“It’s food!” Ka-Do-Gir shouted back happily. The lix had climbed up onto one of the wagons and opened the sacks loaded onto it. “Lots of it!”
“Can’t leave that here—gather it all into one pile so we can take it with us,” Tailyn replied, pulling himself away from the hole as well as the buildings. Food was invaluable for Mean Truk. And while the wagons were too big to fit through the portal, they could definitely get the sacks through, and so Tailyn waited to make sure the lixes were unloading the wagons before heading over to the hole. His breath caught in his throat when he saw there really was no bottom. Somewhere far down below he could see the blue mist of noa and shadows flitting back and forth, though his vision wasn’t good enough to make out what was going on. But he knew already. Just as Mu-Ro-Din had told them, there were slave lixes down there mining crystals, all of them tied to long ropes and hanging right next to the huge deposits practically in the center of the planet. They were hauled up once a day to collect the crystals, at which point they were fed and dropped back down. The work wasn’t supposed to stop for a moment.
Noticing that the lixes had gotten the food unloaded and piled up, Tailyn decided to spend one of his cards and send it back to Mean Truk right away. There was no way it would all fit in their inventory.
Valia, I need a portal. There’s lots of food here, so grab some lixes to carry it all. We haven’t found any crystals yet.
Okay, activating on the count of three.
Tailyn blew on his card, and a shimmering film appeared. A warm feeling flooded over him—the ability to activate a portal at any moment had paid off.
“Toss it in!”
As the lixes knew just as well as Tailyn how valuable their loot was, he didn’t have to repeat his order. The huge pile disappeared as he watched, the boy’s powerful team throwing two and even three sacks into the portal at a time. And while he could have felt his spirits lift at how smoothly everything was going, Tailyn couldn’t help but frown. Halas and his minions had proven themselves worthy adversaries capable of predicting their enemies’ moves. The mine couldn’t have been left without heavy protection, and flattering himself that the icy rain had wiped out the enemy was sure to be a ticket to the other side for Tailyn.
“Ka-Do-Gir, grab the dead lixes and throw them through the portal,” Tailyn said as his anxiety grew, quickly letting Valia know that the next load she was going to be getting would be somewhat more macabre. The lixes ran around the area gathering the bodies of their fallen comrades. Black, red, green, and brown—there were all kinds of the six-legged creatures there.
“We’re done, Chief,” Ka-Do-Gir announced. “Keep going?”
“No.” Tailyn’s warning bells were just increasing in intensity. “Take the lixes and head back—I’m going in alone.”
“Chief, that’s—” Ka-Do-Gir started, but Tailyn quickly shot back.
“That’s an order!”
The young city head’s bark was so sharp the lixes all pinned their ears back, having never seen their chief like that. Not even Ka-Do-Gir had. Falling in line, they all stepped through the portal. Tailyn dropped his arms, and the shimmering film disappeared.
What are you doing? he immediately heard Valia think.
Saving our guys, Tailyn replied. I can’t tell what exactly, but something’s off. Level eight named items make me a tough nut to crack, though, so I’ll head in alone.
Just don’t go playing the hero, okay? the girl asked in closing as she signed off to start sorting through the supplies.
Tailyn moved slowly toward the surviving buildings. Raptor didn’t flag anything for him—there wasn’t anything living within thirty-five meters. In fact, it was only when its radius reached the buildings that it activated to show its master a red dot. Remembering Valia’s request, Tailyn went with the simple solution and checked his opponent with hacking. He could deal with him after he was blocked.
Attempting to hack Si-Vor-Gun.
Your Hacking level: 45.
Si-Vor-Gun’s protection level: 70.
Probability of successful hack: 10%.
Tailyn’s jaw dropped—the lix lying in wait had level seven armor. Only the 10% bonus Raptor came with gave him any shot at pulling the trick off, but Tailyn didn’t want to count on that. It hadn’t worked with the destroyer, for example. The shipment of crystals Mu-Ro-Din had been talking about was presumably inside the building next to the lix. Judging by the description, Si-Vor-Gun was at level fifty-six, and that told Tailyn he had a challenging battle ahead of him. It wasn’t enough to make him turn around, however. His people needed crystals, and he was there to get them. Pulling a Trukian potion out of his inventory, he was about to toss it in when Raptor lost its mind, turning the space around Si-Vor-Gun into one big red blotch. Tailyn zoomed in and froze. He hadn’t been expecting that.
Halas (black lix). Chieftain. Age 12. Level 136.
And like the cherry on top, another message quickly followed that one:
Attention!
Device detected actively suppressing remote communications.
You can’t use two-way portal cards.
Status change. Current status: combat.
Opponents remaining: 24.
Chapter 10
IT WAS THE KIND OF situation where everything inside Tailyn yelled at him to run. And there wouldn’t have been a drop of shame in running—standing and fighting Halas and his guards, the least of which was at level fifty-four, would have been the height of folly. Nobody would have said a word, and Valia would have even appreciated him going along with her request. Don’t go playing the hero.
