Chương 230: Pushing

While each hit stung Dragonfly, be it from wind blade or shadowy barbs, it was but a faint impression which her mind logged and used as a basis for evaluating her overall condition rather than necessarily a scream of danger. Because charged up as she was, her power, speed and recovery attributes were starting to reach towards the heavens in earnest, or at least their image. And it was that superiority that allowed her to fend off her attackers with such ferocity.

Not all of their attacks of course, the aforementioned hits still raining upon her, but those were small and paltry things and the first attempt of the dual blade-wielder to land something more decisive had resulted in Dragonfly simply accepting the hit and taking one of his hands off in return. While said limb had now recovered due to some healing power, it was still enough to put a bit of hesitance into her three attackers.

That, as well as the dual fires which raged around Dragonfly and her attacks; fiery, flickering red and orange as well as shimmering white and deep blue. WWJS: [Item] Cracked Mirror of Frigid Conflagration Amulet Silver rank - Epic [Effect] When activating an essence power or enchantment which would deal fire damage and/or add the [Burning] affliction, you may instead choose for that effect to deal cold damage and/or add the [Frostfire] affliction.

Cold damage dealt this way is slightly reduced compared to the original fire damage. [Frostfire] (affliction, cold, elemental, stacking): Deals low ongoing cold damage. Counts as [Burning] for the purpose of interacting with essence powers or enchantments. Additional instances have a cumulative effect.

When a creature afflicted with [Frostfire] is inflicted with an instance of [Burning], all stacks of [Frostfire] are consumed to generate a burst of cold damage to the target, the damage increasing with the number of stacks consumed. The same occurs when the reverse conditions are met, except that it generates a burst of fire damage.

The amulet around Dragonfly's neck was mostly hidden by the collar of her armor and mass of hair, but perceptive assailants might catch a glimpse of a torque made from shiny reflective metal with its ends meeting in the front like a cracked disc whose depths seemed to hint at flickering blue flames.

And as she managed a glancing blow against the draconian with the black scales - who was by now aflame with the burning affliction that ate away at his body - Dragonfly couldn't help but smile as the resulting detonation of conflicting forces sent him staggering off to the side even from that mere touch.

"Kite is right," she thought while spinning past the blade wielder while accepting another few wind blades from the flying leonid.

"Peony can really work wonders with the treasures he brought out from the last gate." This particular amulet was made from a reshaped piece of armor that seemed to reflect the sun and moon simultaneously, surprisingly unified in its duality. A boatload of fire, cold, balance and discordant quintessence later and the result spoke for themselves.

Dragonfly was almost sad that there weren't any fire elementals present to lay into with abandon, but was quickly brought back to the present when the leonid woman seemed to have had enough of Fantina's healing support and Kite's intervening barriers, disengaging to zoom off toward them instead. Dragonfly sent her conjured, animated axe to harry the woman as she started making her way towards the supporting pair, but that proved unnecessary as it was in that moment River and Little Crow sprung their trap.

A rattle of chains later and the leonid was yanked away into a side passage in an instant, Kite's barrier appearing just after to block pursuit. But at the same time, Soul lost her tenuous control over the gold-ranked construct and was sent smashing into the wall of force a moment later.

"Oh curses-" was all Dragonfly had the time to think before the pursuing once-drone crashed into her and her foes. The draconian slipped away through shadows to evade, but the swordsman had recently used his own short-range teleport to land an attack on Dragonfly earlier. The problem was that Dragonfly had also used her Unbreakable Moment not long before, and was thus forced to accept the crackling shockwave and physical impact head on. With her body.

For a moment, the world turned into a blur before pain blossomed all over Dragonfly as one of her sides impacted with the stone wall hard enough to make a clear indentation while the other side was the one which had suffered the direct brunt of the gold-ranker's strike. At least the blade-wielder had also been similarly impacted and thrown in another direction, but that was of limited comfort as the monstrous construct once more started in Dragonfly's direction while she was extricating herself from the cliff wall.

Reaching out with one hand, she was yanked upward just in time as she found the haft of her animated axe. A loud crack rang out as stone was sent flying like shrapnel as the construct's shield-arm hit the stone where Dragonfly had been a moment earlier, followed by an even louder shriek of metal parting as she let herself drop into a plunging attack using Shield Breaker.

The resonating force of the special attack proved effective enough as Dragonfly could chop her axe deep into the construct's shoulder only to be flung off almost immediately as the powerful thing thrashed. During all this, Dragonfly was still blinking some of the dazedness from her eyes.

