– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 215, Season of the Rising Sun, Day 100 –

It was quiet in the room. This only made Gellath’s occasional whimpers seem even more deafening. They had tried to get him to talk again, but Gellath had not responded to their shouts.

“The inscribed earth giant does not leave its range,” said Tiana. “The other grounded constructs obstruct the path to Gellath. None of them are showing any signs of attacking him yet.”

“The dungeon has intentionally taken a hostage,” said Siling with a grave expression.

“I can’t think like this,” exclaimed Miguel with a pained expression. “I’ll go kill the other grievance toads.” Without waiting for a reaction, he clenched his fists and trotted towards the left wall near the barricade.

“Have Pricklybum follow him,” said Tiana. “If the dungeon changes its mind and goes after Gellath, the soul spirit alone could not salvage the situation, anyway.”

Siling nodded in silence.

“We have to fight our way through the constructs,” said Jorg while already preparing his equipment. He was exceedingly pale, but his eyes showed determination. “And we must keep that inscribed earth giant busy somewhere away from Gellath’s location.”

“Last time, the earth giant went after Gellath first,” said Tiana. “It immediately changed targets when Gellath put his head out of the crater. Even if we could count on Gellath’s cooperation, he could not get out alone.”

“Gravitational Attraction would not be fast enough, either,” added Terry.

“We need to extract him,” said Jorg with bloodshot eyes. “No way around it.”

“I’ll try and keep the inscribed earth giant busy,” declared Tiana.

“No,” objected Jorg firmly. “If anyone is to lead the rescue team, it’s you. I…” He swallowed hard. “I don’t trust myself in this. Your situational awareness is better than mine, anyway. As for keeping the inscribed earth giant busy, I’ll do it.”

“No, we will do it,” insisted Terry, who was currently absorbing mana from a mana container. “Frankly, I am the only one who saw that thing up close, and none of us can block those punches in a normal manner. Dodging may work for a time, but I would not trust myself to dodge more than two or three times in a row. That thing is unreasonably fast for its size. That only leaves—”

“You could hand over your imprinted items to me,” interrupted Jorg.

“No.” Terry’s tone did not allow any objection. “Some, yes – for emergencies – but I am the only one for which the activation limits practically do not apply. You’re not as familiar with the spell as I am. Your mana control isn’t as good, either. My imprints aren’t good enough for anyone else to activate the imprint as quickly or frequently as I could.”

“We could also use Liquify Earth to trap that thing,” suggested Lori. “Maybe we can even trap it with Harden Earth.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Tiana. “But I would not count on that thing staying trapped in earth. The earth warriors could repair smaller damage using the surrounding earth. We have to assume that the earth giant has some control over the earth element as well.”

“If Gellath does not respond, then someone needs to carry him,” said Elena. “Perhaps I should switch with Jorg?”

Terry, Jorg, Tiana, and Lori shook their heads at the same time.

“I had hoped that you could keep Gellath safe,” said Jorg. “Your reflexes are only second to Tiana’s. Your long legs would be better, too.”

“The inscribed earth giant requires combat power,” said Tiana.

“I’m stronger than Jorg,” interjected Elena with a frown.

“Only if you burst and right now, that would be catastrophic,” replied Tiana while staring into Elena’s eyes. “Compared to Jorg, your advantage lies mainly in situational awareness and, to a lesser degree, in reflexes – exactly the traits required to keep a helpless companion safe.”

“Even with bursts, you could not block an attack of the inscribed giant,” stressed Terry. “Bursting would only impede your ability to dodge and coordinate with others. Also…” He looked at Lori.

“Jorg, Terry, and I have trained together for longer than anyone else here,” said Lori. “When it comes to coordinating with each other, this is the best split.”

“Elena, I trust you not to burst with Gellath on your back,” said Jorg gravely.

“Or before he is on your back,” added Tiana sternly.

Elena gulped and nodded.

“Alright, let’s get the objectives down before we discuss the steps,” said Tiana. “When Miguel is back, we’ll get his input.”

***

“Ready?” asked Lori.

“Not at all,” replied Terry honestly. “But thanks for asking.” He focused on his breathing.

Lori, Terry, and Jorg were standing at the edge of the inscribed giant’s range on the left side of the room – as much distance as possible from Gellath’s location.

Terry stood in the middle, and the two dwarves each had one of their bracers in contact with Terry’s. All three of them were staring at the inscribed earth giant construct.

