Chương 225: Interference

"I have now reached enlightenment! Trial-taker! Approach!" The sudden call had everyone still remaining in the open space next to the colossal Ruler stop abruptly, looking to the metallic orb which had remained floating in the air for well over two hours. At the construct's words, Kite rose from where he had been helping Braid set up the next in a series of excavation rituals into the stone wall.

"Officiator," he greeted tentatively as he approached.

"What news do you have?"

"The nature of this trial has now been laid bare before me, and I have merged with it as has been decreed by my creator, and through her the Queen herself!" the orb proclaimed with obvious pride.

"We are now in direct contention with the foul invaders, as is only right and proper."

"Then please, do tell."

"Heed me then, trial-taker and minions! This trial consists of two Rulers, dominating this broken landscape. Without interference, the two would be locked in eternal struggle, their drones waging a constant, unchanging war against each other in the labyrinth that separates them. But that balance would be tipped by a trial-taker, whose task would be to side with one of the Rulers and help their forces eventually dispatch the other.

It was supposed to be a careful balancing act of where to best apply one's path for the greater purpose and finding one's part in the whole. Now though, foul misdeeds have corrupted this glorious trial. The invaders are numerous, and the balance is shattered. But no more!" the sphere called pompously, and even without a face Kite got the distinct impression that it gave each of those present a stern look before continuing"We are now the opposition; the balancing force of righteous glory.

It will be up to you, trial-taker, to lead your minions and the drones of this Ruler to strike back and prove that the Queen's decree is not to be trifled with. Map the labyrinth and brave its depths! Help the drones conquer, and find treasure and tempering among the other denizens who reside therein. And strike down any foul knave you come upon. The honor of the Queen demands it!"

The final proclamation echoed around the open space, with Kite and the others exchanging glances even as the Ruler only looked at them with its creepy, neutral stare while disgorging another set of drone soldiers - arthropod humanoids with a red tint to their carapace - who marched off into the depths without a word.

"So, at least we have a name for them now," Little Crow remarked, nodding towards the departing silver-ranked beings.

"A good thing is that we somewhat managed to stay our hand the last time they appeared."

"It was just a little singed, alright? It should get over it," Dragonfly retorted a bit abashedly.

"I'm sure that won't tip the greater balance of things," Kite said reassuringly, turning to one of Wander's bodies.

"Did you convey that to River?"

"I did. Didn't even have to spice it up too much either~," the rat replied.

"She asked me to convey a message in reply which was something terse and ominous that basically meant 'Okay, I will keep that in mind'. I took the liberty of paraphrasing~."

"Any sign of our foes?"

"Nothing so far, but we've taken things carefully as you asked. Also, the place is pretty huge, with so many passages, nooks and crannies. Would have been an awesome burrow if it wasn't for all these bug-guys. Oh, but River did find some other kind of monster; a scorpion-thing which tried to ambush her. You can probably imagine how that went~."

"Would you please tell her to return, then? It seems that we now know enough to start trying to seize the initiative," Kite said, before remembering something else as he turned back towards the officiator.

"Am I assuming correctly that you cannot tell us their location or the layout of this place?" he asked, just to be sure.

"No, trial-taker. Even though a foul invasion has taken place, this place is and will ever be one of the Queen's trials. Balance will ever be the goal, for your paths to properly show."

"I see. But can you at least tell us where the gate itself is located? It should have been our point of entry, no? And still remains our means of exit."

"That is within acceptable limits," the orb replied.

"The gate stands proud atop the labyrinth's central spire, in the eye of the great storm." As no explanation seemed forthcoming, Kite turned to the others again.

"As I said before; we now have some to work with. Let's continue the preparations. Once River returns, it is time to make some proper plans."

"Trial-taker, you really shouldn't just reside here. The balance between the rulers will never be shifted unless you act-" Verses Sung Twice had managed to tune out the orb for quite some time now where she sat meditating not far away from the so-called Ruler whose side they had ostensibly joined. But much like the stone basin gradually hollowed out by the trickling water, so too did her patience prove to have an end. At least she had a way which could shut the orb up for a time.

"And if our allies have their way, that balance will remain for as long as they deem this place useful. The allies who reside there," she said, even reaching out to point at the construction which housed the Builder's cultists.

"-it needs— eeeeds—" As usual, pointing out the others of Verses' group had the construct's voice distort in quite amusing ways, and just as she was about to slip back into her meditation while aided by the the nice flavor of discordance in the sounds, something new happened.

