Lucas felt bad for Smash, but there was no way for him to get a clean shot around the massive monster. He still had three charges of Chain Lightning ready to fire off at a moment’s notice, but he simply couldn’t find a target that wouldn’t result in Smash getting fried as well. So, as a result, Lucas pressed farther forward and ahead of even the guards. Since he was too close to use his prepared spells now, he swapped to the backup on his staff that had rarely ever been used: Fire Breath. His pool of Arcane Energy was much larger now than it had been before, which meant that he could safely afford the massive initial cast time associated with the spell—the main reason that he had thus far avoided using it as much as possible. The moment he stepped through the doorway, Lucas unleashed the area-of-effect spell, creating a large cone of flame that engulfed everyone in front of him. Within seconds, villagers and players alike were turned to ash under his fiery assault.

Now that he had created some room for himself, Lucas continued pressing forward without stopping his spell. “Rowland, heal him up if you can!” Lucas shouted between fiery breaths, hoping the nauseatingly lovesick noble could hear him over the screams of the burning peasants.

If there is one type of weapon that just feels good, regardless of practicality, it’s the flame thrower. Fires continued spurting out of his mouth, sizzling and burning everyone around him. Lucas wanted to keep this going forever, but he knew he couldn't. He could creep around at a slow pace while maintaining the spell, but that was about it. The mob of players had already begun inching away from him, pressing back into their fellows behind, and there was little he could do to keep up with them if they chose to all turn and flee. The Mages scattered throughout the mob caught on to the fact that he was basically rooted in place, and they had once again begun channeling spells aimed at him.

Rock Lob slammed into the ground right next to him, and he was once again pummeled by the stony fragments. Three slammed into his chest, two into his face, and one into his right leg. The attack broke his concentration, and then the magic that he had been channeling into the fire crystal in his staff revolted, turning on him and pouring energy back up into his arm. Lucas choked down the resulting nausea he felt as the magic flooded back into him, and he stumbled backward as his vision swam in a sea of black splotches. Status messages began popping up at an alarming rate, letting him know he wouldn’t be able to cast for a minute and that his Hit Points had plummeted down to 150. The messages also unnecessarily reminded him about the devastating torment of wild energy coursing into his body.