Magic Breaker Ch 205 - 207 (Patreon)

Chapter 205: Final Floor

The last portal in the monolith leads to a hole in the ground. Well, not quite that, but essentially. It’s a vast tower of coral, according to Thatch, except that it’s the wrong way around. Its base floats on the ocean, and the tower grows downwards. 

Of course, since it’s the last floor, everyone wanted to verify we would head there. After all, there were two more options, but one is underwater, and the other is a survival-type level. This one is the shortest, by far. Not short enough to be cleared in half an hour, though. After all…

“According to the guidebook, the last floor of any given monolith is called the ‘prelude’. Afterwards, there is one more safe zone, the ‘precipice’. The prelude is apparently a somewhat special floor, usually reflecting something from the past of the one who holds authority over any given Monolith,” Thatch reads out for us.

And then, I nod. No need for anything else. We’re ready. So, Me, Thatch and Inu step through.

Just the three of us. Opal, Richard, Thatch and Jean will go with Anna, Trey, and Isabelle as soon as they can. This spares us the Ire, and it means I get more time to prepare. Because I have a lot to prepare.

Through the portal, my foot touches down on a coral platform. In front of me is a door leading to the spiralling tower downwards. And, in front of that door, there is a knight. Silvery armor, wrapped over an empty shell. There is a key draped along its neck, held by a thin string.

Suddenly, I really wish we had Norman with us again. Theft truly is far too important. Sadly, this leaves us just one option. A fight.

Thatch heads in first, cloaking himself in the blossoming rage of his mantle, a red haze expanding outwards, turning him monstrous. A shifting beast of tooth and claw descends on the knight, battering it in moments, and yet, the armor shifts.

Elegantly, it pivots, bringing up a claymore to block the first handful of strikes, and from its vizier pours a cloying darkness. It sticks to Thatch, binding his movements. A cloying miasma. I [Deconstruct] it.

[Deconstruction 24 > 25]

Finally, I break through the barrier. And it’s for a simple reason. This bit of sticky shadow is the last thing I really need to complete my project. I dissect the spell, and it falls off Thatch. Still, it slowed him, and the blade comes down - only for Inu to step in casually and bring it to a half with her gloves hands. 

Metal grinds against metal, but the knight’s momentum drains. A moment later, Thatch slams a brutal punch into its abdomen, the armor denting slightly from the force of his fist. Blood pours from broken knuckles, but they mend a moment later, assisted by my mana. Inu pivots, throwing the guard to the ground.

More darkness spills out, only to break apart. Thatch’s fist descends through the dispersing shadows, and bashes in the face-plate of the construct. One blow, two, then a third, until the knight finally rises again. Except, of course, it has a limited toolbox. And I can crack it open, bit by bit.

- - -

After twenty minutes of hard work, we’ve finally disassembled the knight. The issue wasn’t getting it dented - it was that it kept going after us so long as it lived, and the only way to kill it was to completely ruin the mobility of its body parts. So, Thatch clobbered it until the armor broke, then Inu immobilized it, I weakened the connection, and with a lot of pulling and prying, we broke it apart like a piece of cheap furniture.

With a gentle motion, Inu pulls off its necklace, clicks the key into place, and opens the lock to the tower. Of course, the door doesn’t just swing open - instead, it folds into the ground. The coral comes to life, and right in front of us, it cuts open, a six-segmented hatch pulling away in a spiraling design.

“Fancy,” Thatch comments leisurely. I can see the nervousness on him, though. He’s also scared, but he’s playing it over. But that’s alright. I’m a little scared, too, after all.

Slowly, I walk over to the open, yawning chasm in the ground. My mana pulses outwards, and I find that about ten feet beneath us there’s another floor of uneven coral. With a hidden staircase to head yet lower. Gosh, why do wizards love their riddles so much?

We set to searching. Searching, and, of course, setting traps.

- - -

Ten minutes later, Opal, Sylves and the rest come through. Instantly, they help us look for the mechanism to unlock another floor. And, of course, Opal finds it with a very efficient method of searching: stabbing everything they can find. “Hidden compartment!” they announce happily, their sword stuck into the wall.

With a quick blow from Inu’s elbow, the rest of the coral fractures away, revealing a hidden lever, which we pull. Instantly, a segment of the floor on the side pulls away in a show of magic and engineering, leading us another floor deeper.