"- weeds— Balance shifted. Trial configuration compromised. Processing." Mid-screech, the orb's voice suddenly fell flat, losing the expressiveness of its normal tone. And then it fell silent. Well and truly silent.

"Orb?" Verses asked, rising to her feet and walking over.

"Orb? Answer me!" But no answer was forthcoming. The things just floated there, completely still. It didn't even respond when Verses gave it a light shove, instead just shifting slightly in the air at the applied force.

"This… is concerning," Verses thought to herself while her spiritual senses stretched out into the camp. Sunless, along with the four others of their brothers and sisters, were still out in the maze of crevasses and caves where the arthropod soldiers of their rulers allegedly clashed with that of another. This left Verses alone with the cultists and their ritual, and thus, none other which to apprise of this development.

"It might be nothing, of course…," she thought as she regarded the silent orb.

"A quirk of the trial or the tampering." In her mind, Verses reached a decision though, and soon started off towards the cultist's part of the camp.

"Still, this is too important to leave such things to chance. We must prove ourselves reliable enough for this collaboration, after all."

"Well, Wander," Kite said, looking at the modest gathering of rats who sat in a small clump at their 'bunk' in the shelter the group had constructed for themselves.

"Would you please enlighten us as to what you have found out?" The whole group had shuffled into the open space made inside the cliff wall with the help of Braid's expertise and a judicious application of excavation rituals, even if the bunks in question were little more than a rectangular cut out from the simple stone tunnel they had made, but it was better than just sleeping out in the open space next to the ruler.

"I shall, illustrious leader~!" the little group of rats began, climbing atop one another to form a little pyramid as they gestured with much pomp.

"First of all; good work on the concealment array hiding this place, Braid! Very nice! I needed to get pretty close to sniff it out! But now; given my general awesomeness, a map of the nearest segments of the labyrinth - that sounded pretty awesome so that's what we're calling it even if it is really just caves, tunnels and crevasses - is being made as we speak~!"

The little swarm of rats gestured to another little group of six of the little rodents who were currently scurrying all over the shelter's only table - or rather, a smooth block of stone - where a wide parchment was currently under assault by small paws armed with charcoal pens as they meticulously had started turning a small corner of it into a branching set of lines indicating tunnels and caves.

"This place is huge though. But it would have to be, I suppose, if it is to be a challenge for silver-rankers~," the rats continued.

"And making maps is hard, so it'll take time. But I think I'm getting the hang of it~!"

"Yes, Wander, you are very talented," Braid remarked dryly.

"Now perhaps you might want to get onto the rest of it so that we may set out?"

"Well I was getting to that, but now I'm not sure I want to anymore~."

"Wander…"

"Fine, fine… Well, as I said, the place is huge, but there's another thing… We… We are not alone in here…" The little group of rats said this with the most dramatic of pauses, even holding an appropriately horrified pose for an extended moment as she didn't get a reaction.

"We… We know, Wander," Dragonfly eventually said.

"It was kind of the whole point of us all going into this place."

"Well I'm not talking about those other guys. I'm talking about… monsters! Hunting in the depths~!"

"Yes, we know. River told us," Little Crow replied, lounging in his cot in a way that made the stone seem surprisingly comfortable.

"Then what do you even need me for then~?" Wander grumbled but, seeing the others' expectant gazes upon her, decided to finally get a bit more serious.

"Anyhow, this leaves us a lot of ground to cover. Fortunately, we do have some guides, even if they are incredibly boring. You know those things the Ruler keeps gorging out? They seem to know their way. I have yet to see them actually encounter something, but it's not that hard to guess that they are pushing towards the other Ruler~."

"The monsters in the other passages stay out of their way too," River added.

"I've found mostly different kinds of ambushers. Perhaps dangerous to lone weaklings without proper senses, but they should mean little trouble to us."

"It sounds like we have what we need then," Will exclaimed from where he sat next to Laevyeth at the edge of one cot.

"Foes, a direction, something unknown to brave. When do we set out? My Lady and I are eager!"

"It does indeed seem like it is high time. Which leaves the question of groups and roles," Kite said, taking over the explanation.

"There is still a lot we do not know about this place, and even though Wander's efforts are valiant, we will need to help her in learning about the labyrinth and - Fortune willing - our targets inside. As such, we have finally managed a team assignment which I believe shall work for the time being." Kite could see River's clear displeasure at his words, but she did not protest as she had already agreed beforehand. He gave her restraint a slight acknowledging nod, then continued.

