Inferno: A LitRPG Adventure (Elemental Mastery Book 2), page 11
“That should be good,” Nella said. “We might want to get this to Rina, so she can hand them out to the Phoenix Knights to be used in the next fight against the iron drones.”
“That’s a good idea.” Zephyr pushed back his chair and stretched his lower back. “Why don’t we go find her now? I wonder if she’s still in the armory.”
“Master Zephyr, Lady Heartseeker,” Mister Hartor said from the entrance to the sitting area. The chamberlain bowed. “I came to ask you if you would like your meals delivered to this place and couldn’t help but overhear your conversation. You needn’t trouble yourselves with such deliveries. One of my staff would be more than happy to bring your talismans to Lady Rina Tusu.”
“Oh, that’s alright, sir,” Zephyr said. “We can bring them to her ourselves. I think I’ll be having my meal at the mess hall too. The walk over there would be nice, especially after having spent all afternoon working here.”
“Same for me,” Nella said, getting up. “Thanks, Hartor. I really appreciate the offer, but no, we’ll see to this ourselves.”
“Of course.” Hartor bowed. “Enjoy your evening, Master Zephyr and Lady Heartseeker.”
The chamberlain withdrew as Zephyr and Nella packed up their inscription supplies and the remainder of the luminous parchment.
“Where’s Vincent, by the way?” Nella asked. “He’s been gone for hours. Has he been hunting for Avora all this time?”
“Maybe he found the rituals, and he’s studying how to cast them,” Zephyr suggested. “Let’s get these talismans to Rina first. The sooner she receives them, the more quickly she can get them distributed to the Phoenix Knights who need them the most.”
They stopped by Gabriel’s room on the way, wondering if the Phoenix Knight wanted them to do more training, only to find him comatose upon his bed, his snores ripping through the air.
“Leave him be,” Zephyr said, preventing Nella from pummeling him with a pillow. “He’s still recovering from very serious injuries.”
“Alright.” Nella lowered the pillow reluctantly and tossed it upon Gabriel’s chest instead, causing the Phoenix Knight to frown and mutter in his sleep.
Blackstone Keep was larger than the Tempest School, and it was extremely difficult to navigate. Zephyr understood why. It was a military fortress, after all. If its outer defenses fell, and the enemy stormed its interior, its winding passages and awkward chokepoints would ensure that any who conquered Blackstone Keep would pay for their victory in blood.
Zephyr and Nella floundered through its corridors for a few minutes as they tried to make their way back to the armory. Eventually, the ranger summoned one of her lightning beasts, a cobalt-blue moth roughly the size of her palm, and had it fly ahead and map out the corridors for her. Even then, their progress through the fortress was slow and frustrating. By the time they arrived at the armory, Zephyr suspected nearly half an hour had gone by.
“We’ll get used to this place eventually,” he said, approaching the armory door and wondering if Rina was still there. She was the fortress’s quartermaster, but it was late in the day by now and she could have already left.
“Well, sooner rather than later, I hope. This place is nearly as tricky as the forests of the Blight Boundary, and that’s really saying something.” Nella halted suddenly and pointed to the armory door. “Wait. Look. It’s open… and do you hear that?”
Strange rustling sounds came from the armory, interspersed by what sounded like moans. Zephyr retrieved Lethal Swiftness from his mage band. The ornate saber shimmered with faint cobalt light as its hilt filled his grasp.
Lethal Swiftness
Enchanted saber +9
Wielder Resonance
Facet Shift
Current Aspect: Gathering Clouds
A curious thought occurred to Zephyr as he glanced at the codex display describing his weapon. Lethal Swiftness carried a Facet Shift enchantment upon its blade, which meant that its nature could change depending on the kind of ether with which it was infused.
I have an Inferno Aspect now, and I can channel Inferno ether. I wonder what would happen if I infused some Inferno ether into Lethal Swiftness? he mused. Nella held up her mage band and retrieved a sleek handaxe. Its silvered blade shone beneath the radiance of the hallway’s blazing lamps.
