Chapter 174: Portal – Part 2

Chapter 174: Portal – Part 2

"It's time to let Chesa rest," Lily states to me as we finish cleaning up and rebuild our formation.

I make a note of how she's being very direct, but I simply agree, "Yes, it is. These traps would block the flow of the swarm, so I think they've finally run out of monsters."

Then I order Jarn to let Chesa rest and bring back our airship. Once she's done, I'll summon her, too.

We quickly move forward because the smell of blood and charred hobgoblin isn't that pleasant. The monsters lay out a few more ambushes, but unless they attack us directly from the front, Samkelo's cloud of tear gas protects us even from the invisible suckers.

The problem now is finding the correct path toward the center of the fortress. We're already at the centermost level, which is likely where the swarm came from, so all we need is to find that damn portal, but the confusing corridors make it hard to keep a mental map of the path we're taking.

"Master, let us fly outside the fortress so that you can use our connection to triangulate your position," Ted speaks a whole sentence through [Bind], for once.

"Hmm... fine," I quickly agree. I don't want to reduce our strength, but it's starting to feel like we're just aimlessly wandering about.

And I open a [Gate] for the two to the ship as it's faster than flying back along the path we used to get here. It also doesn't take long for them to position themselves outside the fortress, one at the "north" and the other at the "east" side (the "west" side is getting peppered by our Field Guns, so it's dangerous), which allows us to make a guess about how deep inside the fortress we are by tapping on the connection and sensing the distance to each golem.Updated chapters at novelhall.com

Which is actually super useful as we quickly realize that the corridors we've been going through are going around the center but never get too close to it.

"Halt!" I order, and I can sense that Urmeie doesn't want to obey because there are enemies just a bit ahead of us. "We're going in circles! We have to go through the rooms to get to the center!"

"The doors are pretty narrow, and the rooms very tight!" Lily immediately points out, always very sharp.

But this is a risk we must take. "There's no other way! The corridors won't take us to the center!" Then I point to Urmeie and make the most persuasive argument that I can, "You get to carve a path!"

"Whatever! Point me where to go, and I shall do it!" the Princess barks back. I'm grateful that her bodyguards don't chime in because their presence in the front line would just complicate things, though I guess they're putting the responsibility of keeping her safe on us, which is a bit annoying, but that's the price we have to pay for taking her with us.

"That-a-way!" I cheerfully shout, but the system seemingly doesn't translate it very well into Andraste.

"Wha-...? Whatever, I got it!" the bear sister grunts and follows my command. But the room I've pointed to is full of tear gas, so I have the wind elemental clear it up before Urmeie can get a face-full of it.

I focus on the golems to increase the precision of the triangulation, so Alissa helps me walk since she's already focusing on sensing enemies instead of fighting. We quickly make good progress towards the center, though it's pretty awkward to get through the rooms since our assault party is so big, but the rooms are also ill-fitted for ambushes, so we aren't in any real danger.

In fact, we get through them faster than the corridors due to the lack of barriers. When you know where you gotta go, the fortress' confusing layout isn't enough to stop you.

And then Alissa detects a large gathering of pseudo-orc ahead of us. Too many to fit in one of these cramped rooms, so it has to be an unusually open area, and their circular formation implies that they're protecting something at the center. It's most likely the portal to the next level.

"Enemy formation ahead! Urmeie, stay in the line! They're too many!" I promptly rein her in before she can do something stupid.

"Got it! Fun ahead!" she answers positively as I've used the magic words: "enemies ahead."

We exit a room and enter a rather wide corridor, so we tighten up our formation. Then we turn a corner, and we're faced with large, heavy, metal double doors, just as ornate as the rest of the fortress and even religious-looking to boot. Anyway, I never really liked breaching doors because it's so easy to prepare a cheap surprise for whoever is invading, and these monsters are anything but cheap.

There don't seem to be any spirit monsters nearby, so it's time to make use of a Shad (a literal shadow monster) and a spirit elemental-wife.

"Kaatohe will be jealous," Alissa hears Hukarere smugly mutter as a clone of my white wolf appears before us.

This is a bit bad, actually. Next time I summon one, I should think of Kaatohe to make it even...

Anyway... the Shad can pass through the minuscule slit under the door, while the spirit can just phase through the walls. There doesn't seem to be anything magical about these walls and doors, so I guess the summons won't be blocked.

I focus on the spirit-Hukarere's vision as she can see better than the Shad, but all we get is a glimpse of the room ahead of us before a [Fire Arrow] kills it. The Shad survives for longer because it's more resistant to magic, but it's still only five seconds more than the spirit.

The scouting was successful, though, so their deaths weren't in vain. This room really is our target as the gray sphere with distorted reflections at the center is the most portal-looking portal I've ever seen. The Shad's mana-vision confirmed that it's heavily magical, and the summon also saw where the magic that killed it and its comrade originated from, so if we couple that with Alissa's [Sense Presence], we know exactly what needs to die first.

But why fight when War Crimes in a Robe can do it for us?

"You know what? Samkelo, fill that room with cyanide," I casually request, and the girls help by making everyone step back, just for safety.

The gnome manchild snickers evilly, his baby face and lack of beard making him look like a cherubic imp, "Pfft, cyanide? I could do sarin, or even better, VX."

