The instructors stiffened as he approached.
"Mooring?" Wells said his name with an odd tone--like he was unsure if it was really him. The other two both looked at him with something similar in their eyes. As if they were looking at someone who was both real and not.
Under normal circumstances, they would have been arguing about what they just went through. But now, each of them had shifted gears into seeing the bigger picture, finding an immediate resolution to the current situation.
"Yeah, it's me," Julien said quietly. "I heard your conversation, and I think I should probably tell you what I've found out so far."
Jules leaned forward, tired but determined. "Kid, if you know anything, spill it. We've got to end this as soon as possible."
Julien nodded. "What this gate is going through--it's a phenomenon called Gate Amplification. About an hour or two after we entered the gate, the monsters just simply vanished. My group walked for ages, and we found nothing at all. But suddenly, a Petra appeared out of nowhere and ambushed us."
"The same happened to mine," Linda said, her eyes narrowing. "We found an Ekross. It was quite a fight."
Some students close to them began to listen in. They stood subdued, watching out for any sign of hope. The sound of eerily rustling wind surrounded the large group, and the still too bright mana fog seemed to grow more blinding.
Ping.
[Main Quest: "The Beginning" – Part II]
[Optional Objective: Prevent unexpected casualties, has concluded.]
[You have prevented the immediate annihilation of the whole expedition. A hidden reward has been granted.]
What reward? It never indicated anything to even suggest that.
A new popup opened at the edge of his mind, and a wall of white text reflected back at him.
[A hint has been given for the current quest.]
[Wingless Draconian (S-Tier) is the boss of this gate. Defeat it, and you will be able to escape.]
No shit, Julien thought, annoyed. He scrolled down to read the rest of the text.
[You will not be able to defeat it normally. Mana Overbrightness and Gate Amplification are impeding your ability to use skills and spells with full control. In order to overcome these debuffs, you will need to think outside the box.]
Just get to the point already!!
[A little experimentation may help you in this challenge. The system recommends combining the elements of fire and light.]
…Element combination…?
"Mooring? Snap out of it, boy!"
Wells' sudden sharp words brought Julien back to the present. He scrambled to remember what he'd been talking about, suddenly realising the three instructors were staring at him with expectant looks on their faces.
"Oh, sorry, sir. I just had a thought," he said, shaking his head. "But as I was saying, Named suddenly began appearing. Ray, Amara, and Haley's groups all experienced this too. I read about Amplification once before--and I learned that when it happens, all monsters of a gate get replaced with ones way beyond its level."
The three of them nodded at the same time, indicating for him to keep going. They didn't seem surprised at the news, but then again, you didn't get hired at Asanel if you didn't have your fair share of experience.
"There's no way to reverse it," Julien went on. "Our only option is to defeat the boss as normal. Obviously, that's a problem--we just saw the boss, and it was the one who teleported everyone here."
This time, they were shocked. Full, large-scale teleportation was barely a concept in theoretical magic--not even the Archmage could do it. But for a boss? It was unheard of.
"And not only that--it was intelligent, too. It amused itself by talking to us--and it claimed it was from a group called the Unmarked."
"Intelligent…? Unmarked?" Jules repeated quietly. "I've never heard of anything like that. What monster was it? Did it tell you anything else?!" she demanded, suddenly sharp.
"It was a Wingless Draconian. Fire-type. And it did--it said, 'there's a whole world under your feet, little Marked. One with language, structure and civilization,' which I assume is more intelligent monsters. Then, it talked about the story of the Glass Tragedy--but said it was them. The Unmarked. And then told us this gate was an experiment, and we were the test subjects."
Wells had a grave expression on his face. "This is bad. We need to leave here and tell the Royal Guards as soon as possible. Monsters with a civilization of their own… and an experiment. This could be the beginning of something much worse that it appears."
"And to do that, we need to kill the boss," Linda mused. "We'll need to gather all the fifth-years, and keep the first years somewhere safe. A Wingless Draconian is no easy enemy to begin with, and if it's intelligent too…"
"If we do that, they'll only be twelve of us to take it on, and we aren't in perfect fighting conditions–"
As the instructors began to argue among themselves, the system's hint popped up in Julien's memories again.
The system said to combine elements, and it recommended to me to try light and fire. How the hell am I supposed to do that?
Element combination.
