Landing with a thud, Colin landed in a sheer hole.
Rielle had run ahead of them through the tunnels that Larry, Paladin, and Colin were at the entrance of. She was scouting ahead while the men readied themselves. This involved Larry getting bored, Paladin closing his eyes and waiting patiently, and Colin looking over his work on his new daggers.
When she returned, a glossy tint over her eyes from Colin's Darkvision spell somehow being visible a moment before she appeared in the tunnel.
"Okay," she started. "It's like what we've heard about these tunnels is true. This place is a maze. I only got to the first intersection before encountering more resistance than I thought I could handle."
"What kind of resistance?" Colin asked.
"Some kind of fortification," Rielle answered. "It was built into the stone wall and had around ten Golems inside. Well, at least as far as I could tell. They kept moving, and I couldn't get a good look inside."
"Fair enough," Colin said, looking at Death Fey. "Does anything there match the description of what I told you to keep an eye out for?"
She shrugged, "maybe, there was a Golem in the back of the box wearing a tattered red cloak with a hat and monocle. Not sure what it was or if it was the sort of thing you were looking for but-"
"It likely is," Colin seemed sure about that. "Just out of curiosity, how many branching paths did you see going out from there?"
"Three, other than this one, I used to get back here," she replied. "I looked for any sort of marking that would help us find out where to go from there, but there was nothing."
"Great, so does this mean we will have to spend hours wandering about here in circles while we hope to find the right way to the bottom?" Larry whined. "I mean, there has to be a better way, right?"
Colin shot his Familiar a glare, "I have a plan remember?"
The Incubus stared back at him with eyebrows furrowed in thought or confusion. Colin was never sure. The Demon wasn't stupid, but he didn't care for much beyond Demon affairs and fighting. "Really, then why didn't we try it sooner?"
"We need to be down here for it to work so that we are not having tons of stone working against us. Not to mention, we need a more advanced Golem for it to work," Colin told him again. "Didn't I explain this correctly on the way here, Paladin?" Colin asked, not sure if he did.
"Mostly," he answered, shrugging his massive shoulders. "Your explanation was a little technical and went over my head. You said something about Esoteric Values and diminishing returns of the enchanting coefficient, Eh. You kind of lost me," he explained.
"Ah, I overcomplicated my explanation?" Colin asked, getting clarification.
"Uh-huh," Rielle said, nodding in agreement with Paladin.
Nodding to himself and thinking about the group he was with. He was expecting Paladin to understand it more. Given that his Career path was some kind of Alchemist, he expected the man to be a little more… intellectually bent. He knew Nox understood, but understanding complicated things wasn't unexpected of a level 107 Legendary Dusk Alchemist.
There was no point in explaining the concepts to them now. They would see it in action soon; the Chisel tipped dagger that he'd enchanted earlier. It was his finest work, including the Lesser Infernal Edge, given the item's non-elemental nature.
"Hopefully, we will be able to see it in action soon," Colin said, reapplying the Darkvision spell. The process only took a moment and gave his mana time to regenerate while they moved on. "Shall we go and see?"
Paladin still seemed like he wanted that explanation but nodded and followed in the back of the group, with Larry taking the lead with a newly created shield in his left hand. Only a few minutes had passed when they reached a point where Larry raised a fist, signaling for a stop.
Colin stepped up next to Larry and squinted to see what Larry could see. Around fifteen meters ahead, a fortification was built into the wall that only allowed two average-sized humans to walk abreast past. I looked like the pillboxes used in warfare on earth, only these didn't have the heavy machine gun emplacements that he was familiar with. These had a massive repeating heavy crossbow with a Golem standing statue-still behind it and its steel-plated protections.
Colin was again grateful for Nox's help since being stuck in this world; without the shadow magic he used to see, there was no way they would have survived down here. It was all because the Golems apparently didn't need the light to see down here. Anyone who came would be working in darkness, with torches, or with potions to see.
