Riftside 2 - Chapter 52

“I vehemently oppose your implication!” Roq protested.

“As if I would lower myself to mate with someone so…crass!” Arclight  huffed. 

“You’d be lucky to have me as a mate!” Roq said. “You don’t even know half the things I can do!”

“Nor am I interested in finding out,” Arclight replied, and made a sound as if sniffing the air. “You can go mate with a rock for all I care. Did you get that? A rock?”

I deeply regretted my comment as they bickered in my mind though Eryn’s barely suppressed smile almost made it worth it.

“Monster angry now,” Knut said, tapping his shield and nodding towards the tunnel opening. The tunnel curved slowly to the right and down, and while the ceiling was tall enough, I’d have to stand on my toes to reach the crystals up top, the giant would have had to crawl to get through. 

“It just realised we’re a serious threat,” Edwin said and took in a deep breath, then let it out again. “This should be fun.”

“Warriors, form up inside the next tunnel mouth,” I said, moving towards it. “We’ll hold them here. Can’t let any of them into the room or they’ll do us bad. If we get pushed back, retreat to the previous tunnel and we’ll do a fighting retreat. Ming? Any Weavers are yours, so save your spells for them. Nabeeh, keep your mana and cooldown on hand in case we get into trouble. Eryn and Isaac, fire at will. Alex? Sorry, I have no idea.” I shrugged, taking up position a few feet inside the tunnel. “You know best what you can do.”

“You better believe it,” the healer said. “And for such a wise comment, I will consider pushing you higher on the healing list!”

Rowan chuckled as he took the right-most spot, which made sense since he fought with two swords, giving him the open side to maneuver. I took the left-most, where the wall would protect my shield arm. Edwin and Knut stood between us, the commander next to me, forming the solid center of our short line. 

“Make a firebreak two steps forward,” I said, and we all cut away crystals until a full circle had been completed, before stepping back into line.

“Here they come!” Roq said gleefully. “THIS is what I like to call a target rich environment! Show that dirty cat who’s the…man cat!”

Around the bend came a throng of crystalkin, with Vanguards and Strikers at the front.

Isaac and Eryn started shooting into the monsters, dropping two. Whether they died from the shots didn’t matter, as they were almost immediately trampled to shards.

“Riftrot,” I said, realizing the folly of my plan. “There’s no way we can stop that charge.”

“Ye of little faith,” Edwin said, laughter filling his voice. “There’s a reason you brought us, or do you think we’re in the same league, my young friend?”

“Not quite?” 

My pulse quickened as the monsters barrelled down toward us.

“Rowan,” Edwin said. “I doubt Quarris can make it in here, so feel free to let loose. We’ll reset our cooldowns later.”

An arrow flashed by, likely from Eryn. It looked to be one Arclight had forged from the Scuttler carcasses, and it split into three mid air. Three monsters, and the ones behind them, fell, and got trampled. 

“Happily, commander,” Rowan said.

One of Isaac’s arrows flashed by and struck in between the legs of the charging creatures where it detonated. Five more monsters fell.

Razor sharp projectiles started raining down on us in retaliation, thrown by Sharders somewhere deeper in the enemy formation, and I heard our backline shift and split, moving out of the way.

“You doing a shield wall?” Ming asked from behind and to our left.

“Correct,” Edwin said. 

“I haven’t fought in a shieldwall before,” I said. “But I know the theory.”

“Anchor shield on wall,” Knut said, voice tight. “Edge out. Fight with Edwin’s shield. Brace with legs, not arms. Let them crash, then we press.”

I swallowed while Rowan chuckled.

“Not quite what I mean,” Edwin said and leaned down, holding his shield horizontally, front still flat towards the enemy. 

I heard someone shift out of cover and an arrow shot past. 

“Delicious,” Arclight said, and I knew it had been Eryn. “Give me more targets, my wielder.”

Isaac followed up with an arrow of his own.

Right before the monsters reached us, Edwin slammed his shield down

“Expand!” And just like I’d seen during the siege on Sentinel Station, his shield grew. It expanded until it lodged firm across the tunnel, giving us a hip-high wall to fight behind. 

“Oh,” I said as Edwin released the shield, leaving it stuck between the walls, and he grabbed his sword in a hand-and-a-half grip. “You’ve got to get that skill Knut!”

“Big brain, big shield, big level,” the northerner said.

“Half a step back, men!” Edwin said, and we followed his order.

Then the first monsters slammed into us.

Vanguards and Strikers were crushed between Edwin’s expanded shield and the monsters behind them. The impact knocked the shield back, and the metal edges shrieked along the stone, but only for an inch before it settled. Then the wave came to a halt, caught between the unmoving shield and the horde behind it.