Blue Claw
Enchanted skyforged handaxe +5
Armor-piercing, Swiftness, Returning
“Shadowswarm?” she whispered. Her eyes filled with tendrils of electricity. “Could they have gotten inside here?”
“We need to be careful,” Zephyr replied, waving for Nella to take a position behind him. He cast Lightning Shield and with his weapon and shield at the ready, he advanced upon the armory door.
“Where is Vincent?” Nella hissed, before nodding at Zephyr and signaling for him to proceed.
Zephyr barged into the armory, his shield and blade held high. Nella dived to the side, deftly coming up into a crouch with her handaxe ready to be thrown.
Vincent and Rina pulled away from each other frantically.
“Zeph! Nella!” the jeweler’s apprentice cried out in alarm. “What are you doing here? I mean…”
“Vincent?” Nella said. “You’re here? What’s…”
The ranger’s voice trailed off. Zephyr returned his blade to his mage band, dismissed his Lightning Shield spell, and chuckled. It wasn’t too difficult to piece together what had been going on in the armory before his and Nella’s arrival, especially with the disheveled state of Vincent’s and Rina’s clothing and what could only be lipstick marks on Vincent’s jaw and neck.
Nella caught on quickly, too. She put away her handaxe and laughed uproariously as Vincent glared daggers in her direction. Rina straightened her robes demurely, her cheeks bright red.
“Hello, you two,” the quartermaster mumbled.
“Good evening, Rina,” Zephyr replied.
“Wow, Vincent!” Nella finally managed to say. “Well done! And to think that only this morning, you were crying after you’d said goodbye to Clarissa!”
“Nella!” Vincent protested.
“Who’s Clarissa?” Rina asked, directing the question to the trio in a tone of voice that was too neutral and even to be anything but dangerous.
“We were looking for you, Vincent,” Zephyr said, striving to steer the conversation clear of Rina’s question. “Did you manage to ask His Excellency about the rituals?”
“Ah yes,” Vincent replied, gratitude screaming in every inch of his body language. “I did. He pointed out where they could be found in our Tempest magic grimoires. The shadow-hunt ritual is what we’ll use to track the dragon back to its lair, while the storm purification ritual is what we’ll use to purge the Shadowswarm’s influence from the dragon. They’re quite complex, but I’ve already gotten everything we need to perform them from Rina.”
“Oh, so that’s why you came here,” Nella said, smirking. “Good job, Vincent. We can always count on you to be so dependent and reliable. That was probably why Clarissa liked you too.”
“Anyway, we came here to hand over some Tempest magic talismans we prepared, Rina.” Zephyr raised his voice as he retrieved the Bolt Invocation talismans he and Nella had spent the afternoon preparing. “Bolt Invocation conjures a beam of lightning that can reach up to three hundred feet or so. We have a hundred talismans ready to be used. Could you distribute them to all who might be in need?”
“Oh, of course, Zephyr.” Rina took the talismans, quickly counted them, and put them into a tray labeled For deployment. “I’m sure some of our frontline coteries will really appreciate these, given how tricky the Shadowswarm have become recently.”
“Great. I’ve rounded up enough reagents for us to attempt both rituals twice, just in case,” Vincent said. “Why don’t we head out now and look over the instructions for them in our grimoires?”
“Now that’s the spirit, Vincent!” Nella pumped her fist, chortling. “Always so eager and ready to go, another thing that Clarissa liked so much about you.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” Zephyr said hurriedly and firmly even as Vincent seemed to wilt on his feet. He bowed to Rina, forestalling any attempt on her part to ask about Clarissa again. “We’ll be heading out now, Rina. Thank you so much.”
“Oh, alright then.” Rina nodded. “Have a good night, the three of you. And Vincent, we’ll resume our discussion about intertwined glyphs later.”
“Yes, we will,” Vincent agreed, only for Nella to nudge him in the side.
“I’m sure Vincent is all about the intertwining,” Nella said. “Just ask Clarissa. She—”
Zephyr ushered everyone out of the armory and shut the door behind him. He chuckled as Vincent and Nella began bickering. It seemed he would have some entertainment during dinner, at least.
