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Irwin's Journey 136: Chained to the wall
🕑 Added 2023-08-06 18:17:26 +0000 UTC"What is going on up there?"
Irwin stood at the edge of the roof, staring at the distant volcano. The stream of Imps had reached the halfway point, while the explosions continued at the top.
Who are they fighting if the Imps aren't there yet, he thought before turning to Ignalia.
The heat that radiated from the distant volcano seemed to make her feel much better.
"Let's continue up. Can you use your teleport skill if you have to?" Irwin asked.
"Definitely," Ignalia said.
"Then let's continue and see what's going on."
Taking a look over the edge, he saw there was no sign of any Imps, so he jumped forward. Slamming into the ground, he felt the tremors. Followed by Ignalia, they ran after the Imps, staying out of sight by keeping to the rougher areas to the side of the path that led up. Although it slowed them, they were still faster than the Imps, and half an hour later, Irwin slowed down.
They had caught up to the Imps, and they were now closing in on the area of explosions.
First, the fighting when we entered, now this… he thought as he tried to see what was causing the ruckus. Sadly, the billowing plumes of yellow gas dust and debris that burst out with each explosion made it impossible to see.
Focusing on the Imps, he noticed that the Pale Imps were moving along the sides of the main force while two Brutal Imps stood at the back. At times, some of the normal Imps seemed to get distracted or interested and rushed away from the line, only for the Brutal Imps to shout orders, keeping them in line.
"What do you think is going on up there?" Irwin asked.
Ignalia frowned but didn't respond.
They continued after the Imps, and slowly, dust began falling down while a viscous stink came with every wave of air. The explosions rocketed the surrounding area, and Irwin saw the occasional hairline crack appear on the rocks nearby.
When the first line of Imps reached the plumes of yellow gas, Irwin saw them hesitate. Only a snapped order from behind caused them to continue on.
Are they seriously just going to run in there blind? Irwin thought.
He'd barely finished his thought when he noticed one of the Brutal Imps move to the side and climb atop a high outcrop. Once there, it began drawing in so much air that its chest expanded, nearly doubling its original size. Irwin clasped his hands across his ears, afraid of what would come, but it proved unnecessary.
The Brutal Imp didn't shout, but instead, as it exhaled, a rapidly expanding column of air erupted from its mouth, blowing away a large portion of the yellow gas.
As it did, Irwin swallowed as he saw what was beyond it.
Chained to the wall by rust chains while roaring, stomping, and striking the solid rock behind it was a massive Addled Brutal Imp.
Stunned, Irwin watched it stop as it clenched its fist, which began gleaming with a dark light. Crackling lighting rippled around it, and everything about it made Irwin want to back up. Then the Addled Brutal Imp pounded its fists on the wall holding it, and an explosion of rock and debris shot outward while the earth shook. A crater formed behind it, and Irwin's eyes widened, afraid it would snap the chains. But instead, the chains seemed to go further beyond it in the rock, the crater merely excavating more of them.
What is going on? Irwin thought as he focused on his Eyes of Blaze and focused on the chains. As they enlarged, he blinked in surprise. They were dark gray, and the rust wasn't rust, but orange runes.
Is it the Linchpin?
Irwin wasn't a hundred percent sure, but as he unfocused and looked back at the surroundings, he knew it was possible. Then he frowned. He knew items could be linchpins, and if they were able to hold that massive monstrosity at bay, it could be… but-
Ignalia pulled his arm, then spun him around. Confused, Irwin stared at her. She was staring down the route they had just come from, and following her gaze, he saw a mass of people run down the hill. At the lead of the group was a loping black shape.
Coal! Greldo!
Irwin turned to Ignalia, and he saw a shadow move behind the rocks behind her. In a single motion, he grabbed her and yanked her back while summoning his hammer. A shadow blurred from between the rocks, barely missing Ignalia, who stumbled to the side. An Addled Imp stood spun around, its mouth expanded far beyond anything normal. Irwin swung at the thing, his feet automatically moving the way Crithan had thought him and his balance moving in such a way that when he increased the hammer's size, it didn't cause him to stumble. Instead, it struck the Imp in the side, snapping bones and shattering its skull as it was flung to the side, crashing against one of the boulders.
