Chapter 281 - Ancient Peril

Today's my birthday and I had plans last night and didn't quite finish in time. I really liked how this chapter came together so hope you enjoy! So hyped for the next few chapters :)

The sound clacking of bones and snarling skeletons filled the tunnel as the creatures, a hundred ranks deep, shifted to face Hump and the hunters at his side. It was a straight and smooth tunnel—a typical trait for anything created by a dungeon. Other than being crammed full of undead, it was wide enough for three wolf dragons to stand abreast, leaving plenty of room for Aurora to manoeuvre. Beyond the host of monsters, Hump glimpsed what must have been a large chamber—their next target. A faint white glow came from inside, flickering like some ethereal fire.

“I take it the need for staying quiet is over now,” Hump said as the host of angry skeletons snarled in their direction.

“That chick has left the nest,” Ashera said quickly. “Make sure you conserve your strength, all of you.”

“In which case…” Hump extended his left hand toward the host of undead. The Ring of Osidium shimmered brilliantly upon his finger, and he called upon its sands. They poured out like glittering stars, floating through the darkness and turning the roof of the tunnel into a galaxy of stars, lighting the path ahead and fully illuminating the enemy.

These were no ordinary skeletons. The lich’s power radiated from them with a power unmatched by those above. It poured out in an aura of dark power, streams of dark purple flitting out in all directions to Hump's Spirit Sight. It kindled like a flame in their eyes and formed trails of light beneath their armour. Most were skeletons, but amongst them were flesh ghouls and strange clusters where multiple bodies seemed to have merged together to form a single monster.

Nascal groaned and hefted his shield. “That’s a lot of angry looking skeletons.”

“I’d be angry too if your ugly face showed up in my tunnel,” Varesha said with a chuckle. The archer took an arrow from her quiver and nocked it.

“Hah!”

“I think I preferred them in the dark,” Celaine muttered.

“They’re an ugly bunch, aren’t they?” Finnian said.

Celaine gave him the side eye, not answering.

“Focus,” Ashera said. “Even lesser undead can end a life.”

The talk died down, each of the hunters taking up their positions in the group. Personally, Hump didn’t mind the banter. Anything to keep his mind away from the fight that was about to come.

“What’s the plan, Elder?” Glys asked.

Ashera paused a moment, thinking, then spoke. “Nascal, Finn, I want you to funnel them into a tight line.”

“We’ll cram them in against the right wall,” Finnian said.

“Do that,” Ashera said. “Once they’re there, Glys, form a web of vines along their left side to trap them in. Keep them as closely packed as you can. I’ll then open the ground up beneath them. Aurora and Hump, I want you to make a furnace out of that pit. Burn them to ash. Celaine, Varesha, take out any specialists you see amongst them. Remember, the goal is to defeat them while conserving our strength. We will need it yet.”

They gave their affirmations and then moved forward as one. With Lia dead and Yunillia and Itris occupied by the battle above, their squad was down to a measly six. Five people and a dragon hardly seemed like great odds against a lich queen, but it was too late to turn back now.

Missing their strongest fighter and one of their shield bearers, Hump felt more exposed than before. His heart hammered as he readied his essence, the others already beginning to channel their blessings. Glys’ presence expanded from her like morning mist touched by green. Hump felt it warm him and give him strength, but unlike when he’d sensed her powers before, it now changed the terrain around them. Grass sprouted from the stone tunnel, glowing softly. He felt essence stir within him. Calmness came over him, as if he were standing in a forest and the sun shone above.

Nascal took the left flank while Finnian the right. Hump had only caught a glimpse of the shield warrior’s powers above, but now he saw them manifested in full. A shield wall of ancestral warrior spirits appeared at his side, the spectres clad in armour and carrying swords, axes, spears, and shields. They marched shield to shield at Nascal’s sides, himself at the centre. Their footsteps echoed through the tunnel as they moved toward the encroaching skeletons. As the distance closed, they formed a half V shape, channelling them toward one side of the tunnel.

To the right, Finnian wielded howling gales to force them in tighter, cramming bones and desiccated flesh into the wall. The beat and clatter of bones echoed through the tunnel as the undead screeched and snarled, clawing to escape, but where gaps opened, Glys manifested trees and grass, pressing the horde in tighter until they were crammed in so tightly Hump couldn’t tell where one began and another ended. Some of the larger skeletons fought back—monster bones reanimated for the most part. Those, Celaine and Varesha took care of, their arrows hissing through the air as they found their marks.

