Legacy of the Fallen
Page 75
“What’s the news, Lyr?” Drace asked, the first to appear from the jungle behind me with Constantine and Sierra close behind.
“Looks like we’ve found his trail,” I replied, motioning that it was safe to come out as even more of the raid began to appear behind them. “He and his group fought something here then continued onwards.
“A lot of somethings from what I can tell,” Sierra stated as she stepped around the half-giant and glanced around the battle-torn area. “But that’s a big help for us; we’ll be able to move faster if we’re not blazing our own path through the jungle.”
“True,” I agreed as I gave the area another look, trying to picture just how many people had passed through the area. “Seems like he has a pretty big group with him, likely much more than we saw him with at the Tower.”
“We kinda expected that though, Lyr,” Constantine said while indicating the jungle around us. “Besides, quantity didn’t exactly work out in his favor the last time we fought him.”
“That it didn’t,” I acknowledged, trying to project a sense of confidence in my voice despite how I truly felt. I knew firsthand just how much could change over the course of a few weeks, especially when it came to training and practice. The only reason why we were able to beat out Carver and his group the last time was because we had all drilled together as a team and had better gear in comparison, if he’d found a way to make up for that difference with their larger numbers since we’d last fought them, there’d be little we could do to stand up against it.
Focus on worrying about things you have control over, Marc, I thought, stopping that train of thought before my thoughts could begin to spiral. First things first, we need to find Carver, and that means keeping everyone moving. You can worry about how you’re going to fight him once you know where he is.
“Alright,” I stated, taking my eyes off the jungle and turning my attention back towards the raid, which had just about finished arriving. “Since Carver’s been so nice as to give us a path we can follow, let’s get everyone organized nice and close, that way we can all travel quickly together, instead of being spread out and arriving piecemeal when we find him.”
“Works for me,” Drace grunted as both Constantine and Sierra nodded in agreement, the four of us then moving to pass on our updated plan to Freya and the others.
Within a minute we were all moving again, this time following the trail that Carver and the rest of his group had left through the jungle. The simple difference of not needing to cut a path through the thick foliage allowing us to speed through the jungle at a near sprint. As we ran through the far reaches of the Twilight Grove, I gradually noticed a familiar feeling come over me, a sense of soothing warmth as the air somehow grew heavier.
We must be getting close to the Ley Line, I thought as the sensation continued to increase, prompting me to temporarily pull my glove off to check the veins in my hand, seeing that they’d begun to glow with a soft azure energy. Very close.
“We’re almost there,” I announced, turning my head slightly towards Sierra who had taken up position on my left.
“How can you ev—oh, you’re glowing again,” Sierra replied, her eyes widening in momentary surprise as they shot up to look at my face. “I forgot you double as a handy Geiger counter when it comes to Æther.”
“That’s one way of putting it I guess,” I replied with a snort as I raised a hand upward to signal the raid to slow down. With us getting this close to the Ley Line, and presumably Carver, the last thing I wanted to do was to have us all burst free of the jungle en masse and ruin any element of surprise we might have. Continuing forward at a more sedate pace down the trail, I was eventually able to make out a distant glow of emerald light ahead of us as the jungle came to an end.
“There it is—” Sierra started to say as we approached the jungle’s edge when a discordant mental voice suddenly slammed into our minds, causing our hands to reflexively shoot up to cover our ears.
“Ugh, that is loud!” Sierra gasped, her hands moving away from her ears to clutch at her head as she closed her eyes in pain.
“Angrier too,” I stated, gritting my teeth as I tried to push the mental noise out of my mind while forcing my feet to continue moving forward, the urgency of our situation refusing to let me stop, hearing a wave of groans echo out from behind me as the rest of the raid was affected by the mental assault. “Just a little bit farther.”
