Only 2 chapters tonight, which is more than my usual. Again, help me look for any mistakes as spellcheck does not always catch all of them.
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Since Garnet returned to Constantinople, she had been focusing on trying to learn chi. However, she was unable to feel anything from the point on her body that Sunny had been talking about. Zedd had made it look easy, but that was because he had a basic understanding of what chi was from his own research from the past, but even that did not help him in actually utilizing it. For Zedd, the chi that he could sense and develop could not be used throughout his body without the proper training. Sunny proved to be no help in understanding how to use it. Garnet on the other hand, had established a habit of drawing power from her mana reservoir. Breaking this habit was difficult because it was something that she had been doing for years.
Sunny meanwhile, had been taking this chance to look around the area around Constantinople. Garnet had forbidden him from going into cities because of his appearance. While Sunny was able to transform his weapon, he was unable to transform himself, so all he could do was look at things from afar. It did not stop him from causing trouble though.
Zedd had been spending what time he could trying to figure out how to complete whatever was in the tube inside the Hidden Vault. Garnet would sometimes take a break to check up on him. "Anything?" Garnet asked.
"According to the papers, the guardian should already be done," said Zedd.
"That can't be right," said Garnet. "Assad said that I had to finish it, which means something is not done."
Quest: New Guardian (I)
Complete the work needed to awaken the Silver Guardian.
Reward: New Guardian
Garnet checked her quest log just to be sure. Zedd was still in her party, so she could show him the quest menu. "See!" she said as she pointed to it.
"The word work implies that it isn't physically done yet then," said Zedd. "Have you tried using that spell you used on Sunny on it?"
Garnet placed her hand on the tube. "Guardian Contract!"
The magic circle appeared, but nothing happened. It disappeared shortly after forming. "Nothing," she said.
"Then I think we have to wait it out," said Zedd as he continued flipping through the books. "Everything here implies the thing inside is complete."
"We should just focus our attention on how to better protect this city then," said Garnet.
"I have a suggestion," said Zedd.
"What is it?" Garnet asked. "I could use some help."
"I want to deploy an anti-magic field across the Western and Northern Outskirts of the city," said Zedd.
"You mean the ones that drain mana?" Garnet asked.
"Yes," said Zedd. "But I want to deploy one along the main road on the way here, that way it only weakens them and it won't affect us if we fight near the city."
"What are the side effects?" Garnet asked.
"It will definitely damage the wildlife in the area," Zedd replied. "Over time, the land could become barren."
"Then my answer is no," said Garnet. "Even I have my limits on what I am willing to do even though some decisions do seem ruthless at times."
"I understand," said Zedd. "I'll follow what you think is right."
Zedd continued to train his chi. He was already strong as a combat mage, but if he developed this secondary resource, he would be even stronger in close range combat and would be able to stop people who specialized in anti-mage combat.
"Can you teach me?" Garnet asked.
"I'm afraid Sunny is right when he says it cannot be taught," said Zedd. "The feeling is different for each person, so even if I taught you, it might not apply to you. In fact, it might make it even harder to learn. The only real advice I can tell you is that you have to remain calm to do it."
"Alright," said Garnet disappointed by this information. "I'm going to take a break."
"That's probably for the best," said Zedd.
Garnet headed outside and looked at the walls. The walls of the city were basically completed with the number of people who tried to enter the city decreasing significantly. Those who flew into the air were instantly shot down by Nian, forcing them to resort to enter through one of the unfinished gates or climb over the walls and hope that there was nothing there waiting for them.
The Revenants were only able to get their hands on a few people. Most of them were able to escape and avoid capture. Her plan to try to capture those people and assimilate them with her Revenants had failed. Nonetheless, she at least had something that could at least be considered a standing army now. A thousand automata backed by hundreds of Revenants and Cerberus. The only weakness now in their army was the Death Knights. Their upgrade cost were all enormous, and something that Garnet could not afford at the moment.
Skill Upgrade: Heavy Weaponry
MP Cost: 20000
Effect: Gives every Death Knight the ability to ignore armor with their weapons.
Skill Upgrade: Spirit Armor
MP Cost: 15000
Effect: Increases protection against elemental sources
Skill Upgrade: Spirit Mount
MP Cost: 15000
Effect: Grants immunity to negative terrain effects
Skill Upgrade: Ghastly Fog
MP Cost: 30000
Effect: Seals passive abilities of enemies within striking range
Skill Upgrade: Magic Sword
MP Cost: 20000
Effect: Grants Death Knights the ability to use magic
Evolution: -LOCKED-
Requires other upgrades to be completed first
Garnet had already purchased every available upgrade for Revenants and Cerberus with her current maximum mana, giving them much greater power and durability than ever before.
