Chương 83: 83, loop 2 part 37

The amazing thing about the spell was just how impressive it was. In fact, the first time I'd seen it, I'd been awestruck. But now, I had to admit, I was more than a bit terrified with it about to be used against me. Every single thing surrounding us started floating. That meant spears, tree branches, rocks, body parts, wings, even some of the grass that had survived the wild fires. And then all of it turned toward me. Well, fuck.

"Finn, go, quick. [Ward] yourself and Axe. Don't worry about me."

"What? It's aiming for you, dumbass."

"I'll be fine. Trust me." Thankfully, he listened, because he had a record of not listening to me in emergencies. And I didn't want anyone dead, let alone my best friend. I'd watched him die one too many times already. He flew toward Axe as the first spears came at me. I shot straight up like I'd cast a [Rocket] spell. But unfortunately, there were more than enough things coming toward me that getting out of the way just put me in front of something else.

I jerked to the left and then threw myself toward the ground. The important part was missing it at the last second. That was the real secret to flying. Throwing yourself at the ground and missing. Everything changed direction to follow me. But with [Wideview], I could see them coming. It had long been the secret to my dodging success. Sure, I was sometimes too lazy to dodge things that couldn't kill me, but I had a perfect record of not dying to hits that I knew I could. So far.

Branches and spears came at me from both sides. A boulder was followed up by three sets of wings. I barely got underneath it just as a burnt ape flew over my head. I guess it was going to take a lot more than being dead to stop those assholes from trying to kill me. Which, I mean, given the fact that I'd already fought the undead version of them, I shouldn't have been surprised. I ducked into a roll and flew sideways. Thankfully, Axe was busy arguing with Finn.

If he saw this mess, he'd probably insist I join the honorable dead instead of dodging like a coward. As if on cue, Axe sent a message. Commander, I do not need the protection of this healer. Tell him to let me out. There is still a battle to be won, and I tire of these pitiful shields.

"Not now, Axe!" I shouted back. I almost got hit from the brief distraction. The spear went between my arm and my chest, and I pulled my elbow out of the way before it could spear me. Heh. More and more things kept circling back for another attempt. I flew higher, flew down, left and right, dodging and juking, getting out of their way just in time. Minutes passed, and somehow, I still had a perfect record. I was also putting in way more effort than I had any intention of repeating anytime soon.

Adrenaline was amazing because you never knew how tired you were until afterward. Like that time I ran from the lower levels of the library until I collapsed on a bench. This was a lot like that, except scarier, because the death was going to be my own—and I wasn't confident this loop would reset without my uncle's tether. I was pretty sure I was starting to frustrate the dungeon. It didn't quite like that I wasn't sitting still like a good boy and letting it murder me. That was the thing about evil.

It was never satisfied with the win. It always needed something else, something new, something novel to twist. And in this case, that something was me. It wasn't gonna get that. I had enough problems cooperating with people I liked. I wasn't gonna start now with someone I hated. I'd initially been worried they'd use this opportunity to sneak attack Flag or do something devious. And honestly, protecting him would have been considerably harder with half the battlefield chasing me. But Prime Flag hadn't moved.

The tree was keeping his body in place, and he was completely untouched. Even the things that missed me dodged him. A spear changed direction before it would have gone through his chest. Oh, they weren't just leaving him alone. They were actively trying to keep him alive because they needed his tether to work. Duh. I was losing my edge lately. Flag was still in the original mannequin body. His red tether was some sort of parasitic tether, which had been mentioned briefly in that book the Keeper had given me.

But I hadn't paid much attention then becauseI'd been more focused on making an army to do my work for me. Honestly, as much fun as it was to leech off people, I did have some moral standards I planned to stick to. And not stealing people's souls was at the top of that very short list. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. The dodging went on for way too long, and I was starting to get tired.

But I needed my mana for the solution to all this, and to wait for the optimal time. Thankfully, I had him right where I wanted him. Because the [Army of Things] finally changed direction, just when I needed a few seconds without something trying to stab me. Dozens of spears clattered and bounced off Finn's shields like hail. Each one thumped one after the other after the other, forming a rhythmic beat. The dungeon spoke.

"Well, if I can't kill you with your idiotic gamboling around, I'll just kill them." But Finn's ward held. It was clear to me he could easily hold it for the next five minutes—which was four more than I needed—but of course Axe wasn't going to make it easy.

