Michael’s joking comment broke the paralysis, and they all reacted.
Everlyn was the fastest. She launched herself toward a point on the disk further around from where their platform had touched the wadors. Her feet literally blurred, and she was so fast that she crossed fifteen metres in a blink. She must have believed the danger to be sufficient that it justified burning a precious second of her trait to boost her speed.
Tom had seen faster monsters, but if he hadn’t been watching, he might have suspected she had learnt how to teleport. When she reached her targeted spot; she didn’t hesitate. Her foot stamped on the glowing paver and all the soft blue lights switched to red. There was a slight jerk as the ground he was on shifted trajectory and then the platform was accelerating smoothly toward its new target. It was not flying directly away from the wador, but that wasn’t the reason Everlyn had reacted as she had, until their disk had locked onto a new target they had been at risk. Until that instant, the wador with their ability to engage the pavers remotely could have changed their mind and reeled them back in like they had initially. Now they were locked onto another destination. They were safe.
Everyone else was rushing around and Tom ignored them to watch the wador. They moved a little like large cats and were pacing over to the far side of their platform.
Not a single one looked in his direction.
“Tom, stop gawking and go help all the others so we can find our next target and switch back to being on course sooner.” He startled and glanced toward Everlyn who was glaring at him. “It should be near there.” She waved to where everyone else had congregated.
His head was thumping, and the bright light was getting to him. But she had a point. They were at an inflection moment. The sooner they created distance the better. He jogged over to the others and started searching through the pavers. They were targeting a giant platform that, via the paver interface was supposed to feel like the sand of a gladiator arena. Toni found the destination they were after, and she coordinated with Everlyn so that when the first connection was dropped, the new one was immediately engaged.
Tom noticed multiple people sighing in relief as their platform changed directions to stream away from the danger.
“It’s a twenty-five-minute journey,” Toni reported.
The wador platform was now rapidly receding into the distance.
“Do we retreat? Change routes? Or continue as planned?” Everlyn asked.
“This encounter was bad luck.” Michael said finally. “They weren’t entrenched and waiting for us or else things would have gone different. It’s safest to keep with our current plan, as it will have fewer threats and we’ll be able to travel faster.”
Vidja nodded. “Agreed. The platform setup doesn’t allow you to chase anyone, because you have to summon it back and then travel on it. The chaser’s journey is twice as long.”
“They can catch us by travelling in parallel with us.” Everlyn pointed out. “They don’t need to follow our exact route.”
“Which is only a danger,” Vidja replied. “If they know where we are going, and they clearly don’t or are not interested. Plus, for the next day, we’re in a straight line away from them. Your idea of them shadowing our movements only works if they keep sight lines on us, which will be difficult given how fast this connection is. On the way back to the giant’s fortress, we’ll choose one of the alternative routes in case someone leaked our plans.”
With everyone in agreement. They investigated the platforms they had marked as points of interest and made a point of keeping careful track of their surroundings. They specifically watched for any islands that were moving unexpectedly in their direction.
There were none.
Tom used his skills to perk himself up and relieve the constant tiredness, but the multiple dreams were getting to him. Not having Bao to offset some of the impacts of True Dreaming with her cooking was a problem. He attempted to distract himself by staying active. What would greet them when they got back? Would Harry have solved his issue? Had the confrontation with the wador lifted that threat? Or would their agreement with Jenny cause problems? And the issue he was deliberately avoiding thinking about was did he need to use Directed True Dreams to plan the final battle?
He dragged his attention back to the present. His exhaustion was affecting his efficiency, but there was not much he could do about it apart from push through and rely on his will and experience to keep him safe.
For a fraction of a second, nothing was attacking him. In fact, there was a lull in the battle. Not a single person was currently fighting for their life.
They were exploring ruins that if you squinted, you could imagine that it might have once been an earth castle, or a dozen ruined castles dumped in the same spot at least. The problem with the surrounds was that they were absolutely overrun with a six-legged mammal that moved so much like a spider that it gave them all the creeps.
They were also painful to fight.
Their attributes were a funny mix of strength and magic with very little in agility or vitality. That was good and bad. If you managed to strike them, they stayed hit, but the reverse also applied. The true issue was the magic abilities they possessed. There were three of them a blink, a charge and a teleport object spell.
The flexibility and range of the first two skills combined with how hard the stupid things kicked made them challenging to fight.
