Rembering the way up to the levelstone wall was nearly impossible. Vivi tried to morize the turns they took, following Drean, but placing anything into mory in these monotone caverns was too difficult. The spirits knew it naturally, having solidified the route in their core mories, never to be forgotten.
Their combat strategies seed to be stored there as well. Any ti a monster appeared, their response was perfectly precise—their bows flicked in the direction, and their swords blocked the tongue attacks without the slightest worry, as if they’d suddenly recalled the techniques of a master swordsman. Out-of-place rocks gave them much more trouble.
The way to the wall took at least two hours again. Vivi summoned her freshly created ball from spatial storage and started with preparations right away. Just loading her projectile took multiple steps. First, she filled the ball with ether through the five runes she’d carved into the ether root handle. She ascended it by hamring it, of course.
With it filled, she summoned Dawnpour and cut off the excess ether root poking out of the ball, making it actually ball-shaped, now with just a flat piece of ether root peeking out of the asmite.
Next, the enhancent string, Vivi thought. “This could get dangerous if anything touches the ball, so don’t use skills with strong wind effects, please.”
Everyone watched cautiously, standing absolutely still, while Vivi used the enhancent string from her slingshot launcher. She directed the string to the cut end of the ether root in the asmite. With the ball already full of strengthening ether, it was slow to take in the ether of the enhancent string, but she wasn’t in a hurry, waiting for a quarter of an hour.
Finally, the ball began twitching in place, pushed by the air around it. Touching it in the wrong place could be dangerous.
We’re ready, then, Vivi thought. Lucius, I’ll need you to switch your shape for . Can you turn into a pole?
“A pole?” he asked suspiciously. “Vivi, you better not be thinking of boiling
alive again.”
No, I’m just going to use you as a part of my launching chanism. I need you to turn into a pole with one end attached to the ground, with a small cup at the end to hold a ball. Like a batting tee.
“Uh, and what if I refuse to risk hurting myself in your experints?”
I’m not intending to hurt you, Vivi thought. And even if sothing goes wrong, you’re a spirit. You can’t die from stuff like this. The pole will be the most secure if you make it. Please.
He frowned, but he popped out of Vivi’s core and shifted shape into a tube-like pole. He floated upright, attaching himself to the ground.
A little lower, Vivi thought. The top should be just below my shoulders.
“Like this?” he asked, and lowered the height of his pole.
Yes, perfect, and make the cup a bit smaller. It needs to hold the ball just barely.
The asmite ball kept twitching. If the ground had even a slight incline, it would have rolled and crashed into a wall, probably cracking it from the montum of rolling alone. An insane amount of ether was pressed into this thing.
Vivi lifted it up with both hands as carefully as she could. Ether strengthened her limbs, but lifting it still felt heavy. She placed it on top of the cup atop Lucius’s pole. Hold it in place, she thought. It continued twitching, while Lucius struggled. Vivi could feel him panicking, but he managed to keep it straight.
“Alright,” Vivi said, summoning Dawnpour. She positioned herself next to the pole, both of them facing the wall, which was around ten feet away. Vivi then activated Shield Of Nature between herself and the wall as a protective barrier in case particles rebounded from the impact.
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No, not in case. The ball would most certainly shatter into bits, shards flying off. The shield would be mandatory. She made it as large and tough as possible, adding as much ether as the skill wisp accepted.
“Those who want to watch should stand behind this shield,” she said. “I recomnd filling your auras and protecting your vitals in case sothing explodes.”
“Uh, so you’re sure this is safe?” Alda asked.
“This is not safe at all,” Vivi said. “It’s designed to be as destructive as possible.”
“So if we value our lives, we should not watch?” Alda asked.
“You should be fine behind this shield,” Vivi said.
She and Cael looked at each other, then shrugged and took positions behind the shield. Drean, though the remaining spirits had to step back due to a lack of space. Lortel chose to calmly watch from a healthy distance.
