Chapter 166: Chapter 235 – To the Rescue

“I’m glad to have you on board, Tyr’s Champion.” The golden-robed valkyrja smiled at Asterios. “The scouting party was deployed eleven days ago. It takes about three days to reach the mine from here. The captain of the squad was equipped with a communication artifact and was instructed to report their arrival and then send daily updates. We got the initial confirmation but haven’t heard from them since.”

“We are suspecting that something must have happened to them around or inside the mine,” another woman continued. “The party consisted of five valkyrjas in total, including the leader. All the members were picked in correspondence with the mission target, wielding weapons and magic suitable for underground combat if that was unavoidable. They know that their strength lies in silent recon so they would prioritize running away at first sight of danger and sending out an emergency signal.”

“Yet, nothing came.” Sidr shook her head with a soft sigh. “We assume the worst since a few days have already passed, and a few more will pass before another scouting party arrives there to find any traces of the previous squad. Their rations certainly won’t allow them to avoid starvation or dehydration over a long period.”

“So, we are quickly running out of time and any hope of finding them alive.” Asterios rubbed his chin while listening to the Supervisors. “Are there any sources of water or food in the area that they could have headed to?”

“The entrance to the main shaft is located on the side of a mountain, about halfway up. There’s nothing like that in the close vicinity of the mine,” another person replied. “I’m pretty sure that there might be a clean water reservoir about fifteen minutes of flight away from the mountains, but if they reached it and recovered from injuries there, they would have definitely chosen to fly back to Odin. Enough time passed for them to already reach us if that was what happened.”

“There’s a high chance that you won’t even be able to find them, not to mention rescuing the lost party. But, we would like you to at least find some evidence telling us what happened,” Sidr finished, turning her face to Asterios.

“No need to worry! My tracking skills haven’t yet failed me and my nose is the most accurate in my entire village!” Miria puffed her chest out. “And, even if I won't be able to pick up their traces, we still have Umbra and Master who are even better trackers!”

Asterios ruffled through her hair, grazing over Miria’s fluffy ears. “I can’t promise anything but we will do our best. How far is the mine when compared to the distance between Brage and Odin?”

“The mine is a little bit closer,” Sidr answered.

“Then I should be able to get there in about two hours if I fly at my best speed.” He nodded to himself as the valkyrjas showed pure shock and confusion. “We should depart as soon as we can, then. Can someone point us in the direction of the mine?”

“The signal from the communicator is still alive. It also works as a compass to lead the owner back to the ARK. We can attune another device to it,” she explained. “Frild will guide you to the docks, where the navigator responsible for the departures of official units resides. That person will take care of it for you.”

Asterios smiled softly. “Great. That will certainly help a lot. Do we know anything about the mine itself?”

“Unfortunately, not much,” the second speaker answered. “That party was sent to learn more about it and do an initial survey of the available resources. If they were visible from the outside or were located not that far away from the entrance. We have no maps or anything that could be of use.”

“That’s alright. I didn’t expect any of that when asking.” He glanced back towards Sidr. “Is there anything we should know before we leave?”

“Just be careful. No matter how strong you are, overwhelming numbers can still be the death of the mightiest warriors,” she warned him.

“He won’t be alone.” Silvia showed a delicate smile, entwining their fingers together. “Besides, we can safely escape almost any situation. Getting surrounded and having all the exits blocked are the last of our worries.”

“Right. It will undo all the travel we did in the recent weeks, though.” Selene let out a ladylike chuckle, covering her lips with her slender hand.

“Better to lose some time than your life,” Bryn exclaimed and they all nodded to her words.

“Well, then. We’ll be going. Time isn’t on our side here. Wish us luck.” Asterios made a respectful bow towards the golden Supervisor and the winged ladies returned the gesture with the same.

Sidr clapped her hands thrice and the crystal doors opened behind Ast’s group. Frild waited for them to join her and led everyone back to the metal elevator. They rode the floating disc in silence and quickly reached the bottom floor. She informed them that she had something to do before they went to the docks and promised to meet them there in ten minutes.

Splitting from their guide for now, they walked through the city with a slow step, heading towards their meeting place. Grea rested her hands on the back of her head and walked a little bit ahead, turning around to face everyone.

“Can’t believe we are getting sent on an errand literally minutes after getting here. This Council doesn’t play around.” She smirked.

“We’ve been sent on a very important mission. To save people. Not anyone can be chosen for such a sensitive task,” Bryn replied.

“I know, I know. I was just joking.” Grea spun around once more.

“This shows that they already consider us trustworthy and capable,” the Valkyrie continued. “It’s as much of a test to prove ourselves as it is an honest request for help.”

Tina placed a hand on Bryn’s shoulder. “We will find them. I’m sure of that.”

“Hopefully, it won’t be too late,” Silvia said with a melancholic tone.

