Chapter 27: Chapter 27.

The vast staging chamber was empty and quiet. All the Silver troops stood arrayed just past the exit, ready for battle. A certain unease hung in the air. The stench of death and decay was unbearable.

The lieutenant with the massive broadsword, pointed his finger in our direction. “Wimps like you shouldn’t even be here. Go catch some petty thief, or a prostitute,” he growled at us. “And don’t block the exit.”

I tapped on the brotherhood emblem hanging against my breastplate. He shook his head in disgust and looked away.

“What did I tell you,” Arina whispered to me. “Pompous bunch.”

“Yeah, an asshole,” I said loud enough so he could hear me.

Arina winced. Summer took a step back to hide behind me.

He turned his head to glare at me. I smiled back in his face. I was courting death, but didn’t care. He spat at the ground in our direction through the narrow slit of his helmet.

I chuckled, and it only made him angrier. I was ready to cast Burst of Clarity, but had a feeling it wouldn’t come down to that, and I was right. Another lieutenant nudged him, and he turned away. The Silver troops advanced at a slow march. The lieutenants took the sides and the rear. We followed them at a good distance and a slower pace. I didn’t mind using them as our shields and bait.

The nine lanterns carried up front gave an immense amount of light. It lit the vast chamber bright, revealed a Victorian Gothic architecture of pointed arches and fancy carvings. At one time this place must been a lot more than just a staging ground for penniless adventurers.

Despite the bright lanterns, it did little to reveal the dark passages branching out the vast chamber. The troops didn’t make it to the center before all hell broke loose, and all at once.

Roaring and screeching, undead poured out from every passage. Hundreds of them. I stopped in my tracks. I knew a bad fight when I saw it. I wasn’t sure if they were ready for this. Did they even scout it properly?

“Stay together,” I said loudly.

It took me a moment to realize that the ghouls, zombies and skeletons weren’t attacking randomly. They aimed for the soldiers with lanterns.

The Silvers were holding their own for now. Lieutenants cut down whole swaths in single strikes. But more arrived than they could kill. The undead had them surrounded. Lights started to wink out one by one. Screaming and barking of orders erupted. They Silvers pulled in together.

Some undead had noticed us, turned and scrambled in our direction. Bolts of fire whooshed past me. They hit the monsters head on. Fire engulfed them. Black smoke rose up. Smell of burned flesh joined the stench of decay.

I floated the shield up front. My three spinning disks launched from my backpack, and I spun them up. The brotherhood men were startled at seeing them floating overhead, as if they were going to attack them.

I sent the disks forward, cut down the undead that wouldn’t go down, picked off the stragglers. Arina, Dandee and the brotherhood men attacked anything that got close.

Ahead, a creature streaked through the air. It landed in the midst of the Silvers, right in the thick of it. Big mistake. It scattered the men about, killed a few. The lieutenant with the sword and shield charged in to attack it. Two other lieutenant attack from the sides and they quickly cut it down.

The situation seemed to stabilize. The Silvers looked to be winning. The undead were pushed back, their numbers thinning. Then another wave arrived, stronger and faster than the last.

At the same time, a large creature bolted in from out of nowhere, pounced on a lieutenant. A sound of stomping grew louder, closer. From out to the side, a giant of a man charged out of a side passage. He crashed right through, bodies flew up into the air. Hell. The tides had turned. They were getting demolished. A lieutenant went down, badly crushed.

Lanterns fell to the ground, lights flickered. Darkness crept in. Bodies were pulled away, one by one. The lieutenants didn’t even see it, not even when one of them got snatched up out of the group. This was bad. We needed to help somehow.

I pointed to the passage. “In there,” I shouted over all the noise.

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I focused the spinning disks to clear the way to the passage. The shield advanced ahead of us. Dandee and Arina took my sides, Summer followed after with the brotherhood men behind.

We broke through, stepped over decaying corpses. The ground was slick with guts and blood. I walked with care, entered the passage.

From deep within, multitude of dark tendrils lashed out across the ground at us. They reached for arms and legs. I flew the disks forward near the ceiling.

“More light,” I shouted.

A gout of flames erupted. I felt the heat rise. It smelled like burned oil. I spotted the caster. He shielded his face from the light. I cast Burst of Clarity and the world slowed. Shield at the front, I charged ahead. I jumped over a lieutenant’s corpse with his head torn off.

“Keep the fire coming!” I yelled to Summer.

Materialized darkness came at us from every direction. I dodged, and weaved around the tendrils. As soon as Burst of Clarity would wear off, I’d be in trouble. I sliced at the tendrils with my sword, blocked them with my shield. The progress was slow. I’d take two steps forward, and one step back. He was fending us off.

More fire bolts flew down the passage from the back, and they brought light. When enough light hit the tendrils just right, I could slice through them. But more lashed out.

He laughed like a madman. But there was little of ‘man’ to him now. It was something else now. A horrid version of an octopus. A creature made of darkness with a multitude of eyes and gnashing sharp teeth. It floated in the air.

“You’re one ugly son of a bitch!” I yelled at him, trying to distract him, trying to make him focus on me.

It succeeded. I must have struck a nerve. More of the tendrils turned toward me, and more than I could handle. I cast Haste to keep up. A spell with a painfully long, five second cast time. The tendrils knocked me about, one snagged at my foot. I was starting to lose balance.

Haste kicked in. The effect of Burst of Clarity where I moved as if under water, vanished entirely. I felt unrestrained. I regained my balance, sliced off the tendril at my foot.

“Is that all you got?”

His form trembled with fury. His vile teeth gnashed. The fool was easily baited. The dozen tendrils surrounded me from every angle. I did all I could to keep them at bay, to stop him from latching on. Burst of Clarity was near its end. Dandee rushed in to help me.

At the same time, a firebolt was flying behind me. I could see the light growing stronger, closer. I turned my head down at my shoulder to spot it.

It howled. “You can’t win, you can’t even-”

I shoved Dandee out of the way, sent the shield to cover him. I stepped aside. The firebolt flew past where I was standing. It crashed into the monstrocity, fire erupted, illuminating it. At the same time, the disks buzzed through from the back, sliced him into three section. The tendrils vanished.

[Essence gained: 23,109]

I smiled. “I’m sorry, what? I can’t hear you.”

I took his ugly head, but had to shake out the acrid blood. I wrapped it in lieutenant’s cloak and stuffed it in my backpack.

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