by A F Kay
As they entered the cave, Hamma triggered her Light Guardian ability, and the column of white light lit the surroundings. The guardian wouldn’t heal the group, but would heal Hamma, who would keep them all alive.
Ruwen entered the tunnel at the rear of the cave and spoke in Chat. Xavier follows me, then Hamma, and Sift guards the rear. Stay close in case they collapse the tunnel.
The map displayed the area for five hundred feet. Not only had the enemy expanded the size of a natural cavern below, but they’d also dug a tunnel off it, headed straight down and out of sight.
Even though Ruwen couldn’t smell it through his scarf or the Fresh Air spell, he knew Lylan had encountered a toxic gas down here. He triggered Analyze.
Target: Ether Gas
Type: Resource
Components: Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen
Health (Air%): Intoxication (1%-4%), Unconsciousness (6%-12%), Death (>20%)
Alchemy: Pain Blocker, Drug, Flammable (requires 3% Oxygen)
Uses: Pain Management, Explosives, Fire, Enjoyment
Lylan remained unconscious, and her Health pool hadn’t dropped.
Rami, can you explain this?
It’s to hold prisoners.
They’re using alchemy instead of magic, Ruwen said in sudden understanding. That is brilliant.
It leaves their Mages free to fight, not keep prisoners in a coma.
That isn’t good for us.
No. And you have nothing like this.
I know. We either must kill them so fast they’re all stuck in queue, or we need to take out their revival baths. Keeping prisoners is beyond our capabilities.
The tunnel guards Lylan had seen earlier had disappeared, and Ruwen strode down the passageway. Naktos had found an incredibly efficient way to remove soldiers from battle. Countries had won wars simply because they had more revival resources than their enemy and could quickly revive their dead soldiers. Killing your enemy only put them in a queue for rebirth, and you’d face them again within the week.
Breaking the revival sequence was a critical step in victory, and Ruwen had just discovered part of the enemy’s plan. The temperature dropped the further they walked, and he felt the air’s moisture through his hood’s eye-slit. All the water in the air would make an explosion impossible. He wouldn’t be able to duplicate his trick from the underground temple by the oil lake.
No resistance is suspicious, Hamma said in Chat. It’s like they want us to come down.
Did you feel that? Sift asked.
Ruwen had felt the distant vibration, and Stone Echo explained what had happened. He stopped and faced his group. They just collapsed the entrance.
The walls shook around them as a much closer collapse occurred. Ruwen strode forward and moved around the circular bend. Stone Echo confirmed what he saw. Stone and dirt filled the passage completely.
We are trapped, Sift said.
No, just delayed, Ruwen responded.
Ruwen channeled fifty Energy per second into Dig and opened his Void Band into a seven-foot circle, which consumed another thirty-seven Energy every second. Chaff and Fresh Air used the last two points of his Energy Regen.
The collapsed dirt and rock were loosely packed, and the maxed-out Dig took huge chunks of the blockage every second. Fifteen seconds later, Ruwen raised a section of dirt and stone and funneled it down into his Void Band. Instead of sliding silently into the black hole, however, the rocks bounced off the Void Band and buried him up to the waist.
“You missed,” Xavier said.
Sift stepped up next to Ruwen, his face full of worry. “What’s wrong.”
“I’m not sure,” Ruwen responded. “Give me a second.” He knew Sift’s worry centered on the delay to reach Lylan, not Ruwen’s Health, but he didn’t hold it against his friend.
Ruwen stopped channeling Dig and checked his Inventory.
Inventory: 1,000/1,000
Ruwen frowned at the value. How could his Inventory be full? With one glance, he understood the problem. The dirt consumed one Inventory slot, but the rocks, instead of stacking, had for the most part each taken their own position. A few were close enough in size that they stacked, but most had not.
Ruwen wrenched his left arm free from the rock pile. “Everyone stand to the side. I have to unload.”
On the way to the camping site with Big D, Bliz had explained to Ruwen how to unload his Inventory quickly and had stressed the need for a delay when unloading large quantities. Time was critical, and he didn’t want to be inefficient.
