The Guardian Monarch of Rime, or rather, the Rime Worm Guardian; its gigantic body glittered like starlight under the purple mana crystal light, an ice armor clad of spikes, bespoke of hatred, lined with cracks of seeping blood. Every time it rattled, mist would leak between the gaps and cracks in its armor, replenishing it in the process, freezing the blood into nothing but black marks. Laced with ice, it glared with its crystal towards the other Guardian. The Empress.
The Empress of Crystal, or Queen ant, was slightly different. It stood just as big but its body looked as if it had been polished, no—replaced, slightly transparent with lavender lines running through its entire length, its mana flow was visible. But its body? Fractured. It was as if the crystal was slowly breaking apart. It still had some rocks on its back and face, but most of its body looked streamlined with sharp edges. I took a moment to take in the appearance of both guardians.
I would’ve certainly died a day ago. The clearing inside the mountain had now deep fractures littering the wall, there were crystals and weird rocks protruding everywhere, other parts were moist or completely frozen. There was no trace of either of the colonies, no Rime Worms, no Suvia Ants, just the two guardians looking at each other. The place had turned into a frozen palace of crystal, where the two rulers battled to claim the pristine mana crystal of the ceiling. It was ridiculous.
A snort left me. It was better to see the two guardians kill each other, but at the same time I remembered something, and looking at the distracted ice-worm I couldn’t help but realize I had a magnificent opportunity.
It had laughed at me, had it not?
Had it not almost killed me and laughed at me? It was the perfect opportunity to kill it. The ant queen—it didn’t worry me, both guardians were deeply injured. The worm was bleeding from its armor and the ant queen’s body was filled with cracks. Both of them were looking at each other, seemingly standing their ground. Perhaps they were preparing their final attacks, perhaps both of them were about to unleash it all like any other guardian. But in the face of the guardians inside the illusion—
They were nothing. I too was nothing. But that didn’t matter. This place, this nest. It was just a challenge inside the Skirmish. A challenge to be overcome.
I extended my hand, feeling the mana going into my ring I passed three arrows. I didn’t know if either of the guardians had lungs, there was no point in risking it to try it. In that case then there were only three types of arrows that I could use, and only two would be effective for what I wanted.
Wisteria vines, And Ayas Azalea flowers. An arrow of vines and two arrows of death. I nocked both Azalea arrows and flooded them with mana, threading through the tip and into the seeds. And then something occurred to me. Even if the worm king had no lungs, wouldn’t the spores put him into a bad time? I retreated my mana as I heard the notifications go off in my mind.
[Guardian Empress of Crystal requests assistance.]
[Guardian Monarch of Rime requests assistance.]
As I took out an extra arrow and nocked three at once I couldn’t help but envy both of the guardians. Pushing my mana into all three and threading it through the tip to make Burrowing Shot, I couldn’t help but make a wishful thought. I too wish I could request assistance. The arrows were fired towards the worm with an enhanced string. Not missing a beat I nocked the wisteria arrow and fired it towards the ant guardian. I was close enough to not miss any shots, and close enough to be in their attack range, but it didn’t matter. Purple mana coalesced around the ant, blue mana gathered inside the worm as they stared at each other, and at that moment the tiny wisps of green hit both of them.
The arrows hit the side of the worm, instantaneously breaking through the armor and digging into its body. Immediately all the mana that was gathering became unstable as it shrieked. The other arrow hit the ant and embedded itself into it. In an instant, both of them lost their attacks and they too turned on me through the pain. My mana within the arrows lingered and they shrieked at me, hatred evident.
But it was too late. Too late for both guardians.
Bloom. I commanded as I prepared more arrows.
The queen staggered as vines enveloped her, she became immobile and did its best to try to cut them off. It seemed she was immune to any kind of poison, for at least she did not stagger much. The worm on the other hand.
It thrashed, the armor fractured and blue liquid began to pool. It shrieked and rattled but to no avail, flailed against the cave walls, the ice breaking apart as if it never existed. Through the cracks and injuries I saw small flowers blooming, spreading throughout its flesh. At the same time, I still felt residual mana inside the worm, and the Lyco Puff mushrooms had now bloomed. I couldn’t help but smile as the notification popped up.
[Guardian Monarch of Rime—
Explode.
The worm bloated as a chain of explosions went off on its insides, it vomited ice onto the wall as it rolled in pain. I almost pitied it, but I still nocked more arrows, as it had shown before, it had near-infinite vitality. I fired once more. Flowers had begun to spread on the surface of the worm but some died from the blistering cold and others just seemed to reach their limit, stopping their spread. The arrows hit the worm and dug into their insides, they flowered into more poison to take its life, and mushrooms to end its existence.
