Tears of Alron (The Alchemist Book #3): LitRPG Series

by Vasily Mahanenko

  “There are fresh tracks here. Four humans,” one of the two people called over. His name was Dadik Varal, and he was a level thirty-eight ranger who spoke fluently in the lix tongue. From the muted string of curses Forian let out behind him, Tailyn could only make out the word fence. The opponent’s low level didn’t matter. The boy was all too aware that an experienced fighter even down at level one could wreak havoc among level hundreds. And since Dadik was a part of the advisor’s detachment, he’d clearly earned it.

  “Your suggestion?”

  “Wait for our commander. He’ll be here in an hour at most, so we can block off access in the meantime. Tomorrow morning, we’ll head into the mountains and see if it’s in there.”

  “Why complicate it? We can head in right now.”

  “Only mages can sense and harvest amilios. And since the flower is gone, it must have been picked. Judging by the tracks, we’re looking at an academy professor, their assistant, and two students. They’d take out your lixes in a matter of seconds. And shamans won’t help. What we need is trained fighters, and my commander is one of the best. What do you think your master will say when we bring him four mages? And all we have to do for that to happen is wait a little while. You want my advice? Get more lixes and yaks here. We need complete control of the steppe to make sure none of the four get away.”

  “He’s your master, too, Dadik, not just mine,” the advisor replied, reining in his lizard before it could take a bite out of the yak the crystal fence was riding. “Set up camp! We’ll wait here. Also, send for help and set up patrols to cover the steppe!”

  “Tailyn, what is Raptor showing you? Is there anywhere to hide around here?” Forian asked evenly, almost as if nothing was going wrong.

  “I saw a few hollows, but they don’t look like caves,” the boy replied as he checked his map. “We need to keep going — maybe, we’ll find something. The gully is a big one.”

  “Do it. We have three hours left before nightfall, and Valanil and I can hold them off if they try to climb up. Valia, go with Tailyn. Your job is to watch his back.”

  “On it.” The girl wasn’t all that anxious to sit around where everyone could see them anyway.

  But before the kids could go anywhere, another cloud of dust appeared on the horizon. That time, it wasn’t yaks; it was horses. The large group was galloping toward the mountains so quickly it looked like there were ancient monsters hot on their heels.

  “That can’t be...” Forian blurted out as soon as he saw who their leader was. Tailyn couldn’t help but agree — coincidences like that simply didn’t happen. But that one just had.

  The small force was headed up by none other than Berad Gor. It was the very same crystal fence the dean had given orders for them to catch.

  “Where are the tracks?” The bandit commander leaped lightly off his horse and began studying the area Dadik pointed him to. With his perception where it was, the ranger was able to both highlight the tracks and put together a presumptive picture of what their uninvited guests looked like. “A man, a woman, and two children. Probably, around twelve or thirteen years old. A boy and a girl... The god is on my side today!”

  Berad pulled his newest acquisition, an area scanner, out of his inventory. It had cost him an arm and a leg, but it had been worth it — nobody was going to be getting away from him or his people. Activating the device, the crystal ranger grinned when he saw the four red dots in the mountains. Turning toward them, he yelled in the human tongue to make sure the lixes didn’t understand.

  “Tailyn Vlashich, I know you can hear me. I’m coming for you, you little bastard! And I’m going to tear out your heart and stuff it down your throat while it’s still beating. Who cares about Halas’ orders? You probably don’t want to know what I’m going to do to your girl, either. You’re all corpses! And I’ll be coming for you tomorrow morning!”

  Chapter 19

  “TAILYN, VALIA, get down there!” Forian said. “You have an hour to scout out the pit. There has to be another way out! Valanil, do you have marksmanship?”

  “I’ll find it for you.” Regardless of the situation, the woman found the strength to smile.

  “Tailyn, get your crossbow. If those animals think we’re just going to go peacefully, they have another thing coming.”

  “It’s three hundred meters to their camp,” the herbalist said. “You think I can do it?”

  “Level three crossbows should have a range of five hundred meters. From what I’ve heard, Crobar graduates warm up at three hundred. Am I wrong?”

  Forian surprised even himself with how calmly he got that out. A year or two before, he would have torn apart anyone who had anything to do with the school of assassins, but there he was sleeping with one of its graduates as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

  “Not exactly...” Valanil replied sheepishly. Forian had touched quite a few chords for her. As used to his company as she was, she sometimes forgot what she was there for in the first place. Why she’d gotten close to the mage. If Forian knew who she actually was, he wouldn’t have been so carefree around her.

  But Tailyn saved her from her thoughts by holding out the enormous crossbow and a hundred bolts.

  “Thanks, my boy.” Valanil took the weapon, aimed, and just about growled in frustration. The rough, unbalanced crossbow did its best to nose down under its own weight. How Tailyn had managed to pull out a win in the arena using a weapon like that, she didn’t know.

