Leveling Up The World 8: A LitRPG Adventure, page 58
“What’s the plan?” he asked using his music skills. The connection was almost instant, no longer affected by Palag’s defenses.
“You know the plan,” the fury replied. No sooner had he done so than his fingers moved, casting a new spell to cancel the music suggestion.
Cheeky, Dallion thought.
Fighting echo-controlled opponents presented an interesting problem. Apart from being physically safe, Argus had also created an information filter of sorts. Palag only knew what he had been told, and if mages were any indication, that was far from the final plan. Still, there would be a few morsels available.
Dallion split into three hundred instances.
“Are you a cultist?”
Nine times out of ten, Palag replied no. In the remaining cases, though, he said yes.
You’ve been keeping secrets, Dallion thought.
That was as gutsy as it was unusual. It was easy to use blocker items to stop the influence of echoes. Putting one on, while under the control of a symbiotic echo, was another matter. Echoes never slept, they were never distracted. The echo must have known about the blocker item the moment the fury thought about it. Or was the mage a Star cultist as well?
“Do you want the Star to rise again?” Dallion asked.
In the various instances, the fury responded in different fashion. In twenty-one, the answer was identical.
“A new Star will rise.” Palag broke free from the echo’s influence. His voice was the same as it was before. “That Star—”
Thick purple threads shot out from his body, wrapping him up like a cocoon. Instead of providing protection, however, they tightened more and more, leading to an audible crunch. Argus hadn’t been lying when he’d warned Palag not to do anything he would disapprove of.
Dallion was tempted to choose one of those instances to become reality. It would mean an end to the fight. Besides, there was no question that the fury deserved it. He was a Star cultist, and as such would do everything in his power to bring a new abomination to the world. Yet… the memory fragment remained fresh in Dallion’s mind. Palag had been a child once, going through things that would twist anyone. Killing him might well turn out to be the only option but, right now, Dallion didn’t want to be the one doing it.
“What’s the plan?” Dallion asked again, choosing one of the instances in which the fury remained alive. “Even if you win here, you can’t defeat the emperor.”
“Is that what our old friend told you?” The mage laughed, using the fury’s body. “Like all the rest, he’s barely seen the emperor, but still trembles at the mention of his name.”
“And you have?”
“Many times. When there’s a problem that needs sorting, the emperor doesn’t go to the archmage, he never has. Archmages are snakes who have the power to control the petty bureaucracy of this place. Battlemages do the real work. We fight armies, dragons, and all the aether beasts that end up here.”
Palag began casting his death ray spell, though too slowly to match Dallion’s present speed. One mass attack from several thousands of shardflies, and half of the fury’s index finger was cut off. The wound wasn’t by any means serious, but it disrupted the spell before it could be completed, forcing Palag back on the defensive.
That’s one reason they were kept apart, Nil grumbled from within Dallion’s realm. After a while, they inevitably get delusions of grandeur and try something stupid. If I were still in charge, this would never have happened.
Looks like it’s been going on long before the current one took over, Dallion said calmly. Such thoughts don’t appear overnight.
It’s part of their nature to feel underappreciated. Half the Academy does. The trick is not to let them get to a position to do something about it. I can point out the many mistakes that made this possible, but it would hardly matter.
At first, Dallion thought that the echo was lying. There was no way that Adzorg was that careless or naïve. And still, there he couldn’t detect a single lie of exaggeration. The old echo believed in what it was saying. That meant that the ex-archmage had been blindsided, same as the emperor.
As much as I’m enjoying this conversation, I’d suggest you wrap things up as fast as possible. Your power comes with an expiration date, and more imperial golems are on the way. It would take a while for all of them to get here, but they will, and as things stand, you are their primary target.
Dallion currently had the power to take all the golems on, but he conceded the point. There was no point in making a greater mess of things. His best course of action was to finish this quickly, then get to the archmage’s chambers, wherever they were, and foil Argus’ plans.
Splitting again, Dallion circled Palag with his instances and ordered him to surrender. The music skills let the notion enter the fury’s thought, but it was quickly severed by the puppet master. Even with nine and a half fingers, the fury could easily cast complicated spells.
Finding the effort mildly annoying, Dallion tried again. Five hundred simultaneous attempts were made to get his opponent to faint or surrender, and same as before, none of them were successful.
So stubborn, Dallion thought. If this were a realm, he’d simply have ended everything by creating fifty echoes of himself. Sadly, the real world didn’t allow this sort of action…or did it?
Concentrating, Dallion pictured creating an echo. Ten minutes ago, he’d have discarded the idea as utterly impossible. The Moonstone, though, had broadened his horizons; plus, it wasn’t just any Moonstone, but the Moonstone of Magic and had the power to create exceptions even within reality.
If a reality chameleon can do it, why not I? Dallion thought. And to his own astonishment, he succeeded.
His body stretched, then split apart, like a single cell organism. The shardflies moved aside, barely confused by the change. Since appearing in this world, they had become accustomed to transformations that defied normal logic.
