That’s another one of the five targets!
Sofia followed the signal to a big house that stood out from the surrounding buildings. Looks like they’re alone inside. In such a large house? Strange. She sliced the lock with her dagger and stepped into the entrance hall. Second floor, under… A bed? Hard to tell with all the walls in the way. They look rather small. A kid, maybe?
The closer she got, the clearer her mana senses could read the surroundings. Assuming the person she was looking for was an elven inhabitant of the city, it could only be a kid with such a small frame.
Ah, not a bed, a table with a hanging tablecloth…
Coming up the stairs, Sofia called out, “Come out, kid, I’m here to help.”
Way to sound untrustworthy. I still have the bone armor on too. Eh.
“I’m serious; you can come out from under the table.” Sofia heard the muffled yelp from the kid’s location, “I’ve been paid to protect you,” she added. She could already see the ‘special marker above the target’s head’, a glowing blue ethereal arrow pointing down from above the table. Hard to miss.
Maybe it was Sofia’s half-assed argument that convinced him or her sweet voice. Either way, the young elf poked his head from under the tablecloth.
“Is it true?” he asked, still wary, holding the tablecloth in front of him like it was some sort of magical protection. Sofia had no idea how old he could be, she wasn’t used to seeing elves, but that was a child.
“Yes. But I do not have time to stay with you. So I’ll find you a better hiding place and leave a guard with you.”
“I- I do not want to leave my house!”
“The enemies are sure to check your house in particular if they get here. It stands out too much.”
“But what if Dad comes back and I’m not here?! He will scold me!”
“... Tell him I forced you.”
“He will not like that either, but…”
“Come now. We don't have much time. Grab my hand and close your eyes. I will teleport you to a safer house. It will feel strange but don’t worry, nothing bad will happen if you keep your eyes closed.”
Sofia kneeled to be level with the kid and held out her armored hand.
He closed his eyes as tightly shut as he could, reaching out to grab her fingers.
Just the time for the graveyard skeletons to pop out of the ground from behind and bring them both down through the floor and walls and straight into the disaffected basement level of a neighboring house. A relatively small basement room lined in stone bricks. A lovely hiding place if you just don’t focus on the rusty meat hooks hanging from the ceiling.
“Good job. You can open your eyes now.”
“It’s all dark! Help!”
“Keep it down… Here, this is a light stone.” Sofia took out a small light stone and charged it with enough mana to keep it glowing for hours. She also brought out a bucket, blanket, food, and water.
The softly glowing rock instantly entranced the kid. That’s all it took?
“Stay here until the city is safe again. If you’re lucky, that will only take a few hours. Oh, and I promised you a guard, right. Do you like dogs?”
“Y- Yes,” he stammered, “But Dad does not allow me to have pets…”
“Well, I will leave my guard dog with you then. He’s a very nice dog. He just looks a bit special.”
Twenty mana and a bit of fog for the strongest dog you’ve ever seen, quite the bargain.
Sofia ripped out the page from her book. That was originally the skeleton of a wild dog Zerei supposedly found dead in the forest when Sofia had been busy training her armor. It was mauled by a bear or something of that kind.
The kid freaked out a bit at the appearance of the skeleton, which wasn’t surprising. He quickly adapted after a bit of convincing ‘dog acting’ on the dog’s part. And Sofia left through the walls again.
And that’s one safe. Kind of. Can’t do better right now. He’ll be safer there than with me anyway. The dog will only last three hours, and he doesn’t have a way out, but he doesn’t need to know that.
Hmm. Let’s just hope they don’t burn down this part of the city.
Sofia looked out of the house through the windows. No griffin riders to be seen around anymore. Should be safe to come out. Wait. There’s sunlight from the other windows.
Sitting down into a quickly drawn sun ritual with a small pile of gold on her lap, Sofia activated the ritual to get some fast mana regeneration.
