Chaotic Craftsman Worships The Cube

“Isn’t this just a game over for us then?” Jake asked. “If our spells are just going to keep getting cancelled then we’re kind of fucked. Even if Amy has another sword and shield on hand, she can’t handle everything alone.”

“Well, if you’ll notice Thera’s success in keeping us all safe so far things aren’t that bleak,” Ben explained, not seeming as worried as it seemed like he should have been. “Magic nullification is definitely annoying, but it’s the sort of thing that only works well on purely magic-based attacks. Something like earth or water magic that controls a substance might have the mana put into it cancelled, but it won’t kill any momentum that’s already there so when you fire a spell it just needs to be fast and hard. Honestly, it’s manageable enough that I can only expect things to get worse. And only a few minutes left so stay on your guard everyone. Me and Yuzu should probably keep out of the way while you all keep us safe.”

It seemed like he was trying to be cute about it but Thera couldn’t help but worry. As they waited to see if he was right, she pushed her earth sense with all she had, trying to feel anything approaching, with something coming at the edge of her awareness at the same time Ben spoke again.

“Probably around now.”

Contrary to his expectation though, nothing emerged from the ground as the others waited with weapons at the ready, only because Thera had dealt with them before they could even try to emerge.

“Okay, I’m wrong, this is awkward,” Ben muttered while she spoke up.

“You weren’t. I handled them before they got out. Also, there were three of them this time.”

“Mmh, like that even less,” He grumbled while Amy turned to them.

“Okay, if the number is just going to keep going up then can we count on you for the time being Thera? We’d probably be better waiting till it becomes more than you can handle.”

By that point, she’d planned on taking on all she could anyway. Her magic was powerful enough that she could put enough force into any attack that cancelling it would be meaningless, and the fact that she could sense them burrowing through the ground was enough of a benefit that there was no reason that the others should need to do anything. She understood in principle they needed whatever practice they could get, but Thera wouldn’t put that need above their safety.

From there, things moved uncomfortably smoothly. For the next twenty rounds she had been able to keep up with everything she’d felt, even if it did leave her mind a little strained as she pushed her sense to feel everything around her, while the others waited, each feeling a bit of guilt for how little they’d been contributing, even if it was better in the long run.

It was a strategy that left them not even seeing the creatures, keeping bodies from piling up around them as the sand blew all the harder outside of the area she was blocking off, but for the ten after that she couldn’t help but feel the strain of her limits being pressed as she tried to deal with enemies coming in from all sides.

I can do this. Just a bit more and then I’ll have to start letting some through.

She wanted to handle as many as she could. The more she could take, the less risk there was to everyone else. The less the others had to deal with, the less chance of something getting thorough and digging its claws into Ben, so she kept pushing, handling up to the fortieth wave at nearly five hours of constant casting before she needed to call out to the others.

“Okay, Amy and Jake I’m going to need to start letting a few of the ones on your side by for you to handle!”

“Got it!” They yelled back, standing on guard as the next battle began, Thera only letting two past her for them to deal with so she could focus on the rest, still crushing them before they left the ground as Amy cleaved one with her sword, the two halves of the beast falling to the side while Jake attacked with the earth in the same way Thera had at first, stabbing into the creatures while the life bled out of them.

As the first of the creatures that had made it through the sands to actually attack, it was their first time since the beginning to see what they were fighting against with their own eyes. Almost twice as large as the ones that started and with longer, thicker claws, the fact that they were changing warned of more dangers to come that they had to wait for as their fight continued.

With each round adding one more monster she had to keep letting more and more through, both Amy and Jake picking up whatever extra they could while things continued on, and despite the exhaustion that was setting in she couldn’t help but feel confident. As things stood, they’d eventually be going against a hundred. It was going to suck, no doubt about that, but she was sure they would manage. She was killing hers fast enough that she would get a small breather between rounds, giving herself little mental breaks to prepare for what would be thrown at them next, letting her drink some water or eat some food before all of her attention was pulled to feeling the land beneath her for whatever would try to pop out of it next, letting as few through as she could.

