“I-I don’t know,” he said. “We just, just ran and—oh no, there is it again!”
“There is what—” I started to shout at the man for a second time, when a mental voice I had heard before filled my mind, causing my blood to go cold.
Chapter 46
We barely had the time to process the screaming chant that pierced through our minds before a pair of head-sized emerald blurs shot down from above us, prompting a surprised scream from Ignis as he dove out of the way.
“Shit! Lookout!” he wailed as he hit the ground hard and attempted to roll away from whatever that was attacking him.
“What the hell did you do, Ignis?” I demanded, the words flying out of my mouth as I drew Splinter and instinctively charged towards the spirits, scanning the two identical tags that appeared in my vision.
[Ætherbound Phantasm] – Level 17
“I-I—” the half-elf stammered incoherently in response as I swept Splinter’s edge through the center of the closest spirit, which then immediately exploded in a blast of searing energy, prompting pained screams from both Ritt and Ignis. “No! Don’t hit them! T-they explode!”
“Too late for that warning, Ignis!” I barked angrily, having taken the somewhat painful blast at point-blank range; I began to rapidly back away from the second spirit as it twisted in the air to face me.
Fixing my attention on the angry spirit as it glared at me with an angry wail, I was immediately reminded of the Ætherbound Shades that we had fought in the dungeon above us earlier in the week. But where a Shade had been a full-bodied spirit, the Phantasm was only a floating head surrounded by a mane of dull emerald energy, its facial features grossly deformed from whatever it once represented in life. Yet despite its lack of a spiritual body, I realized that it did little to hinder its movements as the Phantasm shot forward through the air, crossing the little distance I had been able to put between it and myself in the blink of an eye.
This is the absolute last thing that we need to deal with right now! The angry thought couldn’t help but cross my mind as I threw myself into a desperate roll to evade the oncoming spirit.
Completing my dodge as the Phantasm soared over me, I wasted no time in launching myself back up onto my feet, conjuring and throwing a Flaming Dagger at the spirit in one motion, which promptly exploded in a harmlessly spray of energy as soon as the hurled knife touched it.
“Shit, Lyrian!” Jenkins’s voice shouted from the entrance of the crafting area as the blast from the Phantasm filled the air, temporarily basking all of us in an emerald light. “What the hell is going on?”
“We’re under attack by spirits from the jungle!” I replied as I moved to check on Ritt, seeing that he had only been lightly singed by the first Phantasm’s blast. “Ignis here dragged them back to the camp!”
“He did what?” Jenkins snarled, his voice suddenly laced with a cold rage that I had never heard from the man before.
“I didn’t realize they were still following me!” Ignis protested as he scrambled up from his prone position on the ground. “I—”
“Save it!” I barked savagely as I pulled Ritt up to his feet while glaring at the man. “You’ve done enough already!”
As if drawn by the timing of my words, several loud screams suddenly echoed throughout the camp, interrupting my train of thought, which was followed closely behind by the rapid thunder of magic as other Adventurers discovered the attacking spirits.
“Damn!” I cursed, my head snapping in the direction of the noise. I had no idea just how much Ignis had managed to pull back through the jungle with him, but judging by the growing cacophony around us, it was far more than the two Phantasms that had just attacked us.
“What’s the plan, Lyrian?” Jenkins asked as he drew a heavy sword from his belt, his eyes darting over towards Ignis, who had finally managed to regain his feet.
“What do you mean what’s the plan?” Ignis replied, his voice tinged with panic. “We need to keep running and get the hell out of here!”
“Running is what got you into this damn mess!” I hissed at the man angrily. “No, we need to rally as many of the Adventurers as we can before we lose the camp or even the entire ruin!”
“You’re—oh, shit!” the half-elf’s reply was cut short as a massive shape chose that moment to crash through a pile of crates that had been stacked opposite of the crafting area, its landing reducing them to splinters.
“‘Oh, shit’ doesn’t even begin to describe our problems right now, Ignis!” I shouted as Ritt, Jenkins and I reflexively scrambled to put some distance between us and the horrific, patchwork creature that had just crashed through the crates, followed closely by a blast of magic that washed over its grotesque body.
With negligible effect from what I could tell.
What the hell is this thing? I thought as I glanced at the abomination before us, feeling my heart skip a beat the as an identifying tag appeared in my vision.
[Ætherbound Monstrosity] – Level 19
Seemingly made from a patchwork of flesh, hide, and chitin, the Monstrosity was a nightmare to behold, appearing as if a mad god had decided to tear a handful of the Grove creatures to shreds before combining them together without regard to any of their original forms. At a glance, I could see the dark leather hide that once belonged to a Troglodyte covering one portion of the body, with the dull grey chitin of a Gloomstalker covering its back and chest, leaving the familiar quills, and the flesh they were attached to, of a Quillbear to cover even more. But for all that it had stolen from the Grove creatures, it wasn’t enough to fully clothe the spirit, glimpses of its ghostly form shining through the torn patches flesh that it had covered itself in.
