Chapter 155 (2/2)

“You… I am surprised. I had doubted whether you would ever have the means to make it here. Come, break open the door and retrieve the key from the wall, then I will be free.”

Randidly shook his head. His master was definitely going to give him a complex, whether he meant to or not. Shal was a master of the backhanded compliment. But then Randidly turned his attention to the door, regarding it dubiously. It was made out of the same material as the handcuffs, and probably far beyond his ability to physically damage. But perhaps…?

Randidly raised a hand and shot an Incendiary Bolt into the lock. It practically bounced, off, completely failing to damage the metal, and burned a small hole in the ground before sizzling to a stop.

Shal chuckled, and Randidly gritted his teeth. It really seemed that being trapped here for a few months had brought out Shal’s mean streak. Randidly took a deep breath, calming himself. Then he created a root and tried to burrow upward into the ground beneath Shal’s hut prison.

Unfortunately, the whole structure appeared to be made of that strange material that resisted damage, and he was unable to penetrate it. In addition…. It seemed like ALL of the ground in this area was covered in a layer of the stuff, preventing Randidly from being able to create roots at all.  Huffing in annoyance, Randidly left Shal to his chuckles and began to walk around the small hut. There were a few times over the next 10 minutes when Randidly had to stop his search in order to avoid patrols, but all in all, he had completely examined the house.

He was forced to set aside all of his grand plans of breaking in by force. He finally admitted to himself that it wouldn’t be feasible, even with Inspiration to lift the entire little house up and rush out before he was mobbed by guards.

Inevitably, the quick and dirty answer was easiest. Randidly created a Root Spider and used Root Control to warp one of its limbs, stretching it and twisting it to reach through the small holes in the bars and move towards the key.

But as it did so, a small metal disk detached itself from the ceiling and swung down, making a buzzing sound. The metal disk cleanly sliced through root, which began to immediately decay and wither unnaturally. After 2 seconds, the root had turned to dust, and some of that decay followed back along to the Root Spider clinging to the small window. Soon, it too was just a pile of dust, and Randidly was left blinking.

“Ah, perhaps I forgot. There are alarms and defenses to prevent such things.” Shal flicked his fingers at Randidly dismissively, which was basically all the movement he could manage, bound up as he was. “It is impossible for the current you. Train for a few years and then return. I have already calculated your deficiencies; accept them and move on. I have no choice but to wait.”

And with that, Shal closed his eyes.

After weeks of being tortured by Battle Intent, chased down by spear users with more skill than him, systematically dismembered for sport, and finally arriving at a place at his correct skill level and feeling humiliated how close to the bottom he was, Randidly was very tired of receiving attitude. Shal’s most recent comment made him snap, and he narrowed his eyes.

Fine then, so there are traps? Let’s see how powerful they really are.

****

Shal kept his eyes closed for several minutes, then slowly opened them, still sensing his student hiding on top of his small cell. His mouth twisted upward; the fool refused to admit when he was beaten. It was a quality that could kill him any day now, but would serve him well if he managed to live long enough for Willpower to matter.

Honestly, Shal preferred it this way. Breaking down his student’s will and then building it back up from scratch would result in a more powerful resilience. It would just take some brutal violence in the mean time to accomplish it effectively. And at least the bare minimum in desire from his disciple to be strong, but the boy had shown something at least close to that.

As for the waiting, it wasn’t much of a problem for Shal. After all, he finally had it, after so long of wandering around lost. He had been a shell of himself when he had first met Randidly, barely able to withstand mental attacks from those orc shamans. Acquiring a student had shaken him a bit, and caused his memories of the Spear Phantom Style to turn away from his father, and turn towards the fact he now had a student.

And with that student here… there was hope that he would find her. Meet Lucrecia and cut her to pieces, inches at a time until she died sobbing and-

Shal blinked. His student had dropped back down from the roof and was approaching the door. The air seemed to still, and as Shal watched, the boy’s eyes changed from a deep forest green, slowly glowing, like a fire flickering into life and then spreading, until his eyes were a brilliant emerald, with flecks of violet.

Then his student raised his hand.