Chapter 205: Rending Tornado

It wasn’t until late the following night that the trio left the area.

Their injuries weren’t nearly as fatal as those of their opponents, but they were still quite serious. Micky’s wings were full of small holes, making it difficult for him to fly.

And rather painful

. While Nesha wasn’t in any danger of bleeding out, she couldn’t walk on her maimed leg. As for Percy, he had it the worst among the three. His whole body was swollen, his skin purple and bleeding in many spots.

“Such a waste…” he sighed, looking at the handful of green mushrooms left in his spatial amulet.

Most of his stash had been destroyed inside the trap they killed Dranold with. The rest, they’d consumed to fix the worst of their injuries, just barely allowing them to move. Naturally, the mushrooms were far less effective when eaten raw. Sadly, Percy didn’t have the time or mental capacity to figure out how to brew them into potions right now.

“Do you want to take a detour to the Trollsden before we go? We can get some more from the trolls.” Nesha suggested.

He grimaced at the sound of that. Honestly, he’d spent enough time in the Grisly Bog to last him a lifetime. Even over the past day, he and Micky had stayed in the swamp, having plenty of tasks to tend to.

Among them, was cleaning up the various battlefields, getting rid of any lingering runes. The enchantments Percy used weren’t anything special, but the Vault’s script still differed from Remior’s. He’d rather not deal with the fallout if somebody stumbled upon them by accident.

Being hunted for the Aurora Dew was bad enough.

Plus, he also wanted to salvage some of his constructs’ pieces. Obviously, they didn’t bother scooping every last shard from the filth. It was too much work. Especially limping and in pain as they were. That said, they managed to collect some of the still-intact scythes and the largest fragments they could find. All in all, Percy retrieved about 20% of his teal powder, adding another week or two of accumulation to his trusty jar. Not that he was looking forward to replenishing the rest, or reforging his armour.

“Nah. Let’s leave it. Honestly, I just want to go home right now.”

He could ask Baldy to help him grow more mushrooms once he was back at the mansion. Percy had a hunch his grandpa’s clones would be an excellent place to plant the parasitic mushrooms on. With any luck, Archibald’s Violet life mana would accelerate their growth too. And there was another favour he wanted from him...

“How did the townsfolk treat you, by the way?” he asked, changing the topic.

Since he couldn’t exactly appear in front of others until he came up with a way to hide his glowing eyes, the job of scavenging through their house’s rubble had fallen on Nesha. Not that she’d found much. Just a couple of vials of Dranold’s elixirs that had miraculously survived the implosion, along with another mushroom or two.

“Most of them, like a hero. They offered us some food and a place to stay – if we wanted. But I declined.”

Percy nodded. This was what they had agreed on. As nice as it would be to rest for a few days before travelling, they wanted to reach his family’s mansion before their enemies caught wind of their latest losses.

“What about the snitches?”

“Ha! You should have seen the looks on their faces! Are you sure you don’t want to get back at them though?”

Percy shrugged. Truth be told, he had considered it. The bastards definitely deserved to be punished for what they had tried to do to him and Nesha. But at the end of the day, he didn’t care enough to waste more time on such small-minded people. They weren’t worth it.

“Did you tell the others about it?” he asked.

Nesha nodded.

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“Then, that’s enough.”

Their neighbours wouldn’t treat them too kindly moving forward. Not after such a betrayal. And that was the least of their problems too. After all, they were the ones who had reported Percy and Nesha to House Tantalus, only for the family to end up with three more dead Greens. Naturally, this wouldn’t look great on their informants.

Shaking the pointless thoughts out of his head, Percy wrapped his hand around Nesha. The two supported each other, trudging through the swamp, heading west. Micky walked beside them, apparently not finding flying to be particularly pleasant at the moment.

Technically, their current location could be considered an extension of the Grisly Bog, though it wasn’t treated as such by mapmakers – or anyone else, really. The trees here were much scarcer, and the soil less mushy. Even the wildlife rarely went beyond the occasional Red critter.

Had they travelled along a proper road, the trip to House Avalon would only take them a few days. However, that wasn’t an option. They had to circle around the province to avoid running into more of House Tantalus’s people. Suffice to say, the extra distance, coupled with the rough terrain would greatly extend the trip. Their poor condition wouldn’t do them any favours either. Everything considered, they’d probably need over a week to reach their destination.

"It’s not going to be as bad after we cross river Glein." Percy said after noticing his companions’ sour expressions.

While this was his first time making this trip, he did remember a few details about the area. The soil was supposed to be firmer on the other side, as the swamp gradually transitioned into a proper forest. That, in turn, grew denser and denser, until it was populated with the unique variety of trees with the melodic cones that the Whistling Woods were known for.

That would be a much safer direction to approach his family from. Not that it was impossible for House Tantalus to venture in that area, but it was far less of a certainty. Especially given their current lack of manpower – that Percy and Nesha themselves had contributed to.

His words did seem to cheer the others up a little. Still, this promised to be a long and tedious trip. To kill some time, Percy opened his Status, checking up on his familiar. From what Nesha told him, the crow had probably registered or upgraded a spell.

___

Mictlantecuhtli (Percival's familiar)

Mana cores:

[Mana core 1

–

Yellow

–

Beast]

[Mana core 2

–

Orange

–

Air]

Mutations:

[Soul Predator]

– Allows one to more easily interact with the souls of others.

[Wind Dancer]

– Allows one to augment their flight using air mana.

Spells:

[Wild Art: Rending Tornado – Refined]

[Circulation – Refined]

Decrees:

[Moirais’ Decree]

– Grants a second mana core.

___

Percy couldn’t help but crack a smile.

‘Upgraded to Refined? Way to go Micky!’

The bird didn’t say anything, but Percy didn’t miss the wave of pride seeping through the cord. And honestly, it was well deserved too. Getting that far as a Yellow was no small feat. It was proof that his familiar had worked hard over the past two years, like him.

‘As did Nesha.’

he thought, squeezing her shoulder gently.

The girl had arguably progressed the most out of the three. Sure, the sheer number of Refined spells he had registered vastly eclipsed hers, despite his lower grade. Still, he had plenty of advantages aiding him, while she had started completely from scratch.

Over the next few minutes, he asked the others for some more details of their fight against Grian, hoping to understand his familiar’s new spell a little better. Unlike Acceleration, which used much less air mana over a prolonged period of time, the Rending Tornado consumed nearly all of Micky’s reserves to deliver one powerful, deadly strike. Should the crow resort to this move at the wrong moment, or fail to finish his opponent with it, he’d end up in a world of trouble. Luckily, the bird had already proven smart enough to use it wisely.

‘With this, all three of us ended up with new Refined spells!’

Granted, the events of the past few days had been exceedingly dangerous. Even with all of their – arguably paranoid – preparations, they had barely managed to survive the ambush. And Percy was keenly aware that they owed their survival to his lucky trip to Atlantis. After all, they had already planned to face off against House Tantalus since before his clone ended up in Enki’s body.

He’d really thought that their traps and his Phantomscale Raiment would be enough. And they might have been, if their enemies had only sent two Greens like they had expected.

Or if Rambert hadn’t been among them

. However, the final clash had been so close that Percy was sure he wouldn’t have survived it without both of his Wild Arts.

‘I’ve got to be more careful in the future.’

he decided.

It was true that risks often came hand-in-hand with rewards, as was the case here. And Percy needed that, if he hoped to ever realize his ambitions. But he’d need to prepare himself better the next time, as he wouldn’t always get so lucky.

Especially since it wasn’t just his own life on the line anymore…