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SB: Chapter 82 – Interlude 8
🕑 Added 2025-09-13 22:02:01 +0000 UTCSupreme Warlady Elena Burstock
My foot slammed down onto the barren landscape, shattering the ground, as I continued rushing forward towards the College of Advancement. I had stopped by the Last Bastion on the way up out of the dungeon and learned the location of Legend Xanatos. He was present in Undercraft, beneath the College of Advancement. He was targeting my son again.
He would not live no matter what. My foot slammed into the ground again, causing minor earthquake as I propelled myself forward, flying through the air, Sophia in hand, my Mana thrumming beneath my skin. My golden hair trailed behind me, messy. But I didn’t mind. Time was of the essence than ensuring my hair was properly done up.
I saw the Ice Capped Mountains in the distance. I continued my rapid pace to reach them and Undercraft. As for the dwarves getting upset, they didn’t matter in my mind. Only my son did. I would not go out of my way to harm them, but I wouldn’t save them either. Anyone who would risk targeting my son, clearly had a trap planned to deal with me. The Dark Cabal was known for its traps and terrorism, their goal being to drive the world into destruction so the ultimate being would emerge from the conflict.
While I might disagree with my fellow Supreme Legends about many things, civilization was key for advancement. The Mathemancer proved that with his College and structured leveling of skills.
I landed at the main tunnel entrance to Undercraft. The road shattered as a crater formed around my landing location. I set off a rapid pace, but didn’t leave the ground. The dwarves shouted, but I ignored them. I knew the location of my target, a rare tier 5 skill. Locked Endless Pursuit, was a niche but highly powerful skill. As long as I knew the name, appearance, and enough other information about a target I could lock onto them. I couldn’t change targets with my skill, until the target was dead.
While anonymity might have protected Xanatos, once I had his name, I merely needed a specialist in Divination to give the rest of the information I needed. Normally I wouldn’t use this skill or get a divination done, but Xanatos had crossed a line he shouldn’t have crossed. Now he was going to die, nothing would stop me.
I emerged from the tunnel into Undercraft. There! I leapt into the air. “Air Platform.” A platform of air formed underneath my bent legs. I kicked off. A sonic boom echoed throughout the large cavern that held this city under the Ice Capped Mountains. My sword, Sophia, was angled in front of me slicing through the air as I used a basic application of Mana Manipulation. I hadn’t gone this far before, since I didn’t want to exhaust my Mana before the battle. Now that my target was close, there was no need to hold back.
“RAAAAAAAWR!” There was a burst of blue and red lightening as a massive wave of Mana exploded outwards from Xanatos’ position. I didn’t hesitate in the slightest. I would cut through anything he sent towards me. A giant Winged Serpent emerged from the pillar of multi-colored lightning.
“SLICE!”
“Force Nullification!” It wasn’t The Mathemancer, but a cloaked figure who could only be Xanatos, since my skill had locked onto him. He floated above my attack, which continued forward, cutting through the large pillar that contained the elevator up to the College of Advancement.
The Winged Serpent breathed out a glittering cloud of sparkles towards me as Xanatos flew through the air forcing me to move through the cloud to get him. My analysis and sensory skills already detected the Winged Serpent as skilled in alchemic skills and it had just unleashed some kind of super acid that could melt space itself. A level 450 monster, while dangerous to others, was something I had dealt with before.
“Dawnbreaker Destruction!” Mana from the surroundings was pulled into my blade and unleashed in a torrent of absolute destruction.
“Spatial Curve.” Space twisted and my attack was sent directly upwards. That would have concerned lesser people, but I was Elena, and I had kept a tight grip on my Mana throughout the attack expecting something like this. Annoying monsters and people never went down to a single powerful attack, they always had a trick.
Legend Xanatos of the Dark Cabal
There was a moment of shock as Elena’s tier 6 skill turned on its own, while I kept twist space to disrupt it. The problem was that it was drawing in Mana, disrupting my skill while empowering itself.
“Fine!” I gritted my teeth and dug deep. I knew this wouldn’t be an easy fight, but she didn’t even stop to banter, living up to her reputation as utterly relentless. I managed to twist the tier 6 skill back on itself, forming a loop of incredibly dangerous fire. I tied off the spatial loop, but it would only hold for so long before exploding. Well, that would destroy the cavern, taking Undercraft and the College of Advancement with it, accomplishing one of my goals.
She didn’t hesitate to fly through the spatial acid that the Winged Serpent had unleashed. It was its most powerful area attack, but for Elena, she just tanked the damage, which barely did anything.
She ignored the Winged Serpent, heading directly for me. “Spatial Portal.” I floated back and snapped the portal shut just as another Slice flew at me. I emerged a distance away. My Mana was down by a third already, which was very bad. “Now!” I shouted out loudly, my voice echoing over the city in the enclosed space.
Ten Great Wyrms burst out of the ceiling, raining debris down upon Undercraft. Cracks began to spread. Soon the entire chamber would be buried and become Elena’s tomb. A grain stretched itself across my face. Let the world know terror and despair! Break open the dungeon! Let monsters run rampant and bring about the apocalypse to herald a new age!
