Saintess Summons Skeletons

Sofia’s health left her in waves in the down times of the armor as the heat washed over her. At least her vitals were safe thanks to Alith cradling her. What took the most damage were her wings, which had no protection at all, they were almost completely destroyed. It was a ridiculous scene as Alith did her best to sneak in a [Maiden’s kiss] to heal Sofia up whenever the armor broke enough to expose skin.

There wasn’t much left of the original room after the attack. They still couldn’t see outside because of the second layer of wall behind the shield that enveloped the place. Alith and Sofia stood back up, almost twenty centimeters deep into molten Midenicite goo. Since the whole room was inside a dome-shaped shield, it had nowhere to go, transforming the area into a deadly pool of high temperature liquid crystal. The only place left with solid ground was the small ‘island’ on which the machine was standing, as it had been protected by a separate shield.

Sofia summoned some blood nearby. As it hit the molten floor, it helped dissipate some heat, creating an unstable but solid platform she could stand on without burning her legs.

In the middle of the room, the hybrid machine had finished its transformation. It looked like a very deformed spider with four legs, four tentacles, and four eyes. All distributed around a big metal cylinder that had been hidden inside the machine until then. Sofia felt a presence inside the cylinder.

[Hero - Lv. 182]

“He’s inside the cylinder,” she informed Alith.

One by one, the last few cables that were still connected to the machine popped out of it. The shield that had been protecting the machine all this time was gone.

[Identify] could finally reach the damn thing without the mana shield getting in the way. It didn’t pick up much, the main body must have all counted as a monster as it returned nothing, but there was still a result. A familiar description appeared four times, the creature’s ‘eyes’.

[Midenicite catalyst] : A masterfully crafted spell catalyst made of Gold and Midenicite. Enhances the speed of mana projectiles by up to 20%.

When she had asked the hero what they should be wary about, its answer had been ‘eyes’. It was very clear why now. One of the four eyes even had a slightly different description.

[Midenicite catalyst] : A masterfully crafted spell catalyst made of Gold and Midenicite. Enhances the speed of mana projectiles by up to 50%.

Item level : 150. Grade : Legendary.

It was Sofia’s first time seeing an item being labeled as ‘legendary’. She agreed that the effect was strong enough to warrant the title. She didn’t know what kind of projectiles were in store, but she would have a hard time dodging them, even without the catalysts to speed them up. The small platform she stood on didn’t allow for much movement, and each bit of blood she used to make it larger was as much mana she couldn’t use anymore. Why do my wings have to be so large that I can’t fly in rooms like these? It would make everything so much easier.

Health : 3020 / 5565

Mana : 19254 / 46000

Sofia expected a grueling fight. She started invoking her [Spine of the Black Sun] once more.

Except Alith had a different idea. Using [Lady Double], she left a copy of herself as a stationary meat-shield in front of Sofia, and reappeared half a second later on the hybrid spider’s back, crouching atop the cylinder. In three swipes of her blades, she opened the top of the cylinder, white fluid overflowing from it sprayed everywhere.

The creature’s ‘eyes’ sprayed small fireballs in all directions, but they couldn’t reach Alith who was on its back. Sofia hid behind the double, only taking marginal damage from the fireballs’ explosions. The four tentacles of the creature, while weaker looking than those of the actual Phageid squids from outside, were probably still very dangerous. They all cocked-back to lash out at the banshee.

I’m so useless…

An ear-piercing shriek resounded in the room. If Sofia calculated correctly from the Hero’s level, there was about 30% chance for an [Instant Death] to occur. Now that the machine wasn’t protected by a mana shield anymore, it was vulnerable. It was uncertain whether it had hearing, but seeing how it reacted, it seemed it did. No instant death. That looks like [Insanity] instead.

Now the spider was incoherently flailing around, stepping down into the molten pool of Midenicite around it, and throwing fireballs everywhere. Alith had a hard time even staying latched to it, but she was no longer threatened by the tentacles. With one of her weapons in her mouth, she plunged her hand inside the opened cylinder, fishing out a withered naked man. He had tens of small blue crystal tendrils sprouting from his body, binding him to the spider.