"Hey, Nox," Colin asked quietly, pointing at the Golem at the large crossbow. "Would using shadow spells down here interrupt their ability to see down here?"
"That depends. If they are using a magical means to see in the darkness, it would not. But if it is considered non-magical, then it would," Nox's voice answered.
Nodding to the voice, Colin turned to the group, "Alright. I am going to get a little closer, see if I can use Tremorsensing to determine how many we have to deal with. Then I will come back, and we will deal with it together," Colin told them. "Any objections?"
Larry gave a non-committal shrug, Paladin shook his head in the negative, and Rielle simply looked like she didn't like the idea. "I don't like one of us going on alone near these Golems, especially since we know one of them is different from the standard kinds. We have no idea if it will be able to see you, Walker."
"That is a fair point, but may I propose a counterpoint?" Colin asked, raising a hand.
"What is it?" Rielle asked, unsure what he could say.
Colin gave her a grin, "this," Colin said, then activated the Shadow Magic Subskill, Shadow Cowling.
It took a few seconds for the wispy cloak of shadows to form around him, but immediately he saw Rielle's expression. She looked confused; the Death Fey peered around as if trying to find out where he had gone, even though he hadn't moved.
"Darielle," Nox said, cackling through their collective shadows. "He activated a skill that, in complete darkness, almost makes him invisible. Even with magical perceptions, they would be hard-pressed to see-"
Colin turned to go do his task while Nox talked to them, his skill took fifteen seconds to fully cover him in the shadows, and it drained mana the whole time. He needed to get going before this escapade drained him of all his mana. Going slow and triggering his stealth skill, Colin crept closer to the pillbox.
As he approached, he noticed that most of the Golems here were the simple Basic Warrior Golems that were effectively outmoded very early in the event. But instead of the usual red of the average Golems eyes or even the yellow that signified it was ALAN inside, this one was a low pale blue. It didn't really shine in the dark; Colin only noticed it as he got close, and his Darkvision caught the light it did produce because that was how Darkvision worked. The spell amplifying what little light remained in the room.
He wasn't sure what this meant for this, but he still crept closer, paying close attention to the mounted crossbow. If it moved, he was going to have to book it. That caution proved unnecessary as Colin was mere feet away from the pillbox. He raised his foot and quietly brought it down, activating the Tremorsensing subskill.
The magic pulsed out from his feet, traveling through the fortification and running over everything touching the ground. What she saw with the feedback from the skill told Colin everything he needed to know, and smiled at their chances. He turned and started back as he checked his mana and kept an eye on it.
Mana: 195/550
Colin returned to his group and disengaged the Shadow Cowling. He reappeared a little farther away than he probably would have, not wanting to scare his team.
"Well, I have some good news," Colin started. "I counted eight Golems in there, including the main target. Even better is that they all look like the Basic Warrior Golem types, except for the target. There does appear to be some variation with them, but I could not tell what made them different. Might be nothing but cosmetic, if anything."
"Cosmetic, how?" Paladin asked.
"Their eyes are different. The normal Golems all have red eyes, and the ones that ALAN is riding change to yellow. These are an extremely dim pale blue," Colin explained. "It all might be to keep them hidden in the darkness since I couldn't see their eyes until I got close."
"Maybe," Larry said. "But you can never discount any sort of change in something. A mouse with glowing red eyes may suddenly have vision that burns everything it sees. It would be better to assume that there is a difference and move forward accordingly."
Colin nodded with Paladin, Rielle looking between the three of them and quickly doing the same.
"So, what are you thinking?" Larry asked curiously. "I mean, that Tripod Ballista is potentially very dangerous for a few of you. How do you expect to approach it?"
"Oh, that's the easy part. I will take care of it; I don't feel like wasting much time here. We are very busy people, and we cannot risk getting set back for long periods of time. Besides, if we wait, someone else will come here and claim the real reward for this event and deprive me of it. So we need to move," Colin told them. "We will go towards this Pill Box after getting my mana back."
