Saintess Summons Skeletons

Cinthia had her own means of flight now, but it was still nowhere near as fast as Sofia or her summons, so she ended up riding on Dragon-form Crowie’s back as they headed toward Sorrow’s palace under a clear starry sky.

“Are you sure this is the right direction, Sof?”

Sofia, who was sitting right in front of her, turned around.

“Pretty sure yeah. Pareth staying in Ser’Extra is a great anchor point to let me know where I am. Though we’re starting to get a bit too far west so the connection is really starting to waver, but it’s still good enough as a compass.”

“I wish my sense of direction was as good as yours. Sometimes I feel like I could get lost in a straight line without my skills.”

“I guess roaming the streets of a huge city as a child will do that to you. Not the most flashy of talents but it has served me well for sure. We should be at about the right longitude by now, so it’s just a matter of going west until we see the jungle. Just look how far we can see from up here, there is no way we would miss it.”

“Hmm… You must be right or some of the watchers would have had us course correct by now. Still twenty watching despite how little is going on. I guess there’s nothing interesting left to watch at the castle.”

Sofia chuckled. “Not that there is much to see here either. Right, does the chat have any news about Shaily? She jumped right into her next trial so fast, I am a bit worried.”

“Oh right. I think they did mention something about her at some point when we were searching for the bones in Sovuln… Let me check the logs…”

“Apparently she left around three months ago,” Sofia added.

“Ah, yes. Got it, here, that’s what they said back then.”

[ResoundingEchoes]: Oooh I’m getting some fine EV from the launcher tower.

[Crowface]: Kyle must be doing something weird. Anyone’s got sights on the crazy vampire? Did he erase his lower body again?

[TallBro]: *Snorts* Truly you’re all so slow on information. He’s handling Starblade right now. You can guess what essence she wagered.

[ResoundingEchoes]: Ah. That explains a lot. It was the same the two previous times. Poor guy having to deal with this.

[Crowface]: He volunteered for the job.

“That’s about all there was,” Cinthia said, showing the old chat logs, “After that they moved on to talking about how it was Moon’s fault if they didn’t have a single Vampire Apostle. I didn’t really get that they were talking about her back then so I didn’t really react.”

“Starblade… I can’t believe Ihuarah’s the only one she showed the skill to before she left. I did not even get to see her with her crown!”

Cinthia shrugged, “She feels obligated to catch up, it looks like. I get it, I’m the same, really. I never even thought I’d get so far at all, honestly speaking. I really owe it to Saria and the chat.”

“Heh, you did quite well for yourself, you’re talented too.”

“Ahah… Thank you for the kind words, Sof, but I know where I fall short. I’m not half as talented or driven as you all are. I’m fine with it, though. I’m just happy to be here.”

Sofia stared unblinkingly at Cinthia for a bit. “I feel like we’ve already had this conversation. You need to get your head out of the gutter, Cin. Do you really think the Recessed would all be tagging along to watch some talentless hack every day of the year? You’re–”

Cinthia hurriedly placed her hands on Sofia’s mouth, her already red skin reddening even more.

“I- I get it. I get it, alright? Stop… It’s embarassing… I’ll try not to be so negative anymore, so it’s fine. I’m good, really. Stop donating, guys…”

Sofia pushed down Cinthia’s hands, a wide smirk etched on her face. “See? They agree too. Hi everyone, by the way. I’d really appreciate it if someone has news on Shaily, thank you!”

“Hey! Don’t try to steal my job,” Cinthia jokingly complained.

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“Hah, I got a taste of it during the Ark, kind of. It’s an interesting feeling knowing you’re always being watched like that, but it’s not for me.”

“I think you would do a great job at it, actually,” Cinthia deadpanned, “a natural pro.”

“Yeah, thank you, but no thanks. I only have a few occasional watchers and that already feels like a lot. My fault for getting all of those essences, though. Any answers on Shaily?”

Cinthia shook her head. “The chat has slowed down so I’m assuming they’re looking into it but nothing so far. There aren’t many people on Cerberus so I don’t think they have much of a connection there unless they get wagered themelves… Ah, wait, we got something, sharing.”

