by A F Kay
Worry is useless and demonstrates one of your weaknesses as a leader, Xavier said.
Ruwen turned to the Celestial Remnant, who remained fixated on the sun. Thanks for the input.
Hamma leaned toward Ruwen. A chaining spell would work well on them. They are grouped tightly.
Sift shifted from foot to foot, his desire to move painful to see.
Ruwen put his hands on Hamma’s shoulders. I’ll be in the middle of that group too, and Xavier can save his spells for the fight down below. Rami will notify you when the fighting starts, and you’ll only be five hundred feet away. Okay?
Hamma reluctantly nodded.
Remember, Hamma and Xavier stay fifty feet back. Sift, once you enter the fight, protect my back. Let’s go get Lylan.
Hamma and Sift nodded, and Ruwen moved toward the cave entrance. Five hundred feet from the enemy the others stopped, and he continued alone. He slowed to a walk and triggered the level eight Worker ability Insect Repellant. It created an adjustable one hundred foot barrier to keep out insects.
Every Naktos follower Ruwen had encountered liked to throw vials of liquid, usually acid, and he hoped the barrier would stop or at least slow the projectiles. He centered the barrier behind him so it started ten feet in front of his body and protected anyone ninety feet behind him.
Next, Ruwen channeled twenty Energy per second into the level five Worker spell Calm. It added thirty percent to his Persuasion and added two to his Charisma. The Charisma probably didn’t help as much since the Overseer hood covered his face, but maybe it would make his voice sound friendlier. He hoped the spell and the armor would get him near the entrance.
Ruwen used the tone and words from the description on his Overseer armor to speak, not trying to hide his presence anymore. His fifteen points in Hey You would make him sound like a native to the Naktos followers. “A servant of the almighty god requires safe haven from his ally, Naktos. Blood demands it!”
Slowing further, Ruwen spoke louder, almost shouting. “A servant of the almighty god requires safe haven from his ally, Naktos. Blood demands it!”
The entrance came into view, but Ruwen walked at an angle, as if unaware of its presence. This time he spoke softer and stumbled, as if exhausted. “A servant of the almighty god requires safe haven from his ally, Naktos. Blood demands it.”
Through Whiskers, Ruwen watched the confusion he caused. Thirty feet from the entrance he fell behind a boulder, hiding from the guards’ view. He wanted to minimize how much time they had to study him, since he didn’t have the obscuring abilities of an Observer. His privacy setting along with the armor hiding his entire body would buy him a little time, but eventually their Perception would overcome all that and flag him as one of Uru’s followers.
Finally, one scout left the group and moved toward Ruwen’s position. Twenty seconds later, a rough voice called out. “Identify yourself.”
Ruwen jerked and gasped as if shocked by the Scout’s sudden appearance. “Show yourself, or feel the wrath of the almighty god.”
The Scout stepped into view fifteen feet away. “Why is an Overseer here?”
Ruwen slowly pushed himself to his feet. “The almighty god placed critical information in my care.”
“How do we know you really serve Izac?”
Ruwen guessed these Scouts knew about the Bone Sculptor that had killed a Silent Spotter at the city gates less than a week ago. Ruwen had watched it happen through the eyes of Whiskers. “The Bone Sculptor who protected the ruined city has returned to Malth with dreadful news.” Ruwen used the same words as the Bone Sculptor, hoping it would add some authenticity. “My lord, the greatest of those that came before and whose name I am unworthy to utter, has placed me here with a dire warning. I must speak to your commander immediately.”
Ruwen didn’t use Analyze or even trigger his Perception on the Naktos Scout, fearful that the enemy might detect it and reveal Ruwen’s charade. At the mention of the Bone Sculptor, the Scout frowned in recognition, and then wrung his hands in indecision.
After five seconds, the Scout stilled, and he pointed west. “Move toward the mountains.”
Ruwen didn’t respond, but hurried toward the cave entrance, proud of his acting job. If so many high Perception classes hadn’t guarded the entrance, he might have even made it down into the complex.
Every step closer to Lylan was a victory, and Ruwen spoke loudly, hoping to distract them a few seconds longer. “My lord, the greatest of those that came before and whose name I am unworthy to utter, has placed me here with a dire warning. I must speak to your commander immediately.”
