Chương 34: Chapter 31. Uninvited Guests

The two mages and the frozen leviathan studied one another for several tense moments. The eye was unfamiliar and alien to Marcus's sensibilities, with a triangular-shaped pupil and a sclera of a strange, indescribable color. It looked like no fish or whale eye that he had seen. Even putting that aside, the creature felt wrong to his spiritual senses. His microcosm reacted very strongly to it, giving him an impression that he was looking at something foreign to the world itself.

The creature in the ice didn't seem to do anything other than stare, however, so as the seconds passed, Marcus and Beortan relaxed.

"There is something fundamentally wrong with this creature," Marcus commented to Beortan.

"Can you sense it?"

However, it was not Beortan that answered him. Instead, a strange voice spoke to him telepathically, imprinting the words directly into his mind. The voice was his own, echoing back at him in a distorted state.

[That sensation is only because this world considers me aberrant and rejects me,] the voice said.

[I have no wish to harm you.] Marcus was taken aback. He had only encountered telepathy a few times in his life, but it was still magic and it could be resisted as such. He didn't sense anything, so how was he hearing its voice?

He silently made a quick check for foreign magic and immediately found threads of foreign magic connecting him to creature in the ice. It seemed the creature had cast a spell of telepathy at some point, and he'd never even noticed! He tried to break the connection with his raw shaping skills, but failed utterly. The magic was subtle yet powerful, and trying to break it with his mana alone felt like trying to grasp a squirming eel.

"I don't feel anything, but I believe you," Beortan commented from the side.

"It certainly looks very disturbing."

Marcus looked at him silently. From his response, it seemed Beortan didn't hear anything.

"What?" Beortan asked.

"The creature in the ice is speaking to me telepathically," Marcus said.

"Is it not talking to you as well?"

"No?" Beortan said, frowning.

"Odd. Why just you?"

['Creature' is a rude word,] the leviathan commented.

[Call me Voyager.]

"Who says it's just me?" Marcus asked Beortan.

"Check yourself."

Beortan's hand flashed through a series of gestures silently, only for his expression to immediately darken. He clearly found something.

"Son of a-" Beortan swore, casting a quick dispel on himself.

However, his expression only darkened in the aftermath.

Marcus sighed internally. Just like he thought…

"I should have realized it the moment we entered this space and heard the song," Marcus commented. He slowly cast the most powerful dispel in his arsenal on himself while he talked, taking time to shape it so it would be as powerful as possible.

"The creature… Voyager… it already infiltrated our minds all the way back then, I'm guessing."

He cast dispel on himself. The threads of magic invading him shook and shuddered, but remained unbroken. The leviathan song in his ears became distorted for a moment, before stabilizing again.

Mind magic was very poorly developed on Tasloa, and so specialized defenses against it were likewise rare and poorly developed. Marcus knew this mainly because Celer had commented on it in the past. Apparently fey were really fond of it. While Marcus was not completely defenseless against mental attacks, the leviathan was clearly both more powerful than him and also very skilled in mental magic. Getting rid of the connection would be a challenge.

That said, Voyager didn't seem inclined to hurt them, and Marcus had already experienced a situation similar to this with Sacred Oak. So he was less disturbed by the situation than he probably should have been.

[In that case, Voyager, call me War Orphan,] Marcus sent back to it over the connection.

[An odd name,] Voyager commented.

[I like it.] Beortan seemed to be far more concerned by his connection to the creature, casting several spells on himself in an attempt to sever it, all to no avail.

"Let's go," Marcus said out loud.

"We need to find Irdrith as soon as possible. The wards on this place are failing fast, and I suspect they are at least partially restraining our new friend. I'm not sure what will happen when they fully break, but I doubt it's good."

Considering that even in this limited state it could imperceptibly invade Marcus's mind and resist his attempts to cut the connection, he shuddered to think how powerful it was going to be when it was completely unchained.

"You're right," Beortan said, giving up on his attempts.

"You know, it might be a good thing Irdrith did this… imagine if we'd waited long enough for the wards to completely fail. We might have encountered this thing at full power!"

