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Chapter 765: The Unmaking
🕑 Added 2024-01-19 18:06:29 +0000 UTCThe army of monsters came on like a tidal wave of death.
Celestial dire tigers—now well outnumbering the remaining church members—leapt for the resolved warriors, claws tearing and powerful jaws crunching armour.
Elder fire elementals, charged forward, showering Alex’s enemies in cleansing flame. Elder earth elementals thundered ahead, boulder-sized fists sweeping out, crushing priests and holy warriors with every swing. Elder water elementals engulfed fighters inside their liquid forms, stealing their breaths, keeping them trapped as the fluid was sucked from them, leaving only mummified bodies drifting inside the massive spirits. Elder ice elementals lashed out, freezing mortal forms in place, then shattering them like icicles.
Astral engeli dove like falcons, flaming weapons swinging in blurring arcs. In a storm of holy light and flaming steel, the enemy was reduced further.
Behind them, Bjorgrund charged, unleashing his full power, hacking through their hunters like a ship cutting through rough seas, leaving a path of ruined bodies in his wake.
The Unmaker was like a phantom.
In one heartbeat, she had been standing and merely observing. In the next, she was gone, landing among the enemy. No one—not even Alex—had seen her move.
She embodied destruction.
Her six arms were a blur, weapons flickering around on all sides. Holy warriors fell like frost stricken leaves in a hurricane wind. One moment they were charging at, the next, they were mangled on the ground.
Her tail flicked out, lashing side to side, breaking bodies, its bladed tip shearing metal, flesh and bone like air. Skilled priests and other warriors of the secret church—warriors who’d tried with every divinity and prayer they could call on to stop her—died at her hands as easily as snuffed candlelight.
Alex had been watching the carnage playing out before him, he raised the aeld, levelling it at the First Apostle’s chest and twitching his brow.
Syllables tumbled from his lips. Disintegrating energy streaked for the ancient Chosen, surrounded by a swarm of forceballs seeking to contain him.
###
The world seemed to slow to a crawl.
Gabrian looked on in disbelief. How was any of what was before him even possible? He could not understand how he had lived so long only to see such dark times, only to see his people come to ruin under his leadership.
Yet, it was true.
For hundreds of years, he had led the entirety of Uldar’s hidden church with a kind and even hand. He had cared for the people with compassion and understanding, making sure they lived in harmony with their land, preparing them to fulfil the duties that their god saw fit for them to face.
He had inherited the secret order—one that had existed for thousands of years—after he was welcomed into the fold and given direction. For a time, and a long time at that, they had thrived under his stewardship. He had expanded their training, making them greater warriors than they had ever been in the history of the order.
He’d cared for them, spiritually, ensuring that their faith remained strong, and that their hearts remained true. In some ways, he felt as though he’d helped to raise them. He remembered every face here—through every stage of their lives—having watched them grow from squalling babes, to youths, and then grown servants of Uldar.
Now their lives were evaporating like droplets of rain under a hot sun. Warriors he had helped shape from childhood were being threshed apart, burned and drowned as they called out for their god to save them.
But, as always, Uldar was silent.
Even when Izas—one of his greatest servants—was punctured then peeled apart like pieces of rotten fruit, he had not come down to avenge him. When his own holy weapons—now clutched in the hands of a heathen giant and an evil spirit of war—were turned on his people, he did not snatch them away with his divine will, and then smite down those who had despoiled them.
Even when his ultimate commands were violated—the Fool casting spells and doing violence—he had not intervened.
And Gabrian could not understand why.
As he watched a swarm of forceballs racing toward him, surrounding a beam of disintegration magic, he felt lost, unable to comprehend what it was all for. Had his god turned his back on him? Had he been so incompetent, so unworthy, so foolish, that Uldar could only be driven to disgust and not save his most precious children from such terrible deaths.
After all, who could blame him?
Gabrian had taken an order that had existed for thousands of years, and—in his arrogance—thought he had improved and perfected it. In truth, all he had done was bring it to ruin. Under his stewardship, they had first lost their home, and now their lives. He felt tears burning in his eyes.
The order still had a number of members buried within the ranks of the Thameish army and other groups, but the core members—the backbone who had dwelled in Uldar’s Rise—had followed him to their ruin.
