[Ashborn-B1] 66. Breakthrough (Patreon)

LXVI

Breakthrough

Smog rushed through the path and covered the dashing figures of more than a hundred disciples.

“Loosen the formation!” Raven yelled.

The impact of a boulder smashing into the earth like a falling comet drowned out his voice. Shards pelting his cheeks told him the golem hadn’t been off by much. Warm, sticky fluids meshed together with the ice striking his face told Raven he simply wasn’t the target.

He grimaced as he swerved and shot through the top of the dense layer of smoke he’d created. His lower body was nothing but mist as he hovered and surveyed the battlefield. Three boulders hurled into the smog at random. Jets of flame seared forth to bisect one of the golems at the knee. The creature went down but frost formed over the stump and snapped a new leg into place.

“Aim for their chests!” Raven yelled. “That’s where their cores are!”

The crumpled forms of a few golems off to the side of the road were proof of that—

Tingling at the back of his head made Raven dive back into the smoke as a solid object passed overhead.

Speeding in his attacker’s direction, Raven called Phobos to his side. The raven’s talons gripped into the cloth on his shoulder, its eyes swirling orbs of darkness. An unnatural, cold feeling wrapped around Raven’s hands and guided the essence building in his veins.

Sparks scattered from his fingers. That would’ve set off a chain reaction in his entire shroud, but not when the summon was boosting his control. The explosions propelled Raven through the air. He flipped around so he crashed into the golem feet-first. Despite the force trailing after him, he didn’t even make the creature stumble.

Which had been his plan from the start.

More sparks flew as Phobos guided his arm to the right location.

“Combustion,” Raven said.

The atmosphere sucked in a breath, then imploded. The cacophony of a thousand mirrors breaking reverberated through the tunnel and would’ve ruptured Raven’s eardrums if he didn’t reinforce them.

A great weight in front of him tumbled and went down.

“Where’s the next one?”

Sensations not his own snapped his head to the side. Through the smog, he could visualise the golem raising its boulder.

A ground-shattering explosion later, he smashed into the hulking beast and destroyed its core like he’d done with the last.

Phobos guided his senses to their next quarry again.

‘Dammit, there’s no end to them.’

Through the muffled sights feeding through their bond, he spotted at least fifteen more. Double that what they’d faced at the start. And the path forwards hadn’t shortened in the slightest.

Boulders whirled and disciples screamed.

‘There has to be a trick to it.’

They’d never be able to fight their way through this many high-levelled enemies for a prolonged period of time. Not even if they had triple their numbers. So there must be another way out.

But where?

He tried to come up with an answer even as he launched at the next golem. The monster used its boulder as a rock and tried to turn Raven’s head into paste with a well-aimed blow. Its attack was nothing but motivated fanning as Raven turned his head into smoke. His hand touched the golem’s chest—

Ice expanded and thickened underneath his fingers before the explosion went off.

Raven frowned. ‘It protected itself.’ That was a first.

He kicked off against the golem’s chest and vaulted out of the way of another swing. A short explosion shot towards the ground. He spun, used his hands to balance, and slammed his heel against the golem’s leg with a spinning kick. No extra later of frost formed this time.

The monster fell without making a sound. Raven jumped back and aimed for where the golem’s chest would be when it touched the ground. He’d have to time this—

Phobos directed his gaze to a fiery blur behind them.

The tip of Kayle’s umbrella buried deep into the golem’s chest. “Seed Blossom.”

A stem flower burst from its body and rapidly bloomed into a flower. Its petals scattered and flew towards wounded Dawnflames nearby.

The golem’s face rebounded off the ground. It didn’t stir.

“Not quite what we expected, huh,” Kayle said.

That the Prima Donna of the Dawnflames had seen the need to join the fight herself spoke volumes of how many injured they were racking up.

“There has to be a way out of here,” Raven said. “Kiran! Can’t you find anything?”

The boy didn’t answer. Raven didn’t know where he was. Maybe a boulder had struck him.

‘Or he ran.’ Kiran was the best at running.

