Chapter Two Hundred and Seventy Nine - 279
"Stygian Shadow!"
Isyk, her junior, thrust his spear forward. The area around Ifre's berm darkened to pitch, the light ripped so violently away that the tunnel around it began to frost. Yet still, Ifre could see a dim orange bloom on the other side.
"Isyk, take everyone, turn them back!" She licked her lips, though her mouth was utterly dry. "We have to use another way."
"As you will, Captain."
The shadows exploded, torn asunder by another burst of hungry orange flames. Isyk reeled, his nose bloodied, as the Blessing was rebounded upon him. But Ifre hadn't the time to worry about her subordinate. All three Wurms slipped through her berm like water, not even so much as slowed down by their workings.
Wander's Prowl!
Spear of the Second Flight!
Ifre zipped ahead, taking the lead Wurm under its segmented jaw with her suddenly flexible spear. The metal and wood of it bent and twisted to her Will, easily slipping into the spaces between the Wurm's rocky carapace. It screamed in pain and fury. She twisted her spear before ripping it back out. Dark ichor spouted onto the earth, but she kept moving.
Stab. Feint. Thrust. Dodge. Fighting the Wurms was straining her Stamina and pushing her Agility to the limit. They were fast, slippery, and Night-cursed strong. Her spear found the gaps in their segments, again and again, bleeding them by tiny bits. Yet they were relentless, so she couldn't stop. She had to give her people time to escape. If she could
Screams arose behind her. A wash of heat and light pulled a gasp from Ifre's chest. Wurms emerged from the tunnel, midway down their group.
"No!"
Two more rose ahead too, pushing out of the stone and dirt, and their gaping maws joined the others. Five mouths filled the tunnel with orange light, enough to flood them all with hungry flame.
Blessing of Berm!
Blessing of Berm!
Blessing of Berm!
Ifre spun her spear, each whirling thrust tearing walls from the earth. She poured her Willpower into it, reinforcing her creations with all the Mana and Stamina she could spare.
The liquid fire tore through it all, and vicious heat cut short the screams all around her. Ifre braced.
And waited.
Yet...nothing? She expected flames and pain. Yet all she felt was...cold.
Ifre opened her eyes. And saw a swirling field of frozen clouds among the crumbled remnants of her Blessings. A terrible, dire chill assaulted her Body, forcing Ifre a step back, but she peered into its depths. Blue light flickered among the fog, illuminating the outline of the five Wurms.
"Captain!"
The shocked voice of Isyk pulled her attention back, and she saw that the two Wurms in the rear had frozen as well, entirely subsumed by blue-white flames. Her people shied away from the heat, wincing and crying in alarm.
"What's happening, Captain?"
Ifre felt Mana moving around her, so much that it felt like her people's wards gathering momentum. It hummed through everything.The initial posting of this chapter occurred via Ñøv€l-B!n.
The outsider...!
He emerged from the clouds of frost, his eyes lit like the blazing fire all around him. He rolled his shoulders, and each arm was outstretched toward the five Wurms around him, as if he were holding them back. "Give me, like, thirty seconds."
What? He didn't even sound strained.
The thrum of Mana increased, until a visible vapor joined the frozen, swirling fog around him. The blue-white fire redoubled and, for a moment, Ifre couldn't see anything except a shimmering haze of incandescent light.
When it cleared, the Wurms were destroyed. All of them. Pulped into a purple mess against the stone walls.
"All of you, come with me!" A familiar voice called from beyond the outsider. A shape in the dark resolved into A'zek, the Farwalker's Companion. "More are on their way, Felix."
"I know." With a curt gesture, the earth folded over itself, grabbing and dragging the remains of the Wurms down into the stone itself. He looked at her and his blue eyes flashed again. "Go with A'zek...Captain Ifre. He'll lead you all to the Farwalker and others."
Ifre gestured to Isyk, and her people started guiding the remaining folk onward. The outside ran his hands across the walls, as if he were searching. Some tried to stop and stare or offer thanks, but gentle prods kept them all moving. A slight tug at her gambeson pulled her attention down. Eigo's youngest was there, looking at the outsider and biting his lip.
God, that stinks.
Out loud, he said, "That all of them?"
"Yes," came the deep voiced reply. A'zek emerged from the ragged hole Felix's Body had blasted through the earth. "I am surprised. I sense no more in the surrounding area."
Felix cracked his neck. That last fight had been a doozy. The Wurms hadn't hurt him too badlyonly knocking about 10% off his Health and Staminabut it had been a surprise that his Stone Shaping was worthless against them. They simply swam through it. Wispfire and swords, on the other hand, worked just fine. "Why aren't you with the group?"
