CHAPTER 97: BATTLE MAGE

Both Liam and Aldriana look at him.

"Sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt. But I’d like to learn too, if it’s possible. This dungeon is very different from any other dungeon I’ve explored and cleared. And the previous one was a mutated dungeon. For some reason, dungeons are evolving to be more dangerous."

"We can barely keep up with our heartstone technology. If we explored this dungeon with our usual weapons... it would take at least sixty to seventy people. That is a huge number of Sentinels."

Arthur stops there. He believes Aldriana and Liam, especially Liam, would understand what he means.

Aldriana blinks. "Battle Mage."

Liam blinks too. "I’m sorry?"

"The term is Battle Mage. Someone who can fight and do magic," Aldriana explains.

"Battle Mage... mages... magus... where is all of this coming from?" Liam asks. "Do you guys have, like, a secret society or something? Isn’t magic supposed to be extinct? What... a few millennia ago?"

"I even thought it was just a myth. A legend told to children," Arthur admits.

Aldriana is quiet. She’s thinking about how much truth she should tell them. She has been wanting someone to talk to about her situation, but she hasn’t found a person she could trust.

Both Liam and Arthur are smart and trustworthy. More importantly, their minds are not fragile. They can process new information fast and adapt quickly.

They are her best choices.

But should she say it now?

Can they accept it?

The fact that she’s not even from this world.

"Aldriana?" Liam asks.

"Hm?" She answers absent-mindedly. "You asked me something?"

"You look distracted. Are you okay?" Liam asks.

"Yeah, I’m okay. Sorry, I’m a little... distracted."

"I..." She pauses.

"I’m not..." She pauses again.

Arthur and Liam watch her in silence, waiting.

"I don’t know where to begin," she finally says. "Learning magic is not simple. Ideally, you start as a child. Like any other skill that needs practice. And talent helps too."

She looks at both of them. "You two already have established fighting styles. Adding magic on top of that will be difficult. Because to cast a spell, you need to say the incantations. Can you imagine fighting those horse haelions in close combat while mumbling spell words? Can you break your concentration like that?"

"If you can’t, learning magic will be more dangerous for you than helpful."

"But you don’t say incantations," Liam argues. "I’ve never heard you say them. Do you whisper them or say them in your mind?"

"No. I don’t need to say them."

"Why? Is that trainable?" Liam presses.

She shakes her head. "No. Well... you can. Sort of. But it also has something to do with your talent. Or the correct word would be resonance."

Seeing both of them confused, she continues, "Look, there are two ways we can do this. One, I start from the very beginning, explaining what magic is and the theories behind it. With that, you’d understand faster, but you won’t be able to cast anything yet."

"Option two, we skip the theory and go straight into doing magic. But without knowing the basics, you’ll rely on trial and error. And if you do something wrong while fighting haelions, it might get you killed."

She folds her arms. "Which option would you like?"

"So you don’t mind me learning too?" Arthur asks to confirm.

"No, I don’t," Aldriana says, shaking her head. "Because you are right. The dungeons are getting more and more dangerous. And mana inside them is abundant. You should use it to your advantage. When you do, you can save a lot of people."

"Thank you." Arthur nods. "And about your two options... if I may suggest, combine them. Give us theory while you train us in practice."

He pauses, then adds, "And you are absolutely correct about our established fighting styles. But you’re forgetting something."

He glances at Liam before continuing. "We, Sentinels are trained to adapt. It is vital to our survival. Magic would be another weapon in our arsenal. Trust us to be able to use that weapon to the fullest."

Liam nods. He couldn’t agree more with Arthur.

"That is actually good. It shows me you are serious about learning and your motive is very clear. I really like that." Aldriana smiles.

"Okay then. I’ll set up the barrier first, then we’ll go a little into magic theory before bed. Tomorrow, when we’re hunting those haelions, I’ll teach you one or two incantations and we’ll go from there. Yes?"

"Yes!"

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In another cave, a large herd of horse haelions are gathering. They surround their leader while making clicking noises. If any of the humans were here, their eyes would widen. The haelions are communicating with each other.

Arthur would say, "Impossible."

Their leader sits on a higher platform, also making clicking noises.

If Liam saw this creature, he would scream, "Centaur!"

The leader is half humanoid and half horse, exactly like a centaur. The only difference is that this centaur haelion also has wings. It is half Pegasus, half human.

It has long, thick, tangled brown hair. Its face is almost human: two eyes, a humanoid nose, and a mouth.

But its teeth resemble horse teeth, just smaller, and its pupils are completely black. Terrifying.

Its size is no larger than the other horse haelions. In fact, it is considered smaller, since half its body is humanoid.

Its arms are thick. Its humanoid torso is covered in haelion hide instead of skin. And it has two pairs of arms, with six fingers on each hand.

"Silence!" one haelion clicks louder than the rest.

"The King speaks."

All the haelions fold their front legs and bow to the centaur haelion.

"Report." the King orders.

"None return. Humans strong. Stronger than before. Our kin... gone."

Clicking noises rise, then fade.

"We hunt. We kill. No rest... until all humans die."

The King lifts a fist into the air, wings open.

The cave erupts in sharp clicking.

The sound echoes deep into the cave’s dark tunnels.