Chapter 232: Stalwart (1/2)

The spider constructs had appeared from holes that had opened in the walls and ceiling. This time, it was the floor that opened up, six large, evenly-spaced but much larger holes, appearing in a straight line down the length of the cell block. The team didn’t wait for whatever was within to emerge, springing straight into action.

“I’ll take the first, you the second,” Clive said to Belinda and they both quickly chanted out their rune trap spell.

“Emplace the mark of power.”

Runes appeared on the floor, in front of the first and second holes. They glowed brightly for a brief moment before vanishing. As they cast their spells, Humphrey vaulted into the air, a pair of dragon wings appearing on his back and pushing him upwards.

Ability: [Dragon Wings] (Wing)

Conjuration (movement).Cost: High mana-per-second.Cooldown: None.Current rank: Bronze 0 (01%).Effect (iron): Manifest wings that are powerful but lack agility.Effect (bronze): The strength and resilience of the wings is increased, allowing them to be used for crude attacks to the sides and rear. The wings have strong damage resistance and very strong fire resistance. Ongoing mana cost is reduced from very high to high.

Humphrey alighted on the upper mezzanine level, letting the mana-hungry wings vanish again. Sophie sauntered forward, ready to meet whatever emerged, while Jason vanished into the shadows.

Neil had been hastily pouring salt from a small sack to make a circle. He knelt briefly and touched a finger to the circle when it was done. The salt crystals started sparkling like flecks of diamond in the sun before a dervish of crystal appeared above the circle, swiftly cohering into the shape of Neil’s summon.

Ability: [Chrysalis Golem] (Growth)

Summoning.Cost: Very high mana.Cooldown: 6 hours.Current rank: Iron 9 (97%).Effect (iron): Summons a chrysalis golem.

The golem was a large, humanoid edifice of translucent crystal, half as tall again as its summoner. Neil gestured it forward, where it positioned itself between the team’s support contingent and the holes from which the enemy was about to emerge.

From each hole, a single figure rose up from below. Like Neil’s golem, they were constructs, ascending on platforms that sealed the holes from which they came. They also shared the golem’s intimidating size, but not its humanoid appearance These new constructs had a body that was a vertical cylinder of plain, dark stone. From the base, four legs held it up, obviously build for stability over speed.

Equidistant at cardinal points around the middle of the cylinder were long, inhuman arms. Each arm was segmented with a pair of elbows that allowed them to move in uncanny gestures. The arms ended in blunted, four-fingered claws. Atop each cylinder, in place of a head, was a stone bowl. As the constructs rose up, spheres of magical force manifested into each bowl, shimmering like a soap bubbles, and the constructs began to move.

Like all constructs, they didn’t have a soul and their auras were the meagre product of the magic animating them. It was enough to let the team know their opponents were somewhere in the mid-range of bronze-rank power.

The two sides were moving on each other before the platforms bringing the constructs up had even completed their task. Sophie was the quickest, ignoring the first two constructs to go after the third, rapidly hammering attacks into the joints of its arms. The movement of the arms was quick and tricky, but Sophie’s reflexes were up to the task. As it continued to rise up, she went after the leg joints as well. The effectiveness of her attacks was limited, but the resonating-force damage of her special ability did succeed in chipping away at the hard stone of the leg.

Ability: [Immortal Fist] (Mystic)

Special ability.Cost: None.Cooldown: None.Current rank: Iron 8 (21%).Effect (iron): Unarmed attacks deal additional resonating-force damage, which is highly effective against physical defences. Suffer no damage from making unarmed strikes against objects and negate all damage from actively intercepted attacks. Not all damage from very powerful or higher-ranked attacks will be negated.

The two constructs she had passed stepped over the edge of their holes before the platforms they rode reached the level of the floor to seal them. They moved forward towards the main group, only to walk over the now-invisible runes, which detonated as they did so. The explosion was not enough to knock the heavy creatures over but they were successful in causing enough damage to have cracks appear in their legs. This was most true of the closest construct, which had walked over Clive’s trap. It suffered the full effect of the bronze-rank power, then the secondary explosion on afterward.

Ability: [Rune Trap] (Rune)

Spell.Cost: High mana.Cooldown: 1 minute.Current rank: Bronze 0 (03%).Effect (iron): Create an explosive rune that will disappear after a short period. The rune can be set to trigger by proximity, caster trigger, or both.Effect (bronze): Enemies affected by the rune trap will be the source of a secondary explosion after a brief period.

The second construct was not much more than briefly staggered by Belinda’s trap, but Humphrey made the most of the immobile target. He plummeted down like a meteor, stacking up powers into a single, potent attack. He started by invoking one of his racial gifts.

