Chương 149: If We Get Back

The keep was a mess inside. The ogres, too big for the front gates or the inner hallways, had smashed their way through, tearing down walls and scattering stone debris everywhere. We didn't linger inside long. Holding our weapons out, we rushed down to the cellar, where we would usually begin our Labyrinth runs. We cut down a clump of orcs as we descended, using our high-ground position on the stairs to our advantage, even if we didn't really need to. When we reached the cellar, I quickly checked my equipment.

Of all of us, I was the lowest on Presence, so the others would prioritize using their Arts over mine. Then I led the way. We had to stick together, so I stayed on my set path, using the same delving route we always did. In the hallways, the comparative silence sent a chill down my spine. A distant orc screech would rip through the hallways every now and then, or footsteps would thud nearby, but we kept to our route. The lesser orcs weren't our problem.

I did, however, whisper to Anchor and Sage, "If you guys pick up on any Golds, or a Black Captain of any kind, let me know." I had no idea how strong this Othmuk was, but I suspected he was around Gold-tier, and probably high-up in the tier. We couldn't go head to head with him, even if we had three squads. Sure, I'd pulled off impressive feats against Mugreth, but this was different.

The stats between tiers increased almost exponentially, and even someone low in the Gold tier would struggle against someone high up in the tier. I was a low-tier Silver. We needed the level guardian if we wanted to stand any kind of chance against Othmuk. But even worse would be if Othmuk escaped around us and ended up on the surface. Sure, my Perception was pretty high, but unlike Anchor, I hadn't practiced using it much, and I didn't have a Perception Skill to identify my enemies or their tiers. Yet.

When we reached the balcony overlooking the underground city, we stopped. I rushed to the railing, looking down and hunting for any sign of a Black Captain. Othmuk had to be down there somewhere. Orcs poured into the city, rushing through the streets. They swarmed over the monsters that were in their way, and spent nearly ten lives to kill a single monster, but the orcs had the numbers to keep pushing. There had to be thousands of them all pouring through the city streets, like water flooding an anthill.

"See anything unusual?" I asked.

"Aside from the orcs?" Yesman complained.

"Anything that looks like a powerful orc captain," I said.

"Off to your right," Anchor said, pointing down into the cavern.

"They're starting to group up and make for a stairway."

"They're forming ranks," Sage said.

"There, then," I said.

"How are we going to lead them off?" Habit asked.

"We need them to follow us back to the central plaza, don't we?" I chewed my lip. Othmuk had to be here for Lord Ceonwin. That had to be part of Hinlaw's deal with them. If we had brought Ceonwin as bait, it might have been easier, but we couldn't put him in this much danger, and they needed him to coordinate the surface defences just as much. I glanced back at Habit, then said, "Ceonwin's banner should be enough."

"Will they question what we're doing?" Habit asked.

"They could see through the trap."

"They don't seem to know about the golems," Sage provided.

"They aren't avoiding the quarter guardians, either." I nodded.

"We go fast. I'll strike a few of them hard and fast. Do Black Captains have good senses?"

"Not enough to tell the difference between a Silver and a Gold," Yesman provided.

"Then I should be strong enough. I've pretended to be Ceonwin once. I can do it again. They don't know what they're looking for, and as long as we keep our distance, they won't see that we're all Dupes." I adjusted my grip on my spear.

"We don't have time. Come on. Stick with me. Once we've lured Othmuk to the Gold level guardian, I need everyone else to scatter. Habit, go for the water golem, and be ready to destroy it. Yesman, get the last golem, whatever it is. Brawl will sound a horn when we're ready, and on his signal, we need you to destroy the respective quarter guardians. Understood?" Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

"Yes, sir!" the others shouted. I led the way down the stairs, leading the way. A group of orc archers at the bottom of the stairs fired at us with arrows, but we positioned our squads with their shields facing out, and we blocked anything that would be dangerous. After the first volley, I drew my crossbow from my back and blasted one of them. The rest of the archers with us fired a few quick arrows, picking off the rest of the bow-equipped orcs.

Once we made it to the bottom of the stairs, we raced through the streets of the underground city, navigating deftly through a territory. Over the past three-quarters of a year, we'd practically mapped every inch of it and knew it like the backs of our hands. My Focus, of course, aided in my ability to remember it. Finally, we drew enough that the orcs in formation noticed us. Some pointed as we darted through the nearby alleys, and others hollered.

A shaman blasted a dark bolt of rot at us, but we had passed before it could hit. Once we'd gotten enough of their attention, I stopped in an alleyway and peered around the corner, looking across the army. Othmuk was unmistakable. He rode atop a fully-grown ruin-hound, holding a heavy war-pick in his hands. It had a long shaft and a crude, rusty hook at the end. Almost like a scythe, but with a shorter, rusty blade that reminded me of a monster's tooth. As orcs went, he was relatively normal.

