– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 218, Season of the Rising Sun, Day 74 –
“What the—? Crap!” Terry sensed a vast movement of mana aimed towards his direction.
Was Rafael trying to buy time? Did I fall for their trap? What is this? An attack? Should I try to run? Block with the Immovable Object Spell? Use a foldable cube? What if it’s—
Terry suppressed his conflicting thoughts and resolved himself for a course of action. Better to commit fully to a sub-optimal option than to be indecisive under time pressure. He channeled mana into his magic brooch and stepped into the shadow plane.
In the strange plane of shadows where light was coming in from the floor, Terry froze. His eyes were glued to a strange circular mark visible at a small hill of pure black. The mark was hard to overlook since it was glowing purple. It looked like the mirror image of the strange dungeon marks Terry had seen before and he suddenly became aware that he had not paid much attention to inspecting the shadow plane when investigating this secret realm.
The book mentioned that some dungeons require switching planes to navigate, which is why some of the most skilled dungeon pioneers of the time developed advanced marks that are visible in the shadow plane.
Are these really dungeon marks? What does this mean? What—?
“Not the time!” Terry shouted at himself when noticing the changes in his peripheral vision. The light coming from the floor had diminished. The window-like ground was now showing mostly darkness looming in the normal plane as well.
Focus.
Terry crouched down and examined the sight from the normal plane more closely.
Stone, but only at a distance. There is still some light. Is that magic illumination?
Did they create a dome? No. More like a tunnel.
Was this really an attack?
“Trap.” Terry mumbled. He glanced at his feet that had to stick to the ground. He would not be able to flee from this location while in the shadow plane. If he wanted to move, he had to confront whatever Chalita had prepared on the other side or try to wait it out.
Terry was reminded of his encounter with the Thanatos soldiers after he had dealt with the wyvern and escaped the Elusive Fog of Frost. Him waiting around had not worked that well in that encounter. He was not looking forward to another battle in the shadow plane either.
“Screw it.” Terry made his choice and lifted his foot. He instantly reappeared in the normal plane.
Tunnel.
He had no time to properly get his bearings, because he was immediately confronted by sharp pillars of wood growing from the floor and rushing towards his direction.
Terry transfixed a tertium slab and had the immovable metal block the attack while pushing his mana out to scout the area.
That wood must have been a martialist technique or some kind of artifact.
He retreated a few steps from the tertium to get some safety buffer in case the wooden pillars were able to snake around the sides and pierce through the existing gaps.
There is Chalita. The initial magic that created the trap came from her. That wood though, that came from somewhere else, which means there is more than one person and they have all cloaked their mana.
I can only rely on mana touch.
“Fire.” Terry braced himself for another incoming attack. Right, I can also sense them when they attack. Their attacks aren’t cloaked. Whatever items they are using might show similar openings.
Scout ahead with mana touch. Pay attention to attacks and openings with my regular mana sight. Got it.
*Boom!* Terry felt heat rushing around the tertium cube. He knew that the immovable object would not be affected by the rise in temperature, but it still made him wary.
They should have some knowledge about my spell, so why—? Crap. The smoke.
The remnants of the wood-based attack had caught fire. In the closed tunnel of rock, there was nowhere for the smoke to go. Terry involuntarily thought back to his bounty hunt examination. When they had brainstormed ideas for how to deal with the group of bandits, smoking them out had been among the first.
With a grim expression, Terry retrieved one of his scent masks and paired it with the barrier visor from his helmet. Next, he tried to close the gaps around the tertium cube with the help of his divine hammer inscription.
He pressed his mana into the tunnel walls to gauge the thickness and weigh his options.
Liquify Earth would work but would take time and more primers than are charged. Feeding more primers risks damaging the main imprint.
If I channel enough mana into the king spear while forcing the growth into one direction with the help of an immovable object, it would pierce through. It would help let the smoke escape, but not much.
Use another item from the Hall of Power? Out of the question. Not before Vicious is dealt with. Not unless there is no other option.
What is even their plan here?
Terry had located several of his opponents and he had gained a rough idea of the trap he was in. He glanced at the blocked passage.
I wonder how they are going to react when they notice the smoke is moving their own way. Suffocating them instead of me.
He did not have to wonder for long. Shortly after, he could sense mana activity from the other side of his barricade and soon, the sizzling sound of fire being extinguished with water was echoing from the tunnel walls.
Afterwards, Terry could sense long-range martialist attacks crashing through the passage and colliding with his immovable object.
