[Ashborn-B1] 60. Of Fire and ice (Patreon)

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Of Fire and Ice

“What do we do?” Jake asked.

What to do indeed. This was without a doubt the Shrine of the Dove, which meant we’d need to enter this place sooner or later. However, the timing would be important.

“Sir Decim,” I said, “told us the shrine wouldn’t activate until a certain number of people entered. Around one hundred if correct.”

Ren added: “There’ll be a two hour timer though until the entrances close fully.”

Aurille considered for a moment. “Let’s go in with the two of us for now. See what we’re dealing with.”

I raised a brow at her. “You need to complete this shrine, too?”

She inclined her head at the frost giant. “If correct, that guardian is in possession of a key that my clan needs.”

Which was the best news the Dawnflames could’ve gotten as it meant we didn’t have to challenge this shrine by ourselves.

‘I’m not even sure it’d be possible.’ Taking out a lvl. 70 monster with just the people in our clan…if everyone in our clan attacked at the same time, maybe. But then I was willing to bet one of my little toes that a monster like this would have its fair share of wide sweeping attacks for swatting flies.

The two of us went down on Ashwing’s back. The chamber eyed bigger from the sky.

Custodian Tesoro had spoken true.

“It really is like a miniature world,” I mouthed.

The land was so expansive we couldn’t see the whole of it from the cliff behind us, as the walls blocked some of the view. There were more pillars than the just the one in the centre. Five in total. They didn’t all reach to the ceiling, didn’t even reach halfway, but they each had a glass container in their middle that held a tiny ember.

“There are leylines in the ground,” Aurille said.

Ashwing angled her head and saw the essence coursing through the ground. It was only the faint glow poking through the surface that revealed their existence at all.

“It’s a formation,” I said.

Aurille nodded. “The Divine being in the centre…we’ll likely need to activate or protect all five pillars as they do whatever they’re constructed to do.”

“While the big guy tries to stop us,” I added.

This was shaping up to be a hell of a task. ‘No wonder the Dawnflames wanted my help.’ And no wonder that the Vermilion Dawn herself had failed.

The guardian didn’t open its eyes or show any sign of scanning us with its senses, but we weren’t keen on testing whether it was really asleep, so we left it in peace.

“There are other entrances,” Aurille said.

Opposite the guardian. More double doors engraved into the walls, though these, like the pillars, weren’t as humongous as the first. They were the size you’d expect from a regular entrance, albeit it one big enough to accommodate people of my height. Taking my locator in hand, I felt signals coming from that direction.

We landed to inspect the entrances. They could be opened from the inside and didn’t close on their own.

A frigid gust whipped through the dark halls beyond the open doorway.

“We should—” I started.

An ear-piercing scream bouncing off the walls cut me off. The light pouring from the Dove Shrine was the sole light illuminating the hundreds of faces staring back at me.

“More of those,” I sighed.

How many Dawnflames or other allies were going through these tunnels right now and falling victim?

Too many if the amount of previous trial takers that were already stuck were any indication.

“We should split up,” Aurille said.

My lips pursed. “Are you sure?” The ghosts didn’t scare me—I had Skul to ward them off—but I worried about running into one of the other Omens.

“I would rank myself pretty high among the Omens,” Aurille said. “Second strongest, behind Caelia, though the margin between me and the others is quite small.” She side-eyed me. “This underground terrain isn’t to your advantage, but I still think you’d be able to put a fight. I wouldn’t be surprised if you could seriously injure me if I was careless.”

Having someone tell you to your face that you’d have a chance against them if they underestimated you was a lesson in humility. But I’d seen enough of Aurille to know it was true.

‘She’s quite the bad matchup to be honest.’ Her powers allowed her to achieve semi-flight, which was one of the advantages I had over most other people in this stage. Moreover, her element gave her great defence and stopping power. My summons were durable, but a well-placed ice pike would still pierce their skin…though Skul may be different.

“Besides,” she said, “I don’t think I could stop you from fleeing if you weren’t set on fighting.”

I sighed. “You don’t have to sell me on the idea any further. You’ll return to the army?”

She nodded. “Though your summon would work best in guiding them here, you’ll also have the easiest them finding others of our alliance.”

That was true. After Aurille got the army here safely, she could also take some of them and enter this side of the shrine and search for more members.

“Are we returning at a set time?” I asked.

“I expect the army will need one to three hours to reach this place, depending on the resistance we face.”

Upon which the activation timer for this shrine would activate.

“So three hours max,” I said.

Three hours to delve into these tunnels, save whatever allies I could, and make my way back to this shrine…

Beside me, Ashwing pecked the outer layer of her wing.

“Let’s do it,” I said.

Dozens of spirits shrieked and fled from Skul’s hovering form, giving my party of Dawnflames, RIn, Korin and Ori included, a free path through the halls.

Ahead of us, more humane cries echoed.

“What do we do if we run into cultists or Black Fangs?” Ren asked. He spied on the ghosts from the corner of his sight, not convinced Skul was enough to deter them.

