by Dakota Krout
Chapter Forty-One
“That was a stricture called ‘Pass the Time’,” Zed explained as the group looked around in a slight daze. “It is a Mastery of mine, a way for me to tell an engaging story in a way that makes the mind fold in upon itself. Obviously, there are side effects, so I cannot use it when we are in dangerous situations, but it makes long distance travel much more palatable.”
They were standing at the foothills of the mountain range, and after he started talking, none of them except for Zed felt the passage of time as they walked. Andre mindlessly continued binding plants, Luke seemed to doze off, and Taylor went distant-eyed.
Finally, Zed took a deep breath and smiled, ready to announce that they were at their destination. Before he could get the words out, Zed suddenly choked as Luke’s hand wrapped around his neck and he was lifted in the air. The Murderhobo bellowed in his face like a lion, “You told us that your abilities would not work on us! What else have you been lying about? Should I kill you right here so that I know that my mind is my own? Can you make hallucinations? Zed! Can you take them away?”
Luke's eyes were wild, and veins were sticking out on his forehead and neck. Zed was struggling in his grasp, but there was nothing that he could do against the raw power contained in Luke's body. He glanced at the others for help, but both Taylor and Andre were staring at him with cold eyes, ready to let this play out however it would. Zed struggled to speak, and Luke almost decided to finish the job, but his Sigil chimed and his hands released Zed of their own accord.
Zed lay on the ground coughing, the spittle coming out of his mouth flecked with drops of red blood. Finally, he was able to hoarsely shout, “What is wrong with you? I didn’t lie, I can't use abilities on anyone! I don't have abilities!”
“So, you simply twisted your words to change their meaning,” Luke growled at the fallen Bard. “You were trying to lull us into a false sense of security, so that you could trap us within our own minds when we were not expecting it.”
“Hello, I’m… a Bard.” Zed started to stand, but a line of liquid fire zipped past his face, courtesy of Taylor. Zed swallowed his words and some blood. Settling back, his voice rasped out, “Well, then. The ground is just as comfortable of a place to explain. First off, let me start with a way to calm you down. I hereby swear on my Sigil that I will not use my Masteries, or any other type of power I may gain, to harm any of you three unless it is to help or save you. All set?”
His Sigil chimed and a new line slashed across on it, signifying that the oath was binding him. Taylor and Andre calmed down immediately, and Luke did as well after they explained to him what had just happened. After this, Zed continued, “All I was doing was trying to make sure that I was going to be safe. The three of you are clearly much more powerful than I am, and have much more combat utility. I didn't know if you were just taking me into the distance to execute me. It has been a serious concern in the past.”
“And the reason you messed with our minds?” Taylor demanded as soon as his words stopped flowing.
“I swear to you, it was only an attempt to help us arrive where we were going in a timely manner! We were all caught up, and people were getting grumpy with each other because of the distance that we had to travel yet. Now, we are within a few hour’s walk of our destination, and everyone should have been very pleased and happy with the outcome. Instead…” Zed motioned at the blood on the ground as well as his manhandled flesh.
“Next time, you should make sure to ask.” Taylor nodded meaningfully toward Luke, “It seems that it takes a while for his Sigil to come into effect, long enough to kill. Perhaps you should think on that before you just do something.”
“Zed, listen.” Andre knelt next to his friend and looked over the blossoming bruise on his neck. “For us, we have all been away from each other for decades. What do you think that does to a person? Especially us, who seem to have been dropped in the abyss or constantly needing to watch our backs? Beyond that, Zed, remember that we only actually knew you for… um.”
“Under half a year. He came to our town about six months before the testing.” Taylor supplied helpfully.
“There. The rest of us knew each other our entire lives, and look at how we act toward each other.” Andre allowed his sadness about that fact to seep into his tone and expression. “Now, we are thirty to fifty-year-old people in the bodies of eighteen year olds, and we were all just starting to trust everyone in the group... then one of us instantly uses that trust to mess with our minds. I feel that Luke’s reaction is… justified, if overdone.”
