Rise of the Weakest Summoner: Volume VII, page 33
“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.”
“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 a 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.
Chapter 28
Hidden Away
Miria led the charge with Silvia while Tina and Asterios took care of their backs. Selene and Bryn remained in the middle of their formation, supporting whoever needed some assistance in their fights. They tried heading in Umbra’s general direction but it proved to be at least somewhat challenging.
The underground tunnels ran through the mountain like a web of serpents. Now and then, they made their way through straight corridors, where a lot of mining traces could be found. Besides bigger, excavated chambers, of course. As for the resource that had been dug out in the past, it seemed to be some kind of brown ore. It didn’t feel flammable, but whoever wielded fire, avoided using it inside the deep mining shaft.
Not like either Silvia or Asterios had to reach for it. The humanoid-sized, naked, skinny monsters with no faces didn’t really pose a threat to them. Their gray bodies were easily cut and slashed by all the weapons Ast’s party wielded. Though, his own greatsword was slowly becoming less and less useful.
It was sad to watch such a beautiful piece of craft turn increasingly less appealing by the second. Unfortunately, it was the fate of everything that was created with just looks in mind. A single decently practical enchantment didn’t make the sword worthy of being brought to a real battle, not to mention a war. It was clearly something that nobles bought just to hang on the walls of their offices or bedrooms.
Or were conned by a merchant, if not their own mind, and foolishly believed it to be the greatest weapon.
Nevertheless, the fancy greatsword wouldn’t survive for much longer in Ast’s hands. The acidic nature of Scourge blood seemed to have eroded the magical inscription on the blade and even its increased sharpness was starting to fail as the edge grew blunt bit by bit. Its time was limited, as unfortunate as it was.
“Master,” Miria called to Asterios as they stepped into another stone cavern.
“I know. I can smell it too,” he replied, beheading the monster Tina had just recently made two legs shorter. “Can we secure this room?”
“On it.” Bryn closed her eyes and began a longer chant.
Everyone else protected their Valkyrie friend while she prepared her spell. After about fifteen seconds, Bryn spoke the last word and hit the ground with her staff. Three serpents of light snaked over the stone surface and headed for the exits.
Reaching the archways, they stopped at their very bottom, aligning themselves like nonexistent doorsteps. With another hit of her weapon, they shone strongly and a golden, spiritual grating shot up, impaling any monster standing over the light marks as they were activated. The Scourge had been effectively locked out of the chamber.
“It should hold for a while. Holy and Light Magic seems to hurt them more. Unfortunately, it looks like their blood can erode even spiritual constructs as I can feel the gates eating up lots of mana when they get in contact with it,” Bryn said with a delicate sigh.
“That’s more than enough.” Asterios nodded at her appreciatively.
“I never thought I would stand against an almost unending horde of monsters,” Tina commented with a wry smile. “Why did we stop?”
“Blood,” Miria replied, sniffing the air around them.
Asterios walked up to her and they headed together toward one of the tunnels Bryn had sealed. They moved to the left from it and crouched down. Just as Miria had said, they found traces of dried-up blood on the ground and partially on the stone wall. It had clearly been there for a few days already.
“This must have been where they got into a fight or just the first time one of them was hurt,” Silvia suggested, peering over their shoulders.
“We are definitely heading the right way. This path continues towards Umbra’s presence,” Tina pointed out.
“If Scourge blood mixed with theirs, that person might not have made it much further. Unless the squad’s healer was able to work on the wound immediately, which is quite improbable if they were fighting for their lives,” Bryn said.
Asterios stood up and smiled at her warmly. “It’s good to be skeptical but don’t let your thoughts wander off too far. We are on the right path to finding them so let’s focus on that. Maybe it’s not too late yet.”
Bryn nodded and they prepared to follow the trail. When everyone was ready, she opened up the one passage they were going to head into and the others fought the monsters back for a little while. After they put some distance between them and the previous chamber, taking a few turns on the way, Bryn canceled her spell since it was starting to weigh on her. She had held the rest of the Scourge long enough to at least delay the pursuit a lot.
They followed Umbra’s presence and the faint trail of a few-day-old blood. Its amount was lower than at the start so the party must have attempted to stop the bleeding while moving ahead. They soon stumbled on a spot with lots of it once more, surrounded and mixed with a black, oily substance, which they assumed was the fluid the Scourge bled with. It didn’t look good but they pressed forward with some lingering hope.
~I think I got a hit.~ Umbra’s voice suddenly echoed in their heads. ~The device is emitting constant noise. Something is definitely here.~
“Transfer me,” Asterios requested. “You girls, be careful. Join me after I confirm that it’s safe.”
They all nodded at him and Asterios plunged into his shadow after being covered by darkness. In a blink, he popped up in a dark chamber and fed his draconic eyes with more mana to enhance his vision, which already allowed him to see just a little bit. A moment later, his vision became sharp and he could spot the tiniest details again.
Only two wandering monsters were present in the room so he quickly jumped forward while Umbra held them down with his shadowy tendrils. With two fast swings, Asterios beheaded the creepy entities and pierced their hearts just to be safe. Confirming that nothing else lurked in the darkness, he sent a mental ping to the girls and they joined him one by one, clearly escaping an ongoing fight.
Bryn illuminated the chamber and everyone looked around with their guards up. After no more Scourge jumped at them immediately, they relaxed a little bit, still being partially on alert towards the tunnels coming into the stone chamber. Umbra materialized on Ast’s shoulder and returned the compass to him.
“The noise is constant but no one is here,” Tina said as the device kept the chime going without a break.
“There.” Miria pointed with her blades.
Turning their gazes to one of the rocky walls, they noticed some kind of leather bag. Bryn walked up to it with Asterios by her side and knelt down to investigate. She carefully opened it and went through the contents, pulling out a similar device to the one Asterios held in his hand.
“This is the waist satchel of the leader. The strap is ripped. It must have snapped mid-fight and no one had time to pick the bag up,” she said slowly and quietly. “There’s quite a lot of Scourge blood around here. It must have been a big fight, though not so lethal on the enemy side considering the lack of bodies.”
