He quickly donned his armor. The quirky AI zoomed to life in his HUD, reminding him of Sera once again. One of the gargoyles blurred and hit him with a punch, but this time his armor saved his ass big time, and the punch just pushed him back.
The monsters moved whenever he did. Every move he made with his hand or leg counted as an action and the monster hit him.
“Oh, Master, you put me back on again. This must be my lucky day. Twice in one day.” The AI giggled.
“Shut up. Tell me what options I have with these monsters.”
“On it.” The AI disappeared from his vision for few seconds. He focused on his HUD and found his magic energy level and a holographic image of his body rotating around itself in his vision. He even spotted his chest injury on the figure.
Cool.
He had never seen this feature in the brief amount of time he'd used this armor.
“Master, these are stone gargoyles. They are here to guard that door.”
Yerra snorted. “I know that. Anything else?”
“Okay, then you decide what you want to do. I’ll go back to sleep.” The AI vanished from his vision.
“God, why did I get a useless AI?”
“I heard that, Master.”
Fuck you.
Yerra focused on the available options. When he’d donned this armor for the first time, he was astonished by the features it had. There was a long list of spells the armor could cast using Yerra’s magic energy. The armor was like having a second body with extra spells. Yerra loved it, but when the AI popped up with Sera’s face he’d abandoned it in the preparation room and never wore it again.
“Which of your junk spells I can use on them?” Yerra muttered.
The AI appeared in his HUD again. “Why don’t you try fire punch? It enhances your physical punch using fire magic. I think it will work on the stone gargoyles.”
Yerra stared at the AI, wondering if she was luring him into doing something stupid. Well, he had no other option.
Yerra squatted and shot for the nearest stone statue and activated his fire punch. The moment he moved, one other gargoyle moved in his direction too. Now it was a race to hitting each other. Yerra won that race and shattered the face of the gargoyle he hit, but at the same time he took a direct hit from the other gargoyle and crashed to the floor. It hurt. So much. The bastard had hit him between the armor plates.
The headless monster’s body fell to the ground near Yerra and remained inert.
Thank God. One down.
He relaxed his hand at his side before realizing hand movement counted as action too. The next gargoyle punch made his realization more striking.
“Fuck you all.” He coughed blood.
“Master I have an idea.”
“I’m listening.” He’d rather listen to the fucking AI than cough up more blood.
“Why don’t you use the tier two fire punch and hit one of the monsters from the side? It may crash against the others and destroy them too. Tier two is twice the amount of power of the one you just used.”
“Is there a tier two spell as well? Why didn't you tell me that before?” Yerra wondered what else this armor could do. Other armor sets he’d seen didn’t have an AI or different tiers of spells. They came with extra spells or enhancements, but extra tiers of spells… that was fucking awesome.
Yerra jumped back to his feet and took the next punch to the gut. It left him breathless for a moment, even though his armor soaked the majority of the damage.
Yerra aimed for the next gargoyle from one side and punched it in the gut with a tier two fire punch. The gargoyle crashed into another, and then another, creating a chain reaction. It ended on the fifth gargoyle as that monster was already on top of Yerra, hitting him on his helmet.
The AI’s image blurred briefly as Yerra hit the ground.
“Wow, you killed four gargoyles in one hit. Five down, five to go.” The AI giggled again, making Yerra wonder how much intelligence this shitty code had. “But I don’t think you can take another punch.” His body zoomed in front of his eyes with multiple red marks. He could guess what the red dots were: the source of pain points in his body. He could feel them all.
“Do you have any tier three spells?” Yerra asked.
“No, and even if I had access to them, you wouldn’t survive the next gargoyle. You’d better get out of the door and leave the temple,” the AI replied.
“No way I’m letting my little sister die. If I finish the remaining five, at least Nela can continue and save Talia.” With that, he dashed toward his death.
