– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 217, Season of the Setting Sun, Day 96 –
Terry deactivated the Immovable Object spell on the door and began pulling on it with his bidirectional attraction inscription without slowing down.
As soon as the door was closed, Terry activated his compressed spellwork to lock the door for good. He would have liked to steal the key and use that but he did not have the time to rummage through the guard’s pockets.
Rafael had caught up to Terry. “There’ll be more of them.”
Terry swiftly placed a tertium slab behind them and transfixed it to serve as a second line of defense from their back. He glanced at Rafael. “Can you collapse the tunnel behind us?”
“Of course.” Rafael smirked and reflexively switched to voice transmission for his less boastful thoughts. [I can’t guarantee that it won’t come down on us, buddy.]
[Don’t worry about it.] Terry moved his mana through his storage items. “I can handle that.”
They ran forward along the path that Terry chose based on his mana touch scouting. When they came to another fork, Terry stopped. “Here.”
“Give me one more second…” Rafael moved his mana one last time through his acupoints. “Ready!”
“There!” Terry pointed and rapidly darted around the tunnel to place a few immovable tertium pieces and make sure that the tunnel collapse was isolated where they wanted it to be.
“Heavenly Wolf Slash!”
Why does he always shout that name with the attack? Terry’s eyelid twitched.
If the other security guards were close enough to hear us, this would immediately spoil all plans to influence them and avoid a fight.
Fortunately, Terry could not sense anyone in the immediate vicinity.
*RUMBLE*
“Good…” Terry muttered to himself while retrieving most of the tertium pieces he had placed and transfixed before.
Afterwards, Terry turned to Rafael. “We can slow down for now.” [If I sense anyone, I’ll warn you. We can try playing Thanatos soldier again. What’s the situation with the entrance ticket?]
Rafael frowned. [It feels different from earlier, but it doesn’t seem to work yet.]
Terry took a deep breath. “Can you show me?” He had never actually seen the entrance ticket. He wanted to trust Rafael, but deep down, Terry heard a warning voice repeating the inquiries from the Warlord.
Trust but verify.
“Sure, brother.” Rafael did not hesitate and retrieved a folded piece of paper from his belt. He held it forward for Terry to examine.
As soon as the piece of paper was removed from Rafael’s belt, Terry sensed the mana inside.There was a single mana-infused character on the paper that Terry did not recognize.
Terry furrowed his brow. His acute mana sense allowed Terry to confirm a number of things.
It’s really doing something with the space aspect… That would fit with the teleportation.
There is a barely noticeable mana flow from the entrance ticket towards Rafael… That could be the means to transport more than one person.
It appears to be gathering and compressing mana… That would fit the charging theory.
Terry was satisfied with confirming the existence of the entrance ticket. The thing that left him worried though was the rate at which the mana in the paper was changing. He looked at Rafael. “From what I can sense, I believe that we have to hold out for at least another hour.” Terry examined the paper again. “Probably around two.”
“...” Rafael blinked at Terry. “Uhh… How?” He held the paper close to his own face again. “How do you figure that?”
“Rate of change of the mana inside,” explained Terry. “Normalized by time. I’ve tracked how the mana changes over several breaths.” Terry was already only paying half attention to the conversation. He had begun scouting further ahead with his mana touch.
“You’re a bit of a freak, aren’t you?” Rafael stared at the paper and Terry. “I can barely sense a difference across several hours and you mean to tell me that you’re sensing a difference from one breath to the other?”
“Shh.” Terry gestured for Rafael to quiet down. [Someone’s coming. Let’s start running. Try to look…] Terry puffed his cheeks. [I don’t know. Panicked? Somber? Grim? Distraught? We’ve just been sent down here and there was a battle that collapsed the tunnel. Whatever fits that.]
Inwardly, Terry cursed at his fate that forced him into this continued charade.
“HOLD!” A group of security guards were glaring at them.
One security guard spoke up. “I know them—”
“I don’t give a shit,” barked the woman in charge of their group. “They’re not supposed to be in these tunnels.”
