Assassin Crow Evolution

The carved, old stone wall in front of Virena, reacted to her super heated Fire Sphere just like it was supposed to.

It exploded, in the most literal sense.

Well, only a portion of it did. Specifically isolated to the part of the wall that she had hit with the sphere.

Thousands of tiny stone fragments shot downwards, at an angle, missing Virena by a mere inch!

If she had been any closer to the wall, she would’ve been mowed down by a minigun’s equivalent of sprayed shards.

A dust cloud erupted across the tunnel. The impact was that intense. It was hard to believe that such an impact stemmed from a two-inch mantis. Mother nature must hate her.

"Holy shit!" Jimmy exclaimed, his ears were still ringing. "Now that’s an upgrade! Good job!"

While the dust died down, Jimmy got closer to the wall, and inspected it.

There was a one-foot wide hole in it, just as he expected. The explosion was enough of a hint.

The hole seemed deep enough, but he didn’t see a light at the other side, meaning that the sphere hadn’t dug upwards through the ground enough to piece all the way through to the outside world.

"Looks like you’re gonna have to give it another shot." He said, "You already broke through the wall, so I doubt you’ll have the ceiling fall over our heads."

"That was one of the risks?" She raised her head, "Your plans have many holes in them, Jimmy. This was a risk we could’ve avoided, or at least managed."

"Sometimes holes are good," He joked, "But don’t worry. Every little risk we took today will be worthwhile. We’re gonna end up winning over a great treasure."

"Treasure?" She repeated, "It isn’t more feathers, is it? I’m a mantis, I’m not supposed to absorb feathers."

"No, it’s not feathers, but I’ll let it be a surprise." He said.

Virena was argumentative towards him for once, but he wasn’t mad. Despite her size, he saw her as an older sister, and he knew for a fact that he had stressed her out a lot recently. He was too curious for his own good, after all, and his great curiosity always threw him in the midst of danger, even when he slept, which he figured to be all the more frustrating for her.

With that considered, he had no reason to be mad at her, and wanted to repay her sacrifices too. In his eyes, no one deserved to progress more than she did.

Virena cooperated, and shot another Fire Sphere through the wall.

This one wasn’t as impactful, in the sense that the dirt and small rocks in front of the sphere weren’t enough of a barricade to burden the Fire Sphere.

It tore through it easily, broke a hole all the way to the outside world, and continued to fly. Odds were it will take a while for the sphere to dissipate naturally.

It was guaranteed to tear through a bunch of bugs throughout the sky, and maybe through a few birds too. Her main attack was truly overpowered.

"Hell yeah!" He celebrated, "That did it."

"Yes," She nodded lightly, "What do we do next?"

"You can rest for a while," He said, "Come on, hop on my back. I know your head’s hurting. You can use a nap."

"Do I ever," She said, and crashed on her friend’s back shortly after, "Wake me up when you need me."

The next step, an issue that he didn’t think he’d run into, was once more related to the staff. It was stuck in the rocks nearby thanks to his failed plan from earlier on that nearly got him killed.

"Double or nothing," He joked, and then whispered, "Red Fireball."

[-70 mana points]

[Remaining pool: 1,530 points]

The weakest fireball he could muster, was still powerful, especially recently after he ascended into the second realm of mana.

The old stone staff had adapted a darker shade after every hit of his, but it still did not break. He had a feeling that it was protected somehow, by magic beyond his current knowledge.

Regardless, the fireball he shot managed to move the staff a little bit, and knock it away from where it was wedged. It loosened up, and as he pushed it with his claw, leaning his weight against it, the staff fell over.

It was now unstuck.

After a short sigh of relief, he started dragging it towards the end of the tunnel.

From this point onwards, Jimmy followed the light on the other side, which was a few meters ahead.

Well, he tried to follow it, at least, but the staff he was dragging along below him was still heavy. Not to mention, he had to drag it uphill, towards the upside world, which he found to be more difficult than dragging it through the weeds he had suffered through earlier on.

It was a hell of a task. He was already burning through his fat reserves. His stomach began to feel empty, as he strained his already taxing metabolism.

It didn’t help that the staff kept slipping away from him.

Virena had scorched the dirt across the new tunnel she blasted open. Scorched being an understatement, as in actuality, she had somehow crystalized the dirt a little bit.

The walls of the tunnels were harder than rock! They were solid.

This in turn made the tunnel smooth enough to act as a slide.

Jimmy never lost his grip on the staff, but gravity kept pulling it down. It kept sliding across the ground of the tunnel, and since the tunnel was slightly narrow, or uphill, his progress stagnated three times in under half an hour!

The staff kept pulling him down, and he had to restart his task a couple of times, which was what made the process especially taxing.

"My fuck!" He tried not to yell, "I hate this damn staff. Fucking Summoners! They had to make the circle fancy, didn’t they? Why didn’t they just glue the tail to the circle if they were worried about some fuckass cultist wannabe stealing it?"