Beige, flaky skin with yellow eyes. His head was bald, and a scar cleaved across his left eye. I didn't plan on leaving him alive long enough to get to know him, though. I triggered half of my gravity Art, only using three Presence, and thrust a column of orcs back, simulating a Wicca's palm strike. Without waiting for the reaction, I said, "Turn. Go. Toward the center plaza. Anchor, when you have a clear shot, kill his ruin-hound. Don't let him use it to catch up to us."

"Got it, sarge." We spun. My squad navigated back to the front of the group of Dupes. As the orcs scrambled, breaking formation, we navigated toward the central plaza. The orcs had cleared a route for us, taking out most of the annoying monsters that stood in our way. I didn't look back over my shoulder. Orcs hollered, and Othmuk roared something in a voice that was far deeper than most orcs. The air shuddered as he spoke, and pressure rolled off him in waves.

But when I heard Anchor's bowstring twang, I knew we stood a chance of escaping. We just had to run like our lives depended on it. Lesser orcs, who were still trickling out of the underground tunnel, tried to jump in our way, but we batted them aside without stopping to clean them up. Just a few minutes, racing across the city. Just a few minutes. I kept track of the streets, using the imaginary map in the back of my mind.

The lower tier orcs weren't anywhere near as fast as us, who were all Titaniums and Steels, but Othmuk still was—even on foot. His pressure closed in on us from behind, weighing down on me with each second. We rounded corners, trying to escape it, but that only bought us seconds. Still, we knew the streets better than him. I navigated tight hallways and took sharp corners, and slowly our lead grew. Were we actually going to outmaneuver a Gold? Then the Black Captain transformed.

I didn't see it happen, but I heard it. Just like the Greencloaks, his bones crunched and shifted. Flesh ripped, and he hollered in pain. That prompted me to look back, of course, but he was already gone. A massive black drake jumped in front of us, leaping over the streets. It was a lizard with a snake's head, four legs, and no wings. Black scales covered its body from head to toe, and a row of razor-sharp gray spines ran down its back. Its lips curled back into a snarl, revealing a pair of fangs.

One of them was the blade of Othmuk's warpick. With a high-pitched screech, the drake spat steaming brown bile at us. I stopped just in time. It splattered onto the street, eroding the Labyrinth paving stones ahead of me and turning them to dust. Specks of the bile splattered my shield, eating through in an instant and rotting the rest. It'd saved me once, but that wouldn't work again. I cast it aside, then led the squads down a side street, dipping around the drake.

It bounded up onto the rooftops, its clawed feet tearing apart the sides of the buildings and shearing off waterfalls of clay roofing tiles. Othmuk was more like the equivalent of a druid. The knowledge didn't help me much, though. There wasn't much we could do about that but run. I used a single-direction gravity Art to tug the monster through the roof it stood on, buying us time. By now, the central plaza was just ahead.

Buildings ringed the outer circle, and we approached the old theater where we'd first watched the level guardian from. But even if we could see it, Othmuk didn't make it easy. In his drake form, he was much faster. He leapt in front of us, forcing us to navigate through side streets and take a winding path to avoid him. We rounded a corner, about to sprint out toward the base of the old theater, when Othmuk spewed a swell of bile from above.

Brawl pushed me aside, blocking some of the burning rot-acid with his shield and absorbing the rest of it with his shoulder. His chainmail melted away and his skin began to dissolve. The affected muscle turned black, but Sage triggered a healing art, staving it off as long as she could. I pulled my crossbow off my back and fired a bolt, triggering a resonance Skill at the same time. It left a shallow scratch on the side of the beast's scales, but forced its head to flinch away, and bought me time to use an Art.

I pulled on the drake's iron tooth, yanking it as hard as I could. With a snarl, Othmuk's head moved in the same direction—away from us.

"Go!" I yelled.

"Go now!" We raced across the street, then sprinted through the lower levels of the ancient theatre, sheltered from above. When we emerged in the old city plaza beyond, we raced across, not stopping—not even as the level guardian stood up, towering over us with its height and gold-gilded column arms. It slammed them down as we raced around it, but nothing hit. We'd practiced these maneuvers a hundred times before, and we knew how to get around the golem. I made sure to put it between us and Othmuk.

"Levi…" Habit warned.

"Go," I said.

"Yesman, you too. Get yourself to the quarter guardians and wait for the signal—a horn blast. Don't destroy them until you hear the signal. My squad will wait here. Once you've killed the golems, get back to us. We're going to need you."