"We need to leave," Ignalia hissed as she appeared beside him.
Irwin was about to agree that they should follow Greldo and the others when he realized she was watching up the hill where the Imps were.
Spinning around, Irwin saw that the Imps had rushed forward, letting out crazed screams and giggles as they charged the Addled Brutal Imp.
What the… ?
Irwin saw the three Brutal Imps stand at the back while a dozen or more Pale Imps stood beside them.
The Addled Brutal Imp stopped striking and battering the wall, grabbing the Imps. Every time he got one, he raised it, biting off its head with its maw before tossing the body to the side. A few of the Imps sometimes hesitated from the side, but when they did, the Brutal Imps continued shouting at them, causing them to continue. Within seconds, a dozen decapitated bodies lay on the ground.
Are they crazy? What are they doing? Irwin thought as he gaped at the scene.
He tried to understand what was going on, hesitating. Why were these Imps attacking that monster? It was chained! Besides, in those times, tiny Imps weren't any match for it.
Ignalia was still pulling his arm, but he didn't budge. As he watched, pools and streams of viscous yellow blood pooled on the ground while splatters darkened the stone wall. Hesitating for another few seconds, he was about to turn when he noticed something was changing with the chain. Focusing on it with Eyes of Blaze, he noticed that the areas splattered by blood were glowing brighter.
Is that the goal? But… he shook his head, still confused. Why would that Brutal Imp be chained there-
"Move!"
Ambraz's shout, a few inches from his ear, caused him to jump.
He realized the Anvil had been saying something, but it had been drowned out by the shouting and screaming. Taking a few steps back, he took a final look at the chained Addled Brutal Imp before turning and sprinting away.
As they ran down the hill, he saw that Greldo and his group were halfway to the buildings in the distance. From this far, they looked like a jagged set of square blocks shoved into the ground.
"More Addled," Ignalia shouted.
Irwin looked at where she was pointing and saw shadowy blurs run after Greldo's group. More and more seemed to appear from between the rugged landscape.
Why didn't those come when the Imps moved through? Irwin thought.
As they continued down, he kept casting quick glances back, but there was no sign of the Imps following him. Whatever they were doing, they weren't paying attention to what was going on besides this.
As they ran, the Addled began slowly catching up to Greldo's group, and soon, fighting began.
Still, as much as it slowed them down, Irwin knew they weren't going to catch up in time. He thought about shouting Greldo's name, but although the explosions had stopped, there were still a lot of battle noises. Besides, what if he warned the Imps?
When Greldo's group reached the building, they disappeared through a large double door. A few Addled chased after them before the doors were shut closed, causing the rest of the Addled to slam into it, their distant screams of frenzy reaching even where Irwin and Ignalia were.
You better stay safe, Irwin thought.
When he and Ignalia finally reached the foot of the volcano again, a mass of Addled had gathered before it, banging on the massive gates.
"Let's circle around and enter through the back entrance," Irwin said as they watched the Addled.
Ignalia didn't respond, but before he could move, Ambraz flitted from his shoulder.
"Look back," Ambraz said.
Irwin did as asked, and he saw the Imps were running back down the path. The Pale Imps were in the lead. There were noticeably fewer regular Imps, and Irwin could only imagine they had all died… but what did that mean? Had they seriously killed that Addled? He could hardly believe it.
"Let's leave before the return," Irwin muttered.
"What? Kid, are you blind? Look up and to the side," Ambraz snapped as he whizzed forward a short distance.
Irwin did as he said, and to his surprise, he saw a mass of figures move around the Imps, back up the hill. His Eyes Blaze, and he almost hissed in surprise. There were dozens of Veridians and others, and many had Smith's ranking symbols, either on their heads, in their ears, or like him in their hair.
"The smiths? Why are they there?" he asked.
"How should I know? But whatever is going on, the Imps seem angry," Ambraz said.
Irwin saw Ambraz was right, as the Pale Imps were rushing ahead of the rest, their faces warped in anger, while the Brutal Imp's distant roars were like thunder.
"Do you have any idea?" he asked, turning to Ignalia.
"Perhaps Greldo and the others are forming a distraction?" she asked.
