IM2: Chapter #42 (Patreon)

Thanks to Eve keeping the trap off, the team was able to cross the short hallway without any trouble and they quickly reached the rooms on the upper floor. Splitting up, they began to examine the rooms, leaving what they got to chance. Rather than giving Thorn and Velin the first choice of item, they were given the first choice of rooms. Without hesitation, they chose the two rooms closest to the control room, leaving the other rooms for everyone else. Of the two rooms, they were only really interested in the one that Velin went into, but to keep the others from suspecting that he knew something, Thorn picked another room and entered that one as well.

When the door opened to reveal nothing but an empty office with a chair and a desk, Ingo, who had been hanging back to peek inside, couldn’t help but sneer and rush off to pick a room. Rummaging around like he couldn’t believe that it was empty, Thorn let out a groan and kicked the desk, causing it to slam into the wall with a loud boom.

The sound caused the rest of the team to look over, before gleefully going back to their tasks. Most of the rooms had been offices for whoever had worked at this plant, and the desks were filled with decayed paper and various trinkets that were all gathered up quickly and put into bags. Stepping out of his empty room, Thorn slammed his door shut, a dark look on his face. Seeing Ingo and Shade coming out of rooms down the hall, Thorn pointed down at the floor.

“I get the first pick of the rooms down there.”

Hiding her smirk, Shade nodded.

“Fine.”

With the offices cleaned out, the team sped down the stairs, Thorn and Velin leading the way. As soon as they made it down, they once again split up and headed for two rooms, this time choosing rooms in the middle of the hallway. They were moving so fast that they were already inside the rooms when Ingo and Shade made it off the stairs, the rest of the team trailing behind. A moment later, a roar of rage sounded from the room Thorn was in and an empty desk smashed through the door, crashing into the hall where it broke apart.

With his aura burning around him, Thorn stormed out of the room, furious over once again having picked an empty room. A second later Velin cautiously peeked her head out of the door she had ducked into and gave Thorn a shrug, showing him her empty hands. Sharing a happy look, Shade and Ingo quickly picked their rooms along with the rest of the team. This time, only half of them managed to find anything, and once they had swept everything away, they headed for the main room.

They couldn’t hear any sounds, but when they arrived, they found a fresh layer of destruction had been added to the room. The two turrets had been transformed into twisted scrap, but not before they had claimed two people, and another was tangled with the three golems that had attacked. About to rush toward the hallway leading up to the exit, a shout from the end of one of the branch hallways stopped them in their tracks.

“Velin!”

Hearing the shout, Thorn and Velin both retreated back into the team, watching warily as Prince Felix led Sean and a bunch of others from the Tardoff clan forward. Tension grew thick as they got closer and when they were a hundred feet away, they finally stopped, allowing both sides to face off. Standing at the front of his group, Prince Felix did not hide his eighth tier strength. Sean, who was in the seventh tier, was next, and there were five sixth tier fighters with them as well.

On the Deva side, only Ingo and Shade were in the sixth tier, while the warlocks and captains were in tier five, and the ten soldiers were in the fourth tier. Each and every one of them possessed armor that would allow them to fight a tier higher, of course, but their armor wasn’t enough to make up the tier difference. The biggest wild cards were Thorn, Velin, and Akira, who were standing on the Deva side at the moment.

Stepping forward, Prince Felix held up his hands, showing that he just wanted to talk, but before he could, Sean let out a small gasp and pointed at Velin.

“Her brand is gone!”

Velin’s sleeve was still rolled up, and the inside of her forearm was just barely visible, revealing bare skin where the golden runes should have been. Whatever was on Prince Felix’s mind vanished in a flash of confusion, anger, and fear. Those feelings rippled through his aura and the intensity of them caused his side to jump. The Deva, seeing their opponents move, launched their attacks, not wanting to lose the initiative. Instantly, the room devolved into chaos as the two sides closed for war.

[Akira, keep Velin safe!]

[Of course, master.]