They had only one tactic.
Teleport in and land a hit as a single action and then charge out. It was almost a perfect counter to Tom’s skills. His dodge ability only registered the threat after they had blinked and by that time one of the monster’s feet and occasionally their clawed hands was moving fast and was only two inches away from striking him. At that point, it didn’t matter how well he twisted and spun there was usually no way of avoiding the blow.
Instead, he had to tank it.
And they hit like the proverbial truck. If the chosen had not accompanied them, Tom suspected they would have abandoned exploring after the first couple of skirmishes. The other species’ judicial use of force shields and healing had ensured the fights were at least survivable if unpleasant.
Another pack scuttled over the roof above them. His battle instincts made it clear that they had been spotted. He leapt backwards and their vanguard made a mistake and teleported right in front of him. If he had been standing still, it would have been perfectly positioned to strike him, but as it was, it was exposed. He stabbed out, and the monster died as his spear defied common sense to slide straight into the brain like the armoured skull did not exist.
The chosen and Rahmat, Tom corrected himself mentally. That combination had been what had let them brave this place. He wasn’t sure who got the credit for the kills with these joint blows, but based on the man’s refusal to claim an island it made him suspect that it was around a fifty-fifty split and maybe even more biased to Rahmat after Tom received a lot more kills outside of using his spear than Rahmat achieved with his own personal weapons.
Another alarm went off.
One of the monsters had appeared almost flush with his back. Its foot was already three quarters of a way through a strike and centimetres from impacting his side. There was no dodging it so he fortified the impact area and prepared to be punted like a footballer striking a ball.
Mentally, he prayed for a chosen shield, but none of them interceded.
The hoof smacked into him and there was a flash of white as the force was transferred through his body. Then he was airborne once more. As he flew, he noticed a strange glimmer around the body of the creature that his spear thrust had finished. His mind struggled to understand what he was seeing. It was not a loot portal because there was no fire but the same innate awareness that came with them burnt in his consciousness. He was very conscious of exactly where the corpse was, and it was hard to ignore it. His eyes wanted to stare at it just like what happened with loot portals.
A third blinked into existence at his side. It, too, was positioned to smash him again. For this blow he used Crystallised Moment.
Time stopped.
Then, practiced as he was, he analysed the exact nature of the attack. It was all physical just like every other kick they had landed. The angles and forces involved were scrutinised, including subtle factors like the lack of give that relative to a normal blow because the foot ended in a hoof like a goat’s.
Then the brief moment of frozen time ran out. But he knew more than enough about the incoming strike. He triggered Channelled Damage Mirror with the information and aimed it to reflect the physical energy back at the monster’s throat.
The hoof whacked him with a significant chunk, going through the mirrored defences.
The force rattled through him, but he distracted himself from the aches it created by focusing on the spell. Over sixty percent had been redirected, but the impact still sent him careering off course straight at a wall.
The consequences of the redirected energy against the monster was more telling. Its trachea collapsed under the force of the reflected kick.
It fell, clutching at its throat not understanding that the catastrophic destruction meant it would almost certainly never breathe again.
Success. Mentally he celebrated. That method was not a guaranteed kill. Fifty percent of the time, it failed to do that level of structural damage, but Tom persisted with it. The combination had potential and was fast becoming a key part of his rotation. Against annoying monsters like this, it was quite effective and on his count around ten percent of his kills came from that source, with the rest split between his domain and spear work.
Time slow dramatically once more.
Tom was abruptly brought back to his physical situation and was briefly confused about what was happening. Then cursed as he realised the problem. The second deflection had redirected him at one of the stone walls instead of his original landing spot where he could have rolled to discharge the momentum. He remembered registering that fact… but… he was so tired it was hard to keep things straight in his head.
His skills dutifully presented to him the consequences of various ways he could alter his orientation before going splat against the rock. As he was already in the air and travelling at well over two hundred kilometres per hour, the crash itself was inevitable.
But he did not panic. He could manage the collision like he had done dozens of times previously.
His domain manipulated the stone that he was heading for. He didn’t want it to collapse just be rearranged slightly to absorb a little energy with each moment of his impact. The speed granted by his high tiered dodge was pressed into work, and he spun in the air to hit the blocks of rock feet first. His knees bent on impact; the stone deformed as it absorbed the power. He kicked off and up while twisting so that his bum then back thumped solidly against the wall, but he had bled off enough momentum that it didn’t wind him.
