Chương 226: Squeak~?

Even though he had known it through Wander's constant reports, Kite still felt a slight surge of relief at seeing Dragonfly along with the others back at their base camp. She apparently shared the sentiment, at least based on the speed with which she moved to throw herself in his arms as the group emerged from their tunnel.

"I've missed you too, my ardent Dragonfly," Kite said into her hair as he held her for a moment longer before letting go.

"Yeah, it's a bit embarrassing, actually," Dragonfly said with a slight blush.

"It's not like we haven't been apart for way longer than what? Twelve hours? But it somehow just feels different in here."

"The danger, unknown foes and our current lack of retreat options does make for some tension," Kite agreed.

"But come, we need to sit down with the others and discuss our first proper foray as I suspect that the upcoming ones will be longer by far." They soon found themselves once more squeezed into their hideout, even though it was slightly more comfortable this time around as Braid had worked to expand it further.

"So, how did you all fare?" Kite asked once they had all settled down and everyone had gotten some food in them.

"Better now!" Little Crow replied, lifting a meat bun in a mock salute.

"While I am as willing as the next person to subsist on spirit coins, I am very pleased that you brought as much as you did. Being semi-stuck in a trial with good food for a time is leagues better than being so without."

"Speak for yourself. I, for one, relish the opportunity to focus on honing my body without such distractions," Soul replied where she sat meditating.

"As to our actual experiences out in the Labyrinth -," Will added, "- we encountered three groups of the enemy drones. In one case, they were already locked in conflict with those of our side, and were easily dispatched. As for the other groups, things got a bit more chaotic, but overall it wasn't more than a contract with decently qualitative monsters of their rank."

"Easy for you to say. You didn't have to eat those blasts from the shield," Dragonfly added.

"Sure, they helped me get going, but a direct hit also left me pretty dazed. Me!"

"We encountered a total of three groups as well, although all were unengaged," Kite replied.

"The second and third times were easier though, at least as far as these things go."

"As I said; predictable," River snorted from the nook she had chosen, lurking in the innermost corner.

"Well, then there is at least someone among us who might be cheered up by my news~," Wander chimed in, only present in the form of some of her rats.

"While you all were having your brave, initial clashes with the enemy, a certain multitude of someone were scouting further ahead. There seems to be variants in some enemy groups. I saw one multi-legged thing as well as something more akin to a commander? Not sure about that though, as none of them were talking. It just had this air of 'I'm here, I'm in charge, I make my allies tougher'~."

"That is something to take note of then," Kite agreed.

"Please share any experiences with new variants through Wander once you encounter them. Anything else?"

"Nothing too special, which is a shame. I had hoped I could sniff out some of those hidden caches of treasure which orby over there mentioned~." At being mentioned, the hitherto silent officiator construct seemed to be startled from whatever contemplations it was capable of, its movements becoming slightly more agitated.

"Trial-taker! Your focus needs to remain pure! Conquer the invaders! Let them reap the retribution they have sown! You should push onward at once!"

"Your input is noted, honored officiator," Kite said placatingly before turning back to the others.

"Otherwise, the trend of mostly close confines seems to continue. Let us plan some more and rest up before we head out again. Time to strike deeper and really get to know this place. But the officiator is right; we need to find our targets. Whatever they planned doing in here, we need to know of it and how to disrupt it. Clearing the trial and forcing them out might be the most obvious solution, but anything we can accomplish before that should prove worthwhile."

"Why, isn't this nice! Joining the rest of us on a little outing. It almost feels jovial," Sunless Fang remarked with his usual amusement where he slid along the shadows next to where Verses Sung Twice ran through the twisting tunnels and crevasses at a steady pace which to anyone below silver rank would seem a breakneck speed.

"We just need confirmation, Sunless. If there has indeed been a change to the trial, as this useless thing indicates, then we need to know of it and handle it," Verses replied, gesturing to the silent officiator orb following in her wake.

"Sure, sure," the draconian replied.

"But have some patience though. You know that this place is huge. Even without interference, it will take almost a day to cross. If something's changed though, we'll find it. Don't you worry. I've started to get a pretty good sense of this place by now." Before Verses could reply further, Sunless himself disappeared as a trail of inky blackness, leaving only his shadow self to guide her. It was an obvious slight, but Verses just added it to her inner tally and kept on running. Today was not the time for payback.

