Chapter 194: Third One
He let himself sink further against the stone, letting the ache in his limbs hum. The truth was uglier than he let slip, his mana core had been running dangerously close to overheat. Another push like that [Cataclysm Vector], and he’d have been unconscious in the snow. But that wasn’t information he felt like sharing.
’Besides. If she thinks I’m closer to empty, maybe she’ll stop staring like she’s weighing whether to slit my throat in my sleep.’
Selindra hadn’t looked away. She sat with her blade balanced across her knees, posture impeccable even at rest. She studied him with the kind of quiet patience that wasn’t human. Like a predator watching for the smallest twitch.
Lucen met her eyes without blinking, smirk fixed in place. "You keep glaring like that, you’ll wrinkle before your thirties."
For the first time, something flickered in her eyes. Not amusement. Not anger either. Just... a shift. Then she looked away.
Varik settled onto the snow without ceremony, arms resting on his knees, eyes closing as if he could steal sleep in seconds. His voice was low, almost a growl. "Quiet."
And for a while, there was.
—
The wind picked up as the minutes dragged, carrying sharp flecks of ice that stung against skin. Lucen pulled his hood lower, watching the vault as faint pulses of light crawled over the stone again. Slow. Relentless. Like a drumbeat counting down.
His system chimed again in the quiet.
[Level 31 Status: Pending Stat Allocation]
[Current Mana Pool: 162/162]
He flicked the window aside with a thought, lips curling faintly. "Not bad."
Selindra’s head turned just enough. "What."
Lucen shrugged, playing it off. "Talking to myself. It’s called personality. You should try it."
She didn’t answer. But he didn’t miss the faint, irritated exhale she gave.
Varik opened his eyes slowly, gaze sliding between them like he’d never been asleep. "It’s close."
Lucen leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. The vault’s symbols had grown brighter again, each pulse casting faint shadows across their faces. He licked his teeth, grin creeping back despite the ache. "Round three."
Selindra stood smoothly, blade sliding back into her hand. Her voice was low, cold. "This one will be worse."
Lucen pushed himself up too, rolling his shoulders, the rush already seeping back in despite the exhaustion in his bones. "Then let’s make it quick."
Varik rose last, his sword sliding free from the snow with a faint hiss. His presence filled the ridge again, steady and absolute. "Positions."
The three of them spread out across the fractured stone, each fixing their eyes on the vault as the air grew heavy again, thicker with each pulse of abyssal light.
Lucen’s heart thudded once, sharp and eager. He could feel the heat building under his skin, mana twitching, restless. His grin turned sharper as the vault screamed again.
’Come on, then. Show me what’s next.’
—
The ridge shuddered before the vault even finished opening.
A deep groan rattled through the stone, louder than the wind, louder than the crackle of abyssal mana crawling over the seal. Lucen felt it in his boots first, the tremor that wasn’t just earth shifting but something alive pushing against the barrier.
The vault’s arch split with a shriek, fissures racing up the carved symbols. Light burst through in jagged cracks, not the pale crimson of before but a violent, searing blue-white. The pulse made his teeth buzz.
’Oh, that’s new.’
Selindra didn’t flinch. She raised her blade, posture steady, every movement economical. "Brace."
Varik lifted his sword without hurry, as if the earth wasn’t coming apart around him. His eyes locked on the vault and stayed there.
Lucen’s grin tugged wider. "Yeah, alright. Let’s see the big one."
The arch split fully with a thunderclap. From inside, something crawled out, slow, deliberate, each motion grinding stone into dust.
The guardian wasn’t just large. It towered. Thirty feet at least, body a blend of jagged ice and abyssal crystal fused into a warped humanoid form. Its arms dragged like elongated blades, edges glowing faintly as if heat burned from inside the ice itself.
And where its face should have been, a cluster of shifting eyes, each one opening and closing like shutters, glowing that same blinding blue.
When it stepped onto the ridge, the mountain bowed.
Lucen exhaled low, breath fogging in the frozen air. "Oh, hell yeah."
Selindra moved first. No hesitation, no signal. She darted forward with inhuman speed, her blade carving a streak of silver light against the giant’s leg.