[You are the ones who broke the seals?] Voyager asked Marcus.

[I knew it. I am… mildly grateful. This place used to be interesting, with so many strange minds dreaming around me, but so few are left. Now this place is barren, and I wish to leave.] [What happened to the other prisoners?] Marcus asked. [I thought they were supposed to be in stasis? Why did they all perish?] [You little ones are so fragile,] Voyager said.

[I was merely curious.] Marcus waited for a few seconds, but Voyager didn't try to elaborate on that.

"This Voyager still talking to you, I take it?" Beortan said.

"Yes," Marcus confirmed. He saw no reason to keep it a secret.

"I wonder why it talks to you, but not to me," Beortan said. Marcus shook his head silently.

"Yeah, I figured it never told you the reason. Do you think we're dealing with a minor god of some sort? I've never seen a piece of magic like this. I can sense it, unlike actual divine miracles, but it's next to impossible to affect it. I can't seem to remove it."

"I think Voyager is just a very powerful mortal," Marcus mused.

"A pinnacle adept, perhaps?"

[I am not like you, War Orphan,] Voyager told him.

[Like you, I have a personal universe inside of me, but its logos is not a reflection of this world. It is different, heretical. A system of existence separate from the great universe that surrounds us, independent from the one you use.] [How can you possibly have logos separate from the universe as we know it?] Marcus asked, baffled. [You aren't an abyssal, are you?] [No,] Voyager said, flatly denying the accusation.

In all honesty, the leviathan didn't feel like an abyssal. It felt wrong, but not in an abyssal sense.

The world was truly a vast place. Until this point, Marcus had been convinced only an abyssal could have logos truly foreign to the world they lived in.

[Then what are you?] Marcus demanded. [Where do you come from?] [I sprung spontaneously into existence from primordial chaos outside this universe. I was incarnated in this form through the Great Vortex. I am a copy which split off from the original incarnation several thousand years ago. I am a fragment shorn off from my greater self and sent to explore this vast universe,] Voyager said.

[Does this answer your question? I suspect not. Your language is so limited, and you must learn the same things every time. Why is your kind born blank, War Orphan? I have never understood this.] Well, Voyager was certainly right: that answer was indeed too hard for him to understand. What was Voyager even saying?

[I am curious,] Marcus said, switching topics. [Why do you only speak to me, and not to my friend?] [You hold a universe inside of you, just like me, and you are part of something greater, just like me. I feel a trace of kinship with you,] Voyager explained.

Part of something greater? Was it talking about his connection to the Sacred Oak? Could it actually sense such a thing?

"That's still terrifying," Beortan commented.

It took Marcus a full second to realize what Beortan was replying to. Trying to hold two conversations at once was hard.

"You have no idea," Marcus told him.

Marcus and Beortan continued searching the freezing corridors for the ice dragon that had come here before them. Things proved not quite so simple. The place was a maze, full of branching, looping corridors that seemed to go on indefinitely. The blue light of Beortan's lamp, coupled with the eerie song projected straight into their mind, made the place very unnerving to traverse, too.

More than once they found themselves back at the large chamber that housed the frozen leviathan, despite taking pains not to return to it.

"This thing is definitely messing with our minds," Beortan said, narrowing his eyes at the massive eye silently looking down at them.

"Yes," Marcus agreed.

Neither of them were unfamiliar with mazes, and despite how odd this place was, it didn't seem to warp space the way the Dead Giant's Cave beneath his tower did. Marcus had already checked for that. There was only one explanation as to why they kept inexplicably coming back here: Voyager was distorting their perceptions to lead them back here.

[What do you want from us?] Marcus asked the leviathan, frustrated.

He didn't receive an answer.

He wasn't surprised by that. He had already asked Voyager for an explanation why he kept affecting their minds like this back when he had stated he didn't wish to harm them. The strange creature never bothered giving him a response. In fact, after their initial exchange, the leviathan grew strangely quiet in general, ignoring most of his inquiries.

