Master Of None

Just before Walker conjured a combination of wind and light elemental mana to send a burst from the eternal orb staff, He heard the soft melody begin behind him. Alice had started to sing with a powerful tone that said she would stand there for the rest of her life if need be. It was the song of shields that she had struggled with. 

The light elemental mana flowed around them as if it had been waiting for such a moment. Onyx had emerged from his shadow tattoo form and was currently wrapped around Alice. The glow of light elemental mana around his scales meant only one thing. Just like the shadow where he hid away his body using darkness elemental mana, Onyx had learned to store away some of the light elemental mana he absorbed for later use. 

' The user has been affected by the skill; Chorus of light.' 

The eternal orb staff glowed brightly with light elemental mana and so did Gil's arrow. A shield of light slammed down in front of the purple blood worms causing a sizzling sound. Gil's arrow flew and impacted them causing the same reaction as earlier with a larger burst of light. 

Walker raised the eternal orb staff and a gust of white wind gathered around before it flew out from Walker in a single gust. The mist that the purple blood worms had crated was blown away and began to dissipate in to nothing before their eyes. 

'The skill purifying gust has been taken from the half born system. The skill purifying gust has been learned through assisted skills and user combination magic.

Purifying gust- 8 mana cost

The user is able to fuse light and wind elemental mana similar to a pure being of mixed blood. The wind carried the minor healing and purifying properties of light elemental mana to push away poisons and illness. The mana usage is high due to the wild nature of wind wanting to flow away from the light. This skill is best used when the light and wind elemental mana density is high.'

"Brother, I am hungry." Onyx slithered slowly from Alice's arm and Alice stopped singing. She looked a little pale whereas Onyx was sluggish. 

"Here, eat up as much as you can. Then make sure you nap for a while. We will push on out of here as soon as possible." Walker was done with the swamps but knew that his best chance to get out was to follow the water and potentially leave the swamps a little south of their desired destination. "I have a mana potion for you too. Chorus of light, that's the skill you used with the song of shields? I assume that you and Onyx worked on that when we weren't paying any attention?" 

The blush that Alice had was cute enough that Walker had trouble handling it. But when she hid a small smile he thought that he was about to melt right there. "Walker, those things look to be gone but I don't think we should stay around here. Things are too quiet and that gust of wind and light did not do anything to hide our presence." Zephyr had finally left the bow and had been whispering to Gil about the changing wind she could feel around them. 

"I agree. We are going to double down on our efforts and follow the water to the beach. I don't care if we end up too far down from the port town. We need to get out of here." The thought to follow flowing water was normal. If they followed the direct flow of water they would end up heading back toward the kingdom. Against the flow of water and they would find themselves heading toward the beach and eventually toward the marches. However, they could easily avoid the marshes since it was a very small space between the beach and the swamp lands. 

There was some worry as Walker looked at Alice who definitely needed rest. But they didn't have a choice. They had alerted every monster in the area to their presence by being reckless and it was the price they needed to pay. Midnight brought Onyx on to her back while he ate away at the light elemental crystal and Remey took the spot next to Alice. After Walker felt for the flow of the water by sensing the mana around him they turned and pushed forwards. 

There were ice paths being frozen in the ground by Walker so that they could walk unimpeded. He was pushing on with a speed that they had not carried for some time and it was clear that they were struggling. Alice was stumbling but at every step Remey was there. "I don't like the sound of them. Keep pushing." Gil was taking up the rear and could hear a soft rumbling behind them. The sound of cracking sticks and sloshing mud reached everyone's ears as well. 

"Just keep going and I will buff us." Walker was straining himself by constantly creating a solid footing using ice. The water elemental mana being around was useful and made things easier but it was still a lot of his own mana being used. The multi buff skill on top of that was a heavy strain but sped them up a lot more. 

Clashing vines and water became louder around them. Walker dared not turn and see what kind of monster they had awakened to pursue them. "Run!" Gil's warning pushed them all in to a sprint. They matched Alice's pace so that they would not leave her behind. The sounds grew even more intimidating as they broke through the dead trees and swampy ground to reveal sandy wet ground and overgrown sea grass with frozen seafoam around them. The beach had been so close without their knowledge but they were not stopping yet. 

"Go right to the water! The things that live in the swamp lands don't go in to salt water oceans!" This was one thing Su had read and committed to memory just in case. It more than paid off as they reached the water's edge and turned to see what had been following them. 

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