The Deceiver's Path - Chapter 118 - Into the Mines (Patreon)

Piper stole down the dark mine tunnel, the only sound coming from water slowly dripping from the ceiling. She averted her gaze when she reached the horrifying pile of bodies again and continued onward. She did not need to see that a second time. At least she could tell herself that the fallen miners deaths would soon be avenged if everything went according to plan.

Arriving at the place where she’d last spotted the elementals, she found them still hunched over the pile of reddish ore. Once again, she pulled her cloak over her mouth. She didn’t want to breathe in whatever the orichalcum emitted that made it so deadly.

Piper pulled an arrow from her quiver, and it clattered softly against her wooden bow as she drew it back. Thankfully, the [Wraithskin] spell hiding her also muffled any noise she made.

Aiming at the largest elemental, she held her breath before releasing the arrow. It streaked its way forward, crashing into what she assumed was the creature’s head. The impact sent the elemental reeling back and broke off a chunk of rock.

As one, the elementals swung around and stampeded in her direction. She was momentarily taken aback by their speed. Before, when she’d witnessed them moving, it had been at a glacial pace. Now they moved like a runaway landslide.

Spinning around, she raced away from her pursuers, pumping her arms as she ran. Even at her top speed, she barely managed to pull away from them. The creatures swung their arms wildly as they moved, most likely hoping to land a lucky blow on their invisible attacker.

Piper raced past the fallen miners, pouring every ounce of stamina she had into sprinting. When she reached the entrance, she’d finally managed to put some distance between herself and the elementals. She let her [Wraithskin] fall away and waved frantically at Zenos.

“They’re coming!” she shouted. “Right behind me!”

Zenos nodded and stepped to the edge of the hastily constructed barrier. A moment later, a deafening sound echoed across the mountain. The tunnel began to shake, rocks falling from the ceiling. Then, with a roar, the roof collapsed onto the charging elementals.

Only one managed to claw its way free of the cave-in. The elemental staggered forward, missing one of its arms. It moved almost drunkenly, as if it couldn’t find its footing.

Piper leaped over the barricade, already drawing another arrow. Since she wasn’t using Gorebark, she could unload with everything she had on the elemental. Her first shot broke a chunk off the creature’s chest. Her next one drove deeply into its shoulder.

While she was shooting, Ophelia bounced from foot to foot, while Zenos pelted the elemental with noise spells. Each impact from his attacks cracked the stone and staggered the aspect beast.

Between Piper’s and Zenos’ attacks, the elemental barely made it a dozen paces before shattering into fist-sized chunks. A kill notification followed.

Congratulations! You have slain a Stone Elemental, Level 83.

Piper’s elation at her plan working quickly faded as she realized she hadn’t received death notifications for any of the other elementals. Which meant they were still alive under the massive pile of boulders.

Almost as if in response to her thoughts, the rocks choking the entrance to the mine began to shift. A stone hand broke free before a massive body pulled itself out. As she watched, more elementals began to emerge.

Ophelia leaped forward, a gleeful look on her face. “I’ll handle them—” A choked sound followed as Piper grabbed her cloak and yanked her back.

“Do you think this is my first time around monsters with you?” Piper asked, holding onto her friend with a death grip. “I knew you were going to charge off like a lunatic.”

Ophelia scowled and rubbed her throat. “I could have beaten them.”

“We’re a group,” Piper said firmly. “Promise that you’ll stay here and defend us.”

“Fine.” Ophelia rolled her eyes. “But I so could have beaten them on my own.”

Piper ignored her friend as the young woman continued to mumble under her breath. Her entire focus was on the elementals pulling themselves free from the rubble.

 The fact that most of them appeared injured was a small consolation. At least her plan hadn’t failed completely. Still, the sheer number of survivors would make this a difficult fight.

Drawing another arrow, she launched it at the closest creature. She watched as the missile simply bounced off its stone skin.

Frowning, she launched another one, and the same thing happened. Motioning for Zenos to attempt his spells, the mage hurled a sonic blast at the elemental. The creature barely reacted as it tore its legs free of the debris before stomping in their direction.

Apparently, the elementals had some sort of skill to make themselves more durable. This was quickly becoming a problem. She needed to pivot fast before someone got hurt.