“Your boss is currently holding off an enemy,” interjected Terry. “The tunnel has already collapsed. I know that you were in the process of moving some of the valuables but with the primary tunnel like this, you won’t—”
“Zip it,” barked the guard in charge. “Let us worry about the tunnel. Let the boss worry about herself. I want to know why you are here.” She practically stabbed her index finger downwards to point at the floor.
Terry began reciting his misleading truth about the unknown assailant aiming for an item in his possession. With the additional social proof from the other security guards that spoke up for him and corroborated parts of his story, Terry was optimistic about getting through this without a fight.
Unfortunately, that was when things changed.
Terry could see the woman in charge pause mid-sentence with her attention seemingly somewhere else. Before Terry could interpret the subtle movement of mana around her, he could already see it on her face.
Some form of voice transmission!
[Fight!]
Terry and Rafael dashed forth like coiled springs loosened.
“Don’t!” Terry stopped Rafael from tearing out the throat from one of the security guards. He himself had been focused on setting up a disruption field and transfixing the guards’ equipment.
The security guards grimaced under the combined effects of mana suppression, seeing their spellwork eviscerated, and being unable to draw their weapons.
“We don’t want to fight you,” stressed Terry. He held the gaze of a security guard that had spoken up for him earlier. “We just want to be left alone. If you attempt to block us, we have no choice but to—”
“SCREW YOU!” roared the security guard. “I’LL END YOU!”
“Thanatos doesn’t bow to threats!” growled the rest in unison.
Of course, you’d say that… Terry sighed inwardly.
He could already sense how they were trying to cast spells and disrupt Terry’s own spellwork.
Even though Terry hated it, there was no real way around it anymore. For a moment, Terry could hear the voice of his aunt Sigille again: ‘If something tries to kill you, kill it back.’
Terry drew his two inscribed daggers and finished off the guards in a decisive and fluent sequence of slashes.
Rafael was staring at Terry. “What did you hold me back for? You did not seriously believe they would just say ‘okay then’?” He wiped some blood from his own chest. “You even got blood all over me.” He examined Terry more closely. “What’s with that expression of yours? This isn’t even your first kill of the day.”
“I wish I was strong enough to avoid these,” said Terry while moving his eyes over the fresh corpses. I just want to go home.
“Okay…?” Rafael was already down to rummage through the guards’ pockets. “Pity. They must have already handed over the good stuff to someone else.”
“If they have some means of communication to the rest of the estate, then…” Terry mustered his resolve. “Only fights from now on.”
I hope we don’t meet the security manager again. She’ll be pissed.
Terry clicked his tongue. Well done, Terry.
Arrive with one blood debt, leave with a hundred, give or take!
Just another normal dungeon-sponsored trip to a foreign empire!
Crap.
Terry returned his keen daggers to their sheaths at his hips.
He retrieved his last remaining barrier spear. The inscribed short spear that his accepted mother Isille had sent him when he had been stuck in Tiv. Terry clutched the spear tightly in his right hand and closed his eyes.
A sliver of mana circulated first through the divine hammer inscription on his arm and then to the barrier spear.
The aunt he had lost and the mother had tried to save.
I’ll go home. Terry took a deep breath. Watch over me… He opened his eyes. “Gloves off.”
Terry’s mind calmed down.
On this day, whenever he had been standing still for too long, his mind had grown listless. Whenever he had to confront his own lack of ability, his mind had become unsettled. Torn apart by the difference between his ambition and his reality.
‘Follow the person you want to become.’
Terry pictured the Veilbinder, but another image emerged in his mind as well. The image of himself among his family.
Forget it. If they insist on fighting, I’ll fight.
Terry resolved himself.
I don’t know who they are. I don’t know why they chose to work here.
I don’t care anymore. I’m not strong enough to care.
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If they insist on fighting, they’ll die. Welcome to the world of beasts.
“Let’s go,” said Terry. Despite all his self-assuring thoughts, he did not want to linger around the corpses from the security guards. He did not take any of their items either.
Terry and Rafael slowly walked forward. Terry continued spreading his mana over the area to scout for invisible opponents.
Perhaps we should stay here? Hunker down until the entrance ticket becomes usable?
Terry’s resolve to fight did not clear up the problem of how to best go about it.
On the one hand, Terry knew from his dungeon experience that much of his battle style was significantly more effective in narrow quarters.