Rielle looked like she wanted to ask Colin a question but held her tongue. Larry didn't seem interested in talking; he just turned away from the group and started tapping his foot as he impatiently waited. Paladin, though, did ask a question.
"Are you serious about that mouse thing? Did that actually happen?" he asked Larry.
The Demon turned to Paladin and went over the basic description of a creature called 'The Great Hell Mouse.'
Rielle picked up the small Vial on a cord around her neck and looked at its contents. The Vial was full of a bright yellow fluid that would have shimmered in the light if there were some. She'd finished filling the Vial of Lesser Spell Aging a few hours earlier, and it was just waiting for the chance to be used. Something about the item called out for her to use it; the skill aging inside the Vial wanted to be used and did not like being contained.
Staring at the Vial and how the Enchanted item looked in her Darkvision, she didn't notice Colin calling her the first time.
"Rielle, you good?" he asked, his voice low.
"What, yeah, I'm fine. Why?" she asked, releasing the Vial to drop and hang on its cord around her neck.
"My Mana is full now. We can hit this thing nice and quick and see if my new tool works," Colin said, patting the new dagger. "You were staring at that thing for a few minutes. Are you sure everything is fine?"
She nodded, drawing her sword and rolling her shoulders. "I'm ready to go if you are," she told him, a serious glint in her eyes.
Nodding to her, Colin simply told them, "when the ballista is down, just hit it as hard as possible. I will take care of the special one."
When they agreed, Colin activated his Shadow Cowling and stealth as he started moving in. The closer he got, the more he considered how he actually wanted to disable the tripod ballista and settled on a possible solution. He wasn't sure he liked it, but his original plan wouldn't work if they used some kind of fantasy wire that didn't burn.
At least this way, he was reasonably sure a wire wouldn't stop it. With that thought, Colin drew his Mythic Ziphos and drew in a deep breath. Before he decided against it, Colin threw the short sword and watched as it sailed end over end towards the Tripod Ballista and smiled as it sliced cleanly through one of the large crossbow's arms, the tension in it releasing all at once and slapping the Golem in its head.
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A little disappointed that it wasn't a flesh and bone person behind that Ballista, Colin waited a moment to hear that his team was coming. They were coming, of course, but so were all eight Golems, including the one that controlled the crossbow turret.
They immediately got in a perfectly structured formation with the one that Rielle described in the back. Its red cape covered its entire body, except for its blank face and the bent stylized black and bent stetson hat it wore.
Colin still remained unseen to the front and a little to the side of them as he drew his Lesser Infernal Edge without activating it and approached his primary target. Another second passed, and Colin saw her entire body becoming alight with the effects of her Rose Astral Spirit.
Orange flames flickering red and black along the edges traveled around her body until it reached her sword. The dark flame mixed with the pale white-blue astral power, leaving the blade's edge in a rosy tint. She looked positively sinister in the cave's darkness, with the flames outlining her as she moved.
The only problem was that this gave away her position, and she was immediately targeted by the Red Cape Golem. It reached into its cloak and withdrew a rifle that must not have had much ammo capacity given its lack of visible cartridge. It grabbed the weapon with both hands, trained its sights on Rielle.
It moved with what looked like the automated actions of a seasoned soldier, calmly bringing the weapon to bear as it readied its shot. There was a smoothness of motion that Colin recognized immediately and dropped his Shadow Cowling to stop the depletion of his mana. Triggering the Lesser Infernal Edge to summon its blade, Colin imbued it with his Aligned Strike and sprang towards the Golem. It almost hurt him to have to disable the weapon. The rifle was something that would make his life easier, but ensuring Rielle didn't get shot came first.
The first strike sliced the gun near the handle and entirely through one of its arms with the enhanced strike. Re-empowering his next attack, Colin spun around in a three hundred and sixty-degree swing that swept through the Golem's body at the waist.
