Chapter 331 - The Battle Begins (Patreon)

“This is very uncomfortable,” said Eveline, floating beside Zeke. She’d retained her natural form, which meant that she looked like a prototypical succubus, wearing a black dress whose hem seemed to drag across the ground. “Have I mentioned that yet?”

“I’m not dropping the skill.”

“Oh, I know. You’ve said as much a few times,” she replied in an airy voice. “I just thought you needed to know that you’re torturing me. So long as you’re okay with that, I –”

“Just drop it,” Zeke sighed, reaching the peak of a particularly huge dune. When he did, he saw that he had reached the outer edges of the coral forest. After creating [Bulwark of the Triumvirate], it had taken three more days for the wave to completely subside. According to Eveline, he could’ve traveled through the waning tide of hellfire sooner, but he didn’t want to chance losing control, so he’d chosen to wait it out. He’d grown increasingly more impatient in the week since, and he was eager enough to return to the Eternal Realm that every passing hour felt like an eternity.

“I’m a little excited too,” admitted Eveline. “Most demons never get to visit Heaven.”

“I hate it when you call it that,” Zeke said, cresting the dune and descending into the forest of coral.

She shrugged. “That’s what it’s called,” the demoness said with finality.

“Whatever.”

With that, the two fell silent. Eveline didn’t even complain about the fact that, with [Bulwark of the Triumvirate] running, she’d been forced to leave the tiniest bit of her soul latched onto his mind while the bulk of her being remained outside the mental barrier he had erected. The result was that she could no longer read his thoughts, and any communication was limited to the audible spectrum. How she made actual noise without a body, Zeke had no idea, but it didn’t seem difficult for her.

Being separated from a part of her soul, though, was a different story altogether. Even though it was only the tiniest sliver – according to her, at least – it was apparently incredibly painful, and Eveline had likened it to having a limb chopped off. At some point, Zeke would have to lower the mental shield so she could recover, but that was – again, according to her – a long way off yet.

Overall, though, Zeke was very pleased with the skill. Sure, it might’ve been more exciting to create something flashy – he had an idea for his level fifty skill that would fit into that category – but he’d decided that protecting his mind was a priority. His wisdom and intelligence protected him to some degree, but his stats had done nothing to protect him from Eveline’s influence or the mental trap atop her mountain. What would have happened if it had been the work of a much more hostile entity? For all his power, he would’ve been helpless.

No - mental protection was a priority.

Over the next few days, Zeke steadily made his way through the Sea of Corruption. His route took him on a different path than the one he’d used on his way out, but even if it hadn’t, the scenery was all so similar that one twisting spire of coral looked much like any other. As such, Zeke found it easy to get turned around. Fortunately, Eveline was a more than capable navigator, and she kept him on track.

Still, Zeke was forced to fight more than a few mer-demons and other native wildlife along the way, though none proved much of a threat. Certainly, Zeke took a few wounds here and there, but with his feet on the ground, [Cambion’s Awakening] was more than enough that his recovery was quick and relatively effortless.

Finally, they found a wide road that had been carved through the coral. It extended for miles in both directions, suggesting that the slaves who’d cut it had already progressed past the point where they would pose any threat to Zeke. However, it did represent a much easier path back to the stronghold that Zeke was more than happy to utilize.

As he started jogging in the appropriate direction, with Eveline gliding beside him, the demoness asked, “And they do this after every wave?”

Zeke grunted an affirmative reply.

“That’s just stupid,” she said. “The coral regrows after each wave.”

He couldn’t argue with that assessment, especially considering that the dwarves had been doing the same thing, again and again, over the course of decades. Maybe for more than a century. But on the other hand, they probably saw Dáinn as something akin to a deity, so perhaps it wasn’t insane for them to so firmly latch onto rescuing him. How they even knew where to find him was still a mystery, but it was one Zeke wasn’t terribly concerned with solving. They clearly knew – or at least suspected. Otherwise, the dwarves wouldn’t have been so hellbent on reaching the Spear.

