Lord Sorcerer: Singularity Online: Book 3
Page 66
He turned his focus back to the fray before him, raising twin walls of radiant fire as a barrier to the undead. The creatures crashed heedlessly through, scorching their rotted flesh, weakening them so that the others’ attacks would more easily bring them low. Saphielle’s spear danced and thrust into undead skulls; Phil’s flaming blade stabbed at rushing creatures; Hector’s shining axe chopped brutally into dead flesh. The undead never wavered, pushing forward constantly, but soon their tide began to ebb. The press of flesh started showing ragged holes and tears in it, and soon the last of the attackers hurled themselves onto the party’s waiting blades.
The booming on the door had ceased, but Aranos knew that whatever was waiting within was now biding its time. That confirmed his fears; something with grasp of strategy lay in wait for them. Had the creatures within been simple, mindless undead, the attack on the door wouldn’t have stopped. Something had recognized the futility of the assault and called it off. The party formed up in front of the door, but Aranos waved them back.
“They’re waiting for us in there,” he muttered. “The moment I unseal the doors, something’s coming through them, either a bunch of undead or a Spell of some kind.”
“Then they will die upon my spear,” Saphielle shrugged. “Or you will block their Spell. Unseal it, and we will find out.”
Aranos frowned; that was possible, but it was risky. “I’ve got another idea,” he said slowly. “I’ll need a minute to set it up, though. Can you guys keep an eye out for me?”
“Yeah, but we can’t stay here long, dude,” Phil warned. “If this is another Spell that’ll take an hour to cast…”
“It’s just a modification of a Spell,” Aranos shook his head. “If it works, it should only take a few minutes.”
He turned his focus inward; again, he didn’t really need to descend into his mindscape to make the modifications he wanted, even though it might have made things easier. Crafting a Spell in the mindscape, or through visualization, was simpler, but it was less efficient and limited what he could do. Instead, he reached down into his core and wove the mana directly into the patterns he wanted. It was no different than High Enchanting, really, or coding for that matter. The spell-form was like a living, active rune, one he could shift and nudge as much as he wanted – or, he realized, refine with more subtle patterns, just as he could with his runes.
He shook off that thought and pulled up the pattern he needed: his Energy Barrage. He fashioned the patterns, but instead of Elemental energies, he wove a thread of spatial mana into the input. The mana spread throughout the pattern, energizing and empowering it, but he could tell immediately that it wouldn’t work the way he wanted it to. The spatial mana would explode on contact, but he could see the results in his mind’s eye: the blast would send energy flying harmlessly in every direction but wouldn’t inflict any damage. It was as if a pair of particles impacted in a supercollider; there would be light, radiation, and energy dissipating into the atmosphere, but it wouldn’t be the blast of kinetic force he wanted.
Sighing, he tried again, this time weaving spatial and air mana together. That worked better – the spatial mana empowered the concussive blast of air, but it wouldn’t be enough to do what Aranos wanted. He tried with different mana types, and each time, the spatial mana simply made the primary mana type work better. Fire burned hotter, over a wider blast area; earth exploded with greater force, flinging shards that were significantly denser than regular earth mana; water mana washed out in a larger wave. None of those, though, produced the sheer, kinetic force that Aranos was trying for.
Desperate, he tried light and void mana, as well. Light mana simply passed through the spatial mana without mingling; the blast of light was a bit brighter, but that was because the burst of spatial mana emitted some light incidentally. Void mana did bind with the spatial mana, though, and the resulting blast was interesting. Rather than exploding outward, the blast of void-enhanced spatial mana seemed to draw everything toward it, as if it were a miniature black hole. It’s as if void and spatial mana create gravity effects, Aranos mused. That could be useful, but not at the moment.
When he combined life and spatial mana, though, he could feel the potential energy thrumming in the mixture. The power churned and roiled in his construct, barely contained, and when he envisioned it being released into the atmosphere, it unleashed a massive burst of force like a grenade exploding. Aranos grinned; this was what he wanted.
