Chapter 183 |
In tabletop RPG parlance, there's a commonly brandished aphorism that went something like this: Never. Split. The. Party.
Yes, the obnoxious periods for the extra emphasis were absolutely necessary to get across how important this rule was. Personally, I considered it a bit over-dramatic, but I could certainly see the reason why it came about: in those games, the DM could only pay attention to one group at a time, so it effectively halved the speed of the adventure as they'd have to switch between the two groups to keep everyone engaged.
I had a similar kind of situation on my hands right now, though the fact that I was just a (mostly) passive observer meant I was only a little annoyed that I had to continuously shift between the two groups. But I was getting ahead of myself. Long story short, after some further planning, Josh decided to tackle the situation from two directions at once.
Now, considering how out of their depth they were, I would've told them that doing one thing at a time should've been already difficult enough, and they really shouldn't bite off more than they could chew, but nobody consulted me, so I was relegated to just watching the situation unfold. That said, while I mildly disapproved of Josh's choice due to of how tiresome it made for me to keep up with the gang, his plan was fairly solid on paper, and it made a lot of sense from a narrative perspective.
Having so many important characters in one place meant they each had less space to shine, which… I supposed it was kind of like the death-rubber-band thing future-me talked about, just less morbid. The Simulacrum's internal structure followed tropes for a reason; they were effectively tried-and-true templates that allowed for all kinds of varied situations and developments, all of which could provide stimulation for the Submerged Ones.
Having too many important characters in one scene made them step on each other's proverbial toes too much. If the same number of characters were divided in two halves and each team was doing something in parallel, it effectively produced twice as much stimuli, and that's what the Simulacrum wanted. In short, two groups doing two things equalled double the drama.
Or at least that was my understanding of these things based on my own deductions, the knowledge I absorbed from other-me a while back, and all the insights I could glean from listening in on the technical conversations between the Emergents. But putting all of that aside, since the gang already made the call, I had no choice but to watch over them and see exactly where and how Josh's plan would collapse on itself. Because let's not kid ourselves, that's just how things worked around here.
But speaking of him, I focused my attention on the guy and found him already in Digirmah, the capital of House Ninhursag. Built near the shore, the settlement was both smaller and more, for lack of better words, rustic than Eanna, the home base of House Inanna. The streets were narrower, the houses were made of wood and stone instead of brickwork, and about half of the town was dedicated to its dockyards and enormous warehouses.
It wasn't hard to figure out that it was something of a naval logistics centre, and there was even a huge train station in the heart of the inner city to help with cargo distribution, right next to the extra-fancy yet comparatively modestly sized Castle Ninhursag. Of course, its pointy towers and stark dark grey stone walls still towered over the cityscape, but it didn't quite have the same off-the-cover-of-a-cheesy-gothic-vampire-novel vibes as Castle Inanna.
We naturally had the young Ninurta noble in the front, walking with springy steps that did little to hide his nervousness. He was flanked by Josh, making sure he wouldn't try to run away, with the class rep and Snowy right behind them. All in all, this group made a lot of sense: the whole point was to get Ammy in touch with a Mana Well, so her presence was a given, Snowy was the only one in the group familiar with Abyssal etiquette, while Josh led the operation and served as the muscle of the team.
They were all clad in their Magiformers already, which was prudent, though it did make them stick out of the Abyss's context. Though again, their hiking gear would've looked just as out of place, so it didn't make much of a difference.
But speaking of which, I glanced over at the other group, which, by process of elimination, consisted of my girlfriends, Angie, and Penny. My knightly sister originally wanted to stick with Snowy, as usual, but since she was the only member of the team who had tracking training, she landed in the B-team anyway. As for the Celestial girl, she was a bit of a wild-card, and ended up slotted in this team for various reasons, chief of which was her healing capabilities.
Anyhow, the four of them were in their hiking garbs as they made their way through the underbrush, my knightly sister leading the charge with unusual fervour, closely followed by the princess… carrying Judy on her back. It was probably so they could move faster.
"Ah, there! I found more tracks!" Penny hopped over a fallen tree trunk and pointed at some muddy indentations on the ground. "Going that way. There are a lot of them; a few dozen at least."
"If they're heading that way…" Judy mused as she squinted past the trees, no doubt trying to picture the map of the island in her head. After some consideration, she ventured, "Are they circling back towards the city?"
"Maybe?" Penny spoke a tad uncertainly, but then she furrowed her brows when she noticed that the princess had an odd expression on her face. "Do you see anything?"
"No, but I smell something." She inhaled a sharp breath through her nose, then pointed the same way the tracks were going. "Abyssal magic, and blood."
Judy immediately tensed up and asked, "Is it the same as the spot where Hareng Asag Ninurta and his retainers were ambushed?"
"Yes, but fainter."
"That means we must be catching up to them," Angie declared from the back and reached for her bow. "We should get ready."
Penny looked at her in surprise and blurted out, "Aren't we here to negotiate?"
"Yeah, but Deus says it's better to be prepared for battle, just in case."
The four of them soon agreed to be extra-vigilant and continued at a brisk pace. Since there was nothing much to see at the moment, I shifted my attention over to Josh's group. They had reached the large wooden gates of the outer walls surrounding Castle Ninhursag.
"Of course it's me!" the blonde Abyssal declared with unusual vehemence and pointed at his nose. "Come on, fellow! Look at this face! How can you mistake this face for anyone else! This is madness!"
The guards at the gate reeled back, completely taken aback by the young man's insistence. This clearly wasn't their usual post, and they probably were only stationed here due to the chaotic state of the estate after the Ninurta takeover. It showed in their appearances, as they weren't wearing uniforms, but some eclectic mish-mash of medieval plate armour, hockey padding, and riot gear. The fact that they still looked more sensible than the average Celestial guard was something that didn't need to be said out loud again, but I sure as heck thought of it.
"But… your clothes…"
"I told you, I was attacked by those nefarious Fauns of Ninhursag, and had to unleash my powers to run them off! If not for the help of these…" He paused and glanced over his shoulder. His eyes met Josh's, and after some silent communication later, he concluded with, "These… brave passersby, I would've been in much trouble! Now, step aside and let us in! I need to change and properly… erm… reward these people! Yes!"
The guards looked less than convinced, but ultimately let the group into the castle, much to Josh's relief. The grounds of the castle were relatively well-kept, with lots of flowering bushes and a few neatly trimmed hedges here and there. It wasn't readily apparent, but there were some signs of battle if one looked closely enough. A charred spot here, a spray of dried dark-brown stains there, but nothing like the destruction one would expect from a violent coup.
Chances are, the fighting was over before things could escalate too much, or considering the fact that the majority of the family escaped, maybe they were already expecting it and fled at the first sight of trouble. In either case, the same could be said about the solemnly gothic entranceway of the castle proper. Oddly enough, the place was positively swarming with service workers wearing gloves and aprons, seemingly more occupied by cleaning and removing the portraits of the Ninhursag ancestors than the odd group entering the hall.
"Okay, so far so good," Josh whispered to the girls behind him. "Ammy? Can you sense where we need to go?"
"Grimmy says it's below us," the class rep responded in kind, followed by a tweak of her glasses. "It's probably in the basement."
"That's where our… I mean, Inanna's Mana Well is, too," my Abyssal sister whispered in a hurry, making the guy pause and glance around
"Should we head there, or test the waters first?"
They remained silent for the moment, until Snowy proposed, "If it's like ours, then the chamber should not only be well-fortified, but… um… it should have special wards that only allow certain people to open them."