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He landed smoothly on the ground with spear in hand ready to be attacked from any direction. But no monsters were moving. Six had struck in that wave and only the monster that had redirected his flight was alive. It was thrashing in the dirt while it clawed at its ruined throat. He wished he had gotten the chance to personally slaughter the creature that had had punted him at the start. But that was not to be. It was well and truly dead. It had been cut in two and by the copious amount of blood Tom’s guess was that one of Michael’s throws was the cause. But given how both Usko and Toni left their victims either of them could have been responsible as well.
It didn’t matter. His full focus was sucked away from the dead monsters to the first one he had killed. Its presence was like a blazing bonfire in his awareness.
“Look at that.” Michael said wearily. “It doesn’t know subtle does it.” The healer wiped sweat off his brow and then used a rag to clean each of his throwing axes. He looked almost as exhausted as Tom felt, which wasn’t a surprise. The fight through the ruins had been hard on all of them and none of them had got off scot free because of Tom’s inability to taunt them. Even with Clare taking on a more standard tanking role, every one of them would have been black and blue with numerous bone fractures if they weren’t continually being healed.
“How many did you get?” Toni interrupted grumpily.
“Five across all three waves.” Michael smiled proudly. “I think only Tom has me beat on raw number but not if we attribute some of his spear kills to Rahmat.”
“Why don’t they ever blink out of the way of your axes?” she demanded. “I can barely hit them because they move so fast.”
“His skill clearly has a stun component to it.” Rahmat said tiredly. “It’s inspired me if I’m being honest. I’m trying to duplicate it for my phantom spears, but it hasn’t taken yet.”
“I’ll give you some pointers tonight.” Michael offered, sounding as pleased as punch.
“So my assumption the original skill didn’t have it was right?”
“Correct. The throws were slow and left me unable to contribute against more agile monsters, so I bought some lower level skills and have wrapped them into the main ability.”
Rahmat perked up. “You forced it to evolve?”
The healer shook his head. “Nah, nothing so grand. I’ve folded three tier one skills and a tier two into the ability. But it’s only taken fragments of the lower skills and their contribution hasn’t been enough to cause an official evolution. The effect is closer to a level increase than that, but it seems to be worth it so far.”
“That’s nice and all,” Everlyn interrupted her eyes like all of them were fixated on the corpse. “But we need to do something about that. Given what I suspect we need someone other than Michael, Tom and myself to grab it.” She told them. “And boys no peeking.”
She turned her back and Tom reluctantly followed her example even as he was caught in a cone of silence. The bonfire behind him demanded he turn and look but he resisted. Forty seconds later the feeling vanished. He counted to ten and then spun around. The corpse was gone like it had never existed.
Vidja stood where it had been and smiled innocently at him. She would not share the nature of whatever she had received, and it had long since been packed into her storage. The secrecy was by design. He strongly suspected what it was and was pretty much certain of it, but he didn’t know. When he was interrogated by the aliens, he would be able to truthfully answer that, to the best of his knowledge they had never received one.
They continued on their mission and by the time they were on the final leg of his journey Tom was dreaming of sinking into his bed and sleeping.
Michael came up beside him from where he stood like a sentinel at the closest point to their destination. “Ah, it gets the blood flowing. There’s nothing quite like throwing ourselves into the battlefield of politics to raise the blood pressure.”
“Don’t remind me all I want is another bath and to sleep.”
Michael laughed. “I’m sure you’ll get it, but not for a few hours. Look at her,” he nodded at Everlyn. “She’s on the warpath and won’t rest until all the different issues are settled.”
It became clear almost immediately that the healer was right.
Everlyn organised a catch up to brief everyone on progress and in minutes they were at a room set up like a theatre. There was a stage and then instead of seats going in rings upwards there were large slabs instead. With each layer being higher than the one in front. He grabbed a spot and prepared to shape it with his domain, but there was no need. Magic triggered the moment he sat down and the whole thing moulded itself to him automatically. He sunk far further in than he expected and very quickly he was sitting in a comfortable alcove on a perfectly ergometric seat that felt like it was made of cushions rather than the stone he had initially identified it as.