The only problem was that Tailyn knew all too well that running wasn’t an option. Honestly, he didn’t even want to. The boy had spent the previous year living in fear, waiting for someone to find him, someone to kill him. Waiting for an angry lix to show up and obliterate everything he held dear. And he’d had enough. If it was the god’s will for him to meet Halas then and there, he was ready.
The red dots on Raptor began to move as the lixes and their pets dashed toward the door leading to the fight with Tailyn. The Trukian potion dropped back into the boy’s inventory—it was useless. The liquid only worked against armor through level seven, and there wasn’t anything that low in the vicinity.
Attempting to hack Halas.
Your Hacking level: 45.
Halas’s protection level: 130.
Probability of successful hack: 10%.
Level thirteen named items... Where had the boy’s personal enemy come up with riches like that? Where was he leveling-up? And why was it so unfair? The lix could have anything he wanted; Tailyn couldn’t have anything. Even with the additional hacking bonus from Raptor, Tailyn knew very well that he wouldn’t be able to hack Halas with his parameters even if he worked at it for days. A golden glow appeared around the corner as the Nemean lion hurried to carry out the will of its master and devour his hated personal enemy.
But it was right then that Tailyn began to whisper as he glared at the onrushing beast.
“You’re keeping me from completing a divine mission. The god told me to deliver a book to the library, and if I’m killed, that mission will go unfulfilled—the property of the ancients will be lost forever. You’re going against its will!”
The charging lion threw all six of its legs into the ground in an effort to bring itself to a stop. Sparks flew as its claws scraped across the stones, and while the legendary animal slipped forward, it was able to halt its momentum just a meter away from Tailyn. Poisonous saliva dripped from its mouth. As the liquid hit the ground, it hissed ominously and gave off an acrid smoke.
Everyone else stopped, as well. Halas was running ahead of the pack, but he slowed as soon as he saw Tailyn, finally coming to a complete stop. And while the lix’s face was enclosed in armor, Tailyn could tell he was livid by the way he carried himself.
“What kind of magic are you using, Enemy? Why is the god keeping me from fulfilling my destiny?” came the annoyed growl.
Tailyn was stunned—Halas’s voice no longer sounded young. He was a successful adult lix.
The boy said nothing. Despite his calm demeanor, his heart was threatening to beat its way right out of his chest, but he gathered himself and took a step forward toward his enemy. It was hard to underestimate just how difficult that was for him. All he wanted to do was dive into the deepest hole he could find and beg the god for a quick death, but he went ahead and took a second step, that one easier. The urge was reduced to just looking for an involuntary scream. The third step and each subsequent one didn’t elicit anything.
Halas had grown since their last meeting—he was a good two heads taller than the measly human standing in front of him, to the point that it looked like he could squash the boy like a bug. It was only the god’s unexpected interference getting in his way. When the lix’s representative had reported back that Tailyn himself had shown up at the crystal mine, he’d been overjoyed to hear that he wouldn’t have to scour the whole empire looking for him. He’d left his army, deciding to deal with his personal enemy himself after the loss of multiple advisors told him the human child wasn’t as weak as he appeared. With the portal block he’d activated, he’d been sure Tailyn had met his end. But then that warning popped up... The lix couldn’t even order his troops to sacrifice themselves to kill Tailyn—the god wouldn’t have permitted that. Even more, Halas couldn’t just sit there watching as his troops killed Tailyn on their own—the god wouldn’t have permitted that, either. His personal enemy would have been left alive, and his lixes would have been wiped off the face of the whole wretched planet. But the treacherous magic Tailyn was using did him no credit. True warriors accepted their fate with head held aloft rather than hiding behind a higher power, and Tailyn’s move meant Halas could only hope for open aggression. The god had been clear that if Tailyn attacked, he could respond. But only if Tailyn attacked. The lix stood there willing the boy to take the bait.
Tailyn didn’t have any idea what was going on in Halas’s mind, but he had plenty of his own worries. It was still hard to believe his personal enemy was backing down. From what it felt like, any sudden moves, and the whole crowd of lixes would jump him. But nothing happened. The black lixes stood right where they were, eyes fixed on the human boy. Tailyn realized he was going to live, at least for the near future. Of course, not everything was going as smoothly as he would have liked—the timer showing him how much more time he had left to deliver the book had dropped by a month. The god apparently didn’t like the trick the boy had pulled, its punishment for using its name in vain the shortened deadline. Tailyn had less than two months left to get to the library.
But that was the least of his worries. Right then, he was preoccupied with what he’d shown up there to get: crystals. The shipment Mu-Ro-Din had mentioned was a chest that was loaded up once every six months, and it was in a room belonging to the lix in charge of the mine. Tailyn had no doubt he wouldn’t be allowed nearer than a spear’s throw. And even the god wouldn’t help him there since property rights were inviolable.
