Chapter Two Hundred and Twelve - Mist Opportunities

I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to feel as I watched Emmanuel run into the fog, the light hanging off his barding swinging around and turning a big spot of the haze into a glowing ball within which I could only just make out the cervid.

I decided to settle on being somewhat frustrated. “Mister Emmanuel! No!”

“Come at me! Don’t hide yourself away, there’s no point in any of that. I won’t allow a threat to exist that could harm my charges!”

My mouth worked for a bit. I was looking for something to say, but couldn’t think of anything. Instead, I rubbed at my forehead.

“Now you know what it’s like dealing with you,” Amaryllis called from her room.

I huffed back at her. I was nothing like that.

“Shall we save him?” Bastion asked. I had the impression he hadn’t moved from his room at all.

A glance to the side showed Howard shaking his head. The fishman looked a bit saddened. “We’ve lost every person that’s stepped out into the fog. Maybe you folk are stronger than us, or luckier, but we never figured what sort of monster lives in that mist.”

I chewed on my bottom lip for only a second before moving over to the door. It was all bars, and I figured I could definitely squeeze between them. Reaching a hand out, I touched the fog. It was strange, like brushing cotton candy, but wet.

Like flicking a switch, I let my Cleaning magic wrap around me as an aura and had it push against the fog. It removed some of it, but not very much. I scrunched my nose and tried to figure out why. The obvious answer was that I was just cleaning the fog of any impurities, but the fog itself wasn’t something dirty, it was just water.

So, I could just barely improve visibility. Not great.

“Amaryllis, I need lots of light, and lots of heat,” I called out. “Awen, can you get ready to shoot at anything that’s not one of us? Bastion, I’ll need your help for this.” I chucked off my backpack, then gave my warspade to Howard who seemed to catch on right away.

I had to squeeze in sideways, but it wasn’t too hard to slip through the gate. I had to wiggle my shoulders, and my tail bumped the cold metal bars, but soon enough I was through.

Howard passed me my warspade.

“What are you planning?” Amaryllis asked. She was waving her wand about, and soon a couple of little balls of light appeared that she flung out into the room. They mostly dropped to the floor, and one of them plopped into the pond. Still, they cast some light in the fog.

“I’m planning on making sure that Emmanuel doesn’t die,” I said as I twisted my grip around on my spade. I pushed more magic into my Cleaning aura, and the fog became just a bit clearer. Amaryllis was flinging more lights around, enough that I could make out the wooden pier beneath my feet, and the edge of the bridge. Emmanuel was more or less in the middle of that bridge, judging by the light still coming from his barding.

With one hand on my spade, and the haft of it tucked under my arm for stability, I raised my free hand and started to make a fireball. Not the many little fireballs that I liked using, but a single bigger one. I wanted a bunch of heat to melt away the fog.

I was pretty sure it wouldn’t work exactly as I wanted, but there was no harm in trying.

As soon as I took off towards the cervid, the sounds from my friends lessened. Amaryllis’ muttering became muted, and I could hardly hear Awen’s comments back to our nervous harpy friend.

I moved slowly. Not only did I want to avoid going for a sudden swim, I didn’t want to run into any sort of ambush.

If this fog was meant to hide some sort of monster, then that monster was likely able to see through the fog, or maybe it had other senses that the fog didn’t tamper with. Smell, maybe? Or really good hearing? Maybe something entirely different.

“Ah-hah, there you are!”

I spun towards Emmanuel, then ‘eeped’ as he swung something my way.

I ducked, then flattened my ears down just in time to avoid having them clipped short as a sword hummed over my head.

“Hey!” I shouted.

“Oh,” Emmanuel said. He looked down at me, then carefully brought his sword back to his side. “Forgive me, I thought you were some vile monster.”

“I’m not a monster! And even if I was, you shouldn’t just go swinging a sword like that!”

“She’s right.”

Both Emmanuel and I jumped and turned as Bastion walked out of the fog. The sylph was looking around, sword still in its sheath, but his hand was on its hilt. “You’re quiet,” I said.

“It’s good to be quiet, at times. We should return to the room; the three of us together should be able to use the entrance as a chokepoint until the fog clears.”

That sounded a lot better than being stuck out here in the open. “Alrig--” I began to say.

Something heavy and wet slorped its way around my waist. I looked down, the fireball I still held onto providing plenty of light by which to see a huge purple-ish tongue grabbing me. It was slimy, with drool pooling on it and leaking down to the ground with a splatter. My Cleaning aura, still on, was wicking away at the drool.

“Uh,” I said.

Then I was yanked back.

I screamed as I flew across the room.

It wasn’t a very long flight, my feet scraped against the ground, and I kicked out, trying to find purchase a moment before my butt smacked the ground. Even when I was on my back, the tentacle thing kept on tugging me backwards.

