Chapter Thirteen

The Lady of the Lake stroked the white and black striped cloak with one finger, her lips quirking as she felt the entity within cower away from her. Through a small basin of lake water the Lady watched events above unfold.

The red-haired warrior defeated beast after beast, collecting the key fragments as he went

“He has cleared the first security protocol. Your master is truly fascinating, little one.” The Lady murmured to the cloak, her violet eyes lowering as she allowed her gaze to roam the red-haired warrior

Once upon a time the Lady may have been ecstatic about the warrior being within the heart of the island. It had been so long since she had a new Knight.

She wasn't ecstatic now. Her purpose had been twisted by the curse that ate at the island's heart, like the worm inside an apple. Even now, the once and future kings' enchantments held. Not even the Lady could undo them.

“It is too bad that one must be mortal to possess the key. Alas, little one, I must bring your master to heel. Worry not, if he does as asked, he shall not be harmed.”

The Lady traced a lazy, delicate finger over the lines of the cloak, her eyes glittering like amethysts.

_____

Ambrose Severen looked over his skill options before exiting the tunnel. As before he had a few options, some were the same as before.

[Insight-Uncommon]: Gain a greater insight into people, places, and things.]

Ambrose was tempted to take this. Once again, he felt reminded that his father would take it and urge him to if he were here. I only get two. Which was the problem. There seemed to be more useful skills available.

[Shield of Conviction-Uncommon]: Armor yourself in your convictions. Using your mana, you can form a shield around yourself fueled by your willpower. This skill will block most common and uncommon attacks up to how much mana has been infused into it.]

Ambrose wanted to pick this one. The one thing he really lacked was a defensive option. He relied on dodging, which was not as easy as it could be in this armor. He could infuse his armor but this shield was far more versatile.

Plus it will probably be better down the road.

Ambrose put it to the side in the back of his mind. He wanted it, but he wasn't going to pick impulsively. Like a grade school test, he'd look at all of the options first.

[Smite-Rare]: Infuse your weapon with mana and turn the mana into the flames of conviction, detonating against your foes with explosive fire that strikes the spirit. This skill will now cut through most defences of a lower rarity and some defences of the same rarity.]

Ambrose was tempted to take this as well, since it was a solid combat upgrade.

[Mana Infusion-Rare]: Improve your skill in channeling mana into objects, resulting in more potent and enduring enchantments. Infused items now exhibit increased effectiveness and longevity, with the ability to enhance their primary functions. You can also infuse a larger number of items at once, and the mana transfer process is quicker and more precise. Furthermore, infused objects now have a chance to gain unique secondary effects based on the type of mana used.]

Ambrose cocked an eyebrow, twitching the right corner of his mouth upward. Impressive upgrade. He thought. He wasn't sure what exactly he could do with this, but he used mana infusion a lot. Getting a straight upgrade to the skill was simply a solid choice.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Firming his mouth into a line, Ambrose made his choices.

[You have selected [Shield of Conviction-Uncommon], and [Mana Infusion-Rare]. These skills are now available for use.]

Ambrose gave a satisfied nod as he came out of the tunnel and found himself facing a hostage situation.

_____

Ambrose and the others had not seen Root Knights since escaping their cells, but that did not mean they were no longer a threat. Ambrose had thought that more of them would be along, but for some reason he had hoped that they would at least get past this little puzzle first. A behemoth of a man seemingly carved from black marble stood perfectly calmly with a dazzling and sharp blade pointed directly at little Jenny’s throat. The man’s features were strong, with eyes like storm clouds on a dark day, a clean shaved face with cheekbones sharp enough to pierce skin.

None of that was notable compared to the thick, pulsing red and purple veins that writhed under his skin, moving like fat leeches. Root Knights flanked him and surrounded the others. Darren’s face was a twisted, rageful thing, his whole body quivering. He didn’t move. Andrea looked somewhat resigned, and Thom was still sleeping. Ambrose immediately used [Insight] on the man.

