GH - 238

Bha’amon surged forward out of its tunnel like a frigging bullet train from hell. Rocks falling from the ceiling blocked its path but didn’t entirely close the tunnel. Wouldn’t have mattered either way. The Fangwyrm munched the rocks as if they were popcorn. Our party didn’t have time to flee its gaping maw.

“For Sajilis!” A Hunter-Warrior yelled as he blocked Bha’amon’s way with his body and crossed spears. He generated a barrier and cast crowd-control skills at the incoming enemy. Looking over his shoulders, he left us one last message, “Farewell. I’ll join our ancestors as a hero.”

“Your sacrifice to save Herald Stone will not be in vain.” I tugged at Luvarci’s arm. “Let’s go!” The three NPCs followed me into the tunnel going to Tagamut.

For a moment, we couldn’t see the Fangwyrm behind us. Echoing explosions. Valiant calls to the ancestor came to an abrupt end. The sacrificial lamb’s health bar became zero on our party interface.

Luvarci uttered a quick prayer, responded by the other Hunter-Warriors. I didn’t understand what they were saying because the Fangwyrm entered the tunnel we were in. It was a tight fit inside, so it had to make the hole bigger. Not a problem for this child of the Mountain Guardian because it was like a tunnel-boring machine with layers of teeth rotating inside its wide mouth.

“Can you use the Sigil Totem yet?” I loudly asked, competing with the noise of breaking rocks, as Luvarci and the others caught up with me. 

“Nay, lad,” Luvarci replied.

“I want to make a neighing-is-for-horses joke,” I said, “but this isn’t the time. When will the nay become yay? Okay, that’s a good line. How much farther?”

“Soon, lad. And I hope this soon will be enough.”

As the tunnel narrowed, we could no longer bunch up running. Luvarci and I were in front. The two other Hunter-Warriors followed behind us. It got more cramped, slowing us down. Chasing us was a whirlwind of teeth, chewing rocks into dust and swallowing the ground earth. My Totems were instantly deleted before they could taunt. The Hunter-Warriors used their crowd control skills—only the ranged ones because they’d die when they got too close to the Fangwyrm—but those just bounced off the target. This Bha’amon had a sort of spell shield that we couldn’t overcome.

“A stroke of bad luck that we lost Nemuel,” said Luvarci. “He was capable of dispelling pesky protection enchantments such as this.”

“Nemuel was the first guy who died, right?” I asked. “Well, bad luck for us. Badder luck for him. Because he’s dead.”

Bha’amon was gaining on us. One of the Hunter-Warriors behind me shouted that he would sacrifice himself. His comrades didn’t try to stop him. They instead encouraged him, shouting stuff about the ancestors again.

A crazy bunch.

The second sacrificial lamb—could also be a bull; those were sacrificed in history too—turned around to face Bha’amon. I wasn’t able to witness their fight because we turned a corner. That guy bought us around ten seconds before he died. An impressive feat, no doubt. The problem was that Bha’amon ignored the corner by digging through the wall and cut the delay by half.    

“Do any of you have a ranged skill that can light up the way?” I asked. “Shoot it forward so we’ll see how far until we would reach the dead end.”

Luvarci cast a fireball. It traveled ahead of us until it sputtered out, not hitting anything. Luvarci tested his Sigil Totem. Still wasn’t working. He scouted again with his fireball. Again, it didn’t hit anything. But its light reached far enough to reveal the collapsed portion of the tunnel.

“Uh-oh.” I turned to Luvarci. “Still nothing?”

He shook his head. “We keep praying to the ancestors with our last breaths.”

I can’t die here! If I did, it was back to Kurghal Village for me. Finding the ruins where I met Mr. Inuus was useless because we’d need to pass by that vast chasm. The bridge there was already destroyed and we would have no way of getting across again. By ‘we’, I meant me and my party. There was probably a Mardukryon player with a flying ability or bridge construction mastery, and I didn’t want them anywhere near that chasm.

I, Herald Stone, should be the herald of the reunification of our people.  

With this stupid worm behind us, there was no going back. We had to warp away before reaching the dead end. And we might not even reach it because Bha’amon was closing in.

Another Hunter-Warrior sacrificed himself. I cast [Horde Stampede]. Luvarci and I headed closer and closer to the dead end. The Fangwyrm finished with its meal and looked for another. We reached the pile of boulders blocking our path.

“Is it still frigging nay?” I almost yield.

“The Sigil Totem can be activated!” announced Luvarci.

“What are you—?”

A flash of light.   

“—waiting for?”

The first thing I saw after materializing in a new area was a Mardukryon. And then another. And another. More of them! Around thirty Mardukryons behind a roughly-made earthen wall, around waist-high and stuck with random sharp sticks here and there. And they weren’t alone.

