Chương 291: Dubious safety

"Léon, a little help here– gah! Why. Won't. You. Stay. Still. Like. The. Dead. Thing. You. Are?" Amica's call for help was interrupted as another of the multi-limbed undead things burst from the ground at an unexpected angle. While the thing looked like a demented child's attempt at creating something from sticks and glue - only with sharp bone protrusions and plentiful grasping claws - its flailing was powered by silver-ranked magic, and therefore was quite dangerous should those claws find purchase.

The unexpected appearance forced Amica to unleash a more powerful telekinetic burst to scatter the other undead that had closed in on her before reigniting her forceful powers and ripping out great chunks of stone from the craggy landscape around them. Punctuating each word with a mighty blow from her improvised implements, she proceeded to punch the spindly, flailing thing into the ground with repeated hammer blows.

One of the other more ghoulish creatures recovered quickly though, jumping towards her again with a shriek, only for its flight to be intercepted by a sudden pinpoint beam of light from several lenses and mirrors that suddenly appeared in the air around Amica before another beam came flying in from another direction.

"Finally," she muttered as the beam in question was amplified a few times by going through a different series of lenses before the perfectly arrayed mirrors sent it piercing through each of the remaining undead creatures in an instant. A few tried to evade the sudden and precise searing onslaught, but Amica swiftly and brutally used her telekinetic powers to shove them all back into position again.

"Sorry, I tried to take a look from higher up to try to get the lay of the land now that we're beneath the concealing formation," an elf man said as he appeared in a shimmer of light not too far away from Amica, floating atop a circular mirror disk.

"We have definitely found the place. Good thing we sent the flare up in advance before entering."

"It was the right choice," Amica agreed, somewhat mollified now that the most intense parts of the danger had passed.

"Thanks for the intervention, Léon. Even when you're far away, I'm impressed with how close you seem to be once those beams of yours start flying."

"Anything for our team leader who so nicely gave us this opportunity," the elf replied with a smile.

"Not even my family could get me a spot in the inner circle of Gauntlet, although they are also wise enough to know not to try."

"Let's just hope we can prove ourselves worthy. Because it looks like this contract might be a bit more than even the Church of Death bargained for when it contacted the Adventure Society," Amica muttered.

"Let's keep pushing a bit further and see if we can find any more defenses. If things grow too dire, we switch to reconnaissance and report back. It–" The pair of silver-rankers both snapped to attention as they both suddenly picked up on an object rapidly approaching their position. Amica instinctively reached out and grasped the thing with her telekinesis, but relaxed once it turned out to just be a small construct bearing the familiar seal of the Adventure Society.

"Messenger construct," Léon noted, looking down on the small and intricately carved mechanical bird.

"Someone was willing to spend some cash in order to get this to us. What does it say?" His question fell on deaf ears as Amica had already retrieved the small messaging crystal and started partaking of its contents with a forlorn gaze. But her eyes soon regained their focus, after which the woman smiled.

"Some good news. Not too bad while being out in the field. It seems that command has decided to send us reinforcements. Or at least one person."

"Huh. I would have thought it might send a few squads if they suspected we were in danger."

"Something is better than nothing," Amica shrugged, putting the construct away to return later when they returned to one of the safe houses the Adventure Society kept in these wild lands.

"Come, let us go pick up Caesar. He has probably bunched up quite a lot of those swarm-like things for you to practice on by now. Then we move deeper. With someone coming as reinforcement, we could stand to be a bit bolder. Might as well show Undeath and his minions that they aren't safe even in these parts of the world."

"I told you so," Caesar managed between spells, his words coming out a frustrated growl in time with the agitated flashing of the white runes covering his body as the runic ducked and weaved through the air next to where Amica was flying while frantically avoiding the ghost-like conjured arms that kept flowing outwards from their pursuer.

"Shut up and trap it again!" came the response as Amica ripped out part of the cliffside to bar the path of the monstrosity. While the rolling ball of distended arms pushed through the attack with relative ease - it was a gold-ranked being, after all - it at least slowed down enough for Ceasar to make another attempt." Close the fulminating cage!"

Streaks of lightning appeared in the air with a roaring boom before stabilizing into an intricate cage around the rolling abomination, searing its more corporeal arms that crashed into contact with the sudden confinement.

