– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 216, Season of the Setting Moon, Day 13 –
Terry had been running nonstop for more than a day while cursing the indefatigable undead. Even though he was faster than the runners, he could not put much distance between himself and the horde. Not only did the horde have some means to track Terry’s location for their pursuit, there were also moments when smaller groups sped up unnaturally.
To Terry, this showed that aside from a death whisperer with the ability to coordinate the different creatures, there must be some high-rank spell caster amidst the core of the horde, which probably meant a lich. He was not looking forward to such an encounter, and his only consolation was that the strongest creatures stuck to the center of the horde.
By now, the horde’s dogged pursuit had changed the horde's overall gestalt. Instead of a large roaming cluster of undead, it was now a narrow trail that spanned many miles. A part of Terry’s mind was wondering if undead were capable of holding grudges. Or if he looked particularly tasty to undead. He had trouble guessing why they would pay so much attention to him.
Terry exhaled sharply and changed course to intersect with the other mana signatures he was sensing in the distance.
Please be aspect beings…
Please be aspect beings…
Please be aspect beings…
Damn it!
Terry cursed as soon as he could make out that he was on his way to collide with yet another group of mana-corrupted creatures.
I’ll have to take what I can get.
Terry gnashed his teeth and continued on his path. As soon as he could see the enlarged lizard creatures, Terry air-jumped into the sky to pass them without having to engage them.
"Hiss!" Some of the lizards attempted to follow Terry on the ground while spitting dark clouds filled with cracking lightning at Terry.
For a brief moment, Terry considered if he should use a disruption discharge, but he dismissed the idea to budget on mana. Instead, he dodged as best he could and circulated his mana according to his resistance training when he couldn’t.
“Urgh.” Terry groaned in pain and exhaled sharply when a nasty cloud hit him. Terry pushed down the pain and continued forward while sensing the arrival of the undead on the scene behind him.
A short time of gleeful schadenfreude when the creatures were killing each other was immediately followed by resigned frustration when Terry sensed new death aura creatures rising from the corpses of the mana-corrupted beasts.
The problem with using mana corrupted to whittle down the undead horde was that the death aura curse was not limited to affecting humans or other folks. As long as the killed creature offered enough mana and material, the death aura curse would take effect.
By now, Terry had even noticed smaller indicators on the skeletal warriors that allowed him to identify with reasonable accuracy which of them had been created from beasts. The skulls and limbs looked slightly different depending on the origin.
This was why Terry was always hoping to encounter aspect beings instead of mana corrupted – spirits and elementals did not trigger the death aura curse. Demons with their hosts could trigger it, but demons would also ensure that they took down larger numbers of undead with them.
Terry grit his teeth and continued dashing east.
***
After running for three days with no chance for a proper break, Terry felt himself getting groggy, and he noticed that his own mana consumption had increased sharply.
He was reaching his limits.
He needed food and some rest, even if just a bit. Unfortunately, the undead horde was still on Terry’s heels and did not give him a chance.
At least I was able to use some opportunities to do some good…
Terry smiled slightly. He had not kept count of all the eliminated undead and other creatures, but he knew that the accumulated number of the past few days was not insignificant. His repeated luring of the undead into groups of other magic creatures definitely had an effect.
At least I could send the dragonfly construct on its way…
Terry’s eyes closed slightly. Images sprang up in Terry’s mind…
A scene of Bjorln cooking dinner while Isille was helping out and chatting with him…
Everyone’s faces when he finally called them from the Libra Outpost…
His friends that were waiting for him in Arcana City, goofing around with him on the training grounds, and then volunteering to join Lori and him in their search for the blood tulip…
The worried faces of Lori and Jorg when they were checking on him during the middle of the night because they feared he might disappear again…
Terry forcefully bit his tongue to let the pain shake himself awake and he opened his eyes widely once more.
“SCREW THIS!” Terry shouted loudly while tasting blood. “I. WILL. GET. THROUGH. THIS.”
Even though he couldn’t do anything about his increasing mana consumption, he could stay conscious and alert enough to dodge the incoming ranged attacks.
When night arrived and the sky turned dark once more, Terry caught a faint glimpse of light in the distance. He focused on the light to prevent his mind from slipping. Eventually, Terry’s mana sense caught up with his visual perception, and Terry fell deep into thought.
