Divine Apostasy Book 12 - Chapter 46

Chapter 46

Ruwen created a fifty-foot soul portal above them, with the entrance facing up. As he’d guessed, the gems didn’t go quietly.

The stone not protected by the soul portal vaporized and the chaotic energy surrounding them forced everyone back inside Ruwen’s mind. Half the Aspect Clones and Sentry Minions disappeared and the small display below his map turned a harsh white.

That had worked far better than Ruwen expected, and it gave him an idea.

Ruwen couldn’t hold the soul portal together any longer, but it had done its job by taking the brunt of the eight explosions. He’d funneled that energy into the moon volcano where it couldn’t harm anyone.

The blue sky had returned as the Guardian threw itself backward away from the exploding King. Ruwen jumped into the air as the Guardian roared in anger. It sounded funny because the Guardian’s nose, eye, and half its head had disappeared.

“That looks painful,” Overlord said.

Ruwen agreed. “I’m about to give him severe heartburn, too.”

Ruwen tried to Blink to the Guardian, but failed, as did his attempt at dimensional folding. He Identified the creature.

Target: Ceardai Vault Guardian

Type: Construct (Awakened)

Description: A colossal stone and metal construct standing six miles tall, created by the Ceardai Clan to protect their most sacred treasures. Eight synthetic chakra gems embedded throughout its body create an artificial enlightenment network that powers its massive frame.

Effect (Passive): Synthetic Enlightenment - Artificial chakra channels grant immunity to chakra manipulation and provide massive regeneration.

Effect (Passive): Null Aura - Suppresses dimensional magic, teleportation, and spatial manipulation.

Effect (Passive): Vault Skin - Reinforced hide composed of compressed stone and metal makes penetration nearly impossible. Physical damage reduced by 95%.

Effect (Triggered): Treasure Sense -Detect location of all Ceardai Vaults.

Effect (Triggered): Wrath Burst - Channel stored chakra energy into devastating area attacks that ignore most defensive magic.

Strengths: Durability, Magic Resistance, Regeneration

Weaknesses: Conceptual attacks, Chakra disruption, Mobility

Ruwen Blinked backward as the Guardian's fist whistled down at him, traveling surprisingly fast. It crashed into the ground creating a crater fifty feet deep and sent shockwaves through the earth that shook the surrounding mountains.

The Guardian's head had already regenerated, which worried Ruwen a little. Thick plates of stone armor appeared over its joints, and veins of emerald energy snaked across its body. Eight gems blazed within its chest, each the size of a building, their light visible through translucent sections of the creature's torso.

Ruwen studied the Guardian's structure with Harmonic Sight and Knowledge. Dense barriers of Creation Realm magic surrounded each gem before snaking outward into the body like veins, and he’d already discovered the Guardian's flesh resisted dimensional manipulation. The creature’s lack of mobility meant the designers had expected enemies to get close and they’d planned the Guardian’s defenses accordingly.

The Guardian brought its fist upward in a backhand slap, impressing Ruwen again. As he went to Blink away the Guardian projected a field off its body that caused the Blink to fail. With reflexes honed by years of Bamboo Viper Step training, he used his Divine Domain to match the upward velocity of the backhand.

Standing on the back of the creature’s stone hand, Ruwen marveled at the Guardian’s size. If he didn’t know better, it appeared like he stood on a pebbled plain and the distant knuckles looked like hills. Churning wind howled around him as the Guardian’s hand rose.

Ruwen summoned his modified lute and plucked the quarter-tone sequences he'd learned from the leprechauns. The discordant notes made his teeth ache, but Harmonic Sight confirmed the tones affected the Guardian's structure.

The Creation Realm music sliced through the Guardian's defensive outer layer, the protective magic unraveling and revealing the pathways Ruwen needed.

The Guardian roared and brought its other hand down in a slap, but Ruwen had carved a big enough hole to enter the creature’s body. His Divine Domain protected him from the sudden and massive increase in air pressure, and he concentrated on burrowing through the Guardian’s body. Stone Echo and Survey kept him on track and near the center of the arm as the creature waved and shook its hand to dislodge him.

Ruwen let a little optimism creep into his thoughts. Now that he’d entered the Guardian’s body there wasn’t much it could do to harm him. With luck he could burrow up the arm, through the shoulder, and destroy the Throat chakra gem in no time.

