Chapter 105: Chapter 105

Reflexive Mana was honestly so overpowered. I could probably fall asleep and still dodge things thanks to the spikes of mana around my body. So it was that despite Shagor coming at me like a runaway freight train, he still touched one of the strands as I jerked my body around, which made me shoot off to the side.

The brute’s punch struck the low overhang from the ceiling of the tunnel that nearly met the roof. His strike was hard enough to nearly shatter it. As it was, with all the cracks and fractures he had left, I was sure I could blow on it and it would break.

“Who in the blithering Pits was your da, you brat?” he asked as he turned to face me.

His arrogant slow-walk to where I had dropped the pill made me scowl. He was making a show of picking it back up to eat, and I wished I wasn’t disoriented because that was a prime face-punching moment.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” I said. “When I send you to the Beyond.”

“Mettle is meaningless without power.”

He rushed in to prove that. Or would have, if I hadn’t sent strands of mana into his shirt at the earlier contact, which I now used Gravity with Infusion to weigh him down. With a hissing shriek, Shagor went down, stuck to the ground with his incredibly heavy shirt.

I took advantage by leaping on him, increasing my own weight with Infusion as well. Crushing his back would have ended the fight right then and there. Sadly, he countered by turning his torso into metal too, and I had to reduce my own weight to forestall smashing my own legs to pulp against a surface like that.

Worse, he twisted around to grab me despite being locked to the ground, but I managed to jump off with a skip before I was caught. I hit the low tunnel ceiling with my hands to stop my head from colliding against it.

By the time I landed, Shagor was getting back upright, his heavy clothes ripping off him.

“Look what you did, ya little rat,” he said. “You ruined all our rips!”

I tutted. “I just finished your job.”

We continued fighting. Or rather, we continued the same song and dance from earlier, where I was dodging more often than not. I couldn’t get a counterblow in as easily now. He was wary of my punches carving his flesh open like I was wearing claws.

I did catch him out a few times because the Sacrifice allowed slashing effects to propagate outwards, such that I didn’t need direct contact. But after nicking Shagor the first few times, the Scalekin-Rakshasa was much better at turning his skin to metal, which easily stopped my attacks.

All the while, I was just doing my best not to get cornered on the small roof. Reflexive Mana was saving my ass, but it wouldn’t work if I had nowhere to go, which seemed to be my opponent’s tactic.

Especially when a familiar red aura waved up around him. I had seen that before on Ugnash. Not good.

Shagor was moving even faster now. I barely dodged his vicious blow that struck the wall of the tower instead, leaving huge cracks on it. A part of me wanted to take advantage of that since my main goal was getting inside the tower to loot its treasure, but most of me was now focusing entirely on how I could survive an even more empowered Shagor.

But I knew what to do. I knew how to act. I had sent out threads of Gravity into the floor beneath me and into the low tunnel ceiling above me. Then there was all the heat energy I had been gathering with Concentration, turning the surroundings frostier. All I had to do—

The low overhang of the tunnel ceiling behind me, the one that jutted over the roof’s edge, cracked as if it was hit from the other side. My heart leaped into my throat as I dashed to one side, the rocks shattering apart the next second.

Khagnio jumped onto the roof. “You alive still, mageling?”

I couldn’t even begin to fathom how he had made his way to the roof from the ground floor. That wasn’t the real issue, though. Khagnio wasn’t alone. There was a handful of Claws all following hot on his heels, quickly trying to climb up onto the roof as well.

“Khagnio?” I said. “What—”

“That’s your da?” Shagor asked. “That little snakelet, Khagnio? No Pits-cursed way. You said he was dead!”

Khagnio turned to me with an incredibly affronted look. “When did I adopt you, mageling?”

“You’re adopted?” Shagor asked.

The ridiculousness of their questions was quickly cut short by the arrival of the other Claws. My heart squeezed in my chest. We were in a terrible bind. Unless…

“Just take care of the pursuers, mageling,” Khagnio said. “I’ve got the brute.”

“Oh, did you forget the last time I kicked your ass?” Shagor taunted. “I had to pick scales out of my boots for a week straight.”

They crashed together in furious combat. Shagor’s metallic arms smashed in and collided with Khagnio’s knives, which had taken on a deep blue glow. The rogue was matching his opponent blow for blow for a minute or two before he swerved around Shagor and attacked from the back, his knife turning brilliant red before striking.

