Aster Fall, Ch 33: Four Adventurers (Patreon)

The only thing that held Sam back from breaking the Lykaris’s neck was that she wasn’t an Outsider. He also remembered the last civilized person he’d killed, that wizardess who had attacked him in the tunnels.

He still didn’t feel guilty about that, but it wasn’t something he was going to repeat when he knew what was going on. Perhaps it was a sign that he wasn't as young and foolish as he'd been back then.

As soon as the other two adventurers saw what was happening, the barbarian started to charge his way, but Jeric intercepted him, throwing him backward with a double-handed shove to the chest.

The blow was hard enough that the barbarian went tumbling head over heels in the snow.

“Stop!” Jeric shouted angrily, as the golden-red aura of Persuade began to radiate outward from him through the area. “You don’t know what you’re doing!”

Persuade wasn’t enough to stop these adventurers in the middle of a fight, but it was enough to get their attention.

The barbarian hit the ground and sank half a foot into the snow before he flailed his way back to the surface, roaring as a red aura began to shine out of his skin.

The wizard was the slowest of the group, his expression befuddled, but when he saw the barbarian thrown back, he started to pull a wand from his belt.

Krana intercepted him, knocking him away with a bright yellow shield as her warhammer came around and swept the wand out of his hand, twisting his wrist to the side.

“Stop!” she shouted, pressing close as she grabbed at his collar and pulled him down to her face. “This is all a misunderstanding! Sam is not your enemy!”

Her voice was an angry rumble as silver energy from her Seer class began to cascade around her.

The Lykaris twisted in Sam's grip, which he tightened as his talons dug in. He had to force back his aura, otherwise he would have cut through her neck.

Despite his restraint, a surging, volcanic anger was flowing through his veins, swirling from one essence star to the next as it traced out the mostly-complete formation.

The stars resonated in time with his heart. He could almost feel the formation stretching, as if it wanted to be complete so it could show the world what it could do.

The priestess, the source of the trouble, was just now climbing to her feet near Sam. He’d felt sympathetic for her earlier, but that had flown out the window. He needed to do something before she got to her feet and made things worse.

With his anger, the answer was clear.

Overwhelming force.

Crystal flame surged up in a rush as he poured it outward, extending it in a field around the priestess and the Lykaris. Then he clamped down on it, freezing everything nearby in a Crystal Field.

Both of them froze in place as a geometric pattern of interlocking crystal blue patterns appeared all around them, binding their limbs and the area nearby. It was a faint sapphire blue at the edges, and a deeper blue where the patterns met up.

It took thirty points of Essence to get the field into place, and he felt the two adventurers struggling, but he had the strength to keep them locked down.

When they were frozen, he still held the Lykaris in his hand as he turned toward the priestess, glaring at her.

“You think that you, a novice priestess, can see more clearly than the Seer I am traveling with? You were able to Identify my race, but you missed everything else.”

His voice was a rough snarl as he pushed the words out past the desire to tear them apart.

“You couldn’t put two thoughts together to realize that I just saved you from Outsiders and that our plan is to kill more of them! ”

With that, he threw the Lykaris to the ground next to the priestess, holding onto the Crystal Field as he turned away.

As much as he wanted to pay them back for the attack, he wasn’t a monster. He wasn’t going to kill everyone who made him angry.

The barbarian and wizard were being held back by his father and Krana. They stared in his direction as he pushed his hood off, glaring at them.

He shook the folds of the cloak free until his features and horns were on full display, and he watched their faces pale as they caught sight of him.

“Pay better attention,” he growled with disgust. “It's just a transformation spell to make me look like this. We’ll take you up on the offer to show us where the Outsiders are. If you have any more doubts about what I’ve told you, then you can watch as all of them die. But if you attack me again, you won’t live to make it there.”

With that threat hanging in the air, he turned away, heading toward the Coldfang corpses as he went to gather the auras.

Behind him, his father and Krana kept an eye on the four adventurers as they started to come to terms with reality. He understood why they were shocked, but he didn't have it in him to care.

Blasted adventurers, he muttered to himself, his old disgust for them returning in a wave. They must be born with half a brain.

Not only do they attack without thinking, but they’re wasting the opportunity to have a normal life.

---

The auras from the Coldfangs were as sharp as the winter ice that formed along the edge of a cliff in layer after cutting layer that waited for an unwary traveler to grip them.

It was a cold that cut to the bone and froze the blood in its path, severing nerves and life in a silent brush with death.

You have identified a new Aura.

Aura of Frozen Blades.

It took three tries to fully identify the aura, and then he gathered four more of them from the other Outsiders. After that, he turned toward the last one and searched for the thread of energy there.

It was a frozen, cutting smoke that drifted around the thing, weaving through its wolfen fur and the ice blades that made its arms, which now lay dully on top of the snow.

Whatever energy had once enlivened them, it had fled with the thing's death.

As he pulled the aura toward himself, there was a sudden feeling of depth, as if the aura in his hand had suddenly become heavier, and he was able to feel it more intensely than any of the others.