It activated, but despite being under direct sunlight, she only got a twenty percent boost to her regeneration rate. Is it broken? Oh. Wait. Not real sunlight because of the trial? That didn’t prevent the book’s skeletons from getting their immunity in the sun, though. Interesting. That suggests there’s a way to cheat the ‘sunlight’ for the book. I’ll keep that in mind when I make new skills.
This downtime allowed Sofia to rethink her plan of action. Now that she had at least one of the five targets ‘safe and secured’, she didn’t need to care much about the other four. The best way to make sure they kept their lives was to stop the invasion before it reached them anyway, in her opinion. She ordered Pareth to get back to the frontlines.
He had orders to go wild. Hopefully, that would bait out more of the invasion’s leaders, and Sofia could take them out one by one. That would be faster and safer than trying to kill ninety thousand soldiers. Not that it would be impossible with the tools she had and a lot of patience. But that wasn’t discreet in the slightest, and she still hoped to avoid an actual confrontation with the griffins and their riders if possible.
Unless I know for sure that I can win that. I’m still lacking a solid group of flying skeletons.
When her mana was almost full, she left the house. Flying low above the city rooftops, she found a nice spot to observe the battlefield from the top floor of a bell tower with ritual circles on the walls. It allowed her to see past the city walls while staying hidden.
Pareth was currently about eight hundred meters away from the other side of the wall, his greatsword decimating the front line of the approaching army. He was surrounded and pelted by all kinds of arrows and projectiles, but despite not activating his armor, he still had not lost any health.
Health : 407 460 / 407 460
Stamina : 154 133 / 154 133
Mana : 18600 / 19900
He has not activated the sanctified grounds either. Well, no one that hits for less than forty thousand Health at once can even damage him…
Sofia looked at the enemy count again for the first time in a while
[Invaders remaining : 91006]
Almost seven thousand down since last time. I suppose the elves are fighting back too. Probably on the poor side of the city I appeared in, I think they’re trying to prevent them from reaching the central district.
Just for her peace of mind, Sofia sent the group of fifty skeleton crows from her book to help there if needed. After all, her goal was to save the city, not to eliminate the invaders. It would be bad if they took the central district. It might even be an outright failure. The book’s skeleton crows weren’t much stronger than the smaller Black Turvin birds, but they were much more intelligent, which was why Zerei had convinced Sofia to add them to the book. And with their level 199 and the invincibility under sunlight, they could provide plenty of help to the defending elves.
Out of nowhere, the tower from which Sofia was observing Pareth’s feats was brought to life by its ritual circles, and the bell started ringing. Being right above the bell, the sudden vibrations and loud sound destabilized Sofia. [Way of the fool] prevented her from falling over the tower’s railings, but her torso and head fully out from under the roof gave her a better view of the outside. It was an interesting spectacle. Soldiers surrounded Pareth from all sides; panicked soldier elves were retreating from their defense posts atop the walls to rush inside. The sky turned red, and a dense flow of mana thickened the air.
Hmm. Doesn’t look so good. Pareth, be ready to activate the sanctified grounds, turn on your armor, and teleport to me at the last second. You might need to protect me.
Sofia found out that a mana shield had isolated a large zone. She was near the border but still inside. The exact same tactic the Templars use for their area of effect ultimate technique, [Holy Smite]...
She looked at her Health and then at her skills.
Health : 10995 / 10995
[Venerable physique of the primeval void] - Peak of the Shadow gathering realm :
Shadow gathering realm :
A single hit cannot take away more than 99% of your maximum Health.
You are 50% more resilient to explosions
You are able to see in extremely low light levels and to breathe light
You cannot be hurt by the cold and cannot be traced in the spirit realm
Yeah, VPPV’s first perk should be active. I can’t lose more than 99% Health from one hit, so I should be safe...
“This feels a lot like Acromegon’s true Angel’s Bolt.”
Looking further into the venerable physique’s current bonuses description, then back at the reddening sky, she sighed.
“Let’s hope it’s just an explosion...”
It’s probably time that I use that thing, then. A golden opportunity even, since I have time to get in…
That’s another one of the five targets!