In the past, she’d worked hard to hide her abilities. But in doing so, she’d been partially responsible for getting her friends killed. Plus, no one in the guild would judge her for using some of her more powerful abilities. As long as she didn’t call upon a demon, she doubted anyone would care about how she completed a quest.

“Stay here,” she commanded Ophelia and Zenos. “I’ll handle this myself.”

Piper cast [Shifting Veil] to hide her group mates behind a wall of illusions and then slung her bow over her shoulder. As she did, she drew her mace and tightened her grip on the handle. While the elementals might be able to shrug off a blow from a wooden arrow, she doubted they could ignore a steel mace to the face.

Since she was dealing with multiple targets, she also decided to call upon some help. There was no way she was going to use her [Subjugator] skill to summon demons in front of her group, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t use an illusory ally.

As she approached the closest elemental, she cast [Shifting Veil] to create the Amazonian knight in golden armor she’d used so often in the past. This time, she gave the towering woman a massively oversized war hammer. Once the illusion had taken shape, she cast [Phantom Flesh], pouring mana into it to make it solid.

With her high Magic stat and the sheer amount of mana she used on the spell, she bet that her female knight could take on a dragon. A simple battle against elementals should be a breeze.

“Who is that?” Zenos called out. “Is she another one of your illusions?”

Piper ignored the young man as she sprinted forward. She dodged under a ponderous blow and slammed her mace into the side of the elemental. The force of the impact sent cracks spider webbing through its stone chest, but it also bent the mace’s shaft.

Staring at her weapon in horror, she almost missed the riposte. The stone limb whistled over her head as she ducked low and lunged to the side. Reaching the side of the elemental, she deflected another strike with her weapon.

Seeing a brief opening, she nearly activated [Quick Claw] before she realized that she couldn’t possibly explain tearing chunks off a stone monster with her fingernails. Instead, she jumped back and let her illusion begin its attack.

With a mental command, she sent the knight charging forward. The towering woman crashed into the closest elemental with her shoulder, sending it toppling over. It struck the ground with an earth-shaking boom and flailed around like a turtle on its back.

Piper directed the knight to raise her war hammer and bring it down with a mighty swing. Unlike her own weapon, it didn’t bend on impact and shattered the elemental like brittle shale.

A kill notification followed.

Congratulations! You have slain a Stone Elemental, Level 83.

Ding! Your race, Shadeling has reached Level 86.

Ding! Your class, Deceiver has reached level 86.

Ding! Your class, Shadowflame Temptress has reached level 25.

Piper ignored the notifications as she unslung her bow. Since her mace was almost bent at a right angle, she wouldn’t be able to use it for the rest of the battle. The least she could do was pelt the remaining elementals with arrows.

She continued to mentally command her knight as she unleashed volley after volley at the creature. Some of her shots tore off chunks from the elementals, while others bounced off harmlessly.

Before she fought another battle, she seriously needed to upgrade her weapons. It felt like she was using little more than harsh language against the colossal creatures.

Thankfully, her knight had no such issues. With each swing of the armored woman’s war hammer, she shattered stone limbs and crushed bodies. After a few minutes, only a single elemental remained, desperately trying to claw its way free of the cave-in.

Piper controlled the knight, making her stride up to the trapped creature. With a battle cry, the woman brought down her hammer with both hands and smashed the head into tiny pieces of gravel. Another kill notification immediately followed.

Letting out a breath she hadn’t known she was holding, she spun around to find everyone frowning in her direction. Her elation at defeating the elementals quickly soured. Why did everyone look angry at her?

“What’s wrong?” she asked, loping back in their direction.

“You didn’t let me fight at all!” Ophelia exclaimed. “We’re supposed to be a team!”

Shrugging, Piper looked to Zenos for support, but the narrow-faced man appeared equally annoyed.

He crossed his arms. “You know, I could have helped as well.”

“Didn’t you all get the levels?”

“That’s not the point,” Ophelia said crossly. “How am I supposed to learn when I don’t get to fight for real?”

“This quest was too dangerous for you,” Piper replied. “I don’t want to lose you like Selene and Althea.”

“You’re not going to lose me.” Her friend slammed her sword back into its sheath. “I can fight!”

