Chapter 27
Apprentice of the Priest [https://i.imgur.com/sriOYfv.png]
Congratulations! You acquired Moon mana core!
Be the first of your race to acquire Moon mana core! Epic feat achieved!
You gained the title Moon Seraph!
Moon Seraph – When under the moonlight every Stat is doubled. Moon Seraph perk applies after all other bonuses
Status Class: Spearman Lvl: 12 Xp: 56% Mana: 31/31 _ Title: Moon Seraph
Core: Moon Core Race talent: Scourge Tier I talent: Hands of Spearman
_ CON 12 END 0 STR 12 PER 0 INT 0 WIS 0 _ Perks:
* Spearman's thrust II
“You alive, buddy?” Jack asked while carefully observing Linus' reaction after absorbing the orb.
It’s not a water mana core,” Linus murmured under his nose.
“What are you whispering about?” Orla asked.
“It’s not a water mana core!” Linus said, now in full volume.
“What? Moon? Like the astral body?” She asked him with a quizzical look.
“Exactly!”
“That’s neat. I have never in my life heard of magical affinity so strange as that.”
“I neither,” Linus said, “And there is even more to it. I…”
“Stop the horses!” Jack cut off what Linus had to say, “Please explain it to me like I am five years old.”
“There are only a few known affinities known in the Empire,” Orla said, “Flame, wind, earth, water, shadow, lighting, time… song… mm… thunder…There was that one princess with a sand mana core. Don't ask me how it is different from the earth”
“Metal affinity, arcane affinity, and sand affinity," Linus added to the list.
“Yes, yes! Those too!” she waved him off, “Basically, there are many of them. Mana cores form naturally in the wilds, and humans always run a race with nature which will find them first. And humans in this race lose almost always. When somebody absorbs the core it’s not possible to gain it anymore even after their death. That’s why you can see so many spirit beasts with mana cores.”
“And those beasts put on their glasses, sit in the library and learn their magic spells?” Jack joked.
“Ha! That would be a sight!” Linus chuckled, “Not really. Scholars say most of them learn spells based on luck and intuition. We learned and structured our own spellcasting by observing how animals weave their spells.”
“Weave?”
“That’s the closest word that describes what happens with mana when the spell is cast. You weave it like you would weave a fabric of finest silk thread.”
“Very poetic. With all that said, I guess it’s the time.”
“Time for what?”
“To weave of course. Weave, little spider, weave!”
Stolen novel; please report.
Linus was facing the rest of his team. With his back towards the altar, he was the only one from all of them who had the vision of the entrance doors. And he was the only one who saw Fallen Eldritch Priest entering the hall.
Linus' eyes went wide as he saw ten of the Priests' arms move in patterns, which felt deeply familiar to him. His eyes didn’t recognize the movements of the Priest and yet his core responded to its calling. He understood what will happen moments after.
Six circles of blueish light formed themselves one after another in front of Eldritch Priest. He extended two of his hands, pressed fingers together, and pushed mana through the invisible framework of the spell he weaved. Spike in the shape of a diamond formed in front of him and with the push of his mind it shot forward toward them.
It went right through six circles hanging in the air, and the spike grew larger with every ring it passed. Spike not only grew larger, but it also accelerated towards them and gained a white shimmer to it. After passing the sixth ring it shot forward with speed beyond comprehension.
Linus had no time to think. His newfound core called for him to act and he did just that. There was no spellwork or structure to his weave. Linus took all the mana he got in his core, every last bit of it, and pushed it all toward the incoming projectile.
Moon mana 0/31
The moment he did that, his brain exploded in dull pain. He lost consciousness right there and then.
Linus' unconscious body was still standing upright when opposing forces met in the middle of the hall. Spells weaved from the moon mana met and struggled for a bit before they joined together and empowered each other in a large explosion.
A blue explosion rocked the hall obliterating many of the trophies standing closest to the blast. The explosion didn’t have properties of fire. It was an explosion of unknown origin or character. Moon mana didn’t burn. The blast was more akin to instantaneous corrosion than one of the fuel tank going up in flames.
Priest and Mad Dogs were pushed away by the force of the blast. Dogs crashed into the wall behind the altar. Linus took the hit badly, as his rag-dolled body crashed into the wall with his arms and neck bent in dangerous angles. His body fell on the ground with armor rattling and blood seeped between plate connections.
