by Seth Ring
Though Heidi was reluctant, she finally accepted the potion after Thorn bought it from Alph and gave it to Akira to deliver, using the excuse that he was her employer and she had to follow his arrangements for fights.
“You try to give something to someone…” Alph grumbled as he put the gold away. “Enough delaying, let’s get moving.”
“Sure. Heidi, you’ll be taking point as our tank. I’ll be DPS and will help offtank if needed. Alph, how are your ranged attacks?”
His eyes gleaming, Alph spread his hands, half a dozen vials glinting from between his fingers. Though he could not identify the various colored liquids that bubbled gently in them, they gave Thorn a subtle sense of danger.
“Alright, good. Akira will be our support.”
“Oh, I thought she was just a vanity pet.”
[You’re a vanity pet! I’m the best Ailuridae! And you smell!]
Watching as Akira hissed at him, Alph chuckled and held his hands up. The small furry creature had exhibited signs of intelligence before, but he had not expected her to be able to understand his words. Though he had no idea what she was saying, he had no doubt it was colorful from the odd look on Thorn’s face. Crouching, Heidi stroked Akira’s fur, helping calm her down. Thorn smiled and stepped forward, redirecting the conversation.
“You said our path is through those doors but they are trapped? What is the range of the attack? Can I break the doors from a distance?”
“That might work. Radius of the attack is twelve feet with an average temperature of about 2,600 degrees. Enough to melt the metal right off your body. It’s a flash attack so as long as we are not in the radius we should should be fine. But there will be enemies on the other side of the door so we’ll need to proceed with caution.”
“Sounds good. Heidi, I’m going to open the doors. Once the dragonflame trap clears, you’re up. Alph and I will support you from back here. Let me know when you are ready.”
Heidi took a deep breath and straightened her armor. She summoned her sword and shield and faced the door. A quick tilt of her head and she swallowed the pearlescent grey potion that Alph had given her. Blue, yellow, white, and red light swirled around her as the liquid slipped down her throat. Waving her hand, the vial disappeared into her inventory and her helmet appeared in its place. Heidi looked over her shoulder as she put her helmet on, giving Thorn a nod.
Thorn double checked that they were all out of range of the trap and did a quick check to make sure all his gear was in place. A glance revealed that Alph was twirling a potion like a prestidigitator, ready to go. Reaching down, Thorn picked up a large chunk of one of the fallen pillars, tossing it up and down to settle it comfortably in his hand.
[Akira, make sure you keep Heidi up.]
[Yes, master, I’ve got it.]
Feeling that familiar excitement building in his chest, Thorn drew his hand back and launched the chunk of stone at the thin double doors in front of the group. Alph and Heidi saw a greyish blur shoot forward, smashing through the door so fast that it ripped a neat hole in the doors.
*BANG*
*WHOOSH*
The impact of the pillar against the doors was loud, but the sound that came after it set everyone on edge. Crimson flames with a deep purple tint rolled from the top of the door, devouring air and stone alike as it poured toward the ground. The jets of flame stopped only a few feet from the ground but the intense heat cracked the stone into pieces. Waves of heat buffeted against Heidi, causing her to instantly break out in a sweat.
[Inferno Shield]
Lifting her shield, she activated one of her abilities, causing it to flash with red light. The red glow on her shield absorbed the intense waves of heat, pulling the flame toward her and sending it radiating out to the side with such intensity that the floor on her right and left burst into flame as the heat ate through the stone. Her shield superheated, drawing more of the dragonflame in every second. The moments ticked by until the flame jets began to sputter and die down. Sweat poured from Heidi’s body, but the potion did its work well, preventing her from burning up under her own ability. Supremely focused, she waited for the jets to stop, peering through the smoke wafting up from the scorched stone.
Past the melted rubble that had been the two thin doors she could see golems striding toward the entrance. Their footfalls echoed through the tomb, making it impossible for her to miss their location. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Thorn’s arbalest coming up, so she subtly adjusted her stance toward the two that were closest.
[Burning Like A Flame]
The glow on Heidi’s shield flickered and her form burst forward, like a flame jumping to a new location. As soon as she moved Thorn pulled the trigger of his arbalest, sending a bolt flying toward one of the golems who was toward the back of the group, and Alph launched a glass vial toward another.
Heidi passed through the ruined door frame, her shield sucking up all of the remaining heat as she flashed forward. The red glow brightened and her charge sped up, smashing into the golem who was walking at the front of the advancing enemies.
*BOOOM*
The impact of the burning shield against the golem’s stone body shook the tomb, sending dust drifting from the ceiling. Unbelievably hot, the shield superheated the golem’s body as soon as they touched, causing the stone to expand explosively, peppering the room in golem fragments.
