Tom picked up speed as he dashed into the tunnel that had opened. A sharp turn appeared before him and rather than slowing down, he let his feet run along the side wall. The moment he righted himself there was a clap and a hail of darts were fired at him.
Instincts took over as he categorised what was happening. The attacks were coming at three heights. Head, waist, and ankles.
He jumped and twisted to the side, getting his upper body to split the space between the waist and head attack. The corridor, unfortunately, was too narrow for him to pull his legs out of the way as well, but his leap neutralised the head and ankle darts the waist ones however were on target. If he possessed acrobatics, he probably could have contorted sufficiently to avoid the darts, but if he had that Skill then the challenge would have been structured differently and there would have been four lines of darts instead of three.
Partial Stone Skin washed over his exposed legs.
Darts pinged off them.
When he started falling, he released the spell to let him land. His legs were freed from paralysis too close to the ground. It resulted in a rough landing. He kept his feet his hand pressing hard against the wall to keep his balance.
Clap.
Tom’s eyes widened.
Another volley was inbound. He was closer this time, which meant less reaction time but a tighter grouping of darts. He had a lot of forward momentum still, so he jumped as high as he could. Conscious of how he had almost fallen when landing previously, Tom went for extra height. This time he leapt the middle layer, his knees lifted to his chest and conscious of the descent he kept a mostly upright position.
The top of his body was exposed.
Tom shut his eyes and then, with a flash of mana, his face, neck, shoulders, and upper arms turned to stone. He had the disconcerting experience of the small darts clinking off his neck. There were thankfully no stings of pain. The moment the darts stopped the stone skin vanished, and he landed without almost pitching over onto his face and he kept running successfully passing the spitters.
He spun around a bend.
Clap!
The next wave of darts was vertically aligned. Tom crashed into the narrow wall, and they all shot past him through the middle of the corridor.
No magic needed.
He ran faster.
The tunnel opened into a far larger one. It was a giant multiple level monstrosity. Three obvious pathways presented themselves.
The ground route had dozens and potentially hundreds of spitters, but there were lots of blocking walls positioned everywhere to provide cover. Tom could visualise someone patiently pushing through the minefield, waiting for options before dashing forward. There were sections where his feet would be exposed, others his stomach, legs, occasionally his head, but with Partial Stone Skin those problems would be easily managed. With a bit of observation, the pattern required to get through the maze was easily discerned. It would force him to fully practice his new skill, as it would involve him switching the stone part of his body regularly. There was a clear path, but Tom knew he could shorten it. Take risks like jumping over the rock walls and applying full body stone skin to tank the hail of darts that would strike him while he was airborne.
While it was a safe enough path, it would be slow and unless he got it perfect darts would tag him, which would slow him even further.
His eyes examined the other options. The high-risk middle pathways. There were fewer spitters, but he would be exposed the whole way. He suspected that option was all about timing when he moved. It would almost be like a rhythm game. Match the beat, jump, and then turn yourself into stone. Switch it over to move as required and then continue. If you were really good, there was probably a pattern that would allow you to selectively engage areas of your body, but he was not convinced he could find it.
That was not him either.
His eyes went to the top pathway. A sheer cliff to climb and then plugs to destroy to open the path and, of course spitters to mitigate. It would use all the skills he had gained so far and was almost certainly the point of challenge.
He took off at a run and leapt upwards his fingers digging into the hard rock cave. Twenty metres with his rock manipulation was not a difficult time no matter how perfectly steep the cliff was.
Clap.
Unable to see a thing he turned himself to stone. Darts pinged off him and the moment they ceased he continued his climb.
Clap
He shifted to stone. Waited. Then he surged forward almost bounding up the shear wall such was his confidence in his earth manipulation. Then he pulled himself onto the path and advanced.
Every four steps he needed to use Throw Rock to shatter a plug to let him keep going. Spitters clapped, but at this height they were only assaulting him from a single angle, and it was easy enough to turn the required body part to stone. It meant he didn’t even need to pause his lung busting sprint.
When he glanced back, he reassessed his opinion of the ground pathway. Based on the shelter and how frequently the spitters shot Tom suspected you could probably traverse it without magic, but it would be so slow.
Climbing had clearly been the correct choice.
Tom reached the end of the cavern at the top level. There was no passageway out only the tunnel at ground level.