“Right, well, got it. Fast travel is out in the future.” Zed shook his head, rubbed his neck, and stood all the way up. “I got us here; time for you three to do some work.”
The Bard crossed his arms and refused to look at them anymore, so the others simply started to ignore him; except Luke, who kept throwing dangerous glares at the man every once in a while. Taylor stepped up, working to clear the air as well as progress their mission. “ I will scout the situation. Until then, we need a few other things to happen. Luke, guard the area. Andre, how long will it take for you to set defenses across the entirety of the exit of this pass? We need a plan for retreat, there needs to be a reason why our scouts have not returned in the past.”
“I'll need a solid few hours.” Andre got to work right away, reaching into a pocket and pulling out a handful of seeds.
“And me?” Zed stood in a profound position, his arms behind him as he exuded the air of an expert.
“Set up camp, no fire. We can't let whatever is in here know that we are here.” Taylor's words made Zed wilt like a flower in the summer heat. While the other three were looking at her, she simply vanished from all of their senses. “I'm off to figure out what’s going on; be ready for when I return.”
“Where are you?” Zed called out as the others started moving. “Did you see where she went? Guys? Sheesh… I’m supposed to set up camp? What is Andre going to do to create defenses? And what is Luke guarding against?”
Zed looked at the others for support, but found Andre surrounded by a wall of thorns that were already starting to crawl across the ground. The Druid was holding a giant bow, and would reach a hand down to the thorns to pull up an arrow made of the wood. Using the newly grown arrows, he attached and fired what looked like small wineskins. As these small packets hit the stone above them, the sacks burst into scatterings of seeds, which turned into plants that grew far too fast to be natural.
Zed watched the process in amazement for a few long minutes, then looked over at Luke to share his enthusiasm for the magical display. The Murderhobo wasn’t paying attention, instead standing next to a huge boulder that had clearly fallen from higher on the mountain.
“This looks suspicious.”
Luke started scratching at the stone with a finger, creating a shower of powder with each touch, while Zed simply let his head sink into his hands. “What the abyss have I gotten myself into?”
“If what you’ve gotten into isn't the supplies to set up camp, you don’t need to worry about it,” Andre called from his new perch atop a nearby stone. The bow was gone, and his planted seeds were growing into a thorny maze even as he spoke. Every once in a while, he would point at something to direct the growth of the defensive wall he was making.
“A rock this size doesn’t just stop after only rolling a little bit.” Luke dug his hands deeper into the stone, creating gravel with every motion.
“It landed over a hole, so just leave it alone,” Andre called over. He had already sent roots through the area; he would obviously know where there were holes and where there were other things in the ground. “By the way, if we recapture this area, we need to let the Kingdom know that there’s a huge amount of natural coal, iron, and other resources in these foothills. This could turn into one of the largest ore mines in the country, if we play it right.”
“You think that was why they took the pass?” Zed quizzed as he got to work, expertly setting up t
heir tents and getting dinner ready. He was mixing ingredients and stirring powders at a speed that would make professional chefs glare in envy. “Hey, how hungry are you guys?”
“Are those shadows moving?” Luke was on all fours, watching shadows slowly creep across the ground. “I haven’t seen this before.”
“That happens when the sun starts to go down. You’ve seen night before, Luke,” Andre explained with a smile at the man’s actions. “Zed, why were you so against us having you set up camp? You’re amazing at it.”
“Just because I’m good at something doesn’t mean I want to be forced to do it,” Zed replied just as easily. “Looks like it’s going to rain soon. I hope Taylor gets back before then.”
“I’m here.” Taylor’s cold voice cut through the area, drawing their attention to the shivering Mage. “Guys. It’s worse. It’s so much worse than we thought it was.”
“Please feel free to expand upon your explanation.” Andre climbed down from his rock, pulling a thick blanket out of his backpack and offering it to her. She ignored him; her own cloak was more than sufficient.