That time would come in the future. Today, they needed answers. And at that, Sunless was at least skilled enough to tolerate for a while longer. Chitin met chitin in a furious clash which caused the air of the crevasse to shudder beneath the force of the blows, red against blue, all while the storm above raged on. In a way, the clashing of the two groups was impressive as the drones unleashed forces which could tear through most buildings of Kite's home as if they were made of paper and daydreams.

But in another way…

"As I said, they take forever ~," Wander sighed from Kite's shoulder. The group was observing one of the many, many clashes apparently taking place inside the labyrinth, where the drones of the two sides had happened upon one another. And they had observed said clashing for well over fifteen minutes now without either side gaining an edge. Sure, shields were chipped and magic discharged, but the two sides were so evenly matched that they seemed to have trouble gaining any kind of decisive advantage.

"Well, it does make sense in a way," Fantina added, bow conjured but held low at her side as she too witnessed the carnage.

"This was supposed to be a trial where one lone silver-ranker could tip the scales, right?"

"Indeed," Kite agreed, turning back to Wander.

"And you said that the clashes are more plentiful here?"

"Yep~," the outworlder answered.

"Something akin to an uneven line, at least as far as I can sense. Behind it, there are barely any of our drones unless the remains of a group has managed to push through."

"So assuming that there are two sides of this conflict, this is where the front lines currently are…" Kite reflected.

"That is rather close, is it not? Could this really be the halfway point? If so, this place is a lot smaller than the bronze-ranked challenge I was in. And I would not expect that to have been the case."

"Well, the best way to find out is to let your awesome friend Wander scout some more behind the lines. They seem to hold steady, so we might as well just let them be~."

"I agree," Little Crow added.

"Why engage a great number of guards when you can just bypass them? Leave for our drones to handle them."

"Because it is wise to have a clear line of retreat as well as support?" Fantina replied.

"It seems like River is pro-advancing, as she has already moved past them. Now who could have guessed that would happen~?" Wander squeaked, the last part in as much dry sarcasm possible to her diminutive form.

"Then I suppose we join her," Kite sighed, having expected something like this from the acolyte of Pain.

"Please Wander, lead the way. We'll talk more about how to deal with this once we have reconvened with the others. As for now, scouting remains our primary goal."

"You got it, brave leader~!" At that, Wander led them on a slight roundabout path through some twists and turns, and the group soon left the front line between the two battling sides behind them. Circumventing the groups of ordinary drones was a simple affair with their supreme scout, but they had not more than gone a quarter of an hour further into the labyrinth before Wander interrupted them.

"Wait? What's that? Ooo, that's a new one. Looks pretty important too. Perhaps you should check it out~?"

"A slight reminder that we cannot see everything you see, Wander," Kite remarked, the rat rolling her eyes in response.

"I'm trying to build some curiosity and anticipation here, great leader, but you're making it a lot harder than it has to be~."

"Wander…"

"Fine, fine… It is some kind of odd type of enemy drone."

"Like those others you mentioned?"

"A bit, but this is weirder."

"How?"

"Well, it remains still, with huge antennae-things. And it has several others who seem to act as guards. Still silvers, all of them, but it felt odd enough to report~."

"Thank you, Wander. We will heed your counsel. Tell River to meet us there." Weaving around two more groups of enemy drones, they soon found the group Wander had described as they crept up to peek around a corner, auras thoroughly kept in check. In the middle of a crossroad between three passages, a slightly taller, thinner drone stood surrounded by eight more bulky ones with bigger shields than the ordinary soldiers which they had seen so far.

And as Wander had mentioned, the thin one had a pair of long antennae sprouting from its forehead; ridged, articulated things which glowed slightly from the joints and at the tips.

"That does look like an important one," Little Crow breathed as he leaned back from his turn to take a look around the corner, his voice silent enough so that only a silver or above at close proximity could pick out the words.

"Almost has a target painted all over them. Feels like a trap to leave themselves out in the open like this. Perhaps we should go around them, or at least-" His words were interrupted though, as another voice - loud as a clarion call - made itself heard.

