EG Monster Island Chapter 17

*** AUTHOR’S NOTE ****

Sorry about missing yesterday! My youngest daughter got attacked by a dog while riding her bike, and we had to take her to the ER, which threw everything in our schedule out of whack. She's fine, just had to get checked over and get some shots, but her allergies meant that the doctors held us there for another few hours. So, here’s chapter 17, and hopefully I’ll get enough done by Wednesday to get out another chapter as a bonus.

***AUTHOR’S NOTE***

I woke up with a gasp, and the Ashkhas healer kneeling next to me jerked backwards. “You are fine now, lad,” she said once she sat back up. “Hop on over to your team.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” I said. I stood up, then carefully bowed to her. My blood pressure wasn’t quite up to snuff, and I slowly straightened up rather than shoot up like normal.

“Take it easy for a bit. There is a reason why the fights are spaced out. You’ve got at least another hour before the next fight,” she waved off my courtesy then walked out of the arena.

I shrugged and then headed over to where Vaya, Jamila, and Aleks were all standing, in a line, with their hands on their hips. I stopped a meter or so in front of them. They all glared at me with nearly identical expressions. I blinked a few times, then bent over laughing. I laughed so hard I fell to my knees.

“What?” They all asked together, then looked at each other in confusion. Vaya saw the others, noticing for the first time their mirrored reactions. She smiled and shook her head, while Jamila burst into giggles.

“Why would you risk that?” Aleks asked, trying hard to hold onto the glare.

“Three times the rewards, and I am fairly good in hand-to-hand,” I said. “It was worth a shot, even if only to reduce the rewards they got to half. It worked out, though.”

“Only you could have beat him. I still have not managed to replicate the Aether Blast Punch Technique. Of course, I have not tried too hard at it, but maybe I should,” Vaya said.

“Yeah. It can be helpful. Especially as a last ditch defense, or if you’re attacked in your bed or something,” I shrugged. “Of course, we don’t really need that anymore. It will be a rare occasion that we can’t use ranged techniques. Eh, still good training for bone strength.”

“Maybe you could teach all of us,” Aleks gestured at the rest of the group, all of whom were watching us with various amounts of knowing grins and smirks. “Getting stronger is our goal during this time.

“That is a fantastic idea,” Liberarian Narwan said, appearing beside me. “Now, good job fighting, but do not do that again. Though, three times the rewards they have promised as part of this event is very useful. Hmm, I do not think I will be too mad. Your punishment is to teach the others your technique, and make enough healing powders that their bones will recover by the next event.”

“Yes, master,” I said, getting control of my laughter. “Thank you. Do you know when our next fight is?”

“One hour. The next drawing for fights is in one hour. Rest and gather,” he waved, then vanished.

“He likes disappearing way too much,” I complained.

“Even so, he spoke wisdom,” Aleks said. She then smiled big, “While none of us liked seeing you so injured, you did very well.”

Jamila stepped up to me, and a wave of green Aether flowed through me. “Good, the healer got everything. You really should gather, that used up a large portion of your Aether,” she said, then pulled me into a hug. “That last hit made me very worried.”

“I am sorry for worrying you,” I said, hugging her hard. “All of you. I won’t say I won’t do it again, but I’ll try not to worry you all so much next time.”

“Hah,” Jon enunciated, shaking his head. “I believe you mean that, but I doubt that will happen. Come on, sit, gather, then we will fight and win again! Three wins for all of us, to affix Craesti as the dominant force at the tournament!”

“That’ll be great,” I said. After the others congratulated me, I sat down on the bench set aside for our detachment and pulled out my pack. Some quick digging left me with a Complete Gathering Powder, which I threw back. I gathered for the next hour, lost to the world as I concentrated on the Aether flowing into me.

I was nowhere near full, but had reached just over two-thirds of my Aether storage capacity when Jon shook my shoulder. “Sultah Aleahil just announced the next set of fights. We are fighting the third Topraki team in the third arena.”

I stood and stretched. “Well, at least this one will be with the whole team.”

“Are you ready?” Bridget asked.

“Yeah, but I’m not at a hundred percent. In some ways, I think that is another point of this three fight business. We need to win while using the least amount of Aether as possible,” I said.

“Well, I think I have an idea,” Jon smiled at me. “I asked Knight Kaminski, and she said that Alchemical concoctions are allowed, as long as they were made by us. So I’ll get to show off what I have been working on.”