And the worst of it?
It had seemingly all been for nothing. This moment was no epic sacrifice to destroy one of their deity's greatest enemies.
At this moment—it seemed that an errant Fool had caused every bit of this destruction, and would simply win, leaving their order as nothing more than a soon to be forgotten memory.
But, that must never happen. He was Uldar’s ancient Chosen and his First Apostle, he could not give up.
He could not give up until he’d taken the life of this murderer.
His mind snapped into focus.
His arm had been taken and his armour ruined, but he still had his sword and much of his power.
He raised the blade, planning his attack, challenging the Fool, defying the blight on the Heroes. He would cut down those forceballs, slip past the beam then unleash his full magical and divine might against Uldar’s enemies.
He tensed, preparing to act when something struck him from the side, knocking him away as the beam hit the wall where he’d just been, disintegrating it.
Gabrian raised his sword again, poised to smite his attacker, but found the Stalker crouched beside him.
The small fae had moved with shocking speed to save him.
“What are you doing?” he demanded, looking wild eyed. “Get us out of here!”
“What? I—look out!” the First Apostle shouted, calling on his empowered lifeforce, dodging a fireball that had come for him within a barrage of harassing Wizard’s Hands. Air elementals were appearing, lashing out with wind and lightning.
Electricity crackled along Gabrian’s form as the wind stoked embers to flame, scorching his healing skin.
The Stalker pointed at Alex—regretting his choice of quarry—and swept the swarm of stone and blessed soil toward him from all directions, sending him teleporting away. With a twist of his hand, a cloud of debris broke from the rest, surrounding him and the First Apostle in a shield of dust and stone, swirling around them, even as the Fool began pelting them with fireballs.
Beyond the shield, it looked like flame was raining from above.
“What's this?” Alex Roth said. “Being prey isn’t a lot of fun, is it? Don’t you feel like laughing some more?”
He summoned more monsters to swarm them, keeping focused on the pair. Even as he dodged and teleported away from the swarm of debris chasing him, his assault on the Apostle and Stalker continued.
“You know, you're only delaying the inevitable.” Alex called. “I think you’ve got about five seconds before my army finishes turning yours into ground meat, and then the Unmaker, or Bjorgrund, or any one of the elementals you see around you, are going to turn the two of you into a cross between…dust and paste. Keeping this up won’t save you, so why not just stop?” The Fool’s eyes were as hard as steel.
“You're enjoying this!” The First Apostle accused, as he and the Stalker darted through the room, avoiding the barrage from summoned monsters and endless spells. How was the Fool casting so quickly? It seemed like his spells would never end! “You like seeing us suffer!”
The last of his followers were desperately trying to resist the enemy. Almost all were now dead. Gabrian wanted nothing more than to help them, but it was all he could do to keep himself alive.
“You’re right, I am enjoying this,” Alex said. “I like revenge, and I've been waiting a long time for it.”
“Focus!” the Stalker shouted. “Stop trying to play Hero, use that miracle to get us out of here!”
“What?” Gabrian demanded. “Retreat? And make this all for nothing?”
“You see his army? You see that multi-armed thing that has four divine weapons? You see what a monster that teleporting bastard’s become?” the Stalker screamed, his eyes ablaze. “The hunt’s turned against us, and it's turned hard! If we don't leave now, there's no coming back! No avenging your followers, getting new hounds, no new hunts, nothing! Just a one-way trip to the afterworld for both of us! Get us out of here!”
“But we cannot—” Gabrian started.
“Think of Izas!” the fae’s voice was shrill. A fireball exploded close enough to singe the fae’s beard. Gabrian noticed that the Stalker was somehow, suddenly mounted on his moose’s back. He hadn't seen the beast approach; it was as though it had materialised from thin air. He had no time to consider it.
The Stalker continued shouting. “Your friend set up that miracle just for a situation like this, so our lives could be preserved! So that yours could be preserved! He's dead, but don't let what he's done be in vain! We can't win this!”
Part of Gabrian wanted to curse at the fae.
Another part knew the wisdom of his words.
But there was no time to weigh what to do, he needed to move.
He whispered. “Strike at the Fool on my signal.”
“What signal, you—” the Stalker started.
