Morcster Chef B3: Ch 22 (Patreon)

“We hope so too,” Arek said. They all bid him farewell and set off. They stopped at the cart outside the city gates, stripping it of everything they could. A few people were already milling about the food carts around them, but it was still early morning and the crowd was thin.

“I don’t think there’s any way we can take this with us,” Arek said with a frown.

“We stripped it of everything valuable, but it does feel a bit sad,” Malissa agreed. “It was only ours for a little while, though. We’ll get another one whenever we settle down next.”

“Well said,” Arek said. “Belmont, lead the way? I assume you know where the dungeon is.”

“Of course I do,” Belmont grumbled. “It would be dangerous to not know the location of the nearest dungeon. Monster hordes can pop up any day, you know. But shouldn’t we let Magus know we’re going?”

“Ming can get his attention in a week,” Arek replied. “It isn’t wise for us to remain in the city longer if the Howlers have any presence there.”

Belmont nodded. They departed, leaving Seaview and their food cart business behind. Arek’s lips pressed together, but he couldn’t tell if it was because of anger or disappointment. The Blessed One curse mixed with his battle rage, just begging to be released. He pushed it down. He wouldn’t give them the satisfaction.

One day, he’d have a restaurant once more – and nobody would be able to make him leave it.

They left the city of Seaside behind them and, with Belmont at the lead, set off into the wilderness. Following the coast, the Happy Sunflowers made good time as they headed for the dungeon.

The beautiful beach to their side and the cool ocean breeze washing over them made the trip far more enjoyable than it normally would have been. On the first night, after they set up camp, Belmont stood on his tiptoes to reach up and tap Arek on the shoulder.

“We should do that sparring,” Belmont suggested. “We’ll reach the dungeon tomorrow morning if we continue in this direction, and I don’t want to find ourselves unprepared for it when we get there. It’s better to find things out right now.”

“Agreed,” Arek rumbled, carefully taking his chef’s hat off and setting it down upon his bag. He cracked his neck and stretched his arms, walking out a few steps from the camp. The sun hung low over the sea, partially hidden behind a bed of clouds, but there was still some burnt orange light slipping out.

The runes along his claws lit green and he extended a hand, his guandao forming within it as glowing armor covered his body. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Belmont tossed his sword to the side and took the pink staff from his back. He lowered into a fighting stance, raising the staff before him and setting his jaw in concentration. “Right. Let’s do this.”

Arek shot forward, driving a fist toward Belmont’s stomach. He only used around half of the speed he actually could have, but Belmont was more than ready for it. A shimmering plate formed in front of Arek’s palm, slamming his strike to a halt.

Belmont flicked his staff, batting Arek’s hand to the side. It lit up, and a bubble shot from its tip. Arek spun out of the way and swung the flat side of his weapon at Belmont’s side. Another plate snapped into being, blocking the polearm and shattering on contact.

Belmont hopped back and pointed his staff at Arek. A thin plate formed under one of his feet and shot forward, taking Arek’s foot with it. He slid forward and was forced to jump to try and get his balance back under him.

Bubbles burst from Belmont’s staff, shooting at Arek like a barrage of considerably less intimidating arrows. The orc’s armor flared, growing to cover his body as the bubbles struck him.

The impact of the spells sent him skidding back across the ground, but didn’t break his armor. Arek grinned. “Well done, Belmont.”

“We aren’t done,” Belmont replied, twirling his staff.

Arek’s legs shimmered as runes lit along his body and he blurred forward, planning to bring the flat end of the blade against Belmont’s neck to claim the win. The blade clanged as it struck something invisible near Belmont’s shoulder.

Belmont lunged forward, a shimmering ball of energy forming in his left palm. Surprise flickered across Arek’s face, but he’d been in too many fights to be caught completely off guard. Battle rage surged at the back of his mind, trying to take over, but Arek pushed it down.

He brought his forearm down in a sharp motion and swept his leg forward, knocking Belmont off balance. The pink orb flickered and popped out as Belmont’s back hit the ground. Arek swung his guandao down, resting it against the nape of the man’s neck.

“Damn it,” Belmont cursed. “I thought I might have had you.”

“Out of practice, huh?” Arek asked with a grunt, crushing the last remnants of his battle rage. He dismissed the guandao and reached down, grabbing Belmont’s arm and pulling him up to his feet.

