Project Seraphina [LitRPG, Magitech, GL]
3.36: The Third Ascent II

The eighth floor finds us on top of a cloud. Or at least, it sure looks like a cloud. We’re in the middle of the sky, high enough up that the air is thin and somewhat more difficult to breathe. Beneath us is a surface which is off-white, fluffy, and floaty. And yet, it is solid enough that even Stefan can step on it and have his weight supported. Though it is still a little bit wobbly, like walking across a mattress. If not for the fact that it apparently makes me look haughty and imperious, I would much prefer to float just over the surface.

That, and Stefan doesn’t apparently like the fact that he’s now adventuring with three women, each of whom can fly under their own power. At least in theory, I understand his need for control and masculine pride, even if I can’t fully grasp it. And so I instead wobble along the waterbed cloud straight down the path before us.

It appears to be a path of some sort, though only barely. It’s a bit darker of a shade than the rest of the off-white surface, and with no other leads for where to go, we follow it.

It’s… significantly more boring than I would have expected. Having flown through clouds before, I have to say that I’m less than impressed by either the scenery or the drudgery. After the first several floors, I’ve been expecting bloody battles or death-defying displays or supernatural agility and physicality or… I dunno, something other than wandering through literal clouds completely aimlessly.

Maybe this is a test of endurance. Maybe the exit is ten thousand miles away, or in the complete opposite direction. We’ll be left to wander this idyllic hellscape for all eternity as punishment for our hubris in trying to skip the seventh floor labyrinth.

Or not. Just as Chloe and I are starting to get worried about being trapped here, the scenery starts to shift. The clouds, previously mostly white, start to darken into the thick gray of a thunderstorm. The wind, previously light and invigorating, now begins to gust. The rumble of thunder in the distance begins to boom louder and closer. A storm is approaching. Even with [Archangel’s Gaze], the source of the storm is still too far away for me to pinpoint.

I feel a twinge of excitement setting in as my heart starts to quicken. Maybe I shouldn’t. Maybe this is proof that I’m turning into a battle junkie, a person who, according to some, is evil. All because I’ve come to enjoy the thrill of battle and the sensation of growing stronger as I do.

In the outside world, that requires a knife’s edge— I already know how easy it is to stop thinking of people as people and start thinking of them as bags of Experience to be harvested. Here, though, the moral calculus is so much simpler. Just fight and overcome, get stronger, and try not to completely lose myself along the way.

I step forward, only for a bolt of lightning to strike down right in front of me. I’m able to dodge it somehow. But that, in turn, worries me. My metallic components make me slightly more vulnerable to lightning. It’s cancelled out by a comparable resistance to the same, but this is something of an Achilles heel for me. And I doubt any of us are going to want to be flying about when the storm starts in earnest.

A sudden gust nearly sends me flying, and only by contorting my wings and leaning into the gale do I keep myself from being swept away. Ironically after earlier, Stefan’s larger mass is proving a benefit as even Lindsey struggles to main her footing.

My hair stands on end, floating up in the air and ruffling my bandana. I pause for a split second, and then I remember exactly what this sensation means. I run, far away from everyone else, and I narrowly avoid the lightning that rockets down from the sky, landing right where I’d just been standing. Unfortunately, a secondary branch of the bolt had twisted toward me at the last second, striking my wings and sending its electric payload directly through my body.

I convulse, but thanks to the effects of Chloe’s spell, I avoid taking any damage.

[[Saintess’s Cloister] effect activates. 1,141 Damage Absorbed (Remaining: 6,059 / 7,200; Duration: 01:01:27)]

Yeesh! And that was from a secondary strike! Had that blast hit me head-on… I probably wouldn’t have died. There’s little chance it would have blown through the entire 7,200 point shield and then did another 5,600 damage to exhaust my [Health], but… It’s a stark reminder that despite everything, the four of us are not the top dogs in this universe, and we can’t just call ourselves invincible and be done with that.

A few more seconds pass— thankfully sans further electrical payloads out of the sky— and then I see what I presume to be the boss of the floor. Another giant bird. Not nearly as large as the [Eagle of the Tower], but I can tell even without my Skills that this creature is far stronger and more deadly. It flaps its wings a single time and launches a hurricane-force gust that nearly topples Chloe to the ground. Its eyes flash for the briefest of moments, conjuring another bolt of lightning down from the heavens.