Taking two steps back from the force of the impact, Heidi stabilized herself as the arbalest bolt ripped by her head, knocking one of the golems on its back. Following right after it, a vial of greenish white liquid flew through the air, landing on another golem’s leg. Shattering open against the golem’s stone body, the liquid immediately turned into a thick, viscous foam-like substance, growing until it covered both of the golem’s feet, fixing them to the ground. Trying to step, the golem tumbled forward, getting more of its body stuck to the floor.
[Ride The Waves]
Seeing a golem raising its heavy fist, Heidi activated one of her water stances, her body taking on a loose, fluid quality. As the fist descended, she slipped forward half a step, lifting her shield to intercept the blow. At the same moment she stabbed her sword to the side, trying to slip it between the cracks in another golem’s body. The incoming fist hit her shield, but instead of pushing it down a last second adjustment caused it to slide harmlessly to the side, crushing the flagstones as it landed on the ground.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
“Duck!”
Thorn’s deep voice boomed from the doorway that Heidi had rushed through and she immediately squatted down while sliding to the side to defuse some of the golem fist’s impact. Thorn’s tetsubo rushed over her head and smashed into the golem’s chest sending cracks radiating through it. Launched from its feet by the force of the blow, the golem’s feet clipped its fallen companion who had been trapped by Alph’s potion. Spinning in the air, it smashed into the wall of the tomb, exploding into pieces.
[Dancing Through The Clouds]
Rising from her crouch, Heidi got smoothly to her feet, continuing to move sideways and drawing the remaining three golems’ attention away from Thorn who stomped forward to crush the golem who was struggling on the ground. After breaking its chest with two well placed strikes, Thorn turned his attention to where Heidi was slipping in and out of the golems’ striking range, forcing them to chase after her.
With Heidi keeping their attention while Thorn smashed them one by one, it did not take long for the two of them to clean up the remaining golems. After the last golem collapsed to the ground in a shower of gravel, Thorn took off his helmet and gave Heidi an appraising look.
“Well done. I knew you were skilled, but I did not realize you were this good. Are you sure you are charging enough?”
“Thanks. Standard rate for tanks is ten gold a day. At twenty five I’m already way over market value.”
“No! Not good!”
Startled, Thorn and Heidi looked over at Alph who was crouched over the scattered r
emains of one of the golems. The wild-haired alchemist suddenly turned his head to glare at Thorn with bloodshot eyes, startling him so much the Titan retreated a step.
“You completely destroyed the command crystals! This is terrible. That is six potions that were wasted! Don’t you know how to fight?”
Thorn shared a glance with Heidi who just shrugged and looked away as if she wasn’t involved.
“Come here, come here.” Alph impatiently waved Thorn over to one of the piles of stone on the ground. “If you want to stop their mobility, crush their legs. If you are worried about attacks, take care of their arms. If you want to stop them for good, the heads got to go. But you just crushed their chests. Don’t you know that is the only valuable part of these dumb rock heads? Argh, noobs.”
After venting his frustration, Alph seemed slightly drained. Patting Thorn on the shoulder listlessly, he waved off Thorn’s apology and wandered toward the opposite side of the room where there was another doorway.
Taking a moment, Thorn looked around the room they had entered, noticing six more coffins just like the ones that he had found in the previous room. This time, there were three on each side, each with a slightly different set of carvings. Just like the first caskets, these had the same strip running down them to meet the line that came from the other room.
“Thorn, we’re on a clock.” Alph hurried him along, so Thorn put his helmet back on and picked up Akira, following Alph and Heidi out of the room and into another winding hallway. Over the course of the next few hours they fought a few more batches of golems, and Thorn was careful to leave their cores intact for Alph to harvest.
After the fourth fight, Alph stopped and took a deep breath, putting away his glowing potions and blowing out his lantern. Instantly the group was plunged into darkness. It was so dark that Thorn could not see more than a foot in front of his face. Alph tugged on Thorn and Heidi’s arms, leading them to a broken hole in the wall of the tunnel. Peeking his head out, Thorn saw a deep pool of darkness stretching out as far as his eyes could see. As his eyes grew more accustomed to the darkness he realized that he was looking at a large naturally-formed cavern dotted with a few dim pools of light.
Not quite sure what he was seeing, Thorn could barely make out Alph who held up his finger for Thorn to wait and then tapped his wrist. Quietly, they waited in the dark. As Thorn’s eyes grew accustomed to the low levels of light, he could see a nearly endless number of rocks spread out on the floor of the cavern.
*crack*
A few tense minutes had passed when Thorn’s ears picked up a faint cracking sound. Turning his head to try and see what happened, he heard Alph’s whisper from where the alchemist had crouched.
“Watch your eyes, I’m lighting it up.”
Standing up, Alph took three running steps and launched a handful of potions as hard as he could. The potions spread out, bright light spilling from them as trails of liquid were left splattered across the floor. Alph stuffed two large potions into Thorn’s hands and pointed at the ceiling.
“Throw them up there please!”
Pulling his arm back, Thorn hurled the two potions at the ceiling of the cavern like Alph directed. Spinning through the air, the potions exploded on impact, covering the roof of the cavern in brightly shining foam that grew quickly.
