Headshots on elementals were ineffective. Unlike humans, they simply did not house anything valuable up top. Luke cursed and tore the sickle down through the sternum and into its watery organ sack. Tristan landed with his feet on the wall. He intended to heroically save Luke from an elemental running on the roof.
Unfortunately, he had not taken the spinning nature of the environment. His feet hit the wall, stopping him. Then centrifugal force nearly launched him right back out the bolt hole into the lake. The copper patch had not taken up much of this room’s total square footage, so he was able to find footing on the ceiling of all places.
Luke gutted the anima elemental Tristan had been aiming for, “Trippy isn’t it?”
“Never tried drugs,” Tristan yelled back. He positioned himself by the hole and caught Kale as he dropped in. Swinging the man around, he planted the man’s feet on the shell. If it wasn’t for the fluctuation in pressure due to them resisting gravity at the apex of the arc and not at the base, the room would have felt normal.
“Thanks,” Kale said, but Tristan did not have time, Grant was the next one through followed quickly by Cole. They were the two largest of the group. Cole almost ripped Tristan’s shoulder out of the socket with his weight.
Cole wobbled to his feet, “This is so weird. It rocks like a boat and spins like a log.”
Grant looked to Luke, “Is the air purified?”
Luke nodded, “As pure as anything can be when filled with mummified bodies.”
That was when Tristan started looking around between catching warriors. There were several metal desks bolted to the floor and collected around the legs of the desks were mummified bodies. Tristan shuddered and hoped the spinning wouldn’t stop.
Now that he was aware that the fort made omnidirectional gravity by spinning, it made a little sense. He was not sure why it would do that, everywhere had gravity already.
Jenna and Dane came in next. Dane had no issue regaining his balance, taking to the spinning environment like a savior to his ship. Siren, Merric, and Kerri followed on the next rotation. Someone must have fallen, Tristan was not sure who, but there was a shout and the next round had the water colored red.
Herod made it in and he immediately started glowing. It was taxing, his dual kern made the standard light kern ability essence expensive. Still, it beat out using fire to light the inside of the fortress. All it would take was a bad blow to Luke and then they would be burning their limited breathable air.
Siren looked around, “Did Bright Wave die?”
Herod shook his head in sorrow, “Yes, the net wrapped around him like a constrictor.”
They hadn’t even arrived before the Lord of the Underworld and someone had already died. Their main healer as well. Tristan peered into the dark, waiting to progress. It would take a few minutes as Luke converted the toxic air into breathable air.
Pushing his metal sense out Tristan felt for anything that would give them an edge. The fort was spinning and even if his body had adjusted, it still was disorienting to have his perception spun around. He shrunk it until it only contained things that were moving relative to himself. This rotation had to have a purpose beyond throwing them off, it was consuming essence for very little gain. After all the Lord of the Underworld could have taken control of the net and used it as a weapon.
Something was off.
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Luke took his mind off the problem, “The next room is clear.”
Grant and Cole were the first two through the doorway. Something lit up the room, silhouetting them. Tristan went through with Jenna and Siren to find the light came from a brain slime stuck to the roof.
Tristan was distracted by the luminous brain and almost missed Cole being shoved back into him.
Bracing a forearm against Cole’s stony back, Tristan shoved him back into position. Cole was tier four and a civil protector, that shove normally wouldn’t have unbalanced him. Unfortunately, they were in a spinning container. He staggered to the side like a drunk miner, giving Tristan a clear line of sight to the enemy.
Three light elementals were shining white, looking almost holy with their radiance. Tristan had seen every form of light elemental and none of them were this radiant. He glanced back at the one stuck to the ceiling. Luke and Conni theorized that the brains created a domain that boosted the abilities of other elementals. Tristan agreed this was just like what happened with the dark elementals back when he was still tier zero.
Light warped around the anima elementals’ fists. It looked like a bubble, rainbow light shifting across its surface. Tristan might have thought it a simple trick if he couldn’t feel the heat radiating off. It was similar to the compressed flame that Regis and Kale loved using.
