En pulled back his spear as he watched Dog. The blood in the wound was already bubbling, turning the liquid black as it rotted.
(We did it, Div!)
[Great! But it’s not over, let’s keep ourselves focused.]
En sobered up instantly. His other mind was right, Dog was not out of commission and there were two other guardians to consider. That was without taking into account the various groups of faceless warriors. While they hadn’t followed them to the stone, they could converge on them anytime.
En inspected Dog, trying to gauge his reaction. It was difficult with his mask and his species’ absence of facial features. The most he could say was that the wounded guardian didn’t seem fazed by the attack.
“Good,” Feline piped in from further away. “This is a fine gift you prepared for us. One last level, this only increases our chances of getting out of here.”
Div and En were puzzled until they checked their inner world.
Skill leveled up: Blighted Passage Lv6 -> Lv7 It was bittersweet.
They weren’t going to turn up their nose at a skill level, but it stung that their enemies were so happy about it. Still, with the new application of Blighted Passage En had discovered, they stood a better chance against the three Evolved Rank faceless.
(I’m sure Feline can attack through the fifth direction too.)
[It would make sense. Who knows what other tricks he has up his sleeves.]
There had to be more dimensions to the fifth direction Div and En hadn’t considered yet. Given how much hope the skill carried for the guardians, Feline must have experimented with it extensively.
“Well,” Dog said, ignoring the decaying wound on his leg. “I don’t think you can level up your skill in the near future. Let’s start the ritual.”
“As if I would let you.” Diven spat.
(Does he really think we’re going to roll over and comply with their madness?)
[Maybe? They are the sole rulers of this rift after all. They’re used to people obeying their orders.]
(People… Those faceless monstrosities don’t qualify as people. They can’t even talk before reaching Evolved Rank.)
[Monsters can’t talk, even at the Evolved Rank.]
(But some of them can. After reaching the Evolved Rank. Like Cyclops, allegedly.)
This wasn’t the time to debate the monstrous or non-monstrous nature of the indigenous population of the rift. The three guardians moved in to surround Div and En, cutting off their thoughts.
A surprise attack wasn’t going to cut it here.
“Diven,” Feline spoke up. “I must say I’m impressed that someone so young is able to put up a fight against us. We've been lenient so far, but still. In other circumstances, I would have liked to see where your cursed rot attunement takes you.”
“But we’re done playing,” Dog cut in, with Bird nodding in agreement.
“Yes,” Feline smiled. “We’re done now.”
Without any warning, the three guardians simultaneously rushed toward Diven, their claws ripping through the air to rip him to shreds.
“We don’t need you intact to perform the ritual,” Dog shouted. “As long as your heart is still beating, it’ll work.”
With the power of two minds processing the events, Div and En were barely able to dodge the combined attack. Darting to the side, ducking and pushing himself away with their hands, rolled three times in the snow and jumped back to their feet.
Having broken the encirclement, En took control of the spear and faced the guardians.
(Got any tactical ideas?)
Div was staring at Dog’s festering wound, thinking it would be nice to exploit this weakness. That, or Bird’s imbalance due to her missing wing.
[Imagine if we could use Echoes of the Rot Heart to make Dog’s injury rot faster.]
(We can’t and I’m not sure we even want to go down that route. Focus on the present, Div!)
[Right. Sorry. You got things covered with the spear, I’ll make sure to support you.]
En was the better spearman of the two. As Div guessed, he had correctly assessed that while they had a range advantage with their spear compared to the faceless claws, this wasn’t accounting for Bird’s wind blades.
They had to assume that even without her missing wing, her air-attuned spells would be just as dangerous.
Sure enough, as the distance between Diven and his enemies had widened, the winged faceless started channeling her deadly spell.
At least, she wasn’t being subtle about it.
Mana was something anyone could sense. Now, knowing what spell was being cast, the specific attunement of the mana, or many other details required practice. But the simple act of sensing mana was accessible even to the untrained eye.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
And Div wasn’t that person anymore.
Sure, he wasn’t an expert either. But his repetitive dabbling into their Rot Heart gave him some experience on the subject. With the ridiculous amount of mana their bloodline was constantly producing, Bird’s usage was comparatively easier to apprehend.
Thanks to his other half’s warning, En had no issue stepping aside to avoid the wind blades. As unsophisticated as Bird was with her mana, a wind blade was still invisible to the eye, without good mana-sensing, it was easy to get surprised.
This turned to their advantage. Dog and Feline seemed hesitant to close the distance while Bird was unleashing her barrage of magic. It was one thing dodging wind blades when they were coming from the front. Avoiding them while they were behind you was a lot more complicated.
Mana sensing wasn’t completely separate from one’s sensory organs. With the faceless’ complete absence of them–due to them not having faces–Div made the assumption their mana sense could not be very good.
Yet, Div and En would be foolish to underestimate them. While they didn’t have eyes, it was clear they could “see”.
The fact that they didn’t understand how wasn't a good enough reason to disparage them.