Alas, no sooner had the echo appeared in the real world than it vanished away, breaking up into a cloud of magic dust.
A lot more experience is needed to create echoes in the real world, Nil said.
Dallion could sense that the echo was no less astonished than him, but also marginally terrified. More than likely there was an intricate spell that made that possible, though not one a novice would know. Thankfully, Dallion didn’t need full echoes for what he was thinking. All he needed were a thousand mouths or, more specifically, a thousand sources of sound. Those he had in abundance.
The massive swarm of shardflies spread out again, forming a giant sphere around Palag. Hundreds of feet separated the creatures from the fury.
Palag suspected something, so he cast a new spell—the one Raven had done within the Moon’s Realm. Bolts of lightning shot out from him, draining the magic from everything they touched. Shardflies fell to the ground by the thousands, creating massive holes in the living sphere, yet it was already too late.
Hundreds of spells were cast simultaneously. Initially, there didn’t seem to be any change. That was, until a single command was issued, coming from thousands of places all at once.
“Submit!” Dallion said through his proxies, using all his music skill.
The command was like a shockwave, causing the fury’s mind to freeze up. In that single moment, not even the mage echo could issue him any orders. Palag froze in place, remaining motionless midair. The air currents keeping him in the air disappeared, sending him falling down.
“Cocoon him,” Dallion ordered.
Thousands of shardflies broke off from the swarm, flocking onto the fury. Before he hit the ground, they had already covered him completely, restricting all movement. There were enough of them to lift him back up, safely away from any potential aether golems.
“Let him breathe but restrict his mouth and fingers,” Dallion said.
Why? He brought our nests here to be destroyed.
“Not him, but the one controlling him,” Dallion clarified. “Dig out the chameleon as well. As long as you keep those two incapacitated and far from any golems, you should be fine.”
The shardflies weren’t exceedingly pleased, but they followed Dallion’s instructions. Everything else aside, they could feel the power emanating from him, and like most creatures of the wilderness, they knew when they were facing a fight, they couldn’t win.
“Nil, which way to the archmage?” he asked.
Are you absolutely certain about this? The echo persisted. I’ll tell you if that’s what you want, but this is your chance to just walk away. No one will go after you, if you do. Argus and others might be there. He’s seen what you’re capable of, so it won’t be as easy facing him as it was dealing with his apprentice.
“That’s what I’m counting on. I’m ending this right now, and it won’t even take me a minute.”
Let’s hope you have that long…Nil said beneath his breath. Very well. Face north and cast the anti-illusion spell I taught you. A new cluster of buildings should appear. That’s where the archmage lives now.
An illusion? Made sense that someone living in a nest of deceit and paranoia would resort to such measures. Using his shardflies, Dallion cast the spell. Not too far away, a cluster of square-shaped buildings formed. This was where Dallion had to go.
THE ARCHMAGE’S COMPLEX
Typical of Valerian to do something like this, Nil said, words dripping with disapproval. He always was easily impressed and with a terrible sense of aesthetic.
Looking at the cluster of buildings below, Dallion couldn’t argue. What had seemed like square structures turned out to be a recreation of a modern twentieth-century building complex. The architects had started with the basic idea but added a few local features to make the whole thing more palatable. Ultimately, they had failed, creating a monstrosity that combined the worst elements of both.
Blocks of flats between two to five stories high were glued together, creating a monolithic whole. Here and there bridges linked the more distant ones, looking like external appendixes, and just as useless. It took talent to come up with something simultaneously so grotesque and dysfunctional.
“How’d he come up with that?” Dallion asked.
Probably Alien’s doing. Despite his many flaws, Valerian had a thing for otherworlders. That’s why I took him under my wing.
“Well, that cost you a lot.”
His father was an otherworlder, and a very good friend of mine. Nil paused. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
That changed things a lot. Putting friends and family in positions of power wasn’t exclusive to this world, though apparently things ended up just as catastrophically here as well.
“What happened to him?”
I’m not sure. One day, he vanished. It hit a few people quite hard, though ten times as many were pleased to see him go.
“Right. Just the usual, then.”
Actually, it was anything but usual. Disposing of a rival is rather normal in noble circles. Not hearing about the hows and whys…that’s a different matter.
A circle of aether golems surrounded the building. There were no less than twenty of them, although far less powerful than the imperial ones Dallion had recently faced. The archmage likely was paranoid enough to have his own ones made, even if they could be destroyed with a tenth of the effort.
Still under the effects of the Moonstone, Dallion could see the spells and symbols on them clearly. They were obviously made for intimidation rather than anything else. Even now, they remained perfectly motionless while he was hovering fifty feet above.
Dallion concentrated on the buildings using his magic vision. There were four layers of protective spells, their magic symbols glowing bright purple on walls and rooftops. Initially, the builders had started out diligently, ensuring that nothing harmful could enter undetected.
