Chapter 50: Tunneling (2/2)
“Can you pierce it?” Lorn asked.
“Yes, easily, but this is a construct so the shield will just close back again.”
The tunnel beyond was another one that was made by people, though it was narrower and rougher than the rest of the mine. There were no signs of any sort of activity.
“If we want to go through…” Viv began.
“We do,” Lorn said, “if there are folks out there, I want to know who.”
“If we do then I can attack the shield until the supply is depleted, but I have another faster way to go through. I can simply shield myself in a black mana and pass it without burning.”
“Alright. Do it, but be careful,” Lorn said. Marruk looked distinctively ill-at-ease.
“Fine.”
Viv started to cast, then hesitated.
“Is something the matter?” Farren asked.
“No… no, it’s just that... Ahem.”
The other stared at her with various airs of misunderstanding. Viv sighed.
“Fine! Fine… Easy peasy sneaky cloaky.”
Black mana pooled from her robe and covered her in a suit of armor. Interestingly, it looked like a mix between her current robe and the FELIN ballistic armor she had worn during combat operations back on earth. Her current appearance dispelled the only traces of amusement her weird incantation had generated. The rest of the group showed clear signs of worry. Perhaps the deep black color and unusual cut bothered them? She was about to leave, when a boisterous voice interrupted her.
“Nice gear, sister. If my brothers could see you, they would definitely ask you to carry their kids!” Koro congratulated her. The southerner nodded to her with her bright smile, her missing incisor giving it a slightly dorky edge.
“Er, thanks.“
Viv passed the shield without issue. The red mana proved completely incapable of even slowing her down. She just felt a sort of pressure on her mind but that was it. The drain on her reserves was minimal. Just as she expected, she found a small construct stuck to the wall on her side of the shield. Interestingly, it was encased in a rectangular metal box and had a lever on its surface. She pulled on it and the shield powered down.
“Well well well.”
She inspected the box as the others joined her. It was fuelled by a tiny monster core shining red with stored mana. It was nailed to the wall with a long spike. The material looked a bit rough, but there was no denying its efficacy.
“Do you recognize this make?” Viv asked Farren as he joined her side.
“No. This does not resemble anything I have ever seen, and the casing is surprisingly crude considering how elaborate the shield construct is. Make no mistake, it remains rudimentary according to Param standards, but whoever cobbled this together knew what they were doing.”
“Hmmm.”
“We should take it with us, just in case. It could prove useful.”
“Fine, but I’m not carrying it.”
Farren rolled his eyes and handed the thing to the stockiest guard.
“What now?” someone asked.
“We follow the tracks,” Koro answered.
“Tracks?”
The tall woman pointed at the ground, where, as far as Viv could see, there was absolutely fuckall.
“Oh, yeah,” Lorn said appreciatively. “Two of them. Humanoid. Let’s see what we are dealing with.”
The group gathered once more, this time in rows of two with Viv once again in the middle. They walked for a while in vigilant silence. The corridor was smaller and clearly made in a rush, with light only provided by spells. Half an hour after setting out, both Koro and Viv called for a stop.
“The tracks disappear here,” the tall woman said with consternation.
“There is something strange with the wall to our right,” Viv added, “I can feel earth mana coming from it.”
She placed her hand against the wall.
“As if…”
The wall collapsed.
Well, a large segment of it in any case, and beyond was a smaller, more natural cavern with two curious humanoids. One of them yelped and swiveled abruptly, swinging towards Viv the nose of a nasty crossbow.
“Wait! Don—”
Danger sense: Apprentice 3
Viv’s instincts screamed and she erected a nope shield by instinct. At the same moment, Marruk pulled her back.
A quarrel impossibly crossed the fully formed shield and landed square into her left arm.
It hurt like hell.
Time stopped, and Viv almost killed her attacker there and then, but the humanoid squealed and grabbed its head with its arm in a ‘oh fuck gesture’, letting his crossbow clatter against the ground.
It was, of course, not enough to calm her fury.
“Ouh putain, espece de sale petit enfoiré de SALOPARD DE FILS DE TA MERE LA GROSSE PUTE, CONNARD! SA— hmmm”
The black witch’s tirade of stringed French insults died on her lips as the other, taller humanoid had grabbed a measuring tape, which he was now using as a switch in his earnest effort to beat the ever-loving crap out of her shooter. High-pitched supplications did little to curb his enthusiasm. Or at least Viv though it was a he. Hard to tell with the stress and pain of having steel in her arm.
The creatures were really weird. They were slightly shorter than humans with barrel-like chests and long, spindly arms that probably reached mid-thigh. Their legs were short and muscular, but it was their faces that she found the most curious. They reminded her of owls, with very pointy noses and small, deeply-set dark eyes. Their skin was brown and covered in bristling hair that looked rather coarse. They also had thin and long ears that tapered to a point. Both of them were covered from neck to toe in leather and metal armor customized with pouches. Viv noticed that the taller creature had grey in its, well, bristles. It was also hurt, with red-soaked bandages across his flank. Part of his right ear was missing.
Meanwhile, the punishment was nearing its end as the older one simply ran out of breath. He backed up, leaving the bleeding form of the other sobbing on the ground.
Viv bit the handle of her knife and pulled the quarrel from her shoulder with a gasp. It had partly melted before reaching her and the dull edge had thankfully failed to penetrate her enchanted armor too deeply. She still bled a bit, and so she popped a small mending potion, feeling the power knit the wound close in moments.
The older creature sighed and kneeled by the discarded crossbow, placing a hand on it.
He froze.
In the past few seconds, the man-sized opening in the wall had disgorged about fifteen grumpy humans, and one absolutely pissed off dragonling. The humanoid looked on as a set of weapons left their sheaths and realized that the odds were somewhere in the negative. He pointed at the weapon with one hesitant finger.
“Og Lok?”
“Og Lok your mom. Farren, do you know what language is this? And what species they are, for that matter?”
“Yes, I believe I do. Those are Yries. They are usually very reclusive mountain-dwellers. I know of outposts near the pure league and in the eastern marches of Enoria. I have no idea what they are doing here.”
“Do they not speak human languages?”
“If they have leaders, then they will be able to talk to us. We should go and meet them. I wonder what they are doing here so far from their homes.”
“It’s going to be hard telling them that,” Lorn remarked, “perhaps with sign language?”
Viv raised a hand and interrupted the discussion.
“Please. Allow me.”
She tapped her shoulder and Arthur quickly climbed it, spreading her wings behind to make the witch look bigger. The similarity in color between armor and scale turned her into a chimera, a rather angry one. She stepped forward and picked the crossbow from the ground without breaking eye contact. The old Yries clearly disliked it, but he did not move to prevent her from doing so.
Viv shoved the weapon against his chest, her face very close to his. Arthur’s toothy snout hissed by her side.
Viv pointed at the only other exit to the cave besides the one they had made.
“We go see your boss. Now.”
Intimidation: intermediate 2
The creature nodded hastily as he placed the crossbow on his back. They then dragged his hurt companion from the ground and they made for the door.
“Remind me not to take you on diplomatic missions,” Farren said.
“Look, I got results didn’t I?”