The Hated Hero: Sigil-Powered Warrior-Chapter 32: Escape

Vicar Starseeker’s bloodcurdling scream was punctuated by a seemingly distant thud.

"No!" Hierophant Hawking leapt forward, reaching the enemy Hierophant’s last known position and his maximum jump height in a single bound. There was so much power backing the jump that, if it were not for the trail of sparkles he left behind, anyone would have mistaken him to have teleported.

Sorry about the hole. Immanuel rushed forward, sticking to the ground as he promised. Just as he made it into the thick of the smoke, the blue glow of Hierophant Hawking’s mace caught his attention—it darted sharply from back to front, indicating a strike.

It hit something with an audible BANG. That something crashed onto the distance ahead with a thunderous boom. This figure had four arms. It was Hierophant Hargrave. Looks like we have the upper hand!

Immanuel then crawled down into the summoned manhole, still in the form of a shadow. Just as he was about to reach the bottom, he caught sight of the archer. She was unconscious, likely due to the fall.

I am not using that sigil ever again, unless I’m the one who needs to hide.

"Now what?" he whispered to himself.

While the fighting raged above them, Immanuel reverted to human form. Multiple thoughts raced in his mind the longer he looked at the female cleric, the most important of which is, Should I help her regain consciousness?

But with the access document mattering more to him, Immanuel decided it wasn’t worth it.

"Sorry," he whispered to her ear. Already crouched next to her, Immanuel began to feel around her armor. His hands shook; he imagined her suddenly waking up and screaming at the sight of him feeling around her armor with the assumption that he was trying to take advantage of her vulnerable state. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

To calm himself, Immanuel, while still crouched, slightly distanced himself from the female cleric. At least, if she wakes up and sees me, I could just tell her that I’m positioned way too far for any such accusation she might make to make sense.

Then, with the discomfort he felt whenever he reached out to her, he focused his search on any pouches that might be concealed by her armor. Immanuel found a number of them on her waist. He opened the pouches one by one until he found a scroll case inside one of them.

"A ha," he whispered to himself. "A scroll case in a pouch. This can’t be a spell scroll... this could very well be the access document."

Immanuel thought to twist the cap of the scroll case open to be certain of its contents when he heard a boom above that startled him. But as he saw nothing from where he was, he proceeded with his intent, confirming his suspicions in no time.

He put the document back in the scroll case, then put it back in the pouch where he found it. If only Dylan Deepwater and The Ungovernable Ones were here, I could just take the scroll case and leave her here.

Immanuel studied the rim of the hole once again. I can’t be alone in my escape. She was given orders, might as well get her out of here too.

With time running out just like his options, Immanuel took the Vicar’s bow and bound it to one hand with a manifestation of the Reach sigil. Then he lifted Vicar Starseeker, mounting her on his shoulders made broader by more manifestations of the Reach sigil knotted together. Immanuel had set her facing down.

The next problem he had to solve was bringing them both out of the hole and getting them both out of the Cathedral using the least amount of mana possible. But an idea came to mind in no time—he dispelled the hole, springing them both up at unbelievable speed. Then, while they ascended at great speed, Immanuel shot a number of tendrils at the ceiling above. These tendrils entangled on support beams. Immanuel then tensed and shortened them to aid in their ascent.

Already overhead, Immanuel tightened the hold the tendrils had on the support beams and Vicar Starseeker. He struggled to keep his footing, but only for a few moments—with the outside of the Cathedral in sight through a high-rise window, he willed himself to teleport to the outside, bringing the Vicar with him.

Immanuel disappeared with Vicar Starseeker still on his shoulders just as Hierophant Hargrave was about to stab them with his halberd.

BOOM! Immanuel thought Hierophant Hargrave must have crashed onto the ceiling. The teleport attempt was a success; they were finally outside, the clash of religious soldiers and low-ranked clerics from both sides far behind him. Bodies of fallen clerics were littered around them.

With the similarities between the two groups of low-ranked clerics and black monks, Immanuel was bound to be confused. For this reason, he decided to walk away, Vicar Starseeker in tow.

With each religious soldier and low-ranked cleric’s attention still on the enemy in front of them, Immanuel moved in such a way that he could not possibly catch the attention of the enemy clerics and religious soldiers.

Unfortunately, in time, someone became suspicious. "Hey! What are you do—"

Immanuel felt movement behind him. SHOOF! Vicar Starseeker was finally awake, firing shots at pursuing enemies behind them as Immanuel moved at careful pace.

As for Immanuel, he was down to the last of his mana, and the only thing he could do perhaps—besides walking at a steady pace—was to keep the Reach sigil activated and swing the axe to defend himself from the front if it need be. But Immanuel had teleported both of them far from the clashes and the fallen bodies, removing such a need entirely.

In time, the number of pursuing enemy clerics and religious soldiers dwindled, and Vicar Starseeker no longer fired arrows as much as she did earlier. And eventually, she stopped, punctuated by a sigh of relief.

With both of them no longer needing to watch for enemies, Immanuel said, "This looks like a safe place to rest on."

"Yes. I agree." Immanuel set down Vicar Starseeker against a tree trunk, then deactivated the Reach sigil before crashing on the ground in front of her, exhausted.

"If none of us are keeping watch, then so be it," Immanuel said as he lay on the ground. "I’m tired. So must you be. Let’s rest up."