He didn’t hesitate to leap off the platform. He hit the cliff. Then he slid down a smooth wall with his earth manipulation, supporting him.
Clap.
His feet touched the ground, and he was stone once more. Darts pinged off him and when they stopped, he ran.
It was a series of tight tunnels. There were lots of spitters, and when they fired, he jumped or turned himself to rock to tank the darts and then released stone skin, landed, and kept running. Sometimes he would rotate in mid-air and present his back. It saved a couple points of mana whenever he did it. Even if it felt riskier, there were no stings of darts hitting soft flesh, so it was effective.
Ahead of him there was the glow of the safe zone and what looked like a wall of spitters. He thew himself into a baseball slide while engaging stone skin.
Darts pinged off him and a wave of healing struck.
Congratulations, you have reached the fifth safe zone.
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Done, he thought to himself, pleased with his choices through the previous stage. It had gone well, but there was not time to laze in a haze of self-congratulations. He needed to get moving. There was a minute to recover, sometimes an extra one to familiarise himself with a new spell, but never more. The challenge trial, now that it had started did not like to give its challengers time to assess and train their new skills at least outside of the trials where speed was paramount. After the desperate sprint, Tom thought it would be nice to lie still for a few minutes, but that structure of this place did not allow it. “What is the next stage?”
Same as last with the addition of homing earth missiles. These cannot be dodged.
In addition, Throw Rock has been disabled
That second condition was annoying, but he assumed it meant that the threat of homing missiles could be circumvented if he kept Throw Rock. Whatever launched the missile must be easy to destroy, and Susie didn’t want that happening. “Same success criteria for only caring about time?”
That’s what the same usually means….
Tom laughed, amused at the personality cracking a clear joke. “That’s a good one.” Absently, he replenished his ammunition supplies. Even if the ability could not be used, it felt sensible to keep them topped up.
Then he got ready for the newest challenge.
The blue barrier came down, and he took off at a run. The tunnel turned, and he found himself in a huge cavern. He stopped right there prepared to step back if required while assessing his options. Tom was convinced that the complexity of the task had risen to where a strategic approach would beat an attempt at raw speed.
The cavern he had entered differed from the previous ones. It was constructed of dull red stone and light shone from hundreds of crystals embedded in the roof. Each of them was dim enough that he could look straight at them without squinting, but there were so many and the light so diffuse that there were only a few shadows. It was forty metres wide and ten high, but stretched over two hundred metres in length. No one would describe the cavern as beautiful or exquisite. Unique was probably the best description for it, eye-catching, strange, but no airs of being special or magnificent. With all the spitters and launchers, it was a well-lit, dull red death trap.
He frowned as his eyes scanned the upper reaches of the space. The roof was too close, and the spitters were clearly positioned to shoot up and there was no visible cover. It was a different design from the previous stage. There was no convenient upper level for him to exploit, just the ground floor, which was filled with barriers and tracks. After Throw Rock was disabled, he probably should have guessed that outcome. This time it was going to be run, hide, duck, defend a type of nonsense. Tom kicked the floor in annoyance. The device that fired the homing earth missiles was noticeable. It was like the spitters, but with a single larger hole.
Clap.
He tensed and thankfully, because he was still standing in the tunnel doorway, he could step back around the corner to block the line of sight. Remembering the warning that earth missiles could not miss he activated Partial Stone Skin to cover his entire front.
He heard the patter of darts hitting the soft dirt and rock of the tunnel walls but not threatening him.
“One, two,” he counted to himself. A homing missile travelling slowly came around the corner in a wide arc, so they were three seconds delayed.
Physically, it did not look dangerous, comprising little more than a diffuse cloud of dust, but Tom did not want to discover what it would do if it hit his exposed skin. Luckily, it was flying slowly.
To conserve mana, most of his Partial Stone Skin fell away, and he swung his stone encased hand into the homing missile.
It vanished.
Two more appeared both moving slower than the first.
“Curious,” he muttered even as he materialised his spear in the right hand to stab one sphere. The second sphere abruptly accelerated.
Instinctively, stone coated his head and the missile hit and fell away to nothing.
It was all fascinating. They could be dissipated by his spear without wasting mana. They had to slow for corners and had great straight-line speed and acceleration. Three had come as well.
