Chapter 71

  A Chorus of Synergy

  Screeching violin.

  With a flurry of motion, Madame Voyou’s fingers and bow began dashing across the strings of her modified violin. Each note erupting forth in a wave of sustained energy. Her sound so crips and delicate that it shot out, instantly causing the clear rod by her feet to light up with a light blue color. Simultaneously I could see a wave of frost pour out of the rod.

  Instantly my mind knew what the crystal rod on the ground was, they were resonating rods. Implements that allowed music based Skills to act as focal points and amplify magical effects outwards. These were the same rods that were used by healers to heal an entire battlefield of wounded soldiers during the defense of Hidel Springs.

  We had read about them in our text books, and even seen rough depictions of what some could look like. But never had I seen them be put to such use now. The more she plucked on her strings, the more not only the rod in front of us glowed, but the rods around us began to glow as well. Oddly enough the rods directly across from us also lit up, before the edges did. Seeing the waves and hearing her sound bounce off the water, I understood that this was part of the effect of her magic and singing. Her song so powerful that it could bounce over the surface of the marsh water, get caught amplified and then reflected back thanks to the resonating power of these rods that we spent the last hour placing.

  It was amazing to watch. It was like watching a slow acting tree lighting ceremony that could only work based on the power of the song being sung. With each note, and rod lit up, the trickle of ice that had begun to form intensified and continued to shoot inwards back towards the lumbering island sized alligator.

  “Mruhh,” a deep throaty below erupted as the monster’s maw, a giant mouth that I had assumed was a stuck log bellowed loudly. Its voice echoing the anger that only the recently awakened can muster.

  “Harmonize with me,” Madame Voyou called out, pulling my attention back from the monster and towards her.

  For a moment I was lost, frightened as I didn’t know a song for freezing. And for moment I thought I wouldn’t be able to help. But then she started to sing, causing a chill to run down my spine as I realized this was the song we sung in class. The song where my talent for music first manifested and altered.

  Hearing her speak, I soon joined in. Harmonizing with her, letting my voice add to and amplify her own voice, her own power filled words that she was creating.

  “Can’t believe you’ve thrown my heart (into the sea)

  Can’t believe you’ve taken my heart (from me)”

  As she sings, I join in, and provide the harmony at the end. The moment our voices merge, the blue lights around us surge to life causing waves of ice to shoot out and spread forward. It’s slow, at least it looks slow, as the entire process takes time, but I can see how it is freezing literal feet of water in seconds. Even the bottom of the marsh now glows with a faint blue line as ice begins to ripple and dance its way across the bottom.

  “RAW-AH!” The lumbering alligator stirs to life, clearly angered by the impromptu concert that is causing it to awaken from its slumber. As it moves, the rest of the team also moves into place. Mr. Yi goes out wide to the right, while Mr. Karl tentatively walks on a dry patch of dirt that sticks up from the marsh on the left. Clearly, they have done this countless times as they move far easier than I could on the slick ice.

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  Markan for his part seems to be charging up for an attack, as his revolvers begin to glow in a deep golden-brown color. I almost want to know what he is going to do, but I have to focus on the song and its slightly altered cadence. Weaving quickly to regain my attention, Madame Voyou glances at me and then drops the point of violin, as she does, we both slow down and get deeper with both the resonating sounds and the timbre of our notes we are hitting. I can almost imagine this being part of why she gave me that whistle, the one that you shake blow into and have to match the pitch that it makes. Only to then shake the whistle again. I just got the device yesterday and while I did try it once or twice, it was only in passing, nothing that could have prepared me for this level of use. Still, I did my best, pausing when I needed to in order to focus and match her notes she was making. Then watching as she began slowly rising up to a level position, towards the position she first started playing in. At the same time her notes of her voice also rose to hit that same level.

  The amazing thing about watching her perform was, regardless of how bent over and how painful it must have been to take in a deep breath, she did so flawlessly. Singing every note crisply and clearly, while helping me understand where she was going with her song and what she was building towards.

