The well-laid lines of men and women in front of Faust burst apart as people moved quickly to a new position. The reinforced stone barricades were lifted off the ground with a wave of a green-haired boy's hand.
That's not just an earth spell.
Instance Replication.
Faust replicated whatever phenomenon he just saw and another barricade rose into the air and followed them. It felt like a fundamental control over earth and rock. A Schema. While he felt it out, he watched for something.
There he is.
William grabbed one of the barricades and it instantly turned blue and transparent, like something ripped from a blueprint, making it weightless. It must have been his Schema. That looked interesting.
After checking the people around, Faust found Liora lingering at the back of the group, searching the crowds of people. And she was looking for him too, but there were so many people around.
Her eyes glided over him once or twice, not even because of his Mirage Skill, but because it was impossible to find someone in this crowd.
A bitter feeling boiled up his throat. Something pulled him towards them, a yearning to antagonise them. But a fight here would just cause smaller problems.
There was a bigger door-to-another-world problem that was more important.
Goblins had begun to pour from the gate in the hundreds, but they weren't alone. Bronze Jackals tore past them, racing across the grassy fields in blurs, ridden by Goblins.
That is actually so cool. They're like Storm troopers!
Kite's voice sounded off in the distance, ordering the mages to fire at the fast jackals.
BOOM! CRASH!
Fireballs exploded in the midst of the Jackals, earth spikes stabbed into the ground. The attacks just barely missed the fast creatures.
They charged through the chaotic bombardment with no fear.
Faust ran ahead now, Nirvana and the others followed. Zen drew a bow and began to release arrows, Spider pulled out a Jackal Dagger.
Oh, she has that too.
"Don't worry about keeping up," Spider grumbled to no one in particular—it was obviously meant for Faust— before using Dash.
He guessed it was Dash because of how her speed immediately sky-rocketed. The fifty percent increase turned her into a near blur.
But her eyes widened when he was still right beside her.
He raised a challenging eyebrow. Was that all she had?
The enemies were close now. Spider gritted her teeth then used the second dash. 100% increase.
Immediately her speed doubled. The Jackals and their riders didn't stand a chance. Her attacks were sloppy—her mind struggling to keep up with the speed—but she got the job done.
She has Level 2 Dash. Smart considering she's mostly focusing on Agility. But her Spirit is too low to manage it.
Four monsters died immediately. Spider turned back to him with a smug look.
That drew a chuckle from Faust. He didn't know why she disliked him; he had more enemies than he cared to keep up with. But he would oblige her.
Dash.
Everything around him blurred as he sped up.
The howling goblin in front of him had its throat sliced open with the dagger. He beheaded its mount with his cutlass.
Before his feet touched the ground, ending his 'First Movement,' five goblins and their mounts died.
He was more precise, he used dash when there was a clump of enemies, and he planned his moves before, allowing him to get more out of 'one move.'
Before his dash ended he turned to Spider and found that she was watching him. The veins in her eyes were more prominent, but they allowed her to follow his movement.
She's using the Overclock ability from her Schema. Weird. It must be damaging her eyes.
It can increase her ability to keep up even when I'm dashing? Interesting… let's see if she can follow this.
He used the second dash.
The world turned into a passing blur, but his mind still tracked the positions of his enemies. A group of six goblin riders that held bows.
He jumped over them just as he used Dash. They lined up perfectly, allowing him to behead them all as he passed.
Their heads were still attached before he landed, but the moment his feet touched earth blood spurted from their necks, and their head dropped mid-step.
Spider stared at the place in utter disbelief. But she clenched her teeth and retreated behind Greg. Arrows had begun to fall from Goblin riders.
There were a few yelps from behind as people were clipped. The riders, once close enough, dropped their bows and drew poorly made hammers and daggers.
Greg glowed slightly and raised his shield, but the metal easily resisted the flimsy arrows. So it wasn't a defensive spell, but rather healing. He was healing Spider's eyes.
Their coordination is good.
Greg started the healing the moment she got behind him and two seconds later she was healed.
"Don't use that ability carelessly," Greg warned in a worried tone.
Spider's expression was dark and moody. "Sorry."
The riders came down on Greg, but every hammer that impacted his shield barely seemed to shake him. Spider, like his shadow, lashed out at everything that rode past the tank.
Bodies dropped with wounds they didn't even sense.
"Hahhh!" Greg swung the spear in his other hand and sent three goblins flying off their jackals with painful cracks
Zen was also a few feet behind the tanks, shooting anything that passed. He obviously had experience with a bow. He seemed like the only member of their team with experience with a weapon.
Beside him, Nirvana's hands emitted with poisonous green light. She pressed it against the ground and drew out a skeleton soldier from the ground. She had already done this twice, so three skeletons surrounded her and Zen, picking up weapons from the dead goblins.
That looks cool. Lemme try that.
Instance Replication.
He slipped between the riders using Mirage. His passive ability to go unnoticed worked marvelously in all this chaos.
His right hand had begun steaming with malevolent green energy, placing it against the ground he poured his mana into it and drew up a skeleton.
Imbuing it with an order to kill Goblins he expected it to attack with some finesse.
But the Skeleton just ran at a random Goblin rider and got its skull smashed to pieces by a hammer.
I guess commanding them needs more finesse, something about that felt wrong though.
It wasn't like Fireball, pouring more mana into the spell didn't make the skeleton stronger. He was sure he had more mana than Nirvana because of his high Spirit, but her summoned skeletons were just better.