They do realize that they are wasting their mana, right?
He furrowed his brow.
Do they believe they can outlast me in mana? Especially when it’s in the one application of mana where I can rely on proper spellwork?
Terry mentally counted the number of opponents he spotted with his mana touch. He made sure to remember their mana signatures and locations.
Even if they had thrice that number, they would have to think of something else.
Terry reflexively jumped back and punched out a disruption discharge when he sensed shadow-aspected mana gather on his side of the barricade. He was forced to continue punching out discharges because he sensed an increasing number of martialist abilities targeting him while bypassing the barricade he had put up.
I guess they have thought of something now.
Terry silently estimated his chances in outlasting the hostile group when he was forced to maintain a disruption field or to continuously keep up with disruption discharges.
Not great, but I can hold out a while.
Terry grit his teeth and glanced at the other direction of the tunnel.
Trap. Ambush. Or both. If they have any brains whatsoever, then both. The only reason for pushing me with that intensity from one side is to herd me in another.
He focused on his breathing while recalling what he had scouted in that direction.
Whatever they have planned must be beyond the range I scouted with mana touch. So there should be at least a thousand meters in which I don’t have to worry.
Terry made up his mind. He was not sure if it was the smart thing to do, but he was pissed enough to try. He had tried to stay away from these battle-crazed vultures, but they just kept coming. He was so done.
I hate this place.
Terry waited for a good moment and then collected his tertium slab back into his storage item before darting away from the ember-filled passage.
Attacks soon pursued on his heel and so did their creators. The martialists were gleefully following Terry further into the tunnel. Some were even deriding him for his presumed cowardice.
Terry meanwhile paid attention to avoiding the incoming attacks but also to the locations of his pursuers. He was reminded of the undead horde following him in the Wastes north of Tiv. The reason for this particular memory surfacing was that the pursuers became more and more spread out. Everyone was eager to be first to the kill and increase their claim to the loot.
Before he had reached the edge of his previous scouting range, Terry’s eyes grew cold. The time had arrived. He continued running while placing subtle mana refractors to leave behind. He burst his mana and jumped to have his feet in the air facing forward. He cast his spell and caught his momentum on immovable layers of metal in his boots.
You’re all going to regret this!
Terry reversed direction and furiously burst forward with his king spear in hand.
A cloud of mana condensed around him and followed him back into the direction where he had come from. With each step, the mana pressed into focus refractors and condensed further. In a matter of seconds, Terry was the center of an intense disruption rush, leading straight towards his enemies.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
The first martialist quickly lost her eager expression when she spotted Terry’s ferocious charge. Even the bright glow of mana use did not hide the fierce glint in his eyes.
The woman was taken aback by Terry’s appearance in her mana sight and this caused a slight delay in her counter-attack. A deadly mistake that he quickly exploited by abruptly accelerating with a switch in burst techniques and extending the king spear to match.
The second martialist in his path had a better reaction time and she managed to unleash a martialist technique shaping three crescent moons of fire from her curved saber.
Terry decelerated slightly to let the dense net of spell slicers following him collide with the crescents and eviscerate them. He feinted with his king spear while covertly transfixing the woman’s sword. He dodged underneath her punch, stomped her into the tunnel wall and pinned her into place with a transfixed piece of metal taken from his sheath belt. He left the immobilized martialist behind and bolted away.
The next sequence of opponents were not as lucky.
Terry caught the first off-guard by intentionally mismatching the spear’s length with his arm thrusts. The man completely misjudged the timing and received a spearhead into his heart.
The second managed to evade due to her impressive agility, but was tripped up by a sturdy layer of divine mana obstructing her footwork. The woman tried to block but was completely overwhelmed when Terry switched to cycling a burst technique to accentuate his strength. The spear broke through the woman’s defense, her arm, and her throat.
Terry did not bother to linger around. He did not fight to loot. He did not even care if they were truly dead or not.
Not yet.
He had memorized their mana signatures and would make sure to pay them back.
He was so done.
But for now, he forced himself to focus. His priority was to get out of the tunnel. For that, he had to move fast, before his enemies had a chance to group up properly again.
Quickly!
Another reason that was pushing Terry towards never stopping for long was the fact that his disruption rush would break down if he did not keep up sufficient momentum. He had to keep a tight hold of his mana and a close eye on his rapidly moving spell slicers.
Charging ferociously, Terry broke through martialist after martialist without ever halting for more than a few breaths.
If there had been more time, he might have even felt proud of his performance.