“Yes! Crush them! Make them dust!” Roq cried in my head, his bloodlust a familiar fire that only served to stoke my own fighting spirit.

The front rank of Crystalkin, jammed against the unyielding barrier, were perfect targets.

I brought Roq down on the nearest Vanguard’s head, shattering the crystal.

Edwin sliced through the neck of one, and then pulled his sword free.

“Battle Rhythm!” Rowan said, and he struck with his twin blades, hitting two different monsters. For a limited time, the ability would make him move faster for every hit.

Knut roared and smacked away with his mace, and yet for every monster we killed, another took its place.

The pressure on the wall grew steadily, and soon they were dealing as much damage to their own as we were.  

  They couldn’t fight or retreat, all they could do was die. And we obliged them.

Heads and limbs were exposed, offering up targets too easy to ignore. My hammer rose and fell to Roq’s bloodthirsty laughter, body parts shattering and always within reach.

All the while, Isaac and Eryn shot further  in, killing their Sharders. 

“Left!” Roq yelled, and I moved instinctively, just as a spike shot out from among the Crystalkin, pushing them away, ending where my chest had been a moment before.

“Ming!” Edwin called.

Faster than I could recover, or the Weavers cancel their spell, Ming’s staff came smacking down on the spike. She didn’t waste time calling out her spell and just activated it. Lightning flashed into the crystalline growth, and it exploded.

Being closest to it, I was knocked to the side and into the wall, but not so bad I didn’t get to enjoy the spectacle of Crystalkin being blown to bits as a part of the tunnel’s floor exploded beneath the jam-packed monsters.

The Weavers themselves must have been stationed further behind as the detonations in the tunnel were much smaller this time. 

“If they didn’t learn the first time, they’ll certainly learn from this,” Edwin said, laughing as he grabbed his shield and shrank it. “Now we seize the initiative. Rowan, go. Let’s finish this!” he ordered, his habit of command taking over.

I didn’t mind one bit as we were all on the same team.

Rowan rushed in, striking at an incredibly rapid pace, thanks to his worked up Battle Rhythm. He didn’t try to kill every monster, but focused on killing or knocking down those closest to him left standing.

Edwin jogged behind him, cutting down some, but leaving most alive. Knut and followed after them, killing everything that still lived. 

“Smash this one!” Roq said. “And that! And this one! And that one!” He gave a fake burping sound. “Yes, oh by the gold plated, diamond encrusted, velvet wrapped anvil, what a FEAST!”

“Cleave!” Rowan yelled from further up the tunnel, and his swords glowed blue as he swiped them in a horizontal arc, cutting three Vanguards in half. He’d gotten as far in as he could before being stopped, and the monsters were gathering all around him. 

Edwin’s fire sword took on a green tone, and he cut cleanly through one Vanguard and into another.

I killed left and right as we walked, most monsters unable to even try and hit us as those less impacted had been taken by Edwin and Rowan.

“Brutal Momentum!” Rowan’s right sword turned black and he cut in a half circle. The monsters hit were knocked back as if they’d been struck by a weapon ten times the weight.

“Shield bash,” Edwin said, and his tower shield glowed green. Then he followed up with “Charge,” and just like Knut had done in the past, he rushed forward at the speed of a warhorse and was no less impactful. 

The commander slammed into the monsters gathered around Rowan, to the warrior’s left, sending them backwards. 

“Damn,” Knut said as he finished off a Striker who had yet to blow up. 

“Power of levels,” I said, striking another with Roq. “One day that’ll be us.”

“Soon,” my friend said, and we kept making our way forward. 

“Not too many more for the next level!” Roq said, excitedly.

“If I can get a skill, don’t you dare start making something without my approval. You remember last time? I can’t afford to lay spasming on the ground like an idiot.”

“Fine,” Roq said. “I’ll try to restrain myself, but—oh that one’s alive! It twitched! SMACK IT!”

I did.

“Crystal for the crystal throne!” Roq said, laughing in bloodlust, and I found myself chuckling along with him. He was genuinely enjoying himself, which was…good.

Eryn and Isaac walked a bit behind us with ming, making sure we hadn’t missed any, while also sending the occasional arrow into the monsters fighting Edwin and Rowan.

“Is it always like this?” Nabeeh asked from the back.

“Edwin rarely has the time to go to spots like these,” Alex answered. “But when wedo? Yes. Every damn time. They are like children let off the leash."

“Does it ever get boring for you?” she asked as I killed another two.

“Taunt!” Edwin yelled from up front.

“Boring? By the rift, no! I love this. If I could wait in Dawnwatch with an ale in my hand and a pretty lass on my knee and have them bring me loot without having to lift a finger for it I’d be the happiest man in all of Noros. This is a rare opportunity where I don’t need to worry too much about them. Your two boys though? They’re the ones I got my eyes on here.”