Kayle huffed and wiped her forehead with a handkerchief. “That new summon of yours can’t find it? I thought he was supposed to be some semi-legendary creature.”

The bird cawed and spread its wings at the girl. Raven didn’t rise to the bait. The only person in the clan he’d told of Phobos’s origins was Decim. Giving Kayle information for free would only come around to bit him in the foot later on.

“I’ll do my best if you can keep the golems busy,” he said.

“Now, now.” She flicked her head and hair. “I may be a genius, but this is too much even for me.”

A snort. “Never expected you to be so humble. Just keep them off me.”

He zipped underneath an incoming boulder and rose above the smog.

‘The golems should know if there’s an easy exit out of here.’ They were probably formed from the shrine itself, after all.

Was it a coincidence that they’d ambushed them when they did? Or had they jumped out to guard the exit?

It was also possible they waited for them to pass the entrance before ambushing them, but that was a sophisticated strategy you wouldn’t expect from mindless monsters such as these. And if that was the case, they were doomed, so Raven decided not to consider it.

‘If the exit is near, they should swarming it.’

Raven searched, but he couldn’t find anything even with Phobos’s enhanced senes.

“Ten ’o clock! Those five golems!” Kiran’s voice penetrated the mayhem.

Though surprised, Raven didn’t turn to find him and followed the directions. Five golems had formed a circle around part of the wall. They weren’t actively attacking but hiding their presence.

Raven smirked. “What are you trying to hide?!”

The golems snapped towards his fast approaching heat signature. Raven vaulted over the first boulder, phased through the second. He turned a dive underneath a third into a steep ascent and twirled in the air. Sparks looped behind him through the air like a snake’s tail.

Two of the remaining golems moved in front of the wall to block him bodily. Raven didn’t slow down in the slightest. His trail of black smoke ignited, and the explosions accelerated him further.

“Blast Impact!”

The shockwaves rupturing from his knuckles transferred into the golem, whose entire midriff exploded. The beast slammed into the wall behind it. Numerous cracks like a network of underground veins burst onto the barrier.

‘One more.’

Raven spun and landed feet first on the golem’s chest. He charged his essence for another explosion, but the wall had already grown unstable enough that the force behind his landing was enough to shatter it. He and the beast’s upper torso fell through the hole he’d created.

The other side was quite dark, but light filtered through behind him.

‘Please don’t let there be more enemies.’

Sight adjusted against the lower levels of light. Scales. Tails. Humanoid features that were a mere copy of the original.

And a towering figure with too many eyes.

Raven sighed.

It was just that kind of day.

My head whipped back as I was blown off my feet. I flipped mid-air and landed in time to shield my face from the thousands of shards raining down.

“Formation!” Ren yelled at the top of his lungs.

I peered through the gaps in my fingers. A massive creature holding a boulder flew through the new hole in the wall.

[Frost Golem…

The system message turned to smudge before I could read all of it and the beast crashed into the earth. That’s when I noticed the beast wasn’t whole but missing its lower body. A Dawnflame disciple was standing on top of its chest. Black smoke billowed into the chamber from behind them.

‘Raven…thank the gods.’ I don’t think seeing any other face would’ve made me more happy. ‘If he’s here, so must—’

“Oh my, oh my.” A drawling voice lulled. Kayle floated into the chamber, her umbrella carrying her on the wind. She landed next to Raven. “Don’t tell me you were having a party without inviting us?”

Aedan covered her mouth with the back of her hand (a useless gesture since she wore a veil). “Please don’t be silly, Lady of Dawnflame. We’d not dare to ignore one of your standing.”

Thick columns of flame and comets of fire flashed past the entrance behind the two to the sound of shattering glass and rumbling screams. Dozens of Dawnflames pushed through the opening, stopping only briefly to study the field before taking position around Raven and Kayle.

White gloves pulled back the pin on Kayle’s umbrella so it folded. “It’s good that you know. We Dawnflames love festivities. Had you told me sooner, I would’ve prepared a show.”

Another familiar face leapt through the entrance with ease.

“Oh, Ashe, that you? Long time no see!” Kiran’s smile beamed as he waved like he was seeing an old, best friend after years.