"Such as?"
Josh's question made Snowy frown as she thought hard about it, then she said, "The Head of the House, any direct descendants, the councillor, and the spymaster."
"But you said we could break it, right?" Ammy insisted, and Snowy tentatively nodded along.
"Y-Yes, but… Doing so needs a lot of power. Even the Heads of the Houses would need some time to break them down. I think we can do it if we work together, but I don't know how long it would take, and it's going to alert everyone in the castle."
Josh considered that, then decided, "Let's stick to the plan, then. Find the patriarch, and then…" Before he could finish the sentence, he tensed up and called out in alarm, "Hey!"
"… and tell my brothers that we have—" Hareng twitched when he heard Josh's voice and hastily turned around. "D-Don't worry! I'm just instructing the servants." He hastily turned back to the group of worn Abyssals and sputtered, "Just tell them I have returned. Now shoo! I must entertain our guests!"
Josh waited for the staff to be out of earshot before he approached Hareng and hissed, "What are you playing at?"
"Pardon? I'm just informing my brothers about my safety. They must be terribly worried by now." He made a swooning motion and then gestured for the stairs leading to the upper floor. "Don't worry. I'm a man of impeccable honor, and I would never stab someone in the back. Ask anyone, they will tell you the same!"
"The guards at the door didn't even recognize you," the class rep brandished her occasionally sharp tongue, making the Abyssal stagger back as if he had just been punched in the gut.
"Ah, my fair maiden! Your words hurt me like a thousand stabs through the heart, but I suppose the more beautiful the rose, the sharper are its thorns."
Hareng concluded that with a wink, making Ammy shudder.
"Josh! He's doing it again!"
"We'll have Elly slap him later. We shouldn't draw more attention to us than necessary," the guy argued and jerked his head towards the stairs. "Let's go up and scout he place first."
"A splendid idea! There must be a decent pair of boots in one of those rooms!" the Abyssal declared and pointed forward, like a general ordering a charge.
"Or a shirt," Josh grumbled as he walked past him.
"And deny the world my charms? Perish the thought!" Hareng swooned again before glancing at the girls in the company of a faux-suave, "Isn't that right, my fair ladies?" followed by another wink.
Okay, so I think at this point we had enough data points to conclude that Seducers just sucked at being coy or even remotely seductive on a genetic level. My Watsonian brain said it probably had to do with a complex interplay between their ability to pull on other people's heartstrings negatively affecting their emotional growth, combined with the cutthroat environment of an Abyssal Noble Houses further twisting their social development. On the flip side, deep in my Doylist heart, I had a strong suspicion that it was all because someone thought it would be funny. Which meant…
"Goddamit, Fulgor…"
My whisper wasn't heard by anyone, and maybe for the better. In the meantime, Team A reached upstairs and was exploring the rooms without saying much, so I figured I might as well glance at Team B's location, and it was just in time to catch a shocking scene unfolding.
"Stay back, you cretinous brutes, or I'll burn you to a crisp where you stand!" Deus exclaimed from the air, her wings spread wide and surrounded by her favourite fire-sword spells, bow drawn and aimed at the ground below.
There, the three girls standing back-to-back were encircled by no less than thirty Fauns. Most of them were the classic ram-phenotype, though I could see a few goat-types as well, and they were predominantly wielding long spears pointed at the trio.
"No, stop," Judy called out, her usually placid voice breaking with just a tinge of panic as she waved at the Celestial girl overhead. "We're here to negotiate with them! You can't hurt them!"
"Then try negotiating if you can!" Deus barked back, then whistled, making the flaming swords surrounding her light up.
"[What is this? Why is there a Celestial here?!]"
"[Why are you looking at me!? How should I know!?]"
"[We mustn't let them find the Lady! Fauns of Ninhursag, stand your ground!]"
Seeing that the Fauns were getting more irritated, Judy raised her hands and then poked Elly and Penny to follow her example. The two reluctantly followed, at which point she raised her voice and said, "Fauns of House Ninhursag. We come with peace."
"[What is she saying?]"
"[Something about peace.]"
"[Don't lose focus!]" The dark-haired Faun standing to the left of Judy seemed to be their leader, as the rest fell silent as soon as he let out a bellow. "[We're oathbound warriors! We're the Faun Ninhursag! We shall not tremble in the face of death, nor listen to the poisonous words of the enemy!]"
"[Right! We're the Faun Ninhursag!]"
"[Raaah!]"
Meanwhile, Judy glanced left and right in the middle of the cacophonous roars and uttered, "Did anyone catch that?"
Elly stammered, "W-Why are you looking at me? I don't speak Faunish!"
"M-Me neither!" Penny whined, followed by a more subdued, "But I don't think they want to negotiate."
She also whispered something along the lines of 'I knew we should've brought Snowy with us,' but my girlfriends were too busy with other things to respond. In particular…
"Let's just beat them up, and then we can have them lead us to the—"
"No!" Elly interrupted Deus with a glare. She also let one hand down and put it on her hip while he used the other to point at the Celestial floating between the trees. "No carpet bombing, or Leo's going to be really, really mad!"
That, surprisingly enough, made her stop for a few seconds, and even her summoned fire-swords dimmed as she contemplated, yet it ultimately amounted to a shrug and her saying, "Polemos doesn't have to know."
"Where are your principles?" Penny cried out, and she got backed up by an unexpected person.
"Yeah! We have to stick to our principles and stuff!" Angie argued, momentarily switching control, but then she handed it back to Deus right away, and she grumbled, "Stop it! We agreed that I'm in charge when we're in combat, and this is definitely a combat situation!"
"It wouldn't be, if you didn't immediately shoot at them!" Elly shouted up, earning her a glare from the Celestial.
"It was a warning shot!"
"But they didn't even attack us yet!"
"That's the point of a warning shot! To stop them from attacking!"
Meanwhile, the Fauns encircling Team B looked eminently baffled, and I couldn't exactly blame them.
"[What's going on?]"
"[Is this that psychological warfare thing the General talked about the other day?]"
"[I'm so confused…]"
"[Silence, men! Don't be distracted by—]" their leader bellowed, only for the rest of the sentence to be caught in his throat and turn into an incredulous, "[What is that?]"
This time, the Fauns weren't the only ones perplexed, as the girls looked just as stumped when they saw Judy casually put a pair of familiar, star-shaped party glasses onto her nose.
"Uuu… What are you doing?" Penny blurted out, but my dear assistant raised a finger in her direction.
"Hush. I'm trying to salvage this situation." Saying so, she retracted her finger and tapped it against the frame of the artifact. "Chief? If you're listening, we could use some support."
I had a feeling something like this would happen from the get-go, so I reached out to my left and grabbed Cal's hilt without having to open my eyes, kick-started the usual mana-circulation, and then opened the transmission channel with an only slightly morose, "Hi, Dormouse. Please pass the glasses to Elly, and I'll see what I can do."
Tensions were still high when Judy turned to my other girlfriend and handed the party glasses over to her, much to her puzzlement.
"The Chief says she needs to talk to you."
"Oh. Okay!" Elly perked up at once and put on the artifact, followed by a chipper, "Hi! What do I need to do?"
Well, she was quick on the uptake; I had to give her that.
"Remember how we practised Faunish for the album?"
My question made her pause for a bit, followed by an awkward, "W-Wait… I don't think I'm ready for a public debut yet…"
"Sink or swim, princess."
