- Job Description:
Tad Windrift stared up at the cliffs before him. He was safe here; if there was a time to turn back from this job, now was it. If he crossed the boundary in front of him, the centaurs which worshiped the Erymanthian Boar would surely begin to interfere. Catching this monstrous creature was a task in and of itself, but the centaurs which would hinder Tad were no small hurdle to overcome either.
His hands slid over his body, though an onlooker may think it a sensual gesture, Tad was simply checking that he’d remembered all of his gear. "Holsters, check. Throwing knives, check. Armors, check. Bracers, check.” The lanky mage took another deep breath as his hands fell away from his body. Since ranking up to A, this was his first attempt at a solo mission of this level. He was nervous, but also excited as he felt like he’d really made some good strides in the use of his magic.
Tad continued looking upward; normally, someone would have to take the road which went around the cliff a ways before worming its way to the cliff's plateau. With the advancement of Tad's magic, he'd developed his Flash Steps to such a degree that he could practically use the spell without draining any magic power. Tad hoped this meant that he could simply run straight up the cliff and possibly avoid the centaurs altogether. "Certainly worth a shot," Tad mused as he looked around.
The talented mage didn't see any centaurs nor any means for them to discover someone trying to approach the cliffs from that vantage, but surely it couldn't be that easy. Tad wasn't the only mage that could fly, after all. Despite that nagging feeling in his mind, Tad tilted his neck to the left, eliciting a few loud pops, before jumping straight up in the air. About 5 feet up, he began running, his feet seemingly pushing off the air as if it were solid. A keen observer though, would see little flashes of lightning beneath his feet each time he jumped off the air. Tad's incredible speed was on full display as he quickly scaled the cliffs without ever touching them. It wasn't long before he was nearly halfway there.
He looked down at the cliff, impressed with himself and realizing something he hadn't before. There were paths along the cliff's edge, they seemed to lead to caves. He thought it interesting, when a javelin came hurtling at him. He hadn't even noticed an attacker, but he was able to alter his own trajectory by falling. This quick movement caused the javelin to fly about 4 inches over his head. Now falling, Tad placed a foot downward and caused lightning to solidify beneath it. He scanned the cliff above him, only to see two move javelin flying at his face.
While the sneak attack a moment prior had come pretty close to Tad, these two attacks had been seen in plenty of time so they never even came close. He jumped back, able to maintain his altitude before raising both his hands towards the cliff. In truth, he hadn't seen whoever was attacking him, but he was hoping to fake it until he made it. Charging his fingers with lightning, Tad fired two bolts of lightning at the rocky cliffs.
Tad then came to the realization that the centaurs he'd been warned of must live in those caves. The paths were how they navigated the rocky cliffs without falling to their doom. It was also an amazing tactical place to attack foes who are attempting to fly to where the Boar lived. Tad's bolts collided with the cliff, only disrupting some rocks. Tad hadn't wanted to fight any centaurs, because he worried that he might go overboard and kill them. He knew killing centaurs would definitely displease Sojiro, ever the hero. If this event had occurred before Tad had meant Sojiro, the lanky mage wouldn't have thought twice about killing a few halfbreeds to successfully complete his mission. Even now, he admitted, he wasn't opposed to killing them, but he was opposed to seeing the look of displeasure on Sojiro's face if Tad did kill them.
The javelin rushing at his face drew Tad out of his thoughts, as he expertly slid his shoulder back and out of the way of the incoming projectile. Tad rushed towards the wall, little flashes of lightning, hoping the alteration in angle between himself and the centaurs that were attacking him would make it hard for them to attack. Tad's feet landed on the slight trail that connected two caves, each about 15 feet away from him. It seemed like his plan had worked, he no longer saw any javelins trying to cause him harm. With a bit of time to breathe, Tad's mind also shifted back to his earlier thoughts of Sojiro. Don't be foolish Tad, this is a test of your skills as a mage and warrior, not a test of your morality. A grin crossed his lips as he realized, Zincarla would just destroy the whole cliff. And since I won't, Sojiro likely will never find out if I kill a few things.
Going up through the air had proven to be rather difficult because multiple centaurs were able to attack him at the same time. Tad was mostly confident in a one on one situation, but three well skilled centaurs with the element of surprise against himself seemed a task he may not be ready for. He looked at the trail that his feet lay on, it wasn't wide, at all, but there was plenty of room for the agile and lanky mage to make use of the trail. Maybe if I follow the trail up, I can battle the centaurs one on one, and have a chance. Truth was, he didn't even know how many centaurs there were. From what he'd seen, there were at least 20 caves and surely more above him. He worried about attempting to defeat that many warriors, and still having anything in reserve for the Boar.
He then realized that no more than 2 javelins had been launched at him at any given time, meaning one of two things. First, there were only 2 centaurs on this entire cliff. Or second, there were only 2 centaurs on this entire cliff... that used some sort of ranged weaponry. If either of those were true, then Tad had the perfect plan. He focused his lightning around his body, it crackled and shimmered slightly as it moved across his body. This was Tad's Lightning Armor spell,
it would protect him from the javelins AND give a boost to his speed. This meant, in conjunction with his Flash Step spell, he could barrel past all the centaurs and ignore their javelins altogether. Then, he could get to the top of the cliff. He'd already learned that the centaurs did not like getting too close to the Boar, so Tad hoped that he'd be safe if he got to the top.
Turning his back to the wall, Tad took a deep breath and then slowly leaned forward. As his body's center of balance moved past the edge of the cliff, Tad bolted to max speed, and then began moving upwards. Sure enough, a javelin came falling down towards him, but with his heightened speed, it seemed to move in slow motion as he barely moved, allowing the javelin to miss him by only a couple inches. The second one was not long behind the first, but definitely came from another angle. Tad, again, moved slightly, his right grabbing the javelin's shaft. Moving as quickly as he was and seeing the javelins seemingly moving so slowly, Tad hadn't considered that the amount of force contained in the javelin would be so extreme. Grabbing the javelin had pulled him in the opposite direction, sending him hurtling out of control. Instinctively, Tad had released the javelin, focusing entirely on his agility which was on full display as he was able to twist and turn himself enough to get a foot under him, with a flash, he pushed off the lightning to avoid crashing into the wall of the cliff.
The amount of wherewithal it took to keep himself from falling or hitting the wall took most of his concentration. His movements finally settled as he regained control, but that was when he saw two more javelins flying towards his face, one from the right and one from the left. He jumped as high as he could and returned to moving upwards. As he moved up, he finally saw where the two centaurs that had been throwing stuff at him were, but he ignored them and continued upwards. He could see the cliff's edge just above him and he rushed right past it, hurtling high into the air above the cliff. Finally able to take a breath, Tad returned to the ground quite a few feet from the cliff's edge.
"Not too shabby," Tad mused, referring to both his own performance as well as that of his Lightning Armor spell. That was when he heard something behind him, causing him to turn. There, inches from his face, was the tip of a spear, and it was moving rapidly towards Tad's nose. His reflexes were heightened, but he wasn't fast enough to avoid the blow, luckily his Lightning Armor spell was still in effect. Tad leaned back and tried to avoid the pointy tip, but the Armor jumped towards the weapon. The power was still enough to go through the armor and Tad was knocked backwards which when combined with his own leaning back caused him to land on his back. His cat-like agility caused him to roll backwards and that was when he realized the centaur was... flying!
1641/5000 words
