Sofia and Alith decided to retreat first, hunting a sandworm right now was too risky since they knew so little about them. And had no armor. And because Pareth was a chicken. And they could not regenerate mana, not fast enough anyway. And Sofia couldnt use her wings.
There were a lot of factors that made them reluctant to actually fight. They had been way too optimistic about chasing the relic armor, they had recklessly charged into the desert. Now they had to go back, having made little to no progress in anything. It only took four days this ti, as they looked and finally spied a hint of green on the horizon, Alith started going on a weird topic.
Say, cant you just use my bones for Pareth?
Excuse ?
Yeah I an, you CAN re-summon , right?
Do you have any idea how long getting that much mana would take?! And thats weird! And gross! I dont want that, what the hell. And like, like. What if. What if the resurrected Alith isnt you?!
Not ? Alith took a second to understand what she ant, Oh like a copy or sothing but not the sa? Or if my mory gets erased back to before I ca here? Her expression changed a lot the longer she talked, ending up in a perfect lange of emotions, from worry to disgust. Ok, no, I changed my mind, not dying if I can avoid it. Yep. Didnt think of it like that at all. I want none of that either. Im good.
See.
Yeah I get it now. Well, too bad. I can never team up with myself I guess The problem with Pareth is always finding a skeleton Should we just kill soone or what? Sounds like sothing Kuli would do, she sneered.
Shes not that bad Well that shit she did to did hurt but I get where she was coming from kind of. Wed probably be dead under the sea right now without her advice.
Right The herbal tea was not bad I guess, and she knows a thing or two, still though Ill be the one to punch her when Im level 300. Just once.
The summoning punch thing was a breeze compared to the level up to 100 honestly. Or compared to carving out my own heart. Back then it all went so fast, I was shocked more than anything, bit like when you pull out an arrow, it hurts a lot once then
Sofia Do you hear yourself talk? You worry sotis, really.
Uh? Im not the one who volunteered her own skeleton to a necromancer!
Fair point Also when the hell did you get hit by an arrow?
Long story
They had made it to the border of the desert again, being back into an environnt full with mana was appeasing. They could return to the glass factory if they flew a bit, but that wasnt exactly in their plans.
Instead, Sofia cut off her own wing.
Doesnt hurt? Alith asked as she ca closer to heal Sofia.
Not really, I feel the mana flow panicking a bit but thats about it.
Alright, lets fill up this bone storage then, gim your hand, Alith rolled her eyes at the ridiculousness of her skill. I can never get used to it, really, She added in between two kisses on the side of Sofias hand, How many tis do we need to do that to completely fill it up?
Hmm Around three thousand. Half if I cut both wings.
Lets settle at like fifty
They did that a few tis until Sofia could activate the armor. They would try feeding it to Aliths Dopple. This was how they decided to call the annoying piece of clothing, since that was part of its system description. Sofia couldnt actually take off the armor, even less so only the torso, so Alith had the delicate job to cut it out on the spot with her kamas. It was sothing of a nightmare for Sofia to try to wiggle out of there after the parts were separated, but it was necessary. Dopple had insisted that the armor piece had to be in the best condition if they wanted the best protection.
Its funny how it gives you a kind of skirt now, Alith pointed out. The armor had adapted to go over the robe, giving her a sort of armored long skirt, and she still had the leg armor underneath. Thats actually an added layer of protection But it does limit my movents a bit. A decent trade-off I guess. I could roll up the robe before activating the armor to change back if I want.
Alith grabbed the separated bone chestplate, You awake, Dopple? Your food is ready, she said nonchalantly.
Uh? Oh. Yes I was taking a nap. Excuse . Well. Bring it, please, I cannot grab it myself. The bone chestplate slowly sank in the black piece of cloth on Aliths torso. Hey! Thats so good stuff. You could have done this all along and you went in the desert without protection? You really need so coaching
Sofia interrupted Dopples monologue, Thats right, imagine if we had sothing along the lines of a millennia old sentient clothing piece to help us make better decisions. Sure would be nice wouldnt it?
...
Of course now you shut up You better at least protect Alith well.
I think you hurt its ego, Alith shrugged, then tried to hit herself. Her punch impacted an invisible armor a few centiters away from her exposed skin, it looked like she didnt feel anything. Works great, she added with a thumbs up, Now we fill your armor stock a bit and get to worming!
Their plan was quite simple. Summon a lot of blood on the border of the sand, wait out far away, if a worm ca theyd fight with Alith on the ground, Pareth as a support and Sofia in the air. If no worm ca they would try again a few kiloters further east. Like that they would never have to go deep in the desert where mana was restricted.
[Summon Blood] reached level 18
[Summon Blood] reached level 22
It also gave Sofia a few [Summon blood] level ups. Easier to make money later. I should focus on this now, and [Heal undead], guess I can cut off my wings and heal them by myself to train. Actually they should count as undead, right? She checked that on the spot, they did. She could now heal herself! But just the wings Small victories
They dumped blood at sixteen different spots before sothing happened. It began with a low rumble. A shiver in the sand. It was as though the dunes ca alive, bristling up like the fur of a terrorized cat.
"Hey, looks like we got one," Alith rejoiced, swinging her blades.
The ground shook. Springing out of the sand, the worm appeared.
The first to act was Alith. She ran for her life.
This was no simple worm. This was a titan. Wide like a house, several hundreds of ters long, a force of nature in the flesh. It obscured the sky in its colossal majesty, and plunged in an arc toward the sand stained with blood.
Sofia dove down like a bird of prey and grabbed Alith, carrying her away as fast as she could.
The ring! Sofia urged.
They could have just flown away, which was actually their original retreat plan, but the thing was so tall that it could no doubt reach higher than the mana density near the desert allowed Sofia to fly. And they wouldnt take the bet that they could outrun this thing.
Out of caution after their last ss up at the pyramid, they had prepared a backup retreat plan. Before dumping the blood they would always draw a teleportation circle to Zangdar, just in case. It had to be a bit further away, or the red sand would no doubt ss up the mana flow.
Alith started to activate the ring before they even reached the ritual circle, Pareth had teleported onto Sofias back, the instant they landed in the circle, the trio disappeared.
They were back in the locked city, exactly where they had left the last ti.
That WAS a sandworm right? Sofia asked. She felt a sudden sense of loss as she thought back to her skill specialization choice.
Can you even still call that a worm? I dont want to know what a damned Dragon looks like.
Imagine if we could get that skeleton though
And reanimate it with what blood exactly? Even if [Summon blood] was level 500 you probably wouldnt be able to summon enough to activate the circle. Did you see how long the thing was? Actually we wouldnt even manage to draw the circle that big!
Cant you let a skeleton enthusiast dream? Ah whatever, going to this desert was a mistake from the start. Lets just level up here again
Hmm, yeah about that, Sofia Dont you notice sothing weird? The dungeon
Sofia had been busy opening the visor of her helt, she was hit by a sudden revelation at Aliths words. The system ssage about re-entering a dungeon. It was missing.
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