Black Onyx - Forgotten Magic

The farm in question was about ten minutes away from the city.

In Gerald's mind, cleaning up a few rats was a ridiculously simple task. He couldn't understand why someone would put a request to the Guild, especially since the reward was fifty silver coins. That was quite a good bit of money.

"Oh yeah, do we actually need to get some mouse traps? I completely forgot about that." Gerald suddenly remembered that catching rats empty-handed was not really a viable option.

Sera suddenly stopped and just stared at Gerald as she just realized the severity of the situation. "Oh no. Please tell me you are joking!"

"What do you mean?"

Sera suddenly didn't know if she should laugh or cry and said, "Did you even read the job properly? We are tasked with exterminating Giant Rats!"

Gerald made a confused expression and retorted, "Yeah, so? They are just big rats, right? What's the big deal?"

"They are not big, they are Giant! They are the size of a grown-up dog! They are extremely aggressive and they even carry diseases. Just a scratch has the potential to kill you if you don't take a good Healing Potion."

"Oh."

"What do you mean 'Oh'? This is serious! Now you know why nobody took this job before us. You basically picked the most annoying, disgusting, and time-consuming job possible!" Sera complained in a loud voice.

Gerald threw his hands up in the air and admitted his mistake, "Okay, fine. I messed up, no big deal. Either way, I need some targets for my test. If they are bigger, then that's even better."

Sera lifted her eyebrow. She was not quite sure if she might have made a mistake, insisting to accompany Gerald on his adventures. "What kind of tests?" she asked curiously.

"You know that even the simplest spells use quite a lot of Mana and they are not very useful in a drawn-out fight," he said.

"Right… Go on."

There was a proud smile on Gerald's face. "So I came up with an idea for a spell that could be used more often for the same amount of Mana. It's an Earth spell. Basically, the idea behind it is to make many small stone spikes instead of just one big one," he explained.

"Huh?" Sera was stunned once again. "Are you stupid? Spells can't be just made on a whim. You need to dedicate years of research, with trial-and-error tests to be able to create a new spell."

Gerald just waved his hand and said, "Nonsense, why would I need that? Look, I can prove it to you. I just didn't decide on a name yet."

Sera covered her face with her hands and sighed. "Why do things like this happen to me?" she sobbed quietly.

In the meantime, Gerald was completely oblivious to her suffering. "Let's see, what should I name it?"

He murmured to himself, "Stone Needle…? Nah, it sounds too weak," He glanced at the crossbow at his back, which he plundered from the dead bandit. "Maybe Stone Bolt? Or Stone Arrow?"

He turned to Sera, "Hey, Sera. What do you think: Stone Bolt or Stone Arrow?"

She looked at him and furiously said, "You are asking me? Just go with Stone Bolt and then shove it up your ass!" She went off the road and then sat on the grass, visibly irritated.

Gerald just lightly chuckled, but he didn't mind her reaction. It could be considered normal, if things didn't go your way, to get a little grumpy once in a while. Then he smiled to himself and said, "Stone Bolt it is!"

He took a breath of fresh air through the nose to clear his mind. With a good picture in his mind, he called forth the Earth Element. The boulders near the road started trembling slightly and they attracted Sera's attention. The closest boulder even cracked in accordance with the spell.

"Stone Bolt!"

Crack, crack, crack!

The boulder split into multiple forearm-length stone spikes as they flew up, hovering around Gerald.

Sera jumped up, the anger from before completely gone. "What the hell! How did you do that?!"

She was watching with eyes wide open and said, "How can you make them float around you? What's going on?! Why are they just staying there?"

Gerald scratched his head and said, "I'm not too sure either. Maybe because I didn't have a target in mind?" He just shrugged his shoulders. Minor details didn't really bother him. The spell worked and that's what mattered the most.

Just to perform a test, he decided on a target. His choice was a tree not far from the road. He simply waved his hand and pointed at the tree, while imagining it being impaled by the Stone Bolts.

"Go!"

Woosh!

Thud, thud, thud!

The stone spikes flew straight and fast, embedding themselves quite deep into the wood. A satisfied smile emerged on Gerald's face. "Hey, that's pretty good! It works just as I expected. And the consumption is only 1 LIS, just like Earth Spike. I wonder if I can control each Bolt individually…"

"That… You... How!" Sera was stumbling on her words, too shocked to properly speak.

"Looks cool right? I could probably teach you later if you want… Let's go now. It's getting late, and I want to be done with this job before dark." The sun was already pretty low on in the sky, and they probably only had a few hours of sunlight left.

They were already close to the farm, and it didn't take long for them to get there. What waited for them, however, was an absolutely horrendous sight.

There were blood and animal parts everywhere. Pieces of cattle and chickens were torn apart and littered the ground and the insides were gone.

After coming closer, Gerald noticed movement in a cow's gut. Upon closer inspection, he discovered a Giant Rat, feasting on the guts of the dead animal. The beast was currently busy burying its head inside the carcass, completely oblivious to the world. The smell was enough to make people feel sick, and the sight was not pretty either.

Bleah!

Gerald turned around and saw Sera holding her stomach and vomiting near a tree not far from there. "Seems like I'll have to do this myself," he murmured to himself and sighed. Although this place was revolting, it was not affecting him that much.

First, he made sure that no Giant Rats were hiding around, and only after confirming it did he prepare to kill the one in front of him.

"Stone Bolt!"

Once again, multiple spikes came out of the ground and they hovered around Gerald. "Alright let's see if I can do this."

He focused his mind on only one Bolt and gave it an order to attack. The Stone Bolt easily and accurately pierced the rat's stomach and pinned it to the floor.

Chi! Chi!

The rat was heavily wounded but it was still alive. In a panic, it started producing an irritating high-pitched noise. Gerald quickly sent another shot, directly to its head, finally killing it.

When he just tried to take a breather, he heard even more of the sound. It was coming from the barn, and there was not just one source.

Gerald quickly took out his sword and summoned another batch of Stone Bolts. Now there were over a dozen Bolts hovering around his body, ready to be fired at a moment's notice.

Soon, two pairs of dark red eyes came from the dark interior of the barn. Gerald clenched the sword tighter and fired one of the Stone Bolts inside.

Although the rats moved out of the way of the projectile, it still irritated them, and so they madly attacked.

Not daring to take risks, especially on his first job, Gerald fired half the remaining Bolts at the same time. Covering a larger area, they made it much more difficult for the Giant Rats to dodge.

The pest at the front was unlucky and it got impaled by a spike, straight through its head. The other rat, however, used its companion as cover and it managed to avoid getting any injuries.

"Tsk!" Gerald frowned and clicked his tongue, annoyed. It seemed he underestimated his opponent because he didn't expect animals to be able to make use of a simple strategy.

As the giant rat was already running closer, he decided to quickly retreat a few steps back and wait for a good opportunity to strike.

Chi! Chi!

Hearing the sound, Gerald immediately knew he was in trouble. From the barn came a few more Giant Rats with bloodthirsty eyes. He knew he had to finish the one before him quickly, otherwise, things could get out of control.