Irwin frowned, staring at the city, the incoming Imps, and finally at the smiths.
"Dammit, this makes no sense. Let's go and find Greldo," he snapped.
Ambraz landed back on his shoulder, and together they ran to a part of the building. As he gazed at the roof, Irwin hesitated, then cursed. If they climbed up now, they would be visible to all. Gritting his teeth, he began running along the side of the ruined buildings.
Greldo, what are you doing?
--
Greldo blurred through a shadow, shoving his dagger through the back of an Addled Imp's head before spinning around. The screaming had ceased, and with the doors closed, no more could come in.
"Alright, group up and search for any Imps that are still here!" he ordered. "Remember, find any papers or books you can and be extra careful with them!"
The surrounding people let out some shouts of agreement before they rushed away through the corridors. A hundred of the most heavily armed ones stayed behind, including ten smiths led by Lady Relinda.
Greldo walked towards them, trying to ignore the disgusting stink of Imp.
"Ready?" he asked, staring at Relinda.
She nodded, a weary grin on her face. "Yeah, let's go to that anchor, and I'll show you how good of a smith I am!"
There was a soft laughter from the smiths behind her, but there wasn't much force behind it.
Greldo nodded and began walking forward with Relinda beside him. The pounding of the Addled on the doors behind him continued unabated, but he didn't bother with it. Unless the monster got unchained and headed there, none of them could open the door, and they should have ten to fifteen minutes before the Brutal Imps reached them.
Moving through the corridors, he recalled the previous times he'd been here, moving through the shadows as he scouted the place. Leading the others forward, they finally reached a wider corridor, a hundred feet long, that he knew ended up in the place they had to go.
"Alright, this is it," he said as he turned to the nearly a hundred warriors behind them.
Seeing them all stare at him, some with tension, others with fear, he struggled to find some words of encouragement. They were the strongest left, many of whom had either come with him or had been from Gelbadir's scouting groups. Even then, he hoped they would be strong enough.
"I know you are all wounded, but if we can kill the final guards here, the smiths can destroy the Linchpin-Skill binding the exit portals. But that can only happen if we clear out the final Imps… I believe we can do it!" he added lamely.
The soldiers, guards, and other fighters stared at him, seeming to want more, but he had none.
Dammit, I hate being in charge, he thought.
He wished someone else was here: Balarn, Daubutim, or even Irwin. Scanning them for a few more seconds, he nodded.
"You wait here until we call you," he said as he turned to Relinda.
"We'll be ready," Relinda replied before frowning.
Greldo had the feeling she wanted to tell him to be careful, and he smiled.
"I'll be fine."
"Of course you will be! It's not like I'd care," she muttered before turning away. But as she did, he saw her face heat up.
For such an aggressive woman, she sure gets embarrassed easily, Greldo thought as he began walking toward the entrance. Taking a deep breath, he triggered his card and felt his body morph. The slight discomfort from the heat vanished while the bad smell intensified. The soft padding of Coal's feet beside him became louder, and he heard the deep breathing ahead.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if those things kept sleeping, he thought.
Halfway through the hallway, the deep breathing started, followed by some grunts and shuffling.
It'd have been so wonderful…
No longer waiting, he sprinted forward, hearing the hundreds of feet rush after him.
--
"Dammit, why is there always fighting around here," Irwin snapped as he ran through the hallways.
He'd hoped he could find Greldo and figure out what was going on, but they had barely entered when roars, screams, and explosions rattled the buildings.
"It's coming from close to the Ruby Portal," Ignalia shouted from behind him.
Irwin didn't respond but continued to speed up. The sound became louder and louder until he sprang around a corner into a room with staircases leading down. Compared to the other rooms he'd seen, this one was massive, and a massive battle was raging on the lowest floor.
Coal's dark shape was rushing in the center of a melee, mauling Imps left and right, while an enormous Brutal Imp kept trying to reach him, failing due to the fighting around it. A wide stream of fire roared through a section of the room, shoving a group of Imps back but leaving them unharmed. At the same time, two black-scaled lizards -carded summons- dashed in and out, biting the Brutal Imp just as it grabbed a Viridan and was about to rip it apart.
