The two days had come and gone, Jazmel stood as he watched Gelth, Mary, Patton and Gilmore leading the large force of the faction towards the gorge. They had agreed that they would lead them at a brisk run, it would allow the seekers to gain stats and also they would reach there around the same time.
Jazmel stood off to the side, with his elite team. Katie, Sadé who was followed by Corin. Who had suddenly become her shadow and the two women had suddenly created a silent agreement. Not too far but also not too close. Bannerman was there, prowling and itching to be moving, he had left his claw with Mary, and they were at the forefront of the vanguard, keeping track and showing the main forces the route to the gorge. Baek stood beside Jazmel and simply waited.
Mary led the faction forces at a brisk pace and Jazmel admired how quickly she had taken up the position of war commander. But he wasn’t going to fail on his end.
“Let’s go.” He said and literally broke off in a sprint, hurtling across the land, over the hills towards the gorge. Bannerman took point and loped, in his normal gait and led the way. Corin and Baek took to the skies, literally flying as if they were sightseeing and to Jazmel he supposed they were, Jazmel and Sadé were both strong enough to not need interference as much.
Sadé and Katie were riding Kazumi, who bounded across the hills and lands alongside Bannerman. Jazmel nudged Paldane who had fallen asleep around his neck again.
“When will you be big enough to carry me?” Jazmel asked and Paldane blew smoke from his nostrils onto Jazmel’s neck.
When you feed me stronger creatures.” Paldane countered and Jazmel rolled his eyes. He focused on sprinting and trying to not burn out before they reached their destination.
Two days.
It took them two full days of running and resting nonstop before they reached the gorge. Bannerman stopped them about a mile out and beckoned up the way.
“The gorge is right behind that hill, but they have loose patrols running around erratically. Any closer and we might bring them out.” Bannerman explained and the others stopped, to rest as quickly as they could and recover.
“Any guards on the hills?” Jazmel asked and Bannerman shrugged.
“I will look, I need to stretch my legs anyway.” Katie offered, she snuck off and Jazmel left her to it, she was stronger than the rest of them besides Corin and Baek.
“Something powerful resides beneath the ground.” Baek told them and everyone turned to listen to him.
“What is it?” Jazmel asked and Baek cocked his head, as if he was listening before he responded.
“My senses are being blocked. I cannot see beyond the wards.” He told Jazmel. In truth that was worrying, Baek was a master tier, very few things this low in the labyrinth could stop or thwart him and yet he was telling them he was being thwarted.
“What do we do?” Sadé asked, looking at Jazmel tenderly.
“We face it, we advance. Whatever comes from it, we face it together.” He remembered others were there and so he added. “As a faction.” Sadé looked at him, her eyes telling him things he and she had never spoken. Corin snorted and Sadé almost flew at her but instead glared daggers at her.
Jazmel heard the oncoming march of the faction now, they had beaten them by an hour. But now they were approaching and if he could hear them, so could the creatures and monsters in the gorge. He wasn’t wrong about that, out of nowhere Katie came hurtling and she hurried them to hide as best as they could. Five minutes behind her, a force of monsters. Almost one hundred strong rushed out towards the marching faction. Jazmel could see his forces now and he felt some emotion about how the formation of the faction stood stoic and ready.
“Form up!” Mary shouted and Jazmel watched as she raised her flag, the new tiered up version. She swung it about and then struck it to the ground. Wind stirred and the flag bearing the faction emblem showed up.
DING!
RALLYING CRY HAS BUFFED ALL MEMBERS OF THE FACTION!
MANA USAGE WILL COST 50% LESS FOR 300 SECONDS!!
…
Jazmel felt invigorated immediately and he looked around to see the others feeling the same.
“We should move now, that was their main force.” Bannerman pointed out and Jazmel took the lead now, rushing forward and round the bend, past the hill into the gorge.
Bannerman had been right; the creatures had dug out the hill and begun to excavate something below. It was crude and smaller mounds of mud and rock had been thrown to the side as the hill was gouged out. He almost felt bad. But he didn’t have time to wonder, because monsters that had remained in the gorge were now rushing at him.
A knoll rushed at Jazmel, leading the stragglers. It was bigger than the others maybe standing at six foot and instead of a wooden club, it was carrying a shodden halberd. Badly made and bloody from battle, but it would do damage still.
Lacerate!
He skipped passed and cut through the arm, the chest and then the neck of the knoll.
DING!
TIER III RAVENOUS KNOLL KILLED!