"Such things matter little before the Queen's justice!" the officiator orb, seemingly roused from its contemplations in a fury, called loudly.

"Do your duties, minions! Charge! For the honor of the gates!" Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. The words had little more than echoed down the crevasse-corridors before the auras of the odd drones ahead found them. Their spirits were mostly dull, but as the pressure bore down on them Kite could feel that one of the enemies - no doubt the taller one with the antennae - seemed to direct and bolster that of the others to a greater extent.

"We engage. Might as well see what this is. But Wander, please tell Dragonfly and the others head for our position just in case," Kite called as he already started moving.

"I'll break their line. Follow in my wake!"" Grant the speed of an arrow in flight!" Fantina's chant began mere moments after Kite had started his charge towards the enemy drones, shield raised. She then launched a phantom arrow straight into his back where it disappeared through his armor, and in the next moment, Kite did indeed feel like a loosed arrow himself. The boon contained in the projectile greatly increased his speed for a brief moment, and he sped down the crevasse in a blur.

This proved most fortunate too, as the group ahead had already responded to their presence with concerning speed. A wall of shimmering, chitinous shields formed in what seemed like an instant, and as Kite was only around half of the way there when a hail of glowing, magical bolts rose from behind it and started filling the crevasse in an impressive trail of destruction." Dissolve the patterns of power!"

Kite managed to complete the casting of Ripple of Cancellation just in time before his increased momentum carried him straight into the incoming projectiles. At his current speed, he even almost kept pace with the shimmering ripple of dispelling force which caused the projectiles to wink out just before impacting him.

Only when he was nearing the wall of shimmering shields did the spell pull ahead enough for Kite to dare use some of Unyielding's stored power for a final burst of motion to empower the leading swing of his staff. And as Immutable Echo struck, trailing the darkness of Void-Sunders-Firmament, the second part of Fantina's granted boon made itself known as the weapon connected with one of the raised bulwarks with a thunderous crack, only for a lance of resonating force to continue onward from the point of impact.

It blew a huge hole through the armored drone before being deflected by a magical barrier surrounding the special one just behind it; an unseen and forceful arrow unleashed at point-blank range. While part of Kite had hoped to at least injure the main target with the surprise attack, he had to settle for almost incapacitating a silver-ranked being in one augmented blow.

And any further thoughts would have to wait as the drone wall converged in on him like a set of jaws snapping shut, with Kite quickly finding himself working overtime with all the arms of his mantle - carrying Matra's descendants and his new shield - to keep the sudden onslaught of bladed fists somewhat at bay.

Even through the multi-limbed defense and his barriers, some hits and other sources of damage snuck through as there were simply too many foes who were too well coordinated in that uncanny way the drones had shown so far. Kite's armor became scored or punctured in a few places within moments, but this was also something which he had grown surprisingly used to in the years since ascending to silver rank.

With opponents more advanced and potent, it felt almost inevitable that some effects and injuries would find their way through, and thus it became more a question of deflecting what one could and saving more potent defenses for more dire attacks while trusting the potent recovery of a silver to take care of the rest. Or, as was currently the case, to Kite's allies to make up the difference as he bore the brunt of the whole crowd of enemies to give them an opportunity to leverage their paths to the fullest.

During the blink of an eye, a closed colorful parasol suddenly appeared floating in the air above Kite while a watery image of karma appeared behind him like a second shadow which started taking over the blows. Even as Kite swerved to counterattack, the parasol opened with a flash before sending a torrent of glowing, exploding needles outward in a circular spray.

One rippling detonation was followed by another as Kite sent Sage floating upwards and had the familiar use one of its charges - boosted by Potential of Stolen Power - to chain even more resonating force motes down over the small battlefield. Meanwhile, River dove in towards the shielded drone leader from above, striking the barrier in a wild flurry of chain-strikes and forcing the creature to direct any further spells toward her or risk getting overwhelmed in short order.

Their opening gambit spent, things devolved into more individual combats from there as defensive drones were sent reeling and trying to adjust to the four essence user and the celestial carp assailing them all at once. This was also when Fantina got to bring another of her suite of essence powers to bear." Virility restored, potency assured. Let Fertility's touch surge through you!" During their strategizing, Fantina had told her new companions quite a bit about her power set.

