Sofia and Alith both spoke at the same time, “The Headless One?”
“Is he even still alive? He was a coordinator of sorts for the Apostles of Spiritual Gods like me. If I understood correctly, Lady Sofia, you’re half an Apostle to Mother Sorrow.”
An ancient name for the demon king, then?
“Yes, that’s what my skill says at least. I rarely use the Demon form.”
“An interesting position to be in, keeping a human body does have its advantages. But back to the subject matter at hand, as an Apostle you will have to answer his call, if there is ever one. I wonder whether that would still apply to me as well. I suppose not, since my essence is gone and my form is akin to my old Human appearance.”
“You were an Apostle too, then.”
“Yes, surprisingly the hole is still there even now,” Ihuarah said pointing at the hole where his heart would be, “Not that I mind. The Goddess is the sole reason for my presence here today, still living. Sort of living.”
“I stole your place then. Do you want it back?”
“Reclaiming what was once mine is tempting in idea but horrendous in facts. It is not something I would dream of trying. I highly doubt such a thing to be possible in the first place, and the Merciful Mother does not take lightly to such betrayals. Last but not least, your ladies’ company has been very pleasant so far, short as it was, and I fancy myself an honorable man.”
“How is us being pleasant related to your honor?” Alith nitpicked.
“Be good to me and I am good to you, the opposite is also true,” he answered righteously, “Now let me see that explosion, I have been promised a big fireball, and I shall get it.”
“How big do you want it? I have several levels of intensity I can go for.”
“Go all out, just look at this huge stalk of Unstoppable Dimmerion, your rot has been eating away at its energy supply, but the main stalk is yet untouched. You will need some really heavy artillery to get anywhere.”
“As you wish, we all better get a lot further, then.”
Ihuarah slowly backed away, he had a nonchalant attitude as if he was still thinking ‘how bad can it be’, but the rot being what it was, he still followed the advice and moved with Sofia and Alith.
So, the scepter absorbs an additional 50% of damage now, I also have the tier three of [Runeforged Overlord] which can reduce damage by twenty percent, but the upkeep if I reduce my regen is still over four thousand mana per second. The bolt with the charging speed from the scepter charges up by three thousand mana per second. My theoretical charging limit should be around 200 thousand mana if I go at it raw. Since I made my own skeleton a blessed construct that should help my hand survive a bit longer. Then I should activate the passive when…
Ihuarah was wondering what Sofia was doing, thinking she probably had to wait a bit for her mana to be full after all the rot spreading she did, which was indeed part of it. But she was actually mainly doing maths.
It took her a good while to add everything up, and it was in good part just guesswork, but her estimates showed her that the timing to do everything wasn’t as tight as she feared, and if she did everything right, she should still have some mana at the end.
“I’m about ready to start the preparations. It’s going to be quite something so… Don’t be shocked if I do weird things. I need to regenerate mana in between so you still have like ten minutes before I go I think.”
“Nothing can shock me anymore I think, what about you, Iwa?”
“Are we using nicknames already? Very well, Al, I personally am still shocked by this all, but it is no longer a surprise. To an extent.”
Sofia stopped paying attention to the two chatters behind her, now she had to make sure to get everything right and bring out her largest explosion yet. The better she executed it now, the easier it would be when she inevitably needed to do it all again but in a much more pressing and dangerous situation.
“Bookie out, give me the High-Priest and the single giant bird please.”
The book appeared in Sofia’s left hand, presenting the two pages she had asked for, the 50 000 mana High-Priest of Scripture and one of the many Quetzalcoatlus she had killed in Sovuln, valued by the book at only 10 000 mana despite the large size.
The two skeletons formed mid air, Sofia grabbed the priest and threw it to the giant bird so it would be able to fly near her.
[Solar High-Priest - Lv. 221]
Health : 11050/11050
Stamina : 11050/11050
Mana : 42200/44200
Lifetime : 13 243s/13 260s
[Solar Quetzalcoatlus - Lv. 221]
Health : 66300/66300
Stamina : 66300/66300
Mana : 1105/1105
Lifetime : 13 242s/13 260s
They’re not bad considering the cost and they have almost four hours of lifetime now. Alright, three minutes to regenerate the mana from that…
Next is the ring.
The exact inner workings of the ring were still unknown to Sofia, but it used the mana it absorbed through [Collapse] to feed her attack spells. So making sure it had plenty of mana to work with was essential.
Sofia quickly flashed some rot below her to clean the area of any vegetation, when that was good, she landed and started charging a bolt. At around ninety thousand mana charged, she used [Collapse], the ring of Zar absorbed all the ambient mana as well as the forming bolt on Sofia’s scepter, leaving nothing behind.
Good, should be enough for a single bolt, now to get back to full.
