TS5 - Chapter 1 (Patreon)

Surveying the long hall in front of him, Thorn took a moment to appreciate the fine stonework before glancing over his shoulder.

"What do you think? Is everyone ready?" he asked.

Velin, Mina, Corvo, Alph, and Sparky were rechecking their gear after the last fight. They had just completed the main section of the earth labyrinth above Verdant, and were getting ready to enter the last room where they would face the boss of this labyrinth. Walking up next to Thorn, Velin's staff tapped against the ground, the sound echoing in the long hallway.

"It's sort of strange to think we're finally doing this," she said. "After all, for the last six months, we've been stopping here every time."

"It's true," Thorn admitted, a small smile gracing his face as his eyes traced his wife’s profile appreciatively. "I can sense the elementals getting a bit restless."

"Me too," she admitted, "but we've gained everything we can from this labyrinth. So it's time to end this."

"Didn't you say that puzzle thing is coming soon?" Mina asked, walking forward to join them.

Her bright red, curly hair was pulled back in a simple ponytail, and she was missing the witch hat that she normally wore. But the wand and dagger she carried were the same as ever.

"Urmag’Tal’s Puzzle," Corvo supplied helpfully. "Yes, it should be. From what Master Keadore said, it should be opening up in the next month or two, so we want to make sure we have time.”

“Do you think you'll make the cutoff?" Velin asked, glancing at Thorn from the corner of her eyes.

"I'm not sure," Thorn admitted. "I honestly don't know the situation in the Temple of Man very well, so it's sort of guesswork on my part. But even if I'm not on the list, I have a feeling that if I just go to the puzzle, I'll be able to get in."

"Titan privileges?"

Chuckling, Thorn nodded.

"Yes, exactly. But enough about that. Let's focus up. We've got a labyrinth to complete."

Double-checking to make sure the seal he had placed on his mana was in place, Thorn stretched his arms and took up his halberd. He had been acting as the group's tank for the last few months, taking the opportunity to practice and refine his martial forms, even as the others continued to grow in strength. He could feel that he was on the cusp of another breakthrough in his ability to integrate his elemental affinities with his martial arts, and with every fight his mastery of his weapon and his body grew more unified.

Once he was ready, he turned and surveyed the group. Velin, who had been growing steadily as the World Tree established itself here in Verdant, was now in the ninth tier. Her strength continued to shoot up like a weed, though considering her connection to the world-spanning plant and her status as this world's guardian spirit, Thorn felt that it made total sense. Her ascension into the tenth tier wouldn't come quite as easily as the previous tiers had, but Thorn was confident that she would figure it out.

Mina, who was standing next to Velin, was solidly at the top of the eighth tier and was starting to touch the edge of the ninth. Behind her, Corvo, who had only been in the sixth tier when Thorn came back from the Renith ruins six months prior, had maxed out his affinity to the air element, thanks to the natural treasures that Thorn had brought back, and was starting to see some of the explosive growth that Mina had enjoyed, allowing him to rise into the seventh tier.

The other two members of the group, Alph and Sparky, were a more complicated case. Alph was currently trying to strengthen his physique, and his entire focus was on finding ingredients for his potions that could do just that. When he wasn't working with the group to clear the labyrinths, he was spending his time coming up with various concoctions in an effort to allow his body to catch up with his mind. Sparky, on the other hand, had been growing explosively as he finished absorbing the divinity he had seized in the ruins. For him, though, it wasn't so much that he was achieving the next level as it was he was reclaiming his original strength. Thorn wasn't sure what level of strength Sparky had once possessed, but he imagined that it must have been incredible, considering how much damage Sparky had brought to the Temple of Man and Council of Gods before he went into hiding.

For the past six months or so, the team had used the elemental labyrinths to hone their skill and increase their strength, treating them much like they would have a dungeon back on Angoril. Meanwhile, down on Verdant Below, the elemental kings kept their word, sending waves of their creations against Cloudstone City for the human settlers to fight off. Oberlin had gone to join the defensive effort, using his horde of spiders to dominate the battlefield. And the last Thorn had heard, Empress Athena was planning on sending him with an expeditionary force to sweep through the rest of the continents that dotted Verdant, in order to bring them under the Angorilian Empire's control.

