Chương 160: 'Me-time'

During his time with Task Group Gauntlet, Kite had once more become thoroughly reacquainted with the concept of time passing slower while waiting. This was doubly true when the situation was tense, violence and danger potentially lurking just around the corner.

And at this very moment, he found that the phenomenon could be taken even further as the team was currently moving slowly through a cramped, stone-shaped and water-filled tunnel with stone dust, silt and other debris constantly swirling while reducing visibility to near nothing. At the front, Christine was hard at work using her powers to tunnel into the submerged base of Havenpeak's cliffs, the need for stealth slowing them down.

While he knew that taking a small step forward every other second was still most impressive, the situation made it feel like an almost unbearable eternity. They had been at it for only a few minutes when Christine stopped, holding up a barely visible hand as she felt the stone ahead.

"What is it?" Ryker said softly, his voice carrying to the others through the communication necklaces. Their range was very limited, but they could at least make speaking possible while under water.

"There is a cave ahead of us. Or a tunnel. And not just a single one either," Christine retorted.

"Which is great, no?" Gray Sky asked "It will speed things up significantly if we don't have to tunnel all the way."

"But it might also mean that the smuggling operations reach down into the cliffs, and us breaking through will give us away sooner than anticipated," Mtanga noted.

"Is there a way around?" Ryker asked, turning back to Christine.

"Let me see," she said, putting her hands on the stone.

"The water muddles my senses a bit, but… no. The walls are too thin. The network is actually quite extensive." Ryker thought for a while before he seemed to come to a decision.

"If we wait too long, the others are going to go ahead either way and we'll lag behind. Prepare to breach through, and we'll set up an environmental barrier. If it's just caves, Gray Sky might be right and we'll have an easier time of it." Christine nodded and continued without hesitation, although she did slow the pace of her tunneling to an even greater crawl.

Soon, a hole formed which was quickly plugged by the blue orb of the aforementioned barrier, its thin film expanding to keep out the water as Christine widened the opening slowly. It was when the opening was roughly one meter across that Amica's aura suddenly surged where she floated just behind Kite.

Some of the larger pieces of stone littering the floor of the tunnel surged upwards and shot towards Christine, passing the elf before she had time to register what was happening and pinning something to the side of the opening. It was only belatedly that the rest of them felt the unfurling silver-ranked aura of a previously hidden monster somewhere inside the cavern ahead, and could recognize that the purple thing writhing against the edge of the opening was something akin to a barbed tongue.

"Forward!" Ryker called, but the rest of the team was already in motion as more previously hidden auras could be felt emerging throughout the cavern system ahead of them. His cloak split, each of the eight tendrils shooting out to intercept or entangle another similar tongue which shot towards the opening. Ryker's magic sharpened the edges of his cloth, twisting the animated material to slice through the purple appendages.

Pained shrieks could be heard from within, and Ryker was suddenly yanked from his feet and into the room as all tongues retracted. Christine, having been the closest, shoved more mana to widen the opening more forcefully, abandoning stealth in what turned out to be an ambush with the team as the prey. Kite passed through hot on her heels just in time to see Ryker twist and turn into a spinning dervish of sharpened cloth to free himself.

The glow emanating from the magical symbols of his cloak threw a dim light over the surprisingly spacious cavern, illuminating their ambushers. There were over twenty of the things; rocky bulbs blending into the cavern with terrifying precision before they opened up like fleshy flowers, showing off pale interiors with the purple appendages shooting out from them. Half were already up and active, with more coming alive by the second, ready to join their kin in the assault.

And Kite thought it best to give the team some time to regroup, as he had personally never encountered silver-ranked monsters in these numbers outside of the mirage chamber.." Wall!" Leyline Warding created an oblong box leading out into the middle of the room while connecting to the opening Kite had just emerged from, allowing the rest of the adventurers emerging from the water-filled tunnel to do so unassailed as purple tongues lashed the barriers, each leaving cracks in their wake.

"Stationary foes," Kite called as he joined Ryker where the man landed from his whirling escape.