  I can feel a pull on my internal reserves of energy, as if the song is asking how much mana I want to contribute to this process. For a moment I resist, but ultimately I give in and begin trying to pour as much energy as I can into the creation of this Skill based effect. To help make sure I am prepared for any damage that might occur, I make sure to begin cycling my Golden Life Ratio Mana Regeneration* Skill. Knowing that it would be better to have energy in the future than none at all.

  Thus, I add not only my voice, but also my own magical resonance to this Skill. Part of me realizes that this is the power of Skald, someone who can not only sing a powerful tune on their own, but also get an even larger effect by getting more to join in. It wasn’t until a few bars in that I began to see my own effect that my notes were adding to the Skill being used. For now there was a faint greenish hue that also resonated with the notes and began filling the rods perfectly. Not that it changed the overall effect of what we were doing, as we were clearly trying to freeze the entire marsh, and cut down a severely frozen or hindered colossal alligator.

  Only after a few more lines that seem to deal absolutely nothing with the cold and everything about a broken heart do I realize that this song actually doesn’t seem to matter. Is it just the words? Or better yet, is it just the Skill being used and the fact that I can join in easily that helps? I honestly don’t know. The song is powerful, I know that much. Also, I have a personal attachment to this song as this was the very song that I had a personal epiphany with, meaning that my connection to the song was greater as well.

  “ROOOARRR!” By now the alligator with its wide u-shaped maw bellows out angrily, as it does it releases its own wave of water infused mana. Mana that is quickly met with and flash frozen by the encroaching layer of ice heading its way.

  Then finally, we hit the ending and with a quick hand gesture from Madame Voyou, we grab hold of the final note and grab onto it with everything we have. My own voice singing and screaming the note for all I’ve got. Each reverberation of my throat seeming to provide another wave of energy that echoes out and harmonizes with Madame Voyou’s own notes.

  Then the impossible happens.

  FWOOSH!

  What was once a wet and murky marsh gets flash frozen completely. Not just the top layer, not just a top few inches, but a complete and thorough freezing of water.

  Thump.

  I am so busy watching the wave of freezing water echo out and encircle around the giant alligator, the boss monster of this rift, that I missed the moment when Madame Voyou began to wobble and ultimately collapse to the ground.

  Going over to her, I begin casting my new and improved Streamline Healing* Skill on her, only to find that she is fine. Though just a little weak from using so much mana.

  “I’m okay,” she manages to rasp out through deep breaths. It is clear that the one song, just like what happened last night, took its toll on her body as she was nearly on fumes. “Watch the others, protect my—”

  Madame Voyou paused, not wanting to say Mr. Karl’s name, but her gaze gave it away as to whom she was talking about as she stared directly at the man in question.

  I nodded, gently placing her on the ground but she was fine. Well she was managing to stay up on her knees, her metal leg bent well behind her in an odd angle that had to be painful. Or maybe it was just natural for her at the moment. Regardless, she was okay, and she was right that I was still needed to help the rest of the team.

  For a moment I was confused about what was going to happen. As Mr. Karl and Mr. Yi were both set to attack from opposite angles, but neither seemed ready to strike as they were both staring at the monster that stood at the center of the now frozen lake.

  “RAWARRR!” The giant alligator bellowed as it began to roar and thrash about wildly, its front two paws digging into the ground and helping it claw its way up out of the frozen marsh. Once it got its claws up, it squirmed and shimmied its back legs, tail flicking wildly as it tried to propel itself out of the frozen marsh. A marsh that had not entirely frozen, or maybe the alligator managed to melt some of the ice, for there was water and a lot of splashing that occurred at the exact center of the marsh, where the monster had been resting moments ago.

  Seeing that the monster was now up and mostly able to balance itself on the thick ice, Mr. Yi and Mr. Karl first turned towards each other, and nodded. Then in a surprising move, or at least a surprising move to me, they both turned to face Markan, and they both nodded in unison.

  That gesture was all the notice that Markan needed as he nodded back, then raising up his two pistols he pointed them towards Mr. Karl and Mr. Yi respectively and then proceeded to open fire.

  BANG! BANG! BANG!