These seem to be stronger. Still uncoordinated, luckily. They’re really shit at working together.
Terry infused his mana into the king spear and bashed the lightning-covered pole into the nose of his current enemy. He compressed his spell to overpower the mana in the enemy’s protective heartplate.
As soon as the Immovable Object spell impaired the man’s movement, Terry switched the spear into reverse grip and extended the pole. He bolted away while using the changing spear length to land one last thrust.
In his dash, Terry quickly retracted his mana to shorten the spear again. He leaned to the side and channeled mana into the divine hammer inscription. An incoming blade slash was deflected by the divine mana and Terry thrust forward with the king spear.
His enemy was taken off-guard by the speartip moving slower than Terry’s thrust. In the following moment of panic, Terry used the spear feint to exploit the opening in the man’s posture and his left hand slashed the mana blade of his keen dagger over the man’s chest.
Before the man had a chance to process the pain, Terry had already passed him. All the martialist could see was Terry fluidly returning the dagger to the sheath belt with his left hand and then the silhouette of his rapidly shrinking back.
Eventually, Terry had made it close to the end of the tunnel. He was covered in blood. Much to his own surprise, none of it was his own.
Lucky so far.
Terry accelerated further and infused mana into the spear. He pushed his own naturalized mana forward along the pole to match the pace of the moving spearhead and follow it closely.
He retrieved a shield for his left arm and activated the king spear’s lightning layer.
With a loud crack, the pole’s lightning reached the spearhead and activated its magic. A dense net of powerful lightning escaped to assault all the unfortunate mana martialists whose evasive movements were limited by the tunnel walls.
Terry rammed shield-first into an injured martialist and finally saw the sky again. He transfixed the shield and stepped to the side to dodge an incoming glaive, whose owner was the women in dark green robes. The woman that had been at the front of all this.
Chalita.
Terry engaged the martialist in close combat, quickly rotating through his burst techniques to make his battle rhythm less predictable.
Now that he was out of the tunnel, he was feeling more confident in his ability to escape. He darted around the martialist on glowing layers of divine mana while covertly placing throwing needles as well as some of the translucent darts he had collected from the trial traps.
She is good.
Terry was forced to commend Chalita’s battle sense. Both her ability to avoid his strategically placed immovable objects as well as the way she was wielding her glaive.
High-intensity mana. Well-protected.
He dismissed the option of transfixing the woman’s glaive as unfeasible without investing more time than he was willing to spare.
He momentarily switched to transfixing his septimum pearls and the spear’s resize ability to have Chalita face some of the force that she herself was putting in.
Unfortunately, it did not show the desired effect. The required full rotation was making Terry too vulnerable to quick thrusts or glaive spins. He abandoned the idea.
Screw it.
Terry darted up into the sky on layers of divine mana. He was considering calling it a day and fleeing until he saw Chalita as well as several other of the stronger martialists following him into the sky.
So they do have some means for aerial movement. I should put up more safety guards when resting up there.
Fine then.
Terry continued jumping upwards. He tentatively summoned a barrier of divine mana in the path of one enemy who immediately earned himself a bloody nose and a bad headache from the collision.
Unfortunately, the others appeared more nimble than his first victim.
Terry lured the enemies further into the sky and then hurled forward a throwing needle. Simultaneously, he pressed mana into the spear while making sure that his own naturalized mana was matching the pace of the spearhead.
The spear grew heavy enough that Terry did not trust the divine mana underneath his feet to carry it. He transfixed some of the septimum pearls in his armor and grabbed the pole tightly.
Right at the moment when he felt the spear tilt, he remotely pressed his mana into the spearhead and added more mana to the lightning layer inside the pole.
The heavens roared with thunderous fury!
The enormous king spear tipped over while the vicious lightning strikes were following the trajectory of the spearhead.
Terry flung more items as fulcrums, used his bidirectional attraction glove for fine tuning and layers of divine mana for abrupt adjustments until the spearhead finally descended to be level with his enemies.
A sky-shattering crack reverberated over the secret realm and lightning rampaged with the king spear at the center.
Even Terry was reflexively placing a few immovable items as protection. He had built up a lot of lightning resistance since he had started practicing it in Tiv, but this was way beyond what he felt confident in handling.
Fortunately for him, it was his enemies that had to fend off the brunt of the heavens’ wrath.
Too bad for them, Terry had no compunctions about following up as soon as the lightning had dispersed. He pierced their vitals, slashed their weak spots, and kicked the survivors down towards their deaths.
