TS4: Chapter 47 (Patreon)

With four shrines to go, there was no doubt in Thorn's mind that the other teams would catch on quickly to their strategy and attempt to head them off. While he was confident that their plan would be successful due to his unique ability to upgrade the shrines directly, making them impossible to recapture, he also knew that the other teams he was facing weren't going to simply roll over and let him succeed. Instead, they would throw every single thing they had at him, likely attacking while his team was aiming for the last few shrines. That meant that the faster they could capture the third, fourth, and fifth shrine, the better off they would be.

According to the map that he had borrowed from the Temple of Man, Ascendant Lesior and her clan's team were currently attacking the shrine they were headed toward. With some luck, they would reach the shrine just as they had cleared all of the surrounding enemies and spawned the Guardian. It would be even better if she had managed to kill the Guardian, as that would save Thorn a few points. The team was moving swiftly, and as they got close, Thorn's eyes lit up. Thanks to his mental sense, he could monitor the situation at the shrine from almost two miles away, and though that distance would be crossed quickly, it still gave him time to adjust the plan.

"It looks like they've slain the spectral guardian and reset the crystal," he said. "Everyone head for the next shrine. I'll deal with this one myself."

"Are you sure you'll be able to?" It was Skoll who asked the question, though from his tone of voice, it wasn't that he doubted Thorn's ability, just that he was eager to have a fight.

Laughing, Thorn nodded.

"Yes. I'll leave the fourth shrine to you. Hit it however you like, but just make sure to keep ahold of it until I get there."

Swooping low overhead, Huginn suggested another plan.

"Why don't we split up?" he said. "I'll take Skoll, Vengef, Consecrate Kendal, and Salliish to the fifth shrine, while the others head to the fourth. It doesn't look like there are any enemies there at the moment, so we should be able to take both of them out in rapid succession."

"I think that's a good idea," Thorn said after thinking for a moment.

With their new plan in place, the team rapidly split up, each group shifting directions as they headed for the other shrines. Thorn continued to run towards the shrine Ascendant Lesior had just captured. Her team was still nearby, getting ready to retreat after killing off the spectral guardian and claiming the shrine for themselves. Most teams simply didn't have the strength or the numbers to think about defending a shrine, especially a major one, and it was clear that she was taking the more traditional approach of attacking the shrines and then leaving them before the counterattack arrived. That suited Thorn just fine, and he paused for a moment as he watched them leave.

As soon as they were out of sight, he teleported in, immediately triggering the upgraded shrine, and with a flash the crystal lit up and an eighth tier spectral guardian stepped forward, carrying a heavy shield and a mace. Grinning, Thorn dove into battle immediately, his halberd rising and falling with tremendous strength as he hammered a blow into the spectral Guardian's shield. All around him, more spectral soldiers were appearing.Thorn ignored them entirely as he focused on killing the guardian as fast as possible.

Letting out a shout that caused all of the surrounding spectral soldiers to surge towards them, the Guardian blocked Thorn's blow and returned a counter with his mace. Expecting it, Thorn's feet flashed and he moved closer, stepping inside the range of the strike, while at the same time using the butt end of his halberd to tap the mace aside. Like a tongue of flame leaping from one side of a paper to the other, Thorn's body shifted, somehow managing to get around behind the spectral Guardian even as the warrior stumbled from the force of Thorn's deflection.

The spectral Guardian was wearing thick armor, but it didn't matter as Thorn's halberd took on a shadowy form, its blade seeming to flicker in and out of existence. Unleashing a sweeping strike that appeared to pass straight through the spectral Guardian, Thorn jumped back, and after half a second, the spectral Guardian crumbled into nothingness. The entire fight had only lasted a few seconds, and Thorn quickly reached out to touch the shrine's crystal, accepting the prompts to upgrade it.

Not that far away, Ascendant Lesior and her team were still retreating, never imagining that anyone could have conquered the shrine that quickly. Though most ninth tier combatants could kill a spectral Guardian in the first and second level fairly quickly, Thorn's abilities were particularly suited to cutting them down. Had it been a third or fourth level spectral Guardian, it might have been a different story, but as it was, he outranked the Guardians by a full tier, and his ability to move around the battlefield at will allowed him to find the perfect opportunities to strike.