“I kept up a degree of practice,” Belmont muttered. “Magus gave me some new spells to learn, so I would have been remiss to not pursue them. Evidently, I wasn’t surprising enough. I should have had the advantage.”

“I have years of experience over you,” Arek chuckled. “But you did catch me off guard. I wasn’t expecting that at all. Well done. That was a brilliant showing.”

“It didn’t work,” Belmont replied, but he permitted himself a slight grin. “I’ll need to practice more. I’ve been thinking of some traps that I might be able to use in fights. Imagine that. Portable traps.”

Arek shuddered. “Let’s make sure those traps aren’t quite as volatile as some of the other ones you’ve done. I’d rather not get domed by a butter knife in the middle of a fight.”

“Butter knife launcher,” Belmont muttered to himself, nodding.

“No. Do not make a butter knife launcher. But, more importantly, what blocked my strike at your head?” Arek asked.

“Invisible bubble,” Belmont replied. “I’ve been working on it for a while. It was a lot harder than I expected. I had to adapt it from the spells Magus gave me. For whatever reason, non-bubble based spells don’t work very well for me. I’m not quite sure why, but aside from my healing, everything else is like a brick wall. Unless it’s a bubble. Then it’s a bubble. You get the idea.”

“Strange,” Arek said, rubbing his chin. “I wish I could help more, but I really don’t know too much about magic. Ming, do you have any thoughts?”

“I mostly just blow things up.” Ming thumbed her nose. “That’s a lot more fun than other stuff anyway. But that was pretty cool, Belmont. Even for you.”

Belmont grunted. “I’m always cool.”

“Okay, my turn,” Malissa said, rubbing her hands together wand stalking up, two daggers springing into her hands. “Who wants to go?”

“Oooh, me!” Ming exclaimed, hopping up from where she’d sat down and running over. “You always spar Arek. Let me have a go.”

“Is that even safe?” Belmont asked. “Ming, your magic tends to just blow things up. You literally just reminded us of that. I can heal, but if you blow Malissa’s entire arm off, that might be a bit much. We really don’t want serious injuries.”

“I’ve got new stuff now,” Ming replied, crossing her arms. “Magus gave me new spells too, you know.

“I’m sure Ming can control herself enough. She wouldn’t risk sparring if she couldn’t,” Malissa said, spinning a dagger to hold it with the blunt end facing out. “I’ll use the safe side of my daggers, so neither of us should get hurt too badly.”

“If you’re sure. I’ll be watching to make a shield in case you need one,” Belmont said. He and Arek backed up several spaces, giving the girls space to fight.

“Ready?” Malissa asked.

Ming nodded. “I’m going to take all your snacks.”

Malissa dashed for Ming. Ming hummed to herself and let out a small cry. Two thin snakes of pure magic erupted from the ground in front of her feet. They whipped out for Malissa, forcing her to spin to the side.

Ming let out a sharp whistle and the ropey magic followed after her. Malissa slashed at one of them, but her blade passed right through the magic.

“What is this?” Malissa yelled, dancing back to keep space from Ming’s magic as it trailed after her. It jerked taut and slithered back to Ming when Malissa got near the edge of the campsite.

“I’m molding the pure magic,” Ming replied, as if she were reciting something she’d read before. “It’s how I’m supposed to train for more advanced spells. They’re great for lifting snacks out of people’s pockets, though.”

One of the ropes collapsed into blue particles. The other sprouted like a tree, thin branches of pure magic reaching out as it shot for Malissa again. With a curse, the rogue threw herself to the side.

Tiny tendrils reached for her as she sprinted to the side. Malissa ducked and weaved, keeping ahead of the magic as she closed the distance between herself and Ming. Her cloak twirled around her, daggers shimmering at the ends of it as the many ribbons and tassels covering her whirled in a metal tornado. She vaulted over a branch of pure magic that sprung to get in her way.

“Belmont, we’re going to need those shields,” Malissa yelled. “I can’t fight Ming holding back.”

“Already watching,” Belmont called back, his eyes narrow with concentration and his knuckles white around the shaft of his staff.

Malissa leapt at Ming and launched several daggers at her. Belmont raised the staff, but Ming was faster. A blue ribbon spiraled around the short mage, flaring before detonating with a series of small, precise explosions that knocked the daggers flying at her from their paths.