“Gods,” Jenkins gasped in a strangled voice as the Monstrosity slammed a massive spectral arm, bereft of any flesh, into the ground and forced itself back up onto a pair of mismatched limbs, one bearing the graceful leg of a Gloomstalker, with the other being the short and squat leg of a Troglodyte. “What—”
“Don’t let it get up!” a loud familiar voice interrupted the smith as a second wave of magic slammed into the creature, followed by a group of charging Adventurers with their weapons outstretched before them. “Hit it with everything you have!”
“That’s Alistair’s voice!” I exclaimed, spotting the man a heartbeat afterward as he led a pair of guild members I recognized, and a few other Adventurers I didn’t, to attack the still rising Monstrosity. Not waiting for a written invitation to join the fight, I sprang forward to assist, charging Splinter with a Shocking Touch as I ran. “Let’s go!”
Expecting everyone to follow on my heels, I put the group out of my mind as I rushed towards the Monstrosity, it only taking me three long strides to close the distance and enter the fray. Announcing my presence with a loud shout, I swept Splinter through the large spectral arm that the Monstrosity had planted on the ground, feeling the blade pass effortlessly through the limb, discharging the energy stored inside it as it did. At that same instant, Alistair and the other Adventurers arrived, swarming around the creature and landing their own punishing blows.
Staggering from the barrage of attacks, the Ætherbound spirit faltered in its attempt to right itself, several bright sprays of energy erupting from its spectral body, causing it to let loose an unearthly w
ail. But despite its apparent pain, the Monstrosity was far from being finished, reflexively swinging its other arm, which appeared to be covered in a layer of Troglodyte hide in a wild arc before it. Moving faster than either of them could react, the sweeping limb caught a pair of the attacking Adventurers high in the chest, and sent them both sailing off their feet and out of sight, a distant tear of cloth and crunch of wood marking their landing.
“Lyrian!” Alistair called out a second afterward, not having missed my arrival. “What the hell is going on? Where are more of these things coming from?”
“Ignis found them!” I replied, stepping around the now flailing Monstrosity until I was directly behind it, slashing out with Splinter as I moved and drained what mana I could from the creature. “He pulled all of them back to the camp from the Grove!”
“Are you—” Alistair’s reply was abruptly cut off with a loud grunt as the creature’s thrashing reached a new level of intensity, forcing me to take a large step backward as a massive arm swept through the spot I was just standing in.
With my reflexes having been honed to a razor’s edge after an entire week’s worth of fighting in the Grove, I waited just long enough for the creature’s attack to pass, before launching myself back into the fray. Burning through my mana with reckless abandon, I thrust another Shocking Touch-charged Splinter into the Monstrosity’s body as I re-entered melee range, then immediately slashed a burning dagger through the flesh covering its side.
Howling under my blows, the spirit’s movements became lethargic as the energy animating it fled its body in large spurts from the multitude of wounds now covering it. The creature’s flagging efforts allowing all the other Adventurers, along with Jenkins and Ritt, to close with it, their weapons tearing into its spectral form. With a shout of triumph rising all around us as it lost its shape, the Ætherbound Monstrosity’s body dissolved into a spray of energy, the flesh and hide covering it falling to the ground lifelessly once more.
“Ritt, Jenkins, are you two okay?” I called out the moment that the fight ended, my eyes worriedly darting over towards the pair, who I knew would have been grossly outclassed by the fight, yet hadn’t hesitated for a heartbeat to jump in.
“I’m fine,” Ritt said, breathing heavily from the short fight.
“Same here,” Jenkins answered, a heartbeat behind the merchant. “Never in my life have I seen anything like that…thing!”
“Neither have we,” Alistair stated, shaking his head as he stepped over the remains of the creature, casting a dirty glance at Ignis, who had taken up position a few steps away from us. “Until today.”
“There’ll be time for blame once all of this is over,” I said, seeing several other eyes turn in the direction of the elf. As much as I wanted to figure out exactly what Ignis had done to drag a horde of spirits and ghost back to the camp, we had more pressing matters to worry about right now. “But right now, we need to move and start rallying as many people as we can.
“And then fight to save the camp,” I added pointedly, turning my head to glare at Ignis, who at least had the decency to not look me in the eye.
“As much as it pains me to say, Lyrian, I don’t know how much we’ll be able to help to fight these spirits,” Jenkins stated in a steady voice. “But we’re with you, whatever you need.”
“I understand, Jenkins,” I said with a nod, thankful that the man had recognized his limits on his own and wasn’t afraid to admit them. “I’ll take this group and head to the sounds of the heaviest fighting and try to hold the spirits back, if you and Ritt could comb the rear of the camp for any Adventurers and send them forward that would help us greatly. The same goes for evacuating any townsfolk down here to the surface.”
“We can handle that,” Ritt said, relief evident on his face that he wouldn’t be heading straight to the frontline. “Right, Jenkins?”
