Page 64

“Argh,” Emily groans, raising a hand to rub her brows as The Clock stops reversing.

“What’s wrong?” Oscar asks as light springs from the candle in his hands.

“Nothing, just a slight headache.” She waves off his concern again.

Feeling shrapnel pulling itself out of my stomach is definitely a feeling I don’t want to relive. I’ll wait a little longer to reset next time I’m hit. I didn’t even realise that would happen and it stopped me being able to tune out the spatial distortions.

Shaking her head free of the unpleasant memory, she takes a deep breath and starts analysing the failed fight.

That thing went into a frenzy at the start of the fight, but, after killing five people, it started focusing on attacks that hit it. Why? Was it the number of people killed, or the number of people left that mattered? It may take a few loops to work this thing out. If we’re going to kill it, we either need to kill it instantly, before it can start using its defensive spell, or drain it of mana first. My grenade barely scorched its arm through that shield.

Releasing her breath in a long sigh, she glances at Oscar.

Should I tell him about it again? No, let’s try going down a different fork this time and see if it still attacks us. Then do a few tests for the next loop if it does.

“You have a way of setting this barrier to block sound both ways, right?”

***

After following the monotonous process of reliving her watch and morning, Emily makes no changes till they reach the forked path again.

“Let’s just follow this path. There’s no reason to cross the water when we don’t know where either path leads,” Dante says impatiently.

“Actually,” Emily interjects before Oscar can agree. “I have a bad feeling about that path. I think it would be best to try the other way.”

Dante and Oscar both raise a brow at her, but before Oscar can add to the discussion, Dante changes his opinion.

“Let’s cross then.”

“Wait, just like that?” Oscar asks incredulously.

“I trust her gut.”

“Okay, the other path it is then,” Oscar agrees, seeing no need to start an argument.

He turns to the rest of the group, clearing his throat before giving them instructions. He gets the carriers to hand Emily their spatial bags and first sends across one attack and one defence mage, Dante and Mia, to be safe. After they reach the other shore safely, Emily throws the bags to them one by one as everyone else swims across in pairs. After a couple of minutes, Emily and Oscar bring up the rear, entering the water last.

As she swims across, Emily sticks her head under the water, watching the swirling fog below and around her.

I wonder how deep it goes.

Bringing her head above the water again, she turns to Oscar with a grin.

“Back in a sec!”

Without waiting for his response, she dives down, disappearing into the underwater fog. She swims down a few metres before breaking through the fog layer and entering an unsettling current of living shadows. The pitch-black water continues for several more metres before she hits the slimy riverbed below. Disappointedly, she swims back to the surface, breaking out of the water thirty metres downstream of the group.

Woah, that current is strong. I didn’t even realise it pulled me so far.

She approaches the shore, pulling herself up onto the rocks and walking back to her group mates. A quick cast of cleanse as she walks removes all the water from her body.

“Please don’t disappear like that without proper warning,” Oscar complains with a frown.

“Sorry, I thought I felt something below us so I wanted to check it out,” Emily lies with a dismissive shrug.

“I see,” Oscar says with a sigh. “Did you find anything?”

“No. False alarm.”

They spend a few minutes waiting, as everyone dries themselves or gets a more elementally compatible mage to help, then start moving downstream again. The new path is much the same as the other, and the rest of the afternoon passes quickly. They set up camp as usual, and everybody heads to sleep while Oscar and Emily remain on watch.

Emily watches the cave behind them with infra-sight, and like clockwork, an hour into their watch, the monster creeps into her vision.

Location doesn’t matter then.

Standing up, Emily walks to the edge of the barrier.

“Our tormenter’s here,” she informs Oscar before stepping out into the darkness and pulling out two grenades.

It’ll probably go to ground before these hit.

She charges them full of machina and cooks their fuses before hurling them in quick succession with her full strength while slipping behind a rock for cover. The first grenade shoots in a straight line to the monster’s feet, detonating with a bright flash three metres away from its target. The monster screeches in pain but easily slips into the ground before the second grenade reaches it and explodes uselessly in the air.