My eyes widened when I saw blood spurting despite the metallic cast of Shagor’s back. How strong were Khagnio’s attacks?

There was no time for me to dawdle further. The other Claws were rushing up. Seeing their superior was already handling their former opponent, they came straight for me instead.

I managed to suck in a steadying breath before I was embroiled in a fight. Taking out another knife, I reminded myself that they all couldn’t be as strong as Shagor. I should be able to take them. I had to.

The first Scalekin came at me fast, dagger flashing for my face. A feint, if ever there was one. Thanks to Gutran, I was able to note the tell in the hunch of the Scalekin’s shoulder and the stance of his feet that gave it away. I was fast enough to react appropriately too. Our knives clashed with flying sparks for a second, before the Scalekin was swerving away.

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At the moment of contact, Mana Injection had fired, allowing me to weigh down my opponent’s weapon with Infusion. A powerful kick from me had the Claw rolling along the roof with a pained grunt.

More of them attacked at once. I kicked one back before he could reach me—thank the Banished Gods for the short reach of knives—and then performed a similar exchange as I had with the first Scalekin. Except this time, instead of just kicking the woman back, I slashed out my knife to leave a debilitating wound as she fell back with a cry.

The next one was warier. He was actively preventing our weapons from touching, having seen what had happened to his comrades. That just made me drop the knife. He fell for it.

You have Sacrificed 1 [Minor] Bladed Weapon. Windfall bonus activated.

Reward: All blows with aggressive force will now possess a slashing effect for 15 minutes ]

As soon as my knife had dropped, I started Sacrificing it. Seeing my unarmed state, the Claw attacked. He even managed to leave a gash near my elbow.

But then my punch sent out an arc of bladed air, and he stumbled backwards with a piercing cry as his face split, blood and scales splattering around us.

Despite the seeming success I was achieving, I couldn’t keep it up for long. The ones I had repelled were returning, and a few more had joined them. Mana exhaustion was tugging at my muscles, making my lower torso feel like I was sprouting leaks. I was going to fall eventually.

“Khagnio!” I yelled out as I danced away from the first of the Scalekin approaching me again. “We need to end this. Now.”

It had been some time, but the mana I had thrown into my surroundings was still there. It was still active and powerful. All I had to do was focus on it and make it act.

As I dodged away from the Claws coming after me, I concentrated on Gravity, creating Infusion both above and below me. Overhead, the tunnel’s ceiling started shaking and cracking, while under our feet, the floor of the roof started fracturing too.

What pushed it all over the edge was Concentration.

All this time that we had been fighting, I had been trying to channel Flare’s Affix to store more and more heat energy before unleashing a burst of Flare. I had been attempting to make sure Concentration could work as fast as I needed. The area didn’t feel warm yet, but that was because I was sending heat down.

Now, as I focused on Concentration as well as Infusion, my plan worked.

“Khagnio,” I yelled. “Now!” ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novel✦fire.net

A rumble overhead was the only other warning before the low overhang of the tunnel ceiling broke apart. Dozens of rocks crashed down onto the roof with thunderous plummets. At the same time, the roof gave way under its own weight, a process aided by the condensed points of heat energy now flashing outwards with geysers and shockwaves. The broken rocks punched holes through the hideout all the way to the ground floor.

My warning had saved Khagnio, who had edged off to one side of the roof just like I had. The same couldn’t be said for the Claws.

Most of them fell through the breaking roof, shrieking as they went. A few got crushed by the falling debris from the tunnel ceiling. Most importantly, Shagor fell for it too. He cursed as the roof under him gave way, and despite his desperate struggle, he wasn’t anywhere near mobile enough to save himself.

The mighty crash of the collapse didn’t distract me too much. A few of the Scalekin rogues had managed to escape the fall, although they were distracted. I had no trouble smacking one into the hole I had created, and Khagnio straight up murdered the other one, whose corpse tumbled back into the dust.

“A little warning would have been nice,” Khagnio yelled from the other side of the destroyed roof.

“I did warn you!” I said. “That’s the only reason you’re not down there with them.”

We might have bickered some more, but there was a loud growl emanating from below

Moments later, the debris exploded outwards.