When the trap was set, Ashera strode forward, bronze essence pouring from her feet. She yelled as she bent and slammed the bottom of her fist into the ground, a boom echoing through the tunnel. Her power light trailed forward—a crack of light emanating from beneath her. There was a thud, then a rectangle of light erupted from the ground beneath the undead, stretching all the way back, past a hundred lines of skeletons, to the end of the tunnel.

The horde collapsed into the ground in a thundering heap.

Hump was there then, stepping up beside Aurora as the two of them took aim at the rolling mass of creatures in the pit. Essence billowed in his staff, bubbling to the surface, eager to be unleashed, just as heat radiated from Aurora’s mouth. It flowed from her mouth in waves of steam.

Aurora roared.

“Fire Blast,” Hump barked.

A rolling wave of red erupted forward, bathing the skeletons. They howled in the pit and soon all went silent, but for the crackle of fire and the distant chant of the lich’s magic.

“Well done.” Ashera strode forward, stepping out over the pit of blazing bones.

Stone formed beneath her feet, covering the mass of undead beneath her and burying them in rock. In only moments, the hole was covered up entirely, and the bodies of the fallen were finally put to rest.

They picked off a few more enemies here and there, but for the most part the tunnel ahead was clear. As they neared the main cavern, the chanting became louder, the voices joining together in a thrumming echo of dark power. It filled the room, radiating through the tunnel. There was a depth to this darkness that perhaps only the Tree of Damnation could match. It made Hump hesitate. Once more he questioned why he was there. How did he always get himself into these situations? The people of Drakalyn were not even his people.

Again he wished for Bud, Dylan, and Emilia to be there with them. It was only now that they were parted that Hump understood how much they had come to trust in each other. Fighting alongside Ashera and the other hunters wasn’t the same. There was no way he could trust Finnian with his back, let alone to take an arrow for him. But Celaine was there, and that was enough to make the fight worthwhile.

He gathered his courage, pressed back against the evil aura with his will, and forced himself to remain calm.

“I don’t like this, kid,” Walt said. “It’s… It’s… What’s going on?”

“Are you alright, Walt?” Hump asked. When he got no answer, Hump pressed. “Walt?”

“I’m fine, Hump,” Walt said. “Just be careful in there. I sense something ancient in this darkness.”

There was something different about Walt’s voice—a clarity that he’d lacked before. Not to mention, that might have been the first time the spirit had called Hump by his name.

“Do you want me to leave you here?” Hump asked. “If you’re not up for this—”

“I’m fine. It’s nothing you need to worry about, just focus on the task at hand.”

He didn’t sound fine, but there wasn’t time to concern himself with the spirit’s mental state. “Hang in there. Let me know if I need to start worrying.”

Hump got no answer again. The others were already moving on. Ashera stepped out of the tunnel onto a stone ledge. She gazed around the cavern, her face illuminated by white light. Quickly, the rest of them joined her. Hump recalled the sands of Osidium to his ring as he left the tunnel. The stone ledge wound its way around the outer rim of the cavern, all the way down to the bottom.

Hump’s eyes were drawn up to where a giant stone of white essence dangled from the ceiling. Ethereal essence smoked from it in wisps of light. Hump’s instincts told him this was beyond simply powerful. A part of him wondered if it might just be the lich’s phylactery, it was so dense with essence, but it made no sense to leave such a thing so unguarded.

Hump’s eyes were drawn to a giant white stone at the centre of the chamber down below. Ethereal essence smoked from the it in wisps of light. It felt like death against Hump’s skin, prickling at his soul with cold, cruel power. This was what they’d been searching for—the dense essence he’d spotted in the tunnels earlier. Yet Hump couldn’t see Lich Queen Irila anywhere.

The air felt thick and heavy as smog and filled him with a sense of dread at the true scale of the strength they were now facing—strength enough to challenge a goddess. A part of Hump wondered if they were staring at the lich’s phylactery, but would she hide it out in the open like this? It seemed too risky a choice, and the density of the essence within implied a power source instead.

Surrounding it, the lich’s apprentices chanted their spell. Thirteen of them formed a circle, no doubt each a part of the formation. At first glance, they appeared completely exposed, but as Hump studied the air around them with his Spirit Sight he detected a discrepancy. It was only slight—almost invisible—but he glimpsed a gleam of blue shimmer around them. Spells like this were the truly dangerous. For it to have achieved such efficiency on such a scale… Hump couldn’t imagine the skill involved in its craft.