“Don't argue! You'll know it when you see it,” the First Apostle hissed.
He raised his only hand, beginning the words of an incantation. The power of the Chosen flowed through him, lending him speed and power. Below, the last few of Uldar’s holy warriors were falling, bloodied and broken.
By the time his spell was complete, there would be none left.
But, he would avenge them.
He would avenge them if it was the last thing he ever did.
Even as the Fool’s spells continued to lash out, he finished his incantation. Waves of power exploded in all directions, weaving into the chamber’s walls, floor and ceiling.
Stone rattled.
A quake began rumbling through the walls.
Cracks snaked along them.
Rock rained from the ceiling. Dust billowed in clouds.
“This place will come to ruin!” the First Apostle shouted, his voice a promise.
###
“What in all the Hells is he doing? Has he finally gone mad?” Birger cried, as all around him Kelda’s lab shook.
Glass instruments rattled.
Metal machines clanged together.
Dust wafted from the ceiling.
It felt like the giant’s teeth were clattering in his head.
Through every portal-window, Birger could see the sanctum vibrating with the First Apostle’s power. His energies were rampaging through the sanctum, and the destruction kept spreading.
“Stop it!” Burger shouted, though he knew the leader of the hidden church would not hear him, or care if he did. “You're going to bring the whole sanctum down on all our heads! You're going to destroy everything! Dammit!” the old giant looked desperately at the controls.
He activated the goddess statues, trying to fire on the First Apostle and fae, but they were too fast.
Much too fast.
“What do I do?” Birger looked back at Kelda’s body.
His old friend lay in silence within her glass coffin, so well-preserved, it looked as though she would sit up at any moment, wearing that easy smile of hers. If she could sit up, he knew she wouldn’t be smiling now, she’d be incensed at these invaders inside her home. He could imagine her leaping to the controls, revealing some hidden function of her sanctum that would turn these interlopers to dust.
But she never would: they were on their own.
###
“Have you lost your mind?” Alex shouted at Gabrian as the sanctum shook.
He could feel frustration growing.
They were close.
So very close.
But the fae and Apostle were so fast: just as they couldn't pin him down, the same was true for them. The holy man had conjured an earthquake spell that was going to bury everyone in the sanctum.
Or maybe he only wanted to bury Alex’s army, and give himself and the fae cover to escape.
Either way, he had to stop them.
He turned his attention to the earth elementals as rock and dust flew, blocking his vision. “Go into the stone!” he shouted. Use your power over the earth to quiet the rock until his spell passes. “I want you to—”
Suddenly, Alex felt a sharp sting on his arm and raised it, examining the skin.
A gash, with grains of soil clinging to a jagged wound, was there.
Alex knew in an instant.
This was not good.
Small bits of rock and grit with sanctified soil embedded in it, had caught him, breaking through his greater force armour and the skin beneath.
“Oh shi—” he started.
The interdiction slammed into him.
###
Author's Note
Hello FORTY-FOUR cool fools, almighty chosen, wise sages, and mighty champions! Thank you for your support!
You know what was wild about that part with Gabriel and the Stalker? It felt like they were the desperate people trying to get away from the unstoppable villain lmao.
How our boy has grown.
Cya tomorrow!
Comments
Joshua Little
Thanks for the chapter.
Cpt Tardigrade
JM edited the chapter to include the greater force armor, but i thought the spell was stronger than this. Greater force armor isn't strong enough to block some falling rocks? Like if a giant boulder crushed him it'd be reasonable for the armor to break, but for it to break from what sounds like random debris seems weird.
Mason
My advice, and hopefully JM Clarke is reading these comments and the reddit threads that have been made and everything else that says the readers are somewhat dissatisfied: Instead of deus-ex machina'ing their retreat and making Alex look incompetent and undermining everything you've done to make him and the Unmaker seem stronger, just have one of the important Uldar characters leave to go check on the throne when they're making the decision on the mountain. Let Alex dominate this fight the way he's supposed to, give the Unmaker a good fight, and then let the person safe elsewhere get a powerup to fight Alex if you want to prolong this whole conflict. I mean the Ravener still exists anyways. Oh well. Really disappointed.
