Chapter Forty-Five
“Gurrap.” Hyath croaked proudly from underh the pile of clothes That was enough to fill his pen in the beast stables and mao bury his massive form.
How many outfits did Adri? Harmony shook her head with some disbelief at the sight. The colle was more colorful than all of Bowe's feathers. Ambrosia left to gather the aff to help mahe colle.
As for her pet prince, he was sound asleep, tucked into the rainbow coils of Bowe nearby. There wasn't a safer pce to be. She turo Nick, and the bodyguard stood a little straighter at the attention.
“I'd like two of my guards assigo my prince. He's valuable to me and my goals for the games.”
“As you and, Lady White.”
Better to be cautious. Good to know her guards would take some ands. Not that she wao imagine what the i at the pace tower would have been like without their support and what they represented.
Paranoia about the sequences of that act of defiance chased her to her room. The waiting pte of hot food and a steaming tub of water shooed those feelings away until, finally, a dreamless sleep took her.
Three days ter, the reing of that night still hadn’t e out to surprise her. Having Maxwell dig around for rumors found no inkling of gossip or specution about that night in any sheets or social club. Thorne had heard they needed more radery, however, and by her knight’s at, those were brutal for the group.
Adric was nearly ba shape from his time in captivity. Steven, the duelist and tailor, was now his personal assistant, freeing up Bates for other tasks. The professio well paired with his now-massive colle of clothes.
“Do you think you'll gain another level today?” Adric asked eagerly.
Three levels in three days. The unimportant levels, seventeeeen, and een. Yes, doing this quickly was the goal. But it was hard to escape the feelings about how the unity sensus was that doing so was bad for you. In a teical sehere were pages of revisions and adaptations in her journals to get here.
It suggested that there was an increased link in uanding to leveling. Reviewing and re-reviewiime with Markus Von Trell led her to look at her brief experiences with Haz'el Ri. How much did the ck of access to truly powerful beings hurt people's adva?
Today any insights that remained felt out of reach after exhausting the details of the memories. “I don't think so. Hand me one of those apple rolls. Time to eat and go. I want to be out of Nae’s Garden in time to visit Max.”
The opportunity to see Thorrain her oime dungeon diving team. Sir Maxwell had asked for her, and surprisingly, it had been granted. Check out Len. Cheer on her knight. See Rose for the first time sihe pace tower. And face Lord Tyler once more. Allies or enemies in the games, it will be important to see what they do. But first, there was a tower to climb.
How do birds fly Without feathers? They don't. The problem is getting in range.
“Gah!” Harmony cried as Hyath uraight up with her as she gripped the straps they’d set up on his back.
The great eagle s above squawked in surprise. Not that the shadow toad could get that high in the magically expanded sky of the third floor, but he did allow for Harmony to be in range for [Manipute Dead] to get to work. Feathers exploded, scattering everywhere.
The dest from the toad’s jump ended with a jaw-rattling crash. That impact was minor pared to what the man-sized eagle suffered through on impact. Ihree days she’d been fighting on this floor, none had survived. That st true today as well, as the st of the lesser monsters came to its end.
It wasn’t enough. Simir to the sed floor, this one had a hurdle she o get over. The thunder roc. You couldn't bypass this guardian like she did the tree lords. The stairs to the fourth floor only appeared if you defeated it, a theme going forward.
Of all the guardians in Nae's Garden, the thunder roded adventurer's climbs more than any other. Teams would e to this floor and then leave empty-handed because of weed-rotting cowardice.
“Ready for attempt number four?”
“Grack,” Hyath responded with enough doubt in his croak that Harmony knew he doubted this pn would work better thahers.
White knuckled, she adjusted her grip on top of her familiar's back. “Go!”
He hopped toward where the guardian waited, sending strong feelings of dislike about being used as a mount.
The shadow toad hated this floor almost as much as he hated the sed floor. A grassy pin with not a bit of shade except when one of the birds cast their shadow, and those were never good enough to travel through. A bination of size, darkness, and that they were moving. It felt wrong to be so exposed.
In order to build up speed the ride wasn't gentle. Additionally, plications came from Harmony riding squatted on his back, relying oraps to help keep her in pce. [Poise and Bearing], [Style and Grace], aher physical skills worked together to keep her stable as Hyath increased his speed towards their target.
The thunder roc stood on a patch of grass. [Final Silence] deadehe sound of their approach, but it could do nothing to hide them. Good, it’s looking away as the pair crossed the threshold where the bird usually reacted. That brought them half a sed closer. Its head snapped in their dire.
The first fp of the wings sent a gust of air around it in a circle, the force strong enough to half Hyath’s momentum. It will have to do. With [High Kick] Harmony pushed off her familiar’s back, shooting toward her target. The sed fp sent a gust toward her. [Stride Before the Fall]. The new ao ma past that wave of wind, maintaining momentum, one of the improvements she’d figured out watg Maekus manipute the enviro. The third fp and she was nearly in the range she o be at. [Mana Rotation] boosted [Manipute Dead], stretg out, swiping at the feathers along the wing. Half a dozen of the roc’s feathers split and twisted. That wall of wind pushed Harmony back out e.
Even with the damage, the bird rose up anyway, lifting towards the sky while Harmony tumbled o ground. As it left, her ce of defeating the floor left with it. “You're not a thunder roc. You're a blood-cursed farting chi, you damn coward!”