About seven minutes later, Sofia was ready to start. Flying above and away, she observed the stalk of Unstoppable Dimmerion. It was a big green tube the size of a century old tree, ending in a closed purple flower. Ihuarah’s opinion was that it was better to aim for the base, so that hopefully she could sever the roots. The dimmerion was now alone in the middle of a field of barren dirt. The rot had consumed all. In some places the greenery was growing back already, but at least for a bit, the Dimmerion’s energy supply would be at an all-time low. Of course Sofia had sent some rot directly onto the stalk, but although it partially stuck to it, the rot could barely absorb enough mana to stay on it.
The priest skeleton was on the flying monster’s back, ready to heal. “Unless I ask otherwise, start healing me after seventy seconds. You will need to keep the healing going for twenty to fifty seconds, just make sure my hand doesn’t disappear.”
Her mana full, Sofia activated her armor and raised her scepter, blue electricity started forming around it. The first thirty seconds went by without any issue.
That’s 90 000 mana, almost as much as what I used to destroy that ebb-infected windmill.
Now to go further.
She reached 110 000 mana, which was the point where she would have had to stop before the scepter’s upgrade. Now she still didn’t feel a thing, her mana was depleting fast but her health was full. The light emitted by the forming bolt was getting brighter and brighter as it kept taking a longer and smoother shape.
At around seventy seconds, with more than 200 000 mana charged, the light was starting to go down. The bolt of plasma wasn’t as wild as before, on the scepter, it was starting to become almost smooth, glossy. The damage done to Sofia’s hand was starting to accumulate, but the overall heat was the hardest part. The air around Sofia seemed to warp from the intense heat. The high priest started healing, and Sofia kept pushing mana into the destructive spell.
Pushing her body to its limit, the bolt reached the 250 000 mana mark. Sofia’s hand was disintegrating, unable to handle the energy. She activated the second and third tier of [Runeforged Overlord], her torso and wings lit up with countless runes, they shone even through the thick bone armor. Helped by the 20% damage reduction this provided, Sofia could keep charging, her hand barely holding onto the scepter despite the constant healing of both the priest and her two blessed constructs.
The bolt was starting to amass so much energy that the ambient mana was drawn to it in waves, slightly disturbing Sofia’s flight and adding even more power to the attack.
It had been 96 seconds since Sofia had started to charge the bolt.
Just a bit more, hold on!
Ninety eight.
Ninety nine.
A hundred!!!
Sofia released the bolt.
Three hundred thousand mana points worth of power condensed into a pure, sky-blue bolt of lightning. Flying more than a kilometer away from the point of impact, she had thought herself safe. The bolt disappeared from the scepter as if it had never been there, and the world around Sofia turned incandescent white.
Fuck.
Sofia and Alith both spoke at the same time, “The Headless One?”
“Is he even still alive? He was a coordinator of sorts for the Apostles of Spiritual Gods like me. If I understood correctly, Lady Sofia, you’re half an Apostle to Mother Sorrow.”
An ancient name for the demon king, then?
“Yes, that’s what my skill says at least. I rarely use the Demon form.”
“An interesting position to be in, keeping a human body does have its advantages. But back to the subject matter at hand, as an Apostle you will have to answer his call, if there is ever one. I wonder whether that would still apply to me as well. I suppose not, since my essence is gone and my form is akin to my old Human appearance.”
“You were an Apostle too, then.”
“Yes, surprisingly the hole is still there even now,” Ihuarah said pointing at the hole where his heart would be, “Not that I mind. The Goddess is the sole reason for my presence here today, still living. Sort of living.”
“I stole your place then. Do you want it back?”
“Reclaiming what was once mine is tempting in idea but horrendous in facts. It is not something I would dream of trying. I highly doubt such a thing to be possible in the first place, and the Merciful Mother does not take lightly to such betrayals. Last but not least, your ladies’ company has been very pleasant so far, short as it was, and I fancy myself an honorable man.”
“How is us being pleasant related to your honor?” Alith nitpicked.
“Be good to me and I am good to you, the opposite is also true,” he answered righteously, “Now let me see that explosion, I have been promised a big fireball, and I shall get it.”
“How big do you want it? I have several levels of intensity I can go for.”
“Go all out, just look at this huge stalk of Unstoppable Dimmerion, your rot has been eating away at its energy supply, but the main stalk is yet untouched. You will need some really heavy artillery to get anywhere.”
“As you wish, we all better get a lot further, then.”
Ihuarah slowly backed away, he had a nonchalant attitude as if he was still thinking ‘how bad can it be’, but the rot being what it was, he still followed the advice and moved with Sofia and Alith.
So, the scepter absorbs an additional 50% of damage now, I also have the tier three of [Runeforged Overlord] which can reduce damage by twenty percent, but the upkeep if I reduce my regen is still over four thousand mana per second. The bolt with the charging speed from the scepter charges up by three thousand mana per second. My theoretical charging limit should be around 200 thousand mana if I go at it raw. Since I made my own skeleton a blessed construct that should help my hand survive a bit longer. Then I should activate the passive when…
Ihuarah was wondering what Sofia was doing, thinking she probably had to wait a bit for her mana to be full after all the rot spreading she did, which was indeed part of it. But she was actually mainly doing maths.
