Wish upon the Stars chapter 913

We emerged from Bethy’s Domain in yet another cave. Not shocking, since we were at the bottom of a giant hole in the ground. This cave, howe

We emerged from Bethy’s Domain in yet another cave. Not shocking, since we were at the bottom of a giant hole in the ground. This cave, however, was MUCH different. For one, it was bigger, lined with lights and apparatuses for mining and sorting. For another, the floor of the cave had several struts set into it, with a sort of subfloor set beneath a metal primary floor to separate the mist from the workers.

The primary floor was a series of metal platforms and walkways, beneath which we could see the mist from the open walls and tunnels surging, clearly being compressed somehow so as to keep it away from the people moving busily about the cavern.

We popped up in a back corner, behind a shed or something that was out of the main sightline of most of the rest of the room. I had us covered with Murmur almost immediately, and we started mapping out the area and deciding what our next move was going to be. It was clearly going to be an ordeal.

The first thing I noticed was how fucking DENSE the population of this cavern was. I could see dozens if not hundreds of people, and they weren’t lying in wait or anything, they were legitimately just going about their days.

To me, that said that there were even MORE people around who weren’t out and about, and it told me a lot about the defenses near here.

I’d been thinking about it since we left that house, and the Filthsmith had screamed to try to notify someone. Our theory that there was a redundancy was firmly supported by that fact, so whatever attack we were about to initiate was going to have to deal with the Void as well as the local forces.

“Damn, they’re pretty dense in here,” Abel said as we crouched behind the shed. Despite being covered by Murmur, the less I had to conceal the easier it was, so we tried to stay out of easy line of sight.

I turned to Devlan. “This is your show, you and your people did all the research on this place. So what are we looking at in terms of defenses?”

He’d actually filled me in on some of this before, but the entire premise at that point had been that we would attack later, and having to act immediately really threw off my understanding of the situation.

“Based on the timing, we should be looking at the third, sixth, and ninth guard divisions, two hundred fifty each, and first division, which is one hundred peak D-rankers. The latter are stationed here permanently, but the rest of the divisions are cycled out on the regular to ensure everyone is in a good mental state. Beyond that we’re looking at a hundred mining engineers, and another three hundred miners, but it’s doubtful they’ll actually bother fighting.”

Animal nodded. “The mines down here emit that mist constantly as they’re worked. It’s NOT good for the body, and every person who volunteers to mine down here is either desperate, suicidal, or a colossal amount of trouble. Debtors, prisoners, the terminally ill, none of them are the kind who will bestir themselves for the defense of their tormenters.”

I grimaced. “That’s…unpleasant. Any chance we can help them? Maybe purify the influence of the mist?”

“Unlikely,” Devlan said with a shrug. “The damage caused by that mist is gradual, and it can be resisted for a while, but it’s EXTREMELY hard to resolve. It can be considered something similar to being shredded by a million Domains. Only a very small amount, but it adds up, and most recovery methods don’t work.”

“This infinity crystal is nasty stuff,” I grimaced. “Whatever. The depot is here, and the mining has been going on for ages. They can only move a small amount of it, so the rest must be stockpiled down here in the chasm. I assume you know WHERE it’s stockpiled?”

Devlan pointed across the cavern at a large metal door set directly into the rock. “In there. Don’t underestimate that vault either, being at the bottom of this chasm for so long, the mist has slowly condensed the stone to an unimaginably hard level. This whole chamber is substantially more durable than you’d expect.”

I cursed internally. I’d been hoping the last chamber would be indicative of the strength of the stone. The diversion formations the Filthsmith had used had cleared the mist and I’d been able to turn the stone to dust pretty easily. After thinking about it though, I was pretty sure the reasoning for that lay in the Filthsmith himself. His Void taint was the opposite of the mist from the infinity crystals and would naturally degrade the things around it. That whole house had been warded by a sphere of that much for ages, and it probably corroded the stone, reversing the condensation.

Which gave me an idea. I turned to Callie. “Your Void Priestess powers can manifest through shadows, right? And the shadows you use should erode the infinity mist. Can you transport us inside the vault through the shadows? Bethy can carry everyone in her Domain, so you’ll just be transporting her and maybe me if you need it.”

She hummed contemplatively. “I mean…I think so? It’ll take a lot of effort, the mist in here is really jamming me up, but if its just one or two people it should be doable. But I don’t think I’ll be able to get us out again. Once Bethy has her Domain full of crystals I don’t think she’ll be able to easily move everyone again. We’ll probably need to be taken in one at a time, which will take a while.”

I hadn’t considered that. The mist caused discomfort and stiffness in Bethy even through her own mist form, so it would naturally have some effects on her Domain. I knew that we could still GO in the Domain, otherwise Devlan wouldn’t have brought us down here, since he’d essentially be dying in exchange for the crystals, which didn’t seem like his style.

