Chapter 450 (2/2)

“Fuck this, fly me down,” Rose said, crossing herself. Her Death Cultist obliged, leaning forward and speeding down past some of the slower bats, disappearing quickly beyond the scope of their vision.

As if on cue, most of the rest of the group went, led by Alana. Of them all, the only two that remained were, of course, Ace, but to Randidly’s surprise, Ptolemy also stayed with them, peering down into the hole below them, but in no hurry to jump down into it. As Randidly watched the other man, the shakes got so bad that a large chunk at the edge of the hole cracked and slid down, falling into the abyss.

Ptolemy looked up at him and seemed to instantly understand the question. He half shrugged in answer and then said. “I know it’s… hasty, what we are doing, and destructive, but… it seems like…. it’s kinda fun? Like we get to play in a sandbox, crushing tiny castles.”

“Kukuku,” Ace fake chuckled, beaming at Ptolemy. “You truly are a secret villain. The type who everyone thinks is a friend, but then pulls a great betrayal at the end! Not my particular taste, but I respect-”

Randidly closed his eyes and reached again, continuing to down Mana potions. Only after he had filled his Mana to maximum was he even close, and even then, he was short by a bit. By now, the first round of Earthquakes was reaching its pitch, and the Cathedral was beginning to fall to pieces around them, plaster and brick tumbling down.

In quick succession, Randidly shifted 45 degrees more, casting two Earthquakes, drank 3 Mana Potions, and then twisted another 90 to loose 2 more.

All in all, there were now 8 Earthquakes going, rearing up to full gear, the ground beneath them shattering and crumbling away. In spite of himself, Randidly smiled and beckoned his Grey Death Cultist, even while he drank more Mana Potions. It was likely best that they not be here when everything began to boil over.

He hopped lightly, even before the Death Cultist had grabbed him, and the creature had to scramble to catch up, looping its claws around his shoulders. Cackling madly, Ace followed, with Ptolemy bringing up the rear, peering up and around, trying to get the best view of the collapsing Cathedral.

Randidly could still sense that above, those huge pillars toppled and smashed into the ground, causing the thin cracks to grow even longer and wider. More and more ground at the edge of the hole cracked off and fell. As they descended, their Death Cultists were forced to weave their way through the debris, into the strange world below.

When they popped out of the tunnel down there, into the area below, Randidly grimaced. There was a great crystal to their left, in the roof of the cavern that burned like a sun, and cast warm light on the underground area. Randidly could also see a half dozen more, spaced out in the distance.

Because around, there were huge stone pillars that blocked his vision in some places, but otherwise it literally seemed like the entire dungeon had another world beneath it, controlled by the Creature.

His grin stretching wider and wider, Randidly turned to the nearest sun crystal and was delighted to see that it was within the zone of his Earthquakes. Above, the vibrations cracked the dense ground, and there was finally some serious damage done. But then the vibrations began to ebb, and although the ground below had slid down a few inches in some places, it wasn’t the big effect Randidly was going.

So, before the Earthquakes had run their course, Randidly reached up and found all the roots in a certain area, between the entrance hole and the sun crystal. Within a split second, he expanded them to 10 times their normal size, whipped them around, and then let them wither to nothing.

Crack.

“Uh oh,” Ace said, looking upwards.

A relatively small piece of ground in the grand scheme of things, around the size of a small building, fell above them, from the spot where Randidly had expanded the roots. Very quickly, the Earthquake’s continued vibration caused cracks to spin outward. In a flash, the nearby area around that circle disintegrated, and several car-sized pieces of rock began to fall.

Crack.

It only took a second, but a huge, gaping crack formed between Randidly’s small hole and the entrance hole, as the two weaknesses compounded upon each other. There was a shuddering moment of stillness then, but Randidly felt what was coming, and he smiled, looking upwards, even as the Earthquakes began to taper off.

Crash.

Due to the collapsing pillars, the cathedral had lost its structural integrity and tipped over sideways. In one huge piece, the side of the roof slid down, a veritable landslide of tile and brick crashing onto the ground, with enough force to break the fragile equilibrium. The ground around the entrance hole exploded downwards, all of that weight forcing itself through. And as that section fell, more and more cascaded downwards in a huge cloud of debris and dust.