Ch. 70 – Astragos XI (Patreon)

The travel to the edge of the Coralith Empire was uneventful, but Reth insisted that they leave the submarine and go the rest of the way themselves. “Those types of large creatures would undoubtedly be seen as a threat, and we would be dealing with a reactionary force within hours.” So the trio left the submarine and Felix put it back into the inventory. The waters were slightly cooler now that they were deeper, but the environment was not as dark. Large swaths of kelp and coral glowed on the sea floor with a bioluminescent aura that appeared as if a glimmering hoard of jewels and wealth. Fish darted in between the various structures and all manner of ocean life – some familiar and some wildly different than anything Felix had seen – skittered about.

“Come on,” Reth stated after they took a minute soaking in the view. He led them West, and the coral came to a sharp stop as they floated over an enormous cliff. A series of poles were floating vertically in the water. “Those mark the edge of the Coralith Empire. Quite literally a magical border that wraps around the entire abyssal shelf. They project an aura that, if disturbed, notifies a monitoring station inside the borders. That aura extends up to the surface of the water.”

Tinuriel glanced up, “Why not just go up to the surface and over the barrier?”

Reth looked up as well, “We could do that, but it would take some time to get up there. I was thinking of using Anathema to shut down the pylon temporarily.”

“Won’t that alert them?” Felix asked.

Reth shrugged, “Possibly.”

“Couldn’t we use your earth affinity to tunnel into the ocean floor and just go under the border?” Tinuriel asked.

Reth swam down to the bottom and cleared some of the sand away, “I can do that. Follow along.” He channeled a steady stream of Anima into the rock below. The stone shifted and parted like flowing water as a tunnel formed. The trio dove into the tunnel as it continued to be bored out in front of them. After getting to the depth of the abyssal shelf, they turned ninety degrees and emerged onto a sand-covered ocean floor once more. Glancing up, Felix saw the pylons floating above and behind them. Reth chuckled, “That was easy.”

They continued traveling West and Reth used his cloak to take on Felix’s appearance. As he put it, “If they see an Earthborn, they’ll instantly attack. At least this way, while we might be suspicious, we won’t be attacked on sight.”

A few hours later they came across a series of vibrant, orange patches of some undersea grass that was cordoned off into sections. “A farm. Querying System…this is their equivalent of wheat. They can make something analogous to bread with it.”

Tinuriel gestured to get their attention and pointed at a woman who was swimming towards them. She appeared just like the rest of the humans they had encountered, but she was wearing some type of skintight attire, and in place of shoes she had a pair of flippers on. “What’re ya’ll doin’ in me Gheskar field?”

Felix swam to the front of the group, “I’m Felix. I’m a Versewalker.”

At this her eyes went wide, and she adjusted her clothes slightly as if she was trying to make herself appear fancier or more regal. Her voice took on a sultry tone as she replied, “Well now, I ain’t never heard of no Versewalker comin ‘round my bit of the siltland. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Just passing through,” Reth commented.

The woman looked at him, “You a Versewalker too?”

Reth shook his head, “No ma’am, just a brother.” As he spoke, he started to seemingly take on a bit of the accent that the woman was speaking with.

Must be part of his agent training to blend in, Felix thought. Maybe I should’ve been the Animancer and made him the rogue. Felix smiled at the woman, “Would you be kind enough to point us to the nearest town?”

“Sure!” She pointed back behind her into the darkness. “Ev’ry thousand feet ‘r so ya’ll will see a beacon. Thems got directions.”

“Thank you,” Felix led his group past the woman who seemed disappointed that they weren’t going to keep talking to her. Reth swam up next to him and nodded. “How’d we do in your professional opinion?”

Reth smiled, “We’ve successfully infiltrated the borders and haven’t had a hostile incident. I’d say eight out of ten.”