  It took leveraging a leg to pull back the string. Lying on the ground, she slid a bolt into place and froze, becoming one with the weapon. That was what they taught in Crobar — when you’re one with your weapon, you’re really able to do some damage. The lixes were of no concern. At least, the simple ones. The shamans and advisor were solid targets, only they were nowhere to be seen. On the other hand, the mercenaries who had shown up with Berad were spread out in front of her, naked above the belt as they did battle with training swords. None of them wanted to waste a single moment. Getting better, stronger, and more powerful was how crystal fences survived.

  Berad himself wasn’t among them, which disappointed Valanil to no end. At that range, she wasn’t able to use her perception to see which level the mercenaries were at, so she picked her first target at random. Her finger squeezed the trigger, and her shoulder was thrown backward. The crossbow packed a hefty punch.

  The shot was a good one. As the man sprawled on the ground, the rest of the group laughed uproariously, figuring he’d tripped and taken a hit from a training sword. None of them noticed right away that he wasn’t moving. And that gave Valanil time to reload and fire a second time.

  “Why are you still here?” Forian barked, noticing that Tailyn and Valia were just standing there with gaping mouths. Two shots. Two kills. Nobody had known Valanil was that deadly. Meanwhile, the fences finally figured out that they were being shot down like targets at a range, and they all dashed back into their tents. Hiding in the grass would have been pointless — Valanil was thirty meters above them, which meant she would have easily spotted them. But she wasn’t able to break through the camp’s protective barrier. The bolts just exploded in a shower of sparks when they smacked into it.

  But neither Tailyn nor Valia saw that particular show. After making their way back down, they headed around the wall, scanning the area as they went. Tailyn wasn’t sure why Forian had sent Valia with him, but he liked having her there, at least. And the girl herself didn’t mind — only a psychopath would have enjoyed watching her trainer cut the fences down one by one, and she didn’t consider herself a psychopath.

  “Look, there are strange cavities everywhere, almost like bubbles in ice. I’ve only ever seen things like that in pictures,” Valia said thoughtfully as she watched the map updating automatically. Tailyn had set Raptor to send updates to the girl with a delay of just a few seconds.

  “Could they be ancient tombs?” Tailyn asked. “Who knows what’s in them...”

  “I don’t rem
ember them enclosing people in stone. No, this is something different. Let’s keep going.”

  The gully they’d found the amilio in was more than a hundred meters long, its narrowest width fifty meters. But it wasn’t a rectangle. Really, it just looked odd, almost as though it had been designed by a drunk architect. And that was just further proof that the ancients hadn’t had anything to do with the spot.

  “Look, it’s a passageway!” Tailyn exclaimed before dashing off. And it was true. Something like a cave opened up from the far wall, only the opening itself was so narrow it was more hole than actual passageway.

  “This is a crack,” Valia said as she pointed further along the wall. The network of lines hurried upward, showing that the rock had actually just split in half.

  “How far does it go?” Tailyn was surprised, and he checked Raptor to see. The narrow, uneven pathway barely wide enough for the boy plunged deep into the cliff. Thirty meters later, at the extreme edge of the scanner, it was still going.

  “Let’s finish up with the gully and then come back,” Valia said.

  The whole basin was dotted with small cavities twenty to twenty five meters below the rock. They were small and almost perfectly cubical, a meter and a half from each other.

  “This definitely isn’t a graveyard,” Tailyn said as he looked over the full picture. The pair had finished within the hour allotted to them, exploring every crevice in their search for a way out. There wasn’t one. But the more Tailyn gazed at the cavities, the surer he got that they weren’t naturally occurring. They were too even, too perfect. There were four rows of ten, and they were so symmetrical it looked like someone had measured them. The only difference was their size — some were bigger, others were smaller. But they were all more or less the same.

  “So, what? Show the adults?”

  “Let’s check out the crack. It could lead somewhere, couldn’t it?”

  “You mean, I should check it out, right? You aren’t getting in there,” Valia said with a snort.

  The pair got over to the crack and looked back up at the adults. Valanil was still shooting, though her heart wasn’t really in it — she hadn’t been able to break through the barrier. Instead, she was just keeping their opponents occupied, making sure none of them ventured outside. And it all looked peaceful enough until the girl noticed a barely visible motion.

  “Watch out!” Valia yelled, turning on the group’s communication system. “They’re above you! To the right!”

  Only her warning came too late. Berad Gor had already taken the shot.

  The steel bolt couldn’t cut through Forian’s protection, disappearing in a shower of sparks. But the hit was so powerful that the mage was bent over backwards — the bolt had slammed into him from behind and broken his spine. A second shot, that one fired by Berad’s new deputy, turned the mage’s head into a bloody mess.

  It all happened so quickly and without warning that Tailyn didn’t even have time to be afraid. Forian Tarn, second-class academy investigator and level fifty-one mage, toppled off the thirty-meter cliff, smashed against the rocks below, and laid there motionless.

  Using a regeneration on what he’d been turned into would have been pointless. His frame had turned gray.

  Forian Tarn was killed by Berad Gor.