For context, way back when, Elly had this idea to add some Faunish as background vocals to a song, because it sounded like Mongolian throat singing or somesuch. Then I had the idea to use the opportunity to make the lyrics of those background vocals all about dissing Crowy. Of course, due to all the abject craziness that was our lives going on, we never got around to doing anything of the sort, but we occasionally still talked about it in private and practised from time to time, just for funsies.
I thought about how to approach this, and quickly settled on the tested and true Refuge in Audacity method.
"I'll speak slowly. Point at the big guy to your left, the one with the breastplate, and repeat after me, just like we did before."
"Okay!" Elly exclaimed with gusto, so I tried to speak as clearly as I could. My princess listened intently and then pointed a finger at the bamboozled Faun. "[Set the sticks of pointed ends to a lateral direction and open the organs of aural perception!]"
"[… What?]"
Seeing the leading Faun's reaction, Elly whispered, "Did I mess it up?"
"No, you were more or less on point. Keep it up."
She nodded with a soft 'Mm!' and then redoubled her finger-pointing efforts as she declared, "[Parlay, we will, for we approached for it! We're no comrades of the sovereign of flames tenebrous and the man whose name is corvids announcing his coming, and so we wish to endow you with succour in your measured time-span of privation! For a nemesis of a nemesis is certainly a collaborator!]"
There was another long beat of silence in the wake of her words (or, considering it was Faunish, growls), right until the Faun in charge lowered his spear with a confounded, "[Could you repeat that again?]"
"What did he say?" Penny whispered behind the princess, and she was naturally just as confused.
"I-I don't know…" she admitted and then turned a pleading glance at the sky. "Leo?"
"Just tell him this…"
Elly listened closely, then pointed at the Faun again, "[Cease the prattling of your hole of food and voice and conduct us to the presence of your person in dominion at a singular instance! We're here to bestow assistance!]"
"[I think she's saying they're here to help us?]" one of the other Fauns muttered, and another responded with a just a confused, "[Right. I think she meant an enemy of an enemy is a friend?]"
"[Captain? What do we do?]" a third Faun asked from the back, and the big guy looked pretty unsure of what to do… right until a new voice entered the fray.
"Stand down."
All the eyes involved in the forest standoff turned in unison to behold a middle-aged woman approaching them, flanked by even more Fauns. These were in full gear and were intently glaring at Team B, especially Deus in the air, but didn't leave her side for a moment.
She was fairly tall and a bit on the chubbier side, though it mainly manifested in a slightly rounder face and some rather egregious curves, even though her stained and ripped purple dress wasn't exactly flattering. She carried herself with dignity, and the Fauns parted to let her through upon reaching the encirclement.
"Madam. Dangerous. Should stay back," the lead Faun told her in a low voice, but he only got a glare for his trouble.
"I said, stand down. If they wanted to attack us, they would've done so already." She paused and made a gesture towards the girl still floating overhead. "You should've realized they weren't with the Ninurtas as soon as she took to the air. Just how many eight-winged Celestials do you think are out in the world?"
"Don't know," the Faun admitted, much to her annoyance.
Ignoring the big ram-man, he turned to the girls and slightly inclined her head towards Elly in particular. Since the situation was defused, Judy already snatched her communication artifact back from her, and they both looked at the lady with mild apprehension.
"Are you perchance the companions of the Peacemaker?"
I couldn't help but mutter, "Goddamit, that stupid title is sticking, isn't it?"
If Judy overheard that, she didn't show in her expression, and she responded with a polite, "Yes. The Peacemaker sends his regards."
That made the Ninhursag woman's countenance relax a bit, but just for a moment before she inclined her head again, this time a bit deeper.
"Please excuse the lack of courtesies, but we're currently in a precarious situation. If I'm not mistaken, you were offering aid to us?"
"Indeed," Judy hit the iron while it was hot, then gestured for Deus, who was still in the air, though without the flaming swords. "Please, come down. You're making everyone nervous."
"Back in my days, people couldn't talk to me so flippantly…" Deus groused, but still descended with a grudging 'Fine…', and as soon as she landed, Angie hopped back into the driver's seat and asked, "Do you have any injuries? I can help!"
The sudden whiplash caused the Fauns to look completely flabbergasted again, and even the Ninhursag woman was getting a bit confounded, but she retained her calm and responded in an even voice.
"We do, but before that… What exactly are you doing here?"
Judy answered with, "It's a long story," and gestured towards the way the woman and her bodyguards came from. "Let's settle down first, and I'll explain the plan."
Now, while that was going on, I sneaked a peek at Team A, and back in Castle Ninhursag…
"Tactical meeting," Josh declared after they all gathered in one of the empty rooms of the castle, and they huddled together in a circle.
That, for some weird reason, also included their Abyssal hostage-slash-collaborator.
"I found out something important," Josh started, his face set into a troubled frown. "I tried to be subtle about it, but from what I gathered, all the people outside are cleaning so frantically because Bel and Noir are gonna be coming over tomorrow to accept the Ninurtas' alliance."
"Which means we have to get it done today," the class rep spoke up, sounding tense. "Can we do it?"
"If Team B manages to find the rest of the Ninhursags and their Fauns, then it should be smooth sailing," Josh responded, and while he tried to sound confident, I could tell he was half-trying to convince himself with it.
Also, for the record, I've been calling them Team A and B because Josh came up with that. Judy claimed it was due to my bad influence, but then again, she was one to talk with her ornithological naming scheme from last time.
"Oh, oh! I also asked around!" the Abyssal guy joined with an ear-to-ear grin. "I found this really cute maidservant while I was looking for new shoes." He paused to show off his footwear, then sent a wink at Snowy and Ammy each and added, "Not as beautiful as you, my fair maidens, but I believe that goes without saying. But, but! She told me that the patriarch and his closest aides are still holed up in the Mana Well chamber! You want to get there, right? Isn't this useful information?"
This time, the guy smirked at Josh, clearly expecting praise, but Snowy cut in first.
"Uuu… Mister Ninurta?"
"Ah, don't be so distant, my fair lady! You can call me Hareng! Or maybe Harry, even, if you wish to be intimate."
My Abyssal sister looked about as weirded out as such a comment demanded, and tried again.
"Mister Hareng… um… why are you still here?"
"… What do you mean? We made a deal, didn't we? We, Ninurtas, are honorable men of honor!"
Hearing the guy's weird declaration, Josh stifled a groan and bluntly told him, "You've already fulfilled your part of the deal. You don't need to stick around anymore."
"Yeah, just go," Ammy huffed.
"Actually, shouldn't we just tie him up to make sure he won't betray us?" Josh asked, dead serious, making the Abyssal guy swoon.
"Ah! How could you say such a thing, old pal! Old chap! Haven't I been a faithful hostage all this time?" He dramatically slouched his shoulders, but then exhaled a pitiful sigh and offered his hands. "Very well, then. You have, technically speaking, saved me from drowning, so I shall repay the favor by playing my role! Go on! I'm ready!"
His sudden eagerness made everyone a bit uncomfortable, and it was Snowy who eventually said, "Uuu… He's mostly harmless, so… why don't we just let him go?"
"That sounds like a bad idea, but…" Josh began, but before he could finish his sentence, the Abyssal jumped back and let out a hearty laugh with his hands on his hips.
"Ah, I knew you wouldn't be so heartless! I wish you the best of luck, my good friend and my fair ladies! Go and do… whatever you're planning to do! If you excuse me, it's high time I visited my brothers and let them know I'm safe and sound! Ciao!"
And with that, he retreated from the room before anyone else could respond.
"Okay, so what are the chances of him just immediately ratting us out?" Josh asked aloud, and the class rep immediately tweaked her glasses.