"Protect Sztyka and Gray Sky so they can deal with it?" Ryker only nodded in return, his silence obvious as one of the barbed tongues seemed to have struck his throat, turning it into a bloody mess, and gestured for Kite to get on with organizing.

"Gray Sky, Sztyka, we will assist you. Don't hold back," Kite said, taking in the state of his barriers to gauge what time they had remaining. The leonid priestess of Justice only nodded, the dust maw appearing above her head. Gray Sky started his own preparations too, even if his gaze clearly conveyed his disgruntlement at suddenly being led by someone his junior.

Kite knew that Mtanga and Christine would both be higher in the actual command order than him, but both seemed content at following along for now, so he put his plan into motion.

While it would have been satisfactory to break his barriers himself, unleashing waves of resonating force within an enclosed cave system felt like an excellent shortcut to a cave-in of unknown proportions, so Kite stayed his hand until he saw that their two linchpins were ready while the others formed up around them, the still recovering Ryker included.

"Prepare yourselves!" he called, pulsing his aura once as a countdown. Then, he let the cracked and failing barriers of Leyline Warding disperse. Twenty barbed tongues immediately shot towards them from all around, the silver-ranked monsters easily having the reflexes to pounce upon this imagined opportunity. But instead of meeting the now fallen barrier or soft adventurer flesh, the purple appendages met a storm of violence.

Sztyka and Gray Sky both covered one side each, maw of dust and petrifying gaze each devouring or hampering a wide swathe of the incoming appendages, turning them to dust or cracked stone before working its way closer to affect the bodies of the monsters. The rest of the group spread out to cover the other directions, Emilio turning into a blur as his dual wands fired in steady streams, Christine launching crystal and stone shrapnel and Amica in turn using said shrapnel to ward off more of the monsters.

Kite and Ryker became the reserve, both men using their many sets of limbs - be they magically sharpened cloth or spectral arms - to shred the few tongues that managed to worm their way past the rest. The team quickly discovered that one didn't have to inflict too much damage on each tongue for the monsters to retract it, which led to Kite speeding up even further as one of Matra's descendants appeared in each hand.

Working six blades at once carried quite the mental strain, but channeling some of the teachings of master Zarth-an, Kite went with simplicity as he swiftly learned to avoid targeting the fast-moving tips of the appendages and instead went to project simple stabs and slashes toward their middle instead.

While their defense wasn't perfect, Kite's barriers at least meant that the hits suffered were mostly glancing ones, which was rather fortunate as the group could soon feel another silver-ranked aura getting closer, brazenly showing off its bestial power as some other denizen of the caverns seemed to want to join in the fun.

"We have another incoming. Something bigger. Its aura feels rather toothy, too," Amica called, her sharper senses allowing for more detail.

"Teacher, I believe I can hold things here," Kite called to Ryker.

"Mind taking care of the guest?" While he did not turn to look, lacking both the time and opportunity to do so while fending off the gradually lessening number of tongues as the teams counterattacks started paying off, Kite's expanded vision let him see Ryker nod and croak something affirmative through his still healing throat. Whatever was coming towards them from a sloping side tunnel soon registered to Kite's aura senses more clearly, and he agreed in Amica's assessment; whatever it was, it knew only hunger.

He barely managed to catch sight of obscenely long teeth and a tangling strand with a glowing drop at its tip before Ryker was upon it, the reinforcing cloth around his legs creakingly twining together before releasing just as he jumped. Three of the tongues tried catching him, but were only sliced asunder for their troubles.

Whatever had been about to enter the cave could only shriek in surprise and frustration as Ryker's impact drove it back and out of sight, managing a few frantic bolts of light from the glowing drop before what Kite suspected to be a furious melee began. His teacher's departure did increase the strain on Kite as he started covering more and more of the incoming appendages.

A slash, two thrusts in different directions, sidestep and pivot to avoid a tongue coming for him and-"An opening," Kite's mind noted, the steadily decreasing number of attackers finally leaving a moment for a single attack in retaliation. His mind had barely registered the thought as one of his own arms had begun a swing.

Kite was sorely tempted to just unleash the charges built up in Matra, but once more hesitated as he didn't know what the wave of slashing, piercing death would do to the walls and ceiling on which the practically stationary monsters perched. But at least he had something.

