Unbound

Chapter Seven Hundred And Forty Three – 743

Chapter Seven Hundred And Forty Three – 743

"Here," Tzfell said, wiping her tattooed brow with a kerchief. "That should finish it."

Laur stood up, his normally fine hair bundled back in a sloppy braid. He, too, was sweating and had stripped down to his undershirt. "I am completed on my end as well. My lord?"

"Yeah, I'm done too." Felix stood back and looked over the entire array with a critical eye. It was close to a hundred feet in diameter, and was probably the most complicated working he'd seen outside the ancient seat and seals. Complexity didn't mean better, of course, as the strongest effects were often the simplest, but in this case they'd seen no other way to approach their problem.

They'd gone over the formation countless times. It had to work right, and on the first try to boot. If it was the gods that were dulling his connection with the other Unbound, then it was obvious they'd notice him sooner or later. He would likely not have the time for a second attempt. Felix believed two were in the jungles of Jaast, and one was probably in Sunara, but the others were a mystery. All he had to go on was a library and some sewers, and that was from five months prior. They needed an update.

"Archie, are you ready?" The thief was eating from the heaping trays of food the servants had brought down to them.

"Yeah, let me just finish this and I'll be there." Felix watched the man shovel half a loaf of bread, cheese, and some sort of candied meat down his gullet. For once, he found he wasn't in the mood to eat anything.

You feel nervous. Do you need me down there?

I am, but no. I got this, buddy.

"Okay. I'm good now," Archie said around his last mouthful. The man walked up to the edge of the array and looked around. He swallowed. "So where do I stand?"

"Right here, Lord Ross," Laur said, gesturing to a blank area encircled by inscriptions. Archie gave it a long look but walked over and stepped gingerly into it.

Felix took three calming breaths and then strode out into the array himself. It still bore a great resemblance to Zara's creation, though this one accounted for more than just the standard elements and was anchored by several nodes.

"So I just stand here?" Archie asked.

"That's all," Tzfell said. "Once it is running, just remember to keep your limbs within the circle at all times. To cross the array at that point is unwise."

"Wait, why?" He folded his arms together and tucked his elbows closer to his torso. "These aren't going to cut me apart, are they?"

"No, nothing of the sort. While pain may be a result, the true worry is fouling the Autarch's efforts. The amount of Mana we are using here is dangerous, and only the balance we've achieved with this inscription will keep it within safe levels. If the array is disrupted, that balance could go out the window, resulting in a catastrophic failure."

"Meaning what?"

"Just stay in the center, Lord Ross.”

“You'll be fine, Archie," Felix said as he passed the man. "All the array is doing is drawing on the connection between us and amplifying it. I need it to guide me." Nnêw n0vel chapters are published at novelhall.come Beef isn't here then?"

“He is, in a way.” Across the array, Laur produced a piece of blackened green crystal and a tiny building framework, replete with buttresses and joists. He placed both within the center of another empty circle.

"You're kidding me.”

“If you could produce a solid item from your Skills, I could use that instead," Felix explained. "Your talents don't lie in that direction, so I had to ask you to help more directly."

He looked around himself, and it was far less dreamlike than ever before. Felix felt like he’d truly been transported somewhere else.

A jungle surrounded him like a warm green embrace. Insects buzzed, frogs croaked, and distant birds sang. Dawn had come only moments before, and the green canopy was filled with a warm, soft radiance that was both familiar and comforting.

In a moment, though, all of that was shattered. A massive blue and yellow snake crashed through the jungle, collapsing smaller trees beneath a bulk that rivaled Pit's own. A much smaller creature clung to its wedge-shaped head, a green-gold lizard-dog no bigger than a child. The Kobold slammed a sickle into the creature's head, and the serpent hissed, thrashing its head about to dislodge its assailant.

“Stop fooling around,” another Kobold shouted, this one purple-black in scale and fur. He stood just off to one side, a bow in his hands.

“I'm not! Fungal Root!” Green-gold Mana rushed through the first Kobold and slammed into the serpent's head. The snake arched up, its fanged mouth open in a silent scream as mushrooms burst from its eyes and throat. It died, crashing to the earth and spewing a god-awful amount of ichor onto the fronds and moss.

“Finally,” complained the darker one as the first hopped off the corpse. “What did you do with the others?”

“Others?”

The trees split, several collapsing as four other serpents surged toward the Kobolds. Mounted on their backs were heavily armored knights bearing ten-foot-long lances of gleaming blue metal.

“Halt! You cannot run from justice! Stand and bear the consequences of your lawlessness!”

“The other knights, you idiot!”

“I only saw one!”

The knights began to glow with a blue metallic light until the leader's crested helm shone like a moon come to earth. “Stand down, criminals! Place yourself before the mercy of Divine justice!”

“Hard pass!”

The knights twisted their lances, and the weapons were sheathed with blue force Mana and the leader pulled a length of rope that crackled with lightning. “Then you force our hands, Kobolds! Spread out and take them down!”

“Undeniable Salvo!" The dark Kobold called out and fired his bow. A volley of magical arrows peppered the knights and their mounts. They slammed, they screamed through the air, splitting into three separate streams that attacked from three entirely different angles. And as they hit, they burst into pressurized blades of acid and poison that dissolved the metal of the knight's armor and sent the serpents to bucking.

“Wild Growth!” The green gold Kobold cried and two massive flower pods burst from the fecund earth. They immediately unfurled, releasing clouds of noxious pollen that caught up every single knight.

The knights fell back coughing and summoning spinning wards around themselves, but the leader would not be denied. "Charge!”

He and his red-yellow serpent surged forward and he brought his massive lance to bear, only to have the Kobolds leap off its length before departing in entirely separate directions across tree branches and vines.

They ran.

“After them!” the knights called.

The vision dissolved into streaming lights as Felix laughed.