Miguel was roped to Pricklybum again. They were currently located at the ceiling above Gellath.

The others – led by Tiana – were at the edge of the giant’s range on the right side of the room – as close to Gellath as possible.

Terry exhaled sharply before breaking the forearm ceremony, and he stepped forward.

The inscribed giant immediately charged at him, and Terry stopped blinking.

A moment before the construct arrived, Terry activated the imprint in his throwing needle and retreated with a burst. The needle entered into the construct. The giant stopped, but then it pushed forward regardless of the damage.

As expected.

This was one of their optimistic ideas – nothing more than a tentative test. The cloaking prevented Terry from seeing where the core was located. They did not know if the construct had a similar protective plate as the inscribed earth warrior from before, but had to assume it did. By now, Terry was convinced that the first earth warrior they had encountered had indeed been inscribed. The dungeon had given them fair warning.

Lori and Jorg dashed around the construct. Each of them was carrying an imprinted gymnastic ring made of tertium. The rings were firmly connected with a thick and sturdy rope. When they had passed the construct, they hurriedly threw the rings back to Terry. The rope was tied around the giant’s legs and then around his arms as a result.

The construct turned and rushed at Jorg. Its charge was stopped when the rope tightened around its arms thanks to Terry’s activation of the Immovable Object imprints. Unfortunately, the construct did not trip from the unexpected deceleration.

Jorg, Lori, and Terry quickly threw more roped rings around.

“Miguel GO!” shouted Terry.

Miguel and Pricklybum dashed along the wall towards Gellath’s crater – another tentative probe. Until now, the only construct lashing out at Gellath had been the inscribed giant. The remaining constructs had not threatened him or Pricklybum in any way.

With a bang, a rock projectile from a vacuum cannon impacted in front of Pricklybum. To make things worse, a second projectile impacted next to Gellath’s crater. Some fake goblin constructs also hurled stones at the crater.

“Warning shots,” growled Miguel. He tapped Pricklybum to have it abort the attempt.

As soon as Pricklybum had retreated, the fake goblin constructs stopped attacking the crater.

“Failure,” declared Siling.

“Our turn,” said Tiana and resolutely charged forward. Siling activated her air coating ability and ran after her. Elena brought up the rear and followed.

The inscribed earth giant was madly thrashing around. On the one hand, this was good in that the construct entangled itself further. On the other hand, Terry and the others still had to put enough distance between the construct and themselves when circling around it in order to reinject mana into one of the transfixed rings.

Lori ignited her empowered Liquify Earth spell. The inscribed earth giant sank into the floor.

Tiana burst into the army of fake goblins and swung her lightning-aspected war hammer to smite the creatures into dust. She kept her eyes fixated on the nearest earth warrior.

Siling had finished her empowered Entangling Roots spell from behind her active barrier. The next two earth warriors were caught up in the sprouting roots.

Aspected arrows rained down on the entangled earth warriors from above.

Elena circled around to keep Siling always between herself and Tiana. She crushed the core of an approaching fake goblin and then batted two more away with her dueling shield.

“Any signs of the vacuum cannons yet?” shouted Tiana. If they eliminated the ranged threat to Gellath, they could have Miguel perform another attempt.

“Not yet,” replied Siling, and she clenched her teeth. It was hard for her mana sense to keep up with everything.

Back with the three siblings, the inscribed earth giant construct had sunk up to its torso into the muddy earth. The group had repositioned several of the rings so that the ropes would not prevent the construct from sinking further into the earth.

Lori released her empowered Harden Earth spell, and the construct was now surrounded by rock. She and her two brothers positioned themselves between the construct and Gellath. They eyed the construct warily.

The inscribed earth giant stopped thrashing around…

*Hong.* The glow of the runic inscriptions on the construct intensified.

*Hong* New runic inscriptions became visible, and the inscribed earth giant construct emitted a pulse.

Terry’s heart skipped a beat. He had seen such a dense net of sizzling mana lines before. His fears came true when all the transfixed rings fell to the floor.

Disruption discharge.

The giant construct slapped the floor with its four palms. The rock around the construct’s lower body liquified again, and it pushed itself up.

*Hong*

Terry burst his mana and a quiet, shattering sound rang in his ears. He charged at the construct with clenched teeth. Half a step behind were Lori to his left and Jorg to his right.

The construct continued to lift itself above the earth using two arms and attacked Terry with his two remaining arms. Terry dodged one and threw out an imprinted septimum ball to block the second. Simultaneously, he used the Gravitational Attraction glove to pull one of the gymnastic rings to himself. He continued running and activated the imprint in the ring without pause.

