Chương 63: Rava and Echo

An invisible Rava flew above the coastline while an endless army of mucks streamed from the dark waters below. They advanced uncontested up the beaches like baby crabs in spawning season. The humans had set their defensive perimeter further back, taking advantage of the peninsula's numerous cliffs to funnel the invaders into concentrated lanes of fire. Spells and arrows rained down from towers constructed on the high ground, each holding dozens of mages and archers.

Rava flew past all that, past where the beaches gave way to sheer cliffs, and continued on, searching carefully for a subtle shift in the vertical rock formation. It wasn't visible to the naked eye, and even with high-tier [Infravision] the arrow was barely noticeable. But it was there, and she found it, pointing down into the dark waters, and that was where she dived. Her skin tingled from the assault of the decay field.

This far from the source, her magic resistance and [Quantum Shield] were enough to hold off the worst of the effects, and as long as she didn't stay down there too long, a single carefully controlled [Heal] would be enough to fully recover. The water at this particular spot was deep—unnaturally so. At the bottom was a swarm of mucks, scratching and thumping against a specific part of the cliff face. She'd spent the day devising a plan to deal with them.

The reason it had to wait until night was for the invasion to pull the swarm away. As it was, a large number had remained behind, but it was much more manageable. She began by using [Water Wall], a spell that allowed one to draw on nearby sources of water to create a liquid barrier. It wasn't a very useful spell at the best of times, and pretty pointless underwater. What she was after wasn't the wall itself, but the process in creating it.

By manipulating the flow of water, supplemented with judicious use of [Force Bolt], she was able to create the clear space she needed to erect a semicircle of [Force Walls], which she stacked several layers high to account for the sheer volume of mucks clambering on top of each other like ants. She then closed off the top with a ceiling of [Force Walls], creating a watertight enclosure around the anomalous cliff face. Next she targeted each muck inside the enclosure with [Firestorms].

The problem with attacking the mucks underwater was twofold. Not only were the monsters much more resilient in their natural habitat, but the water quenched the flames. The only hope of doing any damage was to pour in an excessive amount of mana and make the flames so hot that they couldn't be immediately snuffed out. The result was an explosion of steam powerful enough to destroy her [Force Walls]. But she'd planned for this and had intentionally made the ones on top weaker.

It was like a geyser had erupted underwater, sending up a cloudy jet of superhot steam and goo. Her plan worked, and the important [Force Walls] on the sides stayed intact. Rava quickly dived into the magical enclosure and closed it off once again. The interior surfaces, including all the [Force Walls], were painted with muck goop. But they didn't remain like that for long.

Already they'd begun clumping together, and those clumps had morphed tiny fin- and tail-like appendages, which they used to swim together and agglomerate, trying to reform into something more substantial. She didn't give them the chance. The individual clusters were small enough that she could afford to take the time to burn them up close. Soon the enclosure was clear.

"And Echo said it couldn't be done," she muttered with self-satisfaction. The mucks were crowding around her enclsoure, pounding ineffectually against the [Force Walls]. The hazard here wasn't that they'd be able to get in, but whether she could get out. Already they were stacked almost to the top of her wall and would soon be swarming above her. Still, she had a bit of time before she had to worry about that. Turning her attention to the cliff face, she found a smooth section the size of a door.

Etched upon it was a circle, inside of which was the drawing of a rabbit eating a cake. Rava removed a piece of fabric and stick of graphite from her inventory to make a rubbing of the image. Once she was done, the materials were safely returned to her inventory while she studied the door. It was completely impervious. Not even the hottest fire concentrated at the tip of her finger made any effect upon the door or the stone around it. Whatever lay beyond had to be linked to the Ygg Latten Keystone.

It was too much of a coincidence for it to be situated on the peninsula, and for the mucks to be trying to get to it. But she had never seen that symbol before. It didn't resemble anything she'd come across in all her research. It looked almost cartoonish, like it had been drawn by a child. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. But what child could create a barrier that the mighty Rava couldn't break?

At this point she noticed her lips starting to peel and decided it was time to leave. The mucks had completely surrounded her enclosure. She'd already prepared a basic plan for this situation, starting with the release of the [Force Walls] above her while simultaneously firing off a series of [Force Bolts] to propel the mucks away and make space for her to swim up. And it worked—to an extent.

The problem was that there were far more mucks than she'd accounted for, and as soon as one was pushed away, another took its place. They swarmed all over her, clawing and grabbing while she pushed forced her way upward through the mass. The problem wasn't that they could hurt her. The problem was that they were gross. So gross that she almost felt sorry for the acolytes on laundry duty.