Though, that might have had something to do with him asking questions such as 'how did you end up trapped in the ice', 'did you see a dragon entering this place before us', 'what exactly did you do to the other prisoners', and 'can you tell me about the builders of the vault'. Voyager seemed to have little interest in answering these, and when it didn't care to discuss the topic, it simply stayed silent.

[It's rude to completely ignore the question,] Marcus told it, recalling its earlier comment. [You should at least say 'no', or tell me to shut up.] Voyager stayed silent, however.

In an effort to get it to talk to him again, Marcus decided to bring up something from their previous conversation.

[Before, you said you came from outside this universe, but also that you are not Abyssal,] Marcus said. [How does that work? Are there many non-Abyssal outsiders beyond our reality?] [Yes, countless,] Voyager answered.

[Things arise in the chaos constantly. Most dissolve back into the primordial expanse just as quickly as they formed, too undefined to resist the corrosive forces there. Some, like me, possess logos powerful enough to resist dissolution for a time, but only a perfect logos can resist the corrosion of primordial chaos forever.] [What makes a logos perfect?] Marcus asked.

[I do not know,] Voyager said.

[I know of two examples: the Abyss and your own universe. They alone can resist corrosion of the primordial chaos in perpetuity. Everything else is temporary, including me. All of me. This is why I had to take shelter here if I wished to survive.] [Doesn't the Flame of Strife act against you?] Marcus asked.

[I can resist the corrosion of primordial chaos,] Voyager simply said.

Right. If Marcus was understanding things correctly, Voyager was indeed something like an abyssal, and was countered by the Flame of Strife just like every other outsider… that must have been why the leviathan initially told Marcus he was being rejected by the world. However, Voyager was not actually aligned with the Abyss, and wasn't as relentlessly hostile as demons were.

He wondered whether the gods would consider him a sinner for even interacting with such a forbidden existence… but then again, this thing had resided here, trapped in the ice, for thousands of years. Surely if they had such a problem with the strange leviathan, they would have finished it off while it was like this?

He silently motioned for Beortan to follow after him and started walking. He suspected that so long as he engaged Voyager in a conversation and kept him from being too bored, it would stop making them come back here. Though, if Voyager really wanted to stay here, would it even allow them to leave after finding Irdrith and confronting her?

Hopefully he would have figured something out by the time that became an issue.

"Wait," Beortan said.

"I have an idea."

Marcus turned around to look at him curiously, but Beortan didn't bother explaining. He simply manifested his spirit, causing a massive white dragon to materialize around him, wrapped around him like a monstrous protector. Beortan was clearly taking pains to make it as noticeable as possible.

Manifesting one's spirit like that was generally of limited usefulness, and was mostly used for showing off or intimidation. However, in this case, Beortan seemed to be using it as a beacon for others to notice him.

And somebody did. Off in the distance, a loud draconic roar quickly answered his move, followed by a burst of exceptionally potent draconic logos.

Stolen story; please report.

Well, they found Irdrith. He supposed that answered his question of what had happened to her when she entered this place. She got ensnared in the Voyager's song, just like them… and here he'd been worried she was working with the leviathan.

They set off towards the ice dragon, with Beortan leading the way.

[They used to be one of us, you know,] Voyager told him.

[A primordial from outside. It is said among my kin that when the gods conquered this place from the Elemental Lords, the Ancestor Dragon forced himself onto the negotiating table and demanded his logos be added to the new Grand Order they were building. Thus, their fragments became native to great world around us and no longer suffer rejection. Alas, this is not possible for me.] [Not strong enough, huh?] Marcus asked. [Have you tried begging? I hear the gods can be vain and are willing to grant favors, if you ask humbly enough.] [I am not compatible enough. I would have to discard much of my logos to assimilate,] Voyager said.

[I am unwilling. Who would acquiesce to discard a piece of themselves? Would I even be who I am then? It is better to perish.] They soon came upon a crossroads. A loud draconic roar came from the tunnel to their left, but the emanation of draconic logos unmistakably came from the right. Beortan immediately went to the right, ignoring what his ears were telling him in favor of the spiritual sense. Marcus wordlessly followed.