I could barely see anything in the fog, but that didn’t mean I didn’t have options. I was still towing along my huge fireball, after all.

Reaching up and behind me, I aimed along the length of the tentacle, then fired.

The fog hissed as the fireball shot through it. I saw a glimpse of something dark and slimey a moment before the fireball impacted with a burst of unleashed flame.

The monster in the darkness screeched.

I wished that the tentacle grabbing me loosened, but instead it seemed to spasm tighter around me and pulled me even faster.

Grunting, I slapped the flat of my foot down and jumped as best I could into the air. With a kick, I was able to twist around and properly see the monster pulling at me through the mists.

Tentacle Toad, Level 8, Hungry.

I wasn’t about to let some toad eat me!

I screamed as I swung my warspade around, timing it with the toad pulling me towards its mouth. It had a huge mouth, one ringed by dozens of questing tentacles. That didn’t protect it from the heavy bonk of my spade on its head.

A big puff of fog came pouring out from some slits on the toad’s sides and back, like strange smokey gills. That’s where the fog was coming from!

The spade shook so hard I had to grit my teeth and grip as hard as I could to keep hold of it.

Moving quick, I planted a foot at the base of the tentacle toad’s jaw, and another right on its face, in a pose that felt like trying to walk up a staircase while skipping a few steps.

The tentacle around my waist tugged again, and those around its mouth started to wiggle towards my legs.

So I raised my spade and brought it down in another heavy bonk.

The tentacle toad didn’t let up.

“Fine then!” I said. Aiming a hand down at its mouth, I unleashed a wave of S-tier Cleaning magic down its throat and all over its open mouth.

There was slimy drool and pools of saliva in there before I started. By the time my magic petered out, the toad’s mouth was as dry as sandpaper.

It croaked, tongue unwinding around me and letting me go to fall back.

As soon as I had a foot on solid ground, I bounced back a step or two, then took in my surroundings. I was... near the far end of the room, not too far from the doorway.

“Iä! Iä!” croaked the toad.

“Nuh-uh,” I replied.

It had a mean look in its eyes as it worked its mouth, probably trying to do something about the dryness. Then its tongue shot out at me.

This time, I was ready for it.

The metal head of my spade thumped against the tongue, sending it flickering off to the side. An opening!

I raised my hand and prepared a single little fireball. It was all I had time for, I figured. It wasn’t even anything special, just a fireball made with stickier fire mana. I let it loose and watched it whistle over to the toad where it splashed against its head. The fire stuck on though, creating a little patch of light in the fog.

Grinning, I leapt backwards a few times.

The toad followed, and with that little patch of fire on its head, it was easy as pie to see where it was.

“Iä! Iä!” it screamed at me.

“Iä! Iä!” another toad said from within the fog.

I felt a chill go down my spine at that. There were more than one? Of course there was more than one! I felt quite silly. One tentacle toad I could probably take on. It was beneath my level, and I was pretty sure I could whittle it down with a few more smacks and maybe a fireball or three.

Two of them? More?

“Guys!” I called out.

“Miss Broccoli?” came Bastion’s voice from off to the side. I twisted and spotted a faint but growing light there. The light resolved into Bastion and Emmanuel, both of them looking a shade concerned. “Are you well?” the sylph asked as he rejoined me.

“Yeah,” I said. “There are tentacle toads in the fog. They’re making the fog, I think.”

“I see,” he said. “Then killing one or two of them should improve visibility a little. Is that one of them there?”

I followed his pointing finger and found a patch of light moving closer with big slow hops. The toad I’d hit with my fireball. It was still burning. “Yep, that’s one of them.”

“Worry not, Miss Broccoli! I shall skewer that toad in the name of Emmanuel Aldelain Von Chadsbourne!” Emmanuel said, a moment before charging into the dark.

“If he were in my unit, I’d court-martial him on principle alone,” Bastion said.

“He’s... okay, so he’s pretty bad,” I said. “But let’s not leave him to fight all on his own. We should help.”

“He put himself into this mess, and dragged us along with him,” Bastion said. “Once this is done with, I expect we will be having a conversation with Mister Von Chadsbourne. His unprofessional behaviour is fine up until the point where it endangers us.”

Emmanuel screamed, not in pain, but more... like a kid who thought screaming would make attacks hit harder.

“Iä! Iä!” the toad responded.

“Right, I’m going to have a chat with him. But let’s maybe save him first?”

“I suppose we can do that much,” Bastion agreed. He pulled his sword out of its scabbard, flicked it once, then started walking into the mists. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Ah, wait for me!” I said as I ran after him.

I didn’t want to miss out on the chance to practice when I had someone like Bastion watching over me. Plus, getting a level up before Amaryllis would really motivate her competitive spirit.

It was time to teach these toads a lesson about fighting buns.

***