Ruwen studied those guarding the entrance. Without triggering his Perception he couldn’t be sure, but from the armor, it appeared three were Fighters. They wore the same bronze armor he’d seen at the underground oil base, only these Fighters had swords instead of hammers, and the six Scouts surrounding them all had crossbows.
The Scouts used hand signals to communicate, similar to Shade Speak, and Hey You translated. Three wanted to shoot Ruwen immediately, but the Overseer armor made the others hesitate. Everyone knew of Izac’s power, and none of them wanted to shoot an emissary.
Ruwen had made it within fifteen feet when multiple Scouts signaled danger. Whatever abilities they had that mirrored Sense Harm and Keen Senses had triggered.
“Stop,” one of the Scouts called out. “Kneel, take off your hood, and place your weapons on the ground.”
The leftmost Fighter whispered to his companions, but Hey You allowed Ruwen to read the Fighter’s lips. “He doesn’t move like a Priest.”
Ruwen knew his time had run out. He raised his arms and shouted as he strode forward. “This humble servant of the almighty lord—”
A paralyzation stun struck Ruwen, but his Mind Resistance with all his buffs, the Perception Codex benefits from Rami, his Last Breath training, and the advances he’d made in his Cultivation Stage made his Mind Resistance a staggering one hundred seventy-four percent. Any sort of mental stun or fear would almost always fail against him.
A similar stun and then a fear stuck Ruwen almost immediately after the first failed. The closest Fighter pushed his shield toward Ruwen, and lightning jumped from the shield and covered Ruwen. His Elemental Resistance, while paltry compared to his Mind Resistance, was still a formidable eighty-five percent, and he continued forward, unaffected.
That was too much for the Scouts. Five roots, a fear, and four stuns struck Ruwen as everyone present cast a spell or triggered an ability. The roots were all elemental, using the ground to snare his legs, and unfortunately, his Revolving Ring of Elemental Immunity was on water, not stone. One root succeeded, and he froze in place, his legs stuck in an invisible vise, as a root debuff appeared.
Hungry Earth: Root (max 3 seconds)
The Scouts all fired their weapons. Two crossbow bolts struck Ruwen in the chest, just over his heart, and four in the eyes, snapping his head back from the force. The Scout behind Ruwen fired at his spine. His eyes watered from the blows and the itching sensation overwhelmed him for a moment. He needed to rethink these hoods, as it seemed Marksman took it as a challenge to hit the eyes.
Ruwen could have cleared the root with Tunnel Vision or Warcry of Freedom, but wanted to save those for a more dangerous situation. The debuff blinked and then disappeared as his Bracer of Freedom halved its duration.
Another round of bolts approached and Ruwen tilted his head forward, taking the bolts meant for his eyes on the top of his head. He stepped forward and met the three Fighters who had advanced toward him.
The Fighters coordinated their movements, and Ruwen figured they must train together. All pretense gone, Ruwen stopped channeling Calm, activated Survey and Stone Echo, and let his Perception and Analyze trigger on the three Fighters.
All three were level thirty Stone Piercers, similar to the Stone Breakers Ruwen had faced in the underground temple near the oil. These three used swords, were twice the level, and coordinated, making them much
more dangerous. Analyze gave him the same information as last time: the three were strong, didn’t need oxygen, and all were weak to fire.
Each of them had nearly a thousand Health points, but Ruwen didn’t plan on whittling them down. He had something more dramatic planned.
Chapter 57
The Fighter on Ruwen’s left brought his sword down at an angle. They expected him to step backward to avoid the blow, placing him right in range of the Fighter on the right, who would skewer Ruwen from behind.
Instead, Ruwen stepped into the attack, letting the sword fall and strike him between his neck and shoulder. The Sword clanged loudly against his armor, momentarily deafening him, and the force of the blow vibrated through his body.
Ruwen grabbed the Stone Piercer’s neck with his left hand, opened his Void Band a foot, and used fifty Energy to launch a rusty short sword. He’d taken the weapon from the goblins who’d protected the Mist Wraith Talker in Blapy.
While fifty Energy had worked fine for the heavier blessed bricks he’d used when fighting the Bone Sculptor and its minions, it was far too much for the sword.