"I give it fifty-fifty."
"I don't like those odds," the guy grumbled, his eyes already on Snowy. "Let's improvise. Can you guys find a path to the Mana Well?"
"I can tell which direction it is," Ammy proposed, followed by my sister pointing at her chest.
"I can activate my Concealment Sigil and scout the basement, but I'm not sure I can slip past all the detection arrays."
"Let's try it anyway. And keep an ear out for Judy; she should've contacted us if Team B found the Ninhursags."
The trio nodded and got ready to move out, and since they reminded me, I turned my attention back to the other group. I found them still surrounded by even more Fauns, though this time they were considerably less hostile. They encircled a particularly dense spot in the middle of the forest, probably to make it harder to spot them from the air, and the four girls were accompanied not only by the Abyssal woman from before, but also a few armed men, some elderly dignitaries, and even a couple of kids of various ages.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
They all stayed back, surrounded by their own dedicated bodyguards, while Judy and the Abyssal woman stood in the middle, locked in negotiations.
"… if I understand your offer correctly, Lady Sennoma," she spoke in a level voice, eyes trained on my girlfriend. "You're asking us to attack Digirmah in the open to draw the Ninurtas' attention to us?"
"In simple terms, that is correct," my assistant confirmed, causing the woman's frown to deepen. Seeing that, she doubled down with, "By now, our allies have already infiltrated the town and your castle and are waiting for the results of our negotiations. If everything proceeds as planned, we should be able to rescue your husband and anyone else captured by the rebels. In return, all we're asking is unrestricted access to your Noble House's Mana Well in the aftermath."
"That is a dangerous yet tempting offer, but…" The woman held her forehead in her hand and vacillated for a while, ultimately settling on a completely different question. "I still don’t understand you. House Inanna publicly announced that they captured the Peacemaker. Why are you here? Why are you getting involved?"
"There's no reason not to lend a helping hand to those in need!" Penny chimed in from the back, but everyone ignored her for the most part.
"While that's not wrong…" Elly came to the rescue, looking and sounding unusually serious, "Since we're negotiating in good faith, let's put everything on the table, shall we, Lady Mineure?" She waved her hand over said imaginary table for dramatic effect, then declared, "The truth is that we're both in a situation out of our control. You're on the run and separated from your husband. We require allies and access to a Mana Well. We're both in a position where we can provide each other with what we need. Isn't that reason enough to join hands in our hour of need?"
"Yes, we're indeed in desperate straits, but what about you?" she asked back, eyes narrowed into a squint. "Why do you require the aid of our retainers?"
Elly hesitated for a moment, giving Judy the opportunity to interject with, "According to a captive we interrogated today, the Herald of House Inanna is already is planning to claim the Mana Well of your House. Time is of the essence, and that's why we need to work together."
"I see… But what's after that? The rest of our forces are scattered, so if House Inanna truly invades our territory, as you say, we can't mount any resistance. Whether we work with you or not, it wouldn't make any difference."
"But we can rescue your husband?" Penny tried to argue, but the Abyssal woman shook her head.
"My husband offered himself to lure away the traitors, just so we could safely escape during the chaos. Putting ourselves in danger in an attempt to save him would be tantamount to betraying him and his sacrifice, and for what? To be thrust into another battle, this time against the Emperor and his Herald?" She levelled an icy glare at the girls and concluded with, "Be honest with me, Lady Sennoma. You must have something else. Something important enough to make a detour instead of rushing to the side of the Peacemaker. Something that lets you be this bold even in the face of the Herald."
Caught in the crossfire of prying gazes from every direction, Judy and Elly shared a glance that was pretty much screaming, 'Should we tell her about the real plan?'. However, before they could decide how to proceed with the negotiations, Angie let out a startled sound and waved her hand.
"J-Judy! There's trouble! Something happened to Josh!"
To her credit, my girlfriend didn't panic, but only uttered a skeptical, "How do you know?" much to the Celestial girl's chagrin.
"I don't! I mean, Deus does, because they're— I mean, we are connected and stuff, but we can't tell exactly what's going on! Only that he's in trouble!"
Judy didn't hesitate for long and put on her communicator to take a look, and so did I, just without the silly party glasses. What I found was…
"Murderers! Killers! Aaaah! Somebody, anybody, help meee!!!" yelled a certain blonde Abyssal, currently covered in blood from head to toe and frantically running down a corridor.
As for Team A, they were also there… running in front of him, as if being chased by the guy.
"Why are you following us?!" Josh roared right as he kicked down a door, sending the guard behind it flying.
"I'm your hostage! You must protect your hostage! It's common sense!" Harend Ninurta cried out as he kept racing after the group, down the stairs and up another flight, all the while they were all being pursued by about two dozen armed Abyssals hot on their heels.
…
In other words, what I found was chaos. Also, holy hell, I knew their plan would not survive contact with reality, but I didn't think it would go south this soon. I think it might be a new record…
"Which way?" Josh barked as the trio (plus one) rushed down yet another flight of stairs and into a long hallway.
"I don't know! I can only feel the direction, not the layout of the building," the class rep shouted back before ducking as a few brightly coloured magical projectiles whizzed over their heads.
"I've got an idea!" Snowy, third in line, pointed forward and yelled, "Let's try the third door on the right! The big one!"
She didn't properly explain herself, yet Josh still exclaimed, "On it! Follow me!"
"I'm right behind you!" the bloodied Abyssal responded in the back, but by this point, nobody had the mental leeway to react to him.
Team A (plus one) dashed forth, and while their pursuers were still lagging behind and occasionally stumbling over each other; it was hard to cast Abyssal kinetic spells while running, yet Snowy was also following their example. She made a series of delicate hand movements as the glow of magic suffused the air around her, and just as they rushed through the large doorway, she twirled around and pointed her hands towards the opening.
"Get behind me!"
"Eeeep!" Hareng Ninurta screamed and threw himself onto the floor to get out of the way. Not that Snowy would've hit him anyway. Probably.
Anyhow, my sister let loose the spell she was preparing, and in a split second, giant icicles sprouted from all around the door, pointing in every which direction, until fully encasing it in a single giant, spiky block.
"Damnation!" one of the pursuers on the other side exclaimed as he came to a screeching halt. He must've been some kind of noble or officer, because he was wearing a snazzy suit with a whole lot of fancy embroidery. "Quick, we need to go around!"
The rest of the Abyssals behind him didn't argue and dashed down the corridor the way they came.
"That should buy us some time…" Snowy muttered while wiping her forehead.
Meanwhile, the class rep poked the mass of sharp ice-spikes with her finger and asked, "How did you know this would work?"
"Um… you mentioned the layout," my sister responded and made a vague gesture towards the floor. "It made me realize why I've had this strange feeling ever since we came here. It's just like our castle." She lightly shook he head and quickly corrected herself, "I mean, it's like Castle Inanna."
"Wait, what? Are you from House Inanna, my fair lady?" asked the Abyssal, still lying on the floor, but he was once again summarily ignored.
"If the layout is the same, then the only other way to get here is by exiting the building through the main gate and then going around the back of the castle to use the old servant entrance. Even if they hurry, it should take a few minutes."
"Okay, that's our Plan B then," Josh cut in and tapped his ear. "I got in contact with Judy. They found the Ninhursags and the Fauns, but it doesn't really matter anymore. The original plan is toast." He glared at the guy still on the floor, and then added, "Because someone just had to kick over the hornet's nest."
