Fear Not The Elf Who Knows 10,000 Spells - Chapter 25

"I'm not here to fight you." I said. Futilely. Stupidly. Yet hoping still. "Not this time. I want the plant." This thing was intelligent. Enough to scheme, to understand threats or sarcasm. "Just that and I'll go. You'll never even see me in your territory every again."

I said, on the complete absolute and ridiculous chance that this can work. That the monster would accept having one less enemy in the world. It can understand sincerity right?

"I'm trying to save someone. I can't afford to waste time." I said, summoning my mana openly.

Making mental barriers that are cutting it's mana links to me, only to have the barrier penetrated, or miss some of the link, or some turn out not real. So I'm in the constant familiar battle of reinforcing and rebuilding my mental barrier.

It laughed. Roared in merriment.

Amusement that sounded like dying men.

...Yeah. It understood sincerity alright, and it just made it bellow out in laughter at such acts. At asking for clemency when at it's mercy.

I drew my sword. Yeah, I shouldn't have expected anything else.

The Ancient Einsam stepped to the side, and gestured like a performer for me to leave. I smiled and said "thank you, kindly."

Neither of us bought it.

I walked toward the Einsam and the exit, charging up a Schnellwurf. Thank god the last one I used wasn't at full power, or that body first smash to the ceiling would have been way worst. Good thing I'm durable I guess.

This time though, I readied a Defensive Magic barrier to appear at any moment. Given the location I'm in and how far the exits look (either one), I think I'm deep enough that I might be close to the middle of the tunnel.

Shit, this is far deeper that I ever went in this place. The security rope only went 30 meters.

No time to slow down. No time to pause and plan.

I act.

Schnellwurf.

I rocket immediately leaving from where I was standing.

Away from the Einsam, moving backwards, letting the magnetic mana rope pull me back. My sword was drawn and held in front of me as I twist to face away from the monster, barrier up—

CRASH!

My barrier slammed into the ground.

...What?

I wasn't surprised at being tricked into hitting the wrong direction. The Einsam would make me think I'm moving toward the exit, when I was actually moving deeper into the tunnel.

That was normal. That was expected.

The Einsam could mess with what I see. It constantly had to remake, or refine the illusion in real time as I fought with my mental barrier, its mana tendrils trying to touch my mind.

Up was up. Down was down. Right was right and left was left.

Point is, my internal balance was always right, it's just information about the external world that could be wrong.

I was aiming directly at a path. Even if I was wrong, I'd have slammed into a wall or something.

But I slammed into the ground. Not even at an angle, so I'm still moving forward, but straight down, digging into the floor a little.

How?

I jump up, flying straight up to get some distance. The tunnel is wide, so it's a few dozen meters to the ceiling. Need space from the monster, as it can't fly—

I bring my arms up, as I feel the Einsam coming right at me.

No, I was moving to parallel to the ground, going right at it. It was swiping it's claws at me.

Senses and instincts of a direwolf shout at me, and I ducked while jumping forward.

I felt the the sharp claws of the Einsam pass over where my head was.

I rolled on the ground and righted myself instantly, turning to face the monster. Although it likely wasn't actually where I was looking but elsewhere.

Jilwer.

That wasn't my main problem right now though. My thought sped up as I contemplated the horrifying realization that this thing can mess with my spatial senses.

How? Since when?

Was it the repeated exposes from fighting it? Is it something else?

...The rope and wooden posts didn't just serve as a way to get out of the tunnels despite the Einsam's illusion. They were an actual anchor somehow, to not get lost.

The Einsam could trick what I see, hear, taste or smell, and sometimes touch.

But my own internal balance and how my body is positioned in space, that it couldn't touch before.

Meaning I can't fly. Can't leave the ground, or I won't know up from down, or where I'm going.

Due to my faster thinking, I was starting to cut off and hut down the Einsam's mental tendrils faster and faster. Slowly my senses were showing more and more of the reality around me.

It was like some bits of the ground, air or light from the tunnel's holes were breaking into mist. The exit extended further away showing I was deeper than I thought.