This one has a riddle on the ground, with chess-like figures. I move a knight-thing, because that just seems reasonable. 

Then it tries to stab me.

- - -

After a few assassination attempts, we figure out that figures attack us when we break the rules of the game - or when they’re taken by the colour we aren’t in control of. Which happens a lot.

“Wow, are none of us good at chess?” Sylves asks, after blundering our best piece to a pawn equivalent. And getting mildly stabbed for it. The issue is that whenever we lose, the board just… resets. So, we’ve been at it for twenty minutes already, when Opal gets tired of it. 

Their very finite patience runs out, and they try something simple. “Let me just…” they say quickly, before pushing one of our figurines off the board, taking its spot, and then… They start to just cut down the black pieces.

And it works.

As stupid as it is, even as they’re overrun by a horde of black pieces and catch six stab wounds, the game allows it. I sigh, patch them up as they cough blood and the board resets. This time, Opal doesn’t challenge it on their own. We all replace a piece, every one of our authority-holders.

Within two more minutes, we’ve decimated the black pieces, and another floor opens up.

This one I leave the others too. We have eight more minutes, and frankly, I was really hoping to have more traps down by now.

- - -

Coldscar steps through when time is up. As always, he’s followed by his posse. The old woman, the zoof twins, and Cleaver, of course, who still wants revenge on Thatch. Except, of course, they don’t find us. We’re sneaky like that. 

“Come on out, Crybabies!” Coldscar yells, loud enough for us to hear. The Ire wraps around them on this floor, annoyed at their audacity to step forward while yet again breaking the monolith’s rules. Which gives me a really convenient compass to pinpoint their location. 

So, I shoot them.

Not me, of course. I just rely on Sylves, flying high in the air. So far above she’s basically a dot in my vision. And then, with my mana-sense and mental map, combined with Inu’s [Empathy], we send her targets.

Coldscar frowns, then his eyes turn wide. In a swift motion, he tosses himself forward and rolls. An arrow, propelled on a jetstream of air, crashes into the ground where he just stood. He stares at the projectile, then his frown deepens.

Then, underneath his boots, my trap goes off.

[Obfuscation 9 > 10]

Shadowy tendrils burst upwards, courtesy of Kuro’s skills, and wrap around Coldscar’s limbs, barbs biting into his armor. The scithian grimaces, but gives a single roar and a violent pull to free himself. The moment he’s free, though, he dodges to the side, and an arrow digs into his shoulder, rather than his lungs.

Sylves doesn’t aim for the head, because it’d be easier for them to dodge. All she does is shoot center-of-mass. Simple as. 

The same scene repeats all across Raven’s little posse, with Cleaver getting the worst of it. The idiot gets nailed with a half dozen arrows, but he just pulls them out and licks his own blood off. Snow explodes outwards from Coldscar, and one by one, my traps are set off at flukes. 

I tilt my head. Not flukes. Just… doubles. Coldscar’s presence-shifting skill is annoyingly effective at disarming traps when not in tight corridors, I note with a frown. But that means little. As soon as they jump onto the first floor, another trap explodes. This one is far simpler, though. 

Thatch. He just jumps out through a bookshelf, tackles one of them, grabs them, and jumps out of the tower, then dives off the coral platform and into the ocean. There, he and Cleaver can happily slug it out. Coldscar grunts in anger. “Find them, damn it!” he tells the zoofs and the old lady.

AAnd for just a single moment, the floors are quiet, other than footsteps. Until Opal appears.

“Looking for me?” they ask, standing on the coral tower. Instantly, the old woman focuses on them, firing a beam of light. Happily, Opal brings up their sword to block - only for the beam to curve and blast them in the chest, burning their shirt. An arrow rains down from high above a second later, barely missing the sidestepping old lady.

“Mouthy brats should know when to shut it,” the woman says, smiling with a mouth of pristine teeth. Then, she points her cane.

Opal grins. “You’re on.”

Seconds tick by. And, for a little while, things go well. Until, one of the zoof flickers. And appears next to me, in my hiding spot. 

“Ah, well, dang,” I say. Then, I catch a knife flying at my throat.

Instantly, my mana burns through me. Moving so much so fast is still too hard, but I [Suppress] the attack. The dagger graces my skin, then stops as I slide to the side. My palm slams into the creature’s frail elbow - but my power is too low, and their heart too high. I frown.