I returned his greeting, albeit with less gusto.

Throwing my sword over my shoulder, I regarded Aedan and the Nightmare. “What do you want to do? I don’t mind all of us fighting to the death over nothing and giving the Scorn more bodies…but I won’t say yes if I don’t have to.”

Aedan’s face lingered on the new entrance, from which our allies were still pouring. The Nightmare kept his many eyes on me.

‘Creep.’

Tongue-in-cheek, I continued: “Of course, I won’t mind leaving you Erri either.”

The Dragonflight princess had been patting herself on the shoulders from her earlier scheme. She wasn’t so jubilant now.

She snorted and crossed her arms. “I’ll offer you a temporary truce, Ashe. How about that.”

“Who says—”

“We both know you’re not beating the two of them with those reinforcements. She’s pretty, but that girl’s not a fighter, and the skinny boy is a thief at best.”

Kayle and Kiran didn’t mind her description of them. Better yet, from their smirks, they endorsed it.

‘…she’s not wrong.’

Given the strength of the beacons, we’d already assumed Raven’s army was around one hundred strong. Moreover, while they were doing well to hide it, some of them were injured. The fight (which was still going on, by the way) they left must not have been anything to scoff at.

I sighed. “I’d hoped to be rid of you in one stroke.”

“Believe me,” she said. “The feeling is mutual.”

My eyes rolled in their sockets. Even if we decided to work together for the moment, the situation was still troublesome. How were we going to get out of here? We couldn’t go our separate ways as they would just chase one of us. But I doubted Erri wanted to head towards the Shrine of the Dove either.

‘…no, wait.’ None of the people here knew Aurille was heading there, and unless they visited the Shrine, they also wouldn’t know of the situation inside. As a matter of fact, they may not even know the essence signature was the shrine.

“There’s a defensible position the way my forces came from,” I said. “We’re heading back there.”

“You don’t get to decide where we go, scum,” one of her elites snarled. Now that the fighting had stopped, they’d taken up position around their leader.

Skul glanced in his direction, making the elite shrink back.

“Erri,” I said. “Tell your dogs to stop barking before I silence them for good. I won’t suffer the words of some weakling.”

“You…!”

“Mirin,” Erri said. “Be silent.”

His jaw snapped shut.

I sheathed my sword with a chuckle and turned to my three lost partners. “Raven, Kayle. We’re leaving.” Stepping up beside Korin, I tapped him on the shoulder. “The same goes for you. You’ll have your opportunity for vengeance. Don’t die over it here.”

The monk gripped the hilt of his staff but didn’t respond.

“Leaving? I thought Kayle was going to prepare a show.” Aedan’s veil chimed as she tilted her head. The angle allowed me to see the corner of her smile underneath it.

I waved her away. “I know you Immortals don’t care about dying since you don’t turn into undead, but what about the others? Are they all so eager to wander this place forever?”

The boy with the eyepatch and the girl with the cat ears glanced between each other before turning to the Nightmare still looming in the corner. Gaje didn’t move.

“That’s what I thought,” I said.

Rin pouted as she fell in beside me. “Why’d you go and ruin the party? It was just getting interesting.”

I shook my head—‘Lunatic’—and carried on towards the exit—

“Hold on,” Erri said.

My footfall paused. I turned around.

“We’re leaving first. Otherwise, I’m not doing it.”

I raised a brow. “You don’t even know where to go.”

“You think I’m dumb? We’re headed in the direction of the shrine.”

Mentally, I hummed. ‘Guess that was to be expected.’ There really was no way to miss the signature. There was also a good chance she wanted to leave first because her army would otherwise be sandwiched between our forces and that of the enemy, should the Black Fangs and Immortals decide to follow us for whatever reason.

I motioned with my palm for her to get moving. Her helmet paused on my face before she reluctantly dragged herself forward.

Scoffing, I waved at the approaching Raven and Kayle. They greeted me more fully, but my mind wasn’t on their conversation at all.

I had to stop myself from smirking like a villain. Too bad for Erri, she was getting spread out over a slice of bread either way.