Chapter 97 - Running Dry

Chapter 97: 97 - Running Dry

The plan worked, and it worked slowly.

For the next several minutes the three of them left the Ancient Tree’s torso alone and went after the network feeding it instead. Absolute Mana Sense did the sorting. Thousands of roots ran through that chamber and almost all of them carried nothing worth the trouble, and a handful pulsed with dense currents that went straight into the boss.

Those were the only ones that counted.

"High on the right wall," Adrien said. "Two main roots crossing behind that broken arch."

Lucien was already moving. His manifested bow stayed in his hand, drawing mana the whole time, and he vaulted onto a low section of ruined masonry and pulled an ordinary arrow off his back. He checked the angle for about a second and shook his head.

"Too thick."

"Use the joint where they cross."

A precision arrow manifested between Lucien’s fingers. He nocked it and released immediately, keeping the thing physical for as little time as he could manage, and the shot went into the narrow seam Adrien had marked. Adrien put three [Frost Lance] spells through the same opening. Ice worked its way into the damaged wood until the root came apart under its own tension.

The Ancient Tree reacted to that. Branches twisted overhead and mana surged through new routes across the chamber as it worked around the loss.

"It’s rerouting everything," Adrien said.

Amelia looked toward the torso. "Can it keep doing that?"

"Not forever. There are fewer major roots every time we cut one."

That was the whole advantage, and the problem was living long enough to use it.

Adrien expanded [Winter’s Reach], letting the cold spread out from where he stood in a layer he could control. Frost took the stone first and climbed the smaller roots after it.

He deliberately kept the domain short of where he could have pushed it, because holding it alongside Umbral Root and a constant stream of casting was already taking more attention than he had to spare.

The effect came through within seconds. Thin roots trying to lift out of the floor stiffened under the ice, and several of the smaller tendrils stopped moving entirely.

"Movement is slowing," Amelia said.

"Only the smaller ones. Watch the main roots."

The Ancient Tree answered by changing how it came at them. Barklings started tearing free of the walls in groups rather than one at a time, and three sections of the floor split open at almost the same moment. Root Crawlers forced their way up through the stone with dirt and broken masonry still hanging off their bodies.

Lucien dropped off his ledge before a root swept through it. He landed, rolled once and came up with the bow drawn.

"Four on me."

"I see them."

Adrien put an [Ice Wall] between Lucien and two of the Barklings to split the group, then dropped [Veil of Mist] across the far side of the chamber. The haze took several creatures out of ordinary sight and did nothing at all to their mana signatures, which was the entire point.

"Lucien, three steps left. Root Crawler coming up in front of you."

Lucien moved on the word. The ground ruptured where he had been standing, and he fired down into the creature before its body had finished coming through. The arrow found a softer cluster near the top, and Adrien sent a [Frost Lance] into the same opening and froze the damaged section solid.

A second Root Crawler surfaced behind them and Amelia intercepted it before it reached Adrien. Her manifested shield caught the first strike. The second came round the edge of it and tore across Lucien’s shoulder as he turned, and his clothes went dark before he had finished registering it.

His left arm dropped an inch.

"Lucien."

"I’m fine."

Amelia was already on him. She held the mace and shield only until Adrien put himself between the two of them and the Barklings coming in, and dismissed both the moment he did, because there was no sense paying for them while her hands were busy. Pale healing mana gathered around her fingers as she pressed them near the wound.

"Hold still."

Lucien’s jaw tightened. "How long?"

"Less if you stop moving."

Adrien bought them the time. He built six [Frost Lance] spells around himself and sent all of them into legs and joints rather than wasting the power on thick torsos. Two of the Barklings went down. A third ended up pinned against the frozen floor long enough for Adrien to raise an [Ice Wall] and shut it away from the group entirely.

"Done," Amelia said.

Lucien tested the shoulder once, manifested a penetration arrow into his free hand and went straight back into it.

They worked deeper into the chamber one root at a time, and the longer Adrien watched the mana move through it, the more of the real structure he could see.

The yellow-brown Heartroot Crystals were not growing inside the Ancient Tree because the conditions suited them. Mana was passing through the crystals before it reached several of the thickest roots.

’They’re feeding it too.’

Breaking those clusters would cripple the thing considerably faster. It would also make the entire trip pointless.

"We can’t just blow the crystals apart," Adrien said. "They’re part of the network, and we need them whole."

Lucien glanced toward the nearest cluster while he moved. "Cut around them."

The Ancient Tree worked out their pattern before much longer.

Its attacks stopped coming at Adrien. A thick root changed direction under the floor and went for Amelia instead, and Adrien felt the mana shift and slammed an [Ice Wall] up in front of her. The root came through half of it. The half it spent going through was enough for Amelia to get clear.

Another came down at Lucien from above.

"Behind you!"

Lucien threw himself off the ruined ledge, and the root crushed the stone where he had been standing and scattered it across the frozen floor.

Adrien’s expression hardened. It had stopped attacking at random.

Lucien had destroyed more major connections than either of them. Amelia was the reason nobody’s injuries were adding up. The Ancient Tree had started going after both of them and leaving the mage alone, which meant it had been watching.

The fight went on, and the cost of it started showing.

Lucien was moving as well as ever and was manifesting far more special arrows than he had at the start. Penetration arrows for the dense roots, explosive ones whenever Adrien froze a section first. And his bow had been out since the moment they entered that chamber, taking mana every second of it.

Absolute Mana Sense made it impossible for Adrien to pretend he could not see it. Lucien’s reserve was going down considerably faster than it had been ten minutes ago.

"Lucien, slow down," Adrien called after another major root came apart. "Your mana is getting low."

Lucien landed beside a fractured column, breathing harder than he had been. He looked at his bow, and then out at the roots still covering the chamber.

"I know."

"Then conserve it."

Lucien tightened his grip on the weapon and turned back toward the Ancient Tree.

"I can still continue."