“Awesome,” I said, clapping him on the shoulder. “Did any of you watch the other Topraki teams fight last round?”

“Yeah,” Bridget said. “Several members of each team transformed into those massive wolf creatures. The others used longer weapons to keep their opponents away until the transformation was complete, and then they pounced. They were massively strong, probably even more so than the Weltreichi.”

“Well, we have a bunch of ranged attacks,” I said. “When they start to transform, pick the one on our right and blast away until they collapse.”

Jon gave me a thumbs up, “I definitely got this.”

“Come on,” Vaya said, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the fight. She leaned in close, “No more cutting me out of a fight without asking first, okay? I have trained too hard to be cut out like that.”

“I’m sorry. You are right, I should have asked you, and Jon and Bridget, before agreeing. I made a decision for you without consulting you, and that is not okay,” I said as we approached the next arena.

“Hey,” she said. I turned to look at her, then her hand wrapped around the back of my head while she pulled me into a kiss. “Thanks,” she panted after we separated. Jon wolf whistled, and I reached out to smack him on the chest.

“Spare me the ridiculousness of your human mating rituals,” the Ashkhas referee said in a pompous accent. “Are you ready?”

I looked at the others, and after their nods I said, “Yes sir.”

The Topraki team across from us all nodded simultaneously. There were two men and two women on the team. Each woman held a naginata in both hands while the boys were weaponless and bouncing between their feet.

“Good. You know the rules. Leave the arena, be rendered unable to fight, or surrender to be taken out. No deliberately killing your opponents. Try me and I will destroy you. Begin,” the referee said lazily.

Immediately the two naginata users stepped in front of their teammates as their skin started to writhe. The sight was freaky, and I had to force myself to focus on them. The Aether Blast I’d started to charge while the referee gave his speech shot out of my trisula, enhanced by the Core-level weapon and its base Inscriptions. Three other attacks flew out as I stepped into the Wrath of the Lightning Herald Technique. A glass bottle was thrown as well.

My Blast hit, while the other three were dissipated by slashing naginatas charged with Aether. They slashed the bottle, which then exploded. Both girls were thrown aside, and my Wrath erupted into the rightmost fighter just as his transformation finished. The massive wolf man’s head was thrown back in a howl of agony while Lightning played across his limbs. After a second, he collapsed and a yellow film of Aether whisked him away.

Another glass bottle flew out, and the second werewolf grabbed it without breaking. “Hah!” Jon shouted, clenching his fist. A tiny streamer of Aether connected to him flexed, and the grenade detonated. Vaya had rushed forward a few steps and slammed her right sword into the ground, generating a dozen vines that wrapped up the leftmost fallen girl while Bridget and I sprinted at the recovering wolf creature.

When we were only three meters away, Bridget pulled out a sheet of parchment, held it up while infusing Aether into it, then yelled out, “Ice Prison!” A burst of Aether shot out and enveloped the struggling werewolf. His hands were scorched and bleeding, as was his chest and face, but then Ice covered every bit of him outside of his nose and mouth.

“Let me up you ridiculous cheaters!” He bellowed in the Topraki language. His mouth moved back and forth as he bucked against the Ice but he wasn’t making headway in breaking out.

“Two minutes,” Bridget answered when I asked how long the prison lasted.

“Good, take out the last fighter!” I yelled, leaping over the were-popsicle and then sliding under a slash of the naginata. The shaft slammed down at me, but I caught it between both trisula, hooking and locking it to let Bridget nail her with an Ice Spike, a new technique she’d picked up that sent an Ice Aether icicle enhanced with Air and Water Aether to fly farther and with more force. The impact knocked our opponent backwards, and my grip on her weapon ripped it out of her hands.

She stood back up, but the icicle sticking out of her shoulder left her with only one hand. Jon had taken out the other girl with a shield bash after she flamed out the vines holding her down. The trapped werewolf was still trapped, so she grimaced and knelt. “I surrender,” she said in broken Craesti.

Vaya hurried over to her, “Let me get that,” she said and pulled the Ice Spike out of her torso before sending a wave of healing into her.

“Thank you,” she smiled, her canine teeth sticking out over her lips.

“You did well against our surprises,” Vaya said consolingly. “Good luck in your next match.” She backed off as the watching healers rushed forward to finish restoring everyone to full health.

“So, what did you think?” Jon asked as we walked back to our bench.

