Saintess Summons Skeletons

Sofia flew back into the dwarven observation post that had once been Saria’s room. She felt the exploration of the mountain had been strangely fast and convenient compared to what she expected. The nest guards hadn’t been alerted so far, and finding the traces of Saria’s activity had been all too easy. I guess I just know my sister well enough.

The room was missing a wall but there were still plenty of things left in there besides the bed. Among them were monster bones and tools made out of them. Just how long did she spend here? Most of what was left in the room seemed to be daily necessities, tools, and decorations. I see no clothes or weapons. Most boxes are open and left in disorder, she probably took her most important things with her when she left. Despite busting through the wall, the Dragon probably gave her some time to gather her things…

A saw, that’s from the camp. It’s pretty dull. I didn’t see any cut tree down there but maybe she would’ve done that further from the entrance of her base. The cover of the forest seems to be the only thing preventing the swarm of monsters from approaching the base of the mountain… Do the monsters perhaps avoid plants because they fear the Ebb? They come from the same place after all. That would explain why they all nest within the mountain cliffsides where there is no organic matter for the Ebb to take over.

Sofia looked around in Saria’s stuff, she made a huge mess because it was hard to tell where she put her hands, invisible as they were. Her sister had probably been living in that place for quite a long time as she had made a lot of things out of wood, monster bones, and whatever she had managed to salvage from the slavers’ camp. A hairbrush? It’s still full of golden hair… If there was any doubt left then that’s the end of it, we were the only blonde kids in the camp. I’ll keep this, just in case, yeah. What else is there? Wooden bowls, cups, she even had time to make a broom.

When it came time to inspect all the mechanical Dwarven devices, Sofia just stored them to look at later. These were things that even Saria had given up on trying to use that were just haphazardly piled in a corner, so they could wait. I think there were more things but they probably fell through the hole. Actually, there’s only heavy stuff left out of the closed boxes. Anything that could be blown away by the wind likely was.

Lastly, Sofia opened the side door. Dwarven design toilets? Also that’s a lot of spears. This was a small toilet room, which probably drained out of the side of the mountain. The place was already rather tiny but the side walls were also lined with handmade spears. Wood, bone and scrap metal made dozens of spears; for the most part, they were badly damaged and coated in long-dried blood. She sure didn’t spend her time here just doing nothing. She probably ate better like this than we did our entire childhood. Maybe I should try some monster meat too.

But she couldn’t have gone past level 99. And some of the monsters here go all the way up to 300 and more. It’s impressive that she survived at all.

Sofia would have liked to find some kind of written journal or something along those lines, but both she and Saria had never learned to write back then. I still think she already knew how to read a bit, but that was never something we could really use…

Sofia grabbed a few monster skulls from around the room and fused them together in a thick cube of bone. Then she flew out again, holding the cube that thankfully didn’t turn invisible like her clothes did with the potion, and started copying the shape of the Dragon’s paw print. Drawing a flat map and making armor spikes is easy enough, but this is way harder… This is exactly why I considered taking [Sculpting]. Well, I can manage, it’s not too bad…

It was actually really hard to reproduce the details of the imprint left by the Dragon’s hand, and Sofia struggled to shape the bones for a while when her tracking device activated and started vibrating around her wrist.

Three vibrations. It’s already time to head back down?! It’s been five hours? Alright then… I just need to answer that I got it. Sofia cut the flow of mana to her arm, which is how you made the device send a signal. She also received one more vibration, which had to be Alith’s confirmation.

And now I need to move quickly because the nest guards could have picked up on the signals.

Sofia stored the cube, returned to the room and jumped down the ladder hatch, sliding down to the bottom of the mountain. Then she left the dwarven tunnel, walked to the edge of the forest and jumped down the mountain. According to Nicet, there were no spatial anomalies between the mountain and the ground below, so being careless like this was fine.

Sofia entered the base camp after struggling a few seconds to open the door with her invisible hands. Am I the first here? She brought a bone out of her storage and waved it around as she looked at the empty space inside the base. No answer. Guess I’m really first.

Not long after, the door opened and closed again. Sofia waved with her bone. She was answered by the sound of a clap, and Alith appeared near the door, completely immobile for a second.

Ahah, she just slapped herself out of invisibility, I see.

“Point the bone to your cheek,” Alith casually said as more mana gathered around her right hand.

Sure. Sofia even bent over to make it easier to reach her face. A gentle slap across the face later, she was free of the potion’s effect as well.

“Thanks. We only need to wait for Nicet now.”

“His flight is slower, I think he’ll be there soon. You look happy; found what you needed?”

“More than I even expected!”

“Great. I found a few traces of activity too, I mostly roamed around the forest, there were clear attempts at farming on the forest grounds, with a few crude gardening tools. I also found a small log cabin, though it was almost empty and in bad shape.”

“I see, makes sense, I found a lot, too but let’s wait for Nicet before I explain. Anyway, I have a good lead on what to do next!”

“Very happy for you. Hmm, but Nicet is actually taking a while. Think something could’ve happened to him?”

“If he’s not here in a few minutes, I could send some skeleton bird to look for him. They’ll probably die quite fast, though.”

“We can’t really go out with the swarm still in the sky if we don’t have the invisibility potion, even in my ghost form I think some of them can see me.”

“Let’s trust in him. Worst case we’ll have to wait for the day and we can try to locate him with the trackers.”

“Going on the island during the day is dangerous.”

“Not if we stay in the forest, I think.”

Their conversation was interrupted by the door opening and closing again.

Alith started charging a slap, “Looks like we worried for nothing. Point an object to your cheek, Nicet, I’ll dispel the potion.”

Nicet reappeared after the small slap.

“Thank you. A nest guard left the mountain after I activated the tracker, so I had to be extra careful in coming back. I found a fe-”

Nicet was interrupted by the ground quaking and the sound of a heavy impact nearby.

Shit! This is why I need to prime the staff!

From the window of the base, Sofia saw the talons of a flying monster. It was at least thrice the size of the biggest ones she had killed until now, and it was facing away from the base, for now.

Nicet covered his mouth and signaled that they shouldn’t make noise. The trio was immobile, hoping that the threat wouldn’t notice the base thanks to its protection rituals.

Maybe it won’t see us. I hope.

The monster turned 180 degrees in a single hop, now facing the base. Nothing happened for a second until the beast’s huge sharp-toothed beak appeared before the base’s window. The monster’s black eyes blinked, it had transparent eyelids that allowed him to keep staring without interruption.

The nightmarish vision of the monster’s maw only lasted for a brief second before it brought its head back up.

Finally ready!

Sofia grabbed Nicet and Alith’s arms. They looked at her but said nothing. Dozens of skeletal arms popped out of the ground and grabbed their ankles, bringing the group down.

I feel an underground cavern! Bring us there fast!

Alith and Nicet disappeared underground, only Sofia’s head was still out of the ground because she was taller. She only heard the sound of steel bending.

Then she was instantly transported to the underground tunnel she had felt before, thanks to [Graveyard of the righteous], sitting on the cold floor.

Did Nicet teleport us? Why is Pareth out? It’s so cramped that he barely fits.

“S- Sofia? Are you okay?”

Alith’s voice was shaking.

For some reason, Sofia felt a bit strange, but she hesitantly answered, “Yeah?”

It was only then that Sofia noticed the sparse splatters of blood around her and on her torso. What exactly…?

Sofia turned around, which startled Nicet so much that he yelped and almost fell on his back. It was then that Sofia noticed something else; her head felt light, and her crown was missing. That was the point where the gears in her brain started turning again. “Did I… Lose my head?!”

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