Another slash. I [Select] my opponent, more of my focus honing in on them as they flicker in my perception again. Their mana signature scatters, then appears behind me. Instantly, I throw myself forward, sliding out of my hiding spot in a dresser, and rolling across the floor. One of my own traps triggers - but soon falls apart, deconstructed.

The zoof lunges after me, still wielding that dagger, blazing fast. Every so often, they just blur in my mana vision, and reconstitute somewhere else. The fight is jittery and unclean, and it only takes about ten seconds of it, and me taking two shallow cuts, for Coldscar to barrel down the stairs.

A blizzard wraps around me in a moment, and the gang leader bares his teeth. “Found you,” he says. I sigh, inside.

This ambush really could have gone better. 

Chapter 206: Stormbreaker

Minutes pass. I run the frick away. Icicles shoot after me, forcing me to duck and dodge. “Can you, like, leave me alone?” I politely request from Coldscar.

The old mafia boss just snorts. “I need to set a line, kid. Nothing personal,” he says. Given the sneer on his face, though, it’s at least a little personal. Did he actually like Raven or something? Surely he could just disappear and die already?

A piece of ice lodges itself in my arm, and I have Kuro pull it out as one of my healing runes triggers, releasing a flood of golden mana onto my body. Golden flames crawl over the wound, sealing it shut. My [Suppression] stretches out as a wide field, catching everything near me - which is the only thing letting me dodge the attacks at all.

It and my [Observation] overlap, making me perfectly aware of anything within about thirty feet of me, which is enough to encompass most of this tower. I jump and roll, cascading shadows flooding outwards from me as Kuro forms a few barriers. Then, the air in front of me blurs with a mana signature, and I step back.

The dagger-wielding zoof swipes their knife right in front of me, landing a shallow cut on my nose. Then, they step in, and I step back again, throwing out a few mana-needles for them to parry. By the time that’s done, I’ve gained some distance again - until Coldscar himself manifests right in front of me in a cold wind.

Holding a jagged sword of crackling ice, the scithian slashes for me. In a single, horrible motion, he slices through my field, and the cold creeps into me. For the first time, I properly feel Coldscar’s authority, as it creeps across my bones, making me feel sluggish and weak. It cuts on my defiance and gets dulled by my efficiency, but it still sticks to me.

I step back, but he easily moves with me, the sword singing for my throat like a guillotine. But at the same time, it smells of mana. My eyes widen. The ice must be magical. 

And that means I can break it.

Fast as thought, [Selection] targets Coldscar’s weapon. Then, I send [Suppression] and [Deconstruction] through the tether, the two looping across each other. First the spell weakens, then cracks, then weakens, then breaks, and a final application of [Suppression] applies to the material itself.

I bring up my arm.

The sword of mundane ice shatters against it, leaving a shallow cut against my superhuman skin.

Colscar’s eyes widen for a moment, but then, the sting of his magic still arrives. Through the wound, I feel ice spread. It creeps up my arm, my elbow, a patch of frostbite across my skin. 

Inu arrives in front of me a moment later, crashing into the scithian, wrestling him to the ground. Her void is far more effective against his blizzard than any of my tricks, so I breathe for a moment.

Then, the mana behind me stirs. 

Without hesitation, I throw myself forward. Then, I toss a mana needle behind me, and the zoof is there. With a quick motion, I bring up barriers of solidified mana between us, and I hear the zoof click its tongue - then it begins to fade again.

Not this time. Mana burns through me, a torrent of it. When I have insufficient knowledge, I can supplement it with overwhelming power. [Deconstruction] burns its way through the air with a violent hiss, and the zoof recombines in place. Locked in a little cube of solidified mana. 

My hand stretches forward, and I squeeze. The walls move in towards them. And I see them panic, their eyes going wide as they look for an escape.

Of course, my mana isn’t nearly strong enough to crush them. But it’s a really good distraction to make them panic, and let Anna stab them in the back. 

Blood drip-drops to the ground as the chaos unfolds around me. Sylves rains down arrows, Opal teleports, Thatch fights cleaver. And Richard is still downstairs with the weaker members of our group, keeping them safe and trying to unlock more levels.