"Hey! It wasn't my fault!" Hareng protested as he finally got up. His upper body was still smeared with blood, but he didn't look much worse for wear.
Ammy decided to interrogate him with, "Then what exactly happened?" followed by a critical tweak of her glasses, and the guy immediately shifted into a smarmy pose and put a hand on his chest.
"If my fair maiden wishes to know, I'm more than happy to explain!"
"Do it on the move," Josh interjected and gestured to Snowy. "You said the layout of these castles is similar, right? Do you know the shortest way to the target?"
"That's through there," she responded meekly while pointing at the ice barricade. "B-But I know an alternate one."
"Good enough. We've come this far, we're not gonna leave empty-handed."
They moved out at once, this time led by my Abyssal sister, while the other Abyssal began to weave his tale to the class rep.
"You see, I met up with my brothers to tell them the good news about my survival and return, but then…" He paused for a long while, seemingly to build tension, then threw his hands into the air and exclaimed, "Assassins!"
"Assassins?" Ammy repeated after him with audible skepticism, and the guy nodded along.
"Quite! They were waiting in ambush! Hiding on the ceiling, and the wardrobes, and everywhere!"
"The wardrobes? Are you serious?" Josh quipped from the front, and Hareng vehemently nodded at him.
"Yes! They must have been, like, ninjas or somesuch! That's why we didn't see them coming!"
"That's dumb," the guy told him flatly. "I've met enough ninjas to know they aren't hard to spot."
"Wait, what? You've seen ninjas?"
Ammy was already making a comment before Josh could respond to his question, saying, "I disagree. Our ninjas are the demon-hunter variety, but they can still be really stealthy at times."
"Whatever. It still doesn't make sense why now everyone's hunting us," Josh griped, and the other guy must've taken this as his cue.
He exhaled a theatrically pained sigh and put the back of his wrist on his forehead, so engrossed in the act that he nearly lost the group when they abruptly turned a corner. He quickly caught up to them and repeated the motion before saying, "My dear older brother jumped in front of me to shield me! I can still recall his last words as if it happened just yesterday! He said, 'You can't trust anyone in this household!'. He also said 'Aaaargh!', but—"
"But that doesn't explain why we're being chased!" Josh cut in a tad impatiently.
"Ah, I think it's because everyone's mistaking you for the assassins," Hareng explained as if stating the obvious.
"How!? You were running towards us, not away from us!"
"Probably because you're a bit shady?" the Abyssal retorted, sounding just a touch uncertain. "I mean, you take hostages and have ninjas."
Fortunately nobody made a 'That's a fair point,' kind of remark, mainly because the whole group came to a halt when half a dozen Abyssals poured out of a nearby doorway.
"Shit! They caught up to us already!" Josh cursed aloud, but just as he was about to get ready to fight, Ammy stepped forth.
"It's my turn!" she declares while simultaneously summoning the familiar staff she occasionally used, and after muttering a long string of multi-syllable faux-Latin words, the air around her swelled with mana.
She slammed the butt end of her staff against the tiled floor, causing a small wave to propagate forward. It harmlessly passed under Josh's and Snowy's feet, but when it got near the Abyssal men rushing into the corridor, it caused the ancient stone walls to undulate and then suddenly sprout enormous stone spikes. It was almost a mirror image of Snowy's ice spell from before, and in a matter of seconds, the corridor was completely blocked.
"Wait, what? What kind of spell was that?!" Hareng exclaimed in shock.
Ammy didn't recognise the alarm in his voice, and proudly declared, "It's an original one I came up with just now!"
It was a good thing that spells didn't have copyright protections, because if someone looked at that and said it was completely original, then I also had a brand-new bridge to sell them.
It was at this point that Snowy awkwardly pointed at the jammed hallway and said, "Uuu… That's where we were supposed to go."
Ammy let out a startled, "Oh…" while Josh only shrugged.
"We weren't going that way anyway. What other options do we have?"
"I'm not sure…" My Abyssal sister glanced around, her eyes ultimately settling on an unadorned part of the passage. "If… I mean, so far everything else matched, so it should be over there."
"What should be?"
"The stairs leading downstairs," she explained while pointing downwards. "It's something like a maintenance corridor, I think. Um… the servants back home sometimes used it as a shortcut, and I heard about it from them."
"A shortcut?"
"Yes. It goes around the back of the Chamber, and there's another stairwell at the other end. It's the quickest way to move between the wings."
"But it does bring us to the right ballpark, right?"
"Y-Yes!" Snowy confirmed, while the other Abyssal let out a low chuckle.
"It's unfortunate that there's a brick wall in the way. You could even say that your plan is… bricked!" He opened his arms wide, but seeing that he got no reaction, Hareng grumbled. "Oh, please! I'm just trying to bring a moment of levity to this—"
Before he could finish, Josh abruptly retrieved his black sword from his storage enchantment and took up a high guard posture. He only held it for a breath, just long enough to gather his mana, and then he poured it into his weapon. At first, I thought he might've wanted to unleash a sword-beam, but there was only the golden light of his Celestial power and none of the crackling dark red energy that accompanied that attack. Instead, he lunged forward and made a series of seemingly wild slashes, followed by a forceful kick that blew a roughly circular hole into the wall, sending plaster and debris flying every which way.
"Let's call this Plan C," he declared before sheathing his weapon, then he covered his mouth to keep away the dust he kicked up. "Let's go!"
Snowy followed after him right away, while Hareng said, "Well, it's lucky that wasn't a stone wall, I suppose. Then we would've been stonewalled."
The class rep squinted at him, then wordlessly followed the other two. So did the Abyssal guy, though not before muttering, "Oh, bother… I hope this wasn't load-bearing…"
Meanwhile, my sister took charge again, and she led the group down a winding spiral staircase leading into the basement. Normally, this would've been the point where I made a few half-hearted complaints about why so many important places were underground, followed by wondering about whether there were Abyssal mole people, but… it kind of made sense this time? I mean, even the Celestial Mana Wells were tucked away under the Migdáls of the Elysium, and heck, I was already so desensitised to the concept, it didn't even register with me when I Phased into Crowy's basement that one time.
Anyhow, the four of them finally reached the bottom of the stairs, and Snowy pointed at the unlit curving corridor in front of them.
"That way. It goes around the Mana Well chamber."
Josh squinted and whispered, "I can't see a thing."
"You can't?" Ammy blurted out in surprise, only to then mumble a soft, "Oh, right…" and then conjure up a ball of light at the end of her staff. I didn't blame her for being oblivious; thanks to the proximity of the Mana Well, the whole area was saturated with ambient mana, and while it wasn't exactly visible light, she could probably still see everything fairly clearly down there. Or at the very least I could, and our visions were at least nominally similar.
"Much better." Josh walked over to the smooth wall to their right and lightly tapped on it. "Should I break this one too?" he proposed, no doubt the adrenaline-high speaking, but my sister hurriedly stopped him.
"You can't! Um… I-I mean, you literally can't! The whole chamber is heavily fortified and warded to protect the Mana Well. Even if we all worked together and attacked the gates together, it would take time to break through them all!"
"But these aren't the gates," Ammy interjected and also tapped her staff against the wall. "The main entrance is the expected attack vector, so it's heavily reinforced, but what about these?" She tapped it a few more times, like an electrician looking for a stud in a wall, and let out a determined hum. "I think we should be able to break through here."
Snowy didn't agree, and she pointed down the far end of the corridor.
"We can go to the other wing, and then we can circle around and use the stairwell next to the Lord's quarters to reach the chamber's main entrance. It's much safer."
