The Stargazing Witch & The Dungeon Planet
Chapter 100: –Than The Stars In The Sky

Chapter 100: –Than The Stars In The Sky

For the population of Jellannax station, the last hour was a nightmare made reality.

It was a war on their doorstep.

For those on the lowest segment, they could only see what was going through the feeds, the ones on the second segment hid away worried, and the ones on the first segment had to escape in fear of their lives.

To make matters worse after all the explosion and the top segment being pushed downwards, a warship emerged ready to destroy the station. 

The military forces were ready to take emergency actions, but they were all fearful of the massive potential loss of life.

Suddenly, as if a star emerged above the station, a beam of intense heat blinded everyone who saw it manifest from the top layer.

The ship, and old construction, were still designed to handle at least a few rounds of intense damage. But the blast of pure Sun and Fire energy melted through its protection, destroying large sections of the ship.

The warship remained floating, but a massive hole had punctuated through the ship, and the flames devoured large amounts of the interior.

It had completely stopped accelerating and remained there, a corpse floating in space.

And the light in the sky faded away.

(“ YOU STUPID CRAZY GIRL!! Wait, you're alive?! ”)

Espr’s annoying voice filled my mind as I suffered in torturous pain.

I repeatedly scanned the area, and there was no sign of Thomas. He might have gotten burned up or escaped, I didn’t know which.

Name: Ceella Stella (Celestira Luxpoir) | Race: [Human?]

Level 263 | Awakened

Mana: 180% Starlight: 1%

The damage from the arrow caused a violent pain to fill my body, but at least I wasn’t bleeding levels anymore. 

My soul was still bloated with mana, which caused a range of negative effects, but I felt my mana regeneration capabilities were damaged, so I couldn’t afford to let the rest escape. The wounds in my soul were partly repaired by the tumour, and the rest were welded shut. I didn’t know that was possible, but the mana cooking inside me managed to do something good.

The damage didn’t stop there.

My armour was in an awful state, no matter the strengthening I gave it, it wasn’t going to last the explosion of output I was emitted. It barely looked functional anymore as the layers were melted together or off. The worst of the damage was around my left arm. Which partially didn’t exist anymore.

The metal plating was dripping away, and my arm… didn’t exist. All that remained was a black mess a bit below the shoulder. I could feel the bones and muscles move around in the blob as they tried reforming back into place, but I had no idea how long that would take or how much it would cost me [Primal Guardian Lord] level-wise.

I jumped away from the tower to hide away. There were plenty of buildings and underground sections I could sneak into for the time being.

I guess everyone was still dealing with being blinded, and no one noticed the small dot move away from the tower.

I moved quickly and broke into the underground tunnels to hide away.

“Huuuuuuu, haaaaaa, huuuuuu, haaaa….” My body rested against the metal wall in the service tunnel, and I breathed in and out.

Espr was quiet after its initial yell of concern.

The segment is still falling, but someone can deal with that. There should be thrusters on the segment, and there are ships on segment two that could help.

I was out of it. I had already pushed myself far enough in the simple desire to kill one bloke than more to make sure I didn’t die.

My injuries are bad…  I’ll deactivate [Unleashed Awakening] once my internals are patched up.

I focused the healing on my vital organs, which may have torn and repaired themselves numerous times already. The overabundance of mana had caused damage, but it also supercharged my body to the point it was naturally healing itself, which was a phenomenon I didn’t know about. That self-healing wasn’t enough, and [Unleashed Awakening] was necessary if I wanted to keep moving, but it was a good mental note for the future.

Now…

There was something that was still silent.

Esproiramissa, are you going to explain what fucking happened?

(“ Last time I checked, I nearly watched someone blow themselves up ”)

Don’t give me sass. How did he teleport an arrow into my stomach? 

(“ You– ”)

If you don’t give me a clear answer, I will assume, no matter what you say, that you are responsible for my current state.

I was really sick of not knowing things at the moment. Understandable, there was a lot I couldn’t have known, but this was something I should’ve been bloody warned about.

(“ Sigh… Fine. It wasn’t a skill of his, it was another artefact, and it shouldn’t have been able to be teleported inside you ”)

Keep going.

(“ There is a slight misconception there, it is possible to teleport items within other people, however, it is really hard, and to do that to someone like you, it would be impossible for anyone born on this side of existence to achieve that ”)

Maybe it was because Espr had always been vague with information; its explanation wasn’t that great. But I allowed it to keep going. It was angry, monstrously. I hadn’t even checked the [Primal Guardian Lord] level yet, but I knew it was high as I could feel how much it had spread across my soul.

So, how does that relate to the artefact Thomas was using? 

(“ Give me a moment, I need to explain how artefacts work. So, you know how dungeon artefacts are stronger? That is because they are connected to a large supply of mana ”)

They are?

(“ Yes. They are even able to regenerate their own mana because of that in a less mana-dense environment. Usually the stronger this connection, the stronger the artefact, some artefact abilities only appear with a strong connection. That pendant you acquired wasn’t connected anywhere specific, so I was planning on connecting to myself and making a permanent artefact ”)

What Espr was saying was still partly going over my head. I blamed the howling headaches. 

So… if I am understanding this correctly. All dungeon artefacts are connected to somewhere. You are able to connect, let’s call it an ownerless artefact to yourself. So, these other artefacts can also be connected to other intelligent beings. 

(“ Correct ”)

Whatever Thomas's teleporting device was connected to, it was the thing that allowed the arrow to appear inside me.

(“ Correct ”)

So, the question still remains, why did you not warn me about that?

(“ I did not see it as a possibility ”)

That’s it?

I wasn’t happy with that answer. Even if I didn’t die, this incident swung the balance far in Espr’s favour.

(“ Yes. While you certainly weren’t going to die because of our contract, and I would be happy if you became mine, I have enough patience to wait, as I see it, you will fall to me eventually ”)

But why was it not a possibility?

I asked, and my aggressive tone came out again.

(“ As I would not interact with your world without compensation, the same is true for others, and there was no price payable that would allow that arrow to be used to attack you ”)

But it happened.

Espr spoke again after a moment of silence. Its voice had gone from a neutral tone to one of sadness, before shifting into one of anger.

(“ That it did ”)

If that is the case, were you able to reduce the cost of those skills while I was suffering?

(“ I wasn’t able to. When the connection broke, the skill lost any restraints I was placing on it ”)

Fucking dammit.

I was frustrated. If the constant pain and missing an arm weren’t enough. I nearly died, and it seemed it was something I couldn’t even blame on Espr, even though it was the one who was awarded the most.

(“ What’s your plan now? ”)

I guess… There is something else I need to kill now.