Chương 490: AF Chapter 489 - Culling the Caul

Four monarchs were with us as we scoured the Singularity Caul in all directions over two days. King Borelean was here, as was the Gold Gear Primus Atamarr. Queen Mother Elysa was working with King Kresovus of the lugians, who had proudly led some of his own people and with Aun Gulchuta and his volunteers had joined us out here in the glorious effort after our successes on Marae Lassel.

King Bobo was still hunting down the last virindi with the banderlings and tusker forces, being quite thorough about the whole matter. Tim was waiting on standby in case of an emergency we didn't think was coming, but if someone tried to invade us, like, oh, opportunistic Falatacot, he was ready to be dispatched and run interference, buying us time to pull out. I stayed on support, having little to do other than to take breaks for the last of the Resurrections.

I was down to less than a hundred to go, and could knock those off in a devoted day now… which I would do, the last of the Cursed Dead already notified to be in Holtburg once we cleared the Caul here. Master Ben Ten's time as a skeleton was coming to an end. As our next big project was clearing the Olthoi North, it was just in time.

Two days of disciplined maneuverings, group support, a lot of Wolfpack tactics on Summons, running all over the place through the maze-like valleys that existed around the Caulcano, and the landscape was clear. Even the Dungeons were invaded and Sealed, Master Oswald and his Cloaks taking the lead in that as a penance for missing the Raven Hands in them the first time. When all was said and done, we drew up outside the shattered entrance to the Caulcano Kris and I had fled through a year before.

We could still see the searing scar where Aerbax's Rays had cut through the stone and attempted to bring the canyon down on us. However, the stone was both seared and shattered by a rolling soundwave, the sands of it crunching under our feet, only partly fused and melted by later Caulcano activity.

Kris and Briggs did indeed lead the way this time, the Vanguards drawn up in front of me and the full array of Hexar Shields out this time, overlapping areas of draw making sure no standard Elemental energies were going to get off here at all. We came over the lip of the inner cauldron in the canyon, noting immediately that it was a lot more fiery inside.

"This is a lot closer to the other extant volcanoes now, but I do NOT sense an Elemental Lord's influence in the manafield," I announced to all and sundry.

"That said, there's a lot of Fire Elementals ahead of us, at the highest tier, as well as the former spawns."

"We're going hot and cold teams!" Briggs ordered quickly, turning around.

"Cold teams are on the Elementals! Lord Mick, call your teams for them!"

"Aye, sir! Roaches, Aun One, Royal Company Four, and Vanguard One for backup!" he called out immediately. It was about a quarter of the forces, but over half the archers." Coldphasing! Royal Company Three, you're on intervention reserve! Archers, up on Disks, Vanguard for the wall! If Company Three has to fight, we be doin' it all wrong!"

The forces behind us began to reorganize as we slowly proceeded down into the canyon, with the archers led by Queen Elysa rapidly drifting up to just behind the wall of Vanguards in front of them, frost dripping from their Bows, a good chunk of which spun with frozen stars of the Lost Light.

"Clear them!" Kris ordered with a chop of her hand, seeing a cluster of blackened Fire Elementals down there. Thera and Nippo dropped the Imperils, the first volleys hissed out as Queen Elysa counted, "One, TWO!", and the shadowy Elementals popped out of existence.

"Shadowfire Elementals," I stated coldly.

"Aerbax is acting as a corrupted Elemental Lord here! Be wary of potential Void Magic from Shadowed under its control!"

"Just what we bloody need," Kris cursed for everyone, earning grim chuckles.

"Start scraping, people! The ground is stinking with Taint!" Vivic Weapons lowered to the ground, and were dragged along the blackened magma. There were quiet poofs of unwhite flames igniting and starting to spread along the ground as blackened volcanic basalt started to whiten. The Cauldera opened up, the slope down into it meaning it was visible to everyone. There was now a blackened island in the center of a ring of boiling lava out there, coughing up gouts of shadowed flame from the bright crimson stone.

The edges of the Cauldera were thick with spawns and Summons, including the marguls and shades of before, as well as Tainted marionettes and rifts that were definitely not of pure virindi make. The wave of heat coming off the lava was definitely felt on our faces, although everyone had anti-fire magic at this point.

"Vivify everything," Briggs said to the unspoken question.

"We're going to force a path down to that ring, and then rotate clockwise around it. Magos, eye on the center, you have no other duties but to stop any surprise that pops up there." The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. That was a bit extreme, but I just nodded. There were almost two hundred warriors involved in this effort, and two dozen other Casters among them. Plenty of spell power in support.

Me and my Hexar Shields also had to instantly come between Aerbax and its offense, which also meant Briggs and Kris had to be instantly ready to get between it and me.

"Wipe this place clean!" Briggs ordered, and the Vanguards began to march into position behind a wall of tower Shields brimming and ready to stop all attackers, while the supporting infantry prepared to collapse on them as the formation maneuvering began to take place. A true officer would have felt sublime pleasure watching the Wolfpack training bleeding into what was going on here. The Vanguards were basically a moving wall the attackers couldn't get past… except when the Vanguards let them.