"And slower," Josh pointed out. "There's also no guarantee we aren't gonna run into more enemies on the way." He stepped back and got out his sword again. "I say we give this one a go."
"Can I get a say in this?" Hareng asked on the side, and after receiving a glare that implicitly said 'No!', he stepped back with a dispirited, "Oh. Okay, then."
"I… don't like this plan, but if you want to do it, I'll help," Snowy stated, and the class rep also joined the fray with a resolute look on her face.
"I'm going to use a spell to weaken the walls. It should make it easier to break through."
"I… I have a Sigil that can interfere with static spells. It has a short range, but if I make it mono-directional, it could maybe affect the wards on the other side."
"Is this Plan D then?"
Josh only spared a disparaging look at Hareng's question before nodding at the girls.
"Please do that. I'll prepare myself in the meantime."
Following Josh's words, all three of them began to work furiously. The class rep continued to chant while periodically tapping her staff against the wall, occasionally stepping left and right to let Snowy draw onto it. She made individual Sigils and then slowly connected them until they formed something that kind of resembled one of those stereotypical magic circles often seen in fiction. Oddly enough, the two's magics didn't interfere with each other, or if they did, they quickly compensated as to not to step on each other's toes.
Meanwhile, Josh stood at the back, holding his sword vertically in front of him. The normally jet-black blade was now shimmering with a bright golden light, and it hungrily drank in the ambient mana, both through Josh and from the air itself. The principle was the same as when I used Cal and Teeny, though a bit cruder and more brute-force, since Josh lacked the Oaths and the mana-pathways specifically designed to plug into magical equipment, but it worked.
Oh, and Hareng was there too.
It only took a few short minutes for them to finish their preparations, and then Ammy declared, "All set!"
Snowy followed her up with, "I'm activating the Sigils!" causing them to flare to life and giving a definite magic circle shape to her handiwork.
"Stand back!" Josh shouted and lunged forward, sword held high, and he swung downwards.
The strike met the wall, tearing away the plaster and revealing the chunky stone slabs underneath. They didn't put up much of a resistance either, and as Josh's attacks picked up the pace, his blade started sending chunks flying everywhere. The others retreated a bit, though the class rep stayed a bit closer to provide lighting for the guy, and he proceeded to enact his best drill-bit impression by rapidly cutting a more-or-less circular hole in front of him.
He was wicked fast… but still slower than expected. Not because he lacked cutting power or magical interference, but because the wall was really freaking thick. After only a minute, the floor of the hallway was covered ankle-deep in debris, and Josh had bored a hole that was at least a meter deep into the wall, yet there was no end in sight. By this point, the class rep had to pull double duty, using a different spell to magically sweep the stone chunks towards the stairs whence they came from to give Josh space to work with.
And then, just as the light of his sword was starting to dim from the over-exertion… a crack. It was the size of a pinhole, but it was definitely there, and the blue light seeping through it drew a beam into the dusty air of the hallway. Seeing that he was almost done must've reinvigorated Josh, as he let out a triumphant roar and thrust his blade directly at the pinpoint, releasing all the remaining mana in his system in one giant burst of power.
It was less of a sword-bean and more of an indiscriminate blast, but it was just what they needed, and as the dust partially settled, it revealed a neat, mostly circular hole.
"See? I told you this would be—" the guy began, only to instinctively duck when a magical lightning bolt hit the wall right next to him.
"Ninurta scum! You'll never take us alive!" a fierce yet also somewhat nasal voice roared on the other side, and based on the light coming from there, they were ready to make another attack.
Josh was quick on his feet, and he exclaimed, "W-Wait! Hold your fire!" He stored away his weapon and raised his hands over his head. "We're not with the Ninurtas!"
That made the man on the other side pause, and once the dust fully settled, our resident protagonist found himself staring down about twenty Abyssals, all of them striking various poses like an interpretive dance troupe stopping mid-performance, no doubt ready to release whatever magic missiles they had up their sleeves at a moment's notice.
In the middle of the group was a portly, long-haired middle-aged man. His skin was pale, made even more prominent by the blue light of the Mana Well, and he had a beard and moustache that were right off the face of a royalty-themed fast-food mascot.
In the meantime, Snowy and Ammy also made it to the other side of the hole, one focused on the Abyssals within the chamber, while the other was more interested in the round pedestal holding the floaty blue magical Rubik's Cube. It was my sister who made the first move, as she hopped over the debris and beelined towards the rotund man in the middle.
"Neige Liliam Inanna-Dunning greets the Head of House Ninhursag, true descendant of the Seven Founders. May your lands always prosper."
That must've been some kind of universal greeting within Abyssal high-society, because the man finally let his poised hand down and muttered, "House Ninhursag greets you. It's been a while since we last met, scion of House Inanna." He jerked his head towards Josh and asked, "Is he the rumoured Peacemaker of House Dunning, who took you under his wing?"
"Ah, no," Josh interjected a tad awkwardly. "I'm Joshua Bernstein. I'm Leo's… I mean, the… erm… Peacemaker's friend. We're here to save you."
"Among other things," Ammy noted while inching towards the Mana Well. "Can I take a closer look?"
Since nobody told her no under the circumstances, she briskly walked over to the pedestal, and as soon as she came to a halt, the transparent yellow avatar of the Grimoire manifested beside her, much to everyone's surprise. Including…
"Wait, what? Who's that?!" Hareng exclaimed from the other side of the hole, much to the Abyssals' shock and confusion.
"Hareng Aseng Ninurta! What are you doing here!" the Ninhursag patriarch bellowed, hand aimed at the guy with pale cyan lightning sparks flickering between his fingers.
As for the half-naked, bloodied Abyssal, he flashed a harmless grin and exclaimed, "I'm a hostage!"
"… Excuse me?"
"It's a long story, and it's not very important," Josh interjected and gestured at the pedestal and Ammy. "Listen, sir. We need to access your Mana Well. It's critical." He didn't even wait for the Abyssal Nobleman to respond and turned to Snowy. "Lili? Can you catch him up to what's going on? I think you're better suited to this."
"C-Certainly!"
With that concluded, he turned his back on them and headed over to Ammy's side. By the time he got there, Hareng was already there with a disarming smile plastered on his face.
"I must say, I have seen many a beautiful women in my time, but none so transparently charming as you! May you grace me with your name, my fair ghostly lady?"
Grimmy promptly ignored the guy (that seemed to be the default reaction) and said, "Progress Report: Connection to the terminal of the Asphodelòs Sub-System is successful. Administrator certifications accepted. Waiting for system log update."
"How is it?" Josh asked a bit warily, but Ammy didn't respond right away.
She was clearly communicating inside her head with Grimmy, probably because it was faster, and before long, her expression turned cloudy.
"Ah… This isn't good."
The guy prompted her with an understandably irritated, "What?" and she turned to face him.
"We have a problem. One Mana Well isn't enough."
"… What do you mean it 'isn't enough'!?" Josh burst out in alarm, startling the Abyssal guy and drawing the attention of some of the Abyssal nobles in the back.
"Confirmation: The output of a single terminal is insufficient to perform the requested operation."
"Yes, I understood what you meant! That's not the point!" Josh let out a loud huff and rubbed his forehead hard. "What are we supposed to do now?"
"Response: Insufficient data. Prediction: The probability of two terminals being sufficient is over eighty percent."
"Oh, great! And how are we supposed to get our hands on two Mana Wells at the same time?!" Josh's irate outburst was followed by a long groan and the question, "Can't you just do it remotely, or something?"