Loading Error
Completely agree! I remember times reading it where I would zone out and find myself 20 or 30 pages ahead having just autopiloted my way to the next interesting bit 😅
Joseph Thibodeau
To be honest, Alex with his army has outgrown the First Apostle and the fey. This shouldn't have even really been a battle, it should have been an execution. He could have turned introspective about how he wished he saw the look on the FA's face after the enemy was wiped out. The real battle that'll maybe be a fight worth being a struggle will be the complete destruction of the Ravener. Now either the FA or the Guide are probably going to assume the mantle of Uldar somehow and ascend to godhood and become a legitimate threat, also stealing the mantle that should rightfully be Hannah's. Alex's friends are also going to be put into a battle against a foe they are not powerful enough to defeat. Heck, it might take Baelin and his cabal to kill the FA if he becomes the new Uldar.
matthew gilley
im not sure the title fits here. no one was unmade. you have an unmaker and she didnt even do anything. when the unmaker kills the first apposable, the unmaking should be the title.
lenkite
I think the primary problem is that when you power up the protagonist, authors also have a tendency to [Dumb Down] the protagonist to maintain [Effective Story Balance]. Basically, CharacterBattlePower x CharacterBattleIQ = Constant. # Clarke Formula So, Alex is pretty dumb in battle nowadays. He doesn't take help from his cabal, he extensively monologues in battle instead of killing his enemy, he forgets to shield himself, etc. But hey, he can now cast [Fire Balls ☄️] ! If Alex met that [Mana Vampire] today, he would probably [Fire Ball ☄️] him until the Mana Vampire grows to become a 10-storey Godzilla, before realizing: hey it sucks up magic - gottu do something else.
lenkite
Yeah, they already knew he could cast [Force Armor].
JYonder
So the sanctum is filled to the brim with the Traveller’s power vis a vis Kelsa right? The Traveller is on her way to becoming a goddess right? So make it make sense that in this place somehow interdictions from long-dead Uldar’s secret church are more powerful.
JYonder
You mean all the loved ones that have been barely a footnote for dozens of filler chapters?
JYonder
FML - it’s already been AGES since any of the other main characters from books 1-7 have been part of anything in any meaningful way. I’m so sick of the damn ‘sanctum’ plot line. That horse has been dead for like 30 chapters.
Jessica
WoT was the first series of its kind I ever read, and I started reading in the 7th grade, so it definitely holds a soft spot and I’ve read the series many times. But oh my god yes there is that particular chunk that is just WORK to get through lol
JYonder
I have to wonder if that’s what happens when you get traction and the pressures that come with publishing written and audio books, planning for upcoming series, writing another series with a co-author on the side all before finishing the first project. This fight ought to have been the culmination of book 8, cut out 3/4 of the inane filler in the lead up to it, and focus on keeping your plot holes to a minimum so the entire thread doesn’t unravel into a terrible ending to an otherwise fantastic series. Alex has apparently ceased to care about all of his strategic alliances and closely built friendships with other powerful and resourceful characters. He apparently forgot that maybe the Unmaker should be focusing with him on the two most powerful foes. He’s a pretty piss-poor “general” TBH despite his miraculous penchant for quick learning and refinement. Always before Alex had to adapt because of some lack of knowledge, unexpected contextual factor, or the skill gap between him and opponents. Here he’s only going to have to adapt because of his own stupidity? That’s definitely not in character.
Jessica
And when he lets the giants help with the alchemy despite their lack of experience rather than being a total beast and doing it all with his wizard’s hands as before (both at work and in the bakery.) Just… no
Jessica
Right, it seems like the author is no longer putting in the same energy as he was before, which sucks since I’d hate to see this awesome series tie up in a blunder. I want to see the Alex that drained the mana vampire, and who ripped off FA’s arm the first time around. Back when the plot progressed through our immersion into the characters’ experiences, not by this out-of-place, stiff, rushed, explanatory dialogue. I’ve been pretty bummed for many chapters due to Alex seeming to have devolved into a dumb wet noodle that’s just constantly explaining what he’s been doing without the readers getting to actually experience it.