Still, the boy wasn’t about to throw in the towel. Even if he couldn’t steal the crystals, nobody said anything about mining them. Stepping carefully around the frozen lixes to make sure he didn’t accidentally touch any of them, the boy made his way over to the edge of the hole and peered over. It was deep. Vargot’s scanner winked unhappily to show that it couldn’t do anything to help, not even reaching the miners. They were hard at work more than a hundred meters below the surface.
The lixes had laid a few bridges over the hole and attached lifts to them. In turn, each lift had a few dozen ropes trailing downward, the other end of which was tied around a miner. Tailyn went right over to one of the bridges but was forced to stop—lixes were blocking his path forward. Stepping forward would have meant touching one of the blacks, and the boy had no desire to do that.
Halas was barely holding on. While it was one thing to have the god tell him he couldn’t kill his personal enemy because of some mission, it was quite another for that very same personal enemy to walk around in front of him as if laughing in the lixes’ faces. Instead of dashing off, the human spawn was exploring the mine, almost as if he was deciding how he wanted to get down it. A red mist began to cloud Halas’s eyes, impinge on his reason, and give rein to his animal instincts. His personal enemy couldn’t just traipse around like that. After the lix bowed his head to the boy, his warriors would no longer follow him, not to mention the fact that he wouldn’t be able to look himself in the mirror, either. Tailyn should have been off running away. There was no reason for him to be waltzing around the way he was. Halas’s named spear appeared in his hand, the weapon pointed at his personal enemy’s back. It was what he was on the planet for. His destiny was more important than his army. More important than the god’s rage. More important than his own life. For twelve years, Halas had lived with just one goal in mind: to kill Tailyn. And the moment was at hand. A weakness flooded through him, almost as if the god could sense what was going on and wanted to stop it, but it was too late—the spear was already flying through the air. The lix always made decisions quickly, impulsively, without thinking about the consequences. That was what made him a true leader. But at the last moment, just as the spear should have reached its target and plunged straight through him, Tailyn disappeared.
The human had stepped forward into the abyss.
Tailyn didn’t see any other way to get crystals than to mine them himself, even if that was going to take some time. And with no way to count on the lifts, he did the only thing he could and leaped right into the hole. His winged sandals were going to have to save him. The Vargot expansion let him fly up to eighty meters in the air, so the boy didn’t see a problem with that—he could already picture himself easing his way down, finding a ledge, and getting to work mining crystals. Getting back up wasn’t a problem, after all, since he could just ask Valia for a portal. The perfect plan given that the portal blocker presumably didn’t work down below, it had just one flaw.
The sandals would have needed something below them to make sure his descent was a gradual one, something the eighty meters would start counting up from. When there wasn’t anything like that, they turned into regular old shoes distinguished only by their decorative wings and the flapping sound they made as Tailyn hurtled through the air.
The boy’s breath caught in his throat, and it took him a while to get a feel for where he was in space. Everything spun as it whirled by, dangling lixes included—Tailyn didn’t even have enough time to see what color they were. Next, a wide belt of blue crystals whizzed past. Tailyn swept right through it, knocking free dozens or even hundreds of the stones. But that was soon over, too. The crystals fell behind, and the boy found himself in open space as he continued falling deeper into the planet.
Tailyn fell for so long that he was able to reconcile himself to the feeling and even find it kind of soothing. Realizing that nothing could save him, he still set Vargot to maximum glide and managed to get himself falling feet-first. If a thick barrier appeared below him, his sandals would try to slow him down. Tailyn had to doubt their eighty meters would be enough, but he wasn’t going to just give up.
A minute passed, and nothing changed. Looking up, Tailyn couldn’t see the top of the hole through the blue mist and flying crystals. But that was when it started getting lighter below him, the pleasant light of noa illuminating the space and showing that his fall was coming to an end. It was going to be death or a landing. His perception showed him something strange: in addition to the blue, there were silver bits of loot in the fast-approaching light. With just a moment to think about that oddity, Tailyn braced for impact. Everything down below rushed toward him. The boy tensed up, ready for something that was going to be awfully unpleasant, but as soon as he touched down...the fall stopped. There was no jerk, no flattened human boy, nothing. It was as if someone had suddenly turned off his speed in an instant. Tailyn opened his eyes and looked around to find himself in the middle
of an enormous pile of items glimmering all the different colors of the rainbow. And as crystals rained down on him, the god finally deigned to explain what was going on.
Attention! Error detected...
The algorithm for processing falls worked incorrectly as the player was not hurt by falling from a height of four kilometers. Reasons: he reached the maximum immersion level (extent of the game), active Talarii set to reduce speed, System border.
Query created to update the functionality. Query granted, algorithm modified.
***
You discovered an error in the game functionality and earned a reward.
The Creator grants you your life as well as the right to collect the loot that has accumulated over the millennia.
***
Mission update: Ancient History. Description: You learned that the System has a border four kilometers below sea level. Nobody knows what’s below it or who controls that area. The only thing that’s clear is that nothing living can be where the god is not.
Isr Kale's Journal (The Alchemist Book #4): LitRPG Series Page 15