They tumbled to the ground harmlessly and Ming grinned. She whistled a shrill note and the pure magic rope split apart, expanding and reaching at Malissa like the maw of a hungry beast.

Malissa leaned forward, exploded into motion an instant before the magic could touch her. She vaulted through the air and whipped a ribboned dagger at Ming. The blade sailed through the air, but she yanked it back with the ribbon an instant before Ming’s pure magic could knock it askew.

As it came back, she spun the blade in a lazy circle at her side, adding another one into the dance with her left hand. She threw them both at Ming in either direction, letting the ribbon flow from her hands to extend the range of the weapons.

Again, before they could hit, Malissa pulled them back. She slipped into a silken dance, the extended range of her ribboned daggers forcing Ming to focus on defense instead of attack. The two were only locked in the state for a few seconds, but it felt like minutes to Arek.

Belmont was so concentrated on the fight that it looked like the man was one small push from passing out, and Arek didn’t dare distract any of them. As the two women fought, Malissa’s foot hit a slightly loose rock.

It slipped out from under her and she stumbled. Ming’s pure magic pounced, driving itself into her stomach. Malissa doubled over, but one of her ribbons wrapped around Ming’s arm, the dagger at its end turning it into a makeshift bola.

Malissa yanked the ribbon and picked Ming off her feet, sending the small mage flying at her. Ming let out a squeal of delight, an orb of pure magic gathering in her hands as she flew. The two lunged at each other – and both bumped into the shimmering pink orbs that Belmont erected around them.

“Oh, come on!” Ming exclaimed as she bounced to the ground. “It was fun!”

“Too much risk for getting hurt,” Belmont said. “Just call it a draw. That was a good fight.”

“So it was,” Arek agreed. “I genuinely don’t know who would have won. Ming was obviously held back by not being able to use her explosions to their full force.”

“Yeah, Ming would have won if it was an all out fight,” Malissa agreed, lowering her hands and unwrapping her ribbon from Ming’s arm. “With mages as destructive as she is, the trick to winning is taking them out before they can start fighting.”

“That’s no fun,” Ming said, scrunching her nose. “But you were spinning a lot. That looked fun.”

“You’re not allowed to spin around while fighting,” Belmont said immediately. “You’ll end up blowing one of us up on accident.”

Ming pouted. “I would not.”

Belmont just cocked an eyebrow.

“Okay, maybe I would,” Ming admitted. “But it would be cool.”

Arek shook his head and laughed. “Well, I think we’ve gotten a good start, but we’re nowhere through training yet. Frankly, I’m starting to think every single one of you was training other than me.”

They all cleared their throats and glanced away.

“Okay, not think. You were,” Arek grumbled. “I just got so caught up with cooking that I forgot to do the other stuff.”

“You still won your fight,” Belmont pointed out.

“I’ve also got years of experience over you, not to mention magic that isn’t even my own and the aid of the blessed One curse,” Arek replied. “I should be stronger than you right now. If I’m not, it means I’m seriously slacking. You nearly got me, Belmont. I’m not practicing as much as I should be.”

“It’s not like you were going all out,” Malissa said. “You didn’t use your battle rage.”

“If I rely on that, I’ll be a terrible teammate,” Arek said, shaking his head. “Battle rage is dangerous to all of you. It’s very hard to differentiate between enemy and ally when I’m truly lost within it, and the Blessed One curse is affecting that too. I can’t afford to take that risk when fighting with you all. Thus – more training. Any volunteers?”

Malissa flipped daggers into her hands and grinned at him. “If that’s the case, I can take you up on that. Let’s see how out of practice you are, old man.”

“Old?” Arek exclaimed, his guandao reforming in his hands. “I’ll have you know I’m still in the prime of life. You aren’t that much younger than me, anyway.”

Malissa smirked. Then she attacked.

The next few hours were a blur of fighting. The Happy Sunflowers threw everything they had into forging each other into better adventurers, trying every trick they could while making sure they didn’t seriously injure each other.

Belmont tapped out of the fights early to conserve his magic to protect from mistaken attacks, claiming that defending them was more than enough training for him. By the end of it, Arek had fought both Malissa and Ming half a dozen times each. He didn’t lose any of the fights, but the girls were closing in on him fast.

When they all collapsed to the pummeled ground, exhausted and panting for air, a grin stretched across Arek’s face. It wasn’t quite as fun as cooking, but spending time with friends was a close second – even if that time was trying to kill each other.