Chapter 35: A Catastrophe of a Plan

Chapter 35: A Catastrophe of a Plan

The Heirs piled out of the fortress in a hurry. An all-adventurer call was serious. That wasnt the sort of alert you put out if you spotted some dangerous beasts lurking around town. It was much closer to we are about to be attacked.

And the Heirs werent too far away from Tarren. They could probably get there by evening if they ran the whole way. And with everybody over level 81 now, they damn well better be able to keep up that pace.

Even if I almost expect the place to be a smoldering ruin by the time we get there. Old Gemore war-constructs sound like a bad deal. Though it might even be a Giantsrest trap! But that seems unlikely - an all-adventurer call is going to bring in a lot more than just us. But its worth bringing up as a possibility.

Nathan gave voice to his concerns as he sprinted across the slope. Think this is another Giantsrest trap?

Khachi was sprinting beside him, his body limned in a faint golden glow that seemed to help the wolfman keep up, even if it didnt quiet the clanking of his plate armor. He replied. Mayhaps. But we will not ignore such a call. The only course of action is for us to stay on guard against such a thing. Much of this responsibility falls to you, Nathan.

I suppose thats true. Im the one with several perception skills. Sarahs also got a few, but my antimagic lets me see through magical stealth, which usually beats out perception skills. And against Giantsrest thats a rather significant advantage.

Nathan resolved to keep an eye out as the Heirs sprinted across the barren landscape. The sun beat down from high above, and sweat started rolling down Nathans body and soaking his clothes. Luckily, Stella had a near-infinity supply of waterskins in her pockets. Nathan thought about asking Aarl to uncoil the dimensional portal to the pool that the Ashblood Serpants had been spawning in, but thought better of it.

Its probably hella nasty in there - and we dont have time to mess around with getting it in the right orientation to work. Maybe we should have tried to figure it out in our last few days of downtime, but its probably better left to the enchanters of Gemore.

After a few hours, everybody but Nathan was starting to flag a little bit. The ground was rough and theyd been running for hours. Most of the gear was packed away in dimensional bags, but they still had to carry the bag itself, and Nathan was impressed by the divine magic that allowed Khachi to keep up the punishing pace in his armor.

But this - exactly this - is what they trained for. They were running to relieve a village from a threat. A scary threat to be sure. After Stella had confirmed they were headed in that direction shed started receiving updates from the guild on the situation. A team had been resting in Tarren, and another had been clearing a minor dungeon nearby when theyd spotted the wave of combat constructs.

This isnt our fault, is it? Theres the possibility of that [Message] from the giant crystal I broke doing something. But thats an Edrani Empire thing, these are Old Gemore? They shouldnt talk to each other. More likely this is something separate, either from the Delve day or something else.

A little later Stella reported that the two teams had driven off an attack, though they had taken some casualties. The war constructs were reported as fully functionaland showing signs of being newly-made. That last update was bad - it meant that an Old Gemore fortress foundry was online and building more of the enchanted magical robots. That turned the mission from a simple defend into a search and destroy. They needed to find the forge and blow it up.

More teams were being called in and the elites were being put on standby. The Heirs would arrive next and help relieve the teams already at Tarren there. Then theyd go on the offensive, trying to scout out the foundry. Then theyd either destroy it themselves or call in the elites to clean up.

And theyre not sending in the Guardians because this could be a distraction by Giantsrest, or an assassination attempt. The Guardians come in and get jumped by a couple of Archmages. These are the kinds of games the greater powers play. And if the elites took care of everything then there wouldnt be a next generation to replace them.

All of this made Nathan appreciate the value of [Message] more and more. If Stella couldnt cast [Message], then they would have no idea that there was a problem. As it was, they were fully looped in on the plan, and the defenders knew their ETA.

Which was soon. The Heirs were about to summit a hill that would probably give them a view of Tarren when he caught the glint of sunlight off of metal peeking over a series of boulders to their right.

Metal like that of a construct. A very shiny construct thats sticking a tiny portion of itself up to watch us.

High-tier Notice 3 achieved!

He called out a warning. Behind those rocks!

The Heirs pivoted smoothly, Nathan running out ahead as two dozen four-legged metallic bodies swarmed over the rocks. They definitely shared design principles with the sentry-constructs that Nathan had fought at the Last Dungeon of Old Gemore. But these were smaller, lower to the ground and moved more quickly.

Scouts?

Their bodies were fairly small about the size of a big dog. Most of the central body was a forward-facing armored cannon. The four legs holding them up were canted like a spiders legs, but thick and sturdy. Each leg ended in a broad footpad that appeared to be able to hold onto nearly any surface. They also had a long tail - a jointed metal limb that was capped with two bladed spikes that looked like they could scythe or pincer.