An opening, the Summons would squeeze eagerly into the gap… and suddenly they'd be surrounded, Imperiled, and cut down mercilessly in no time at all. Shields swung open like doors of doom, admitted hapless victims, then slammed shut for said victims to be slain. Higher up, Aun Shamans and Life Mages working support targeted the black-tinted Fire Elementals with Imperils, all of whom were bombarding us from afar with flaming missiles or bolts of Fire non-stop.

The elementals died rapidly and repeatedly as glittering arcs of cold intersected them, blowing them apart into blasts of cold vivus that danced and ate over their comrades nearby and the creatures beneath them.

"We've got virindi on the far side!" I called out to everyone, seeing motion there. I swore with everyone else as Shadow-touched virindi of great power, obvious by the black of their armored coats, hove into view. The creatures of the Cauldera began to shift and gather at the command of the virindi.

"Pull back and narrow the frontage! Magos, Hexar coverage!" Briggs ordered, and heavy boots tromped and cracked on the ground with Crystal heavyfoot as the Vanguards rearranged their lines, pulling back towards the entry canyon slightly, but not entirely. We'd never get anywhere fighting Summons, so we had to make it to all the Spawn Points in turn, or we might as well just go home now.

"Marking Spawn Points in the overhead for Dart bombardment!" I said, flicking up my trio. My focus on the ring of lava and the dark isle there with a pit in it had not wavered at all, standing there on my own Disk with my Wings out, ready to work.

"Virindi count at least twenty each Shadow-touched Quiddox and Paradox! Probably a hundred Shadow-touched lesser varieties! Nothing stronger!" The creatures of the Cauldera were starting to converge on us from two sides. That naturally meant that the closer Spawns reached us first, which meant those Spawn Points would need to be Sealed first. Briggs and Kris were also tracking and tagging every single set of Spawns and Summons they could see the Spawn Points of.

The Elementals who broke position were dying to the ready arrow fire as they came in range, and my Darts reached out and burst down upon their Spawn Points, making sure they'd not be returning.

"TREMBLE, you warped and broken things!

"Tremble, you stand before queens and kings!

"Shiver, you are bearded in your lair!

"Quaver, your doom hangs bloody in the air!

"Writhe, Fate has found you at long last!

"Shake, Luck has abandoned you long past!

"Wail, your mincing Shadow cannot save you!

"Scream and die, your Sins have all come due!

"TREMBLE, WE COME!" Oh, fuck yeah. We are awesome, and you are so dead! Virindi had absolutely no ability to wield the Heartsong, emotionless twats that they were. The Vanguards formed three sides, the Wolfpack infantry was ready and waiting on the fourth.

Booming blasts of Fire and Force and scattered other energies coming from all directions were bending up towards the Hexar Shields that Zeks was holding up above me, the sole exceptions being the Void Magic that was blasting hard against the adamantine Shields raised to stop it. Hardened, Impenetrable, and Impervious adamantine defied all the magic with gritted muscles and locked heavyfoot.

Vivic Darts arced up and came down as the Summons wrapping to our flanks ran into the Wolfpacks and started being ground down, while the Archers steadily finished all the Fire Elementals and then began ruthlessly focusing on the virindi trying to remain at range. There was no Imperil or Vuln support with the mages playing defense against point-blank magic and the blasts of Void energies detonating on the Shields, so the melee combat swirled as combatants were let through one by one and Lenses did the job as needed.

On Briggs' called order, the Archers turned and re-aligned as one, fireteams formed instantly around the senior Archers, and gems snapped and shifted from Coldphasing to Firephasing. I flicked a hand sideways, and the Mass Fire Vuln V blew across the right side of the lesser virindi. Shooting stars lanced out, two to a target, and the virindi folded around them, bursting into vivus as they dropped.

Second volley, third volley, and the ones I'd Vulned were all down, taken out faster than they could Dispel or Heal themselves. The Shadow-touched virindi didn't cover for one another, which was a huge weakness. They could and would Dispel themselves, countering and wiping away Debuffs that landed, but they wouldn't do the same for their lessers. Barely elevated over the edge of those tower shields, the archers re-acquired their targets, and my Mass Fire Vuln V flashed over the left side.

Cued by their masters, they dipped their heads and made to Dispel them, but this time the arrow fire was completely spread out, no overlap of targets. Crits flared and flashed and virindi dropped, and even those who didn't were gravely wounded by the incoming arrow fire. The second volley did double up, because the number of targets had dropped sufficiently to do so.

The lesser virindi didn't have time to Heal themselves before burning arrows trailing vivus punched into them and dropped them in flares of fires white and crimson. Which left the Shadow-touched Quiddoxes and Paradoxes, whose bombardment of first Elemental, then Void Magic had never quite let up. They were probably growing severely irritated when all those tower Shields weren't blasted apart or eroded away. Shields weren't supposed to stop magic at all, actually, so the fact these did was definitely irking them.

When none of the Shields were appreciably weakened by their blasts, they opted to start Debuffing the Vanguards, who just grit their teeth and let them do so, focusing on the coordination of their Shields, keeping their Stances and the mauling shades, marguls, rifts, and marionettes under control, and then letting them in one by one to be massacred by the waiting Wolfpacks.