“I’ll sit on this one,” their scarlet-skinned friend added. “I’ll be more useful as your way of quickly contacting the Twelve Keepers of the Rainbow Cock Tower. No need to have you worry about protecting my ass in tight spaces. What if I got my thick cheeks stuck somewhere? Oh gods, I would get soooooo horny.”

Asterios rolled his eyes and the corner of his lips curled up in the faintest smile as an avalanche of very detailed fantasies flooded his mind. Grea’s gaze found his and she nibbled on her lower lip with a quiet giggle. There was just no situation she couldn’t turn into something lewd and sexual.

“I think that’s a good idea. The staying behind, not the getting stuck one,” Tina commented and blushed a little when Grea winked at her with an impish grin.

“We might need to get you some decent summon before heading into the Spire just so that you can accompany us more comfortably,” Asterios suggested.

“Oh, I’m all in for that.” The mischievous demon lady waggled her brows at him. “I better revise everything I know about Sex Summoning while you are out there questing for the Council of Winged Chicks.”

The girls chuckled at her as the more timid ones sported a faint trace of rosiness over their cheeks. They continued walking towards the docks while chatting casually and soon reached their destination, finding Frild already in the middle of a conversation with who they assumed was the navigator Sidr had mentioned.

They received another magical compass from that woman and she explained its functions more in-depth since this device was a little bit complex when compared to the standard, publicly-handed versions. The main difference was the feature that allowed it to emit a quiet chime when it was in tracking mode and picked up a distress signal from another one nearby.

Asterios thanked the two valkyrjas sincerely and prepared to depart. To fly as fast as he could, he decided to go alone, letting the others join him after he arrived at the mountain range. He brought out his draconic wings, filled his body with scorching hot energy, and set the compass to navigate to the scouting party’s device. Sharing a kiss with his girlfriends, he flew off with a strong gust of wind.

Focusing fully on getting there in the shortest time possible, he covered the distance in about an hour and a half. After that much time, he noticed a few tall peaks poking through the blanket of fluffy clouds like the sharp teeth of some unimaginably giant beast. He stopped to catch his breath and recover a little after his mad dash. A few crimson gates opened next to him in the air.

Tina flew out of one while wearing Ori’s wings. Silvia floated out of another while covered in her amber, translucent, draconic spiritual armor, emitting waves of heat around her entire figure. Selene showed up with seven tails out, surrounded by a cyan aura, and with Miria in a princess carry, which evoked quite the blush on the panthergirl’s adorable face.

Bryn joined them as the last one and looked around. “It’s going to get dark very soon. If only we arrived at Odin a little bit earlier.”

“We couldn’t have predicted this,” Silvia reassured her. “Let’s try to find the entrance before the light is out. Inside, you should be able to illuminate our path without an issue, right?”

Their Valkyrie friend nodded with a gentle smile and they spread out. Before Selene flew away in her own direction, she dropped Miria into Ast’s hands, chuckling to herself slyly, knowing well whose carry she would enjoy much more. After that, the duo also picked an unexplored way and descended under the white clouds.

It took them about fifteen minutes to locate the ledge clearly leading into the mine they were looking for. Just as they had been told, it was carved in the side of the mountain, looking more like a landing pad rather than a conventional entrance all of them had in their connected minds. They quickly realized that it was quite logical considering that the valkyrjas used massive, house-sized transporters to transfer most of the goods.

Unfortunately, as expected, the ledge was crawling with the Scourge. Numerous humanoid silhouettes with dark gray skin roamed around the carved stone platform, almost blending in with the ground and the environment in general. They wondered how those monsters had gotten up there when it didn’t look like, besides the entrance to the mine, most likely leading deep into the mountain, there was just no other path coming onto the flat platform.

Not wasting any time, they decided to act immediately, ensuring they hadn’t missed any obvious dangers. Just in case, Asterios advised the girls to take the monsters out as quietly as possible and Selene volunteered with Tina to take care of it. The former borrowed Ast’s artifact blade while the latter summoned Hydran in his scythe form.

They flew down to the ledge and started swinging their weapons around, doing their best not to aim toward any walls or other structures. Wild arcs of spiritual energy surged out of Selene’s blade and sharp waves of ferocious water shot forward from Tina’s scythe. Most of the monsters ended up chopped into pieces before they knew what had hit them.

But, the girls soon learned just how strong the Scourge’s regeneration really was. Unless one of their attacks split the ugly monsters’ skulls, beheaded them, or struck their hearts, they would recover from any injury. Literal halves of their split bodies merged back into being whole again after a few seconds. The black, toxic blood still oozed out of their wounds, making it so much harder to approach them safely.

The only good thing about those monsters was the fact that they had no faces, meaning no open orifices, meaning no mouths, snouts, or anything else allowing them to scream or wail in pain. It didn’t look like they could communicate with each other mentally like some kind of a hive mind, which was certainly appreciated by Asterios and the girls. 