“Tsk,” Emily clicks her tongue and turns around, seeing the creature leap from the floor below Oscar.

Weird. Why didn’t it target me?

Shaking off the thought, she sprints back into the barrier, pulling out her pistol as the monster drops Oscar’s corpse and leaps into the camp. She raises her gun, ignoring the monster and turning it instead on one of her sleeping group mates. Three shots ring out as Emily quickly puts down three first circle mages. Then she turns her focus and barrel to the creature while throwing an orb of light into the air.

The monster finishes ripping Nora apart and glances around at the mages scrambling to get into combat positions. Emily fires the last three bullets in the chamber into the monster’s back. The creature lets out an irritated snarl and turns to leap at her.

Okay, so it starts responding to attacks if there are thirteen people left, not just randomly lashing out.

Dodging to the side, Emily tosses a light grenade up behind her while activating her protective earrings. It explodes in a blinding flash, the channels carved into the side bursting open with a loud, disorienting bang. The monster shakes its head with a growl before locking its gaze onto her.

Thought so. The light didn’t affect it, but the sound did.

“Enzo!” she shouts while sidestepping an arcing slash of the creature’s arm. “Try to stop it diving into the floor on my mark.”

“Okay!”

After hearing his response, Emily extends a Claw, charging it with machina and slashing at the monster’s side. She catches its ribs, then ducks under a wild swipe. She thrusts her other hand into the passing arm, charging the retracted Claw with machina and pushing the extension mechanism for a bit of extra kick. The stab knocks the monster’s arm wide, but only leaves a small nick, half a centimetre deep.

Their intense exchange continues with Emily narrowly avoiding the creature’s rapid swipes, struggling to keep up, even with her equipment’s stat boosts, and taking a few shallow slashes to the arms and sides.

“Incoming!” she hears Dante cry and instantly drops, rolling backwards.

A flower of flames explodes against the monster’s side, but Emily notices the monster flinch at Dante’s cry and a thin film of brown coats it before the impact.

Clever fucker. It’s paying attention to our communication.

A small grin forms on Emily’s face as her cortex fires off signals rapidly, a plan coming together in her mind.

One last test and I think I know how to kill it.

The creature growls in irritation, locking onto Dante, as he tries to move behind a nearby rock, and crouching for a leap. Its change of focus reveals an opening to Emily, but instead of attacking directly, she tosses a light grenade above it.

“Enzo, now!”

The monster reacts to Emily’s cry and the crackling grenade sailing above its head by sinking into the ground. However, it halts suddenly with its ankles submerged, looking down in confusion. The grenade detonates, causing no damage, but Emily watches through infra-sight as the creature sinks into the floor a split second later with its defensive spell active.

It can’t see the differences between my grenades. Good!

“I’m sorry,” she hears Enzo shout and turns to look at him, seeing him panting in exhaustion. “I could only stop it for half a second.”

“If you had Ivor’s help, could you hold it for a full second?” Emily asks him, glancing back to the monster plunging its thumbs through Dante’s skull.

“Probably, but I’m spent!” he responds, despair dominating his tone as he watches his friend being brutally taken apart.

“Perfect!”

Emily activates The Clock, returning to the past.

***

The Clock’s reversed ticking stops as Emily finds herself back on watch with Oscar, sitting in the pitch black. She smiles at the lack of pain, finally managing to shut out the information overload from time travel. Oscar turns on his candle, lighting up a small area around them, and Emily turns to face him.

“You have a way of making this barrier two-way, right?”

They reset the barrier and then wait for the monster to make its move. When she hears the dripping arm in the distance, Emily once again checks it out before waiting a while to return to the barrier. After stepping back in, she lies to Oscar about the monster attacking her and gives him a loose overview of its traits, missing out information about its frenzy to reduce their numbers to thirteen since she has no way of explaining how she found out. She manages to inform him of the creature’s healing ability by lying about it eating grogler meat though.

The longer her explanation continues, the more Oscar’s face falls at the severity of their situation.

“How are we going to kill something we can barely harm, that can freely travel through every surface surrounding us, and move faster than any of us?” he asks with a defeated tone.

