But as he watched those bewildering and smooth movements of the roots Shal realized how much his disciple had truly put into his mental stats specifically Control Shal had already noticed that he appeared to possess a knack for spotting incoming threats and responding delicately towards them but he hadn’t really pushed that issue in training But now his mind was racing With this much control
Of his father’s 6 moves Shal had mastered 4 of them and that was mostly because that was how many he had mastered before it had all happened and he had lost himself in the wake of that tragedy Now if he dedicated himself to it while they remained in this prison Shal had no doubt that he could master the rest
And once he did the 5th move the Spear Phantom’s Embrace would likely be the other move that he taught his foolish disciple who focused too much on mental stats It would not possess the bloodthirsty aura of his father’s move but Shal was mildly curious what the boy would do with his own strange images
Of course that wouldn’t help Shal deal with his own problems when he left this place Perhaps the boy could help but it would be rough going especially to recover in time to meet Lucrecia
But Shal’s eyes refocused as even though the small disks were furiously ripping through the roots more and more were branching outwards just clogging up the air Unlike previously his student didn’t just let the severed and withering roots go away he pushed them forward from behind the rot shooting them forward It severely reduced the speed of the root growth but it still made the air thick with them
Through the densely packed roots Shal could still make out those glowing emerald eyes narrowed in concentration
But those disks were merciless They cut and cut and cut pushing the roots slowly back until the air was empty and all of the Root spiders were rotted away Except one
And from that one a thin root emerged running around the window and up to the ceiling rushing to the corner then sliding along the wall over the key now slowly dropping down
As soon as the other roots were destroyed the disks noticed this small root but by then it was too late The root flicked lightly and the key spun through the air flashing as it caught the light of the small illumination stones in the wall Shal opened his hand and caught it
An alarm began to sound Shal’s fingers twisted and he expertly flipped the key up and positioned his arm so the key slid into the lock clicking into place Then he saw the small smug smile forming on his disciple’s face but Shal just sat there unmoving
You must turn the key for me obviously I cannot reach Shal finally said savoring the way the smug expression was very quickly wiped off his disciple’s face Ah yes this was how it must be done Let their confidence grew a small bit and then crush it so it could be rebuilt later stronger and more durable than ever based in truth rather than youthful hotheadedness
Also hurry Shal said almost bored The guards will arrive shortly
Randidly gritted his teeth He would swear that Shal seemed pleased at his newfound helplessness as the alarms blared and undoubtedly people were rushing over to this location That amount of roots were close to his mental limits and already he had a headache beating behind his eyes But perhaps now that he no longer needed to remain sneaky
First things first his mana Randidly removed several mana potions and quickly downed them Within around 10 seconds his mana was almost back to full but Randidly just pointed to the sky and created the Weeping Cloud and continued to drink the potions
Slowly mist formed and condensed above him swirling together as he restored his mana then quickly spreading and creating a light and refreshing rain Around 14 seconds had gone past since the alarms began to ring and Randidly could detect the barely discernable clomp of heavy footsteps approaching
With the rain hitting his back his headache melting away Randidly cracked his fingers and got to work He continued to drink mana potions as he made a stream of root spiders and sent them towards the approaching guards to hide and strike Hopefully that would buy him some time Then he placed more on the wall of the prison
Taking several deep breaths Randidly reached inside of him and felt the pulsing Aether that frigid lava that strange source of life Almost instinctively he began to move in those strange leg movements given to him by that old turtle evoking the image of powerful ancient roots The Aether stirred almost as if it were growing excited
He still remembered some of the things that Mrs Hamilton had told to Lyra as they had raised Lyra’s ability to manipulate her birds of mana It was not about controlling each individually but in fact the opposite All you had to do was set up certain patterns to lessen the load on yourself and concentrate on what was important
So while most roots began to move forward in zigzag patterns one root did the same but with all of Randidly’s will and strength within it In a barely discernable way a dense green energy formed around that root proof of his time spent being repeatedly assaulted by Battle Intents
It seemed the disks did not notice the energy which Randidly realized would have been a dead giveaway They did however seem to remember his previous trick because two started at the outsides of the roots instead of cutting right in as they had previously as if checking for any sneaking roots Meanwhile the rest charged forward heading for the area with the thickest density of roots
As Randidly planned all of the roots split off diagonally but one which straightened and rushed forward The disks swerved towards the larger groups all but one and Randidly’s gaze grew heavy But he had planned for this and prepared for it he just wished he wouldn’t have to take this risk
So as the thin root and the spinning disk of metal rushed towards each other Randidly concentrated his will in the tip which began to glow a deep emerald as all his intent moved to that one area He felt that even this small root was connected the larger tree of life Yggdrasil as his legs trembled and he moved through the motions
As the two items crossed paths Randidly twisted the edge of the root with his will avoiding the initial slice of the disk and smashed it on the flat side with as much strength as the thin root could muster It did send the disk skittering but it wasn’t that far
It was just enough
That root burst forward in a surge of speed rushing towards the key The other disks seemed to notice this streaker and angle themselves downward to intercept it but the other roots cut across blocking their path The disks finally arrived ripping through everything but it was too late The root settled on the key and turned it
Randidly could hear shouts of surprised very near as guards were likely waylaid by his Roots Spiders he did not have much time remaining The strain of using Root Control so much and so fast was wearing at him but the cooling drops of the Weeping Cloud did a lot to control the fraying edges of his consciousness
Shal stood and the chains fell to the ground He walked calmly to the door and opened it apparently freely leaving from the inside Then he held his hand out to Randidly My spear
Randidly blinked then remembered the strange spear that he had seen inside his ring He had been curious about how it had gotten there but he had been so distracted by surviving in this place that he hadn’t really put any thoughts to finding out the answer
He removed it from his ring and marveled at it for a second It was the blue of ice a long slender spear made of sort of strangely flexible crystal almost like a plastic Both ends had spear heads which were a dark indigo The spear was strangely long springy and light based on what Randidly knew from Shal he sorta would have expected exactly the opposite sort of spear as his weapon of choice Probably something like the heavy spear of obsidian that Shal had given him to use that almost seemed famous based on some people’s queer reaction to it