Ends of Magic

Nathan explained his strategy to the Heirs as they stood just outside the range of the dungeon’s bombs. “Three groups. I’m first, then Stella is behind and to the side. We’ll draw the fire. Sarah and Aarl with Khachi behind since you don’t have unlimited mana. Get closer, see if there are more defenses. If we can handle them, Stella throws me in and I disable what I can, hold for help if I need it. If at any point stuff gets too dangerous then we retreat and come up with a new plan. Learning new things is a victory.”

Then they set out, walking quickly across the blasted valley that surrounded the Edrani empire defense outpost that they were treating as a dungeon.

After all, it does try to blow up anybody who comes within three-quarters of a mile or so.

Their progress was steady, as Nathan continued to dodge and absorb blasts from the fortification. He quickly started to have the jittery feeling of being capped out on stamina, and started moving excessively quickly, zipping from side to side to get a better feel for the tracking of the explosive spells.

As he ran, he slowly awakened his Rage. This wasn’t a foe he felt personal animosity towards, but the excitement of running across cratered ground while under bombardment helped out. His [Battle Meditation] also synergized, allowing Nathan to submerge himself in the thrill of the fight without losing his focus on what mattered.

I am looking forward to being able to use my Rage without it preventing complex reasoning. After all, I need to crack open a complex enchantment up there. Sounds fun!

As he got closer and the transit time for the attacks reduced, they became even more frequent before Sarah pulled out her revolvers and started shooting at the orbs in a slow cadence. Only every other shot detonated an orb, but the reduction in attacks allowed Nathan and Stella to pick up speed and close the distance to the base of the hill.

Nathan’s constant dodging helped him partially avoid the next attack from the dungeon. There was no warning, just a spray of liquid that shot out from a suddenly-glowing spout on the nearest tower as Nathan reached the slope up to the small castle.

The liquid steamed, even in the hot desert air; the edges of the spray catching Nathan with countless droplets of hissing liquid. It was apparently a boiling hot acid, which quickly started eating into his clothes.

Then a tiny dart of fire shot out of the spout, and Nathan learned that the spray of acid was also flammable. It lit with a ravenous greenish-blue flame that would have cooked Nathan if the whole effect hadn’t been so magical. It didn't linger, burning out quickly and leaving a section of baked sand and scorched rock.

Nathan shot a look behind him. Stella was swinging wide and erecting additional shields to protect her if the tower decided to douse her in the joker special. He gestured up the slope and she gave him an affirmative hand sign.

So, he started leaping up the hill. It wasn’t the sort of slope that required climbing, but it was steep enough that going straight up would require you to stop and take a break every dozen steps. Any trail climbing this hill would switchback up it, instead of going straight up. Sarah’s shots started sounding more quickly as the castle volleyed spells at him, determined to blast Nathan with concussive force.

He responded by sprinting straight up the slope, spending Stamina to run as if this was flat ground. He was both pushing with his legs and using [Perfected Body] to shortstop his muscles’ need for oxygen in respiration.

Mid-tier Sprinting 10 achieved! Congratulations, you have maxed out this utility skill! It cannot be improved any further. You must achieve Insight into this skill to develop it to High-Tier.

He dodged to the side, away from another jet of acid that could have bowled him back down the slope if he hadn’t gotten out of the way of the bulk of it. After another moment it lit with a fwoosh, the brightly colored light making it hard for Nathan to pick out his next dozen footsteps. He kicked a lip of rock and staggered, but managed to correct his balance just in time to catch another explosive ball of power that Sarah had missed.

They’re coming much faster now that I’m closer. Cycle time is shorter.

If Nathan let the explosive go off in contact with his skin it would probably blow him down the hill, [Mana Absorption] or not. So he caught the spell with both hands, cradling it and fighting to tear apart the tightly bound mana that was trying to explode. It was really a very clever assemblage of fire, force and sound mana, with the dream mana tacked on as a guidance mechanism. He closed his hands together, containing and absorbing the explosive entirely.

High-tier Spellsense 7 achieved!

Then he resumed his sprint up the hill, quickly approaching the base of the walls. Nathan wasn’t sure what he was going to do once he got there, since the walls looked like thirty feet of impervious stone. He did not think he had enough momentum to bust through the wall. Antimagic or no, it was still a giant pile of stone.

Then a rock ahead of Nathan wiggled suggestively, and he changed course to run towards it. He leapt atop the rock and it shot skywards under Stella’s control, bolstering his leap. He soared up towards the fort, gaining height quickly as another explosive projectile detonated underneath him.

A bubble of force appeared around Nathan, the spell shining a faint orange instead of the blue of Stella’s force spells. It started constricting on him the moment it appeared, but Nathan crashed into the barrier headfirst and punched through it, shattering the spell.

[Antimagic Momentum] and [Juggernaut's Inertia], can’t touch this!

He spent stamina like water as he reached the top of his jump, flattening his arc significantly while retaining his horizontal movement. The motion jerked him out of the way of another orb, which zipped past his feet to detonate on the slope below.