The automata in front of her had gotten stronger because of the others that were training. They had leveled up since Garnet sent out some of them to attack the monsters along the road to Constantinople. However, they leveled up extremely slow as they shared the experience.
Name: Automaton Judge
Level: 8
Class: Guardian
Sub-Class: Judge
Stats: ???
If they were just a little stronger, they would be equivalent to the average soldier. They were useless against the elites, but it was better than nothing. They were now beginning to clear the inside of the city, breaking down the old buildings into usable resources. In the future, the same resources could be used to rebuild the city. They were slowly working their way inwards from the walls.
Garnet sat down on top of the walls and looked out into the vast empty plain between the walls and the few trees way off in the distance. With this image in mind, Garnet tried to clear her mind to calm herself. She closed her eyes. She tried to forget about the potential threats that she would be facing. She tried to stop worrying about her children being safe. There was suddenly a warm feeling, as if fire was near.
BOOM. Garnet was disturbed by the sound of a sudden explosion behind her. In front of her, she saw that there were three other balls of fire slowly approaching. She quickly turned around and saw that the explosion was caused by one of the balls of fire. She realized the warmth she felt was probably from the fire, not her own thoughts. From the fire emerged a Lava Golem, something that Crossen had been using. "We're under attack!" she shouted.
"Recall!" Garnet wasted no time recalling Serena, Nuria, and Sino over. Against fire types, they were probably the best.
The Lava Golem was different from before. It wielded a sword in its hand and emitted blue flames instead of orange ones.
Name: Infernal Titan
Level: 80
Class: Golem
Sub-Class: Warrior
Stats: High Vitality
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. The other three landed. There was a total of four of them. "Transformation: Queen of the Night!"
The Infernal Titan reached for Garnet, trying to wrap its hand around her. "Lightning Blast!" BZZT. BOOM. The lightning wrapped up the arm of the Infernal Titan and exploded, knocking it off balance and onto the ground.
Serena transformed her arm into a water tentacle, but at the tip of it was a blade made of ice. She swung at the creature several times, turning parts that her blade came into contact with into stone. "Everyone back!" shouted Sino.
"Blizzard!" A cyclone of snow erupted from the center and spread outwards, turning the glowing stone creatures into just rock.
Off in the distance, Garnet could hear something. "UGH…" It was the sound of moaning. It was likely the sound of a large number of undead coming. "Recall!" Garnet recalled Meliae. "Plug up the hole in the gate."
Meliae spread her roots into the ground, creating a wooden barrier where the gate should have stood on the wall. This would at least prevent the undead from breaking through the wall. For now, the problem was the Infernal Titans that still remained.
Serena was at work cutting one of them up, but that still left three. The Infernal Titans were built to be durable, not strong. As the snow cleared, the flames of the Infernal Titans were extinguished, but they were still moving golems. Their cores glowed with an orange light and would probably reignite the golem after enough time passed. "We need to take them out quickly," said Garnet.
"Pillar of Ice!" Sino created a long blunt shard of ice. BANG. She smashed it right into the core of the golem, shattering both the pillar and the golem.
Two down, two more to go. "Jet Stream!" Garnet pushed an enormous amount of water at the core of the golem. HISS. The sound of water turning into steam could be heard, but the light on the golem core began to dim. It eventually extinguished, causing the golem to collapse onto the ground.
The last golem reached for the wall. It was trying to tear down the wall to make a space for the undead to enter. "Oh no you don't!" said Serena. "Water Armament!" Her tentacle turned into a mallet. BAM. She smashed the arm and the shoulder of the golem, shattering it into pieces.
Garnet walked up to the core and smashed it with her hand. "Flight!" She quickly flew up to get a look at the situation.
Garnet was correct, there was a horde of undead approaching. They were still a distance off, but whoever launched the attack was hoping that the Infernal Titans could probably create an opening for the undead. The question was who was behind this attack. Judging from the types approaching, it was most likely the Dark Mages. "Recall!" Garnet called Nuria. "Take care of the undead here."
"You got it," said Nuria.
"Meliae, support Nuria and make sure that noting gets through," Garnet ordered. "If something happens, call for Nian, it should be on its way if it's not already here."
"What will you do?" Meliae asked.
"Serena and I will try to see if we can find whoever is launching this attack," Garnet replied.
"Do you not want to bring the others?" Serena asked.
"I want them here in case something does happen," said Garnet. "It's why I've often gone with small numbers. It's also easier to approach them than with large numbers."
Serena turned herself into water and took flight. "Where to?" Serena asked.
