Aryne was a bomb.
The revelation that killing Aryne would trigger a Desolation was enough motivation for the Adventurers that could still move, to start loading up those who couldn’t into whatever vehicles that were still working.
Gesai was being sent to the port with almost everyone else to heal people along the way and to watch over our class once she got there.
That left Rix and I pretty much unsupervised, which I would have thought that the mischievous Redhead would have disappeared by now, but apparently watching Trent argue with Celia was more entertaining.
“We can’t kill him.” Trent looked at Celia. “If we do that, he will Desolate and kill everyone here.”
“He’s not even a real God.” The brown haired woman pointed at the pool of purple stuff, “Once he runs out of that stuff, he’ll separate from whatever that thing is.”
“That thing…” Trent shook his head. “Celia, I need you to get everyone as far away from here as possible. Arlo, Rix and Atlas will stay here with me while I try to…” He shook his head, “Disarm this bomb.”
“What if he gets out?” The brunette countered, “You needed us to help take him down the first time.”
“As you pointed out.” Trent motioned at the purple goo, “He’s getting weaker every minute that passes. IF he gets out, then Arlo and I will be enough to handle him.
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Zorna came walking up, “I checked from the fiftieth floor to the sixty-second. If Tophua’s in there, he’s further down than that.”
“Just the fiftieth? Why not..?” I realized the answer to my question, “Because he would have just left on his own.”
There was a somber silence for a moment until Trent clapped his hands. “We can put together a rescue crew later, but right now we need everyone else out of here now!”
The morning sun was just starting to come up. I felt like I hadn’t done anything to contribute last night, so I shouldn’t feel so exhausted.
I watched Zorna and Celia round everyone up and start heading out of town.
“I messaged dad to let him know we don’t need reinforcements..” Arlo looked at Aryne, “Do you really think this is going to work?”
“It’s the only play we’ve got other than…” He looked at Rix. “An even more risky one.”
Arlo shook his head, “I’m not high enough Tier, I shouldn’t even be trying this.”
Trent waved his arms around, “This place used to be lush and fertile until the Desolation. It killed the whole island.” He pointed in the direction that the people had gone.”They aren’t going to make it out before he loses control and Desolates.”
I raised my hand. “Um, what exactly are we trying to do?”
“We’re trying to keep that thing from going Desolate” Trent was stroking his short white beard while he nodded at the frozen man.
“By doing something VERY reckless.” Arlo shook his head.
“I don’t get it.” I looked between the two men, “What exactly are we doing?”
Trent took a deep breath. “Within each Desolation is an echo of the fallen God. It resides in one of the Tier Seven floors. When a God wants to try to claim a city, they go down into the Desolation dungeon until they find…” He waved at Aryne, “A Mantle of the Gods.”