Chapter 259

As expected, they found danger on the floor above. Like the previous room, the environment was well-kept stone brick, mostly plain but with a few features: a number of empty bookshelves, lit torches affixed to the walls, and glass windows that peeked out into a starry night sky. Zoey’s interest was kindled by that last part, since it suggested they were in some sort of building rather than underground, but she set it aside.

Because, again, there was danger.

A suit of armor. Green light emanated from the neck-hole where a helmet should have been. An animated golem of some sort?

It was less intimidating than the monsters of the magma cavern, but she’d be an idiot to assume that physical presence indicated strength. This was a fourth-advancement shard. And one not affected by Ephy’s blessing, or whatever power Zoey herself had accrued. They were a team of fourth-advancement wayfarers, and this was a fourth-advancement shard; any monster they found would roughly be a match for them.

Well. In theory. Theirs was a team of prodigies.

Dragging its sword up and leveling the giant blade toward them, the suit of magically animated armor readied itself for a fight.

Combat began.

Zoey had a relatively straightforward role. Much of her utility came from her support abilities. Frankly, Bond, Alacrity, Growth, and Share—the passive skills that came from her Rune of Bonding—provided the bulk of her value. Sharing stats and boosting a teammate’s advancement speed was no small thing, and it required no action on Zoey’s part. Afterglow too was active, but that had been handled before setting out. It lasted for a while.

Even Bolster was as simple as willing the ability to take effect, and while she wouldn’t use it every fight—it required Lust, which they wanted to ration, since refilling might be tricky with Astrid here—she used it now, since this was the first combat, and they wanted to take the initial fight carefully, to understand what they were in for.

And so Rosalie shot forward, Bolstered by Zoey’s class, and with her own key skill—Lead the Charge—granting enormous power to the first strike of combat. Dragon’s Tongue punched through the armor with contemptuous ease before the suit of armor could react, Rosalie’s lunge vicious and graceful. The blonde drew back to Astrid, seemingly in the same motion.

The armor staggered backward, but the giant hole in its armor didn’t kill it outright; it had no heart to puncture. A fourth-advancement encounter wouldn’t be so trivial, even considering the strength of their abilities.

So the dance began.

Astrid rushed forward, shield bared. Rosalie followed to her side. Confusion Bolts streamed from Maddy’s staff. Delta and her shadow snuck from opposing flanks, daggers held at the ready. All of which Zoey was aware of in a nominal sense, but couldn’t focus on with any precision. She had her own magic spells to wrangle with and aim.

A suit of magical armor. Would such a creature be vulnerable to lightning? She wasn’t sure. But it was the element of magic she’d been training these last several days and her newest Rune besides, so of course she wanted to try.

Spells weren’t skills, so they didn’t have proper, defined names, but mages tended to give their trained abilities identifiers nonetheless: and this straightforward spell she called, reasonably, Lightning Bolt.

Even as her teammates danced around the monster as it swung its enormous great sword, Zoey snuck in a bolt of white energy that flashed bright, a zzzt filling the air before fading. It connected with the breastplate of the animated monster, and the entire creature seized. She didn’t know if such a creature could feel pain, but at a minimum, it had created an opening.

Her teammates tore into the monster. Spear, daggers, pointed dragon scale, and bolts of energy from Maddy that had no immediate discernible effect, but which provided further openings as it stumbled around in spell-created confusion.

The creature died in short order. Yes, this was a fourth-advancement shard. But this was a regular monster, not a boss, and moreover, Zoey’s team was no ordinary fourth-advancement wayfaring team. Across the entire Fractures there might be a handful of squads of similar caliber. Few had a Guildmaster’s Heiresses or a Sovereign’s daughter or a Clan’s prodigious warrior. Much less a chosen of a goddess.

So it died. With some fanfare. It wasn’t easy. But neither did any of them take a scratch. Astrid kept close and battered viciously into the creature with that giant red scale, not giving it a moment to pay attention to anyone else—even if she didn’t seem to be causing any serious damage to it herself. A defensive specialist.

Breathing hard, Astrid and Rosalie made sure to pierce and bash the armor into pieces, even after the green light had flickered out. Always better safe than sorry in a career like wayfaring.

“Mm,” Astrid said. “Not impressed.”

Rosalie made a noise in the back of her throat, sounding like she agreed. Neither of the elite warriors in the group had found the fight interesting, apparently, and were, amusingly, disapproving because of that. Maddy snickered to her side, receiving a curious look from Rosalie. Zoey assumed the illusionist had thought the same thing.