Chapter 294 - Center of Gravity (Patreon)

One look at the lumbering human was all Ektari needed to know he had no chance in a fight. In the best of times, Kobolds weren’t particularly well known for their bravery, and as a ranger, Ektari was even less inclined than most to engage in physical confrontation. Sure, if he could have assured his own victory, he would have pounced without question – his instincts demanded as much – but against an unknown assailant, his first reaction was to run away and report his findings to someone above him in the hierarchy of the clutch. Perhaps if the report proved valuable enough, he would even be rewarded.

But first, he needed to escape the obviously strong, yet slow-moving creature who’d stumbled upon him. With that in mind, Ektari dashed away, bounding over the rocky floor of the tunnel with surety. After all, he’d been born within the caves, and his ease of traversal was born as much of instinct as it was from experience.

For a moment, Ektari considered taking a few shots at the beastly humanoid. Surely, its soft skin couldn’t offer much protection, and if he managed to bring down such a creature, he would be hailed as a hero within the clutch. A mere scout couldn’t have found a better opportunity to establish himself as a kobold worth the clutch’s investment. However, when he acted on those thoughts and loosed an arrow at the rushing human and saw how it slapped the missile away with contemptuous ease, Ektari abandoned all notions of proving himself. Instead, he focused entirely on escape.

As a ranger, that was his purpose. Scout, investigate, and report – fighting wasn’t really his forte, even if he sometime dreamed of becoming a true warrior. One day, if he managed to survive and prove himself, he might be afforded the honor of evolution. But for now, he merely needed to escape.

Fortunately, the lumbering human moved with all the grace of a boulder, and shortly after he was spotted, Ektari began to pull away.

And then it happened.

Suddenly, Ektari was falling, but not to the ground. Instead, it felt as if the world had tilted on its side. Panic thundered in Ektari’s chest, both of his hearts pumping with mingled adrenaline and fear as he grasped at the ground. His claws easily dug into the rock, but it felt as if, with every passing second, his weight doubled. Before long, even his strong claws were insufficient to prevent his fall, and he was torn free only to plumet toward the motionless human.

It reached out with a soft, clawless hand, catching Ektari by the throat, and suddenly, the world righted itself. Relief flooded Ektari’s mind, but it was short-lived. After all, he’d been caught by the enemy.

Awkwardly, he clawed and bit at the hulking human’s arm, and his efforts were not for naught. Each time his thick claws raked across the creature’s soft, pink skin, he was rewarded by the sight of parted flesh and bright, red blood. However, almost as soon as the wounds appeared, they grew back together, leaving only the blood behind. In the back of his mind, Ektari noted that the blood was somehow wrong. He’d only seen a few surface dwellers in his short life, but none of their blood had glinted with that same metallic sheen.

No – his captor was somehow different. Ektari could feel it now. All kobolds were at home in the tunnels beneath the earth, but this human felt as domineering as an earth elemental. Not that Ektari had ever encountered one of those creatures – he hadn’t – but he’d heard plenty of stories. Before, Ektari had never believed such tales, but even as the human – if that designation was even accurate – dragged him back the way they’d come, the kobold began to rethink some of his old ideas.

After an hour or two, Ektari’s panic began to fade. Certainly, he still resisted as best he could, but he could only maintain the heightened state for so long before exhaustion overtook him. However, when he finally realized where they were going, his panic – and, subsequently, his efforts to escape – bloomed anew, lending him even more energy.

After all, every kobold knew to avoid the city of the golems. The chief had referred to it by another name, but Ektari and the other kobolds all thought of it in terms of its most prominent – and terrifying – feature. The golems that called the ruined city home were all fearsome, soulless creatures who, if provoked, could each stand up to the chief herself. And there were dozens of them, each one just as powerful as the last.

The only reason the kobolds were allowed to coexist was because the golems almost never left the confines of that crumbling city. That, and the kobolds could outrun the lumbering automatons.

