Clip-clop, clip-clop
The sound of hooves hitting the ground was immediate.
“Let’s stay here and defend this position. Sallera, stop any encroachment from that side; I’ll protect your back. Tob, you’re between us. Whenever one of us is overwhelmed, help them.”
Sallera nodded, while Tob grumbled, but didn’t object.
“What about me, your Supr—Somani?” Bod whined.
“Stay alive.”
The first maze guardian appeared, then another, and another.
Taking a fast peek at Sallera, Somani saw that she also had a horde of Guardians charging her.
‘Somani, try to preserve your Mana as much as possible.’
‘I know.’
“Remember, our objective is to gather the necessary points and try to pass. Nothing more or less.”
Nihaaa!
I created two bone barriers; one in front of Somani and the other in front of the girl. The bone walls were thick, had slits, and were glued to the walls using tendons.
The elf gave us a side eye before creating a green Mana bolt, shooting it through the slit. Somani was about to shoot his when…
A ghost came at us from the walls surrounding our enclosure.
‘I’ll take control.’
“Change of plan! Tob and Bod, defend my side. I’ll kill the ghosts.”
At the mention of ghosts, Bod’s face lost all colour, while his brother frowned. Only Sallera kept calm.
I tore a piece of my soul, then manipulated it to form a disk with a razor-sharp edge.
The disk spun, then shot at the ghost.
The ghost floated to the side, avoiding the disk, but then the disk twirled before coming at it from behind.
The ghost was cut in half.
It kept on floating for a second before dissipating into white particles.
You have killed Vengful Ghost, Lv. 112
Primus Magus has reached Lv. 41
Another two came from opposite walls.
I threw the disk at one of them, but a hazy thing punched it, breaking a piece off the disk.
The other ghost pounced on Bod.
I infused my legs with Mana before engulfing a fist with a soul film.
I punched the creature; it managed to score a hit, too.
Three shallow grooves formed on my chest, swelling with blood.
Thankfully, the ghost seemed harmed more, and another three punches turned it into particles.
Boov!
A Guardian jumped on Tob from above, kicking him.
I dashed at the other ghost while forming a bone arrow.
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Swush!
The arrow drilled a hole through the Guardian’s cheek, getting stuck.
The monster kicked harder, but then an arm made of Mana sprang from Tob’s shoulder.
Holding a hoof, the Mana arm pulled while Tob’s leg kicked a leg on the same side, felling the monster to its side.
I punched the other ghost, who was trying its hardest to stop the disk from moving by sitting on it.
Releasing the disk, I controlled it and made it fly at it.
It met the same fate as the first one.
Sparing a glance at Sallera, she was holding up perfectly fine, with Mana bolts leaving gaping holes in three minatours, while flying at the fourth.
Four more ghosts came out of the walls, shooting themselves at me.
I punched and cut as many of them as I could, but then four more joined, shooting at my teammates.
I created another disk. My already paining soul sent stronger waves of misery, but I endured; I had no other choice.
“Help!” Bod came running at me; behind him was a Guardian.
Before I could stop him…
His left hand disappeared, then his head—a Ghost, unseen to him, had gotten him.
Poof
His lifeless body hit the ground.
‘This can’t go on. We’ll be drained of Mana then die at this rate,’ Somani spoke the obvious.
Three minatours were ganging up on the bleeding Tob, who would’ve already been beaten to a pulp were it not for the flying Mana bolt sent by Sallera.
We can’t survive this barrage for a day, I thought, agreeing with Somani.
It’s been a few minutes, and we were already a step from death.
I pondered a solution, settling on one quickly.
“Sallera! Help Tob. We’re escaping!”
Sallera nodded at me. Throwing a red Mana bomb at the hoard, she swiftly turned around and went towards Tob.
Boov! Voowm!
The explosion created a roaring fire that kept our backs protected, as I shoved the ghosts away without killing them—there was no time.
Infusing her body with Mana, Sollera lifted the dead Guardian off Tob before giving him a hand.
The man was injured, but nothing serious. Looking at his decapitated brother, the man closed his eyes before turning around and running.
We followed.
As we swiftly moved through the corridors, ghosts were dealt with by me. Guardians, on the other hand, were dispatched by Sallera.
“Do you know where the exit is?” I asked Sallera.
“I was hoping your Supremeness knew, as I don’t have the skill or knowledge to find our way out.”
I commented on the supreme naming as accepting it would mean differentiating myself from Somani’s personality, something that had previously gotten us caught.
“Again, call me Somani. No honourifics.”
“As you wish, Your—Somani,” The elf spoke the word with difficulty.
