Chương 17: Archive Quest

Kurvam clashed with the armoured puppet. He was not yet injured, all thanks to the ungodly precision of Verka's warding skills. Kurvam hadn't managed to even dent the armor's integrity. The puppet was too fast for even Liesel's channeling ability to keep up, so she hadn't even considered offering help. If the first layer was this single battle, then she didn't think she had any role to play. Kurvam was inherently stronger, so if his strikes wouldn't damage the guardian, it might be a mage's job.

He would be exhausted very soon, and the puppet had used no form of magic yet. Fiya and the other mage were gathering energy for a spell. It was not an area Liesel had much understanding of, but at least they were sure it would be a one-hit kill. They had not yet tried to engage it as a team, one because engaging in any close combat with multiple people was impossible. They'd be a hindrance to one another against a mobile, small target. And not to mention the ice.

Kurvam could fight it only because Verak had created a small ward, and he had known the leader for a while to assist him with mobility from afar. At least, the warder's interference didn't seem to agitate the demon yet.

"Take him away," Fiya said as she angled the spell circle towards the metal armour. At the center of the spell, there was a white energy core, thrumming with a chaotic hum.

"Don't! I can win this," he shouted, barely managing to get away from the arc of steel. And the warder heeded his demand.

"We can't wait," Fiya shouted. Yehia raised a brow in Liesel's direction, who gave a nod. She created a barrier in front of the captain and yanked him away. His balance slipped, and the warder created a stronger barrier to keep him on his feet from behind. The smirk on Spearlady's face said it was not out of any urgency. The puppet didn't chase him. Instead, it returned to where its sheath was buried in ice, lowering its blade back into it. Fiya shot a focused ray of energy in the puppet's direction.

It struck the angled face, and the ray split in two, diverting in two directions and hitting the door behind the puppet. It left a dent in stone doors, but the armor's metal showed a slight red glow at the point of impact. Red-faced, Kurvam was dashing towards them. Though he may have been upset, he forgot about it as he witnessed the spell fail to do anything to the Door Guardian. The red spot on the metal soon returned to its natural steel shine.

"It is resistant to magic," Liesel said, but it didn't seem to be completely immune to it. Without immunity, they could always overwhelm it.

"Can you increase the output?" Fiya shook her head.

"That was all of my Materiality. If I even reattempt it, it would damage my soul veins." They shifted their eyes to the other mage, and he shrugged as well.

"That was the upper limit of the spell's output, so even with Materiality cores as fuel, we can't go beyond this." Yehia wanted to test out her skill as well, which was a mid-ranged lance throw. It was powerful, but the spear bounced off its body. She had to balance herself to the edge of the mist to pick up the spear, and the tip had snapped upon contact. She had more spears, so it was nothing to worry about, except that they were staring at an invincible wall.

"Now that you've shown us how powerless we are, are you going to kill it?" Kurvam said mockingly. And yet, there was a bitter apprehension hidden in it. Liesel frowned. It was not a human with a weak spot. It was a power check. They didn't even need to fight the puppet, just get past its metal armour from afar. It was just a special training dummy if stripped of all its surroundings.

"I wish," Liesel sighed.

"Perhaps in a way, it is a warning from the Necropolis what kind of power it expects from us."

"I am sure you can," Kurvam insisted, grinning deliberately.

"C'mon. You've got to show us." Liesel shrugged. She took out a dagger from her belt and flung it in the direction of the puppet. With a ting, it bounced off its steel body and skidded on the ice floor. The warder scooped it up with a barrier and handed it back.

"I tried. Unfortunately, I need flesh to kill." As she turned away from him, Kurvam grabbed her by the shoulder and tried to push her in the puppet's direction.

"Don't lie! Your special sword's gonna cleave it like paper. Don't be scared!" Liesel unclipped her hooded cowl and slipped out of his grip. Twisting, she pointed her sword at his face. He raised a brow, knowing she wouldn't hurt him.

"Don't mess with me. Unlike it, you are flesh and blood." She yanked her cape off his hand.

They returned to the base once the night started to fall. They made it out of the Necropolis from a different spot. The Observer couldn't sense any more Shadow Conjurors. And while Liesel wanted to get away from the team to hunt down a demon and use her Soul Unravelling correctly, that seemed a bit too reckless to try today. They did hunt down a couple of Shadow Stalkers, but their population seemed to have diminished greatly.

But now that the Necropolis had manifested, it would breed more demons in its vicinity, at least initially. They even went out of their way to kill the few that the Observer could notice. If there were no more demons, it would be great for the barrier around their base. Any wandering demon could greatly consume the barrier's energy stock. Liesel helped prepare ingredients for dinner, but that was the extent of her help. After having a shower, she retired to her room.

