Masteria Online: Shattering the Dark God's Grand Scheme-Chapter 81 - Shush

Zara and Elara leapt from the shadows and the roofs respectively, and made their way back to the others.

Elara gave a smile and began explaining to the others. "Just as you thought, Lumi. There were several survivors hidden around. We managed to inform them of our presence, then carefully confirm the number of survivors. In the surroundi-"

She was directly interrupted by Zara. "Shut up."

Elara: ???

Zara finished the report instead. "Our current location is free of civilians." She pointed to a house in the distance. "That is the closest civilian. Alvida’s Ice Station is further away. Status unknown."

Lumi didn’t expect her interruption, but regardless of whatever rivalry was happening there, he nodded as that was all the information needed. "Then we are free to engage."

Without another word, he raised his wand with sharp eyes, and began to fire several streams of light.

Valeria backed off without a word needing to be said, and declared to the others. "Ranged attacks only! Elara! Marcus!"

"On it!" Marcus replied, gathering fire at his wand. He released a focused jet of flame at the nearest elemental. The intense heat vaporized the toxic sludge before it could splash, leaving only ash.

"That works." Elara observed as she was drawing her bow. "You can burn the mess we’ll make away."

"Wind Shot!" She declared, several arrows materializing at once, each piercing through multiple toxic elementals, leaving them leaking their lifeblood.

Watching this, Susie raised her wand. "I should help." She watched how the others were attacking first before she cast anything, so as to avoid interrupting their attacks. Once she sufficiently grasped it, she cast. "Lightning Bolts!"

Above three toxic elementals, a concentrated ball of lightning appeared. From that ball...

Boom!

A bolt slammed straight down, shattering the hit enemies on the spot. Susie seemed a bit surprised. "These are weak!"

"Lightning Bolts!" "Lightning Bolts!" "Lightning Bolts!"

And thus, Susie spamming Lightning Bolts was just more proof of a fact about mages that most players were very unfamiliar with.

Most Magicians only used a few offensive spells. The classic imagery of Magicians having a repertoire of dozens of offensive spells was just wrong.

If the spell could hit and do damage, why would you need a different attack method?

Marcus, on the other hand, was the fastest at clearing monsters.

He held out his wand, and then swung it forth like a sword. "Orbital flame!"

A ball of fire came out, then another, and more still. An endless stream of fireballs came out, each one beginning to orbit an imaginary center, slamming into enemies. He stopped shooting out fireballs, then held his free hand over the tip of his wand.

He concentrated. "Explosion."

BOOM!

Each of his fireballs which were orbiting around, even the ones that had already hit an enemy, suddenly exploded into a fiery blast!

With that single maneuver, he had taken out six monsters.

[EXP +44] [EXP +47] [EXP +43] [EXP +44] [EXP +47] [EXP +43]

"There’s one heading for that house!" Elara called out, pointing out an elemental which had entirely deviated from their normal behavior, heading away from the battle.

Lumi reacted first, firing Light Shower in a spread pattern that riddled the creature’s barrel with holes. Toxic sludge poured out, but Elara’s wind pushed it away from the building while Marcus flash incinerated the weakened creature.

"Hey Elara!" Zara called out. "Why are you calling that out!? Take care of that yourself."

Valeria’s eyes flashed. "Stop that!"

Zara paused, then stopped talking and focused on her combat.

[EXP +41] [EXP +42] [EXP +49]

"How many of these things are there?" Jin groaned as another wave emerged from an alley.

"It logically doesn’t make sense. I know this place. It doesn’t produce waste." Susie spoke, studying the village layout. "But if someone’s been dumping waste systematically, there could be hundreds of cubic meters of contaminated material down there."

"Fantastic," Jin muttered. "Something systematic now."

"They seem drawn to movement." Noted Valeria, as they fought. "That would explain how so many survivors exist."

"But they’re definitely being directed," added Lumi. "They’re not random. Just looking at their movements reveals that. Perhaps not in real time, but their overall movements, absolutely."

By the time they reached the village center, they’d destroyed over sixty waste elementals. The experience gains were substantial, for Lumi especially when taking the lack of difficulty into account. More importantly, they’d saved dozens of lives and prevented the contamination from spreading.

"I think that’s the last here," Marcus said, incinerating a final elemental that had been trying to squeeze through a gate.

"For now," Lumi corrected. "After all-"

"My sister!" A young seal, Alona, cried out as she ran towards them suddenly. "Alvida went to the monitoring station yesterday and hasn’t returned! Those things surrounded the building. She must be trapped! Knights, o glorious Aria Knights, please save my sister!" She gave an exaggerated bow to them. "I humbly request it!"

Such a ’Request’ from an ’NPC’ immediately triggered the System.

[Quest Received: Alvida in danger!]

[Objective: Rescue Alvida from danger.]

[Recommended Level: 30-35]

"We’ll find her." Lumi promised. "Where’s the station?"

"Right there, there! That tower!" Alona pointed with her flipper at the tallest structure around. The monitoring station was on the far side of the island, accessible by a path that would take them directly through the heaviest concentration of waste elementals.

"My boat." Alona added miserably. "Those things destroyed it. I can’t even go for help."

"We’ll handle this," Lumi assured her. "Go back into hiding where it’s safe."

The path to the monitoring station was a gauntlet of toxic hazards. Waste elementals emerged from every crook and cranny, all in what seemed to be mass produced steel drums. The very ground was treacherous, with hidden pools of toxic sludge that could eat through boot leather in seconds.

As they fought, Susie noted. "The concentration patterns are fascinating," she said, taking readings. "Someone’s been using the natural flows to spread the toxicity efficiently."

"Fascinating isn’t the word I’d use," Jin muttered, lightning crackling as he blasted another wave of elementals. "Disgusting, maybe. Disturbing. Definitely not fascinating."