Pure fire-aspected signatures.
Intense fire-aspected signatures.
Many of them.
On the one hand, this was good news as far as Terry’s goal of whittling down the horde was concerned. On the other hand, these signatures on their own were definitely bad news. Some of them were much more intense than Terry felt comfortable with. They reminded Terry of the elementals that Anand had invited to the Libra Outpost with his dimensional gates.
A chance is a chance.
Terry’s eyes showed determination, and he dashed forward to cross the fire-aspected signatures. After some time, Terry could see the roaming flames and fire creatures. He grimaced when he noticed that some of the flames contained traces of blue. Not the blue that would indicate a different aspect like coldfire. This was the blue of pure, unadulterated, and intense fire, which was an indicator of high-rank fire elementals.
Terry intentionally slowed down slightly to gather some breath and allow the undead creatures to catch up with him further.
Now!
Terry abruptly sped up and burst his mana beyond his limits. He charged into the fire elementals and air-jumped up with as much power as he could muster.
Crap!
To Terry’s horror, he noticed that his forceful jumps went beyond the material limits of the extension coil springs in his boot mechanism and they overextended no matter how fleetingly Terry cast the Immovable Object spell on the extension layer. Terry exhaled sharply and began summoning and transfixing junk items from his storage anklets in order to jump further up while dodging the incoming attacks.
Without the awkward obstruction from the coil springs, Terry could accelerate even further.
“Damn it!” Terry cursed loudly when the temperature around him rose sharply. A jaw of flames was pursuing him from behind with astonishing speed.
Terry could not help but attempt to speed up his mana circulation even further, to push his mana just that much faster, to forcefully press more mana into his muscles and veins.
As the blood vessels on Terry’s face became more and more visible, two blue flames passed by his sides. The blue flames combined right in front of Terry’s path and then another thin flame shot from them to link up with the fire jaw that was pursuing Terry.
As soon as the link was established, the temperature increased significantly and even the jaw of flames began turning blue with sizzling noises.
These flames were more than Terry’s armor or his resistance could handle, and Terry knew it. Even if it wasn’t for the blistering heat, his mana sense was warning him of the attack’s intensity.
Terry hesitated and considered breaking through the flames, but when he sensed the breadth of the expanding inferno, he dismissed the idea. With no other option left, Terry retrieved a foldable tertium cube and hurriedly hid inside before pulling the handle to close the cube and then transfix it.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
“Argh!” Terry groaned when he collided with the inside of the immovable cube. Unfortunately, he did not have the convenience of waiting until the air resistance had slowed him down. Terry coughed some blood and then hurriedly changed his mana circulation to go easy on his mana channels while also following the resistance training pattern.
“Heh.” Terry chuckled wearily. “This is it.” Terry felt relieved when the immovable cube held against the elemental’s attack, but he understood the situation he was in. While he was able to endure the heat with the help of his mana, he was trapped until he found an opportunity to break through.
Terry paid close attention to the mana in the vicinity, as well as his own active Immovable Object spells.
“Might as well…” Terry muttered feebly and retrieved some mana-imbued cold tea before wolfing down some food.
Terry could not help but sigh when the chocolate bar he had retrieved immediately melted in his hand. “Should have seen that coming.” He fidgeted. “Damn it.” Some of the chocolate had already dripped onto his armor and the tertium cube. His eyes lingered sorrowfully on the wasted chocolate.
And today’s menu? Chocolate-covered Terry!
I hope the ghouly Alricks can appreciate the change in flavor…
Terry chewed and drank while observing the moving mana signatures outside the cube.
More and more undead had entered the scene. It was evident that a death whisperer had taken control, because the zombies and ghouls were keeping their distance from the fire elementals while the death aura creatures positioned themselves for battle.
“Urgh…” Terry groaned. “I need to stay awake.”
He searched his storage items for the closest thing he could find to a Banish Fatigue effect and immediately downed the potion.
As another precaution, Terry retrieved the resistance training device that emitted ice-aspected mana and tightly held onto it. The pain would help keep him awake and the slight cooling effect was much appreciated.