“Avoid them if we can,” I said.

Neither of the two factions were our friends, but fighting every enemy we came across was a good way to arrive late to the shrine. Being stranded out here wasn’t on my priority list.

“And the Dragonflight?” Korin said.

…

“Cut through them as efficiently as possible,” I said. They’d assault me on sight no matter what we did.

Beside me, Rin grinned.

Halls unfolded and multiplied, straight paths curved, turning the entirety of the Shrine of Eternity into more of a maze than it already was. Cold air entered my lungs. In the back of my head, I heard heels slamming on ice. The terrified flight of a girl trying to outrun her pursuer, moments before she was dragged into a flaming hell.

I breathed out. “One group ahead of us. Allies fighting the Dragonflight. Prepare to engage.”

Our allies numbered around twenty. Mostly Dawnflames, some Weapon Empire, and Snow Moons. They’d formed a shoddy front and backline that tried to fend off the pack of drakes numbering around twenty as well. The drakes had two elites in their mix, though, which was why our allies were losing.

Fires ignited in Skul’s gaze. I spawned a gate ahead of him and another beside the head of an elite lunging for a disciple’s throat.

The elite redirected his punch towards the portal, hands wreathed in flames in the form of a dragon head—

Skul’s jaw clamped down on his face and his muscles went slack.

Steam rose from Rin’s skin as the girl sped forwards, trident in hand, point en route to skewer one of the lesser drakes. Pagodas appeared over Korin and Ori’s head. Meanwhile, the Dawnflames with us launched a slew of fire arts.

Of them, Ren had the most visually striking technique. A red gem in the centre of a metal plate on his chest flared. The piece had five ‘arms’ in the form of hollow tubes, whose purpose became clear after waves of fire gushed from each arm and curved around Ren’s body. A pulse of essence darkened and hardened the flames. Within moment, the boy was walking around in a suit of armour that left not a patch of skin visible.

Ren pulled a hilt into his hand. I frowned. It had a pommel but lacked a blade. What was—

A beam of bright fire shot from the hilt, shaping into a curved blade rippling with flames.

I blinked. ‘He’s certainly well-equipped.’ What grade would those items even be? The peak of F-grade? Low E-grade? Either way, his family had made sure to give him the best chance of survival they could.

Joining the fight myself wasn’t necessary, so I hung back and summoned a flametalon, positioning myself in the backline to shield our allies.

Despite outnumbering them, the Dragonflight still had two elites. It was a combined effort from the squad of reinforcements to take out the one Skul wasn’t holding down. That, combined with the ghosts trying to snatch whoever they could while Skul was occupied, still saw us lose one or two members.

In the end, the six remaining lesser drakes and a badly hurt elite retreated.

The thought to at least chase the elite down occurred…I shook my head. The balekin tree was already growing too fat. If I fed it any more bodies, it’d bubble over into peak stage without my permission to do so. Then I could no longer summon a flametalon and Skul at the same time.

‘I need to reach level twent-five.’ As soon as possible.

A spray of blood followed Rin’s trident as she dislodged her weapon from a drake’s skull. She turned to downed elite and rummaged through their pouch.

Right. Tokens. How many of them did we have now? Three from saving Ori, four from—

Sobbing near me drew my attention. A middle-aged woman was crouched over the corpse of a young boy, both in Dawnflame colours.

My brows drooped. It was easy to forget that most of the Dawnflames were either family members or close associates.

The woman wiped the sides of her eyes with her sleeves. I waited until she stood up and faced me to speak. “What happened? Did you engage them?”

The Dragonflight assaulting me on sight was one thing, but fighting the Dawnflames in the middle of a soul-snatching Tomb shouldn’t be necessary.

“Engage them?” Her entire face scrunched up. “They attacked us! Wouldn’t hear about a damn thing that we said!” Spittle flying from her mouth hit my robe.

Perhaps it was the way she needed to look up at me, but the heat behind her gaze blazed between moments. “This is because of you!” she waved her arm. “if you hadn’t agitated them—”

Another Dawnflame rushed over and covered her mouth. “Lady Sunstrider! Please forgive her rudeness.” He dipped his head and forced the woman into a bow. “She doesn’t know what she’s saying.”

I stared the two of them down without blinking. “Don’t mind it. The Tomb gets to all of us.” I turned away. “Join the rear. We’ll be gathering more members and returning to the Shrine of the Dove.”

The boy’s breath hitched. “You found it?”

Even the woman paused.

I nodded. “So let’s hurry. We need to save as many allies as we can.”

Leaving them behind, I strode further into the hall. Korin, arms crossed, bloodied staff curled up in the folds of his elbow, watched Ori help another disciple to their feet. He turned at my approach, then cast a side-long glance at the two Dawnflames behind me. His eyelids narrowed. Gears whirled and considered the option of speaking up…it was for but a moment.

“Where next?” he asked.