It is said to be as difficult to perform as teleportation. Julien had heard trying to cast spells with an element that is not your own was like trying to move a body part you didn't have. You had to imagine all the motions and nuances of the other element, with no examples or experiences to guide you by.
From Ian's memories, Julien knew he had attempted to combine those exact two elements once before.
Weird coincidence. Or it could've just been the fact light is the most similar element to fire. That would explain why I've taken to Ian's abilities so easily.
But Ian had essentially failed. In the memory, he had tried his hardest to combine them and create a new spell, but to no avail. He'd manifested a short golden flash, sure, but he couldn't keep his flames together with it.
If a genius mage like him couldn't do it, what chance does a melee user like me have? If it wasn't for these memories, I wouldn't have the first idea about how to cast a spell.
"Ian, did you fight with the Draconian?" Linda asked.
"Not really. After it finished talking, it said it wanted to play with us. Then it knocked me aside, and lifted a girl in my group like she weighed nothing. It was about to throw her when another intelligent monster stopped it."
Right, I need to tell them about the Puppeteer. We'll be in trouble if it shows up. Especially if it manages to control one of us again. We can't fight two enemies at once.
He cleared his throat, trying to come up with a way to break the news.
"The monster that stopped it is highly dangerous, perhaps even more so than the Draconian. It's called Puppeteer. It can control a person's body and make them use their powers against their will."
The three instructors all drew in sharp breaths. They all knew it was a big threat to them.
"How did you find that out?" Wells asked. He began pacing, looking agitated.
"While my group was looking for others, we came across the group that originally encountered it," Julien began solemnly. "It was Harris's group." Katie and some of the other fifth-years drew closer, wanting to know what happened. But Little Julien, Alec, Karis, and Mina, who were all nearby, looked away gloomily.
"They were all dead, killed by a blade. Harris's body was a little away from the rest, and his sword was close to him. He died from a self-inflicted injury."
They all stood rapt, listening on with horror in their eyes. Katie began to sob quietly. She probably already knew what it meant when Harris had not been teleported with the rest of the group, but hearing confirmation broke her.
"A while after that, we came across a pale monster with a mask. We were standing on a hill above it, but it managed to control me from where it was with barely a move. I struggled against it, and it made me cast a spell, but luckily I was able to stop it from hurting anyone. It tried its luck with another member of the group before vanishing."
Little Julien stepped forward, deciding to recount his own experience. "It controlled me," he said.
"It was like I was paralyzed. Nothing in my body was listening to me. All I could do was speak. There was no room for me to stop myself like Ian did… He stopped me, but I think if it wanted to, the Puppeteer could've kept using me. It was horrible!"
"Thank you, Julien," Linda said, trying to keep her voice level. "We'll need to make a plan to try and counter both these monsters."
Jules sighed, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "I can't believe it. We've lost 30 students. There's a faction of intelligent monsters. There's a new Named no one's ever seen before that can force you to do things against your will. And all of this happened in what was supposed to be an easy D-tier gate."
Everyone stayed silent after her words. Only the night wind made a sound, and their surroundings were as uncomfortably glowy as before.
The headache is starting to get worse. Less focus means less control over skills and spells. I miss my light immunity… I've never felt this kind of thing before.
I took being Ian for granted. So far, I haven't had to face any insurmountable odds or overcome anything. Everything has just been handed to me for free.
I need to be my old self again. We need to find a way no matter what. Isn't that what I was good at, as a hero? Even in the end, I achieved my true goal after endless trials.
A plan began forming in his mind as he stood, surrounded by the weary people.
"Everything has a weakness, Julien," his old friend and comrade Commander Jermaine, a brilliant strategist, had once said.
"You, me, even Inferno. No matter how strong they appear, they always have at least one. Well, except the gods, but I don't think you'll be needing to fight any soon, haha!"
He thought back to what the Draconian said, right before it teleported.
"You and this damn mana brightness are really pissing me off."
It must be affected by the light too…! This is exactly what we need.
Suddenly, the system's hint from earlier made sense. Fire was a light-adjacent element. And what was the light element most known for? Dazzling attacks to blind their enemies.
Together, those elements might just be enough to seriously debuff the Draconian. If it can't see us, it can't hurt us.
That had to be it. If Julien couldn't damage it with fire alone, like how he'd killed the Petra and Effluence, he would have to use his abilities in other ways. Think outside the box.
He looked up and stepped a little closer to the instructors, lowering his voice. "I have an idea."