Then Nathan’s legs slammed into the battlements and he toppled onto the thin walkway that ran along the walls. He scrabbled to keep his feet and not fall into the central courtyard until he could look around.

Dammit, no [Slow Fall] rank up. I need those!

Looking left and right, Nathan saw metal golems filing out of the towers, stalking towards him from both directions with a lethal grace. They were composed entirely of sharp edges, and each looked like a ballet dancing robot built by somebody with a sword fetish. One of them took a rifle bullet to the chest and collapsed to shards that rained into the central courtyard.

A boiling-flaming-acid spout to the right started spraying its cargo downslope towards the Heirs, but the rock that had served as Nathan’s jump-assist slammed into the aperture at high speed. It didn’t crack the magically reinforced tower, but it did mostly block the weapon port and cut off the spray of dangerous liquid.

Nathan’s attention panned down into the courtyard of the little castle, seeing that half of the small space was taken up by a pair of enchanted pieces of stone and metal that looked a bit like radar dishes. One of them was facing his direction and as he watched it pulsed and send a ball of explosive energy shooting towards him. Nathan danced to the side almost instinctively, the ball passing bare inches from his shoulder before flying over the wall.

Mid-Tier Dodging Footwork 10 achieved! Congratulations, you have maxed out this utility skill! It cannot be improved any further. You must achieve Insight into this skill to develop it to High-Tier.

In the center of the remaining space was a fancy staircase that led into the hill. However, to either side of the opening were large metal golems. The boxy bodies were the nexus for several magical cannons and a multi-jointed tail-like limb tipped by a heavy blade. The whole mess was supported by four sturdy legs, and each golem looked like nothing so much as a heavy combat robot.

High-tier Notice 2 achieved!

His quick but thorough scan of the fortress complete, Nathan considered his options. He was under some rather restrictive time limitations.

If this place has a core, it’s down that staircase. Do I go after it or dismantle the defenses from the outside in?

The four-legged golems were clearly in the middle of their activation sequence, slowly getting to their feet. One was basically under Nathan, and he looked down at it.

Screw it, jump it before it’s ready. Need to rank up this [Slow Fall] somehow!

So, Nathan jumped off the wall, using his [Slow Fall] to slam both knees down into the top of the golem with as much force as he could. It was ‘only’ a twenty foot fall to the top of the golem, but Nathan was moving as fast as he would after falling four times that height when both knees hammered into the center of the golem’s body.

High-tier Slow Fall 7 achieved!

That’s what I’m talking about.

The impact of the blow was colossal, and one of his kneecaps dislocated. The golem was even worse off, staggering from the blow as Nathan’s antimagic rippled through the metal. Cracks scythed through the magically animated body, and the golem collapsed against the wall with a ringing crash.

Oh, that’s interesting. [Antimagic Momentum] really kicks in when I slam into an enchanted object with speed.

His kneecap popped back into place before Nathan even hit the ground, and he turned his fall into a quick roll to avoid a blow from the tail of the other golem. A flamethrower-like cannon activated, and Nathan was bathed in flames hot enough that the stones underfoot started glowing.

But fire mana is an old friend of mine.

He twisted to the side, dodging a quick set of strikes from one of the golem’s legs. It felt… right. As if Nathan had finally acclimated to his increased speed and reaction time, and was almost engaging bullet-time to dodge around blurringly-fast strikes of the golem’s legs. But the Development didn’t happen yet.

Then the tail came around and Nathan leapt into the air, hovering for a second with [Slow Fall] as the limb swept underneath him. Metal fragments showered down from above as more of the smaller golems were blown off the wall by Sarah’s bullets.

Nathan dropped and hammered a palm driven by all of his body weight into one of the golem’s leg joints. It snapped out of orientation and the golem struggled for balance, tilting to aim another cannon at Nathan. A spike of darkness shot out of the opening, crossing the distance faster than thought. The effect was like an overcharged [Disintegration], and hit him squarely in the chest.

But a [Disintegrate] from an Archmage of Giantsrest had barely tickled. This spell had more juice behind it, but Nathan’s Talent and understanding of the spell trumped raw power. The spell danced over his skin and finished off what remained of Nathan’s clothes, but achieved little else beyond exfoliation.

Nathan was about to retaliate when he saw crackling lightning connect enchanted spikes rising from the peaks of each tower. The spells focused on a point above the courtyard, quickly growing to an enormous ball of lightning.

Then the spell dented inwards, pulsing wildly out of control before the incredibly powerful spell destabilized. Uncontrolled lightning lashed the dungeon, shattering the smaller golems and sending the bigger one jerking away just as it recovered its footing from Nathan’s blow.

Thanks Stella!

Nathan closed the distance once more, ripping off another leg by bracing the joint over his hip and wrenching the limb sideways. He proceeded to hammer the central torso of the golem into scrap with his fists, putting the strength and momentum of his entire body behind each blow. It felt strange but extraordinarily satisfying to feel the intricate metal shatter under his hands - like there was no barrier in the world that could stop his Rage-borne strength.

