Elevation of Mana Chapter 204 A Merry Chase (Patreon)

I'd seen both Neera and the fire approaching from below as I tried to get the hell away from this disaster. There was precious little I could do for those on the ground, like it or not, and dying wasn't on my to-do list. If I'd been closer I could have perhaps thrown up a shield, or pulled a few people away, but I'd probably also have been cooked by that monster.

The creature had been fast, deadly fast, and after killing most or all of the physicals in the opening salvo had rampaged. Magic or no, most of those people were just as fragile as any normal human behind their magic, and it was tearing through that like it was cute tissue paper.

Neera had run, a sensible choice, and done something below us that seemed to make the whole world flex for just a moment there. The sensation from above was odd, as was the massive distortion it had briefly made. It felt wrong, strange, and bad for the environment, but I didn't have time to study it.

Shortly after taking flight the monster had blasted another fireball at the fleeing ancient. She'd done... something in response. It felt like another flex, but one that didn't work completely, there was a huge shudder, a flickering, and streams of fire seemed to shoot in every direction, but I couldn't catch even half of the details.

One thing I could spare a moment for was weaving a small spell around Chien to keep him in place. This was already hairy and I didn't want him getting hurt. A few kinetic straps with more flexible fields to hold him in tight would do a lot on avoiding any concussions.

I took my airship high enough that the air started getting thinner than I'd like, noticeable to even me as I ran, not fought, not tried to rescue, ran. It was a good thing I did too, for not long after another fireball whizzed past us, hitting a nearby cloud and fizzling continuing on. I wondered how high it would get, but honestly I didn't need to worry about that now.

A quick look below showed that our white-skinned enemy wasn't at all deterred by my flight, and seemed keen to continue the fight. It fired off several attacks, all missing because of distance involved and my own changing of course as I saw them. Perhaps they lost power at this range, but I still wanted to be nowhere near any of those.

It was some time until Chien finally stirred.

“Ugh... whoa, what are you doing!” he shouted as the whole ship tilted again.

“Dodging, glad to see you're up sleeping beauty.”

“Nobody thinks I'm beautiful boss, handsome maybe, but beautiful? And what's that got to do with sleep? You say the weirdest things.” I let the spell holding him in place go as he got up. “If you're still fighting I was out for what? Few minutes? Feel like I was run over by a parade.” He rubbed his eyes in clear pain.

“Almost a full day my friend, the sun went down and came back up again. I was starting to worry. Hold on!” I had to turn the ship again, banking left to avoid another projectile. “Bastard's getting more accurate.”

I saw him look out the window at the landscape below, our unwanted tag-along a small dot from this height.

“It's following us,” he said, voice low.

“Yes, it is. We're going north, I've got a few ideas. Maybe we can lose it on the cliffs, and if that doesn't work... well maybe the cold will weaken it, this is clearly a creature of fire, and lizards don't do well in the cold.” I left out a few more thoughts I had, things I really didn't want to do, but would if needed.

“Right, and there shouldn't be anyone in that direction for awhile at least. Don't want that thing getting anywhere near a village. What happened to the others, the ran?” he asked.

I was silent for a moment, before shaking my head. “Some might have survived, but it was pretty brutal Chien. If they did it's because that thing wants us. I think it understands you killed its mate. Don't suppose you can manage that again can you?”

“Those were all of my crystals boss, and I'm still not back to full after that attack.”

“Shame.”

“You can't?”

“Not without crystals of my own, and that thing's not exactly giving me a chance to rest. Don't worry, I've got a few plans.”

“Don't you always?” he smirked.

“Well, since you're up, mind spotting for me? Dump everything we don't need too. Not much left, but if you think it can go, it can go. We'll need food and blankets though.”

He nodded and got to it. Even without using magic he could do quite a lot, tossing bits and bobs out to lighten our load. We chatted as he did, trying to fill the silence with something that wasn't terror or worry about the creature determined to take us down.

Both of us were of the same mind in a few things. One was that while I'd love to kill this thing, getting away at this point would be almost as good. A few weeks at home and we could build something that would do exactly that, even if it was just more mana crystals or a big screw off cannon. Perhaps others would suffer, but my people would be safe, and that was more important to me.

Two was that this creature had a real vicious streak. It followed us for days on end, not taking breaks, not turning from its course. No it really wanted us bad. At least it wasn't constantly shooting at us now, rather waiting between volleys until it got to a high spot along the ground. That didn't mean that it was falling behind though.

Another two days passed until we came to the first thing I thought might impede the beast. Cliffs we'd come down that lead to the glacial shelf rose up below us, a massive wall. We sailed straight over and onto the frozen wasteland, but the monster? No it would have to climb, and with one arm that would be no easy task.

Twenty minutes after we soared over the natural barrier Chien called out.

“Turn left.”

“Suppose our friend didn't fail then?” I asked as I did so, watching a fireball cut through the cold sky.

“No, looks like he made it to the top.”

“Plan B it is then.”