Chapter 11
“Yes, I can perform them,” Vincent said, putting down his spoon and pushing aside his plate. The trio had just finished their dinner in the mess hall, where the walls were awash with the sounds of many dozens of Phoenix Knights and a fair number of mercenaries.
“The tracking ritual is straightforward enough,” Vincent continued. “It’s the other one that I’m not so sure about. The storm purification ritual requires a ritual circle and takes nearly ten minutes to enact. When we get to the dragon’s lair, even if the dragon is asleep, do you think the Shadowswarm controlling it will give us the time and space to complete the ritual?”
“You’re right.” Zephyr cupped his chin thoughtfully. “The ritual itself is very complex too. Even the most minor mistake would mean we need to start from scratch. I don’t see that happening while we’re trying to fight a night prince.”
“Or a dragon, because why wouldn’t the night prince awaken the dragon when we’re there?” Nella pointed out as she picked at the remnants of her platter of fried cod. “I was thinking about the blazefire conjuration Gabriel went over with us today. It fends off spells that affect one’s mind, doesn’t it? Dragons are naturally resistant to all kinds of magic, so the only reason it’s fallen under the control of a Slave-Master and a night prince is because the two are working together. Tempest magic is very effective against a night prince, but what about the Slave-Master? Wouldn’t we need something that works against Tyrant magic as well?”
“That’s true,” Zephyr said. “The storm purification ritual might purge the night prince from the dragon’s flesh, but I don’t think it counteracts any Tyrant magic at all. We would be banking on the possibility that without the night prince’s influence, the dragon would be able to cast off the Slave-Master’s grasp by itself.”
“That’s a strong possibility, but when it comes to big scary creatures that can stomp you, eat you, or burn you to death, possibilities aren’t enough,” Vincent added. “I don’t think the storm purification is going to work.”
“What about this?” Zephyr asked, thinking about the difference between shadow-bane conjurations and blazefire conjurations. “Tempest magic can’t get past the dragon’s scales to hurt it, but what about shadow-bane conjurations? They don’t affect anything that isn’t a Shadowswarm creature, and they cannot be affected by physical objects either. We can cover the dragon with shadow-bane conjurations to force the night prince out and away from its body. After that, one of us can put together a blazefire conjuration over its brain, which would definitely help it shrug off whatever Tyrant magic it’s been affected by.”
“I don’t know about that, Zeph,” Vincent said. “You’ve got to get really close to place a blazefire conjuration over the dragon. And is that even possible anyway? You know, creating a blazefire conjuration for someone else? Only this isn’t someone else. It’s a dragon.”
“Maybe if you’re fast about it,” Nella said. “Sounds very difficult though. Zeph, you’d have the best shot at pulling something like this off, with your Lightning Step spell. Maybe I can try to distract the dragon with my lightning beasts if it’s awake. If all we need to deal with is Shadowswarm, I can definitely cover you with my bow and my lightning beasts too.”
“If I don’t have to enact a storm purification ritual, I can help Nella support you too,” Vincent said. “But I don’t believe we only need to worry about Shadowswarm. We should be prepared to fight iron drones as well, which means we need to learn a bit more Inferno magic, perhaps some basic offensive spells similar to our Invocation ones.”
“We’ll have to bug Gabriel about it then.” Nella sighed. “Or we can look into our Inferno magic grimoires. Once we’ve learned a few though, we should quickly get them and their variants up to Master level with our essence orbs.”
“I agree. We’ll need the most powerful spells we can get,” Zephyr said. “We won’t be heading into a Dark Labyrinth, where the monsters’ power depends on the Labyrinth’s Phase. We might be facing some of the mightiest drones the Fennean Empire has at its disposal in the dragon’s lair.”
“Better go in fully armored too,” Nella said. “You brought up a good point in the armory this morning, Zeph. The knight robes are quite good, but for something like this, maybe our old armor is better.”
“We need to get our armor patched up too,” Vincent reminded them. “I’ll head to the maintenance forge first thing in the morning to get that done. Actually, you know what? I’ll go there right now. Get it over with.”
“I’ll come with you,” Zephyr said. “Many hands make light work.”