Around it, an army of undead blocked any path they might take to reach it. Even if they made it through, this wouldn’t be easy to break through, especially if the stone at its centre fuelled it.

“What are they doing?” Finnian asked. “I feel like I could drop dead just by getting too close.”

“Then let’s take them out from here,” Varesha said. “The fiends are completely exposed.”

“There is magic around them,” Celaine said. “I can’t tell what it is, but… something is there.”

“A shield spell,” Hump said. “And a powerful one at that.”

“Powerful enough to raise a lich?” Celaine asked.

Hump nodded. “Seems likely. Problem is, even ignoring the undead, I have no idea how we break through that shield and stop it.”

Finnian glanced at him with a raised eyebrow. “Bit too soon to give up, Wizard, wouldn’t you say?”

“There’s a reason those spellcasters haven’t bothered to look at us yet,” Hump said. “They don’t think we’re a threat.”

“Then we’d best change that,” Finnian said, a menacing grin splitting his face.

“Let them have their arrogance,” Ashera said. “If they underestimate us, it is only to our advantage.”

Hump cast his gaze around the rest of the chamber, searching for anything that might help. It reminded him of the cavern where they’d found the kobold village in Bledsbury Dungeon. Perhaps this had once been a monster village too. In Bledsbury, millions of glow worms lit up the ceiling in a wriggling array of light. Here, a smaller stone dangled from the roof above, glowing with the same white light as the one below but without its intensity. Beyond the cavern, Hump thought he heard the sounds of battle. It was faint and far away, but Yunillia, Ado, and the other dragon keepers were likely fighting as they spoke.

“I don’t see any sign of the lich,” Hump said.

Ashera raised a hand, pointing toward the back of the cavern where shadow loomed. Hump sensed nothing there. He saw nothing. It was an empty void. A veil?

“I don’t see it,” Finnian said.

Celaine squinted. “All I see is darkness.”

“Concentrate,” Ashera said. “The lich’s magic lies over it, but it is not impenetrable.”

Hump focused, transfixed on the area of darkness beyond the light of the shining white stone. Like his vision adjusting to the dark, slowly he made out a staircase. Step by step, a shrine came into view, until the ancient stone structure was clear as day. There was no roof, rather, it was a circle of pillars and rocks atop a stone plateau.

There, upon a grey throne, sat the lich. She was a husk of a person, shrunken and ancient. Dark essence surrounded her so thickly it made the stone feel pleasant. This was his first time seeing her true form and that alone was enough to send shivers through his body. There was a crown upon her head, shining brilliantly gold amongst the darkness. There was an allure to it that drew Hump in, gripping his attention.

“Do you think the crown is her phylactery?” Hump asked.

“It’s possible,” Ashera said. “I cannot say for sure.”

“How do we face such darkness?” Glys whispered. “I see no way forward.”

Hump swallowed. He had to admit, a path forward seemed pretty unlikely. Not only did they have to contend with a horde of undead and the lich’s apprentices, but the lich herself sat there on her throne. For now, she appeared dormant, but how long would that last?

“How can such a place exist beneath a city?” Nascal asked, even the shield bearer sounding nervous.

“Where do you think we are?” Ashera asked.

Hump’s eyes flicked back to the white stone as realisation dawned on him. This was no ancient monster village. He spotted the pedestal beneath the white stone.

Of course, Hump thought. This amount of power couldn’t be contained by any ordinary stone. The lich hadn’t simply made her base in the ruins of Estora. She had conquered the dungeon and twisted its core to her power.

“This is the dungeon core room,” Hump said. “I think that white stone must be the old dungeon core. This is probably the main power source for her armies.” He glanced at the smaller white stone above. “I’m guessing that stone there acts as some sort of beacon, transporting her power to the other soulstone shrines we’ve seen before.”

“And the stone Ado is trying to destroy,” Celaine offered.

“In which case, even if they succeed, they’ll achieve almost nothing,” Finnian said.

“Without our help, perhaps,” Ashera said.

“How do you propose we help them?” Finnian asked, frustration clear in his voice. “We’re trapped down here.”

“Above us is the city of Estora and mother knows how much stone,” Ashera said. She grinned, sly and dangerous as Owalyn herself. “I propose we bring the roof down.”