Chapter 72 - 72. Flowing Water
\' magic soul bow
+2 matk, +2atk
A bow created through great hardship. The crafter feared the time a hunter would lack an arrow to protect themselves and used his soul to forge magic unto the bow itself. When mana is used as fuel the bow creates an arrow with the user\'s elemental affinity.\'
"Hey Gil, you just got a new toy!" Walker knew this was perfect for Gil who wanted to keep his attack and magical attack stats the same. He desired the ability to use magic arrows and regular arrows. This bow was almost made for him.
"Yea? What\'s it do? That weird skeleton used magic didn\'t it?" Gils face slowly changed from confused to awe. "Wait you\'re not saying this bow made that happen are you!?" Gil was shaking waiting for confirmation.
"Exactly that you can use mana and it creates an arrow out of your elemental affinity. So this is perfect for you." Walker smiled and picked up the bow to hand to Gil.
Gil took the bow having a hard time believing it was real. "So that explains why that arrow was all dark and spooky. It was terrifying but makes sense a skeleton would have a dark element." As he said these words his voice curious at what his elemental affinity would be.
"We\'ll aim at the wall there and test it just don\'t hit an archway!" Walker Su and Remey were looking at him expectably sad Midnight had decided it was time to snack on some of the skeletal archer\'s bones and did not pay attention.
Gil lifted the bow, the second he sent his mana in to it green swirls seemed to appear out of nowhere. This green swirl of magic pulled the air towards his fingers as he pulled the string. Soon a green arrow with a top that rotated like a tornado appeared on the bow. Everyone but Gil was slack jawed. Gil however was feeling the wind as it was part of his body. He breathed out and released the arrow.
Their breaths were taken away, the arrow reached the wall in a blink of an eye. The rotation drilled a hole through the wall as if cleanly cut. The shocking part was there was no sound! A large breeze that took the air from them but no sound!
Gil let the bow fall to his side, he breathed deeply, "I won\'t be able to use that many times but, wow." He couldn\'t believe what he\'d just done. This was something he\'d only dreamed of, to fire a magical arrow.
"You literally just took our breath away jerk! Pfft guess you\'ll be all full of hot air now"Remey laughed at her jokes. Gil had definitely shown a wind elemental affinity and a powerful one at that. An archer needed to be attuned to the wind to truly know where their arrows would land but this was another level completely.
While they all gushed over Gil\'s new weapon not a single one noticed the water beginning to flow from the hole Gil\'s arrow had created.
"Hey umm guys where did this puddle come from" Remey had realized they were all standing in a growing puddle. Midnight had backed away from the water unwilling to touch it a slight growl in her throat.
"Leader midnight doesn\'t seem to like this water at all." Su was worried they were standing in this puddle and she didn\'t see anything wrong.
"I\'ll check it out let\'s see what my skill says" Walker used his all around appraisal skill immediately
\'Rotting leach
Small undead creatures that live in toxic conditions. Often found in bodies of stagnant water filled with corpses. Once it infects a host it spreads poisons throughout the hosts body slowly feeding in its very life.\'
"Everyone out of the puddle now! There are leeches in the water!" Walker jumped to the dry stones. Seeing this everyone else followed. Upon paying more attention they all saw small purple colored worm like things trying to swim in the water. Noticing one near her Remey stomped on it with her foot crushing it.
The flow of the water was Increasing and as such so was the puddle. "We need to move and get away from this stuff now." Walker made the call to move ahead faster. He knew that these leaches could be trouble in the long term. "We need to stay away from water, I\'m not sure leaders\' flames can kill them when they swim in the water." Su was definitely afraid of these things, they were slimy poisonous worms. Her mother had once tried a regular leech as a healing technique. Unfortunately, the healer that was there had spilled a jar full of leaches in the room and one had scrawled on to Su giving her an irrational fear.
Her face was absolute terror causing the others to hesitate. They rarely had seen Su lose her calm demeanor and give way to fear. "Then let\'s move we can push forward just stay alert." Worried about Su walker decided to push everyone forward away from this unexpected situation.
The flow of water was almost gushing now, there must be an extreme amount of water behind the wall.
Cccrrrraackkk!
The sound of the wall beginning to crack echoed through the catacombs. "Run!" Remey yelled and the party started sprinting forward. They passed many side hallways rushing to find a door to close behind them. It dealt like an eternity of running as they heard more and more cracking noises. They could see a small narrow stairway leading up at the end of the hall. Five skeletons were standing around near the walls.
"Ignore the skeletons we need to get up higher, just knock them away!" Walker\'s plan was to push the skeletons away and climb the stairs. If any followed Su would bash them with her shield. "Su you follow behind Remey front in case there\'s another enemy up top!."
They ran with all their might not worrying about alerting the skeletons. The skeletons turned and left the sides of the walls to come towards the party. The nearest was kicked back by Remey as she got to the stair well. "Mana blast!" Walker forced two away with his spell as Gil and midnight went up the stairs. The other skeletons were pushed back by Su as Walker and her began climbing.
The sound of a crumbling wall and gushing water was all they could hear, even the skeletons paused their movements. The water was coming.