CHAPTER 327 – ENEMY TRACES

When he returned from his system room, he could feel the burst of attributes. His skin tightening, the world felt lighter, and his limbs were more firmly under his control. They had only improved by twenty percent, so it was not completely overwhelming, but his body was bouncy with energy. It was still the largest percentage gain he had achieved apart from once in the early stages of the tutorial, when he had got closer to a thirty percent boost. Ironically, that had occurred at a similar rank to where he was now. For a moment, he tested the changes. He leapt up to touch the roof five metres above him and then spun through a spear kata with a quickness that forced him to factor in the impact of air resistance.

Others were doing the same.

All of them acclimatising to what their bodies could now achieve.

Satisfied, he stopped moving. The extra speed and coordination was a heady feeling.

Michael gave him an appreciative nod, and Tom studied everyone. They were all stronger and had reached his rank. Apart from Soetanto. His gaze stopped and studied her. She was three lower, which meant she had not bought any levels. It made no sense to him. Unbidden, he raised an eyebrow.

“Hey, don’t look at her like that. You’ll embarrass her. She’s saving for her third class,” Vidja said to him defensively. “Everlyn has agreed we’re going to try to channel experience to her until she gets it and catches us in rank. And it wasn’t her fault,” she continued sternly. “Trolls, then ghosts and then you tanking the aerial threats meant it was a bad three zones for a healer.”

Michael coped okay, he thought, but had no desire to say it because he understood how provocative that would be. Mind you, his restraint was unnecessary. Tom was certain Social Silence would have interceded if he had tried to voice something that was that insensitive.

“What no comment?”

“Nope. It’s our collective mistake for not noticing it and funnelling experience to her earlier.” Internally, he grinned at how easily the right words were coming. Having your throat painfully constrict when you said the wrong thing certainly helped you phrase appropriate responses better.

“As you said, three zones without the need for healing were problematic for her.” He smiled innocently.

Vidja stared at him suspiciously but accepted that he wasn’t seeking to mock them after a slightly awkward two seconds.

“Well then, if we’re all done,” Michael said dryly, saving the moment. He gestured toward the tunnel leading downward.

It was time to face the next challenge head on. With a prep in their step from the new attributes, they headed down the long tunnel through the dividing doors and up to the new destination.

The coming zone was not one they would have brought the chosen to. On the map they got from the tile, it appeared to be a landscape dotted with functioning structures, all the building were depicted as being intact without ruins anywhere. That screamed sapient and was absolutely the worst place to bring the chosen given their idiosyncrasies.

When they reached the safe room, it matched that theme. It was kind of like a human cathedral, high arching roofs that soared ten metres above them. Detailed geometric shaped artwork covered the walls and the floor was polished enough that you could see your reflection. It was subtle, but the layout of the room guided the eyes to the far end where a stage like you would see in a theatre was positioned. The alien part of the setup was that the three entry points were too large for a human, circular and started off at waist height.

Tom studied everything. One thing this trial and presumable Existentia via inference delivered on was a wide variety of alien cultures.

This place was the same… It could have been built on earth apart from those windows were not something humans would create because they were impractical to go in and out of. Unless religion was involved, Tom corrected his internal thoughts. If it was faith based, then they could build anything.

But why were the entrances circular? He narrowed his eyes as he tried to imagine the physiology that would need that type of entrance. If the original inhabitants flew then possibly that exit made sense. Jump up and then kick off with that extra metre and a bit to give you the height for your wings to catch the air. Or maybe there was a more mundane explanation, and they hopped and the act of hopping helped clean their feet so they didn’t bring dirt in. Or if they were a massive serpent that could eat a cow like most snakes on earth ate mice.

He really didn’t want to visualise a monster that big or think too deeply on how the physics worked, but he knew it was possible.

There was a gasp next to him.

Tom glanced over curiously. It was Rahmat emerging from checking the zone quest. That was not someone who easily lost their composure.

Then a hiss of surprise from Thor.

Expressions of alarm and concern spread over previously lifeless faces as they reanimated.

“That’s not what I expected.” Vidja muttered to herself.

His brain jumped to the only conclusion. There was something unusual or shocking about the quest and the moment Toni’s face transformed into a confused expression he stepped into his system room to check.

The wall was in front of him.

Quest: Destroy the Cursed Temples.