Fallen Eldritch Priest was pushed back out in the corridor, where he did a few rolls until he finally stopped in his tracks. Priest picked himself up shaking from the hit and watched Mad Dogs inside the hall with hate and surprise in his many eyes.
The Priest saw an empty altar and the surprise from his eyes disappeared. And hate in them doubled in intensity. He slowly entered the hall once again glaring at humans with demonic anger. He didn’t close the distance between them. He stopped at the entrance with a long hall separating him from the Dogs. Priest’s hands started to move once again as a weave formed in front of him.
Jack shook his foggy head and forced himself up. Everything around him was going in circles. But contusion was the least of his troubles now.
“Find the way through the wall,” He said to the rest, “And do it fast.”
“What?” Orla asked, “Don’t you see walls and ceiling around the explosion? They aren’t even slightly damaged. Whatever this Eldritch Forebear is made of, these natural walls are indestructible.”
“Look at the wall behind you,” Jack responded calmly without taking his eyes off the Priest, “And act!”
Jack strapped his mace by his belt and picked up Linus' small shield in his only healthy hand and faced the Priest. Meanwhile, Orla turned toward the wall she crashed into just a moment ago. Wall was crumbling. It was not the same as the rest of them, the wall behind the altar was only made to look alike, but it was fake.
Upon seeing that she ran to the wall and started smashing her shield into it. Already crumbling wall moved under the force of her hits, but it was still made of solid rock. There was no progress.
“Help me, Zaun!”
Zaun didn’t respond to her. He watched the room around him with a piercing look. Every nook and cranny was carefully examined. Zaun examined the empty altar and suddenly he moved towards it. Young men kneeled before it, but he had no intention to praise the gods or divines. He touched the base of the altar and with a rumble, a passage revealed itself right where Orla was smashing her shield into the wall.
She backed off watching the wall open with a rumble. There was a long tunnel illuminated by the same blue magical lanterns. Orla reached Linus' body, picked him up, and threw him over her shoulder with all the heavy armor. Her knees buckled for a moment, but she straightened up and ran into the tunnel without looking back. Zaun followed suit.
Jack turned to run after them, but he had no time left. Priest finished his next spell. He pushed a single hand forward and a blue ancient symbol materialized right in the air. When he pulled his hand back, the symbol transformed into a rotating blur light disk and shot towards Jack.
Jack saw the light flash to the side of his vision, turned around, and blocked the disk with his shield right in time.
Only, the disk didn’t stop at the shield. It went through it, cut it in half, and stopped only at the wall behind Jack.
Shield fell to the ground.
Jack’s right arm also hit the ground, being cut off cleanly in the shoulder joint. Armor didn’t slow down the disk and his enhanced Constitution didn’t matter, his arm was lost.
Blood gushed out in a large fountain of blood.
“Arghhhh…hahaha!” scream of pain turned into a laugh as Jack’s twisted mind recognized the feeling he learned to enjoy from his early childhood.
When he was still young, he hated the pain. He hated being beaten up to death's door from a young age. His earliest memory was not a particular scene or place, human or thing. His earliest memory was an emotion.
Pain!
In beginning, he hated all the fascinating tortures his father put him through the childhood. He hated drowning. He hated freezing. He hated burning. He hated the constant taste of iron in his mouth and how foggy his head always felt.
And then, one day, Jack Mors broke. At the age of six, young Jack Mors first time felt happiness. The pain was not something bad anymore. He finally understood. He found beauty in it. Pain became his dearest friend.
“Ha! Haaa! ARGhahaha!” he laughed in his agony.
Priest didn’t move or attack. He was standing still and seemingly enjoying inflicted pain on his hated enemy. The difference between species made him oblivious that the emotions Jack expressed were not necessarily pure agony. There was a great deal of joy and happiness mixed in, as well.
“Hahaha!” still laughing, Jack Mors turned around and ran into the tunnel after his companions.
Priet ran after him, but as he finally reached the altar, the wall closed shut right in front of him. Priest tried to find the switch on the altar, but, when he finally found it, the switch didn't work anymore. In his pleasure of inflicting pain on Jack, Priest made a mistake, and let them escape.
Mad Dogs escaped without looking back.