Seeing that everyone was ready, Thorn led the way down the long hall. This marked the point between the labyrinth and the final room. They'd already cleared three of the throne rooms,  with only a final throne room remaining. As tough as the previous fights had been, none of them were particularly worried. With Velin and Sparky's ascension into the ninth tier, their team was nigh unbeatable, and it was with confident steps that Thorn led them into the large antechamber at the end of the hall.

At the back of the room, he could see the double doors leading into the throne room, where they would find the four elemental kings seated and waiting for them. Three times they had entered the room already after defeating the enemy guardians, and just as before, between them and the door, there stood an army of elementals and Anazi. The large, scaled creatures hissed when they saw Thorn and the others, clashing their weapons together. Armored in stone plate mail, each carried two scimitars along with a small, round shield on their left forearm, their armor extended all the way to their tails, where razor-sharp blades of stone transformed their tails into deadly whips. A size bigger than the Anazi who assaulted Cloudstone City down on Verdant, these were the final guardians, created as the ultimate layer of defense to guard Mountain Shaker, the elemental king of Earth, who had created this part of the labyrinth.

"They don't look happy to see us," Corvo remarked with a wry smile as the Anazi glared at the team.

"What's the plan?" Velin asked, her eyes sweeping the room as she assessed the threats.

"I vote same plan as always," Mina said, flipping her dagger into a reverse grip.

Lifting her wand, she prepared for battle.

"And by that, you mean no plan," Thorn quipped. "Don't you just normally run in and fight?"

Flashing a smile at the Titan, Mina nodded.

"Yeah, something like that."

As her words left her mouth, her body shivered and split, transforming into double copies. Dressed all in white, her dagger soul darted forward, heading straight for the enemy, while her wand soul pointed her wand forward and began to speak in a low voice, arcane words rapidly appearing and vanishing around her. Hearing Velin's annoyed sigh, Thorn laughed and shrugged.

"Well, I guess that's the plan," he said.

Not to be left behind, Corvo launched himself into the air, his coat spreading wide as he transformed into a purple feathered raven. The wind under his wings began to gather, forming sharp blades that were sent hurtling towards the enemy. Sparky, joining Corvo in transforming, changed into his troll form, hurling spells into the enemy's midst. Even Velin lifted her staff to begin casting her defensive magic. Noticing that Alph was the only one who didn't seem eager to launch himself into battle, Thorn looked over curiously and saw the alchemist fiddling with a couple of potions.

"Everything all right, Alph?" he asked.

"Hm? Oh, yes. Yeah, everything's fine," Alph said.

Sensing a note of nervous energy. Behind Alph's words, Thorn's eyes narrowed.

"What are you doing?" he asked, not trusting Alph's assurances.

"I just had an idea for an improvement," Alph said, his tone growing defensive, "and I thought this would be a good place to test it out. I'm just modifying some of my pumpkins really quick."

Having finished mixing the solution, Alph capped the vial and shook it, causing Thorn to step back as it glowed brightly. Around them, the fight was already underway, raging as the members of the team clashed against the lizard men and their stone elemental comrades. Ignoring the fighting, Thorn asked about Alph's improvement.

"What's it supposed to do?" he asked.

"It's supposed to concentrate the explosion a little bit better," Alph said, retrieving a grinning, palm-sized jack-o'-lantern from his dimensional ring as he continued to shake the mixture. "One of the problems with these bombs is that the blast radius is a little bit too high. I'm trying to maintain the strength while decreasing the blast radius. You know, make it more of a precision tool."

"Ah, yes, precision," Thorn said, taking another small step back.

Alph was not known for his precision, though the team had been getting increasingly good at working around him on the battlefield. When Alph got involved, it typically ended up with everyone else having to make a run for it. Feeling something move on his shoulder, Thorn glanced over and saw Eve had emerged from his nanite robe and was watching Alph with interest.

"Isn't he so cute when he concentrates?" she asked.