This didn't stop its numerous spectral appendages from reaching out through these bars to keep harassing the flying pair, but even those were forced to retract as a thick beam of destructive light was suddenly reflected down from a mirror that appeared high in the air above the thing as Léon carved off a few of the offending conjurations and struck the main bulk of the thing in one fell swoop.

This gave Amica and Léon another bit of breathing room which the two used to the fullest, gaining a bit of a lead on their pursuer even though that would surely soon be eaten up once it tore free from its crackling confinement.

"Wait, I'm sensing something," Caesar said after having stopped for a moment to roam outward with his aura senses in an attempt to detect further ambushes.

"More undead?"

"There are always more undead," the runic sighed at Amica's response before his voice grew serious again.

"But no, it's a silver-ranker. Wait, two. One person and some kind of magical creature. Just outside my clear detection reach though. See if you can pick it up?" Nodding, Amica let most of her conscious mind focus on her perception as she projected her aura senses outward.

The gold-ranked creature pursuing them dominated the spiritual landscape, even though its aura was hollow enough for her to filter out, as well as the silver and bronze creations from the spawning pits in the far distance that the trio had stumbled upon before being forced to flee. But in the other direction, up in the sky, there was indeed something. And Amica recognized it.

"Good news?" Caesar asked as he saw his teammate grin in pleasant surprise.

"A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one. It's–" was all that Amica had the time to say before a nearby cliff face exploded outwards to reveal the huge rolling sphere of clawing appendages that raced after them even faster than before. Some arms even snatched debris from the air and flung it towards its targets, and Amica was just in the middle of deflecting the incoming projectiles when Ceasar called out.

"Watch ou–" The warning came too late, however, as one of the ghostly arms managed to reach out and snatch Amica by the leg. Searing pain shot up from the affected appendage before she was dragged away in a blink. A shield sprung up around her, buffeting force pushing against everything that collided with her while she worked to escape.

Léon helped too, more precise rays of light striking the creature and its arms from different angles, one of them even managing to sever the arm holding Amica just before the reaching forest of bone claws managed to truly get a hold of her.

Meanwhile, Ceasar bombarded the creature with a torrent of lightning bolts combined with more conjured fulminating cages, but it seemed like the gold ranked undead monstrosity had chosen to go on the warpath as it ignored their counterattacks even though the different strikes started doing some real damage.

"Come on, come on," Amica thought while she threw everything and the kitchen sink within reach towards the creature in an attempt to further slow down its rampage. He hadn't been that far away when she sensed him, and those powers of his would really come in handy now…" Dissolve the patterns of power!" A familiar ripple shot down from above, washing over the wicked ball of arms and causing each of its spectral conjured appendages to simply wink out.

True to its previously displayed nature, it did not shriek or otherwise acknowledge the frustration, but simply pivoted the focus of its attacks and launched several blocks of stone into the air at an angle towards where Amica could glean a furiously shimmering form descending quickly towards the undead infested lands below.

Léon had apparently noted the new presence too once it descended far enough beneath the concealing formations that hung invisibly above the whole region, and another cascade of pinpoint rays of light criss-crossed the air above them as it tore the projectiles to shreds.

Not wanting her teammates to show her up, Amica pitched in by grabbing most of the freshly created shrapnel and hurling its back down towards the monstrosity while also letting her aura touch upon the descending, familiar one of Kite, who in turn quickly retracted his own to let her grab hold of him as well. With a mental command and a surge of mana, Amica's friend and former fellow trainee was hurled downwards just behind the cascade of shrapnel as he leapt from Glint's back.

His tattoos lighting up, Amica could see Kite's spectral arms appear in a blur of projected attacks that kept culling the number of conjured limbs of their adversary. Better yet, she knew that each of those attacks would wear away at the rank disparity that protected the gold-ranked abomination. As long as he had enough time, that was.

A quick check with her aura revealed that none of the other groups of undead were close enough to be a proper threat at the moment, which in turn made the next decision a lot simpler.

"Go on the offensive!" She called out to her teammates.

"That's Kite, the guy I've told you about. Melee disruptive specialist with enough barriers to reach into the realms of the defender. He'll keep it busy so keep pouring it on!" Her words were punctuated by Léon - not within earshot but apparently having caught on to this most recent development - sending a staccato series of pinpoint sniping spells that were now targeting the main body of the undead.

