ROTLE- Chapter 170- Break The Binding

Pain flared in Estabel’s side as a tail as wide as she was tall, maybe wider, slammed into her. The blow sent her flying, soaring through the air.

She slammed into a tree beside the thing that had fallen. The small crater it had created had raised a cloud of sand and dust that was yet to settle so she could not see what exactly it was. However, what it was happened to be the least of her problems as her interface popped up in front of her.

[You have been dealt a Critical Blow!]

[Health 48%]

I’m not dying here, she told herself as she channeled a healing spear from her staff. Her hand gripped tighter on the wooden staff as she activated the spell only to feel nothing but her palm.

Slight panic filled her. She had dropped her staff. As for the healing spell, she didn’t know any by heart. It was the reason she always kept one in her staff. Spells weren’t the easiest things to craft and memories, not even for [Mage]s. Unlike enchantments, they were vastly more complicated, far more complex.

One of the reasons the [Mage] class had staffs was to store spells that they could not recall easily, correctly or precisely. The staff stored them so that they could simply call them. As for grimoires, those existed so that they stored all the spells that they came across.

Estabel looked to the side, hoping to spot her staff as the cloud of dust and sand beside her settled. She saw nothing at first glance, coughing up a handful of blood instead. She knew where she hurt, knew what had been broken. She pushed through the pain.

Why her cloak was not protecting her here was beyond her. It was supposed to be one of its functions. She had also studied these parts extensively, layering extra protection on the cloak before coming here.

My staff, she thought, drawing her mind away from the currently unimportant. Where is it?

She turned her head another way only to be interrupted by a loud boom somewhere ahead of her. It drew her attention, and her staff was ignored once more.

When she turned her head to it, she found [Saint] Clerent engaged in combat with the massive serpent. He moved in a strange way. His sheets of paper played the role of steps levitating in the air so that he ran atop them, one step for each sheet.

The snake struck violently and angrily, massive mouth snapping at the air. It was not trying to hurt him, it was specifically trying to eat him.

They were as high as the trees now, even higher. [Saint] Clerent was a graceful dancer, feet moving as if they were born to dance instead of being dogs of the church—even if high ranking dogs.

Estabel wondered if the man was jumping onto the pieces of golden papers that flew about or if the pieces of paper simply adjusted to his position, coming to rest under him.

Clerent flew high, and the serpent struck upwards to meet him. Without hesitation, he dropped from the piece of paper and let himself fall. The serpent reached the acme, stopped abruptly. It looked down at him as if pissed about missing or perhaps it was surprised that he had allowed himself to fall from such a height.

The pause only lasted a moment before it dived too. It struck like a precision bolt of mana, the famous [Mana bullet] that every member of the Mage Radiants is forced to learnt. Estabel watched Clerent land on a piece of paper, barely an inch above the ground then dart backwards, dashing away from his landing spot.

The serpent came crashing down with reckless abandon. Its head hit the ground, face first. The world boomed once more on impact and dust was sent rising, scattering about the place. Estabel watched a tree get uprooted by the impact.

Clerent came settling quietly on the ground, white robe still pristine, as clean as the day it was woven, maybe even cleaner.

He raised his hand, holding up only two fingers—index and middle. More sheets of paper erupted from his back, from a place Estabel could not see. It made her frown as three pieces became eight then fifteen then thirty, then thirty-five, then…

Another cough slipped from her lips and she was forced to stop counting. Her problem had always been a need to understand things. Even dying as she was, she was focused on figuring out how exactly the [Saint]’s skills were working instead of finding her staff to save her life.

Returning her attention to the ground, it took her three more tries before she found the staff. It wasn’t too far away from her, but it was far enough that she had to walk to get it. The dust had cleared from the crater, but the crater’s occupant was the least of her worries.

Pulling herself to her feet, she took leverage with a hand on the bark of the tree that had stopped her flight. She pulled herself up, got to her feet. The world swayed a little, dizzying her for a moment. Estabel refused to believe that she was concussed or even stunned.

A step forward told her that she was fine, just in pain. In the distance, Clerent wielded a golden spear and held back the serpent with thrusts and strikes. He peppered the serpent in silence, leaving only its hisses of discomfort to play accompaniment to their battle. Sometimes its tail would lash out at him from the side and he would swing the spear, slamming into the tail. He would draw blood and the serpent would hiss in anger as it drew its tail away.