I guess I should count myself lucky that I’m not wearing the furry cloud badger armor anymore… Wastes, it’s so hot…
“What the— No, damn it!” Terry sensed a casting center appear inside his immovable cube. He whirled around and instantly disrupted the Death Spear spell with a focused discharge.
“Go fight the elementals! Leave me alone!” Terry cursed while playing whack-a-mole with the appearing casting centers.
“Crap.” Terry’s eyes narrowed when a casting center appeared right on top of his own Immovable Object spell structure. Now Terry had to shift and recast his own spell while simultaneously disrupting the incoming spells.
Fortunately for Terry, the fire elementals were not creatures to be ignored either, and the increasing number of death mages were not free to focus entirely on Terry.
Terry bided his time while frantically disrupting any casting centers that appeared to threaten him and constantly reabsorbing his discharged mana.
Eventually, Terry paused and narrowed his eyes. His cheeks were puffed with food. He chewed slowly while observing the movements in his mana sight.
Terry moved into a start position for sprinting. He swallowed his food down. He transfixed slices of wood underneath his feet.
Terry slapped his hand on the tertium cube. He deactivated the active Immovable Object spell and instantly returned the cube into his storage bracelet.
Terry bolted away while the undead and fire elementals were keeping each other busy. Some creatures still aimed ranged attacks at Terry, but he could dodge or rely on his disruption pulse to make his escape under the cover of the surrounding chaos.
When he had gained some distance, Terry returned to the ground in order to save mana while running. He glanced back west towards the ongoing battle without stopping.
While a few skeletal warriors had broken off from the battle to pursue Terry, they did not have the assistance of their high-rank spell casters and fell further and further behind.
***
High above the ground, the sky was empty except for a single transfixed box of tertium.
Inside the tertium box, a sleeping figure was curled up.
Above the figure, a bucket with a water catcher was transfixed in the air.
Terry had used his chance to put some distance to the undead horde and finally get a moment of sleep. He had worried about getting attacked while sleeping. After all, the undead were not the only threats around. In the end, Terry had decided to sleep in the sky to eliminate most potential threats and to sleep inside his immovable cube to protect against most of the remaining ones.
Naturally, this had put a limit on his nap time because Terry had to compress his mana in order to empower the Immovable Object spell to hold out without feeding additional mana to it.
Since Terry did not feel safe sleeping for long anyway, this spell limit was acceptable. He had set up a safety spell in order to wake up before he fell from the sky.
Eventually, a metal bucket hit Terry’s head and spilled water all over him.
“Urgh-huam puh-blblbl— I’m awake.” Terry sat up dazedly and immediately concentrated on his mana sense.
“Oh, come on…” Terry whined. “Persistent bone bastards.” At the edge of Terry’s mana sense, he could already sense the vanguard of the undead horde.
“Haaahhh…” Terry sighed, took a sip from his mana-imbued cold tea, and transfixed his boots. He returned the tertium cube to his storage bracelet and surveyed his surroundings.
“Nothing to do but press on,” muttered Terry while looking east. He used his five-point inscription ring to make sure of his current course. “As long as I keep doing what I’m doing…”
Terry stretched. “Perhaps a hundred more opportunities, and I’m good. Perhaps a hundred more days of running and I’m back in Arcana. Perhaps a hundred more—” Terry blinked. “Uhh, where was I going with this? I’m still sleepy…”
Terry allowed himself to drop down and used the pearls connected to extension coil springs in his armor to safely land on the ground.
“Huaaamm…” Terry yawned. “One step at a time.” Terry began running.
***
In a secret location inside Tiv’s territory, a group of soldiers wearing the silver uniform of Tiv’s imperial army were waiting in a cavern when two messengers arrived from different entrances.
“What’s the situation outside?” asked the woman in charge.
The man that acted as the messenger handed over several documents. “Not good, Ma’am.”
“Cut the ma’am, that’s my mother,” interrupted the commander. “I’m Yujin.”
“Yes, Yujin,” acknowledged the messenger, and relaxed slightly. “The most recent battle with the hellspawn has attracted another undead horde.”
“Better undead than hellspawn,” interjected a soldier from the side. She was observing their commander’s expression while Yujin read the documents. “The situation here can’t be contained. It’s only a matter of time before more hellspawn arrive and a buffer zone with undead could buy us some time.”
