Soulweaver 87: The One (Patreon)

I swiveled the handle, fully expecting rushing orcs, and instead… A small horde of blue floating gelatinous… blobs came rushing through, followed by a Skeleton holding a staff. 

A bare skeleton without a single article of clothing or a tome of magic, and one that walked on its feet rather than floating in the air.

Not a Lich or an Elder Lich. Or a zombie. A plain old Skelly. At the rear, moving its arms as if giving orders to the troops. It was naked, except for a thin fencing sword that hung off a belt loop on his hip.

There was something seriously messed up with this image, but regardless of how wrong this situation felt to my brain, I had no doubt every last one of these monsters was lethal.

Most went after Richard and Aerion, but the moment I activated Light of Fearless’ twin abilities, two spun my way. Which was when I noticed that they weren’t mere blobs at all, but blobs with a single giant eye that made them look at least thrice as terrifying. Unlike the ones I was used to, though, these guys only had that single eye, which meant they couldn’t see in all directions.

That weakness would be their undoing.

While they seemed far more mobile than the slow-moving laser skulls in Dominion’s Trial, they reacted too late. I’d already swung by the time they noticed me, and there was nothing they could do to avoid the razor-sharp blade as it sliced into them.

The moment it touched their skin, though, I knew something was wrong. It passed through them without any resistance, like they weren’t even there.

It continued through the thing’s gelatinous body, and passed through the second one in the same way, cutting the eye in half.

Then the blobs started to glow in a manner that looked all too familiar.

“They have a self destruct!” I roared, making the split-second decision to charge at them, diving through. There’d only been a few feet between us to begin with, and if their bomb was any stronger than a mouse far, I’d be totaled.

I tore through, emerging on the other side, and continued to sprint, grabbing Aerion’s arm as I passed her. She’d been fighting another blob that was also in the process of lighting up.

It was only after we’d rounded one of the giant steam machines that I noticed Richard wasn’t with us.

“Where’s—”

“Over here!” Richard called in a voice that sounded surprisingly calm for our current situation. Hadn’t he heard me? Did he not understand the danger?

Aerion and I had been bracing for the explosion this whole time, but as the seconds dragged on, I realized something was off. The bombs should’ve gone off by now. I was about to take a peek when our friend suddenly appeared, waving.

“It’s alright, mate! All good,” he said, flashing me a thumbs up. “There’s just one bugger left. Afraid I’ll have to ask you to clean ‘im up.”

I looked around the corner and saw… Something I couldn’t have expected. I’d guessed Richard might have dispatched some of the blobs on his own, but this?

The steel ground was nowhere to be seen. It was instead painted over with slowly oozing blue goo. The remnants of what, until just a few moments ago, had been the one-eyed blobs.

The skeleton stared at his small army, and while it lacked a face, it wasn’t difficult to guess what the monster was thinking.

“With pleasure,” I said, brandishing Light of the Fearless.

The skeleton drew its long, thin sword.

If this were even a month ago, I’d probably have panicked. I’d have stepped into his range with a roar filled with adrenaline and fear… And I’d probably have gotten stabbed.

After Dominion’s Trial and a couple of weeks of intensive military training, I was no expert. But I at least knew what I was capable of. And, more importantly in this case, what my armor could do.

I’d taken blow after ruthless blow from Philip, and while I’d parried, blocked, or dodged every blow I could in the first few days, I’d learned that high-quality plate armor was actually pretty damn impressive.

Swords were almost useless unless they targeted the joints or weak spots like my eyes… but I had my helmet for that. Even axes and spears had a hard time, and only heavy swings from a greatsword or bludgeoning weapons like maul and hammers really hurt.

Against a tiny needle like what the skeleton wielded? I didn’t even bother to slow my charge.

The sword impacted against my breastplate… And slid right off, just like the armor was designed to.

Allowing his strike to land let me press my own attack without hesitation. His sword might have been longer than mine, but thanks to that, I had the advantage when I got in close.

I brought my sword up for an upward diagonal slash and put every ounce of my strength into the attack.

I’d already planned my next three moves. Leveraging the momentum of my strike, I’d bring Light of the Fearless down in a horizontal swipe, before finishing with a leg stomp. The skeleton had no flesh, after all; with my Dominion stat, I felt like it’d be simple to break his bones.

And then, once his leg was broken, I could take my time to finish him. Assuming he had no magic—always had to worry about that, as Philip kept drilling into me.

As was often the case with actual combat, all of my plans went right out the window after my first strike.

Not because the skeleton had tanked it, or because he’d dodged and followed up with a counter.

It was because my sword cleaved straight through his entire body, sending dozens of shattered bones flying in all directions.

The skeleton crumpled to the ground before I’d even completed the swing.