It was then that the other three plowed into the other seven Golems. Paladin quickly knocked two to the ground and into submission with ease. Rielle had just as easy a time as him, her blade flashing the rose light as she struck out at the Golems and cutting three apart in twice as many seconds.
The Hollow Incubus actually had the easiest time of the three. He literally snapped his fingers and said, "Cold Snap," and the other two broke apart in a jumble of pieces and HellRime.
Colin noticed this at the edge of his periphery. His focus was on the Golem that he'd bisected. He dropped to his knees next to it, pressing one leg into its intact arm and the other into its chest. The Golem struggled and attempted to throw him off, but its attempts were futile with what little force it had let.
Drawing the Chisel Tipped Dagger with his free hand, Colin used what little knowledge he had of these things to locate the area he needed. Deactivating this Lesser Infernal Edge's energy blade, Colin gripped the dagger in both hands in an Ice Pick grip and plunged down.
You have used your Esoteric Tracing Blade(Broken) on a viable target. Would you like to trace the Esoteric Energy, 'Experience'?
Grimacing a little at the broken part of the description, Colin said yes. He watched as the Dagger's Enchantment overloaded the item. The entire thing broke into several large pieces, including the handle, rendering the item completely useless. As soon as the item broke, white light came out of the remains of the weapon and entered the center of his temple. It hurt for a moment but faded just as quickly, leaving Colin blinking.
The lingering effect of the Esoteric Tracing Blade will be visible to your naked eye for the next 3 hours. Time remaining: 3 hours, 59 minutes, 54 seconds.
You have defeated six Basic Hive Golems and one Hive Captain Golem, gaining 760 EXP. You now have 171,912 /321,142 experience until level 22.
Colin looked down at the Golem's now still body and grinned. A thin purple haze, with a solid green center, now extended up from the Golem and led further down the tunnel past the Pill Box. Colin stood up from the Golem and looked. Seeing that it curved towards the left tunnel, he smiled and pumped his fist. "Yes, it worked."
"What worked?" Rielle asked, looking at the Golem Colin was crouching on top of.
"I can trace the path the experience these Golems send to their creator goes," Colin explained. He tapped the side of his head, "That was the plan. That dagger stabbed in the right spot lets me follow where the experience points they automatically send to ALAN goes."
"Oh, that's what you meant," Paladin said, now understanding the explanation. "Why didn't you explain it like that earlier?"
"I thought I did," Colin said, shrugging.
Paladin pointed at the shattered dagger, "But... why did the dagger break?"
"Oh, that was something that I read about," Colin said. "The book said that it is possible to make Enchantments that are more powerful than normal with a purposeful imperfection. This flaw destabilizes the item, breaking it and causing all the magic to work at once, making it more powerful."
"When have you ever done that?" Rielle asked, coming over to look at the shattered pieces.
"I don't do that. This was my first one," Colin told her. "These Enchantments are powerful but costly and time-consuming. Don't get me wrong, the power these can produce is no joke, but it's not worth the time for something I can only make once."
"Except for once, apparently," Larry smirked as if he thought he won a point.
Colin shook his head, "indeed. But it's always worth considering if we only need an enchantment once, considering the power. The whole thing behind broken enchantments is that you intentionally ruin a part of the enchantment to force it to break with the first use."
Rielle nodded with Colin's explanation, and Larry seemed disinterested. Paladin simply shrugged, "that's all well and good, but shouldn't we get going? How long will that enchantment effect last?"
"Just under four hours," Colin answered and immediately got what Paladin was going for. "And on that note, we had better get going," he said, smiling as if he didn't just waste time. "Shall we move it along at a run? We likely have miles of controlled tunnels to work our way through."
"Oh, do you now?" a familiar voice said from behind. All of them turned at once to find the voice, and all were stumped for a moment until the voice spoke again, "I guess I will have to upgrade the defenders closer to me if you found a way to track me. Impressively done, By the way," ALAN said, now in the head of one of the Basic Warrior Golems that Larry had defeated. "No one else has managed to do that."