On the other hand, the ease with which Rafael had collapsed the tunnel behind them was not a comforting thought.
[Come…] A strange voice echoed in Terry’s head, which made Terry flinch involuntarily. He glanced at Rafael, who was definitely not the source of the voice.
Terry became wary. He recalled the lessons on detecting mind influence and checked himself.
He mentally went over everything he had done recently. True, there were a few things he had done for the first time, but he could justify them based on his character as he understood himself.
Terry frowned slightly. It feels weird to try and examine yourself as if you were a third party or a character in a book.
I don’t sense any strong compulsion or deviations in my emotions.
Terry shrugged. I don’t think any mind mage worth worrying about would rely on strange voices. If you were to put a voice into someone’s head, wouldn’t you try to make it less strange? More tempting? More persuasive?
Terry shook his head. I must have imagined it. He focused his attention back on his current situation.
If we go, then they might set up a trap for us in advance… Then again, if we remain here, they might also prepare a full on assault or work to collapse the tunnel.
Terry recalled how the prison guards in the Valkyrie’s dungeon had plotted against her behind her back.
I’d rather go out fighting than to have the ceiling come down on me…
I could set up an immovable cube and then we could intentionally collapse the tunnel around us to prevent anyone from coming here?
Terry frowned. What if the entrance ticket doesn’t work though?
He recalled the death mages from the undead horde when he had fled in the Wastes. What if they cast magic inside the cube?
Terry nodded to himself. Better to remain on the move. As long as I can sense them before they sense us, we have an advantage. Speaking of…
Terry tightened his grip on his barrier spear. [Heads up, Rafael. We’ll be meeting someone soon. Prepare your attack.]
[On it.] Rafael moved his mana through his acupoints.
Terry paid close attention to the sensation from his mana perception – both mana sense and mana touch. He glanced at the tunnel. [Try not to bring the whole earth down on our heads.]
[Who do you think I am?] protested Rafael. [My Heavenly Wolf Slash will carve through the enemy! No deflection possible.]
Terry prepared a few immovable items just to be sure.
“I suggest you back off,” shouted Terry grimly.
[Buddy, what are you doing?] Rafael was flabbergasted.
[Giving them a choice,] replied Terry flatly. He might not be strong enough to avoid killing, but given he and Rafael already had time to make preparations, Terry thought he could afford this much.
Terry heard whispers in the tunnel and spoke up once more: “Don’t bother trying to conceal yourselves. I already know that there are five of you.” He could sense one of their mages interrupt some spellwork. “Your employer and I are not on friendly terms, but this has nothing to do with you. Leave us alone and we’ll—”
“Shut your mouth, Arcanian!” An indignant shout echoed through the area. “Lady Beatrice has already ordered us to kill you without mercy.”
“Of course she did,” sighed Terry. It didn’t take long for them to inform their mistress. Terry clenched his fist. “You may have forgotten that you have a choice, so allow me to remind you: Just because you have received an order, does not mean that you have to follow it.”
“What’s wrong, Arcanian? Little Terry?” sneered a voice from the tunnel. “Are you scared?”
Unexpectedly, the question made Terry pause.
As uncomfortable as his situation was at the moment, the danger paled to what he had gone through in the past year as far as Terry saw it.
The battles in the Proving Grounds had him trapped in a limited area and without his equipment.
The hellspawn hive, the undead horde, and the giant wyvern were much more intimidating than a few security guards.
He even had a potential way out with the teleportation of the entrance ticket.
He only needed to hold on.
There was only one thing about the current situation that appeared more daunting than Terry’s past experiences: killing folks. Increasing his blood debts. Becoming the villain in even more personal stories.
While Terry was still ordering his thoughts, a jeering voice arrived again: “Too late for regrets! You’re not weaseling out of this one! Today you will die!”
Well then… Terry shrugged inwardly. “You first…” A statement that served both as a reply to the hidden guards and as an order to Rafael.
“Got it.” Rafael grinned a toothy grin. “Just tell me when.”
Terry and Rafael dashed forward. As soon as Terry sensed the successful priming of offensive spells up ahead in the tunnel, he instructed Rafael: “Now!” Simultaneously, Terry flicked many of his old throwing needles and transfixed them near the ceiling at various locations in front of them..