I can do this. She told herself as she crushed dozens of creatures in the sand. Forty more rounds, a little less than five hours left, it’s doable.

Even as she told herself that though, it felt like time was dragging on more and more. Even if it was doable, she couldn’t help but look forward to leaving the floor and never thinking about it again.

Confidence was a feature the trial was happy to strip from her though. As she put all of her focus to the ground, a new threat came from the sky.

“Watch out!” Ben yelled, pulling her back in time to watch the same metallic claws come down from above on a new creature as they went for her face, the one thing stopping them from making contact being Ben’s arm getting in the way to protect her as it dug into his flesh before it swooped away with powerful beats of its wings, carrying him off with it.

“Ben!” She yelled out, moving before she thought. All of the ones underground had been dealt with and she pulled away the stone she was standing on from the rest, forcing herself through the skies as she pursued it, ignoring the feeling of sand whipping through the air and stinging her skin as she flew off to keep Ben in her sight, the others far from her thoughts as she rushed to get closer and closer, closing whatever bit of distance she could until she was right behind it and watching him hang in the air.

Alright, calm down, I need to be smart about this. I kill it then they both crash to the ground. As things stand it already looks like it might cut through his arm as is, so I just need to cut through something else first.

An idea in mind, she took the sand in the air and condensed it into a solid disk, putting some spin on it before she took careful aim and fired it off at the same time she shot herself forward, watching her attack slice through the leg as time she scooped Ben from the sky, holding him tight while she fired off one more spell to finish the beast before she brought them back down.

“Oh gods Ben are you alright? No, of course you aren’t alright, give me a minute,” She told him as she tried to flood his body with her life magic, and for the first time after awakening her skill, feeling it not work.

Ben for his part seemed shockingly upbeat despite what he’d just gone through, having no idea of the trouble she was having.

“Well, I can’t actually feel my arm but ignoring that it’s shockingly painless. Or maybe that actually is just shock. Either way, I’ll take it.”

“Don’t just take it!” She yelled at him as she looked deeper, using her mana examination and feeling herself freeze from what she was seeing.

His arm had turned to stone, and the effect was slowly continuing up it. It was far slower than any time she’d petrified anything, the effect likely being partially blocked by his skills and resistances, but in that particular case it was for the worse as she slowly watched it crawl its way to his shoulder, knowing that soon enough it would get to his heart.

If that happened he was dead. In a normal person where the effect of petrification was quicker it might not have been as much of a problem, but for him it meant his heart would long stop pumping blood before the effect covered the rest of him, and there would be no coming back from that.

She felt herself panic, flashes of what he’d gone through in the last floor so clear in her mind as he squeezed her arm with his good hand, trying to calm her down when he didn’t even know what was happening to him.

“Thera, whatever it is, it’s okay. Just breathe.”

She took a deep breath. He was right, she could handle this, at least that was what she was telling herself.

After all, I’ve practiced treating this a few times before on some of the stuff I hunted with Aso. If you ignore my success rate, I’m golden.

She pushed her zero successes from her mind as she held his arm. After two weeks of reading at the tower’s library, she had a better idea of how she needed to bend her magic to make it happen, even if the difficulty spiked turning stone back to flesh, even compared against the already huge challenge that was its opposite.

Holding his arm tight, she flooded it with her mana, to the point a part of her worried it would just break like a staff before she could heal it as she pictured the effect she wanted in her mind.

Minutes passed and it felt like nothing was happening. She tried not to panic, not to think about the fact that time was ticking by till the next wave and that the others were waiting for them, not to focus on the petrification slowly making its way closer and closer to his heart, until she finally felt something click into place as stone reverting to soft skin under her touch, slowly at first, and then all at once as his arm lived once more.

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