[|||||]: Nascent mana heart of !Dangerous word!

[|||||]: Wager bonus (Perfectly balanced) : Your mana heart has no imprint power limit and all imprints are converted to ‘all-stats’ at a 1:1 ratio.

[|||||]: Wager penalty (Undisturbed reality) : Blind, deaf, mute.

[|||||]: No other news but she is not dead.

“Oh! Woah. That’s… The penalty is pretty bad… Thank you for sharing, Death. Strange to see you writing actual words.”

Cinthia looked at Sofia with a raised eyebrow, “You’re the reason he can do that, you know?”

“I guessed as much, still nice to see. I’m getting pretty used to his essence now. It tends to naturally mirror whatever position Sun’s are in. Still feels a bit cold, but not as much as before. Anyway, blind, deaf and mute…”

“Mute isn’t that big of a deal, but blind and deaf… I really wouldn’t want to be blind during the night with all the Sunless roaming around,” Cinthia commented, “She won’t be able to see the amalgams until they enter her mana senses. That’s really bad…”

“Yeah, with how fast they are… She has gone for a full on charisma skillset, too, so I’m not sure her aura is really up to par. Her senses might not be all that wide. She’ll have to rely on the sprites to know what’s going on further away.”

Cinthia nodded, “It’s been months and she’s still alive so she must have it all figured out. I couldn’t believe she took second place in the ranking tower. That Ezerid guy barely got there and she already pushed him back down a rank.”

“... I swear the second she’s out of her trial I’ll lock her up in my basement and make her tell me the entire story for both her second and third trial.”

Cinthia laughed at the idea, and suddenly froze for an instant, “Right! I meant to ask, what was that about kidnapping a princess?! The chat has been talking about this but they wouldn’t explain.”

“Ah, yeah, that happened.”

“Huh?!”

A while later, as Sofia and Cinthia kept lazily chatting their flight away on Crowie’s back, the dragon skeleton suddenly stopped, almost throwing both ladies above board.

“Crowie?”

Sofia looked at Crowie’s head, seeing him stare at the ground far below.

They were currently flying over an arid mesa and endless orange canyons, and it was night, making visibility quite mediocre even with good dark vision, so Sofia had stopped paying much attention to the ground.

Is there something down there?

Following Crowie’s gaze, Sofia flew to the side, and observed the canyon right below them. She saw nothing special at first, then, movement. At the bottom of the canyon, what she at first glance took for a simple layer of blue stone was moving in strange ways.

The sight had an immediate impact on Sofia’s mood.

Lesser Phageid. There’s hundreds…

Zooming in, she observed the creature in detail. Unlike the brick-shaped lesser Phageid she had fought in Zangdar, these ones had the rough texture and striations of a cliffside’s stone layers. But they were still undeniably midenicite-bodied creatures, silently moving along the walls of the canyon.

“We should kill them,” Cinthia chimed in, also looking down with her own skills.

“... You can use your aerial sight to track down where they’re going, right? There must be a cavern with more of them. This must be one of their breeding grounds like the bloodstone rune Apostles must clean up. You’re right, the earlier we get rid of that the better.”

“I’m searching. There are a lot of caverns. Only lesser Phageid so far, but thousands. Can your mana senses reach down there?”

Sofia nodded, “They can barely. It would be better if we flew down, but it’s still not good enough to investigate deep caverns unless I go right to the entrance.”

“Give me a bit then. Charge up, I’ll tell you where to aim.”

“No need to tell me twice. We should be high enough for you to be safe… But I’ll still need to take my distances to charge up… Bookie,” Sofia said, tapping the book at her waist, “Get Pestle here. I’m leaving the aiming up to you Cin, just send Pestle wherever you want me to strike.”

Pestle just happened to appear next to Sofia at that time.

“Pesle am target?! Very Sofia. Pesle is want leg after.”

“Sure, I got some for you from the demon king’s castle, follow Cinthia’s instructions, alright?”

“Order is receive!”

“Thanks for coming right away,” Sofia added, before flying a few kilometers away and starting to charge an explosive bolt. “Nothing better against this blue mold than a bit of sunlight.”

Above the arid mesa, a new blue star lit up, chasing away the night.