"First of all though; I trust in the capabilities of all of you. But as Will so aptly put it; we are braving the unknown here. I have little doubt that you will be able to find a good balance in how far or close you stray from one another, but please take care. It is not just your own path and line at stake here. But every venture such as this needs a point of retreat, be it a hideout or a bastion. And as you already know, Braid, I hope that you will make sure that ours is… well, both."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"I'm actually looking forward to it," the weaver replied, patting a satchel at his side.

"I didn't bring all these materials for nothing. Just make sure to keep the tokens I've already given you on your person though so that none of the arrays will get the wrong impression."

"Wander -," Kite continued, "- it goes without saying that you will be in charge of scouting and communications. I want you all to keep at least one of Wander's bodies with you at all time, and stay within range of the other parts of her. That way she will be able to provide us with some communication."

"I'll keep all of my many, many eyes and ears open~!" the outworlder replied, rats once again returning to the stiff, respectful poses from before.

"That leaves the rest of us, who we have suggested split up as follows; Dragonfly, Soul, Will and Laevyeth. The four of you are all our most self-sufficient in the terms of recovery, and your paths should leave you able to wage plentiful violence on whatever foes you may come across." Each of those assigned nodded in recognition, having been part of the decision making.

"This leaves the rest of us making up the other group," Kite then continued, looking at the others in turn.

"Fantina, Glint, Little Crow and River. I will be joining you, even if I would suspect that you, River, will not protest if I ask you to act as a secondary scout and aura tracker? You are well-versed in finding our foes after all. We deemed this the team that would benefit the most from having Fantina with us, and both Glint and River should greatly facilitate those detonating needles of yours, Little Crow."

"Which I certainly do not mind," the celestine added.

"From what my senior brother has told me, there is apparently a saying among the stormcaller leonids that goes something along the lines of 'Like zapping fish in a barrel'. Which, while questionable in logic, does sound quite satisfying in practice."

"We might need to change this up along the line, but it should do us well. Please work out as many synergies as possible between yourselves. I did tell you of what Gauntlet taught me in that regard, as most of us outer members need to remain flexible to the group they decided to send on the contract. Oh, and please also remember to be on the lookout for things out of the ordinary. Both trials which I have taken on so far have had hidden treasures of different sorts, even though they usually came with some risk too.

It isn't our main purpose, but it surely would not hurt our cause in the long run." Sensing that none present had any question, Kite rose, making sure that all of his satchels were in place as he started channeling a small stream of mana through his armor.

"May Warrior guide us then. Let us depart."

"Sooo, quite a nice and cozy little gathering you have here. Almost makes me feel left out," Sunless Fang called with some amusement as he emerged from one of the shaded crevasses to find Verses Sung Twice, Jin and Kura - another of the Builder cultists - gathered around the officiator orb.

"Your sarcasm only serves yourself, Sunless Fang, and as such, it is useless," Jin replied from where he was currently watching some kind of flickering ritual lines with intense focus.

"Well, who shoved some more metal up his rear?" the draconian murmured to Verses as he took position beside her.

"The orb started behaving oddly around two hours ago," Verses replied tersely.

"They're trying to find out why, even if their skills seem to be lacking."

"Had it not been for the grace of the Builder, none of us would have been able to make any sense of these gates at all in the limited time available to us, even less have had a chance to enter one," Jin replied, obviously able to hear them.

"If you expect us to more than scrape the surface here, you will be greatly disappointed. Every tool must know its limits, or fall."

"At least you admit to being tools. I've always liked some sense of self-awareness in my allies," Sunless shot back.

"Pray tell, what does your little ritual tell then?"

"So far, we can only detect some kind of shift in this place. We probably won't be able to get too much more from it at this stage. It-""Eeeee— Balan— shifted. Adversaries. Trial-tak— You must— Ruler— Champions— Two sides? But that's impossible— ble— ble—" They all fell silent as the orb, twitching erratically in place, managed to sputter a few clipped words before once again falling still. Verses and Sunless exchanged a glance while Jin and his subordinate let the ritual fade away.

"Any idea what that was about, mighty trial taker?" the draconian eventually asked his sister in faith.

"No, but it does not strike me as something we should just leave to chance," Verses replied.

"Some of those words indicate complications. Call back the others. We must be more vigilant from hereon. And, if there has indeed been interference, we must cut it out at its source."

