SB: Chapter 251 – Excavation Site (Patreon)

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

I stood by the ice pyramid I had used to mark the top of the mountain at the edge of the Great White Waste years ago. Off in the distance where I had hidden the blade, there was a large concentration of monsters.

That was why my Danger Sense had slowly been increasing over time. They were getting closer and closer to finding a blade. If I hadn’t come back now, I would be dead once they discovered and pulled it out of its sheath.

We had made good time here, but that just bought me some more time to act and save myself. I knew this wasn’t going to be easy.

Looking at the number of monsters and levels based on their Mana amount was difficult at such a distance. But I counted around 1,000 monsters around level 60. Another 100 around level 100, which would pose a more serious challenge. Then there was a single demon that had to be at least level 250, which was absolute death.

Boris was tucked away in a nearby cave as I scouted out the situation. The additional problem, was that the dark season would soon start in full force. The length of daylight every day was getting less and less.

The occasional light snowfall and cold were hampering the workforce at least as they slowly worked away at the frozen ground. I had done a good enough job concealing the blade, they hadn’t found the buried chamber yet.

The monsters were ice and cold focused, not stone or earth focused. That meant using force to shift the ground, not spell skills. A small mercy when facing an incredibly dire situation. The monsters I could whittle down without too much headache. The problem was the demon.

It was covered in several beastkin pelts making it harder to determine its appearance besides two large horns sticking out of its head. It was clearly going for an inhuman appearance, which was a personal preference among demons. Like wearing clothes for a human, they would shape their bodies to match their personalities.

Facing an enemy with 2,500 stats was beyond the strength of a human legend, who would have around 2,000 stats at level 100. Even if I used my free stat points and pushed myself to get to level 40, I would still only have 1,000 stat points. Less than half my opponent. I would be outclassed, just not as badly.

Any large Mana use, and the demon would react. With its speed due to its stats, it didn’t need a lot of skills to defeat me. The monsters weren’t well coordinated, but they could swarm me with their large numbers. I only had Ozy and Boris was a non-combatant.

There were only two realistic options, since fighting was out of the question. The first option was to get as close as possible and then tunnel down and try to reach the chamber first. But with the monsters messing up the terrain, it was hard to tell exactly where the sword was hidden underground.

The problem with that approach would be that the demon might sense our presence. Boris didn’t have stealth skills and I needed him to move the sword case. Tunneling would take a while and use a lot of Mana as Ozy and I shifted the stone underground.

Against a weaker demon that might have been a possibility, but against a level 250 thinking monster, that was asking to be killed without hesitation. Once we were discovered, the demon could easily tunnel down to reach us, since our Mana wouldn’t be dispersed like the sword’s Mana was being dispersed.

The second option was to go for a large scale ambush. The problem was setting such a runic circle up without being detected. It could be done a lot faster, but it would still take time. If the circle was too big, I wouldn’t have the Mana to power it.

Right now I was at what I would consider a minimum safe distance. The demon hadn’t even glanced in this direction and the monsters hadn’t altered what they were doing. I had no thoughts about killing the demon and even if I did, the sheer disparity in strength would make it difficult for the demon’s Danger Sense to trigger beyond the minute background shifts.

Without a direct threat or an active use of Mana, it would be near impossible to detect me, even in this wasteland. I lay down between two rocks, to keep the worst of the wind off of me as I observed the monsters.

I had considered how to fight a legend in the past after my run in and escape from the elven legend. It all depended on their skills.

The demon was probably a melee fighter with three to five spell skills, with strong tracking and detecting skills. The demon was likely the only intelligent monster out here. A demon would not want to share the prize they were looking for. They were inherently selfish creatures that prioritized themselves over other monsters or demons. The strong ruled and the weak obeyed or were killed.

The other monsters working and standing around weren’t intelligent. They had likely been subdued by the same or a similar skill I used with Ozy. That meant the demon wasn’t getting any feedback from them. That many monsters would make it near impossible to handle that much sensory or mental stimulus.