Rami, I have a challenge for you, Ruwen said.
Is that your new way to ask for help?
I just know which of our brains thinks faster.
Flattery now? You must be desperate.
Ruwen smiled, his Overseer’s Cowl keeping it hidden from Sift, who looked like he might start digging by hand. I can dump everything in a slot, but I need to pause and move before continuing so I don’t bury myself. I have over nine hundred slots to empty, and even if I could manage two a second, that’s almost eight minutes.
Sift will have choked you to death by then.
Exactly. Using Energy to launch the rocks instead means I don’t have to move, but forces me to access every rock individually, which increases the number of things I need to do by thousands. Which would take even longer.
And you want me to do what exactly?
Impress me with how many things you can do a second.
I can do thousands of things a second, but I’m scared I might kill you if my calculations are wrong. Your Energy pool and Regen are fixed, but the number of rocks and their different sizes makes the math incredibly difficult.
I know someone good at math. Lir, can you hear me?
Yes, Architect Starfield.
I’m synching to the temple, correct? You can see what my Void Band contains?
Your revival backup is current, but I may not view details of a backup without first gaining permission from—
I give you permission to view my details.
Confirmed.
With my current Energy pool, and Ruwen paused and wondered how much of a buffer to give himself. He needed to keep the Void Band open and maybe reserve a little Energy just in case Lir’s math was bad. He continued, With fifty Energy per second Regen, I want to empty my Void Band of all the rocks past slot number ninety-two. Assume the rocks have a density of granite and an exit velocity of three hundred feet per second, at a pace of one thousand actions a second. I don’t know the calculation for Energy to acceleration, so you probably need to test fire a few rocks first. Coordinate with Rami.
Point the Void Band down the tunnel, Rami said. I’m communicating with Lir now.
Ruwen pointed his left arm down the tunnel, his Void Band open in a five-foot circle costing him twenty-five Energy per second. A moment later, a four-foot boulder plopped out and rolled down the rocks that still surrounded him.
“Seriously?” Sift asked.
Hamma grimaced, and the buzzing sound of Xavier's laughter echoed in the tunnel. Another rock exited Ruwen’s Void Band, this one landing five feet away.
“Quit messing around,” Sift said.
“We’re calibrating,” Ruwen said. “We just need some data to fine tune the calculations.”
“We?” Xavier asked.
A rock the size of Ruwen’s fist shot down the tunnel, smashing into the wall where it turned.
Rami spoke to Lir. Great job, Lir. I’m shocked you completed the calculations this quickly.
It is a pleasure, Rami.
You ready? Rami asked Ruwen. It’s showtime.
Before Ruwen could respond, a stream of rocks launched from his Void Band and his Energy bar dropped in giant chunks. Starting at one thousand nine hundred fifty-six, six seconds later the Energy bar blinked an angry red as it finally stopped dropping at one hundred sixteen.
Ruwen’s Inventory no longer contained any rocks, and he stared at the result. The most distant rocks on the tunnel floor were th
e smallest, gaining in size as they approached Ruwen. Like a curve on a graph, the rocks were arranged in perfect symmetry.
Xavier floated down the line and back, stopping in front of Ruwen. “I did not think you capable of such proportion.”
Ruwen sighed. “I’m not. Rami did it.”
Rami poked her head out from behind Ruwen’s ear, and Xavier nodded his head at her. “The ratios are perfect. Well executed, Rami.”
Rami vibrated and hid back behind Ruwen’s hair. He could feel her pleasure like a burning coal behind his ear.
Thank you, we had help, Rami said in Chat.
Using their new process, it took twelve minutes to clear the blockage. In the end, Ruwen kept one thousand five hundred cubic feet of dirt, thirty-seven head sized boulders, and two thousand one hundred ninety-three thumbnail-sized pebbles. In addition, he kept three eight-foot boulders. He had no idea what to do with any of it, but he had the Inventory space, so he kept it.
A minute later the cavern came into view, but the four guards Lylan had seen had disappeared. Moisture filled the air like fog and made it hard to see past twenty-five feet. Survey and Stone Echo painted Ruwen’s vison with yellow lines, giving him a clear view of what they faced.