“Huh,” I said, staring blankly at the pile of bones in front of me. “That was easy…”

— — 

“We definitely need to come up with a battle plan,” I said as we walked down the halls. We’d left the main corridor with the blaring sirens in search of a more secluded area, but the further we walked, the more worried I got. “And we need a map. Based on what Aerion and I saw on the outside, this compound is enormous. We’ll get lost in an instant if we just roam around aimlessly.”

“Yes, I admit it’s somewhat worrying me as well,” Richard said, stroking his chin in thought. “You reckon we’ll be able to find one?”

I shrugged. “Beats me. If this were any normal place, I figure they’d have to have maps to get by. But since we’re in a dungeon in a special world of its own, who can say?”

“Right,” Philip said. “Well then. How about we split up, an’ map this place out? With all of us working together, I imagine we’ll have this placed mapped in a jiffy. Meet back in an hour—Bloody hell!”

We all clasped our ears as another siren blared.

“This is ridiculous. How are they finding us?” I asked to no one in particular.

“Must have some way of tracking—”

“Quiet!” Aerion hissed, motioning us to flatten against a wall. “I think I hear people.”

“Get ready to fight,” I said, drawing Light of the Fearless from its sheath on my belt. 

The hallway we were in ended in a T junction, and the heavy shuffling of enemy footsteps came from one of the others. If they turned down our hall, we’d have to fight. There weren’t any doors or rooms we could duck into, either. At least, not any that were close enough.

We positioned ourselves about twenty feet from the junction and waited with bated breath as the footsteps got louder and louder.

“Hobgoblins,” I whispered, gripping my sword a little tighter. Just what we needed. Why couldn’t it be those squishy blobs from before?

Sure enough, a small army of Hobs thundered through the hallway. These guys were big, nearly touching the ceiling. And they wore thick hides like the ones Aerion and I had fought outside the forest.

If they charged us, we were screwed. I could only hope Richard’s…

My thoughts ground to a halt as the Hobs kept on running. And running, and ran all the way across the hall into the other passage. This was no march—it was more like an all-out sprint.

A moment later, and the group of a dozen giants had passed us without ever noticing our presence.

“That, uh… was unexpected,” I said, feeling the relief flood through me. It wasn’t like I was a coward. Just that this would’ve been a painful fight if Richard couldn’t carry us through.

“Indeed,” Richard said. “What do you reckon’s got their panties in a bunch, anyway?”

I did my absolute best not to laugh at Aerion’s horrified expression. I managed it, but only just barely.

“No idea,” I said.

“You think we ought to follow ‘em?” Richard asked.

“Why?” I asked. “Sounds like a recipe for trouble.”

“Perhaps, but they know where they’re going,” Richard said, gesturing with his thumb. “And we don’t. Not like they’ll notice us if we hang back, yeah?”

I glanced at Aerion, who shrugged. 

“I don’t have a better plan,” she said.

“Alright,” I replied. “Beats mapping out this place one by one, I guess. But we’ll hang as far back as possible. Not like we need to be close to track those brutes.”

— — 

Rather than hanging back, we actually faced the opposite problem—keeping up. Those guys were big, and they were running. To keep up, we had to practically sprint after them. And unlike the Hobs, we had to slow down at every junction to ensure no one was around. That made us lose even more ground.

We’d gotten lucky so far, and hadn’t come across anyone, but I didn’t know how long that luck would last. Especially if we were going deeper into the compound.

“Still,” Richard said between breaths. He actually lagged behind Aerion and I, which made me think our Vigor stat was a bit higher than his. “I can’t believe how big this place is!”

“You and me both,” I muttered. We had to have run half a mile by now, and who knew how much farther we had to go?

“Imagine how many troops it could support!” Richard said.

I really didn’t want to. If this place was ever capable of fully populating these halls, the army would be absolutely terrifying.

Well, at least this workout was good for my Vigor. I had some other minimized notifications from the fight, but I hadn’t had the time to give them a proper look.

It was after another quarter mile when our scenery changed, and all thoughts of following after the Hobs left our thoughts.

The previously-windowless hallway suddenly opened up on one side, with a wide glass window about a foot high embedded into it. 

It was only then that I realized just how thick these walls were—several feet thick. This place was a fortress.

Because of that thickness, our view out the window was occluded, but even then, the sight beyond was out of this world.

“Bloody hell,” Richard breathed.

My “Holy shit,” echoed a similar sentiment.

We all stopped running and pressed our fingers up against the glass.

Outside was a world of white, which I’d expected. What I hadn’t expected was  that the mountain range we’d entered wasn’t a normal range at all, but rather the sort of tall peaks that ringed an enormous crater.

Hovering above that crater was a miniature sun, and immediately below it, someone was fighting off an army.