Chapter 55: Ch. 54 – A Wolf In The Vents

Vivienne was no longer on the platform. Momo surveyed the rest of the room frantically, but she was nowhere to be seen. The executioner had similarly disappeared.

“Without further ado,” Lord Gunther announced, turning to the trapped criminals. “Let’s get this over with.”

Panic struck the cages. The criminals began heaving themselves at the bars, attempting to wrestle out of them like wild animals. With their mana depleted and their hands tied, they had nothing left but their own adrenaline and stupidity. Momo could relate.

“Sit, boy,” Pol instructed the cagehound, and Dogubis obeyed. The dog laid on the ground, and a staircase descended from his side. Pol walked up it slowly, approaching the flesh door of the cage. He paused in front of it, staring down at the figure limping at its center.

Tension hung between the two, a grave scowl painting Pol's face. It's obvious he thinks this is a terrible idea. Momo could understand why: dense, oppressive power wafted off of the chained creature, even under its crushing abundance of chains.

"May the Gods be kind," he said. "And forgive the King's stupidity."

With a simple movement of his hand, the door creaked open.

Everyone in the room watched with bated breath, including Momo.

Seconds passed, and nothing happened. To their great relief, even with the door open, the chained figure remained motionless.

“I trust you will transport her securely to the containment cell,” Pol said as he turned to Gunter. It was a very polite threat.

“She won’t leave my sight,” Gunther bowed. She. Momo frowned. It was a woman. An evil, powerful woman. Hmm. She had the sudden, completely unbiased urge to root for her escape.

Satisfied with his response, Pol approached the woman. He produced something from his pocket – a watch. One of those large, hand-held ones. He pressed his thumb to it, and the figure abruptly stood, as if dragged upwards by an inverse force of gravity. The figure hung limply in the air, propelled only by the watch’s magic.

“Don’t have too much fun with this,” Pol said as he handed the pocket watch to Gunther. “I’ll take care of the rest.”

Gunther nodded, taking control of the watch and leading the woman out of the cage. She floated after him like an obedient spirit. Momo still couldn’t make out a single feature about her, the chains obscuring her entirely.

Pol raised his hand, and the criminals' cages began to shake. Could he use telekinesis? Momo watched with interest as the cages began to drag slowly towards him, pulled by an invisible string. Just as Pol moved to load them into the Dogubis, Momo heard a sudden movement.

“What was that?” Momo whispered to herself, anxiously surveying the vents as if Vivienne might appear horror-movie style.

Just as Momo was about to relax, finding nothing out of the ordinary around her, she heard it again. It was louder this time. The vents had begun to rattle, just as they had when Dogubis had entered the Hall, except this time it was coming from inside. She could hear the thumping of feet, the labored breath of a wild animal.

Something was coming straight towards her, and it was coming fast.

“Oh god,” Momo mumbled, panic filling her chest. She got back on her stomach and began to army crawl towards the platform even faster than before. “Oh god, oh god, oh god.”

She paid no attention to the open wounds forming at her joints as she crawled for her life. The thing was getting closer. She could practically hear saliva drip from the beast’s maw. Momo’s brain, in its panicked state, began formulating an image of the monster: a carnivorous chihuahua, with canines as big as her hands.

“Dusk, get ahead of me!” Momo yelped, urging the cat in front. She didn’t want the poor cat to get steamrolled by whatever was coming for them.

As Dusk climbed over her back, Momo heard the beast round the corner into their section of the vents. Its wild moans echoed down the small chamber, reverberating against the narrow walls. Its feet clicked rapidly, thumping like horseshoes and causing the entire ventilation system to sway and bob.

Fueled purely by adrenaline, Momo scrambled forward, using her knees like feet and her elbows like hands. It still wasn’t enough. The next grate was several paces off, and the animal was closing in. She wouldn’t be able to reach the exit in time.

I have to fight it somehow. There was no way to do a 3-point turn in the narrow vent, so she opted for her second best option. Heaving out a groan, she rotated her body like a sausage on a grill, so her head and torso faced upwards. She craned her neck up as far as it could go, finally getting a gander at the oncoming threat.

She almost fainted. It was not a chihuahua.

It was quadruple the size of the rat-dog, most closely resembling a wolf. Standing on four short legs, it was a beast made purely of Holy Fire. Its paws instantly burnt the ground beneath it, searing everything in a foot radius. It had two bright orange eyes, and fanged, fiery incisors. Oh god, my fire curse. Momo froze. If the thing got any closer, she’d be burnt toast.

Momo’s panicked brain sifted rapidly through her spellbook. From the look of it, the creature had no bones. It was purely a construction of heavenly flame. [Bone Dance] would be no use. She could use [Abysmal Burst], but it would tear the entire vent open. She’d give away her position, and most likely fall to her death.

Momo’s feet began to burn. The [Holy Fire Wolf] was still yards away, and she could already feel its presence incinerating her skin. There was only one option left.

“You’re a good boy, aren’t you?” Momo attempted, giving her friendliest smile. If she remembered right, her [Corrupted Druid] class made animals have a default friendly disposition towards her. Why would a holy, fiery wolf be any different?