Tom used his memory to recall the layout he was facing. He pictured the exact structure of the cave that he had glimpsed. Spitters and launching had all been directed toward where he now stood. Which implied once he got past them, they could no longer hit him. There were also lots of walls, shelf and outcropping of rocks to provide cover as he pushed forward.
Something was bothering him.
Three launchers had fired at him.
Mentally, he had examined the cave.
There, he thought, identifying the nagging sensation. There had been over ten launchers visible in what he had considered the immediate area. With only three projectiles being shot meant that their range was limited.
His intuition kept gnawing.
They hadn’t fired again and the spitters in the previous cave system had been shooting every couple of seconds.
Tom mentally calculated angles and then stuck out his head and then waited for a moment.
Clap.
He shut his eyes.
Darts slammed into his exposed face, including his eyelids. The instant that patter of impacts stopped he used the stone skin ability to open his eyelids while keeping the stone on the rest of the face. A single homing missile coming at him.
He blinked it dissipated harmlessly on his nose.
Tom released the spell and breathed in deeply.
Clap.
Once more, he started the protective spell and heard the clatter of darts striking him. Then he opened his eyes to see a single missile once more. His lids shut and internally Tom smiled as the missile splashed harmlessly into his face.
It was confirmed. They needed a line of sight to work.
Within his mind, he studied the layout he needed to navigate. Mentally, he highlighted destinations that, when he huddled behind them, none of the spitters or launchers could see him.
Sprint there… All the darts would be blocked… then shift to the new location. With his spear, he should be able to dissipate the three homing missiles while he transitioned. Then sprint, jump, do a full stone skin body till he rolled to under that ledge. Then he could peek and determine what was next.
With his plan formed. Tom sprinted around the corridor his spear clutched in one hand.
One step, two.
Clap.
He leapt landing into the conveniently placed alcove. There was the pinging sound on the rock and Tom waited. There would be at least three homing missiles targeting him. The first appeared and having to complete a one hundred and eighty degree turn to reach his hiding spot it was travelling slowly. Tom’s spear lashed out. Then snapped to the side to fight off two more while his second hand turned to stone to block the fourth.
No more emerged.
Tom breathed in deeply to prepare for the next explosive burst of movement. He vaulted over the stone alcove, took a step, and then jumped.
Clap.
He rolled himself into a ball, encasing himself fully in stone.
He flew through the air. Darts slammed into him, but there were no stings of pain. He bounced, rolled…
Clap.
Too slow. Tom cursed to himself. He hit rock. At least he had reached his target and would be out of sight of any further launchers or spitters. Selectively, he released his stone to allow him to spin and face the homing missiles front on.
According to his estimates, Tom could expect as many as six from each clap.
His eyes flicked from one side to the other.
Five appeared.
Two curling around the rock and were easy enough to intercept with his spear.
Three went wider and hung in the air beyond his weapon’s range. They accelerated forward. Tom had a split second to respond. His right leg turned to stone and his left hand, which then moved to punch one targeting his head. The spear easily took care of the third.
From a mana perspective, this floor was going to be expensive.
Tom held his position, and his spear danced around to take out the second wave of four.
He sighed and did not immediately leap into action. This stage was not about relentless speed. Even if this was the only cavern, his mana would be exhausted a couple of times over. That was a given so taking the time to reduce mana drain or to plan the next step was important.
Tom reviewed the hectic vision he got when he was spinning through the air. He made a note of the position of the different launchers. The homing missiles were the largest threat on the floor.
Rather than worrying about the bigger picture, he focused on the immediate problem.
What was the best way to get closer to the exit.
If he went left, there were two easy moves forward, but then he would have to retreat sideways for at least two sets of cover before there was a way to get closer to the exit.
Going to the right was better. It was a longer initial sprint… probably two claps, but there looked to be many options after that which required no back tracking.
How about straight?
He flicked through the different snapshots he had. Some from when he was in the air, other’s right when he first entered the cavern.
It was…
Tom confirmed and overlapped the varied angles. It was definitely there. Straight in front of him there was a flat sheet of a rock that looked like it had a space underneath it. A gap which, if he was lucky, he would be able to commando crawl forward six metres in a straight line and exit on the other side.
It was a gamble and if the space didn’t continue, he would go right and be barely delayed.
Tom’s spear disappeared. It was worth the risk he decided.
He would break down the challenge, hiding in one spot after another and working out the most efficient way to progress each time.