Divine Apostasy Book 7 - Chapter 74

Chapter 74

Before Sift could respond, Ruwen jumped off the wall on the lake side, and ran along the stone until Survey and Stone Echo displayed the area directly across from the throne building. Sift had followed through the air and dropped to the ground next to Ruwen.

“You ready?” Ruwen asked.

“Do you need to ask?”

“Okay,” Ruwen said. “These purple eggs make a mess. I’m going to lob it over the city to the far side, past the wall. I don’t want to hit a building because I don’t want anyone looking up and accidentally seeing us instead.”

Sift bent to plant a flower, and Ruwen swept Sift’s legs, but instead of falling to the ground, Sift levitated into the air with soul magic.

“That’s cheating,” Ruwen whispered.

“Come on, let’s go,” Sift replied.

“Fine.”

Ruwen stepped away from the wall twenty feet, opened his Void Band a foot, and angled it over the parapet. He recalled how much Energy he’d used when launching other things out of his Void Band like Blessed Bricks and Lylan. The egg was light, only about three ounces, and he didn’t want to overshoot the far wall too much and make the distraction useless.

“How hard can throwing an egg be?” Sift asked.

“It’s complicated.”

Sift hovered ten feet off the ground, moving back and forth as if pacing. Ruwen rechecked his calculations, and then, using three hundred sixty-three Energy, launched a Savage Purple Egg over the wall. He breathed a sigh of relief because he’d worried the force of the acceleration might trigger the egg as soon as it left his Inventory.

Ruwen guessed the egg traveled around two thousand eight hundred feet per second, and if his calculations were correct, it would take just under three seconds to detonate.

“Get ready,” Ruwen said to Sift.

Ruwen turned his head to the side, listening intently for the explosion. Three seconds passed, and he frowned. Had he miscalculated? At ten seconds, he stood up straight.

“What’s wrong?” Sift asked. “Did you miss?”

“How can I miss the ground? It should have exploded ten seconds ago.”

Sift twisted his lip. “That’s weird. Do they go bad? Maybe you should have kept them cold.”

“That’s dumb. They’re exploding eggs, not baking supplies.”

Sift shrugged. “Did they come out a chicken’s butt?”

Memories of the Savage Seven raising their rear ends and shooting the eggs at Ruwen filled his thoughts. He kept silent, not wanting to admit Sift had guessed right.

“That’s how baking eggs are born,” Sift said. “You should have stored them with ice. You’d make a terrible baker.”

“It can’t work like that,” Ruwen said, a little too loudly. “These eggs explode in this huge,” Ruwen waved his hands. “Explosion.”

“I’m not sure they do,” Sift said, looking into the sky as if judging the time. “It’s been like ten minutes.”

“It’s only been one,” Ruwen muttered. “There has to be an explanation.”

A gust of wind blew Ruwen’s hair into his face, and he angrily pushed it to the side so he could see. A realization struck him.

“Oh, no,” Ruwen whispered.

Sift saw Ruwen’s expression. “What happened?”

Ruwen pointed up. “The wind. That egg is only three ounces.”

Sift dropped to the ground and walked backward toward Ruwen as he studied the sky. “Where did it go, then? It can’t go up forever.”

Ruwen studied the sky as well. “I honestly don’t know.”

“It could be halfway around the world by now,” Sift said. “We’re running out of time. Let’s just go without the distraction.”

Ruwen bit his lip. He had no idea where the egg had gone. The wind, trapped in between the surrounding mountains, had erratic patterns. In fact, with the deep snow covering so much of the stone, the egg could have landed softly and not exploded.

“Okay, let’s go,” Ruwen said.

Sift grinned. “All right. On the count of three. Three!”

Sift shot off the ground and just cleared the top of the fortress wall.

“Cheater,” Ruwen mumbled as he ran forward five steps and leaped, Survey displaying exactly where to aim.

Ruwen flew over the wall, not far behind Sift, but Sift, with control of his trajectory, kept a low arc, while Ruwen sailed high into the air. They would land in the same spot, but it would take him four seconds longer.

At the top of Ruwen’s arc, high above the city, the Purple Savage Egg finally met something solid. The wind had carried it high into the air, slamming it into a massive snowfield. Far from being expired, the egg detonated in spectacular fashion. The massive boom echoed between the mountain peaks, and the bright flash appeared like a second sun in the sky. Smoke rose from the snow, which burned as the flammable gel covered it.

Loud snaps quickly followed as a colossal snow and ice sheet, covered in fire, slid down the mountain and toward the city.

Everyone turned their gaze upward, including all the demons in the courtyard of the throne building. The largest demon snarled at Ruwen, the awful sound causing his skin to flush. The demons watched Ruwen as he landed perfectly on the roof next to Sift.

Sift stared at the mountain of burning snow sliding toward the city. “Definitely not expired.”

Ruwen closed his eyes in frustration. The demons below shouted as they organized themselves to attack, and he considered the terrible timing of that explosion. What an incredible piece of bad luck.

“If it wasn’t for bad luck,” Sift said.

“We wouldn’t have any luck at all,” Ruwen finished.

“We better go.”

“Sorry, Sift.”

“I know. It’s not your fault. Well, mostly not.”

Ruwen glanced at the avalanche high above and Survey calculated its speed and distance. The flaming sheet of destruction had already accelerated to sixty miles per hour and would reach them in less than four minutes.

The avalanche made Ruwen’s brain itch, but before he could focus his Cleverness, he felt a pressure wave rising from the courtyard and turned his body to face it.

The large demon that had growled at Ruwen earlier landed on the roof twenty feet away. It had leaped upward thirty feet to reach them and stood twelve feet high. Black bristles covered its skin like armor. It didn’t have a tail, but a small hood rose from its neck, surrounding the head like a cobra. Two black eyes sat over a vertical slit the demon breathed through. It also had a small eye on each edge of the hood. The combination would give the demon depth perception, along with an excellent view of its surroundings. Teeth filled a circle shaped mouth below its breathing slit.

Perception provided more details.

Name: Scourge Champion

Deity: Lalquinrial

Class Type: Cultivator - Diamond

Level: 74

Health: 2,950

Mana: 0

Energy: 6,600

Spirit: 500,000,000

Armor Class: 1,700

“Foolish men, to enter my city,” the Champion hissed as its clawed feet dug into the stone roof.

Ruwen sighed and nodded at the Scourge Champion. Sift didn’t speak Inferni and couldn’t understand the demon, and his Perception likely wouldn’t provide much information. “I’m not sure this counts as good luck, but here’s your Champion.”

Sift looked from Ruwen to the Champion, smiled, and pointed at the demon. “I’ve come for my throne.”

The demon didn’t understand Sift, but recognized the challenge, and the short bristles covering its body rose, revealing scaley grey skin.

Ruwen Analyzed the Scourge Champion.

Target: Scourge Champion

Type: Creature (Gem)

Strengths: Toxic Saliva, Poison Barbs, Visibility Arc

Weaknesses: Order, Elemental-Cold, Hearing

Disposition: Hostile

“We need to leave in three minutes, so don’t screw around,” Ruwen told Sift. “It probably spits something terrible, has good vision, and I think it shoots those barbs. It doesn’t like cold, and its hearing is weak.”

“Thanks,” Sift said, his attention focused on the Scourge Champion.

Ruwen jumped to the building’s edge, away from demon, so it and Sift could settle the issue of the true Champion.