“Mix of my light potion and the sticky foam. I call it [Sticky Light],” Alph said to Akira, who was looking on with interest.
Feeling as if she was impressed with his creation, Alph reached up and held out another of the [Sticky Light] potions. Akira grabbed it happily and stuffed it into her pouch, taking out a pastry to make it fit. About to eat the pastry, she looked down at her pouch and then ran down Thorn’s arm to offer it to Alph who took it happily.
Ignoring the exchange happening on his shoulder, Thorn’s eyes scanned the now bright cavern, drawing in a sharp breath. What he had thought were rocks covering the cavern were actually piles of leathery eggs that covered every possible inch of the floor. The majority of the eggs were small and stacked in little piles around eggs that were about twice the size of the small eggs.
Lying around the cavern were large eggs that were three or four times the size of the medium sized eggs. The large eggs had a rougher looking skin, giving the impression of leather armor plates.
“Incoming!” Heidi’s voice snapped Thorn out of his distracted state.
Looking up, he saw a few strange looking creatures scuttling toward him on five spindly legs like spiders. Their five legs spread from their center body which had a claw reaching down from the bottom and a claw that rose from the top. Each of their legs ended in a three-pronged claw that fit neatly around the small eggs, allowing them to traverse the cavern swiftly.
“What on earth…” Heidi paled at the sight of the strange-looking creatures rushing toward them. Despite her obvious fear, she still stepped forward, her shield held in front of her.
“Those are thin-legged scuttlers. I don’t actually remember their names, so that is what I call them.” As he spoke, Alph’s hands were blurring as he mixed a potion from the ingredients in his backpack. “But they’re not the real problem.”
*crack* *crack* *crack-crack-crack*
“Those are the real problem,” Alph commented without looking up. “Block them while I finish this potion up. It’ll take me a moment because I have to make it extra strong.”
As the small eggs cracked open, ugly larva-like creatures squirmed out of them. Each wiggling creature looked like it had emerged directly out of a horror movie, with a long tapered tube body and two small arms with claws on the end. The larger end of the tube flared slightly, revealing row after row of hooked teeth while the smaller end curved up into the air, twisting around as if it was tasting the air.
“I really hope that potion can deal with all of these things…” Thorn’s face twisted in disgust.
“If you keep the thin leg thingies from coming over here.”
“You got it.”
Thorn’s arbalest appeared in his hand and he immediately fired a bolt at the closest five-legged creature, hitting it where the legs joined the main body, blasting it into pieces. Quickly reloading, he fired again, the bolt ripping through the air and stabbing through the body of another five-legged creature and carrying it through the air. The bolt slammed into one of the large eggs and bounced off, leaving a small mark on the leather plates.
Heidi stood in front of Thorn, holding her shield up as Thorn fired his arbalest above her head. The snap of the string echoed off of her helmet over and over as Thorn fired and reloaded his siege crossbow.
“Uh oh. Um, I think there are more of them.” Heidi pointed to the back of the cavern where there was a dark spot on the wall.
As Thorn watched, more of the five-legged creatures poured out of the dark spot. First ten, then thirty, then sixty, they rushed out, climbing over each other and along the wall in their rush to attack.
[Earthen Spear Wall]
Heidi stepped forward, bringing her shield down heavily on the ground. A wave of energy flowed from her shield into the earth, sending a wall of stone spikes radiating out in a fan shape. The razor sharp spikes cut into the soft bodies of the larva creatures that had been pulling themselves over to where Heidi and her companions stood.
Stepping back, she sent a worried glance back at Alph, who was rapidly stirring a foul-smelling concoction. Firing over her head, Thorn picked off the last of the five legged creatures that was close by and watched as the swarm from the hole in the back of the cavern continued to grow.
“Alph, you better pick it up otherwise we’re going to get buried here. I don’t have nearly enough bolts.”
“Oh, my. Well, let’s hope this works.” Alph looked at the oncoming horde and chuckled uneasily. Pulling Thorn and Heidi out of the cavern, he lifted the pot of foul-smelling liquid and pointed to the [Sticky Light] spread across the ceiling. “Can you hit that with this? If not, we can prime it with another potion.”
“How a
ccurate do I have to be?”
“Not overly.”
“Sure, I can give it a shot.”
“Well make it count, because otherwise we’re all dead.”
Taking the pot from Alph, Thorn made sure that the lid was on tightly and stepped back into the cavern. Drawing his arm back, he took one big step forward and let it fly. Feeling good about his throw, he rushed back out of the cavern.
Holding a potion in each hand, Alph poured out two lines of liquid across the entrance to the cavern and then threw the potions inside. Grabbing Thorn, he pulled him back to where Heidi was standing as the whole area filled with dense foam. Within a few seconds the block of foam hardened to the consistency of hard packed dirt. Patting it, Alph grinned at Thorn.