The Stone Piercer’s head disappeared as the short sword traveled through his skull, the cross-guard destroying the Fighter’s head, and turning it into a red mist. The sword continued up into the air, disappearing from sight.
The ground vibrated as the Fighter behind Ruwen stepped forward to attack. He sensed the disturbance in the air as the sword approached his back. As the headless body dropped in front of him, he stepped toward the central Fighter and turned his body, causing the attack from behind to miss.
Ruwen had one more goblin short sword, six rusty spears, and nine head-sized chunks of granite he’d taken from the wall while Hamma had performed Last Rights on the goblins, earning Prayer Points.
The central Fighter triggered an ability and the shimmer of an Energy shield appeared around him. Ruwen used that to his advantage. Using one hundred Energy, he launched one of the granite wall pieces at the central Fighter.
A boom echoed off the mountain face above them, and a deafened debuff appeared as Ruwen’s ears rang. Fragments of granite sprayed outward as the Fighter’s shield took the brunt of the force, the shards bouncing off Ruwen’s scale armor and the even stronger armor of his body.
The central Fighter staggered backward, stunned from the massive blow. Ruwen turned to face the leftmost Fighter and found him wiping blood from one eye, pieces of granite stuck to his face.
Ruwen stepped up to the bloodied Fighter and brought both hands down on the sacs around his neck, which he hoped had the same affect as hitting a human in the throat.
Using a joint lock, Ruwen forced the Fighter to drop his sword. Ruwen caught the sword as it fell hilt first, and then immediately rammed it upward through the Fighter’s damaged eye and into his brain.
Ruwen pushed the sword away from himself, rotating and then snapping the Fighter’s neck. He faced the remaining Stone Piercer who stumbled to his feet, the Energy shield gone.
With two Fighters down, some of the Scouts had a clear shot at Ruwen, and crossbow bolts struck him like a hailstorm. Fears, roots, and stuns struck him, but his Resistances held them off.
The remaining Fighter must have decided to take Ruwen seriously. The Stone Piercer’s sword glowed yellow and began to drip what smelled like acid. His skin turned grey and rough as it hardened into stone, and a six foot worm appeared beside him that Ruwen’s Perception labeled a Flesh Tunneler. It had no eyes and just a ring of sharp teeth, which it pointed at Ruwen.
Three glass vials struck Ruwen’s chest and shattered, covering his armor in red liquid that reacted violently with the air. The vapor surrounded Ruwen in what Analyze assured him was very toxic fumes.
Ruwen channeled one Energy per second into Fresh Air to keep the area around his head free of the vapors. His Scarf of Freshness would make the air he breathed safe, but he worried what the gas would do to his eyes.
Crossbow bolts continued to bounce off Ruwen, some exploding, others causing elemental damage. The Overseer armor’s durability had taken a beating, but Ruwen’s body remained unaffected.
The Stone Piercer and the Flesh Tunneler had separated by ten feet. Ruwen kept his focus on the Fighter, but didn’t lose sight of the disgusting worm.
Opening its mouth wide, the Flesh Tunneler’s teeth shot outward like a fleshy circular tongue. It struck Ruwen’s Insect Repellent shield, throwing off the tongue’s trajectory, and instead of striking Ruwen’s head, it latched onto his chest.
When the Flesh Tunneler jerked back on Ruwen, he leaped, adding his momentum and striking the soft worm in a blink. He wrapped his arms around the creature and channeled two Energy per second into the level four Fighter spell Wrath, causing him to burst into magical flame.
The worm’s skin sizzled and Ruwen was thankful the scarf and Fresh Air kept the smells away. He channeled twenty Energy into Scrub, and like he’d done to the centipedes on the first level of Blapy, he cleaned the worm to death.
As Ruwen finished killing the Flesh Tunneler, the Stone Piercer didn’t advance on Ruwen, but flicked his sword, covering Ruwen’s cloak with acid.
The one hundred fifty point shield activated on the Hooded Pacifist's Cloak of Wandering, protecting Ruwen’s Overseer armor from more damage. He faced the Fighter, not bothering to dodge the crossbow bolts the Silent Spotters still fired. He ripped the Flesh Tunnelers tongue off his chest, threw it to the ground, and stopped channeling Wrath.