Lori cast Liquify Earth at the location of the construct’s hands for lifting itself. After sinking slightly, however, the earth hardened again – another ability from the earth giant.

Jorg used the transfixed ring as cover to dash to the other side of the construct. A fist struck out, but was blocked by the immovable ring.

Terry transfixed another ring in the air. He threw an octavum ball towards Jorg for a slower activation delay. He hurled another at a higher location.

The construct regained its footing on solid ground. Jorg summoned the war hammer he had borrowed from Tiana. He leaped into the air and used the transfixed octavum ball as a follow-up jumping point. Jorg used the second transfixed ball to change direction. He struck the back of the construct’s knee with all his might.

The construct went on its knee, and Jorg circled back to the front. Terry threw out two octavum needles – one near Lori and another one way up. He used the latter needle to pull himself up with his glove.

Lori raised an earthen wall and jumped. The construct punched out but was blocked by a transfixed needle.

Terry activated the imprint in his boots and then pulled Lori towards himself. Shortly afterwards, he changed targets and attracted another roped ring from the floor.

Lori used a transfixed ring to jump and propel herself to the construct’s torso. She struck out her palms and ignited her Rockspall Touch spell structures.

Terry activated the Immovable Object imprint in the roped ring.

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The construct struck at Lori with one palm but was obstructed by rope attached to two immovable rings.

The earth giant emitted another disruption pulse. Fortunately, Terry’s boots and bracers had been shielded with mana-osmotic material. Terry activated his glove imprint with Lori as its target again. He used his free hand to throw out three metal balls in quick succession – one octavum, one tertium, one septimum – utilizing three different activation delays for his Immovable Object spell.

The construct struck at Lori, but only hit air when Lori was pulled towards Terry. Its second fist was blocked by the transfixed tertium ball.

A palm towards Terry was blocked by the immovable septimum ball.

Terry judged the distance and stopped attracting Lori. He threw out two more octavum balls and pulled Jorg up.

Lori used a transfixed octavum ball to change direction and dodge a palm strike. A second transfixed ball provided cover before she reached a third near the constructs shoulder. There, she activated her barrier spear.

Jorg used a transfixed octavum ball to jump towards Lori. He used the active barrier of her spear as a follow-up jumping point and retrieved the large war hammer from his dimensional bag again.

Terry attracted several roped rings to transfix. He used his glove and imprinted boots to move through the air.

Jorg smashed the construct’s head with the war hammer. The earth giant had been in the process of standing up. On the one hand, this increased the impact. On the other hand, this also increased the recoil for Jorg and the dwarf was propelled backwards.

Lori fell down and caught herself on one rope attached to a transfixed ring. She used the rope to lower herself to the construct’s knee. She summoned the war hammer provided by Terry – the one he had prepared for the cloud badger hunts, and she pelted the back of the construct’s knee again.

Terry used any available breathing room to retrieve octavum items or some of the roped rings from the floor. He threw out two imprinted balls for blocking. He deactivated the imprint in his boots, fell, and dodged another of the construct’s fists. Next, he activated his glove to attract Jorg – slowing the fall of the dwarf while accelerating his own.

Jorg grabbed one of the secured ropes and swung himself over to Lori. “I have an idea.” He quickly aligned with Lori and then shouted for Terry. “Let it stand up!”

Lori lowered herself down to the floor under the cover of Terry’s transfixed items. She started her quickened casting.

Back with the hostage extraction team, Tiana was observing the battle with the giant from the corner of her eyes and cursed. “Wastes.” She loosened the bolt of her crossbow and, without pause, exchanged it with her lightning-aspected war hammer. The bolt hit its mark – a construct core – and another earth warrior went down. “We need to hurry!”

“I could—” started Elena.

“NO BURSTS!” Tiana cut her off with a shout.

Elena gritted her teeth and continued pulverizing the nearby fake goblin constructs.

“I believe I have located one vacuum cannon,” yelled Siling. “Tiana, can you hold the left flank?”

“Go ahead!” Tiana dodged the spear of a fake goblin and then retaliated with her war hammer. She dodged another attack and swiftly summoned a shield to block the incoming projectile barrage from above.

Siling exchanged her barrier shield with her metal-reinforced quarterstaff. She had not used it in a long time. She hated engaging in close combat. Siling activated her air and metal coating abilities, and then she deactivated her barrier spell.