Considering everything Voyager had told him, it made sense that the leviathan could twist their mundane senses, but could not fake a logos completely alien to it.

With Beortan leading the way, it didn't take long for them to reach Irdrith. She was in her dragon form again, pacing agitatedly inside one of the rooms. A number of creatures trapped inside the ice lined the walls, but none of them were all that interesting. A giant fish with an armored head, a giant humanoid with a single eye in their forehead, a pair of dwarves, and a blurry pink form that Marcus couldn't really figure out.

None of them looked anything like an ice dragon, so it was hard to understand why she was lingering here.

Irdrith didn't seem to notice them at first, even though they'd made no attempt to hide their approach and Beortan was carrying his distinctive blue lamp. Marcus and Beortan stared at her in silence for several seconds. Her cat-like, vertical pupils kept glancing all over the place as she paced, sweeping across the spot they were standing on several times without pausing. Having shed her human guise, her massive reptilian form looked quite intimidating.

She was like a cross between a tiger and a crocodile, but bigger than both, and with an addition of a pair of wings, long straight horns, and a highly flexible tail. Marcus could tell from her frantic movements that she was quite agitated, and his mind couldn't help but conjure the image of the vault doors and how they looked after she had forced her way inside with those massive claws of hers.

"Can you hear us?" Marcus called out, not daring to approach her carelessly, lest she lash out at him.

She could not. She continued pacing around the room as if nothing had happened.

[What did you do to her?] he simultaneously asked Voyager.

But the frozen leviathan didn't answer.

[Do you know anything about the device she is holding? The transmutation cube,] Marcus tried. Perhaps it would find that a more interesting topic.

[You mean the Diyo relic she uses as an anchor?] Voyager asked.

[Does she have any other cubes that are powerful magic items in her possession?] Marcus asked rhetorically. He had no idea who or what the Diyo were, but cube-shaped magic items weren't common.

[Diyo devices are too advanced to comprehend at a mere glance, but I suspect it to be one of their fabrication cubes,] Voyager said.

[They made many. It is their equivalent of your craftsman tools. They used them to process materials, repair broken devices and manufacture other tools. I care little for artifice, but many civilizations prize them. The little dragon, it seems, is instead using it as a vessel to stop her spirit from dissipating without a body.] Before Marcus could continue this conversation, Beortan flared his spirit again, causing Irdrith to stop pacing and zero in on their location.

She stared at them for a second, eyes narrowing.

"I can sense you… but I cannot see you," she said.

"Why is it like this? What manner of insidious trap have I stumbled into?"

"This is divine punishment for trying to go back on our deal," Beortan told her.

"I can hear you!" Irdrith said.

"Wonderful! Listen, I was not attempting to trick you, I was only slightly impatient. Please help me break free of… whatever this is! I promise I will make good on our agreement once we locate my body. No, better than that! I will even teach you some of my secrets as well! What do you say?"

She could suddenly hear them… why did Voyager suddenly allow her to perceive their words?

[Voyager, you said you feel kinship with me,] Marcus told the leviathan. [Can you do me a favor and allow the dragon to move freely and reclaim her body?] [I was going to devour it,] Voyager admitted.

[It will cost you.] Damn.

[What kind of price are we talking about?] Marcus asked wearily.

[A favor,] Voyager said simply.

Ugh. Marcus would have preferred something concrete.

He looked at Beortan, giving him an annoyed look.

"What?" Beortan demanded.

"You'd better appreciate this," Marcus told him without explaining.

[Fine,] he told Voyager. [I agree.] Irdrith suddenly shuddered and shook her head slightly, as if waking up from a dream, and quickly looked around.

"What on- I thought I was wandering around the tunnels!" she protested.

"How…"

"I made a deal with the leviathan frozen here," Marcus told her.

"It agreed to stop messing around with your mind and it will allow you to reunite with your body. You better honor your part of the bargain, or else I will tell it the deal is off and it can do whatever it wishes with you."