Tonight, Yehia also joined them for dinner in her room alongside Fiya.

"What do we do about the armor?" Fiya asked between chewing the elastic meat from a fish local to the Saffron Helm. Liesel didn't know how much of it was her fault that they were left with such an unusual realm. She still felt it was the influence of the Demon General's Tomb.

"A stronger spell," Liesel suggested.

"How about one that is set up with a Materiality Core as fuel?"

"The spell I unleashed used about three thousand units of Materiality."

"We'd need to hunt a few more demons, I guess," Liesel whispered.

"I will ask Jaisel if he knows a different spell. The one we used was the best I know. It would kill anything up to rank 4 demons, no matter how hard their shell is." If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"How about we let the Leader figure it out?" Yehia drawled.

"Surely, he can do the fighting-a-single-enemy part."

"I hate him," Fiya whispered under her breath. Yehia smiled in support.

"This stalemate is good. We are supposed to report back in a week, so we are just going to hang out for the next six days and hunt a few Shadow Stalkers to sell their cores. Our responsibility is not to clear the path. That's on him, right? We are only following orders." Liesel wouldn't fault her companion for that kind of petty consideration, but she was not on board with wasting time. Perhaps it was apparent on her face.

"You want to go deeper?" Yehia asked.

"Why?"

"I only care about killing it right now. To falter against an immobile, passive enemy, I cannot stand it," Liesel said.

"At the very least, we have to see past that door, even if we inevitably fail somewhere along the way." Liesel was having a hard time seeing success in any capacity. She'd rather consider a plan on the battle front, which might cost a great many soldiers, but it would have a higher likelihood of success.

"You've seen how dangerous this entire place is," Yehia countered.

"Even if we somehow get past the puppet, we are only bound to die there. Failing against it is probably saving half of our lives." Fiya nodded along in agreement.

"Maybe I am from a different place to see the reasoning behind it. As much as I'd want everyone to survive, we all signed up for a job, well aware of the danger. The cost of life is not an argument against an expedition into a Necropolis. I assume many of us would die by the end, but that is the price we are all well aware of."

"I am just saying this place is far more dangerous than what was told to any of us. Even you didn't think it would be like this, did you?" Liesel shook her head. She didn't argue further. They had no way of killing it either way, and perhaps it was because she was raised in the Imperial Cadet Academy to naturally feel the value of her expedition mates' lives. They were supposed to die. It was the natural course of the work.

If someone were a burden, Liesel had been taught to kill them in an accident, because no life was precious, only the goal of the mission itself.

"I just hope we survive until the end," Fiya said as she was about to leave. Liesel nodded.

"We all have to try our best."

[Strength +1] Liesel blinked. Crossing the tenth threshold was a mildly interesting thing. She drew Materiality into her left hand. She gathered the energy into the tip of her nail. It was sharp, but not long enough to be bothersome. While Liesel was well aware of how the Materiality flowed inside her body, she couldn't really feel it as she could feel the Materiality outside her body. She'd need to cross the Tenth threshold in Perception to see her soul and Materiality inside it in actuality.

For now, she was just vaguely aware it was there. Felt a weight in her soul that informed her how much Materiality she had. In some way, it was the same as knowing how much energy her physical body had, and that understanding stemmed from thousands of hours of practice. To purposely use the advanced technique of Enforcement, awareness of the Materiality was necessary. The advanced technique was called Layering. It could be used as simply as gathering a lot of Materiality in one spot. But they wouldn't do much.

The structure was important, and those structural formations were slow and hard, which was why almost all Ascedants never practiced it. There was a finite time to practice, and unlike her, they had many skills to focus on. She gathered the strands of Materiality that she'd weave into her flesh and burn for Enforcement Technique, and twisted those strands into tiny nets. The surface of her nail started to turn porcelain white, equally reflective. And slowly that spread to the skin around the finger.

Once it was large enough to cover half her finger, Liesle dropped a layer below it and wove a net again. She tried to squeeze it tighter, but without being able to see, she couldn't know how good it was. Her finger was hard as marble, and she couldn't fold it any longer, like it was trapped inside a glove of stone. But as time passed, and her layering strengthened, her focus started to wane. It started to undo at the edge, and her finger was aching from prolonged exposure to the Materiality.

Liesel stabbed her finger into the wooden floor, and it pressed and depressed the wood slightly. Bending her finger slightly, she carved out a strand of wood with her nail. Her brows furrowed as she forced her finger to maintain the Layering. She took out her dagger and pressed the finger on the sharp edge with all the force she could muster, and yet she didn't feel anything from it. She withdrew her finger and undid the enforcement magic.