I stared down, both mildly impressed and also entirely unsurprised that Shagor was standing up. He didn’t even look that hurt.

“You pricks!” he shouted. “Think a little collapse is going to stop me? Insane bastards.”

He started climbing. Or rather, jumping up the broken floors, and he’d be here any second now at this rate.

“Get going!” Khagnio said, just loud enough for me to hear. “I’ll handle him. Just get the treasure and get out. Remember the map.”

“I don’t think remembering chicken scratch is going to help right now,” I muttered.

He was right, though. Shagor was coming in too fast. Time to get going.

“You’re going nowhere!” the brute yelled, almost like he had heard our plan, or perhaps just surmised it.

I turned, heart thudding. The explosion had caused the hole Shagor had left to get plugged up with rocks. I’d need to break through. Shit.

Under a little bit of panicky stress, I started applying all my Aspects at once. Flare’s Concentration to draw heat into an explosive point and Gravity’s Infusion to force the wall to break under its own weight.

The thumps of Shagor climbing up were getting louder. I needed to hurry before the Scalekin-Rakshasa got here. I had to be faster.

So, I slammed myself against the wall of debris, increasing my weight to increase my momentum. It didn’t break. Fuck.

“Ha, you’ll break yourself before you break our walls!” Shagor yelled.

I wanted to point out I had just destroyed their roof, but I was too focused on getting into the tower. Why wasn’t it breaking? I punched, kicked, ignored the hollowness of mana exhaustion, and forced more Gravity to act.

Khagnio was trying to edge around the broken roof to get into position and intercept the enemy. But he wasn’t going to make it in time. Shagor was nearly here.

Just as the half-Scalekin arrived behind me with a triumphant grin, I thrust my hand back without looking. I wasn’t trying to hit him.

Instead, I just channelled my Illumination Aspect with as much intensity as I could muster. Imbuement turned my forearm into a lamp that could have serviced perfectly as a lighthouse light.

Trapped in the gloomy section of the tunnel zone that had little light appearing from outside, my flash bang was very effective. Shagor shrieked and jerked his head away, his hands automatically rising to block the light from searing his eyes. The perfect opportunity I had been looking for.

“Stay down, sucker,” I said, then kicked him hard.

With an annoyed hiss, Shagor fell back into the pit he had just climbed out of.

“Dumb brute,” Khagnio said as he finally got over. He didn’t move. The goal wasn’t to beat Shagor. It was only to get whatever treasure lay atop the tower.

“Good luck,” I said, then slammed myself against the debris one more time.

I finally got through, stumbling a little and trying not to trip over the broken rocks or cough in the dust. There was no time to waste. I finally downed the mana potion I had brought from the Mage Guild before our little expedition. Pleasant coolness trickled into my stomach, and the mana exhaustion got washed away.

It was my turn to rise. Siphon had me reducing my weight and ascending straight up after a jump, and I kept propelling myself upwards by wall-jumping. So easy to execute without ninja-acrobatics when some handy gravity manipulation made me weigh nothing.

At the very top was a small platform. It was obvious regular people weren’t supposed to reach this, even if they could go through the locked door.

The platform held nothing but a pedestal, on top of which was a case with a weird necklace in it. That was it. That was the goal of this whole heist, the treasure that Khagnio was desperate to steal from the Roaring Claws.

I was about to pick it up, but it looked really odd for some reason. The necklace somehow looked… fleshy?

But then, speaking of roars, the sounds of fighting far below caught up to me. No time to hesitate. I looted the case with the necklace and dumped it in my dimensional storage bag, thankful there were no further wards or booby traps or anything like that. Then I burst my way out of the tower shaft.

As Khagnio had mentioned, there was a small passage leading out from the top of the tower. It served as a second entrance or exit, depending on which way the leader of the Claws entered.

I rushed through the tunnel, sounds behind me fading. Soon enough, I was at the end, looking out over the cavern we had passed through, with no seeming way to get down. Of course, that wasn’t an issue for me with Gravity on my side. But just floating down wasn’t going to work. I could see people scurrying about below. Getting spotted would be bad.

Another detonation fired behind me, reminding me that I needed to get going. I took a deep breath to prepare.

Then I jumped off and flew.