Ingo and the three captains were charging forward with their soldiers close behind and even the warlocks were advancing so Thorn kept pace with them, his staff lifting as he started casting his spells. There was something tugging at the back of his mind, so he didn’t dare throw his full force into the battle and instead kept most of his strength in reserve as he got ready to watch how the fight played out.

The two sides slammed into each other, but it was immediately clear which side had more experience. Prince Felix charged toward Ingo and the captains, but just when they were about to clash, the warriors split up and darted sideways, opening up a path for the warlocks in the back to blast Felix full force. Getting a face full of mana, Prince Felix let out a bellow of rage but Shade’s spell had just triggered and a burning purple skull bit onto his leg, slowing him down while Ingo and the three captains jumped on Sean who was half a step behind. Realizing what their tactic was, Thorn tapped his staff on the ground, adding his own spells to the fight.

[Biting Wolf Chains: Earth]

Even though he knew that the chains wouldn’t hold Prince Felix for long, it was enough to show that he was taking the fight seriously. Keeping his senses sharp, Thorn rapidly cast dozens of Stone Spears, using them to disrupt the tier six fighters on the Tardoff’s side, giving the tier four soldiers on his side just enough of an edge that they could keep pace with their opponents. With every second that passed, Thorn could feel his unease growing, but he stuck to his plan of controlling the flow of the battlefield.

Prince Felix let out a roar and ripped apart the stone chains that bound him, his broadsword battering away the wolf heads. Launching himself at Shade, he brought his sword around in a wicked arc, cutting her in two. Yet the two pieces of her body suddenly transformed into shadow and stuck to his sword, flowing up to cover his body like tar. Shocked by the trap, Prince Felix was slightly slow in responding and the tar-like substance began to seep into his body, delivering the curse it held.

It was obvious that for all his strength, Prince Felix lacked the vicious way of fighting that the Deva, bathed in the blood of a thousand battles, possessed. Stumbling slightly, he saw a dozen Shades, all staring at him mockingly as they launched their attacks. Taking a defensive stance, the Prince tried to use his mana to purify himself while he swung his sword to block the attacks. Watching him swinging his sword at empty air, Thorn gave Shade an impressed look, but saw that she was clearly weakened with the effort of infecting an eighth tier fighter.

Across the room, Sean was finding himself hard pressed to survive the coordinated attacks from Ingo and the three captains. Only his sharp wind and his impressive speed had kept him alive this long, but the Deva were slowly sealing his paths and forcing him into a corner. Though the fight should have been one sided thanks to the Tardoff clan’s higher tiers, it was currently in a stalemate, though it was clear to both Ingo and Shade that such a stalemate would only last as long as Prince Felix was caught in the cursed illusion.

Should he break free, he would be able to wipe them all out in a matter of minutes. Decisively giving up the small advantage he had gained, Ingo fell back to where Shade stood next to Thorn, leaving his three captains to block Sean.

“We have to retreat! If we don’t, we’re never going to be able to make it. The Iron Enforcers are outside, and if we can regroup with them, we will be able to stabilize the fight. Plus, we’ll have more people outside.”

“I wouldn’t count on that,” Thorn said, glancing at Prince Felix who was starting to show signs of waking up. “They are likely fighting out there as well, and the fact your Iron Enforcers let a tier eight warrior come in here after you doesn’t bode well.”

“We’ll have to risk it,” Shade said, gritting her teeth to fight off the waves of pain that pounded in her head from overdrawing her mana. “Unless one of you has a way to fight off an eighth tier warrior.”

“Not if you don’t want to die as well,” Thorn said, his voice so calm that it sent shivers down Ingo and Shade’s spines.

Letting out a piercing blast, Ingo and the warlocks fled toward the tunnels while the ten soldiers suddenly let out fierce shouts and attacked with abandon. So fierce were their attacks that they momentarily drove the enemy back, buying just enough time for the captains to retreat from their fight against Sean. Seeing everyone escaping, Sean let out a howl of rage and shot forward, his sword stabbing through the chest plate of one of the black armored soldiers. In what seemed like a bizarre twist, the soldier dodged backward, moving his chest out of the way but allowing it to slice through his neck.