They arrived at a small town that was illuminated with several coral patches. The buildings were created from enormous shells of some type of creature, and all shone with opalescence that matched the beauty of pearls. Several fish that swam above illuminated the area with their bioluminescence. As they reached the town center, they were accosted by a trio of soldiers that were dressed in some type of scale armor that wasn’t made of metal. Rather, it looked to be some type of bone or chitin. They carried spears and had some type of harpoon launcher akin to an arbalist, and just like the few people the trio had passed, they also wore fins for faster traversal of their native biome. “Hold up! What’s yer business?” One of the trio asked.

Reth swam forward, “New to town. I’m here with a Versewalker. We’re on our way to see the Empress and offer our services.”

The guard who was speaking glared at the trio, “Where’s yer flippers?”

“We lost them,” Felix said. “Sharktopi attacked us.”

The guard’s eyes narrowed, “Within the borders?”

“No, on our way here,” Felix replied.

The guard lowered his polearm into a ready position as did his two companions, “You came from beyond the abyssal cliff?”

Reth looked back to Felix and gave a look that said, ‘fight or run?’. Felix gestured to Reth to stay put. “Yes. I saw what the Monolith Empire was doing. I’d rather align with the Coralith Empire.”

The guard’s stance shifted, and Tinuriel slowly put a hand towards her blade in response. The lead guard who was speaking nodded, “If that’s true, then you’ll come with us to the garrison for questioning.”

Reth looked back at Felix once more and mouthed, ‘this isn’t a good idea’.

Time to make a choice. Do you fight, submit, or flee?

Felix frowned, “We’ll accompany you, but we are not giving up our weapons. And we will stay outside of your garrison as we are questioned.”

The guard glanced at Tinuriel, “Very well.” They lowered their weapons, and Tinuriel put her hand down. The trio of guards spread out and formed a triangle formation to escort Felix’s party.

Reth swam closer, “What are you doing?” he whispered, sounding irate. “We are going to where more of their guards are.”

Felix smirked, “Lucifer, what is the Core Level recommended for this ‘Verse?”

Lucifer’s voice came out at a whisper so that Reth could hear, “The max is Core Level 30.”

“We are only five levels off from that cap. I think we could handle a whole garrison if we needed to,” Felix replied in hushed tones.

Tinuriel swam up to Reth and nudged him slightly, “You’d be able to test out your new Escort powers as well.”

Reth frowned but nodded curtly, “I’ll follow your lead. But I don’t like putting ourselves into a tactically disadvantageous position.”

“It’ll be fine,” Felix replied.

The guards escorted them along an interesting variant of a road. Smaller pylons – similar to the various markers they had encountered at the edge of the abyssal shelf – were interspersed within line of sight of one another. As they approached one of these pylons, it would glow a slight red hue before a line of text would appear along the top revealing directions with arrows. Sort of a waypoint system of navigation since they can’t have established roads because of the sand.

They were led to a structure made out of several chunks of stone that were carved from some bedrock. The exterior was coarse, and the shape was very peculiar. The structure was an enormous cube with several entrances on the various sides. Surrounding it was a metal lattice that functioned as a fence, barrier, and provided means of attacking out. It was a well-designed fortification that could repel attacks from any direction except the ground it was placed upon.

Two of the guards remained with the trio as the lead one went inside. A few minutes passed and a squad of twenty similarly armed and armored troops came outside with weapons at the ready but not trained on the trio. A total of twenty-four individuals. A woman with bright, almost neon-red hair swam out towards them. Her skin was an opal sheen marking her as a Coralborn. She swam in front of Felix and floated in front of him, “You claim to be a Versewalker?”

Felix nodded, “Yeah. I’m on my way to meet the empress. Can you facilitate our travel?”

The woman’s eyes flashed bright blue and she gestured at Reth – the guards each raised weapons towards him, and Reth put his hands up. “Why do you travel with a disguised Earthborn?”

Damn, she can see through his magic item’s effect?

Looks like it.

“We’re on a peace mission!” Felix shouted. “Just…calm down.”

The woman looked at him, “Calm? When agents of the Monolith Empire sneak into our borders? No, there is no calm. We are at war.”

Tinuriel drew her sword, “Alright then, I guess we are doing this.” She activated several Skills in rapid succession – having honed her rapidity. Icy Shell, Bastion, Menacing Chill, Deathless Juggernaut, and finally Invigorating Charge.