There are two other exits from this cavern, Ruwen said in Chat. Updating the map now.
Lylan is close, Sift said, stepping forward.
Ruwen reached out and stopped Sift. Let’s give my abilities a few seconds to find everyone. She’s not going anywhere. I’ll update the map with the enemies, and then we stay in formation.
Sift nodded.
The hole in middle of the cavern went straight down, disappearing past Ruwen’s five-hundred-foot range. His map had marked it as full of water. Lylan lay motionless on the map, two hundred feet away. All the guards had retreated to the far end of the cavern. Were they just letting them take Lylan without a fight?
Ruwen had destroyed the guards out front. If they didn’t have anyone stronger to defend this place, it made sense to retreat.
Lylan’s vitals are stable, Hamma said.
Let’s go, Ruwen said, and moved toward Lylan.
A hundred feet from Lylan, five red dots appeared on Ruwen’s map, coming up the deep hole in the cavern’s center. A moment later, ten guards separated from the far group and headed toward the hole, as if to meet the newcomers.
Ruwen, confident Survey and Stone Echo would have caught anyone hiding by now, sped things up, and sprinted toward Lylan. Company arriving from below.
They reached Lylan as the two enemy groups met by the hole, hidden in the mist and only visible on Ruwen’s map.
Lylan lay on the ground, still dressed in her armor, which was soaked from all the moisture in the air. Her skin looked blue, and she no longer wore her Scarf of Freshness.
If I heal her, she’ll just pass out again, Hamma said.
Ruwen removed his Scarf of Freshness and handed it to Hamma. Put this on her. I have a spell keeping me safe.
Sift kneeled next to Lylan and held her head in his lap. Hamma handed him the scarf, and he quickly put it on her. Ruwen saw Lylan’s weapons piled against the wall and retrieved them. By the time he returned, Lylan had sat up.
Can you move? Ruwen asked in Chat. We have company inbound.
Sift helped Lylan to her feet and Ruwen handed Sift her gear. As Sift helped Lylan rearm, Ruwen spoke. Sift lead us to the exit on this side. Hamma stay near Lylan. Xavier you follow the women. I’ll bring up the rear. Go.
It only took a few seconds to see the enemy group would overtake them. Ruwen slowed. Keep going. I’m going to delay them.
We shouldn’t split up, Hamma said. It’s too dangerous.
You saw what I did at the cave entrance, Ruwen said. I’m in no danger here.
Ruwen didn’t know that for sure, but wanted to calm Hamma’s fears.
I don’t like this, Hamma said.
I’ll be right behind you, Ruwen assured her.
As Hamma and her Light Guardian faded into the mist, it grew darker. Ruwen toggled on Detect Temperature but didn’t activate Glow as he didn’t want to make himself a target. Ten seconds later, four orbs appeared in the fog, like moons on a cloudy night.
The ten Fighters that had hurried to the hole, now formed a circle around the four glowing followers of the god Haffa. Ruwen had seen pictures of sea people but had never met any. The group stopped twenty feet away.
The sea peoples’ faces were oblong, and instead of hair, stinging tentacles swayed as if moved by an invisible tide. Their black eyes were too big, and their circular lipless mouths couldn’t hide their razor-sharp teeth. Their armor looked like clumps of seaweed, which covered their two tentacle like legs.
The person all fourteen of them guarded stood in the middle. She was young, maybe fifty, and barely over five feet tall. She looked relaxed, and if Ruwen had to guess, irritated. Her black hair didn’t reach her shoulders, and he doubted she weighed a hundred pounds. The methane sacks around her neck had wings tattooed on them.
She pointed at Ruwen with a flat hand, as if to chop him in two, and to his shock, a familiar one-foot black circle appeared from her palm. For the first time, he’d met an enemy with a Void Band.
As Ruwen processed what this meant, the girl raised her other hand, holding it behind the first.
From the rear palm, a matching black circle appeared.
The small woman, protected by two rings of guards, didn’t have a single Void Band.
