Spear of Destiny by James Baldwin (little bear else holmelund minarik .TXT) 📕

worry, Rin. We got this.” Karalti sidled over to me in a crouch, perching like a gargoyle beside my elbow. “I have all my breath weapon charges, and Hector’s Path is really good for fighting undead. I can also buff us with my Queensong.”

Suri gave a small nod. “Right. Hector and I both have some good crowd-control moves. I’m more worried about those vampires.”

“Leave them to me. If they bite me, they’ll take damage. My blood is toxic to them.” I narrowed my eyes, then opened them wide again to regain visibility as the light shifted. “There’s a portal there that looks a lot like the one we used to enter Withering Rose’s Chorus Vault. I think they’re trying to use the mana from the Ix’tamo to bruteforce it. That, or he’s draining mana out of it. But they charged those mana-suckers before bringing them here, so I’m guessing it’s the former. They could be using them like batteries, as Rin said.”

“Jeez. How the hell did they even get here?” Suri said. “It’s too big a coincidence to be a coincidence.”

“Violetta was operating out of Dakhdir,” Rin said. “Is there some way they could have followed us to the Temple of the Maker? If they did, they might have found a way to use that map we did… Violetta is probably an Archmage by now. She might have figured out a hack for it.”

“That… would be very bad.” I pressed my lips into a thin line. “Why would Ashur want to get into a Chorus Vault, though? He was angling for Matir’s Dragon Gate last time. If he’s planning to invade Meewhome the way he did Myszno...”

Rin made a ‘bleh’ face. “He might be trying to get to Perilous Symphony, like we are.”

Even as she spoke, a dozen black-clad humans exited the temple proper, jogging down the stairs in loose formation. I pressed my lips together in a thin line. I recognized those uniforms—and the masks they wore. “But wait, there’s more! At least twelve Mata Argis thugs just balled out of the temple. Violetta definitely put him up to this.”

“Shit.” Suri spat to the side.

“The footsoldiers’ll be about Level 10, the Elites Level 15,” I continued. “The vampires, who knows? The Mata Argis Agents we saw tended to be in the 20s. No idea what Uttapsu is.”

Suri grimaced and shook her head. “Our odds just got a whole of a lot worse.”

“We’ve got this,” Karalti said firmly. “I’ll take on the Mata Argis myself. I’ve been looking forward to deep-frying some of their agents for a really long time. They chased me and Hector across Ilia when I was little... I’ll never forget what they tried to do to us.”

“Me either.” I rolled my shoulders to loosen them. “Buff up and get ready, guys. It’s four against fifty.”

Suri grinned. “Bet you I can take out thirty of these cunts before they know what hit ‘em.”

I waggled my eyebrows back at her. “Bet you I can get there first.”

“Nuh uh,” Karalti said. “I can fly. I’ll win that bet before either of you.”

“Wait. Before we engage: Karalti, you can scan their levels, can’t you?” Rin piped up. “The vampires and the lich?”

“Oh! Yeah!” Karalti leaned forward, magic briefly rippling over her shoulders and face like clear heat haze. “Let’s see… the vampires are only Level 25. But the lich guy is 42.”

“Forty-two?” Suri audibly winced. “That’s a lot. Especially if it’s a mage. Got any tactical observations, Hector?”

I had a look over the Bioscan results myself, plotting the best place to hit first. My initial hunch had been to have me dive into the weaker enemies and take them out, but now that I thought about it... “Suri, I need you to tunnel right into that big pack of enemies. Rin, back her up. Karalti, I want you to cast Circle of Protection on Suri once she’s waded into the mob. That way, the vampires can’t get near her. You can take the Mata Argis agents. I need to solo Uttapsu.”

“Why?” Rin asked.

“Because my Darkness elemental moves will fucking shred him, is why. If we hit him hard and fast, there’s a good chance all those undead are going to fall over,” I said. “And the Spear has a Light elemental mode. Light attacks can sunder mana shields, right?”

“Right. All mana constructs have a 50% type weakness to Light elemental effects, and Light-element weapons inflict Sunder.” Rin nodded.

“He might get a couple of good shots in on me, but I think I can handle him.” I adjusted my grip on my weapon, thinking. “Do Archemi liches have phylacteries?”

“Yeah, they do.” Rin grimaced and picked at her lip. “His is probably back in Napath.”

“That’s fine. We just need him to be Not Here.” I turned to the three of them. “Karalti, you and I need to get into of those super-tall trees. We’ll jump out and scare the mummy dust out of them.”

“We’ll be down here.” Suri held up a fist. I bumped my knuckles against hers, did the same with Rin, then vaulted off the wall with Karalti and crept off low across the ground.

We cut all the way around the arena and climbed a tree overlooking the terrace. The Mata Argis were gathering around the outside of Uttapsu’s circle, watching on as he deftly laid down sigils and encoded words of power. They closed ranks as Karalti and I reached our launch point, but no one paid any attention to us.

“Let’s go in, fast and quiet,” I said. “No roaring, no nothing. Just you and me, death from the fucking skies.”

“Yeah! You ready?” Karalti tensed, bracing herself against the branch.

“I was born for this shit.” I thumped the top of my helmet for luck.

Karalti tensed up, like a frog about to leap. “Okay, then. One, two, three aaaand....