Tina and Selene were able to clear out the entire ledge without alerting the monsters hiding deeper in the mine thanks to that, taking only a few minutes to get rid of the small swarm that had initially greeted them. They left lots of black, oozing blood in their wake and plenty of separated body parts. It was hard to walk around without stepping into a puddle of malicious liquid.

“They look so disgusting.” Miria scrunched her nose while poking one of the dead monsters with her foot.

“But also very sad,” Bryn added with a gloomy expression. “They were once real people. Now they are nothing more than repulsive humanoid beasts with no mind.”

Asterios stepped closer to her and gently wrapped his arm around her waist. “The best we can do right now is put them out of their misery. We should try to think about it as freeing them from this evil curse or whatever this affliction is. We can hope to find some more information on it and how to possibly reverse it in the Spire but I wouldn’t count too hard on that considering the fact that this sickness originated somewhere else.”

“I know. I’m not really dreaming of saving all the realms, but now, after learning what these monsters truly are, I’ll need a moment to adjust.” She sighed heavily and leaned more into his side, showing a weak smile. “Thank you, Master. And everyone. I really appreciate your support.”

“Should we wait for a little while before continuing?” Silvia asked with a concerned gaze.

“No. I’m alright. Instead of mourning over entities we have no way of saving, I should focus my mind on rescuing those who might still be alive somewhere.” Bryn shook her head and recomposed herself. “Let us go. And be careful. We don’t know the state of this mining facility.”

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“I guess I will need to limit the use of my fire just in case,” the princess commented, glancing at the entrance.

“Do you have any experience with swords?” Asterios asked.

“Yes. I’ve been trained in most weapons. Battle staves are my specialty but I can wield a wide range of arms.” She nodded faintly.

He unsheathed his artifact sword and passed it to her. “Here. It should work better in the tunnels. Even without being filled with mana, it’s extremely sharp. Definitely better than a blunt staff.”

She received it with an appreciative smile and did a few test swings, nodding once more in satisfaction. “What will you use?”

Asterios snapped his fingers and a beautiful greatsword materialized in his hand. The girls instantly recognized it as the same one that John had wielded into battle during their first defense of Glimmervale.

“I’ll give this a spin and see if it’s any good. Plus, I have my Spellslinger so it’s not like I’m unarmed without that artifact sword. A little more reach is a good idea considering the toxicity of their blood, though.”

After examining the shiny blade for a few seconds, they prepared to delve into the dark cavern ahead of them. Bryn cast a simple spell that covered their bodies with a protective layer of golden energy, reducing the chances of getting hurt by the blood they were going to spill during this expedition. Since their enemies had no eyes, she also summoned a few light spheres to illuminate their surroundings.

“Even the support beams are made of this golden metal,” Selene mused after they walked inside.

Bryn chuckled quietly. “You must all think that we are obsessed with it at this point. And well, it’s not like I can deny that. Gold and silver were always our symbols. Perhaps the gods implanted such love for them into us during the creation of our race.”

“At least it’s more durable than wood,” Tina commented. “And it doesn’t seem to be susceptible to rust, which is a good thing. These arches clearly have centuries behind them yet they still stand strong.”

“Let’s just hope they remain like that for a little longer.” Miria giggled awkwardly, reminded of their first-ever journey into a cavern.

“Does the device still point us in the correct direction?” Selene asked, peering over Ast’s shoulder.

“Yes. The other one is clearly somewhere inside this mine. The chime doesn’t even sound yet so it must not be anywhere close. The guiding arrow is already green so it won’t aid us more in terms of distance,” he answered, checking on the round gadget.

“I suggest we move in the direction of the monsters since there’s a high chance that they were lured in by the running valkyrjas. And that means, right there.” Bryn pointed her staff ahead and they noticed a few monsters in one of the tunnels branching out in front of them.

The closest one seemed to pick up on their presence and Ast's party jumped into action. Miria lowered her stance and dashed forward, keeping herself close to the ground. A few spiritual javelins whizzed above her head, stabbing into the gray-skinned entity. She reached the monster and cut it into pieces with her elongated shortswords within a blink, making sure that it couldn’t regenerate the damage.

As expected, the rest of the Scourge noticed the commotion and turned their faceless heads toward them. If they had any mouths, the girls had no doubt that they would release an ear-splitting wail or roar before starting their creepy charge, rushing at them on all fours. Without any vocal cords or oral openings, they moved in complete silence, broken only by the soft plops of their fleshy limbs against the stone floor.

Silvia and Tina wasted no time and joined their feline friend at the front. The passage was wide enough for them to fight together side by side without interrupting each other. They massacred the running monsters, creating an almost impenetrable wall. Chunks of dark flesh flew around as they swung their respective weapons, slowly moving forward while culling the Scourge.

