Serpentlord (Rise To Omniscience Book 9), page 22
Still, they’d made it and ahead of the rampaging World Beasts, no less. The sky overhead was dim, despite the fact that it was nearly noon. It had nothing at all to do with cloud cover either, as only a few sparse tendrils floated in the sky. He’d gone to check on their progress several times, and as of yesterday, they were crossing the border into the Brutal Bayou.
The Glimmerlands were no more than a chaotic mess of molten stone, lightning storms, and chaotic creatures that even he couldn’t understand.
“Where do you want to live?” Morgan asked, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and squeezing her tight.
Sarah placed a finger to her chin, thinking for a moment.
“Somewhere nice. A place that’s warm year-round. I want a beach, a nice view of the ocean. Ooh! And somewhere we can’t be easily reached. Oh, and definitely somewhere outside of the control of any of the rulers of the Five Kingdoms. We can’t be owing any of them any favors.”
“Is that all?” Morgan asked with a snort of laughter.
“Of course not,” Sarah replied. “I want a big house, not a castle, mind you. Too much trouble to maintain. But something with at least ten bedrooms. Maybe an indoor swimming pool? Oh! And a big property with plenty of grass. A garden with lots of exotic flowers and a nice spot where we can eat outside and watch the sunset together.”
“That does sound nice,” Morgan said. “But where exactly are we supposed to find this magical place?”
“I’m sure we can figure it out,” Sarah said, snuggling up to him.
Morgan leaned over, placing a kiss on the top of her head. Her hair smelled nice and floral from the soap she liked. It was still in its customary braid despite the fact that she wanted to change it. She said that she would only let Grace make that decision once Lumia brought her back, and until then, it would stay this way.
“Are you sure you’re feeling up to fighting?” he asked, looking out over their forces.
“The last of my injuries healed over two weeks ago,” Sarah said, giving him a light shove. “I’m ready as I’ll ever be, especially with all the ranks I’ve gained, thanks to you. You didn’t have to bring me all that energy, you know.”
“I know,” Morgan said. “But is it so bad for someone to want to make sure their future wife is as strong as she can possibly be?”
“No,” Sarah said, holding her hand out and displaying the sparkling engagement ring sitting there. “I don’t think it is.”
“I made you something else,” Morgan said, reaching into a pocket dimension and pulling a small wooden box from inside. “I used what little extra time I had between missions to make it. I actually wanted to keep it a surprise and give it to you when we got married, but I figure you wouldn’t mind getting it now.”
“Ooh! I love presents!” Sarah said, letting out an excited squeak.
Morgan grinned from ear to ear as Sarah drew the glittering diamond bracelet from the box, her eyes shining in wonder.
“How did you…how did you make something so intricate?” she asked, finally tearing her eyes away from the bracelet and looking at him.
“It wasn’t easy, I’m not gonna lie,” Morgan said, taking the bracelet from her fingers and popping the small clasp. “Big attacks and motions are easy, hardly a challenge at all, but using my Earth Mastery to make this took some real effort.”
Sarah watched in silence as Morgan draped the bracelet over her wrist, pulling the ends together and snapping the small clasp shut.
“There’s no need to worry about taking it into a fight either,” he said, lifting her hand to examine the bracelet. “It might look delicate, but it could survive a collapsing building without getting so much as a scratch.”
“Aww! It’s wonderful!” Sarah exclaimed, launching herself into his arms and planting a very wet kiss on his cheek. “But now I feel bad. I didn’t get you anything.”
“You don’t have to,” Morgan said, setting her back on the ground.
“I do,” Sarah insisted, looking from him to the bracelet again. “You’ve given me a beautiful ring and this wonderful bracelet, and you made them yourself instead of going out and buying them. Which means even more to me.”
She let out a sigh, leaning into him again and closing her eyes.
“How did I get so lucky to find someone as amazing as you?”
“I wonder the same thing every day,” Morgan said. “You came from a noble family. You could have married into royalty if you’d wanted, and yet somehow, you agreed to marry me.”
“Stop, you’re making me blush,” Sarah said, though she only squeezed him tighter. “I just wish we could stay like this forever.”
“So do I,” Morgan replied, watching as the last of the soldiers marched into place.
They didn’t have long now, just a few minutes before the first big attack was going to begin. Morgan could see the mana cannons lining the walls, as well as the many beasts prowling about, collars fitted around their necks.
Freeing those beasts would be the first thing he’d do after tearing a hole in those walls, though ripping these walls apart wouldn’t be nearly as simple as using his Earth Mastery. They were interwoven with wards and scripts, meaning he had to either break all of them before attacking the walls with his skill, or he could just try and smash them.
Seeing as he was him, smashing the walls was the obvious choice.
“A pendant.”
“What?” Morgan asked, looking down.
“That’s what I’m going to get you,” Sarah said, shifting a little in his arms. “Just like the one you had made for my birthday. Do you remember that?”
“How could I not?” Morgan replied. “It was right before we decided to sneak into the West Queen’s palace.”
“Well, that didn’t go too well,” Sarah said, her nose wrinkling up at the memory.