Explode.
Its inside bloated once more and it finally managed to barely turn to me once more.
I nocked a final Lyco Puff arrow, this time filling it to the brim with mana. The worm gathered ice at its crystal, but I simply snorted. It was too late. The string was let go and the arrow raged forward with howling wind, nothing more than a single leaf amidst a storm, but its light was strong—like a meteorite, it exploded on its mouth and at that moment, as the mushrooms automatically bloomed under my command, I just knew.
Explode.
Blue blood boomed forward, the crystal in its mouth shattered.
[You have killed: (D) Guardian Monarch of Rime. Lvl. 26]
[For killing a being of a higher order bonus experience has been rewarded.]
[Quest completed: The Slayer of Guardians (Uncommon E)]
Flowers claimed its body and mushrooms began to sprout around it, bringing new life of the dark that slowly spread into its surroundings. Notifications filled my mind.
[Level up: You have achieved level 19. Prophecy Bonus: +1 WIS +1 VIT]
[Level up: You have achieved level 20. Prophecy Bonus: +1 WIS +1 VIT]
[New Milestone reached — Skills Available]
[Quest completed: Visions of Power (Uncommon E)]
[Level up: You have achieved level 21. Prophecy Bonus: +1 WIS +1 VIT]
A smile spread across my face — I was now getting bonus attribute points per level up, a D ranked Prophecy — I turned to the second target. The ant guardian squirmed, and mana flooded its body at the core. It gathered, and with a shriek crystal from its body was expelled into jagged spikes all around me. They targeted nothing in particular, but I had to duck, the vines were cut and the ant. Ran.
I nocked another arrow and fired it, empowered with the power of burrowing and the string itself. But—the queen shrieked once more and a crystal exploded from the ground, blocking the arrow. The only thing I could do was stare as it reached its cave and sealed it with a purple crystal wall.
The wind howled with frosted mist. The worm was dead and nothing had come off it. I sighed and shook my head. The Queen was still alive, but it wasn’t going to come out and the wall from a distance looked tougher than the last.
I am getting bonus attributes now. I smiled.
I had gotten the chance to acquire a new skill as well, so it was probably best for me to focus on that before going after the ant once more. My eyes darted around through crystals and melted ice, eventually finding the cave I had been living in the past. It was somewhat sealed off but I recognized the distinct rubble that was near it.
It didn’t take long before I reached it and reopened the entrance. I entered it as if it was my home, and found some frost and crystals inside of it, but other than that it was sturdy as ever. The markings on the wall still remained, and I decided to sit next to them to select a skill. I opened the prompt and skipped the list. But instead of trying to sort through all the skills I just rearranged the ones I had gotten previously.
[Skill — All Sunshine (Uncommon Passive) — Enhance seeds of the sun, those who require the energy of a star to live. Increase hatching rate by 100%.
[Skill — All Dark (Uncommon Passive) — Enhance seeds of the dark, those that thrive in the depths and the extreme. Increase hatching rate by 100% (150% from affinity).
[Skill — Flash Reload (Rare) — Pulsing mana through your fingers instantly reloads the weapon you’re holding. Cannot surpass natural fire rate of the weapon.]
[Skill — Disintegration Fang (Rare) — Highly corrosive enhancement, only applies to compatible weapons. Cannot damage the bearer. +8 to Strength.]
I wanted all of them if possible, well—maybe not All Sunshine, but unfortunately it was only one at a time. And upon reading all of them it really seemed like there was only one correct choice.
[Skill Learned — Skill — All Dark (Uncommon Passive) — Enhance seeds of the dark, those that thrive in the depths and the extreme. Increase hatching rate by 100% (150% from affinity).]
I smiled bitterly and looked at the wall and even though the battle had damaged most of them, one remained mostly readable.
Exploration Repo—
—dying. I can tell I am running o—
Thing— freezes everything. They s— that destroying it could end their battle, but it might aggravate it as well. Based on —, destroying th— deposit would cause a chain collapse of the ceiling.
I closed my eyes.
Right. They had been fighting over the stupid crystal, I had no apparent way to get out of the nest either. I put mana into my ring, quickly finding the mana crystal from the Prophecy and bringing it to life. It appeared within my hand and I couldn’t help but examine it once more.
[Mana Crystal (E rank) Fire affinity type. Mana purity: Excellent.]
Instability, huh?
