Syl

Chapter 226: Artillery

"Oh wow, the temptation to just turn into a giant slime-worm and go barreling through them is almost overpowering," I chuckled.

"Please don’t..." Vee replied nervously.

"Please do!" Trixie countered with a massive grin.

With a shoulder angel and devil, I decided to keep my sanity and not succumb to temptation. It would have been glorious, but that would be the end of Syl, the adventurer. I wasn’t ready for that commitment just yet.

While we were admiring the view, the kobolds and dwarves exchanged magical artillery, mainly in the form of rock projectiles being hurled at each other. The occasional [Fireballs] streaked across from either side, but they always seemed to sputter out before reaching their target.

"And this is why getting past your Mana aura is important," Trixie informed us. "If you could form your [Fireball] further away and closer to the target, you wouldn’t have them sputtering out like that."

"I’m working on it!" Vee moaned with a hint of irritation. "I’m sorry that I can’t imagine myself as the rock, flower, or anything outside my spidery body."

"You’ll get it, don’t worry!" I said reassuringly. Almost immediately, I could sense the relief coming from my spidery companion.

Wow, our [Companion Bond] has really grown fast. I guess I’m the first thing that has offered her anything other than death, so she’s attached herself to me quite rapidly.

Well, those are some negative thoughts, I grumbled and shook myself free of them. I can’t exactly blame her if she wants to avoid the potential drama with a monster in disguise—not that I think she would.

A large rock hurtled upwards towards the dwarven battlements, but a group of mages joined to stop it moments before it crashed into the rampart. The dwarves cheered before flinging it back towards the kobolds, their casters attempting to seize it but only managing to send it plummeting to the ground early. But to their dismay, the rock kept much of its momentum despite being slammed into the ground and began bowling into a group of kobolds.

"Man, this is crazy..." Vee muttered again.

One of the dwarves in charge must have spotted us as he rapidly approached.

"Adventurer sent to reinforce us?" he questioned with a happy grunt. "Will you be joining the artillery line?"

"No, I’m part of a hit squad," I answered.

"Really?" the dwarf asked, looking me over. "I thought you’d surely be part of the artillery mages with that much magical power."

"I guess I prefer to get closer to the action," I replied with a dry chuckle.

"Aye, I can understand that," the dwarf nodded in agreement. "Well, good luck out there then. Try not to get hit by any stray boulders!"

Before I could respond, the dwarf returned to the firing line and started shouting various orders to some of the mages present.

"He was joking... Right?" Vee questioned nervously.

"I don’t think so," Trixie replied.

"Is it too late to join the artillery division?" Vee suggested.

"That sounds boring, though," I answered. "And it’s not like you can fire [Acid Darts] that far."

Vee sighed, "Maybe we could do portals?"

"Don’t be such a scaredy-spider!" Trixie countered. "I’m sure Syl will keep you safe if you can’t [Blink] away in time."

"I certainly don’t plan on being hit by a giant rock," I stated plainly.

Rather than diving right in, we continued to observe the long-range exchanges and question some of the dwarves on duty. I wondered when more close-range operations would be done and discovered that a group was being formed to do some hit-and-run tactics.

"Sounds like the perfect distraction for us," Trixie pointed out.

"Agreed," I said with a nod.

The group leaving the battlement was a well-armored bunch of dwarves, with the occasional human also present. When they were being lowered, the kobolds attempted to fire some spells and projectiles directly at them, but they were met with shields and barriers promptly formed to block and counter.

Rather than going down with the group, I simply jumped off the ledge and utilized the slowfall enchantment on my cloak. Trixie and Vee clutched on tightly as I drifted down, with the former screaming with delight.

"You can fly; why are you finding this so fun!?" Vee questioned the pixie.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"Yeah! But flying and falling with a magic cloak into an army of kobolds is another thing entirely!" Trixie gleefully responded.

There was the occasional shot at me, but with [Wind Step], I could easily avoid any projectiles fired my way or by throwing up an impromptu [Aegis] spell.

"Oh wow... That is very different from [Blink]..." Vee replied, sounding somewhat distraught.

"Oh... I kind of forgot I had passengers. It’s a good thing I didn’t lose you!" I said somewhat nervously.

"It’s a movement skill, so yeah, we get taken along for the ride," Trixie explained. "Although we would’ve been left behind if you used [Blink]. So it’s a good thing it’s movement and not teleportation!"

"Would it work with [Thunder Step] too?" I pondered.

"Yes, but please don’t!" Trixie immediately answered.

"Yes, please do not shock the spider!" Vee quickly added.

The dwarf squad was already beginning their harassment, quickly darting into action before retreating behind a barrage of attacks from the support on the battlements.

Not wanting to just sit around and wait, I began quickly maneuvering to a good vantage point while ensuring I was using [Vanish] and presumably aided in some way by Trixie.

"I don’t see any warlocks..." Vee muttered.

"They’re probably much deeper in; no way they would be around the frontline," Trixie replied.

"Guess I’ll just throw out some random spells and help," I suggested.

"Yeah! Give Vee a good demonstration of casting outside of your Mana aura!" Trixie agreed.

I quickly aligned myself to Lightning and grabbed my helpers. Together, we started spawning [Ball Lightning] spells right in the middle of clusters of kobolds. Shrieks of outrage and cries of agony erupted in cacophony from the tiny lizards, and they began frantically trying to avoid the abruptly appearing spells.

