The creature was ugly in an almost abstract way. Three thick, sturdy legs supported its body. Its head had been completely replaced by an enormous mouth, while its eyes and nose sat separately atop vine-like fleshy stalks that curled and swayed from the top of its bloated torso.
'That's a... Otyugh? What's it doing here?' Anser said in surprise.
Otyughs primarily inhabited the Underdark, living off garbage and rotting corpses. They gravitated toward the filthiest places imaginable, could barely tolerate sunlight, and almost never appeared on the surface.
It was an aberration, but unless it was starving, it generally wouldn't attack other creatures.
With a beat of his draconic wings, Anser quickly crossed several kilometers and arrived above the battlefield.
Below lay a foul, stagnant marsh. The dark water stretched across the area, looking shallow despite its murky appearance.
It had likely once been connected to the broad River Chionthar, but after the river's water level changed dramatically, this stretch had become cut off from the main channel.
A camp stood in the distance. More than a dozen tents were scattered across the wilderness, positioned neither near the River Chionthar nor particularly close to the marsh.
The farther one traveled from Baldur's Gate, the fewer underground creatures there were and the more human refugees appeared. Anser had already seen quite a few camps like this.
The battle below was going badly for the humans.
Faced with the monster's attacks, they could only dodge desperately and occasionally find an opening to loose an arrow.
Out of more than twenty people, five or six were already down.
Meanwhile, the enraged Otyugh was still full of vigor. It had plenty of wounds across its body, but most were shallow—far from enough to be fatal.
'You're lucky. You ran into me today.'
After checking the surroundings and finding nothing unusual, Anser immediately descended while concentrating on a spell.
If he waited much longer, the humans would be wiped out.
"માઇક્રોમેટોરિયા"
Metamagic: Empowered Seeking Spell + 7th-Level: Melf's Minute Meteors!
A crimson glow flashed through the night as fourteen miniature meteors materialized out of thin air. Each trailed a tiny tail of starlight as they orbited around him, circling endlessly without ever crossing paths.
Together, they resembled a blooming crimson flower suspended in the night sky—brilliant and breathtaking.
This was Anser's first attempt at combining Melf's Minute Meteors with Seeking Spell. The casting process wasn't all that different from casting Fireball.
There might have been many meteors, but fundamentally, it was still a single spell.
And with the fire-aligned Chromatic Orb enhancement, a ring of flames now wrapped around each miniature meteor, making them hotter—and far more visually impressive.
'It definitely looks better than Fireball.'
At that moment, both sides of the battle below noticed the anomaly in the sky.
Alarmed, they instinctively widened the distance between themselves and temporarily halted the fighting.
Anser chuckled softly. Lowering his altitude, he pointed a finger.
Two miniature meteors slipped smoothly from their orbit and shot toward the Otyugh with a shrill whistle.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The Otyugh's eyestalk snapped upward.
Its three legs broke into a bizarre running gait as it fled. It wasn't slow, either.
The miniature meteors adjusted course slightly.
Mid-flight, they abruptly changed direction and continued the pursuit.
Caught completely off guard, the Otyugh frantically lashed out with its barbed tentacles, trying to swat the meteors away.
Its reactions were far too slow.
The tentacles sliced through empty air while the meteors streaked past untouched.
Boom! Boom—!
The meteors exploded.
Scorching flames erupted outward, engulfing an area more than three meters in radius and completely swallowing the Otyugh.
There was nowhere to dodge.
The Otyugh staggered as the skin across its back blackened, blistered, and curled from the heat. It let out a pained howl.
[...Otyugh hit. Took 23 (12+11) fire damage and 6 bludgeoning damage. Current Hit Points: 78/107]
'It actually works.'
Delight flickered through Anser's heart.
To test the effects of Empowered Seeking Spell, he deliberately refrained from using any other Metamagic.
With a thought, two more miniature meteors immediately broke from their orbit and shot toward the Otyugh one after the other, leaving long glowing trails across the night sky like genuine falling stars.
The Otyugh sprinted away, repeatedly changing direction in an attempt to shake off its pursuers.
But the meteors could turn.
If one course correction wasn't enough, they'd simply make another.
Boom! Boom—!
The meteors exploded in rapid succession, actually knocking the running Otyugh off its feet.
It let out a pained whimper, rolled across the ground once, then scrambled back up and kept running.
Meanwhile, Anser still had ten miniature meteors circling around him.
At top speed, he unleashed all of them in one go.
One crimson meteor after another rained down from the sky, each trailing a tiny tail as it relentlessly chased the Otyugh. It looked as though divine punishment itself had descended upon the creature.
By the time the seventh miniature meteor struck, the Otyugh had already collapsed, unable to move.
The remaining meteors mercilessly smashed apart its flesh and internal organs, filling the air with the mingled scents of charred meat and putrid decay.
[Target killed. Gained 1,560 experience points.]
'That was even easier than I expected. This is how Melf's Minute Meteors is meant to be used!'
Anser's brows rose as excitement surged through him.
Each miniature meteor dealt only moderate damage on its own, but with Empowered Seeking Spell, Magic Power Control, and Chromatic Orb working together, the spell underwent a qualitative transformation.
High damage.
Near-perfect accuracy.
Combined with its virtually instantaneous firing rate, its lethality skyrocketed.
On top of that, its combat style was both beautiful and overwhelmingly oppressive.
It gave the enemy the feeling of struggling against the heavens themselves, with absolutely nowhere to run.
Majestic.
Overwhelming.
The kind of attack that left its victims dying without complaint.
'Now that suits my style.'
Silently, Anser bumped the spell much higher on his priority list.
Down on the wilderness below, the humans who had witnessed the entire "fireworks show" stood utterly dumbfounded.
Their mouths hung open as they stared at the six-winged figure in the sky.
For some reason, they were reminded of the angels from legend, and an irresistible urge to fall to their knees and worship welled up inside them.
Who could truly understand the feeling of being saved from utter despair...
Or the reverence that arose from the depths of one's soul?
Anser glanced at them.
He hadn't intended to go down, but after noticing those who had fallen, he descended to the ground anyway.
He cast Aura of Vitality and walked around the battlefield, restoring the critically wounded one by one.
Fortunately, he had arrived early enough.
Not many had died.
The survivors silently followed behind him, helping their injured companions to their feet and carrying the bodies of the dead aside.
Yet their eyes kept drifting back to Anser.
Once the spell ended, Anser spread his draconic wings and prepared to leave.
"Are... are you Sir Ashen Knight Anser?"
A young man suddenly stepped forward and called out loudly.
"Hm?"
Hovering in midair, Anser turned around in confusion.
The young man's face was completely unfamiliar.
He had never seen him before.
In fact, he didn't recognize any of the others either.
'They must have heard about me somewhere.'
His extraordinary Intelligence granted him perfect recall.
If he'd met someone before, there was no chance he would fail to remember them.
"What is it?"
"Your friend... uh... well, at least that's what he called himself... is staying at our camp. Would you... like to come take a look?" the young man asked hesitantly.
The excuse was rather clumsy.
It was obvious he was simply trying to persuade Anser to stay.
Anser's heart stirred as countless familiar faces flashed through his mind.
"What's his name?"
"I... I don't know. He's injured, so... maybe you could... see him yourself?" The young man lowered his head awkwardly.
He genuinely didn't know.
He had only heard it from someone else.
For all he knew, the man might have just been drunkenly bragging.
But he truly wanted this Paladin to visit their camp...
To show them a little compassion and offer whatever aid he could.