Pushing through the psychic assault, we rapidly approached the jungle’s edge and the glowing emerald light beyond it. With every step we took, I felt the mental pressure of the screaming voices in my head increase, until it was practically the only thing I could hear, drowning out the sounds of the raid behind me. Feeling a hand grip my arm, I turned to see that Sierra was trying to get my attention, her mouth saying something that was immediately lost amid the voices swirling through my mind.
“What did you say?” I shouted, leaning in closer towards in the hope of being able to understand what she was saying.
“Combat!” She yelled back at me, almost directly into my ear. “I hear combat ahead!”
Eyes widening in surprise, I looked back at my friend then back towards the jungle’s edge, a brief moment of clarity coming over me as I heard a thunderclap of magic echo in the distance, followed closely by shouting voices. Rushing forward without a second’s hesitation, I charged towards the edge of the jungle, now just barely ahead of us, pushing the foliage out of my way as I moved. Squinting from the intense emerald light as I stepped out of the undergrowth, I forced myself to look through the brightness, feeling my heart skip a beat at the scene before me.
Stretching as far as I could see, was a massive canyon almost completely filled with the emerald-colored Æther, its sickly light drowning out the azure-hued cascade that fell from a large tear in the cavern wall above. Feeling my mouth drop open at the sight, my attention was drawn to the massive body of tainted Æther, its surface roiling with countless ghostly shapes, some of which broke free and soared high up into the air. Shifting my eyes to follow one of the spirits as it left the body of Æther behind and flew upwards, I saw it join a huge swarm of similar looking shapes that were all swirling intently around the mouth of the ruptured Ley Line and the Æther pouring from it.
“Lyr!” Sierra’s voice caused me to tear my eyes off of the torrent of spirits high above as her hand came into view, pointing at something much closer. “Look!”
Following her outstretched finger, I dropped my gaze downwards and found myself staring at a large outcropping that stretched over the canyon, stopping just shy of the Ætherfall pouring from the ruptured Ley Line. Yet it wasn’t the outcropping itself that had commanded Sierra’s attention, but the fierce and vicious battle being waged on top of it. Blinking to make sure that I wasn’t imagining the sight before me, I saw a large host of unfamiliar Adventurers flanking either side of the outcropping as they clashed with a seemingly endless horde of Nafarrian spirits that were climbing out of the Æther-filled canyon and scaling the rock upward.
We found them, I realized as I looked out towards the chaotic battle, seeing that the Adventurers were just barely managing to keep the onrushing spirits at bay due to their superior positioning on either side of the outcropping. Glancing inward from the two forces, I saw a small reserve of Adventurers standing by a large jagged rock, enjoying a pocket of relative safety as they tended to the wounded or moved to shore up flagging sections of the line. But I don’t see Carver or his pet anywhere in that mess…unless he’s on the other side of that stone—
“Shit! That’s the other Runestone!” I practically shouted, the revelation interrupting my thoughts with the force of a sledgehammer. “Of course, it’d be here!”
“Is it?” Constantine demanded from my othe
r side, having appeared seemingly from nowhere while I’d been staring at the battle, along with several others as everyone in the raid eagerly pushed their way forward out of the jungle. “Are you sure?”
“It looks the same as the others,” I replied, feeling my heart begin to thunder in my chest as a surge of adrenaline shot through me. “And where else would the game put it? Just like sticking it in The Beast’s Lair, putting it here forces us to confront the spirits. To do exactly what Carver and his group are doing right now!”
“We need—wait, what’s that?” Sierra yelled as a bright flash of magic appeared at the edge of the outcropping in the distance, prompting all of our heads to snap its direction where we now saw a figure standing inside a bright orange aura.
“It’s Carver!” I snarled angrily, recognizing the one antlered helmet that the figure in the distance wore, the magic flaring around him as it began to take shape. “And he’s casting some sort of spell!”
“Then that means we’re almost out of time!” Sierra exclaimed as she unslung her bow from her shoulder. “We need to get in there!”
