Chapter 359: Skill Stacking Pt.3

Feeling someone grab his shoulders Lake turned to see it was Donny who was trying to pull him towards the other people. "What are you doing?" Donny seemed genuinely surprised at his question but was still able to answer it almost right away. "We have to go, the tunnel is collapsing."

Lake knew this was true but he could tell by the fact the rope hadn't fallen that the old man on the other side was still alive and doing something so he felt he could just wait here for the old man to come back out and be safer than trying to run. "I think it would be safer if we stay here next to the formation that's keeping the phantoms away. The ceiling next to the door isn't cracked either so it probably won't collapse."

...

Looking to where the guy holding the rope was pointing Donny saw he was correct. Everyone would be safe if they stood next to the door but that was only from the falling rocks. There was a good chance whatever had caused this was inside so getting near it was too dangerous for anyone who wanted to survive this.

"Donny didn't get to say this though because he had already spent too much time talking to this guy and another massive rumble had just happened and by the sound that came from behind him the tunnel had already collapsed meaning trying to fly out wouldn't work anymore.

... historical

Hearing the collapse, Lake couldn't help but say. "See, if we had tried to run we would have been crushed just now." Lake knew this meant they were stuck here now this had happened but he knew they could find a way to dig themselves out if the old man never came back out.

Looking back after he said this, Lake saw everyone was still alive because of someone using magic to keep the stones from falling on them and said. "Get your friends over here and then all we need to do now is wait for Hampton to finish what he's doing." After he said this Lake turned back towards the door and went back to thinking about what could be going on inside.

...

Seeing he no longer had a chance of getting them out of here without relying on nothing but the guards Earth magic which was very dangerous with phantoms around Donny just decided to do what the young mage was saying. "Everyone get over here close to the door. Fendis you can also stop trying to make the formation since we're not going anywhere for now."

Even if he hadn't said this he was sure the people who were still taking cover around the guard would have eventually made their way over here but he wanted them to move now so the guard could stop using his magic before something bad happened. He didn't really want to know what would happen if a phantom got out of control now and they were forced to fight the giant off in such a small area.

If he used his shield for example he was sure he would end up causing another small collapse while trying to damage the phantom enough for it to stop being a threat and since the guard would have to use Earth magic again to save them from these rocks the phantom would just grow in size all over again.

"What do you think shook the ground like that?" Donny could have told you who had asked him this even if he couldn't hear what they sounded like since he had been with Fendis long enough that he knew the man loved to ask questions. "Nothing good."

There was really no way for them to know but he couldn't see the Demigod that used to live here having a function that would destroy the city they lived under built into their base. After he thought of the town above Donny turned to the guard and asked. "Do you think the city's being affected or are we too deep?"

If the ground was shaking as much as he thought there was a good chance the town would be mostly rubble when they got to the surface again. He just hoped they were evacuating like they should because emerging to find the whole town dead on the ground would probably make them leaving with a large amount of food unlikely and even asking or talking about it would be hard.

He didn't think this was in any way their fault but getting paid after everyone died would be ridiculous. "Does anyone want to go inside to check on the old man?" Hearing the mages question Donny almost raised his hand out of habit but quickly caught himself since he needed to stay with the group in case there was another collapse.

...

"I'll go again, but do we have another rope?" Lake wasn't surprised the same adventure was the one to volunteer again and asked. "Do we have another rope?" When no one said anything Lake said. "You can just hold on to the one that's tied around the old man."

"How's that?" Seeing the man didn't get it, Lake decided to just show the man before he explained it since it would be a lot faster. "Give me your hand I'll show you." Turning the man's hand, ethereal Lake set it onto the rope and said. "See you can touch other things that are affected by the skill." After he said this he went ahead and turned the rest of the man ethereal and sent him on his way.

The man was more than strong enough to pull himself across the rope using nothing but his hands so it didn't take long for him to go through the door. Lake didn't expect for the man to stay on the other side for long so when the man didn't come back for a whole minute he got kind of worried.

He knew the man hadn't gotten stuck from the effect wearing off because he was able to control it since the man was in contact with the rope like Hampton was so it made Lake think he was probably being told complicated things to repeat to them by the old man. After a while of waiting Lake finally felt the vibrations that meant the man was coming back coming through the rope and got ready to turn him back material.

"The old man needs you to turn him back to normal while he's still inside. Can you do that?" Lake wasted no time in answering the man. "Yes but he might get stuck in there for a while if I do." Lake had no idea what would happen to the rope if he was to turn it and the man at its end back to normal while it was partially through the door.

If it was destroyed he would lose contact with the man making it so he wasn't able to use Ghost Touch on him any more. He also wouldn't have a very long rope to send anyone back through so his only option of getting the older man back would be to try and use Ghost Touch on himself to go and retrieve Hampton which he didn't want to do.

"Don't worry, the old man said he could open the door if he was able to use his hands." Hearing this, Lake got rid of his only real objection to doing as the old man wanted and used his ability through the rope to turn the old man solid. After he did this he naked the man "So what caused the two rumbles?"

He should have probably asked this before he agreed to the old man opening the door but since the man hadn't said anything when he had first emerged it didn't seem as important as it probably was. "I asked him and he said all he knew was it happened after he used a spell on the other side to dispel the phantoms that were in the room with him."

Lake wasn't sure what to make of this and wondered how scaring off a bunch of ethereal monsters could make the ground shake but with that being all the information the man had he guessed they would just have to wait and see. "Alright everyone get ready for the door to open."

...

Looking at the guard who had just given them the order to get ready Donny pulled his shield to the front of their group and waited for the door to open. The fact they had been buried like they had actually meant their only option of moving forward without Earth magic was to go inside the door once it opened and this gave him a chance to go in which was something he wanted.

You couldn't say the circumstances that led to him getting to do this counted as luck though since he felt their chances of dying here was pretty good. Feeling a slight rumble he thought another massive collapse was about to happen but soon realized it was just the stone door in front of them starting to move.