NOVEL FROG 71. Get Hurt
Trees groaned as I used them as anchors, propelling myself forward at a fast pace. The forest whipped past my vision. Never had I ice-slung myself so fast before. My hands were sweaty, my breathing heavy, and my heart pounded.
Eight miles left. This was it. I returned back to a time when my friends were still alive. Lana was still alive.
Five miles left. The forest grove where mages battled was nearing, and I had yet to reach my friends. I kept applying water to my feet as the thin layer evaporated with each pull. To increase my speed and reduce the friction, I covered the ground with ice. My speed increased by fifty percent. All of my strength and will went into each pull.
Two miles left. I could still make it. Just needed to go faster. I pulled and pulled, shooting across ice fields like an arrow. My mind was single to the task.
"Lana," I shouted, convinced I was close enough for them to hear. However, the nearing battle had picked up, and my shouts were lost in the clamor. That didn't stop me. "Lana! Flint! Rocky!"
Less than a mile was left. My heart raced with excitement. I covered myself in my domain in anticipation.
By the time I got to the clearing, I was only a hundred yards away. I yelled into the storm for all the good it would do.
I was too late.
My friends had already stepped into the battlefield. I was too far away to save them. Not that I could save them from the might of mages.
I skidded to a stop when I reached the clearing. My feet plowed through the forest floor, and I had to anchor myself to a tree so I wouldn't slide too far out.
Lana was shouting at the mages, and Flint fired from mana pistols. A great light blinded me, causing me to look away. When the flash simmered, Rocky had fallen. Lana shot rays of sharp light into the mages. Her light shield withstood several blows. Flint had dropped his pistols, replacing them with axes, and enhanced his strength with an earthen suit.
The mages wrapped up in their own battle had barely paid attention to Lana and Flint. My friends attacked with everything they had. A fire mage that got too close to my staked body got blasted by a spear. The smoker looked at Lana with awe before summoning Soggy's cursed breath, enshrouding Lana's barrier in an orange blaze.
Lana fired more light spears, drew her sword, and charged the smoking while her barrier disintegrated. The fire mage fought back with a flaming whip that they cracked at Lana's protection. Flint turned his attention from his fight with one of the Emperor's mages and added protection for Lana. The smoker backed away as Lana got near.
If I wasn't watching the fight play out in front of me, I'd never believed my friends, not much higher rank than me, could push back a mage. The two templars were not just pushing the fire mage back; they were dealing damage. Lana gained enough ground that she was standing next to my body.
Lost in a blur of rapid motion was a kiss. In the middle of the battle, the Elven princess took a split second to kiss her hand, which she then placed on my brow. She muttered a few words and resumed fighting.
The sentimental moment pulled on my pounding heart. As sweet as it was, it was a terrible strategy. Lana paid for her mistake as the smoker and a dowser joined forces. Lana lifted her sword, intercepting a burning ice spear. Her parry was perfect, but the mana-fueled attack of the two mages exploded on contact, blasting her and Flint away.
Lana crashed to the ground, her barrier of light breaking on impact. Flint was hit with a slew of ice bolts while still airborne. His frozen body shattered when he hit the ground. Lana tried to heal Flint, not caring for her own safety. The orange flame consumed her a second later. As she burned, she shot one more spear; this one was golden, and it struck my corpse's brow where she'd left her kiss. The spear evaporated, seeping into my body.
I took a deep breath as I watched my friends die. I never saw so much of the battle before. I assumed my friends died as soon as they got to the battlefield. I didn't know they put up a fight. Let alone that Lana said goodbye to me in her last moments of life. It was terrible decision-making and entirely out of character for them. Lana and Flint were reason and logic reincarnated as people.
Although my friends were dead, the battle of the mages was just getting started. Domains crashed upon me. I summoned my ice aura to protect myself from collapsing under the intense power. My head dropped, and my breathing grew ragged.
Why would they waste their lives like that?
As much as the question weighed on my mind, it didn't matter. I could save them. I just needed to be faster. No second could be spared, and I needed to master my techniques. I was going to save them.
Did I have to be faster, though? I had Cal and he was much quicker than me.
A wave of excitement washed over me. There was an easy solution. I could start over now and save my friends. The war in the forest clearing had been silenced by my thoughts.
A plan solidified, and I was eager to execute it. Wrapped up in thought and bolstered by confidence, I walked toward the mages—only to stop myself moments later. It made no sense to waste this life, and I could execute the plan as many times as I wanted in my mindscape. I took five steps back, reaching the edge of the forest.
"See you soon," I said to my friends as I turned and walked away, seeking the safety of a dungeon.
We cleared out the dungeon in record time. The crawlers were the first to die, all freezing within my domain. Lipper was next. I overpowered her domain with my mana and shot her with two arrows. My ice razor technique shredded the wolfbears and the jungle, and the Rat King and his host of rats were still frozen solid in their cave. I filled it full of water without stepping into the infested hole and froze it from the outside.
Satisfied with my efforts, I cleaned out a swampy jungle area, turning it into a pleasant pond, barricading myself, and entered my mindscape.
Vibrant energy filled my mindscape. Everything in my realm felt so alive and rich… and connected to me. Power rushed through my veins, intoxicating me with its possibilities. I felt like a god before I reforged my mind. Now, I was on an entirely different level.
The fortresses I built before to protect my mind could be built in a second. I could tear down the same structure in two seconds. What I once thought was a perfect defense seemed weak and impractical, though the guards and water barrier were a great idea. I could do better, but that wasn't my focus for now. To be safe, I restored my prior protections and enhanced them. I would improve my mind palace another time.
I called Calypso, who was flying nearby, observing my mindscape.
"You are a beautiful specimen," Cal said, his eyes darting around the space. There was nothing to look at. We were deep in my palace in another white room. "Your energy is so potent here. It is really a shame I am such a terrible parasite. I could have had this all to myself if I had been stronger."
"If you completely possessed me, you wouldn't have this rich environment."
"I knew it was smart to let you live." Cal cracked a smile.
"It's time for some experimenting," I said with a dry and mirthless smile.
The empty space became a forest in a flash of energy, and every detail from my memory was recreated.
For the first round, we worked on the timing and distance we were dealing with. My friends had almost a two-mile head start. The fact that I could hear them was due to my reforged mind and expanded aura.
It was roughly ten miles to the clearing and took me nearly twenty-five minutes to reach it. The speed was equal to what a high-ranked templar focused on body progression could run. Even with my friends’ head start, I should be able to catch them. They were mid-ranked templars and had no speed-focused skills. I wouldn’t call any of them fast. Especially Flint, who closely resembled a bear in pre-hibernation form. Rocky didn't have much of a speed build, either.
With our control set, we began trial runs of Falcon Flight. From the start, it became clear I was wrong about my squad. They were fast. Cal was twice as fast as me and didn’t catch them his first handful of attempts. One of them had speed skills. My guess was Lana.
On his thirtieth attempt, Cal caught up to them at the edge of the clearing. Unfortunately, my friends didn't want to listen to a bird or flayen—choosing to ignore or kill him, depending on how Cal tried to stop them.
We tried hundreds of times, using every variation of Falcon Flight we could think of. Lana, Rocky, and Flint were headstrong in their pursuit and wouldn't be stopped. Not even an amplified mind blast worked. They shrugged off the attack as if it didn’t phase them.
Although it pained me, I accepted that my simple solution wouldn't work. Falcon Flight was a bust.
I didn’t dwell on the failure. Rather, the failure encouraged me. I was one path closer to finding the right solution.