Knut and I exchanged a glance before smacking another pair of monsters.

Ahead, Edwin and Rowan now stood against a solid force, but Edwin had his shield up and the majority of the monsters were hammering at it while Rowan cut them down. 

“Use ironburst and get some free experience,” Roq said, mimicking Eryn’s voice, relaying her comment, as Knut and I reached the two others.

I hesitated for a second, but having seen what Edwin and Rowan could do, we were safe here, facing these monsters. And we likely had been back at the ambush too. It struck me then that he’d likely been going easy on the ones attacking him to see how we reacted to the situation.

“Ironburst,” I said, and channeled the mana into Roq and hammered the ground. Fifteen steelhusk spears shot up among the enemies, killing five Vanguards with three spears each. 

“You’re so close I can almost taste the level up!” Roq said. “Go forth and slay, my wielder! Let us feast or die in glorious combat! No, I meant, let them die in glorious combat!”

“Armor Break.” 

“On your right!” I said to Rowan as I stepped up, Roq glowing red, and crushed a Vanguard to bits. 

Energy rushed through me, making my limbs go weak, and I stumbled forward. Knut grabbed and hauled me back, but not before a claw scratched across my helmet. It didn’t matter. Pa’s work was more than up to the job. 

I laughed and jumped up, shaking out my body, not feeling an ounce of the hacking and slashing we’d just done.

“Tired? Wounded?” Knut asked.

I just shook my head and gave him a thumbs up, shaking his hand off. 

“I just hit level fifteen! Two levels in one raid! Over!”

“Yes! Amazing!” Roq relayed back. “So, can I make the skill now?”

“What? No! I just said you have to wait.”

“Congratulations, mate of my wielder,” Arclight said. “I look forward to seeing the process of rewiring your insides to fit the whims of the bloodthirsty rock on a stick.”

“Not happening!”

“Also, I am now level six,” Arclight added.

“Damn it!” Roq said. “We must figure out this breakthrough, Ash! That kitty cat is catching up!”

Only a few monsters remained in the tunnel, and I activated Smash, crushing through another.

A few minutes later I stood with the full team, looking back at the trail of destruction. 

“I’ve missed this,” Edwin said. “Being able to fully let loose on monsters far below our level and in a controlled environment. Brilliant. We should do this more often.”

“Good warmup for the real fight,” Isaac said.

“How long for cooldowns and mana regeneration?” I asked, and while they all answered, I asked our weapons about the loot situation.

“How many Mind Gems?”

“Eight,” Arclight said, snapping out the word as if trying to beat Roq to it.

“Only eight out of what had to be nearly two hundred monsters?” Roq said, mimicking Eryn’s voice. “Yes. And I know why!”

“Why?”

I knew he wouldn’t tell before we asked.

“Only one dropped from the ones Ming killed, despite her having the most kills. None from Edwin, and only one from Rowan,” Roq said, using what I’m sure he imagined was a highly intelligent sounding tone, but he just sounded smug. “Isaac’s kills dropped none. Knut’s kills yielded one, and we got two, and Eryn got three.”

“Why?”

“It’s the levels. The more powerful you are, the less likely it is for the seed of a mind gem to survive the killing blow. It’s the only explanation I’ve gathered,” Roq said. “Or, I don’t know if its a seed of a mind gem or an actual mind gem or if it’s just a remainder of the energy that fuels any living being, but the point is that only in some is there anything left, and that’s the energy I sense which tells me there’s a gem inside.”

“Huh. That actually makes sense.”

“Great job, Roq!” Roq relayed from Eryn.

“She didn’t say ‘over’!” Arclight said. 

“It was implied,” Roq added quickly. “And thank you, Eryn. One of the soul weapons needs to use its brains after all.”

“Would you collect the ones with mind gems, over?”

Eryn confirmed and invited Nabeeh, Alex, and Rowan to join her in starting the cleanup.

“I’m going to peek around the bend,” I said.

“Careful not to pull aggression,” Edwin said, and I saw him wince. It was hard for him to let go of the mantle of both leader and mentorship.

I just nodded and headed down the tunnel, trusting my cloak and Roq to keep me safe in case of any surprises.

“Can we talk skill-up now?” Roq asked. “I’ve got the perfect idea for one!”

“Not yet.”

“But—”

“Wait.”

“Fine.”

I rounded the bend and immediately recognised the next room. I’d seen it from above, twice, and dreamed of it plenty times more.

“Oh!” Roq said as I inched forward. “I see the edge of the throne! There’s a leg! An arm! Let me at him! let me at… Oh… Ehm… Arclight… this is one BIG boy…”