Sofia followed the signal to a big house that stood out from the surrounding buildings. Looks like they’re alone inside. In such a large house? Strange. She sliced the lock with her dagger and stepped into the entrance hall. Second floor, under… A bed? Hard to tell with all the walls in the way. They look rather small. A kid, maybe?
The closer she got, the clearer her mana senses could read the surroundings. Assuming the person she was looking for was an elven inhabitant of the city, it could only be a kid with such a small frame.
Ah, not a bed, a table with a hanging tablecloth…
Coming up the stairs, Sofia called out, “Come out, kid, I’m here to help.”
Way to sound untrustworthy. I still have the bone armor on too. Eh.
“I’m serious; you can come out from under the table.” Sofia heard the muffled yelp from the kid’s location, “I’ve been paid to protect you,” she added. She could already see the ‘special marker above the target’s head’, a glowing blue ethereal arrow pointing down from above the table. Hard to miss.
Maybe it was Sofia’s half-assed argument that convinced him or her sweet voice. Either way, the young elf poked his head from under the tablecloth.
“Is it true?” he asked, still wary, holding the tablecloth in front of him like it was some sort of magical protection. Sofia had no idea how old he could be, she wasn’t used to seeing elves, but that was a child.
“Yes. But I do not have time to stay with you. So I’ll find you a better hiding place and leave a guard with you.”
“I- I do not want to leave my house!”
“The enemies are sure to check your house in particular if they get here. It stands out too much.”
“But what if Dad comes back and I’m not here?! He will scold me!”
“... Tell him I forced you.”
“He will not like that either, but…”
“Come now. We don't have much time. Grab my hand and close your eyes. I will teleport you to a safer house. It will feel strange but don’t worry, nothing bad will happen if you keep your eyes closed.”
Sofia kneeled to be level with the kid and held out her armored hand.
He closed his eyes as tightly shut as he could, reaching out to grab her fingers.
Just the time for the graveyard skeletons to pop out of the ground from behind and bring them both down through the floor and walls and straight into the disaffected basement level of a neighboring house. A relatively small basement room lined in stone bricks. A lovely hiding place if you just don’t focus on the rusty meat hooks hanging from the ceiling.
“Good job. You can open your eyes now.”
“It’s all dark! Help!”
“Keep it down… Here, this is a light stone.” Sofia took out a small light stone and charged it with enough mana to keep it glowing for hours. She also brought out a bucket, blanket, food, and water.
The softly glowing rock instantly entranced the kid. That’s all it took?
“Stay here until the city is safe again. If you’re lucky, that will only take a few hours. Oh, and I promised you a guard, right. Do you like dogs?”
“Y- Yes,” he stammered, “But Dad does not allow me to have pets…”
“Well, I will leave my guard dog with you then. He’s a very nice dog. He just looks a bit special.”
Twenty mana and a bit of fog for the strongest dog you’ve ever seen, quite the bargain.
Sofia ripped out the page from her book. That was originally the skeleton of a wild dog Zerei supposedly found dead in the forest when Sofia had been busy training her armor. It was mauled by a bear or something of that kind.
The kid freaked out a bit at the appearance of the skeleton, which wasn’t surprising. He quickly adapted after a bit of convincing ‘dog acting’ on the dog’s part. And Sofia left through the walls again.
And that’s one safe. Kind of. Can’t do better right now. He’ll be safer there than with me anyway. The dog will only last three hours, and he doesn’t have a way out, but he doesn’t need to know that.
Hmm. Let’s just hope they don’t burn down this part of the city.
Sofia looked out of the house through the windows. No griffin riders to be seen around anymore. Should be safe to come out. Wait. There’s sunlight from the other windows.
Sitting down into a quickly drawn sun ritual with a small pile of gold on her lap, Sofia activated the ritual to get some fast mana regeneration.
