Soulweaver 83: Unstoppable (Patreon)

The rest of the trek went fast, mostly thanks to the snowshoes I’d rigged together.

“I have to admit, these work better than I’d thought,” Aerion said as we neared the base. “That was almost easy.”

“Wow. A compliment from you? Hell must’ve frozen over,” I said, looking around exaggeratedly. “I take that back. Hell did freeze over, didn’t it?”

Aerion lobbed some snow into my face, which I admittedly probably deserved. 

“Still,” I said. “You’re practically a genius at building things. Be careful with those compliments. You’ll just stroke my ego.”

“As if you need me to do that,” Aerion said with an eyeroll, before pointing at the base of the mountains. “Look. Over there. It seems to be an entrance into the mountain base.”

“Looks like it,” I said. “I know it’s cold out, but I think we ought to monitor enemy activity for at least a half-day before making our move. There are a lot of ways this could go horribly wrong.”

Especially without sanctuary rooms and an understanding of the base’s layout.

“Agreed,” Aerion said, looking up at the sky. “So long as the sun stays high, I imagine we should not be overly troubled. If we do need to spend another night outside, however…”

“Let’s cross that bridge when we get to it, yeah?”

“Cross… Ah. I see,” Aerion replied. “Indeed.”

I smiled a bit. “Y’know, there was a time when that would’ve completely befuddled you. Look at you now, catching onto my idioms.”

“Oh, rest assured. It’s a survival skill,” Aerion replied before stomping away, leaving me speechless. Was it just me, or was she more snarky these days?

— — 

We found a nice perch at the base of the mountain a hundred yards away from what we believed was a primary gate into the compound. The one nice thing about this soft snow was it was easy to shovel with my shield, and so we dug ourselves a little hole that hid us from view almost perfectly.

There we sat… and waited. It didn’t take long, though, before both Aerion and I realized the difficulty of our situation.

The large metal door had swung open only once, to allow a small band of troops—led by one of those orcish commanders—through. Probably another raiding party.

It’d shut the instant they left. Even if we were willing to risk getting closer, we wouldn’t make it inside before it shut. And doing so would undoubtedly alert every enemy in the area. Not an ideal start.

“The more time that passes, the more troops the dungeon spawns, and the bigger the army assaulting Basecrest becomes,” Aerion had said.

Time was of the essence, and this entrance was a no-go.

Somewhat dejected, we broke our little camp and headed for another entrance we’d seen, hoping to find some sort of accessway that would allow us to slip in.

The second entrance was a quarter-mile away, and looked identical to the first, so we didn’t even bother with it.

In this way, we walked several miles, trying to find a gate that would allow us to slip in.

It was after we came across our eighth entrance that I concluded we needed a different strategy.

“At this rate, we’ll run out of daylight before we find a way in,” I said. “And it’s quite a trek back to the cabin. Assuming the sun stays out and the wind doesn’t roll back in.”

“What do you suggest?” Aerion asked.

I looked up the mountain. “I think it’s time we climb.”

Aerion followed my gaze and slouched a little. “Are you sure…?”

“Believe me, I don’t want this anymore than you do, but I figure this is a military compound. All the entrances and exits at ground level are liable to be heavily defended. Besides, I feel like I see what looks to be observation decks up there. I’d bet my right arm those aren’t as well defended. Might be able to get in by clubbing a guard or three. Besides, we’re pretty strong. I think we can manage it, as long as the deep snow lasts.”

Aerion steeled herself and nodded. “I keep forgetting about our stats. In the past, I wouldn’t dare scale such a mountain, but now?”

“Now, we have what it takes,” I said.

If this were a small hill, the decision would’ve been easy. It wasn’t. By my estimate, the peak was almost three thousand feet above us, and we were no mountaineers. That this facility seemed to spann not only the full width, but also the height of this mountain range, left me a little overwhelmed. It seemed like both Trials and Cataclysm Dungeons loved to do things on a grand scale.

Still, we did possess superhuman strength and constitution, and we had snowshoes, so that counted for something.

We set out, with me breaking trail. Even with those snowshoes, though, my feet sank several inches with each step, making the journey much more arduous than it would otherwise have been. 

Luckily, that meant Aerion had a much easier time, following in my literal footsteps.

The mountainside started to grow steeper a few hundred feet up, forcing me to start zigzagging. That made our trek easier, but also longer, and the longer we spent up here, the more likely it was someone would eventually notice.

The slog was monotonous, and even despite the cold and my stats, I found myself breathing heavily by the time we neared. At least I had my status screen to stave off the torture. Seeing my Vigor and Dominion stats rise never got old. Between the trek here and the climb, I’d gained one to each, and Aerion had gained one to Dominion, bringing her to 33 and  mine to 45 and 41, respectively.

By the time I closed my screen, the first observatory station wasn’t too far away. What purpose the thing served, I didn’t truly know. It looked like it was designed to watch for enemies, but if so, why hadn’t they detected us yet? Without the storm to shield us, lookouts like these ought to have seen us coming a mile away.

“Maybe they don’t expect anyone this soon after landing?” Aerion said between breaths.

“Maybe,” I replied, taking another heavy, plodding step. “But since when have we ever been lucky?”

Instead of aiming directly at the structure, I climbed a bit higher, then angled down, from the side, in the hopes that anyone who might’ve been looking out wouldn’t see us.