No, it had not gone well at all, Morgan thought.
That break-in was followed by the events of the Skyflare tournament, where he was forced to compete against the like of Arnold and other Supers and Mages way above his station. He’d somehow managed to come out ahead in the end, only to discover that Sarah had been taken by her own father.
The battle that had followed that fun event had led to the emergence of the Beast King and the deaths of both Kind Edmund and Lord Simon – Katherine and Sarah’s respective fathers. Although, seeing as both of them were evil bastards, neither of them really seemed to mind all that much.
A horn sounded, and Sarah let out a huff as Morgan released her and stepped back.
“You need to get into position,” he said reluctantly.
“Don’t worry about me,” Sarah said. “After the amount of energy you pumped into me, I’ll be just fine.”
Sarah was now rank 76, a massive leap, considering how far along she was, and while his rank had improved a bit as well, it was nowhere near the jump she’d had.
“Just please be careful,” he said as a pair of icy wings burst from her back.
She gave him a smile, then turned to leave. She paused halfway to the edge of the bluff, whirled around and marched back over to him. She then grabbed his face, got up on her tiptoes, and planted a kiss on his lips. When she released him, her face was flushed and her breathing just a bit faster than it had been before.
“See you after the battle,” she said.
She then spread her wings and took off into the sky, heading for the left flank, where she could be fighting.
Morgan watched her go for a few moments, still feeling the lingering warmth of her lips. He only realized the dumb smile he was wearing when she began to land, her wings retracting.
He gave himself a little shake after allowing his emotions to run wild for a few moments longer. As amazing as she was, he couldn’t allow himself to be distracted when he went into battle. The first horn had already been blown, and the second would signal the start of the attack. Finding that he still had a couple of minutes until then, Morgan opened his status for a final check before the fight.
Name: Morgan
Title: King of Eternity
Pinnacle Supermage: Rank - 82
Energy to Next Rank - 69,420,696/850,000,000
Ability - Downfall
RP - 16,600/16,600 (Regen - 157.0 per second)
Strength - 1,760
Agility - 2,110
Constitution - 1,720
Intelligence - 1,660
Wisdom - 1,570
Traits - Eternal Soul, Perfect Aura Control, Devourer, King’s Might
Skills - Gravity Release, Bestial Might, Starforge, Earth Mastery, Expanse, Rift
Superior - Infernal Star, Light Star, Meteoric Downfall, Continental Collapse, Soulstream
Ultimate - Eternity Beam, Sunscorch
Morgan hadn’t been sure how things would work now that he was at the Pinnacle, but each new rank had given him a flat five-point increase to each attribute. Each successive rank would now cost him 50-million more energy than the last, which was considerable. But still, with the number of people he’d killed in this war, he could have been all the way at rank 86 had he not given Sarah all the energy instead. It was a decision he didn’t regret for even an instant.
His understanding of the world and how it functioned had also increased – albeit only slightly – with each successive rank gained. What he saw an improvement in most were his chances of learning a new skill. He could feel it beginning to stir on the very edges of his consciousness. It was still a bit away, but he knew that if he kept on this path, he would reach it eventually.
Morgan closed his status as a red-edged portal opened to his left, and Katherine stepped through. After the battle for the troll capital, any remaining tension or animosity had all but vanished, and now, the two of them were back to the way things had been before. Well, with the exception of Katherine no longer hitting on him, which was definitely new.
“You ready for this?” she asked, looking to the towering walls.
Katherine was going to be joining him on this mission, as her brute strength would pair well with his own.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Morgan replied. “I honestly can’t wait to get back home.”
“Neither can I,” Katherine said. “Though if what you told me is true, we’ll be bringing a lot of company along with us.”
Morgan pushed his senses westward at that, feeling the approaching World Beasts. They truly were a disaster made of flesh and would sink this continent to the depths of the ocean. No matter how many times Elyssa insisted the continent would be theirs with the gnomes’ defeat and that things would go back to normal, he knew it to be untrue.
“Good thing we have so much space,” Morgan replied.
The joke might have been a bit on the darker side, what with Octagon having created all that space by wiping out ninety percent of the northern population. Despite that, Katherine still snorted out a laugh, sounding very unladylike.
“That was terrible,” Katherine chided.
“And you still laughed,” Morgan said.
“I did, but—”
A horn blast cut Katherine off mid-sentence, and she let out a long sigh.
“Guess we’ll have to pick this up later,” she said, reaching into a pocket space and pulling her oversized mace out.
“Why?” Morgan asked, holding his own hand out and summoning a similar weapon using his Starforge skill. “Isn’t banter supposed to be part of any good battle?”
34
Morgan leaped through Katherine’s portal, emerging out the other side nearly thirty feet up, with a wall right in front of him. Without hesitating, Morgan pulled his arm back and slammed the Starforged mace into the stonework. Shockingly enough, it held, the wall shuddering under the force of his swing.
Stone chips flew as he pulled his arm in for a backswing, leaving a wide web of cracks across the stone block. Katherine dashed through a moment later, though she was on the ground and a bit to his left. Unlike him, Katherine couldn’t fly, so remaining airborne would be a bit of a problem.
