Chapter 21 – Bridge Collapse
Violet, Lorely and sixteen harpies joined the battlefield! To end the battle, Violet prepared another Implosion, but her forces were dying quickly... If she missed it, she would have to sacrifice Milia and Shaki to cast a final one.
“It’s been almost an hour! Is it finished yet?!” Milia asked in the back-line.
“48 seconds actually,” Shaki said, blocking rays alongside the gnolls.
“Don’t pressure Violet, idiots!” Lorely said.
The gnoll witch completed sigils for Violet. They worked together to complete the implosion spell faster. They hoped to decrease the casualties, ending the battle before a gnoll-born or a rook died.
On the other hand, they were doomed if the spell failed.
The party’s tension was still at its peak as rays gruesomely drilled into the defending pawns. Suddenly, a shot slipped past the wall of harpies and gnoll, flying straight at Violet.
“Ouch,” Lorely said.
She had swatted the ray with her backhand. The weakened translucent barrier wrapping her hand broke, resulting in the ray gouging her hand. A spurt of blood landed on Violet’s face.
“Ah!?”
Violet lost her focus, releasing the spell.
A blinding light appeared at the base of the ruined gate, already destroyed by the earlier attack.
The stone bricks disappeared along the light, leaving an empty sphere of space.
Sliding forward, the ground shook and gave out under their feet.
Milia expected to be pulled forward by the Implosion again. Instead, the moving ground tripped her, throwing her on her butt.
“What’sgoingon?! Oooooh, the bridge’s fucked!” Milia screamed quickly.
The extremities of the bridge tore away from the wall and palace, pulled together by implosion.
Grinding on its support, the bridge slid in a frightening rumble. The pillars sheared and bent towards the center, crashing together at the middle.
The gnolls leaned on each other to keep their balance. Lorely held Violet. Shaki’s tri-segment legs and tail kept her in good posture.
“I missed my spell, sorry,” Violet said, drenched in sweat.
Delicious sweat~! Slade thought as he absorbed Violet’s mana by licking her skin.
[Mana pool reached safe levels. Skill restrictions lifted.]
The mere act of cuddling the warlock filled his mana pool faster than hours of sexual activity with Milia.
Crack!
A web of fissure swept through the ground. The bridge sunk at its extremities.
“Woah!!” Milia yelled as she sprawled on the ground.
The gnoll corpses slid off, painting a red trail on the tilting bridge.
“It’s breaking! Grab the harpies and jump off the bridge!” Lorely shouted.
There were around 8 harpies left and 4 gnollborns (including Metiva) alive.
“A-are you sure about- whoaaa!” a gnoll screamed.
Talons suddenly grabbed his hand.
Soon enough the bridge fell on the underground river flowing at the bottom. A harpy caught each gnoll and safely glided away from the crumbling bridge.
Unlike Lorely, the harpies lacked the strength to carry the gnoll up. Instead, they glided down on a predictable path.
Thankfully, the beholders stopped shooting as they left the collapsing bridge. So, they couldn’t kill the loaded harpies during their descent.
They could have shot down the party. But they still hoped to win without sacrifice.
The monsters evacuated on the central pillar supporting the bridge, holding on a precarious equilibrium.
The Evil Eye prepared a new spell to save its brethren. Its fellow beholders assisted the sigil drawing to cast it faster.
“The battle is still going on! They are casting Dimension Door!” Violet said.
A large magic circle appeared underneath the section of bridge where the beholders were. That portal would save the beholders from their deadly fall.
“He can’t possibly escape this place on such a short notice,” Metiva said.
They scanned the floor as they flew near the walls of the cave.
“There! The dimension door is opening at the bottom of the cave!” Milia shouted. She pointed at a glowing point hovering above the clay soldiers.
The budding light shone at the bottom of the cave against a wall. Magic circles slowly appeared around the light. The beholders planned to jump from that exit portal, far from the collapsing rocks.
Landing near that Dimension Door exit, the gnolls sighed in relief as the harpies’ talons released them.
“What will happen if they survive the fall? Are you going to cast another implosion as soon as they exit?” Metiva asked.
“Implosion worked on the bridge because it was narrow, stopping them from spreading. True, it is the best offensive spell from the Earth Magic school, but more of a single-target attack than-” Violet said.
“Oh, we need fodder!” Milia interrupted.
“That’s right. Can someone help me weave a spell?” Violet asked.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve used Convergence, but I’ll do my best,” Lorely said.
“I could, but I don’t have any mana left,” Metiva said.
“It’s okay, you only need to stabilize the sigils,” Violet said.
The three women stood shoulder to shoulder reading the spell book.
“Wait, do you really have enough mana?” Metiva asked.
“No problem,” Violet said.
Pebbles and dust shook from the mighty power that Violet manifested. Clothes and capes flapped.
“What do you mean ‘I only need to stabilize’?!” Metiva screamed, struggling to move Violet’s sigils.
The power and the weight behind the sigils was unfamiliar to Metiva.
The intensity of a spell weaved by multiple casters was normally determined by the strongest contributor.
But the skill “Beholder’s Convergence” broke that rule, allowing its user to contribute their spellpower.