Chapter 81: Gabe’s second affinity
Percy figured he’d been in the Vault for about a week, though keeping track of time was always difficult outside Remior.
It had only taken him a few days to clear enough mana channels to fill up his host’s second core. Piling onto the good news, the event had also gone down surprisingly smoothly. Sure, an elemental affinity wasn’t the flashiest one to have, but it was definitely more useful than pure mana. Also, activating the core did strengthen Gabe’s soul, causing the broken shards to swell, filling up more of their vessel.
Sadly, the shift did cause their bond to loosen, forcing Percy to expend the last of his stashed mana to repair the connection. Though it wasn’t that great a loss, since the golems were immune to his Parting Gift anyway.
And today, Percy felt he’d cleared enough pathways to use the new core in a fight. Not that he was anywhere close to using it with finesse, but they should still be ready to tackle the fourth wave. As much as they’d love to prepare a little longer, their time was finite, and they needed to assess their situation.
***
The white-hot axe slashed against the octagonal shield, the impact sending a shockwave reverberating through the room. However, the empowered flames barely carved an inch into the black metal before dimming, as the green inscriptions on its surface flashed brighter.
Worse still, the construct easily brushed its left arm aside, tearing one of Gabe’s wings to shreds, throwing him off balance in the process. And taking advantage of the opening, it lunged forward with its sword.
Percy’s host barely managed to leap to the side at the last second, escaping with a shallow cut on his upper arm. Not ideal, but definitely preferrable to getting cleanly ran through by a blade wider than his thigh.
Gabe clumsily walked backwards, putting some distance from the giant golem, each step awkwardly splashing through the viscous liquid covering the cube’s floor all the way up to his knees.