Ability: [Dragon Blood]

Transfigured from [Human] ability [Essence Gift].[Power] and [Spirit] attributes are enhanced for moderate mana-per-second.

His dragon wings appeared once again as he plunged from above, driving him forcefully towards his target below.

Ability: [Dive Bomb] (Wing)

Special attack (movement, combination).Cost: High stamina.Cooldown: 20 seconds.Current rank: Bronze 0 (02%).Effect (iron): Accelerate down to attack a target from above; can be combined with normal or special melee attacks. Physical damage from these attacks is increased. No falling damage is suffered when using this ability, even if the attack misses.Effect (bronze): A resonating-force shockwave is produced from the impact point.

Another of Humphrey’s racial gifts further enhanced the power of his attack.

Ability: [Wing Raider]

Transfigured from [Human] ability [Essence Gift].Speed, momentum and damage of movement-type special attacks is increased. Heavy conjured weapons and armour do not increase stamina consumption, regardless of weight, and do not impede movement abilities. Light conjured weapons have increased weight and momentum without being heavier to wield, counting as heavy weapons for the purposes of special attack requirements.

Dive bomb would do damage alone, but as it was a combination special attack, Humphrey added another power that would be especially effective against the construct.

Ability: [Shield Breaker] (Might)

Special attack.Cost: Low mana, moderate stamina.Cooldown: 10 seconds.Current rank: Bronze 0 (04%).Effect (iron): Inflicts additional resonating-force damage, highly effective against physical defences. Requires a heavy weapon.Effect (bronze): Damage to rigid material is significantly increased.

As Humphrey plunged through the air, the sphere that had formed in the monster’s strange bowl head floated up to intercept him. It grew as it moved into his path, large enough to engulf his whole body. Humphrey passed through the sphere, which popped like the soap bubble it resembled. It had not so much as slowed him down.

You have been trapped in [Sphere of Incarceration].[Sphere of Incarceration] has triggered ability [Unstoppable].[Sphere of Incarceration] has been destroyed.

In a team full of unconventional members, it was easy to overlook Humphrey and his powers that were as straightforward as Humphrey himself. What he brought to the team was something that they otherwise lacked: simple, reliable power. When Humphrey Geller wanted to attack you, you were getting attacked.

Ability: [Unstoppable]

Transfigured from [Human] ability [Essence Gift].Movement abilities cannot be negated or impaired. Resonating-force damage and disruptive-force damage are imparted to any obstructing object, increased for each movement ability and special attack in effect. This is a movement effect.

Humphrey came down on the construct like the United States military on an oil-rich nation. His assault from above was domineering, overwhelming and inflicted a level of widespread damage that went way beyond his expectations.

The initial strike smashed right through the stone bowl and burying itself deep in the cylindrical body. The construct was riddled with cracks and half destroyed, a job finished by the dive bomb attack’s secondary shock wave. It freed Humphrey’s sword as the construct was blasted into shrapnel

As Humphrey destroyed the second construct Sophie continued to tie up the third. It tried to catch her with its own sphere, but her speed and mobility powers allowed her to nimbly avoid it, even as her attacks continued, unabated. The closest she came to being caught was when she looked back as fragments of the construct behind her explosively showered her with shrapnel.

One of her construct’s legs gave out beneath her unrelenting attacks, but it continued to fight back with the lengthy, multi-jointed arms that tried to slam her into the floor. Some attacks she blocked, others she neatly side-stepped, all the while continuing her own assault. She was able to more than hold her own against her bronze-rank enemy, but it remained a dangerous opponent. She was all too aware that getting caught up fighting just one meant she was not protecting the team from the others.

Sophie and Humphrey had left one construct between them and the bulk of the team, which was intercepted by Neil’s summon. Although the two constructs were of a similar size, the bronze-rank enemy quickly began to overpower the summon. It started by using two of its four clawed hands to grab the chrysalis golem’s arms, holding them out of the way as a third claw hammered away on the golem’s crystalline body. With each blow, a new rune appeared on the myriad facets of the chrysalis golem, even as it struggled, ineffectually.

While this was going on, Neil watched in silence, primed to throw out any necessary shields and healing for his teammates. Belinda was likewise actively prepared to support the team, as needed. Clive in contrast was drawing a ritual circle at the end of his staff, lines of golden light appearing at a wave of his finger.

Ability: [Enact Ritual] (Rune)

Special ability.Cost: varies.Cooldown: None.Current rank: Bronze 0 (09%).Effect (iron): Manifest lines of magic to draw out ritual diagrams. Materials required for a ritual may be used directly from a dimensional storage space instead of being placed within the diagram.Effect (bronze): Create simple ritual diagrams to alter the parameters of magical items.

Quickly completed, the ritual circle floated in the air, affixed by an invisible force to the end of his staff.