It took her a good while to add everything up, and it was in good part just guesswork, but her estimates showed her that the timing to do everything wasn’t as tight as she feared, and if she did everything right, she should still have some mana at the end.
“I’m about ready to start the preparations. It’s going to be quite something so… Don’t be shocked if I do weird things. I need to regenerate mana in between so you still have like ten minutes before I go I think.”
“Nothing can shock me anymore I think, what about you, Iwa?”
“Are we using nicknames already? Very well, Al, I personally am still shocked by this all, but it is no longer a surprise. To an extent.”
Sofia stopped paying attention to the two chatters behind her, now she had to make sure to get everything right and bring out her largest explosion yet. The better she executed it now, the easier it would be when she inevitably needed to do it all again but in a much more pressing and dangerous situation.
“Bookie out, give me the High-Priest and the single giant bird please.”
The book appeared in Sofia’s left hand, presenting the two pages she had asked for, the 50 000 mana High-Priest of Scripture and one of the many Quetzalcoatlus she had killed in Sovuln, valued by the book at only 10 000 mana despite the large size.
The two skeletons formed mid air, Sofia grabbed the priest and threw it to the giant bird so it would be able to fly near her.
[Solar High-Priest - Lv. 221]
Health : 11050/11050
Stamina : 11050/11050
Mana : 42200/44200
Lifetime : 13 243s/13 260s
[Solar Quetzalcoatlus - Lv. 221]
Health : 66300/66300
Stamina : 66300/66300
Mana : 1105/1105
Lifetime : 13 242s/13 260s
They’re not bad considering the cost and they have almost four hours of lifetime now. Alright, three minutes to regenerate the mana from that…
Next is the ring.
The exact inner workings of the ring were still unknown to Sofia, but it used the mana it absorbed through [Collapse] to feed her attack spells. So making sure it had plenty of mana to work with was essential.
Sofia quickly flashed some rot below her to clean the area of any vegetation, when that was good, she landed and started charging a bolt. At around ninety thousand mana charged, she used [Collapse], the ring of Zar absorbed all the ambient mana as well as the forming bolt on Sofia’s scepter, leaving nothing behind.
Good, should be enough for a single bolt, now to get back to full.
About seven minutes later, Sofia was ready to start. Flying above and away, she observed the stalk of Unstoppable Dimmerion. It was a big green tube the size of a century old tree, ending in a closed purple flower. Ihuarah’s opinion was that it was better to aim for the base, so that hopefully she could sever the roots. The dimmerion was now alone in the middle of a field of barren dirt. The rot had consumed all. In some places the greenery was growing back already, but at least for a bit, the Dimmerion’s energy supply would be at an all-time low. Of course Sofia had sent some rot directly onto the stalk, but although it partially stuck to it, the rot could barely absorb enough mana to stay on it.
The priest skeleton was on the flying monster’s back, ready to heal. “Unless I ask otherwise, start healing me after seventy seconds. You will need to keep the healing going for twenty to fifty seconds, just make sure my hand doesn’t disappear.”
Her mana full, Sofia activated her armor and raised her scepter, blue electricity started forming around it. The first thirty seconds went by without any issue.
That’s 90 000 mana, almost as much as what I used to destroy that ebb-infected windmill.
Now to go further.
She reached 110 000 mana, which was the point where she would have had to stop before the scepter’s upgrade. Now she still didn’t feel a thing, her mana was depleting fast but her health was full. The light emitted by the forming bolt was getting brighter and brighter as it kept taking a longer and smoother shape.
At around seventy seconds, with more than 200 000 mana charged, the light was starting to go down. The bolt of plasma wasn’t as wild as before, on the scepter, it was starting to become almost smooth, glossy. The damage done to Sofia’s hand was starting to accumulate, but the overall heat was the hardest part. The air around Sofia seemed to warp from the intense heat. The high priest started healing, and Sofia kept pushing mana into the destructive spell.
Pushing her body to its limit, the bolt reached the 250 000 mana mark. Sofia’s hand was disintegrating, unable to handle the energy. She activated the second and third tier of [Runeforged Overlord], her torso and wings lit up with countless runes, they shone even through the thick bone armor. Helped by the 20% damage reduction this provided, Sofia could keep charging, her hand barely holding onto the scepter despite the constant healing of both the priest and her two blessed constructs.
The bolt was starting to amass so much energy that the ambient mana was drawn to it in waves, slightly disturbing Sofia’s flight and adding even more power to the attack.
It had been 96 seconds since Sofia had started to charge the bolt.
Just a bit more, hold on!
Ninety eight.
Ninety nine.
A hundred!!!
Sofia released the bolt.
Three hundred thousand mana points worth of power condensed into a pure, sky-blue bolt of lightning. Flying more than a kilometer away from the point of impact, she had thought herself safe. The bolt disappeared from the scepter as if it had never been there, and the world around Sofia turned incandescent white.
Fuck.
