Earth Do is similar to the Earth Wall that Ticka proposed to use against the fire the other day in that it creates a construct of sothing between dirt and stone. The difference between them and the reason they are separate spells is the complexity in creating a do that doesn’t collapse in on itself imdiately after construction.
That was why Nia needed to focus and soone to protect her from the unknown monster while she focused.
As Alec watched Nia focus on drawing the spell formation, he couldn’t help but think that this was an awfully roundabout way of doing things just because they couldn’t find the monster with their current abilities.
But it should be the safest option as long as his Simple Barriers could hold up.
Otherwise, they would have to scour the entire hall for the monster that could be the size of a finger or smaller.
Nia had failed more tis than she had succeeded when practicing Earth Do. But this wasn’t practice. It was the mont she had practiced for. Victoria and Ticka were watching her. She could not fail here.
Gradually, the spell formation neared completion.
Another needle struck the barrier with a thwang. Nia couldn’t help but flinch, and her spell formation flickered.
"Focus." Alec’s calm voice helped ease Nia’s nerves, and she completed the Earth Do. She even managed to tricky part, which was to place it against the wall so that it shielded the wooden tags.
She exhaled a deep breath when she finished.
"Well done," Alec complinted her.
Nia just nodded.
In the ti she had done that, Victoria had sealed the other four entrances to the ceremonial hall with ice that looked like it wouldn’t lt even if Miteria’s two suns were to appear before it.
She had a long way to go if she wanted to offer Victoria real support.
Maura started casting her Fireballs toward the far side of the room as Alec and Nia made their way back.
Victoria was specialized in ice, and Nia and Ticka were both earth mages who didn’t have the leeway to learn other spells at the mont. Madelynn was a Warrior.
The only one who could help her was Alec.
Once everyone else except Victoria was behind them, they both switched to Flathrower and poured a stream of fire onto the floor.
With nothing to burn, the flas would die out soon, but not without robbing the place of its air and filling it with heat, especially if they poured out enough fire to fill a swimming pool.
The heat was starting to beco too much for them, and a lot of it was escaping through the chamber, so Victoria gave them the signal by beginning to cast her own spell.
A few monts later, an ice wall separated the group from the overwhelming inferno on the other side. The orange light flickered and danced on the blue canvas, creating moving cave paintings of a magical nature.
It was srizing, but the only one who seed to appreciate it was Maura.
The others were busy thinking.
After a while, the flas inside the hall died down.
Victoria waited a minute after it went dark before removing her ice wall. The air behind them surged forward like a tidal wave, almost knocking Nia and Ticka off their feet. The next mont, it went the other way, having expanded upon contact with the heat in the room.
’Is this what being a fish is like?’ Alec asked himself, the currents pulling him back and forth, while seaweed in the form of hair slapped his face.
Slowly, they crept forward to inspect the room.
The entire floor was scorched and covered in soot. It had reached most of the walls as well.
"It has to be dead now, right?" Ticka asked, fanning her face with her hand due to the heat.
’That’s a flag if I’ve ever heard one.’ Alec looked around. Finding a burnt corpse in the charred hall would be difficult.
Alec sniffed the air like a dog.
’Is it because I ate so much last night?’ He couldn’t sll the scent of a barbecued monster. But then again, if it were a small insect, how much could it possibly sll in such a large room?
"I do not see anything that could be considered the monster’s remains, My Lady," Madelynn said with a grim expression. But that was the sa expression she had worn since Alec first saw her, so it didn’t necessarily an anything.
"Well, duh. It is nothing more than ashes now. Are we done here? Can we take our tags and leave?" Ticka said impatiently.
Alec was frowning too deeply while thinking to hear what Ticka was saying.
’What was it...?’ There was sothing about Madelynn’s words that tickled the back of his brain.
Unintentionally, he crossed his arms like Ticka.
He was so deep in thought, looking through the records in [Reader], that he didn’t hear the others call his na until Maura poked his side with a sharp finger.
"Alec!"
"Yes?" He looked around and noticed the others staring at him.
"Is sothing wrong?" Victoria asked patiently.
Alec could tell that Ticka wanted him to say that it was nothing.
"It feels like sothing isn’t adding up."
"What would that be?"
"The monster hiding in here killed all those spiders, but it didn’t eat them. I also assud that the stage two spider ended up on the floor because it was too heavy to remain on the ceiling, even when paralyzed, but what if that wasn’t the case?
"Also, for a monster that could kill a stage two spider, didn’t the needles it fired seem pretty weak? Sure, they’re dangerous if they hit, but you noticed it in ti, Lady Victoria. Wouldn’t that stage two spider have noticed it as well?"
"Get to the point already!" Ticka urged.
"Wasn’t there also a pretty significant delay between each needle?"
"A monster who relied on poison needles like that would have had more powerful attacks that didn’t take several minutes to launch," Victoria said, a crease interfering with her otherwise immaculate skin on her brow.
"I think I was wrong," Alec admitted while looking around.
The floor was charred. The walls were charred. There was no place for a monster to hide in the open space.
...With one exception.
Slowly, Alec looked toward the ceiling.
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