Seeing the crystal flash a red light, Thorn grinned and left, heading for the fourth major shrine. The others had continued on ahead, and after navigating his way through the ruins, Thorn saw Stello’s team fighting against a group of soldiers from the Temple of Man. It was clear that they weren't taking the fight very seriously, and just before Thorn arrived, he saw Stello unleash a burning strike that ripped through the spectral Guardian, slaying her on the spot. A moment later, Thorn was there, his hand reaching out to touch the crystal, as Stello jumped back, holding his sword defensively. As soon as he recognized Thorn, he shook his head and lowered his sword.

"That might be the most annoying ability I've ever seen," he said, speaking of Thorn's teleportation.

"If that's what you think, you definitely haven't hung around me long enough," Thorn said with a grin, rapidly upgrading the crystal.

As soon as it flashed red, he called to the rest of the team.

"Retreat!"

Boreg, who was in the middle of smashing a bunch of the soldiers, using two other soldiers as improvised clubs, tossed his unfortunate victims to the side and leapt through the air, landing heavily next to Thorn.

"How do I learn that fancy footwork you're doing?" he asked, looking at Thorn curiously.

"I don't think you can," Thorn replied, “not because you're not smart or anything, just because it's unique to me.”

Looking disappointed, Boreg scratched his head.

"I was afraid of that," he said.

With their team gathered, they abandoned the shrine, leaving the Temple of Man's soldiers staring after them in considerable shock as they headed for the fifth shrine. This one was in god beast territory, and they heard the fight long before they got there. When they arrived, they saw that the entire place was a mess. The shrine had been upgraded to the third level, and there were four god beasts fighting against Huginn and the others, defending the high eighth tier spectral Guardian. There were hundreds of seventh tier Spectral Soldiers running around the battlefield as well, attacking everybody that they could, and generally causing mayhem.

“Boreg help Vengef! Salliish lock down the Spectral Guardian! Sparky support Huginn! Skoll, we're going to hit the god beasts.”

Consecrate Kendal, besieged by three god beasts, was quite literally fighting for his life. His abilities primarily focused on healing and support, though he wasn't a bad fighter in any respect. Yet, facing three god beasts, it was all he could do to barely hang on, and blood streamed from multiple cuts and gashes across his body. Wielding the sword Thorn had given him, he hacked and cut, returning attacks anywhere he could. Into this fray Thorn and Skoll arrived with a vengeance. Skoll, shining like a burning sun, smashed into a large leopard that was attempting to disembowel Consecrate Kendal. Thorn, on the other hand, arrived like a giant ghost, stepping out of the darkness that swirled up from the ground, his halberd raised high overhead. With a sharp slicing sound, it fell, nearly bisecting the lizard god beast who was leaping toward Consecrate Kendal from behind.

The last remaining god beast, a withered-looking wolf-like creature, quickly backed off when he saw his companions getting attacked, as he rapidly reassessed the situation. Furious, Consecrate Kendal pursued him, wings of light bursting from his back as he unleashed a powerful attack. The lizard who had gotten hit by Thorn's chop leapt to its feet, its scales leaking blood where Thorn's blow had landed. Letting out an angry hiss, it spewed a fiery venom towards him, but a wall of stone rose up, blocking it. Losing sight of Thorn momentarily, the lizard quickly dodged to the side, expecting him to attack it from another direction. Yet a moment later, the wall fell, and he was still standing exactly where he had been a moment before. Half a dozen purple spears of pure arcane force shot from above Thorn's head, crossing the distance with unbelievable speed, and lancing straight through the lizard's body.

A horrified, pained shriek was ripped from the lizard's lungs, but before it could do anything, a massive wolf of stone and shadow rose up from behind it, its maw latching onto the god beast's body. Thorn leapt forward, his halberd crackling with lightning, as he drove it down through the lizard's head, pinning the struggling beast to the ground. Unseen by anyone, the giant wolf of earth and shadow contained a smaller golden wolf inside, that rapidly bit into the lizard god beast's core, chewing through its divinity. The god beast's pained roars grew muffled as it was dragged underground, its thrashing body shattering stone as it went.