“Here is our chance!” I shouted, making a snap decision as I took a step forward and looked back towards the raid, knowing that there wasn’t enough time to lay out a battleplan or give a speech. Not if we wanted to have any hope of stopping Carver in time. So instead, I kept my message as short and as simple as possible. “This is where we decide if Aldford lives or dies today! So, hit them as hard as you can! Everyone, with me!”
With my words still hanging in the air, I turned back towards the distant battle and launched myself into a sprint, hearing a loud wordless roar split the air behind me as the raid rushed to follow, the thunder of their feet echoing briefly before it was lost amongst the spirits’ endless wail. Running as fast as I could over the rough terrain, I saw both Constantine and Amaranth appear either side of me, the three of us spearheading the raid’s charge. As the distance between us and the rapidly approaching battle diminished, I felt a tingle of energy play across my skin, followed by an alert in my vision.
You have entered an area permeated with Æther!
All mana regeneration rates are increased by 100 mana per second!
All magical effects are increased by 25%!
The Æther is affecting this place just like it did at the Hub! I exclaimed mentally as I scanned the notification, feeling my eyes widen at bonuses that this area provided. No wonder everyone is throwing magic around nonstop! It regenerates almost faster than you can spend it!
My mind racing at the unexpected development, I dismissed the alert from my vision and focused my attention back towards Carver’s forces, trying to decide where our arrival would do the most harm.
The right side looks the weakest between the two, I noted as we approached, seeing that the majority of the Adventurers clustered by the Runestone had their attention focused in that direction, with several of their members moving to relieve overwhelmed sections of the line. If we can hit them hard enough, we can force them straight off the edge and into the Æther, then continue rolling forward until we reach Carver. If the other half moves to attack us, then they’ll end up sandwiched between us and the spirits.
“They’ve seen us!” Constantine warned with a shout, prompting me to swing my attention back towards the center pocket where the reserve had been standing, seeing several of the Adventurers pointing in our direction while trying to raise the alarm.
“Far too late!” I shouted back, feeling a surge of vengeful glee shoot through me as I saw the wave of panic sweep through all of the Adventurers ahead of us, their heads snapping towards us in disbelief.
In their eyes, we’d already been a defeated force, fallen prey to Ignis’s plan to have The Beast kill us and put us out of the fight. Seeing us suddenly appear in near point-blank range with the majority of our numbers intact, was something that none of them expected, causing many of them to freeze in surprise.
Giving us the extra few seconds we needed to slam into their ranks.
Shouting at the top of my lungs as we rudely interrupted the battle in progress, I fixated my attention on a stunned Adventurer before me, the mace in his hand coming up far too slowly to prevent a crackling Splinter from slicing a line across his throat. Feeling the blade grate across bone as I completed my opening swing, I shouldered the man out of my way and continued onwards, seeking to use my momentum to drive as deep as I could into the invader’s ranks before I was forced to stop.
Shoving my way forward, I didn’t hesitate to make full use of the area’s regenerative effect on my mana pool, channeling Shocking Touch with every swing I took while simultaneously conjuring Flame Daggers in my offhand and putting them to deadly use. Melting from under our brutal onslaught, we carved a swath through the invaders, managing to make it almost halfway across the outcropping and towards Carver, before we met the first signs of resistance.
“YOU!” The hate-filled word brought me back into the moment as Splinter’s edge slammed down on a metal shield’s edge, leaving me staring into a dwarven face that I instantly recognized from what felt like a lifetime ago. “You’re not supposed to be here!”
“That’s funny,” I replied in a savage tone as I sent a surge of electricity through the shield and into the dwarf holding it. “I happen to feel the same way!”
“You should have known this was coming!” Phillion barked, barely twitching from my magic as he retaliated with his own attack. “We were never going to lie down after what you did to our guild!”
“Maybe you damn well should have!” I retorted as I caught his sword on Splinter’s edge and trapped it, channeling yet another Shocking Touch through the metallic item. Visibly wincing from the attack this time, the dwarf tried to take a step backward in an attempt to disengage his weapon from mine, only to have Amaranth dart in from beside me and sink his teeth into his leg.
