Chapter 377: 377. Spooks in Ruins

All four people simultaneously did a combat split. Instances of Dallion, Euryale, Vend, and the chainling filled the chamber, moving in dozens of different ways. Dallion was doing his best to concentrate, but he was having significant trouble keeping up. Thanks to the latest expeditions, and his leveling up, he was able to keep track of everyone’s motions, but lacked the speed to match them. To make things worse, the chainling wasn’t using any weapons, but its own deformed hands, which made Dallion’s empathic ability useless in the current fight.

Gleam, go for it! Dallion ordered before bursting into a new set of instances.

The whip blade extended, swirling at the enemy in spiral fashion. If nothing else, the shardfly was just as fast as Vend and Euryale, managing even to score a few hits. The damage, sadly, was insignificant. No sooner had the weapon fragments torn through the chainling’s leg than black ooze emerged, closing the wound as if nothing had happened.

Get back! Nil shouted.

One of the chainling’s arms shot forward like a jet of ink, flying directly in the direction of Dallion’s head. Desperately Dallion tried to twist back in an attempt to escape the attack, but he knew that it was already too late. Feet before the black goo hit him in the chest, Euryale emerged, positioning herself between the threat and Dallion. Almost at the same time, three instances of Vend had managed to make it behind the chainling and were in the process of slicing its arm off from the shoulder.

A loud clang followed, as Eury deflected the now loose arm, keeping Dallion safe.

Normally, Dallion would have thanked her for the save, but high-speed combat didn’t allow for conversation. Words were slower than actions, and could always wait until the end of the battle. Rather, Dallion split again, several of his instances leaping to the side as he attempted another attack.

Spark! Dallion concentrated on his whip blade. In the realms, this would have been enough to cover the whole thing with light. Here, nothing happened.

Go for the throat, Gleam! Dallion thought.

The whip blade twisted mid-air. Arching, it went to the side of the chainling, then made a sharp turn, aiming directly for the neck. Ooze emerged from the creature’s body, forming a shield to protect against the blow. To the chainling’s—and Dallion’s—surprise, the shield didn’t stop the attack. Instead, the tip and the following three segments suddenly disappeared and reappeared again in the chainlings’s neck, after having swirled past the shield of goo.

A blood freezing shriek filled the hall, accompanied by a smell that Dallion could only describe as burned rubber. Instinctively, he pulled back the whip blade, the weapon snapping back into its compact form.

What happened? Dallion asked as he retreated, leaving Eury and Vend to focus on the battle for a bit.

That’s the thing about illusions, Gleam said in a smug voice. They can be used to make things disappear as well.

The moment she said it, Dallion knew exactly what she had done. Throughout the battle the front three segments—at least the ones that everyone has seen—were never real. They were merely an illusion created by the shardfly, while the real segments had been rendered completely invisible, following a different trajectory. Quite ingenious, not to mention terrifying. If Dallion were to come across a creature such as Gleam in the wilderness, even on her present level, he wasn’t sure whether he could win.

Daggers filled the air as Vend threw them at the chainling in rapid succession. It was said that ranged weapons weren’t useful since they were easy to avoid using combat splitting. That didn’t hold true when the one throwing them was a splitting master, however. Each time the chainling attempted to split, its attempt would be put to an abrupt end as the dagger hitting it caused all other instances to fade away. That didn’t stop the creature from trying over and over again, despite the result being the same. Looking from the side, it was almost as if the chainling was stuck in a loop it couldn’t complete. Like a broken record, it reached one point, only to skip back to the beginning, and while it struggled, Euryale managed to move close enough to commence a multi attack in real life.

Dallion had seen multi attacks many times in the realms. On several occasions he had performed them himself. However, never had he witnessed what the gorgon was doing now.

There’s no way she’s just a seer, Dallion thought.

The gorgon’s fists moved so fast that it almost looked as if they didn’t. However, if one concentrated enough, they would see the blurs of tens of other fists continuing up to her elbow. The chainling’s guard clothes and breastplate were quickly pulverized to bits. Flesh shifted, turning into black crystal. That didn’t stop Eury from punching on into its chest. Then, suddenly, the creature burst into black goo.

Curiosity made Dallion lean forward to get a better look. Vend pulled him back and to the side, so as not to.

“Careful,” the elite said now that the battle was over. “You don’t want to get any of that stuff on you.”

The first moment Dallion felt relief, the next the feeling was replaced by fear, urging him to rush to Euryale. Vend stopped him.

“Calm,” the elite whispered. “Stay calm.”

“But—"

“She’ll be fine. Eury’s different. Chainlings don’t affect her.”

Looking at the gorgon, it seemed quite true. The black liquid that was on her hands was dropping off, as if she were made of glass.

Nil, what’s the reason for that? Dallion asked.

It might surprise you, dear boy, I don’t hold all the answers of the universe.

Dallion grumbled mentally. The echo’s response would have been deep if Dallion hadn’t heard it used before multiple times. Clearly, Dallion didn’t know much about gorgons. After this was over, Dallion planned to ask her.