I think it’s pretty heavily magically enhanced and I’m canceling all of that out. But I’m definitely also hitting like a goddamn truck. Rage, an enhanced body and [Juggernaut's Inertia] are all combining damned nicely, and I’m getting confident in it.

Nathan looked around the courtyard again. More of the sword-dancing golems were emerging from small doors in the base of each tower.

I can stay here and fight, try to disable the defenses and wait for the Heirs to catch up, or I can just get downstairs and see if I can break something important. Not a very hard decision.

Nathan sprinted for the staircase, hammering down the stone steps. The double door at the bottom was elegantly inlaid with metal gleaming with a subdued orange glow. Nathan put down his shoulder and pitted his momentum against the door.

He won. The door was definitely magically reinforced and a magical barrier tried to disintegrate him on contact. But it didn’t even slow Nathan down, and he busted through the door, shattering an enchanted bar into a spray of fragments.

Beyond was a long corridor. Nathan pelted down it and ran face-first into an array of traps.

Luckily, Nathan had [Notice]-ed the array of slits, spouts and enchanted protrusions along the hallway walls, and threw himself into a floor-hugging slide before he got ten feet into the corridor. A giant enchanted bolt fired down the length of the hallway, trailing a wake of disruptive force before shattering into a hail of shrapnel that pelted the stairs outside. A half-dozen other mana types followed it, bathing the hallway in a destructive chaos whose complexity stressed Nathan’s ability to absorb known spells.

Magic Absorption 9 achieved!

I’m surprised the hallway survived that. Not complaining though!

Then Nathan saw that the stones of the hallway were all enchanted, and that those enchantments were increasing in intensity. Shapes started coalescing in the corridor, ghostly bodies forming from energy projected from the stones.

Nathan kicked himself to his feet, sticking his arm into one of the forming constructs. The body wasn’t entirely ghostly, and Nathan’s hand punched through a barrier and into a complex weave of magic. The mana already dissipating around his grasping hand felt almost Divine, but not quite.

Spiritual mana? Supplementing and guiding a framework of force?

A blade of force mana cut along his back, scoring his skin but failing to do more than leave a faint scrape. Nathan looked up at the phalanx of ethereal warriors before him, and cracked his knuckles. Then he waded in.

These warriors were unquestionably more skilled than he was. They evaded his blows with impressive grace, striking with precise and powerful blows that should have crippled and killed. But their weapons - made of force mana - failed to do more than scratch his skin.

You know, this seems like a great place to get that skill rank-up. Let’s not get hit.

Nathan darted into the center of the group of enemies and spent the next minute trying to dodge every attack sent his way. The ghostly guardians didn’t switch up tactics, but continued to strike at him even after it was clear they wouldn’t be able to significantly wound him.

Nathan pushed himself harder, tuning his reactions to dodge multiple attacks coming at him from all directions. It was the kind of intense training environment that would have been nearly impossible to replicate, and Nathan leaned on [Notice] and [Battle Meditation] to try and keep up with all of the information he needed to process. He lost track of things a few times and took flurries of blows. But every time, he lashed out to clear some space to reset and heal, then tuned back into a completely focused state where he could keep up with all of the attacks coming his way.

Battle Meditation 3 achieved!

Congratulations, you have developed the [Mid-Tier Dodging Footwork] utility skill into [High-Tier Dodging Footwork].

Utility skill: [High-Tier Dodging Footwork]

This skill will help you with quick movements to keep your balance and dodge attacks.

After what couldn’t have been more than a minute, Nathan was reminded by a rather large explosion that there was a battle going on, and that his friends were waiting for him to do a job. So he switched to offense. While the spirits dodged with impeccable grace, he only needed to grab or kick them once to destroy or cripple them, literally absorbing their flesh.

I could probably just bull through them. There’s not a lot they can do to stop me.

The spiritual warriors were re-forming at the back of the passage, and Nathan narrowed his eyes. He sprinted down the corridor, passing bodily through nearly a dozen of the ephemeral figures to make his way further into the dungeon.

Skill Development:

Utility skill: [Mid-tier Dodging Footwork]

This skill will help you move yourself to more easily keep your balance and dodge attacks.

Utility skill: [High-tier Dodging Footwork]

This skill will help you with quick movements to keep your balance and dodge attacks.

Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Magic Absorption 9

Permanent Talent 2: Perfected Body 3

Talent 3: High-tier Slow Fall 7

Class: Spellbreaker Juggernaut level 79

Stamina: 890/890

Juggernaut's Wrath

Antimagic Momentum

Raging Thrill

Juggernaut's Inertia

Unarmored Resilience

Utility skills:

Battle Meditation 3

High-tier Earnestness 7

Mid-tier Sprinting 10

High-tier Spellsense 7

High-tier Notice 2

Mid-tier Identify 9

High-tier Dodging Footwork 1

High-tier Enhanced Memory 7

Mid-tier Lecturing 7

Mid-tier Tumbling 7