Alith smacked her kama’s blade inside of the man’s head as if plunging a pickaxe in sand. She pulled it out, bringing the blade toward her. The spider stopped moving, collapsing under its own weight.

‘[Spine of the black sun] reached level 101’

‘[Sanctity] reached level 25’

…

‘[Sanctity] reached level 39’

‘You have murdered [Zhǎng Lú - Flamebringer lv. 182]’

‘You have defeated [Phageid Larvae - lv. 158]’

‘You gained a level!’ * 6

Strange name. Damn guy really fused himself with a Phageid in a weird machine? Heroes are all completely insane aren’t they?

Alith turned toward Sofia, who was still hiding behind the smoldering remnants of the double, and gave her a thumbs up with a smirk.

“Don’t smile with the weapon in your mouth, you look like an evil ghost,” Sofia joked. Actually she didn’t even look that bad, [Presentable] was in full effect to make her look as good as possible, considering the situation.

Alith sheathed both of her weapons as she jumped down from the dead monster, straight into the molten crystal floor.

“Ay, stop trying to be funny and let me heal you up. Funny fight this one. Did you see how I never lost a single health point?” she asked, wading through the molten floor. Her mouth was overflowing with blood the whole time, the words came out as a ghastly gargled mess, though Sofia still understood.

“Of course I noticed, what do you think? Your blessing is unfair against fire users. If I knew it would be like this I wouldn’t even have entered the damn room, I was useless the whole time. And stop talking already, can’t you see the state you’re in yourself?”

“That’s nothing, just a few hundred Health Points. Doesn’t even hurt that much.” She struggled a bit to step up on Sofia’s platform, the floor was starting to solidify again. Looking up at the tired Saintess, Alith answered, tapping Sofia’s armored shoulder, “You did well… Don’t sell yourself too short.” She winked, “And take off the dang armor already, how am I supposed to heal you like this?” Her every word was becoming more unintelligible, and blood flowed out of her mouth like a fountain.

“I’m serious, stop talking.” The skill really ruins her throat… It’s strong though.

Sofia felt the shield around the room faltering. We can leave.

After Sofia was fully healed up, they dragged the hero’s dead body out of the hybrid-mechanical spider, and into the small room that led to the dome. It was strange how clean and intact it still was after what had happened right besides it. They opened a window and Alith stuck a hand out to catch the light of [Heal Undead] Sofia cast outside.

Meanwhile Sofia was already looting the dead body, “Alright, let’s see… Looks like a storage ring. He didn’t lie.” Sofia plucked out a massive polished red stone ring from the man’s index finger. She was about to inspect it when she felt worrying mana movements from the outside. Huge mana movements, all around the castle.

She looked outside through the window. Everything looked normal. And the main shield around the castle was still up.

What is happening?

Looking around, it was very easy to pinpoint where the mana surges came from. The power cores…

Sofia’s mind went back to the scene where fireballs rained from the ceiling in the battle just now. Some machines had exploded stronger than the rest, without firing. Then the shield around the mechanical Phageid spider had died down…

No way is it going to expl-

Sofia woke up on the cold crystal floor, a fair bit shaken. I passed out? Oh right, the explosion…

At least her health was still almost maxed out, and she didn’t really feel pain besides inside her ears. She didn’t feel any debris around her either, it seemed the castle as a whole was undamaged. The shield must have held longer than the explosion lasted despite the power cores being gone.

She opened her eyes, and blinked a few times. Now the world was black. She also realized that she didn’t actually hear anything. Not even herself moving.

Ah…

So the explosion didn’t kill me. But I’m blind and deaf? Great.

Sofia expected to panic from her own situation and was actually shocked about how calmly she was taking this discovery.

That can be healed. Right?

It turned out her mana perception still worked. It took her a few seconds to adapt. The boundaries of the room were clear in her perception. That’s because the crystal walls and floor can’t hold mana, they look like empty zones. She could also ‘see’ her own body, or at least the mana inside it, and Alith’s, who was sprawled on the floor nearby.

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