CHAPTER 248 – BUNKERING DOWN

“We’re not killing. We’re not doing a preemptive strike.” Tom yelled. “And we’re definitely not sacrificing people.”

“That’s fine if we’re not going to confront them.” Keikain said not raising his voice in the slightest. “But if we’re slaughtering them …”

“NO! And the contract won’t allow it, anyway.”

“I’m not so sure about that.”

“It won’t…” He insisted immediately. “The loophole… There are no loopholes you can use,” he corrected himself. He had almost slipped up and mentioned Sven, but had caught himself just in time. “While my quest is active, there will be no sacrificing of humans.”

“If they’re attacking other humans, then they’re enemies of humanity and that means they’re not humans…”

“No!” It felt like his blood was boiling and he knew his cheeks were red. “That line made no sense.”

“You’re the referee for the contract if you think they’re no longer humans…”

“You’re not listening. No, No, No…”

“And you stated they don’t count as human then…”

“No!” He shouted. “No, I refuse. I won’t ever give you permission to sacrifice humans.”

“Fine.” Keikain held up his hands and indicated that everyone should calm down. “I just hate wasting resources.”

“They’re not resources.” Tom spluttered.

Michael cleared his throat. “As Tom has repeatedly stated there will be no ritual sacrifice or pre-emptive strikes.”

“But that’s dumb.” Clare said. “Toni, Harry, Thor I can tell you agree with what I’m saying.”

“I’m not sure,” Harry volunteered. “But I’m more than a little uncomfortable with remaining passive and waiting until they attack us.”

“Don’t sit on the fence. Say what you mean?”

“To me, ruling it out makes no sense.” Harry defiantly met his and Michael’s gaze.

Michael sighed. “We’re not that type of people and we don’t need to overreact. The group looting option rather than individual protects us. It means that only one person has to approach the loot portal. That greatly reduces our risk profile, at least in this zone. Later on, who knows. But for now, we’re not worth robbing and if we spread out. Use the right spells.” He nodded at Tom. “Then I don’t think we’ll get attacked here.”

“We also need a plan for when they arrive,” Clare said quietly. “I was going to recommend lethal traps on the zone doors, which, at the very least would delay them. But if we’re not willing to do that?” She looked hopefully at Michael.

Michael slapped his hand against his forehead in mock frustration and disbelief. “No deadly traps.”

“Even if we send a note telling her not to come?” Clare asked with an angelic smile.

“Then if she walks into a trap it’s her fault, not ours?”

“No,” Michael said firmly. “That’s a step too far. Plus, it’ll warn them that we know.”

“And your plan of splitting us all up and having Everlyn and Tom spread out as a deliberate deterrence won’t?” Clare shook her head. “I’m surprised you don’t see it. The way we have to behave in order to mitigate our exposure means they’re going to know instantly that we’re onto them. They know about Tom’s skill, so when we’re acting suspiciously they’ll work it out.”

“Which is a positive.” Tom observed quietly. “Our avoiding them now will help them accept my skill is real and therefore that the dragon is, too.”

“Tom, listen to yourself. How can your still be considering cooperating with them?” Clare asked with a tone of disbelief. “You want to stay friends. That’s worse than waiting for them to betray us. The neutral competitor species will be more trustworthy as allies.”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. No one knows, but my gut is telling me that there is a pathway to win but it involves all of us. You remember that quest at the start. The one that needs humans to unified before it’s awarded.”

Everyone nodded.

“Either they die before the dragon or we recruit them…”

“The first one.” Clare interrupted. “We need to kill them. We can’t play around with people of our rank and expect to survive. We’re not on Earth anymore. This is a magic world. What was possible back on earth won’t work in Existentia where people have magical powers.”

Tom wanted to tear his hair out. She was very dogmatic when she got an idea in her head. “No Clare, that’s not on the table.”

“Says who? Harry is on my side.”

“Since when are we a democracy?” Michael asked quietly.

“Unless Tom starts enforcing the contract.” The female healer glared at her colleague. “I would say we have always been.”

“We’re not, but I’m not going to fight you over a label especially when you don’t have the numbers.”

“Are you sure, Michael? Because I have at least three votes. The great thing about democracy is the silent majority can win. Thor?”

The big man shook his head. “I’m abstaining.”

Clare laughed at that. “He agrees with me. Just doesn’t want to disappoint you guys by saying so. I think my status as a murderer lost me a vote.” She looked at Toni.

“No, not interested.”