Taking a look at the wild-haired alchemist, Thorn raised his eyebrows.

"Cute's not exactly the word I would use," he said quietly.

With supreme concentration, Alph uncorked the vial and put two and a half drops into the top of the pumpkin, which immediately started to fizzle, its eyes glowing bright green with flames as he examined it. Still holding the pumpkin in one hand, he capped the vial with the other and slid it into his bandoleer.

"Well, it didn't explode this time," he said, "so that's good. Let's see if it works."

Stepping forward, his eyes rapidly scanned the battlefield until he saw a small group of lizard men running towards them from the distance.

"That should do," he muttered to himself before drawing back his arm and hurling the pumpkin towards them along with a shout of his favorite battle cry, "Get spiced!"

Seeing the flaming pumpkin tumbling through the air towards them, the leader of the lizard men barked out a command and one of the other lizards jumped forward, raising his small shield to block the attack.

"Now, see what should happen," Alph said about to explain the adjustment he had made to his pumpkin but before he could finish his sentence the pumpkin impacted the shield and there was a small 'zoop'.

It sounded similar to a rapidly closed zipper but the effect was quite a bit more impressive, as the pumpkin winked out of existence, taking the lizard man with it.

“What was supposed to happen is not that," Alph finished, reaching up to scratch his head. "Huh, that was unexpected. I'm gonna have to work on it."

"Maybe stick to regular pumpkins for the moment," Thorn said, patting Alph on the shoulder. "Come on."

Lifting his halberd, he rushed forward to join the others, parrying a strike that was aimed for Velin as he joined her on the battlefield. Her shield would have taken care of the attack, but it was more the matter of principle than anything else. As he rushed past her, he blew her a kiss, and then lifting his halberd, jumped into the thick of it, his blade cutting through the air in a vicious arc. Nearby, Sparky was fighting fiercely against a dozen lizard men, using the unreal physical regeneration that his troll body afforded him as he tore at them with spells and claws. Thorn entered the mix like a charging bull, smashing through the Anazi and throwing them back.

A few of them were about his size, though most were smaller, and as he started to hack and cut with his halberd, the Anazi began to drop like flies. As each hit the ground, its body would shimmer, transforming into a dark yellow mana that sank into the ground under their feet, returning to the control of the elemental king, Mountain Shaker, Thorn could have seized the earth-attributed mana, using it for himself. But instead, he was taking the opportunity to refine his elemental blade style. He was practicing his earth form, which focused on stability and defense, along with unstoppable blows that mimicked the force of an avalanche, but every once in a while he would throw in fierce blows that seemed like an explosion of flame.

Letting out a roar, a massive Anazi lunged forward, bringing both of his scimitars down on Thorn’s head with every ounce of his prodigious strength. Sliding his foot back to lower his center of balance, Thorn’s halberd spun, intercepting the attack and deflecting it to the side. At the same time, his stance took the form of a mountain, connecting him to the ground below. When the Anazi’s tail slammed into his leg a moment later, he didn’t budge a single inch, his position unshakable. Thorn gripped his halberd in both hands and whirled it over his head, bringing it down with the force of a rock slide, forcing his opponent to block.

Even though the Anazi warrior blocked the blow with two swords, he wasn’t able to stop the momentum, and was forced back half a dozen quick steps, crashing into some of his companions. As he struggled to right himself, a whirling blade of wind hacked into the side of his arm, nearly severing it in a single blow. A beam of frosted silver arrived next, carving a huge hole straight through his ribs and out his back, severing his spine in the process. Clicking his tongue as his opponent died to Corvo and Mina’s attacks, Thorn stepped forward and launched his attack at the next Anazi, bisecting him with a single, focused blow.

The fight was fierce, but barely a few minutes after it started, it was clear that the defenders were completely outmatched. Thorn and his team carved through them like they were made of clay, filling the air with mana as they returned to the labyrinth. This fight was more of a formality than anything, and it didn’t take long before all the enemies had been slain and they were standing in front of the door to the throne room once more. Transforming back into his humanoid form, Corvo looked around and grinned.

“Well done, everyone. Pretty sure that’s a new record.”