There are six cursed temples dedicated to the Unrelenting Fury. Find them and crack their ritual layout to prevent them from acting as a summoning point for the demi god.

Note. Unrelenting Fury will proactively summon minions to defend the temples once it realises destruction is your aim.

Congratulations!

All temples have been destroyed.

Quest Completed.

The last three lines explained the reactions of everyone else. Interesting, he thought to himself, and wondered who had cleared the zone for them.

He returned to the real world, and they were all buzzing with excitement. Tom guessed the monotony of the continuous combat, which was required to complete most zones had worn everyone down. For the coming effort, there was a mystery to solve. It gave them something other than grinding enemies to look forward to.

“One of the others finished this zone before us.” Thor rumbled.

“Of course, they did.” Keikain snapped at him. “That’s obvious. The question is who, and what can we learn from all the battle sites. Who knows there might be a clue to the fighting styles that we can exploit later.”

“Most of the groups are ahead of us.” Michael added. “This could be any of the Giant, Inventor, Phil, insects or the dragon. We’ll need to determine exactly who it is.”

Thor shook his head. “Not Phil. In his more recent notes, he detailed his path, and he didn’t do this zone.”

“And not the inventor, either. He was confirmed in the zone on the other side. There’s no way he went through the three zones needed to get here.” Tom reported.

“Then it’s one of the powerhouses.” Keikain said, sounding almost happy about this. “We need to find evidence of their fights and forensically examine them. This will be good for us.”

Everlyn, Rahmat, and Puma moved to the three circular exits. They got close but took care to stand to the side so monsters outside couldn’t spot them. This particular safe room felt less secure than the others because of the gaping holes the exits formed. He was not used to their being clear lines of sight outside. Usually, the exits were a tunnel with turns that provided the illusion of extra security. As it was from the middle of the room, he could see large patches of sky that were, thankfully, after the last zone, devoid of any creatures.

Immediately, all three of the scouts looked like they had entered a meditative state. Guards had moved up to stand beside them. Usko for Puma, and then Thor and Keikain guarded the other two. They stood next to the still forms, ready to act if a monster tried to attack them from outside.

So far, the safe rooms had been protected from the trial monsters attacking them, but none of them were willing to presume that was a hard and fast rule. They were in a trial which meant pretty much anything could happen and if the trial spirit had not specified immunity, they wouldn’t blindly trust that protection was a fundamental part of the trial.

They were going to take a while. Rather than waiting impatiently he distracted himself by producing the latest broken mana engine Thor had sourced for him to fix. For now, he just cleaned each of the conduits and ignored the two that were busted. Correcting that fault was more involved, and he needed at least half an hour to be available in a secured location before beginning it. Being forced to stop that process mid-way would destroy the engine.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

As it inevitably did when he was partaking in their little money-making scheme, his thoughts drifted to his golem and the fact that not having one constructed meant he forfeited the use of the boon. The longing was more than that. He missed having it available, and it wasn’t just the opportunity cost associated with foregoing the extra percentage point of contribution that the golems admittedly weak offense had been generating. It was more that he had appreciated the certainty of having an ally that he could contact at a moment’s notice to come and save him.

He had most of the components necessary to recreate it, and Thor owed him sufficient credits to buy anything that he was missing. Despite that, Tom made no moves to start the process.

Michael, Keikain and Everlyn, in a rare show of complete unity had all pushed for the same strategy. He was to do nothing! The golem parts were to stay in reserve, so that if they hit a zone where they didn’t have a vulnerability to exploit, they would have options. The ghosts had been countered by buying weapons, but his golem was theoretically more flexible. With the right preparation, any weakness in their opponents no matter how exotic could be abused by one of his creations. If the monsters were vulnerable to pollen? Then there were components that could be purchased to create a golem capable of depopulating the zone. If the threats were exclusively underwater? The right golem could deal with that, too. Intense light that can burn through anything, then a crystal golem could be created to get around it.

Of course, they didn’t know what impossible or difficult conditions they might face in the future, but a freshly created golem from someone of his skills should have the flexibility to cope with most of them. The point was that having the flexibility to create something like that was more valuable than a generic golem which would only be useful enough to marginally speed up their clears.

As he cleaned the engine, he wondered if they were being too pedantic. Maybe Tom could have the best of both worlds. If he was willing to break the golem the moment a zone needed something different, then there was no reason they couldn’t all benefit in the meantime. If he recreated the golem, it could add extra damage and speed up their battles. That could save hours over a typical zone clear.

