[Ashborn-B1] 56. The Thousand Masks of the Gods (Patreon)

LVI

The Thousand Masks of the Gods

The first half of the journey towards the entrance was uneventful, so Korin and Ori had the time to explain the soul sea to me.

But the explanations were soon shelved.

An undead in ragged leathers wielding two daggers launched forwards, intent on cutting my throat with a swipe.

[Scorn - lvl. 23]

I didn’t spare it much of a glance. A branch shot from the miniature gate near his feet, sending the scorn toppling and nosediving across the ice.

Saber’s nails melted through the ground, giving him extra grip. His aim was true. Claws carrying behind them the force of a hundred men smashed into the undead’s centre, cracking all the bones within and almost bisecting the creature in a single strike. The shockwave that rocked through the ground would’ve surely yanked the two unconscious monks from the realm of shadows if they’d still been strapped to his back.

‘He’s a lot stronger and faster.’ Normally, him leaving my side to attack was a no-go. Not even with the increased speed. But he had some solid help.

My flametalon loomed beside me, shadowing me and the lowest level monks underneath her wings. Flames bloomed from her feathers that weren’t a part of her natural appearance.

‘She’ll last around five minutes before the fires consume her.’ Having the late stage bird out for that amount of time was helpful, but it was a shame she’d immediately enter recovery afterwards.

My attention turned to the branch still poking through the gate. The atmosphere around it was hazy from all the heating wafting off. ‘It’s losing an incredible amount of energy.’

A branch was no problem for now, but summoning an entire tree would prove difficult.

‘Where’s the cindertree even pulling the energy from?’ Did it passively gather essence or did it cultivate like myself? I couldn’t tell.

[Scorn - lvl. 23] x 1 slain. Extra experience awarded for killing a higher level enemy.

[Scorn - lvl. 24] x 1 slain. Extra experience awarded for killing a higher level enemy.

[Scorn - lvl. 25] x 1 slain. Extra experience awarded for killing a higher level enemy.

…

Rin dislodged her trident from one of the corpses and hauled it onto her shoulders. “Any other groups nearby?”

I shook my head. “They’ve given up on barring our way.”

Why they even tried in the first place wasn’t quite clear to me. If there truly was a general intelligence behind the scorn’s actions, they should’ve noticed by now that it’d take more than a dozen undead to take out a group with me in it.

‘Could’ve been a throwaway attack.’ Not an inconceivable tactic with their numbers.

Leaving the mystery for what it was, we strapped the two disciples to Saber’s rear again, then went on our way.

The army was camped up on the hill in front of the mountain entrance.

The area was swamped.

“We’ll just have to setup our tents wherever, I suppose,” Korin sighed.

Before he could finish his sentence, a silhouette darted towards us from the centre of the formation.

“Lady Sunstrider!” Leah practically teleported in front of me and lowered her head. “I’m glad for your safe return.”

“Ah…thank you?” I frowned. “Did you and Ren run into any troubles?” Why was she coming out to greet me?

“Not at all.” Turning to Ori, she inclined her head again. “It’s good to see you again as well, Lady Stillwater. Your companions as well.”

“Likewise,” the monk returned her greeting.

Leah made a show of eyeing the number of people, including the two still unconscious. “Should you prefer it, our clan has enough room to accommodate you. I’m also quite interested in hearing more about the ‘Heart Monastery’s rascal’.” Her lip quivered but didn’t pull upwards.

Korin whirled on his sect sister. “What have you been telling them about me?!”

“Only the truth.” Ori turned up her nose and smothered a smile.

The two descended further into familiar arguments as they let Leah guide them to the Dawnflame’s section, followed by the other monks, who chuckled at the interactions.

I only realised what happened a moment after falling in step behind them.

‘Frightening.’

Her timing was too perfect. She’d either had her eyes glued to my locator or was on constant lookout for one of my chicks.

I shook my head. ‘Glad she’s on my side.’

As promised, Leah found them an open section in the middle of our camp, which was too neat and tidy for it to have been a recent job, and we unstrapped the two disciples strapped to Saber’s back.

“This is as far as I can take them,” I said. “They’ll need to make the rest of the journey themselves.”

There was no telling what was waiting for us on the other side of the entrance in addition to a few drakes. I couldn’t constantly have Saber out. Neither could I have them slow him down during battle.

Korin’s bow was so deep his forehead almost touched the floor. “You’ve done more than we could’ve asked for.”

I waved him away. “You may consider your debt paid if you help me with what we’ve discussed.”

“Just let us know when you’re ready,” Ori said.

I thanked them, then excused myself and headed for Aurille’s tent. Rin sauntered behind me, elbows over her shoulders as was her wont. “Didn’t really get to stretch as much as I’d hoped.”

The one encounter with the scorn was the sole one we’d after all.

“Then you’re in luck. We’ll be heading inside ahead of the others.”

We turned to the third voice. Jake waved, his blond hair plastered to his face from all the marching he’d done.

I smiled. “Glad you made it.”

“As am I,” he sighed. “We had a few close calls.”

Behind him, a group of disciples sat around a campfire. ‘They’ve definitely lost members.’ Stragglers, or did the scorn get to them? ‘Maybe both’.

“Where’s the other guy?” Rin asked.

“Drew is with the vanguard,” Jake said. “They’re discussing rotations and making sure they understand each other’s classes.”

I hummed. Good. Having a dependable frontline would increase our odds of surviving tenfold.