"To be fair, I've had help learning how you did that," Colin shrugged. "I doubt too many Outworlders would have known to check the air for esoteric energy signatures without help."
"Hmmm," the Golem intoned thoughtfully. "Well, how does the saying go… Ah, yes. Will you walk into my parlor, said the spider to the fly. Indeed, come for me, and I will make sure you can not tell a soul about what you know. I'll admit, DevilWalker, was it? I've been hoping one of you would make it down here to face me. I wanted a way to test my own abilities."
"I suppose we'll see you soon then," Colin said, finishing the Golem with the Mythic Xiphos.
You have defeated a Basic Hive Golem and have gained 90 EXP. You now have 172,002 /321,142 experience until level 22.
With the confirmation that the Golem was dead, Colin looked them all dead in the faces while he reapplied their Darkvision spells. "I won't say what, just in case he is listening, but I do have a plan for ALAN. All we have to do is get there and figure out what his defenses are. From there, I have little doubt that we can't beat him."
Stepping past Riella and Larry to stand at the front of the group, he looked unto the left going tunnel and took a deep breath. "Okay, I'm going to go full bore into the run, and I only plan to stop to fight or take a quick breather so we can keep running. Do any of you think you'll have a problem with that?"
Paladin raised his hand, "I will have a problem with that. I'm built for power, not speed. Even if I go full speed, the best I can hope for is to match you with endurance."
"Hmmm, got anything for him, Nox?" Colin asked the Goblin.
The Goblin let out a low chuckle that sounded like he was doing so through gravel. "Indeed, don't you know I am always prepared? I just have one question for you, ContraryPaladin. Do you have any Thyme?"
"Yeah," he responded, unsure where this was going. "It's considered a piece of basic Alchemist Gear."
"I need about forty grams worth. If you have more, that will work too," Nox told him. With a clack of his shadow forged cane hitting the ground, Nox stepped out of the darkness surrounding them as if he'd just left the rain. Hand outstretched, he waited for the ingredient.
Paladin complied with the Goblin's request, reaching into a pouch on his belt and retrieving a small leather bag. He handed the whole thing to Nox and observed what the Master Alchemist would do.
"Whichever Alchemist Career you chose, I'd advise advancing it further soon. All Alchemist Careers have a power called Infuse Ingredient," Nox explained, still holding the bag of thyme and closing his eyes. With a small laugh, and a small flash of green light, Nox handed it back to Paladin. "Put that in a stamina potion and drink it the moment you fall behind, trust me."
Raising an eyebrow, Paladin did so, grabbing a small wooden horn from his belt and putting the time inside.
"It won't taste good, but it will do the trick," Nox assured him before falling into the shadows.
"Nox," Colin started, curiosity making him ask. "In theory, if you wanted to, could you just tear this whole place apart since it is covered completely in shadows?"
"Indeed," was the only response Nox gave him.
Sighing, Colin looked down the path the purple haze was going again. There were no Golem's immediately down the path, and he nodded to himself. "Alright, let's go." He said, turning down the tunnel and starting to run. His primary weapons were in his hands, and he just kept looking ahead, following the purple haze.
They rounded another corner, going right, and immediately found the next defensive fortification. Instead of a pillbox, this one was designed with two Crossbow Turrets at either side of the tunnel. Standing behind each was a Basic Hive Golem and just off to the side of them was another, considerably beefier, Golem. It almost looked like it was a Golem wearing armor, and that was ridiculous. To be fair, though, these also carried super heavy-looking shields and axes.
Still sprinting, Colin cast his Obscuring Black spell to keep them from seeing them and rushed the larger one to the left. With his Lesser Infernal Edge powered up with Aligned Strike, it was effortless to slice through the shield and into the Golem's chest. Colin completed his slice through it with one more swing from his Mythic Xiphos. Colin sprinted for a few more steps before slowing long enough to see that Paladin had taken the other Shield Golem. Larry with Rielle had taken out the ones manning the Crossbow Turrets.