He stopped the thought with a wry grin.

That was the pinnacle of self-delusion, and the other three had figured him out. In this they knew him better than he knew himself.

Him taking apart a perfectly functional golem for parts… It wouldn’t happen. There was no way he would be happy to murder one that had been properly constructed. Even if he continually reminded himself that it was inanimate and soulless when push came to shove, he wouldn’t be able to do it. Those years of fake memories shaped him more than he cared to admit. Proper golems were more than the sum of their parts. No matter how precise you tried to be you could never create identical versions. There was always a difference, something extra and if Tom didn’t know what that was, if he couldn’t confirm that it was non-sapient, then how could he wilfully destroy it.

It was stupid, but logic didn’t rule him as much as he liked to pretend otherwise, and so the pieces would remain in their storage until they needed to create a specific type.

“Everyone gather up,” Everlyn called out suddenly breaking him out of his reverie. “The enemy are curse animated weapons and armours. To be honest, they’re a bad match up for us. To disable them, their physical bodies need to be destroyed and given they’re mostly metal and they like to launch ranged attacks that might not be the easiest outcome to achieve. We also won’t be able to use our standard battle formations because Tom’s not going to be able to tank. They’re inorganic and immune to lightning, so neither of his taunts will work.”

“What about my shout?” Usko asked.

“That will function as normal,” she stated. “As will Clare’s skill. But neither of you are true, tanks.”

Usko frowned. “And Tom is?”

“You saw him last zone, right?”

“Yeah I did,” the big man scratched his head. “But that was just against ranged attacks.”

“He’s even better close in,” Everlyn said. She was obviously uninterested in continuing the debate.

Usko looked more than a little uncertain. “Okay, fair enough. But if we need a tank, I can do the role. I don’t like it, but if you’re pumping heals into me, I can stop most things.”

Everlyn examined him with her magical abilities and frowned. “You’re clearly not specialised, but those damage reduction skills are powerful. Especially the one that scales off injuries you’ve suffered in the last minute. Though I’m not sure about your failure to pair it with pain reduction techniques. I think that’s a bit shortsighted.” She glared at Tom. “Maybe you’ve got more in common with this idiot than you realise. Anyone willing to be a tank clearly has screws loose. ”

“Yeah. That’s what I said. It’s horrible being the tank, but if it’s needed, I can do the role as well as a specialist, providing I get healers at the start to support me.”

“Great. Since you want it so much, you’re the primary tank for this zone. Luckily, our aim is to get to the treasure room and then retreat. We’re going to avoid fights as best we can, so you shouldn’t be called on for anything too difficult. If there are larger groups to eliminate, then we’ll have to consider other options.” She looked significantly at Tom as she said that.

“Wait a moment,” Usko objected. “Are you saying I can’t do it. That if the quest wasn’t complete, we’d be in trouble.”

“Not trouble,” Everlyn answered instantly. “Tom would have had to buy a more tailored taunt, or we’d have opened up our savings again and have instructed him to create a construct that could exploit the monster’s weaknesses and be invulnerable to their curse missiles. Actually, we would have done that. Tom’s taunt by itself wouldn’t have been enough.”

“Maybe we should do that, anyway.”

“No Tom. You’d need specialist material, and we’re not wearing unnecessary costs. Usko will be fine for the minor mobs we’re facing.”

With the battle plan agreed, they moved out.

The view was a condensed, mad medieval landscape. There were stone structures every few hundred metres, but to the human perspective they were slightly off. They were walls with a roof made of stone that was familiar, but the dimensions were off. There were no doors, or at least not ones, which were flush up against the ground. Instead, there were circles that started a metre from the floor and then went to the roof line in the smaller buildings.

“Looks like they’re built by something slightly larger than us, especially in width.” Keikain said thoughtfully.

“What I’m more concerned about is the lack of damage.” Michael stated. His lips thin and his expression conflicted.

“Most likely they came in from a different entrance,” Everlyn said unconcerned. “Once we get more central, I’m sure we’ll see more evidence of their actions.”

