Book 2: Chapter 12: Expansive Farwinds and First Encounter

Book 2: Chapter 12: Expansive Farwinds and First Encounter

Lone had listened to Four-twelve regale his tales of war, battle and adventure for the better part of two hours as they walked through the central road of the Farwinds.

About 30-minutes into that journey the large and long dwarven corridor of stone and statues opened up to the largest intersection Lone had ever seen in his entire life. It was like Shibuya Crossing but four or five times larger.

Just as many people were using it though. Many miners, explorers and adventurers could be seen flooding each entrance. It was an experience that put Sophie and Breena on edge a bit but it was one that Lone would likely never forget.

This intersection of the Farwinds had 21 connecting roads, 20 of which led to Krieg Moor and were tiny when compared to the enormous central road.

Four-twelve claimed the central road was nothing but a branch of the true Farwinds. Lone wondered just what Epitome Brugar or whatever had actually made this gargantuan underground road network needed it for.

This massive chamber which was only a branching road of the true system could easily fit a small mountain with legs, let alone giants. This far larger pathway was also much more heavily muralled and laden with statues of the various Epitomes, according to Four-twelve.

Even though the dwarf explained the Epitomes he knew as they passed their statues, Lone gained no new stat bonuses from new moments. He assumed he'd have to see the statues in places they truly belonged for his skill to trigger like with Epitome Brugar and Epitome Frumgear.

Still, Lone had to wonder if it truly was the small dwarves who had made this network of roads or perhaps it was something... grander. If given the chance, he would love to learn the truth.

"So... this massive tunnel is blocked off somehow? I definitely heard that the Farwinds was closed off in Krieg Moor," Lone asked Four-twelve.

The dwarf nodded. "Aye. About 50-miles down the whole thing's been caved in."

"How?" Lone asked. "I get we're underground but this thing is so wide you could fit a town in between the walls."

Four-twelve shrugged. "I heard a really old dragon woke up. Don't know what race of dragon but apparently it was too big and too strong for the warriors of the krieg to kill on their own, hence why the Farwinds here collapsed by the time reinforcements could come and end the scaley fucker."

'... I fucking love this world. Of course, ignoring everything that happened in Milindo,' Lone joked though he did feel saddened for a moment upon recalling his time in the dungeons of Ranton Castle.

"I'd love to see a dragon one day," Lone expressed. "Of course, from a distance, haha."

"I would too, Ninetails. Been to a lot of places, seen a lot of fucked up shit and scary powerful beings you wouldn't believe even existed, never seen a dragon though. Fuckers are notoriously rare and even rarer is it that they don't kill anyone they meet. Ain't too trustin' of strangers is my understandin'," Four-twelve said.

Lone nodded. "I've read as much. They only trust their direct family, but they care for that family so deeply they'd die to save them any day. Fierce and deadly creatures with unrivalled loyalty."

He glanced at Sophie and winked before saying telepathically, 'Unrivaled by all but me. I'll always be loyal to you and Soph.'

'... Idiot,' Sophie responded in a tired tone though Lone would put money on her blushing under her helmet.

"Ah, here we are," Four-twelve said as he stopped the group to approach a side exit, specifically, the words carved into the wall next to the side exit.

Lone focused on the words too and read them aloud. "Huh... 'Farwinding road to Urd Vahir, a town of the Claimed.' What does that mean, the Claimed?"

Four-twelve looked back at Lone in mild surprise. "You can read Sitstomian Dwarven?"

The other four seemed to awaken as if from a long sleep and their movements immediately sharpened. 'Yup, that's why. Now I have to fight four of these things legitimately. If I just had access to Lightning Bolt I could have probably killed at least a couple more before they realised they were dying.'

He cleared his mind and entered a defensive stance, ready to counter-attack and dodge instead of recklessly attacking first. 'According to Four-twelve these fucks passively generate and then feed off of fear, making them stronger. Too bad for them I've experienced a lot of shit and it will take more than just weak skills like these to get me shaking in my boots.'

On the other side of the room, Sophie frowned under her helmet. 'Soph, it makes no sense for us to attack them up close. We would only risk being struck and being afflicted with whatever corruption the manaless dwarf claimed they deal out. Do you mind taking control? You are better than us at using our magic.'

'Okay. I just have to kill them, right?' Soph asked back as she assumed control of their body.

'No, hold them in place if you can. Ideally Lone should kill them since we gain nothing by doing it ourselves,' Sophie answered.

'Ah, right. Our level is tied to his. 'Kay. Got it,' Soph responded with a nod then summoned eight barriers - one for each of the Darkness Spawn approaching their group from behind.

The eight barriers were perfectly flat and about the size of a plate. With a thought and a flick of the wrists, Soph sent the barriers barrelling through the air.

Her intent was to pin down the Darkness Spawn on the road to wait for Lone as he finished dealing with his own battle before he could come over and leisurely kill these monsters.

Sadly, due to Lone's swift actions on the other side of the road, the eight Darkness Spawn near Soph had already stopped moving slowly and had come to life like the others.

Six of the furthest Darkness Spawn avoided the barriers while one of the closer ones attacked the barrier heading its way, knocking it back but not destroying it.

The final Darkness Spawn got successfully trapped and pinned to the floor with the barrier on its chest.

Soph panicked a little bit since she'd failed to capture even half of her targets. 'W-What do I do?!'

'Relax. Losing your cool won't help anyone here. They are fast but ultimately quite weak. Use your barriers as blades and sever their legs,' Sophie advised.

Soph nodded and took in a sharp breath before she controlled the six barriers that had missed to return and she used them to try and, as Sophie had suggested, cut off the legs of the six Darkness Spawn in the back.

Surprisingly to Soph, the tactic worked. The shimmering jade-green barriers sliced through the misty purple limbs like a knife through butter despite the monsters rushing at her with incredible speeds.

The distance between them was just a bit too much to cross and her control was just good enough to hit her marks every time despite a handful of the Darkness Spawn attempting to jump over the barriers.

All six of the rear Darkness Spawn collapsed and squirmed about on the road as they tried to grab their missing limbs.

"They're gonna reattach them and attack again, Lass!" Four-twelve yelled. "Hurry and pin 'em like the others," he added as he let loose an arrow, nailing the last of the eight in the knee, sending it tumbling towards Soph just before it could attack her.

She took his advice and quickly scrambled with her barriers to hold down the rest of the Darkness Spawn, including the one he'd shot. She then poured some mana into the damaged barrier to fix it.

Sighing in relief, she thought, 'That was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I've used up so much MP already...'

'Don't lose vigilance. They are scratching at the barriers. Make sure none of them breaks,' Sophie ordered.

Soph did as told and paid very close attention to her barriers and the Darkness Spawn for what felt like hours but was only minutes.

Finally, Lone had finished killing the Darkness Spawn in the front, signalling the end of their first encounter with Darkness Spawn.

15 Darkness Spawn defeated, one arrow used up and Soph's mana half-depleted. While no one was injured, it was hardly a perfect encounter.