"Fine, fine," Sunless replied, but contrary to his tone the draconian did head back toward the crevasses with some haste.

"We've helped our soldiers push quite far already, after all. Should give us plenty of time. The red ones shouldn't need to step far before encountering some resistance."

"Yes, there! Then turn left, then right for a few dozen meters and~""I mean no offense, Wander, but I can sense the auras pretty clearly by now," Kite replied to the rat seated atop his shoulder who called out directions.

"Ah… True~," the rat replied.

"Want some commentary then? I give those to Braid all the time. See, River found this group of eight bug-men, but they are blue! And they sure didn't seem happy to see her. She revealed herself on purpose, of course, and now she's doing some pretty impressive flipping around them and- Oh? Owie… I did not know chains could do that to an orifice~" Kite tuned out Wander's recounting as he too finally rounded the corner and got a good view of the described spectacle.

Ahead of him, two crevasses and one downward-slanting tunnel converged to create an uneven, open space of sheer dark cliffs, greenish gravel and - currently - a fierce combat. As Wander had said, there were indeed eight enemies who looked mostly identical to the arthropod soldiers - the drones, as the officiator orb had called them - which they had seen their Ruler create a few times since their arrival.

Each stood around two meters tall, like suits of blue-ish segmented armors even though their faces mirrored the blank one of the Ruler. Six of the drones had shield-like growths of carapace on their left arms and long spikes jutting from their right which they used in a relentless offensive as they attempted to chase and corner their elusive prey. The two remaining lacked those armaments but seemed to compensate by launching shimmering bolts of magic from outstretched hands.

And among all of them, River danced, leapt and whirled at a frantic pace, running up walls and leaping across the open space to avoid being cornered. This was made all the harder though, as the drones apparently weren't content with simply remaining on the ground either. Their odd, spiked feet could apparently let them scale the walls easily enough, using silver-ranked strength and balance to attempt vertical pursuit.

While River didn't seem overly pressed at the moment, Kite did not fancy taking chances in their first real encounter inside the labyrinth outside some lone ambush predators which had stood little chance when Pain's priestess could so easily detect them." Wall! Little Crow, Fantina, if you please!" he called, conjuring several walls of force to partition the small battlefield. Kite didn't make them into perfect boxes however, for two reasons.

The first was that River's chains were already criss-crossing the space to enough of a degree that it simply wasn't possible. And the second, which was the reason why he made no walls facing their approaching group, was to allow his companions to do their thing. At his call, the smiling assassin, half-leaping, half-floating just behind Kite sprung further up into the air while levering his closed parasol toward the group below.

With a whoosh, the colorful artifact opened, which sent a shower of glowing needles peppering into the now partitioned group of enemies. Each of the seeming pinpricks proved to be anything but as they stuck in chitin and stone only to detonate in small, bright explosions which made the air shudder with rippling shockwaves, and only moments after the two ranged attackers were swallowed up by the restraining bubbles of Glint's magic.

And at Kite's other side, Fantina LanCaire had already conjured her bow, aiming with a steady hand into the chaotic melee. It was a short, recurved weapon of what looked like polished bone and gold, and it thrummed with each powerful shot she let loose.

As a human, Fantina's bow essence had given her a small but respectable arsenal of special attacks which allowed her to act as a decent ranged support capable of a moderate pace of quality attacks to pierce armor and deliver temporary wounding afflictions which debilitated movement. But another of her more frequently used power in conjunction with her bow actually came from her divine essence of Fertility." Let fly the seeds of potential, and let my mates reap the reward."

As she cast it, the spell conjured five arrows which glowed a fierce white as they remained floating within easy reach. One by one, Fantina shot them into the enemy drones where they shattered upon contact into bursts of magical light which were subsumed into the target's body after the damage of the initial impact.

There the light stayed, even growing over time before River hit one of the affected drones with a flick of her chains, causing the stored magic to release as a burst of reinvigorating healing which caused a few glancing cuts to fade even faster than normal. The opening barrage had the drones stagger, several of them being injured. But they were also silver-ranked beings, and would apparently not go down so easily. Instead of floundering, the group pivoted and acted with an eerie coordination.

No matter if they were standing on the ground or up on one of the cliff walls, all of the shield-bearers had their guard up and facing the new threat within a moment, and the shields themselves started to shimmer with a similar, shuddering light as the bolts fired by their brethren." Ward!"