Raivshard
How could he not? He had to understand her in order to summon her. Additionally, Even if they had the power to do it, how could they trap her when they didn't even know she would be there? They were not prepared for any of this. Traps require preparation. The simple truth is that she should have been sent against the stalker first before anything else. Alex's army was clearly good enough for everything else. The unmaker also explicitly wanted something worthy of her abilities ... and yet she just charges right in to casually slaughter the chaff? That too seems like a mischaracterization. Either she was needed here, which means the stalker -- because Alex already knew he had everything else he needed to take out the lesser members of the hidden church -- or she was not, in which case she would be angry about being summoned needlessly.
deus vault
lol
deus vault
some variations of magic in lore describe it as it's own effect, others describe it as direct manipulation. in most it's a little bit of both. so, when a spell is cast, it directly manipulates the environment to create a certain effect using mana and will. a spell cast to prevent teleportation could be individualistic to prevent the action of casting a space attributed spell. but I think that the 9th tier spell would be cast on the environment. such that it would directly alter something in the fabric to prevent the use of teleportation. you can't bypass that sort of thing with brute force quite so easily. I like that in azarinth healer preventing teleportation was like a puzzle on the local spacetime fabric. but I think that warping the fabric for teleportation should be dangerous enough such that you would not need strong alterations to at least make the use of teleportation spells dangerous.
RyanR-Reviewer
I kinda agree. This battle should have been the ultimate finale of Book 8, not dragged out into Book 9. Also the Unmaker completely ignoring the two most powerful opponents is...odd to say the least. She is wasting her time killing weaklings instead of fighting proper opponents that might offer her a challenge. That is a complete divergence from her established personality, and just makes no logical sense IMO. .
Kass
Some magic, but 9th tier? Archwizard magic? Higher than most of his professors and nearly Baelin level magic? Vs the divinity of a long dead god not in his own domain?
Alex
The second half of the 8th book and this needs to be edited heavily. It's not funny anymore, the amount of issues is just keep growing
RyanR-Reviewer
Lol! i just commented on this before seeing your comment. The lack of greater force armor is kinda unbelievable tbh. I think this chapter needs to be edited before being published.
RyanR-Reviewer
So despite all his preparations Alex never once thought to cast greater force armor on himself-literally his main defensive magic-before engaging in his greatest battle yet....?
RyanR-Reviewer
To be fair, I think it has more to do with the author wanting to drag this fight out and potentially allow Stalker and the First Apostle to escape. Kind of hard to do that when they have been gutted, flayed and then turned to dust by an all-powerful war spirit that can seemingly shrug off divine power like rain off a windshield.
Sean T
Gotta agree on this point, if they escape then that's just super disappointing.
mant06
I wonder if some use interdictions to buff themselfs, instead of as debuffs.
mant06
Does Alex know that?
JKincaid
This idiotic stumble will literally make or break this entire series for me... why the holy hell would Alex strike an alliance with a supreme war spirit to send after soldiers that the giant and all the other summons could haver swept up easily.? In fact, this directly violates the agreement made with the Unmaker, he promised her foes worthy of her. The random rank-and-file goons are not said foes. The Stalker that's just standing on the sidelines not being attacked, is that foe. We're going to make Alex the stupidest, most illogical wizard in history simply because this endless plot thread needs to be dragged out further for... reasons. He somehow thought that the main threat for which he summoned a super duper war spirit was just going to like chill idly by while the spirit wastes the elaborate trap he set up by killing Church Goon #5? Give me a break, this is terrible writing, plain and simple.
Brandon Baer
Her divinity is in the form of cultivation. It falls under the divinity bracket of powers in the fool universe.
JKincaid
I agee with your sentiments, but one question, why would Theresa be the source of the divinity? I can't recall her slinging miracles anywhere in the text.
Raivshard
How would he lose her to a trap? She's beyond everything in that room. The only thing that's happening here is a combination unrealistic dumbing down and "The plot is longer because I want it to be".
mant06
While I agree with you, in fairness Alex might be trying to avoid losing the unmaker to a trap.
Reds
Yes because they brought the holy dirt in. And then Miracle is powered by faith channeled through the soul which isn't limited by location per previous chapters.
Reds
Yeah but unfortunately I think Holy Miracles out do magic. So even if he did an anti-teleportion spell, it probably wouldn't do anything.
Daniele Di Vitto
But they knew he could cast some spells, just not offensive ones.
