Pit, he sent. We're leaving.
Back to friends? came the reply, filled with a surge of warm emotions.
Yeah, back to friends.
Adamant Discord!
Ensuring he was far enough away from the members of the Legion, Felix flared his newest Transcendent Skill. Blue-white lightning crackled around his body, and those that were closer stumbled back, though the electricity never strayed far from him. Steel-like cords pushed to the forefront of Felix's awareness, lines of connection not to people as Affinity sensed, but to everything. With a significant effort of Will, Felix pulled.
With a crack of thunder, he shot from the earth, up at an angle and through the topmost portion of the Wall's gap. He heard a gasp from behind him, but no one was hurt, so he put it from his mind as he soared up and into the air.
The ache in his Aspects started immediately. Felix still hadn't fully recovered from his wild fight against DuFont, and Adamant Discord put a strain on his Aspects in a way he couldn't really quantify. It was like his entire being was contracting with every activation, just like a muscle. So at the apex of his leap, Felix let the song of his Skill cut out and fell...
Right onto the back of a swooping Pit. Felix laughed as Pit let loose a happy shriek and cut a tight loop in the air.
Alright, bud. City center.
They took off like a shot.
"We need to clear this area!" Vess shouted and people scrambled to obey. "I hear more people!"
The area she stood on had been trampled flat by the Apollyon, that gigantic Arcid. Buildings had collapsed and shattered, so she and a few other teams had been working day and night to clear them all. They had thought the buildings empty, but each new structure brought the chance of someone trapped, and Vess' increasing Perception and Affinity could seek them out rapidly.
A team of Untempered citizens and Iron Rank fighters focused on Strength and Endurance shouldered up the foot thick slab of stone. It was propped up at an angle, leaned against a horizontal wall and creating a pocket below. That was where Vess could hear movement, soft whimpering, and the whir of fear.
Spear of Tribulations!
Two silver spears manifested from her Mana, appearing just above her shoulders before swooping forward to prop up the slab. The Iron Ranks were having trouble holding it up, but the strength of her spears was directly proportional to her considerable Intelligence. The spears flexed slightly as the stone rested upon them, but they held and the workers all groaned in relief.
Gaze of the Unseen Hunter!
Vess' sight shifted into a different spectrum, one of heat that depicted the stone around her as a cool shade of blue. Within the darkness, however, she could see three shapes picked out in red, yellow, and oranges. Two were shifting about, but the third was eerily still.
Gaze of the Unseen Hunter is level 56!
"It is alright. We have come to help," she said into the dark space. "Can you walk? Do you need assistance?"
There was no answer, just the sound of shifting rock. The sense of fear increased. Vess frowned.
"Are you injured? I promise you, we are here to save you," Vess said, attempting to inject as much calm into her voice as possible.
Without warning, a shape leaped from the shadows, and Vess nearly gutted it. But it was a child, dirty and bloody, and trembling with fear. "Twin's teeth. Are you okay, little one?"
Then someone screamed, and Vess looked up to see two massive Ghostfire Simians tear out of the dark.
"Monsters!"
"Fire!" Vess commanded, and the Iron Ranks around them let loose a barrage of Mana bolts. Shadow, flame, ice, and stone, each only held the strength of Iron Rank, but all together they tore one of the beasts apart.
A third spear manifested in Vess' left hand, and she spun it once before impaling the lead Simian through the face. It's head exploded, and Vess kicked it in the chest to free the weapon, holding onto the child with her other hand. "Clear the slab!"
Workers fled. Vess could see more warm shapes surging up from below, and she waited half a heartbeat to let them draw just a bit closer. Just as they reached the edge of the opening, she hurled her third spear and clenched her Will.
"Seven Tribulations!"
Her spears burst into a storm of air Mana, tearing through the lead monsters and dropping the slab with an earth-heaving crash.
You Have Killed A Ghostfire Simian (x5)!
XP Earned!
Vess waved away the kill notification in irritation. She had thought they were done with these creatures. They hadn't encountered any beyond the first two days. Hopefully these would stay trapped, but she doubted it. The city was honeycombed by tunnels and sewers that would allow them to escape in some way. That meant it was time to take care of them, now.
"Break into teams, look for more openings," she ordered. "Do not enter any openings. Send up a signal. Go." The Iron Ranks and Untempered alike jumped to task.
A crash of thunder broke in the sky, and she spotted dark wings flying far above. A haze of familiar song passed by briefly, like a strident concerto from one of Pax'Vrell's finest amphitheaters. Vess sighed.
Felix is done with the Wall for now, I suppose. She looked back at the crumbling ground. I will meet up with them later.
There were monsters to kill.