Everyone turned to look at the air mage in surprise.

“It’s not black and white,” she continued carefully. “I see the advantages of the pre-emptive attack. But you don’t kill someone for planning an armed robbery.”

“Once we’re helpless, who knows what they’ll do.”

“Clare,” Toni said in frustration. “You’re resorting to bad faith arguments. They’re all, if this, and if that, and the risk is only there if they escalate. We don’t know if they will go further. In fact, from what Tom’s said it is just robbery. You don’t kill for that.”

“We’re not doing a pre-emptive attack.” Michael said firmly. “The majority of us are against it and even if that wasn’t case, a simple majority wouldn’t be enough. I think even one person opposing that course of action would derail the plan. You can’t force people to be accessories to murder. If everyone else wanted to do a pre-emptive strike, I would be leaving and I suspect I wouldn’t be the only one.”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Fine,” she huffed. “But getting back on track. If we’re not smoking them when they come through that door, the first thirty minutes are critical. Until everyone comes out of the puzzles, we’re going to be outnumbered.”

“There are ways to protect us.” Everlyn said quietly. “Proactive steps we can take. Some of them are simple. We will be moving our camp to the other side of the room. The current positioning doesn’t really make sense anyway and definitely doesn’t now. If a hostile force comes through, there will be what three people at most in the camp? Two sleeping and one on guard. If they’re this close to the gate.” She nodded to the now scary doors just metres away from them. “Then we risk capture or death before we can mount a defence.”

“We can move somewhere more defensible.” Clare agreed. “But what happens when people come out of the puzzles? Won’t they be picked off just as quickly?”

She looked exhausted by the argument and if a truly hostile force came through, then Tom knew she was a right. Selena’s squad was not at that level, however.

“They won’t know exactly where we will appear.” Everlyn answered. “And the puzzle area is quite large. Apart from our cloth strips there is no way to tell if someone is doing a challenge or even if it has been completed. The solution is simple. We’ll obscure the strips and expand the flag system. If we hang them in multiple spots, then when the trap comes through, whoever is on guard drops one. Hopefully, they don’t see it and realise what is being signalled. Then when we come out of the puzzle we check. If any of the other flags are tampered with or the warning flag is down, then you assume there are hostiles present and act accordingly.”

“What about Vidja?” Harry asked quietly.

“I can deal with that.” Thor said immediately.

“How?” Harry asked in surprise.

Thor looked embarrassed. “It was Puma’s idea. I think it was more for fun and because these puzzles inspired him. Before he left, we set up a simple cipher I can send a message like. ‘Selena bad. Will rob.’”

“How many letters?” Michael asked.

“It’s really basic. Just a trigger word and then you take the second letter of each line.”

“I get it.” The healer said. “Include it in the next message out. They need to know the risk.”

They chatted about extra details, but the broad brushes of the strategy didn’t change. The key was they would spread out to make an ambush harder and try to rush completion of the zone. Michael was sure sixty percent was the threshold that they would get a loot reward and that is what they would target. Hopefully, they would complete it ahead of the others arriving.

If they only earned the zone clearance prize once Selena was here, Tom would load up on all of his destructive potential and stand as a distance guard.

It would let Selena know that they knew about the plan, but it was the best they could do. If they were quick an elemental would be able to provide security for long enough for them all to get out.

Tom and the others shifted their camp location. They didn’t go directly opposite where the doors to other zones were situated. Instead, they chose a spot that was most of the way across the hollowed-out section, but a little to the side. There was a small cave that formed a cul-de-sac that was an excellent spot for the camp. Their bedrolls could be placed out of sight and the guard could be positioned to both watch those sleeping and the entrance doors.

When Selena’s team arrived, they would trigger the trap which had been enhanced by Harry to include fireworks. As well as the loud noise, there would be a light display that would be impossible to miss.

“Tom, are you taking first guard?” Michael asked.

He assessed his mental state. He had only been awake for three hours at the most but having two True Dreaming sessions in his previous sleep was inflicting their toll. “I’ll stand guard for two hours and probably at the end of that finish the golem.”

Keikain looked torn at that announcement. He knew there was a lot of value he could add to the process, but there was also the need to complete puzzles, and he and Michael due to their complexity were the only two who would attempt the inner four rings. Tom could only imagine how complicated those puzzles were going to be. Based on the fighting challenge he wouldn’t be surprised if the inner ones were impossible.

Tom decided to take pity on him. “Your contributions will boost the golem by a couple of percent at the most. Your time is probably better spent.” He waved towards the centre of the puzzle field.