“Don’t worry, I think I have a plan,” Emily reassures him with a grin.

“Really? What is it?”

“I’ll explain when everybody’s awake. I don’t think it’s going to attack us tonight and I’m still working through the details,” she says, tapping her brow to emphasise her point. “Can I leave explaining about the creature and getting everyone on board to you?”

“Sure.” He nods confidently. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll make sure everyone is prepared to listen to you when you’re ready.”

The night passes quickly. In the morning, Oscar repeats Emily’s explanation of the monster while reassuring the group that they have a plan to deal with it. Emily waits till lunch time to explain said plan when everyone is gathered around and eating.

“First, Oscar, do you have any communication crystals?” she asks Oscar before starting, the last test she wants to run depending on his answer.

“I don’t have any spares. But, me and Fionn have a linked pair.”

“Perfect. The first stage of the plan is to send away those who won’t be of any help. We don’t want extra bodies for the creature to eat. Fionn and Erin will escort all first circle mages to split from us and go through a different tunnel to try and get out of the creature’s detection range.”

A few displeased grumbles are heard, but Oscar quiets them with a glare, showing his support of Emily’s plan.

“We’ll keep in contact with the communication crystals. Fionn should be able to provide light to navigate back to us after the monster is dealt with, and Erin can help defend the group. We haven’t seen anything in these caves for a while now so you should be safe,” Emily continues, reassuring the scared first circle mages.

Nods of understanding and acceptance spread through the group quickly.

“Now, as for the rest of us...”

Emily explains her plan, watching as a spark of understanding spreads through the group and hope lights up their eyes.

“...and if that doesn’t finish it, well, we’ll just have to improvise. Any questions?”

A few queries are brought up, but they soon finish their meal and set off downstream with newfound confidence. When they reach the fork in the river, Fionn and Erin lead their group down the right-hand path while Emily continues down the left with their main combat force. They check in on each other periodically through the rest of the evening until they reach a good area for the fight, with several large stalagmites proudly protruding from the floor. Then the communication crystal goes silent, next to be used by the group that spots the monster.

They spread out. Emily stands in the open, in the middle of the cave, and everyone else picks a stalagmite or rock formation to crouch behind. Emily looks around from her position and, seeing no exposed mages, gives the all-clear and they settle down to await their prey.

After ten minutes, the light in the cave fades, and Emily mentally starts a countdown till the beast appears.

Emily’s thoughts are interrupted when a familiar orange form slowly creeps into view.

“Light!” Emily calls the moment she sees it, holding her breath in anticipation of its first move.

Nora tosses a golden ball of light to the roof of the cave, illuminating the space and revealing their enemy immediately. Everybody holds completely still behind their cover, and Emily watches the monster creep forward, glancing around in confusion. As it crosses thirty metres, Emily moves to test it. Its head snaps round to face her, staring into her soul with its glassy white eyes.

Are you gonna attack me?

Emily’s tension rises and she braces to leap out of the way. The creature smiles and snarls at her, a vile mix of blood and saliva dripping from its gaping maw, before dropping into the floor.

Emily springs into motion, leaping forward to avoid an expected attack from below, but nothing happens. Silence falls over the cave. Emily looks around frantically before calling to Oscar.

“Has it gone to them?”

A couple of seconds of quiet muttering later, Oscar calls back.

“No.”

Shit. What’s it doing? Is it leaving us alone because there aren’t enough people?

Emily holds her tension while running earthen detection just in case. As her scan comes back empty, the cave starts to shake. The floor, walls, and ceiling all start to quiver, beginning as a low rumbling that barely displaces the dirt on the ground, and building into a violent storm of movement that has Emily struggling to stand upright.

She glances at her group mates, sees them stumbling in their hiding spots, and realises the monster’s plan.

Well fuck, it’s trying to make us move! At least I know I can make it waste mana on a large-scale earthquake spell.

She watches it burst from the ground below Enzo and rip him to pieces before screeching at full volume, bathing in his blood as it leaps at its next target.