Chapter 371

Chapter 371

The second he stepped foot through the door he had to stop himself from taking another as he swung his arms out, holding the people by his side back from going over the narrow ledge in front of them, into a hail of oncoming earth bullets before an unending chasm.

Wow, I really don’t like how this one started.

He pressed his back against the wall they’d just come through, barely daring to breathe with the scene in front of them all. Only inches from his face was what seemed like an endless barrage of stones flying by, merging with the walls on the opposite sides only to be shot out again.

The rate of fire was so thick and constant that there was no room for them to slip through it all, and even if there was they had no ground to walk across. Instead, there was just the gorge at their feet, ready to swallow them up if they stepped just a little too far.

“Can’t say I’m particularly fond of bullet hells. Jake, what are the odds you could open some portals farther and farther ahead to see if this ever stops or if there’s something else we’ll have to deal with on the other side?”

“None.”

“I mean, maybe you could try though? Just for funsies? And out of a desire for us all to not turn into a fine paste?”

“I can’t use space magic right now,” He told them, disappointment heavy in his voice as only Ben and Thera were left surprised by the statement.

What does he mean he can’t use space magic? Why can’t he... oh shit.

What he’d been missing snapped firmly into focus as everything he’d seen came together. The door itself was one clue, but he’d gotten another big one right at the start in the form of the additional weapons Amy had brought, loaded with nothing but earth enchantments.

Immediately he wanted to test to see if he was right, so ever so carefully he reached to his vest to pull away one of his sticky pads, only instead of activating it he first tried to change the enchantment on it, before failing that and attempting to alter its shape with his material magic, followed by his destruction, with every attempt to do anything failing in the end as the truth of their situation slapped them in the face.

“So should I take it that anything other than earth mana just doesn’t work?”

“Of course, I love Myriad. Great guy, good friend, interesting backstory. if any of you were looking for someone to convert to, I couldn't recommend him enough.”

“And the other gods?” Amy asked.

“At least thirty percent are bastards but Myriad won’t give me the names. Other than that though, Anailia, Helori, and Nare all seem pretty chill once you get to know them. Oh, and Jagal was nice too when I met her, even if she can say some pretty scary things with a straight face. And then Eneth is a huge prick whose believers keep trying to kill me.”

Amy looked at him through narrowed eyes. “Didn’t you almost kill his son?”

“In a fair duel,” He said innocently. “And then his apostle tried to murder me in cold blood and they’ve been cranky ever since they agreed to a deal that kept me and Myriad from pushing the issue. Some even tried to assassinate me recently! Honestly, I’m such a sweet little guiltless thing who keeps being bullied by such a mean old cranky god, it’s really not fair. If any of you ever meet his son Ather, make sure you stand up for little ol’ me.”

“Uh, guys?” Thera called back to them and cutting their talk short, not having paid attention to Ben’s opinion on the gods and instead sounding extremely confused. “I think we might be done.”

She couldn’t understand it, it had seemed far too easy compared to what else they’d gone through, but another ledge was in sight and they landed safely on it, the door to the next floor there and ready to walk through.

The others couldn’t help but be a little surprised too, but to Ben it wasn’t a shock, even if it was the best-case scenario.

It would take, what? A full five high-leveled mages to have any hope of doing the same thing and nowhere near as easily as she just pulled off thanks to all of her mana. When you consider the idea of traveling across a vast gulf with no way to be sure there’s anything actually on the other side, and that you’d need to keep yourself safe along the way, that’s a pretty tall order.

Instead of saying what made things so easy though, he just walked up and put an arm around her.

“You’re really the best to have around, you know that?”

“Of course I am,” She said confidently, having a bit of an inkling as to why things had gone so well, even if it still felt too easy in the end. “So then, are we ready to go through?”