Shades of the New World

Chapter 287: Dzuko's skill

Evin quickly dashed over, and asked.

"You've found the entrance already?"

"We're not sure exactly. But there's only one way to find out, right? But are there sign of mages around us?" Sannah asked back.

"Nothing, as far as I can see. But I'm pretty sure everyone else is looking for the base around the forest," Evin replied.

"Well, the topic of the secret organization isn't really anything too rare around town. Dzuko says that he heard at least two families in the nearby area talking about the same topic. We can't be sure that the enemy teams haven't found any clues."

"But we still found the entrance the fastest, right?" Evin asked.

"Yes, if what we found is the entrance to the base, then we've found it the fastest. So let's stop dilly dallying here and go there," Sannah said and gestures to Dzuko.

The latter nodded and led the team towards an abandoned house. Navigating through some dirt ridden furniture, he arrived on top of a metal door lodged onto the floor. Bull opened it using his magic, and the team could see the stairs leading down.

[It really does look like the entrance to a secret base Guess you found the right spot,] Enri said.

"Ertu, help me set up the warning devices with me," Sannah said.

"Do you want to leave any traps, as well?"

"No. Just something that tells us we would be expecting company soon. Traps are too noticeable, and they wouldn't really do anything against elites anyway."

As the two women finished setting up their device and covering it with more advanced illusions, Dzuko came over to Evin.

"Cap' said you're going to be staying under my shadow. I know a bit of Dark Magic myself, so enemies'll think I'm the one casting spells around them. Maybe you can pop out during crucial moments and throw some of your lethal attacks."

The man said as he cast his own Dark Room around himself.

"Alright," Evin said and tucked himself into Dzuko's shadow.

[Can you hear me?] Dzuko's voice appeared in Evin's head afterwards.

[Yeah.]

[Alright, this'll help us coordinate a bit better. Also, since you're going to be my ace in the hole, I need to learn how your killer moves work. Nothing too specific, just its effects and general description,] Dzuko said, [If you're thinking I'm trying to poach your spells from you, well, you would be right. But I'll make it up to you by teaching you a few of my own spells later on. We're both logical mages so I think it would be a nice exchange overall.] 

Since Evin didn't have to explain every little detail about it, he really didn't mind cooperating with the man. And besides, he was also a bit curious about how the man's mapping skill worked. He then started explaining how his Heavy and Storm spells worked, while also mentioning Enri's bite. 

[Weird how most of your lethals are melee attacks and the reason why your Heavy World works as a lethal is because you know its World Switch,] Dzuko commented in the end, [That's really great, since no one really expects to be killed by the Heavy World, so the amount of people who actually prepare counterattacks against it are pretty low. It's a very nice lethal to possess.] 

Evin could only smile wryly at the judgement.

"Alright, we're ready to move now," Sannah said and took lead with Yazuran. 

[If you have any detection methods, then keep those on. Everyone usually searches for traps that match their own Worlds.] Dzuko explained. 

[Alright,] Evin said and booted up his Soul vision, while asking Runa to be on the lookout for Dark Spells.

[Well, since the stair down could continue on for a long time, I'll try to uphold my end of the bargain,] Dzuko began his explanation.

From what Evin heard, he realized that Dzuko acted very similarly to him, as in they both fought in a way that liked to take control of territory. For example, the chances of Evin winning a fight or losing it depended highly on whether he was fighting inside the Dark Room or not. 

Dzuko was the same type. He cast a spell which placed the air particles inside it under his almost complete control. He could thicken the air particles to make it act more like a solid object rather than a gaseous one, he could completely deprive an area of its air to the point it almost reached the levels of an absolute, he could even harden the air particles and create a literal shredder of air.

But sadly, the spell had one huge drawback. Every time he cast the spell, he needed to explain its effects to the enemies. It was also very noticeable, which was very weird for a World of Storms spell, which boasted its invisibility. This was the limitation he needed to put on the thing, as otherwise, it was too overpowered. 

Obviously, if the enemies thought it a joke and let Dzuku do whatever he wanted, then great. An easy fight for his team. But more often than not, the experienced members of the elite teams tended to be the cautious type of people. Although they think of the possibility of a bluff, they always make sure to check its credibility. After all, a lot of other mages had these forced limitations on their spells. So they would throw a few of their anti-Storm methods to deal with Dzuko's spell accordingly. 

Although Dzuko could still act like it didn't do anything, before striking suddenly, since he'd already explained its effects to his enemies, they usually tended to be careful around it anyway.

[But if you pair your Dark Room with his territorial spell, wouldn't you two have an extremely strong combo? I mean, you could be trying to take control of an area using your Dark Room, while he would be trying to take control using his own spell. I imagine your enemies would have a much tougher time trying to deal with that, instead of just one area spell.] 

....

Author's note:

If you've been reading the later chapters, you might've noticed the quality of the chapters dropping significantly. The update stability is also becoming a big problem as well. Well, I'm afraid I have some bad news for you all coming soon. I don't wish to speak of it yet, but expect a huge chapter explaining my thoughts on the current state of my novel to be dropped after a week or so.