The Einsam won't stop its relentless mental intrusions, but it now focused on just casting illusions externally. It's mana covered the tunnel like a sea, and so it used the "water" to paint the world as it wished.

It was walking closer. It's position whether it was a little to the right, or to the left, further away or closer, I can't tell. Just that it was heading towards me.

I stood up and walked toward the wall of the tunnel. Eye on the monster, while my eyes was on the monster. However I was ignoring my sight. All my focus was on my mana detection.

The Ancient Einsam could trick all my senses, even my magical ones, but fuck it, I'll just keep trying and tire this fucker out if I have to.

I still can't tell how it can trick my full sight mana detection. I can tell when it's using mana to paint the world, so how can still slip things past my notice.

Only option is to over power whatever spell I can to be sure I used it. But that would just tire me out faster.

Wait, I've been walking for a while now. The wall wasn't that far away.

I glanced to the side to check the distance.

That was a mistake.

Because I soon as I focused in front of me, the Einsam was right there. Two feet from me.

"PHAITAGURD!"

The magic barrier shined into existence with a powerful hum and heavy energy.

And not a moment too soon, as the Einsam's claws slammed into him. From the side. By an arm swinging from right in front of him.

The Einsam didn't use a trick for this attack.

It laughed.

Fucker thinks it's so funny for throwing in an attack that's completely straight forward without an illusion every once in a while.

I crashed into the wall and the barrier cracked. Objective complete I suppose.

"You look like you're having trouble there, Train." 'Rein' said from next to me. She was crouching on the ground into a ball, arms hugging her knees, head resting on said knees, as she looked at me with a cutesy smile. "Although, not as much trouble as me and the other kids burned in the orphanage."

Then 'Rein' started to burn, as fire appear and climb upon her, as her skin began to char and melt.

I had to push down the instinct to feel horror or sorrow. My mind knows this is fake. I know this isn't real, and that Rein is long dead. Yet somehow the fucking Einsam's illusions make it so that I perceive its magic as real, even when I know it isn't.

I pushed those emotions away and stood up, burying my arm into the wall.

"You know this is all your fault, right?" 'Lässig' spoke to me this time from behind. I glanced back, before I could stop. His body was covered in third degree burns, and a lot of bones were showing. "You just had to leave, didn't you? Schwanz was just too small for the great Trenn. You couldn't wait, could you?"

I prepared a Schnellwurf. It didn't matter what direction, as long as the mana line was parallel to the ground. A mana pulse exploded out of me, and I got the feedback of being in the middle of the Death Tunnel.

The wood post and rope were very visible to my full mana sight. I guess that's due to my familiarity with them.

The ground, walls, ceiling, wooden post and rope were clear to me. Everything else, even distance seem to twist and change within the painted sea of that was the Einsam's mana that covered everything.

Doesn't matter. I can see the exit you sunnvabitch. Everything else isn't a distraction. I'm gonna have to find another way to get the Shineglow Moss once I'm outta here.

"Hmm, quite the predicament you found yourself in, young Trenn." Minus' spoke to me, and for a moment I wasn't sure if it was really her or another illusion. "I wonder, how will you get out of it?"

Of course, I could feel her mana link sending me her voice. It was like a lighthouse in a storm. Might be useful for this situation, but I no longer need it.

Because I already had my answer.

I cast a skin-tight Phaitagurd on myself, as well as body strengthening to the highest level.

"Like this!" I shouted back and fired the magnet slingshot spell launching myself toward the exit.

I was dragging my arm through rock like it was heavy mud. The barrier over my arm was cracking and reforming from how much energy I was putting in it.

In a few seconds I would cross the distance, and fly out of the tunnel. Be safe. Figure out a new plan.

The barrier cracked faster and faster then broke.

I gritted my teeth as my arm was now digging through the rock and stone. My body was hardened and strengthen by my mana that I could withstand it, this pressure and pain.

A few more seconds. Just a few more seconds.

I was starting to leave a trail of red on the tunnel wall, as the skin started to get shredded.

Hold. Hold. I need to be in constant contact to not lose my spatial senses and internal balance.

Almost. Almost. There—

CRASH!

I slammed into something.

