Chapter Five Hundred And Fifty – 550

Chapter Five Hundred And Fifty – 550

Ephemeral Evocation is level 25!

Apprentice Tier!

You Gain:

+10 AFI

+10 FEL

+10 RES

Felix shook himself from the Memory hed stolen from the last Door Guardian. It wasnt much of anything, though it was beautiful. Hours of simply flying among the frigid clouds, reveling in the wild winds as his transparent ice-wings cut through them. It was a nice experience, and even made Felix regret killing the Ice Elemental. A little.

The Lesser and Inferior Elementals offered little in the way of Memories. Not to say they didnt have any, but that they were wan and simplistic. Using Chthonic Tribute en masse as he had been, hed seen plenty of Memories flash into his core space, but they were all the same: flashes of weather and the occasional bloody violence. Life in a Domain, at least for the weaker creatures, was extremely unvaried.

Not only that, but hed learned nothing from them. Too weak, maybe. Rime Shaping and Stone Shaping covered most of what they could do, though he had held out hope the Obelons could give him something like Metal Shaping. No such luck.

The fourth layer was smaller than the three previous, as seemed to be the pattern. Felix imagined it as concentric circles, and all of it seemed to converge on the lone mountain that dominated the skyline. Thick clouds and swirling winds blocked the upper reaches of the mountain from sight, even his own enhanced Perception. Still, Felix kept his sights locked on its invisible peak as he ran through rocky foothills, all while killing dozens of Lesser Elementals with each executed Skill. What was up there?

An eternal blizzard, Naberius told him when he asked. Winds sharp as honed steel and as cold as the darkness that came before creation. None have ventured into its boundary and survived, let alone reached the peak.

Well. That sounds like a challenge to me.

Hed need the Essence anyway. He was compiling a lot, holding it aside from the regular tithe he fed his Hunger, but more was always good. He had plenty of uses for it.

Hope youre doing okay, bud.

Pit stood shakily atop a pile of bloody meat and fur, half caked with snow that was already turning to crimson ice. Blood poured from between segments of his barding, but he had done it.

Hed survived.The debut release of this chapter happened at Ñòv€l-B1n.

Breath of the Wild! Pit said between ragged breaths. Immediately, a wind of light and green-gold motes rose up all around him. His wounds began to close and the shakes that wracked his horse-sized frame ceased as his Strength and Vitality were temporarily boosted.

Breath of the Wild is level 19!

Cold Resistance is level 49!

The fourth layer Door Guardian had been some sort of giant apepig thing, and it was as ugly alive as it was dismembered. All four of its arms had been tipped with metal talons, viciously sharp and far longer than should be allowed. Most of his wounds had come from those claws, and his barding had several deep scratches that would take forever to buff out.

Harncan havethe apprentices do it.

You Have Digested An Inferior Elemental Core (x108)!

You Gain:

+8 VIT

+5 END

You Have Digested A Lesser Elemental Core (x13)

You Gain:

Oh, I dont like the sound of that, Pit sent as he padded up behind Felix.

If they mean us, theyre gonna have a bad day. But theyre not that stupid, Felix pointed at the giant blue women, who were now pulling oddly shaped objects from their robes. Look.

The Witches got busy unwrapping the objects, as they were each covered in a number of animal skins, like weird skin-presents. Felix watched, eager to soak in their process. Upon coming to the fifth layer, the Witches had informed him that this was their task to fix the Domain.

They each have a designation, like I do, except theirs lets them move through the lower layers like ghosts. Nothing will touch them. Caretakers they had called themselves, as opposed to challengers. It made sense, if the mechanisms of the Domain needed attention, then why not hire your priesthood to do the dirty work?

Like we do, Pit said.

What?

In response, Pit nudged his head forward and a blue window rotated into Felixs view. It was from the Frostfather, as his own had been, and it accepted Pit as a challenger on the Path of Rule.

Whoa, what? Felixs Mind whirled. Is that why we were separated?

The sound of splintering ice filled the building, and they both dropped into battle-ready stances immediately. But instead of an enemy coming for them, the ground had opened up and was flowing with near-solid ice Mana. The thick, gelatinous liquid power crackled as it formed, shaping into an eight foot tall pillar upon which a large, shallow bowl manifested before the entire thing snapped from Mana to true ice. It was an altar.

Let us do as you have commanded us, Fornis said. Flesh of prey, given in fear.

Fangs of predator, taken in battle, Sitri wheezed.

The breath of life, stolen from the world, Naberius intoned. After each sentence, another item was unwrapped and placed upon the shallow basin of ice. The leg of some hooved creature, dried and festooned with fur. The teeth of a monster, each fang the size of a dagger blade and exuding a vicious poison Mana. Finally, a glass bottle that contained within it a whirlwind. The moment they touched the altar, ice climbed across the offering like crystalline spiderwebs, until they were fully encased.

Thats an Inferior Air Elemental. Felix could tell that much before it was entombed in the altar. The magic of whatever was going on here was interfering too much for him to tell what the other things were, even with Voracious Eye.

Blood calls to blood, the water within us all. We offer that last, to seal our pact. As one, all three of the Witches lifted transparent daggers and drove them into their abdomens.

Felix took several steps forward, shock, concern, and uncertainty warring within him. Blood poured from the Witches wounds, but none of them had so much as flinched. The crimson stream soaked the ice until the altar basin was brimming full. Only then did their wounds cease flowing and the ice knives were removed. They were clean.

Frostfather! Grant us renewal!

The words of all three in unison shook the chamber. They buzzed through levels of harmonics in Felixs senses as if piercing through something more than frigid air.

The altar began to glow. Purple-white and silvery-gray, it ratchets up from dim to blinding in a matter of seconds, forcing Felix and Pit both to squint. The structure around them rumbled, just a little at first, as that buzzing noise lifted into higher frequencies. But the rumbling grew louder, the resonance more intense, until it felt like they were standing inside a ringing bell.

Felix bared his teeth, reaching for his Skills, but was surprised by a purple and white notification that appeared in the air above the altar.

Ritual Rejected!

The Frostfather Denies Replenishment Until The Challengers Complete Their Path!

Ascend To The Peak!

That has

Never happened before.

Challengers, Naberius said. All three Witches looked to Felix and Pit, varying degrees of shock and dismay swirling openly on their large faces and agitated Spirits.

Bring it on, Pit growled.

Felix snorted. What he said.