EXP ACCRUED!
He sighed; it was the evolved version of the bloody knoll as well as tier III. He finally had gained a sliver of exp, but it was barely anything. So the knoll was initially just a weak creature even in its evolved form.
The others dealt with the stragglers and then the true sounds of battle could be heard. It was arms clashing and then above the din, you could hear skills and spells being called out.
“We should go and see what they are digging.” Katie said beckoning to the hill, or what was left of it. Jazmel led the way and they delved into the ruins of the hill.
Badly shaped stairs descended lower and lower into the ground. Jazmel couldn’t tell how low it was, but the air grew thick when he finally stepped off the final step. His eyes were keen in the dark, using ambient Mana to support the lack of light around him. what opened up around him made his heartbeat. It thudded in his chest like a war drum, and he wondered where the rhythm came from and before he noticed it, Katie spoke.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
“Great, a ritual.” He looked to where she was pointing, and he saw fires roaring to light up the platform and crude ruins had been painted on the platform in a larger circle. He looked around and realised it wasn’t paint, it was blood.
“Jazmel.” Sadé whispered and he looked on the platform to where the creatures were and he realised it was a fountain, they were trying to unlock a fountain. But it was different to the ones he had been at before. No this one pulled at his heart, it felt dark, old but also evil. Something had been locked here, warded away from the world and the monsters seemed to be trying to free that very thing.
DING!
YOU HAVE FOUND WHAT THE CREATURES HAVE BEEN TRYING TO DO!
…
YOU WILL BE REWARDED!
…
THE CREATURES ARE TRYING TO AWAKEN A PRIMORDIAL!
…
STOP THEM OR RELEASE THE PRIMORDIAL!
REMEMBER ALL ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES!
REWARDS WILL DIFFER DEPENDING ON YOUR CHOICE!
Jazmel flicked the screen away after reading it.
“We are stopping it, I don’t know much about the primordial, but whatever is warded down here feels evil. It doesn’t feel like Mirete or the other fountains. We stop them here and now!” he said and with glee, his friends burst into action.
“Gladly!” Katie said and hurtling her chain into the ceiling she cast herself across and slammed her chains down into the knolls that were performing the ritual.
Chain maiden!
She called out and her chains fell wrought with Mana and smashed the bloody knolls into pasted pulp. Bannerman howled and rushed down the path that had been etched out of the wall, towards where a few knolls, their evolved form. We’re hurrying up, he tore through them, his claws finding purchase in their flesh and tearing free of it.
Frenzy!
He slaughtered them and darted down the path, Jazmel and Sadé follow; hot on his tail, he didn’t have one, but Jazmel laughed at the thought of it; rushing down to the platform. One of the knolls had climbed up to the fountain and had tried pull free the stopper, Katie had seen him and with her free hand, she threw out her chain. It smashed through the back of the skull of the knoll and killed it, but brain and gore fell into the fountain. It wasn’t water, thankfully but still a system notice popped up.
DING!
THE FOUNTAIN WAS NOT RELEASED WELL DONE!
BUT BLOOD WAS SPILT IN ITS BASIN!
BEWARE THE FOUNTAIN GUARDIAN!!
…
“What is a fountain guardian?” Katie asked and Jazmel then knew, they all had seen the same system notice.
“Something strong!” Jazmel yelled up to her and she dropped down to stand closer to him. Sadé and Bannerman had killed all the remaining knolls now and huddled in looking around for whatever was coming.
Thunder crown!
Sadé called out and Jazmel felt the energy change sharply to thunder Mana and appear above her head in a dazzling crown. She was forming thunder between her fingers, ready to strike. He simply needed to prepare, he had a sword and that was all he needed. Katie was holding her chain in her hand and waiting for whatever was coming for them.
DOOM!
The sound was loud and heavy, the guardian was big. This was the first time Jazmel had heard a fountain guardian’s approach before.
DOOM!
DOOM!
DOOM!
From around the fountain stepped a titan. Jazmel assumed it was for its size was huge. It stood taller than seven foot and war armour of such thickness Jazmel couldn’t tell if it was slender or muscular. It wore a helm so thick and rusted that Jazmel couldn’t even tell what metal it was. The same metal was covering all its body, where it wasn’t a thick leather gambeson was covering the rest. Jazmel wondered how it even moved and yet it was ambling towards him and his friends, menacingly. In one hand it clutched an axe, heavy and thick. The axe head almost as thick as his arm. In the other, it carried a sword, steel, and another metal, Jazmel wasn’t familiar with. But it wasn’t rusted like the armour it wore.