They do share some similarities with those constructs inside the Edrani empire outpost. But these are more mobile, and have one ranged weapon instead of a half dozen.

Those cannons spoke as one, sending a wave of fireballs towards the Heirs. Nathan was out in front, running towards the line of combat constructs. A full third of the fireballs exploded around him, but his Rage was active and he plowed through the fire without so much as a hint of pushback. Nathan felt energized as stamina filled and then overfilled from the deluge of offensive magic.

The Heirs will be fine, especially without me fouling any magical defenses they set up.

The first construct had continued its advance, and whipped its body around to send the metal tail cracking toward Nathan like a whip. He leapt over the strike in a flip, twisting in midair to land atop the machine. He braced himself and wrenched apart the ball joint that connected the construct's leg to its body.

A flash of motion was all the warning Nathan had to duck another set of blades headed towards his neck. The construct he was standing on collapsed, and another pair of bladed spikes stabbed towards his chest. Nathan juked them despite the uncertain footing, grabbing the segmented metal tail that they were attached to.

High-tier Dodging Footwork 2 achieved!

Then he pulled, yanking himself forward and unbalancing the war-construct that had tried to stab him. He rolled past it, grabbing one of its legs on the way by. He put the full momentum of his body into his pull on the leg, yanking the machine off its feet and hurling it forward to slam into another one. They scrabbled over the rocky ground, trying to regain their balance.

Hah! Not so heavy, and a lot of fun to throw around.

Then the shooting started. Sarahs pistols started cracking in rapid succession, punctuated by the suppressed sound of Aarls shotgun. There was the crackle of lightning, and a few of the constructs surrounding Nathan jerked with electrical discharge. But he was still surrounded, and had to fully exert his movement skills to avoid the barrage of attacks coming his way. Either they'd figured out he was immune to magic or he was too close, because they attacked him exclusively with the blades on their tails.

The blades were only a foot long, but they could whip them around with enough force to shatter the stones that Nathan stood on. He jumped and rolled over attacks, flipping high into the air in a stamina-assisted leap only to smash down atop another construct, a knee shattering its cannon in an antimagic-assisted strike.

Mid-tier Tumbling 9 achieved!

Nathan blocked the next stab, guiding the vicious blades to the side before wrapping both hands around the metal tail. He pulled, this time planting his feet to leverage his Rage and Stamina-assisted strength to pull the construct off its feet. Then he ran a few steps, dragging the writhing metal payload for a short way before throwing all of his inertia into his makeshift flail, pivoting and hurling it at another construct that was bracing to fire its cannon at the Heirs. He watched the two go down in a flailing pile of limbs and smirked.

Yeah, thats satisfying.

Nathan watched as the army of constructs divided into nine separate units as they approached, moving cautiously over the terrain. It looked almost like they were searching in a grid pattern, to ensure they didnt leave a threat behind them.

Nathan explained what he was seeing over his shoulder, then elaborated on their plans. Well, weve bought some more time for Tarren. Should we try to fight, or run? Theres a lot of them out there, and we wont be able to fight one group without all of them descending on us.

Stella shrugged. I could probably dig this hollow deeper, then conjure up a wall of stone so they dont find us here. Then after dark we could go into town.

Khachi frowned. I wish to be able to assist Tarren if the constructs launch an assault. I worry that by hiding we strike ourselves blind. Can we start tunneling towards Tarren?

Stella wordlessly shook her head, snorting to indicate how ridiculous Khachis question was.

Nathan spoke up. I also dont want to rely on them being blinded after nightfall. If theyre using magical sensors, they might see better than we do in the dark."

Aarls voice was thoughtful, though clenched hands near his weapon pouches betrayed his tension.We know where they are, where theyre going, and what their likely next moves are going to be. Is there a way we can use that to defeat them?

Everybody looked at Nathan.

He blinked. What? Just because I said if you had perfect information you should be able to win doesnt mean that I always know exactly how to win.

Then he paused. Wait a second. I just had an idea.

Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Magic Absorption 9

Permanent Talent 2: Perfected Body 3

Talent 3: High-tier Slow Fall 7

Class: Implacable Antimage level 91

Stamina: 2744/3030

Antimages Impassivity

Antimagic Momentum

Raging Thrill

Implacable Inertia

Unarmored Resilience

Improved Antimagic

Strenuous Agility

Hand-to-hand Expertise

Utility skills:

Battle Meditation 3

High-tier Earnestness 8

Mid-tier Sprinting 10

High-tier Spellsense 8

High-tier Notice 3

High-tier Identify 2

High-tier Dodging Footwork 2

High-tier Enhanced Memory 7

Mid-tier Lecturing 7

Mid-tier Tumbling 9