Chapter 172: Book 3: Death Fog
The moment Guard yells it out, I see it. I almost curse myself for not seeing it before—it's not like I didn't see the Firmament flowing between them. But it looked entirely random. I'd assumed they were automatic exchanges of Firmament that occured because the ghosts were too close to one another, not that they were intentionally recreating a circuit.
By the time he warns me, though, it's too late for me to stop it. I pour on every defensive skill I can. This is the fourth wave—their power has been doubled four times over. Each rank is a doubling in power. They started at Rank E, and now they're at Rank B.
That wouldn't be a problem if there weren't so many of them, and if the skill they were using wasn't...
I hiss at the feeling of it.
This is a group cast. It's a skill generated by at least a hundred Rank B monsters working in concert. The skill they're using isn't Rank B; it doesn't match their rank at all.
My mind reaches out, touches on whatever I used before, whatever a Thread is. This time, it's a little more exhausting to force—I'm straining something within me to do it, reaching out with a part of myself I haven't had any practice with.
But I manage it. A split second of that trance, a split second of it interacting with my skills.
[You have touched a Thread.]
And Inspect burns in the forefront, growing brighter.