The Companions give him worried looks as they pass by, his evilness easily noticeable even under his scale coif.

"'Vee-ecks'?" I repeat, unsure if that was translated or not.

And he eagerly shares his knowledge like a dreamy child, exactly how I have so many times, except his is about a rather grim topic, "Yep. Nerve agent like the other two. Not very popular in assassination because it's a bit too lethal, which makes it hard to handle."

"'Hard,' not 'dangerous'?" I question his phrasing. But that doesn't really matter, so I just add, "Whichever is fastest, but not VX because it sounds dangerous to us."

He shrugs. "I guess sarin, then, but I'm not a doctor."

"I've never heard of these 'nerve agents,'" Ciel preemptively replies as she approaches, concerned about the gnome's control over his own Gift.

"Same," Roxanne casually hums, her interest piqued, but she's also a bit frightened about the horrors of Earthling chemistry knowledge.

And the gnome snorts again. "Sarin, it is." Then he begins conjuring the gas, so I keep the wind-Alissa between him and us.

I also summon a light elemental-wife, just in case.

"You two really have no hesitation about committing a war crime?" Lily finally chimes in, which she's been dying to do ever since cyanide was mentioned.

But this one I was ready for, so I unhesitatingly give her my speech, "The Geneva Convention doesn't exist here, and monsters already routinely commit biological and psychological warfare against humanoids. Have you ever heard of a Weeper? They roam the High Forest and can affect people from kilometers away with their constant crying, slowly making them depressed while the more vulnerable can even be driven insane."

"I heard that Breeder-types kidnap people and use them to breed more powerful monsters," Thant grimly adds.

That one digs up unpleasant memories for all of us, so Ciel gives the explanation because they respect her more, "They do, and we've seen it first-hand. The monsters damage your spine, paralyzing you. Then they remove your limbs and eyes and pacify you with a potion that slowly turns you into a husk. All so that they can use your sexual organs to give birth to stronger monsters."

And then I explain in a way that an Earthling is more likely to understand, "They turn people into breeding livestock, and it's not like hentai."

It takes a second for that to sink in, but then they frown in sync.

"Doesn't excuse us from being war criminals," the stubborn loli argues because she has to.

So I make the pragmatic argument, "True, but Cyanide is fast and efficient, which is better than barging in and slaughtering them like pigs."

And she finally gives in with a sigh, "Fuck me... that actually makes sense. This world is fucking insane." Then she looks away sourly, frustrated at the brutality of this world.

Since our men are a bit away from us right now, giving us some privacy, I decide to lighten up the mood a bit, "I'd rather not."

Lily blinks blankly at me, but her banter senses tingle, and she quickly catches on, "Wha-... you fucking little shit. I have the body of your Lily; of course, you wanna fuck me."

It isn't one of the wives, but I recognize the voice; it's a Companion, and I've only ever heard her scream in pleasure before. Ciel immediately finds the source and sees the girl clutching her helmet, blood pouring down from between the fingers of her gauntlet. Then we notice that there's a nail stuck in the side of her helmet.

That's what the "grenade" did, but while our armor was enough to stop the nails, this Companion wasn't so lucky.

WHERE'S THAT MAGE!?

Alissa immediately finds his presence for me, and so I jump past everyone's heads and into the middle of the pseudo-orcs at the same time that Roxanne casts [Explosion] on the mage again to stun him.

My vengeful gaze easily finds the robed bastard in the midst of a sea of metal, so I fall upon him and immediately wrap my jaws around his head, then pop it like a nut with fleshy insides. Fast and simple, but not as clean as I wanted it to be as now the monsters around me now have a good position to whack me, and they actually manage to crack a few of my glorious mirror-like scales with their emellanat weapons while the rest try to hold me down.

This much is fine because the girls will always have my back, and they rain spells, arrows, and boulders upon the heads of these hateful cunts. The outrage at having my glorious mirror-like scales damaged makes me feel like staying a little longer, though.

"WOLFY!" Alissa calls my attention to a dangerous-looking axe rapidly approaching my neck.

I jerk out of the way, but it still isn't enough, and a horribly cold sensation penetrates my neck. I feel no pain in this magical form, but "being damaged" is still very unpleasant, and if I lose my head, I'll actually die.

Roxanne promptly [Explode]s the attacker's head, removing the only real threat around me. Then Aoi, Hana, Yunia, and Jarn land beside me, the first crushing multiple tin cans while the other two come in with weapons blazing, literally. This gives me time to regenerate my wound and analyze our situation, and I like what I see.

Even monsters can't keep a proper formation when two fucking huge dragons, two untouchable swordswomen, and a murderous Inspector Gadget crash into the middle of them, so the chaos rages like a flame, and I can't help but throw fuel into the fire.

And so, we change up our tactics a little bit. The rest of the girls take to the skies while Lina continues fighting beside Lily to not completely break our formation. Even though our little group is surrounded, we have enough eyes in the sky to keep us safe, and without a leader to guide the tin cans, they actually hesitate to attack us.

As a bonus of our bold move, Urmeie and everyone else are fighting twice as hard, bent on linking up with us and not being left behind, so we need to match them in body count to not look like we're being rescued.

And now the time has come for the last massacre of the day.

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