Saintess Summons Skeletons

GRAB MY HEAD AND RETREAT!

Pareth was still standing over Sofia, he hadn’t managed to protect her, his senses in the darkness were even more limited than hers so he could only rely on sound and the orders. He located the head from the sound it had made when it hit the ground. He grabbed it along with the whole rest of the body and ran back as fast as he could.

A few attacks landed against his back, producing shrill sounds, but failing to do any damage. Thankfully, they had been advancing very carefully and they weren’t far from the pond. Sofia’s body regrowing from her head that was in Pareth’s hand made the escape awkward, but it worked. They emerged in the light, and Pareth dropped a naked Sofia and her old, bloody dead body near the pond and turned to face the darkness. The first thing Sofia noticed was that her old body had taken a few more hits during the escape, it was bleeding from three deep cuts that had severed everything in their path, as well as from the headless neck.

She reactivated her armor and braced herself behind Pareth, his [Sanctified grounds] finally flaring up around them.

But the monsters, whatever they were, never showed up in the light. Pareth deactivated his skills to get mana back, but he still stood guard.

Ah, that has to be the worst way to die…

Without the rune, I’d be dead on the spot in this tunnel without knowing what even hit me.

And now for the fun part…

She had to pick her stuff from her own dead and bloody corpse. When she blew herself up whole, she used to take off the important things first, letting Pareth hold them while she rushed up to the Thrombbers only wearing her armor. But this time, she was wearing the space anchor bracelet, the saint set, the storage ring, and the clothing set from the trial.

That feels way worse than I thought, and I did think it would be shit. Ugh.

But this is much better than being dead.

The real casualties were the birds she lost along the way. None survived.

Sofia was dressed up, and her old body sat morbidly in a corner of her storage ring. The monsters had not shown up again; she needed to rethink the way she approached this place.

Health : 5900 / 5900

Stamina : 1899 / 1900

Mana : 23220 / 79500

Of course, all the mana in my body was lost. But I still have what was in my head and soul. Not too bad.

She knew from experience that she would lose some of her mana when unexpectedly losing body parts, the rune did not compensate for that. But interestingly, even when she blew her whole body up into charred dust from the point-blank angel bolts, there would always be some leftover mana, which she had concluded must be stored in her soul. Though it could have been stored in the rune too, she had decided that it wasn’t it since that was not in the skill description.

Hmmm… How do I approach this? Unknown monsters, invisible, can kill me in a single hit. Tough enough to survive a whip hit and a stab from Pareth. And there are at least two of them. I think I can imagine what happened to whoever had his backpack cut up. Maybe that was Xeros even, though I can’t imagine too many people would survive that. And why would he not mention it in the report?

And he was the one to suggest looking into Sivius. I need to stay wary about the Emperor. But it’s not like he could have known I needed to find a place like this one. I’m probably reading into things too much… But I should keep these things in mind.

Despite the monsters not attacking her while she was in the light so far, Sofia didn’t feel too safe there. She took one of Zangdar castle’s wooden wardrobe closets. This will float, right? Taking off the doors it looked like a small bark. A scuffed, rectangular bark, but a bark nonetheless. She drew the Sun ritual inside and set it afloat on the Silverwater pond. Of course, Pareth wasn’t allowed inside. Only when she was at the center of the pond did she feel safe enough to remove her second immortality rune and let her mana regenerate. She needed her mana regeneration to be fast, hence the sun ritual.

When her mana was full, she took out the book and summoned the four withered vampires. They swam around her in the pond, waiting for their orders.

Go with Pareth, destroy whatever’s in there.

Damn, they’re fast.

The vampire’s stats were very weird, they had almost no mana and not so much health.

Health : 9000/9000

Stamina : 36000/36000

Mana : 180/180

Lifetime : 10772s/10800s

But that’s a lot of stamina... Skeletons don't even use stamina though... Alright, you four stay in the light. Pareth go forward and use [Sanctified grounds] when you’re attacked. The vampires only go in the dark when the buff is up. Rush to the zone, then don’t leave it. Kill the damn assassins in there.

Oh wait, I’m sending the birds too. Since you guys can’t see in there.

“It’ll take me twenty minutes to be full mana again, then thirty to draw the runes… By the time I’m done things should be over. Good luck, Skeletons!”

That’s right, why should I put myself in so much danger? I have skeletons for that. I have heroes for that! Truly the summoner dream, no reason to actually do anything.

Ah, but the point was to train the passive. How is it?

[Venerable physique of the primeval void] ♢ :

Second step : Become able to see in the dark (13,002%/100%)

Not bad for such a short time, it was at seven from the trip through the forest, that’s almost as much progress for like two minutes in the dungeon’s darkness. But it’s not going up while I’m on my boat.

“...”

I’d like to see what’s going on but I can’t see shit from Pareth’s perspective… Guess I can still monitor his stats to see how it’s going. He’s not losing mana yet so the fighting hasn’t started.

“...”

Can I speed up the absorption of ambient mana somehow? This feels like something that should be a thing. Seriously. I know it goes up with the trials but that’s… Can I breathe it in or what? How do we usually absorb it in the first place?

A trip to the Empire’s magic academy is in order whenever I have the time. I need to learn more about mana and skill evolution.

Oh, the fight is starting I think.

Sofia couldn’t help the skeletons at all from where she was, so she focused on her own things, doing some organization of her storage ring’s contents. Some birds died, and soon after she heard the first echoes of fighting in the tunnels. The monsters screamed every time they got hit. She monitored Pareth’s stats, he was steadily losing mana but his health was still full. Considering his buffs, it would take a hit worth around twenty-thousand damage to hurt him in his zone, that was a tall order.

‘You have defeated [True Shade - lv. 212]’

“Oh, so these are actually shades? That was in the file. I just didn’t think it was worth looking up more. Turns out I’m still way too careless… Well, I have the runes so I can afford it. Can’t spend all my life doing in-depth research when I have a god to kill in the next hundred years.”

In truth Sofia already knew the very basics about Shades, they were semi-corporeal ghosts, almost immune to physical attacks but not completely, their main quirk was that they were stuck to the ground and walls, like actual shadows. If there were areas of strong direct light, they would avoid going through it as it would harm them. And trapping them in such an area of light would most likely throw them into a panicked frenzy. That was the full paragraph about them that was in the book about spirit monsters she had read during her big book binge in Hooasow.

I was curious about how they attack if they can’t leave the walls but by the looks of it that doesn’t restrict them that much. I wonder about the ‘True’ part of their name though.

The one thing that was true was that this dungeon made the perfect environment for a Shade. An eternal darkness where they could move freely and be safe from all light.

‘You have defeated [True Shade - lv. 231]’

‘You gained a level!’

Another shade already? They must still be weak to Pareth’s light weapon at any rate, because he’s destroying them. That or the feral vampires are way stronger than I expected.

At this speed, I’ll hit the level cap soon. I’ll wait until I have all my runes ready and I’ll follow them from a distance. I’d stay in the darkness near the pond if that was enough but the training method says I have to explore.

“I have about two weeks to fully explore this place. And it’s not the Empire’s territory no so worrying about the tax… What should I do next? I can’t go after the High–priests before the next trial. I’ll follow Tyrene’s advice and only go when I’m completely maxed out. I still need to train [Sanctity] more and at least find a way to upgrade the bone armor. It’s really too weak now. Didn’t protect me from the shades at all. Well, perhaps Alith will have other plans. She hasn't been fighting for the months she spent on her own but with how she can never stay in place for long she must have found something interesting to do.”

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