"Sage. If you please," Kite thought as he delivered a wide, sweeping strike with his staff trailing the nothingness of Void-Sunders-Firmament. The empowered strike was projected towards a single foe, tearing through its outer shell and causing fluorescent purple blood to splatter over the wall. While the thing wasn't dead - silver-rankers of any kind rarely succumbed to a single attack - it was still out of commission for a while as it regrew its tongue.

But Sage's impact was more substantial as the familiar received a charge from Potential of Stolen Power, showering almost half of the cavern wall and ceiling with glowing blue motes which rippled in a chained detonation. The hard carapaces of the creatures meant that, once more, the resonating damage would have been most ideal, but Kite had the familiar use disruptive force to stay on the safe side.

This meant that the damage dealt was far less, but this time it was more about tipping the scales, because the chained blasts had been aimed at the same section of cave where Sztyka was rapidly withering away the clustered monsters.

The leonid priestess flared her aura in thanks as she cast another of her ramping area spells, perfect for finishing the practically immobile monsters just a little bit faster after Sage's blasts had weakened the further, but Kite didn't have the time for more pleasantries as he fell back into his defensive role. He was once more reminded of Phiona Geller's prophesizing of his path at silver rank, her words proven true as he found himself back into his defensive combat meditation.

While Void-Sunder-Firmament dealt decent damage, the lone attack was not nearly enough to compete with those like Sztyka, Amica and Ryker. But as Kite, through a combination of projected attacks and conjured barriers, was fending off five of the monsters by himself and finding the time to make the occasional counterattack, he also felt a bit of pride. He could do it. He could become that eye of the storm of which Phiona had spoken.

But as things would have it, the storm around him proved to hide some unexpected turbulence. Sztyka had just finished off her side of the cavern and was turning her claws of dust and desolation towards helping out the others when Ryker came flying back into the room, one of his cloth tendrils wrapping around a retracting tongue just in time to drag him out of the reach of a pair of snapping jaws which shot forward.

Kite was taken aback as he was surprised that the lone monster had been able to trounce Ryker so swiftly, but as two more of them scampered into the room after the first, things became a lot more clear. Each of the three beasts looked like a scaled ovoid two meters across moving on strong but stumpy legs, with the majority of their bodies consisting of a huge maw with many, many thin fangs each the length of Kite's forearm.

All of the monsters except one also sported the tendrils with glowing drops extending from their head which fired bolts of light after the retreating adventurer, with one only sporting a wiggling stump; no doubt courtesy of Ryker. While he had no idea what they were, Kite definitely knew that the arrival of the brawny trio threw quite the spark into the alchemical cauldron, shattering the control the adventurers had been gaining over the situation.

"At least the monsters aren't on friendly terms," Kite thought, seeing one of the huge mawed things charge and gobble up an injured tongue-beast. But as the situation had turned, they had to do something. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Apparently thinking the same thing, Christine called; "Ryker? Retreat or turtle up?" while she was busy conjuring her detonating crystal walls to stun and dazzle the newcomers.

"Shift our defenses closer to the entrance. Emilio, you're our distraction. Sztyka, focus on the wall-crawlers. Kite, interception. The rest of us focus one of the newcomers at a time," Ryker called, voice now raspy but comprehensible. The group turned to do as told, with Kite and Christine each bringing up more walls to cover their short retreat. Unfortunately, the light beams proved annoyingly good at carving through barriers, and what should have been an ordered retreat became a fighting one.

Kite smashed his staff into the side of an incoming maw while the arms of his mantle gave two opportunistic tongues enough of a sting for them to retreat. The mawed thing in front of him bore the impact rather well, however, pushing against the force with its much greater mass. As the fangs were about to snap shut again, Kite had to change his approach.

"Ward!" The twin discs of Heaven-and-Void Warding appeared between the fangs, cracking slightly as powerful jaws closed in on them but holding overall, leaving the monster's mouth pried open around the two discs and stuck at a no doubt uncomfortable angle. Hairline cracks were spreading due to the pressure, but Kite felt that the silver-ranked version of Spiritual Futility did an admirable job in restoring the barrier's integrity.