“I know surviving isn’t as important to you as names, but it is for me,” Tob spoke behind us.
“What do you suggest we do?” I said, pushing a ghost into a wall.
“Since we’ve already broken the rules, why not break them more?”
“What do you mean?”
The guy approached me from behind with a wide smile.
Reaching for me…
I dodged.
“Do that again, and you’ll regret it.”
“You’re no fun. I had only wanted to throw you over the walls so that you could lead us to the exit.”
Smart!
I infused the entirety of my body with Mana to the point that it injured me.
Swirling around, I held the guy around the waist.
I jumped with him in my hands.
AHhh!
Wooo!
We soared.
Three feet, nine, twelve, fifteen…
Just before I exited the wall enclosure, I threw the man, sending him soaring even more, while giving myself a downward motion, so that I didn’t exit the boundary.
The man flew for a few more feet before the power that bound everything to the ground brought him back down.
Sallera looked at me with a hint of amusement on her face.
“What?”
DooV!
Tob hit the ground, but didn’t fall, although his knees bent heavily.
“What did you do that for?!”
“Oh, you’re no fun. Plus, you’re the one who suggested the idea, not me.”
“On you, not me!”
I jumped above the dead body of a Guardian.
“What’s the difference?”
The man glared at me, but didn’t further argue.
“So, what did you find?” Sallera asked.
“The maze is huge, but I think it starts to narrow a bit in that direction.”
Tob pointed to our right, but then…
“For breaking a rule, an order has been issued. Monster agro has increased for the following contestants: Somani, Sallera, and Tob.”
More points, I guess.
As we ran, I tried to kill some of the ghosts.
I got a few, but my disk got destroyed, meaning I had to create another.
Ahhh!
The pain was so intense that I kept losing consciousness momentarily, so I gave control of the body back to Somani, while I focused on the ghosts.
A space tear appeared, taking Tob’s right hand.
Everything happened so quickly that the man kept running without even noticing the damage.
Sallera disappeared from where she was running, and for a second, I thought a tear had entirely eaten her, but then she reappeared next to the floating eye.
She punched, popping the eye.
…She can teleport, too?
Sallera had shown a variety of skills, from a fireball to Mana bolts, infusion, and teleportation.
Maybe she’s not even using skills, only using Mana manipulation to weave the constructs.
The girl didn’t seem to have any Mana conduits, so she was probably using manipulation.
I asked Somani to dash towards Tob, who was now holding his cut arm with his hand, as he ran.
The man really had a strong will for a human, as an injury like this usually would shock an average man; humans feared blood.
“Give me your arm!”
“Heal or cauterisation?”
I shoved two ghosts before asking.
“What does it matter?”
Reaching the spilt organs, Tob opened a bulging thing that looked like a stomach with his bare hands.
Having some residual Mana, I couldn’t see the insides of the organ, but when Tob took out his hand, I understood what he wanted.
“Heal, right?”
Somani nodded.
The man reattached his arm, and with the cut being so clean, it looked uninjured.
Unfortunately, I had lost the heal skill to the slime when the skills split, so I had to heal using biomancy by comparing the injury to Somanis’ normal tissue.
But on the bright side, the injury had the width of a few cells, so it shouldn’t be too hard.
Creating a strengthened tendon—one with bone shards embedded into it, I tied it above the clean cut using Mana infusion to stop the bleeding.
The man bit into his lip, but didn’t scream.
I started the healing process, creating the different cells making up the injury.
I reconnected the blood vessels before reattaching the nerves, then the muscles, then…
Skill granted, [Heal].
Would you like to…
I ignored the prompt, as a ghost had gotten too close to Sallera.
“Watch out!”
But there was no need; the elf teleported next to me.
“Holding up well?” Somani asked.
The elf glanced at Somani before responding. “Mana above 85%. Stamina good. No injuries.”
“Ah… perfect, I guess.”
“Hey! Why can’t I move my pinky?” The giant asked with indignation.
Somani scratched the back of his head.
“I’ll look into it later. Just be thankful you still have an arm.”
The giant snorted.
“What about your chest injury? Won’t you heal it?”
“Later.”
We ran and ran. Now and then, I threw Tob, adjusting our direction.
Thankfully, after the first throw, we didn’t face more threats from the announcer.
Taking a right, we all hit the brakes simultaneously.
What is this?
A wide corridor lay in front of us. The corridor was cut off by a bulwark with grey humans standing on it.
The humans—more like statues—were about a dozen, in grey armour and holding stone weapons.
Stone Chivalries, Lv. ????
Now, this is bad.