized that while this short range was excellent against melee combat, it would be fairly ineffective in spell combat. However, it was Levin’s best spell, and it was looking like things were now in a stand-off state. Given these conditions, it seemed like an appropriate spell to deploy.
Rolwen nodded in satisfaction as he saw Levin was making preparations, and then looked back to the mage leader. {Yes, that is correct.} He said.
{Wonderful!} The man said. {I apologize for not calling off my rather enthusiastic apprentices as they gave chase after your statement to me. I confess, I was curious to see what you were capable of. I will not antagonize you by forcing you to personally reveal your master’s secret methods. However, I am now rather eager to meet the individual who was able to train such a young person to use such a refined spell.}
{We had unfortunately gotten off on the wrong foot previously.} The man continued. {I am lord Auden Algare of greater Combatoll. I am an instructor at the academy of stone. I do not wish to cross your master, and merely desire to exchange information. Would you do me the honor of a polite conversation? Perhaps over a good meal?}
Levin looked over to Rolwen, completely unsure of how they should handle this. All of his life on Earth said that there was no reason to reject this guy. However, he had learned enough from movies and the like to know that a conversation with nobles, which this man seemed to be, could very easily turn into a complex word game that the un-initiated would be completely outclassed in, and revealing too much information was always a bad thing in these kinds of games.
Asaren had hinted before that learning to cope with these kinds of subtle games was also within the purview of the ninja. However, he had yet to learn anything at all in that area. He knew it would be a bad idea to talk with this guy too much. He would definitely mess it up and start telling this guy all sorts of things he shouldn’t.
{Alright, fine.} Rolwen said, and then dropped his stance, causing the flames to die away into wisps of light before being snuffed out entirely.
Levin, still uncertain of what was going on, also lowered his own stance. The mage who had been face-down on the ground suddenly let out a gasp and started scrambling to his feet as soon as the oppressive weight of Levin’s territory spell was off of him.
He looked a little guilty when he realized what he was probably doing to the poor guy, but quickly schooled his expression. He may not be good at these kinds of games, and was feeling a little resentful that Rolwen had just made the decision for both of them to jump right into this mess, but he learned enough to realize that looking weak was a bad move right now.