While the thing struggled to spit out the barriers, hampered by its overly long teeth, Kite didn't waste any time, retreating while his staff and two of Matra's descendants projected attacks towards the base of one of the monster's stubby legs. Void-Sunders-Firmament was usually rather unkind to limbs, and three of them targeting the same one proved enough to sever even the tough silver-ranked appendage.

"Gray Sky!" Kite called, indicating the hobbled monster to the runic as he flicked a pair of blades towards the glowing bead of another of the fanged things, Disrupting Strike cancelling the gathering power just before it could fire one of its dazzling bolts, with Amica following up by giving the monster another mouthful of dead wall-crawler flung with all her telekinetic might.

Emilio had appeared behind the third, running circles around it while firing a constant stream of blasts while teleporting at the last moment to cause the beast to bite down on the floor, wall or even the other monsters. Just as Kite reached the others, he mistimed an attempt to intercept an incoming magical bolt, the quick projectile sneaking past his guard. Pain blossomed where it impacted his chest, but the more imminent concern was that the flashing, dazzling blast of magic carried a blinding effect.

Everything in Kite's expanded vision whited out as he steadied himself, his world narrowing to the clangor of combat in the cavern and the sense of auras clashing with the more primal ones of the monsters. For that brief moment he felt all of the others, different in spirit yet united in purpose. One even flared with obvious protective intent, and when Kite's eyes cleared a few seconds later, Ryker stood firm in front of him.

His teacher had obviously stepped in to interpose himself between Kite and one of the charging maw, beasts, flowing cloth glowing with arcane sigils anchoring him in the stone floor as other tendrils of sharpened fabric were driving the monster back with a furious flurry. The plentiful attacks proved to be a mere distraction too, as it allowed Christine to dash in and launch one of her detonating crystal balls in the open maw only for Ryker's cloth tendrils to force them shut.

The ensuing detonation caused the whole thing to shudder and sway unsteadily, and a seemingly sentient arrow storm from Mtanga followed to finish the job as multiple arrows dug into each of the monster's beady eyes. Further out in the cave, the monster Kite had hobbled was almost immobilized from Gray Sky's channeled gaze, Emilio and Amica distracting the rest as more and more best corpses were telekinetically thrown in as further distraction.

Unless something drastic happened, the turbulence in the storm seemed to have passed. Each fallen tongue-lasher lent the adventurers more time to land attacks of their own, and as soon as the last distraction in wall-crawling shape fell, focusing down each of the remaining maw beasts proved routine.

"It seems like these surprise caves will be a bit bothersome," Christine noted as the team all gathered, spiritual senses on high alert for more dangers.

"A sign from the gods. A challenge to prove our worth while ascending to our true target," Gray Sky added, seeming in good spirits as the ambush had given him plenty of opportunities to lean into the strengths of his power set.

"We don't know how many monsters are between us and the surface. Gods, do the smugglers up there even know what they got down here?" Mtanga asked, looking about the cavern and the remnants of around two dozen monsters.

"Should we head back and try another route?" Ryker stopped, obviously deep in thought as he looked out over the cavern and the multiple tunnels and cracks leading off in odd directions. Glancing down at a crystal device indicating the time, his frown deepened as he turned to the others.

"This was an unforeseen development. We could head back and try another way in as Mtanga said. But I believe that any form of tunneling will lead us back here. And if we try scaling the cliffs-""They'll spot us right away," Christine finished, understanding his line of thought.

"None of us has that kind of power set. And assuming they know what's down here, we can also assume that they have some kinds of protections in place against monsters. But protection against people geared for the task? Less likely. I propose that we continue through the caverns. We fight where we must, and tunnel where we can. And, Fortune be willing, appear as planned; right inside their defenses. But as the risks are mostly unknown, I am doing just that; proposing."

His stern gaze held a question for each and all of them, and Ryker seemed pleased with what he saw in return.