Instead, Ruwen channeled ten Energy per second into the level fourteen Collector spell Sow Seed. Every time a Scout threw a vial, which were all under one pound, he would mid-flight telekinetically flip it at another Scout.
The Energy Ruwen had channeled into Scrub, he transferred to Melt. Since he only had the one level the Divine Amulet had given him, he added Energy until he reached the spell’s maximum Energy of one hundred per second, eleven more than his Energy Regen. Just like Harden, it only worked on inorganic substances, and the remaining Stone Piercer had just changed his skin into stone.
A flaming arrow materialized in front of Ruwen, struck him in the head, and exploded. A blind debuff appeared as searing heat scorched his armor, and he staggered backward from the force of the explosion.
The Scouts had started to use their serious abilities as well. Ruwen needed to end this quickly. Still blinded, he jumped five feet to the left, assuming the enemy would follow up immediately with other attacks.
Ruwen’s vision returned as three more explosions detonated where he’d just been. His Mana dropped by twenty-five as he cast Jump, and leaped at the last Fighter.
The Stone Piercer had transformed his shield, covering it in razor sharp pieces of rock. Ruwen remembered the Bone Sculptor’s exploding armor, and he avoided standing in front of the shield.
Now that Ruwen had closed on the Fighter again, the Scouts held their fire. They stood in a semi-circle around the pair, waiting for a clear shot. Ruwen’s map displayed the green dots of his party, and they were dangerously close to his location. The last thing he wanted was these Scouts, unable to attack him, to take their frustrations out on his friends.
Ruwen opened his Void Band four feet wide, channeled fifty Energy per second to the oil he still carried, and in one quick swipe, soaked the entire area with three thousand gallons of oil. All the Scouts remained clean, as each had triggered a personal shield, but Ruwen didn’t need to kill them right now, just distract them.
With twenty Mana, Ruwen cast Warm Welcome, and summoned a flaming dagger that stunned its target for half a second. He threw it at the ground and the entire area erupted in flames.
Smoke and fire made it hard to see, but Ruwen’s Survey and Ground Echo combined to paint the area in detailed yellow lines across his vision. With three long strides, he closed on the Stone Piercer.
As soon as Ruwen appeared out of the inferno, the Fighter attacked. The shield’s stone shards exploded outward, but Ruwen leaped to the side, avoiding the spray of de
adly rocks.
The Fighter had planned for that and flicked his acid oozing sword. Yellow liquid arced through the air, striking Ruwen’s armor as he landed. The acid hit the Fresh Air spell with enough force to penetrate, coating his eyes.
Ruwen’s eighty-five percent Acid Resistance coupled with his Gold Fortified body meant he didn’t take any damage, but it still interfered with his vision and it burned uncomfortably.
Falling down, Ruwen moaned in pain, as if the acid had incapacitated him. The Stone Piercer approached from behind Ruwen, sword raised. Ruwen cast Retrieve, his Mana dropping by fifty, and jerked on the Fighter’s back foot. As the Fighter regained his balance, Ruwen spun his body, bringing his legs around in a sweep and knocking the Stone Piercer to the ground.
Ruwen pounced on the fallen Fighter, slamming his hands, still channeling Melt, against the Stone Piercer’s face. Ruwen’s hands sank slowly into the stone armor, as if pushing them through mud.
The Stone Piercer had lost his sword, and he pounded Ruwen’s head with his fists instead. The Fighter’s increased strength, coupled with the stone fists, combined to make for brutal strikes, but they had no impact on Ruwen. Five seconds later, the Fighter stopped moving, his head now appearing like a half-burned candle.
Ruwen stopped channeling Melt, opened his Void Band, and carefully shot at the Scouts hidden in the smoke and flames, Survey and Stone Echo making him deadly accurate. He launched eight chunks of granite, a rusty sword, and six rusty spears, before the four surviving Scouts retreated into the cave.
As Hamma, Sift, and Xavier came up behind him, Ruwen gave them a nod and then immediately headed for the cave. They had no time to waste.
Chapter 58
Stone Echo and Survey allowed Ruwen to move confidently forward. Nearing the cave, rushing water echoed off the stone, amplifying its sound. The air cooled from the fast moving streams that flowed around the cave entrance from the lake above. The Scouts continued to retreat down the tunnel to the large chamber below.