“It’s safe,” Eury said. She was crouching on the ground, examining what was left of the chanling’s clothes. “Sergeant’s uniform,” she added. “Those aren’t too easy to get.”

“I guess only someone important would have been let down here.” Once Vend let Dallion go, he approached Euryale. At this point, the black liquid had lost its darkness, turning transparent. “Is that all it would take?”

“Normally, no.” Euryale examined the entirety of the floor with the snakes on her head. “But with a tournament going on, everyone’s attention would have been occupied with something else. If they had timed it with the countess’ grand arrival, he could easily have sneaked here using the official way. Either that, or he had corrupted one of the arena guards who’d let him in. The question is why, though.”

“I’ll go see if there’s anything special about the lantern,” Dallion said, quickly going to the object. He was aware how stupid that sounded, though being the one carrying a kaleidervisto gave him a certain degree of leniency.

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You can hear me, right? Dallion asked.

Nice! The guardian in the lantern replied. Finally, someone to talk to. Was tired getting moved about by spooks.

The guard was a spook?

Everyone’s a spook. The only reason I know they’re there is because I know I can’t move on my own.

Dallion trembled at the thought. The explanation made sense in a creepy sort of way. It was natural for items to consider people with blocking items ghosts. From their perspective, they wouldn’t be able to sense, feel, or see the person, even if they were held. That meant that everyone who had gone to the ruins was equipped with blocking items. The question was why, though.

When did you first get here? Dallion pressed on.

An eternity ago.

That wasn’t overly helpful.

Anything interesting happen other than being carried by spooks? Dallion asked. Like Vermillion rings, or anything—

I saw a Vermilion, the lantern interrupted. One of the ghosts that carried me had one on his finger. That was a while back, though, back when the ghosts would walk a lot. I’d light all the way for miles. He left at one point, though.

Yeah, they do that a lot. Dallion sighed. While the lantern had provided some interesting information, he wasn’t of any real help.

“Nothing special here,” Dallion said. “Any sign of a ring?”

“Yes,” Euryale replied. “But it doesn’t look like we’ll be taking it.”

Curious, Dallion turned around. Soon enough, he saw exactly what she had in mind. A Vermillion ring was placed on the pedestal of a statue. However, the weirdness didn’t end there—the ring was within the crystal statue itself, as if it had always belonged there.

“Not sure how they’d have done that,” Vend said.

Quite simple, really, Nil commented. All it takes is to enter the realm with it, then leave it at a specific place and the ring exits the realm separate from its owner.

Have you had a Vermillion’s tears, Nil? Dallion asked.

First, I’m an echo and as such cannot have any items. Second, one doesn’t have to own a specific item to know the math of the situation. I gather that with your gift, you could even convince the guardian of the statue to hand it over to you. On second thought, maybe that isn’t the best idea. There’s no telling where the statues have been.

Well, you’re right about one thing. It’s a terrible idea, because none of the statues have any guardians. In fact— Dallion looked around —nothing but the lantern here has a guardian.

That’s not too unusual in the wilderness, dear boy. You really need to tone down things from time to time.

For the next fifteen minutes the hall was searched to the last detail. Given that a chainling had been left as a guard, there was bound to be something important. After all that work, however, nothing else out of the ordinary was found. By all indications the only thing of importance was the Vermillion ring placed in the statue.

“Nothing,” Euryale said.

“At least we found the ring,” Vend said. “We can take it, if you want, but that won’t help much. We already know there’s at least one more.”

“For all we know, there might be rings all over the city,” Dallion added. “I learned that they had several before they involved me. I still don’t get why he’s stashing them here. I mean, I get that it’s a difficult place to reach, but if he wants to summon a chainling, why not just do it directly at the first opportunity?”

“Because there’s something to be gained by waiting.”

With one strike, Euryale shattered the statue to bits. Shards scattered everywhere, though that wasn’t enough to free the Vermillion ring. Determined to get it, Eury hit the remaining chunks of crystal with her gauntlets a few more times.

“One ring was at the performer’s plaza,” the gorgon continued, as she finally took the item from among the crystal. “We know that at least one cultist was at the arena. I’m willing to bet that the thing that stands above us is the city palace. The rest are probably placed beneath the big five guilds and the city guard forts.”

“Why do you think that?” Dallion was trying to see the big picture, but there were a few things that didn’t fit.

“All are places with large gatherings of awakened. The Star doesn’t just want to kill the countess. He wants to get rid of as many awakened as possible.” Eury put the ring away in her pouch.

“So, he’s not summoning a single chainling, he’s summoning a pack of them.” Vend nodded. “Haven’t seen that before.”

“I have,” Euryale said. For the first time since he’d known her, Dallion felt such a degree of terror emanating from her, only matched by her determination. “And I won’t let it happen here. Grab the lantern. We’re not leaving these ruins until we can find the rest of the rings.”

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