Opening his eyes, he saw the others waiting impatiently for him. It had taken longer than he wanted, but he now had a way to breach the door. “Okay, we’re going to need to get back,” he told the party. “At least fifty feet, I think.” The others looked at him curiously, but he shrugged. “I’m not sure, but I think that’s safe.”
When the party had fallen back the distance Aranos wanted, he took a deep breath and summoned spatial and life mana to his hand in the patterns of his Energy Barrage. A sphere of trembling, shuddering energy appeared in his palm, and he willed it outward, sending it hurtling toward the door. A second globe appeared instantly, and he sent that one following the first, along with a third for good measure.
The blast when the sphere struck the door shocked Aranos, both with its intensity and its volume. That second part was probably because the truesilver had held against the blast, even though the explosion warped and deformed it. After all, most of the energy had to have reflected back toward the party. Aranos’ ears rang, and a flashing red notification probably warned him of a Deafened debuff.
If that hadn’t been what it said, then it absolutely did after the second blast. The door tore free of its hinges on one side and leaned precipitously inward, and the noise of the explosion filled Aranos’ ears with a ringing sound that muffled all else. That was probably fortunate, since he meant he couldn’t really hear the third blast that sent the door hurtling inward.
Saphielle shouted something, and most of the party seemed to respond, making Aranos realize that he was the only one who hadn’t covered his ears. It was dumb, really; he could have fired the blasts from the center of his chest or the tip of his nose, if he’d wanted to, so it’s not like there was a good reason that he didn’t cover his ears. He simply sighed and followed as the party charged forward, waiting for the debuff to wear off.
The room they entered was large, but not as massive as Aranos had been expecting. He’d assumed it would be like the House of Stars Library: a labyrinth of stacks lined with books, the ceiling barely visible overhead. Instead, it looked like they’d charged into the shattered remnants of an office or receiving area. The ceiling was low overheard, and what seemed like it should have been a huge space was blocked about thirty feet ahead by a stone wall with four gleaming, metal doors set into it. A crystal hemisphere jutted out from the exact center of the wall with a glowing orb of white light floating in the middle. The remainder of the room was a mass of crumbled stone and shattered furniture, and the crumpled, metal doors in the center of the room didn’t help the place’s appearance, much.
As Aranos’ hearing faded back in, he noticed that they weren’t alone in the room. The far wall was lined with undead of various types, including several towering, pus-dripping vyrkas whose heads scraped the ceiling, a dozen skeletal ravants, and two of the black-armored lanohtars. That was a shame; Aranos had hoped to take some of the creatures out when the door blasted inward, but obviously the lanohtars had foreseen that danger and had pulled the undead back. Still, even with the two undead knights, Aranos didn’t think this would be that difficult of a battle…
“That was pretty damn impressive,” a familiar voice spoke, and everyone tensed as Lily stepped out from behind a ruined stone table, slow-clapping in obvious sarcasm. “No, I mean it. Once you welded the door shut and somehow turned it into that – whatever that shit is – I figured you’d be coming in hard, but not like that. I guessed you’d almost unseal the doors, so they still looked shut from in here, then kick them open. This was much cooler, though.”
“You don’t have to do this, girl,” Hector spoke up in his rumbling voice. “You got what you wanted; now let us have what we want.”
“Actually, I do have to, Hector. I literally, fucking have to. If I don’t – well, it hurts like hell, let me just say. Zoridos wants me to stop you from getting in, so here I am, stopping your asses.”
Aranos’ eyes narrowed. “So, why aren’t the streets behind us filling up with undead?” he asked suspiciously. “Why don’t you have a dozen of your summons ready to go? You’re smarter than this, Lily…or do you prefer Livia?”
The woman’s face registered shock for the first time, and Aranos saw Phil blanch at his words. Lily recovered quickly. “Lily’s fine,” she said, recovering her poise. “Livia’s dead, don’t you know? Lily lives on, though, forever and ever. Isn’t that fucking fun?
