Saintess Summons Skeletons

To her left, three lady-like machines with blades for arms, to her right, one big hunk or spiked iron with thick legs taking up the entire height and width of the corridor like a moving wall.

Pareth go wall, engi with me.

Deciding on how to engage the three bladed robots, Sofia channeled her graveyard. Tombstones sprang from the walls, the robots cut through with their bladed arms, rushing forth, but that had slowed them enough for the graveyard skeletons to grab them.

The engineer skeleton let loose his first arrow with a loud bang, leaving a trail of lightning behind.

‘You have defeated [Murderous ballerinabot - lv. 238]’

The arrow instantly killed the machine it had touched, piercing its chest, the other two seemed to also suffer from the electrical damage. Weak to lightning damage?

Sofia rushed forward with her scepter poised against her right shoulder, ready to strike. The robots raised their blades as she approached, even if the skeletons grabbing their legs prevented them from moving, they were ready to defend, four blades against on scepter.

Raising her left hand, Sofia charged an Angel’s bolt for about a third of a second before throwing it at them. The bolt was weak, but the electrical shock stunned the robots for a brief instant as Sofia neared them. The scepter struck down in a short but powerful arc, bashing in the mechanical head of the robot on the right, and sending it reeling due to the scepter’s own electrical damage effect. The other robot struck, Sofia blocked with her left arm, one of the blades bounced back due to a bad angle, but the other cut through the armor’s bone, yet not enough to reach Sofia’s arm.

Sofia kicked the robot, ordering her graveyard skeletons to let it go, sending it flying against the wall. Another lightning arrow whizzed by, striking the robot in the chest.

‘You have defeated [Murderous ballerinabot - lv. 234]’

There was only one left, it was on the ground swarmed by tens of graveyard skeletons. It couldn’t do anything to defend itself as the scepter fell.

‘You have defeated [Murderous ballerinabot - lv. 246]’

This battle over, Sofia turned around, just in time to see Pareth ‘s glowing fist giving a final punch against the right side of the heavy metal wall. The wall tilted to the right due to the weight of the hit, and Pareth quickly grabbed the now exposed left side of the ten centimeters thick wall. He pulled it, revealing the heavy quadruped mechanical beast hiding behind. It died in a single punch.

‘You have defeated [Rebellious trash compactorbot - lv. 249]’

I would also be rebelling if I had that name.

I can’t believe these things are weak to lightning. I’m basically a lightning mage at this point. This dungeon is going to be a breeze!

Bad things never happened when Sofia was very optimistic about her situation. That is why she and her skeletons were not relentlessly assaulted by an entire mechanical dancer troupe and restaurant service robots as they tried to exit the giant hotel building.

 

“Finally out! Man… How many goddamned dishwasherbots do you need?!”

The only one having fun at the moment was the engineer skeleton which now looked more like a monster of metal itself than a skeleton. How can you even move while carrying all this weight? I get why this guy was in the temple now, not only he can make and fix stuff, but as long as he gets the right components, his battle prowess is no joke. Doesn’t hit as hard as Pareth but right now he’s probably just as sturdy.

Sofia looked around, she could finally understand the ‘submerged’ part of the dungeon’s name. The place was quite literally a city built against an underwater cliff, protected by a half dome of multi layered protection against the water. There were at least two layers of mana shields, and probably more than that of gigantic glass panels. Allowing one to see not much, as the exterior glass was at 90% covered in dark green and blue algae, but it was definitely underwater. And probably quite deep, all the light is coming from inside. The streets are mostly still lit it seems.

Sofia approached the nearest lamppost. Lightstones. The mana stream goes through the pole and runs underground along the street. I’m kind of tempted to follow it to the source… But let’s focus on Saria.

Squinting as she tried to read the ancient elven language on the hotel’s front porch, Sofia gave up. “Goodbye, whatever service hotel, you’ll never see me again. Terrible place, worst inn I ever slept at! And I didn’t even sleep there!”

Ah… Let’s find some more robots to pulverize on the way.

The hotel had been built inside of the cliff, which explained how its interior could be so massive, because it did not need to actually be within the dome for the most part. But most of the city was composed of vertigo-inducingly-tall buildings which fit entirely under the half dome.

Who would ever build a city underwater like this? Just why?

Astounded by the grandeur of the city, Sofia tried to read the signs as she walked through the empty streets. Bolvar on bork and trim? I don’t understand a single one of these signs, this place is crazy… And so silent, like the city’s asleep. I don’t like it.

With ruins it’s not usually that bad but this place is just a bit rusty and dusty, I could still see thousands of people living here, these buildings are so high, you could fit thousands of people here! Yet it’s so empty…

“I don’t know if I didn’t like it better with the murder robots…”

Sofia frantically looked around every time she heard any noise. But there really wasn’t anyone nearby, not even a single monster. Screw this, enough playing around, for real this time. The bone wings grew larger on Sofia’s back, they opened, spreading across the entire street, and she flew up. She aimed straight for the highest building in the dome, one whose top floor almost reached that glass ceiling. She landed on that high spot.

If I try to search this whole place on foot, it is going to take eight years, not two months. Sofia created a bone slate, on which she replicated the major looking buildings of the city at a very small scale.

The more she completed her map, the more often she sighed. Not a single sign of life anywhere. Weren’t there supposed to be thousands of monsters and five inner disciples in here? Where are they all? And where in the Lords’ name is Saria?!

“Fifty two… Fifty three… And fifty four! There we go.”

Sofia brought out Bookie, instantly ripping out the page of the fifty four black turvins. As they formed from the fog, she started giving out the instructions. “Look at the map, one building each. Fly around, then get inside, pierce through the walls if you have to, I don’t care. If you find someone or one of the robots, fly in circles high above your designated building.”

The bird flew away, spreading in all directions. Sofia dumped a bunch of bones behind her, quickly forming herself a throne, she sat atop the tallest building.

I declared myself queen of this fake world’s land. Go, my birds, go and locate the intruders!

“Too bad I’m missing the crown now.”

Actually, no one lives in the margin, right? So can’t I call myself Empress of the Margin when I’m able to return to the castle? I guess I will have to share the throne with Alith.

I should be able to expand the size of the castle, right? Since it used to be larger. Maybe I could really build a small autonomous country there. The land of ghosts and skeletons! Where nobody can come to annoy me! Not even TLDR could find it when he was the one who helped the hero make it possible in the first place.

That’s an idea. If I just get enough mana next filter, I’ll have enough to go there safely. The only issue is the castle could have fallen into the abyss of the margin if the mana completely ran out while we were away. It should probably hold on for a while, right? It’s only been like a year since then, not that long.

Sofia lost herself in her thoughts, comfortably sitting on her throne, eventually the engineer skeleton timed out. Nothing came up at first, all birds were still searching inside their respective buildings. Until a bird disappeared. Sofia immediately turned toward the direction of the lost bird’s last known position.

It was one of the wider buildings that Sofia had marked on her map, far to the other side of the giant underwater city. The bone helmet closed over her face, and Sofia plunged off from the building. She pierced through the air, diving and crashing straight through the building’s glass ceiling.

Scanning the mana in her surroundings, she immediately locked onto a quickly fleeing mass of mana. They were fast enough to run out, over a street and past two other buildings in a single jump. Yet, to Sofia with her wings, the bird killer was painfully slow.

An Orc! She was the one in the column right next to mine. Come here girl! I’ll teach you not to kill any random skeletons without asking the owner first!