As more buildings had been added to the complex, they had slacked off, putting in less and less effort to the point that multiple weak spots had emerged. By the looks of it, the archmage relied on his authority and the massive illusion spell to keep enemies away.
Back in my day, I’d never have resorted to all this, Nil continued his grumbling. So much wasted time, and it isn’t even good.
There were barely two magic “stick-figures” in the entire complex, located in a small building just off the center. The layers of symbols prevented Dallion from making out specifics, but he could tell that one was rather powerful, while the other was at novice-level at most.
“Nil, how many people would there be in a place like this?” he asked.
Depends on the person. Some archmages have armies of apprentices and novices serving them as if they were royalty. Others preferred a dozen close assistants.
At least a dozen…that didn’t bode well. Quickly, Dallion directed the swarm of shardflies enveloping him in the direction of the building. There were three layers of spells preventing anyone from entering, but those weren’t of any consequence. Dallion could easily see how to untangle and disrupt them, even without relying on brute force. Not that the shardflies wouldn’t have enjoyed slicing through everything in sight.
“What should I be worried about?” Dallion asked while splitting through the air.
The battlemage would have some artifacts, that’s for certain. I’ve no idea what he’s come across, but there might be a lot of rather nasty devices in the building. Valerian had a tendency to snatch things he fancied. I’d say imagine the fight against the apprentice, but not in your favor.
“You keep saying that. I’d think you have a low opinion of me.”
You’re a novice drunk on divine magic. Need I say more?
The point was well made. Even in his current high, Dallion knew he wasn’t indestructible. He had learned a few new tricks, but he could just as easily lose them once the effects of the Moonstone wore off.
“I guess I’ll use my empathy to find his weakness.”
I might not be versed in the finer points of the trait in question, but from what I’ve seen in your realm, I could say that it doesn’t work like that. Nil let out a sigh.
“Maybe not, but it doesn’t cost me anything to try.”
Extending his magic through three dozen shardflies, Dallion directed them to cut through the bonds of the spells cast on the approaching rooftop. The process was similar to bomb defusal, according to the movies Dallion had seen on Earth, only a lot simpler. No longer connected, many of the magic symbols quickly faded away. Others remained active in isolation, posing no danger whatsoever.
Dispelling the few symbols of significance proved somewhat more difficult. The principle was similar. One merely had to sever the thread between key points in order to release the magic. The catch was that in order to do so, the amount of magic used had to exceed the one invested in the spell manyfold. Then again, having access to an infinite supply of magic tended to make things go a lot smoother.
Two layers fizzled away, releasing their magic in a large puff of purple smoke. The next one provided marginal resistance, causing a few crackles here and there, but it too was swiftly rendered inert. The final one proved the easiest of all, so Dallion combined its removal with the systemic slicing up of the rooftop itself. The archmage was going to be mad that his building had been rendered roofless, but that was a problem for later.
“Ready, everyone,” Dallion said, as chunks of stone floated out of the way, revealing the archmage’s room.
Dozens of magical sources emerged, each more different than the last. Some were surrounded by an otherworldly shiver, marking the items as obviously from elsewhere. Learning more about them was tempting, especially since Dallion now had the ability to easily figure out how they worked. Unfortunately, there were bigger concerns.
A single body lay on the floor. It belonged to a man dressed in clothes that would put an archduke’s wardrobe to shame. Jewelry, artifacts, and magic items were all over him like decorations on a Christmas tree. Yet they had done little to prevent the lethal blow that had pierced the man’s stomach.
The archmage, Dallion thought. He’d only seen the man in a memory fragment but recognized the features. The hairstyle and facial hair had changed, but in all other aspects, the facial features remained identical.
A few steps away, trembling in the corner of the room, was someone else—the only living entity in the entire complex. The person’s clothes showed signs of intense fighting, but he himself appeared completely unharmed. That didn’t prevent him from gripping a weapon with both hands.
“Raven?” Dallion descended.
The boy didn’t immediately react. Remnants of fear emanated from him, filling the room with a low-pitched ring. As the seconds passed, the sound grew less and less until it was almost not there.
Careful, Nill warned. He’s not what you—
“I know exactly what he is,” Dallion said calmly. He could see the magic glow within the boy—the same that was glowing from within him. “Argus was never here. You consumed the Moonstone.”
“It wasn’t supposed to happen,” Raven said in a trembling voice. He appeared more terrified of the fact that he had wasted the item than actually killing the archmage.
Of course, Dallion thought. Only a child would think of such a thing. Even with surprise and everything else to his advantage, he wouldn’t be able to kill an archmage, even one as weak as this one.
“I guess that’s what you needed the magic draining sword for.” Dallion glanced at the weapon.
“He was supposed to just die,” Raven went on.
There was no trace of the calm and collected noble Dallion had gone to magic lessons with. Before him was a scared boy who had seen his entire world shatter. Even so, he remained his enemy. The moment Dallion took a step forward, Raven combat split, jumping to his feet in a variety of fashions. In a few instances, he even attacked, only to be countered by Dallion’s own combat splitting.
