Chapter 188 - Asteroid belt (Patreon)

The last whirring sound was almost a death sentence. Not only the orbs all got generally faster again, but they had desynchronized. Dodging the orbs became a nightmare, and in no time, Sofia had touched at least three more. She couldn’t even begin to try dealing with their effects; all they did was make her health fall faster. By now, she was at around 60% health, chewing a minor healing candy and in a mad dance to avoid the incoming things from all around.

Sofia’s senses had gone into overdrive as her body tried to muster every ounce of energy it could to somehow save the situation. Her mana senses, in particular, were extended and sharpened like never before, fueled by intensive and reckless use, as well as an unhealthy dose of dopamine pumping through her veins.

She noticed an orb she had never seen before, and without even seeing it up close, she instantly knew this bastard of a ball was the correct key. It was far away from the platform, in the black void, and no matter how much she moved, it always moved accordingly to stay hidden on the opposite side of the obelisk. Short of placing it under the platform, this had to be the most devious place it could have been. Everything was set up so that she wouldn't want to get close to the edges.

Sofia stopped caring; she deployed her wings and flew up, triggering a deluge of red flashes and buzzes. She flew over the Obelisk, and the ball far out in the void picked up a lot of speed. It was trying to get behind her. Sofia could almost catch Zerei when they flew together; there was no way she would get left in the dust by a big marble. Amidst a deluge of harmful effects, the whole void turned red when she left the confines of the platform, which actually highlighted the position of the hidden orb, revealing its matte black color.

Sofia's health plummeted down, but she caught the black orb, and it didn’t disappear, morph or sink into the ground. It only tried to escape her clutch, unsuccessfully.

Flying erratically, Sofia tried avoiding the barrage of attacks coming her way as best she could. On her left arm, she had strapped the blessed shield which she put in front of her as she sped forward above the cloud of orbs. Her left hand held the staff, which helped by absorbing some of the weaker attacks. Her right hand held the key.

Her health was down to a few hundred by the time she was above the obelisk. She plunged down and slammed the orb into the obelisk’s hole as she crashed into the ground.

Bruised and battered, so much so that the bone armor had almost completely disappeared, Sofia appeared in the waiting room. She was breathing heavily but had a peaceful expression under her helmet.

Health : 289 / 10995

Stamina : 7 / 3662

Mana : 91256 / 94000

Close call…

Whoever designed that deserves a serious beating.

On a good note, the broken-off parts of the Orichalcum armor had been teleported to the waiting room with her so it could repair itself fully with the built-in enchantments. The bone armor also had some time to rebuild. The stock of bones had dropped by almost two tons; that was how hard the bone armor had worked.

Since she wanted to restore as much of her Stamina as possible, Sofia needed to stay still, so she summoned Pareth to go take a look at the scoreboard.

‘Floor 98

Known people who have failed on this floor :

Valeure Dargent

Current rank : 61

(You are currently ranked at the bottom of this floor’s list)

Should you complete this floor, you will climb to rank : 9’

Nine… This is getting really serious. Feels a bit unreal even. I said I would get first before, but that still felt a bit empty. Unrealistic. But I suppose Pareth IS that much of an anomaly.

Although he wasn’t helpful on the last floor.

I was that close to giving up too. I think if my Health had gone under 200, I would have teleported out. Though Pareth would have probably come out to heal me at the last second. It’s good that he held off; I have a feeling I’m going to need the heal for what’s coming…

Sofia was at about half Stamina when the timer came to a close. At the last second, she stood up, shield and staff in hand, ready for what was to come.

She was surprised to see all of her items and armor disappear as she appeared in a different place. Even her storage ring came off. Though she could still feel that it was technically on her, she couldn’t see it or access it. Only the staff stubbornly refused to go anywhere. And she knew she could reactivate the bone armor if she wanted to.

The place she found herself in was very familiar.

[Ranking Spire Phase 2 : Floor 98 - The Master’s challenge]

[Objective : Win the Master’s challenge.]

A tall old elf slowly clapped, standing before his small floor cushion. Sofia was exactly where she had been when she had left, wearing the white uniform and the brown belt.

“Welcome back, student! You made it here. Ah. It is pleasant to have so much recurring company lately. You will sit for a drink, won’t you?” The old Master was considerably more cheerful than he had been the first time.

Ahah… The Master’s challenge. Yeah, he’s still level 400 plus...

“G- Glad to be back, Master. It would be my pleasure to share a drink with you.”

“Ah, enough false pretenses; sit down and breathe. This is not the orb floor. Take some time to ready yourself before we start,” he said as he sat down without making a sound.

Oh, he absolutely knows everything that’s going on then.

“Sorry to ask so bluntly, but… Are you real? Outside the trial, I mean.”

“Of course. The other floors are not, but this one and the sixth of the first phase have always been managed by a living outsider. It was not always this old man. The story goes that the administrator themselves used to occupy this seat,” he said as he tapped his cushion.

“What about the students of the paintings? And does that mean you’re trapped here? If you do not mind me asking?”

The old elf first passed a cup filled with piping hot liquid to Sofia, then he answered, looking at the paintings too, “All real, though quite old they are. I own a similar place outside the tower. It must be in a terrible state by now. And trapped is inaccurate. I am here by my own will. And there would need to be a replacement for me to leave.”

“I see; I apologize for all the questions. It’s just a bit unbelievable.”

“Bah, you worry too much about pointless details, Saintomancer,” the Master winked, which looked entirely out of character. “Now, let me explain the challenge.”

Following the Master’s words, the small training room became an outdoor square stone platform, surrounded by rows of empty seats, some kind of rustic arena.

“The challenge will be to make me lose health. Even one point counts. That is all you have to do. During this, I will dodge, and for every attack that fails to damage me, I will hit once. My blows will always take away one percent of your health, and you will not be able to heal by any means. Even your runes will not save you. If you stand around for too long doing nothing, I will hit you as well. End of explanation. Stand up when you are ready, student.”

After he explained this, a health counter appeared above his head.

20 209 900 / 20 209 900

Sofia almost choked on her tea. These… Certainly are numbers…

“Are there things I am not allowed to do? Can the skeletons participate?”

The Master's neutral expression did not falter at Sofia’s reaction. He only answered in a slightly playful tone, “I have stated all the rules, student.”

“Great. A last question before we start. Do you really think I am not ready? Can I not beat the hundredth floor?”

The Master raised an eyebrow, “So greedy, student. You still have two floors before that. Do you underestimate me? I still believe you have no chance, but I am merely a decrepit old elf. It is up to you to prove me wrong. Only fi- six students have ever triumphed over me.”

We’ll see.

But he’s right; first, I should focus on this floor. How do I harm such a monster?

If he hasn’t lied, I have ninety-nine tries to touch him. Well, touching isn’t enough; I need to make him lose Health. Pareth and the book can help, but I think it’s safe to say that he will hit me whenever they fail to touch as well, so I need to be careful. If the twenty-five paladins all attack and miss, will that be counted as one or twenty-five tries? I need to experiment.

What else? He said he would dodge. Does that mean he will only avoid and never try to block? That could play in my favor too. Alright, I have a few ideas already.

As Sofia’s last missing point of Stamina returned, she stood up.