Chapter 28
Light [https://i.imgur.com/3ctFyy2.png]
“Run!”
“But your arm!”
“Forget it! Recovery already stopped the bleeding. Move! If I will stop, I will pass out!”
Orla didn’t say anything more. She turned around and kept running through the secret tunnel with Linus on her shoulders and, Jack and Zaun trailing behind her. Narrow tunnel walls came even closer as they kept running on the ascending illuminated only by blue lanterns on the sides.
The tunnel entrance closed behind them cutting them off from their pursuer, but it was only a matter of time before the wall will succumb under the devastating might of moon mana spellcraft. They heard one thud after another as entrance somewhere far behind them tanked one strike after another without giving in. They used this time to run as far as they can before the chase ensues for real.
Suddenly rumbling behind them stopped. They were far by now, and many turns and twists of tunnel blocked their vision from the door so they couldn’t possibly guess the reason.
“Did he break through?” Orla asked.
“That or he decided to get some help,” Jack said through his teeth, “Doesn’t matter. Think only by moving forward, nothing else is of any importance at this moment.
“I understand. Keep your useless advice to yourself,” she said.
They kept on running through the secret tunnel with no idea where it was heading. The tunnel was slowly, but surely leading them up to the surface, but, as saying goes, hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
And there was no way to know if traveling to the surface was really their best bet. For all they could know, it might be the final nail in their coffins.
And yet Mad Dogs found themselves in front of the dead end. Path sharply rose up run straight into the ceiling making an unnaturally sharp corner between the ceiling and floor.
“This must be the door,” Jack said, “Zaun, where is the switch?”
Zaun looked all around him. The red walls around them were completely smooth with no imperfections or flaws. But not for Zaun. He confidently reached out with his hand and pressed the wall beside them on a completely unremarkable spot. And yet, something clicked in the wall with a sharp sound.
Dead end opened up in front of them and a breeze of fresh air hit them as they stepped out back on the surface of Fallen Eldritch Forebear.
They stood on a small elevation. A familiar desolate wasteland met them with open arms. Moons shined as brightly as when they saw them last time. The fog was slowly coming back, and right now it was rising up to their waistlines.
There were no Fallen Eldritch Priests in a sight. There were no other Eldritch monsters or beasts in sight, either. There were no Eldritch horrors waiting to feast on their flesh and minds. If you don’t count their old pal below them.
Zaun pointed somewhere in the distance.
At the first glance, there was nothing special in the direction he pointed his hand, but on closer inspection, they could see it. They could see their ticket home.
A slight purple glow was visible right beyond the horizon line.
“Well, well! You look at that!” Jack exclaimed.
“Zaun, I would kiss you right now, if I could!” Orla said with true happiness showing in her voice for the first time in a long time.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Their happy moment was cut short when a familiar sound of rumbling reached the ears of Mad Dogs.
“Divines!” Orla spit without caring to remove her faceguard, “Go and offer yourself as a peace offering, geezer!”
“Ha! I refuse!” Jack denied her proposition.
“You are too old to be cowardly.”
“I am old because I am cowardly.”
“Sure, you are the biggest scaredy cat I had the pain to meet,” Orla said with irony lancing her words.
A good distance away, the ground opened up and fog split to let out warband of Fallen Eldritch Priests. One after another they kept coming out with no end in sight. In their lead was the same Eldritch Priest they met down in the hall. They could tell him apart from the rest of his kind by the way he was shaking from anger upon seeing Mad Dogs simply standing in the distance.
Priest released a spell toward them and a sphere of blue moon mana traced its way straight at them. Luckily it didn’t reach them and blew up in the air. A mental scream of anger reached the minds of Mad Dogs and warband of furious Priests started their run.
“We are out of their range,” Jack pointed out the obvious,” We better keep it that way. Move out!”
“I am so tired of running.”
“Just push yourself a bit more.”
Mad Dogs started their own run with pursuers right on their track. Orla was carrying Linus on her shoulders, holding him in place with her right hand, while her left hand, with a shield strapped on the forearm, carried her spear. Hands of Spearman doubled the effects that her Strength stat applied on her body, making her, essentially, twice as strong as her usual self. Even more so.
She had 12 Strength stat points. Each point granted a 5% increase to her muscle strength, and with her perk Warrior’s condition II effect went up to 7%. Together it came up as an 84% strength increase. With her Tier I talent Hands of spearman effect on her body was a 168% increase in muscle power.
But at this moment, running through the wastelands in full metal armor and carrying Linus in the same armor, she didn’t feel strong.
She felt tired. Her Endurance stat was still 0. Her strength was spent. She had the strength of a man, but she was so tired she could barely push herself to move forward.
Zaun led the way towards the portal with his Tower shield strapped on his back and axe sitting by his belt. He didn’t offer his help to Orla yet. He saw that she was managing her burden and still pushing forward so he allowed her to continue, deciding to help her later when she will not be able to continue anymore.
Jack was staying in the rear. His right hand was completely missing, and his left had no fingers in the gauntlet. To be more precise, his fingers still were where they should have been, only they were not connected to the rest of his body. His injuries left him crippled and unable to fight and yet he ran after Orla and Zaun with a smile hidden behind his helmet.
He smiled because he found out something new. When his perk Recovery II tried to regrow his limbs, he felt it. He didn’t feel it in his fingers, but now with his arm gone, he could feel it crystal clear.
It was the feeling of his bones and flesh, ever so slowly, regrowing and stitching itself together.
And it hurt.
It hurt so much, and Jack Mors loved the feeling.
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Horizon was a lot further than they thought.
The curvature of the Eldritch under their legs was a lot smaller than one on Earth or Rosmorre. That could mean many things, one being that Fallen Eldritch Forebear is larger than the world. Or that his back was very flat. If they assume that they are located on his back, of course.
They run for three days straight with no rest, food, or water.
The only time they rested was when they stopped to remove all their armor. They left in the fog for good, as there was no way they could stop to face the horde which chased them relentlessly through the wasteland.
They removed their plate armor suits, chain mails, and gambesons, and moved forward only in their undergarments and thin leather shoes which they usually wore inside their armored boots.
Zaun took Linus from the Orla and carried him for the rest of the way, but during their three-day run, Linus didn’t honor Mad Dogs with his consciousness.
After three days of pure torture, they reached the portal and crossed it without thinking or looking back.
As soon as they crossed it, Mad Dogs found themselves in the familiar mountain landscape of Riftlands on the west border of the Empire.
“Hahaha!” Orla dropped to her knees and kissed the ground under her, “I can’t believe we made it!”
Zaun carefully placed Linus on the ground and then slumped down right beside him on the hard rock. His chest was pumping up and down like crazy as he lay on the cold rock ground unmoving.
“You better do,” Jack said looking as tired as the rest of them.
He looked back at the portal and suddenly froze up remembering something.
“Hey, does Eldritch Priests can cross rift as easily as we do?” Jack asked Zaun and Orla.
He was met by silence.
“Fuck!” Orla said after a long pause.
Mad Dogs picked themselves up, once more, and continued their run following Zaun’s lead.
After fifteen minutes horde of Eldritch crossed the rift.