Roaring in fury, the Brutal Imp dropped it and reached out with surprising speed. Wrapping its overly long fingers around the slowest of the pair of lizards, it jerked it forward before starting to strangle it.
Behind the battle, attached to a wall and hanging from familiar-looking chains, hung a hoop with angular shapes in it.
Irwin looked around. These weren't all of the people that had entered! Where were the other ones? A blurry black shape dashed out of a shadow at the edge of the battle, colliding with a Pale Imp just as it was ready to disembowel one of the Viridian fighters.
"Let's help them," Irwin snapped, his worry growing. Many of those Viridians were people he knew that he'd reforged cards for and shared meals with!
He ran forward, ignoring the staircase. Triggering Coperion Body, he leaped forward as far as he could, aiming for a group of Imps that were threatening to surround a handful of Viridians.
As he barreled through the air, he summoned his flame, keeping it close to himself. A soft twinge came from his first card as the tiny Emberion rushed out of his hair and began flitting around in front of his face. Its eyes were wide open as if it was hungry, staring at the Brutal Imp rampaging in the center of the battle, still trying to reach Coal.
The ground rushed forward rapidly, and Irwin saw a startled look from one of the Viridians moments before he slammed into the pocket of Imps. They scattered aside, bones snapping, while those that touched his flame froze. As he banged into the ground, his legs buckling under the impact, Irwin managed to remain on his feet. As he rose from a crouch, dark flakes of disintegrated Imp dropped around him.
A startled scream came from the Imps as they rushed away in all directions, seeming terrified by his flame.
"Smith Irwin!'
Irwin looked up to see one of the Viridians stare at him with hope and joy in her young eyes, and he recognized her. It was the young woman who had been the first one to get her card reforged so she could save her uncle.
"Let's go and kill these Demons," Irwin said as he looked around for the nearest Imps.
There were plenty of choices, and only a few had noticed him yet.
Let's see how good intricate control is, he thought as he focused on his flame.
Running to the nearest Imps, he imagined tendrils of fire ripping out ahead of him. The fire around him intensified as long ribbons of pale yellow fire streaked forward, grabbing onto and wrapping around the nearest Imps.
Irwin felt his blood boil as the Imps ahead and to the sides freeze before turning into chunks of black gunk that thudded to the ground. The tiny Emberion flashed forward, slamming into the face of a surprised Imp, who suddenly screamed in fear. Its body wrinkled, then turned dark until it slowly charred up.
Irwin didn't pay attention but turned to the Brutal Imp. It had stopped what it was doing and was looking at him. Irwin saw fear in its eyes, and as their eyes met, it took a stumbling step back.
"Flee. Flee!"
The sudden rumbling roar caused a ripple through the surrounding fights. Three Pale Imps, still moving around the edges of the melees, gazed at the Brutal Imp in disbelief before their eyes turned to Irwin. All around, the regular Imps were giggling and screaming as they tried to disengage, backing up to the back and center of the room.
The Brutal Imp didn't seem to care but turned and began shoving his way through the smaller beings that stood in its way, trampling anything in its path. The Pale Imps, much faster, blurred through the room and out of the door.
"Don't let it reach the Ruby Portal!"
Irwin nearly had a heart attack as Greldo seemed to ooze out of a nearby shadow, appearing a step away from him.
"Hurry!"
Gritting his teeth, Irwin rushed after the Brutal Imp, trying to stretch his flaming tendrils forward but quickly finding they wouldn't reach the running behemoth in time. As he shoved through Imps while Viridians jumped out of his way, he saw the Brutal Imp reach the exit.
Dammit, I won't reach it in time!
Glaring, he triggered Eyes of Blaze, shooting a thin beam at the Brutal Imp, hoping to distract it. The fire slammed into the Imp's back, but it barely stumbled, seemingly ignoring the fire. Just as it was about to exit the room, a tiny ember blurred after it, and it let out a startled shriek as it slapped its side.
Irwin ran after it into a hallway just in time to see the Brutal Imp exit it to the right. Chasing after it, he saw the Ruby Portal he'd come in from.
"Let go!" He shouted at the Emberion that was still attached to the Brutal Imp's belly.