“HEAVENLY WOLF SLASH!” The mana resonated and created the after-image of a large white wolf that barely fit into the tunnel. The wolf howled and stormed towards the enemies.
“What the—?” “I thought the felan’s attack takes longer to charge— Damn it!” “Block! BLOCK! SHIELDS— AHHHHHH!”
“You bastards!” “I’ll… kill you.”
Terry could sense that three of the enemies had been killed outright. One had managed to barely evade in time by transforming into a puddle of water. Another had relied on an item to block but was still injured heavily.
“UAAAHH!” With a battle cry, the uninjured security guard charged forward, seemingly impatient to attack and unwilling to give Rafael another opportunity for a Heavenly Wolf Slash.
“Urhg…” The security guard stopped his charge with incredulous eyes. His whole body was in pain and blood was flowing from everywhere.
He stared behind himself to discover small needles transfixed in the air and dripping with blood. His blood. He had failed to notice the needles during his impulsive charge and now it was too late.
His muscles had been torn. His bones had been shattered. His organs had been pierced. All by his own furious charge.
The last thing the man saw was the silhouette of someone dashing past him.
Terry arrived in front of the last remaining guard, who was in the process of trying to heal herself.
“No!” The security guard channeled her mana into her wrist band and several fire arrows were rushing from the item towards Terry.
Terry instantly created a barrier with his magic short spear. He moved the barrier towards the front so that he had enough room to lunge out with his spear and pull his arm back for a thrust. He blocked the fire arrows with the magic barrier and then accelerated with the help of a burst technique.
The security guard did not expect Terry’s sudden shift in speed. She barely caught the sight of Terry’s barrier disappearing. The sight of the detached look in Terry’s eyes. The sight of the spear tip aiming for her forehead. Darkness. Eternal.
Terry pulled his arm back. He had to put a foot on the woman’s corpse to pull the spear out from her head. Without turning around, he spoke to Rafael. “If you want to loot, you have a minute. I suspect that they were just here to confirm our location, which means someone already knows where we are, which means that there will be more next time. If we can reach another fork before then, that would be best.”
“Buddy, this is great.” Rafael picked several items up from the dead security guards. “When I teamed up with you, I was only thinking about your spell and disruption field, but I’m beginning to like your mana sense even more.”
“Mhmhm…” Terry did not pay much attention to Rafael and was instead retrieving the needles from his skewer box. He channeled mana into the inscription at the back of the cylinder and the needles were all returning to it. Terry tried to ignore the fresh blood dripping from them and continued retrieving his other throwing needles.
***
“Terry! We know you’re there!” Some people were shouting. At this point, Terry did not know if they were Thanatos soldiers or security guards. They had already encountered both groups in the tunnels. “Surrender yourselves!”
[This is actually really funny.] Rafael’s voice transmission sounded incredibly amused.
Terry paid close attention to his mana perception. While his mana sense was locked onto all the nearest hostiles, his mana touch was focused on the immediate vicinity. He did not want to become a victim of overconfidence. They had played a trick on their enemies, but Terry could not rule out the possibility that this was just bait.
Terry and Rafael had encountered and killed several small groups in the tunnels until they finally managed to arrive at a fork.
After Terry and Rafael had reached the fork, Terry had suggested they intentionally leak some of their mana – just enough to be picked up by one of the enemies’ mana sensors and only for a brief moment so as to make it seem like an accident.
In the end, this wasn’t hard to accomplish since Rafael was still relying on the magic necklace that Terry had earned in the dungeon inside the Elusive Fog of Frost. Rafael only needed to remove the item for a brief moment of time when Terry judged that their enemies were close enough to sense them.
Now, Terry and Rafael were safe in one path while their enemies were talking to the nothingness in another. [Do you mean how they are talking to air? Or how they are asking for surrender even though it’s perfectly clear they want to kill us?]
[What are they up to?] asked Rafael.
[Move two steps back,] instructed Terry. He had used their earlier trick to also get a gauge on the range of the enemies’ sensor. He made good use of the knowledge by making sure that Rafael could charge his attack undetected.