Gareth S
Wasn’t it just!!! They could have dropped 1-2 books around book 7 or 8 in wheel of time and it would have been much better.
Alex
Yeah, he had time to mock them, but didn't have it for casting a simple spell?
Gareth S
Totally Agree
Jessica
A million words dedicated to planning and he somehow forgets force armor/force defense and totally blunders? Come on :/ we know Alex isn’t dumb but this past book really hasn’t made him look good
mag28
This is his first battle being able to cast magic so it might have slipped his mind. And remember he couldn't cast it before hand because it would have ruined surprise that he cast magic now
mag28
I agree with youguyss but, he couldn't put it up until he revealed that he cast spells. And maybe due to inexperience in battle casting/heat of the moment he hasn't thought to stop pushing the advantage and cast armor on himself.
Loading Error
I’m pretty sure the epic final battle at the end of Wheel of Time series didn’t span this many chapters, and that series is bloated with extra wind. Good chappie on its own tho
The Immortal Orange
Considering that fighting the first apostle was one of the things he used to get her on his side, I'm pretty fucking confused by this entire chapter.
The Immortal Orange
Right? Dude's using the Villain Mistakes list as a checklist here.
Fleetpanda
I’m just confused about how he’s acting. When did he become some b-grade villain, monologuing and getting distracted? He should have 10 spells up keeping him protected. Not to mention that every word he speaks is a spell he isn’t casting.
Fleetpanda
Alex says that their army will be dead in five seconds, then spits out a paragraph that’d take way more than 5 seconds to say. Also why is the unmaker being wasted on fodder? The army of high tier summons can take care of them. Go unmake the only threat in the room already
Jordan Jones
Yeah, him not protecting himself is just…not believable to me. But, I guess it’s possible he just kind of forgot any kind of defenses against stray arrows, spells, or other missiles…very odd for such a large battle, but what’s written is written. Wish they’d have somehow dispelled his defenses using some kind of fae magic first.
BoxQueen
Personally, I love the fact that the enemies are fighting back. It would be fairly disappointing if there was no bite after alllll that setup. Sounds like Gabrian and Stalker might escape and that won't be a fun kind of retaliation.
Voror
I like how in all these thoughts FA never once considers the idea that maybe the answer is that Uldar is dead. Granted their miracles still work. He might not understand why that would be.
Jayson Legott
Hmmm…seems like a nice time for Alex to try some of that divinity as well
xxmaniaxx2019
Why does Alex not have his greater force armor activated?! Seems like a serious oversight when battling against such powerful opponents.
Brady Fiola
Agreed. It seems very contrived that they’re able to have this personal conversation when they’re in a room that’s swarming with high-level monsters. I don’t like that there’s never any numbers given either. There’s only so many times I can read that the church is taking heavy losses before I can lose credulity.
Rolf
Such exciting times probably explains this tiny typo: “Stop it!” Burger shouted
Code Reed
Would be funny.
CentaureHeart
I kinda hope this will be true. I would hate for them to escape.
Jadida
Nope it was never written in, because Alex is apparently thinks he can out teleport everything apparently. (I’m being sarcastic, because it’s either that or he forgot something important, which would be unusual because of the whole mark situation)
Voror
I wonder if wording will be important here. Like if he words the interdiction as targeting the Fool and it doesn't work because Alex isn't the Fool anymore
Scott Emery
Hmm. The writing makes it appear as though the church army is completely overpowered, not just by Numbers, but by the power of Alex's "boss" summons, with the unmaker in particular being beyond anyone in the room. Then we switch to personal combat between Alex, the First Apostle, and the Hunter, like they are in some kind of bubble, or in a different room. The point is, Alex is not alone but the primary adversaries pretty much are. The isolated mini-battle feels artificial. It is out of synch with the rest of what is going on.
LEMON
Does Alex not have force armor on??? How does some dirt get through it?
Kass
Yeah, but should a little bit of soil from a long dead god’s domain really be enough to overpower an actual sanctum of a near divinity in still live gods’ domains? I was looking forward to these priests trying an interdiction but having it fail since this as a sanctum ruled by Traveler mana.
Tyler King
Wasn't the interdiction meant to stop teleportation? I feel like Gabrian is going to try and use their prepared miracle to escape and find out they got hosed by their own magic.