If it was his warning or something else, he didn't know, but just as the Brutal Imp jumped through the portal, the Emberion dislodged and flitted back to him, diving back into the flames still circling around him.
"Dammit! It got away," Greldo snapped, walking in after him. "Whatever, let's go and finish the other ones!'
Irwin blinked, then suddenly grinned nastily.
"Not necessarily."
Greldo cast a surprised glance his way before they ran back into the room. The Imps were running rampant, screeching and having lost any semblance of coordination as they attacked anything that moved that wasn't an Imp.
It didn't matter. With his flaming tendrils, Irwin turned those that weren't killed by the others into ashes and soot, and a few minutes later, the scream and giggling had ceased. All that was left was the ragged breathing and soft moaning of the soldiers that were left.
"Did you get here through that portal?" Greldo asked as he moved beside Irwin.
Irwin looked at his friend, noting the weariness and badly healed and scarred wounds covering any part of his furry skin.
"Yes… What is going on?"
Greldo sighed as he turned around.
"Relinda!'
Irwin blinked, then looked up as a familiar woman came running from one of the hallways. More people came after her, and Irwin instantly recognized the Smith's ranking plates they all had, ranging from Amethyst and Topaz to a single Emerald attached to the forehead of a sturdy Viridian.
Relinda looked at Irwin, and he saw worry and surprise on her face before she visibly clenched her jaw and walked towards them. Irwin's eyes widened as she stood beside Greldo, who grinned at her and nodded.
She smiled back, then headed to the chain with the hoop hanging from it. Following her, Irwin noticed there were card slots on the edges. Then he turned to Greldo, raising an eyebrow.
"I'll explain later," his friend said with a lupine grin. "Now, how about I get you up to speed before we go outside, and you can take care of the final Imps?"
Irwin nodded, barely noticing that Scintilla moved beside him. He listened quietly as Greldo explained what had happened.
Comments
Carrarn
Fixed, it, and thanks for the insights :) I use Grammarly and Google Docs to find most of the errors, but I have been noticing that more have been slipping through lately. I'm not sure why, but the last few updates of Grammarly seem to have made the errors like There/Their and similar things more common. Worse is, sometimes I type fast and I type something like Tere, or Ther instead of there, and for some reason Grammarly completes it the wrong one - Anyway, I can feel you with the comma's. My native language is Dutch and just like you I've been starting to make mistakes in Dutch because I add comma's as they would appear in English. (To the great hilarity of some of my colleagues.) Lastly about reading... hard to read things. I used to read a lot of machine translated Xianxia and Wuxia ;) That was pre-AI translations. >Shudder<
Alex
Are they seriously just going to run in their blind? Irwin thought. *there* proud of myself, usually if I find spelling/ grammar errors I forget about them by the time I reach the end of a chapter. And more often than not I just don't notice, I'm very good at subconsciously fixing mistakes, if I want to I can even read whole books through Google translate (I may or may not have done that a couple times when the story wasn't originally in English and I was too impatient to wait. Usually takes a while to get into the groove and deal with the "terrible" grammar/sentence structure(relative to a professional human translator) . But once I get past that first hurdle something in my brain snaps and my mind subconsciously fixes it into proper English. Gotta read a whole sentence at once instead of word by word) I don't really get some authors though when they have a lot of very obvious spelling and grammar mistakes. Even simple standard word spell check should catch most mistakes. I don't really care, I can read it anyway, but it just seems so simple. Your stuff is fine :) everyone makes mistakes, that's why spell check and editors exist. And let's be honest, I doubt you don't know the difference if you look at it properly, just sometimes when you're writing you accidentally pick the wrong spelling for words that sound the same. (my favorite mistake that I have made a couple times is spelling one as won. Same sound, completely different word. Obviously I know the difference and they look different enough that I usually notice before I post, but it has happened more than once. Proper spelling takes effort and mistakes still slip in even for the best of us :D) my worst problem though are commas. I am terrible at it. My native language is German and the rules for comma placement are different. At some point I started using English more than German and at this point I can't do commas in either language anymore, because I somehow mixed the rules so that they're now always wrong instead of only half the time. Automated spell/grammar check fixes that when I have to write official texts
Stephen Pearson
Thanks for the chapter! :-)
