Chapter Twenty Five - 025Reign of Vellus!
Felix exploded with azure light, the force of the upgraded Skill discharging into actual bolts of lightning as it sheared into the Arcids beside him. But they were heavy, far heavier than anything he had tried to move before, and instead of throwing them Felix was launched backwards like a rocket. He smashed half into a crumbling ivy covered column, gasping in pain as the resounding impact shuddered through him.
"Impossible!" The archon raged, his armor suddenly blazing with carmine light. "KILL HIM! DESTROY THE NYM!"
Groaning, Felix shoved away the pain and tottered to his feet. Slender and Big Boy were thundering toward him, and while he had flown nearly fifty feet and they were remarkably slow, their huge strides were eating up the gap. Felix spotted Pit cowering behind a toppled tree and jerked his head backwards.
"C'mon!"
Felix paused, looking back at the looming giant and the Finder's Necklace loosely in its grip. For some reason, the archon was trembling but wasn't moving at all, glowing brilliantly red all the while. Shaking his head, Felix ran. They raced toward the back of the chamber, Felix hoping all the while that he had been correct. When the heavy greenery eventually opened up into a dim stone corridor he grinned wide and glanced to the side at Pit...just in time to see the massive rock that was hurtling in their direction.
"Watch out!" Felix dove forward just as the boulder would have crashed into them, grabbing Pit and tucking into a roll. He was back up on his feet, this time carrying the chimera in his arms as he ran as fast as he could. The boulder hit the ground with a huge crash, jarring Felix's bones and teeth as he ran. He didn't stop. He couldn't.
If I stop, I die.
Running is level 16!
The dim hallway tilted toward to the right, meandering through the mountain around him as if a drunk burrower had made these tunnels. A sudden thunderous crashing came from behind, though Felix refused to look. The walls shook and cracked, small crevices chasing their way down the hall as the cacophony of a landslide barreled toward his unprotected back. Pit gave a challenging squawk over Felix's shoulder, his fur and feathers sticking up in a puffy display of dominance. A bright flash and Felix felt a burst of wind as Pit launched a Wingblade at the Arcids.
KWIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAHH!
The Wingblade splashed against their pursuers with little effect. Big Boy let loose a mighty bellow, shaking the air with a voice that sounded like high speed car crashes; metal on metal, compacting and rattling at incomprehensible speed. It tore through the passageway, its larger size neither fitting nor caring as it crashed through the stone walls. The smaller Slender was moving a bit ahead, faster than its brethren.
Pit let out a pitiful eep before tucking his head into Felix's shoulder.
The corridor began to twist worse the further they went. Floor tiles were missing in many place, tilted up on their edges or knocked entirely out of the ground and piled in the corners. It took all he had to keep up his speed with the difficult footing, pushing his Agility to the edge of his capability as the iron Arcids thundered behind him. He risked a look over his shoulder.
Slender was steadily gaining ahead of it's bulkier counterpart. While the latter was shearing through the narrow hallways with the force of its charge, the former stomped ahead, only fifteen feet behind Felix. With a startled yelp, Felix put on more speed, pushing his body harder than before.
Running is level 17!
Physical Conditioning is 14!
His Stamina was depleting rapidly. The heat was mounting again, his resistance not high enough to negate the consumption penalty it inflicted. It was only his high Endurance that allowed him to press on, leaping over dislodged blocks of stone as the corridor became increasingly dilapidated. A sudden sharp turn in the hall had Felix skidding as he negotiated it, his shoulder bashing painfully into the rock even as chips of stone debris scattered from the impact. He stuttered forward again, pushing against the earth for all he was worth.
Just in time. He felt a violent breeze blast past his back as he jumped forward, and the wall behind him exploded.
The sound of impact was the loudest thing Felix had ever heard, and it sent him careening wildly down the passageway, falling to all fours several times in an effort to remain moving. Rocks pelted him, drawing sharp bloody trails across Felix's back and legs.
He glanced back again and saw Slender woozily extricating himself from the shattered wall. Unable to make the same tight turn as Felix, the Arcid hurtled full force into the stone wall. It was buried nearly to its waist in rubble, but it was moving the weight quickly.
Felix slid to a stop, focusing on the smaller Arcid. He had to delay them. He couldn't run forever. And if Slender couldn't manage that turn...
Influence of the Wisp!
Felix blazed with blue-white fire, and a moment later so did Slender. The ironbound creature looked at its limbs in evident confusion, even as Felix received a notification that it had been Enthralled for 1 second. It looked up at him, the cold fires in its helmet flaring wide in realization before turning to look back the way it came.
That was when Big Boy hit him.
Like a freight train, the bulkier iron lackey plowed into Slender and the wall beyond. Unable to move or even cry out, Slender tangled with Big Boy as the wall before them gave out. Ominous rumbles shook the corridor, and Felix's sharp eyes quickly spotted expanding cracks tracing cross the walls and ceiling. He jumped backward as a slab of stone fell, powdering the ground as it slammed down, and more cascaded after it. In moments, the two Arcids and the hallway itself was buried under several tons of rock.