"Wow, that looks like cheating," Vee responded.

"Hardly... If they had some better mages, they could easily counter those spells or at least dispel them," Trixie replied casually.

Either Trixie was hiding us very well, or my [Magical Subterfuge] and [Vanish] were working wonders, as despite casting multiple spells directly into the kobolds, they didn’t seem to spot their source.

Vee, not wanting to do nothing was starting to toss out debuffs to some of the more elite kobolds. She had [Subtle Afflictions], so at least they weren’t detectable, and when I decided to finally move to a new spot, she began throwing out [Acid Dart] spells, too.

Sadly, the kobolds were not worth much experience. They were little more than fodder sent into a grinder in hopes of delaying the dwarves until the more elite forces made their way. Or perhaps they were hoping to either tire out the stout defenders or burn through their valuable resources.

Sneaking in further, we began seeing some of their enslaved monsters. Most of the monsters were badgers and ants, but I even spotted a rare salamander or a froglike creature in the mix.

"I didn’t think they would be able to control ants..." I asked out loud.

"I think they’re even easier to control if you kill their princess or queen; then they are nothing but mindless drones," Trixie answered.

"Yikes. Good thing the ants aren’t too strong!" Vee replied.

"Yeah, no fire ants in this batch, which is probably good..." I added.

I thought I might need to be much more cautious in my approach, but it seemed like neither the kobolds nor their monsters noticed me infiltrating their ranks. A massive rock came quite close to our location, and despite Vee’s mental screams, we were far out of reach from it being an issue for us.

I capitalized on the rocky distraction to toss out further spells and greatly hinder the marching kobolds.

"I’m super tempted to throw out some spell orbs..." I whispered mentally.

"Really? Haven’t you caused enough environmental destruction?" Vee questioned.

"A few won’t hurt, I’m sure..." I chuckled darkly.

"Please be the voice of reason, Trixie!" Vee begged.

"I must say I’ve been curious to see what caused such chaotic essence, so I’d say go for it!" Trixie excitedly said.

Vee sighed, "I guess I deserve that for trusting a pixie to be reasonable."

Trixie stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry toward Vee, who tried to reciprocate, but only a strange hiss was produced.

I maneuvered myself to a relatively safe spot and then withdrew some spell orbs. Unfortunately, I couldn’t be very subtle with these, so after launching them, I’d need to be on the move to avoid any kobolds attacking my previous position.

With my ammo loaded, I began launching a few orbs toward large clusters of kobolds or monsters with the help of [Slime Shot] while hastily abandoning my prior position. Unlike my spells, the orbs soared through the air and were quite quickly noticed by our foes.

Some of them tried to block them with spells or shoot them down, but they were made from orichalcum, freshly produced from [Metal Slime], and unless they really put in an effort, they would be unable to stop them.

"It’s like you’re literally shooting away money," Trixie gasped in disbelief.

"What did you think she was doing!?" Vee questioned.

"I mean... I had a general idea of what she was up to, but seeing them flying out in such quantity is another thing entirely!" Trixie responded.

I giggled a little maniacally and, with a wink to my companions, said the magic word, "Boom!"

Detonations went off, releasing their various stored spells. Out of my improved spell orbs, the ones with [Poison Cloud] were arguably the most effective, and when combined with [Gust], they spread the hazardous cloud into a much more effectual area. Seeing that result, I hastily made mental notes to combine various spell orbs into sets.

If I could find optimal pairings or more, think of what I could accomplish!

"Wow..." Trixie said, sounding particularly flabbergasted. "You definitely couldn’t do that when we last met."

"Syl’s totally gone mad scientist on us..." Vee moaned.

Chaos erupted from the kobolds, and I even heard some shouting in commands in [Universal Language] rather than their own reptilian language made from various clicks and hisses.

"Wow... They were not happy about that; looks like there’s a kill order to hunt you down!" Vee warned.

"Well, good luck to them!" Trixie smirked. "Between Syl’s stealth, us moving around, and my illusions, they’d need to be pretty damn good to spot us!"

"You’re raising flags talking like that..." Vee warned.

"Flags?" I questioned.

Before Vee could answer, a wave of fire burst forward and swept toward our location. I quickly cast [Bubble] on myself, enveloping both companions and threw up a quick [Aegis] to block the brunt of the wave.

"See! I told you!" Vee cried.

"Bah! That fire was hardly targeting us directly; more like it was fired in our general direction," Trixie scoffed.

When the flames died down, I saw a small squadron of salamanders pointed in our direction, flames still roiling in their mouths. Accompanying them was a bunch of kobold pyromancers with flames smoldering between their clawed grasp.

"Everyone okay?" I questioned.

"I’m fine... Thanks," Vee responded.

"Yes, but I think they spotted your bubble..." Trixie pointed out.

And right the pixie was, as the kobolds pointed in our direction. If the [Bubble] spell wasn’t enough, the evident lack of burning in our general area was another giveaway.

"I guess it is hard to be stealthy if you’re surrounded by a giant bubble..." I admitted.

"Well, just kill them quickly and then run away," Trixie suggested.

"And drop the cartoonishly giant bubble!" Vee shouted.