"A leviathan…?" Irdrith repeated, sounding confused.

"What are you… no, it cannot be! That thing was supposed to be sealed!"

[An existence like me, who is not entirely part of this word, is hard to seal completely,] Voyager commented in Marcus's head.

"Surely you realized something was wrong the moment you heard the singing permeating this place?" Marcus asked her.

"I… I only know of those sordid things from stories," Irdrith admitted, deflating somewhat.

"No matter. Let us find my body and leave immediately."

She immediately set off into one of the tunnels, still in her dragon form, and Marcus and Beortan hurried after her. Now that her mind was no longer being affected, she seemed to know exactly where to go.

"What is that thing anyway?" Beortan asked her as they moved.

"An ancient aberration from beyond the bounds of the known universe," Irdrith said.

"They have strange abilities that defy common sense and are frighteningly intelligent and powerful. The young ones are aquatic, but it is said that elder specimens can traverse the void unaided and live in the space between planets."

She turned her giant draconic head towards Marcus.

"You said it talked to you?"

"Yes," Marcus confirmed.

"Why would it deign to speak to you? They are notoriously dismissive towards most creatures, even dragons," Irdrith said, looking at him suspiciously.

"Ah, most likely it was bored from its long imprisonment. We are here!"

They had reached another large room. Like all of the ones so far, this one contained several prisoners frozen in the ice. Most notably, the biggest block of ice held the body of a large ice dragon. Its form was blurry, and curled into a fetal position, but Marcus could immediately see the similarities to the dragon beside them.

It was clear the builders of the vault placed special attention on sealing away the body of the dragon. Not only was the block of ice containing it very large, it was also surrounded by a metallic frame and several pipes of unclear purpose pierced into the ice and connected to the body inside. Although invisible to sight, Marcus could also sense that the wards were especially heavy here: not as dense as the ones that held back Voyager, but definitely more potent than that of other prisoners.

Curiously, her body did not seem to be dead like so many other prisoners. Was it because her holding cell was fancier than those of the rest, or because her body was devoid of a mind, and therefore didn't have an easy way for Voyager to affect it?

"At last," Irdrith said, impatiently approaching the ice block holding her body and placing her clawed hand on its surface.

A complicated sealing circle flashed into existence for a moment when she touched the ice block, revealing a complicated array of geometric shapes and runes. Irdrith frowned, taking a step back and raising herself so she was sitting on her back legs. Her front legs were very hand-like in structure, if one ignored the huge claws at the end of each finger.

"Stand back," she commanded.

She spoke several sentences in a language Marcus did not understand, drew a simple triangle shape in the air with one of her claws, and then slammed both of her front legs into the ice block. The magic circle immediately shattered into fragments and faded away.

Marcus thought she would break the ice block next, but instead her body became transparent and dissolved into ethereal smoke. In place of a large intimidating dragon, there was now a small black cube floating in the air. The smoke quickly condensed into a glowing sphere above the cube, and then shot like an arrow into the body trapped inside the ice.

The very next moment, the ice block exploded, forcing Marcus and Beortan to shield themselves from the rain of ice fragments.

Marcus cleared the room with a casual wave of his hand, revealing a massive hole where the ice block used to be, and Irdrith standing on all fours in front of it. She was twitching and trembling for several seconds, her wings unfurling several times before she folded them against the sides of her body again.

Finally, she stretched her back and yawned like an oversized housecat and locked her eyes with them.

Several tense seconds passed as Marcus and Beortan waited to see if she would attack now that she had her body back.

"Why are you tense all of a sudden?" she suddenly asked, assuming a more relaxed position.

"Surely you do not doubt my honor? We are partners, are we not?"

The black cube was still there, floating in the air. Irdrith quickly snatched it and pushed it into her chest. The cube somehow sank into it without harming the dragon at all, after which Marcus could no longer sense it.

Very interesting.

"Right," Beortan said.

"About our deal…"

Irdrith interrupted him by pressing one of her claws between the scales of her other front limb, drawing blood. She stretched out said limb towards Beortan.