Wait.

Lumbering. Metallic blood. A connection to the earth that made even the kobold shamans look powerless. Had the golems finally shed their bronze shells and adopted a fleshy form? Was this human truly a golem made anew? Had they evolved?

It wasn’t just a terrifying prospect. Such a transformation would spell doom for the entire clutch! If Ektari was panicked before, then his fear drove him into an absolute frenzy, now. He didn’t just attack his captor; he also raked his claws against his own body, hoping against hope that he could somehow escape and warn the clutch of the newborn threat.

But it was all for nothing. The humanoid golem’s grip was infallible, and nothing the kobold did made any difference. Soon enough, they reached the city itself, and Ektari’s panicked frenzy abated.

He’d never actually seen the city of golems before – he wasn’t that kind of kobold – but he’d heard plenty of stories. The chief herself was fond of recounting her adventures exploring the ruined settlement. But it only took one look to recognize that it, just like the evolved golem that had captured him, had changed.

Ektari knew this because, though he’d never seen the city with his own two eyes, he expected that such a significant structure as the red tower looming over everything would have featured prominently in the chief’s stories.

The tower itself looked as domineering as his captor felt, and though Ektari was anything but an expert in architecture – the kobolds lived simple lives in a series of caves they’d dug and refined with their own claws – he was awed by the sight. Tall, wide, and topped by a crown of sharp protrusions, it looked almost like the weapon of a giant. He also recognized the material used in its construction; every kobold would know the blood rock by sight, and despite his circumstances, Ektari’s eyes flashed with avarice when he laid eyes on the tower.

The humanoid golem dragged a stunned Ektari toward the center of the city, and the closer they drew to the tower, the more awestruck and terrified he became. Right up until they approached the entrance, and Ektari saw the door flash into nothing. After that, the fleshy golem tossed him inside.

At first, Ektari had no idea what was going on, but then his freedom overwhelmed his panic and he turned just in time to see the door reappear. He raced forward, scratching against the carved stone surface, but it was to no avail. His claws, perfectly evolved to dig through solid rock, didn’t even leave a mark on its surface. Still, it took him a little while to come to terms with the fact that he was trapped.

That’s when he took stock of his surroundings.

And when he did, Ektari nearly fainted from terror, because there were dozens of huge, bronze golems trapped within the tower with him. Immediately, his instincts took over, and he shrank to the floor as he tried to make himself appear smaller and unthreatening. Any other time, he might’ve tried the opposite tactic, but he knew there was no way of intimidating the terrifying automatons. Within the clutch, it was well-established that the only way to deal with such a foe was to hide. As a ranger, Ektari was perfectly suited to that endeavor.

It took him nearly a minute to realize that his efforts were wholly unnecessary, because none of the golems had moved a single inch. Instead, they remained completely stationary, like they were nothing but mundane statues.

Suddenly, Ektari’s fear returned.

These weren’t just golems. They were trophies. The humanoid who’d captured him was not, in fact, one of the evolved automatons. Instead, it had hunted them down; the results were displayed right in front of him.

Just when that reality crashed down on him, Ektari felt a familiar hand clamp down on the back of his neck, and before he knew it, he was once again being dragged outside. Then, to his eternal surprise, the humanoid tossed him away from the tower, turned its back, and went inside. The door had reappeared only a moment later, leaving Ektari confused, grateful, and no less terrified than before.

Within a couple of seconds, he gathered what was left of his wits and scrambled away, intent on telling the chief what he’d experienced. He wasn’t really sure what any of it meant, save that the clutch needed to avoid that terrifying creature at all costs.

* * *

Success!

Zeke couldn’t have been happier with the day’s events. First, [Event Horizon] had worked better than expected. Instead of just following the skill’s description and making him the center of gravity – at least for his target – its strength increased the longer the little kobold ranger had resisted the pull. Zeke had already thought of a few ways he could exploit the effect.