Not just cutting ice, but an ice that hungered for life, that wanted nothing more than to freeze it in place and bring it to a sharp, bitter stillness.

It was still the Aura of Frozen Blades, but there was more to it, a sense of life and emotion that hadn’t been there before.

At that moment, a chiming golden notification appeared in his mind, accompanied by the clarion call of trumpets unfurling in the dawn.

It was one that he’d been waiting for a very long time.

Congratulations, Battlefield Reclaimer. You have touched on a deeper layer of existence.

Your Class Ability Reclaim Aura has reached the Advanced Tier.

You may now gather Advanced Auras.

The aura separated from the Coldfang like coiling blue smoke, swirling into a sphere in Sam’s hand. It came with the taste of cold that cut to the bone, leaving an aching pain in his lungs.

Aura of Frozen Blades (Advanced).

The sphere looked very similar to one of the Basic auras on the outside, but inside he could sense the cold, brutal intent that had been part of the Coldfang Beheaders.

This was the distilled element of a frozen blade itself.

It was like a higher-tier rune, something much more complex and dangerous than the Basic versions he’d collected just before this.

What would happen if this were added to an Ice-enchanted blade? The thought spun through his mind in a torrent of expectation as he looked at the aura in his hand.

As he put it into his storage, a strange thing happened, and the new aura disappeared as it was pulled away, blending into the space of the storage.

A pulling and twisting sensation followed, as he felt the dimensional pocket warp under the force of the aura that had just entered it.

The energy from the aura pressed against the constraints of the space there, forcing the dimension to become wider.

From the outside, another force that he didn’t understand pushed back, and for the first time he felt the edges of the dimensional pocket as if it were a unique existence on its own.

As that force pushed against them, they became somehow denser, until the pressure from the Advanced aura and the external pressure reached an equilibrium.

A moment later, a second notification came on the tails of the first.

Aura Storage has reached the Advanced Tier.

Spatial density enhanced to contain more complex forces. Dimensional capacity increased from 500 to 1,000 auras.

He wasn’t entirely sure what the notification about spatial density meant, but it was obvious that the ability had been upgraded.

As for holding 1,000 auras, he’d never reached the 500 limit and hadn’t even been aware there was one.

The possibilities of what he could do with Advanced auras danced in his mind as he turned away from the Coldfangs, feeling pleased.

Behind him, the adventurers had just started to calm down, although from the arguments he’d heard, it had been a rocky conversation.

Krana had explained her vision of the Breaking, and Jeric’s steady assurance that Sam was his son had swayed their opinions. Most of their reaction had been due to the stress of nearly dying, and now that they were no longer in danger, they were thinking more clearly.

Without the help, they knew they would have died here.

“The place we’re trying to reach is about twenty miles to the west and up a level,” the barbarian announced as he gave Sam a guarded look. He didn’t fully trust this strange wizard, but so far he had done nothing but help them.

“We were heading there when these Coldfangs caught sight of us. They were gathering around another point, one that’s pretty close to it, and they caught us by surprise as we passed.”

“There were at least a dozen more Outsiders or monsters there too,” the priestess added with a grimace as she looked between Sam and Jeric. “If you’re really not an Outsider...I’m sorry I attacked you.”

Sam just shook his head and pushed all of the nonsense away, focusing on what was more important. He didn’t need these adventurers to be his friends. He just needed them to show him where the Flaw was.

“Don’t focus on it,” he replied, waving the comment away. “Just help us deal with the problem. It sounds like your goal is on the other side of our enemies anyway, so we may as well work together. We'll clear out the areas together and then you can find your elemental pillar.”

The elemental pillar they were talking about was something he wanted to see. If it was part of the ruins, it might be important, whether or not it enhanced elemental affinities.

If these four joined forces with them, even though they were a bit lower level, it would help to reinforce their side of the battle. Then, they might actually do some good for the world.

The battle at the sylph village and now this one with the Coldfangs had been enough to get his father up to Level 52. Krana was Level 51 and Lesat was Level 53.

Their forces were slowly but surely improving. If they had more battles like this, then the ruins would be an excellent proving ground.

He looked around at the remains of the Coldfangs and at the new Advanced aura in his storage, his thoughts running ahead to the future.

The real test would be when they found the Flaw, along with whatever was guarding it.

He had no doubt that the forces there would be worse than anything they'd seen so far.

---

The adventurers sorted themselves out and healed up, and Sam took the opportunity to recharge his bracer.

A couple of hours later, they led Sam and the others back in the direction that they had come, sticking to the same level of the ruins.

From time to time, Sam paused and checked the area with the Guardian Star, but so far there was no sign of the Flaw. All he could do was record their progress on a rough map, marking out the areas he’d already checked.

About an hour into their journey, a message formation appeared in the air near him, its double-circled construction spinning in place. It was one of his. He reached out and tapped it, activating the stored voice.

“I’ve alerted the church,” Lenei’s voice echoed out from the message runes. “The heads from the Icebloods were enough to get their attention, so they’re gathering a force. There will be a group of about twenty church warriors, knights, paladins, and priests ready within a day.