“Grenades?” I asked back.

“Yup, your description gave me the idea. There were firestarter Alchemical solutions already, but no one had tried to weaponize explosive powders. Of course, uh, if they got hit while I was holding them they would blow up on me,” he shrugged.

“Probably should look into something that requires a certain Aether signature or something to detonate. You don’t want to blow yourself up. Well, any more than you already have!” I laughed.

“Good job,” Knight Kamkinski said. Librarian Narwan nodded, his focus entirely on Aleks’s fight in front of us. They were fighting the second Illyrian team, and both sides were down a person. Aleks was bleeding from a cut across her cheek, and the grim snarl on her face made me shiver slightly. Her sword swept out, two blades of Aether crossing into the whip of the standing Illyrian. Their block shattered, and both attacks slammed into the lizard’s armor. With a tinkle, the mail split, and they were knocked to the ground. A pale blue Aether film ripped the injured creature away to be treated, and Aleks rounded on another opponent who was fighting evenly with Milenna.

Lilianna was being treated by one of the Ashkhas, her stomach and legs covered in blood from a massive cut just below her ribs. “Is she going to be okay?” I heard Lea ask.

“Yes, she will be fine, though weaker in the next round,” Knight Kaminski said. The fight ended quickly after that, with Aleks and Hanna standing victoriously over the last Illyrian. Milenna was on one knee to the side, treating a series of cuts from its claws on her arm with her Aether. The healers rushed forward.

“Has there been any deaths yet?” I asked.

“None so far, though one of the Topraki is in for a long period of recuperation. The Illyrian’s sent one of their princes, and he cut the poor girl’s legs off. The technique seared the wound shut, so the healer had to cut off more skin to regrow a nub and then reattach the legs. Letting it go that long meant that many meridians and blood vessels died, so they had to be healed as well. The total result left her legs significantly weaker than they had been, so she is basically out of the tournament,” Knight Kaminski answered. “Now, go gather. Be ready for your next set of opponents.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said. Vaya and I sat side by side, Light, I wish they let Sia and Lammy come to the stands at least. Stupid Ashkhas bias against letting Bond’s fight. At least we’ll get to work together on the final expedition. Hopefully next round, though Librarian Narwan wasn’t too hopeful about that. My thoughts fell to my friend, and I sent him a quick update on how we were doing.

“Of course you are winning. Do not let me down on the next round,” Sia’s voice sounded in my head. He sounded tired, and he avoided my question when I asked him about it. “Focus on your task, now. We will speak more of it later.”

“Got it, Sia!” I said, then dove into my center. I took a second to appreciate the Core Runes that framed the Firebird over my Core. Gathering is getting so much more complicated. Hopefully I’ll be able to advance before the next round. We’ll see what goodies we got from winning. I need to go see Captain Skipari. He wanted to talk, but I forgot in my excitement for my laser. Almost ready to go on it, though I’m not sure how easy it’ll be to shut off, even with the shunts. We’ll see, I guess.

After admiring my gathering system for another few seconds, I maneuvered my Aether into the spirals and runes of my gathering technique and started the process of refilling my Aether. This time, I had an hour and twenty minutes or so to gather, since I was in the first round of fights. I popped out of my center to throw down another gathering powder. I offered one to Vaya as well, but she waved me away while pulling out her own.

“You are not the only alchemist I know,” she said with a wink. “Though your’s are better.”

“Well, you better be at full for the next round. Let’s get the hat trick,” I said. She just rolled her eyes at my idiom, then closed them as she concentrated.

Dropping back into my center, I found the Aether constructs were still held in place, and a flood of Aether was sucked into my Pool. I pushed the technique, nudging each spiral and rune in tiny increments to find the optimal positioning. Minor improvements came, a few percent gain in how much Aether flowed in, but nothing life changing. Just enough that, when Knight Kaminski was rousing us from our trances, that I hit ninety-eight percent of my Aether reserves.

I stood, stretching, “Are we ready for the next round?”

“Yup!” Jon said, jumping to the ground in front of me.

“Have they announced the next pairings?” Vaya asked.

“Yes,” Knight Kaminski said. “Your team is fighting the main Illyrian team.” She looked away for a second. “They are very strong, equivalent to Threshold gatherers at least. You are in this arena. Ming’s team is in arena two, and Princess Aleksandra is in arena one. Ming is facing the Weltreichi, so we are letting their guardian watch both teams. Librarian Narwan will be watching you. Do not take too many risks, though. The Illyrians have focused entirely on combat capability for this tournament. You can make up for any loss in the next round.”

