Chapter 80: Out Of Bounds

Chapter 80: Out Of Bounds

In the beginning, when Sofia first used her ability to look through Pareths eyes, she had needed to close her own to not be disturbed by the double vision. By now it was already something she was used to, though it was still distracting. Flying in place under the city with the top of her head against the blue bricks, she took control of Pareth.

Im moving Pareth carefully but I think the mansions still safe. Doesnt look like they followed inside.

Check through the windows, just in case.

Hmm. No, dont see them nearby, maybe they returned to their own mansions? Lets go back up.

They reunited with the chicken skeleton.

It had been clear for a while that if a way out of this city existed, it was in the palace. Now, they could probably take down this shield in a few hours by stealing all the remaining cores and throwing them to the void. Or just flat out destroying them, though that could be dangerous, as they were still full of mana. But that meant the Phageids would get access to the Palace too, potentially damaging, or consuming?, what was inside.

So they had to get rid of them first anyway.

If they settled back down in their mansions then there was always the strategy of the holes. It had worked twice, surely it would keep working. If not then they could only fight them.

Time flew by. The big squids had indeed returned home to perch on their spheres. Except for the one Phageid whose power core was nabbed by Alith, it had relocated to another already occupied mansion, so that was their next digging target.

Sofia decided not to use the skill level boost for now, and she kept training [Summon blood]. Another thing she had started working on was teaching Alith the spell version of [Identify]. She had expected it to take forever but Alith had actually been very quick on the uptake, managing it after only a few days of personal guidance. Or could be that Im a genius teacher. Not sure how long that took actually. Time is hard to measure without the sun

They were starting to get very good at digging with the mithril blades. They had even been offered the classless skill [Excavation], which they both ignored. I swear, next time we can were buying a mithril pickaxe and shovel.

Soon this mansion too fell in the great void, and without making a ruckus this time.

'You have defeated [Phageid Larvae - lv. 232]

You have defeated [Phageid Larvae - lv. 239]

[Way of the Fool] grants slight bonus experience

You gained a level! * 1

To say that the result was underwhelming was an understatement. By now it was clear how harsh the diminishing returns of killing without taking risks were. No wonder it took us so long to reach 99 the last time, Im surprised we even managed to do it at all. It wouldve probably taken a fifth of the time if only we hunted the lesser Phageids in actual battles back then.

Sofia stood up, Pareth jumped on her shoulder. Holding the key-card, she approached the shield. But she stopped before touching it. Wait, do I need to activate it first somehow? She remembered how she needed some blood to activate the vampires membership card. But the people here werent vampires I dont think. Lets push some mana in there. Sending mana in the crystal part did nothing, which in retrospect was logical since the material couldnt hold mana.

When she sent it to the golden filaments instead, the card started glowing. Yep, that was absolutely needed. This time she tried crossing the shield for real.

It worked. It felt like nothing special, as if the shield wasnt there in the first place. Sofia activated her bone armor as she walked through.

[You have entered the dungeon : Zangdar Castle - Lv. ???]

Okay Whats up with the question marks?

Alith came back from inside, You waiting for the sun to set?

Rolling her eyes, Sofia jogged to the entrance.

The inside was nothing like the drab blue city outside. Every wall was decorated, the ice blue stone was finely sculpted, there were paintings up for display, columns supporting the ceiling. This was some kind of large entry hall. It looked built and furnished to impress guests.

I checked the side room first, it looked like a guard station, the card was in there. Identifys a really useful spell to have, although it doesnt say much about most things, but at least it told me enough about the keys, Alith explained.

Alright. How do we explore this? The castle seems big. Almost like half the holy-see.

You send Pareth first and we follow if its safe?

I meant where do we go, but sure.

Oh Lets just go straight forward? I dont know much about castles but there should be a main hall with a throne room or something, no? Nobles love that kind of display. And I guess our best bet to find another ring would be a treasury or something? There wasnt one in the guards room.

Straight forward it is then.

Opening the double doors at the end of the hall just enough for Pareth to go through, Sofia sent him in.

You were one hundred percent correct about the throne room Well, its more like a banquet hall with a big seat of honor, looks safe.

Told ya.

Alith strolled into the main hall first. But she was actually still near Sofia, it was the double that had walked in. Nothing untoward happened to it either. Reassured there wasn't a trap, they entered for real this time.