Ready? Vivi asked.
“I don’t know what I should be ready for!” Lucius said. “Just go, or I’ll drop this ball! It’s wiggling!”
Vivi filled all of Dawnpour’s runes, even the shockwave rune. More firepower couldn’t hurt. She flipped the sword to not swing with the sharp edge, but the side of the blade. Her sword was, after all, the most destructive weapon available. It would be stupid not to make use of it for this.
The side of the strongest runesword in existence and the strongest projectile…
She planted her foot on the ground, activated Ascension Of Divinity, ten thousand ether filling her, and she swung at the ball as hard as she could, and—
Shield Of Nature collided against her as the cavern erupted with sensations, the ground under her trembling. The explosion was so loud she couldn’t identify where it ca from as her footing shook, and she tripped, holding herself up by the handle of her sword. Crumbs and particles hit her hair and shoulders.
Ascension skills usually made the world more clear. With ten thousand ether enhancing her eyesight, her hearing, her sense of touch, the sensations around her should have been more clear. All she heard was ringing; all she felt was ambient ether rising to the air, and she couldn’t see anything at all beyond the particles of stone dust that exploded from whatever her projectile had hit. Void ether could have helped. Regular ether rely amplified the destruction.
Shield Of Nature glowed ahead of her. The shield sucked ether rapidly, trying to repair itself. Shards of black asmite were stuck deep inside it, having nearly pushed through. The ball had broken, it seed. Vivi called off the shield, and the shards inside fell to the ground.
Aida and Cael had both fallen on the ground beside her, but their limbs moved, and they slowly pushed themselves up. Drean wasn’t anywhere to be seen, but he was a spirit. He wouldn’t die.
“Ow,” Lucius said as he floated back to Vivi in cat form, a disgruntled expression on his face. “I think we did it?”
The cloud of dust particles began settling, and the cavern stopped shaking. The levelstone wall revealed itself.
Light shone through.
The levelstone was thoroughly pierced. The cracks in it were still crumbling around the hole, which was way larger than the projectile they’d shot. The crush runes had done their job around the point of impact.
The hole was more than wide enough to climb out of.
“It’s… open?” Drean said, voice in disbelief. “We’re not stuck anymore?”
Behind them, spirits were slowly walking forward, admiring the crack with surprise. So let out laughs of disbelief, but most were silent, shocked.
Vivi brushed her hair with her hand, trying to push all the crumbs out. A coating of ether protected her, stopping the crumbs from sticking, but a few stubborn flakes of stone still remained. She patted her raincoat, which was easier to clean.
“Is everyone alive?” Vivi asked.
Alda coughed, groaning in disgust. “I think I inhaled sothing. Ew. Ew. Ew.” She spat on the ground.
“Alive,” Cael said, patting down his shirt and already standing tall. He grinned at the crack, then at Vivi.
His hair had grown throughout the week, Vivi realized, and it was also grey with stone particles. He looked much better with hair. “Sha we didn’t have ti to craft a runesword here. Maybe you’ll show
how to do it after the storm season?”
“You two are still invited to join my hunting company,” Vivi said. “That will save you from any threats Helegar tries to make.”
“Let’s check out the surroundings before celebrating,” Lortel said, showing up next to Vivi. Her black and white outfit was still perfectly clean. “The spirits should scout the exit first.”
“I… am not so sure,” Drean said. “The exit is open. That fact… I apologize, but I might need so ti to adjust. It will take courage to leave. I must wake the others.”
The other spirits seed to be talking with telepathy, or still staring at the hole, as if considering whether they should step into a portal to a promised utopia. From here, all Vivi could see was a red glow, similar to lava.
“I’m the strongest out of us,” she decided, and with her sword still in hand, ready to activate Shield Of Nature if necessary, she climbed out of the hole. One foot at a ti, she stepped into the hot air of what must have been the tenth level.
She found herself at the side of a mountain, overlooking a grand city of crimson and lava.@
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