But if there was one thing her path excelled at, it was recovery, and even though the collision from before had been severe, Dragonfly had already had enough additional health stored from her prolonged combat to not let it hinder her for too long. By now, Soul had also regained her senses and was once more hammering the construct in a nimble show of martial excellence.

Dragonfly wanted to help her, but the draconian had now joined the elf woman harrying Kite and Fantina and the blade-wielder looked about ready to join that fray too.

"Come on, River! Do your thing quickly so that we can get those reinforcements," she thought while letting out a battlecry, crossing the open space in a powerful leap while surrounded by fires burning both hot and cold.

"Because this turned out a little more intense than expected!" Dancer on the Broken River would rarely acknowledge that she had a good day. Living was pain in different, ever-shifting flavors after all, and that was what gave it meaning. Good and bad was something which she usually discarded as pointless categorization that risked undermining the tempering that could be found in dealing with the challenges of life.

But as she hauled in the leonid woman with a mighty heave of constricting links, Catena already flaring with the stunning, pain-inducing touch of her god only for her and Little Crow to fall upon the woman with ruthless efficiency, River had to admit to herself that this moment might be an exception to the rule. The leonid struggled, of course, and you could rarely put down a silver-ranker easily.

That is, unless said silver was thoroughly tangled up, stunned and suddenly on the receiving end of an assassin with the potent essence. Little Crow used his open parasol to shield himself from a burst of wind before suddenly appearing at the leonid's side as he thrust a long, glowing needle into the side of her throat before it detonated. The result was a head dangling on the ruined remains of a furred neck, but River would not leave anything to chance, at least not when it came to Discord's followers.

The chains wound around the leonid suddenly sprouted razor barbs before they constricted and rapidly unwound themselves. Over the span of a few seconds, the agent of River's hated foe was reduced from proud, struggling essence-user to bloody chunks which splattered to the gravelly ground below. Overall, taking her down had perhaps taken a dozen heartbeats. Not bad for such a target.

"I'm off on my other task then. See you soon," Little Crow said as he peeked out from behind his parasol which the smiling assassin had used to shield himself from the splattering gore of River's execution power.

"Don't make us wait," River replied, already making her way towards the other conflict in the distance where the auras of her companions were starting to feel quite beleaguered. One servant of Discord down, but still so many to go. Before entering the Queen's gate and this trial, Kite wouldn't have expected the level of relief he felt when he sensed River sprinting in their direction, her aura like a drawn blade poised to strike.

The priestess of Pain wasn't really a comforting presence by any means, but at the moment, the relief was much needed." Ward!" Another of many, many barriers broke before the touch of the elven priestess who he was still fighting, albeit now in a tangled up melee along with the blade-wielder, the draconian and Dragonfly which revolved around Fantina who did her best to stay out of the close combat and keep providing them all with whatever healing and boons she could in the escalating madness.

And while Kite felt that he could give as good as he got in the exchanges, probably even better, the rampaging gold-ranked construct was a constant strain on their side even as Soul did her best to contain it. But as the aura of the leonid woman who had been dragged away winked out and River started to make her way back, he felt a surge of renewed vigor. Although that wasn't only due to renewed fighting spirit." Bloom of the Pristine Evergarden!"

Laevyeth and Will had held off their two assailants well, their compounded powers focusing a lot of magical potential into each strike. And as they too had felt the strain of the group along with the potential shift of River's and Little Crow's planned ambush going off as planned, they added a substantial finger to the proverbial scales as vines and flowers of life and mana suddenly started growing over the forms of their allies.

Now surging with renewed energies, Kite managed to block a staccato series of strikes from the draconian with his shield while he used his staff to ward off a renewed assault from the elf priestess and the draconian's shadow. But the influx of energy for Kite's side along with one of Discord's agents perishing also seemed to have been a decisive blow to their enemies' morale.

"We should disengage. She is coming," the draconian said even as his chained sickle danced around Kite to try and find a hole in his multi-armed defenses. But before his companions could answer, another voice did.

"Too late." The call had barely reached them before River entered the fray, having activated her power where she sped up greatly for a limited time as she appeared in a sonic boom. The draconian swore and dove into a nearby shadow before the restraining chains found him, and any protest from the unarmed elf priestess died on her lips as the numbers shifted a bit more in the favor of the adventurers. However, the woman's response was more measured than the one of her companion.