"Then we move out, same formation as before. Let's climb our way up there, and pray to the gods that the delay won't be too bad. Hopefully, we'll be able to hit them where it hurts." Above the waves, the smuggling port of Havenpeak was just coming alive in the early dawn.

While goods always moved through the hub of smuggling activity, built around the ruins of some ancient sea fort whose name and purpose had been long forgotten, the majority of the inhabitants were normal-rankers, and thus needed to actually eat and sleep with some kind of regularity.

While the architecture wasn't rich or embellished, it was a far cry from the ramshackle hodgepodge settlements of the stories, instead sporting properly built stone houses as Havenpeak had been many people's permanent residence for quite some time. The remoteness of the location and general indifference of the nearby nations had led to Havenpeak prospering in the recent decades, with interest from the local holders of money both new and old making sure that nothing major was sent their way.

And if the information which the Adventure Society's investigators had gathered, the latest shipment being prepared was the biggest one yet, bound to bring even more coin into the pockets of the mighty. Jane Merstwick couldn't help but reflect on the relative normalcy of it all from where she stood on one of the tallest still remaining towers of the old fortress, the light of the early morning bending around her as the cloaking powers of her light essence enveloped her like a comfortable old cloak.

"If you discount the surprisingly dense outer defenses and limited space, it feels a lot like most port towns of the region," she reflected, idly tapping her cheek with one invisible finger.

"Let's hope that most of the civilians can start over somewhere else after we're done with the place." Having scanned the city as best she could, Jane leapt off the roof, gliding on silent wings sprouting from her back before landing in the alley where the rest of her team waited for her. She didn't know them overly well, all of them being put together for this mission due to them having stealth powers and the expertise to use them.

"I have noted some locations of interest," she said in a low voice, uncloaking herself as she stepped through the illusory wall in the alley below. Nestled in between two of the stone warehouses - newer additions from the look of them - the rest of the four-person team waited, and all of them were soon gathered around the map Jane was adding to, marking a series of buildings.

"If the defenses at the perimeter were anything to go by, I doubt that we will be able to do too much sabotage without discovery. Not unless we have a proper diversion," she continued.

"From what I have smelled so far, there are plenty of essence-users here among the scum," Lefoux noted, the man's sharp nose causing his lupine features to crinkle in disgust.

"The stench of cores is heavy here, but enough core-users are always a threat. And pirates and the like aren't necessarily amateurs either. Should we wait for the tunneling teams to make their appearance?" Jane thought for a moment, then shook her head.

"No, we need to start sowing some chaos and do it ourselves. Better to have them come in as reinforcements rather than having them just sit around while we try to find the targets. As you said, almost all of the wretches here are core-users. We should be able to dance around them well enough."

"Then where do we begin?" Lefoux asked, the rest of the team nodding their assent to Jane's proposal.

"Had we been able to contact the other stealth team, we could have asked them to create said distraction. But as they are, well, stealthy, I suppose we'll just have to do it ourselves. What do you say to inflicting some real damage to the purses of those mainland fatcats while we create some opportunities?" From the wolfish grins of the others - and in the case of Lefoux, not a metaphorical one either - Jane knew that they had their plan.

Each of the four silver-rankers disappeared one by one, Task Force Gauntlet ready to get out there and sow some chaos.

"Mmmmm… Oooooohhh yeeeeeessss…." Micola Darntvang moaned, letting her head loll back while brushing her dark hair from her face. She wasn't sure if it was the mindshimmer in her veins, the very skilled fingers of her latest room-slave or just the heady feeling of really being on top of life that made her see stars and beautiful colors outside the window. Probably a mix of the three.

Having pulled her way up from less than ideal circumstances during the last fifty years, Micola was very much enjoying her position as one of the baronesses of Havenpeak.

"Compared to the slums of the mainlands and those pompous pricks, this… is… divine," she thought, rocking against her companion to punctuate her internal monologue. The elf man was blessedly remaining silent as instructed, as Micola liked her 'me-time' and allowing her thoughts to just roll with the moment.

"And besides, the fireworks are so pretty," she thought, and was just considering having her room-slave change things up when the door to her chambers suddenly burst open.