“Elena, this way!” Siling batted one fake goblin away and destroyed the core of another with her metal-coated hand.

Elena dodged and blocked another barrage of projectiles. She moved closer to Siling and helped to clear the path.

Back with the siblings, the inscribed earth giant punched at Terry with two fists. The fists collided with a transfixed tertium slab. Thanks to the layer of liquified earth provided by Lori, the giant slipped backwards some more. Any punch the earth giant threw at an immovable object while standing on the slippery surface had it push itself away from the object. By controlling the location of the immovable object and the angle of the hit surface, the group could control the direction the construct pushed itself.

So far, Jorg’s idea was working. They were getting the earth giant closer and closer to the left wall. Already, the construct was out of its initial active range. They were successfully increasing the distance between the construct and Gellath.

Finally, the construct’s heel hit the wall.

Terry threw out two octavum needles and used a transfixed ball to jump towards the construct’s torso. The first needle transfixed itself near one of the giant’s upper arms. The construct tried to punch out, but the needle was in the way. Its arm continued to move – and the needle entered its arm – but the movement was slowed as a result.

The second needle failed to transfix itself in time. The construct’s arm had already collided with the needle before it became immovable. Terry reflexively positioned his arm – first to avoid injury from coming to an abrupt stop, and second to block properly – and then activated the Immovable Object imprint in his septimum bracer. He quickly followed up by flexing his wrist in order to move his hand out of harm's way.

The fist collided with the immovable bracer. Terry transfixed a septimum ball near his bracer. At this range, he required the lowest possible activation delay. He deactivated his bracer imprint and used his Gravitational Attraction glove to cover the rest of the distance towards the construct’s torso.

Terry reached the construct’s torso and activated the imprint in his bracers. He used the bracers to position himself horizontally and step on the giant’s chest. There, Terry activated the imprints in his boots and summoned two tertium slabs with handles. He transfixed the slabs to the left and right of him. Next, he deactivated the imprint in one of his boots.

The inscribed construct punched against the slabs, but the immovable objects did not budge.

When the giant moved its upper body back for the punch, Terry rapidly followed with his movable foot and then activated the imprint in that boot. Foot by foot, the giant’s torso was pinned to the wall.

The inscribed earth giant emitted another disruption discharge. While the other transfixed items fell to the floor, Terry’s shielded boots continued to block the construct’s chest. He rapidly reactivated the imprints in his septimum bracers. He hurriedly re-transfixed the two tertium slabs with the Immovable Object spell as well.

Meanwhile, Lori and Jorg threw the roped rings back and forth. Lori liquified the earth. She focused on keeping the area of effect narrow but deep. Then, she inserted a roped ring deep into the liquified earth. Afterwards, she hardened the earth to rock.

“Let’s do the slabs,” said Jorg. By now, the two could move freely on the floor. Since the construct was pinned to the wall, it could not reach the two dwarves.

Lori used an empowered Liquify Earth spell to create a deeper liquified region that was big enough for one of Terry’s tertium slabs. They threaded several roped rings through the handles. The slab was supposed to become a central anchor. They then pressed the connected slab into the liquified earth and Lori hardened the earth again.

“Backup is ready!” shouted Lori.

Terry retrieved Tiana’s large war hammer from his storage bracelet. He had previously used his glove to collect the item from Jorg. Next, Terry retrieved a cheap short spear he had bought for his experiments with the Immovable Object spell. He poked the spear a few inches into the construct’s chest. He took out a U-shaped tertium piece and transfixed it to fixate the spear while gravity did the rest.

Terry hammered away. Blow by blow. Spear by spear. Sword by sword. Terry retrieved item by item and nailed the construct to the wall. Further obstructing the construct’s movement was only a side benefit. He still did not know where the construct’s core was, but it must be somewhere.

Terry rapidly absorbed mana from a mana container. Afterwards, he summoned a tertium plate and placed it against the torso. He cast an empowered Immovable Object spell. Then, he walked to the construct’s head.

At the other side of the room, Siling shouted: “Second cannon down.” Two earth warriors were getting close to her – one with inscriptions and one without.

Elena jumped next to her elven companion and blocked a javelin hurled at Siling from the distance. Siling thrust her quarterstaff at another fake goblin and when the creature fell to the ground, she followed up by crushing its core.