[Geraint ???]

Well, I have his name at least. Ambrose considered as he flicked his gaze to the little girl.

“Are you okay, honey?” He asked Jenny.

The girl gave a thumbs up, her eyes hard, lips twisted into a fierce line. Ambrose’s heart lurched, pounding with a fierce beat that matched the girl's hard eyes.

“It is unwise to ignore an enemy, sir.”

Ambrose flicked his eyes to the man, and hardened his gaze.

“It’s easy to ignore a piece of shit if you can put up with the smell,” Ambrose said coolly.

The man’s eyes went flat, the veins under his skin twisting like dark ropes.

“You taunt your betters, boy. Give us the key, submit, or I will kill the girl, and then you.”

Ambrose said nothing. The man before him had ceased being a man. He was just a thing, a monster that threatened children. He was worse than nothing, because at least Ambrose could ignore nothing. This thing was now an unpleasant chore on his list, and nothing else. Ambrose activated [Sanctuary] pouring enough mana into the skill to seep into the area around them, enough in fact, to cover most of the cavern.

The thing, for Ambrose didn’t even want to acknowledge his name, twitched.

“What did you do?”

Ambrose merely waited. Sure enough, the unpleasant chore dropped to the ground, groaning as the black veins under his skin went berserk. Ambrose wasted no time, he took up his axe from the belt beside his bag of holding and activated his [Smite] skill as he rushed forward, at the same time deactivating [Sanctuary] as he felt the skill begin to work against him.

Ambrose slammed the axe down into the chores head, silver, white, and light blue fire detonating in a blast of power that caused the chore to scream in agony as the smite did its work on him. At the same time, a lot of other things happened. The sanctuary had also affected the root knights, allowing Darren to rush forward and pick up his little girl, running to the far side of the room.

A root knight lashed out, and there was a flash of blood that Ambrose could not pay attention to. Andrea scrambled backward, away from the fighting, with a yell of,

“Oh, fuck this! Nope!”

Thom blinked, finally awakened from the commotion,

‘Wha?” He seemed to say, groaning as he took in the scene before him.

“Andrea, help Thom.” Ambrose called to her calmly.

“Oh absolutely not, those things will kill me.”

The Root Knights were indeed getting up off the ground.

“Now! Or he dies!” Ambrose snarled, green eyes flashing as he brought the axe down again and again upon the knight.

The chore ceased moving, ceased screaming, and in fact, ceased doing anything at all, his face a burnt black husk, like BBQ left on for too long. Andrea cursed some more, her eyes filled with anxiety and fear as she bit her lip, looking at the old man, clearly struggling with a decision.

Finally, she cursed again and rushed forward, grabbing Thom and attempting to drag him away. Thom cried out, clutching his side, and a Root Knight lashed out with a bladed arm. Ambrose was ready for this and flung his axe which he infused with mana, using his newly upgraded [Mana Infusion] skill. Solid blue mana covered the axe with power, enhancing it as it whirled in the air, cutting cleanly through the bladed arm that had lashed out towards Thom. The severed root arm fell to the ground, undulating like an insect in its death throws.

The axe sank into the ground, and Ambrose was already moving forward as fast as one in armor could go. He infused his gauntleted hands with mana and grabbed at the root knight.

Then Ambrose began tearing it apart. Like pulling weeds, he ripped at the monster, yanking and throwing the thick roots that made up its form to the side. Before long the knight was nothing but undulating pieces, like a bunch of nightmare worms out of a horror film.

Eventually they stopped moving, and Ambrose pushed the notification aside as he retrieved his axe. Andrea had succeeded in getting herself and Thom as far away from danger as possible. Darren was fretting over Jenny, looking at something with worried eyes. Ambrose pushed it out of his mine for now. Need to focus.

Ambrose whirled the axe around and smote another root knight, which burst into flames as the smite seared its spirit.

Ambrose eyed the remaining two knights. It's time to mop up.