The other Guardian was going to keep running from me until it took the mana crystal, and then it would be gone for good. I had no use for it either, not for the mana crystal in the ceiling nor the one I held. In the end.
There was no choice.
◇ ◇ ◇
I reinforced my chamber with the help of Deep Dark trees and Evergrowing Puffs. The passive skill I had gained visibly sped up the process. The entire chamber was akin to a small black forest. No place could be walked on without colliding onto something, everything—the entire ceiling was supported, and the entrance too was ready to be sealed by more trees. I had consumed a few mana potions but it was done. The crazy plan in my mind required utmost safety. An arrow was formed with the crystal wrapped as its tip, it was big and heavy, but I could manage it.
I walked outside and looked at the crystal in the ceiling.
I sat down and coursed my mana through the bow and into the string, as much as I could. I nocked the arrow in place, and using my boot, I stomped on the handle of the bow and pulled using the strength of my entire body, with all my struggle and audible cracks, I pulled it to its full length. I carefully aimed with the help of Glim, and finally, a decision was made.
If I can’t have it, then nobody else can.
The arrow was fired, the bow string snapped onto my flesh causing searing pain, and I quickly collected my things and stood by the entrance of my cave. I saw it reach the ceiling. I still felt my mana linger within the arrow, and as if it were a seed, I filled the crystal with my mana and took a step back.
Bloom.
My vision became a torrent of fire. My eardrums nearly broke with the explosion. I was pushed by a shockwave back into the chamber and quickly commanded the trees to seal the entrance. The entire cave shook and I began to hear every stone around me crackle under the heat, the entire mountain trembled as I heard the rocks slide and break apart. The clearing was initially unstable, but the bloodied battle between the two guardians had aggravated it. The entire mountain was collapsing in of itself now. No place was safe, the branches around me began to crackle. Even though I was second-guessing myself, the first series of notifications came amidst the rockslide interrupting each other as the chain reaction occurred.
[You have killed: (E) Suvia Worker Ant. Lvl. 9]
[You have killed: (E). Rime Larva. Lvl. 5]
[You have killed: (E) Rime Pupa. Lvl. 12]
[You have killed: (E) Suvia W…
[You have killed: (E)...
[You have…
[...
Azrie
You can read up to Chapter 108 on patreon! Yes, up to Chapter 108.
Blair now has a discord server, join here!
The Guardian Monarch of Rime, or rather, the Rime Worm Guardian; its gigantic body glittered like starlight under the purple mana crystal light, an ice armor clad of spikes, bespoke of hatred, lined with cracks of seeping blood. Every time it rattled, mist would leak between the gaps and cracks in its armor, replenishing it in the process, freezing the blood into nothing but black marks. Laced with ice, it glared with its crystal towards the other Guardian. The Empress.
The Empress of Crystal, or Queen ant, was slightly different. It stood just as big but its body looked as if it had been polished, no—replaced, slightly transparent with lavender lines running through its entire length, its mana flow was visible. But its body? Fractured. It was as if the crystal was slowly breaking apart. It still had some rocks on its back and face, but most of its body looked streamlined with sharp edges. I took a moment to take in the appearance of both guardians.
I would’ve certainly died a day ago. The clearing inside the mountain had now deep fractures littering the wall, there were crystals and weird rocks protruding everywhere, other parts were moist or completely frozen. There was no trace of either of the colonies, no Rime Worms, no Suvia Ants, just the two guardians looking at each other. The place had turned into a frozen palace of crystal, where the two rulers battled to claim the pristine mana crystal of the ceiling. It was ridiculous.
A snort left me. It was better to see the two guardians kill each other, but at the same time I remembered something, and looking at the distracted ice-worm I couldn’t help but realize I had a magnificent opportunity.
It had laughed at me, had it not?
Had it not almost killed me and laughed at me? It was the perfect opportunity to kill it. The ant queen—it didn’t worry me, both guardians were deeply injured. The worm was bleeding from its armor and the ant queen’s body was filled with cracks. Both of them were looking at each other, seemingly standing their ground. Perhaps they were preparing their final attacks, perhaps both of them were about to unleash it all like any other guardian. But in the face of the guardians inside the illusion—
They were nothing. I too was nothing. But that didn’t matter. This place, this nest. It was just a challenge inside the Skirmish. A challenge to be overcome.
I extended my hand, feeling the mana going into my ring I passed three arrows. I didn’t know if either of the guardians had lungs, there was no point in risking it to try it. In that case then there were only three types of arrows that I could use, and only two would be effective for what I wanted.