An earth warrior reached Elena and punched at her. Siling liquified the earth under the construct’s feet. Elena rammed her dueling shield forcefully against the construct’s punch, which caused the earth warrior to slip and fall. Elena rapidly followed up by using the bladed end of the dueling shield to pierce the construct’s core.

Tiana looked around before charging at the inscribed earth warrior closest to her two companions. She blocked the creature’s punch with her round shield and then thrust her leaf-shaped gladius from below into the creature’s head to bypass the protective plate with perfect accuracy. The core shattered.

Afterwards, Tiana joined up with her two companions. There were still constructs obstructing their path, but they were getting close. If the purpose of the hostage was only to force them to fight, then they could simply continue until the constructs were wiped out. However, none of them wanted to rely on the dungeon’s lasting benevolence. If the dungeon changed its mind, they were still too far away to save Gellath.

“Miguel NOW,” shouted Tiana. Close to her, Siling handed her barrier shield to Elena. Elena placed both her dueling shield and the barrier shield into her storage bracelet. Her turn.

Miguel and Pricklybum dashed along the ceiling and over all the webs the two had prepared before. Pricklybum cut the simple webbing with its claws without breaking stride. The long wire threads that had been reinforced with the metal aspect fell down – one side remained attached to the ceiling.

Tiana retrieved a tower shield and angled it towards Gellath. Elena took a run-up and jumped on the tower shield. Tiana went into full burst, jumped, and pushed out the tower shield with her two arms. Elena matched Tiana’s timing perfectly for her jump from the shield.

Up above, Elena grabbed hold of a wire thread. Simultaneously, Siling ignited the spell structure of her empowered Kinetic Push. Elena used the acceleration and grabbed hold of the furthest wires she could reach. She looked around to get an idea of her location and then decided for a wire thread to cling onto and summoned her dueling shield.

In the distance on the ceiling, Miguel saw Elena’s location and estimated the direct paths from the remaining constructs to Gellath’s crater. By Terry’s previous estimate, there could be three to four vacuum cannons hidden among the constructs.

Tiana’s group had already eliminated two, and they had focused on the right side.

Previously, there was one cannon aiming at the wall near the ceiling. The cannons could not quickly adjust their aim.

All they needed to do now was to cover the most probable paths from the left side to Gellath’s crater.

Pricklybum used two of her limbs to hook the wire thread that carried Elena. Then, the soul spirit moved according to Miguel’s tap signals. Down below, Elena was moved with them.

Tiana charged at the constructs in the way and kept an eye on Elena. Siling followed close behind and primed the next Kinetic Push.

Elena noticed a quiet whistling sound. She judged her position relative to Gellath and retrieved her dueling shield. She hid behind the shield and held fast onto the wire thread.

With a loud metallic bang, the rock projectile was deflected.

Elena spun rapidly and fought the resulting nausea. She stuck out her dueling shield to slow the spinning. She channeled mana into the immovable attachment provided by Terry. Luckily, it was one of Terry’s later works, and the imprint was not too fuzzy. Even with Elena’s bad external mana control, she could activate it relatively quickly. The only trouble was that she was limited to the pre-primed number of charges.

The dueling shield became transfixed and Elena finally stopped spinning. The rope above and below her grip continued to spin some more while Elena considered her position again. When the rope had calmed down enough, she deactivated the Immovable Object imprint.

Up above, Pricklybum continued to pull Elena towards Gellath’s crater. Miguel had observed the impact of the rock projectile with Elena’s shield and used that information to judge the location of the vacuum cannon. Elena could intercept projectiles aimed at Gellath.

Tiana’s group only moved on the right side.

Finally, Miguel could let loose and vent his pent up hatred. With a mirthless smile and bloodshot eyes, he rained down aspected arrows. He focused on the left side, where he judged the remaining cannon to be. Arrow after arrow – as fast as he could retrieve them from his storage bracelet. Until his fingers turned bloody from stretching the bow’s sinew and then more without pause.

Elena arrived near Gellath’s crater and swung herself into it. Her stomach plummeted when she saw the trembling dwarf. She gritted her teeth, placed the dueling shield in front of her legs, and retrieved a tertium slab from her storage bracelet. The slab was slightly too big to fit into the crater and she had to summon it outside of the crater.

Elena retrieved a pair of roped rings and threaded one end through the handles so that she could pull the slab onto the crater to keep it in place – even when moving close to Gellath. Elena channeled mana into the Immovable Object imprint. The slab successfully blocked the projectiles from the fake goblin constructs, but they were uncertain how it would fare against the projectiles from a vacuum cannon.