“And yeah, I’m way the fuck smarter than that, Aranos. Thing is, while I have to try to stop you – I don’t have to try my hardest.” She woman smirked. “You people piss me off, but Zoridos and Morx? They betrayed me, and they’re gonna pay for that shit. Having you guys run around the city with your fancy, new Advanced Classes will piss that thing off, and if you manage to Redeem this place, the way you did that tower and that spot underground? That’ll hurt them. I’m all about hurting them.”
Aranos nodded; Lily had gotten a raw deal, but to be honest, if anyone deserved something like that, it was her. Still, he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
“Still, gotta make this look good, right?” the black-haired woman continued. “So – AH, FUgghh!” Her voice trailed off in a gurgle as Geltheriel’s shadowy blade burst out the front of her throat in a spray of ichor. The blade whipped to the side, nearly tearing the woman’s head from her shoulders and whipping her around to face her attacker. Geltheriel’s face was a mask of icy hatred as the blade plunged into the Summoner’s heart and twisted.
“Okay, that time – ugh – I forgot about you,” Lily whispered.
“I will never forget you, and I will hunt you endlessly across Ka if need be,” Geltheriel said coldly. “One day, your death will be the final one. I will see to this.”
“Not like…” Lily’s rebuttal was silenced as Geltheriel’s sword swept through her shattered neck, sending her head flying from her shoulders. Black blood flowed from the body, which collapsed to the ground for only a moment before shimmering and fading as the woman was sent for respawn.
As if the Summoner’s death had been a signal, the two lanohtars shouted, and the remaining undead lumbered forward as the party charged to meet them. The forces met in a clash of steel against steel and metal against bone, but the shield wall that formed held against the press of undead. Geltheriel appeared from the shadows to carve into one flank, while McBane darted out to strike the opposite. Longfellow’s fiery bolts punched deep into the slower, more distant vrykas, splattering the ground with rot larvae, which Aranos eliminated with a fiery Ravaging Burst that roared in the enclosed room.
The lanohtars struck the shield wall harder than Aranos had been expecting. One wielded an ornate, blackened longsword, while the other spun a double-bitted axe like a toy. Both carried heavy shields, and when they crashed into the tanks’ shield wall, only Saphielle was strong enough to hold. Phil and Hector were both forced back, opening a gap in the line of defense shielding the more vulnerable players, and Aranos and Longfellow began directing their fire at the armored knights, trying to drive them back.
Before the creatures could push past the beleaguered tanks, though, Silma appeared behind them, her glowing teeth ripping at the backs of their legs. The undead faltered for only a second, but it was enough for Phil and Hector to close the gap, pushing the lanohtars back. Aranos quickly cast a Greater Empowerment on the weaker tanks, pumping their Str by 30 points, and when the fallen Warriors slammed into the line a second time, the tanks held.
With the shield wall secure, Aranos turned his focus to the larger battle. He gathered restorative mana and wove his Radiance of Life Spell, and tiny globes of glowing energy appeared around the room. The undead faltered briefly as the initial Spell drained six points from each of their Physical Stats, and in that moment of weakness, Saphielle drove her spear up under the helmet of one of the lanohtars, punching the blade through its skull and out the back of its head. The creature shrieked once in agony before Geltheriel appeared behind it, slashing her shadowy blade through its neck and silencing it instantly before vanishing back into the shadows.
The second lanohtar, seeing its compatriot fall, began to fight its way free of the melee. Before it could get far, McBane jumped over the shield wall, twisting acrobatically in midair, and landed behind it, slamming his twin blades into the undead’s shoulders. The Rogue jumped back to escape, but his retreat was cut off by a press of undead flesh. A skeletal fist slammed into his chest, while a pair of rot larvae latched onto his legs, slowly dissolving the flesh there. McBane fought back desperately, but it was clear that he was heading for respawn as one of the lumbering vyrkas appeared before him, its clenched fists raised high overhead.
The blow flashed down, but rather than crushing the Rogue’s vulnerable body, it rang as it slammed into Geltheriel’s upraised shield. “On your feet, Rogue!” the Shadedancer cried as she deflected the blow and answered with quick, darting slashes that opened gaping wounds in the vyrka’s legs and stomach. “I cannot hold it long!”