I was disoriented, my nose was broken. Bleeding. Arm hurt.

Not sure if red arm is from cuts and blood or muscles showing from peeled skin.

My full mana sight was telling me I was tether—No. A tentacle had latched onto me. It was a limb that was physical. Not just mana, but actual flesh, as much as a monster would have.

The instant I noticed it, it detached from me.

The next instant something moved through the tentacle. Like a bulge or ball inside of a hose.

I didn't have time to react, only notice. The ball move through the tentacle as fast as I did with my Schnellwurf spell.

All in one instant, the ball, no, core arrived. Then the moment it transferred through the tentacle, the Einsam was there next to me.

I didn't have time to process. Just the tentacle letting go then movement, a blink of an eye later and the monster was next to me.

I jumped back, pain rippled across my body. I focused on healing magic, hoping to quickly be able to fight, while conjuring another barrier.

Yet miraculously it wasn't needed. The Ancient Einsam wasn't focused on me.

It was focused on what I crashed into.

A barrier.

A magic barrier that somehow I never noticed till now. In all the months I came here and fought this thing I didn't notice it. I wasn't embarrassed so much as angry that I missed something like that.

Except now that I notice it, I noticed... that it felt like the mountain. Like those times I gave Erdgeistflüstern—the spell to communicate with the spirit of mountains, rivers, the land, etc—a shot, the feeling of that amused old woman came from this barrier.

The whole thing was so interwoven with the mountain that I couldn't have sensed it, because it was part, no, it was the whole mountain.

Someone cast a magic spell making it part of the whole mountain. How in the fuck?

And right away, my mind jump to something.

To the memory of the first time I entered the Death Tunnel. To something "Schroff" said.

"...My father used to tell me about this tunnel when I was young and curious." Schroff began. "He told me that this Einsam existed since the time of his grandfather, and his grandfather before him. It simply settled here in this tunnel, feasting on travelers, before being sealed to only this tunnel by a traveling mage."

It wasn't Scroff of course, just the Einsam using an illusion of my mentor.

But that means...!

I looked to the Einsam, as it slammed a hand on the barrier only for it's limb to be repelled and burned.

The Einsam r̶o̴a̴r̷e̸d̴. Mainly in anger with small bits of pain. The "sea" of monster mana covered the Einsam's arm and the damaged was washed away.

I wasn't sure if it was covering the damaged to its arm with an illusion, if the damaged was an illusion all along, or it just healed itself with its abundance of mana.

All I knew was that it was angry. I guess it saw my spell and thought it could use me to escape?

But then when it moved and teleported... no, reformed it's body around its core... was that something it could already do.

Cold fear spread into my body from my guts.

Or did it learn to do that form me? No, right? If it can break down and reform its body around its core, that must be a skill it knew all along... but transferring its body from place to place, maybe it could do that before, but what if it wasn't as fast before?

I didn't have time to contemplate this for long as the Einsam with bared teeth turned to me.

I dashed back deeper into the tunnel, eyes still on the monster.

"Oh no, you're not taking your anger out on me, bitch!" I dozens of Zoltraaks were fired, filling up every place in the direction in front of me.

Even if it can move it's core surely destroying it's body hard enough still affects it, right?

Explosion and dust filled the area were the Einsam was. I felt the spell hit something. I am sure of it.

Only one of the monster's mental tendrils was left (which means there are probably three more I can't sense), so it can't trick me with too many things.

As I was firing the mana "sea" was pulled back to in front of the monster, proving my guess that I was actually hitting something now. Maybe something vital.

Enough to threaten the monster.

I couldn't help the grin at finally getting a lucky break.

Then when the dust cleared...

"Oh, this is some bull shit." I shouted.

In front of the Einsam were three figures. They looked shadowy, ethereal like they weren't real.

The first looked like a mage. It held a staff making a purple magic barrier, it looked unrefined. Like just a solid wall of mana, rather than something with the concept of dispelling magical attack. It looked like something before Phaitagurd was created.

The mage ghost was wearing black robes covering it from head to toe. It vaguely looked female. There was no face, just a shining point of mana.