Powerful, charged beams of light were reflected in from every direction while keeping his own location very hard to detect as he constantly shifted the angles of his beams. Caesar let loose too, constraining lightning constantly hemming in the creature's motions while searing its limbs. Close to the creature, Kite himself was a whirlwind of frantic defenses and counter attacks. While his spectral arms did good work, this was definitely a situation where he found himself outnumbered in the limbs department.

Amica therefore chose to support him in keeping the abomination contained, constantly ripping new chunks of rock from the walls or using its own severed limbs to block strikes and keep up the pressure. The previous chase had turned into more of a pitched battle, with both sides pushing for everything they were worth. But after a hectic minute, Kite's ability to wear down the rank disparity really started paying dividends.

More and more of the attacks that landed dealt substantial damage, which was apparently when Léon chose to go for the finisher.

"Kite, make some distance on my signal!" Amica shouted as she recognized the certain pattern of mirrors that appeared in the air above the undead. She got a small nudge of aura in response as Kite was way too busy keeping track of all of the assaulting claws to nod. And just a few seconds later, a flash from the distance signaled that Léon was ready.

"Now!" As Kite leapt back using some of that stored power of his, both Amica and Ceasar instead went all out on keeping the monster in position. She embraced its whole form in a telekinetic clinch while another of the runic's lightning cages layered itself around the flailing mass of limbs. Then, several lenses were conjured in the distance before Léon took his shot.

A potent ray of light was intensified twelve times before being channeled through a refracting series of mirrors that briefly formed a simple ritual circle for further amplification. This turned the humble and rather small beam into a raging pillar that descended upon the still immobilized undead. With its defenses worn down, Léon's most powerful finisher was enough to close out the fight, the spell an ideal one to execute already wounded and powerful foes. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road.

If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Heavens, Amica. This is quite the infestation," Kite called immediately as the violence ended.

"Are the three of you really everything that the Adventure Society sent?"

"Well, with you in the mix, our number has suddenly risen to a mighty four. Now we should have no problem cleaning this place up," Amica replied with faux cheer. Seeing Kite's horrified expression, she realized that she had been keeping her aura a bit too opaque and that he had not been able to glean the jest in her words. Therefore she made sure to turn her voice properly placating as she continued.

"I am, of course, joking. We are just the investigation and scouting team contracted by the church of Death to track down what they thought were just a smaller gathering."

"A scouting team that almost bit off more than we could chew," Ceasar called as he floated over, reaching out a hand to Kite in greeting.

"Ceasar. Ceasar Tyh. You must be Kite. We've heard–""Further introductions will have to wait," Amica interjected.

"Let's make a bolt hole and actually discuss things further in at least some dubious safety."

"- and so, we were sent in pursuit to track down the remnants of the Undeath cult, thinking that there were mostly stragglers and perhaps a few holdouts for us to find. Turns out, we and our employers were wrong." Amica sighed, leaning back against the wall of the cavern.

"Not just wrong. Terribly wrong," Ceasar added.

"We ran into a gold ranked creation, and that was even before we could enter the depths. There is some kind of cavern system beneath this place, and I bet it's a lot more occupied than anyone dared to think." As the group had managed to find a cave and use portable formation plates to turn it into a temporary shelter, Kite had gotten a better look at one of Amica's - and now his own - new companions.

Caesar Tyh was a silver-ranked runic man with skin the color of a salt desert combined with the glowing symbols - in his case white - that was typical to his kind. He had strong but jovial features and was clad in armor the color of brass that followed his form with a precision only possible through the use of some kind of mutable magical material. Kite so far knew nothing more of the man, but was okay with that as Caesar had readily welcomed his presence.

"I would assume that this is one of the contracts that will go from simple to quite lengthy then," Kite noted, familiar with how things rarely went to plan when it came to the kind of business where the task group was involved.

"Both Glint and I stand ready to help."

"Oh, you will help all right," Amica noted.

"When I heard that you actually wanted to take me up on my offer - at least for a time - I could already see all kinds of benefits to having you around. One of the foremost being that we get to enjoy Glint's radiant presence to soothe our souls, but our team could also use someone who gets a bit more up close and personal." Even while Floating in her smaller carp form, Glint managed to do a proper showing off of herself in her jewel-clad splendor at the praise.

"This young mistress thanks you, Miss Steiner," the Familiar replied.

"Although it will not be hard to provide contrast to our current environment. Most dreary, if I may say so myself."

"What? You mean that this drab gray and brown rock isn't the most fetching of things to rest your eyes upon?" Amica said, knocking at the stone behind her back. She was about to continue, but that was when another form darkened the entrance to their hideout.