The god beast fighting Skoll wasn't in much better shape and had lost a limb and its tail to the gleaming golden broadsword Skoll wielded. With a shriek, it attempted to retreat, joining up with the withered wolf god beast that Consecrate Kendal was still chasing. Outnumbered by Thorn's team, the god beasts rapidly retreated, pulling back until they were at a safe distance, leaving their lizard companion behind. None of them had quite seen what happened to him, but after he had been pulled underground, he had simply vanished. Assuming he was dead, the god beasts quickly shared a glance and retreated fully, leaving the spectral guardian for Thorn's team. It didn't take long for them to kill the spectral guardian and upgrade the shrine to the fourth level. When they had, the team took a moment to pause, gathering together to decide what was next.

Five of the major shrines were theirs, with only one remaining. That shrine, however, was sure to be guarded by a great number of god beasts, and according to Huginn, who had done a quick scout of the ruins, it looked as if the saints from the Temple of Man were headed there as well.

"If we were smart," Huginn said, looking around the group, "we would simply go and capture three of the smaller shrines. It wouldn't be hard, and we should have enough points."

Checking his token, Thorn nodded.

"We do. Between capturing shrines and those we've killed, we have barely enough that we could upgrade three more shrines."

"But that means we'd have to skip out on that fight," Skoll said, "and if everybody's gathering together, it's going to be quite exciting."

The battle-hungry Sun Wolf rubbed his hands together, looking around the group as he spoke. Boreg clearly agreed.

"I think Skoll is right," the giant ape rumbled. "The fight would be way more fun.”

“What about the rest of you?" Thorn asked, looking around.

Nobody answered for a moment, but then Sparky nodded.

"I'm with them," he said. "I think the fight will be more fun, and I wouldn’t mind killing some more god beasts or saints. No offense, anyone. What do you think, Stello?"

Surprised that Sparky was asking him, Stello thought for a moment and then shrugged.

"Matters not to me," he said. "It's pretty clear that we're going to win this challenge one way or another, so if you want to fight, let's fight."

Unsurprisingly, Salliish and Huginn were the only two who disagreed.

"I think we're wasting our time," Salliish said. "I would much rather go and capture shrines."

Huginn also didn't seem very interested.

"I'm not exactly sure why you're all so obsessed with fighting, but I think we would be better off capturing the shrines first. We're going to have a very difficult time capturing the sixth shrine with everyone there, and even if we do, there's a reasonable chance that working together, they'll be able to recapture it afterwards, which means that all of our efforts will go to naught. You have to remember, we've just made enemies of everyone, thus increasing the chance of them working together to beat our plan."

"That's a really good point," Thorn said. "Why don't we do this? Huginn, if you and Salliish want to go take down as many shrines as possible, I'll head to the last major shrine and keep everybody occupied. Then, once you're done, let me know, and I can show up and upgrade them."

There was a slight shift in the air as Thorn stopped speaking, and a small figure appeared next to him. Seeing everyone's stares, Eve waved.

"Hello, everyone," she said. "My name's Eve. Thorn, why don't you just leave the upgrading of the shrines to me? I can go with Huginn and make sure that the shrines get to level four.”

“Can you spend my points remotely?" Thorn asked.

“Yes, quite easily actually. The sophistication of the enchantments on them is not very high. In fact, if we need more points, I can arrange for us to borrow as many as we need.”

Raising his eyebrows, Thorn looked at Eve who returned his look with a smirk.

“We should be good on points, but if you can spend mine to upgrade the shrines, that would be great," he said.

Huginn, who had been staring curiously at Eve, suddenly bobbed his head.

"So that's how you've been doing it," he said.

"Doing what?” Boreg asked, unsure what Huginn was talking about.

"The leveling of the shrines. I was wondering how Thorn was making those changes, but it's clearly thanks to our little friend here. I didn’t realize that these devices could interfere with the enchantments."

Nodding, Thorn held out his hand for Eve to land on.

"That's right. Everyone, meet Eve. She's an expert in restructuring enchantments, among other things."

With the plan decided, the team split up once again. Eve headed off with Salliish and Huginn to take down more shrines, while Thorn and the others made their way toward the last of the major shrines and the fierce fight that surely awaited them.