"Give me a container," she said.

Sure enough, Beortan had a bottle potent enough to hold dragon blood on him. He hurriedly brought it forward, and Irdrith squeezed out three drops of her blood into it before stepping back.

"You will get the scales when we get out of this place," Irdrith said.

"Besides, I even promised to teach you how to command some of your draconic powers. Remember that it is therefore in your best interest to make sure I survive."

Hah! So she was suddenly worried for her life? Now that he thought about it, if she provided everything Beortan wanted now, there was nothing stopping Marcus from just telling Voyager he could eat her as far as he was concerned. So this was actually smart of her, as insurance of sorts.

Irdrith shifted her attention to Marcus.

"You are more resourceful than I originally assumed," she commented.

"You even went as far as to make a pact with the Klatu to have me released… I wish to pay you back for the favor, but my hoard is gone, and I am uncertain what I could teach you. Unfortunately, you practice a lowly peasant technique instead of an exalted technique such as dragon transformation, so any guidance I give you will be of more limited use."

"Don't worry about me and my peasant ways. You can pay me back by giving Beortan the best possible guidance you can manage," Marcus told her.

It wasn't that Marcus had no interest in seeing what this strange dragon could teach him, but he was worried she would use this as an excuse to minimize the amount of help she gave to Beortan, on the ground she had to split her attention between both of them. As she said, Beortan was the one who stood to benefit the most out of any help she could provide.

"Very well," Irdrith said, easily accepting his words.

"Let us be off, then. The sooner we leave this place, the better."

As they hurriedly made their way back towards the entrance of the vault, Marcus all but expected some crisis to arise. Perhaps the entire vault would start to collapse now that Irdrith recovered her body, or Voyager would decide he wasn't going to let them leave after all. However, no such thing happened. They did end up in the big room holding the frozen leviathan, its eye still open and following their every move, but Voyager didn't seem interested in keeping them there.

[Farewell, Voyager,] Marcus said to him. [This might be a strange thing to ask, but will you be alright in here? The wards holding you here aside, you are too big to fit into the corridors.] The leviathan might have been strange and dangerous, messing with their minds and talking about things that Marcus didn't fully understand and couldn't confirm, but he didn't really get a bad impression from him.

Even the favor it demanded of him wasn't enforced with some kind of magic contract: it was just an honor-based thing. Overall, Marcus would actually be willing to help it out. It might even take care of that pesky favor he owed it.

[Your concern is amusing but unnecessary, War Orphan,] Voyager said. Its voice did not seem particularly amused, but then again, it was just Marcus's own distorted voice thrown back at him.

[I have a way out of this mountain.] Alright then.

[We're leaving,] he told the leviathan.

[I will be meditating around the Great Vortex to recover my strength. Come seek me out once you achieve rank nine and we shall talk about that favor you owe me,] Voyager said.

Marcus's face twitched in a mixture of amusement and disbelief. The way Voyager talked, one would think that becoming a pinnacle adept was just a walk in the park, and not something that most adepts spend their entire life chasing in vain… and where the hell was the Great Vortex? What even was the Great Vortex?

Never mind. He wasn't going to ask. It was Voyager's own fault for not explaining things properly.

They left the creature in its block of ice, navigated the trapped corridor between the prison and vault entrance, and even exited the caves under the mountain. Irdrith actually snatched some of the items in the vaults they passed by. Lacking any pockets, she simply glued them to her flanks with an odd piece of magic and kept going.

"Since I am in possession of my body once more, I wish to start building my hoard again," she explained.

It was a good thing Marcus had already picked up the best stuff before they got her back.

Just as Marcus and Beortan found themselves on the surface and breathed a sigh of relief, thinking they had successfully resolved everything, a dozen or so earth elementals rose from the ground in a loose circle around them.

Before either side could attack, a familiar dwarven machine also rose from the earth, scattering snow and ice, but leaving the rocks and soil undisturbed by its entrance. The face carven into the metal scowled at them, its eyes shining.

An illusory image of Etur, the dwarf they had previously talked with, materialized in front of them.