"Léon," the telekineticist called out as the third and final member of their original trio entered.

"How are things looking outside?" Having only seen the man at enough of a distance to make him a mere dark speck, Kite now got an actual look at what he assumed was some kind of spell sniper. This Léon was a fair-haired elven man with fine and distinctly handsome features even for a silver ranker. He wore combat robes that seemed to bend the light around them somewhat to create an indistinguishable color and Kite suspected that they were enchanted to help camouflage his form, should he wish to hide.

But where Caesar felt jovial and welcoming in both looks and aura, this Léon felt decidedly more sharp and perceptive. Not dangerous per se, or at least not towards Kite in that moment, but he did give Kite and Glint each a thorough scan before coming over.

"Greetings," Kite said at the man's approach, giving him a quick bow from where he sat as the cave did not leave room for one to properly stand anyway.

"I am called Kite Flown in on Winds of Fortune, but please call me Kite."

"And I'm Léon Raymàn, twelfth of my line and third of my name," the elf replied as he sat down opposite to Kite.

"You have a curious name, Kite. Are you from the eastern parts of the continent?"

"Indeed. And if I may say, so is yours, or at least the titles afterwards. Is that referring to your family lineage?"

"It is so. The Raymàn family have proudly served with the adventure society for centuries, and I am from the main line. But the specifics would be more of import back home in the ball rooms, not here in lands apparently claimed by Undeath," he said, turning to the others.

"If Kite here is our reinforcements, I would still say that we need to continue our retreat. There has been activity near the remnants of the gold-ranked one we took down earlier. Scavengers are picking it apart and carrying away the parts, but I would suspect that some kind of scouts are spreading out even now. We need to get back and warn both our employers and the task group. With the size of this infestation, I don't think they'll just send us off on another contract anytime soon.

And we might as well take the time to integrate Kite here into our plans too. Amica told us you were coming, but we didn't think it would be during the middle of a contract," he finished a bit pointedly.

"Neither did I, but Sir Ilmari of the Port Singhni branch made the decision," Kite said with a shrug.

"I shall begin the proper introductions then. You already know my name and Amica might have told you a bit, but in the terms of the Adventure Society I am a disruption specialist with an addition of defender powers. Essences are barrier, resolute, void and negation. Dispelling powers and mana drains complemented by shields, able to use them all at both close and long range. Although not quite the distances you seem to be operating on," he finished, nodding to Léon.

This way of summarizing one's powers with certain designations was but another remnant of Gauntlet training as it wasn't uncommon for teams splitting apart or joining up with one another in the field, and while it made for less of a fine mesh than a team which had trained alongside one another for years, it was a good start for adventurers used to adapt to new comrades on the fly.

"I am a sniper and a scout," Léon replied as he picked up the introductions.

"Essences are light, gathering, mirror and refraction. I work with light over almost every range and from every angle, preferring beams and rays which I can guide to strike where it hurts the most."

"And Amica and I help set things up for him," Ceasar continued.

"I'm a controller and destroyer, with cage, lightning, myriad and prison as my essences. I lock up those we need locked up and annihilate the rest. Often both at the same time. But I must say, Kite, that negation is a rare choice. What made you pick it? Haven't met many of that confluence before."

"Well, I honestly did not. It was the essences that were available to me," Kite confessed honestly.

"I lived in a very rural, low-magic area, so I didn't know that much about how the different confluences were viewed beyond the restricted ones."

"Says the man with the void essence," Léon remarked, disbelief rather than suspicion coloring his voice.

"You rarely just stumble across those."

"That… Is a bit of a complicated matter," Kite began, whereafter Amica quickly interjected to save him from the curious glances of the other two.

"I've heard the story, guys, and it's way too long for us to go through here. Save it until after we're out of this mess," the telekineticist said, gesturing to the cave around them.

"And we might as well get going soon too. Many of those undead have eerily good aura senses, and the formations here are a rush job at best."

"Glint and I can ferry all of us back towards civilization–" Kite began, but Amica stopped him with a gesture.

"No offence to either of you, but a dragon shining like a comet of jewels pulling a flying ship is hardly subtle, and we've probably drawn enough attention for some serious trouble to be on the lookout. Better take it slower and - best of all - less conspicuous." Seeing the truth in her words, Kite nodded his agreement. While he started helping the others dismantle their camp, Léon remained seated as he looked at the glittering form of Glint while images of what Amica had just described played before his eyes.

