Elemental Cats

Chapter 142 Fishing

?Toz had lost his sword, so he had to conjure a new one that, while not as good as his previous one, would do for now. He used the sword to slash at the fish that got close to them while using whips of metal wire to attack those further away.

Nil used his understanding of the spell that he was in the middle of learning and sent sharp metal spikes raining down on the fish.

Lucy covered the trees and leaves, protecting them from the fish's attacks.

Mindle had to be careful of lighting the trees on fire even if Lucy was protecting them, so she attacked by targeting larger clumps of fish that were a little bit further away from the trees. She also used her control of heat to help Lucy keep the fish away from the trees by heating the air around them.

Scrael was covered in purple sparks and zapped around the island and the trees swiping at the fish with her claws. Scrael left a trail of purple light in her wake as she flitted around the battlefield and attacked the void fish left and right.

However, even after everyone had attacked the fish several times, only a few had fallen down to the ground, no longer alive. Almost all the attacks passed right through the fish, barely even leaving a ripple in their translucent bodies.

The only thing that managed to halt the fish in their advance was Lucy's barrier covering the trees, but even that was quickly growing useless. The fish wriggled and forced themselves through nonexistent gaps, and the void magic surrounding them eroded the barrier, making it easier for the fish coming after to squeeze through.

Seeing the situation turn for the worse in an instant, Toz turned his gaze on the few fish that had died and fallen to the ground. They all had one thing in common. Both eyes were gone.

Since that was apparently their weakness, Toz told the others to try and target their attacks on the eyes of the fish surrounding them and the island. As long as they struck both eyes, the fish kept dropping like flies.

But if given enough time after losing only one eye, the fish began generating the eye. Although they got slower and weaker each time, they didn't die if both eyes weren't destroyed at the same time.

It took some time, and a lot of the group's attacks missed their targets, but eventually, they got the hang of things. Toz focused on swinging horizontally. Scrael's paws were just wide enough to take both eyes even if she swung straight down.

Nil tried various things as he figured out the most efficient way to kill the fish. Either sending two spikes at the same target or use a broader spike to try and hit both eyes at once.

Mindle, who started getting more used to using fire the way her grimoire was teaching her, also controlled her fire more delicately and targeted the eyes of the fish, and made sure she didn't turn its entire body to ash, which had happened a couple of times when she was frustrated about not being able to kill the fish by only destroying the eyes. Magic weak enough to only damage the eyes wasn't powerful enough to target both eyes at once, and magic powerful enough to destroy both eyes also blasted the body.

Controlling two instances of magic to target each fish's two eyes was cumbersome with the battlefield's distraction, but even if Mindle got used to it, it would be an inefficient way of dealing with the fish.

But as she continued to target the fish and honed her delicacy and fine control over her flames, Mindle started forming her first Tongue of Flame.

Although it was a barely finished formed flame, it displayed vastly more power compared to Mindle's other magic, and she controlled it and the heat it emitted as the hand-sized flicker of flame drifted around the battlefield, popping the fish's eyes left and right.

Unlike Nil's magic which merely resembled the spell in shape, Mindle's flame was the first step to mastering the Tongues of Flame. Although she was far away from completely mastering the spell, just bringing out the true nature of fire and shaping it into a flame was confirmation that Mindle had succeeded in learning the spell. Now she only needed to practice it further to bring out more tongues of flame and more power and dig out the true meaning of the spell and of fire.

After Mindle cast her spell, the fish started dying much quicker, and soon enough, the entire school of fish had been killed. Living without a brain didn't leave much room for rational thought. Even when almost all the fish had died, the remaining ones never looked like they were about to retreat.

The fish continued doggedly targeting the trees and barely reacting to their companions being attacked all around them. Although weird, it worked out in favor of Toz and the cats since they got more to eat than they would have if the fish had been scared away.

The event had also shown that the void trees worked as an efficient lure for at least one type of void beast and possibly other types as well. Although they would still have to drift close enough for the beasts to sense the trees, it gave the group some hope about having a sustainable food supply.

However, it would only be food if it was edible, and the weird translucent, semi-corporeal bodies of the fish didn't look the most appetizing. But it was their only hope of survival, so Toz and the cats, supported by hunger, did their best in trying to eat the fish bodies that looked more like jellyfish than ordinary fish.

The meat didn't seem to be affected in any way by the fire Mindle conjured, aside from when it was burned and turned to ash, but Toz wanted to be on the safe side and heated it until right before it destabilized.

There was nothing they could do about the lack of taste and the weird sensation in the mouth since Toz had lost all the spices and seasonings when he was sent into the Void, but it was still edible. And so far, it didn't seem like it was poisonous either.