Benjamin Mages
So he's not allowed to get satisfaction at killing the people who nearly killed him and his loved ones and have been hunting him relentlessly for months and got Carrey killed?
Uroš
They brought Thameish soil with them which seems like a cheap cheat.
The Immortal Orange
If Alex doesn't have a way to overcome the interdiction and the escape, I'm straight up done. He's had time to think and plan. He's seen both before. He's got resources to utilize, and a magical mark that makes him a genius at solving this kind of problem. He's supposed to be really crafty and clever -- that's what this whole series is, after all. Expecting your enemies to walk into a trap and then just fall over and die -- especially THESE enemies -- is something an absolute moron would do. If his plan was to bloody their nose, and send them packing so that he can deal with them after he'd solved those problems, that would be one thing. But he's been taunting them and gloating this whole time. His plan has obviously been to finish this and kill them. Letting them escape to teach Alex some kind of lesson here would be the worst literary decision in the series. He's already supposedly learned this lesson from Baelin. Don't extend this just to extend it. Alex seems to have lost some IQ points since the chase around the empire, but please don't just suddenly turn him this dumb.
Kass
If this sanctum is ruled by Traveler mana, how can Uldar’s church even establish an interdiction here? This is a space in another God’s domain and in another near divinity’s sanctum. It seems to me that Gabrian’s interdiction should fail.
Brandon Baer
I sure hope we see Alex learn some divinity from Teresa and get strong enough to physically match these bastards quickly if they escape. Hell, maybe be able to perform some interdictions of his own. Either way, their escape is a blow to morale but so be it.
lenkite
Maybe Alex told the Unmaker that he wants to take down the First Apostle himself.
Decide
Gabrian must be ill or something. He wonders why his God does nothing and says nothing about Alex right after its revealed that Uldar is dead. Come on, dude. If the escape and some fae replaces Uldar and commands Gabrian, I swear.
Stephen
I bet the stalker regrets saying this in chapter 644. “And that’s why I never hunted your god when he walked the world, I’m not hunting any of the fae lords, and I am not hunting that old, goat-monster that those wizards from the south brought with them. That’d be a great way to get killed, and I’m not interested in that. But at the same time, I don’t want to be hunting squirrels and chipmunks! Quarry needs to have some kinda way to bite back, or what would be the point? If there’s no danger there’s no thrill, and if there’s no thrill, there’s no fun. So, they’ve got to have enough power to hurt or kill you, but not enough to do it as simply as breathing.”
Daniele Di Vitto
Burger :D
Sébastien Kingsbury
I don't understand why the overpowered war spirit didn't just go straight for the head of the snake? From the sounds of it all the other summons were plenty to take care of the random soldier types. Dramatic tension I guess but it seems forced
mhaj58
They should have left enough blood for Alex to use magic to track them right?
lenkite
Well, this is a basic problem that he should have developed a counter for already. I mean [Mana Interdiction] was already deployed against him ij the past causing great loss of life. So it is something for which he should have prepared a solution. Otherwise, he can remove the [General] tag.
CentaureHeart
Definitely going to escape. Kinda sucks
Stephen
I guess we will see how much knowledge Alex has gotten from those books to help save his friends from TFA attack Maybe his new Mana pool will be enough to overpower the interdiction.
Zachary LaCount
All of that build up just for them to survive and escape to drag this out even further is just what we needed and wanted
Sam
Good chapter. Nice to see Gabrian and the stalker putting up some resistance. I think Gabrian may escape. I am not sure if it possible for stalker to escape without him so it seems less likely that he will survive.
Bender
With the doorway closed can they use an interdiction?
Bunny Waffles
See, and that is why you don't taunt your enemies with secret knowledge until they are dead. Mock the corpse damn it! Not the person!
Kaizen Androck
I was yearning to see the churchies suffer but that catharsis was missing. If the scummies escape, it would be such a fail.
Aidan Geverdt
I was kind of rooting for Gabrian here. Alex was getting to much joy out of this.
deus vault
I'm surprised alex didn't think about sealing their escape. wasn't there a 9th order sumonning spell to prevent teleportation in that empire's library or something? like, it's obvious they would run away if the odds stack against them.
Noobly
Incredible as always