Wisteria vines, And Ayas Azalea flowers. An arrow of vines and two arrows of death. I nocked both Azalea arrows and flooded them with mana, threading through the tip and into the seeds. And then something occurred to me. Even if the worm king had no lungs, wouldn’t the spores put him into a bad time? I retreated my mana as I heard the notifications go off in my mind.
[Guardian Empress of Crystal requests assistance.]
[Guardian Monarch of Rime requests assistance.]
As I took out an extra arrow and nocked three at once I couldn’t help but envy both of the guardians. Pushing my mana into all three and threading it through the tip to make Burrowing Shot, I couldn’t help but make a wishful thought. I too wish I could request assistance. The arrows were fired towards the worm with an enhanced string. Not missing a beat I nocked the wisteria arrow and fired it towards the ant guardian. I was close enough to not miss any shots, and close enough to be in their attack range, but it didn’t matter. Purple mana coalesced around the ant, blue mana gathered inside the worm as they stared at each other, and at that moment the tiny wisps of green hit both of them.
The arrows hit the side of the worm, instantaneously breaking through the armor and digging into its body. Immediately all the mana that was gathering became unstable as it shrieked. The other arrow hit the ant and embedded itself into it. In an instant, both of them lost their attacks and they too turned on me through the pain. My mana within the arrows lingered and they shrieked at me, hatred evident.
But it was too late. Too late for both guardians.
Bloom. I commanded as I prepared more arrows.
The queen staggered as vines enveloped her, she became immobile and did its best to try to cut them off. It seemed she was immune to any kind of poison, for at least she did not stagger much. The worm on the other hand.
It thrashed, the armor fractured and blue liquid began to pool. It shrieked and rattled but to no avail, flailed against the cave walls, the ice breaking apart as if it never existed. Through the cracks and injuries I saw small flowers blooming, spreading throughout its flesh. At the same time, I still felt residual mana inside the worm, and the Lyco Puff mushrooms had now bloomed. I couldn’t help but smile as the notification popped up.
[Guardian Monarch of Rime—
Explode.
The worm bloated as a chain of explosions went off on its insides, it vomited ice onto the wall as it rolled in pain. I almost pitied it, but I still nocked more arrows, as it had shown before, it had near-infinite vitality. I fired once more. Flowers had begun to spread on the surface of the worm but some died from the blistering cold and others just seemed to reach their limit, stopping their spread. The arrows hit the worm and dug into their insides, they flowered into more poison to take its life, and mushrooms to end its existence.
Explode.
Its inside bloated once more and it finally managed to barely turn to me once more.
I nocked a final Lyco Puff arrow, this time filling it to the brim with mana. The worm gathered ice at its crystal, but I simply snorted. It was too late. The string was let go and the arrow raged forward with howling wind, nothing more than a single leaf amidst a storm, but its light was strong—like a meteorite, it exploded on its mouth and at that moment, as the mushrooms automatically bloomed under my command, I just knew.
Explode.
Blue blood boomed forward, the crystal in its mouth shattered.
[You have killed: (D) Guardian Monarch of Rime. Lvl. 26]
[For killing a being of a higher order bonus experience has been rewarded.]
[Quest completed: The Slayer of Guardians (Uncommon E)]
Flowers claimed its body and mushrooms began to sprout around it, bringing new life of the dark that slowly spread into its surroundings. Notifications filled my mind.
[Level up: You have achieved level 19. Prophecy Bonus: +1 WIS +1 VIT]
[Level up: You have achieved level 20. Prophecy Bonus: +1 WIS +1 VIT]
[New Milestone reached — Skills Available]
[Quest completed: Visions of Power (Uncommon E)]
[Level up: You have achieved level 21. Prophecy Bonus: +1 WIS +1 VIT]
A smile spread across my face — I was now getting bonus attribute points per level up, a D ranked Prophecy — I turned to the second target. The ant guardian squirmed, and mana flooded its body at the core. It gathered, and with a shriek crystal from its body was expelled into jagged spikes all around me. They targeted nothing in particular, but I had to duck, the vines were cut and the ant. Ran.
I nocked another arrow and fired it, empowered with the power of burrowing and the string itself. But—the queen shrieked once more and a crystal exploded from the ground, blocking the arrow. The only thing I could do was stare as it reached its cave and sealed it with a purple crystal wall.
The wind howled with frosted mist. The worm was dead and nothing had come off it. I sighed and shook my head. The Queen was still alive, but it wasn’t going to come out and the wall from a distance looked tougher than the last.
I am getting bonus attributes now. I smiled.