And as it was gone, her finger turned purple from the exposure to the Materiality, the most mystical and yet deadly element in all the Shades of reality. [Materiality -45] The layering technique was very costly, though, but that was only in the case of someone like her. The fact that Fiya and Jaisel spent about three thousand units of Materiality just for one spell illustrated her lack of power in reality. And they were not particularly gifted.

Unfortunately, her Layering techinqiue was too slow to be useful when all her abilities functioned by surprising her enemy with quick strikes. It might be useful as a defensive option in a desperate situation.

Auram's senses perked up. She flew out of the Custodian's office and approached the resting chamber of the library's only other resident. He rested inside an awkwardly built machine, hundreds of pipes and tubes wrapped around it, supplying a weird grey liquid into his body. From the top and the bottom of the machine, tangible darkness was expelled that lingered on the floor. It gave the spirit an idea of an external heart.

Auram didn't enter the chamber because the darkness felt the same as Ashdust did, deadly and corrosive. But even from the outside, she could hear the cries of agony from the thousands of souls that were consumed and expelled as the black smog. The chamber opened. The grey liquid splashed on the floor. Slowly, the Custodian, slouched and hissing for breath, walked out of it. Wrapping himself in his usual cowl, he approached the door.

"Greetings, little spirit," the Custodian said. Auram wouldn't let the hint of fondness there fool her anymore. She was basically a pet, a decoration in his library. But she appreciated the safety he provided her. Some day, it wouldn't be necessary. The empire would be consumed and so would its decree, and the society born in its ashes would welcome her as a whole person again.

"You woke up quickly." The Custodian nodded. His formless limb shaped into a staff that he used to support his body as he walked.

"We are worse than we expected. We must expand the entrance to the Trial Dungeon quickly." Auram could feel his feeble soul withering. Hearing it made the inevitable tangible. Even if he saw her as a pet, she was fond of him. Her siblings would hate her for it, but they were gone. And nothing could change how her heart felt. It was just the contradiction of possessing a heart that was not corrupted by the Laks's venom.

"And in your last act, you want to slaughter thousands of unsuspecting and ignorant people?"

"Millions," he said.

"No price too great. No life too precious. Only this knowledge must be preserved. So we must act."

"Why don't you let me watch over it until Liesel is ready?" Auram suggested.

"I did clear the trial. I made it to the library without anyone's assistance. Why must I be disqualified?"

"We don't discriminate because you are a spirit, little one," the Custodian wheezed for breath. He climbed up to his station. The Archive Window watched over Liesel practicing her new technique.

"You have no resilience to a Mindeater, and it is a disqualifying trait. For the knowledge is only preserved in the mind, and the mind that can be touched by anyone shall not possess the knowledge."

"Whatever," Auram huffed. She was not looking forward to watching more people walk into the dungeon and die to the demons for no reason. The Custodian stared at his prospective heir for a long minute and sighed.

"You don't think she can do it?"

"She's slow. Half a moon cycle, and yet she has made an insignificant amount of progress."

"Because you dumped her in the middle of the forest."

"I found the perfect place for her to claim a Soulheart, near a city that has an Alchemist capable of brewing the Enlightenment into a bottle," the Custodian said.

"What more should I have given her?" Auram blinked.

"You are dumb. Why would anyone think of that? The least you could've done is ask her, not that she'd do it even then. That is basically a death wish." The Custodian kept staring at the screen, which was now a blur. He was probably watching everything that had unfolded, or what was about to unfold.

"You speak the truth. A pragmatic warrior should not act impatiently unless there's an incentive to do so. We must make our intentions known. If a little guiding hand is your suggestion, then so be it." A screen manifested beside the Custodian, and his limbs were already splitting into hundreds of tiny threads, writing something into the data of the Archive.

"What are you doing?" Auram uttered apprehensively.

"Intentions and incentives. We shall make both known to the human," he uttered.

"And you must keep our involvement a secret for now."

"What are you going to do?" The screen vanished from the air. Auram teleported to Liesel's side. The gentle human was staring at the screen. [Archive Quest Available: Skill Training: Kill the Parasitic Armour in the Necropolis I using the Unique Skill: Soul Unravelling. Reward: 250 Prestige Points Additional Reward for slaying the Parasitic Armour without anyone's help: Weaver Tome I: Thread Cultivation] Auram frowned. Liesel shifted her eyes to her.

"Given your panic, is this the Custodian's doing?"