“Survival over winning,” I said. “But I’ve faced that thing before, and beat him then. I will beat him again.” The same Illyrian from their pirate ship was leading the team of four walking into the arena.

Two held the whips I’d heard were most common in the elite Illyrian society, while the other two were wielding shields and spears. They had the white striped coloring Librarian Narwan told us was indicative of the Illyrian protector caste, raised from the egg to be wholly dedicated to their lords.

“This will be tough, but we can win,” I said. “Work together, fight together, like we’ve trained.”

“We got this,” Jon said. I gave him some side eye and he just giggled. I rolled my eyes, then focused in on our opponents.

“Well, hello there. Last time I saw you, you were drifting slowly away on a ship with shattered masts,” I called out as we walked towards the starting lines.

“You! You cost me face, so I will take it out on you!” The lead Illyrian bellowed. “Guardian (name) forced me to train twice as long after our encounter, and now I am ready to destroy you!”

“Then put your money where your mouth is,” I said. “A bet. I will defeat you, and you will give me ten slaves. If you win, we triple the rewards you’d normally get. Or are you a coward.”

“Hah, goading will not work. What would you do with a slave?” They scoffed at me.

“What do you care? Are you not going to win anyway?” I countered.

“No. I will bet you one slave versus half-again the rewards,” They declared.

I looked over at my team, and they all shrugged or nodded. “Fine,” I said.

“You youngsters have such hot blood,” the Ashkhas referee said, shaking her head. “And so much gambling. Why, back when I was your age, all this hullabaloo would be frowned upon. Now, are you ready?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Jon said, bowing. The Illyrians clapped twice while the rest of us nodded.

“Then you may begin,” she said kindly, then leapt backwards twenty meters from a standstill.

Vaya and Bridget sent out Aether Blasts, but the two protectors just absorbed the attacks into their shields. A glowing field formed between the two shields that seemed to suck in all Aether nearby. Jon crouched down in front of the team, grabbing out another glass vial and smashing it on the ground in front of himself. He took a deep breath, then blew like he was putting out trick birthday candles. A sheet of Ice formed on top of the dirt in front of him and shot forward. The rearmost Illyrian was swinging their whip over their head, creating a circle of Aether, but the Ice ignored the shield defense while the protectors were focused on stopping the girl’s attacks.

I spent the first bit of time building up a Wrath of the Lightning Herald, but prefaced with a Fire Blast to give the extra range to the Lightning technique. This would be the first time I used the combination, so I was hoping to get in a shot at the chanting slaver. I had no idea what they were doing, but I didn’t want them to finish, so I rushed through my runes as fast as I could. Just before I finished, though, the Illyrian started yelling out, “And bind their souls to the dirt!” Aether surged upward, and the spinning whip slapped down towards us with a step forward for balance.

That step was their undoing, the Ice patch Jon had made causing them to slip. The whip, rather than going straight out, flicked sideways into the back of one of the protectors. Their skin split, their armor blocking nowhere near enough of the attack to prevent injury. The sliding Illyrian collapsed onto the chanting one, and their Aether construct detonated. The entire Illyrian team went flying. After a second, whip lizard started to stand. They were the least hurt of them, and they roared in anger, only to yelp in pain as my attack blasted them back onto their back. The entire group was pulled from the arena immediately, rushed to their own healers.

“Huh?” I asked, when none of the Ashkhas healers moved towards them.

“The Illyrians do not allow others to heal them,” Vaya said with a shrug.

“That was anticlimatic,” Jon said.

“Hey, you won that fight,” I laughed. “What was that?”

“Slippery Ice Concoction. It is two parts, a powder and a liquid base, that I combined together just before our fight. They let me extend my Glacier Field Technique over twenty meters, rather than two like normal, though only in a straight line. I figured it would be good to make them slip a bit in the beginning. That weird shield technique would have blocked it if Vaya and Bridget had let them have a second to breathe, and that would have wasted my efforts,” Jon gave a self-deprecating sigh.

“Together, then,” Bridget said, grabbing his arm. “Three fights, three victories.”

“Yup, and hopefully I get to rescue a slave from her torment,” I said. “Let’s get to Librarian Narwan.”