Chương 161: Chapter 156

After thoroughly exterminating all the mimics from the meadow, they spent a few minutes resting, discussing what they saw so far, and going over things Sam noticed in their teamwork. Like how Katie still liked to charge forward a little too much, or how Isabella used healing 'dances' that healed basically nothing compared to Clarissa. It was a waste of mana, so Sam had Isabella delete it from her rotation for now. She was a hybrid damage dealer with some buffs and condition damage. There was no need for healing.

For once, Dan was rather conservative with his flames, not wanting to set the entire forest they were in aflame. Sam just told him to go nuts. The fey would probably get a kick out of it. Melody, the murderous swan, the size of a big pony, was turning out to be a talented damage dealer while Hawky occasionally rained down precise bursts of flames. Lucky, meanwhile, was having fun tearing apart their enemies.

And thanks to his nose, he could instantly spot most illusions, thus making him a rather efficient hunter in this pocket of fey insanity. Sam stood up from his seat, slapped his knees, and spoke up.

"Alright, people! Let's continue!"

"Yes!" came the expected celebration from Katie, who immediately jumped up, ready to tear into the enemy. The rest of them followed the excitable girl with a touch less enthusiasm. The meadow had one entrance and one exit. This exit led to a small path that meandered through the dense forest. Sam was rather keyed up, as during their short journey nothing attacked them and he could sense nothing through his own mana senses. Then, to his relief, the path soon widened, and they stepped onto the edge of a field.

The field looked rather fantastic, with rolling hills as far as the eyes could see, a smattering of trees in ideal picnic locations, and a beautiful bevy of flowers painting a breathtaking sight.

"Wow…" he let out audibly, marveling at the sight. However, instead of agreement, he received nothing but silence from his team. Swirling around, he found all of them missing, even his loyal companion, Lucky. Instantly, he turned around and lifted his sword, because he didn't notice the rest of his team vanishing, but he noticed the very prominent mana signature heading at him with breakneck speed.

CLANG Their swords clashed, and Sam looked into the eyes of a pasty-skinned elf with a too big smile, sharp teeth, and mirth dancing in their eyes. His enemy said nothing, and Sam similarly stayed silent. There was no point bandying words with a fey. It was like arguing with a stupid person. They had the home-court advantage. Swords danced as the probable fey did everything to try to skewer Sam with their sword.

However, it soon became obvious that no matter what move Sam made with his sword, the fey was just a little bit faster, a little bit stronger and a little bit more talented. Every strike was deflected, and every feint was seen through. While he managed to deflect and protect himself from a lot of strikes and swings, just as many got through, leaving small wounds and scratches on his armor and body. So, Sam did what he always did in situations like this. Poured more mana into it.

He used mana to further enhance his body, making him faster and stronger. Sadly, the fey just smirked at him and did the same. Sam knew he could use his spells to absolutely wipe the smirk off the bothersome fey's face but despite his growing annoyance, he still wanted to use this opportunity to further his sword skills. He didn't have time to worry about the others, he had to focus on the now. Naturally, the fey couldn't leave him in silence.

The disturbing smile never left his face and after a few minutes of clashing, they began to taunt him.

"Oh, a little short on that strike, weren't you, dear?"

"Oh my! That almost got me!"

"My, my… you're improving…"

"That seemed…unwise…"

"Maybe if you pay me, I'll throw this fight…" It wasn't really the trash-talking that got to him. As a person from the twenty-first-century internet, he heard much worse things. It was a tone of voice. The fey talked like Sam was a small, mentally challenged child in need of babying. In other words: the fey's voice was bloody annoying. This made Sam contemplate trying to use his token to make the being in front of him go away, but his prideful nature won out.

'I'll defeat him!' Sam stood in the middle of the pockmarked field, ignoring the surrounding devastation, as he panted tiredly. In contrast to his tattered armor and clothing, the fey in front of him looked like they had just come out of the salon, not even a hair out of place. He knew it was just an illusion, but nothing he did with his mana had any effect. No matter how he tried to disrupt it, the image didn't waver. This story has been stolen from Royal Road.

If you read it on Amazon, please report it"Maybe, it's time to contemplate giving up, my dear?" spoke up the fey with a shit-eating grin on his face. A grin that was bigger than it had any right to be. It went almost ear to ear, showcasing the fey's almost shark-like teeth. Sam once again refused to speak up. The grin on his opponent's face got bigger.

"Oh my, it seems you're one of those silent and brooding types. Don't worry, dear. Time spent with me will surely loosen up your…tongue…" Sam just gave the fey a look, to which he received a short chuckle.

"But alas, your time is not infinite, thus I'll have to… nudge you a little. Don't you think?" came the needling comment from the ethereal being. Sam frowned but still said nothing. In turn, the fey launched himself forward, even faster, with stronger and stronger strikes coming. Sam could barely keep up, with more and more strikes slipping through his defenses, destroying both his armor and Mana Shield.

No matter where he moved his sword, how he followed his skills' suggestions, how he tried to parry, all he received were strikes on his body and an infuriating smirk on his opponent's face.

"Isn't this great? You, under my blade…" his enemy practically purred. Sam grimaced and then made a quick decision. Suffering under the attacks wasn't really as enjoyable as he expected. With a quick push against his opponent's blade, creating a little bit of breathing room, he then took the mana inside him, and with a mighty push, through his free arm, his palm pointing toward his enemy, he released a ball of storm.