"Micola, get your- Oh by Dominion's mighty dong," Ambrose Lunder, fellow leader of Havenpeak and, as it turned out, a rather exasperated one at that, said as he stopped to take in the scene before him with a flat stare unbefitting his otherwise youthful face.

"Ambrose, get out. Can't you see I'm having some 'me-time'?" Micola shot back, uncaring of her nakedness.

"And you, I didn't say stop," she snapped towards the room-slave below her on the bed. Ambrose didn't seem to care though, instead pointing out the window as he marched closer.

"Micola, you're a silver ranker. Use your fucking eyes for once and-" he said, but stopped as he noticed the telltale sparkles in her eyes which was a dead giveaway to the mindshimmer his fellow crime baroness had taken earlier. Groaning in frustration, he chanted; " Let that which is unclean heed my command."

Shimmering streams of glitter as well as not a little amount of swirling alcohol was ripped from Micola's body as the cleansing took effect, gathering into a vile ball swirling above Ambrose's palm as he pointed out the window again, all but shouting; "Look!" The abrupt sobering up burned Micola's insides, but the constitution of a high-ranker let her recover in but a second.

That was when her previously addled mind actually registered that the fireworks and pretty colors outside were very much real, and very much not just a pretty light show.

"Shit!" she called, rolling off the elf below her who had wisely kept very, very still and quiet during the exchange.

"What's going on, Ambrose?!"

"There has been an attack on three of the western laboratories," Ambrose said, his frustration clear.

"Well why aren't you out there doing something about it?" Micola shrieked at her closest ally while dressing at a frantic speed.

"Is it Auguste? I bet its Auguste. He and his thugs have been eyeing our operations for months now."

"It is not Auguste," Ambrose said, the pair leaving Micola's quarters in her wing of the still standing parts of the old fort.

"And how do you know that?"

"Because his shipping operations were hit just minutes before. Do you know what that means?" Micola stopped, because she did. Which made her swear a stream of expletives foul enough to cause even a priest of Corruption to flinch. Her realization boiled down to her last words, spoken like it was the most vile of them all.

"Adventurers."

"Probably, and not stupid ones either," Ambrose agreed.

"I thought that the only reason we pay all those huge bribes to the rich pricks on the mainland was to avoid having adventurers come here and mess with our business."

"Which should in turn tell you how serious this is. If our… patrons… were unable to stop this - or worse, didn't even know of it - then this is some serious shit, Micola."

"Then what do we do? Do we have enough people to handle them?"

"I'm not sure, but there are fortunately enough of others who have connected the dots. I had messengers from both Micguel and Ludvilla at my door mere minutes after this shit started and I came here."

"Then it's really serious," Micola noted. Both Micguel Ravache and Ludvilla Stahltz were old hands in the underworld, and not easily fazed.

"We're meeting up with them now. Micguel had a solution in mind, but there will need to be at least a few of us sharing the risk for it to work out."

"Which is?"

"Doomstrike company hasn't moved on yet. They're still taking part in Havenpeak's hospitality."

"Doomstrike? Do you really think we'll need them, Ambrose? If there are four of us collaborating, surely we can handle it with our own people? Doomstrike will cost us a gods-cursed fortune, especially on short notice!"

"If Micguel Ravache suggests something costly, Micola, then we best listen," Ambrose said somberly, but he too seemed to age a century at the thought of the expense.

"Because while I don't know what led them here, I sure don't want to go out there and try to take on what is probably Adventure Society elites. Doomstrike are all ex-adventurers, and dangerous ones at that. Fighting fire with fire is a tried and tested method."

"Says the man with the water essence," Micola grumbled, but she knew Ambrose's words to be true.

"Fine. I'm in. But you take the lead when we're in the meeting. Doomstrike's leader always gives me the creeps, and I don't want to be in the same room as the man for a second longer than needed."

"Don't worry, Micola," Ambrose said, his youthful face regaining at least a bit of its usual mirth as he patted her shoulder once before she could swat him away.

"While the expense might sting, you know Doomstrike and what they can do. Soon this little problem will all go away, and you can go back to your - what was it? - 'me-time' to your heart's content."