"Response: Due to a lack of regular systems maintenance, restoring remote communications between Terminals would require six days, three hours, and seventeen minutes. Alternative Response: Making manual contact with two terminals at once is recommended."
"Yes, sure," Ammy fumed in turn, picking up where Josh left off. "We're just going to take a whole Mana Well with us on the way out of here. No problem."
While that was clearly and unmistakably sarcastic, if I were in the room at the moment, I would've already facepalmed so hard it would've given me a concussion, because that was just asking for—
"Confirmation: Request received. Engaging standby protocols in five… four…"
"Wait, what?" the Abyssal guy blurted out, but the others looked just as confused, and when the countdown reached its end…
"… Zero."
The room went dim. Not literally dark, but rather, both the visible radiance emitted by the cube and the mana in the room were rapidly sucked into it, so the only light sources remaining were the magic orb floating over Ammy's staff and the faint outlines of the wards on the walls. Meanwhile, the Mana Well spun in the air a few times until the last of its glow receded, and then it unceremoniously fell onto the pedestal with a dull thud. Which was… exactly what I thought would happen. Goddamit.
"Statement: Asphodelòs Sub-System Terminal successfully disconnected and is in standby mode," Grimmy stated, and despite the whole machine-voice gimmick, she almost sounded proud of herself.
"What have you done!?" the understandably panicked Ninhursag patriarch bellowed and pushed Snowy aside, approaching the pedestal with heavy steps.
Josh, quick on his feet once again, showed his palm and exclaimed, "Wait, listen! We… erm…" He glanced at Ammy, but she couldn't give any support, so he tried his best to wing it. "Noir Inanna is on his way here to claim the Mana Well, so we… how should I put this? We're gonna take it with us when we leave. Yes, we're gonna do that, so he can't have it."
"I don't know what you've done or why, but that's not the immediate concern!" the portly man argued back, his glare literally infused with static electricity that made his facial hair point every which way. "The Wards of the Chamber are powered by the excess mana of the Well! Without it, the Chimera will—!"
Before he could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by a huge impact that made the ground shake under their feet and set the huge metal gates of the room ajar. It was followed by a second, then a third, and by the fourth time the metal warped enough to let them see three predatory eyes arranged in a vertical row peeking through the crack.
There was a beat of silence, then the eyes blinked, followed by a low, guttural howl and yet another impact on the door.
"So… um… Friend? What's Plan E?" Hareng asked, about as shaken as everyone else in the room.
"… We grab the cube and run while the door is still holding."
"Ah. Hm. And what if it doesn't?" the Abyssal mused, sounding a bit calmer than before. "I hope you have a Plan F too…"
In return, Josh responded with a faint, "… Goddamit, Leo…" as if I had anything to do with this.
Okay, so that escalated pretty quickly, but I wasn't too surprised. Granted, I never bothered to pivot my Far Sight point of view around to the other side of the doors, but a Chimera being there made… some sense. I mean, this was the Abyss, and where else were one of these monsters supposed to show up but here? Not to mention, since the Ninhursag patriarch barricaded himself into the Mana Chamber, there was no better way to keep him in check until Crowy's arrival than having a magic-resistant beastie stationed in front of the door.
Case in point…
"Back, you disloyal beast! Back!" the portly man yelled and made a series of hand gestures. His hand lashed out towards the crack in the door, and from his palm erupted a bolt of lightning as thick as his forearm.
The flash lit up the dim chamber with blinding light, followed by a pained growl as the Chimera staggered back… for about a second before it began to pry open the metal door wings like it was only hit on the snout with a rolled-up newspaper.
The other Abyssals in the room were on the verge of panic, reasonably so, but then Josh yelled out, "Everyone, quick! Escape through the hole we made!"
The patriarch, naturally, decided to use the opportunity to be obstinate and exclaimed, "This is my castle! Don't you dare order my men around!"
"With all due respect, sir, shut up and get in line!" the guy retorted and didn't even wait for him to respond before turning to Snowy. "Lili! Take the lead and get them out of there!"
"But… the Chimera!" she objected while frantically gesturing at the steadily deforming door.
"You're the only one of us who understands the layout of this place! Let's get out of here first, and then we'll figure out the rest on the move!"
"O-Okay!"
Josh's explanation wasn't exactly reassuring or airtight, but under the circumstances, my sister just ran with it and approached the Abyssal dignitaries clustered at the back of the chamber. Meanwhile, the guy's attention fell on the class rep and her holographic companion, and he bellowed, "Ammy! Grab the cube and follow after them!"
His words jolted her out of a momentary stupor, and she yelped, "Ah! Yes, I'm on it!" as she turned on her heel to approach the pedestal. Meanwhile, Josh pulled out both his sword and shield and took up a defensive stance, and not a second too soon, as the hinges of the entrance gave up and the Chimera tore them off the wall with a guttural grunt.
It was hard to make out the creature's current body plan, due to the lack of proper lighting, but at a glance, it was about the same size as the one I encountered back during the school incident. It had three pairs of red eyes with ominously smouldering, sickly yellow irises set in an ape-like face, except for a jutting muzzle filled with pointy yellow teeth. It had a large, muscular upper body covered with a mixture of rust-coloured fuzzy fur and small scales, while its hind legs were comparatively small.
Its movements also reminded me of an enormous gorilla's, as once the dust settled, it let out yet another throaty roar and dashed forth on its knuckles, practically dragging its lowed body and long lizard-like tail behind. The charge came to a momentary halt when the Ninhursag patriarch threw another lightning bolt at the creature, and while it staggered, the sudden flash of light likely did more to disorient it than whatever damage it received. If anything, it just got more pissed off and focused on the plump man.
"What are you still doing here?!" Josh roared as he hurriedly wedged himself between the two, just in time to receive a clumsy yet heavy blow from the Chimera for his trouble.
He caught the creature's oversized knuckle on his shield, sending magical sparks flying through the air that lit up the surroundings. The impact sent him reeling back, yet he quickly regained his footing and squared off against the beast again.
"I am the Head of House Ninhursag, and I'm—!" the patriarch bellowed back, only to fall silent when someone grabbed him from the back and put him in a full nelson hold from behind. "Wha…? How dare you!? What do you think you're doing!?"
"I'm helping! I think!" Hareng Ninurta exclaimed with apparent enthusiasm and started dragging the man one and a half times his size towards the hole in the wall. "Everyone else's waiting, so let's go!"
He wasn't kidding, as by this point most of the Abyssal nobles retreated into the maintenance corridor.
"Josh, hurry!" Ammy shouted from the other side, but the guy remained stationary and held up his shield again.
"I'll stall it until everyone's—!" He couldn't finish the sentence because he was nearly sent flying by a backhand slap from the Chimera. He rolled and sprang back onto his feet, and then slammed the flat of his blade against the middle of his shield. "You missed, you overgrown monkey! Come and get some!"
I honestly had no idea if Chimeras could even understand human speech, but the one in the chamber was certainly more pissed than before, and it turned its full attention to Josh. Unfortunately for the guy, the beast had an advantage both in size and reach, and so when it raised its enormous knuckle, bigger than Josh's head, for a vertical smash, all he could do was to dodge out of the way.
If there was one silver lining, it's that the Chimera was pretty slow and ponderous. Maybe because of its unbalanced body, or due to the low lighting conditions, but it had to readjust itself after every strike, allowing Josh to look for openings and deliver quick and accurate slashes and stabs at its side and abdomen. Not that it did much.