Arcane Blighted monsters were trying to get over the crude fortifications. They weren’t as strong as those that attacked the camp of the Hunter-Warriors—these were just around level forty—but they were numerous. They charged without falter until some of them went over the basic fortifications.

“The Arcane Blighted are already here?” I exclaimed.

I also noticed that only a few of the Mardukryons were armed and armored. The rest had random tools as weapons and only wore light clothing. Even though they didn’t look like warriors, they still caused damage to the enemy by throwing random potions and crystals.

“The merchants and traders!” Luvarci exclaimed. “They take care of the supply routes of the various hunting parties sending goods. Initiate Hunter-Warriors guard them.”

“Are you waiting for me to say that we’ll help them?” I chuckled. “I wonder what would happen if I left them behind. But yeah, let’s go save the helpless. Herald Stone the Warping Hero is here to save the day! With a footnote that I’m being carried by a strong NPC.”

Luvarci charged ahead, opening a path to the huddle of Mardukryons. I followed after him, using my Totems to block the Blighted. Some of them managed to attack me, but I had gotten tanky enough to survive a few hits and heal myself.

“Hunter-Warrior! Where have you come from?” one of the merchants asked. The other cheered our arrival. “Do you bring aid? Where are the rest of your brethren?”

“Unfortunately, it is only me,” replied Luvarci, “and this lad I’m accompanying.”

“Hey, I’m also counted as an aid,” I said.

“The rest of my brothers perished on the way,” Luvarci continued. “Five Spears Methuselah and the rest of the Hunter-Warriors are cut off from us. We need to get to Sajilis to request reinforcements.”

Head Merchant Malvinor stepped forward, seemingly in charge of this group of survivors. “The path is fraught with danger, Three Spears! The monsters that you see assailing us, these are the tail end of a massive force heading to Sajilis.”

“We’ll teleport there,” I said. “Anyone has Sigil Totem to Sajilis? Head Merchant, you must have a way to get back to Sajilis fast since you guys are transporting goods.”

“I do not,” he replied, shaking his head. “None of us here do. Sajilis isn’t the next destination of our supply line. We direct them to a compound filled with warehouses outside the city for sorting and appraising. Our Sigil Totems warp us to that location. Given the trajectory and speed of the monster horde that passed some time ago, they should be suffering the same fate as us.”

“The hell?” I figured there had to be a convoluted reason why the NPCs were so unprepared. Some quest perhaps? “Three Spears, I hope that you have at least a couple of Sigil Totems to Sajilis.”

“And a couple I do have,” Luvarci said. “Each can transport a full party of six. That means twelve.”

“We’re more than twelve,” I said, looking around.

“That is so, lad. You should be with the twelve that return. Decide who will go with you. I’ll go and fight.” And Luvarci left me, just like that.

“Oh, so this is the problem that needed solving.” I slowly shook my head. “Kind of morbid for me to choose who’ll survive. Head Merchant, since you always travel to this location, you must have plenty of Sigil Totems leading here, right?”

The Head Merchant nodded his head. “Yes. But we should focus on—”

“Do you have special types of Sigil Totems?” I interrupted him. “Like you have to come from afar? I need a Sigil Totem connecting to this place that I can use even if I’m literally on the other side of the mountain.”   

“I have this.” Malvinor presented a Sigil Totem that glowed amber. The creatures carved into it had jewels for eyes while runes covered their bodies. “This is a special whatever, long-ranged Sigil Totem. It can bring you here from the other side of the mountain. That is not the urgent matter at hand, however. We should focus on saving you and—”

“Give me that,” I said.  

I messaged Kezodilla and my other partymates individually because I could no longer access our party chat. I left it to join the NPC parties. Fortunately, I could see that my friends were online. I just hoped that they weren’t busy. I was quite pushy with my messages, urging them to gather fast at our favorite spot outside town. I didn’t tell them why, of course, because they might spread the word. This wasn’t the time for the big reveal to the rest of the Mardukryon player population.

“What will you do with that Sigil Totem, lad?” Head Merchant Malinor asked. “You and eleven others should escape quickly. Choose and—”

“The youngest twelve among us, not including me and the Hunter-Warrior Initiates, should use the Sigil Totem to Sajilis. I, on the other hand, will use this special Sigil Totem to find reinforcements.”

“Reinforcements? Where will you find them? That Sigil Totem I gave you leads back here.”

“Exactly, this is our way back here,” I said. “As for finding them, I have a fast way of doing it.”

I charged towards the battle, removing my equipment to make myself less tanky, and leaped over the low wall. In the corner of my eye, I noticed Luvarci coming to save me. But Arcane Blighted monsters already covered me. In a few seconds, I was dead. I didn’t hang around as a spirit, choosing to return to Kurghal Village at once.