Devlan sighed. “Alright, so we’re going back in. Be careful entering. The first division actually lives IN the vault. They have special armor that can resist the erosion. It’s prohibitively expensive to make, so they don’t have much of it. If we’d breached from outside, we’d have had to deal with them rushing out to attack and joining the others. Doing it this way has advantages and disadvantages.”

He nodded to us, then vanished along with Animal, Bethy pulling them both in. She turned to me. “How about you, boss-man? You going away or you going to follow us into the dark?”

“It’ll be lighter on Callie if I’m in the Domain. She can pull on my strength through the bond if she needs me.” Pushing my mask up, I gave my wife a quick kiss and then vanished. To my surprise, Bethy dropped me in the castle this time, in one of the spare rooms with a view out the window to the moon.

Not that it helped much, the moon went black as Bethy was swallowed into the dark with Callie. Through the bond, I felt the sensation of Callie forcing her way through the shadows with her Void access. It was staggeringly difficult. I felt like she was trying to dead lift a five hundred pound bull as a mortal with nothing but her toes. Not only was it difficult and a strain, it was hard to get a solid grip.

I had to push my power into her to help, and we finally popped through, ending up inside the vault. Quickly, I was pulled out, and Bethy pointed worriedly around us at the gathered mist. “Um, Shane, this stuff is EVERYWHERE,” she looked panicked. “How do we fight them if we can’t go into the mist? They have special armor, but we don’t.”

Frowning, I examined the area around us. I hadn’t considered how much of this stuff must have accumulated in here. I figured we’d need to deal with it while we moved stuff, but the erosion took time. FIghting though, that was a different story. We were currently perched on top of a storage container, and the mist surged and roiled along the ground.

“You’re going to start raiding. Let our people out on top of these things, I’ll handle the erosion. I have an idea. You focus on clearing out all the crystals, and once we finish the fight you can start admitting people into your Domain one by one.” I paused, considering what we’d need to do. “Can you put the crystals in the field outside and have us in the castle?”

“Sure, that’s easy,” she chirped. “But are you sure you’ve got this? I saw some of these guys coming in. They’re big and that armor is scary.”

I grinned humorlessly beneath my mask. “Of course. We’re going to do it the same way the Filthsmith was. We’re going to use the Void.” I turned to my wife, who was leaning against the top of the container, panting and wheezing. “I’m going to need to tap into your Path for this honey. Leviathan and my own resistance should keep it from being too much, but I need you ready with the heretic fire if I need to be pulled out of it.”

“Got it,” she said tiredly. “I know what you have in mind. It’s risky, but it’s the only option I can see.”

Nodding, I indicated that Bethy release the others onto nearby containers. Once she did, we waved her off to go gather the crystals, and I triggered the rank up effect on my staff, elevating Belial to C-rank. Then, reaching through the bond, I sank my claws into the power of Callie’s Path of the Abyssal Priestess.

It was…weird. The energy in that Skill felt off, now that I knew what to look for, and I understood it was because the Skill itself ran on the Void. Or at least had it mixed in. So I pulled on that, mixing it into Belial as I did. Belial was the prince of corruption, literally created to corrode and consume, so the Void had no issue meshing with the essence of that form.

Then I pushed it outward, using the C-ranker skill to corrupt every one of our people. Belial could let me wield even other humans as a weapon, and with the Void influence infused into, there was a lot of risk of causing permanent damage…usually.

Before any long term harm could set in, I pushed all my people off their containers, dropping them into the mist. Almost immediately the Void taint started to boil off against the spatial energy, draining away the corruption even as it flowed into them. We didn’t have long, but at C-rank I was able to move a sizable chunk of power with the form, so we could last long enough to do the job.

With my senses extended through so many people, I was having trouble processing, and I had to trigger Piece of Mind a few times to offset the overload, but once that was done, I was able to deploy my forces perfectly.

All across the vault, my people fell on unsuspecting armored forms in groups, outnumbered five to one and acting against a superior force deployed by one overarching mind, the first division barely stood a chance. They did better than expected, honestly, but since I knew several troop formations, I was able to deploy them liberally,  overwhelming the armored figures and restraining them.

Bethy showed back up soon after to start collecting people, and I dismissed the energy as they climbed back up on the containers, all now empty. I sighed with relief as I did, ready to be DONE with this shit so I could call up for backup.

Unfortunately, before I could, I felt something massive smash into the walls nearby. Or rather, into the huge metal door, which shook like a leaf, stone dust drifting down from above. A roar sounded out behind it, and I cursed, readying for another fight. Before I could even figure out what was happening, there was a mighty screech, and the door was ripped off the hinges in a way I hadn’t thought was even possible.

My eyes snapped to the form looming in the gap, a semi familiar draconic silhouette MUCH bigger than any individual person. Except this one was leaking dark energy that popped and crackled on the mist as they came in contact. “Oh, good,” my wife said tiredly. “Void kobolds. That seems fun.”