Chapter 60: When the tides turn

The party stepped into the fog hovering above the marsh with Eddena in the lead. Ingvar and Kara were next followed by Edward ridding on Minx’s back.

Not longer after stepping inside, a hissing sound rang into everyone’s ears. Before Edward could even react, Eddena disappeared from the front of the group.

A few seconds later, as everyone was still on alert, Eddena returned and said: “It was just a weak magic beast but you still need to be careful. Even an attack from a low level magic beast might land true with all this fog.”

Without waiting for any answer from the rest, Eddena once again continued walking forward. The party kept walking blindly through the thick fog for an entire day. Eddena took care of most magic beasts that were hiding in the swamp with Ingvar stepping in once in a while if there happened to be more than one beast attacking.

They were not able to spot a single sign of the humanoid beast they came here to investigate. The thick fog covering the entire place didn’t help as well. As it started darkening and the visibility got even worse, Eddena chose a relatively dry spot where they could lay down and decided they should camp there for the night.

“This is going to be troublesome. This fog was not here the last time I passed through. With it impeding out vision, it would probably take a long time to find the beast, that is if it doesn’t chose to actively hide from us.”

Everyone nodded at Eddena’s words and Kara added: “We also have another problem?”

“What is it?” asked Eddena, only for Kara to turn towards Edward.

“The monsters we encountered up to now were not that strong, so Edward might be able to deal with them in his sleep, but there are stronger beasts inhabiting the swamp. If he stumbles upon any of them…” said Eddena with a deep frown, understanding what Kara was trying to say.

“Don’t worry about me. I should be able to go for a couple of days without sleeping.” Replied Edward, not worrying about the wolf that much even if he had to turn. He knew the wolf would run away if it stumbled upon any dangerous beast.

Everyone fell silent, not really having a solution to this problem until Edward started feeling the mark on his arm heating up. Looking at it, he knew Fenrir must want to speak to him.

Looking around at the thick fog, he knew that Eddena would not allow him to move away for a moment to talk to Fenrir. He also figured that Fenrir wouldn’t want to speak to him if it was not important so, after thinking for a moment, he said: “Eddena, can you watch over the wolf while I turn for a moment?”

“And what good would that do?” asked Eddena, not understanding why Edward would suddenly want to transform.

“That… can you please just trust me? It’s important.”

Eddena nodded, curious what Edward has planned, before quickly knocking him out.

When Edward appeared in his mind, he looked up and asked: “So, why did you want to speak to me?”

“It’s not me.” Replied Fenrir as she pointed towards Azure using her head. The little fish floated towards Edward and said: “The fog that you see all around is water mana getting pushed out from the center of the marsh. As the mana got too dense, it started turning into fog. I can also feel a huge concentration of fire mana in the center pushing all this water mana away. Whatever is releasing all that fire mana must be very strong . I don’t think you should proceed any further.”

Edward frowned and said: “If it were up to me, I would turn back but I’m not so sure Eddena would agree to it.”

Seeing Azure fell silent, Edward said: “I’ll try to explain the situation to her, but if she doesn’t want to retreat, do you know a way we can take care of all this water mana obstructing our vision?” since Azure said it was just concentrated water mana, he figured that if someone knew a way to remove the fog it would be her, a high rank water spirit.

“There...” Before her words even started, Edward was pulled back into to the real world, his transformation ending.

Edward sighed and looked at all the eyes locked onto him from the other members of the group.

“I found out that this fog is made out of highly concentrated water mana….” Edward explained everything Azure told him.

Eddena closed her eyes for a moment and said: “I thought that might be the case, but I don’t really have the option of abandoning this mission. If the three of you think it’s too dangerous and want to retreat, you’re free to do so. Also know that if I end up fighting someone too strong, I might not have the luxury of protecting all of you as well.”

Edward, Ingvar and Kara looked at each other with Kara being the first one to speak: “I think retreating is the wise decision. We’re too weak and we’ll only be a burden to Eddena if we continue forward.”

“I agree.” Replied Ingvar and the two then waited for Edward to voice his opinion as well.

Edward took a quick look at all the mana around him and said: “I also think we can’t do anything to help if we follow Eddena deeper inside, but I would also like to stay here for a while longer.”

The others understood what he meant. A place heavy in water mana was quite rare as long as you didn’t live close to the ocean and it was a great opportunity for any water mage. Edward could bask in the dense water mana that got pushed to the marsh’s outskirts and increase his control of the water element faster than normal.

“Then we’ll stay with you as well and wait for Eddena to return after completing her mission.” Added Kara, not wanting to leave Edward alone.

Edward shook his head and said: “I plan on staying for at least a month and there is no point in you guys wasting so much time here with me. The beasts around the outskirts don’t seem that strong. Me and Minx should be able to easily deal with any that choose to attack us.”