Her tone gave the beast pause. It tilted its head, momentarily receding its fangs.

“Such a good boy, yes you are,” Momo nodded enthusiastically. She ignored the first layer of skin peeling off her feet. “Why don’t you turn around, go lay down at the other end of the vent, and I’ll come back later with lots of treats?”

It was not persuaded.

“I’m sure I can find you a really hot bone, or something,” Momo insisted. “I know a dog. Cerberus. He’s got tons of them. I’m sure he can part with one or two, or five or fifteen.”

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The initial curiosity wearing off, the beast bared its fangs again. It once again began to stalk towards her, looking very much like it was about to bite her neck off.

“Bad dog,” Momo frowned. “Very bad dog. Please, back away –”

The dog wasn’t listening. It was only getting closer, and the flames around its paws were nearly ready to lick the skin straight off Momo’s bones. She looked around frantically, finding no exit. Damn it. There was no other way out but through.

“I’m sorry about this,” Momo squeaked out, “[Abysmal Burst]!”

Sizzling dark magic erupted from her hands, blasting straight through the wolf, and the vent surrounding it, in an instant. Momo watched as what remained of the beast plummeted to the floor, erupting into flames on top of one of the cages. Consequently, the criminals began to shriek, and Momo began to unwillingly slide downwards.

The blast had destroyed not just the section of the vent where the wolf stood, but the supports underpinning the entire vent. With them gone, the metal chamber began to slowly break down, the vent sloping downwards like a roller coaster that had lost half of its track.

“I’m not dying today,” Momo cried out, pressing her hands, knees, and elbows to the side of the vent to stop herself from sliding. It worked to slow her descent, but the vent was still crumbling. It would inevitably put her at a 90 degree angle, dropping her straight to the floor.

“Shit,” she panted, “[Summon Lesser Familiar]!”

She focused the image of the Argentavis in her mind. Due to the spell upgrade, it came to her with ease. Nether magic flared around her. Within seconds, it turned from an intangible force of nature into glittery, liquid putty, mashing together like Playdo to form the gigantic bird.

“Cackaaw!”

The bird swooped down, catching Momo by the torso before she slid out of the vent. Momo groaned thankfully. The bird fluttered high above the floor, grabbing the attention of the entire room.

“It’s that foul, lying, conniving necromancer! The one that flattened the Head Knight’s tower!” Gunther growled. He was completely engaged, his face curled up in an expression of pure hatred. “Knights, get her!”

Momo found herself quite proud of the accusation. She wished Valerica had been there to hear it.

The knights bumbled in her general direction, but she was too high for them to do anything. They hadn’t had the foresight to bring any mages. She supposed that no one typically expects a giant bird and its tiny necromantic master to intrude on governmental proceedings.

She wanted to gloat – but very quickly realized she had once again ventured completely off-plan. Nia and the Con Artists would not be enthused. Looking around, she attempted to find Vivienne. She was still nowhere to be seen. All that existed below her was a sea of eyes, mostly originating from hopeful criminals, looking to her as their savior.

So much for being discreet.

Momo paused, her mouth going dry. There was one other person that was mysteriously missing.

In his rage, Gunther had seemingly failed to notice that the pocketwatch had been stolen right out of his hand. The figure next to him had, too, vanished.

The woman was simply gone.

“Lord Gunther,” Pol stuttered. The King’s guard had made a similar observation. “Where have you put the prisoner?”

Gunther blinked, finding it hard to look away from Momo. He tore his eyes away, the color draining from his face as he found his hand empty, and the woman nowhere to be found.

“I – I just had her,” Gunther began to sweat. “I swear, she must just be behind me, or…”

“The pocketwatch is gone,” Pol said, rage building in his voice. “You absolute imbecile.”

“It must be the necromancer!” Gunther said, rapidly switching blame. He pointed an accusatory finger at Momo. “Quick, shoot her down before she can escape again!”

Pol scowled, whipping his face towards Momo. Oh no. If he was a Mage, then Momo was about to have serious problems. Her eyes found the platform Vivienne had been standing on. If she could make it to that, she could run out to the Judgment Room, just as they’d planned.

“[Unchain Soul - Holy Flame]!” Pol shouted, pointing his gloved hand straight at her.

“Argent, move!”

The bird ducked out of the way at the last second as a beam of Holy Fire shot straight past them. It’s the same spell the Earl had used to dispel the Zombie Glob. It seemed to unsummon any beast from the Nether, no matter the size.

“Get me to that platform!” Momo directed hastily as more lightning shots came. Pol seemed to be of vastly greater power than even the Earl; he could fire off a spell every second, harvesting a seemingly limitless mana pool. The argentavis curled and bowed, dodging the beams as it swooped over the platform. They were so close, now all it had to do was stick the landing.

“Land here!” Momo commanded. The bird fluttered briefly to a halt high above the platform, readying to land. A beam struck it immediately, taking advantage of its momentary stillness to crash straight through its pelt of feathers. It squawked wildly, the embers of Holy Fire radiating over its body. Momo cried out as the bird began to turn into Nether ash, disintegrating before her eyes.

The next second, she was falling.

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