She led them on a twisty path. They fought the monsters, hunks of animated metal, that threw refined cursed energy bolts at them. It seemed their preference was to fight at range, but that only lasted until a chaos bolt did real damage and then they would close the distance and add weapons, tusks, spikes, or teeth to their attacking repertoire. They weren’t human sets of armour but instead the remnants of thousands of sapient creatures. There were cat monsters, bears, bipeds with extra arms. Some came to his knees and others towered over him, being up to five metres tall.

Tom fought exclusively with his earth skills. Meteorites spun around him to physically smash into their bodies and Remote Earth Manipulation would pounce on any that were knocked to the ground or even floated too close. Sometimes he seized the initiative a hand of stone would rise to snatch them out of the air and the moment they were against the dirt it was simple enough to crush them at the cost of considerable energy.

The extra hundred points of mana made all the difference.

“Hopefully, we’ll only have to spend one night here.” Everlyn reported. “We’re making good time.”

Based on the sky it was mid to late afternoon.

“Still no signs of any damage to any of these structures.” Michael scratched his ear. “I’m starting to wonder if the quest completion is a lie. Maybe the trial’s tricking us.”

Everlyn glanced over at him and shrugged. “That’s easy enough to test. We can check on one of the temples. It’s a slight detour, but I can take us past one. We’ll be able to see exactly what happened then.”

Thirty minutes later they crested a hill and halted in shock.

The temples were not on a hill instead they must have been built in what looked like an old meteorite collision crater.

The quest had not been lying. The temple was destroyed and there was sufficient left for them to be able to extrapolate and estimate the building’s original size. Tom guessed it had stretched for further than a city block and from the remaining rubble that massive singular structure had been four or five stories high.

Basically, it had been huge, large enough that even with all of them being five times as strong as natural humans it was hard to imagine how they could have destroyed it.

They would probably have resorted to creating a shooting platform, which would have allowed him to unleash fifty or so meteorites down into the crater, because that’s how many it would have taken. the crater.

On earth it would have taken weeks of work with an army of dump trucks to remove the debris and multiple wrecking balls.

And it had been completely smashed.

“The dragon.” Thor said quietly.

Keikain rubbed the brow of his nose. “Please tell me I’m wrong. I mean there’s no way she did that with only three breath attacks.”

Tom said nothing. The evidence was in front of them and all of them could interpret it. It was clear where the dragon’s strikes had each landed. In the centre of each strike, the stone was evaporated right down to the dirt and then there were reducing rings of destruction the further you got from the blast point. He could clearly see where the three attacks had hit by tracking back the reduction in damage.

“And we’re going to have to fight that.” Thor said with a huge sigh. “I trusted your warnings Tom but…”

“It hits differently when you see it with your own two eyes.” Tom agreed.

“Avoid the breath attacks, Tom says.” Keikain grumbled. “Yes, they’re homing missiles, but all you have to do is teleport out of the way.” His fingers pointed, calculating angles. “How far is that blink going to have to be? Michael, what do you think? We’d need to be what a hundred, two hundred metres from the epicentre to survive. It’s not a short distant thing like Tom suggested is it?”

Michael frowned. “Less than two hundred. Looks like the flame spread about a hundred fifty metres. Providing we’re out of that we’ll survive.”

Keikain looked at Tom. “And you’re serious about fighting that?”

He didn’t move. There was nothing to be said. It was not a fight any of them would choose willingly, but they hadn’t been given a choice. Their only other option was to kneel and show their throats and hope the dragon did not play with them before killing them.

He shivered despite himself. That last dream and the dragon’s boredom. It would play with them if provided the chance. Their only choice was to fight and to do it to the death.

“Well, that solves Michael’s mystery.” Everlyn said finally. “The dragon just flew and destroyed it from above.”

“That’s a ridiculously simple clear.” Keikain said. “Fly to a location. Breathe on it three times then go to the next. I guess that’s one advantage of having wings.”

“I doubt that it was that easy.” Everlyn cautioned. “Even if the chosen were with us I wouldn’t have recommended flying over the enemies to reach each temple. The tile had pictures of airbourne weapon clouds and armoured wyverns which I haven’t seen. I reckon that’s because the dragon has probably killed them already.”

Keikain turned his back on the destruction. “I kind of wish I didn’t see this.”

“I’m glad I did.” Michael disagreed. “It means we know how far the teleport has to reach.”

“How are we going to afford that?” Vidja muttered. “We already don’t have enough experience to keep pace with the monsters.”

“I think the question is,” the healer said. “How can we choose not to afford it?”