Shards of crystal exploded outward with the strike, but the guardian didn’t fall. It turned its cluster of eyes down, one beam of light firing outward like a lance.
Lucen snapped his hand up. [Soundlash!] The wave cracked through the air, the pressure of sound bending the beam just enough that it scorched past Selindra instead of vaporizing her.
She didn’t look back. She never did.
Varik was already moving. One stride, two, his blade rose and cut down with force that shattered the air. The guardian staggered, one of its massive arms shearing off in a spray of shards.
It roared, a sound like breaking glaciers, and swung the other arm. The impact hit the ridge like an avalanche, sending a shockwave through the stone. Lucen’s footing slipped; he bit down on a curse and shoved mana into his legs. [Crater Bloom!]
The spell detonated at his feet, carving a shockwave crater that steadied his fall, and blasted shards upward into the guardian’s underside. Small damage, but it made the beast tilt just enough that Varik’s next swing buried deep in its chest.
Lucen laughed under his breath, half-coughing through the strain. "We’re actually making it ugly."
Selindra landed on a ridge of its shoulder, her blade plunging into one of the shifting eyes. Blue ichor sprayed, sizzling against her coat, she didn’t even flinch.
The guardian screamed again, thrashing. Its arms scythed through the air in wide arcs, carving chunks out of the mountainside. Snow and stone collapsed, rolling down the cliffs in avalanches.
Lucen wiped the frost from his brow with the back of his hand, heart hammering, grin sharp. "Alright. Big guy wants to dance."
He dragged in a breath, mana pooling hot and wild in his chest, ready to burn. [Ignition Burst!]
The flare tore from his palm in a searing blast, striking the creature’s knee joint. Crystal cracked and splintered, fire crawling inside the fissures like veins.
The guardian lurched. One massive knee buckled. Its cluster of eyes snapped toward Lucen, light building like a furnace.
"Oh, great. Eye contact."
The beam shot forward, blinding and violent.
Lucen’s smirk sharpened. [Shockweave Bolt!]
The arc of lightning leapt from his hand, colliding with the beam midair. The collision detonated in a concussive blast, shredding the snow around him and throwing him backward. His hood ripped down as he skidded across the stone.
His ears rang, chest aching, but the smirk never left. ’That’s gonna leave bruises. Worth it.’
Selindra landed beside him in a crouch, coat torn across the shoulder. She didn’t look at him, but her words were sharp. "Stay alive."
Lucen chuckled, spitting frost. "Trying my best."
Varik’s voice boomed across the ridge, calm even as the mountain tore apart. "Lucen. Again."
Lucen blinked sweat from his eyes, forcing air into his lungs. Mana burned under his skin, screaming at him for more. He pulled his hand up, power surging wild, unstable, and grinned. "Fine. But you owe me dinner after this."
Mana spiked. The guardian’s many eyes all turned at once.
And the ridge shook as the battle truly began.
—
The ridge was no longer a ridge. It was a battlefield, stone split and bleeding streams of molten light from the guardian’s wounds. Snow boiled off in sheets whenever its body shifted, steam rising in ghostly curtains around them.
Selindra blurred through that steam. She was fast, faster than Lucen could follow with his eyes. One heartbeat she was at the beast’s ankle, blade striking sparks from crystal, the next she was halfway up its torso, carving glowing scars through the plating. Each impact was surgical, efficient, a dance without wasted motion.
Varik was different. His power wasn’t speed. It was inevitability. Every swing of his blade looked heavy, slow even, but when steel met guardian, the air cracked like thunder. One strike split the monster’s chest plating; another turned its arm into shards that rained across the slope.
Lucen ducked behind a fallen chunk of crystal, heat searing his face as another beam of abyssal light scythed overhead. His pulse hammered, breath sharp in his lungs. He flicked his hand, mana coiling. [Piercing Flare!]
The lance of light tore upward, slamming into one of the guardian’s shoulder eyes. The orb burst in a spray of ichor, blue sparks raining. The creature reeled with a howl, thrashing.
Selindra’s voice snapped over the chaos. "Keep its gaze scattered!"
"On it!" Lucen shouted back, though his grin curled inward. ’Translation: throw fire so the grown-ups can actually kill the thing.’