Chapter sixty-one

  Harmohe shadows from [Shadowed Graves] recede for the third time. The goal of this training season was to adjust the height of the darkness c the sky. Ambrosia had birds flying through it rep back. The ge to only using the [Beauti] modified version iy had ceased many of the pints. The guild training grounds were always busy with spectators there to at least see what new hell Thorne utting her Asdant Games charges through. Still, she could sehat with every use a few more people trickled in on schedule, only to leave soon after the effeded. Guess the options were either to scare people away or turn into more of a circus attra.

  Tyler, Rose, Max, and Len all y sprawled out and wounded on the edge of a little obstacle course Thorne had set up for them. Max had yet to use his summon of her, yet was bleeding enough to dispy that he had been in enough dao use it. The injuries were a new angle of the training. With the length of the games, they were sure to run out of healing potions or o ration. roups were probably sure to have a healer on hand, at best they had Harmony’s dist version of [Mend] and [Renew Spirit].

  Pns to put into motion. Harmony strode up using [Style and Grace] and [Poise and Bearing] to help give her ce by looking good. “Will you all be ied in arategy gathering at my suite tonight after dinner?”

  Lord Tyler practically rose from the dead the way he popped up and out of his exhausted colpsed state. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

  “With our trip to the deadwoods and more bonds to gain this will be perfect. I’ll bring the copy of Spirits, Geists, and Oddities of the Woods that Thor me.” Len added from his prone position.

  “I’ll be there too,” Rose said with less enthusiasm.

  Max looked like he was wrestling to keep his mouth shut. Likely managing impulses reted to his css and profession. Subservience as a maid was hard. Imagine having a css and profession dedicated to one person. Pity, though, was for someone who didn’t do it to themselves. “Ditto.” He choked out.

  Thorne was heading back over. It was time to leave them to their pain. While Thorne had yet to rope her into one of these tortuous training bouts, it ossible. “Off to climb the garden. See you tonight.”

  Mist rose from the oversized serpent's head as the cold she’d shoved into its brain to kill it with [Cold Touch] faded. Several cracks covered the hardened shell of fused and thied scales she’d set upon it. If she had made the shell any thi might have escaped or worse. Trying to shave time off the process wasn’t worth it even if the first backup pn was to run back dowairs used to climb up to this level.

  The passage to climb higher or leave opened up. The Fifth floor with its tank-like pnts was bound to be a pain. Twiggys were still a problem in groups, but at least a soul strike would put them out of ission. Up those stairs, mossifants roamed wild, giant moss-covered mud monsters made to suffocate victims by ying on top of them. Nae's Garden's moving s, burying you alive, and staying as a mo.

  Ironically one of the tactics to defeat them was to piost survivable teammate, have them be covered then dig through the moss and the mud to get to them back before they died, killing the beast in the process. Few people mao keep that role long, aal fortitude was reended. Guides have them resistant to silehey reend y a shovel. Or like the dig boys have multiple uses of dig. This is also another case where [Rot] is reended. Killing off all the soft wet moss made them much easier to defeat, removing some of the mud's tainer and weakening its stability.

  Soft, squishy, insuted against cold and silence. [High Kick] would be useless like most blunt force trauma damage. Sshing damage could only peel off so much. They actually called it scooping ging damage in the guides Trying to figure out how to fight them shifted from only good ideas to only terrible ideas, a refuge for the desperate.

  “You ready to be plete idiots?” Harmony asked Hyath.

  “Grupt.” The shadow toad answered relutly and they started the climb up.

  Moss everywhere. Shades of browns, greens, and bck. Like the third floor not a tree in sight. Natural camoufge for the mossifants. They weren’t the only enemies on this floor but were the ones she was most worried about. Water elementals could shoot up out of the wet moss, those were very vulnerable to cold. The neancer’s guide reended [Cold Touch], freeze then shatter them if you had it. The guardian of this floor was a giant one. [Cold Touch] was not reehere unless you wished to risk drowning. Guides called them squirts, little and big.

  Deadly in a different way, mostly meant to wear you down et you stu the mud for the mossifiants to bury you in.

  With nerves already high, the leaking of [Cold Touch] made the wet ground hard enough to walk on. A heavier batant could still break through au the muddy earth beh. Hyath's widely distributed weight was safe so far.

  There was no skipping to the guardian. The big squirt only showed up after you cleared the floor, another slog for adventurers looking to climb to the top.

  The first squirt popped up from the ground, [Cold Touch] snapped out immediately freezing it into an abstract sculpture, and [High Kick] tur into shards.

  Its death brought the angry mossifant charging over, a faceless round oval with six legs. The worst pn had been to use [Stride Before the Fall] to sacrifice herself to burial and dig through it while one of her suffocated slowly.

  [Shadowed Graves] spread out focused oing it to flee. It didn’t. Not ued si had mud for brains. Not alive enough to know better, not dead for [Manipute Dead], and too wet for [Dust].

  Hyath and Harmony slipped into the shadows to flee. Part of the problem was how impact-resistant the monsters were. Training at the guild had given Harmony plenty of time to interview guild members about how difficult they were to break through. And for those unlucky enough to be bait, the way it crushed you slowly while their team dug through the beasts.

  [High Kick] would never provide enough force to get past it even if she’d been as rge as the version of her Maz summoned. It was still a small hammer of force. Some jobs required a bigger hammer.

  “Gwaaaaaaaaaaaah!” Hyath yelled. Harmony’s own scream joined his. Had the shadow ceilioo high? They were at least on target. How soft and squishy would they be?

  With a shift of her feet, Harmony made sure to nd close to Hyath’s impact. [High Kick] synergized with [Small Armor]. The offensive skill often added extra force while it limited repercussions to her body. The defensive one just stopped things massively more powerful. This should be simir to their assault ohird-fluardiahunder roc, but they needed more ford therefore extra height.

  Hyath was the bigger hammer. She’d hoped he would shrink as impossible as that would be with her growth, but instead, he grew steadily bigger and denser sihey arrived in Naewauld. He was more at risk than she was in this, but he promised that he could take it.

  The spping boom as they hit sent Harmony’s ears ringing. The moss and mud held together in the body of the mossifant as it cushioheir fall, but the energy of the impact had to go somewhere. Driven down to all six khe mossifant’s body fttened out. Would it spring babsp; Being buried for the attempt was… As Harmony worried, the sides split. Disturbed mud spilled out uhered, uncollected, and unalive, defting the moss shell that had helped tain and protect it.

  The tension she had kept in case they o keep fighting bled out of her even as her heart tio beat fast from the long dive from above for this attack.“You okay?”

  “Ugrreck,” Hyath responded, wobbly lifting himself up.

  “Well, we both survived. I think we o practice a few more times before we pte taking the floor. I did hit level twenty-ohe added stability was good, but there were only three more levels to her st two skills and then the big hump of evolution. So much to pn for, but right now only so much time [Shadowed Graves] could be kept in use. “Let’s get hopping. I have guests to host tonight.”