We headed to the main tent. Aurille and Tsall were inside, the boy leaned over the map rolled out onto the table.

“You’re right on time,” he said. “Take a look at this.” His black nails tapped the map and highlighted clusters of locators that weren’t moving, centred around location.

Those were undead all right.

“Why are they waiting?” I frowned. Doing so wouldn’t doing them any good, would it? They were only giving us time to rest…“A diversion?”

“That was my thought, too,” Aurille said.

Tsall nodded. “Make us think we’re safe, then rush after us once we enter the tunnels.”

“Surely,” Rin said, “we’d catch onto them before they ever got close.” We could track their locators after all.

A collective frown adorned our foreheads. There was something at play here.

“It’s not like we have another path but forwards,” Jake said. “We’ll just need to adapt to their strategies on the fly.”

“Who exactly are we sending to scout ahead?” Tsall surveyed those currently in the room. “You’ll want more members than this.”

“I’ll take a few of the Dawnflames,” I said. “We need to chart out a path towards Raven and the others anyway. There’s also the Dragonflight to worry about.”

“I’ll be joining, too,” Jake said. “However, I’d rather not force any one in my group to reinforce our numbers.”

Understandable. They were in dire straits as it was.

“Taking too many of my clan with us will weaken the army’s cohesion,” Aurille said.

Which I didn’t quite understand, until she explained further: “The more common classes of our clan use spells that synchronise with other and empower basic skills.”

“Huh,” Rin intoned. “Didn’t know that.”

In the end, Aurille thought she could spare around ten men. I proposed a similar number for the Dawnflames, putting us at twenty-five in total. Not bad for a force meant to push ahead into the tunnels…but it could use more.

“Why not ask the monks?” Rin said.

“Most of them are injured,” I said.

“Most,” she repeated.

I hummed. Korin and Ori could join. They may even be motivated to, as it mustn’t be forgotten that the Black Fangs were also on the trail ahead of us.

“They still need to take care of their other members, though,” I said.

“I’m sure,” Rin said, “an order from you or some promised future benefits will push a few motivated Dawnflames to help the monks.”

I scratched my cheek. ‘I suppose.’

“I’ll speak with Leah,” I said.

Getting some Dawnflames to carry the extra load in the unconscious monks was easier than I thought. Better yet, Ren and Leah had already made the necessary preparations before I even asked.

Of the two of them, Leah would be staying behind to lead the remaining Dawnflames. Ren was joining me. The blond boy…wasn’t too happy about that? He didn’t show it openly but the way his lips jerked after I told him to join reminded me of all the times I bit into something sour.

Leah patted Ren on the back and wished him good luck. A gesture Ren slapped away with feigned anger.

‘I don’t think it has anything to do with me,’ I thought. ‘Maybe he’s just lazy?’

Well, it didn’t matter. He was coming regardless of his wants.

Before long, we had nearly thirty members standing in front of the shadowed entrance into the mountain. Up close, the entrance was even bigger—the ceiling far enough overhead that I could jump on Ashwing and comfortably fly through. But the most standout feature was the darkness shrouding the exit, which writhed and wriggled like a living being. Had I not seen the Dragonflight exit and enter, I would’ve been hesitant to dive in.

Walking through, my skin pierced through a film of cold, the shadows latching onto my face like water. The sensation vanished once I emerged inside. I blinked the phantom water from my eyes. The interior was as expansive as the entrance alluded to.

‘Did the mountain climb that high?’ The proportions didn’t appear right.

Bells chimed behind me. “What an unpleasant sensation.” Korin, too, wiped his face as a reflex.

“You can say that again,” Rin said. “Really, what’s with this place and the cold?”

One-by-one, the rest of our members entered the tunnel, Aurille being the last. The first thing she did once she entered was to check her locator.

“The signals remain unchanged,” she said.

I fished out my own beacon and confirmed her statement. Raven and the others weren’t that far from us.

“Let’s not waste any time,” Aurille said.

So we delved through the tunnel, if it could even be called that. It was a straight path without and side-entrances, making our scouting task as easy as could be. My chicks also allowed me to see far into the distance, giving us enough time to prepare for potential enemies.

What I saw ahead of us made me slow my pace.

“Something the matter?” Aurille said, darting over the frozen ground like she was gliding.

“Well…it’s…” I wasn’t even sure how to begin explaining this. “…you’ll see.”

Which had everyone glancing at me, then at the people beside them. They were no longer confused once the images in the distance sharpened. Breathing slowed, the rise and falls of chests diminished. Widened gaze travelled over the frozen walls…and met the eyes of a hundred—no, many more than that—faces stuck in various states of emotion: crying, laughter, fear. An artist would’ve found here a goldmine of reference points. For us, there was only horror. The way the blood had drained from the corpses and left their skin entirely white and blue, turning them into an audience of ghosts.

“…those are our colours,” Jake whispered.

But luckily, we didn’t recognise anyone.

“Previous trial takers,” Aurille said, voice low.

A splatter of dark against the ice moved. I turned in the direction just in time to catch a leg disappearing into the wall. Dead fingers hooked into the drake’s robe, mouth, ears, and any other place they found purchase. They pulled so vehemently that the beast couldn’t even die with an expression of horror but had their face morphed into the simile of a smile. One of the ghost disciples dragging the drake inside turned to me, and placed an index finger over a too wide mouth.

‘Shush,’ it said.

And an uncontrollable shiver passed through me.