Saintess Summons Skeletons

The archangel sent me to the broken part of the temple that was orbiting the sun from further away…

What about them? The whale?

I should worry about myself first. How’s the quest?

Still not completed… Come on, this is the last remaining part of the temple, does that not make it count? I only needed to get rid of all the monsters. Unless there’s more parasites here? I’ll have to check this whole pyramid… whenever my mana decides to come back up.

The demon transformation locks that for half an hour… I could bypass it by killing something that has mana maybe. But there’s only me and you.

Sofia looked at Pareth, who looked a bit restless, compared to his usual skeletal stoicness. Must be worried that a parasite would attack us right now. That would be unfortunate… Surely we can’t be this unlucky, it’s alright. My guess about the quest is that it can’t update because it can’t reach the system. Maybe.

How would it know that I killed all the monsters in the temple when it cannot reach the temple in the first place? Unless Mr. Scribe directly confirms it, nobody knows.

Rather than to explore the pyramid without mana, Sofia opted to wait inside of the module room for a while. She quickly realized that the gravity was changing from second to second, she felt herself become increasingly heavier, and the direction of ‘down’ was slowly rotating, at this rate, in another five minutes she would be walking on the walls. Gravity was just a detail though, the only more pressing issue was the temperature which was quickly rising. Is this thing actually falling toward the sun?

Just in case, she sent Pareth out alone. After all, he could always teleport back to her, but that meant he had to break the door to get out, potentially letting parasites in. Better this than a literal sunbath. They can already send their swarm through the vents anyway.

Pareth moved out, and all the while, Sofia was worriedly switching back and forth between his and her point of view. The temperature was still rising, but when Pareth made it to the door to the outside, he could see that they were still very far from the sun.

At this rate even if we’re falling, it would take several hours to get there. Enough to get the fuck out of here. Alright, come back, when I get my mana back we go looking for any parasite here and then…

Then…

 

Then Sofia decided to worry about it later and get some rest, because she really needed to let herself breathe for a bit. Even though there’s no air again… As soon as her mana was back to a sufficient level, she had put on an unlife rune and explored the entire pyramid, not finding anything interesting, and certainly no Deep parasite. After she checked the whole place, she finally got a nice confirmation message for her quest.

[Quest complete, congratulations! Your reward will be delivered soon.]

[ERROR]

[User in Scribe-only mode, please re-enter systemic range to receive your rewards.]

And done!

No rewards yet; but that much was expected. Now what, though? The transmission platform is gone. At least the whale shouldn’t come after me if it’s still around, the fake god was always its target. But I assume it’s probably returned to the Deep somehow, else would the quest have been completed? Maybe, but maybe not.

How do I get back?

I could try to call Aphenoreth again. Though he didn’t come to rescue me from the whale when I asked. So maybe I shouldn’t count on it. I’m still just a Saintess after all…

Sofia was racking her brain to find a way to return to her planet. She got an idea when the temperature she felt started cooling down.

The pyramid is going away from the sun right now. So the orbit is probably an ellipse? Maybe if I jump away from it while it’s at the furthest point from the sun, I’ll manage to escape the orbit? I’m not too sure about how that all works… I knew I should have asked Astelia about her powers a bit more! All I know is I’m stuck to the pyramid right now, somehow.

I’ll explain my plan to the engineer and nun elves, maybe they can help…

The nun skeleton was unresponsive but the engineer did more than Sofia expected. It used its powers to draw a map of Sofia’s plan. It didn’t quite work out until she gave it the bone pen and paper she usually used, which he promptly started covering in calculations that Sofia didn’t understand at all.

Why can they do complex mathematics and yet are unable to write a single legible word? Pareth is the same too. Are skeletons banned from written communication or something? It’s not like they lack the brai- Well, they do, but they’re smarter than zombies even like that so it really shouldn’t be an issue.

The skeleton’s calculations ended with him drawing a curve going out of the ellipse it had drawn for the pyramid’s orbit. It started by going away from the sun in a straight line, then orbiting the sun several times while slowly getting further and further away from it, until going in a straight line again and then it was almost a straight trajectory from then on.

What are the straight lines? Jumps?

The engineer skeleton pointed at Sofia’s wings.

[Runeforged Overlord]’s flight then. That’s why I have to stop and do loops around the sun, for the mana to come back up. Well, let’s do it. Just tell me when to go, the graveyard will carry me through the roof and I’ll fly off. I have several questions but it’s not like I have another option. There’s a chance Sun’s Oracle would come to look for me, but what if he doesn’t? I’m not taking the chance, I would appreciate being back where I belong before the quest to kill Scripture runs out. There’s only ninety-nine years left.

 

The engineer skeleton gave Sofia the signal, she had thirty seconds to prepare for her jump.

The graveyard skeletons carried her outside of the pyramid. She could see the sun below and the emptiness of space above. No matter how she looked, she couldn't catch a glimpse of her planet anywhere.

The engineer gave the signal to jump.

Sofia stood immobile atop the pyramid. Suddenly she wasn’t so sure about the plan anymore. The window to jump was about to be gone, and Sofia decided to go back inside. The graveyard skeletons pulled her down as the pyramid also started to return closer to the sun.

… That’s a bit… This is what I get for getting reckless so often. First the dog then this.

I remember my last night at the orphanage. I was afraid to fall on the ground!

Yeah, sure, Sofia, scary ground!

I’d take a two meter fall without even blinking right now… But this isn’t even a fall anymore.

The only thing I can touch is the sun. Not exactly the safest place to land, I doubt I’ll get away with just a scratch and a free teleportation to the nearest church this time.

Actually, can’t the Magisterium call me back right now? Imagine if that shitty class of the church was actually useful for once?

Nevermind, I’m so far, it would probably cost billions of mana points without something like Sun’s godly transmission device of nonsensical teleportations. Half an hour channeling time… And I agreed to that?!

Urgh.

The second realm of VPPV better be worth it!

Alright. Do what needs to be done, Sofia. Next time, I will jump, for sure!

She did not.

It took another three laps around the sun until she had repeated her mantra enough time to convince herself to go.

It can’t be worse than carving my own heart out, really. So just jump. Do it. DO IT!

The runes all over Sofia’s arms, torso and wings all lit up, her leg muscles tensed up, and before long, she was gone, leaving the lost southern wing of the sun temple devoid of any life once again.

She pushed her flight to the limit, speeding up as much as she could, away from the sun, all the way until her last drop of mana left her body.

Fuck. Alright. Good! It’s done! Over. Now I only need to wait.

Sofia felt almost calm at first, now she could not turn back even if she wanted to, so there was no use worrying about it. She looked down and saw the sun which was still too big to fit in her field of view, as well as the already small-looking pyramid, quietly speeding away, further and further from her. The realization of what she had just done made her heart skip a beat. She did her best to ignore her own internal screaming and go over her next step before it was too late.

Now I need to locate the planet, else I might as well just close my eyes and go in a random direction. I don’t see it right now, I must be on the wrong side of the sun. According to the engineer I should be going around it right now. I don’t really feel myself moving, but I’ll trust him. No choice…

Seriously…

I’m never accepting a quest from a damned god again!