Still, the reasons behind the dwarves’ actions weren’t terribly important to Zeke. Their commitment to a culture built on slavery had already marked them as villains in his mind, and he couldn’t be bothered to look any deeper into the situation. So, by the time the stronghold came into view, Zeke was more than ready to do what he deemed necessary.

A wide clearing stretched out before him, the stumps of coral and a few mer-demon corpses littering the space before giving way to an imposing black wall. Beyond that bulwark was a sturdy, utilitarian keep. Zeke’s stay within those walls had been short, but from what he’d seen just after entering Mal’canus, it was a completely utilitarian design. No flourishes. No imagination. Just a giant, boxy building that served the singular purpose of protecting the dwarves from the demonic wildlife.

Even so, he’d noticed a few runes that, at the time, he’d considered beyond him. Now, though, he felt confident that he could tear them to pieces. Except when it came to skills, Zeke’s runecrafting ability was woefully underdeveloped. However, destroying someone else’s work was far easier than creating his own.

Especially with his new techniques.

Still, Zeke settled down under the cover of the thick copse of coral and, for a few long hours, watched. As he did, Eveline used her own senses to observe the keep, and she confirmed what Zeke already knew – the dwarves tasked with defending the stronghold comprised something of a skeleton crew. No more than fifty of them were present.

“Seems light,” Zeke said.

Eveline crossed her arms, saying, “Perhaps. After each wave, the less advanced demons tend to retreat, rest, and recover. For a week or so more, they should expect relative peace.”

That tracked with what Zeke had already experienced. After first entering Mal’canus, he’d been forced to fight off the dregs of an attack. At the time, he’d thought it a chaotic battle, but in reality, the force had been comprised of mer-demons that had been incapable of retreating before the dwarves retook the keep.

“Are you ready?” Zeke asked, glancing in Eveline’s direction.

She gave a visible shudder. Was that a genuine reaction? Or was it simply an act? Zeke had no way of knowing. Before he could ponder it further, she nodded, saying, “I suppose. I don’t like it, but…”

“If everything goes as planned, I don’t think it’s smart to have a demon following me around,” he said. “Unless you can make yourself invisible, this is the only option.”

“I’m aware,” she said. “But the idea of again being locked in a cage leaves me a little unsteady.”

That was understandable. Zeke still didn’t know how much of her captivity she actually remembered, but being confined for hundreds of years had to have left a mark on her psyche. Still, he could think of no other way to conceal her presence.

“I’ll let you out as soon as I can,” he stated. “Besides, you won’t be alone. That has to help.”

She rolled her eyes, then said, “Captivity with the company of a brute. What else could a girl desire?”

“Eveline, I –”

“No – I’m being unfair. It’s fine. Just…let’s just do it.”

Zeke didn’t offer any further remarks. Instead, he took a deep breath and then cut off the flow of mana – all three types – from [Bulwark of the Triumvirate]. Immediately, he felt the shield fall. Nothing else really changed, but after spending weeks with his mind protected by the impenetrable wall, the sudden lack left him feeling incredibly exposed. He gave Eveline a slight nod, and she took another deep, steadying breath before letting her form dissipate.

Her arrival in his mind didn’t feel like an intrusion. Instead, it almost felt as if he’d suddenly regained a piece of himself that he hadn’t even known he was missing. Was her presence really so ingrained within his mind?

“Not really,” came her mental voice. “It’s more like you’re feeling my relief at being whole. My emotions are bleeding over into yours.”

“That’s disturbing,” was Zeke’s own thought. “Can you contain it?”

“I am. What you’re feeling is a fraction of what I feel. A fraction of a fraction.”

“Which is still just a fraction,” Zeke pointed out.

“You know what I mean,” Eveline said with a note of annoyance riding alongside the thought.

“Ready?”

“No.”

“Well, get ready.”

She huffed, “That doesn’t help.”

Ignoring her, he said, “Here it comes.”

Then, before Eveline could respond, Zeke recast [Bulwark of the Triumvirate]. The moment the shield went up, he felt a shiver of pure terror rampage through his mind. Even knowing that it wasn’t his own fear, Zeke felt himself break out into a sudden, cold sweat. It only lasted a moment before the feeling retreated. It was still there, like a bur in his mind, but it was mostly contained.