"I… might need to ask the family for a better ride."

"Feeling refreshed?" Kite asked as his aura senses felt Amica join him on one of the roofed verandas belonging to the Adventure Society branch of the city-state of Ghebi. Its size reminded Kite of home in many ways, the city being around Convergence's in population even though it was a lot more sprawling where it clung along a bend in a wide river. That was where the close similarities ended however, given that Ghebi featured mostly rather square stone houses, often with sprawling verandas beneath tiled awnings.

This would block out the sometimes sweltering sun as well as - as was currently the case - a rather impressive downpour. Even though Kite's silver ranked vision let him see quite far into the gloom beyond their dry perch, he could still not make out the wilderness to the north and east beyond the city walls from which they had arrived a mere few hours ago.

In the darkness, it was easy to imagine the shuffling of the walking dead and other horrid constructs like those they had witnessed and defeated on their way back. While Léon's looting power had made sure they at least did not leave a veritable trail of corpses, there was little doubt that whoever created and led the undead would know that they had been discovered.

"Oh yes," Amica sighed.

"There's no use in constantly applying crystal wash while out in the field, so I tried to save it and combine it with an actual warm bath whenever I get back. And gods, those pools… I don't know what's in that magic in these parts, but something in there felt good."

"Indeed," Kite agreed.

"Quite a bit like home, actually. It's sad yet amusing to not have been gone for long and already missing it."

"I've seen your home, Kite. You have a lot to come home to. Are you regretting joining up? While our tours don't tend to be longer than six months before we have some extended leave, you know how the contracts are. Some take weeks–""While others suddenly turn into months," Kite filled in, sighing." I am aware. Honestly, had it not been for the business with Discord back home, my perspective on time would have been different. At least when it comes to Dragonfly and the other silvers. Little Raven, on the other hand…

I'm missing a lot in the years to come. Even with the opportunity to travel home between the tours of contracts."

"But is it still worth it?"

"Fortune be kind, I hope it will be. There's no way of knowing yet. You know about gold rank, no?"

"I do," Amica confirmed, floating beside him next to the veranda's railing while copying his pensive look out into the darkness.

"Good," Kite said, knowing that he could speak freely." I need perspective, Amica. And it would probably come at home. Perhaps if I had enough time. But as things are…"

"You don't know, and you don't dare take that chance," she replied, her turn to finish his sentence.

"Indeed. But then I thought of your offer... Being part of an inner circle team for a few years… If there's any way to force myself into as many unexpected situations in as short a time as possible, this should be it. The world is suddenly a lot smaller with the portals available to the task group."

"And with your keen nose for insights, I am quite sure that things will go splendidly.

""You are too kind, but–""Oh, enough of that. I can feel that stress all over your aura, and would be even if I didn't have all these scars," Amica sighed.

"You definitely aren't doing yourself any favors fretting like that."

"If you know a magical way to stop, I'm all ears."

"That… is a good point. But I still think that my point stands, at least somewhat. You came for perspective, right?"

"Indeed."

"Then - and this is from my mind healer, an actually credible source - perhaps the two don't need to exclude each other? Perhaps you can be afraid while still meeting the world and everything these upcoming contracts and conflicts have to offer? Treat the fear like a misunderstood and persistent companion you can't just get rid of, and therefore you might as well let it tag along and show it the world." Silence met her statement, and a few seconds later Amica turned to look at Kite.

"What? Really? I know that feeling in your aura," she eventually said once Kite seemed to come back to the present.

"I mean, it's good advice, Kite, but I didn't think you would just go and actually get something from that."

"Neither did I, but…" Kite shrugged, laughing softly.

"But thank you, Amica. For advice and insight both. I definitely think that there is something in your words that warrants further consideration. And talking to you has already made me feel better."

"Glad to hear it," Amica replied, a bit of warmth sneaking into her voice to replace the playfulness. The latter was soon back though, as she continued.

"Then we might as well take the time to rest when we can. You heard how Death's clergy took the news. And the branch director did seem equally impressed with the importance of our report. We will probably be very busy in the time to come, and perhaps even see a few dozen more friends of ours joining us soon enough. But before that, I am most curious about how my Little Crow has been behaving since I last saw him.

And you, my friend, will be a most excellent source of information that can't distract me with that cursed smile of his…"