It activated, but despite being under direct sunlight, she only got a twenty percent boost to her regeneration rate. Is it broken? Oh. Wait. Not real sunlight because of the trial? That didn’t prevent the book’s skeletons from getting their immunity in the sun, though. Interesting. That suggests there’s a way to cheat the ‘sunlight’ for the book. I’ll keep that in mind when I make new skills.
This downtime allowed Sofia to rethink her plan of action. Now that she had at least one of the five targets ‘safe and secured’, she didn’t need to care much about the other four. The best way to make sure they kept their lives was to stop the invasion before it reached them anyway, in her opinion. She ordered Pareth to get back to the frontlines.
He had orders to go wild. Hopefully, that would bait out more of the invasion’s leaders, and Sofia could take them out one by one. That would be faster and safer than trying to kill ninety thousand soldiers. Not that it would be impossible with the tools she had and a lot of patience. But that wasn’t discreet in the slightest, and she still hoped to avoid an actual confrontation with the griffins and their riders if possible.
Unless I know for sure that I can win that. I’m still lacking a solid group of flying skeletons.
When her mana was almost full, she left the house. Flying low above the city rooftops, she found a nice spot to observe the battlefield from the top floor of a bell tower with ritual circles on the walls. It allowed her to see past the city walls while staying hidden.
Pareth was currently about eight hundred meters away from the other side of the wall, his greatsword decimating the front line of the approaching army. He was surrounded and pelted by all kinds of arrows and projectiles, but despite not activating his armor, he still had not lost any health.
Health : 407 460 / 407 460
Stamina : 154 133 / 154 133
Mana : 18600 / 19900
He has not activated the sanctified grounds either. Well, no one that hits for less than forty thousand Health at once can even damage him…
Sofia looked at the enemy count again for the first time in a while
[Invaders remaining : 91006]
Almost seven thousand down since last time. I suppose the elves are fighting back too. Probably on the poor side of the city I appeared in, I think they’re trying to prevent them from reaching the central district.
Just for her peace of mind, Sofia sent the group of fifty skeleton crows from her book to help there if needed. After all, her goal was to save the city, not to eliminate the invaders. It would be bad if they took the central district. It might even be an outright failure. The book’s skeleton crows weren’t much stronger than the smaller Black Turvin birds, but they were much more intelligent, which was why Zerei had convinced Sofia to add them to the book. And with their level 199 and the invincibility under sunlight, they could provide plenty of help to the defending elves.
Out of nowhere, the tower from which Sofia was observing Pareth’s feats was brought to life by its ritual circles, and the bell started ringing. Being right above the bell, the sudden vibrations and loud sound destabilized Sofia. [Way of the fool] prevented her from falling over the tower’s railings, but her torso and head fully out from under the roof gave her a better view of the outside. It was an interesting spectacle. Soldiers surrounded Pareth from all sides; panicked soldier elves were retreating from their defense posts atop the walls to rush inside. The sky turned red, and a dense flow of mana thickened the air.
Hmm. Doesn’t look so good. Pareth, be ready to activate the sanctified grounds, turn on your armor, and teleport to me at the last second. You might need to protect me.
Sofia found out that a mana shield had isolated a large zone. She was near the border but still inside. The exact same tactic the Templars use for their area of effect ultimate technique, [Holy Smite]...
She looked at her Health and then at her skills.
Health : 10995 / 10995
[Venerable physique of the primeval void] - Peak of the Shadow gathering realm :
Shadow gathering realm :
A single hit cannot take away more than 99% of your maximum Health.
You are 50% more resilient to explosions
You are able to see in extremely low light levels and to breathe light
You cannot be hurt by the cold and cannot be traced in the spirit realm
Yeah, VPPV’s first perk should be active. I can’t lose more than 99% Health from one hit, so I should be safe...
“This feels a lot like Acromegon’s true Angel’s Bolt.”
Looking further into the venerable physique’s current bonuses description, then back at the reddening sky, she sighed.
“Let’s hope it’s just an explosion...”
It’s probably time that I use that thing, then. A golden opportunity even, since I have time to get in…