“Sorry,” Eveline said in a small, mental voice. It quivered slightly as she continued, “I’ll…I’ll keep it under control.”

Was it real? Was she really so terrified of being confined? It made sense, but Zeke still found it difficult to divorce his thoughts from the sensible distrust he felt.

“It’s fine. I wouldn’t trust me either,” she said. “In time, I hope to change that. As I said, we’re in this together now.”

“’This’ being my mind, right?” Zeke muttered aloud.

“The situation,” she corrected, her voice steadying. “But the other works, too.”

Zeke took a few more minutes to grow accustomed to Eveline’s presence in his mind. Before freeing her from her cage, she’d simply latched onto him. Now, she took up noticeable space, creating a sensation curiously similar to having a rock in his boot. He couldn’t ignore it, but he couldn’t change it either. Instead, he simply had to get used to it.

“It’s not a walk in the park for me, either,” Eveline said. “Just so you know.”

“Do demons have parks?” Zeke asked.

“No,” she said. “And even if we did, walking through them would not be a pleasant experience.”

The implication was clear. As she had since the very beginning of their partnership, Eveline was dipping into his memories to better communicate with him. Otherwise, much would have been lost in translation, even with the Framework doing the heavy lifting. It made things easier, but it also represented how easily Eveline could invade his thoughts.

Nobody could be completely comfortable with having what amounted to a parasite lodged in their mind, and Zeke was no different.

To distract himself, he asked, “Are you settled? Because I think this is a good time to attack.”

“I’ll be fine. Let’s go.”

Zeke stood, then cracked his neck before rolling his shoulders. After that, he used [Colossal Legion] to summon his golems. It had taken them almost a week to recover from the abuse they’d endured atop the Spear of Desolation, but when they appeared, the trio of living statues were completely unblemished, with their cores brimming with dense earth attuned mana. Hopefully, he wouldn’t need to draw power from them.

Once the trio of golems had appeared, Zeke embraced [Triune Colossus], fueling it with earth mana. Instantly, he grew taller, adopting the thick, blocky form of an earthen colossus. He summoned Voromir, the hammer presenting itself in its much larger form.  Finally, he prepared his braid, weaving his dual attunements into a thick rope of seething energy, binding it all together with the Will associated with his Runecrafting path. The disparate energies immediately settled into a stable braid, and he strode forward.

The dwarves were many things – apathetic and often cruel, among others – but they were not inattentive. And the moment Zeke stepped out into the open, the dwarves on the thick, black wall reacted, casting various skills in his direction. Most used earth mana – usually manifesting in the form of spikes or flying boulders – but there were a few skills teeming with corruption as well.

Zeke took them all head-on, and they fell upon his metallic skin without leaving so much as a mark. With his increased mass, he had no trouble barreling through the cascade of attacks and, without breaking stride, he accelerated into a sprint that quickly covered the open ground. As he drew closer, he raised his hammer and, with a roar, brought it around in a horizontal swing.

It hit with thunderous force. But that alone was no match for the wall’s enchantments. After all, they were built to endure the weight of a thousand crazed demons. A simple hammer swing was not enough to topple such a fortification.

Fortunately, the point of Zeke’s attack had been twofold. Certainly, the physical force was part of it, but the real effect came a second later when his braid of power made contact. Unlike the explosive strength of a force-empowered braid, the runecrafting-fueled braid was stable to the point of comparative placidity. But the moment it hit the runes, they shattered, the symbols unraveling in the space of an instant.

A second later, the wall exploded under Zeke’s massive strength. Stone cracked and crumbled as a great fissure tore through the ground. The unlucky dwarves tasked with manning the wall went flying through the air to collide with the stronghold’s main structure. Most survived – they were a sturdy race, after all – but a few slid down the keep’s wall to hit the ground in boneless heaps.

Thus, the battle had begun. Zeke didn’t intend to stop until he’d gained his freedom.