Chapter 716: Chapter 716 Flailing with Hats.
Note, to prevent confusion, the sandy haired mage is the Earth mage, while the black haired mage is the Sand mage. I’m also going to just say the sand mage is called “Sandy” and the earth mage is called “Merick”. Kat doesn’t know these names, but it will help with descriptions. Also the Dwarf is Fir and the Croc is Irwin. (Team Members of Men With Hats) Sandy, Merick, Fir, Irwin, Kevin
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Kat realised she might have spoke too soon as by sum unseen signal dwarves 5 and 4 those partnered with Ellenell and Blue launched a crossbow bolt at her teammates. 5 headed straight for her, and four went instead for Kress.
The sandy haired human paired with him through up an earth wall, smaller then Gareth’s but just as strong to catch the bolt. Kat took a different approaching. She summoned her fan, keeping it closed, and let the bolt impact the flat metal side. Kat felt her arm jerk back somewhat with the impact but not even a scratch was left on her weapons and Kat smiled.
That seemed to be the signal for their side as well. The mage green was paired with summoned a tornado of sand to attack the enemy team. Kat wasn’t terribly amused because it was slow, and the range was huge. Even from across the battlefield she could feel small bits of sand impacting her body. It didn’t hurt her, but she had to be mindful of Kevin who was not looking amused at his teammate.
The dwarf mage, obviously feeling left out, decided to combine moves with the sand wizard. Summoning a two ringed sigil, the dwarf spat a gout of fire from his mouth straight at the tornado. So they now had a flaming tornado made of sand, slowly inching their way to the other team. Gareth had already summoned a wall to block it, and Nixilei was dragging the dwarf off to safety. Green was behind Sandy the best she could and Kress and his companion, Merick, moved to the wall they used to stop the crossbow bolt.
Kat moved to slightly shield Kevin from the winds, while the other side seemed somewhat at a loss as to what to do. Blue seemed to be hesitating while the dwarves seemed to be pushing their group to move together off to Kat’s side. *Can Blue not deal with that spell by herself? Or is she hoping they waste mana trying to sustain it?*
.....
Kat also tried not to voice thoughts revolving around the fact she should be attacking by now. She was able to tank the sand without even a bruise from the granules and the fire was a complete joke. As it was though, she was tied to an elf that was lacking her own hardiness. Everyone seemed content to watch the great flaming whirlwind except Kat.
Eventually though, the ground started catching up to them. Gareth had to move out from behind the wall, and called out, “Stop the spell! It’s too slow moving forward!” Sandy and Fir didn’t look pleased at this shout but before they could retort the large crocodile beastkin, Irwin, stared them both down, encouraging them to drop the spell.
Kat watched as the spell ended and their shoulders visibly sagged. They’d wasted so much mana on something that had barely made an impact on the enemy. It was deadly yes, and something thought could do a lot of damage to the enemy. That is, if it was ever going to hit said enemy. Kat wondered if they had forgotten about the slowly crumbling platform. They had space to move up before the brawling started... until Sandy summoned that whirlwind.
As the sand dissipated, the enemy team took that as a chance to launch a bunch of projectiles there way. The dwarves with a crossbow fired another volley, while the three dwarves without crossbows threw potion bottles across as well.
Having seen Kat deflect the first bolt, she was one of the people targeted with potion jars. Then again, she was also shot with a bolt again, perhaps to try and distract her, or because most of her team was already behind a wall. Kat watched as the bolt flew towards her and blocked it once again easily. Just as she was recovering the potion came into reach. Instead of going for a straight deflect and risk the glass shattering, Kat moved as carefully as she could at this speed. Carefully limiting herself to just below where the band would start causing issues.
Using what mobility, she had with a leg trapped Kat stepped forward with her left arm outstretched. She gently cupped the glass letting her fingers barely grace the surface, fulling abusing how little friction her skin generated to push the bottle from behind letting it sail between Kevin and her using what space she had created.
The problem was, Kevin clearly wasn’t ready for such a move, reflexively jerking away from the projectile and bringing Kat along for the ride, straight into the path she’d just batted the potion. Kat forcefully bent herself diagonally backwards as far as she could while her foot was being dragged along. She waited until the potion had just barely passed her before using her left leg to push herself after Kevin to avoid falling over.
It was a bit too much power though, resulting in her flying forward and knocking into the elf causing Kevin to lose his balance. As they were falling, Kevin tried to stab his spear into the ground but with how bendy it was, and without the wherewithal to activate the enchantments on it, the weight from his hat alone was enough to bring them down at this point.
Kat tried to push her tail into the ground, but with an extra person’s weight, the bracelet, and the fact she was running on instinct, it didn’t so much stabilise them as it caused them to roll forward. Seeing this wasn’t going to work, Kat let her tail droop, stopping the force that wasn’t stabilising them at all as they fell to the ground. As they hit the floor, Kat quickly looped her tail around Kevin again as she stood up as quickly as possible.
Kat used her hands and left leg to push herself up, carrying Kevin along with her... right into another water lance from Blue. Oh no. Kat’s eyes widened. She still had some time to think in her mentally charged state but not really enough time to move. Currently, Kat was standing forward slightly with Kevin behind her and to the side. The water lance was heading mostly towards her, but Kevin would be hit if she dodged by turning herself sideways.
*Ok. What can I do? I don’t have time to dodge it unless... no even if I tried to force us back to the ground, it’s aimed at chest height, I think I’d just end up getting hit in the head. Ok so... can’t dodge easily. I have to take the hit. How do I want to take it? Fans first perhaps? Hmm... that sees like a good way to brake my fingers. Then again, I suppose I can live with that.*
Kat braced herself, summoning her second fan and opening them both up, hoping to catch the entire area of the water lance as she stood in front of Kevin as best she could manage with her right leg stuck in place. The lance impacted her fans and she could already feel she’d chosen poorly when it came to how she was supporting the fans. She’d flicked them out and was only supporting them with her thumbs on the back.
Kat was able to hold lance back for just a moment before she felt the joints in her thumbs pop and her fans were pushed back. Seeing the water coming for her she wanted to use her tail, but it was still unwinding itself from Kevin. Cursing that, she turned herself slightly, letting the water slam into her ribs.
Kat felt the water cutting through her skin but faltering somewhat at the muscles. Her side was shredded but the water was weaker then she thought, or perhaps the thick nots of muscles was enough to disperse the energy. Kat was still forced back, though her tail managed to prevent her falling over again.
It was only a moment of force before the full damage of the lance was over. Kat heaved and painful sigh of relief as her side started to patch itself up. She was already starting to get a bit annoyed though. *I keep having to move swiftly and make all the decisions. Kevin is good, somewhat at least, but not good enough top react to attacks as they are coming. He gets one chance, and that tends to lead to him trying to reduce the damage, not completely avoid it.
What really needs to happen, is for us to work together, but I don’t see any of the teams managing that. Currently the enemy two are just leveraging the fact they have some form of ranged weapons. I want to see us doing that. Earth dude chuck some rocks, sand guy blast some sand at them in some other way. Nixilei maybe throw a dagger or two. Hmm... maybe I should be checking the ground for rocks... or throwing my fans? Hmm... haven’t really had space for that but maybe...*
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