Nati

Dust and pollen gathered over my hand.

Opposed to the name, an air cannon wasn't just air hurled at the enemy or a cannonball propelled by the winds. It was a complex spell for what it did, arguably weak against armored opponents, but there was no easy way to defend against it with magic.

I learned about magic with my crystal and found it worked on a similar principle as the game Rock Paper Scissors. Some spells like lightning bolts were devastating and easy to cast, but trivial to defend against. A practiced wizard only needed a split second or a magic-resistant armor with the right runes to alter, deflect, or cancel it.

Those were relatively weak against physical attacks though, and this spell perfectly exploited that fact. Instead of using magicules to strike an opponent directly, it gathered the particles abundant in the air, crystallized them into tiny but tough pellets, gave them an electric charge, then boosted by the winds, propelled them like a rail gun at the target.

The result was a barrage of magically fired particles, like a shotgun blast, but the damage itself wasn't done by the magicules, so defending against it was difficult. They needed strong armor, a solid wall, or a whirlwind to stop them, but these all took time, while the pellets traveled at hypersonic speeds, resulting in a loud crack when firing.

The beholder opposing us had no such armor, or chance to react. Its squishy-looking main body, a literal eyeball ended in a visceral burst on contact before the crack even reached it. Could I have reached the same result with my crossbow, without using any magic? Probably, but I was here to push my limits, and practice my spells, and this was the perfect opportunity. Vanishing a strange monster like that didn't make me feel bad.

"Woah, Nati, when did you learn that spell?" Omerta asked with her eyes wide open. The team seemed to forget about the plan of taking out all enemies at once, and instead of attacking simultaneously, they were looking for their fallen jaws after my demonstration.

The rest of the roadblock was hidden behind a barricade, but my attack didn't go unnoticed. First, a harpy took to the sky with loud screeching, then multiple bull-faced creatures appeared growling.

The latter brandished enormous double-headed axes, their muscles rippling as they swung them over their heads, but none seemed to have any ranged weapons. They foolishly exposed themselves to our magician's barrages, and while Ember took the harpy down with fire, Omerta sent a chain lighting against the brutes.

"Aww, they were actual minotaurs." The Fire Witch complained, walking up to the smoldering corpses. The battle ended before I could blink. "I hope they're not distant relatives of Bullhead."

"I thought Gorgon got his name from a different type of bull," Omerta argued, examining the roadblock. "I mean, his name is Gorgon and not Minotaur. And he looks more like a gnoll anyway."

"A gnoll? Whoa. That's rude, and they don't even have horns." Ember protested, but their conversation flew right over my head. Gitaut came to the rescue, explaining what a gnoll is.

"It's a hyena-like creature, but it can use tools, and before more intelligent Lesser Races became widespread, humans often used them as thralls or battle slaves." The shaman said, leaning close to my ears. His closeness surprised me, his breath brushing against my cat ears, and made me shiver, but when he noticed my eyes widen, he must have thought I had questions and continued. "I mean they had the intelligence of a dog."

"Wait, are there even dogs in this world?" Emi asked, oblivious to the situation, but it made the orc pull back a little. "Like what's up with that, I haven't seen one so far. Or cats. Only catgirls."

"They exist," Gitaut confirmed curtly, and I quickly increased the distance between us. "They were more common before the Collapse, but for some reason, cats and dogs don't mix well with the beastmen or orcs and the Lesser Races in general, and the humans had their hands full."

"That's odd, Alex brought a cat with her to my world." My sister claimed, casually standing between us. "If I understand her correctly, that cat controls my real body back home."

"What?" I asked louder than I meant to, but she forgot to mention this little detail. "What do you mean a cat is controlling your body? What did Alexandra do to you?"

"Hey, could you focus on the present, please?" Omerta complained like she was one to talk. "These people are well organized, and multiple species work together. The beholder was their magician and ranged support, the harpy was to alert the troops if someone approached, and the minotaurs are pretty solid warriors when it comes to that."

"How did you know the air cannon would be so effective against the beholder?" Ember asked, looking at me curiously.

"Um, it was floating and the tentacles sparkled so I figured it could do all kinds of magic, including deflecting my spells, so I went for one that was difficult to counter," I explained my train of thoughts, not mentioning how most of that was suggested by Fenna's crystal. I didn't have to keep it a secret now that they also had a copy, but I liked to think about it as a tool that helps me, not something that solves problems in my stead.

