Free Web NovelChapter 109: The Fifth Wave[2]
The water trembled in Faust’s ears. The muted sound of the rumbling world was the only indication that they were moving. The water trembled on the outside, but within the dragon, they didn’t feel much.
A few seconds after their flight began, the pilot, Zen, raised a hand to signal that they were close to the ground. Greg grabbed Thalia, and Faust did the same to Nirvana. Spider was the only one holding Zen.
Then, with a swish of his hand, Zen popped the dragon.
Water rushed past them, getting into Faust’s ears, mouth, and pretty much anything else. For a moment, he was drowning. Then the water left them behind.
He had to force his eyes open. They were falling. The screaming wind was muted by the water in his ears. Through hazy eyes, Faust saw the earth getting closer very quickly.
He gasped, throwing up some water, then pulled Nirvana into his arms. They were close to the ground thanks to Zen’s timing, and their speed wasn’t too high because of the water pushing them back when the dragon was broken.
Still, he took precautions.
’Bolster!’
For the first time, too, he used Jason’s Schema.
’Hand of Authority.’
He tried to be calm as he used this one, because his sigil was on Nirvana’s waist, which he was starting to notice looked very dainty and easy to break.
He imagined the Hand of Authority like an invisible giant hand against her back. His hands were already there, so it was easy.
"Whoa!" Nirvana yelled, jolting. "Something is pushing me up!"
Their descent slowed a little, allowing Faust to hit the ground and just crouch.
BOOM!
The ground fissured and cracked around him. A ring of black dust rose, choking him with the smell of sulfur again.
"Urgh, I hate this place!" Nirvana screamed in anger.
They had already been soaked by rain before they came here, so they just continued dripping wet, staining their clothes with the mysterious black dust. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
Greg had landed before him, since he was heavier and didn’t have Hand of Authority. The ground was crushed around him in a crater. He had grown twice his usual grand size, almost nine feet tall with arms thicker than some people.
Some people being Thalia, who looked positively tiny in his arms. She had a stoic look on her face. But her elegant entrance was ruined when Greg put her down gently and she started hacking and coughing.
"Oh my," she wheezed, "that has to violate some OSHA regulations."
Spider had sprouted wings and glided down with Zen, landing softly. She then retreated the wings into her ripped shirt.
’She’s getting good at controlling that.’
Zen spat out some water. "I don’t know about you guys, but the ability to breathe in water really helped there."
They all glared at him, but he shrugged and added, "But at least it isn’t raining in this world."
Lightning began crackling in the sky. The loud boom of thunder echoed through the grey world.
Spider raised her two fists, clenching them so tight veins protruded, glaring at Zen with the sincere desire to see those hands wrapped around his throat.
Faust managed to stop them from fighting and pulled them towards the castle up the hill. Before they even reached it, the grand doors groaned open.
The sound of rattling steel heralded the lines of puppet knights marching out of the castle. Their polished steel looked dull in this world, their red and black coats looking like different shades of black. Their golden masks depicting a smiling face glistened.
Faust drew his axe from his Spatial Bag, while Zen began letting off arrows. Greg used his Jam skill, which he got from the Memory trials to freeze them all for a second. Ghosts and skeletons rose around Nirvana as they charged at the knights.
They slammed into the puppets like an avalanche. Faust slashed through three puppets with his first swing.
’Dark Maw.’
His axe was covered in black energy that formed the head of a jackal as he swung it. Steel screamed as the jackal chomped down on the knights.
They didn’t bother waiting for the knights to regenerate and fight again. They ran past any of them still living and entered the castle just as it started to rain.
RUMBLE.
The interior of the castle was dark and lit by distant, high candles on chandeliers. The reception of the castle was a bare open space.
"Stop!" Nirvana yelled, spreading her arms out.
There was a line in the stone floor where she stopped them, and if she hadn’t, their run would have ended early.
Silver, ghostly vines shot out of the ground and rose up to the room, covering them in darkness. It was like a silver cornfield had risen in front of them.
"There is absolutely no way through that," Thalia said in shock.
"Not yet," Nirvana corrected.
The ground hissed and a stone circle revealed itself and rose. Soon a stone bowl stood in front of them. Another hiss sounded, this one much louder and grinding, like empty pipes trying to pump water. They all flinched back.
But then, water began to fill up the bowl. Dark, ominous water.
"We have to drink to pass without dying in the vines," Nirvana said darkly. She gulped as she stared into the dark waters, then she glanced at the knights outside. "But someone will have to stop them while we drink."
The knights, which still had energy to reform, were pulling themselves together. Under the thick blanket of rain, they creaked and popped back together, dragging themselves into the castle.
"I got them," Faust reassured, pulling out three Summon cards.
One of the cards was already used. Its silver body was engraved with intricate inscriptions and the pictures of four possible summons. One of the four, the Silver Knight, was highlighted as the summon Faust had randomly pulled when he first used it.
He didn’t need that, so he put it back. He had meant to pull out the other two cards. The other Silver-grade summon card was a mount summoning card. It was detailed with images of a horse, a red wolf, a giant eagle, and a seahorse.
[Summon Mount Card (Silver): Allows you to summon a mount that will be 20% faster and sturdier than you. Cooldown: 6hrs. The summon lasts for 18 hrs, if it is not destroyed in battle.]
’Gimme the eagle...’
The other card was a prismatic emerald color, like it was made of stone. It depicted too many summons for Faust to even count, but he saw something like a troll there so he wanted that.
[Summon Card (Supreme): Allows you to call on a random summon with 50% of your Combat Power. Cooldown: 24hrs. The summon lasts for 12 hrs, if it is not destroyed in battle.]
Greg blinked. "Ohh, I have one of those too."
He glared at him—the tall bastard couldn’t let him have anything—then poured mana into the cards.