Chapter 5
A gargoyle was on top of Yerra even before he hit his target. But something else hit him hard in the chest while he was in the air and about to activate his fire punch. the next thing he knew, he was crashing to the ground. One after another, gargoyles vanished from their places, intent upon answering action with action. Yerra closed his eyes expecting a barrage of punches to bury him in the ground.
At least Nela’s wish will come true.
But no blows came for him.
He opened his eyes to find the AI flickering in his vision again and again.
Is she dying too?
The image flickered again, lips moving, but whatever she said fell on deaf ears. When his senses returned, he realized she was calling his name.
“Master open your eyes. Miss Nela saved you.”
“What? You’re not making any sense. She wouldn’t even lift her finger to point anyone at me.” Yerra coughed, sparking excruciating pain; even moving his internal muscles pushed him closer to the edge of unconsciousness.
“Master, I think you need some painkillers. Why don’t you drink one of your healing potions?” the AI said.
Yerra tried to sit up, but his hands failed to support him. “How did you know about them? And I can't. I’m saving them for Talia.” She might need them more.
A sword tip hovered over his eye. “Whom are you talking with, traitor? Drink one health potion, or you’ll die here. And that doesn't suit my plan.”
“Your plan.” Yerra's eyes jumped to Nela's face. What plan she was talking about?
Her lips curled, and her eyes wavered for a second. “To save Talia. What if another room requires your armor’s hand piece?”
“Makes sense.” Yerra grabbed her sword and pulled himself up. “Thanks for the advice though.” With her approval, he felt good and opened his backpack to fetch a potion.
Nela ignored him and picked up a couple of pieces of the gargoyle and dashed them to even smaller pieces on the nearby wall. “They will come back to life once we leave this room, but if we dismantle them enough, they won’t be back. The punch spell you used destroyed the first five, so there is no coming back for them.” She threw the next hunk of stone at his head.
“Ouch.” Pain lanced many parts of his body, begging him to drink the health potion. It was the only way he would be able to stand.
A health potion made by Asura’s technology division was a dual-purpose potion; it contained a healing spell in the form of liquid magic to heal any magical damage. The second component contained high speed nanites that sealed any physical damage. The potion was produced in limited quantity for two reasons: first, the special glass used to store the potion was a rare alloy only found on Asura, and second there was a third rare ingredient that only the queen knew. So its use was restricted to the royal family. Not even the mage emperor had access to this technology.
Yerra had only drank half of the potion when Nela’s sword destroyed the vial. The remaining liquid vanished.
“What the fuck?” He growled at Nela, who had just destroyed a precious resource like it was nothing.
“Traitors are not entitled to drink a full healing potion.” Nela jumped on the staircase and proceeded to ignore him completely.
“I shouldn't have brought her with me,” he whispered as he put his helmet back on. The image of his body sprung to life in his HUD, and now it was green—thanks to the healing potion—bu
t his chest and shoulder remained a little amber. Half of the potion would not cut it for him.
Yerra focused back on Nela, irritated by her behavior. She was about to ascend the stairs. Her first step triggered a trap, and a wave of mist surrounded her whole body. Nela struggled and tried to swing her katana, but the sword dropped from her hand as if the mist had paralyzed her. Yerra took a step forward and noticed a metal ax coming at her from the ceiling. He leaped and landed next to his sister, then charged and hit the ax with a fire punch, breaking it into pieces. Yerra understood enough of this room—it only charged them with physical force, and no magic would work on its defenses.
The mist disappeared when the ax broke.
Nela dropped to her knees, panting. “Thanks.” It took her a minute to recover. She stood up and then jumped straight next to the lion’s mouth. Yerra followed and landed next to her.
“Nela, how did you attack the gargoyle without getting a single hit? And why did you destroy the potion?” She looked at ease even after destroying five gargoyles. “You’re well aware of the cost of that potion, aren’t you?”
She was an heir to the throne, so she must know, but she acted like the complete opposite of a responsible person. That irked Yerra more. How could she do that?