"Great choice." Gitaut nodded, closing his eyes. This is how he always concentrated when using the spirit's mana detection. It was a useful ability. "It doesn't seem they had time to alert anyone, and I sense no movement nearby. What else did you find on them, Omerta?"

"I don't think they lived here." The orc witch pointed at the barricade. There were no signs of separated living spaces or even bedding. "It looks like this was a manned military outpost with the guards rotating in it, but I'm not sure what they tried to achieve with it. Or against whom it was guarded? But they had no tools to make food, so I doubt they spent too much time here in each shift. We should be careful moving forward."

She did observe everything. This did raise a few questions, but we didn't come to uncover all the secrets of the dungeon, and Ember urged us to move along. We aimed for the crystal at the dungeon's core, even if she already owned one, she seemed more eager to press on than Gitaut, who still couldn't get his hands on a copy.

The hobs and the ogre took a liking to the double axes dropped by the minotaurs and exchanged their simple spears and clubs. They kept their shields though, flipped onto their backs for now, and we continued on the small trail. There was no junction near the roadblock, which made me wonder what they defended here.

"Let's not leave them out in the open like this." Ember turned back after a while and cast a firewall over the corpses. The barricade itself did not feed her flames, it was mostly large rocks and earth thrown together, but it was a man-made obstacle too. "This way they won't know what attacked them either, and nobody will reanimate their corpses."

"Yes, they will only know that someone cast fire magic to burn them because everything is too wet to start a fire the regular way." Omerta rolled her eyes but just wanted to mess with the Fire Witch.

"They will know we were here, no matter how many traces we leave behind." Gitaut shrugged before reminding everyone. "I did recommend to avoid making contact with them in the first place."

"It's not like they put up any kind of fight." Ember shrugged, rejoining our ranks that continued in a single file. The trail was barely wide enough for the one ogre at the front, even though the minotaurs seemed similar in size. "I doubt they could throw anything at us we couldn't fight. Like, I even had to hold back a lot."

"Famous last words," Emi noted with a grimace, trailing behind me. She was our rearguard and seemed a bit bored to me. "Well, I wouldn't mind a little action either. But still no troglodytes please."

"They are coming." The orc shaman suddenly announced and stopped in his tracks. "It must be the change of guard, I don't feel any malice or urgency emanating from them, but they will reach us soon."

"You can even tell what they are thinking?" I couldn't hide my amazement, but he shook his head, trying to find some kind of cover in the thick jungle on both sides of the narrow trail. The orcs and hobs had a clear advantage on that front with their green skin, but my wyvern armor also acted as a camouflage. Ember and my sister on the other hand stuck out like sore thumbs in the undergrowth.

"I can pick up on things like panic or killer intent," Gitaut answered, pushing the two girls deeper into the vegetation. "They have none so far, but they number twice as much as the guards on that roadblock. I feel a stronger mana concentration around them too."

"Maybe they change the guards in multiple such barricades at once?" I asked, but the answers had to wait. They were within viewing distance, so our small group quietly hid by the trail.

Soon a dozen minotaurs showed up, with another dozen trailing behind them. Three beholders floated a foot above the ground between the two groups, but there was no sign of harpies this time. One of the beholders looked different than the rest though. Its skin was somewhat darker, and while it still had a big main eye, smaller eyelets floated around it on short tentacles, scanning the area in every direction at once.

They nearly passed us when one of the eyes suddenly blinked, fixated on something in our direction, and suddenly fired a red beam into the forest. My sister barely avoided getting hit by it, but the other two beholders soon followed suit, and the minotaurs rushed into the jungle without a single word. They only wore loincloths but seemed way more disciplined and organized than random tribal monsters.

Our cover turned a hindrance, severely limiting our movements while the heavy axes cut a wide path towards us, supported by the floating eyeball's beams. I tried my best not to panic, and it helped to see my comrades counterattack, but all I could think about was to protect Emi from those beams, foolishly revealing my position, and drawing their fire on myself. Their beams seemed similar to what I had done against the Elder twice already, but they weren't as potent and were visible to the naked eye too. They still stung, even through my magic-resistant armor.