CH361

“Dodge!” Amy yelled out as Ben jumped to the side, a boulder falling from above landing where he was standing only seconds ago with more on their way down as they rushed back the way they’d come.

As they kept trying different paths, five having been dead ends, with the only three exceptions being the lava, the raining boulders coming down around them on the one they’d just tried, and one in the middle having the ground fall away beneath them, Amy jumping back in time and Jake only being saved by the fact that he could use his magic to fly, even if he seemed uncomfortably shaky for having to pull it off in a split second.

“So we have one direction we haven’t gone yet. What do you think the odds are that we just haven’t gone down the right one yet?”

“Hey, you can roll a die and keep getting ones, it happens,” Jake said optimistically, confident that they were on the right path after exhausting all the others.

His companions seemed less sure but went along anyway, not seeing much other choice as Ben did his best to make a mental map of all they’d gone through so far, not wanting to end up lost if anything happened.

It was when they arrived at the halls edge that they felt a change before they saw it, the ground shaking as they stepped through Jake’s portal when the walls on each side of them changed, not letting lava pour out of them like they had the last time, but instead stepping out, taking the form of two stone giants, reaching out to attack as they did.

By this point, Jake was ready with the portal spell on his fingertips, opening it up for them to escape, but before they did it was Yuzu who acted, holding her staff forward and firing a spell Ben didn’t have the context to recognize, even if its effects were apparent. As it expanded forward, the raw power of a soul mage behind it, both statues were hit, with the effect being instantaneous.

The moment they touched her mana they collapsed to the ground, enough force behind their fall to almost knock Ben off his feet as Amy pat the blue girl’s back while Jake cheered.

“Woo! Looks like we can keep going forward then, let’s get going.”

It was Ben who stopped them, casting a look to the soul mage as he spoke up. “How did you do that?”

“I could feel the life mana within them so I blasted it away, I’m just good like that,” She said smugly as Ben focused on a different part of it.

“Okay, so I guess what me and Thera get to take away from this is that the trial will throw spells that mix attributes at us too. Should I take the fact that neither of you was surprised when Yuzu did that as a sign that you already knew?” He asked, watching as their faces went blank and they struggled to speak.

Covenants, gotcha.

“You don’t need to try and answer,” He sighed. “I get it, you all faced something along these lines in the life trial, right? Since we’ve seen lava too it looks like as long as the spell uses earth magic it’s fair game and it seems safe to assume that all of the trials operate this way then. Do they have anything else in common we should be worrying about?”

Again they fell silent, the effects of the covenant keeping them from answering one way or another as Ben held in a groan. He didn’t consider that the three of them might have information that he and Thera might need, and the fact that they couldn’t tell them was nothing but aggravating.

“Fine, just don’t go letting us die from anything you know and let’s keep going. I guess there’s no safe path we can take from the looks of it so we just need to keep getting past these traps when we get to them. Wait, actually, before we do, do either of you need any stone?”

He packed a couple rocks to be on the safe side, but the fact that Thera had been able to control the lava earlier was sign enough that they could use what the trial provided as different traps activated.

Jake seemed fine, going to at least try to stick to his non-affinitied options outside of his space spell, but Thera held her staff out towards the fallen golem, ripping out a boulder and shrugging as the others looked at her questioningly.

“Better to have it and not need it, right?” She said, and it seemed good enough for them as a new portal opened and they stepped through to the next split.

“So which way this time gang?” Jake asked as they reached it. “Also, if we could walk for this next bit, all of this exploring has been brutal on my mana and I’d rather not need it for the whole not dying thing.”

Nobody was going to argue. Any party that came through without a space mage was bound to have a terrible time exploring and backtracking, only to discover that no matter what they did they’d have to keep going through the various traps eventually. Jake had saved them a lot of time and energy on that front, and they’d all be significantly happier if he had as much mana as he could to spare as their main escape route.

Though if he needs a break already he needs more practice with his space magic. Ben noted. Steph could go longer than that with more distance too. Maybe a heads up to mention to Uliel. Sorry Jake, it’s for your long-term survival.

“Since this was a path on our left I vote we keep going left,” Amy said. “That’s the easiest way to deal with a maze, right? You keep picking one direction and if you find a dead end you backtrack. Better than wandering around mindlessly.”

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A maze.

Something about the word resonated with Ben, picking at his subconscious as a few of his minds worked on figuring out what. It was annoying, like he was right on the edge of something, but since he couldn’t see it, it was useless.

Without other options they agreed with Amy’s plan as they continued on their way, staying vigilant the best they could for anything that could befall them as they did their best to move forward.

While walking was better for Jake’s mana, it did leave their minds tense as they followed the plan, finding two more dead ends and doubling back as they moved to go down a new hall, a scraping sound telling them something was wrong before any of them could pick up on what, the noise filling the area as they all froze, trying to be on guard against whatever was coming for them, with that instinct being a huge mistake.

“Fuck, move!” Ben yelled out, being the first to realize what was happening. They were all in the middle of the hallway and the walls were closing in. Going back or forward would take just as long so they pressed on, running with all of their might as Ben was carried again, giving him the horrifying view that they weren’t going to make it in time.

He wasn’t alone in seeing that, but it was Thera who reacted first. She was still carrying the boulder with her magic, having it just in case it could be put to use and finding one as she had altered its shape before Jake even began his space spell. changing the rock into a long, thin bench that scooped up each of the runners before rocketing forward, getting them out of harm’s way at breakneck speeds.

The problem with any sort of rapid speed though was always the stopping. She slowed down the best she could once she’d gotten them out but still had to stop fast lest they hit the oncoming wall, with the speed being enough to throw them out at it.