“The pass… it wasn't taken by the Dynasty of Dogs.” Taylor locked eyes with the Druid. “This place was taken by the Anarcanists; there is a massive scar in the center of the pass. There are thousands of monsters surrounding it, and the worst part…”
Taylor paused, just a second too long for Zed to handle. “What? What? Finish the story!”
“They have a leader.” Lightning cracked into the mountains far above them, and the *boom* of thunder echoed for long seconds. “An intelligent monster.”
“The sky is attacking!” Luke shouted at them as his fists began furiously pounding the air above him.
Zed slapped his forehead and groaned in defeat before turning and shouting at the Murderhobo. “That’s rain, you moron!”
Chapter Forty-Two
“I heard you clearly when you stated that a huge amount of enemies were waiting in there,” Zed smiled weakly as they huddled all together in the cramped tent that he had managed to set up before the rain began falling, “but what does that mean for us? Do we flee and bring back an army? Two armies?”
“There is simply not enough information.” Taylor replied after a moment of thinking. “We don’t know where they are coming from, and we don’t know where they are going. We need to, at a minimum, keep an eye on them.”
“We can take them! Look at how powerful we are as a group!” Andre waved at the vast forest of thorny death that was even now creeping toward the center of the pass. “I think that together, we can do anything we set our minds to!”
“I wouldn’t mind seeing if I can get some Potentia from them,” Luke shrugged as he went back to watching the rain fall, fascinated by the sight. He hadn’t seen anything like it for decades, and it brought forth a strange nostalgia. “The waterfall! That was kind of like this!”
By now, no one flinched at his random outbursts. Zed reached out and patted Luke on the arm. “Yes, waterfalls and rain are very similar. The big difference is how concentrated the water is in any given area.”
“Stop being condescending, Zed.” Taylor turned her head and took in the whole group. “Look, I don’t think that you are all taking me seriously when I tell you that there are tens of thousands of monsters in there right now. Luke, you can be swarmed to death just like anyone else. Andre, you can’t kill the leader, he’s got to be sapient.”
“And Zed shouldn’t be forced into the fighting.” Andre blinked in shock as a voice which sounded exactly like his spoke out.
“What the…? I didn't say that! Wait, is that really what I sound like?” Andre looked suspiciously at Zed. “Did you just mimic my voice?”
“May~be.” Zed winked at the huge Druid. “It wasn’t an incorrect statement, though; my fighting skills are basically nil. I can charm people for a while, then lull them into false security, but then I need to rely on killing them while they don’t see me as a threat.”
“You should focus more on stealth, if that’s what is keeping you alive,” Taylor ordered him sternly. Zed waved her off with a non-committal grumble. “I have serious doubts about our ability to fight this horde, and yet I can’t imagine that the Kingdom is oblivious to what is waiting in here. I think they have some data, and assume it is a minimal risk, but not that it is this bad.”
“What do we do?” Andre sat upright and gazed at the person who had become the unofficial official leader of the team.
“First, we set up defenses and a fallback point. You’ve already started by getting the thorns going, but we need a secure area as well that can keep us safe if we need to hunker down. As fast as we are, monsters tend to be more powerful overall if they match your level. Remember, they’ve spent their entire lives in high mana concentrations; we only visit.” Taylor rose and walked to the edge of the tent, right where the fabric met stone. “I can make the last-resort fallback point, but I’ll need to concentrate on this really hard. If anything happens, you all need to handle it, or I might accidentally drop the mountain on us. Just so you know, this will likely alert them that we are here. I think it is necessary, though.”
“Sure, but what are you-” Zed was cut off as Taylor whispered a single word.
“Fissure.”
Purple mana tinged with black streaks erupted from her hands, flowing into the stone and causing the ground to grumble. The sound was soft at first, but as she maintained the spell, it became loud and insistent. Zed was knocked to the ground as a line of broken stone opened in the mountain wall and a stone room slowly formed.
