necariin
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Chapter 552
🕑 Added 2023-02-16 05:12:50 +0000 UTCAlways hard to release chapters the same day a book releases! Enjoy!
ToC
* * *
“Have they moved?” Naberius asked. She was pacing a tight circle around the Frostfather’s Altar like a Hoarhound stalking its prey. “Have they emerged?”
“Not yet,” Sitri reported. The wrinkled crone stood closest to the altar, her hands pressed against the cloudy orb of ice that had grown there. Her rheumy eyes, so poor normally, were the best at scrying through ice. “They continue to conjure flames within their shell.”
“Why? The Frostfather will not look on this delay kindly.”
“Defense is as necessary as offense, Foris.” Sitri stabbed a bony finger at a shape in the ice. To Naberius it was nothing but a blurry shadow. “The Elementals are stalking them.”
“Better to meet them with force,” Foris insisted. “The Human is capable of that much. It will only grow colder the longer they wait—to waste time is foolish.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Naberius interjected. “Look. They are moving.”
“Fast too,” Sitri said. “Too fast.”
Naberius drew close to the elder Witch. “What is it?”
“They’ve—they’ve reached the sixth layer Door Guardian.”
“What? Already?” Naberius peered into the ice but it was a clouded mess. “Show me.”
Sitri grunted and her hands paled were they touched the orb. In return, the orb became clearer and clearer to the other two, until they could make out a huge beast. A Greater Savage Therium, a creature born of ice, earth, and steel. It was more powerful by far than the Ice Drakes and the standard Therium. Its six limbs could rend even the greatest Risi Warrior in twain, and its steel claws would not be stopped by any armor fashioned by the Kin.
“Grimmar barely survived this Guardian’s attacks,” Foris said. “If the Human was lying, we shall find out now.”
“You saw him handle the previous layers. And his Companion was nearly as fast.” Naberius shook her head, exasperated at Foris’ rejection of what was in front of them. “I do not doubt he will conquer this challenge.”
“The sixth Door Guardian is dead!” Sitri interrupted with a gasp.
“Truly?” Foris crowded close, as if eager to find the lie. Yet it was clear to all of them: the Greater Savage Therium had been rent in two…and was even now being devoured by the strange Human king. Foris grumbled and groused, and her words stank of mulish pride. “It…it is true. They have passed into the seventh layer.”
If Naberius was being honest, the speed of the battle surprised her as well. Her pride remained intact, however, as she had hitched her cart to the Human king’s ascent. She felt more confident in that choice now than ever before. He must only reach the end of the seventh layer, and we can begin.
Naberius saw opportunity in the Human king. His power was great and his judgment sound…if all of Kimaris’ words were true, the benefits to allying themselves with his Territory were not to be denied. And she would reap the greatest benefits, for being the one to facilitate their new alliance.
She only had to wait.
“They have…they are in the seventh layer, but it—” Sitri swallowed audibly. The ice had returned to its cloudy interior, at least to the others, but her pale eyes flicked about as if she couldn’t keep up. “They’re moving too fast. They’ve killed thirty–no! Forty elementals. They—” Sitri’s old voice trembled. “They’ve reached the seventh Door Guardian.”
Foris hissed.
“And?” Naberius asked, leaning in. She peered into the orb, seeing only flickering shadows.
“And it is defeated. Instantly.”
Naberius laughed. She had been right. “Incredible. This Human king—”
“He has entered the eighth layer.”
“What!?” No! That wasn’t what she instructed him to do. He risks everything! “What of the Elementals?”
Sitri’s hands were trembling. “He and the Chimera are moving. The information is unclear, the viewing distorted by a foul sound…but everything is—” She lifted her near-blind eyes to Naberius’ own. They all but glowed with awe. “They are laying waste to all that lies before them.”
“Frostfather help us.” Fortis pressed a hand over her heart. “They’re attempting the ascent.”
Naberius ground her teeth so hard she felt blood flood her tongue—she gave it no mind, however. Instead, she and her sisters watched in mute horror as the two Challengers dropped the eighth Door Guardian and crossed into the ninth layer.
The Summit.
* * *
The last portal, the one from the eighth to the ninth, was an open triangular archway that was almost a hundred feet high at the apex. Stepping through it felt like swimming in gelatin, cold and thick and entirely unsuited for traveling through. Like the portal didn’t want them to continue.
Neither Pit nor Felix cared about that, though.
They jolted as they exited, buffeted by gale-force winds and pelted by jagged ice. Felix conjured a red-gold flame to intercept the razor-sharp hail and it was more or less effective. Didn’t do much for the wind though.
“There’s a staircase!” Pit shouted over the howling storm.
Sure enough, the only thing ahead of them was a set of stairs carved into the side of a mountain and coated liberally with ice and snow. There was no railing, and after twenty feet or so the right side opened up into a dizzying drop. Felix traced the path, tracking the steps as they wound up the mountain peak until they vanished into the haze of the thickening blizzard.
“Stay close, bud!” Felix shouted, leaning into the wind. “We’ll move slow and steady on this one.”
“Right…right behind you!”
Felix didn’t miss the catch in his friend’s voice, or the exhaustion that dogged his Spirit. Pit had already been hurting when they’d reunited on the fifth layer, and the attempt to cleanse his curse had only made it worse.