Clerent was quiet through it all as Estabel got to where her staff was, but she could see it on his face. He was annoyed. It seemed he could not find a way to kill the creature or escape.

What about the way he bound it? Estabel asked herself, staff now in hand. Was it a one time use?

[Magical staff function in progress]

[You have used Intermediate spell Self-Heal]

The ambient mana blossomed into a cacophony of forest green. Estabel took a deep breath as the pain lifted from her.

[Magical staff function in progress]

She turned the staff, light now that it was in use, and pointed it at the serpent, making sure the [Saint] was away from her line of fire.

[You have cast intermediate spell Fire ball]

A ball of fire the size of a thumb appeared at the tip of her staff, just in front of the orb. Then it swelled until it was the size of boulder. Without delay, she fired.

It scorched the air, burning everything in its path—air and grass and sand—as it burned its way to the serpent.

Clerent turned his head at the last moment, as if drawn by the heat instead of the sound of a raging explosion heading his way. A slight frown touched his lips. He leapt high and back, settling on another piece of golden paper, light as a feather.

When the spell hit, it was a massive explosion that scorched the trees around. The snake hissed, roaring like a creature that was more feline than serpentine. Engulfed in fire, there was no sight of it.

Clerent sent another flock of papers, they charged forward, seemingly countless in number. They surrounded the explosion, keeping it from dying out. They kept the serpent trapped in a ball of ever burning fire. They orbited it in lines, leaving more than enough space to see what was inside. Yet, the fire was trapped in, as if in an invisible dome.

Estabel watched cracks appear in the air around the ball of papers as Clerent hopped down to settle beside her.

He was still frowning.

“You think we got it?” she asked him.

His discomfort seemed to tighten. “Did you get a notification?” he asked.

“For what?”

“Any kind of damage dealt.”

“No.”

Such notifications only popped up when you dealt damage of significance. Everyone knew that. Critical or fatal blows, stun damage. Things like that. Even…

Her thought trailed off in realization. Right now the serpent was taken consistent burn damage and her interface was telling her nothing.

The understanding must have shown on her face because Clerent nodded.

“We aren’t dealing any significant damage,” he muttered.

“Maybe there is an element that it is weak to?” she suggested. “Have you seen this creature before? Does the church’s bestiary say anything about it?”

Clerent shook his head. “It’s new to me too.”

“Break the binding.”

Clerent and Estabel paused, then exchanged a look. None of them had said those words. They had come in the voice of a boy, maybe even a young man.

“Break the binds,” the voice commanded again. It sounded tired, winded, a little crack. “Do it or we are all dead!”

Estabel gave Clerent a look. It asked if it was safe to take their eyes off the creature and the ball of fire that it was currently trapped in.

Clerent nodded. “The binds will hold.”

“Not forever,” the voice opposed.

Now they looked back.

“I knew I’ve heard that voice before,” Estabel muttered. Still, the sight before her was… worrying.

Aiden Lacheart was walking towards them, heading out from the direction of the crater. There was a golden piece of paper stuck to his shoulder that sparked with live mana.

He looked as if he was struggling to walk. The green, odd-looking coat that he always wore was ripped in too many places and stained in blood in each place. Half his face was covered in blood and his hair was matted to his skin, crimson as anything could be.

Still, he looked as if he could not be bothered to care for his own stated as he got to them.

“The binding,” he said once more, emphasizing every word. “Undo it.”

Clerent spared him a glance. The [Saint]’s eyes settled on the piece of paper on his shoulder. In just that glance, the paper simply turned to dust.

Estabel was slightly impressed.

Aiden, however, looked at his shoulder as if he did not even realize that something had been there. When Estabel had seen the paper, she’d though that it was what he was talking about.

Aiden pointed at the ball of fire. “That binding,” he said as if slowly getting annoyed.

“Why?” Clerent asked. He sounded calm, slightly curious.

Estabel wanted to know why the young lord was also interested. What knowledge did he bring from his world that had led him to say this. Since the darkness was rising, was this a phenomenon that he understood. Was the serpent from his world.