“No, you can’t,” she shouted back before blushing and lowering her voice. “Not against monsters like these.”

Lysander, silent until now, turned on his heel. “We should return to the town.”

Piper shook her head at her group mate’s reaction before hurrying after the man. Why couldn’t they see that she’d done this for them? As she left, she ordered her illusion to follow. She doubted they would run into trouble on their path down the mountain, but it never hurt to have a bodyguard.

After a dozen paces, she caught up with Lysander. While he looked annoyed like the others, she believed that he would understand her motivations. After all, he was the one who had said he didn’t want any casualties.

“They were too powerful for the group to beat alone,” she said softly. “You know that, right?”

“What I know is that I witnessed a group leader running off on her own to fight monsters. Do you think that will work against more powerful foes?”

Piper swallowed her retort. In the past, she’d defeated enemies far more dangerous than earth elementals. She knew what she was doing, but she should try to smooth things over with Lysander. “What do you think I should have done, then?”

“If you thought the aspect beasts were too powerful, you should have ordered a retreat,” he stated flatly. “Alternatively, if you thought you could win, you should have used your group mates. You know, someday you’re going to face enemies you can’t beat on your own.”

Piper pressed her lips together as she considered the man’s words. So far, she hadn’t encountered much she couldn’t defeat. But she had to think that there were people and monsters out there far surpassing anything that she’d fought up until this point.

“It won’t happen again,” she said. “I just didn’t want to lose anyone.”

After a long silence, Lysander replied. “I understand. More than you know.” He didn’t elaborate further and stalked forward.

Piper was left walking on her own as they descended toward the town far below. Thankfully, it was easier going down a mountain than climbing one. And faster as well.

As she walked, she peered over the edge of the sheer drop-off, and she shuddered at the thought of losing her footing. Even her demonic body wouldn’t survive plummeting to the rocky ground far below. With that thought fresh in her mind, she hugged the wall along the trail, keeping as much distance as she could between herself and the edge.

After several hours, when they finally reached the bottom, she dismissed her illusion and then ran to catch up with Lysander. She caught up with him near the gate. There, they waited for the others.

Ophelia and Zenos reached them a short time later. Neither looked as if their mood had significantly improved. They stopped a short distance away from Piper without looking in her direction.

Kicking a rock with her foot, she still thought she’d made the right decision. Yes, she probably should have included the others in the battle in some small way. However, it would have been far too dangerous to pit them alone against such powerful aspect beasts.

Lysander glanced up at the sun before turning his gaze to the others. “As expected, it’s far too late to leave for the villa, so we’ll be staying here tonight. The inn where I’ve booked our rooms is called the Tipsy Turtle. If you ask the guards, they’ll give you directions. Now get moving. I need a moment to talk to Piper alone.”

Ophelia shot glances back at Piper as she walked toward the gate. Clearly, she was dying to know what they were going to talk about. At least that meant her friend should forgive her long enough to pump her for information afterward.

Once the others were out of earshot, Lysander turned in her direction. “You’re a skilled aspirant, and there’s no way you really have an uncommon class.”

Piper opened her mouth to reply when Lysander raised his hand to silence her.

“You’re hardly the first person to appear with one of those rings on their finger. Niko sees you as a future prospect and wants to keep you safe. I imagine you have an epic class or better? Wait, don’t answer that. I don’t want to know.”

Lysander turned back to the town. “No matter how good your class is, you have to learn to work with others. I’ll overlook what happened today, but you need to do better in the future.”

“I’ll try,” she said slowly. “But I won’t lose a group mate.”

“I know your type, Piper,” he continued, watching her closely. “You’re always running off to save people. Since tomorrow is your day off, you’re planning to help that girl we met at the Aspirant’s Guild, aren’t you?”

He grinned at her as she opened her mouth to reply. “Don’t bother lying. I can see it on your face. Whatever you do, don’t take the others. If a guild member dies on an unsanctioned quest, you’ll be kicked out so fast your head will spin. Oh, and don’t take any credit for the quest. The guild occasionally checks the logbook at the aspirant’s guild to make sure no one is doing any work on the side.”

“Any other great advice?”

“Yes,” he said with a thin smile. “Don’t die.”