I’m about to run again, but this time Stefan steps up, raising his flaming blade in the air and using it like a miniature lightning rod to draw the bolt to himself. He succeeds, though not without sustaining some damage. His body is briefly paralyzed and there’s the faint smell of smoke radiating from him. Some of the hair on his bare forearms is charred. Damn— I hope he wasn’t planning to play martyr.

Chloe runs up to him, preparing a healing spell, but Stefan… grins? He looks way too happy for someone who just got struck by supernatural lightning. But as he turns back to the avian terror in front of and above us, he seems to be experiencing the same sensation of battle thrill that I’ve been having as of late.

“Gonna take more than a few sparks to bring me down!” he says.

The flow of Ether around him shifts slightly. For the first time, I get a sense of the creature before us. Yes, it’s a bird, but its face is almost human in appearance. It doesn’t look angry or indignant as I might expect, given we are encroaching upon its territory. It looks stern, as though it is watching four children as we attempt to raise some sort of meaningless, childish rebellion against it.

And then, impossibly, it speaks. No sound echoes through the air, but its words reverberate through my mind all the same. From the way the others look up at the majestic creature, I assume they can hear it too.

“What is it that you seek by ascending this tower? Power? Fame? Riches? In either case, should you seek to ascend further into the heavens, you cannot avoid battle with the Thunderbird! Now, show me your might!”

As it finishes its introductory monologue, the sky shifts once more. All vestiges of sunlight peering in through small breaks in the clouds are snuffed out. The sky darkens, not quite to the level of nighttime, but to that of a raging thunderstorm. The fierce winds only continue to build, joined now by a deluge of rain and nickel-sized hail pelting us from above. And the Thunderbird crackles with an electric aura, sparks of golden light radiating outward, surging further with each flap of its wings.

Lindsey conjures two [Light Arrows] and launches them. While they briefly pierce through the darkness, they completely miss their mark, battered so by the storm bearing down upon us and deflected by the wind swirling all around. Undeterred, she fires three more, this time adjusting their trajectory slightly upward in an attempt to compensate. These strike closer to the majestic beast, but are batted aside at the last second, their luminosity snuffed out by the fierce winds and rains a moment later.

“We’re never going to beat this thing as long as we remain groundbound!” Chloe exclaims through our bond. “We’re going to have to take to the air.”

“What about Stefan? And… remember, I’ll be vulnerable to the lightning strikes. My metal components… they don’t do so well against electricity; I took almost 1,200 damage from that first bolt, even after dodging most of it!”

“It got through my Cloister that easily?”

“No, sorry, that’s how much damage the Cloister said it absorbed. I’ve still got just over 6,000 points remaining, but that’s not going to be good for more than two or three direct hits before I start losing health, fast!”

“Okay, love. We’ll stick close. My [Saintess’s Cloister] doesn’t have a cooldown, and it’s gotten some good ranks, so I can pretty easily cast it four or five times in a fight. You do what you’ve gotta do, and I’ll keep you safe.”

“You be careful as well. If your [Ether] falls below a quarter, let me know and we’ll fall back and figure out a different strategy.”

Chloe sends a nonverbal assent. She spawns her wings, which unlike Lindsey’s arrows, are not so easily snuffed out by the fierce storm raging around us. And together, we take to the air. Each foot we fly, we’re pushed back several inches, the raging gusts themselves given life to slow our approach. But still, we persist, hand in hand.

Lindsey joins us, and though she grunts with each step, trying to force the air to obey her [Wind Walk] skill, she doesn’t show any sign of hesitation, nor of being slowed in the slightest. Stefan remains on the ground, but with volleys of flame launched upward, burning through the rain and hail below, he still finds a way to contribute to our assault.

The Thunderbird’s electric aura flares out. It banks slightly, turning to face me. Its eyes narrow as lightning gathers near its chest. But I will not be so easily caught off-guard. Not a second time. Nor am I as vulnerable as it may think me to be after its first attack.

“Chloe, break off! I’m about to try to deflect that blast with my own lightning, and I don’t want you to get caught in the crossfire!”

“But–” she cuts her thought off. “Be safe, Sera.”

“I will.”