After a little bit of back and forth, Ingvar and Kara agreed to return to the City of Ashes first. Edward would wait in the marsh’s outskirts and practice his magic while Eddena would continue her mission.

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They spent the night with Edward and Minx watching over the place while the others slept and everyone separated in the morning. Edward and Minx remained in the same spot, Ingvar and Kara made their way back towards the city and Eddena started heading further into the marsh.

“Fenrir, do you think it’s alright for me to sleep here? Will the wolf head deeper inside?”

[I highly doubt it. It will probably continue hunting the beasts around the outskirts.]

Since he didn’t have to worry about the wolf, Edward consumed all his mana while practicing his water control with four spells active at once. He chose water balls since their mana cost was the lowest out of all the spells he knew. This continued until he was left out of mana, moment in which he chose to go to sleep.

During the time the wolf would hunt free, Edward would work on learning new spells with Azure’s help. The same routine continued for half a month, time in which Edward has managed to learn a total of three new spells while also completing his water curtain.

<Water Whip>
<Spell formed out of a large number of water tendrils woven together.>
<Cost: 100 mana.>

He chose this spell since it would allow him to bind enemies in close range and also attack in low to mid range. It was a spell he felt it would suit his wolf form. The cost was a bit large, but high water density was a requirement if he didn’t want the water whip to easily break.

<Water Platform>
<A small platform created out of extremely dense water>
<Cost: 100 mana>

A spell Azure suggested that would increase his mobility in combat, mostly his aerial mobility. He could quickly create a platform under his feet to hover above or change direction in mid-flight.

<Water Vortex>
<Large area of effect attack>
<Cost depending on scale>

Edward’s first real area of effect attack. He would cover the area around himself using his mana before rotating it at high speed, thus forming a round water vortex. With the mana he currently has, the biggest one he managed to create was a vortex with a 30 feet diameter, one which he could hold active for a total of three seconds.

An area with a high water density was indeed an incredible treasure for any water mage. Since Minx didn’t really have the need to practice, she spend the entire time taking care of any magic beast that would come next to them before they could bother Edward.

As he was practicing another spell Azure has insisted on, a spell to summon her in the material world the same way Circe did with her water spirit, Edward started feeling the ground underneath his feet starting to shake.

Opening his eyes and canceling the six water balls he was controlling at the same time as he was practicing the new spell, he asked: “Fenrir, do you know what that was?”

[It came from the center of the marsh. Azure thinks that a fight is happening there and one of the combatants, judging by the water mana concentration that keeps increasing around us, must be the one releasing all that fire mana into the atmosphere.]

“Eddena… Did she finally find the beast?” mumbled Edward as he fixed his eyes in the direction of the marsh’s center.

He wanted to help since it appeared the negotiations didn’t go well, but he knew there was nothing he could do in a fight of that level.

Ignoring the commotion, he closed his eyes and started practicing once more. The shaking continued for over an hour when Edward opened his eyes and looked towards the center once more.

“How long are they going to fight for? The earthquakes got even worse during the last…”

[Edward get ready for combat.] said Fenrir all of a sudden, interrupting Edward’s words.

Edward didn’t hesitate and immediately turned into his wolf form. He only had around 500 or so mana after practicing for such a long time, but his stamina was untouched.

[The fight has scared away all the beasts in the swamp. There appears to be a large group stampeding in our direction.]

Edward growled and brought his head closed to the ground. Indeed, in his wolf form, he could hear the sound of hundreds if not thousands of beasts coming towards him.

As he was about to turn and flee ahead of the beast horde, he noticed a bright light raising up towards the sky above the center of the swamp. The light emanated such a large amount of heat that even started putting some pressure on Edward’s body.

The heatwave also pushed the fog that was covering the whole swamp until now away, allowing Edward to get a better view of the situation he was in. He could see a bright red ball hovering over the center of the swamp, which he assumed to be the source of the heatwave.

On the ground ahead of him, there was a sea of magic beasts of all kinds, rushing mindlessly towards him. Now he finally understood why Fenrir told him to prepare for combat and not to flee. The beast tide spread outwards as far as the eyes could see and they were already too close to him. He had not time to try and outrun the beast tide, but fighting it was also not a real option. There were simply too many beasts and creating a path forward through them was impossible.

Seeing that the beast tide was almost upon them, Edward jumped up as high as he could and created two Water Platforms in midair, one for him and one for Minx. Understanding what Edward wanted, Minx also followed after him and jumper on one of the platforms. Since there were also flying type magic beasts in the tide, he knew this was also not a viable plan since his mana would only last him enough to create three more platforms. Turning back into his human form, he looked at the tide that has already reached under him with a downcast expression.

“This is some deep shit we found ourselves in, Minx…”

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