Chapter Twelve

Lightning sparked in Elysia’s eyes as she glared at her sister. “I was perfectly capable of surviving on my own before you arrived.” She pointed at her zombie plugged alleyway. “As you can see, I trapped them without a scratch. This wasn’t the first time I delved this dungeon.”

Sereia glanced at the zombies, then scrunched her nose at the stench. She raised her hand as if to summon her water magic to wash away the zombies.

In a flash, Elysia appeared in front of her and whacked her arm upward, sending a jet of water skyward. “I trapped them so they are my kills. You can investigate the stores if you want, but the zombies are mine.”

With a huff, Sereia stormed off, literally stormed off as rain showered down on her, probably to keep her wet for mermaid reasons.

Ione, on the other hand, sat next to Elysia with surprising patience and a lack of disgust. Curious, she sent a quarrying image series, knowing firsthand how much the zombies stank.

She received images comparing the zombies to the smell of dirt with an attached scale of their tastiness near the raptors. A shiver ran through Elysia, imagining her bond eating the zombies. If she had anything in her stomach, she might have thrown up. After all the time she spent around them, looking at them didn’t bother her, but the thought of someone eating them was a step too far.

As if to reassure her mother, Ione sliced through one of the less stuck zombies, killing it instantly. Before it even hit the ground, the zombie disintegrated into motes of light, then vacuumed into Ione’s mouth.

Deed done, Ione turned back to her mother, pride radiating through their bond.

Elysia’s gaze flicked from where the zombie should have been and her bond before shrugging her shoulders. Her greening face returned to normal, relieved her bond wasn’t going to eat some rotting corpses, at least not in the physical sense.

That explained several things. No wonder Ione ate her prey so quick. Ideas formed to make use of her bond’s ability in the future. If only her lightning wasn’t so loud. They could assassinate something and remove the evidence.

Actually, Ione could do all of that on her own. She really needed to improve her utility. Both her twin and bond had more uses outside of combat than her. Really, the only thing she brought to the table was big damage with big lightning bolts.

With that thought, Elysia turned toward the zombies with a determined glint in her eyes. Now to make use of her trapped prey. She withdrew a handful of ball bearings, then threw them at the zombies. A moment later, she released a single strand lightning bolt in the general direction of the zombies. Instead of trying to force the lightning to strike the zombies, she aimed it at the flying ball bearings.

The lightning jumped from one ball bearing to the next with surprising ease, frying any zombies between them. Though after a few seconds, the ball bearings melted to nothing, causing the lightning to dissipate into the brick wall on the right side.

Before she could toss another round, Ione blurred forward and absorbed the dozen double dead zombies.

Elysia frowned, attention brought to the casualties. Why didn’t she level up yet? That had to be several dozen zombies since she arrived. Was it really that hard to level now? Though to be fair, she barely used a quarter of her total charge if she didn’t count what her ring used.

Oh well, she would get a level, eventually. She found it hard to believe she wouldn’t level after killing every zombie she trapped. Worst case, she bowed out of the rest of the dungeon and let Sereia and Ione clear it.

Once Ione returned to her position, sitting guard by Elysia sighed or just waiting for the next meal course when Elysia threw another handful of ball bearings.

This time, as soon as she tossed the ball bearings toward the zombies, she fed two separate strands toward her hands. Two lightning bolts shot toward the ball bearings just as they reached the zombies. Ozone filled the air as the lightning bolts jumped from one ball bearing to the next, melting each of them upon contact but scoring a couple of kills on each jump.

Far quicker than the previous round, all ball bearings joined the growing pile of molten metal on the cracked pavement, though this time she scored twenty kills.

As the feline greedily gulped down the fallen zombies, Elysia stared at the molten pile. If only she had metal that could handle her lightning. She needed to find another dungeon filled with metal like the crab dungeon. Though maybe not. The ball bearings wouldn’t hang in the air forever. If she wanted longer-lasting lightning anchors, she could use her throwing knives.

Suddenly, a vicious smile spread as an idea bloomed. Instead of grabbing more ball bearings as she knew their limits, she unsheathed all of her throwing knives, then tossed them underhandedly toward the zombies. The knives flew at odd angles as they spun through the air, spreading out just like she wanted them. Like with the ball bearings, just before they reached the zombies, she released a lightning bolt, but this time she put twelve strands into it.

A blinding flash followed by a deafening crack echoing off the brick walls assaulted her, almost breaking her control on the lightning, but she held on. With all her might, she forced the lightning bolt to jump from one knife to another as fast as she could.

Far longer than the ball bearings, the lightning bolt jumped from one target to another. In fact, what stopped her wasn’t her lightning anchors melting down, but a pounding headache and stinging eyes, causing a momentary lapse in her control.

Somewhere during the barrage of dings signifying kills an extra loud gong followed by a wave of warmth hit her.

Even after the lightning grounded out somewhere, she remained blinded with ringing ears. Fortunately, the healing from her leveling kicked in, returning her vision a few seconds later though a slight ringing in her ears persisted for several seconds longer.

When she blinked away the spots in her vision, her eyes widened at the devastation before a satisfied smile spread.

The zombie blockade was no more. In fact, there was a pile of a hundred scorched zombies surrounded by several small craters, one of which she remembered used to be the molten pile of former ball bearings sprouting another idea.

Hunger and gratefulness radiated through her bond with Ione as the feline shot forward. In a few blinks, the pile of zombies vanished into motes of light and sucked into the waiting mouth of Ione.

Before her eyes, Ione grew several centimeters in height and length, though she kept her streamlined form so she remained the same width.