Wind blades danced around in a ball the size of a human, screeching as they rubbed at each other, only Sam's will keeping them in a coherent form. It flew for a second, then as it reached the fey, Sam let go of his control. The ball of wind magic instantly expanded, creating a deep circular furrow in the ground as the wind blades tried to annihilate everything. Unfortunately, the enemy swordsman simply jumped back, barely getting scratched by magic. However, Sam didn't stop.

With every new swing of his sword, a new wind blade was created, aiming at the monster in front of him. The fey simply dodged or used their sword to protect themselves against the deadly wind blades.

"Haha! Now that's what I'm talking about!" Sam just doubled down, now actually angry with himself for not using the magic that he had worked hard for. He conjured bigger and bigger blades, cutting deep furrows into the scenery while the fey danced between them. Great gusts of winds tried to unbalance the fey as they left his hands. As the mana began churning in his body and around, he felt more and more invigorated. His anger slowly bled off, and Sam found that he was grinning.

Not as creepily as the fey, but still grinning. The wind blades became more alive. They danced in the air, trying to find a purchase on the fey's protection. Finally, after almost exhausting himself, completely devastating the scenery, with only a small circle of green grass remaining under him, his enemy was down on their last legs. The fey was kneeling, leaning on his sword and panting deeply.

"Haaa… haaa… isn't this amazing, my dear? You shouldn't neglect your magic…" they panted. Sam kept his mouth shut and raised his sword one last time, the edges swirling with wind magic, that somehow came much more easily as if he had broken through something. And as he did some quick introspection, he realized he actually had. He had been following the rigid build that he had envisioned in the beginning, and he had sort of forgotten how to have fun with his own skills.

He was so focused on using them in the perfect way that he didn't even try to let loose and just simply use them. As he raised the sword above his head, the fey spoke up again.

"Haa…ha... there is no need for that, my dear. You learned your lesson, I think. Maybe next time we can have some more fun?" And then, between two blinks, Sam was back at the edge of the field, his clothing repaired, consumed mana and stamina restored and another fey token in his palm. He ignored the notifications blaring in his head. He quickly looked around and saw his team was around him, all of them blinking owlishly, as if they were surprised.

"What happened?" he asked, pocketing the token and trying to forget momentarily what had just happened.

"What do you mean, what happened?" Clarissa spoke up rather angrily.

"We thought you attacked us!"

"I did?"

"Well, it turned out to be a bloody fey after we defeated it. But it was super annoying!" Katie continued as she crossed her arms in front of her.

"Your skills are so annoying!" Dan nodded while Isabella was looking at him with a different stare as if she was seeing him the first time.

"What happened after you defeated…me?" he asked, a little perturbed. Katie just grumbled.

"Everything vanished, and we found ourselves here… You didn't even drop anything. I wanted to ransom your sword back to you…" Hearing that, Sam nodded a little and thought a little. His inherited memories had a lot of gaming knowledge, mostly about Magic Unbound, but his alternate had never heard of anything like this. He was completely flying blind here.

"Then we should continue…" he was about to recommend when there was last chime-like laughter and with sparkles and glitter, a fancy chest appeared in front of them, while an exit portal appeared behind it.

"Or not. It seems we're finished with the fracture."

"Yay! Loot!" Katie exclaimed and rushed over to the chest, slamming its top open, and immediately started rummaging through it. She soon began throwing things at people. Sam received a scroll that he held far away from himself, learning from his last experience. He was vindicated when a puff of glitter appeared around the scroll as soon as he touched it with his hand. Wondering how Katie knew what to give everybody, he took a closer look at the scroll and saw that his name was written on it.

Clarissa received a small box with a many-faceted gem in it, that would work as a focus if processed by a craftsman. Or in their case, a craftswoman. Dan received a simple torch that was immediately lit up by a rainbow fire as soon as the fire mage touched it.

"Fairy fire…" Sam murmured as he watched Dan stare at the flames in fascination. Isabella got a guitar. An ordinary guitar. The woman stared at the musical instrument in dismay while the others politely tried to hide their chuckles. Except for Katie, who was naturally howling. Next, it was Isabella's turn to laugh, as Katie pulled out a mouth gag. They exited through the portal and found themselves back in the fairy ring, with the portal gone and the ring of mushrooms rapidly decaying into nothingness.

To their surprise, the guitar in Isabella's hand turned into a choker with tiny bells on it, while the mouth gag turned into a mask that would filter out harmful substances in the air. The bells emitted a pleasant chiming sound as long as Isabella took care to walk carefully. According to her they provided benefits to her buffs. Then, for a few seconds, they just stood there and looked at each other. It was Sam who broke the silence.

"Let's not do that again…" Katie had the temerity to pout.

"But I wanted to fight against a boss that is you, boss!" Melody honked murderously at them, probably trying to fill the silence. Lucky just glanced at the swan and growled once, causing the swan to let out a surprised honk and quickly huddle behind Clarissa's leg. Sam sighed and shook his head.

"I need to watch the recording of your fights against me, then we will have a discussion about teamwork and how we can work together better." Hearing the general agreement from his team, he turned around and began the trek back to civilization.