The second was a giant with an axe. The pinnacle of a warrior. Armored arms and legs, chest bare like a barbarian, and head covered with a hood and a red scarf.

The giant's face seem to be made of shadows, and what flesh was visible was deathly pale, like a zombie. Or again, a ghost.

The third seem to have the most mana poured into it, as it was rolling off of it in waves.

It was a knight, a swordsman. It looked less like a person and more like armor held together with mana and malice.

"L̶̠̄e̴̹͠t̴̯́'̴̦̿s̵̛̱ ̷̟͆p̶̙̔l̶̥̿a̷̰͝ỷ̶̭?̴̟̎"The Einsam was laughing.

"Minus." I finally said. "Can you please help me out of this?" I called on my last line of aid.

If this thing can do what I think it can do. If the Ancient Einsam can recreate copies of its victims then I'm screwed. No wonder no one could kill it, even if they could overcome its illusions.

I have no idea how accurate it can recreate the skill of its devoured victims, but knowing my luck thus far? Probably with complete accuracy.

"How fascinating." Minus said. An air of curiosity about her, and not at all concern about my impending doom. "To think a mere Einsam could evolve to such level. I've never even considered that gain abilities comparable to those of a Spiegel. Hmm, it likely can't recreate those facsimile to be a prefect recreation of the originals, since even if it could read memories, storing that information could be a challenging task for it, since it has to do so quickly before devouring its victims, and before being killed by them."

"Okay, that is all fascinating, but could you please like, I dunno, use our link to teleport me out of here?" I asked desperately as the three ghosts began walking toward me.

"No." Minus said plainly. I could feel the smirk in her voice.

"...No because you can't?" I asked. Even though it won't change anything about this situation, I kinda hoped it wasn't because—

"No because I won't." She said.

I stopped in my tracks, letting out a sigh of annoyance and disappointment.

"Young Trenn, I am not a friend, an ally or a mentor, I am simply an acquaintance with whom you share an interest in magic. I found your actions intriguing so I facilitated them. But this? This a result of your own prerogative. I wouldn't dare be the one to undo it. This is your life and I only wish to spectate."

Right. Minus isn't a friend. Just an old elf who finds me interesting.

"And if I said I accept being your student?" I asked.

"Then my first lesson is for you to survive." Minus said back, her tone almost cheeky.

I gritted my teeth, almost wanting to curse, but that would accomplish nothing.

"Can you give me any help? Any hint, please?" I begged.

"Very well," Minus chuckled. "Your mana is you. Why are you letting that leech gain entrance?"

That didn't help. It didn't give ma an "ah ha!" moment, or for that information to click something in my head, and give me new insight to work with.

What did I expect?

Minus is someone I literally just met today. Hell, her presence might have been the cause for the Elves Shield to attack Schwanz, how could I have forgotten that!?

Why am I looking for sympathy and companionship from a stranger? Fuck!

...You know what?

"Fuck this." I said as I unleashed the hold I have on my mana, and for a moment I felt all the monster's mental tendrils span from the pressure of my full mana surging forward.

"What...?" Minus' voice sounded surprised, as I felt amazement, intrigue and joy from her.

I pushed all that aside and focused on my next spell.

Among all the mountain folk spells Schroff taught me, this one was something of an ace. The secret spell of those who live and rule the mountains.

It was a spell to connect to the mountain, to call upon its heart and cause it to shake. It would throw off enemies, unbalance trespassers, intimidate invaders, and at the extreme?

It could cause an earthquake that would send an avalanche of rock and snow upon coming armies.

"Alright, here's how we going to do this!" I called out, and the three specters and the phantom monster paused in curiosity at my tone. "Roses are red, illusions against me won't prosper." I began my mana swirling at me as I began to cast this high level spell for the first time. "With this spell I call down," I held my arms in front of me, my mana gathered upon my frame then into a giant shining ball in my hands. "This very Frost Mountain, ERDRUF!"

The slammed the ball of mana into the ground, and it sent a ripple wave in every direction; the walls, floors, soon into the very mountain itself.

And in response, the mountain began to shake.

===

AN: Trenn doesn't know how to rhyme. :(