Thanks to her abundance in mana, she had plenty to dump beneath her for the extra boost, and eventually she managed to rise out of the mucks' reach. With one last kick to separate one that had latched onto her ankle, she made for the surface and then flew off into the sky.

Echo knew it was Rava who'd just entered her lab. It was the stink of the sea, the same stink the elf had worn yesterday when raving about her discovery of that mysterious underwater door.

"I did it," Rava announced proudly.

"You found a way in?" she asked without turning around.

"No, but I got a chance to study the doorway." While Rava talked, Echo focused on her task, transferring a sample of muck goop to a beaker of alchemical reagents and heating it over a flame. The goop didn't react even when the temperature got high enough to fry a fish. When she held the beaker next to another, the two separate samples inside began reaching for each other through the glass.

"—might be a temple, like the one we found up in the Moonfoot Mountains." Rava concluded.

"That's great, but we still haven't found a way to get into that one either," she pointed out.

"And the entrance there wasn't swarming with disgusting sea monsters."

"I thought you liked monsters," Rava said.

"I like them the way you elves and humans like children. They're useful because you can train them up to do your bidding, so long as you don't grow overly attached." She poured the contents of the beaker, muck and all, into a jar and sealed it. After labeling it, she set it on a bench with a collection of other samples and turned to Rava.

"Funny, that's what we're taught about demon parenting," the elf retorted.

"What kind of monsters do you think we are?" Echo replied indignantly. Rava pointed to the shelves upon shelves of jars that lined the lab.

"What are you doing with all these samples? There must be enough goop here to start your own muck platoon."

"I've never seen creatures like these before," she said.

"There must be some sort of devil magic behind it."

"Is that so?" As expected, this piqued Rava's interest. Devils were the only race with a mastery over death, of the sort even necromancers envied.

"What happened to that specimen you were playing around with two nights ago?" Rava asked. Echo had assembled a muck and taken deeper into the peninsula to study its behavior on land.

"I'm sure it's dead by now."

"You lost track of it?" She shrugged.

"I got what I needed from it. And it was a failed specimen. Too vulnerable to fire. Probably a reaction to the fireleaf I mixed into one of the samples that joined with the others."

"What if it attacks someone?" Rava said.

"We can't afford to let the peninsula fall. It'll make it so much harder to accomplish what we need here."

"Relax. It would have burned up the moment the sun rose."

"Unless it found somewhere to shelter."

"Do you really think it's smart enough to do that?" she said.

"You tell me. You're the one who wanted to study its behavior." Echo smacked her forehead.

"Oh! Sheltering behavior! I knew I forgot an observation!" She headed for the door.

"Don't tell me you're going to bring another specimen inland for testing," Rava said.

"I'll do that closer to dawn. Right now I'm out of test samples." Rava looked over the lab.

"I can't believe you convinced the herald to let you do this beneath his temple."

"It's for a good cause," she replied swiftly.

"Come help me collect samples. They don't go into the inventory, so we'll have to carry them in by hand. I've got some special containers so they don't spook the priests and leave behind a mess on the floor."

"Before we go..." Rava pulled something from her inventory. It looked like a soggy piece of cloth. When it was laid down on a benchtop, Echo saw that there was a drawing on it.

"I got this from the door," Rava explained.

"Do you know what it means?" She looked at the child's drawing of a rabbit eating a cake.

"We can rule out a rival secret society. Or anyone over the age of twelve." She looked back up at Rava.

"Are you sure there's actually a door there?"

"You can see it for yourself," Rava offered. She shook her head emphatically.

"I'm not going into that stinky water, no thank you."

"We'll have to eventually, to get to the keystone," Rava pointed out. The Ygg Latten Keystone lay at the bottom of the ocean, miles off the coast. It was impossible to access at the moment because of the decay field.

"At this rate, I don't think we do," she replied.

"It's obvious someone else is trying to destroy the keystone, and they're much further along in their plan than we are. I say we let them do their thing and ask them how they did it afterward."

"If we can even find the person responsible."

"That's what you're trying to do, isn't it?" Rava held up the rubbing.

"What if they're hiding behind this doorway?"

"Then why would they have their mucks try to break in?" she pointed out. Rava looked thoughtful.

"Then there's something behind that doorway that they want. If we can get to it first, we won't have to track them down, they'll come to us. And whatever artifact is being stored there will be a useful bargaining chip."

"You want to blackmail a necromancer versed in devil magic?"

"Whatever it takes." She grinned.

"I'll take a look when I get the chance. Now come, we have samples to collect."