Few managed to survive the furious lightning.
Even fewer survived the furious Terry that followed.
Those with the sharpest battle instincts were able to preserve their lives, but all of them had injuries that would take time and resources to recover. No helping it. They were panting and glowering at the departing silhouette.
Terry had successfully gotten away.
***
“Fuck me,” muttered one of Shen’s friends. His face was ashen. He and the others were using an egg-shaped artifact to observe what had been going on in the tunnel and its vicinity.
“That’s one way to put it,” added another.
“I did not expect that kind of turnaround.”
“I told you so.” Shen spoke in a patronizing tone that seemed well-practiced. “Aren’t you glad that you listened to me?”
“Hmph. The guy is just lucky.”
“If we had joined without holding back instead of secretly sneaking away, Terry would not have gotten away.”
“You should learn to filter your egos through your brains, or my explanations will remain pearls before the swine,” chided Shen condescendingly. “I don’t care if you want to throw your lives away at other times, but do not let me suffer because of your delusions. Do not mess this up.”
Shen ignored the offended gazes and turned to the rest of his entourage. “Since we are all well-rested, let’s collect our spoils.” He gestured towards the battlefield. “See? Even with Terry getting away, we have won. Easy pickings. Win-win.”
Whatever disgruntlement there had been with Shen’s patronizing attitude was washed away by greed. They immediately spread out to encircle the injured martialists.
***
“...quick…” Chalita was wheezing. Her dark green robes were tattered and dirty. “We can still get him, we just— Hugh.” She stared at the duo that had unexpectedly attacked her from the sides.
Behind the two martialists, another group appeared, with a man in white golden robes at their center.
“No, I’m afraid that is not going to happen.” Shen let his eyes wander over the long tunnel full of injured and exhausted martialists. He and his followers were staring at the battered group like predators on prey.
“If all of you had been less incompetent, then things could have been different, but by my calculation…” Shen grinned coldly. “...it’s more efficient to repossess your items at this point.”
“You!” Chalita wanted to muster her last bit of strength for a forbidden technique.
“No, that won’t happen,” said Shen confidently. He crushed a little glass sphere and let the vapor escape. “From what I know, your Withering Zither Steps have a glaring flaw in the third opening. Care to guess what it is?”
Chalita’s face paled, both from blood loss and from having her trump card sabotaged in an instant.
“My sect won’t let you off easily.” Chalita cursed. “You’ll die a horrible death.”
“Why would your sect target us?” Shen pushed a strain of hair out of his face. “You died trying to deal with Terry. There will be plenty of witnesses to corroborate that. What does your death have to do with us?” His fingernails extended into silver claws and he sunk them into Chalita’s heart. He stared firmly into her eyes to watch her life fade away. “Win-win.”
“You’ll regret this.” Chalita cursed and circulated her mana in a specific pattern she had hoped to never use. An instant later, her eyes lost their sharpness while a sudden bolt of purple light escaped from her glabella.
“No! Soul capture now! Now!” Shen commanded his subordinates, only to realize it was already too late. “This might complicate things.”
“Who cares?” Another martialist from Shen’s group shrugged. “She has abandoned her body. Even if she manages to come back, she’ll die here.” He held up an entrance ticket which he had taken from Chalita’s storage item. “Without this, she won’t be able to escape to tell her tale.”
Shen’s expression remained dark, but he nodded. “After this, we’ll have to make sure to use the spare tickets well. Put a discreet trade offer out on Chalita’s head. A ticket for whoever manages to eliminate her. We cannot allow anyone to figure out it’s us making the offer. Ideally, they don't even realize that Chalita is the target.”
“As long as they don’t have proof, what does it matter?” asked another.
“You.” Shen glared at the person that had spoken. “Weren’t you in charge of gathering information about her techniques? How did you fail to note that she has a soul flight technique?”
“Uhh…”
“I’ll deal with you later,” snapped Shen. “For now, we’ll have to take care of this.”
“Twenty to thirty,” declared one of Shen’s friends. “Beyond that, the people were too close to each other, so either that is the limit or we kill everyone.”
“Not the time to kill everyone yet,” stressed Shen. “We’ll delay further gratification. The people in the back have the deepest pockets anyway. They sent the fodder to approach Terry first.”
“Some of the fodder seems to be moving again.” A woman with a tracking artifact in hand announced.
“Send one as a distraction while the rest cleans up,” ordered Shen. “Make sure to leave a few spear and dagger marks on the bodies. Lightning as well.”
“Understood.”
***