What I needed to do was to lure the demon away from this location. Then use that opportunity to put a plan into motion. Killing any monster would alert the demon right away that something was happening here. I also had an unknown amount of time until they found the sword. That couldn’t be allowed to happen or I would die.

Getting a distraction far enough and tempting enough to entice the demon, getting the sword, and escaping each had their own challenges.

I had no idea what would tempt the demon besides a lot of Mana. As a legend focused on melee combat it would be fast. One day of travel for the demon probably meant three or four days worth of travel for our group.

If the sword disappeared, the demon would use sensory skills and with any beastkin skills be able to track me down. Even with scent concealing cloaks and potions, I needed at least three days worth of travel from the demon to ensure it wouldn’t be able to pursue or easily track me. That meant traveling 12 days away, setting up a distraction, coming back, and then hoping whatever I did would draw away the demon.

There was just too much wasted time with that plan.

It was also soon going to be the dark season, which made the time I could act and escape truly limited. While I was versatile, I didn’t have a super powerful skill, what legends called a signature skill to even wound the demon.

As it got dark, I waited a bit longer, the demon and the monsters he was controlling kept working relentlessly, chipping away at the frozen ground.

I made my way back to the cave. Boris looked up from his workout when I returned but he didn’t say anything. The man truly was impressive with how stoic he was. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t help solve the current problem I had to solve.

Even if I made the most amazing runic trap, the demon wouldn’t fall for something like that. Any kind of combat meant an instant loss for me. Any Mana that might impact the demon would be sensed instantly.

“We are going to be here for a while. No active skills,” I told Boris.

“Understood,” he replied and kept exercising.

Bouncing ideas off him would be pointless. As we had a cold meal, everything I could think of was countered by the demon. Its level and strength were just too high. The gap was completely insurmountable.

Moving it away would take too long and wasn’t practical. The demon would be too fast. Everything else didn’t matter until I could solve the issue of the demon sitting on a rock over where the blade was hidden.

I suppose I could use a soul skill to disable the demon. The problem was landing such an attack. And with the level and tier difference, I was going to take ten hits for every two or three hits the demon took. Even with Soul Shield, I would still take more damage than the demon if I used soul skills.

A ritual had a high chance of dragging the blade into it. I had no idea what that would do, but I had no doubt it would be a massive disaster. A ritual wasn’t an option to deal with the demon. One might be needed to create a dungeon entrance and escape, but I would need monsters to sacrifice, which I didn’t have.

I truly was in a predicament at the moment.

Ozy didn’t even nudge me for a head scratch. I let out a small sigh at that. He was no longer a pet and a friend, but a monster slave.

My mind went back to the topic at hand. If I had to face such a strong opponent, I would normally just avoid them or give up. But with my life on the line due to the Tier 7 cursed skill Seraphim Quest, there was no other option. I had to get that sword back and escape.

Once I got the sword, I was confident that I would be able to hide away unless the demon was looking at me or right on top of me. There was no chance of escape. That much was certain. The demon was faster than me and out in the open, it would easily spot us. We also couldn’t travel fast enough.

So, the end state would have my team and me hiding. I would need to make a good hideout that was both visually disguised and didn’t allow Mana traces to leak out. Divination was just a much more refined method of Mana detection and I doubted the demon had divination skills with how rare they were.

Without the sword case I would have been completely screwed. The sword would have been a huge Mana beacon. I trusted the craftsmanship of the Professors at the College enough to have no doubt that it would work. If it didn’t work, there was no point in worrying about that. I would die no matter what.

I needed to get the sword into the case and then hide in a prepared location. I could prepare a location while I thought about the first issue. And I was right back having to deal with the demon and avoiding detection.

If my mother was here, she would just fight and kill everything. Unfortunately, that only worked when you were stronger. And her legacy skill, Stillness, was about being still and hiding. Not about sneaking right under a thinking monster’s skills to retrieve the object of their focus.

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter