Hastum
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135. Plan B
🕑 Added 2025-12-19 22:43:01 +0000 UTCI watched the golem walk out of the entrance, followed by a man with a scepter standing behind it, his aura radiating a second circle. Next, another man in full armor stepped out and stood beside the man with the scepter, clearly a bodyguard. So we had one more golem on the inside to deal with.
I caught Darius’s eyes and nodded at him. Plan B it was.
“Cover your eyes and ears,” I shouted into the earpiece and called upon the eldritch powers. All those with me braced for it. The elves were attacking from the side, so they would be affected less—hopefully nothing permanent would happen to them. I could feel the music as the energy flowed through me. Focusing on the name, the true name, I told the world I knew of it and would speak the blasphemy any moment now. I threatened existence with heights of decay, and it trembled.
Intone Last Syllable.
An aura of fear exploded from me, freezing everyone in place for a second. My friends were the first to shake off the effect, being prepared for it. Ophelia was the quickest, used to the presence of the altars in the storage. Using the lull in the fighting, Darius swung the large backpack and threw it to me over the terrified people. The golem started moving again, its simple construct not understanding much of what happened. It was quick enough to block the last-second spell I fired at the man holding the scepter.
I caught the backpack, slung it over my shoulder, and ran into the mansion, casting Armor in the process.
The sounds of fighting went dull once inside as we ran after William, leading the way. We reached a set of large stairs, one going up and one going down, and headed for the ones going down—only to be stopped by two men, one with a spear and another with a staff.
Without exchanging a word, William jumped forward. He threw a small dagger, which the spearman swept aside. William used that to jump into the air over the man with the agility of a cheetah. The spearman didn’t notice the thin silver thread twist into a loop above him, and as he turned to William, he pulled on the thread, moving his hands to the side. The loop closed around the neck and easily separated the head from the torso. The mage fired two spells, but I moved forward and blocked both.
Then the blood from the cut neck froze in the air and shaped itself into nails, which shot forward at the mage. He blocked two with a shield, but the third shattered it and lodged itself in his forehead.
We didn’t take time to celebrate as we ran downstairs and took out two more guards. William led us through a sizable underground complex until we reached the entrance to a corridor. There, he stopped us.
“The corridor to the right,” he whispered. “There was a barred cell door. Last time I saw the girl and the two golems with their master through there. I can distort my image, but the moment we go into the corridor, they’ll see you two.”
“You said the girl had a ring that was used for recognition of the target. Do you think if we sneak in and remove it, it will protect one of us?” Luna proposed in a whisper.
I shook my head. “I bet it’s attuned to her. Anyone with half a brain would see that coming. And even if we remove it, the golem isn’t that dumb. It should be able to recognize the target. The ring should be just for distance tracking.”
“I could take a guard’s uniform and try to approach the door,” William proposed.
“We don't have the time, and I bet the guy who controls the golems commanded them to kill anyone who enters that corridor and isn’t him. That’s what I would do,” I said, passing the massive backpack to William. “I’ll stop the golem. You get the girl, and we’re out of here.”
They looked at one another and then nodded. There was no time to argue—the periodic crashes and explosions from outside were like heralds of passing time. We needed to hurry.
I started casting and ran into the corridor. The golem immediately turned to me but stayed behind the barred door. Instead, it pulled out a one-handed warhammer and a shield. I winced, seeing that the shield had some sort of enchantment.
As I approached, I could feel magic from the gate and quickly sensed it didn’t have anything to do with space. It was a basic seal. Thanking my luck, I finished Blink and materialized in front of the stunned creature. It adjusted immediately, swinging at my head. I glimpsed the surprised girl in the corner of my eye and, at her expression, nodded to myself. “Good enough,” I whispered, diving under the swing.
Its speed was lower than that of the one I fought in the Butcher’s tomb. If I had to guess, I would put it between the fourth and fifth circle, although not the best execution.
Force Explosion.
I finished my second cast and directed it at the golem, launching the creature into the wall. I then pointed the staff at the door and, without looking, fired a stored Cutting Storm at the magic circle drawn next to the lock.
My attention was on the girl now. Not caring about courtesy, I pushed my consciousness at her. I opened my mind to the limit, taking in all the information in the split second it took the golem to gather itself.
A whistling sound of a hammer approaching my side announced the end of my information-gathering as I used a stored Shield to redirect the blow, then dashed back when the hammer shattered the spell. It wasn’t fast, but there was a lot of power in the swing.
“No soul—only a flesh seal,” I shouted to the two who ran to the girl past me and the construct.
The golem jumped, trying to prevent them from approaching her, but I got in its way, upcasting Shield and then swinging the Hook at its chest. It was a soul construct driving the armor, so if I could get between the plates, I should be able to do some damage—but it was still above me in speed and dodged easily.
I continued my attacks, firing Decay and quick Pierce spells, making sure it couldn’t use its superior speed. A roar sounded in the room, and I realized the two had reached her. Without saying anything, Luna placed her hand on the girl’s forehead, and her eyes rolled back. In the same movement, William looped his silver wire around the girl’s finger and lopped it off. A silver ring fell to the floor. Before any blood had a chance to drip, William pressed the appendage back against the wound, and Luna finished her spell as the finger reattached—all in one smooth motion, taking no longer than a few seconds of activating precast spells.
William took the girl in a princess carry and bolted out with Luna.
Sadly, the golem must have been commanded to pursue the girl even if the ring was removed, as it turned after them.
I used a stored Death’s Grasp and then naturally cast another using third-circle mana. The construct ripped itself free from the first, but the second stopped it for a few seconds, giving me time to prepare higher-level casts.
With a swing of the hammer, the skeletal hands finally gave way, and it burst in my direction. I thought it would once again be the dance of dodging the swings and keeping it at bay with spells, but to my surprise, it took a double Decay to the chest and rammed straight into me with the force of a steel train.
I felt my Armor spell give as the shield slammed into me. The impact disturbed the mana, and I saw a crystal go dim on the artifact. I cast Shield on instinct, expecting it to continue the charge, but it stood there.
Then I felt it—a nosebleed. It angled the shield to ram it into my face first. The metallic hand reached for the blood, and I saw the red liquid sink between the glove's joints, as if the drops gained life and crawled deeper into the golem.
I realized what it was about to do. The Aquientie were curse users. I tried to release Bone Spear, but stopped myself. Something inside its chest glowed, and I felt magic try to invade me. It was trying to set an anchor on my face. I used my whole consciousness to repel the magic. It was stronger than me by over a circle's difference, but I had much better magic control than a construct. We were at a standstill—its superior strength versus my control. I pressed my tongue against the roof of my mouth and began whispering in the arcane speech, commanding the magic to stop, to calm, and to return to its surroundings. I had to focus all my attention on this as I stood there, expecting an attack.
The curse was high-level, and I saw the light in the golem’s eyes go slightly dim. The ambient mana in the air was far too thin. It must have been running on a crystal. It couldn’t keep this up forever.
But then it did something I didn’t expect—it simply turned to the exit and ran after the girl.
“Fuck!” I shouted after it.
No way I could cast anything fast enough or at a high enough level to stop it. But I had to. I didn’t buy enough time. I had to stop the creature. Luna and William were right on the verge of the third circle, each, one step from ascending, and had used much of their magic—most of all, one was an assassin, the other a healer—neither good against a warrior-type golem.
They would get killed.
I had to do something.
I let go of the curse.
I could feel it seep into my flesh and make its way toward my mind, but I didn’t stop it. I invoked my god’s name for the second time today, feeling the strain as the magic sang to me. Focusing on the pain from my face to keep me anchored in reality, I shaped the void’s song:
Squirming Void.
Four tentacles materialized halfway into the corridor, the golem still within reach.
“Crush,” I commanded in the eldritch tongue.
The four appendages twisted themselves around the golem. It wasn’t enough to crush it, but as it used its shield to push against the spell, I adjusted the attack. “The knees,” I spoke once again, and two of the tentacles moved lower. Before the golem could brace, I heard metal creak, and one of its legs bent out of shape.
But now, with two tentacles left on its torso, it started unraveling them with sheer strength.
I ignored it and bolted past the creature, keeping up the spell as much as I could while I brought my consciousness back to fight the curse. It managed to root itself in my flesh, and I stopped it barely before it infected my left eye, with my right eye being under its influence. I didn’t know what it was doing, but soon found out when I slammed into a wall I thought was a meter away. They weren’t just any illusions, but slight differences meant to injure and debilitate. The wall snapped back into place. I closed my right eye—or tried to.
My eyelids didn’t work. The eye stayed open. It was a nasty one—a combination of flesh and mind, not allowing me to close the eye. I covered it with one hand, still keeping the spell out of my left eye, and ran forward. I needed to cover the eye with something, but I didn’t have time to tie a makeshift bandana—not one that wouldn’t slip in a battle.
So instead I pulled out the Hook-dagger and, deactivating its soul-ripping function, cut myself over the eye. Blood covered the iris, and I saw a nonexistent step take a red tint in my vision. Ignoring it, I ran forward, finally catching up to William and Luna with an unconscious girl in their arms. They’d come from a side corridor and were heading for the stairs.
“Should I fix that for you?” Luna asked, looking at my cut.
“Not yet.”
I could feel the curse growing weaker—but also, finally, my tentacles let go, releasing the golem, which celebrated its freedom with a roar.
It was a sign to evacuate.
Comments
Jonny Mad
tyftc
yohan gu
Nice chapter. Excited to finally find out what horror he made with the soul of the dude he visited. That backpack has been mentioned too many times, I want to know what’s inside!
