Chapter 361

Chapter 361

“Dodge!” Amy yelled out as Ben jumped to the side, a boulder falling from above landing where he was standing only seconds ago with more on their way down as they rushed back the way they’d come.

As they kept trying different paths, five having been dead ends, with the only three exceptions being the lava, the raining boulders coming down around them on the one they’d just tried, and one in the middle having the ground fall away beneath them, Amy jumping back in time and Jake only being saved by the fact that he could use his magic to fly, even if he seemed uncomfortably shaky for having to pull it off in a split second.

“So we have one direction we haven’t gone yet. What do you think the odds are that we just haven't gone down the right one yet?”

“Hey, you can roll a die and keep getting ones, it happens,” Jake said optimistically, confident that they were on the right path after exhausting all the others.

His companions seemed less sure but went along anyway, not seeing much other choice as Ben did his best to make a mental map of all they’d gone through so far, not wanting to end up lost if anything happened.

It was when they arrived at the halls edge that they felt a change before they saw it, the ground shaking as they stepped through Jake’s portal when the walls on each side of them changed, not letting lava pour out of them like they had the last time, but instead stepping out, taking the form of two stone giants, reaching out to attack as they did.

By this point, Jake was ready with the portal spell on his fingertips, opening it up for them to escape, but before they did it was Yuzu who acted, holding her staff forward and firing a spell Ben didn’t have the context to recognize, even if its effects were apparent. As it expanded forward, the raw power of a soul mage behind it, both statues were hit, with the effect being instantaneous.

The moment they touched her mana they collapsed to the ground, enough force behind their fall to almost knock Ben off his feet as Amy pat the blue girl’s back while Jake cheered.

“Woo! Looks like we can keep going forward then, let’s get going.”

It was Ben who stopped them, casting a look to the soul mage as he spoke up. “How did you do that?”

“I could feel the life mana within them so I blasted it away, I’m just good like that,” She said smugly as Ben focused on a different part of it.

“Okay, so I guess what me and Thera get to take away from this is that the trial will throw spells that mix attributes at us too. Should I take the fact that neither of you was surprised when Yuzu did that as a sign that you already knew?” He asked, watching as their faces went blank and they struggled to speak.

Covenants, gotcha.

“You don’t need to try and answer,” He sighed. “I get it, you all faced something along these lines in the life trial, right? Since we’ve seen lava too it looks like as long as the spell uses earth magic it’s fair game and it seems safe to assume that all of the trials operate this way then. Do they have anything else in common we should be worrying about?”

Again they fell silent, the effects of the covenant keeping them from answering one way or another as Ben held in a groan. He didn’t consider that the three of them might have information that he and Thera might need, and the fact that they couldn’t tell them was nothing but aggravating.

“Fine, just don’t go letting us die from anything you know and let's keep going. I guess there’s no safe path we can take from the looks of it so we just need to keep getting past these traps when we get to them. Wait, actually, before we do, do either of you need any stone?”

He packed a couple rocks to be on the safe side, but the fact that Thera had been able to control the lava earlier was sign enough that they could use what the trial provided as different traps activated.

Jake seemed fine, going to at least try to stick to his non-affinitied options outside of his space spell, but Thera held her staff out towards the fallen golem, ripping out a boulder and shrugging as the others looked at her questioningly.

“Better to have it and not need it, right?” She said, and it seemed good enough for them as a new portal opened and they stepped through to the next split.N0v3lTr0ve served as the original host for this chapter's release on N0v3l--B1n.

“So which way this time gang?” Jake asked as they reached it. “Also, if we could walk for this next bit, all of this exploring has been brutal on my mana and I’d rather not need it for the whole not dying thing.”

Who knows when we’ll run into the next trap?

A maze.

What am I missing? Ben wondered. What’s picking at me?

“Ah, I got plenty of gear in my own magic inventory too,” Jake told them, not bound to using a tool like Ben was. “Fully stocked up, so I’d be happy to share our supplies if someone’s cooking?”

“Yeah yeah, I’ll do it when we need to. For now, let’s just figure out which way is next.”

He could already see the path was going to split ahead and he noted it in the mental map he was making, when all at once he felt things click.

Which way is next?

Who knows when we’ll run into the next trap?

A maze.

“Jake, I know you're trying to save mana after that first stretch but do me a favour and open a portal to that next area, if we do I think we’ll see that the right path angles left and the left path splits in three, with one continuing on forward.”

They looked at him funny, not sure what would make him guess that. They hadn’t seen a single path that split in three yet, there was no reason to think things would change, but Jake saw the confidence in Ben’s eyes and did as he asked, opening the gate for them to step through with each of them first checking the left path, seeing he was correct.

“Ben, how did you figure that out?” Thera asked him, not having the slightest clue what had pointed to that as he did his best to suppress a grin.

“Wait, one more time to be sure. Jake, if you open a way to the left again, this time right and left paths will both split, and the right path should have some trap down it but I don’t know what so maybe leave the portal open so we can run.”

This time none of them were distrusting. Instead, everyone mentally readied themselves for something to happen, gripping their staves and weapons tight to prepare for anything as Jake opened a portal for them to go through.

Again they could see he had been right about the way the paths split, all they still needed to know was if he was right about the presence of a trap too.

Each of them tense with caution, they moved forward, Jake keeping the portal open despite the mana cost as Ben pointed ahead towards the wall.

“That should be where the trap activates, I’m just not sure how close we need to be to set it off.”

Some of the ones had activated from afar while others had needed them right in the middle of it. There didn’t seem to be any way to determine that ahead of time, but as they kept going they watched the area Ben pointed collapse into sand and start hovering in the air, but before any of them could see just what was going to happen they all jumped through Jake’s portal to the last safe area and closed it tight behind them.

All of them were looking at Ben, waiting for an answer as he was busy grinning like an idiot, muttering under his breath for the gods who were sure to be watching.

“Nare, if that hint was your idea then I love you.”