Elena cursed her bad mana control when struggling with the imprint activation, but eventually succeeded before the cannon became active. She continued injecting mana in order to be on the safe side. Her mana sense was not sufficient to judge the required amount.

“Good,” exclaimed Tiana. “Now let’s prepare them a safe path out.” Next to her, Siling nodded and released another Kinetic Push.

Inside the crater, Elena was consoling the whimpering Gellath. “It’s alright.” She hugged him close to her. “We’re here. We’ll get you out. I’m sorry I could not catch you on the barricade. I’ll get you out. It will be fine. We’re here.”

Elena improvised the rope harness according to Terry’s previous instructions and secured the dwarf inside. She retrieved the barrier shield provided by Siling and fastened it to Gellath’s forearm. “Grab onto the shield and hide behind it. When I tell you to, channel your mana into it. That’s all you need to do. Channel your mana into the imprint and don’t stop, okay?”

Gellath sniffled, but managed a nod.

Elena tied the dwarf to herself – back to back.

Back at the inscribed earth giant, Terry cursed inwardly. No core in the head, either? Did I misjudge the size of the cloaked core?

Terry retrieved his barrier spear and started poking the earth giant in different places while walking backwards – which meant down in his horizontal position.

Finally, Terry encountered resistance where the neck met the torso. He retrieved a cheap spear and rammed it into the location. The spear was blocked. Terry probed the place further until he found a location where the spear had entered an inch deeper.

Protective plate again.

Terry fixated the spear with a U-shaped tertium piece and then hammered the spear into the construct.

With a sizzling sound, the construct’s inscriptions flared.

This was either a good sign or absolutely terrible.

Terry ignored the sounds and inscription activity and focused solely on hammering the spear as rapidly as possible.

A cracking sound reverberated when the spear suddenly met no more resistance and entered deep into the construct. Terry sensed surging mana… and a shattered mana core.

The inscribed earth giant emitted a bright white pulse which enveloped Terry.

Crap. What is it now?!

Down below, Lori and Jorg were also seeing the pulse and gripped their weapons tensely. But nothing happened. Eventually, the construct dissipated. Earth, pieces of dark material, and remnants of a shattered core fell to the floor.

Terry heaved a deep sigh of relief. He could finally relax his legs and allow gravity to bend his knees. As a result, he was hanging upside down. It looked as if he was doing a handstand in the air and with his knees bent at a right angle.

Terry took a deep breath. He saw the topsy-turvy image of Lori and Jorg rushing towards Tiana’s group.

Good idea.

Terry exhaled sharply. He activated the imprints in his bracers and deactivated the imprints in his boots. He tightened his core muscles and pulled his legs in front of him and moved into a position as if he was standing. Afterwards, he deactivated the imprints in his bracers and allowed himself to fall. He used his boot imprints to interrupt his descent at one intermediate location – it felt not much different from landing on the floor. Then, he could finally land on real ground again.

Terry darted after his whaka. In the distance, he could see that something was pushed out of the dungeon floor – a small plateau with several items on it. He ignored it. So did Jorg and Lori. All of them continued dashing towards the others.

“Now, Elena!” shouted Tiana.

Elena loosened her grip on the rope and let the tertium slab fall to the floor. She took a run-up and jumped out of the crater. She tucked in her legs and protected herself with her dueling shield.

Gellath was already channeling mana into the barrier shield, and the mobile barrier followed the two.

Siling used her air coating and ran with eyes on Elena and Gellath. When the position and timing were right, she released her empowered Kinetic Push to cushion their fall and propel them further away from most remaining constructs.

Tiana blocked a javelin with her shield. Siling reactivated her barrier spell. Afterwards, the two fought their way through the constructs towards Elena.

Elena landed safely on the floor. She used her dueling shield to bat a fake goblin construct away and dodged the spear of another one. Her ear picked up the sounds of rocks impacting on the mobile barrier. Elena could hear a silent whimper, too. She gritted her teeth and ran.

Elena dodged where she could. When she couldn’t dodge, she tackled the smaller constructs with her dueling shield in front of her. She never stopped running.

All around the blood-aspected woman and her guarded dwarf, constructs were hit with a barrage of unaspected arrows.

Next to them, constructs were immobilized with entangling roots and pierced by rock spears or crossbow bolts.

Behind them, constructs were flung around by force magic and a lightning-aspected war hammer.

Then, an earthen wall was raised near Elena…

***