“I don't give a damn what you think! And one more punch would have killed you,” she said.
“She is right, Master.” His AI chipped in.
“Shut up, stupid AI.” He pulled his helmet off. “Nela, that doesn't answer the question. Why did you destroy the health potion? You could have just asked me, and I would have put it back. Even a half-used potion is useful—being an heir, you know that very well.”
Nela turned away, ignoring him once more.
Yerra had enough of her. For ten years he had sent her hundreds, maybe thousands, of apology messages, but the woman never replied back, and now she was giving him shit all over. Her actions were confusing, if not outright insane.
Yerra grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him. “Sister, answer me. Why didn’t you let me die? What is going on in your mind? If you had the power to destroy the monsters, why didn't you attack first?”
Nela shoved his hand away and pushed her fingers through hair. “Because I can’t let a bunch of monsters kill you. Because I fucking hate you. Because I want to kill you with my own hands. I didn’t brought you here for just die like this.” Her eyes shone with insane hatred for him.
Yerra’s heartbeat raced like the galaxy’s fastest spaceship, realizing there was a monster inside Nela’s eyes—a big bad wolf.
Chapter 6
H is own sister wanted to kill him. How much worse could it get?
Yerra looked into Nela’s eyes. They burned with the fire of hatred. Yerra knew she hated him, but to the extent of wanting to kill him? Where had he gone wrong? Did Patrick's death invoke the monster in her? But no, she wasn't a monster.
This is the first time she’s seen me, face to face, in ten years. That must be it.
Nela was the heir to the throne, and his mother wouldn't have chosen her if she had seen any hint of insanity in her.
“What do you mean by you brought me here?” Yerra asked.
Nela stepped inside the lion's mouth with a scowl.
Yerra stood there with his arms folded across his chest, contemplating, battling with his own mind whether he should check with his mother on Nela’s mental condition once he got back. She hadn’t even flinched when she crushed the remaining health potion from his hands. This was bad. Very bad.
Why have you turned like this, sister?
He rested his sore butt on one stone finger. Something moved under his butt, and he jumped up. He turned back to see what had happened. It was the finger. The fucking finger was moving. His fear was coming to life.
He put his helmet back on. “AI, is that—”
“Yes, Master. It's the stone man buried beneath the room. I don’t think you can survive against it.”
When did AI start thinking? AIs in his world were forbidden to think and only allowed to work on the given conditions and laws. But the one installed in his armor seemed different. “Rightly said, AI.” He jumped into the lion’s mouth.
Yerra landed in a brightly lit room with a stone basin at its center. “No more gargoyles, please,” he whispered, while looking for Nela. She wasn’t there. “What the fuck? Did she already beat the room?”
“I don’t think so, Master. Duck!” the AI shouted.
Yerra ducked first and then spread his perception. Something sharp flew at him and passed over his head. A katana! Well, it wasn’t a complete katana because the hilt was missing, but the blade shape was the same as Nela’s sword.
“AI, do you sense Nela anywhere?”
Did she throw her sword at me?
A hole appeared in the opposite wall, and another sword flew toward him. This time, it was a sabre. Yerra jumped to avoid it. The moment he landed, another hole appeared, and another sword flew at him. This time Yerra shot a fireball at the sword, but the sword pierced right through it. Yerra tried a level seven shield. It worked, sort of. The sword changed direction after colliding with his shield, but it still penetrated the shield and brushed past his right arm. The swords were clearly using another type of physical force that was superior to a level seven shield.
“God, this temple is turning into a pain in the ass, even for level seven magic.” Or, maybe the guardian—the creator of the temple—was being an ass.
“Master, look at the basin. Let’s use it as a hiding place.”
Yerra glanced over at the basin while dodging the swords, one after another. It looked like a safe place. Any blade that flew too close to the basin was deflected. Yerra quickly made a decision, as the frequency of the incoming blades increased every second he remained still. Soon, dodging blades became difficult, and a couple of them flew too close for comfort.