The harnoq leaped atop a large, solitary stone. It was at least thirty feet up. "They are being met by my Companion and the...Matriarch."
Felix grunted in surprise. "She deciding they're worth saving?"
An unreadable emotion flashed across A'zek's Spirit. "We must find the last flight of Henaari. They are no doubt in as much danger as this group."
Felix bent over and wiped his Crescian Blade against some plush looking moss before resheathing it. The night was growing lighter and...smokier.
"Over there," A'zek said. He nodded to the northeast. "The other tunnels are this way."
"Into the fire, huh?" Felix asked, but the chimera was already running. "Good thing I've got resistance."
Having Agility and Perception as high as Felix did was a curious and wondrous thing. When he moved, truly moved, it was like nothing he'd experienced. It was like moving through a world on pause, as his Perception fed him ten trillion bits of information and his Agility moved his Body fast enough to make use of that information. Enough sensory details to make a lesser man's head explode from the pressure. But because his Intelligence was even higher than Perception and Agilityand he'd Tempered a powerful Journeyman MindFelix had no issues with processing any of it. The result was a Felix shaped blur that tore through the trees and gathering smoke, plunging straight into the raging fires.
Abyssal Skein!
A'zek was behind him, somewhere, but once they started moving all Felix had to do was stick to the sides of the valley. As the Void crawled out of his core space and enveloped him, Felix became like a ghost flitting through the flames. He could somehow feel his own presence vanish, cut off by the skin of Void-stuff around him. Or maybe just...spread out into the world around him. Faded.
Abyssal Skein is level 46!
Hm. So not separated, but spread thin into my surroundings. Less active camouflage and more like...I dunno. Magic, I guess.
He saw the Reforged first. Huge andto himponderous, they each carried conjured ice weapons and swung them with a steady monotony that cleared through redwood-sized trees and low hills. They didn't give any indication that the raging fires bothered them at all, often wading through patches of smolder underbrush in their relentless sweep outward.
Felix ran up the side of the cliff, his feet sure and powerful. It was hard not to crack to stone beneath him, but he managed, letting his presence to mostly get eaten up by his Skein. Felix could sense that others were out there, moving farther abroad. Before him was not the only place on fire, and the Reforged gave off such a glimmer of ice Mana that they were, ironically, like a torch in the night.
Pit. Have you begun?
Yes. A flash of sense images filtered through their bond. Fire. Ice axes swung. Impact and pain, but not Pit's. Six fight.
There are another eight to the north east of you. Be careful. I'm going to save the last group now, he sent.
Stay safe.
You too, lil pig.
Felix crept along the cliff face, his uncanny Dexterity keeping him balanced atop ledges thinner than a finger, while his Strength supported his considerable bulk. It wasn't much farther, the tunnel, just around another two bends and he could see a grove of tightly grouped trees and thorns. Similar to the illusion that hid the encampment, this had clearly once hidden the tunnel's entrance, but the Mana of the array was shattered. Burned. Four Reforged stood close by, ranging between fifteen and twenty feet tall, while among their feet almost a dozen Hoarhounds prowled.
Ten hounds. Four Reforged. And, Felix narrowed his eyes. One Arcid.
The fire-attuned Arcid hunched at the entrance to the tunnel and was shouting something in a guttural language into its depths. Felix didn't understand the words, but the creature's twisted Spirit rippled with aggression, anger, and a deep, unsettling craving.
"Tua effrata! I give you until count of ten, little wanderers!" It's furnace-like body creaked and groaned with every shift, and a white heat flared up within the grates on his chest. "Ten counts and then I will be not so merciful!"
"The creature baits them," a voice said behind him, and it took all Felix had not to jump. "What does it aim for?"
"How do you keep sneaking up on me?" Felix asked. A'zek didn't reply, only stared at the Arcid with hate in his dark, liquid-seeming eyes. "He probably wants to know where your Companion is, or the other leadership. You've all been a bit of a thorn in their side, right?"
"The Farhunter has needled them to discover their purpose, yes."
"Needled too much, maybe." Felix didn't say what he feared. That his Mark had led them there. He swallowed. "Whatever the reason, we're here to stop them. Without the Wurms they're hampered by the tunnel sizes; they can't get in, but for some reason the Henaari can't just leave the other side."
"Tunnel may have been collapsed," A'zek suggested.
"That'd make sense, and would explain why all the Wurms were at the farther exit rather than this one first." Felix bit the inside of his cheek. "They collapsed this and then moved on. Okay. Okay, I think I've got a plan."
"Tell me."