A touch spell sent River's chains spasming uncontrollably for a moment before she suddenly disengaged and moved down towards where Soul was still tangling with the construct. The celestine managed to avoid the sudden appearance of another combatant, shifting out of the way of a hand shimmering with discordant energies but was shoved away and sent stumbling by the construct due to the moment of lost focus.

"Kill her. Let nothing stop you." The order was given in a surprisingly calm tone which seemed to belie a world of frustration beneath as the priestess pointed at Fantina while giving the order. The construct, battered but far from broken, responded immediately, ignoring Soul's attempts to re-engage as it stormed towards the priestess of Fertility while the elf cast another few spells.

"Echoed strength, resounding blows!"

"Tilt the scales, raze the internal balance!" If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"Reverse the lies and break apart the truths!"" Confound the connections, splinter the senses. Grand synesthesia!" The first three castings all targeted the construct, boons of different kinds setting its form alight to magical senses while the fourth washed the world away in the same confused mess of sensory impressions and ruined perception as before. But at least the last was something which they were ready for." Iniquity's bane!"

The conflicting illusions were washed away in an instant beneath Laevyeth's light, but an instant was surprisingly punishing when a gold-ranked being was in play. Kite barely had the time to raise his shield and a barrier before it impacted him as he had positioned himself in between the thing and its target. But unlike the others who the construct had impacted, Kite wasn't as easily shifted.

Gravel and pieces of stone flew all around the open area of the intersection as Unyielding kicked in, and even though the higher rank of the construct meant that Kite was still sent skidding backwards over two meters and then two more as the strike echoed again much like those of his own staff, he remained standing. And countering.

Three projected strikes caused the remaining boons upon the monstrous thing to wink out, but Kite wasn't done as his other arm raised his shield to block the next strike as the construct tried pushing through. And upon the rectangular bulwark, the bell tolled; oddly silent yet somehow felt as a retributive shockwave washed out in a wave.

The construct itself didn't flinch from the retributive damage, apparently not having spent too much of its mana and therefore being able to shrug off a lot of it even if the resonating force was a good match against it. But the priestess who had just cast four spells in quick succession after tangling with Kite and his mana-draining path for a while?

Kite had the time to feel a moment of grim satisfaction as her body was shredded by the tolling of his shield but he was quickly forced to focus even more fully on the construct who kept battering him. It got up in his face - and therefore in the way of his line of sight to her - but Kite's aura senses revealed that while the priestess had taken a severe blow, she wasn't done for yet. But given what she said next, she was at least done with something.

"Retreat. You know where." Then she turned and left, with Kite - soon joined by Soul - tangled up with the construct while River and Dragonfly had managed to scare off the blade wielder, the man teleporting before Kite could muster the presence of mind to lock onto him with Spirit Singularity.

With the draconian already gone, this left the pair of armored elves who disengaged a bit more directly as they raised a wall of stone in between them and Will, with the spearman showing a remarkable amount of restraint to not pursue even though he could surely teleport to one of his spears on the other side. Someone else though, did not have as easy a time in that regard.

"Annoying one, let me pursue them," River demanded tersely, harassing the construct as she moved around the outer edges of the open area in which they fought. Kite was about to remind the acolyte of Pain that the situation hadn't changed much from last time, but then he sensed something else in the distance. It seemed like Little Crow had completed his other task fast enough.

"Go, but take care. Learn what you can and don't stray far from Wander's swarm," he said, falling in beside Fantina as Soul and Dragonfly had both closed in on the construct in melee and adding more people to the fast-paced mix would only risk getting caught up in one another. Fortunately, both his and Will's paths were by now decent enough at ranged combat as well, and Kite quickly set to projecting attacks and - more importantly, fulfilling his more defensive role with conjured barriers.

"Are you sure that's wise?" Fantina asked him as River gave him a nod in response before she set off, all but vanishing from Kite's aura senses.

"Well, one can never be certain. But it feels like holding her on too tight of a leash might only cause her to lash out more," he replied, punctuating his sentence with a quick casting of Heaven-and-Void Warding to let Dragonfly continue one of her attacks uninterrupted.

"She did back down last time, and that stung her. I thought that showing some more trust now that we have brought one of their numbers down and are closer to our reinforcements might be the wiser path to choose."

"Given who she worships, simply bringing her along was an act of trust more than most would stomach. Let us hope that she knows to appreciate the gesture," Fantina replied, brows still furrowed in concern.

