They walked over to where the silver threads were closest to the ground. Rieren might have been able to cut them off with some careful chops and slices, but the steely webs would resist it. There was an easier way to go about it.
“Can you provide some fire?” she asked quietly.
Batcat obliged. It coughed out a little hairball, which immediately began sparking and burning. All Rieren had to do was touch the tip of her blade against the flickering golden flames. The Essence in the fire had to be imbued with Divine-Aspect.
When she touched her now-burning sword to the webs, they went up in flames.
Before all the webs burned away, however, Batcat took a large bite out of the nearest layer of silver. Then it made biting motions at her.
Rieren blinked at it. More memories? She hadn’t considered there might be recollections associated with the leavings of an Abyssal’s power. But then, Batcat had obtained memories by stealing them from a gravesite so… this certainly wasn’t out of the bounds of the ordinary.
She picked up the cat as the webs continued to burn. “Alright then, let us see what it is you have to show me.”
As always, Rieren channeled Essence through Batcat. She ensured that the Essence she drew into herself passed through the kitten’s furry little body, and somehow, that was enough to bring in the memories Batcat had consumed.
Behind her closed eyelids, Rieren found a strange scene unfolding. She was in darkness for a moment, but then the threads started appearing, a storm of gleaming silver lines erupting out of the gloom. They passed through a strange hole—no, that had to be an Abyss rent—before spreading out far and wide.
Ah. That had to be a representation of how the Abyssal saw its influence spreading.
The images started to flash by faster and faster. Buildings upon a mountain. The Sect! But it didn’t last long. A large city beside a lake, a warren of tunnels that made her confused in seconds, a subterranean chamber that could have held Lionshard mountain itself, and a wide, open field under a glimmering, starlit dusk.
All of it wreathed in the same threads. Webs slung everywhere, some fine and barely perceptible, some obtuse and unmistakable in their presence. The Gravemark Puppeteer was everywhere.
When Rieren found herself back in the chamber once more, with most of the threads burned away to ash that floated gently down to the chamber floor, she felt a little disoriented. More so than usual, when viewing memories offered by Batcat.
She quickly got her bearings, though. As more of the threads cleared up, it opened up a patch of the covered ground she hadn’t noticed yet.
Rieren smiled. Ah, so the Gravemark Puppeteer had been trying to hide the relic from her. She walked over and picked up the thin, rusted sword that looked like it would crumble if she breathed on it wrong. Considering that it actually might… Rieren quickly put it in her storage ring.
There. Safe for now until she needed it when she had obtained her Enchanter Profession.
“What are you doing there?” Kerolast asked. “Are the webs significant?”
She turned to find that Mercion was still tinkering with a hatch halfway between the centre of the chamber and the rear wall. Likely still trying to get the Dungeon Core out, or at least, get in touch with it.
“These threads come from an Abyssal,” Rieren said. “A kind of Abyssal. One we have encountered before at the Sect.”
“Why would an Abyssal leave behind its webs? And what reason can there be to burn them?”
Before she could answer, thunder boomed. It was loud, close. Jarring.
Rieren wasn’t the only one to turn her attention to the clear, cloudless sky through the open roof. She brandished her sword. So the Abyssal had already alerted the gods.
She couldn’t tell what exact connection existed between the Gravemark Puppeteer and her divine enemies, but it was obvious that it was rather fast. The gods had been using the Abyssal’s power to find and take care of all the malcontents and undesirables from the last timeline. One of whom was Rieren herself.
Right now, it appeared the gods weren’t as interested in determining which exact enemy they had been alerted to. They had elected to eradicate the potential source of problems.
She wondered if there were others who had opposed them successfully to make them so desperate.
However, instead of the lightning that the thunder might have portended, Rieren found a very different sort of danger burning through the air towards them.
“Is that…” Kerolast faltered, unable to find his words for a moment. Then he found his voice as the danger became all too real. “An Abyss-cursed meteorite?”
“It is,” Rieren said loudly so that they would hear across the chamber.
Kerolast’s eyes were quite frantic. Rieren found she couldn’t really blame him. “Why is it heading straight for us, Rieren?”
“Someone must not appreciate having yet another dungeon conquered…”
Mercion turned to her. “What is the meaning of this, Rieren? Did you set this up?”
Rieren considered whether she ought to be truthful, here at the end. They had eventually proven themselves to be not so terrible a set of companions. She could grant them the small mercy of knowing what was going on.
“The gods are keeping an eye on the general populace,” Rieren said. “Surely you must have encountered this. It is especially true for cases such as clearing dungeons, where only those of note can be found, and it is those the gods are especially interested in.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Interest doesn’t explain a meteor coming straight for us!” Kerolast said.
Mercion forgot about the Dungeon Core he was trying to reach. He had straightened and now couldn’t decide whether he ought to stare at Rieren or the incoming meteor. “There is clearly a great deal going on that you haven’t been truthful about. But first, we must deal with that meteor.”
“’Tis nothing,” Rieren said.
She summoned her Domain again, water frothing and waving around her. When she turned much of it to steam, she kept it boiling under the water’s surface, building up the pressure until it rose to a crescendo that couldn’t be kept down. Then she jumped.
The leap had been timed perfectly. Just as the pressure burst out in a steaming geyser, Rieren had flung herself upwards at just the right angle, adding Fray Passage to boost her speed. Her momentum carried her over the height of where most of the roof had been and along an arc until she landed on the lip of the chamber, once again outside.
“What will you be doing there?” Kerolast asked.
“Stopping that meteor,” Rieren said. “You will be safe from the impact, but I suggest that you both leave this dungeon soon. It has been marked, now.”
