Steamforged Sorcery - Chapter 44 (Patreon)

“So what do we do? We can’t go back,” Cowl said. “The only path is forwards.”

“And forwards I’ll go,” Angel said. “But the two of you aren’t ready for this. Not until I check it out.”

“You’re going to move on without us?” Cowl asked, cocking an eyebrow. “And what if there’s a monster?”

“I’ve fought monsters before,” Angel said. “But you haven’t dodged a dozen traps at the same time, have you?”

“I have not. Have you?”

“Well, no. But I’ve dodged five, which is more than most people. Just plant your metal ass on the ground and wait for me to get back. I’m sure the big strong hunter can do that,” Angel said. He turned to Vanessa and winked. “Keep an eye on him.”

He reached into his bag and tossed Vanessa a filled canister. “In case you need to use that band of yours. Don’t waste it, but if the time comes, don’t be frugal either. I know I said we need to avoid splitting up, but you two aren’t ready for this.”

Vanessa nodded, not looking particularly pleased about the situation. Angel turned and examined the room once more, plotting out his path. Then he raised his hand and shot the grappling hook out.

It whizzed through the air and buried itself in the ceiling. Angel swung forward, tucking his feet forward and pulling the hook free as he reached the apogee of the swing before shooting it out once again.

Angel sailed across the room like a monkey in the jungle. When he reached the far side, he pulled the hook free one last time and thrust his right hand into the wall with all his might. The metal crumpled slightly, giving his fingers purchase on it.

He hung there for a moment, then shot the grappling hook into the wall and slowly rappelled down it. When he got a few feet above the floor, he started gently moving the rocks out of the way without actually setting foot on them.

It was with absolutely no surprise that Angel found a thick mesh of white Old World magic lines covering the floor. He grimaced, then spun midair to get a better look at the massive doors.

“What is it with catacombs and big ass doors, anyways?” Angel muttered to himself. “It’s not like people were giants back before the Great Wars. Bunch of egotistical pricks and their stupid doors.”

The door, an impassive hunk of metal, unsurprisingly gave no response to his insults. Worse, it was thick. Angel could barely see through the crack at the center. It was several feet deep. It wasn’t going to budge from any amount of force that he could produce.

“I guess we’re doing this the hard way, then.”

“What?” Cowl yelled. “We can’t hear you!”

“Shut up! I’m monologuing to myself,” Angel yelled back. He flicked his eyepiece down and scanned the door. It found nothing. As far as he could tell, it was just a massive slab of metal. A slow grin pulled across Angel’s features. “Or maybe we don’t have to use the hard way at all.”

Angel retracted his hook, rising through the air until he was hanging in front of a hinge. Like the rest of the door, it was made of metal. However, Angel couldn’t think of a single hinge that could possibly hold a piece of metal this large on its own.

His thoughts proved correct. Runes covered the surface of the hinge. He recognized about an eighth of them, which was better than normal. Angel spent a few moments memorizing the runes. It had been hard at first, but the lack of paper made it a necessity. He’d long since grown adept at recognizing patterns, and any knowledge he could get his hands on was invaluable.

Once he was finished, Angel drummed his fingers on his chin. Making magic work properly was incredibly difficult, but breaking it was a whole different story. It wasn’t a question of how to break something, but the method he wanted to use to do it. Angel’s eyes lit up and he glanced down at his metal arm. “Maybe we’ll make you work for your rent instead of breaking my toys. How’s that sound?”

Angel pressed his hand against the hinge. It sparked as soon as he touched it. A small puff of smoke rose up as the runes fried. Purple electricity arced down his hand and vanished into the arm.

The hinge let out a loud creak. The metal warped as the weight of the door crushed it. He swung out of the way as the hinge at the top of the door snapped under all the added pressure on it.

With an earthshaking shudder, the door crashed to the ground, falling forwards and crashing down in the center of the room. Angel ripped his grappling hook free and jumped down on top of it.

He was nearly blinded by the brilliant golden light that emanated out from the room behind the fallen door. Glimmering gears and tubes full of crackling energy lined the walls, churning along silently.

At the center of the room was a large podium with a glass orb floating in the center. There were several regular sized doors along the sides of the room, nestled in between the machinery.

“Good job,” Cowl called, hopping down from the ledge and landing on the rubble in front of the door.

It shifted underneath his feet and a thrum ran through the room. White lines of light broke through the rock beneath them as Cowl’s foot nudged a buried old magic line.

With a blinding flash, a hulking minotaur appeared in the room. It stood twice their height and carried a savage looking bronze axe. The beast let out a snort. Angel swore and flicked his eyepiece down as the creature started towards Cowl.

Race: Minotaur

Level 120

Status: Healthy

Information accuracy: 76%

Strength:  100

Intelligence: 20

Nimbleness: 20

Toughness: 100

Rating: Significant Threat

Weak point(s): Not Enough Information (0/100)

Element(s): None

Error: Unable to analyze further. Information incomplete

There wasn’t time to say anything. Cowl’s sword blurred out of its sheath and he dashed forward, his wings shooting out from his back. The Hunter thrust the blade at the minotaur, which knocked it away with the hilt of its axe.

The minotaur kicked Cowl in the chest, sending the man tumbling backwards. It loped forward and brought the axe down on him. Cowl rolled over, bringing his sword to bear and blocking the strike just before it could strike his head.

A bolt of lightning tore out of Angel’s hand and slammed into the minotaur’s back. It stumbled forward, snarling as the strike singed the hair on its back. It hadn’t done much damage, but it bought Cowl enough time to roll over and slash at the creature’s legs.

The minotaur snarled and turned its attention back towards Cowl. It raised the axe and brought it down on the man as he was standing, forcing him to scramble back once more. The minotaur snarled, ignoring Angel completely and swinging at Cowl again.

He deflected the attack to the side and finally managed to get his feet under him, rising up and thrusting his blade into the monster’s chest. The strike punched clean through it. The minotaur snarled and grabbed Cowl by the shoulder, picking the man up and hurling him into the wall.

Cowl hit it hard, sliding down and nearly falling over before he got his feet under him. The minotaur reared back, preparing to hurl its axe at the Hunter. Before it could let go, a bolt of green light screamed across the room and slammed into its head.

Three more followed after it. Two of them struck the monster’s chest and the last missed completely, flying across the room and burning a hole into the wall. The minotaur howled, spinning to find the source of the annoying attacks.

The movement bought Cowl enough time to grab the disk and insert it onto his sword, doubling the weapon in size as he darted towards the minotaur and brought it across the beast diagonally. It didn’t even have a chance to scream. It toppled forwards, split in twain, and the two halves of the monster crashed to the ground. The room fell silent aside from Angel and Cowl’s heavy breathing.

“I’m sorry,” Vanessa said. “I know you probably had it covered, but you said to shoot if it looked like it would help.”

Angel shook his head. “Not at all. That was beautiful aim, Vanessa. Well done.”

He stalked towards Cowl, his eyes narrow. The Hunter disassembled his sword as Angel approached and cocked his head to the side.

“What –”

Angel hit Cowl in the side of the face with his left hand hard enough to send the man spinning. “You goddamned idiot. What do you not understand about ‘listen to my instructions when we’re in a catacomb’? You could have gotten us all killed. What if this trap was damaged? The whole room could have gone under!”