“That’s true,” Nella agreed. “We got so many talismans completed today. I’m coming to the forge too. Let’s get that sorted out. The sooner we get the ritual underway, the sooner we can take care of the dragon. We might even be done before tomorrow afternoon and be back here by lunch.”
“I really hope so!” Vincent said. “The food here is so good!”
Vincent knew the way to the forge. Apparently, Rina had shown him the way there earlier. Nella teased the jeweler’s apprentice relentlessly about the quartermaster along the way. By the time the trio arrived at the open air courtyard where the forge was, Zephyr was nearly in tears from laughter, and Vincent’s face was blazing red.
A tall, muscular man in his middle years was working at the forge. He wore a blacksmith’s apron over thick brown craftsman coveralls, and he greeted the trio as they approached.
“Hello, there,” the man said, shaking hands with the trio. “Name’s Taphir. I’m the keep’s smith. As you can see, we don’t really have the equipment to forge weapons, but we can manage repairs. If you’ve spoken with my boss, Rina Tusu, you probably knew that.”
“We do, Mister Taphir,” Vincent said. “And yes, we’re looking to patch up some of our armor.”
“That crate by my desk contains hammers, pliers, and tweezers. Needle and thread are in the lower drawer.” Taphir pointed to a sturdy wooden table tucked away in the corner of the courtyard. The table sat beneath the shelter of a large overhanging ledge. “If you look in the bin covered with wax paper over there, you’ll find a collection of rivets, pins, and screws. Feel free to take what you need.”
“Thanks, Mister Taphir,” Zephyr said to the smith.
“Don’t mention it,” Taphir said. “Do you need any help with your equipment? I’m off-duty now, but I don’t mind sticking around for a bit longer and sorting you out before I get my dinner.”
“No, I think we can manage,” Vincent said. “Please, go ahead. Enjoy your meal.”
“Alright.” Taphir nodded. “You can find me here most days. I’d be happy to help you patch up your weapons and armor if you have better things to do with your time.”
With that, the smith bade the trio goodnight, hung up his apron, and left the forge. Zephyr looked around. It wasn’t too different from Master Felgar’s forge at the Tempest School. A large furnace dominated the center of the space, while work desks were spaced out evenly across the courtyard. Wall lanterns blazed brightly, filling the forge with their radiance.
The desks were covered by lengths of waxed cloth, however. Zephyr figured that was because there was no Tempest barrier placed over the forge to protect it from the elements. He walked up to a desk and peeled away its cloth cover. Nella produced everyone’s armor from her mage band and laid them out neatly across the desk.
Vincent picked up a steel bucket hanging from a hook upon the wall and filled it with tools and supplies from Taphir’s desk and the bin. Zephyr helped him carry it over to the desk, where they set it down beside their armor.
“Alright, looks like we’re all set,” Vincent said, picking up a small hammer and passing it to Zephyr.
Zephyr looked at the breastplate of his half-plate suit, sighed, and got to work.
Vincent and Nella finished repairing their armor quickly. They then came over to help Zephyr with his. After nearly two hours of hammering, the trio finally managed to undo the worst dents in his half-plate. Vincent deftly replaced a few tattered buckles and badly skewed rivets.
“Hmm. That’s all we can do right now, I think,” he finally said, studying Zephyr’s pauldron critically. “It’s wearable, but it’ll need a lot more work before it’s back to pristine condition. I don’t know if I have the skill to fix this, since steel and iron aren’t really my forte.”
“Don’t worry about it, Vincent,” Zephyr said. “I’ll ask Mister Taphir to take a look at it, maybe after we come back from freeing the dragon.”
The trio left the forge and made their way back to the sitting area outside their rooms. The journey back was slightly easier this time, and Zephyr was confident that after a few more days in Blackstone Keep, they would have no trouble navigating the labyrinthine fortress.
“Nella, you said we need Gabriel’s help to learn new Inferno magic spells.” Vincent summoned a codex display of the Inferno magic grimoire as he pulled out a chair and sat down. “That’s not true. It’s still early in the evening. Why don’t we try and get some studying done? Maybe we can pick up a useful spell or two and quickly enhance them with essence orbs?”
Nella groaned and buried her face in her hands.
