Master Of None

"Gil, when you fire that new prototype darkness arrow, what will it do?" Walker was looking at the completely black arrow. It had a few rune carvings that drew in the darkness elemental arrow. However, it looked like it had been carved from a single piece of burned wood which made him wonder. 

"This is made from rot log. Apparently, it is a tree that grows in the swamp. It will grow really fast and large then die and absorb poisons and such as it decays slowly. One of the elves asked a dark mage to help him carve it. It always is absorbing darkness mana so when I fire it, it will release what is built up inside. I can use it again if it isn't damaged but it takes time to naturally absorb more mana." 

This was an interesting arrow to Walker. He could tell the runes were speeding up the darkness elemental absorb[tion but he didn't expect it to not need elemental mana crystals to charge up. " Alright, there are only eight left alive and the fat orc. They are all injured. Here goes the quad trench." 

Walker had let Midnight, Onyx, and Remey stay back to guard the merchants, travelers, and herds. He knew that they would want to be involved with the fight against the orcs but if one escaped them there needed to be someone to back up those behind them. 

The ground started to shake and the luring orb disappeared. The orcs were in disarray as they started to fall deeper in to the forming pit. The earth fell around them and the fat orc lashed out all around it in anger. The other orcs took glancing blows from it and were severely injured. 

"Gil, Now!" Su was in charge of timing since Walker was already starting to gather as much of the natural fire, water, and wind elemental manas as possible. He had an idea of what he wanted them to form and was not able to focus on Gils' timing. 

Gil released the darkness elemental prototype arrow. The shadows slightly bent as it flew through the air making the arrow appear to be both there and not at the same time. This was very different from the first prototype that shot through the shadows and in to the target. 

The arrow hit the fat orc since it was the biggest and most important target to take down. There was a burst of darkness elemental mana and the orcs were covered in a dark mist. They could all feel the danger of the dark mist and the decaying effect it had on the orcs. 

The chorus of angered and pained squeals from the orcs was matched only by the sound of the carved stone being slammed around on the ground in the dark. Su and Gil were certain that it was a much safer choice to remain at a distance since the erratic behavior of the fat orc would have been deadly for them. This was not a set of attacks that could be easily blocked, deflected, or dodged. 

Walker had gathered a significant amount of water, fire, and wind elemental mana. He was forcing them to condense in to a small rotating form. The formation of a grey cloud was what he was aiming for and what had begun to show between his hands. 

He was imagining a storm and how it would look if it was somehow confined in to a crystal ball. This imagination was proving to add more energy to the elements that were fusing and rotating at a great pace. Just like the hair standing on end before lightning struck Walker knew that the orb he had created was nearly at breaking point. He would not be able to hold it back if he poured any more mana within it. 

Walker forced the built up elemental manas to leave through one point in the sphere of swirling elemental mana he had created. The result was a terrifying crack of lighting that echoed through the entire sky. It echoed to the mountains and back keeping the sound from having a discernable starting point. This was the perk of lightning because it was common in the fields. 

The lightning was not a simple single bolt. It was a bright yellow series of bolts that constantly shot from the orb Walker had created until all the rotating mana had dispersed. The sound had deafened Walker, Gil, and Su making Walker rush to use a healing spell on all of them. Luckily, they recovered their hearing to realized that there was still a deep groaning coming from the dissipating dark mist. 

With a solid thud, the carved stone fell out of the mist, and behind it the fat orc which appeared to be burned from the inside out. The metal ballista bolt was glowing orange and even dripped some molten iron. Walker also fell backward with the effects of the large amount of mana he had just used. The fusion of elements had taken a full thirty of his mana at once to form but it had done major damage. The only problem was the gathering time of the mana. 

Su rushed forward and used her shield to stab through the orc's neck. Its defenses had been severely weakened and it was barely hanging on to life. Su managed to deal the final blow without a single bit of resistance. "Walker, are you alright?"m Su used Walkers' actual name showing her worry for him. When someone was hurt she would lose her normal calmness which made everyone feel that much more important. 

"Yes. I am fine. Just used a lot of mana at once. It looks like we completed our quest." Walker was looking at the two different system notifications he had received. One about the quest, and the other about the skill he had just gained. 

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