"You! You're consorting with the dragon, aren't you? I knew I shouldn't have ever trusted you yokels!" Etur's image shouted.

"I'll give you one last chance to resolve this peacefully. Step aside and do not interfere!"

Irdrith, still in dragon form, looked incredibly skittish for such a proud creature, ready to bolt at the moment's notice. She was likely still weak from reclaiming her body, and didn't seem to put much faith in the two of them rising to her defense.

In that regard she was totally wrong. Even if Beortan wasn't here, Marcus would have fought the dwarves, if for no other reason than because their attitude pissed him off.

"Not a chance," Beortan said firmly.

"We have reached an agreement with the dragon. From now on, she is under the protection of the White Dragon Clan and I. This hunt of yours is over. Leave our territory at once or face our wrath!"

Etur scowled at him.

"Oh, and another thing. You seem to have found an ancient dwarven vault and looted some of the priceless treasures of our ancestors. As representative of King Urist, I hereby claim this site in the name of the Emerald Hall and demand you hand over everything you took!"

"Greedy wretch, what right do you or your meager kingdom have to any of these treasures? You are as much a looter as we are!" Irdrith growled, flaring her wings. After Beortan's show of support she seemed much more confident about herself.

"Hmph, a dragon calling me greedy. That's rich!" Etur said, giving her a contemptuous look.

"I'll give you a deal, dragon - hand over the transformation cube and do not interfere with our quarrel with these two, and I will let you go and no longer pursue you."

"I refuse," Irdrith simply said. She didn't appear to have considered the deal at all, though Marcus was pretty sure that had to do more with her unwillingness to hand over the cube than her being so unwilling to betray them.

"You could not deal with me when I was alone. Why would I give up now, with two powerful allies at my side?"

"Give it up," Beortan said.

"You attempts at dividing us only speak of your weakness. Leave before you lose more than you can handle."

Marcus scanned the area around him, assessing his opponents and the terrain around them, making combat plans. In his opinion, a battle was all but unavoidable at this point. Neither side was going to back up.

"Lose more than I can handle? Stupid human savages!" Etur said slowly.

"You mistake my kindness for cowardice. I am prepared to lose everything here! Why, the transmutation cube alone would make this entire endeavor worth it, even if nearly everyone perished! If you had any idea of its significance-"

"I know it's a Diyo relic," Marcus said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"So what? It doesn't change anything."

He was bluffing, of course. He had absolutely no idea what it being a Diyo relic meant. However, his statement caused both Irdrith and Etur to give him shocked looks, as if they couldn't believe he knew about it. Even Beortan gave him an odd glance.

Before anyone could continue their argument, the ground began to shake, and loud rumbling sounded from somewhere behind them. The illusory image of Etur warped and became blurry, and Marcus and Beortan struggled to remain standing. Irdrith, having four legs, was more stable, but still seemed surprised at the event.

Suddenly, the mountain exploded.

It wasn't a small explosion, either. An absolutely massive hole was blown in the side of the mountain, thankfully not facing in the direction of the group, sending enormous quantities of rock and dust into the air. Not long after, an enormous dark shape rushed out of the hole.

It was Voyager. Now that it was free of ice, Marcus could study its shape better, even from this distance. Its forty meter body was shaped somewhat like a whale and dark green in color, but with four flippers instead of two, a large fish-like fin on the back, and skin covered in many bony plates.

Four long, thick barbel-looking things grew from its mouth, constantly squirming and moving as it made lazy circles in the air, looking at the world around it with three giant eyes: two at the sides, and one at its forehead.

This was what the leviathan meant when it said it 'had a way out of the mountain'?

It was extremely lucky they had left the tunnels in time…

Before anyone could really react to the situation, Voyager simply pointed itself at the sky and shot off like an arrow, rapidly gaining altitude. In just a few moments, it crossed incredible distances and was out of sight.

Marcus had never seen anything like it.

Alas, this was the moment the dwarven war machine decided to launch its attack on the group.

The earth elementals around them immediately joined in on the attack.