  New group leader: Valanil Revolt.

  “No-o-o!” came a pain-laden shriek, and bombs went flying in the direction of the crystal fences. While Valanil didn’t have Alron potions, she had plenty of alchemical fire, cold explosions, and acid, and they were all sent hurtling in the direction of the enemy. But the enemy was no longer there. The killers were clambering nimbly over the stones, hands and feet grasping at every nook and cranny in the rock face. And it was only then that a lump formed in Tailyn’s throat. He snarled, doing his best to hold back the tears. His mentor was no more.

  No more.

  “No, you’re not getting away!” Valanil had noticed where the enemy had gotten off to. Tossing the useless crossbow aside, she dashed over to the nearly vertical cliff and leaped almost three meters in the air, grabbing hold of a ledge. The bastards had gotten around them and shot from above. How had she not thought of that? It was her fault that... She cursed, realizing she had feelings for the mage. She’d been happy with him. Comfortable. No, Berad was going to die. And she was going to do everything she could to rip out his heart.

  “Valanil, stop!” Valia tried to reason with the woman, only the latter wasn’t listening. Her eyes were fixed on her target behind the rocks. Another couple steps, and she —

  A powerful blow to the chest stopped Valanil in her tracks. Colored lights flashed in her vision, and she dropped to her knees, surprising even herself. Strength seeped out of her. Somewhere in front of her, shadows flashed, though Culmart’s old herbalist could do nothing about them. Berad laughed unpleasantly, and the woman’s head was yanked backward, baring the seam between her helmet and the rest of her outfit.

  “Save yourselves, kids,” was all Valanil had time to whisper into the microphone. “You’re on your own now.”

  One short flash of pain later, and Valanil’s eyes went dark.

  Valanil Revolt was killed by Berad Gor.

  New group leader: Valia Levor.

  “Tailyn Vlashich, where are you? Hiding? I’m coming for you!” Berad’s pleased shout echoed around the mountains. His plan had been a stunning success. Of course, he felt bad about Tormy and Bozin, the two team members the woman had shot, but they knew what they were signing up for. And he’d shown everyone that he was right. The idiot mages were so used to rules that they couldn’t even imagine someone attacking them right before nightfall. But that was fine — it was a lesson they would remember for the rest of their life. When that thought flitted through his mind, Berad couldn’t suppress a smile. They weren’t just going to remember it; they were going to take it with them to their grave.

  But his good mood didn’t keep him from remembering that his main target was still out there. While the mage and his assistant were dead, they’d only been obstacles Berad had needed to remove on his way to Tailyn. That kid... Berad had never thought he could hate someone. But hate he did — almost the entirety of his old crew had been taken out by the little bastard. And he couldn’t forgive that. The crystal fence had heard Tailyn had gotten into the academy, which he’d assumed meant he wouldn’t have the chance to cross paths with him again, but the god had done him an incredible favor. The four of them had been right there, and two had already been sent off into the great nothingness.

  “Head over to the left. Osto, you get down there. Be careful — they like fire.”

  “Got it, Commander,” the new deputy barked back. “I always have salamander potions with me.”

  “Get to work! I want to finish this before the sun sets.”

  Tailyn didn’t hear their conversation, though he knew Berad would be coming for him and Valia next after Valanil. The kids looked around desperately. It was hard to imagine a worst spot for a battle than the one they found themselves in — there were enemies above them, in front of them, everywhere. In a moment of panic, Tailyn cut loose a wave of fire, but that just showed where he was. None of Berad’s mercenaries had a problem dealing with the flames.

  “Berad, I’m ordering you to stop right now!” The advisor’s menacing shout resounded around the area. His lizard had no problem climbing the nearly sheer cliff, carrying the black lix right to where Forian had been killed. “The little mages belong to Halas. Are you prepared to take on the lixes, Berad Gor?”

  The crystal fence cursed and stopped. To the last, he’d hoped the advisor would stay where he was, afraid for his life, though he turned out to be much braver than that. Much more prescient, too.

  “Commander, what should we do?” Osto asked. He’d already gotten down into the gully. One more leap, and he would have been past the fire and right next to the kids.

  It wasn’t an easy decision for Berad to make, though the importance of taking care of his fighters w
on out over his thirst for revenge. If Tailyn died, he would feel better, but that would only last a few moments. The boy’s death wouldn’t solve his problems. But if the black lixes got angry, Berad would have to find a new home somewhere on the north end of the continent. The Gray Lands would forever be off limits.

  “Stand down. We need to catch the little buggers so we can keep working with the lixes. Bolar, you handle that. Go with the boy first — he’s dangerous.”

  “Consider it done,” one of the mercenaries replied as he clambered across the rock like a mountain goat. While the commander was coming to terms with his emotions, Bolar quickly made his way to the overhanging stone the children were standing under.

  “We’re with you, Advisor! They’ll stand before Halas,” Berad yelled back to ease the lix’s fears. Yes, his squad was more important than vengeance.