Her divine essence of Fertility provided a few very potent spells which both restored and augmented the target. As essence powers tended to, this came with a tradeoff as they all required touch to bring their effects to bear. But as it turned out, this was something which the priestess had already taken into consideration when she was able to somewhat choose her initial three essences.

Pale tentacles, like those of a squid but without the rows of suckers, emerged from Fantina's back and shoulders before stretching out the dozen or so meters to lightly touch Kite's shoulder and deliver their healing payload, all while the priestess could leisurely remain a bit distant from the combat and keep firing her debilitating arrows.

But even though Kite had known of them, it still took a steadying thought not to flinch away from something which ever reminded him of many fights against similarly limbed monsters of all varieties. The actual healing and the power-increasing boon surging through him quickly helped shake any lingering doubts though, and Kite left other thoughts and questions for the future as he cracked one leg of another drone with a forceful strike while Sage shot a beam of resonating force through the other.

This caused the insectoid warrior to crash to the ground, but Kite was left with little time to properly finish it off as the others reacted to protect their downed companion, the three countering by firing blasts from their shield which caused the ground beneath Kite to shatter in a spray of green-tinted gravel as part of the force was channeled downward by Unyielding." Ward!"

Gritting his teeth against the painful impact, Kite swept with his staff to knock one of the assailing limbs aside while the arms of his mantle sent thrusts projected towards the faces of the drones. While it did hurt them somewhat, Kite was once more reminded of his relative lack of more straightforward special attacks, as his foes could mostly shrug off any strike not augmented by Void-Sunders-Firmament.

This did trigger the transcendent damage of Undeniable though, but that power had always been about playing the long game. Still, he managed to find a rhythm against the four drones - albeit one grounded - whose attention remained on him, using barriers and his shield to ward his flanks while throwing out attacks left and right.

The one drone on the ground soon succumbed to a subtle slash made with The Veiled One's Decree, the blurred blade belying an empowered Void-Sunders firmament which shred enough of the insectoid warrior to pieces to finish it. While this still left Kite surrounded, it also took enough pressure off him to start sending the occasional Disrupting Strike into the still holding barrier of the drone commander which River was wearing down.

The acolyte of Pain seemed to be moving in her usual rhythm of building domination, but struggled a bit to get through the magical barrier as she had to rely mostly on pure frequency of attacks. But where Kite's added disruptive force damage connected, the shield cracked and shuddered visibly as the dispelling effects also took its toll.

In the air above, another of the drones was brought down as it and one companion had tried pursuing Little Crow, who seemed almost weightless as he skipped from wall to wall in graceful bounding leaps.

The killing strike came when one of the insectoids made a powerful leaping attack, only to find itself impaled upon a single long needle the size of a straight sword which the assassin had conjured and jammed into its chest, and the detonation which followed was powerful enough to send the pieces of the drone splattering against the walls rather than raining down upon those below. Overall, the essence-users had managed to start claiming a substantial advantage when something changed with the drone commander.

Where it had earlier kept launching a steady torrent of magical bolts, any such offensive measures suddenly ceased as its antennae instead started glowing and flickering with a fierce light. While slightly annoying but not enough to be blinding or distracting, the purpose of the new development soon became clear as the commander's aura started swelling. Not in intensity or rank, but in scope and reach as its spiritual signals started flickering out over an increasingly greater area.

And inside, a single command was clear; a call for aid.

"Ehm, I think you should hurry up a bit~," Wander said from Kite's shoulder.

"You don't say? When a foe changes things up like this, it rarely spells anything but trouble," Kite replied, leaning into his shield to tackle one of the remaining drones to disrupt the opportunistic attack it had meant to direct towards his side.

"Well, whatever that signal is, it is starting to cause groups from the main lines to break off and head in this direction. Which I thought you would want to know~."

"Curses. River! Trade! I'll break down the shield, then we all go for the commander!"

"Tsk. Fine," the acolyte of Pain replied after, surprisingly, only a moment of delay. She became a blur while Kite used some of his stored momentum to make a powerful leap towards the commander. The drones he was fighting tried to go after him, but were met by a burst of conjured chains as River burned a good deal of mana to instantly gain some momentum for her path.