"Oh, and here come those reinforcements you mentioned." As if on cue, the first of the red-tinted drones of their side turned a corner behind them; a shield-carrier that was slightly damaged from the previous slog where their lines met the enemy one. And a moment later came another. And another. And another.

Soon, three whole squads of them were storming down the corridor, more in their wake and bolts of shimmering force flew towards the construct which towered over them while trying frantically to get to Fantina and fulfill its last order.

"One battle line broken, as requested," Little Crow said pleasantly as he touched down next to Kite, parasol over one shoulder.

"I took the liberty to puncture the stalemate in a few more places too, so they should just keep coming."

"Thank you, and well done," Kite said before raising his voice to call out to everyone as he continued.

"Let us leave this to tangle with our drones a little. I want to see what chance it stands against numbers. While Fortune might smile upon us and reveal that this was their only monstrosity like this, it is wiser to assume that our foes can make more." Timing said disengage was a bit tricky as the construct still tried to push towards Fantina.

But soon enough, Soul - as the last of the silvers still in close combat with the thing - could flicker out and appear next to the others atop some panes of force high up a cliff wall which Kite had conjured as the gold-ranked abomination was wading through the lesser drones which swarmed over it.

"That's no true gold," was the first thing the celestine said as she appeared next to them, arms crossed in discontent as if the notion was an affront.

"Doesn't seem to stop it from wrecking our side though," Dragonfly replied, wincing as one of their drones was crushed into paste filled with chitinous splinters by the construct's shield.

"Soul is right though," Kite agreed.

"The only gold I've fought might have been an essence-user so the comparison is a bit off, but even a core-user like Van Sztramm had higher pure capabilities than this. It's like the rank is there but the attributes don't really hold up."

"And thank Fertility for that. For once, something not growing into its full potential is quite relieving," Fantina commented while touching each of them for a last round of healing.

"Our side is wearing it down too, but it takes time," Kite noted, seeing their drones work with their eerie coordination to land blow after blow, uncaring as their companions died.

"How far into our ranks could one of these go if unopposed by us?"

"Too far, I'd say," Little Crow weighed in.

"If it is a fresh one rather than something which you've already batted around a bit? It would probably take way too many of our drones to take down to just leave it to chance. The question is how many of us would be needed to take them down in turn?"

"Without distractions, I could have dealt with it," Soul stated confidently.

"And while I don't doubt that," Little Crow replied, "this isn't a nice and clean dueling arena. We can probably never expect a simple battlefield here. So I would assume that at least two of us would be needed to deal with them with any certainty. We should really keep watch for these, assuming that they can indeed be replicated."

"Speaking of keeping watch," Dragonfly said, reaching out and poking the rat who hid just at the nape of Kite's neck inside the wide collar of his armor.

"Wander? How are you?" The rat gave no reply, still lost in whatever struggle that seemed to strain her to such a great extent.

"We will have to place our trust in her handling this for the moment," Kite said with a sigh and a mental prayer for the outworlder's success.

"As for us though, this leaves us with the opportunity we discussed before." Dragonfly seemed to instantly catch his meaning, and grinned fiercely as she replied.

"Time to start pushing?"

"Indeed," Kite confirmed, his insides stirring with warmth as he saw so much of the passion he loved, as well as felt it as their auras briefly intertwined.

"Soul, would you please finish off the construct now that we have a better estimate of it?" His response wasn't in words but in the sound of transcendent fists impacting metal and broken chitin as the celestine instantly dove down into the fray again.

"As for the rest of us, Fantina and I will act as the anchor as we press on. Dragonfly, Will, Laevyeth. Would you please start helping our side as much as you can while staying at most one intersection away from us? That way you won't be as exposed if our enemies surprise us with a counterattack?"

"It shall be done!" Will replied after something unspoken seemed to have passed between him and his… Whatever Laevyeth was to him. Just a weapon was way too simple, and companion too superficial. Dragonfly made to follow before turning and giving Kite a quick kiss.

"I like it when you're all commanding. It suits you better than you think," she finished with a wink before dashing off, eager to rekindle her fading inner flames.

"From your exclusion of Soul and I, I would have assumed something different in mind for us?" Little Crow asked as the two departed, each choosing one direction where their forces still clashed with the enemy drones.

"Not that different, but I would ask the two of you to range a bit further from Fantina and I, but with the same objective. Both of you are more mobile, with the tricks of your assassin's path and the pure speed and versatility of Soul's, so it feels less likely that either of you wouldn't be able to escape any ambushes. If our foes are even capable of those at the moment, that is."