Very slowly formed. The shaking continued, and the noise was maintained, but after ten minutes, the process was very boring to watch. So, Zed and Andre’s head instantly snapped to attention when Luke spoke up. “There. That stone I was looking at earlier.”
“Yes, Luke?” Andre prodded when Luke went quiet.
“It moved.”
Zed blew an exasperated blast out of his nose. “Lots of rocks moving in the area, Luke. Taylor is making an earthquake. I wouldn’t be surprised if a landslide killed us all.”
Even so, all three of the men watched the boulder with varying levels of intensity. So, when tiny legs popped out of the sides, all of them saw at the same time. There was no delay between the legs appearing and Luke getting on his feet and rushing at it.
“I knew it!”
The fist of the Murderhobo met the side of the rock with a ringing *boom*, and a pile of stone fragments and dust exploded out from the point of impact. There was a *clack*, and Luke came flying out of the cloud. A hasty vine whipped from Andre and slowed Luke enough that he was able to get his balance, though the plant was pulped by the force.
What had been a ‘boulder’ was now fully revealed as some kind of humanoid hermit crab monster. If a centaur was a cross between human and horse, this was a cross of crab and man. Instead of human hands, there were oversized pincers. Little legs allowed it to scuttle around at surprising speed, and it had eye stalks coming from the top of its otherwise human head.
Zed felt his hair whip around as Luke zipped past him, and a second shower of stone - and this time ichor - blasted from the impact point. “Where is your weak point, crab man?”
An arrow followed closely behind the hobo, bending around him to slam into the monster and detonate into spores that defied natural distribution; instead coating the creature and bonding to its carapace as if they had been applied with glue.
Interaction between a Binding ability and a concentrated mana source has created a temporary overlap.
Luke damages Stone Scuttler: 222 (Blunt damage).
“You can do it! Take that bad beasty down!” Zed called encouragement as he tucked and rolled to avoid the high-speed stone that was flying everywhere. His next words were tinged with surprise. “Also, not sure if this is normal, but I can see the damage that you’re doing!”
“I can’t see what he’s doing? Or are you talking to me?” Andre’s voice was calm as he focused on
controlling the root system of the ferns that were sprouting all over the creature. There was a sharp *crack* as they managed to tear off a section of stone armor.
Andre damages Stone Scuttler: 36 (armor break).
“Oh, I can see yours too!” Zed was ecstatic. “You can’t see each other’s notifications? Yes! I can be our group tactician! I’m useful! Luke, that section that just fell removed all the armor from that spot, hit there!”
Luke was in the air in an instant, pouncing like a starving tiger. His left hand came down on the small opening, and a ghostly sword sank a full meter into the fleshy area that had been exposed. Spine severed, the beast stiffened, then went limp.
Luke damages Stone Scuttler: 149 (Piercing damage). Coup de grace! Overkill! Exp gained: 14 (42 split by three party members. T1 Stone Scuttler destroyed.)
Recently gained Potentia has been absorbed to induce the formation of a Mastery based on previous interaction!
“Celestial Saints and golden lyres! I got a Mastery! Oh, I think that it was nearly dead already, but that attack was extra effective, Luke.” Zed was cheerfully looking over the notifications. “How many times did you hit it?”
“Three.” Luke rumbled at him, examining his own status. “I got Potentia for that. But we are on the base world… nothing here has given me Potentia. How did?”
“Well, to be fair, all you have killed so far are some random soldiers and a tree, so it should be hard to make a judgement call on Potentia. Also, please use full sentences.” Zed judgmentally looked at the mess that was coating Luke and frowned. “Didn’t you say you had armor? Where did it go? Why aren’t you wearing any?”
“I am.”
“Right, but see... you aren’t. You have a blood-covered canvas shirt and pants.” Zed lightly shrugged and held his hands in front of himself. “There’s a really easy way to see if someone is wearing armor, and you are clearly not. Visual sensory organs are usually pretty accurate about this.”