“We can,” he said with a nod, though his expression was one more of frustrated resignation of his inability to compete with the attacking spirits than relief. “We’ll stop first at the healing ward with Shelia, and warn her to expect casualties. If she has any spare healers on hand, I’ll be sure to send them forward too.”
“The more help I can get on that front the better,” Alistair agreed enthusiastically. “I won’t be able to keep up forever.”
“Alright!” I said as a new rush of magical thunderclaps sounded through the air. “That’s a good enough plan for now! We need to move!”
With that, we split up from the two NPCs, both Ritt and Jenkins turning to run towards the rear of the camp, while the rest of us charged in the opposite direction, heading towards the sounds of combat in the distance. Positioning myself at the rear of the party as we ran, I made a point to keep a sharp eye on Ignis, not putting it above the half-elf to attempt to slip away during the chaos.
I might be actually doing him a favor if I let him run, assuming he runs as far as he possibly can away from Aldford, I thought, teeth clenched. If the other Adventurers ever find out that he’s responsible for dragging a train into the camp…
I shook my head at the thought, unable to bring myself to care what sort of vigilante punishments the rest of the Adventurers would inflict if that happened. Maybe if they were severe enough, it would serve as a good enough deterrent for any other Adventurers thinking to do the same thing the next time they found themselves in over their heads.
Assuming we have a next time, I couldn’t help but add, thinking of the disaster it would be if we were forced out of the camp and had to fight through the ruins a second time. With a sharp shake of my head, I forced myself away from that train of thought and decided to focus on what I could control, mentally reaching out towards Amaranth.
Turning my attention back towards our rush through the camp, I followed Alistair’s lead as the priest guided us towards the sounds of combat. Rounding a sharp corner, the source of the noise quickly became evident as we spotted a large group of Ætherbound Shades that had managed to completely encircle a handful of Adventurers. Judging from the twin piles of Grove creature flesh lying on the ground a short distance away from the circle, they had already managed to take care of two of the large Monstrosities, but the sheer number of attacking Shades had been too much for them to handle.
At least until we showed up.
“Rush them!” Alistair shouted from the head of the group, making the same decision that I would have in his place, prompting everyone to break into a sprint.
“That means you too, Ignis!” I yelled, noticing that the half-elf was hesitating in following Alistair’s lead and delivering a rough shove to get him moving. “Go!”
“Damn it, Lyrian! I’m going!” he shouted, stumbling for half a step from my rather forceful encouragement, but regaining his balance and charging forward without any further complaint.
Following close on Ignis’s heels to ensure that he didn’t have a change of heart, I found myself slamming into the spirits ranks with him by my side before losing sight of him in the melee. Focusing on driving through the line of the Shades before me, I found myself reliving the desperate fight that we had the previous week at the infected Æther Crystal.
Countless Shades had packed themselves on top of one another, their incorporeal forms allowing several of them to occupy the same space at the same time, making it nearly impossible to defend against them without constantly giving ground. A feat that was next to impossible for the encircled Adventurers to manage indefinitely. Yet, that
same fight had also taught me how to use their packed numbers against them.
Slashing Splinter in a wide cleave, I swept the Æthertouched blade through the ranks of Shades before me, feeling a trickle of mana course up my arm with each and every spirit that it passed through. Putting that energy to use immediately, I channeled it back into a Shocking Touch and slashed my sword through the wall of spirits a second time, seeing several of them fade away into nothingness as the magic binding them failed. Within seconds of our arrival, the tone of the battle shifted as the Shades registered our presence, and a ragged cry rose up from the trapped Adventurers.
“Help is here everyone!” Sierra’s tired voice rang out from inside the circle of spirits. “Now’s the time to hit them hard! Push!”
“Sierra!” I exclaimed in relief at having found one of my friends as the trapped Adventurers answered the woman’s words with a shout and charged forward into the line of Shades separating us with renewed energy.
“Lyrian, is that you?” Sawyer’s voice called out from inside the circle. “Damn, I thought we were done for!”
“Not by a long shot!” I yelled as I sliced through a confused cluster of Shades, all of whom seemed to have a different idea of who or what direction they should be facing.
Pinned between us, the Shades separating our two groups rapidly began to disintegrate as we carved through them, their ranks falling into complete disarray before finally vanishing in a spray of emerald energy. Continuing forward, we charged to support the once trapped Adventurers and slammed into the second line of Shades that had encircled them, our two groups managing to easily overwhelm the remaining spirits.
“Great timing, Alistair, Lyr,” Sierra said breathlessly after the last Shade had fallen and our area was reasonably safe for the moment. “Things were looking pretty bad there for a second. Do you have any idea what’s going on? Where the hell did all of these things come from?”
“The Grove and I’ll tell you later,” I stated, shaking my head before jerking it in Ignis’s direction. “There’s no time to get into it now; we need to keep moving. We have no idea just how many spirits are attacking us.”
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