"Commander, I cannot reach the enemy. Get me out of here." I frowned. Apparently, being attacked wasn't enough for him. He needed something he could actually cut in half, and the corpses bouncing off Finn's ward didn't cut it.

"He's trying to break out!" Finn shouted.

"Laz, I can't hold this around him if he keeps moving!"

"Axe, seriously!? Stay where you are! Don't you know battle tactics at all!? I'm dealing with it!" I screamed in frustration. It was like he was actively sabotaging us today, and we'd already dealt with enough quasi-betrayals. He stopped pushing against the ward. Thankfully, Finn didn't waste any more time asking questions. And now that I didn't have to play "dodge the everything" anymore, it was time for the part most likely to get me killed. I floated toward Flag, watching the red inside our tether.

I'd spent most of the dungeon moving farther away from him whenever it got too close. Now I was doing the opposite. The closer I got, the less gold there was between the red tether and my chest. I landed a few feet from him but kept [Float] active, just in case. The red was only inches away now.

"Laz! What the fuck?" Finn said.

"Don't get so close." But I ignored him. I needed to focus, and explaining what I was doing would take time neither of us had. Back when she was teaching me how to make golems, the Keeper had mentioned a couple of spells, and I'd looked them up in the book I'd found. Most of it was boring technical stuff about mana math and spell diagrams. And so I'd skipped ahead to the useful part—the spells. Unfortunately, reading about a spell wasn't quite the same as casting it.

I hadn't even tried this one to see what the spell block looked like. But hey, there was a first time for everything. I just needed this particular first time to work.

"[Tether Link]." [Tether Link - Alteration] Cost: 78 mana, variable. Connects a targeted tether to a receiving soul. Duration: Until severed. I caught the end of the red tether with my spell and pulled it away from the gold. For a second, I just held it there. It had worked. Oh, fuck. Now I actually had to do something with it. The tether jerked against my spell, trying to get back to the gold. I held on and flew sideways toward the tree, keeping the loose end away from my chest.

Then I aimed it at the tree's soul and let the spell finish. The red shot up through the bark and connected. I felt it connect. The rest pulled free of my gold tether until the red ran from Flag to the tree instead of toward me. I stared at it for a couple of seconds. Somehow, that had gone off without a hitch—which meant I needed to get my ass in gear before the hitch showed up. Another body hit Finn's ward.

The barrier bent inward before he pushed it back out, and I doubted he had more than ten or fifteen seconds left." [Tether Unlink]." [Tether Unlink - Alteration] Cost: 56 mana, variable. Severs a selected soul's connection to a tether. Duration: Instant. I didn't know if this would work on the whole network, but I wasn't trying to disconnect every clone. I just wanted Flag out of it. All the red tethers came together at his back. I focused [Tether Unlink] on the spot where that cluster connected to him and cast.

The whole thing came free of his back, but the tethers stayed connected to each other. Flag stared at his hands, then looked at me.

"Oh, hello, Laz. Are we finished with the dragon?"

"Get down, now."

"Oh. All right." He crouched before tipping forward into the ground, his mannequin arms unable to support his weight. The knotted mass of red tethers floated behind him, still connected to every clone, but he was free. One of the clones reached toward Flag. I felt a spell pass over him, but he kept moving, trying to get his arms out from beneath his chest.

"Put him back." Prime Flag's voice was louder now. She tried the spell again, and Flag finally got one hand free. Oh. She'd been using the tether to reach him. Whatever ridiculously powerful spell she'd cast didn't do much without it. So much for there being other ways to control souls without a tether. Another clone looked toward the tree.

"Why won't it disconnect?" The red tether pulled tight—first toward the floor, then toward the tree. Neither end came loose. Apparently, getting rid of the connection was considerably harder when I wasn't doing it for them. I put a hand on Flag's back to keep him down. There was one more spell the Keeper had mentioned, and now seemed like as good a time as any to try it.

"[Tether Bomb]." [Tether Bomb - Alteration] Cost: 490 mana minimum, variable with maximum mana. Minimum cost equals 75% of the caster's maximum mana. Additional mana increases damage and blast radius. Detonates a tether all along its length. Duration: Instant.