“Don’t let that hit you!” Cole yelled. His stone armor had a black starburst of ash coating the sheet plate.
Grant dodged the punch. The elemental was slow, it couldn’t be above tier three. There was a good chance it was lower as light elementals tended to be fast. The elemental swung again, but Tristan was there, he caught the fist in an adamant armored gauntlet. Tristan had been sure the punch would be incapable of getting through the armor, unfortunately, he hadn’t considered how well the metal conducted heat.
“Blind gods,” Tristan cursed, jumping back and waving his hand around.
“I told you!” Cole yelled.
Tristan ignored the civil protector and clubbed the elemental as retribution. The elemental staggered to the side and Grant brought a massive hammer down on it. Shoving the spiked butt of his lamp post through the organ sack, Tristan appreciated the value of competent allies for the first time. Grant had made this elemental trivial to deal with.
Tristan glanced off to either side. Jenna, Kale, Merrick, and Siren were all dealing with one. Jenna in her prism armor caused rainbows to dance across the cave every time she struck the elemental. Siren had his dark abilities nearly shut down by the environment, but that just turned him into a more skilled version of Cole. It did not take the four of them long to put the elemental down for good.
The other elemental was putting up more of a fight, but that had more to do with its opponents. Dane led two of Siren’s elites and Kerri. Most of their time was spent avoiding Kerri. Tristan wanted to call Kerri pathetic as a fighter, but the man-child was skilled. He evaded strikes, sliced chunks off the elemental, and almost sliced chunks off his allies. Kerri had never practiced group combat.
Dane finally grabbed Kerri by the back of his neck and threw him out of the way. One of the elites drove a pole axe through the anima elemental, in the same way, a woodsman chops rounds of wood. The elemental’s light was smothered by the end of its life.
Kerri glowered at Dane, “Why did you do that, I had it.”
Dane shrugged, “You almost ‘had’ everyone around you too.”
There was a bang that caused everyone to flinch and cover their ears. The light dimmed dramatically and Siren’s armor took on its sleek black appearance. Tristan looked up, the light elemental that had been stuck to the ceiling was dissipating into a cloud of light essence. He quickly found the cause, Herod had a hand cannon. The man was using the crank pump at his belt to pressurize it for their next confrontation.
“The next room is good,” Luke yelled. Then he jumped aside as an anima earth elemental barreled through.
Tristan couldn’t gauge its tier, but there were four people present with earth kerns. Grant yelled out, “Tier five!”
Tier five or not, the elemental did not last long. Its momentum was immense, anima elementals were already the most physically endowed of all the varieties. Great strength was not helpful when someone shoved a lamppost between its feet. Tristan watched as the elemental toppled over. It tried to get back up, but it was beaten prone by the present warriors. Within a few seconds, it was little more than smoking rubble.
“Now that was the fastest I have ever seen a tier five die,” Luke commented.
“How many have you watched die?” Tristan asked.
Luke started counting off on his fingers, “Well there was the one I shot in the mine, there was-,”
“Shut up, or I’ll throw you two into the lake,” Merrick said, “We need to be alert.”
Luke raised an eyebrow, “I’m the only reason you can breathe in here.”
“Maybe you could go get the capsule you lost,” Siren said, then he looked over at Merrick who was breathing more deeply than the situation warranted, “Everything alright.”
“Yeah, I’ll manage, this is just way creepier than I expected,” Merrick nudged a thigh bone with his toe.
Siren glanced at the bone, then made eye contact with Merrick, “I would rather you leave now than have your nerve fail later.”
“I’m good, I don’t intend to fail my home,” Merrick took a deep breath, “You know me, Gravis. I’m a fighter.”
Tristan glanced at Kerri, expecting him to jump at the offer out. When he didn’t, Tristan realized that he might have to reassess his image of the immature young man. Kerri simply looked grumpily at Dane.
Conversation done, they stepped into the next room.