Chapter 49: Orvod the mountain shaper (1)

Chapter 49: Orvod the mountain shaper (1)

The orange robed man wasnt as unaware; he glanced at the duke again, narrowed his eyes, and before Sofia could react, the stone platform the hero stood on retracted into the wall, bringing him along. His form sank into the stone wall, magically melding with it. Looks like when I summon the bone armor, but he was the one to be absorbed.

She jumped near the duke, trying her best to keep some distance from the pits wall. She feared the hero would try a sneak attack by appearing behind her, but it seemed her worries were unfounded. Did he escape?

A- Aurelia? Is that still you? the bewildered Duke stammered.

Im shocked he can even recognize the princess like that, maybe the face didnt change that much after all.

The tremors that had been shaking the mountain for a while were getting stronger by the second.

Yes. But now is not the time for that, Armand.

Her short answer was enough to clear his mind. His face showed doubt, then worry, then acceptance, all in a second, before reverting to his usual seriousness. Chunks of stone had started falling from above, the tremors werent showing any sign of stopping. If that kept going, the dungeon would soon collapse on itself.

Alright. Nyse will get us out of here, hold on to my arm, he said, extending an armored arm, and frantically trying to open a small pouch on his belt. Finally managing to grab a small glass orb from the pouch, he crushed it in his hand.

Thats a teleportation catalyst then.

A few seconds of silence later, the duke disappeared.

Uh?

Oh. Cant be summoned, then? Would have really liked to have that before. Fine, cant be helped.

She reached the entrance to the fifth floor in a single jump, rushing past the used ritual site; she navigated through the collapsing floor to a section the group hadnt cleaned. The zombies that were supposed to be there all laid lifeless on the floor.

The tremors were getting worse and she had to dodge the falling stone blocks of the crumbling ceiling. Despite the place collapsing, there were still several meters of stone separating every floor. She was short on time and couldnt run all the way back before the dungeon collapsed.

Should be around here Only one way to find out.

She activated the mana enhancements through her whole body. Although her veins always acted as ritual circles, she could forcibly inject more mana to empower the boost; she had used this to attack the mage earlier.

Her mana was starting to drop thousands of points at a time, barely offset by her breathings regeneration.

Could keep that up forever as long as I dont use any other spell. Lets hope thats enough for now.

She jumped up, punching through the ceiling. The layers of stone couldnt stop her, she pierced through every floor in one go. She had hoped to stop on the first floor. Her limited understanding of her own strength, however, instead propelled her through the first floors ceiling too, then out into the sky, high above the mountain. Right in time to see that the dungeon finally gave in and collapsed. It didnt stop there, the cave-in was the start of a giant landslide.

With a simple gesture of Orvods hand, a stone cube was cut out from the mountain under then hurled at Sofia. It was fast but she was faster, instead of colliding with it, she grabbed the stone block mid flight, using its momentum to do a front flip and returning it to the sender.

A large stone shield intercepted the block, shattering it on contact. The shield shattered too, not from the block, but from Sofias punch; she had never thrown the block, going forward with it instead. Her fist was centimeters away from Orvod when one of the flying lotuses bloomed, sending its many petals flying in her direction.

She couldnt dodge the first one, the stone petal hit her in the torso, sending her flying away. The other petals followed suit, like sentient arrows chasing her. Grabbing the petal that had stabbed her, she used it to bat away the second petal, shattering both. Using the torque, she spun around, punching and kicking the petals coming from all directions. Five more were shattered but the last managed to get past her defense, striking her right in the back and shattering on impact.

Health : 69959 / 89640

A single petal is about ten thousand health. Great. At least he didnt rebuild the lost flower yet, must be an expensive skill. My health regenerates quickly enough, I just can't take a whole flower at once. Still, thats one heck of a defensive skill.

Having lost all momentum again, she fell back to the mountaintops craggy surface. As she was about to reach the ground, a forest of stone spikes emerged out of the mountain, all pointing at her falling form, shooting up to impale her. Sofia rolled herself in a ball, tail wrapped around her body. Her back and tail were the most armored parts of her body, it would damage her less if they took the hit, that was all she had time to do.

Like a cannonball, she crashed through the spikes and landed on the ground, forming yet another crater that only deepened when she jumped right back up.

This time, hundreds of stone cubes were floating around, having been forcefully pulled from the mountain, ready to get thrown at her from all around. As they closed in on her and were about to crush her, Sofia activated the skill in her left leg.

[Regret] : make a different decision in the immediate past.

The description of the new skill flashed by her eyes as she found herself back on the ground, where she had just jumped from. Above her the stone cubes all collided where she had been a second ago, exploding in countless debris.

Mr. scribes working overtime I see. Nothing I didnt already know though.

She observed the crash happening behind her as she fled north-west at full speed. Fighting a stone mage atop a mountain was straight up lunacy. Zarrow had shown what he could do with his ship, and she had used her own affinity with the undead to get rid of the Magisterium. Since the first hit didnt connect, she could tell this would be a long battle, so she would take it somewhere more favorable to herself.

And if he doesnt follow me its even better. I need to survive and that's it. Feels bad to let the other three fend for themselves but they aint real.

[Regret] : alter the past to make a different decision in the previous five seconds, costs 10000 mana per cast, 10 seconds cooldown. Left leg blood vessels must be undamaged for the skill to correctly resolve.

Would you look at that, a lot better, thanks.

She had asked and she received, these kinds of interactions had her questioning how the system worked, but now wasnt the time to ponder on that. She could appreciate how her new 360 vision was very practical. She both saw where she was going, and that Orvod was not only chasing, sitting legs crossed on his flying stone cube, but also preparing larger projectiles.

What the fuck is that! Go back to the cubes please!

Hey I get that you're not worried but aren't you at least going to open your eyes?!