"How considerate of you to think so highly of my skill, junior brother. I suppose I have no choice but to live up to those expectations," the smiling assassin replied before opening up his parasol and floating off into another tunnel. Kite and Fantina watched him go, and Kite finally turned to the priestess.

"That will leave me in your care once more. Shall we?" Fantina gave him another of the smiling, assessing looks which he had come to associate with his aunties at times, even though hers was on a different level after having been tempered in the flames of just shy of two dozen children.

"Such a polite young man indeed. And good with people in your own way. I wish you and Dragonfly all the happiness in the world, Kite, I truly do. But should things somehow not work out for you in the future, rest assured that we should easily be able to find you a match within the family. But as you said, let's help our poor drones a bit now, shall we?" With that the priestess used one of her tentacles to swing down from the platform in order to gain a better angle from where she could fire her arrows.

After a moment of stunned silence in which an alternate future with over two dozen brothers and sisters in law - and at least twenty five more to come if Fantina's future ambitions were to be realized - played before his mind's eye, he managed a confused and slightly concerned; "Thank you?" before snapping out of it and following her.

"You failed again," Jin said as soon as Verses got within earshot. She was alone this time, the others already having moved ahead while she took a short detour to fetch the cultist leader and his minion.

"Your creation did not make the difference you assumed it would," Verses retorted.

"Even a monster surge would have been more subtle. Any element of surprise was lost even though you managed to distract the swarm. But had you and your people actually been with us-""Then it might have been one of ours that was lost as opposed to one of yours. Stillness, is that what she was called? I would assume that it was your lack of unity which lead to this downfall too."

Verses was about to give an angry retort when Jin, already seeming distant, suddenly got even more absorbed into what Verses assumed was controlling his own swarm of crackling metal beetles.

"We should retreat now. They are coming, and their army of drones is in their wake."

"So are you actually going to help us the next time we make an attempt? Or will you just watch until there aren't any of us left and the only thing you can see is them coming for you?" Verses asked angrily even as she fell in beside him.

"Let the lines stabilize, and then we shall decide."

"Where you and your subordinates will fight?"

"Don't be a fool," Jin replied calmly.

"You need me to ward off the swarm. Without that, your every move will soon be known to them. It is too efficient. Admirably so. I hope I will get the chance to capture the person behind it. Just imagine what the great Builder might make of her should she accept one of his seeds. But know that I will not join the front lines with you, Verses Sung Twice. It is not my place in this conflict. I will find my place behind the lines where you and our constructs will succeed. The Builder demands it.

Do not fret though, the defenses we have put into place are also most potent-" The pair turned a corner, their voices growing faint should there have been any observers present to overhear them. And as it turned out, that had indeed been the case. From around a nearby corner, River only let out the most subtle thread of her aura to feel the trio leave; two of the Builder's cultists and one of them. It had taken a lot of willpower not to strike and take this chance at getting some answers.

"But fine, Annoying one. I will play the long game again," River thought as Kite's words echoed in her mind while she carefully started making her way back towards her companions. She had at least learned something here. Something which she believed that they could capitalize upon. Extended offensives, it turned out, were quite satisfying. At least Kite had thought so, reveling in seeing his friends help decimate the drones before them a lot faster than their own would ever be capable of.

Soon after they began, Wander had been able to rejoin their conversations as the swarm of metallic beetles had retreated as well, and her scouting - even with her numbers being pretty decimated - revealed that their line of reddish drones stretched out in a rough wedge formation behind them across the tunnels of most of the trials. But as most offensives of history had also proven, it was that most such things would eventually come to an end.

The adventurers were forced to fight at least somewhat conservatively after not too long, and as they drew further and further away from their own Ruler, it took longer for reinforcements to reach their side. Still, what made Kite really stop and take stock was when he and his vanguard of companions reached something new which really broke off the complex but monotonous landscape of the Labyrinth.

"Heavens," Kite breathed as he turned the last corner and looked out at the much, much vaster open area than any they had previously encountered.

"I know. Quite the sight, huh~?" Wander asked from her usual perch at his shoulder.

"How tall do you think that is?" Dragonfly asked as she too stopped next to Kite, gawking at the landscape before them. Or, more precisely, up at the thin stone spire in its center which stretched high, high up into the sky and well above the limit where the storm would usually consume and wear anything down.

"Enough to be a proper monument to the glory of the Queen!" the officiator orb trumpeted, butting into the conversation as it was prone to do.

"Welcome, trial-taker and minions, to the center of the Labyrinth!"