Garnet checked her Map to see if there was anything. To the West was a single exclamation point. "I think I know," said Garnet. "Follow me."
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
As Garnet and Serena moved westward, they saw that there were many undead slowly approaching. It was nearly all various forms of zombies and skeletons.
Name: Skeleton
Level: 5
Class: Undead
Sub-class: None
Stats: Average
Name: Zombie
Level: 5
Class: Undead
Sub-class: None
Stats: Average
Name: Ghoul
Level: 10
Class: Undead
Sub-class: None
Stats: High Vitality
None of them were strong, but they were in large numbers. There were definitely hundreds of them all spread out along the road marching towards Constantinople. "Can we do something to stop them?" Garnet thought.
"You should send someone down to slow them down," Serena suggested. "They should be more manageable if we can force them to spread out."
"Recall!" Garnet brought Romulus and Sylvia to the battlefield. They were probably the best suited for fighting in an open area like this. Without the need for Garnet to give orders, the two began their work, smashing their way through the undead. "That should do it."
As Garnet and Serena headed towards the source, Garnet could feel an enormous source of mana active. If that source of mana was being utilized, it would explain how so many undead could be summoned so quickly. As the two drew closer to the source of the mana, Garnet could start to feel a little pressure, one that similar to the aura that she emitted according to others.
"There's something like you up ahead," said Serena.
"You can tell?" Garnet asked.
"Yes," said Serena. "It exhibits some kind of aura meant to weaken us, but it seems to not be affecting you from the looks of it."
Garnet's aura had improved and negated the passive abilities of her enemies. However, it was affecting Serena and there was no telling how much weaker she would be under the aura. "Whatever is emitting it, you should leave to me," said Garnet. "You should handle any creatures that are being summoned."
Garnet cold not risk losing Serena because there was no way for Garnet to resummon Serena at the moment. A loss of any of the guardians would be a huge blow to their forces. Garnet did not want to take any risks.
"Alright," said Serena.
Garnet was able to see the figure in the distance. It was a woman that was transformed into a Temptress of the Night similar to Garnet's old transformation. She had red hair and her eyes were red and black. Almost her entire body was covered with black scales. Just above her breasts was a glowing orange spot. It seemed to be coming from some kind of gem.
Name: Marianne
Level: 81
Class: Shaman
Sub-Class: Temptress of the Night
Stats: High Strength, High Agility
In her hand was a book, one like the one Crossen and Xiaomei had, but there was a different seal on its cover. It was a magic circle, but it also had runes on it.
Name: Book of the Dead
Quality: Mythical
Effect: Allows for summoning of low level undead without the need for vessels. MP cost of summoning is reduced by 80%. Summoning times reduced by 90%.
NOTE: ??? of 12
The book had an extraordinary power. It would also explain why Xiaomei and Crossen had theirs. The question was whether that without vessels meant using the summoning spell or making permanent undead. There was no way to know without trying it for herself. For now though, just securing the book was enough.
"Who are you?!?" Garnet shouted.
The woman did not speak. She wasted no time. "Call: Rudra!" A blue mana spirit appeared in front of her. "Spirit Fusion: Rudra!" She took the spirit and turned it into a ball into her hand and pressed it against the glowing spot. The spot turned from orange to blue as the woman transformed. Her wings turned transparent and seemed to be composed of crystals. The scales on her body turned a light shade of blue.
Name: Marianne
Level: 81
Class: Shaman
Sub-Class: Icy Temptress of the Night
Stats: High Strength, High Agility
Her class had changed, and most likely her abilities with it as well. It was similar to Garnet's own Lightning Form, but she was using spirits to do it instead of absorbing elements into her own body.
"Snow Crash!" Snow suddenly appeared from every direction, tossing and turning in every direction until the entire ground was turned white by it. The undead creatures continued to appear from under the snow.
"Dance of the Kraken!" A single circular area remained uncovered by the snow. In the middle of it was Serena. Her ten water tentacles appeared and began to take out the undead. With this the undead were being slowed at three different locations, hopefully it was enough to prevent the walls of Constantinople from being overwhelmed.
"Incinerate!" Garnet fired the beam of fire straight at Marianne.
Marianne flew higher up and began to move around. As much as Garnet tried to move her hands, she could not keep up with Marianne with a spell like Incinerate. The continuous channeling of magic restricted her movements, making it impossible to keep up. Garnet had to get closer in order to use the more powerful spells.
Marianne took advantage of this opening given by Garnet. "Snowstorm!" A powerful blizzard began to blow in the air, restricting flight and vision.