Foreseeing the danger, Kite sped forward while conjuring both barriers of Heaven-and-Void Warding in front of him at their widest to cover as much of the space behind him as possible while his new shield, Tower of the Unspeaking Chime, appeared in the grip of one of the arms of his mantle. River caught it too, and shifted out of the way as a blur before the group of drones collectively discharged the gathering powers of the shield.

Compared to the blasts of the other, this was more akin to a shockwave which seemed to only grow and be amplified by the multiple simultaneous discharges. It plowed into Kite's barriers like an avalanche, shattering the two discs after a moment's resistance. This caused a retributive wave to wash out in return; a pale blue light which drained the mana of the offenders who dared strike the Unspeaking Chime.

But the attack still washed over Kite in a painful wave; dampened by the defenses, but still carrying some punch. With the synchronized power spent, the drones also went on the offensive in two groups of three where one charged straight at Kite while the other leapt above to charge past him towards Little Crow, Fantina and Glint. Or rather, attempted to do so.

While Kite met the three on the ground in a clash of barriers, chitinous blades and a staff trailing nothingness, chains snapped out and wrapped around each of the would-be linebreakers as they sprang along the walls above.

"I am inescapable," River growled before yanking once with both physical and magical might as the links before her contorted and pulled of their own volition. Each of the drones were ripped from the wall and sent tumbling back down while Little Crow vanished from beneath his parasol, leaving the colorful artifact suspended in the air and raining exploding needles down on the still airborne foes while he himself appeared to the side to throw another barrage.

This was effective in and of itself, even if it forced River to release her chains and get out of the way below as the bombardment ensued. Meanwhile, Kite had quickly started to find his rhythm. Three against one weren't odds one normally liked, but the drones fought with a unity that was both a strength and a weakness. It made them superiorly synchronized, but it also had them act quite similarly.

Through this and the steady, perception-sharpening calm of his combat meditation, Kite could often predict all of their motions at once and negate them through barriers, footwork, Glint's watery reflection which absorbed glancing hits and the occasional counterattack to disrupt attacks before they could gather momentum. Fantina also provided the occasional arrow in support, even though she clearly held her shots until she was sure that she wouldn't hit Kite by accident.

Before the second onslaught of essence powers, the group of enemy drones started losing members. The first true casualty came when Little Crow blurred and appeared behind one who had been a little late in joining his fellows in returning to formation, conjuring a long, thick needle which felt more like a stiletto that he rammed into the back of an armored head with an explosive result in the front.

The two ranged attackers fell not long after as River used her winding execution on the restrained foes now wrapped in chains and water both, and the remaining five were dealt with one at a time while Kite acted as interference.

"Well, it seems that we have endured first contact," Kite said aloud as it was clear that no more enemies remained or were inbound, at least not according to River's potent aura senses.

"Bah. I was in more danger from you than anyone else, assassin," the acolyte of Pain snapped towards Little Crow, who just shrugged with his usual smile.

"But you didn't get hit, did you? I know that you are a nimble one." Seeing that River might want to continue the argument, Kite decided to bring the conversation back on track.

"We are still very new at working together. Give this some thought, the both of you, and we shall be able to figure it out," he said, trying to muster as much solid command in his voice as possible.

"But back to the topic at hand, what have we learned from this encounter? I, for one, did not expect the drones of the other side to be so close. Some kind of halfway point would have been more reasonable, assuming that the trial strives for a balance which the trial-taker will have to tip in their favor."

"They were weak and predictable. But also synchronized," River eventually said, the last admission sounding almost painful.

"Fighting them all alone would have been a challenge."

"Yeah, that's right," Wander agreed from Kite's shoulder.

"Are we sure this trial was meant for only one person? Because that seems rough …~" Kite nodded in agreement, giving the matter some thought.

"You do raise a point. Perhaps it was so that one would have to utilize the drones of our own side for support? The officiator did say that this trial was about finding the place of one's path in a greater whole."

"So going together like this gives us a lot more options than their route," Little Crow noted.

"I like it. Better to move unseen and appear where we can do the most damage, especially if we are to actually discover our targets in here too." Following his gaze, Kite looked into the winding crevasses and tunnels ahead of them, trying to picture just how many twists and turns lay ahead of them.

"It seems like we have all the more reason to continue mapping out the place then," he eventually said, starting forward again while gesturing for the others to do the same.

"Wander, please relay our findings to the others. The first exchange has been dealt with, and we should learn from it. But I foresee many, many more before this is over."