Divine Domain kept Ruwen’s orientation constant, but Survey’s display suddenly spun in his vision. The view from the Sentries and Clones returned as Overlord marshaled the surviving scouts, and Ruwen understood why Survey had gone nuts.

The Guardian had ripped off its arm and thrown it at the nearest mountain.

“Prepare for impact,” Overlord cautioned.

The arm spun toward the nearest mountain in a perfect trajectory. On impact the top third of the mountain turned to dust and the arm shattered. Ruwen kept himself oriented and was prepared for the descending fist that immediately followed the catastrophic collision.

Blink and dimensional manipulation didn’t work well this close to the Guardian, but Ruwen didn’t need those to get around quickly.

“Hey Vex. Feel like racing?”

Vex appeared under Ruwen, the steed’s form matching the Scarecrow Aspect. The emaciated black horse spread thirty-foot wyrm-like wings and surged downward into the clouds and away from the descending fist.

Ruwen winced as Survey painted the rapidly approaching sea of sharp crags hidden by the clouds. He knew better than to tell Vex how to fly and prepared himself for impact. Maybe Vex couldn’t see in the thick clouds. Summoning the steed had probably been a mistake, since he could likely go just as fast with his Divine Domain.

Vex snorted as if reading Ruwen’s thoughts.

Ruwen did his best not to flinch as Vex aimed at a sheer cliff thousands of feet high. At the last moment Vex turned their rapid descent into a straight drop along the cliff. The clouds roiled as the Guardian’s fist passed above. It struck the cliff and while the mountain held, the fist punctured a deep four-hundred-foot hole in the mountain.

The air whistled as it passed over Ruwen’s small sphere of Divine Domain. He shouted to make sure Vex could hear. “Take me to its butt.”

Vex neighed in laughter and veered so sharply to the right only Ruwen’s Divine reflexes and strength kept him astride the steed’s back.

“It’s not like that,” Ruwen yelled, louder than before. “It can rip off its limbs and the Root chakra is at the bottom of the spine.”

Ruwen had to admit Vex could fly faster than Ruwen could move with his Divine Domain. Maybe once he had time to explore and experiment with the gravity bubble, he could match the speed of the steed. Even though Vex had helped Ruwen avoid getting smashed by an eighteen-hundred-foot fist, he still regretted summoning the horse.

“I’m not going up its—” Ruwen paused as he reconsidered his choice of words.

Vex beat his black and torn wings, and Ruwen felt the surge of acceleration through his whole body. The steed climbed up the inside of the Guardian’s leg and toward the groin.

“I’m going to make my own hole,” Ruwen shouted at Vex. “It’s not even anatomically correct you pervert.”

Vex neighed louder, clearly amused.

A terrible idea occurred to Ruwen. Sift had a tattoo that was still integrating with his body and it would enhance his connection to the Elder Star Tortoise Shelly, but Blapy had mentioned the tattoo would work somewhat with all animals. And Vex spent a lot of time racing with Sift, Fractal, and Xavier.

The clouds thinned as they gained altitude, and the Guardian started closing its legs to smash them. Vex angled them toward the still open area between the legs.

“Can you talk with Sift?” Ruwen asked.

Vex didn’t answer, which was all the answer Ruwen needed.

“I clearly meant the hip area. Lower back anyway. Butt was just easier to say. We were in a hurry. It’s not like I’m into golem butts.”

Vex neighed repeatedly and loudly, nearly choking. The conversation had distracted both of them and Ruwen barely managed to suppress a yelp as Vex yanked them to the right to avoid the sudden obstruction. Perhaps the other leg had reached them faster than expected.

A quick glance at Survey with details provided by Stone Echo clearly outlined what they’d almost struck, and it wasn’t the other leg.

“What—the—actual—hell,” Ruwen whispered. “Seriously, what is wrong with these leprechauns.”

The Guardian was, despite Ruwen’s assumptions, anatomically correct.

Ruwen calculated Vex’s flight path.

“So help me Vex, if you take me anywhere but the lower back, I’ll keep you penned up for a thousand years.”

Vex didn’t immediately change course as they escaped the Guardian’s legs as if seriously weighing the pros and cons of his next decision.