She wielded two.
Chapter 59
Ruwen’s Perception showed him what he faced.
Name: Stone Carver
Deity: Naktos
Class Type: Mage
Level: 21
Health: 264
Mana: 733
Energy: 317
Spirit: 0
Armor Class: 112
A silver rod emerged from the Stone Carver’s front Void Band and hurtled toward him. Last Breath triggered, but his body had already reacted to the danger, twisting to the side. Without all his Step training, he never would have reacted in time.
The rod struck the stone wall behind Ruwen, disappearing from sight. A heartbeat later a small explosion caused the area to vibrate and Stone Echo displayed the now fractured wall behind him. That rod wasn’t meant for combat, but to weaken stone for tunneling.
Ruwen faced the Stone Carver again. He’d expected a spell from the Mage, not a physical attack. At this distance, he was confident he could dodge whatever she fired at him, but if he needed to get close, those projectiles would be a problem.
The Stone Carver tilted her head, as if surprised Ruwen had evaded her attack. The corner of her mouth turned upward, and another short rod flew out of her Void Band, but this time from the rear one. But the rod didn’t head for him, instead it entered the back of the Mage’s front Void Band.
A silver blur left the front Void Band, and even with Last Breath, Ruwen couldn’t react in time. He twisted his body, managing to avoid getting struck in the heart. But the pointed rod pierced his armor and struck his left lower ribcage. It shattered two of his ribs as it passed through his body before lodging against the back of his ribs.
Ruwen’s Health dropped by eighty-eight, and a second later the rod stuck in his body exploded.
The Gold Fortification saved Ruwen’s life. His organs and internal structures were all stronger than plate armor, not just his skin. But the explosion still caused three hundred thirteen damage. Thankfully, Last Breath kept the pain from his mind.
In a single attack, the young Stone Carver had knocked Ruwen’s Health from one thousand four hundred thirty-four to just over a thousand. Almost thirty percent of his Health gone in an instant.
And she had used the second Void Band to accelerate the projectile even faster, making it almost impossible to see.
What happened? Hamma asked. I’m coming back.
The Stone Carver lowered her arms, her face shocked and confused. She probably had expected Ruwen to be in a thousand
pieces right now.
Ruwen sprinted toward the second exit on the far wall and away from his party, hoping to draw the dangerous Mage away from his friends. No! Keep moving. I’m fine. He glanced at his map. Why aren’t you farther away?
Lylan is still recovering, and the water is slowing Xavier, Hamma said.
Ruwen swallowed his frustration. He would just need to buy them more time. In three seconds, he had run far enough that the fog hid him from sight. Stone Echo showed him the enemy group had all turned to follow him.
With a Health Regen rate of four per second, it would take one hundred seconds for Ruwen to heal. He considered casting his instant heal, Massage. He had maxed the spell out when fighting the Bone Sculptor.
The Warlord Banner buff Renew added thirty percent to healing received, making Massage tick for forty-two every second for thirty seconds. It cost one hundred fifty Mana and casting it now would waste two-thirds of the healing, so he decided to wait until he took more damage.
As Ruwen ran, he channeled twenty-five Energy into the level sixteen Commander spell Fallen Heroes. Since he only had one level in the spell, only one level twenty-three apparition appeared running next to him, a Heavy Walking Stick in its right hand. It looked identical to Ruwen, at least in the fog, and should fight with his non-magical abilities.
Ruwen slammed into a rock wall and his Health dropped by ten, shaking his body from the impact. In a blink, he stood in darkness and he activated Glow to see. A stone sphere encased him and his Fallen Hero. The Stone Carver must have an ability to sense location, along with a powerful encapsulate spell.
Channeling fifty Energy to Melt, Ruwen sank his hands into the wall, pulling down with all his strength. In seconds, he’d made a vertical hole that he and the Fallen Hero squeezed through. By the time they were out, however, the Stone Carver and her group had neared, although they still weren’t visible.
Maybe I should use the Sublime Centipede of Solace, Ruwen said to Rami. I could smash them all like I did the Elders.