“Well aren’t you a big piece of iron!” Katie said, trying to lighten the mood and failing. It grew even worse when a second armoured titan stepped from behind the first and shambled towards the group.
This one armour in the same sort of way. Covering its body but its arms were free of the metallic armour, and the gambeson covered it instead in a long coat sort of design. It was carrying a four-point lance in one hand and a sword in the other, which was thin at the tip and grew wider along the length. It reminded Jazmel of an exceptionally large arrowhead.
Thunderfire!
Sadé struck first and to her surprise the titan simply took the brunt of her skill on its armour. Jazmel put away his swords, both Daishinkan which he had been wielding and Nozarashi which had been sheathed in his belt. Instead he put them in his ring and pulled Yoru No Tsubasa and slung it into his belt.
Frenzy!
Bannerman darted in, nimble and agile. He struck with his claws; aiming specifically at the gambeson and didn’t even manage to tear it. He darted free from both armoured giants’ reach. To ensure he remained safe.
Chain maiden!
Katie coiled her chains up into an iron fist and used it to strike the axe wielding monolith on its helm hitting the top of its head. It stumbled from her strike, and she whirled in the air, like an acrobat and swung it about, and rung the helm again but this time from the side. This brought about a groan a sound Jazmel winced at. The giant didn’t even sound human, and the groan had been sorrowful.
Great rumbling dragon!
He sent his Mana in the form of a dragon hurtling towards the giant. It was still reeling from Katie’s strike and wouldn’t have been able to defend itself. but the second rushed in, bumbling forward. It raised its lance and pierced through Jazmel’s Mana formed dragon.
Raven’s cleaving descent!
Lacerate!
Great rumbling dragon!
He sent skill after skill, after skill at the second guardian. Bombarding him, It managed to block the first two but the spectral dragon with its maw wide open tore into it. passing through its thick armour. The guardian wailed, crying out in pain. Jazmel darted forward, slashing with his sword, he struck at the back of ankles, but the boots were thick of iron and leather. He jumped up and tried to get at the hips, but iron covered those too. He settled for a second jump and when he was beside the head of the guardian. He slashed down.
Raven’s cleaving descent!
He slashed down at the helmet, his blade quickened with the skill. His sword was made of different metal, and he was hoping for a different effect, and he was right. The sword sailed through the rusted iron like it was bread. The helm fell away in pieces and beneath it was the tired face of a man, or a giant of a man. Realising that his helmet had fallen away, he snarled at Jazmel who had just landed back on the ground. He turned and reared his lance to run him through, but Bannerman was beside him already.
Wolf hunt!
He carved up the face of the man, both hands and claws turning the man’s face into bloody ribbons. The giant fell backwards from the onslaught and Bannerman howled a roar of victory. Bannerman shuddered and Jazmel was worried for a second but then realised it was system energy whirling around in his core.
DING!
TIER III ARMOURED GUARDIAN KILLED!
“I just hit 100 in all my stats!” Bannerman rumbled, his voice deep.
“Hold off if you can! We need to defeat the second guardian.” Jazmel exclaimed and behind gritted teeth, Bannerman offered a curt nod.
They turned and leapt into battle, to support Katie and Sadé. Who were fighting the first one and absolutely bludgeoning it with their skills. But it wasn’t falling, it swung its axe and missed them. it stabbed with its sword and Sadé spun out of the way.
Thunderfire!
She threw her skill at him and Jazmel watched as the giant simply rolled through. He leapt forward and catching the sword in a parry, he deflected it and countered. Spinning and riposting with his katana he slashed across the wrist. The mixed ores of his sword cut through the thick glove and struck the wrist a sore wound.
The armoured giant dropped his sword and using both hands began to swing his axe in a rage.
Howl!
Bannerman howled and the sound of melancholy channelled all around them. Battering the guardian, it cried out and Jazmel watched in surprise when it tore its own helmet off and held its head to stop the howl from affecting it.
“Katie!” Sadé shouted and Katie leapt high into the air, her little and lithe body almost flying before she swung her chain out and coiling them about one another. She slammed it down, her chains hitting the top of the bare head of the giant. He cried out as his skull broke and gore popped from his head. he fell to his knees and then rolled down onto his side, the platform edge beckoned and without warning. He fell off the side and down into the darkened abyss beneath them.
DING!
TIER III ARMOURED GIANT KILLED!