A few monsters passed them by crawling over the ceiling but the trio didn’t have to spare them even a second of their attention. Selene intercepted any survivors with spiritual projectiles of various shapes and sizes. To avoid getting in contact with their blood, she activated her external circuits and summoned the demonic apparitions over her arms, without shrinking them, allowing the massive claws to do their work over some distance. If any monster dared to approach her, she tore it into bits.

Asterios remained with Bryn at the back. They kept an eye on all the possible paths through which they could get ambushed while the others fought their way ahead. The Valkyrie kept a healing spell prepared just in case since it didn’t look like either of them had to intervene offensively. One or two monsters of the Scourge showed up from behind them but Asterios dismembered them easily.

The stream of enemies seemed endless so they were pretty sure that they were heading in the right direction. After about twenty minutes of walking down a wavy path leading deeper and deeper, they reached a bigger chamber. Besides monsters, it was filled with what looked to be mining equipment, both manual and automatic as they could spot a few unusual devices with big drills.

Additionally, a few old skeletons littered the ground in occasional spots. They clearly belonged to valkyrjas. Thankfully, they seemed ancient enough to guarantee that those weren’t the women they were looking for. The bones were crumbling heavily. They most likely were the only remains of the people that had worked here in the far past.

But, they had no time to investigate as the room was still full of opponents to defeat. And with multiple entrances leading out, they were starting to get swarmed from all sides. Everyone had to join in on the fight and repel the assailants together. The Scourge’s strength wasn’t anything impressive but Asterios and the girls didn’t want to give them any chances so they reduced their numbers as fast as they could.

At one point, Asterios paired up with Silvia as they found themselves near each other and linked their backs, decimating enemies while turning in a circle.

“How is the sword?” she asked with a gentle grunt.

“Trash,” he replied with a groan and showed her the stained blade with its surface slowly getting eroded by the black, acidic blood. “That idiot got himself scammed, knowing nothing about proper weapons. This is nothing more than a big slab of metal slapped with some pretty paint and a single enchantment that only keeps the edge sharp. There’s nothing protecting the entire blade from other harm.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Silvia chuckled softly while shaking her head. “Should I return your weapon to you?”

“No. Keep it for now. I’ll be fine even if it turns into waste.”

“I could lend you my staff. With your enhanced strength, you should be able to tear them into pieces with it. It’s a great artifact that can withstand a lot. You’ve seen its durability yourself.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks, Princess.” He smiled at her over his shoulder.

“You are welcome, Dragon.” She met his eyes and reciprocated the smile before splitting up from Asterios.

They fought off the Scourge for another fifteen minutes before the incoming monsters thinned out. Most of the enemies in the close vicinity must have already been lured in and killed off. As Asterios was cleaving through a pack of three that attempted to lunge at him at the same time, he stepped backward and pressed his back into the wall. 

A weird noise suddenly sounded right next to him and made him jump a little. He quickly swung towards the source of the unidentified note before realizing that it had come from his waist. A moment later, the same noise made itself known once more and he brought out the magical trinket into the open, extending his arm forward.

The noise didn’t come again no matter where he pointed his hand at. Cleaving another monster in half with his sword hand, he turned to the wall and put the device against it. As expected, the chime sounded once more. Holding it in the same place made the compass emit that noise at slow, regular intervals. It caught the attention of the girls and they gathered up next to him.

“What’s that, Master?” Miria asked, taking a peek over her shoulder while watching Ast’s back.

“I think we got in range of the other compass,” he replied.

“I haven’t ever used the distress signal tracking mode but I assume this chime will sound faster the closer we get,” Bryn said.

“That’s great! Should we make a tunnel straight to it?” Miria bounced happily.

“No.” Silvia shook her head. “We should avoid damaging the structure as much as we can. It can lead to an uncontrolled collapse. I’m afraid that we can only go around and try to head towards the chime.”

“That can take hours with this many tunnels.” Tina sighed softly.

“Umbra,” Asterios called.

~Master,~ Umbra responded, showing up on his shoulder.

“Try to jump around through the shadows with this device. You should be able to transfer it with you, right?”

The Lord of Shadows enveloped the gadget with his body and plunged into the darkness, reappearing on the ground by their feet.

~It looks like nothing is stopping me from moving this artifact through the Void.~

“Perfect. Head in that direction and listen to the chime. We will hold our ground here until you find anything,” Asterios instructed him.

~As you wish. I’ll bring you good news in a flash.~ Umbra’s shadow slithered away into one of the tunnels.

“As for us, let’s keep looking as we follow his presence through our bond. Maybe we will stumble on other traces.” Asterios looked between all the girls.

“Yessir!” Miria beamed at him and the others chuckled as they jogged into one of the openings, taking down one or two monsters on their path.

 

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