“Aaah!” Phillion yelped in pain a second before he lost his balance and fell awkwardly to the ground, giving me the opening I needed to thrust Splinter deep into his stomach and then step past him, trusting that my familiar would finish the job.
Hearing a pained scream ring out from behind me as I moved, I thrust Splinter into the side of Adventurer facing away from me, his attention still focused on the spirits climbing up the outcropping’s side. Feeling his body go stiff from the pain, I wasted no time pulling my weapon free, then kicked his legs out from under him, sending him tumbling off the edge and into the tainted Æther below.
Finished with the dwarf that I had left behind, I saw Amaranth bound into view as he leaped past me, followed closely behind by Aldwin, Constantine and Freya.
“We have to keep moving!” the Bann shouted as he caught an Adventurer’s attack on his shield, then retaliated with a chop of his axe into their shoulder that sent them crashing to the ground. “They’re starting to rally their forces! We need to force them back on their heels while we still can!”
“I’m with you!” I shouted back at the knight as I rushed forward to join the group, finding myself a spot on the far right in our line of battle, right against the edge of the outcropping. Pushing forward with deadly purpose, the five of us scythed through a wave of scrambling Adventurers along with several spirits that had managed to finish the climb up the outcropping’s side, giving us a new threat to worry about.
I guess that was inevitable at some point, I thought as I swept Splinter through a Shade before me, its body vanishing in a burst of energy. But all that matters right now is stopping Carver and whatever he’s trying to do. Once he’s out of the way, we can deal with the spirits afterward.
Our attack so far had devastated nearly the entirety of the invaders right flank, allowing the spirits that they’d been keeping at bay to finish their climb up the rock face and join the battle. A quick glance towards the other flank showed me a similar scene in the making as our mages and ranged attackers took advantage of the invaders positioning, focusing their attacks to hit the opposite line of Adventurers from
behind without fear of reprisal, lest they turn their attention away from the spirits. In what seemed like an instant, the balance that Carver’s force had achieved in keeping the spirits at bay had been lost, and panic was beginning to spread amongst them as fractures in their lines started to appear.
Continuing to press forward with the others, I thrust Splinter through an Adventurer’s guard and stabbed the tip deep into his shoulder, discharging a Shocking Touch through his body and then followed up with a burning dagger thrust sharply upwards and under his ribs. Shoving the falling body to the side, I made to keep pressing onwards, only to hear a startled shout from Freya.
“Shit! Reinforcements from the left!” Her voice rang out from down the line, prompting my head to instinctively snap in its direction as our line suddenly shifted to adjust.
Only to see a brightly glowing sword heading straight towards my face.
Shouting in surprise at the attack, I reflexively swept Splinter upward before me, feeling the Æthertouched blade knock the attack out of the way, which was then immediately followed by a surge of electricity shooting down my arm and into my body. Grimacing from the unexpected pain, I finished twisting in the direction of the attacker and felt my heart skip a beat as I found myself staring into a face that I’d never expected to see again, let alone here of all places.
“Lyrian!” The man’s voice sliced effortlessly through the combined crash of battle and spirits’ chant as he sliced out with another attack, taking advantage of my momentary surprise and carving a line across my arm. “I’m so happy you were able to make it here in time! After Carver told me what he had planned for you…I had my doubts you’d even show up at all!”
“Mozter!” I snarled with sudden rage as I pushed past the unexpected revelation and retaliated with my own attack. “What the hell are you doing here?!”
“Isn’t it obvious, Lyrian?!” the dark elf shouted in reply, displaying a savage grin on his face as he caught Splinter on his sword and knocked it out of the way. “I’m here for round two! You didn’t think that just because you managed to get me and my group exiled, that I wouldn’t try and take a second shot at you if I had the chance?”