A loud series of explosions began to go off as the mana cannons on the walls started firing into the charging army. Despite the fact that he and Katherine were trying to break through, their forces were simultaneously trying to scale the walls and hold some ground on the other side.
One of Katherine’s portals remained open, with soldiers pouring in and presumably emerging on the opposite side of the wall.
Morgan grunted as he pulled back for another swing, the handle lengthening so he could grip it with both hands. This blow was far more solid, leaving a sizable dent in the stone block and sending even more chips flying.
He pulled his arm back to swing again, only to see the barrel of a mana cannon pointed directly down at him. Those things might be able to hurt him a little if the blast were sustained, but right now, he’d be facing the problem of being slowed down, and they couldn’t really afford that.
Luckily, they had someone for these things, and even as he watched, Sarah came diving in, her oversized icy wings leaving a glittering trail in their wake. A huge fist smashed down, shattering the cannon and killing the Mages who were attempting to fire it. She streaked away as the released energy exploded, taking with it far less of the wall than one might have thought.
Morgan grinned as he swung again. He felt the feedback travel back up his arms as a wide crack appeared in the stone. This wall was tough, tougher than the hide of any beast he’d faced. Normally stone like this wouldn’t stand a chance, but the gnomes had had time to reinforce it, making it far stronger than it should have been.
Ladders were shoved up against the walls, with soldiers clambering up. More mana cannons were leveled, and Sarah streaked down, destroying the constructs and wreaking havoc from above. However, as she came in for her third pass, the enemy unleashed some of their caged beasts.
There was a burst of movement as a flock of falcon-squid hybrids shot into the air, all making for Sarah. Morgan felt a flash of anger as he saw the collars fitted around the beasts’ necks. They were strong, and as a flock, would give even Sarah a hard time. Worse, Morgan didn’t really feel like killing them. They were fighting against their will, and ever since his advancement – or more accurately, a bit before – his feelings toward beasts had changed.
He grunted as he swung the mace several more times, chipping away ineffectively at the stone.
This isn’t working, he thought in annoyance, looking down to see Katherine come to the same conclusion.
As his mace construct warped into a lance, Katherine summoned her own Reality Blade, and the two of them set to work once again. The tip of his lance crackled with lightning as he began spinning it, whirling in the way his original skill had. When Morgan thrust forward this time, the point bit in deep, and the quick rotation at the end of the lance began drilling into the stone.
Below, Katherine swung with all her might, her sharpened blade biting deep. The skill she released right after, the launched blade that tore into space, cut deeper still. Stone chips flew as Morgan pushed deeper, his lance drilling a hole about halfway into the wall before he ran out of the weapon.
He could always have made it longer, but drilling all the way through wasn’t necessary. Morgan’s arm flexed as he drew the lance out, then floated several feet over and shoved the weapon forward once more.
There was a screech from up above, and Morgan craned his neck upward to see Sarah engaged with the beasts. She flew, twisting and whirling through the air in a display of brilliant aerial acrobatics. Unfortunately for her, the beasts were better flyers, meaning that Sarah had to constantly ward them off, though she was careful not to let them surround or swarm her.
However, now that Sarah was engaged, the mounted cannons were free to fire unchallenged. Some of their soldiers had managed to make it onto the walls, but others were still in the process of climbing their siege ladders or down on the ground. Several ramps flowed up – Elyssa’s work, no doubt – and touched onto the walls.
Cannons were immediately leveled as soldiers began to climb and streaks of blue flashed. Morgan ignored the screams as several of the ramps were blown to pieces, concentrating instead on his job here. Ripping the lance from the wall, he moved over once more, drilling into the stone. It was only once he started on the third hole that he realized what an idiot he was being.
He wanted to conserve RP, but he was going to summon a full set of armor anyway. He didn’t even need to do the math, already knowing how many pieces he’d need to make a full set. Ten Starforged lances appeared around him, controlled by his skill. Morgan released the lance he was holding as well, then floated back.
With an effort of will, he forced the lances into several spots on the wall and watched in satisfaction as they began to do their work. Freshly summoned constructs were always more effective than ones that had been out for a while, and that was for one simple reason. His Starforge skill bestowed the added benefits of an increased gravity field and the ability to use lighting for the first five minutes with no additional cost to himself.
When the lances burrowed into the walls, they actually held a lot more force than one might initially think. The Starforge skill was so very different than the original Wind Blade skill, one that would allow him to summon a lance made of wind. Yes, it served a similar function to what his lances were doing now, but Morgan very much doubted that his old skill would have been able to leave so much as a scratch on this stone.
“How are you doing down there?” he called to Katherine as she stepped back from her second section and moved on.
“Getting there,” she called up. “I think we should be good in just a few more minutes.”
Morgan let out a grunt in reply, then focused back on the wall before him. The lances were biting deep, working quickly to weaken this section of the wall. Just as he was pulling them out, there was a loud screech from above, and Morgan looked up to see Sarah twisting among the flacons, a pair of ice lances whirling around her as she tried to force the flock back.
