Chapter 64 – Sacrifices

Chapter 64 – Sacrifices

“Argh,” Emily groans, raising a hand to rub her brows as The Clock stops reversing.

“What’s wrong?” Oscar asks as light springs from the candle in his hands.

“Nothing, just a slight headache.” She waves off his concern again.

Feeling shrapnel pulling itself out of my stomach is definitely a feeling I don’t want to relive. I’ll wait a little longer to reset next time I’m hit. I didn’t even realise that would happen and it stopped me being able to tune out the spatial distortions.

Shaking her head free of the unpleasant memory, she takes a deep breath and starts analysing the failed fight.

That thing went into a frenzy at the start of the fight, but, after killing five people, it started focusing on attacks that hit it. Why? Was it the number of people killed, or the number of people left that mattered? It may take a few loops to work this thing out. If we’re going to kill it, we either need to kill it instantly, before it can start using its defensive spell, or drain it of mana first. My grenade barely scorched its arm through that shield.

Releasing her breath in a long sigh, she glances at Oscar.

Should I tell him about it again? No, let’s try going down a different fork this time and see if it still attacks us. Then do a few tests for the next loop if it does.

“You have a way of setting this barrier to block sound both ways, right?”

***

After following the monotonous process of reliving her watch and morning, Emily makes no changes till they reach the forked path again.

“Let’s just follow this path. There’s no reason to cross the water when we don’t know where either path leads,” Dante says impatiently.

“Actually,” Emily interjects before Oscar can agree. “I have a bad feeling about that path. I think it would be best to try the other way.”

Dante and Oscar both raise a brow at her, but before Oscar can add to the discussion, Dante changes his opinion.

“Let’s cross then.”

“Wait, just like that?” Oscar asks incredulously.

“I trust her gut.”

“Okay, the other path it is then,” Oscar agrees, seeing no need to start an argument.

He turns to the rest of the group, clearing his throat before giving them instructions. He gets the carriers to hand Emily their spatial bags and first sends across one attack and one defence mage, Dante and Mia, to be safe. After they reach the other shore safely, Emily throws the bags to them one by one as everyone else swims across in pairs. After a couple of minutes, Emily and Oscar bring up the rear, entering the water last.

As she swims across, Emily sticks her head under the water, watching the swirling fog below and around her.

I wonder how deep it goes.

Bringing her head above the water again, she turns to Oscar with a grin.NewW novels updates at novelhall.com

“Back in a sec!”

Without waiting for his response, she dives down, disappearing into the underwater fog. She swims down a few metres before breaking through the fog layer and entering an unsettling current of living shadows. The pitch-black water continues for several more metres before she hits the slimy riverbed below. Disappointedly, she swims back to the surface, breaking out of the water thirty metres downstream of the group.

Woah, that current is strong. I didn’t even realise it pulled me so far.

She approaches the shore, pulling herself up onto the rocks and walking back to her group mates. A quick cast of cleanse as she walks removes all the water from her body.

“Please don’t disappear like that without proper warning,” Oscar complains with a frown.

“Sorry, I thought I felt something below us so I wanted to check it out,” Emily lies with a dismissive shrug.

“I see,” Oscar says with a sigh. “Did you find anything?”

“No. False alarm.”

They spend a few minutes waiting, as everyone dries themselves or gets a more elementally compatible mage to help, then start moving downstream again. The new path is much the same as the other, and the rest of the afternoon passes quickly. They set up camp as usual, and everybody heads to sleep while Oscar and Emily remain on watch.

Emily watches the cave behind them with infra-sight, and like clockwork, an hour into their watch, the monster creeps into her vision.

Location doesn’t matter then.

“How are we going to kill something we can barely harm, that can freely travel through every surface surrounding us, and move faster than any of us?” he asks with a defeated tone.

“Don’t worry, I think I have a plan,” Emily reassures him with a grin.

“Really? What is it?”

“I’ll explain when everybody’s awake. I don’t think it’s going to attack us tonight and I’m still working through the details,” she says, tapping her brow to emphasise her point. “Can I leave explaining about the creature and getting everyone on board to you?”

