SSS Ranked Awakening: All My Skills Are at Level 100

Chapter 693: Leave That One Intact

Ira moved before the heron finished opening its wings.

She ran along the inland side of the ledge, passed its lowered beak, and struck the rock beside its feet with a narrow thrust of flame.

The bird lunged after her.

Ira let it follow, keeping her retreat along the bare stone beyond Seraphine’s chosen boundary. Its beak punched through the place where her shoulder had been. She caught the shaft of her lance against its neck and turned its next strike farther inland.

Lightning burst from its feathers.

Vyra’s Crownfire rose between the bird and the crystal beds. The discharge struck the low curtain and scattered within it, contained before it could reach the nearest growth.

Leon stepped beside Seraphine and bent the space above and around their section of ledge. An arc striking the boundary would turn away rather than cross it.

He left the working area open around the three of them.

”Stray discharge won’t reach us,” he said. ”The rock is still connected underneath.”

Seraphine nodded. ”That’s what I’m examining.”

At the other end of the ledge, the heron tried to take flight.

Ira caught it as its feet left the stone. Her lance pierced the outer muscle beneath one wing, avoiding the joint, and she drove it down onto the bare inland shelf.

Vyra narrowed the Crownfire around it before another discharge could spread.

The bird struck once with its beak. Ira pressed her weapon lower, holding the wing extended until its struggling stopped.

Less than half a minute had passed.

”Keep it there,” Seraphine called.

Ira glanced back. ”Take your time.”

Leon returned his attention to the crystal.

Seraphine knelt at its base while Loriel brushed loose salt and grit from the crack. Fine mineral threads extended beneath the visible cluster, penetrating the stone.

”How deep?” Leon asked.

Seraphine followed the threads with her perception.

”A hand’s depth below the main growth. A little farther on this side.”

She indicated the seaward edge. Beneath it, an old fracture ran diagonally toward the drop.

Loriel leaned over to examine the exposed face.

”The weather’s been working underneath it. You can see where pieces have already fallen.”

”Can we take a larger block?” Leon asked.

”Only if we lift half the ledge,” Seraphine replied. ”There are thinner threads extending beyond the main root. I’ll have to separate those cleanly.”

She set her fingers against the rock and closed her eyes.

Leon waited. Behind them, the heron scraped a claw across stone. Vyra spoke quietly to Ira, and the scraping stopped.

Seraphine opened her eyes again.

”I have the line.”

She drew her sword and placed its edge beside the crack. A fine pulse of lightning entered the stone, following the boundary she had chosen.

The first cut went cleanly.

At the second, a violet line brightened inside the crystal.

Loriel lifted a hand. ”Its response changed.”

”I felt it.”

Seraphine withdrew the blade and introduced a trace of light through her fingertips. She paused, measured the response, and added less the second time.

The violet line settled.

Leon watched without interrupting. She had spent the morning learning the specimen’s behaviour, and now she was using that knowledge while cutting it free.

”How close?” he asked.

”Back within the response I measured. The structure’s intact.” Seraphine checked it again. ”I’m restoring what was there. If the inner growth splits, adding light won’t put it back together.”

”Good.”

She adjusted the energy along her blade before making the next cut.

This time the crystal barely stirred.

The heron gave a harsh cry from the inland shelf and struck the rock with its free foot. Ira shifted her stance and forced the leg down.

A tremor travelled through the ledge.

Beneath Seraphine’s hand, the old fracture opened.

Leon caught the supporting slab with a spatial hold before it dropped, but a thin thread beneath the cluster had already pulled taut.

Seraphine stopped moving.

”Hold it exactly there.”

”I have it.”

Loriel shifted closer, watching the crystal while Seraphine lowered her face toward the opening.

The thread lay below the last cut. If the stone moved again, it would tear through the denser growth she wanted to preserve.

Leon could lift the whole section. He could also crush it without effort. Neither would help her now.

”Can you reach?” he asked.

”Yes. Give me a moment.”

She changed her grip on the sword and slid the point into the narrow gap.

The gold at the crystal’s centre flickered. Loriel reported the change in a low voice, and Seraphine answered with another measured trace of light.

Her blade advanced.

Leon felt the supporting stone become lighter as the last connection parted.

”Free,” Seraphine said.

She lifted the block with both hands.

He shifted the three of them and the specimen to a broad patch of bare rock farther along the ledge. The unsupported seaward slab broke away behind them and fell into the surf.

Seraphine looked down at what she held.

Loriel’s fingers hovered near the violet lines.

”Still steady.”

Only then did Seraphine let out the breath she had been holding.

Vyra kept the heron restrained while Leon brought over a carrying case. Seraphine set the block into its cradle, and Loriel helped adjust the lining to preserve the response they had recorded.

They checked it twice before closing the lid.

At the inland shelf, Ira looked toward Leon.

”Finished?”

”With the crystal.”

She glanced down at the bird beneath her lance.

Loriel was already approaching. ”We can leave it alive.”

”It has strong opinions about that,” Ira said.

”The records describe these birds feeding on excess charge and shedding it back into the beds. We don’t know how much the growths depend on them.” Loriel studied the wound. ”And that wing is repairable.”

Leon looked across the untouched clusters. They might want another specimen someday. Killing the creature would earn them less than keeping a productive site intact.

”Treat it,” he said. ”We’ll release it once we’re aboard.”

Ira withdrew her lance when Loriel was ready. Vyra maintained the restraint while the torn muscle closed.

By the time they descended, the heron could fold both wings. Leon held it in place until the boat had pulled away from the stack, then released his grip.

It rose to its feet and watched them leave.

The boatman took one look at its spread wings and put more strength into his oar.

Seraphine kept the case against her knees throughout the crossing.

Later, alone in the transport’s passenger cabin, Leon sat beside her.

”The adjustment during the cut,” he said. ”You knew how much light it needed.”

”Only because I tested it first.”

”That was good work.”

She ran her thumb along the case’s clasp.

”I thought I’d be more relieved,” she admitted. ”Mostly I want to open it again.”

”Will that hurt it?”

”No.”

”Then open it.”

She did, checking the gold and violet within the cradle before smiling.

Leon leaned closer to look with her. After a moment, Seraphine rested her shoulder against his.

She began telling him how the specimen differed from the vault pieces. This time he understood enough to follow, and when he asked a question, she turned the case so he could see the answer.