For a single moment, everything froze. I struggled to process what I saw. Elena was moving and swinging. All ten Great Wyrms were decapitated in a single instant, preventing regeneration and burning through the Alchemical products they had been pumped full with.
“Impossible,” I muttered in shock as she kicked off the air itself flying towards me. Even with the Great Wyrms dead and their charred and flaming corpses falling down on the city, cracks were spreading it was too late. The entire mountain was going to collapse. I would escape to the Dark Library when the time came, but she would be trapped here.
The Winged Serpent wasn’t just to create a cloud of spatial acid, it was designed to prevent any spatial skills. While she had resisted the obvious effects, there would be no rescue for Elena, this would become her tomb no matter what.
Darren Burnstock
“Stone Pillar!” A legend quickly reinforced the edge of the city and one of the emergency exits.
“Everyone quickly evacuate!” My voice echoed across the city. The various legends had been mobilized from the College of Advancement. Saving the city of Undercraft and confronting the minions of the Dark Cabal throughout the city, was a great starting point for my future army. The good will from the dwarves would create a core of highly useful technology. Unlike other people who could only think with their weapons or fists, like my wife, I saw the power in such tools.
The evacuation wasn’t going fast enough as more debris rained down. “Mana Shield!” A large boulder shattered on the magical shield of another legend and tumbled off to the side. The entire city shook again as my wife unleashed another massive attack at the Winged Serpent. A large portion of the city began to slide free.
“Stone Wall!” “Stone Pillar!” “Binding Earth!”
“Everyone, clear the center. The place is coming down in under a minute,” I called out. I had loved to bury the dwarves in the past. I knew how much there caverns could take. But in a minute, The Mathemancer would act. Elena’s contained tier 6 skill was about to erupt and break free.
The fact that Legend Xanatos could last so long against Elena, showed what a tricky opponent he was. I debated if I should use my ultimate skill to kill him directly. But the situation hadn’t become so bad that I needed to act. Once it was known, it couldn’t be unknown. And its power was due to its unexpected nature. If someone was prepared it could be easily countered. It was the shock that allowed it to work so flawlessly.
“The city is evacuated! Everyone retreat to the rally point!” I called out. There were a handful of dwarves left unfortunately, but I estimated over 90% had been saved from the collapse of the city. Thanks to the preparation and acting the moment I sensed Elena returning in cooperation with the dwarven leadership, their people had been saved.
I looked up at Elena darting through the air, swinging her sword. I wasn’t sure how the fight would end, but I would never count that woman out. She was a force of nature unto herself. I hurried down the tunnel with the last remaining people and vehicles leaving the city of Undercraft.
The ground shook again and another wave of Mana washed over the area. The Mathemancer was about to do something that was the dream of everyone who had worn the crown of a King or Emperor. I couldn’t help but smile, since I was alive to see a dream made manifest.
The Mathemancer
“All warding schemes are stable. Mana flow is stable.” I nodded slowly as I sat upon my throne at the center of my tower at the core of my College.
“Current differential?” I asked out loud.
“At 27% and decreasing at quarter percent per second,” the ward technician reported. The ultimate achievement of science and magic was about to be combined. Only with the precision engineering that the dwarves had created to make their devices was this ward scheme implemented in such a way that the cost wasn’t ruinous to maintain.
A work of centuries. It had been ready for over a decade, undergoing several tests and refinements to ensure it worked properly. Now it was time to ascend towards the heavens. A fitting conclusion as my tenure as Dean.
“Should we separate?” a technician asked me and I shook my head.
“No. We will be good neighbors to Undercraft and take the top of the mountain with us to be cut away later,” I replied.
“The weight might be unbalanced?” I extended my sensory perception and quickly perceived how the ground was separating below us.
“We are still within the margin of error. Proceed as planned, but without the separation for now,” I replied.
“We have achieved gravitational equilibrium!” There was a quick round of applause and cheering at this momentous achievement.
“Increase output to negative 17.312% that should be in line with the extra weight we are carrying.” I had already done the math necessary to ensure a smooth ascent. There was a slight vibration. A flying attack required me to make an immediate correction as a large chunk of stone fell down from the ceiling of Undercraft. “Adjust to 17.214%.”
“Weather wards are holding.”
“Stress on the anchor stones at 37.4% of rated maximum.”
I felt it as my College took to the air. An institution of learning should be majestic, soaring through the skies. One would look up at the heavens and see a beacon of knowledge, advancement, and accomplishment. I smiled as we continued to rise up. Now this place would be beyond the petty politics of the nations below. For my College was above all others.
A story that would be carried on for millennia to come.
That was when I sensed something in my College that shouldn’t be present, and my smile disappeared. The Dark Cabal, always messing things up. Justin was under my protection. Trying to distract Elena by targeting her son while he was here, now that was asking for a lesson that wouldn’t soon be forgotten. I brought up my hand and focused. It would be a struggle at a distance, but it was nothing I couldn’t accomplish in the center of my power. “Absolute Force Nullification.” My Mana plummeted to a third of my full reserves as I used my most powerful tier 6 skill.
Comments
Migos
There is a Sophia here too. Consider checking the other interludes too
Mister Vii
Thanks, fixed. I am not an AI, beep boop.
신현준
신현준
Gracias