The zoof spits blood, then vanishes from my barrier. Their twin, the other zoof, quickly dashes in to help them, slashing a knife at me. This one doesn’t teleport - just moves as quick as a blur. I [Suppress] their motion, making them slow to my level and kick them in the stomach - earning myself a bloody cut on my leg in response.

Avoiding a knife is hard, I’m finding out. Mana solidifies into a sword in my hand, and I hold it out, point ahead of me, just to give myself some space. Already, my chest is hurting and my insides are burnt. The cold creeps its way under my skin - and then, a blink later, a double of Coldscar coalesces from the snow. Anna flinches and hides away, not ready to face him in combat.

I grit my teeth and slash forward, but the old man easily avoids it with a step back. “Your movements are pitiful,” he chides me. “Amateurish and slow. This is what you should move like.”

Then, his wings flap once, and a crystalline whine hits my ears. The vibrations mess with my sense of balance, and for a moment I stumble. Then, Coldscar is already inside my guard. All I can do is stumble back, and bring up my sword.

Enchanted ice carves through my mana, then into my chest. A long, shallow cut, leaking blood from my skin. Ice blossoms from the wound, frost and rime covering the edges of the cut, freezing my blood before it leaks. I can feel it pulsating, feel my movements stiffening, the cold embracing me.

“You can’t fight the ice, kid,” Coldscar says. “Lay down and give up. I might just take your treasure and a few fingers as penance.”

At that, I tilt my head. “You… aren’t planning on killing me?” I ask.

He scoffs. “Raven was. Cleaver is. I’m just here for a grudge.”

Slowly, a smile spreads on my face. “Well, that makes things easier,” I say.

“I won’t hesitate if you give me trouble. If you keep fighting, there’s a chance I’ll have to kill you,” he says.

My smile turns wide. Creepy, maybe, but I now know he hesitates. He thinks he has me beat. Which means I have the one resource I need most in a fight - Time. All I need is to look weak.

- - -

Inu and I swap again. Coldscar ends up pitted against me, and I am losing. Dying, even. A minute ticks by, then two, and I am constantly on the back foot. I stumble, fall, scramble and shuffle backwards. His sword bites against my skin, cuts through my new shirt - unforgiveable - and leaves me covered in frost.

My defiance breaks the icy veins stretching through me, and my healing dispels the frostbite.

[Biological Restoration 30 > 31]

And with every exchange, I take just a tiny chip. [Deconstruction] lashes out in thin, small, economic motions. It bites at his sword, at his storm, bleeding his mana. Coldscar supplies the power with ease, the mana flowing out of him almost matching mine. He’s faster, he’s stronger, he has more mana.

[Obfuscation 10 > 12]

Yet, every time we clash, I regenerate a little more, and he loses a little more. Sneakily, quietly, I break his abilities. They chip and fail. A teleport reaching a little less far here, a slash that doesn't dig quite as deep there. The tip of his sword breaks off whenever he goes to graze me.

But all of it is small. Coldscar even taunts about it. “You can’t even properly dispel my sword anymore. Give it up, you won’t win this attrition.”

I can feel my mana freezing as it touches his authority. It moves sluggishly through my body, yes. Little crystals of mana form before it leaks out of me, and they hurt as they pull through my body. But even then, it’s still my mana.

Sluggish and slow, maybe even frozen, it’ll still be mine. I can feel my heart beat as fast as it can, and to counteract the frost, I carve heating runes under my skin again.

[Inscription 25 > 26]

Coldscard frowns, and cuts through the new magic, but I just use the frozen mana itself to help me out. I use and abuse the properties it has to solidify my own mana faster, creating tiny channels out of it that complete the runes.

[Solidification 28 > 29]

Fire burns underneath my skin. My mind hurts from how many tasks I force upon it, and I mismanage my mana for a moment. The runes burn too brightly, and my skin sizzles. But then, the frost on it metals, just slightly. Droplets of water slide down my skin, and blocks of frost fall off, sloughing to the ground. 

The scithian in front of me frowns, and redoubles his attacks. Coldscar moves even faster, the blizzard growing more furious. I twist my mana in spiraling patterns, tasting the snow, breaking off pieces from the vast spell. It’s not just one skill creating the blizzards - it’s three of them, used in conjunction. A combination.