The earth mage looked relieve and while sitting in the designated guard position with the flag next to him, Tom set about assembling the golem.

The opportunity to add intricate detail to the stone had passed. Now it was about structural stability and to make sure everything was placed correctly. Tom worked and focused on using as little magic as possible in his shaping. After two hours, the golem was nearly assembled, and he stood up and flicked the flag to the one asking for people to gather. Then he went back and finished the final two steps which was placing the tier 2 mana engine and sealing the stone after he had done so.

He was ready. Both of his two sources of mana, the new crafting ring and his crystal were charged and Keikain, Thor, Harry, Toni and Rahmat were gathered around him.

That was going to have to be enough.

Tom smiled at them. “I’m going to animate it now.”

He received a number of tentative nods and two thumbs up. They knew what was about to happen. They were here to act as a source of mana.

“How long do you think it will take?” Harry asked.

Tom shrugged. “Maybe ten minutes,” he lied. He intended to animate this properly in four days. He would attempt to upgrade a component and he didn’t want the Intelligence judging him harshly. If he rushed the animation, that was exactly what would happen. It was bad enough he didn’t have time to finish the intricate stonework.

The lump of rock he was about to animate looked a lot like a spider. The front legs were shinier than the others because of the different material they were made of. Overall, the construction appeared to be impractical. The legs were too thin. If the design utilised metal or chitin, they would have been adequate, but constructed of stone, they appeared to be too fragile for their intended function, especially with the mass of stone in the central area. Though that was deceptive as the Dust Storm Generator, while heavy was significantly less dense than the stone of the rest of the construction.

There was no head worked into the design. The eyes were studs spread around the torso. It was a golem, so there was no need for it to eat and he hadn’t bothered with smell or hearing. It would rely exclusively on vision and mana sense.

Harry had placed down several mana regeneration rituals, and they distributed themselves over them. They were paired to maximise the ritual’s efficiency and their mana generation. Rahmat was with him, Harry with Toni and Thor with Keikain to ensure the same proximate amount of the magic attribute was in each circle.

Splitting up him and the mages were obvious, but Tom guessed that Harry would have taken it a step further. Toni must have the lowest magic out of the three of them, so she got paired with Harry who had the highest amount out of the three non-mages. A similar calculation was probably carried out to assign Rahmat and Thor.

He began the ritual. The spell activated and he once more tailored the spell form to the construction. This time he went further than previous and pushed himself to delve down a little further to link the spell form with the physical rock at an intimate level, rather than anchoring it on the wire.

The concentration required was huge and the two mages plus Harry bent their experience to help. They used their own control to duplicate what he was doing in places Tom had yet to reach. Of course, when he went over what they had done he found mistakes, but it was helpful never the less.

They forged on channelling the mana regeneration of all six of them into the spell to support the detailed worth that he was doing, which was very mana intensive.

Finally, Tom completed the spell form, and the golem crackled into existence. The two mana engines meant it could operate almost continuously, but it didn’t move. Tom knew it would conserve its strength until the four mana crystals they had included were recharged. Theoretically, once that was done it could sustain combat for up to thirty minutes if it wasn’t using the dust storm spell, which would reduce the maximum time significantly.

“Did it work?” Toni asked.

“That wasn’t ten minutes.” Harry grumped. “It was closer to an hour.”

Tom ignored Harry. “Yes, it worked.” With a mental command, the golem scampered off right through the puzzles right over to the doors, climbed over them and settled down on the near vertical wall behind them.

“Scary.” Toni said in admiration. “And creepy how it is sitting there waiting.”

“What grade is it?” Keikain asked. “From what I saw I’m guessing fifteen.”

“Fourteen speed, but more like sixteen on the vitality and magic equivalents. Those ranks all go up at least a couple of points when I put an elemental into it.”

“What now?” Thor asked. “Do I go back to complete those annoying puzzles.”

“You can, but I need someone to guard me while I have a nap.” Tom said. He knew he only woken up five hours ago, but he was exhausted.

“I’m planning on having a sleep.” Rahmat volunteered, ruling himself out of guard duty.

They discussed the details while Tom ate some rations and then settled down on his bedroll. The effect of the two sessions of true dreaming were getting to him. He understood that proactively triggering another session would make it worse, but he needed to generate a description of the last alien species. After tonight, Tom promised himself that he would abstain for at least two days.

The skill took over the moment he fell into proper sleep.