“They’ll need a target, or else they plan to break down into teams and start searching the area on their own. They don’t trust that the Flaw is in the ruins, so they want to look for it themselves. It would be time-consuming and scatter the group.

"If you have any new intelligence, please send it to me. I’ll stay here for another day or two as an intermediary and then come join you.”

The runes inside the message formation faded, bringing an end to the spell. The formation spun in the air a few more times and then crumbled away to dust.

“So you do have a Paladin,” the barbarian grumbled as he looked back, half-turned toward the message scroll. The other three adventurers were with him at the head of the party, while Sam’s group was following.

It didn't make the adventurers comfortable, but so far Sam had been more trustworthy than them.

“We need a target to give them,” Sam replied, ignoring the question as he focused on the more important matters. “Let’s hope that we find something useful ahead of us. How long until we get there?”

“Another two hours or so,” the barbarian growled back, but his posture relaxed a bit more when he saw that Sam was planning to work with the church.

Sam pulled out a message scroll of his own, recorded a short message to tell Lenei about the Coldfangs and their plans, and sent it off. Perhaps it would be enough for the church to send their main force here.

After that, he focused on studying the enchantments on the stones as they passed, recording the shapes in his memory, where they swirled like clouds in the sky.

The lines on the grey stones were only abstract swirls and jagged lines, but he had the feeling that there was something deeper there, something that gave rise to that silver-green energy that was still slowly building.

Above, Caelus was high in the sky as the day headed toward noon.

---

About twenty feet ahead of them, there was a bank of snow resting on top of an overhanging stone. As the Lykaris passed under it, it slid off, falling directly on top of her.

It was deep enough to bury her to the waist and it left her covered in snow that sat heavily on her fur cap and shoulders. A muffled exclamation of anger erupted from her as she struggled to escape, tossing snow in every direction.

Little flickers of flame ran along her skin, melting some of it, but it wasn’t enough to remove all of it. It just left her half wet and miserable.

“I hate snow,” the Lykaris grumbled from ahead as she tugged her foot out of the snowbank, her movements jittery. As it turned out, her name was Selis. She was covered in the stuff, which was stuck to her in wet clumps.

“The feeling is mutual, I imagine,” Arene replied drily. The priestess tried to help as she dusted the Lykaris off, sweeping off piles of the stuff. “It clearly hates you back.”

Serves them right for causing trouble.

By comparison, Sam was feeling very comfortable. The snow was pleasantly brisk and as soon as it touched his skin, it brushed along and then fluttered away again, almost as if it were greeting him.

There wasn’t a trace of it melting or making him uncomfortable, even when it met his crystal flame. Somehow, the two elements danced around each other, each in their own place.

Even the flurry that had been kicked up from the falling snowbank simply blew past him, leaving him untouched.

His father and the others were the same. All of them were relaxed in the snow, supported by the Ice trait that Siwaha had given them. So far, the adventurers hadn’t really caught on, although they did send them a dirty look from time to time when the snow seemed to glide around them.

Sam didn’t feel obliged to tell them the reason. Even if he’d wanted to, it was more the Ice Sylphs’ secret to tell than his.

Instead, he just took it as a small bit of justice that the adventurers were having a worse time than he was.

“The point we’re heading for is just around that bend,” the barbarian announced. His name was Cesten. “There’s still a little way to go, but we should be able to see it clearly from there. It’s time to keep quiet.”

From what Cesten had said, the Coldfangs were gathered around a broken stone building just up ahead. Past that, on the next layer up, was the pillar they were looking for.

The two locations were visible to each other, but if they were careful, they might be able to draw out the rest of the Coldfangs without alerting anything above.

Beside him, the wizard-mage, Obel, frowned and reached into his sleeves, pulling out a wand that he had there.

“Aren’t a dozen too many to handle?” he asked nervously, with quick darting glances at the snow ahead and then to the side. “What if there’s another Pack Leader, or two...or something worse?”

The wizard was a bumbling, frightened sort, not at all what Sam had expected of an adventurer, but he seemed to have the right instincts in a fight, even if it was mostly to hold the defense.

“We’ll see what’s there and work together,” Jeric replied. “If it’s too much, or if there’s a Flaw there, we’ll call for reinforcements first.”

At that reminder, Sam woke up the Guardian Star again, letting it search the area. When it finished, its words were simple and blunt.

No Flaw detected within five miles.

“Let’s take a few minutes to get ready, before we go looking for trouble,” Cesten suggested, looking at Selis and then at the others. The Lykaris was still disgustedly trying to scrape snow out of her clothing.

“Whatever you fellows can do, we’re probably going to need it.”

Sam reached into his belt and pulled free a couple of the scrolls he’d made back at the inn, studying them. After a moment, he looked up.

All around him, there was blue-white snow drifting through the air and he could feel the currents of mana flowing past him from the peak as they headed to the valley below.

Thoughts about Advanced auras, spell patterns, and the resonance of natural runes flickered in his mind as he considered how to cause the most destruction possible.