The trek back to the tower hadn’t been pleasant; the kobold had been terrified, and it had repeatedly clawed his arm. Certainly, the pain resistance that had come with his half-demon race numbed the effects – and with the thick earth-attuned mana fueling [Metallurgical Repair], he’d easily healed the wounds – but it still wasn’t enjoyable. However, it had allowed him to conduct an important experiment.

Once before, Zeke had tried to store a living being within the tower, and it had not ended well. The woman – one of a group of assassins meant to kill him – had died a pretty horrible death. Since then, Zeke hadn’t even considered the possibility that the tower could support someone when it was unsummoned.

The transformation had changed that, though. Clearly, it had been meant to house hundreds – perhaps even thousands – of people, and he expected that it couldn’t meet that lofty goal without being able to support life in its unsummoned state. So, he’d set out to find a test subject.

Sure, he’d gotten sidetracked by the abyssal maw, but his return to the experiment had born encouraging results. With [Event Horizon], capturing the kobold ranger had been simple, and after he’d thrown the little monster inside, he’d de-summoned the tower for a full minute. Then, he’d re-summoned it and retrieved the completely unharmed – but still terrified – creature.

Zeke would have to do a few more tests, preferably with someone who could talk to him, before he would risk anyone he cared about, but the results were more than a little encouraging. If he’d had the ability back in the Radiant Isles, perhaps he could have saved a few people.

Of course, that assumed that the tower could bypass the restrictions associated with ascension, which he doubted. So, there was every chance that it wouldn’t have worked. Still, even that would have probably been better than leaving everyone to be consumed by a zombie apocalypse.

Sure, he’d made his choices back then, and he stuck by them. However, abandoning the entire subcontinent to its fate was, at the end of the day, a choice born of necessity. He couldn’t save anyone, so it didn’t make sense to even try – especially when, as a whole, they’d treated him so terribly. But even if he accepted his decisions, that didn’t mean Zeke didn’t still regret that he couldn’t do more.

Or maybe it was just easier, letting that guilt remain. After all, that was part of being human, wasn’t it? You weren’t supposed to abandon everyone to a horrible death and not feel bad about it, right? Then again, Zeke wasn’t human anymore, so perhaps he shouldn’t hold himself to even those minimal standards.

With his experiment finished, Zeke took a moment to change back into his slave’s attire. Then, he de-summoned the tower and started his long trek back to the mining encampment. By his count – which Zeke was certain was less than accurate – he’d been gone for almost two months, but even that wasn’t likely to draw much – if any – attention. The dwarves were extremely hands-off with their slaves, treating it more like a penal colony than a prison. If their prisoners could survive the mines for long stretches, especially with the restrictions of the collars and manacles, they were free to do so. However, that was almost impossible for anyone but the most powerful, and for them, there were other incentives to walk the line.

Food, for one. For another, there were benefits like cultivation resources. Zeke was still fuzzy about how people were meant to use those resources, but the other slaves seemed intent on earning them. Finally, there were plenty of vices on offer – from mates to drugs and everything in between. Once someone accepted that they couldn’t gain their freedom, becoming one of the more powerful slaves wasn’t a terrible life.

Of course, Zeke had no intention of pursuing any of that. Unlike most, he was capable of removing his restrictions and bringing the full weight of his skills to bear. That alone put him on a completely separate tier than any of the other slaves. No – once he had what he wanted – chiefly, the metals he needed to complete his quest – he would leave, and so long as he managed to accomplish his other goals, it would take an army of dwarves to stop him.

Given what he’d seen so far, he questioned whether or not they’d even be able to muster the energy to try to stop him.

But that was a question for another day. Before then, he needed to not only put together his level thirty skill, but he also needed to complete the quest to gain access to [Colossus]. He’d already gathered one piece of the puzzle – the high-quality blood mithril ore – and he knew where to get the rest. So, with that in mind, Zeke left the ruined dwarven city that had given him so much behind.