“Why?” Aiden asked, flabbergasted. He seemed to be getting his strength back. “The fire is only making it worse. Can’t you see?”

Clerent and Estabel turned to the creature. A frown marred Estabel’s face as she saw what Aiden was talking about. The flames of her spell were dying out.

She looked at Clerent. “[Saint]?”

“The binding will hold,” he said confidently. “Your flames couldn’t break it. The creature cannot.”

Aiden, to Estabel’s surprise, sighed as if he was dealing with stupid children who could not see what was right in front of them. Just how much had the boy grown to be so arrogant. He was summoned, not even three months in their world. She refused the urge to check his level, remembering what just touching him had done to her last staff.

“It has your scent,” Aiden barked in growing ire and worry. “Mine and hers, too. We cannot let it live. Which means that we cannot let it grow stronger.”

He had a look on his face, something hidden beneath the worry and ire. Frustration?

No, Estabel thought. It was frustration, but that was not what was at the core. It was a hidden look she had seen on a lot of elders in the Mage Radiants. It was a look of…

Hesitation, she realized. He had more to say, reasons that would make them listen, but he didn’t want to say too much even in a situation as dire as this.

As for Clerent, he was no longer looking so confident. His brows furrowed at the ball of dying flames. Estabel could make out the scales of the serpent once more.

She paused. “What the hell?”

“What is it?” Clerent asked, retaining his calm.

Estabel was beginning to think they should listen to the young lord. From what she could see, scales that had once been wood brown with a smattering of forest green were now deep red.

She rounded on Aiden. “What is it doing?” she demanded. “What is happening?”

Aiden looked like he couldn’t be bothered to care anymore. He stalked past her as if she mattered very little. She gave him his space, hoping he did not notice how very actively she flinched away from his blackened arm that looked as if it had streaks of white veins running through it.

“If you won’t unbind it,” he said as he passed Clerent, too. “I will.”

The flames had all but guttered out now, leaving a very red and very angry and probably larger serpent trashing in the ball dome the papers had created around it. Its eyes settled on Aiden and it trashed harder.

“He can undo it?” she asked Clerent.

The [Saint] shook his head. “He shouldn’t be able to.”

“He might be right, though,” she muttered when Aiden came to a stop. “The cracks in the air are growing.”

“The binding cannot be broken by anything under level two hundred. It would take too long for something in level two hundred and twenty.”

Estabel had been a Mage Radiant long enough to know that even in magic there were no absolutes.

“[Saint],” she said calmly, watching the back Aiden Lacheart as he simply stood before the massive serpent as it stared down at him in rage. “There are no absolutes.”

Clerent’s answer was simple. “Not where the gods are concerned.”

“Your gods are the death of logic.”

“Because they are above—”

A cracking sound hushed him. He and Estabel looked to Aiden. Before him the snake had stopped staring in rage, instead it was now looking around itself. The cracks in the air were spreading.

Estabel couldn’t help but look at the [Saint].

“Is the boy undoing your binding?” she asked with a smirk.

Clerent’s face held anger. “He’s going to get us all killed.”

With that, he started stalking up to the boy.

“Estabel!” Aiden barked.

She was surprised that he remembered her name.

“We need a teleportation spell now,” he commanded. “Thirty kilometers, north east.”

That was quite specific.

The cracks spread some more and Estabel grabbed the [Saint] by the sleeve of his robe before he got too far away.

Clerent shot her a scathing look but she did not unhand him. “Sometimes,” she said, “you should be willing to try the thing that sounds stupid.” She looked at Aiden’s back. “Especially when its suggested by someone who just did the impossible.”

Clerent’s expression loosened up a little bit and Estabel slammed the butt of her staff into the ground. It stood upright and the orb began to glow.

The serpent’s eye returned to rage. The cracks spread all over the invisible dome now. Pieces of golden paper began to burn up, turning to dust one by one.

Clerent took another step forward.

“I’ll need your help on this [Saint],” Estabel said, halting him. “I’ll need more mana than the one I currently have.”

[Magical staff function in progress]

…

[You have used channeling spell]

…

[You have activated advanced spell Teleportation]

[Channeling at 5%]

That was a quick start.