“Without reinforcements, the line outside won’t hold,” stressed the messenger.
“Where are the reinforcements, then?” interjected another soldier. He was scowling and sounded angry. “They can’t have possibly abandoned us in this hellhole. If they want to secure this place, they better send some more forces.”
“I still don’t get why we even care about this stupid dungeon,” grumbled another soldier. “What is so important about this place that the Royal Faction is throwing away all our lives to protect it?”
“We don’t care about this dungeon.” Yujin spoke up and stowed the documents away. She eyed the soldier by his side. “We are following orders. That’s all we need to know.”
“Hmph.” The soldier looked dissatisfied, but held his tongue.
Yujin glanced at a pair of soldiers whose armor was slightly different and showed that they were the people that were truly in charge of this place. The commander and her troops were just reinforcements.
“There won’t be any more reinforcements,” explained Yujin. “Apparently, some people from Tiv have sabotaged Arcana’s barrier, which has provoked a group of monsters from Arcana. The Royal Faction won’t be able to sequester more troops, no matter how much the Founding King insists.”
“Wait, really?” A soldier spoke up, and her eyes were filled with horror. “Someone intentionally provoked Arcana?”
“Insanity,” muttered another of the soldiers.
“Has war been declared? If so, I won’t complain about this deployment ever again. Better to stay in a dungeon than…” The soldier paled.
“No official war, no,” said Yujin. “Only a few individuals. Perhaps a few dozen.”
“A few individuals are keeping our entire empire on its toes?” A soldier exclaimed in shock.
“Dimensional mages and archmages,” replied Yujin flatly.
“Fuck.” Curses escaped the lips of the soldiers.
“Bottom line, we’re on our own here,” said Yujin. She turned to the second messenger. “How is the situation further down?”
“Worse than you can imagine, platoon leader,” replied the woman. “Another tear has opened with more and more hellspawn pouring through. The dungeon’s spawn rate has nearly crawled to a halt.”
“Unsurprising,” muttered Yujin. “The hellspawn and all of us are competing with the dungeon for the mana here. If we continue staying in this location with large numbers, this dungeon will collapse sooner or later.”
“And if we don’t stay here, the hellspawn will overrun this place and the dungeon will collapse as well,” remarked a soldier from the side. “Seriously, what’s the point?”
“Yeah, we’ve lost thousands of good soldiers here already. What for? Best case, one more dormant dungeon, so what? Worst case, another portal for hellspawn. That won’t make much of a difference, will it?”
“I agree. It’s meaningless to stay here. If we leave, the dungeon collapses. If we stay, the dungeon still collapses. I don’t mind dying, but I don’t want to die for nothing. This is meaningless.”
More and more complaints were piled onto each other, and Yujin frowned.
“Ma’am,” the messenger from deeper down in the dungeon spoke up. “Uhm, Yujin?”
“Speak freely, soldier,” said Yujin.
“The sentiments down in the dungeon are similar,” said the messenger. “They phrased it less politely though. More cursing and…” The messenger hesitated. “It is getting harder and harder for those in command to keep everyone in line.”
Yujin’s frown deepened. She took a deep breath and glanced at the soldiers that were really in charge of this dungeon.
“They have a point,” said Yujin.
“They have orders,” retorted the man that held her gaze.
“Nevertheless.” Yujin stared at the man coldly. “You’re called Claude, right? If we are to die, Claude, we should know what for. Otherwise, don’t blame us for leaving to find a more meaningful battle.”
The woman next to Claude, who was wearing the same armor as him, put her hand on the hilt of her sheathed sword.
Claude scowled and let his eyes wander over the dissatisfied soldiers. “If this place falls, then the Tiv Empire will be torn apart.”
“Explain,” prompted the commander.
“We’re not authorized to do that,” spat the woman next to Claude. “These decisions have been made by the people that have ordered you to this place. Unless you intend to desert, you should worry about how to achieve your mission instead of why. The security of this place is paramount. That’s all you need to know.”
Beside her, Claude eyed the soldiers’ reactions warily. “This place has been protected for two centuries. I am sure you can ascertain the weight behind this.” His tone became solemn: “Do you really want to be responsible for a failure of this magnitude?”
This proclamation stunned the soldiers into silence.
***