I had gotten the chance to acquire a new skill as well, so it was probably best for me to focus on that before going after the ant once more. My eyes darted around through crystals and melted ice, eventually finding the cave I had been living in the past. It was somewhat sealed off but I recognized the distinct rubble that was near it.
It didn’t take long before I reached it and reopened the entrance. I entered it as if it was my home, and found some frost and crystals inside of it, but other than that it was sturdy as ever. The markings on the wall still remained, and I decided to sit next to them to select a skill. I opened the prompt and skipped the list. But instead of trying to sort through all the skills I just rearranged the ones I had gotten previously.
[Skill — All Sunshine (Uncommon Passive) — Enhance seeds of the sun, those who require the energy of a star to live. Increase hatching rate by 100%.
[Skill — All Dark (Uncommon Passive) — Enhance seeds of the dark, those that thrive in the depths and the extreme. Increase hatching rate by 100% (150% from affinity).
[Skill — Flash Reload (Rare) — Pulsing mana through your fingers instantly reloads the weapon you’re holding. Cannot surpass natural fire rate of the weapon.]
[Skill — Disintegration Fang (Rare) — Highly corrosive enhancement, only applies to compatible weapons. Cannot damage the bearer. +8 to Strength.]
I wanted all of them if possible, well—maybe not All Sunshine, but unfortunately it was only one at a time. And upon reading all of them it really seemed like there was only one correct choice.
[Skill Learned — Skill — All Dark (Uncommon Passive) — Enhance seeds of the dark, those that thrive in the depths and the extreme. Increase hatching rate by 100% (150% from affinity).]
I smiled bitterly and looked at the wall and even though the battle had damaged most of them, one remained mostly readable.
Exploration Repo—
—dying. I can tell I am running o—
Thing— freezes everything. They s— that destroying it could end their battle, but it might aggravate it as well. Based on —, destroying th— deposit would cause a chain collapse of the ceiling.
I closed my eyes.
Right. They had been fighting over the stupid crystal, I had no apparent way to get out of the nest either. I put mana into my ring, quickly finding the mana crystal from the Prophecy and bringing it to life. It appeared within my hand and I couldn’t help but examine it once more.
[Mana Crystal (E rank) Fire affinity type. Mana purity: Excellent.]
Instability, huh?
The other Guardian was going to keep running from me until it took the mana crystal, and then it would be gone for good. I had no use for it either, not for the mana crystal in the ceiling nor the one I held. In the end.
There was no choice.
◇ ◇ ◇
I reinforced my chamber with the help of Deep Dark trees and Evergrowing Puffs. The passive skill I had gained visibly sped up the process. The entire chamber was akin to a small black forest. No place could be walked on without colliding onto something, everything—the entire ceiling was supported, and the entrance too was ready to be sealed by more trees. I had consumed a few mana potions but it was done. The crazy plan in my mind required utmost safety. An arrow was formed with the crystal wrapped as its tip, it was big and heavy, but I could manage it.
I walked outside and looked at the crystal in the ceiling.
I sat down and coursed my mana through the bow and into the string, as much as I could. I nocked the arrow in place, and using my boot, I stomped on the handle of the bow and pulled using the strength of my entire body, with all my struggle and audible cracks, I pulled it to its full length. I carefully aimed with the help of Glim, and finally, a decision was made.
If I can’t have it, then nobody else can.
The arrow was fired, the bow string snapped onto my flesh causing searing pain, and I quickly collected my things and stood by the entrance of my cave. I saw it reach the ceiling. I still felt my mana linger within the arrow, and as if it were a seed, I filled the crystal with my mana and took a step back.
Bloom.
My vision became a torrent of fire. My eardrums nearly broke with the explosion. I was pushed by a shockwave back into the chamber and quickly commanded the trees to seal the entrance. The entire cave shook and I began to hear every stone around me crackle under the heat, the entire mountain trembled as I heard the rocks slide and break apart. The clearing was initially unstable, but the bloodied battle between the two guardians had aggravated it. The entire mountain was collapsing in of itself now. No place was safe, the branches around me began to crackle. Even though I was second-guessing myself, the first series of notifications came amidst the rockslide interrupting each other as the chain reaction occurred.
[You have killed: (E) Suvia Worker Ant. Lvl. 9]
[You have killed: (E). Rime Larva. Lvl. 5]
[You have killed: (E) Rime Pupa. Lvl. 12]
[You have killed: (E) Suvia W…
[You have killed: (E)...
[You have…
[...
Azrie
You can read up to Chapter 108 on patreon! Yes, up to Chapter 108.
Blair now has a discord server, join here!