Not to mention the fights getting here. They had moved fast, but not terribly so considering their Agility. Pit had been adamant in handling any foe that came his way, which slowed down their progress. Felix would have been fine with that (mostly) if not for the fact that every battle only added to the slew of minor injuries Pit bore. Their store of Healing Potions was growing very thin by the time they stepped into the ninth and final layer. Just gotta step careful. Nothing’s been able to really make me go all out yet. We got this.
Cardinal Flame!
Felix conjured a heavy sheet of red-gold fire, holding it up against the vicious wind. It was enough to melt the oncoming ice and blunt the wind, but it did little to keep away the incredible chill that settled on them. Even through his Song of Absolution, Felix could feel it, and Pit immediately began to shiver. They walked only halfway up the first curve before a System notification popped into view.
Pit’s Cold Resistance is level 50!
Journeyman Tier!
He Gains:
+5 END
+5 VIT
+5 WIL
Pit’s Cold Resistance is level 51!
“W–we’ll th–that is helpful!” Pit chirruped over the howling winds. “Gim–gimme enough time, and I’ll be imm–immune!”
Pit’s Cold Resistance is level 52!
Felix flared Cardinal Flame, pumping out more Mana into the air around them, but it had little effect when compared to the atmosphere all around them.
“Wh–what’re you doing? Kee–keep going!” Pit shouted when his big head bumped into Felix’s back. “Gotta keep mo–moving!”
So they did. Their stride ate up distance on the narrow steps, moving perhaps a half-mile around the incredibly huge mountain while the winds tried to tear them free. Unless he wanted to risk Pit falling, running was too dangerous in those conditions, and Felix’s Perception was severely blunted by the chaos all around them. He was reduced to taking things a step at a time, his Skills ready to sing out at a moment’s notice.
Nothing continued to happen.
Pit’s Cold Resistance is level 57!
The walk became interminable. No monsters, just the wind, the icy steps, and the ever-present cold. A faint pressure had begun to press down on them, something Felix recognized from his training against Spiritual pressure. It wasn’t something he felt very often, as lesser Spirits were sorta washed out by his own, so he knew immediately it was relatively potent. Pit felt it too, but he was likewise barely affected.
It was the cold that was fouling his Companion.
I need a better solution. His fire was only half the solution. I—hm. Mantle of the Infinite Revolution would heat my immediate surroundings up, but likely too much. I’d worry about burning Pit and melting parts of the staircase. What about this? Sunken Ward!
Immediately the worst of the cold vanished, replaced instead by a cool sensation across his skin. Even breathing became easier as the wind that kept trying to crawl down his throat was immediately blocked.
“Whoa! What—Sunken Ward?” Pit exclaimed, and his voice echoed slightly as it transmitted across the spell. “You can use this out of the water?”
“Nothing said I can’t. It’s about manipulating air Mana around us to keep breathing,” Felix said, working out how the spell was helping. “Huh. Temperature and air pressure regulation works against just normal weather too, not just deep water conditions.”
Pit shook himself, shaking loose snow and frost from his fur. “It’s still cold but oh, that’s much better! Clever!”
Sunken Ward is level 43!
…
Sunken Ward is level 47!
Apparently the System thought the same as the Skill jumped five levels. “Let’s keep moving. Maybe now we can make some progress.”
The words barely left his mouth when a boulder the size of a horse smashed into the stairs ahead of them. Felix shouted wordlessly, Stone and Rime Shaping screaming to life in his channels as he tore apart the projectile and several creatures swirled through the clouds just beyond them.
Pit let loose a sharp screech as his Howl at the Dark activated, and two of the creatures faltered, their shapes falling out of cover. Felix immediately identified them. “Ice Drakes. Elementals. Strong too. Pit, can you—”
“Dawn’s Advent!”
A flurry of sizzling crescents flew from the tenku’s paws, hurtling through space to intercept beast after beast. Pained bellows shook the skies, and the clouds churned with a dozen sets of wings.
Rain of Cata—!
The steps beneath them exploded.
Dodge is level 80!
Felix danced back just in time as a huge portion of the staircase was hurtled out into the empty air, and a blocky creature the size of a city bus crawled from the mountain’s side. Metal and stone hands leveraged it upright, and a single eye that shone with an icy light glared at him.
“Oh great,” he muttered. “Pit! Focus on the Ice Drakes! I’ve got these idiots!”
Sovereign of Flesh!
Stone Shaping!
The first Stalagmight, an elemental of metal and earth, ripped itself free of the mountain and was followed by two more. Felix rushed forward, meeting them with scale-covered fists and the song of their undoing. The first swung at him, but he met its huge blow with his own…and shattered its forearm into pieces. Its body softened, seized by Felix’s Will as he shaped the stone of its former arm into a pillar that smashed up into its own stupid face.
You Have Killed A Stalagmight!
XP Earned!
The elemental fell, hurled from the path, and Felix took his fury onto the next. He leaped over the broken gap of the staircase, fists blazing with dusty-brown earth Mana—and did not expect a third elemental to hurtle from beneath.
“Oh shit!” he managed, just as the Stalagmight grabbed at his feet with one of its huge mitts. It twisted and rolled, not toward the mountain, but out into the empty air beside them. “Oh shit!”
“FELIX!”
Pit streaked from the side, more blur than Chimera, as he latched onto the elemental with claws and beak. His weight shifted them back just for a second…before another Stalagmight dropped from above.
They all fell.
You Have Left The Path!
Comments
Tenebrous Savant (Metatron)
I'm so glad you finally escaped from those kidnappers, rescued that bus full of orphaned puppies, and were able to post the update! Also, congrats again on the release!!!