Every [Mage worth their weight in gold knew to always have a teleportation spell on hand. A [Mage] who did not have such a spell did not deserve a staff.

Her orb glowed a bright blue.

“It will take a while,” she bit out, as her mana drained from her. “I’ll need you to add yours to it.”

Clerent grabbed the staff, holding it with her. “How long?”

“Five minutes, maybe seven.”

[Mana 32%]

[Mana 28%]

[Mana 24%]

[Mana 20%]

[Mana 13%]

…

[Channeling is at 50%]

Estabel turned a shocked look on the [Saint]. What the hell?

Just how potent was a [Saint]’s mana for the channeling to have shot up so quickly. This was practically unheard of except in [Mage]’s beyond level three hundred. After all, it was a teleportation that dealt with an area of effect and not individual teleportation.

Her focus faltered when the air around the serpent shattered like glass. Shards of nothing fell to the ground and the serpent struck almost immediately.

“Lacheart!” she called out.

“Finish the spell!” Clerent barked.

Aiden, however, seemed to vanish from where he was standing in a blur of motion. The snake hit the dirt violently. The air around seemed to combust. Sparks were sent flying. Flames licked at its reddened scale as black eyes turned about, seeking, searching.

Its eyes fastened on Aiden standing to the side, in front of a tree.

[Channeling is at 90%]

Estabel was worried for Aiden’s life and flabbergasted by the speed of her channeling at the same time.

“How is it stronger?” Clerent asked, confusion in his voice.

Stronger?

The creature focused on Aiden, and Estabel used [Detect on it. Her jaw dropped. The creature didn’t even bulk at the skill being used on it. Its focus remained on Aiden, unwavering. Above it hovered it brief detail.

[Illusory Serpent Lvl 243]

When it had attacked her, it had been level two hundred and one. How had it grown forty-two levels?

Its focus settled on Aiden, it attacked. What happened next made Clerent’s jaw drop and left her confused. The tree behind Aiden lit up in four enchantments, then Aiden clapped his hands in front of him and the tree exploded into a chaos of black vines with hues of deep blue. They reached out, made of mana, and began wrapping themselves around the creature.

The serpent struggled and fought. The vines caught on fire each time they touched the creature. Aiden watched, one hand at his side as if in preparation while the other remained in front of him.

The vines continued to burst forth, the tree slowly unweaving itself.

[Channeling is at 99%]

“LORD LACHEART!” Estabel called out.

Aiden glanced at her, turned, and with his blackened arm, ripped a chunk of wood out of the tree behind him. Then he touched the finger of his normal hand on the wood and threw it at them with a flick of the wrist.

The wood embedded itself into the ground in front of them like a thrown dagger. Estabel looked down at it, confused, but did not stop channeling.

Aiden moved his hands once more as the vines began burning faster than they could be created. He clapped. To Estabel’s surprise, each new vine released a blue-white smoke, the kind you would expect from a magical chill.

How is he doing all that?

[Channeling is at 100%]

…

[Channeling complete]

“LORD LACHEART!” she called out, drawing Aiden’s attention. “WE’RE LEAVING!”

Clerent gave her a shocked look as if he had not expected her to leave with Aiden. While he gave her the look, Aiden spared her one last glance. Then, as if just to be sure, he looked at the serpent that was now losing to the vines and clapped his hands once more.

He vanished, gone from sight.

In the blink of an eye, he was standing right in front of Estabel and Clerent. Squatting with a hand on the ground where the piece of wood should’ve been. As for the piece of wood, it was nowhere to be seen.

“Go!” he barked.

Estabel obeyed, the snake ripping through growing vines as the tree they came from finally came undone.

Estabel activated the spell.

[You have used advanced spell Teleportation]

She felt the world warp around them. The serpent turned and rushed them.

It bit down and they were gone.

…

Estabel appeared in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nothing but trees. She turned to Aiden Lacheart first. Teleportation was often disorienting, most people needed a little attention after the effect of the spell.

What she saw, however, was the [Saint]. Clerent had Aiden by the shirt, pinned to a tree. She could feel the anger and confusion emanating off of him as he stared the boy down.

“What,” he bit out in anger, “are you?”