As we got closer, more of the buildings’ details became clear. Protruding just past the side of the mountain, it was a long, narrow one-story building about the size of a shipping container, and looked to be made mostly of steel, with metal supports that supported it. One entire wall was made of glass, and there was a plowed balcony free of snow that exited off to one side.

That was our in. 

I motioned for Aerion to climb onto the roof of the structure and position herself above the door that led out onto the balcony, while I circled around and grabbed a large hunk of ice, which I compacted in my hands.

Not trusting my throwing arm, I put my snowball into my inventory and made two more.

[Aim] activated, and the snowball sailed through the air to smash against the door, right dead center. I was never going to throw anything again—this ability had me covered.

When, after a minute, the door didn’t open, I threw both my second and third balls.

This time, the door did open, and out came a grungy, human-sized orc with dreadlocks. 

My stomach clenched, and for a moment, I thought we were up against one of the commander units from earlier.

But this guy carried no visible weapons, and he was much smaller. A scout? Or a worker of some sort?

Aerion dropped silently down on the guy before he’d even had a chance to spot me, plunging her dagger into his neck.

He died without a sound.

Aerion whirled and disappeared inside, and I followed after a few seconds later with [Light of the Fearless] in my hand.

By the time I entered, there was nothing left to do. Two orcish bodies lay strewn across the floor, their necks sliced open and bleeding.

I shivered. And this was without [Reave]. Was her berserker class rubbing off on her? Or was she just getting more comfortable with the act of killing? Either way, I was glad for it.

“You truly are a warrior, now,” I muttered.

“T-thanks,” Aerion replied, looking away with embarrassment. At least that part of her was the same.

“Well, we found our way in. I suggest we get—”

A blaring siren cut me off. 

I cursed. They found out already? How? Did they have surveillance cameras or something?

I searched the room, finding an array of primitive consoles with analog dials and a bunch of levers. I didn’t have a clue what any of them did, but I was starting to question whether this was really an observation post as I’d originally thought. I’d hoped there was some big red button I could push to kill the alarm, but no such luck.

“Well, we’re in!” I said. “I say we make a break for it—”

I was cut off again, this time by a deep, booming voice, which, thanks to Cosmo’s bauble, I understood perfectly.

“Intruder alert. Male Human. Sighted outside Gate G-14. All units proceed to intercept.”

The message repeated, and while my first instinct was to run, something made me hesitate.

“What does it say?” Aerion shouted over the din.

I translated, and Aerion frowned. “It doesn’t mention me.”

“No, it doesn’t.” Also, what we came in from was very much a tiny side door. Nothing nearly big enough to be called a Gate.

But maybe they called all doors gates, and maybe whatever sensor system they had only detected me.

“Greg! Look!”

I instinctively swung around and brought my shield up, ready to face whatever abominations swarmed down the red-lit metal hallway that led off into the mountain.

Only to find an empty hall.

Huh?

“Not there!” Aerion said with frustration. “Look at where I’m pointing!”

I sheepishly turned, realizing I’d never actually looked, and found Aerion pointing at the wall of windows. Pointing outside, at something down at the ground level.

A dozen or more indistinct dark forms ran out of the Gate, but from this high up, I struggled to make out any details.

“Is that…”

The window suddenly magnified on what I was looking at, like the whole panel was a display.

“Woah,” I muttered. This was far too clear to be digital. I didn’t know what magic powered this telescope, but it allowed me to witness everything in crystal clarity.

A lone man stood at the center of a circle of orcs. He carried a fencing sword on his hip, and wore gorgeous fabric armor that was covered over with beautiful red embroidery.

“Another delver?” Aerion asked.

“Looks like it,” I said. “But what the hell does he think he’s doing, walking up to the Gate like that? You’d think he was A ranked or something…”

“He would not have been able to enter if he was.”

Aerion was right. If he was, the dungeon would’ve kicked him out.

“So, he’s basically fucked.”

“It would appear to be quite the disadvantageous situation, yes,” Aerion replied, with far more elegance.

I sighed. “So stupid. Why would he just waltz out like that?”

He was, at best, a D ranker, and while I hadn’t seen any in action, I doubted any could even come close to the awe-inspiring power of the A ranker who’d attacked the Landing Castle.

“Shall we help him?” Aerion asked.

“Over my dead body,” I said immediately. “We don’t have the luxury of saving dumbasses who put themselves in… stupid… situations.” I trailed off, my eyes glued to the magnified window.

The last time I looked, there had been a dozen-odd orcs, tightening the delver’s noose.

Now, a dozen corpses lay exactly where they stood.

“The fuck did he do?” I whispered.

Aerion shook her head. “I cannot say. One moment they were alive, and then… They had all perished.”

I watched the man look around, as if confused, before proceeding to the Gate. He was foiled by another group of orcs.

This time, I saw what Aerion had seen. They just… died. Somehow. It made no sense at all. 

“He didn’t even draw his sword, for Christ’s sake.”

“Quite the formidable—”

“I’m going down,” I said, cutting her off. 

“Sorry?” Aerion asked, turning to me.

“That guy. We need to team up with him.”

“Am I forgetting? Or didn’t you just say ‘Over my dead body?’

“I did,” I admitted. “And I retract that statement.” My voice was trembling. “This guy isn’t a moron at all. He’s a monster. With someone like that by our side, we’ll be unstoppable.”