novelnext Chapter 197: B2: C97: Grimrock Wave
Chapter 197: B2: C97: Grimrock Wave
Chapter 197: B2: C97: Grimrock Wave
“What is stopping Shadowfell or Ariana from doing whatever they like in our old world or in other worlds like ours?” Hannah asked after Zarian finished explaining what led to the assassination job for Luciana and how she wouldn’t explain herself much past promising to deliver messages.
Hannah’s reaction was both surprising and unsurprising as she continued her rant. “Ariana has affected Zarian for years while he was in our old world. Shadowfell has shown how she could grab a brand named coffee. Now she can even deliver messages to our families. I don’t really need a favor like that, but I would like to know what rules they are playing by. Perhaps through that we can find windows of opportunity to return home and settle any lingering affairs.”
The whole party slowed down, Loner rattling and Slip clomping to a stop.
There were a few castle chambers and dilapidated walls between them and where the actual Castle Grimrock stood at the center of the mountain range.
The calamitous storm howled and raged outside, its hurricane winds and stone-cracking hail pounding down hard. Through all that noise, Zarian heard quaking thumps of immense magic.
He could feel the power of good and divinity despite the walls in the way and some measure of distance. But he could also hear the haunted cries of nightmarish creatures set loose to ravage those who had the misfortune of facing them.
“I’m sorry,” Bianca said, barely audible over the fighting, screaming, and stormy weather. Thankfully, the spider network ensured all of their words would come out crystal clear when talking with each other. “This assassination is selfish. What I’m doing really is for my familia. But it’s a little easier to do against someone who wants to seal away Zarian and attack our village.”
“We can go over this later,” Naomi said. “No matter what, we still have a job to do before we get to Foodie, and we are going to see that through for you, Bianca.”
“You don’t have to, but I appreciate it,” Bianca said.
“Dale,” Gilbert said, flicking his left arm to the side. His dark, boxy, and legendary shield unfolded from the bracer on his arm. “I don’t like the sound of things out there. Hell and damnation, our little spider friends can barely see much more in this cats-and-dogs weather!”
“Yes, we can shelve the conversation for now,” Hannah said. “Let’s make sure Zarian’s wife doesn’t pull a fast one on us.”
“Agreed,” Zarian said, following behind the others as they charged past the last few structures in their way.
His thoughts and concerns over the technical aspects of Shadowfell’s deal could wait, especially when it felt like the end of the world was coming down on them.
For this once, it wasn’t Zarian’s fault.
Everybody could tap into the spider network and update themselves with live visuals from spiders already staged ahead. That way, it was less likely for anything to surprise them.
Things, however, had certainly gotten worse compared to earlier, even at the last minute. Their last situation report from the forward spider scouts became obsolete.
Exiting a stone tunnel filled with howling wind, Zarian and the others looked up as the top of a tower flew above their heads. The Floridians watched in awe as the flying tower smashed into a radiant barrier placed above the heart of the paladin’s camp.
Para’s aura barrier kept the stormy weather off the Floridians as they walked up to the edge of a drop off. Everyone took in the chaos inside a sloping basin surrounding Castle Grimrock.
The central stronghold of the former orcs was a sturdy and fortified structure that was fit for giants to live in.
Even after so many years have passed since the death of the orcs, their remaining castle still stood as a testament of their former might, with rugged skull-shaped crenelations along the ramparts and unbending spikes thrusting up from the rooftops. The castle even had giant statues on the corners of the main wall that looked like frenzied beasts that wanted to lunge down and bite any who dared to enter the castle.
Beyond the sturdy and ferocious designs, there were no working siege weapons or humanoid defenders. There were no goblin-sized foes in sight, which had remained the case no matter how much the spider scouts searched on the outside.
Instead of actual goblins, the entire castle had nothing but corrupted monstrosities covering most surfaces.
The twisted and terrifying chimera-like creatures crawled out from the open front doorway, the stone windows, and the gaps where weathered patches of the main wall had collapsed. The aberrations stumbled forth from the top of towers, giant crenelations, rooftops, and ramparts.
“Through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,” Gilbert prayed. “Game on.”
Zarian reached over and grabbed Hannah’s hand. He spun her around into a small dance before he cast the spell, Void Waltz.
He took Hannah and the rest of his party on a quick trip through the void. They landed down on the uneven, rocky, and flooded floor between the paladin camp and the rushing wave of aberrations.
The area Zarian had chosen was also a section where the slope walls narrowed, drawing within a few miles of each other. This formed a valley-like feature in the basin that should naturally guide the corrupted aberrations more straight on.
The moment they touched down, everyone acted without having to talk.
Gilbert, Naomi, Slip, Loner, and Hannah surged forth.
They had little time to act against the rolling, tumbling, insane tide of corrupted aberrations, especially Hannah.
Thankfully, the creatures’ numbers and overeagerness to destroy and corrupt worked against them. They kept smashing into each other and slowing each other’s progress like crabs in a massive bucket.
The uneven, watery terrain also worked against them, making their progress a struggle of overcoming trip hazards while moving too fast and crazily to cross the battlefield competently. But they had so many rushing forward, they could lay over each other’s own bodies and build bridges of flesh to cross the uneven grounds.
Hannah still worked up a miracle anyway, starting work to build new defenses and a trap.
She bulleted through the wrathfully stormy air, leaving behind Para’s protective aura. Her little golems activated their enchantments, and a humming barrier surrounded Hannah, protecting her from the powerful boon-made storm of Shadowfell.
She started on the far, far right, reaching the nearest side of the basin before returning toward the center where the others waited. Then she shot at a gradual angle toward the other side of the basin on the far, far left. She was crossing as much as five miles quickly to get from one side to the other.
It was the fastest and hardest Zarian had witnessed Hannah worked. Once again, she impressed him as she dug two massive ditches that were three hundred feet deep and fifty feet wide, while she also built two giant walls that were three hundred feet tall and twenty-five feet wide.
One wall and ditch to the right. And one wall and ditch to the left.
Each side of the barricade extended at gradual angles from the narrowest section of the basin and toward the center. And instead of closing off the gap completely, Hannah left a thin opening that was no bigger than a one-way street back.
Something like this should’ve taken weeks if average humans between the Level 50s and 70s were working on it. It would’ve taken months or maybe a few years for average humans far below that.
Hannah did it in a few minutes. And she layered each wall with enchantments to reinforce them to an extreme degree.
Even then, her efforts alone weren’t enough to stop the corrupted tide. Because they had the freaking power to teleport through the shadows when they were smart enough to do so.
Zarian would’ve applauded Hannah if he wasn’t feeling a little pressed to use his biggest weapon. He had to make a snap judgment call. And he had to rely on the others heavily, specifically his closest companion.
Para, I need to deal with the storm so we can call in artillery fire, Zarian thought.
I understand what I must do, but I will admit this will be the biggest working of magic I’ve ever done. What if I fail? Para asked privately.
You won’t fail, Para. You got this. Zarian left it at that.