“Sure.” He nods confidently. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll make sure everyone is prepared to listen to you when you’re ready.”

The night passes quickly. In the morning, Oscar repeats Emily’s explanation of the monster while reassuring the group that they have a plan to deal with it. Emily waits till lunch time to explain said plan when everyone is gathered around and eating.

“First, Oscar, do you have any communication crystals?” she asks Oscar before starting, the last test she wants to run depending on his answer.

“I don’t have any spares. But, me and Fionn have a linked pair.”

“Perfect. The first stage of the plan is to send away those who won’t be of any help. We don’t want extra bodies for the creature to eat. Fionn and Erin will escort all first circle mages to split from us and go through a different tunnel to try and get out of the creature’s detection range.”

A few displeased grumbles are heard, but Oscar quiets them with a glare, showing his support of Emily’s plan.

“We’ll keep in contact with the communication crystals. Fionn should be able to provide light to navigate back to us after the monster is dealt with, and Erin can help defend the group. We haven’t seen anything in these caves for a while now so you should be safe,” Emily continues, reassuring the scared first circle mages.

Nods of understanding and acceptance spread through the group quickly.

“Now, as for the rest of us...”

Emily explains her plan, watching as a spark of understanding spreads through the group and hope lights up their eyes.

“...and if that doesn’t finish it, well, we’ll just have to improvise. Any questions?”

A few queries are brought up, but they soon finish their meal and set off downstream with newfound confidence. When they reach the fork in the river, Fionn and Erin lead their group down the right-hand path while Emily continues down the left with their main combat force. They check in on each other periodically through the rest of the evening until they reach a good area for the fight, with several large stalagmites proudly protruding from the floor. Then the communication crystal goes silent, next to be used by the group that spots the monster.

They spread out. Emily stands in the open, in the middle of the cave, and everyone else picks a stalagmite or rock formation to crouch behind. Emily looks around from her position and, seeing no exposed mages, gives the all-clear and they settle down to await their prey.

After ten minutes, the light in the cave fades, and Emily mentally starts a countdown till the beast appears.

It should be here soon. Let’s hope this works and I don’t have to sacrifice some teammates. Though, it would be more odd for us to make it back with no casualties.

Emily’s thoughts are interrupted when a familiar orange form slowly creeps into view.

“Light!” Emily calls the moment she sees it, holding her breath in anticipation of its first move.

Nora tosses a golden ball of light to the roof of the cave, illuminating the space and revealing their enemy immediately. Everybody holds completely still behind their cover, and Emily watches the monster creep forward, glancing around in confusion. As it crosses thirty metres, Emily moves to test it. Its head snaps round to face her, staring into her soul with its glassy white eyes.

Are you gonna attack me?

Emily’s tension rises and she braces to leap out of the way. The creature smiles and snarls at her, a vile mix of blood and saliva dripping from its gaping maw, before dropping into the floor.

Emily springs into motion, leaping forward to avoid an expected attack from below, but nothing happens. Silence falls over the cave. Emily looks around frantically before calling to Oscar.

“Has it gone to them?”

A couple of seconds of quiet muttering later, Oscar calls back.

“No.”

Shit. What’s it doing? Is it leaving us alone because there aren’t enough people?

Emily holds her tension while running earthen detection just in case. As her scan comes back empty, the cave starts to shake. The floor, walls, and ceiling all start to quiver, beginning as a low rumbling that barely displaces the dirt on the ground, and building into a violent storm of movement that has Emily struggling to stand upright.

She glances at her group mates, sees them stumbling in their hiding spots, and realises the monster’s plan.

Well fuck, it’s trying to make us move! At least I know I can make it waste mana on a large-scale earthquake spell.

She watches it burst from the ground below Enzo and rip him to pieces before screeching at full volume, bathing in his blood as it leaps at its next target.

“Haaa,” Emily sighs, pulling out The Clock and pressing rewind. “Sacrifices it is.”