Before they could ask further questions, Rieren decided to turn her focus properly to the danger posed by the oncoming meteor. This was a moment where Ground Truth would have been amazing to have. That skill could stop nearly anything with one point of impact.
But she still had a means of preventing the meteor from doing any lasting damage, at least to what she cared about achieving here.
Plus, she was finally going to get her heavenly tribulation.
Rieren performed the same little trick she had used on the chamber floor. A quick summoning of her Domain, turning the water underneath into steam, and then a leap with the correct timing sent her flying straight at the meteor. She could already feel the air turning oppressively hot. The sound of the burning rock streaking through the air cut into her ears.
Like before, her jump had once again been angled at the right degree. Rieren had also boosted it with Fray Passage to increase her speed further.
As she approached the meteor, she readied herself. The Receptor sword was already coated with as much water as she had been able to draw to it in short notice. She doubted it would be enough to save the blade itself, but so long as it worked for her, it would be enough.
The air sizzled as she finally reached the vicinity of the approaching meteor. There was no time to think. The meteorite was steaking at her faster than she could blink. Her robes and her body had begun to burn, the pressure removing all sound from her ears.
Her reaction as she passed it was just as fast. All it took was one quick strike against the burning meteor’s flank to divert its trajectory just enough.
Rieren went flying in one direction and the meteor went crashing in another. She couldn’t pay much attention to where it struck down, or the resultant explosion that shook the entire mountain, causing what remained of the dungeon’s roof to collapse inwards.
All Rieren could pay attention to was the ground rushing up at her. She wasn’t sure if the trees would break her fall, or if she would be skewered by a branch beforehand. With the state her body was in, it was a minor wonder she was even conscious at that point in time. Too many wounds, too much pressure…
Focus. She had to focus, had to draw out her Domain before she crashed down. Rieren’s summoned water managed to cushion enough of her fall so that she wasn’t splattered against the earth, nor was she poked to death by one of the branches. It still hurt to land, though.
Rieren lay in a daze where she had fallen. As Divine Resilience slowly healed her up, her little rest gave her time to observe her achievement.
New Achievement!
You have broken through to the Enlightened realm. The world lies in wait for your understanding and comprehension. Assimilate it with your growing power.
Rewards
* 1 Level
* 1 Skill point
* 1 Credit
* 1 Domain Point
A regular set of rewards for the most part. Rieren added the stats in the same manner she had the last time—twice as much to Spirit as to Body and Mind—then took note of the real award. With the Domain point, she could open another Aspect slot and raise the general effectiveness of her Domain even more than before.
This was excellent because reaching the Enlightened realm opened a vast array of properties in relation to one’s Domain that a cultivator could take advantage of.
Rieren could infuse her body’s integral properties and consistency with her Domain, and also expand her elixir field outwards to encompass her Domain. With the Domain point, she would also reach a Grade that would allow her to bring up physical, Domain-specific summons.
Distantly, Rieren wondered how Batcat might feel about having a different Spirit Beast to share her company with.
Rieren had never been enthusiastic about Domain-summons. For her, they were more of a utility than a necessity for her fighting style. There were specific circumstances where various Domain-summons had come in handy in her previous life, but none where what she would have called absolutely necessary to have.
Nevertheless, she was excited to finally review her options. This time, since things were already different, she didn’t mind exploring some other options, as long as those options didn’t go against her specific vision for herself.
Divine Resilience had healed her enough that she would have been able to stand, but she decided to wait and let it complete the healing. In the meantime, she observed her [Status].
[Status]
Rieren Vallorne
Race: Human
Class: Divine Bladereaver
Profession: [N/A]
Realm: Enlightened [Early]
Level: 25
Perks: Divine Resilience [B]
Titles: [N/A]
Stats
Body: 48
Mind: 30
Spirit: 30
Skills
Fray Passage [A]
Gale Blade [A]
Earthfell Blade [A]
Reaver Stance [A]
Techniques
Tidal Summon [C]
Call of the Past [Spirit Bond] [D]
Water Dancer Blade [E]
Domain
Ocean [C]
Rieren smiled. Things were improving rapidly. She was especially happy to see her Domain climbing up the ranks.
Finally, as she felt the worst of her wounds closing up to leave no trace of themselves, Rieren rose to her feet. The world felt a smidge different. It was as though things were smoother, like there was less friction and resistance to her movements. Air flowed around her, her clothes moved like silk, all as though the world was moulding itself around her.
The power of being in the Enlightened realm was incredible. She couldn’t wait to reach the true peaks of strength.
Farther off, smoke was rising in a dark pillar into the heavens as though the mountain had turned into an upside-down volcano. She grimaced. That impact and the resultant fire and smoke would likely draw a great deal of attention. It wasn’t safe here any longer.
Besides that, she was certain there would be a Banishedborn coming here sooner rather than later. Rieren needed to get out of here as fast as she could.
For a moment, she considered whether she ought to make sure whether her two new companions had survived in the dungeon. And then there was the fact that Batcat hadn’t followed her yet. She would have to retrieve the kit—
With a soft meow, Batcat flapped down to her left. Rieren was a little startled, but she greeted the winged kitten with a smile.
“You surprised me, cat,” she said.
Batcat purred, then jumped atop her head as though it understood they needed to get started on the journey.
Now that she had Batcat secured, Rieren could get going. Her companions were scions of two Archnoble clans. Despite the lack of any displays of their prowess in the dungeon, Rieren was certain they were capable of some level of power. A collapsing dungeon was nothing. She had taken care of the worst of the danger by diverting the meteorite.
Curious as she was about their meeting with a Banishedborn, she was certain they wouldn’t be killed. It was time for Rieren to get going to her nearest Enlightenment Locale.