But the rumbling continued. Felix ran, eyes up for any more collapses, but the vibrations petered out after several hundred feet.
That was close. His heart was racing, and he was unable to shake the image of an entire mountain falling on top of him. I gotta get out of here.
Two more turns, all left, and he found himself at the base of a large set of spiral stairs. Each step was three feet tall, making it an awkward climb, and there was enough space for even the golden giant to fit through here. Cautiously, Felix climbed the stairs, keeping as quiet as possible. After three revolutions, the stairs opened up onto a large landing which contained a single wooden door.
The door was huge, easily 12 feet tall, and it had an elaborate metal lock affixed to its oversized latch. Felix considered the massive lock, nearly the size of a watermelon, and aimed a Corrosive Strike at it. The metal groaned and snapped in two hits, twisting and melting by turns. He ducked into the door and shut it behind him, panting as his Stamina ticked closer to empty.
Did I lose them? If he was lucky, the tunnel collapse had taken care of them. However, Felix hadn't gotten any kill notifications for the Arcids. Tough bastards. Hopefully they're at least busy for a while.
Felix gulped the warm air, tasting a sour flavor even as he reveled in being alive. It was hard to place, tasting faintly metallic. The chamber was similar to the other's he'd been in: geometric engravings, squared pillars along the edges of the room, and pentagonal tiles once etched with details now lost to time. Then he noticed the giant desk, easily twice as big as a standard desk and paired with an equally large and sturdy-looking chair. An inkpot the size of a coffee mug sat on the surface, which was just barely visible from Felix's vantage, set next to several reams of thick parchment.
Felix had stumbled upon the archon's chambers.
Exploration is level 15!
He immediately crossed the room, inspecting another door opposite the one he entered. It was heavy, metal, and silvery; a departure from the wood or black iron doors he'd seen so far. It had five different raised panels, and was molded with the image of three seven-sided stars across the central one. The stars stacked vertically, and were made with a 3D depth, like the interior of a cake mold.
Oh god, I miss cake. I haven't had cake since Gabby's birthday...
When was that? A month ago? He'd only been on the Continent for two weeks or so, but it felt like a lifetime. His life from before he woke up on that sand spit was like a continually fading dream, and the longer he struggled here the more real this all became. Felix sighed and looked back at Pit.
"C'mon buddy. We have to keep moving," he said, but the tenku was busy attempting to climb onto the chair of the archon.
"What're you doing? Those things could be here any second!" Pit didn't listen, instead flapping his wings vigorously to pull his oddly proportioned body up onto the chair. Once there he trilled happily, turning toward the desk and hopping nimbly atop it. Felix pulled at his hair, exasperated. Then Pit started kicking things off the desk.
Parchment rained down on him, and Felix had to swat away a particularly large stack that slapped onto the stone floor. Glancing down, Felix saw that many of the pages were blank but a few had a series of sigils scribbled onto them. He bent over and picked them up, leafing through the incredibly detailed designs. Each of the pages were roughly 11x17, and their entire surface was covered in densely packed markings. He didn't understand any of these, but he recognized them as similar sigils to those in the Temple, the same ones the lackeys had been trying to reproduce onto scrap metal for some reason.
On the last page, he saw an odd illustration. Made out in the same hand as the rest, it depicted an oblong shaped stone, faceted and hovering over an incomplete pillar or altar. There were a series of sigils listed next to this drawing, each one more convoluted than the last, and they were almost...upsetting to look at, somehow. As if they each held a terrible secret hidden in their designs, like branches obscuring the horrid flesh of a corpse.
Sigils of the Primordial Dawn is level 3!
With an effort of will, Felix tore his eyes away from the page, suddenly breathing heavily. The room seemed warmer than before, the air more cloying as if thickened, hugging close to his skin like a thin film. Felix swallowed, his saliva gone dry as he felt emotions of helplessness and constraint assault his senses, pressing against him like the walls in a shrinking room. Then something inside him pushed back, Felix's mind unable to take the vertigo inducing sensations. The emotions intensified, as if fighting against his will, but a short moment later they shattered into nothing.
Bastion of Will is level 26!
The effect suddenly cut off and Felix fell down on his ass. The papers landed next to him, ink staring menacingly back in his direction. Felix grabbed them and shoved them into his satchel. He'd look at them later. Or never.
Wait. He toggled back his notifications and stared. What the hell is Bastion of Will?
Scrolling backward, Felix saw the notifications for increases to Running and Physical Conditioning and...
Oh shit, that's right.
He had hit Apprentice Tier for Mental Resistance, thanks to the archon's repeated attempts to rip apart his memories. He pulled up the notification.
Congratulations! You Have Reached Apprentice Tier in Mental Resistance!