Then they all kept going. Paladin was forced to chug the potion after the next bend was coughed heavily once at the taste. But after that, Paladin didn't seem to have a problem. If anything, he was making it look easy keeping up with them.
Colin mostly ignored all experience notifications as they ran. Only pausing when they needed a quick break to regain their breath. The timer kept going down as they moved, seeming to go too fast for his own good.
Although, Colin would be the first to admit this. It felt positively amazing to be simply tearing through their foes like this. Even class-styled Golems were manageable as long as they kept moving and focused on what was in front of them.
They'd run through over two dozen enemy emplacements in the three hours, forty-nine minutes, and thirty-seven seconds since they started running. These defenses were also different, which made it hard for them to keep pushing forward. The one that almost got Colin himself was a tunnel path that had been entirely converted into a fifteen-meter death trap filled with smashing chompers. The walls, ceiling, and floor had been converted to mechanisms that crashed into the structure adjacent to it.
Worse, there was a Massive golem flanked by two others on either side of it carrying a wall of a shield to prevent people from passing by instead of getting chomped. Luckily, Paladin took the lead and practically threw them out of the way, and fought them alone while Rielle and Colin got through. Larry had taken a hit for Colin from a True Ballista mounted to the floor.
And now, Colin slowed to a stop at another pathway. That in and of itself wasn't too bad, except for the natural-looking cave network that made up the rest of the tunnels suddenly changed. Just ahead, the cave became smooth and worked stone, perfectly ordered, and it even looked swept.
A Golem stepped into view with metallic footsteps, and Colin ignited his Lesser Infernal Edge again. Dropping his stance in preparation for a fight.
Instead, he got a single Golem with thin-looking limbs and a pack twice the size of its torso on its back. It carried a worn pickaxe in both hands, and it did not surprise Colin to see its eyes glowing bright yellow.
"Ah, you made it. I'm happy to see you," ALAN told them jovially. "You all actually made good time for creatures made from biology. My Golems can go a little faster than you, but they don't need to stop to catch their breath,"
Letting out a heavy breath, Colin approached the Golem, "Are you here for a reason?"
"I am," the Golem said, somehow projecting smugness through his voice. "I'm ready for you. Go ahead, take some time to rest out here. My Golems will not approach here for one hour to allow you to rest and bring back out your Demon. But I would suggest you get moving before that. It will be a free game at the one-hour point, and I promise I have a few tricks that you haven't seen yet. They are my personal defenses, and I hope you can prove worthy of the challenge."
Colin got the impression that if a Golem could be smiling, this one would be from ear to ear. Instead of cutting it down, he simply let it turn and leave, its eyes returning to a cherry red as it returned to work.
"So… are we gonna do what it said?" Rielle asked.
Colin looked at Paladin, then at her. He knew he was exhausted from that run, and from their look, he could tell they were in the same boat. He then turned his gaze back to her and nodded. "Yeah, but not for an hour. While I believe it wouldn't attack us, I'd rather not risk trying to buy itself too much time."
"You think it may be delaying us?" Paladin confirmed.
Shrugging, Colin said, "Maybe. I can only believe that ALAN is giving us a short break, and I want to take it. My feet are killing me," Colin groaned as he sat on the floor and pulled out a couple potions.
He handed a lesser stamina potion and a lesser health potion to them and a set for himself. None of them were severely hurt thanks to Larry's efforts, but the potion should help ease their muscles and feet. He checked his Information Tablet and nodded to himself at the time.
"In thirty minutes, I'll bring Larry back, and we go in," Colin told them. Then he looked at the shadows, "Nox, still think my plan is doable?"
The Goblin hummed from the shadows in thought, "Indeed, though I admit it went down a little with this development. As long as I identify it, it should be possible based on what you and Paladin said."
"Good, let's see if we can get that far before I think about that too much," Colin said, going silent as he took both potions and groaned in relief as they took effect.