McBane rolled beneath the vyrka, coming to his feet behind it and adding his blades to the swarm of metal assaulting the vyrka. The creature turned clumsily to face the attack, but as it did, Geltheriel drove her sword into the creature’s spine, ripping it free in a shower of gore and foul liquid. The vyrka fell heavily to the floor, and McBane brought both of his blades around in a spinning whirlwind that bit deeply into the back of the beast’s neck, allowing Geltheriel to sever its head with a single blow. The pair split up as the vyrka dropped, each darting a different direction before the mass of undead could swarm them.
Aranos sensed all this with his Battlesense Skill but didn’t watch the conflict; his attention was focused on the wounded lanohtar. He hit it with a pair of Restorative Bolts, dropping its Physical Stats by nearly 50 points, then punched through its blackened helmet with a spirit-enhanced Piercing Bullet. The creature staggered and dropped to its knees, falling still as Saphielle’s spear leaped forth and punctured the eye-slit in its helmet, crunching into its brain.
With the lanohtars down, finishing off the remaining undead was just a matter of patience and time for the party. Between the weakening effect of the Radiance of Life draining a point from each of the undead’s Physical Stats every five seconds or so and the withering attacks from McBane, Silma, and Geltheriel, the creatures had no real chance of defeating the party. In fact, Aranos realized, Lily had basically thrown this fight simply by not going into it protected, with her summons ready. Zoridos had likely hinged the entire battle on Lily’s newfound power, and the Summoner had gotten around that by simply delaying the start of the battle long enough for the party to kill her quickly.
Aranos wasn’t certain, but he had a feeling the Summoner would be paying for that later, and that Zoridos’ commands to her would be far more specific in the future.
When the last of the undead was slain, its skull cleaved in half by Hector’s axe, Aranos looked at Saphielle. “Think you can lift that thing and put it back where it was?” he asked, pointing to the crumpled door.
“In all likelihood,” she nodded, depositing her spear into her inventory. “It will be more certain were you to increase my Strength as you did the others earlier.”
Aranos almos
t slapped himself as he quickly cast a Greater Empowerment on the woman. Her Str score was already fairly high – Aranos didn’t know for sure, but he thought it was probably over 100 – so the Spell didn’t give her the boost it had for Phil and Hector. Still, it appeared to be enough, as the woman walked over to the crumpled doors and began dragging them easily back to the gaping doorway that exited back into the city.
“Don’t know that I see the point,” Longfellow observed. “Those things aren’t going to fit after you kicked them in, are they?”
“If one considers the fact that the Liberator turned a fairly large set of rusted, iron doors into truesilver in less than a minute,” Rhys chuckled, “then surely it takes no great imagination to believe he can restore those doors as easily.”
“Yeah, didn’t think of that,” Longfellow admitted. “I assumed he’d just knocked the rust off, and that’s what was beneath. Forget I said anything, right?”
“I’m sorry, were you talking?” Meridian asked in a baffled voice. “I couldn’t hear you over the sound of the Druid doing your thinking for you.”
Aranos ignored the byplay as Saphielle hefted the doors, slowly raising them until they stood more or less upright. “They will not remain this way without assistance, Aranos,” the woman informed him, her voice only betraying a hint of strain. “They will fall if I release them.”
“Yeah, I’m on it,” Aranos nodded, quickly casting Forge Mana and building an invisible scaffolding around the doors, holding them securely. “You can let go, now.” Saphielle released the massive doors with an audible sigh of relief; even with his boost, that had apparently been at the high end of what her Strength would allow her to do.
Aranos touched the doors with his High Mastery Ability, sensing the lines of stress and flaws in the crystalline lattice that his Energy Barrage had inflicted on the metal. Simply bending the doors back into shape was possible, but it would require force similar to what he’d applied to them, and the resulting structure would be vastly weakened. Instead, he began disconnecting the weakened and damaged bonds, moving through the lattice with his mind and changing it from the ordered structure of truesilver into something softer, more fluid. The doors sagged and drooped within the mana scaffold he’d created, and he grabbed the invisible molds with his will, forcing them together.