So I look for weak points. Things to target that I can break. An icy sword lashes across my face with more violence now. It cuts into my cheek, then cracks a few of my teeth. Ice blossoms in my mouth, cloying my airway, and I have the shadows rip it out. Pieces of my flesh go with it, and pain hits me, but still, I smile.

Adrenaline courses through me with unbelievable force. I feel awake. More awake than I ever have.

My blood hums as I step backwards a bit. Like in a trance, my mind burns. So many things. Me, the sword, the storm, my own mana, the ground, the sneak attacks from the zoof, Anna sneaking around. There’s a million things buzzing around me, but it’s not just noise. For once, every part of it matters.

And even as it hurts, I take it all in. I let my ragged mind handle it, my mind growing stronger by the second. A strike comes for me, and I weave a mana-barrier. Not just solid mana, but a lattice of facets, like I do around cores.

[Job up! Core Controller 15 > 16]

The sword glances off the crystalline mana. Like a snowflake, it spreads out, and already I am learning from Coldscar. He’s teaching me a lesson alright. Distance, timing, ice. Mana pours into me, then out of me again, as I toss a larger [Deconstruction] at the storm.

It blows a hole into the snow. I stumble on my prosthetic, falling on my ass in the snow, and I laugh. Coldscar tries to teleport to me, but the snow around me isn’t magical. I get to my feet as he darts in, and hold a crystal sword. It’s jagged and ugly, made from mismatched parts of mana, but it’s strong. It’s strong, because it’s enchanted.

In my hand is the core of Raven. A thousand little facets cover it. Something taken from a living person, enchanted with runes, imbued with even more magic. I meet Coldscar’s blow, and his sword cracks.

Ice splinters in front of my imbuement. 

 [Deconstruction 24 > 25]

My eyes glow with the manic frenzy that comes from understanding. My mantle, a construct of lines and shapes, so much greater now, wraps around me. Coldscar’s eyes widen, and he jumps back. I pour out my mana, a torrent, a vast amount of it, and [Deconstruction] tears around me

I got it. The snow around me shatters, falling apart into mundane water. Ice turns to rain around me, and I laugh as my hair gets wet. 

[Deconstruction 25 > 26]

[Class up! Vesselsmith 12 > 14]

Half my mana disappears, but it carves out such a large chunk of the storm that I am refunded half that again. Coldscar’s mana breaks and fills my vessel, drawn in by my Abiding Apathy. It breaks apart, and I gather yet more pieces. My understanding grows more nuanced. I find weak spots.

And a dagger stabs into my back.

Ah. My mind overheated. How troublesome. I must’ve missed that.

My lung, barely healed, has another hole in it, and I give a dull wheeze as the swift zoof twists the knife. A moment later, Anna crashes into them, but despite that, I stagger forward. A dozen healing runes explode inside me, instantly searing the wound shut, but it doesn’t restore my lung’s functionality.

I can barely breathe. Air comes to me in a wheeze, and Coldscar approaches me with menacing, slow steps. His authority brushes over me, and I notice how ragged my defiance is. The razorblades are almost dull, covered in rime. My efficiency is slow and lazy.

“It’s over,” the gang-boss announces, pressing the tip of his sword against the center of my chest, resting it on my collarbone. It pierces through my skin, then touches my skeleton, and he drags a long, freezing, painful line through my flesh. “Here’s your lesson,” he says. “Don’t fuck with me. Don’t scam me. Treat me with fairness, scum. Pay me back threefold, and I’ll forget all this.”

And I laugh. It happens so easily. The bubbling motion makes me cough, and the tip of the sword digs deeper into my bones. “What’s so funny?” Coldscar asks, annoyed.

I just can’t help myself anymore. It’s too hilarious. The noise comes from me easily. I smile, blood bubbling in my ruined mouth, my lips torn open. My mana pulses outwards. It’s slow, frozen solid, but I don’t care. It’s mine. Mine and mine alone. So it listens, even if it takes more willpower. 

My vessel twitches at the motion, but I do it anyway. Coldscar watches me with a frown - and then the sword in his hands crumbles.

Ice turns to water, splashing harmlessly over my face. Blood pours from me, and I spit as some of the water flows into my mouth. Coldscar’s frown deepens. “You look so miserable, Coldy,” I say. “Why do you frown so much?”

My words only seem to annoy him more. The frown grows, somehow, even deeper, turning into a scowl. After I broke his sword, the scithian puts a boot on my chest, stepping down until I wheeze and my ribcage creaks. It hurts. It hurts like fucking hell, and yet, I’m gleeful.