Thrown off by the sudden shift, Sean saw the soldier grip his blade tightly and a moment later the rune armor the soldier wore glowed with a bright purple flash and then exploded. Moving faster than he ever had, Sean backed up, but not before the explosion devoured both his sword and his fingers, leaving nothing but burnt nubs behind. Letting out a scream of rage, he was too preoccupied with the pain to notice the mana that manifested behind him, intersecting with his neck.

[Earth Dividing Blade]

Racing toward the exit, Thorn sensed his spell connect and the cold look in his eyes faded slightly. As far as he was concerned, any possible bridge with the Tardoff clan had been burned to ash when they branded Velin, and he was not about to lose the opportunity to eliminate an enemy.

“The prince is about to wake up,” Shade gasped, blood dripping from her nose to splatter the ground as she stumbled.

She had done her best and bought them enough time to escape, but the cost had been nearly all of her strength. Even the prince, as weak willed as he was, was much too strong for her to keep trapped in an illusion. The natural strength of a tier eight warrior was simply too much for her to fight against and the backlash of the illusion breaking had wounded her badly. Unable to even keep herself on her feet, she fell forward when a hand grabbed her waist, helping her stay up. Warmth streamed through the gentle touch, flowing through her veins to repair the damage that had been done.

Never had she felt such pure life force, and with every staggering step she grew stronger and stronger as the life force surged through her. By the time she had made it to the doorway, she was nearly back to normal and the hand she had felt withdrew as Velin stepped behind Thorn. Unsure what to say, she nodded her thanks to Velin and the group rushed out of the pyramid, emerging into a scene of complete chaos. Everywhere they looked, there were black-armored Deva soldiers fighting against groups of adventurers and soldiers dressed in golden tunics.

[Those are the forces of the Tardoff clan.]

Hearing Velin’s voice in his head, Thorn’s eyes narrowed. There were an even number of fighters on both sides which removed any real advantage the Deva had, and it was clear that they were being pushed back. Near the center of the camp, two massive metal figures were fighting against a dozen tier six adventurers and two tier seven golden robed warriors. The fight was fierce and as they tumbled around the camp, they destroyed everything in their path.

“Maybe we should consider retreating,” Thorn said, glancing at Ingo. “You have a portal, right?”

“Yes, but it will take at least half an hour to start up,” Ingo said, his voice dull.

“That’s fine. So long as you are willing to swear an oath that you’ll take us with you, I’ll buy you the time you need.”

Staring at Thorn like he was seeing him for the first time, Ingo didn’t hesitate for even a moment.

“I swear on my mana. If you stall long enough for me to start the portal, I won’t leave before the two of you.”

With a flick of his staff, Thorn formed a simple spell construct in between them and both of them fed their mana into it. Feeling the shift in the air as the oath took, Thorn nodded.

“You’ll have half an hour, even if I have to burn this whole jungle down to get it for you.”

Behind them, they could feel the earth trembling as Prince Felix charged forward, but with a thought Eve locked the door and Thorn lifted his staff. Complex runes began to spread out from him and mana surged through the earth, funneling into him. He was not sure that he had ever cast a spell this big since he had come to this world, but he didn’t focus on that. Instead he concentrated on gathering as much earth mana as he possibly could. With barely two seconds before Prince Felix reached the door, Thorn let out a shout and the mana he had gathered smashed forward, causing the earth to jump and dance.

[Earthquake]

Cracking and splintering from the forces that ripped through it, the entire front of the pyramid collapsed, crumbling down on the passage that led to the surface. The roar of falling stone and the shaking of the earth continued for a full minute, bringing the entire fight to a halt as everyone tried to avoid being smashed by falling trees. In the shocked silence that followed, Eve’s mutter was the only thing that could be heard.

“Sheesh. I wouldn’t have bothered locking the door if I knew you were going to do that.”