An aura of frost surrounded her as the waters became chillier. Her skin was coated with small ice crystals as the blue aura thrummed around her, spectral flames licking off of her body as she dashed in front of Felix faster than any of the foes could react. Lastly, as she struck down at the Coralborn commander, a series of minute, deep-blue lines zipped out from her and connected with each of the soldiers – and their attention was drawn inexorably to her.

As the commander twisted away from the blow, the harpoon-arbalests fired and several bounced off of Tinuriel’s armor, but a few found purchase and punched into her body. It looked as if they would take some time to reload, and thanks to her Deathless Juggernaut Skill – she barely suffered any real injury.

Ghostwalk. Undetectable Step. Detect Weakness-

Affinity Amplification-

Dragon Dance. Electroblade. Hellblade.

Felix vanished from sight as the golden targeting circles appeared on each target. In one smooth motion he pulled both of his knives out. The Channeling Dagger flared with crackling, yellow electricity, and crimson and black coruscating hellfire. He dashed – empowered by the Dragon Dance – to each of the soldiers, sinking both blades into the weak spots. Thanks to his (P) Slayer and (P) Sneak Attack Talents, he was able to deal a significant amount of damage to each opponent. As he drew his blades out of each, he could see the small puff of red as blood infused the waters around them. He did not deal enough damage to drop any of them to unconsciousness, but there was a very small crackle of yellow electricity that surrounded them he could make out.

Reth raised his staff and activated several class Skills of his own – his eyes lighting up with glee as he finally got to test out some of the new powers he had obtained. Affinity Amplification, Netherlight Mantle, Netherlight Cohort, and Netherlight Vestige. A second later, he activated an Affinity Magic/Power effect – Earth Shield.

Reth’s body glowed with a vibrant, earthy, green hue as the grey Netherlight flooded around himself, Tinuriel, and Felix’s bodies. It felt different than when Felix had used it – instead of a soothing cushion, this felt like a structured, supportive film. Like wax that had partially hardened on his skin. The trio were then surrounded by clumps of earth and sand that granted temporary health.

The soldiers piled towards Tinuriel, unleashing attack after attack. Several were absorbed by the Earth Shield before impacting her – and dealing very little damage due to her Deathless Juggernaut Skill. But those that did impact her only increased her strength, as the Berserker Collar glowed with a bright, red aura of malice and Tinuriel’s muscles bulged. She parried a few strikes and swung in return, carving apart foes left and right.

Reth swam backward and focused his intent on the Coralborn, who had seemingly shaken off Tinuriel’s taunt Skill, and was quaffing a red-hued Elixir as her wounds healed over. “I don’t think so. Anathema Prison!”

The cosmic-blue cage appeared around the Coralborn as the Magic effect she was focusing on fizzled into nothingness. She screamed in rage and looked at Reth. She drew a short blade and began to move towards him, only to scream in pain.

Felix was behind her and stabbed down into one of the weak spots on her neck. Time to use this new Affinity, he thought, as he saw the small motes of yellow electricity surrounding all of the combatants. Overload.

Affinity Amplification.

Felix held up his hand as a golden-yellow crackle of sparks bounced between his fingers before zapping outward and impacting every one of the individuals who was suffering from the Lightning Rod effect. An enormous ZAP noise emanated outward as the energy surged through each target. Then, the Affinity Amplification modified the electricity slightly, causing the arcing energy to cause a small burst around each target. Having been struck by his prior Dragon Dance, they were already weakened, and this final blast caused them all to stop moving, save for the twitches of electricity still jolting a path through their bodies. Aside from the ones Tinuriel had cut down – they were all rendered unconscious.

Save for the Coralborn woman, who turned on Felix – but could not see him due to his Skill combination. She looked back to Reth before raising her hands in surrender. Tinuriel came over and pulled out a length of rope, tying the woman up.

Felix dropped the stealth Skills and looked to Reth, “Help me gather the unconscious ones and tie them up."

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