With the alleyway cleared of zombies, Elysia stared at the devastation she caused. The wall to her right looked about ready to crumble down, already weakened from what the dungeon did to the buildings. A hint of worry needled its way in as it took her several seconds to spot her knives within each crater. The metal sheen blackened.

She trotted toward the nearest trader and plucked her throwing knife out of it. With nothing to wipe it off with, she used her finger revealing a streak of gleaming metal underneath. Though, upon further inspection, the knives didn’t come away unscathed. While the blade appeared undamaged, the handle was a different story. Scorch marks littered the material. Even after she rubbed it, they wouldn’t go away, but even with the burns, the grip kept its functionality.

A glance at the crater where the molten ball bearings used to be told of a different fate. Somehow her lightning vaporized the metal, leaving nothing but a crater behind. Though as long as her knives survived, she didn’t care. The bearings served their purpose. Quite well, in fact. She should grab some more small metal objects from the hardware store. They worked as a perfect throw away lightning anchor. She didn’t want to throw her knives like that often. Losing just one of them would hurt. At least until she found a source of metal capable of surviving her lightning.

Now that she had replenished reserves, the temptation of trying a divine lightning bolt on the next trap toward presented itself. Though a moment later, she shook her head. She would save her divine lightning for emergencies. Somehow she doubted the bearings would even survive long enough to transfer the lightning, and she didn’t want to risk her knives or ring.

Besides, she wasn’t confident she could control the divine lightning enough to force it to jump between objects even if said objects survived. At best she could aim at in a general direction.

Until she perfected her regular lightning control, trying any type of divine lightning control was just asking for it. If a twelve strand lightning bolt gave her a headache after only a couple seconds of jumping it, she didn’t want to find out what divine lightning would do.

At least she found a viable area of effect attack. It wasn’t as effective as chain lightning since she needed a material aid, but it definitely got the job done. Hopefully, she figured out how to jump her lightning without an aide eventually, but for now, this would do. Now she just had to improve it.

Elysia trotted to each crater and retrieved her knives, finding them all to be in a similar condition. If she continued to use them as lightning anchors, she might need to re-wrap the grip, but the blade itself seemed durable enough. As long as it remained sharp enough to stick into trees or something similar, she was happy. Though it might be a good idea to keep one sharp to use as an actual knife.

She should have brought her crab daggers. They didn’t fly through the air as well as the throwing knives, but the metal seemed durable enough. At least, she hoped it was. They were from a pretty low level dungeon. She wasn’t sure if the level mattered, but it made sense if it did. How was a level 10 supposed to beat a level 10 dungeon when the metal on the creatures had the strength of something at level 200?

That thought drew her eye down to the pile of knives in her hands. Maybe the strength of the material scaled with the owner. Once she returned to Umbra, she needed to test the crab daggers. She didn’t want to risk them failing on her in a dungeon.

Not wanting to sheathe the grimy blades, Elysia trotted to the back alley and followed it until she reached the hardware store. She sent one glance at the still intact zombie blockade, though several new zombies laid unmoving on the cracked pavement. The zombies appeared extra soggy, giving away the culprit.

When she turned her attention to the door leading to the hardware store, she found it open.

The temptation of killing off the blockade to give her sister some alone time in the hardware store formed. A glance down at the soot covered knives, which would only earn another coat if she used them, sealed the deal.

She was better off finding something to clean them after she slaughtered the zombies. At least this horde. There was still the largest horde a couple of blocks down.

An idea sparked. Actually, that one might be better to slaughter first. She could save the hardware store horde for last. If she was going to try her divine lightning, she needed a big horde. Despite what she decided earlier, the temptation to see what her divine lightning could do to a horde of zombies with too tempting to resist, but first she needed to remove anything the lightning might damage.

Core vibrating in excitement and anticipation, Elysia jogged toward the largest horde. As soon as she reached the alley, she withdrew her father’s destroyed truck and the bucket of bearings, leaving them near the entrance of the alley along with her knives. Next, she slipped off the ring, which came off surprisingly easily. Upon setting it on the crumpled hood of the truck, she felt it disconnect from her, followed by a rush of lightning filling her core.

Now truly at full power, she grabbed a handful of bearings, then approached the zombie horde helplessly packed into the alley.

She released her control from the few remaining lightning strands gathered around her core, allowing them to reenter.

Finally, she grabbed a random strand of lightning, allowing her divine spark to replace it. Unlike her regular lightning strands, the divine strand struggled against her hold, but she held firm as she sent it up her arm, causing tingles as it went. Just before it reached her hand, she tossed the ball bearings toward the zombies, then closed her eyes while bracing herself for the coming recoil.

Recoil it did. Even though she expected it, her right arm wrenched backward, causing a sharp pain in her shoulder as she stumbled back several steps. The following crack deafened her, but she remained focused on the lightning.

Unfortunately, the divine lightning tore away from her control almost instantly.

A wave of weakness hit her like a sledgehammer, causing her to check her total charge, gasping when she found she used 15,000 charge on one attack. Fortunately, the weakness vanished as dings sounded through her mind, followed by a wave of warmth replenishing her nearly empty reserves.

When she opened her eyes, her mouth hung open. The only evidence there was once a horde of zombies was a crater and a barrage of dings. Nothing remained of the rotting corpses. They vaporized from the beam of divine lightning.

Annoyance radiating through her bond with Ione broke her from her shock, though she still stared at the devastation she caused with just one divine lightning strike. To make it even more devastating, the level up replenished the reserves she spent though only one, despite killing hundreds in a blink of an eye.

Divine lightning was terrifying.