Yerra squatted and leaped over to the basin. A strange smell filled his lungs, the smell of stored magic. The basin was flowing with liquid magic, like the magic stored in his healing potions. Yerra wanted to analyze it further, but there were more pressing matters around him, like the flying swords. He glanced around, but he saw no swords flying anymore, only a few blurs and the whistling sound of something flying through the air.
Yerra squinted, but he still didn’t see anything. “AI, is that sound from the flying swords?”
“Yes, Master. Their speed is has increased to greater than the speed of sound, and hence you can't see them. If you want, I can record and play it in slow motion for you.”
“No need, you fool. It’s enough for me to know there is no way out.” The swords halted his advancement.
Damn! I shouldn’t have used the basin. One single move fucking changed everything.
The guardian was indeed being a real ass this time. How was he supposed to pass the impenetrable sword defense? The best shield he could conjure was level eight, but he doubted it would be of any use. Why were these constructs even in the trial of level seven? They were too hard for a level six mage.
Yerra glanced around to find the door to the next room. There had to be one.
“AI, you mentioned some special perception spell earlier. What's that?”
“Oh, now you’re interested in it? Really? You shut me up when I first brought it up,” the AI snapped back.
“Shut up and answer me.” The AI was getting quirkier by the minute.
“Yes, Master. It's like your detection specialty. I can extend my magic—sorry, your magic—and detect any spells the next person is capable of using. His level, his armor’s abilities etc. It’s restricted to level seven mages right now, and level seven compatible armors. If you gain a new level yourself, or a new upgrade for my armor, I’ll be able to analyze more details of the next person.”
“What a stupid power.” Yerra chuckled, enjoying teasing the AI.
The AI rolled her eyes. “That’s what’s going to save your ass today, Master.”
Yerra scra
tched his armored chin. “Care to explain, little friend?”
“If you let me activate it, I’ll find something about this room, probably.”
“Go ahead.” Yerra wondered what it would be like to understand multiple things about the next mage. That would defiantly come handy, especially with his mother. A two hundred-year-old woman ought to be at least level fifteen. Or he might use it on the mage emperor. But he needed to get the armor upgraded to do so. He was aware of the special upgrades that Eugenie tech could do, but he doubted the AI meant that kind of upgrade.
I need to find more about this once I get out of here.
The AI flared in his HUD after a minute. “Master, the basin near you is made up of pure magic energy. Air magic. Even the blades are made up of air magic.”
“Wait, did you mean the blades are solid magic? That doesn’t make sense. No one, not even my mother, has learned to get magical energy beyond the liquid state, and the magic can’t remain stable in the open air. That’s not possible.”
“It’d be possible if the whole room is made up of magic and not on the plane of your planet.” The AI’s digital features formed a smirk.
Did she just smirk at me?
Yerra shoved the thought away. If the AI was right, then he was in another dimension, but which? The fourth dimension? Not possible. The darkness element would have devoured him without a strong fire shield, and there were no solid things in that dimension. “Can you analyze which dimension?”
“I don’t have that information, Master. But I can tell you that the door in the north corner of the room leads to some other plane. Perhaps it's going to your plane of existence.”
Yerra whistled at the idea of planes other than the fourth dimension. He’d better ask the guardian if he ever gets a chance to meet him. He could even ask the mage emperor, but only if he survived the room of flying swords.
Chapter 7
Y erra stared at the blurring swords, but nothing made sense. He gave up after a few minutes. The flying swords were virtually everywhere except around the basin. Jumping to the basin seemed like the first step every adventurer must take, but it also made the swords go supersonic and now reaching the door was impossible. On top of that, he felt lightheaded, which made thinking that much harder.
Crystal of Souls_Fire Mage_Star Mage Novella Page 3