[I’m ready.] Rafael was full of confidence.
Terry had tried giving the security guards and Thanatos soldiers whom they had encountered in the tunnels a chance, but all of them had insisted on fighting and on trying to kill them.
By now, Terry had run out of patience and goodwill.
Today was different from when he had surrendered to Thanatos soldiers before. Beatrice was intent on settling accounts. Terry had already left corpses and mayhem behind. Last but not least, Terry was feeling more confident in his chances today.
[Now!] Terry gave the sign and then he dashed forward together with Rafael.
“HEAVENLY WOLF SLASH!”
In their practiced combination, Terry and Rafael made short work of their enemies.
Rafael was in the middle of looting when Terry jerked his head around. He sensed rapid mana movement. Intense. Vaguely familiar.
“Crap.” Terry hurriedly transfixed several tertium slabs.
*TANG* *TANG* Thorny roots were colliding with the immovable metal.
“We have to move!” Terry pulled Rafael up. [The lady of the house has returned.]
Terry’s earlier confidence was shaken by the arrival of Beatrice on the scene. If there was anyone in Thanatos that wanted to see Terry dead at all costs, it was Beatrice. Well, her and the mana martialists from the Blazing Sun Sect.
She’s quick.
Terry and Rafael bolted into another path. Terry had chosen this path because there was another fork not far away. The vine spell appeared long-range.
He was hoping that Beatrice only managed to find their location through the deaths of her subordinates. He was confident in his own mana cloaking and the magic item from the dungeon, but he could not entirely dismiss the possibility that Beatrice had unorthodox detection means at her disposal.
“TERRY!” a furious roar echoed through the tunnels.
Yup, she’s pissed. Terry continued running.
We could bring down the tunnel but…
Terry rejected the idea. He still remembered the abilities that Beatrice had displayed on the Bulwark in Tiv. There were plenty of ways for her to come out ahead in a tunnel collapse, especially with her nature-aspected spellwork.
Terry passed a tunnel where he had sensed an exit. Rafael was following him with complete trust. The reason that Terry had chosen not to exit the tunnel system was that he knew this would not improve their chances.
Outside, Terry would not be able to utilize the Immovable Object spell to the same degree of effectiveness. While his divine hammer inscription would allow him more mobility outside, the additional number of enemies waiting there made the increase in mobility seem far from enough.
Terry instead led the way into a tunnel that was empty and did not contain any mana signatures. Rafael followed him without questions. The felan had come to rely completely on Terry’s instructions in their battle today.
“What…” Terry subconsciously slowed down when he sensed a slight mana distortion.
“Buddy?” Rafael searched Terry’s expression for an explanation.
[Finally…] The strange voice spoke in Terry’s head again, which had Terry deeply disconcerted. [Pay…back.]
Payback? While Terry was still bewildered at what was going on, several dozen mana signatures appeared in their path.
Matching the mana signatures were the physical bodies of lizans.
“Xuan?!” exclaimed Rafael. [FUCK!]
Terry had suspected that Xuan had been facing him in the arena at Beatrice’s behest, but he had not expected that she was able to use him outside of the Proving Grounds.
Worse than Xuan, was the intense mana signature from the black-scaled lizan in front. She was grabbing a powerful mage staff and her blue eyes were entirely focused on Terry.
“Pay…back.” Fate spoke slowly. The common tongue of this human-native realm still did not come easily to her lips.
Her. That strange voice was hers! Terry’s mind raced, trying to remember all the instances he had heard the strange voice.
Sparing Xuan.
Entering Beatrice’s mansion.
Entering the tunnels.
Terry’s eyes swiveled and he finally spotted the other lizans. With horror, Terry realized that he had seen the other lizans before. These were the lizans that had followed Blue. The followers of the lizan prophet that had tried to harm Terry. The lizan leader whom Terry had decapitated after killing the giant wyvern in the Elusive Fog of Frost.
All of Terry’s thoughts concluded in a single word: Trap!
“RUN!” Terry and Rafael bolted away before the lizans had a chance to speak another word.
Terry grit his teeth. Beatrice on one side. The lizans on the other. The collapsed tunnel in the back.
The only other path was the exit that Terry had dismissed before.
***