The portal flashes. Someone steps through, and an authority washes over us. Delfine the oracle, seeker of Respitia, the woman sent to kill me appears. And suddenly, Coldscar’s face grows even more severe. Last phase. I just have to survive.

Chapter 207: Toxic Behaviour

Delfine’s authority spills outwards like a chain. It latches onto me, and I grimace. My defiance boils, cutting at it, but for now, it’ll take some time. The oracle crests the top of the tower, and elegantly floats down to the first floor.

She dodges one of Sylves’ arrows with a gentle step to the side, and approaches me, as I lay bleeding on the floor. Coldscar steps away, and I cough and sputter as my ruined lungs draw breath again. Her blind eyes turn to my ruined face, and I know she can’t see me.

“Kuro,” she says quietly. “What a shame for this to happen to you. Is this what your bravery amounts to?” she asks. The chain around my neck tightens, choking me, and my mana brushes her face. There’s a sad expression, almost mournful.

“I’m not brave,” I say, smiling. “I’m a coward. A spiteful, mean-spirited, uncaring jerk. Scum, you could say. But despite that, I try to do the right thing.” And my smile fades, bit by bit.

Slowly, but surely, I let myself sink into the embrace of my own calm. The apathy that rests within my chest. Like a welcoming pool of darkness, my agony fades away into something that doesn’t matter. My fear melts, and falls off me. Even the joy and curiosity I had falls away.

In the end, I’m left as I always am. Calm, collected, uncaring. Goosebumps rise across my skin, and wish a small sigh, I lift myself off the ground. Then, Delfine holds a golden dagger to my throat. “I will kill you,” she says. “But I promise to mourn you well.”

“Be brave,” I tell her. “That’s what you asked me to tell you. Be brave,” I say. My voice is deadpan, calm. Thatch and Opal are out there, fighting. Sylves is still shooting arrows. Inu is wrestling, and Anna is hiding. Richard is solving the level for us.

My purpose here is clear. All I have to do is win. All I have to do is fight. The same as always. The same as every single time before.

Mana solidifies. All I need is a knife. I cut open my ruined leg. 

Dark poison spills outwards. It smells of rot and decay, and I see Delfine flinching back. But it’s not enough. Not enough rot. Without hesitation, I feed it. My mana pours into the toxin, and it latches on. It eats through it. That’s why it took me so long to understand - it’s infectious. A virus. It ate my attempts at breaking it.

And now, it’s free. Free to eat.

The coral tower hisses and pops. The snow falling into it just feeds it. I manifest shadow, and send it flying, splattering all around me as I laugh. My own body is ruined, my leg bleeding and oozing toxins, but everyone else steps back. Delfine stares at me, wide-eyed.

“You’d go this far?” she asks, voice quivering.

“I’d go so much further," I reply. 

And then, I finally drop my attunement loop.

It feels good for a moment. For just a second, my mana screams. It roars as it’s free. Wild and powerful, it instantly shakes off the frost still clinging to it, and yet, I toss my entire will at it. 

Like wrangling with a dinosaur, I pull on the mana. I show it a direction, a pattern, and it flows. Efficiently, and forcefully. The insides of my body burn. My runes activate in pulses, my body burning and healing. And then, the poison grows. Golden flames break around me. Coldscar teleports away, his storm shattered. Delfine retreats. 

I grin, and rise. My mana dissolves in the puddle of corrosion, the prosthetic I made falling apart into worthless particles, fuelling the toxic swamp around me. The poison coats my body. My legs, my arms, some of it splattered onto my face, and already I can feel my skin rotting.

But I’ve had time. I’ve learnt it and from it. [Deconstruction].

[Deconstruction 26 > 27]

[Class up! Vesselsmith 14 > 15]

More mana burns its way through me, and I pour it into healing myself, stitching myself together. Poison splatters against one of Delfine’s guards, and I see her eyes widen. She moves to heal him - the most powerful healing spell I’ve ever seen. It shimmers with Respitia’s gold, her influence infecting it, and yet, underneath, there are Delfine's own powers.

And I reach out for it. [Selection]. [Suppression]. [Deconstruction].

