87 Escape (1/2)

Torix waved us away, “Good luck disciple. I’m sure Hod’s presence will offer many advantages.”

I groaned as we walked out of Torix’s lair. After mentally cursing Torix, Hod and I walked out towards a nearby manhole. Before leaving, I opened my spacial ring and pulled out my grimoire. I pointed at Hod,

“I’m going to update some of your gear. Mind giving me your steel ring and dog tag?”

Hod shook his head, “Hod not bothered.” He handed me the ring and necklace, “Hod hate not helping. Dry man not want help from Hod. Gray man not want help from Hod either. Hod grateful Harbinger let Hod help.”

I sighed, “It’s not that they don’t want your help, it’s that they’re scared you’ll destroy the mission and them too. You’re kind of like a toddler being given super powers. Powerful? Maybe. Useful? Eh, not really.”

Hod’s chest deflated as he leaned down, “Harbinger hurt Hod feelings. Hod sad.”

I shook my head, channeling mana into the grimoire, “Tweak your perspective a bit.” I pointed at him, “I did say you were powerful. That’s much more than most soldiers. What you need is to just focus on learning to use that power effectively.”

I turned back to my grimoire, “I think of it as your fatal flaw or something like that. Overcome it, and you’ll be helping more than just about anyone else.”

Hod’s chest puffed back out, his mood lightening, “Hod think on what Harbinger say. Hod confused, but Hod sort it out.”

From my grimoire, a complex, intricate enchantment floated from the grimoire. I placed the dog tag over the enchantment, the tiny font fitting around Hod’s name on the dog tag. Lifting the steel ring, I placed a different enchantment onto the ring. I handed them back to Hod,

“These should help. All of them are enchanted with intelligence. I figured that’s what you needed the most.”

Hod took them from me, “Hod thank Harbinger.” He put them on, the dull look on his face easing some. He raised a finger, “Hod even smarter now.”

I stood up, “Well, it’s a work in progress. It isn’t like I’m not getting you much more than fifty points of intelligence anyways. Hell, I had to wait this long before I could put a dent in your intelligence anyway.” I waved a hand towards the manhole, “It should help at least. Come on, let’s go kick some ass.”

I stomped the edge of the manhole cover, flipping it upwards. It turned like a coin toss before I punched it. My hand flew backwards as the manhole cover shot towards a car. It slammed into the metal, leaving the metal cover bended out of shape. I leapt down into the sewer before Hod followed. As I fell onto concrete floor, I pounded my feet into the pavement.

Shooting down the tunnel, I relished in using Phaser. Having sat at a desk bored me to death, and babysitting legion members wasn’t much better. Spawns of Yawm were nothing to me now. Watching the soldiers kill them bored me even more than killing them on my own. Absorbing them didn’t even dent my armor evolution anymore either.

Avoiding deaths helped bolster morale and motivate the troops though. It was a necessary task at the time. As I traveled through the sewer tunnels, there was no need for restraining myself anymore. I bounced off telekinetic augments, launching myself around curves. I warped gravity to enhance my speed. I dove through walls, gliding through the ground and concrete. It was liberating.

Hod kept up with a struggle. In an environment like this, the Earth Glider skill helped with traveling much more than flight did. Despite Hod’s better build for speed, I outpaced him as I maneuvered through walls and around curves. If anything, combing Phaser, Earth Gliding, and some other unique skill would be my next mythical skill. Mobility was useful and too fun to pass up.

Soaking that feeling in, I reached near the rift in ten minutes. Hod caught up a few minutes after. Once we were there, Hod and I stood beside a ladder leading up the manhole. I raised both my hands at him,

“Hod. You must be quiet now. If you make too much noise, then we’re fucked. Once we’re inside the rift-“

A message from Torix appeared on the upper left corner of my vision. I opened it.

Torix Worm, of Darkhill(12:08 pm 11/27/00) – One of the followers is going through the town and decimating the tunnels I created. He’s heading your way. I don’t believe he’ll go into any rift, so be quiet if you can.

I turned to Hod, “We have to go, now.”

I reached out with Tactile Cognition. A map of what laid above visualized around me through hearing. I closed my eyes, focusing on that map. There wasn’t enough information for me to see what was going on. Even with my gravitational sense, I needed more sight and the wind to get a good picture.

I jumped up, flying up the slim tunnel leading outside. As I reached the manhole cover, I created a pad of telekinesis. The pad absorbed the impact from jumping, dispersing it as a blast of wind through the sewer. I lifted the top of the sewer pad, keeping a slow crawl before peeking outside.

The ground rippled beneath us and around me, quaking the concrete. A wave of sound followed, destroying a portion of the sewer. A blast of heated air funneled down towards me before I glanced down. Silent as a shadow, Hod waited right beneath me. I pointed outside, and he nodded. Lifting the manhole cover, I came out of the sewer.

It was a normal part of town for the most part. There was a gas station to my left, situated beside an intersection of highways. Further down that was a tunnel leading beneath a set of train tracks. A used car lot was to my right, away from the gas station. Weeds cropped up from between cracks in the road and concrete, showing the lack of maintenance here.

The only unusual thing about it was the sea of blue fire behind the tunnel and train tracks. Hod grimaced, “Evil burning beetles. Evil not know about Harbinger and Hod.”

Heated air brushed against my cheek, “Let’s hope so.”

I dashed towards the rift on my mini map, keeping in the shadows and alleyways of buildings. Hod followed behind me. I lightened myself with a gravity warp, and I used telekinetic pads to disperse the impact of my footsteps. I was still much louder than Hod. It came with the build I had though.

After four blocks of skulking around, we reached the rift. Laying within a cluster of bushes at the center of a park, creeping formations of stone rose into the air. It was like a leafless tree of stone. A bird flew over the one of the stone branches, and the nearest branch wrapped around it. Teeth of rock bit into the bird before it melted into the stone.

Stone Eater(lvl 646) – This species devours stones before using the minerals to coat their outer skin. Their teeth are made of the strongest minerals found, allowing them to chew through even metal with ease. Combine this innate durability with extremely effective camouflage, and the monster can kill sentients of a higher level if they are caught unaware.