Then, with short precise sentences, both of the groups explained how their respective grinding had gone. Everlyn described his team success as being around twenty percent better than forecast, while the other group had underperformed by a small amount.
Michael nodded and then turned to look straight at the pair who had stayed in the fortress. “And how about you two? Were you successful in meeting the inventor? Has your time been as productive as ours?”
“Yes, we were.” Harry answered.
Michael stared suspiciously at him having picked up on the tone. “And the but is?”
The ritualist frowned. “The inventor was able to diagnose the root cause of our problem. Basically, we need a specific extra step to fuse our two abilities together.”
“And did he offer a solution?”
Harry frowned. “No, and yes. He presented the two best options he could see. The first was to buy several arrays off the auction house.”
A happy smiled spread over Michael’s visage. “That doesn’t sound too bad at all. How much are we looking at?”
“Thousands, not several like Rahmat’s implying tier one arrays are required. Luckily, they’re in the GOD’s shop, so the quantity is not a problem,” Thor explained. “Individually, they’re cheap, but when you’re buying that many, it adds up to almost the entire precognition pot.”
The healer’s face fell, and he hit his side in frustration. “And I’m assuming the second option is as bad.”
“The inventor told us that one of the wador has a trait that can do the trick.” Harry informed them. “But they’re not being cooperative.”
“If it’s just a matter of a trait, why don’t one of us purchase it?” Michael asked almost instantly his eyes sharp with excitement. “That will allow us to cut the cats out of the process.”
Harry shook his head. “After the wador refused to speak to us. We asked the inventor the same question because all the descriptions in the experience shop didn’t match what we required. He told us the wador has titles to support the trait.”
“It’s like the world is forcing us to make good with the pricks.” Michael muttered. “I didn’t like earth cats but having ones that can talk back to you. It’s terrible.”
“It’s not that suspicious.” Harry objected. “SUPREME set up the balancing boxes to provide a path to success. The wador had the titles and traits before we entered. If anything, the rechargeable mana crystals were specifically crafted to force our two species to work together.”
Michael sighed. “And did the pussies give you a reason for being pricks.”
“I’m not sure cats ever provide an explanation for their actions. These are no different and just as arrogant.” Harry quipped
“Sapient ones might of.”
“They’re playing games. They basically said that they would only talk to Tom or Phil. Because they’re the only two with the status to be part of the conversation. I think it has nothing to do with that, and they’re setting a trap for Tom.”
“Then let’s engage Phil?”
“We would have,” Harry told him. “But his off somewhere else and you know what he’s like with the auction house. It’s not like he checks the damn thing.”
Michael stood abruptly. “Well, time’s burning. Tom’s here now and they’ve claimed that they’ll talk to him. We can go sort this out.”
“Maybe we should wait for tomorrow. I’m exhausted.”
“Chin up. It’s just a conversation. If we all go, there is no chance they’ll risk fighting.”
Harry knew exactly where they had to be.
The journey was less impressive than Tom had expected. The architecture did not change, and they didn’t pass any lobbies filled with fantastical sculptures or murals.
They ran down the original huge corridor, crossed to another that ran perpendicular, jogged for five kilometres along it and then entered corridors very similar to those near their sleeping area. They mirrored the human section so perfectly that if their route hadn’t been so clearly directly away from their living quarters, Tom might have believed they had been spun around.
The ritualist led them straight to a slightly discoloured wall, and he pressed his hands against it and it glowed red.
Nothing happened.
“I’m sure they’re in,” Harry said grimly.
They waited a full minute.
“I’ll try again.” Harry raised his hand.
“Wait!” Tom snapped. “It’s been a minute they would have used that time. They’re potentially poised on the other side ready to attack.”
“I agree with Tom,” Michael said. “But this is too important to retreat from. We’ll ring again. Everyone prepare your defensive skills.”
“Michael that’s not a good idea. The wador won’t like that.”
“Yet we’re down to sixteen days and we need this solved.”
Around him, Tom saw the glimmering of magic as everyone prepared to fight. Clare moved to stand next to him and he stood there. His defensive abilities didn’t need preparation.
“Do it now.” Michael ordered.
Harry pressed his hand against the door.
It glowed red.
Nothing happened.
“And again,” Michael ordered.
The stone glowed red.
There was still no response.
“Again.”
“Michael,” Tom said. “We’re behaving like children ringing the doorbell continuously. We can come back tomorrow.”