[Selection 31 > 32]

I target the weak points I know are there. My archive has so many of Respitia’s spells stored that I know what to target. So I break the healing. Delfine turns to me with a look of mild horror. The Ire hangs heavy around us, around Coldscar, and it begins to reach for her as well.

Foam bubbles at the guard’s mouth. She tries to heal him, pouring more and more mana into the spell. Far, far more than before.

And I still break it. 

All that power fuels me. I get more back than what I used to shatter the spells. Efficiency roars with glee, and my authorities flare again. The golden chains around me shatter, and I rise to my feet. “I can break the poison, Delfine,” I say simply. “But you’ll have to make an oath.”

Her face shifts. A dozen tiny emotions play across it, and then she grits her teeth. “No, you don’t have to,” she says quietly. The golden dagger appears again, and, within a single moment…

She kills her own guard.

In a flash of gold she spins, then kills the other one. The Ire roars, looming heavily around us. And the oracle gives me a manic grin. “There,” she says. “Brave, right?” 

I can feel the monolith trying to kill us now. The ground shakes. I can feel the knight at its entrance begin to breathe in the mana. My [Observation] touches on it from down here, and it stirs.

[Reanimated Knight lv. ??]

Fuck that. “Monolith! I accept Delfine into my party! Opal, Sylves, and their group, too!”

With that, Delfine takes the slot Bofoy used to take up. The Ire stops, for a moment. It reconsiders the situation. And I get a notification.

[Cleanse my home of this poison, you jerk.]

“Pay me,” I say smugly.

[Fine. Your rewards at the precipice will be enhanced. Now, do it.]

In a single, horrifying motion, my mana sweeps out. The poison breaks. Every trace of it shatters all at once. The black toxic sludge, eating its way through the tower, disappears all at once. Coldscar looks at me in horror. And I smile. Then I stagger, and my prosthetic starts to fall apart.

“Oops,” I say. “That was all my mana. You better heal me, Delfine, or we all die.”

And then, I proceed to fall onto my back. [Observation] drops, and I’m left in the dark.

But it doesn’t matter. I’ve already won.

- - -

When I open my eyes, it’s to see the oracle crouched above me. Breathing hurts, but I’m stable. All my wounds are closed. Not fixed. I still have a scar from the corner of my mouth to the middle of my cheek. My lungs are still fucked. I’m still missing all my body parts - and more of my leg has been amputated. My knee is gone now, which sucks a bunch.

“You look like shit, Snow,” Opal announces proudly.

“You should see the other guy,” I tell them. And for a moment, everything is okay.

- - -

Coldscar doesn’t dare attack us anymore. Not with Delfine in our party. In fact, he seems to want absolutely none of this smoke. Which is good, because it’d be a shame to have to kill someone else. And I’d definitely kill him if he annoyed me any more.

Right now, though, I’m in a good mood. I can barely walk, but everything went exactly according to plan. In fact, there’s even something new I’ve gained from what I’ve learned.

Deconstructing the poison means that it’s in my archive, after all. And I won. So, I have spoils.

[Level Up! 94 > 98]

Which means four more points in mana. But, far more importantly, there is an offering of what I wanted to get from the poison. Something that I wanted to learn.

[You have been granted a possible epitaph. Accept?]

[Epitaph: Clinging Consequences (Power)

Favours and grudges stick around, 

Your magic echoes and rebounds.]

Ah, I think the Tower has kind of called me out. Is it saying I’m petty? Me? Surely not. I am a kind and forgiving person. I don’t hold grudges, dear tower.

Of course, my thoughts aren’t dignified with a response. Despite that small misgiving, I take it. After all, it’s what I want. Sticky magic. 

The consequence is what I cast. And it’ll cling. Which is good for all my offensive and utility skills. Debuffs that stick around means I can stack them. My anti-magic sticking around will fuel me more mana as opponents try and fail to cast. And my healing sticking around means a persistent regeneration effect.

It’s what I wanted. Because I can’t imagine a way to get a proper stacking effect on my own, without something like this. So, Clinging Consequence gets accepted. “Accept,” I say.

[Epitaph Etched.]

A small smile spreads on my lips. That means I have all three slots filled. And a short while later, my party has unlocked the final layer of the tower. We push Coldscar and his troupe through the portal at its end first, and then, we have time. And with that time granted to us, we move to explore the tower a little more.

I can’t say no to some more loot before we make it to the precipice.