The pursuers turned into a tangled mess of restraining links flickering with the red-purple lightning of Pain which Kite left behind him, his shield and barriers already raised to brace himself for the continuous stream projectiles which now turned toward him.

"Warrior, lend swiftness to our hands so that we may finish this before something more unpleasant arrives."

"Trial-taker, a comm— commander is calling for aid. Woul– ddd— ddd you like to answer-er-er the call?" Verses Sung Twice stopped in her tracks as the officiator orb suddenly, after over half a day of not uttering a single sound, gave her the notification even as its words remained partially broken up and stuttering.

"Tell me more," she ordered, and was at first met with only silence before the construct managed to comply.

"One of your- your- y- y- your commanders is under- er- er duress. If it falls, we will risk losing some ground before- ehr- bzzz- recuperates. If you wish, I can guide- uide- uide you to it."

"This has not happened before. Why?"

"No commander hav- krrrrt- been in danger before." Verses wanted to hit the orb for the unhelpful statement before her mind quickly caught to what that might imply. She already knew of the different varieties of drones from what the officiator had told her before, even if she had mostly discarded it due to Sunless and the others handling the more combat-oriented parts with ease.

Either the commander in question had been caught out in the wrong position or by some of the opposing more powerful variants of drones, but given what Sunless had told her about the state of the trial's conflict, that seemed quite unlikely. Which meant…

"Guide us, now," she said to the orb before raising her voice.

"Sunless! Bring the others! We might have a lead to our potential disturbance."

"Oh, I heard," the draconian replied from his shadow self, the dark being gliding back towards verses from around a corner.

"But are you sure we should just be jumping at this? Sure, those commanders are no slouches, but one or a few were bound to be pushed back after a while without our intervention. I think that's the nature of this little game; to choose when to spend time helping them and when to find greater benefit elsewhere."

"Don't make me repeat myself, Sunless. It is a disturbance and should be treated as such."

"Fine… fine… I guess that it is better than just combing this place the slow way. We'll be with you shortly. Found some fun little critters to tangle with." It did not take too long for Verses companions to reconvene with her; five other silvers belonging to various factions of the council. Sunless Fang, flanked by two of Black wood mask's other cohorts, who Verses knew only as Stillness – a female leonid with bronze fur - and Flutter, a lithe human man.

Like their leader within the group, they also wore the equipment of warriors whose paths belonged to the shadows; easy to move in and giving off little sound. The draconian was his usual haughty self even though he kept some distance between his group and the pair sent by Gold mask. Much like their patron gold-ranker, these carried themselves like more straight up warriors; a pair of elf siblings in heavy armor who still masked their faces even among their fellow clergy.

Verses still didn't know their names, and so far they had only referred to themselves as Brother and Sister. Verses was the only one without any direct allies in the expedition, a statement as to her mistress' current lack of favor within the council. Still, none of the others protested as they joined her around the officiator construct. The thing had fallen silent again, but spoke soon enough.

"Location confirmed. Sharing spiritual beacon." Not long after, an aura started e mitting from the sphere. It carried the same blank feeling that the spirit drones usually did, albeit with some more power. And it felt odd to Verse's spiritual senses, like an echo. But an echo with a direction. No more words were needed, and the group set off at once. Sunless and his two underlings took the lead, but they were all silvers and fast in their own right.

If any of the Labyrinth's monsters or other denizens sensed them, they apparently - and wisely - chose to stay away. It wasn't long until they drew closer either, at least if the indication from the sphere was to be believed, and Verses was just about starting to pick up what she suspected was the actual conflict with her spiritual senses when something else caught her attention as the others of her group kept up their charge.

It was a tiny flicker of spirit, inconsequential in most ways and so faint that it might as well have been hidden. But it was something that definitely shouldn't be in there with them, and therefore it drew Verses' attention like a flare in the dead of night. Because among the stone rubble near one corner they had just passed was a rat. Apparently sensing it had been discovered, its small beady eyes met Verses' in a brief moment of silent hesitation.

"Squeak~?" And given that the rat actually said the word, Verses knew that they had indeed found their supposed interference.