"What the hell is this thing made of?!" he cried out in audible outrage when the stab he put all his weight into only penetrated a few centimeters into the creature's side, and I had to wonder about that myself. I mean, I remember that I could skewer the last Chimera I fought with Brang's spear, no problem, and I had no magical power-ups at the time.
…
Actually, maybe that was the problem? Chimeras were effectively immune to magic, so maybe Josh couldn't do much damage to it because his sword was infused with mana? Such musings were only academic, as I had no way to give any tips to Josh at the moment. Or rather, I technically could if I contacted Judy and told her to tell him, but by the time I realised this, the guy was sent flying across the chamber again.
"Josh! Everyone's outside already! Stop being a hero and get out of there already!" Ammy cried out again, looking more angry than worried, and while our resident protagonist obviously didn't want to run away, seeing that he was alone in the room soon made him dash towards the hole in the wall all the same.
The Chimera wasn't standing still either, and while it wasn't exactly nimble, it wasn't going to let its target get away so easily. It lunged after Josh with an inelegant but by no means slow hurtle, its knuckles slamming against the floor like it personally insulted its mother. All the while roaring from the top of its lungs, of course. I still couldn't figure out why they (along with the Colossi) were doing that all the time. Maybe psychological warfare?
Anyhow, Josh was faster and literally leapt through the hole, but not fast enough to fully escape, and he let out a startled yelp and fell over when a huge, muscular arm reached after him and caught him by his left foot.
"Argh! Son of a bitch—!"
"Look out!"
He awkwardly turned and raised his sword to hack at the fingers clamped around his leg, but Snowy was one step faster. With a flash of magical light, she conjured a huge icicle and sent it flying at the forearm of the creature, just as it was about to pull Josh back. Once again, the magical projectile didn't penetrate deep, but it caused the Chimera to flinch, just as the guy swung his sword again.
There was a pained roar, followed by another flash of bright light, this time a warm orange one as the class rep sent a dozen or so small fireballs through the hole, exploding all over the Chimera's face. That was the last straw, and it finally let go of Josh as it staggered back, allowing the girls to pull him out of reach.
It was a good thing they did, because the beast was only stunned for a few seconds before it assaulted the hole again, only to be stuck as its huge shoulders didn't allow it passage. It heaved and struggled and rammed its body against the opening over and over again.
"It won't be stuck here for long," the Ninhursag patriarch scoffed. He shook off Hareng at some point and was now busy fixing his clothes while glaring at Josh and company. Then he hissed, "I hope you have a plan."
"Sort of," Josh responded reflexively as he rose from the ground, only to hastily correct himself. "Absolutely. We definitely have a plan."
The round man looked at him with eminent skepticism, so our resident protagonist quickly cleared his throat and pointed down the corridor.
"First, we head that way. There should be a set of stairs leading to the… other wing. We'll get up there and decide on which way to go depending on the circumstances."
The Abyssals in tow were obviously none too reassured by his words, but it wasn't like they had much of a choice, and with the Chimera still ramming itself against the hole and the other direction being filled with debris, they soon fell in line and followed Snowy and Ammy as they led them down the only viable direction. Snowy, because she was the only one with the barest hint of an idea about where to go, and the class rep, because she was the one with the light.
With the dignitaries in the middle, that left Josh, Hareng, and the patriarch bringing up the rear, and it wasn't long before the only non-Abyssal of the three broke the tense silence with a rather odd question.
"Where did that Chimera come from, anyway?"
"Excuse me?" the Ninhursag noble responded a touch incredulously, so Josh hastily reiterated.
"I mean, we did some research before coming to the Abyss, and from what I've heard, each Noble House has at most one or two Chimeras. Where did the Ninurtas get one?"
"That was our Chimera," the man hissed, his glare aimed directly at the half-bare Ninurta walking beside him.
"Ah, Sir, please don't look at me like that! Our family gained custody of the Chimera through legitimate negotiations in my great-grandfather's generation!" He let out a wistful sigh and slowly shook his head. "Who would've thought it would be used like this one day? The river of history is truly full of twists and turns!"
The patriarch looked like he wanted to punch the ever-loving daylight right out of the young man, but with Josh in the middle, he thought better of it. Not that they had time for a scuffle anyway, because they quickly reached the top of the spiral stairs and were met with… nothing in particular.
"We're near the guest suites," the owner of the place noted with mild annoyance as he looked around the large room. On their left was a series of fancy leadlight windows with diamond panes set into a plain white wall, while on their right, they had a couple of heavy wooden doors, all but one opening into long, well-lit hallways. "There are only two ways out of here: across the Old Pavilion, or right through the main entrance."
"Which way, boss?" Hareng asked with enthusiasm unsuited for the circumstances, but then he shuddered at the sound of another roar echoing up from the stairwell, and he urged, "Which is the quicker one?"
"We need to be cautious," Ammy warned on the side while she undid her magical light, then pointed down the hallway. "Even after everything we did, I don't see or hear anyone nearby. We might be walking into an ambush."
"No, I think that's because of Team B, and…" Josh started, but then there was another roar from downstairs, this time much closer, so he raised his voice and exclaimed, "Listen! We need to escape the castle and get down to the docks! Which is the shortest way to get there?"
"Were you not listening?" the patriarch scoffed. "It's either the Old Pavilion, or we go through the guest quarters and across the courtyard to get to the main entrance. Those are the only two options we have."
"Um… I think they're probably mustering at the main hall, so we should go the other way," Snowy proposed, but Josh didn't approve of the plan.
Instead, he gazed through the windows overlooking the warehouse district of and train yards of Digirmah, and whispered the four most dangerous words he could've uttered at this junction.
"What would Leo do?"
"Come again?" Hareng blurted out, but Jost refused to clarify himself, and after a few short breaths, he suddenly pulled back his sword. "Whoa! What are you—?!"
Before anyone else could respond, he swung his blade while releasing whatever mana he had stored up in his blade after the scuffle with the Chimera. It resulted in a loud bang and tore the windows out of their frames, along with a good chunk of the wall, much to the owner's distress.
"What are you doing?! Those were antique windows!"
Josh promptly disregarded his objection and pointed outside.
"We're taking a shortcut. Anyone who can fly, get to it!"
"And those who can't?" asked one of the middle-aged dignitaries, and a couple others shared his reservations.
"I-I've got it!" Snowy jumped to the rescue, literally, by leaping through the hole and spreading her wings. As soon as she stabilised mid-air, she began waving her hands in slow, elegant motions, in dire contrast with her strained expression. "I'll make a path… or a slide! Trust me!"
"Got it!" Josh yelled back at her, but then he spun on his heel and took up a defensive posture. "We'll buy you some time."
"We?" Hareng muttered as he took a step back. "My friend, I'm not sure I'm cut out for…"
His complaints died in his throat when a sinewy arm emerged from the spiral staircase behind them, pulling up an elongated upper body. The creature's head, now more resembling a dinosaur's than an ape's, emerged from below, and as soon as it locked eyes with Josh, it abruptly leapt out and landed with catlike grace onto a pair of long, digitigrade hind legs.
"What the hell? They can change that fast?" he blurted out in alarm, and if I were there, I would've honest-to-goodness smacked him on the back of the head, because while he never fought one before, I had explained how they worked to him in detail. I guess the saying 'seeing is believing' applied here.
More importantly, this time Ammy also joined the fray, along with the Ninhursag patriarch, to stall the Chimera and allow the rest to retreat through the hole in the wall.
…
Wait. Didn't that already happen downstairs…? Don't tell me this is going to be a pattern…