“Again Harry.”
The door snapped open violently!
Tom gulped.
Directly opposite him, virtually within arm’s reach was the wador leader.
He was flanked by two of his kind on either side, and all five were baring their teeth.
The temptation to step back was almost overwhelming, but he held his ground. Michael’s strategy was idiotic as far as he was concerned. A battle here would not be in their favour because the Wador could retreat into their defensible room if the humans got the upper hand.
But they were committed, and he would not back down. Tom forced his mouth into a snarl to reveal his own teeth. The display was no where near impressive with his flat omnivore versions, but the message was clear.
He hoped the others were doing the same. It was important to show strength and that the humans even if they were slightly weaker would not be bullied.
“Tom, why do you disturb us? Is it an attempt to poison us.”
There was a sharp intake of breath from Everlyn, but he didn’t need her to interpret that comment. To them that had been an insult. He didn’t want to be here, but he was, and that was not an affront that could be ignored. “I take offense and reject the notion. I did not come for dominance purposes but if I had, there would be no throat baring after that.” The words flowed from him with Social Silence gatekeeping. He hoped he threaded the needle between demonstrating strength and not setting off a war.
“The accusation is withdrawn.” The wador regarded him and there was a long pause. “Your understanding of our culture is disturbing. We did not observe that in the others of your species.”
Tom said nothing.
The wador stopped showing its teeth. “You come for the purpose of this one.” It raised a paw and pointed at Harry. “We have considered the crux of his request, and the answer is no.”
“This is required to defeat the dragon.”
“Is it? I understand the threat of the dragon, or at least that which I have observed, and you’ve shared. We are not blind. We’ve seen the platforms on this level that she has destroyed. She is powerful and probably a foe beyond our imagination. It’s like a pack challenging a nation. Honour must be tempered by reality.”
“Then you understand the need of this artefact for protection,” he interrupted.
“I accept your desire, but I do not see why my pack would create safeguards for an opposing fraction.”
“You’re being obtuse. The teleport artefacts will protect you as well.” Harry blurted out.
“Control your pack,” the wador leader said to Tom, showing his teeth once more. He could feel the inherent threat in the gesture. They were very much in the territory of, ‘I hate you, but while we’re nominally allies, I won’t rip your throat out for quite as many reasons as usual, but I do like the taste of people I don’t like on my tongue so keeping the peace is a struggle.’
“My friend has a point. One out of every five completed will go to you.”
“The answer is no. We accept the dragon’s power, that is not under dispute, but we’re willing to take the risk that we can evade it for long enough.”
“You won’t be able to dodge her attacks.” Tom warned.
“Are you sure? You don’t know our abilities. Your little trinkets will be helpful, but they are not everything. If I don’t help, many more humans will die, but I see that as a feature, not a problem.”
“Tom,” Michael interrupted urgently his voice loud enough for everyone to hear. “Tell him that we have another way to make the teleporters. It means we won’t be able to invest in the precognition blocker for the spear. So, the main attack against the dragon might not work as a result.”
All five of the wador’s face distorted. There were no signs of teeth or movement of the lips. He didn’t need Michael’s diplomacy skills to interpret the expressions as he had seen it before.
They were laughing at him.
Their leader recovered first. “An empty threat does not benefit you in a negotiation.”
“Tell him it’s not an empty threat. If we’re not protected and we’re all going to die anyway, we’ll take the risk. Better for us to all go under than have only one or two humans to survive while all the champions of the other species escape.”
More face gymnastics occurred. “I’ve read the reports. I’ve seen the evidence of the breath attacks. I can calculate the same numbers you have. It’s not all of you that will be killed. We’re looking at ten, maybe fifteen at the outside that she’ll get before she dies. That means half of you will survive and from observing Jenny your species are not big on self sacrifice. I think you’ll accept the risk of going in without protection even if from a species perspective such an approach is selfish. We will not help you.”
“You’re being stupid,” Harry snapped. “It won’t take that much of his time.”
“Control your pack.” The leader snarled. “We’re done here. And Tom whether I recognise your threat or not. Whether the dragon becomes undefeatable without you or not. If you come here again, it will end in blood.”
The door slammed shut as quickly as it had opened.
Michael and Everlyn looked at each other, and it was the healer who spoke first. “They were not bluffing. I don’t think there’s anything we can do to get them to help.”