The Snow Crash spell under them had not completed yet. Marianne was stacking spells on top of each other for their continued effect. Garnet had no choice. She needed to prevent their effects from stacking. "Mugen!" Garnet channeled the spell only for a second, but that was all that was needed.
Numerous balls of fire, lightning, blood, and ice fell from the sky, accompanied by powerful bursts of wind. The snow spells created by Marianne were instantly scattered, neutralizing their effect. Various sounds could be heard as each ball crashed into the ground. Marianne's facial expression suddenly changed. "Say something already!" Garnet shouted at her.
Marianne was not falling for Garnet's provocations. "Call: Agni!" An orange figure shaped like a woman appeared. "Spirit Union: Agni and Rudra!" She combined the fire spirit in her as well. One of her ice wings suddenly ignited, shattering it. She now had one wing and one arm of fire though most of her body remained of ice. A bow made of flames appeared on her left arm as well.
Again, Garnet could feel a change in the mana coming from Marianne. Marianne pulled back on the bow and fired it. FWOOM. In an instant, a beam of fire connected the bow and Garnet's shoulder. There was no warning of cast time. It was as fast as her own Lightning Bolt. BOOM. The beam exploded, knocking Garnet back just a little.
Garnet could tell that Marianne was surprised by how little damage that attack actually did. But, Garnet knew she could no longer hold anything back. "Transformation: Lightning Form!" Garnet had to use her second transformation now. She needed at least the speed to be able to avoid the near instant attacks from the bow of fire.
Garnet was still not used to the speed increase, so she was reluctant to use this form. The massive difference in speed meant that the timing and the feeling of each attack was different. Even though Lightning Form greatly increased her speed, she was still only as fast as her own reaction time. The extra speed was useless and would even work to her disadvantage if she could not react to it in time. As a result, going at max speed was not an option at the moment.
As Marianne readied her bow again, Garnet began to circle around Marianne, making it difficult for her to aim for Garnet. Even if the attack was instant, being able to track your target was not something that could be done instantly. The most important thing for now was to increase and decrease her speed randomly to at least make herself unpredictable.
Garnet sudden broke her circling and dove for Marianne. "Explosive Palm!" She had to slow down as she approached Marianne to have enough time to aim her strike.
Marianne attempted to reach her hands to grab Garnet's arm, but it was too late. She was unable to keep up. BOOM. Marianne was sent crashing into the ground.
Garnet knew that this was not enough to stop someone who was transformed into a Temptress of the Night. Leilah took an enormous beating from Riley and was still able to keep moving without much trouble.
BAM. As Marianne crashed into the ground, Garnet flew in after. "Lightning Blast!" Garnet activated the spell at close range. BOOM. Marianne was pushed further into the ground, sending dust into the air.
As the dust settled Garnet could see that Marianne was injured. Marianne placed her arm on the place that Garnet had struck. The flames had gone out and some of the ice parts on her had cracked. There was some blood flowing, but it was not enough for a kill. Garnet would need a lot more power in order to deal a decisive blow in a single strike.
Marianne clawed herself out of the ground and placed her hands together. "Call: Seele!"
Garnet suddenly felt a different warmth from one of fire. It was something with a calming effect. The burn marks on Marianne began to lighten before completely disappearing. That was when Garnet realized. Seele was a healing spirit.
"Spirit Union: Seele!" As Marianne merged with the spirit, she reverted to her basic transformation, but the scales all turned white. The fire and ice spirits within her were pushed out, but her injuries were healed in the process. It was as if the battle that she and Garnet just went through never happened at all.
"Serena!" Garnet shouted. "I need your help!"
Serena flew up into the air in her water form. "What is it?" she asked.
"She can heal herself," said Garnet. "I don't have the power to finish her in one blow, so you need to do it."
"Call: Void!" Marianne summoned another spirit. This one was like a purple and black smoke thing. Garnet could not make out what it was. "Spirit Union: Void!"
Marianne's eyes turned entire black as her entire body dissolved into smoke. She suddenly vanished. She was able to hide herself. "Where did she go?" Serena asked.
"I don't know," Garnet replied. With her Cosmic Awareness skill, she should have been able to detect Marianne, but she could not. Marianne was able to completely hide her presence.
Below them, magic continued to be funneled into the magic circles, allowing a constant stream of undead to approach Constantinople. This was going to be a problem that someone would have to keep an eye on. For now, Garnet moved her automata here. For now, the constant stream of undead would give them something to train on and hopefully gain experience from. The problem was that it was going to need to be fixed somehow.
With the display of that power, Garnet had no doubt though. Marianne was certainly sent by the Dark Mages. The book alone was a connection considering people like Crossen and Xiaomei were the only other ones with books like it.
Spoiler :
No stat change