Chapter 450 (1/2)

“This isn’t a great idea,” Rose said, for the 7th time.

Ace just sighed, shaking his finger at her. “What do you know? Let me ask you, what’s the most important thing about a battle?”

“Strategy,” Rose said, her voice low and strained, almost pleading.

“Power,” Lucifer said, looking up from his three swords. Since they had taken a break, Lucifer had rummaged through some of the rubble until he found an absolutely enormous slab of red iron, and had pounded it into something resembling a sword. Which, Randidly reflected, seemed good enough for him. But did he really need a third sword?

“Preparation,” Thea said, piping up. Alana looked at Thea and nodded approvingly, which caused the younger woman to blush.

Randidly continued mixing potions, his eyes carefully on the mixtures. Although they had prepared a lot, he would prefer not to burn through all of their supply of Mana Potions before they even began the assault. Although it had taken about a half hour, it would more than be made up for their preparation later, in the face of a possibly extended battle.

Ace threw his hands to the sky. “No! The most important thing in any confrontation, individual or group, is momentum! Therefore, you want to be in control of the momentum at all times. Which is why, the most important step, is-”

“Alright, I’m finished,” Randidly said, standing and rubbing his hands on his pants. He flashed a smile at Ace. Although their relationship had changed so much, and they were so far from where they had begun, he couldn’t deny that it was good to work together, like this, to be on the same page. “Let’s show these fools how to make an entrance.”

Ace beamed at him.

Most of the detailed calculations had been figured out by Lucretia, who was much better than him at these things, but the idea was pretty simple. It’s execution was just a little difficult, due to Mana concerns.

Closing his eyes, Randidly felt outward, familiarizing himself with the feel of the land underneath them. Now that he focused, he could feel, dozens of meters deep, where the ground ended, leading to the huge cave that the Creature had apparently dug up and hidden underneath the Cathedral. He wondered whether every Cathedral connected to this thing. It would explain why the monster hordes could spring up from nowhere, and why the Cathedrals were made on such a grand scale.

Upon investigation, it had become clear that the rubble was from a series of pulleys and infrastructure that had allowed things to be transported up and down into the underground world. Of course, the Creature wasn’t kind enough to leave that sort of thing up for convenient use.

Not that most of them needed it. Perhaps that was why Rose was in such a panic, Randidly thought, reflecting. She was the one who likely couldn’t really survive a fall from this height…

Which made him stop and ponder whether any of them could really survive a fall from this high. He almost wanted to test it out… but they already had very sturdy rides arranged, so no need to tempt fate.

Randidly gave the signal, and Death Cultists began spiraling down into the hole, gliding out of their way. A few would stay to fly the rest of them down, but first, the common soldiers would go and open up a path, if necessary.

As they were moving quickly through their lines, Randidly began making the final adjustments. Then, when he felt that most of the Death Cultists had moved out of the way and began flying down, he began.

First, he started with two, both with the Cathedral at the far edges of the area of effect. He grimaced; casting two Earthquakes at once was not only a huge drain on his Mana, but it also took a strange amount of concentration, to localize the tectonic damage in the right areas.

Which didn’t even make sense, they knew this was the roof of the cave below them they were standing on, so Earthquake couldn’t be moving tectonic plates. But that also made sense in a way, because that amount of power was far beyond what they were capable of, or should be capable of.

After downing two Mana Potions, and checking to make sure the ground underneath them was rumbling, Randidly reached out again. And, turning 90 degrees from the initial spots, he made two more, in front and behind, forming a square of Earthquakes, with them in the center.

The effect now was much more apparent, with the ground seeming to buzz, long and thin cracks forming around them.