Lindsey launches two more [Light Arrows], followed by another attack which I can barely see. The pinprick-size attack pierces through the gusts, seemingly unfazed by the roaring tempests assailing all four of us. But when it hits— somehow, it does— it rails the Thunderbird right at the base of its left wing. Not enough to ground it— though it is injured and angered. But it’s the first clean hit any of us have gotten today.

I can’t celebrate. The attack is nearly charged up, and it’s aimed squarely at me. At this distance, I’m not going to be able to dodge. This has to work. First, I coat myself in [Etheric Armor]. The damage reduction it provides might be able to save my life if this backfires somehow. Then, I recall the [Luminous Barrier] glyph array from before, tracing out the nearly eighteen hundred strokes within my mind in the blink of an eye.

Now for the tricky part. I pull out the [Light] base and now slot [Lightning] in its place. This is difficult, to say the least, and if not for having over two hundred effective [Mind] to accelerate the spellcrafting, I’d be a burnt crisp well before this Etheric construct is fixed. Especially because I have to change a few linking runes and modify a couple of other shapes along the way; the somewhat smaller shape of the [Light] glyph not fully accommodating the more jagged [Lightning].

But I have it ready just in time. Lightning surges outward in a massive, blinding flash just as I finalize and release [Lightning Barrier]. My lightning, a violet orb surrounding my body, clashes with the white lightning caused by the Thunderbird before me. And as we clash, I feel its presence in my mind.

“I ask again: What is it that you seek?”

“Freedom. Freedom from the System. Freedom from the specter of annihilation that looms over all of us.”

“Strength alone is necessary but insufficient for that goal.”

“I know. It’s going to take all of us. I never would have gotten this far if not for all the help I’ve received along the way. And I’m going to keep needing their help every step of the way.”

“Beware, child. Though this tower tests your might, not every fight can be won through strength of arms. And some of the fights you will face in the coming times, while they can be won through physical strength, are best solved through less violent means. Never forget this.”

Our lightning annihilates each other. My [Cloister] is stripped from me. My body feels like a sack of bricks, and it’s a struggle to stay afloat. The Thunderbird, though, looks no worse for wear. I lower my head, wondering what’s going to happen now that it’s shrugged off my attack so easily. I prepare for the worst, ready to tap into [Seraphina Overlimit] if needed.

Chloe and Lindsey waste no time, though, flying forward to attack the Thunderbird once more. But before they can reach, the creature turns to me one last time, nods slightly, and then vanishes, as though it had been teleported away.

I’m not sure whether to be happy that the fight is probably over or frustrated that I don’t get any Experience from the encounter. Definitely seeing the Thunderbird’s point, though. As long as I see fights as an opportunity for a few points of Experience, I’m going to be that much more motivated to kill when I ought not follow that course of action.

But, then the System notification occurs anyway. I slot one point into each of my stats as the pathway up to the ninth floor emerges from the quickly-parting clouds above us.

[You have defeated the Thunderbird (Level 46). You have gained a boosted 105,500 Experience.]

[You have gained enough Experience to reach Level 41. [Strength] +1, [Speed] +1, [Vitality] +1, [Mind] +1. Please assign free stat points (Remaining: 4).]

[Maximum [Health] increases by [Vitality] x 2 + Current Level + Rand[1,3] = 221]

[Maximum [Ether] increases by [Mind] + Current Level + Rand[0,2] = 168]

[Level: 41; Experience: 971,505; To Next: 8,960]

[Current Stats: [Health]: 4,121 / 5,318; [Ether]: 712 / 3,821]

[Your [Etheric Armor (Rank III)] has upgraded to [Etheric Armor (Rank IV)].]

[Your [Angel’s Grace (Rank III)] has upgraded to [Angel’s Grace (Rank IV)].]

[Your [Glyphcasting (Rank XVII)] has upgraded to [Glyphcasting (Rank XIX)].]

[Your [Basic Glyph Manifestation (Rank XIII)] has upgraded to [Basic Glyph Manifestation (Rank XV)]. [Basic Glyph Manifestation] has reached its maximum rank. [Mind] +2.]

[Your [Basic Glyph Manifestation (Rank XV)] has evolved to [Intermediate Glyph Manifestation (Rank I)].]

[Current Stats: [Strength]: 92 (Base: 48); [Speed]: 92 (Base: 48); [Vitality]: 170 (Base: 89); [Mind]: 243 (Base: 127)]