Realizing her attacks weren’t landing, Bird paused. She charged at Diven and her two companions quickly joined her.
Expecting this to happen, En moved to hold them off with his spear while Div kept his attention focused on the guardians’ movements.
They didn’t know the full extent of their capacities, so they had to stay wary of anything they might attempt.
As far as Evolved Rank went, the guardians didn’t appear particularly strong. There was nothing that could challenge them in the rift. They didn’t have access to Ascended Rank elders to teach them.
Div and En were convinced any decent Evolved Rank of the Leios clan would be much stronger than them. To say nothing of someone like Uncle Basil.
Once again, Blighted Passage proved to be invaluable. Even En had to admit that Blighted Passage’s rot-attunement was making a difference. Not only could they dodge Dog and Bird’s attacks with the fifth direction, they could also mitigate Feline’s ability to do the same.
But for all their success at not getting hit, Div and En weren’t landing any strikes either.
This was where the physical difference between Evolved Rank and Basic Rank made itself evident. The guardians were faster, stronger, more agile and their energy reserves ran deeper.
And it wasn’t just the small but noticeable difference brought by completing a facet.
No, it was on another level entirely.
The only area where Diven had an advantage was mana. With his Rot Heart, he had virtually endless reserves.
But it didn’t matter. He didn’t know how to use it effectively.
Still, flooding his skills with mana was helping. Even a little advantage was necessary to not succumb to the masked faceless onslaught.
Of course, Rotten Spear benefited from the mana, but since En couldn’t land a hit, it didn’t have any effect. The most critical use of their rot-attuned mana was on Blighted Passage. Making the fifth direction as unwelcoming as possible for Feline was all that kept them from being overwhelmed.
[They’re preparing something!]
(What is it?)
[I don’t know, but it can’t be good.]
Div’s attention spent scrutinizing every move from their attackers was yielding results. He had seen their behavior change as they exchanged discrete gestures and glances. They were about to try something different to break the stalemate.
But what?
He wasn’t able to figure out what they were trying to do. Be it a lack of knowledge on his part or dissimulation from the guardians, the result was the same: Div couldn’t tell what they had to defend against.
Still, armed with the awareness that something was coming, Div and En braced themselves for a surprise.
Dog and Feline flanked Diven, both striking with their claws. With Bird standing in front of him and no good path in the fifth direction, he had to take a step backward to dodge.
Bird used this opening to cast a wind spell. Div saw it and warned En who prepared to avoid it.
But, this time, it wasn’t a blade of wind hurling toward them.
Instead, Bird conjured a gust of wind behind Diven, pushing him forward into the claws of the other two guardians.
Of course, they should have known.
There was more to wind magic than air blades.
Caught off guard, both of their sides were pierced by Dog’s and Feline’s claws. The pain ripped into their abdomen, and for the first time in a while, Div and En desynchronized, letting out a gargle of shouts and whimpers as they both expressed their agony.
(Div.)
[En.]
(We’re not done yet.)
[No we’re not.]
There was no way they were going to let a bit of pain do them in like that.
Without bothering to realign themselves, they both took action. Yet, despite their lack of communication, they didn’t interfere with each other.
They were moving on instinct, and deep down, they were the same person.
En used Blighted Passage to move out of the way. Given how the battlefield was set up, he had to take another hit from Feline
Div went straight into Echoes of the Rot Heart, pumping an endless torrent of rot-attuned mana into the skill. He managed to stop the bleeding in record time.
(I will not die here. I will return to Kheiron and prove all of them wrong.)
[We will. One way or another, we will show them how wrong they were to exile us. Three Evolved Ranks are not enough to stop us.]
(As if some little monsters could hope to match the glory of a Leios. Of a Kheironite.)
[Of Diven.]
(Of Diven.)
Skill leveled up: Sundered Mind Lv9 -> Lv10
Facets of the Self completed. You can select a new facet.
Finally.
Facets of the Self was complete. A burst of energy flooded Diven’s muscles, slightly easing the strain on his two minds.
It had taken ten levels in Sundered Mind to achieve it. Div and En had never heard of a facet taking this much effort. And yet they had done it in a relatively short time.
It was entirely possible that their friends back home were still working on their first facet.
As they felt the effect of their facet completing, Div noticed something on the black stone.
[En. Look, the stone!]
(What is it? I’m kind of busy.)
While they had broken through, the fight was far from over. En couldn’t spare his attention to look at the stone when he had to dodge the claws of the guardians.
[The exit portal! It’s on the stone!]
(How? It wasn’t there before. Is it a trap? Unless…)
A thought floated in En’s mind which he communicated to Div. It was their third facet completed since entering the rift. The condition the guardians had set for their exit.
With Cassandra’s writings and all that had happened, they had dismissed it as the guardians tricking them to farm skills for themselves.
It turned out to be real…
Now all they had to do was reach the portal, and they would be free.
But the guardians were standing between Div, En, and their objective. No matter — getting through their blockade would be easier than defeating them outright.
Their situation was improving.