Ends of Magic

Nathan waved aside his concern for Stella. She was still conscious, but just exhausted. He turned his attention to the wave of metal bodies swarming up the slope to attack the Adventurers.

Finally, I get to do something useful. Wasn’t much for me to do during the siege portion of the battle.

He evaluated the size of the swarm. It wasn’t nearly as large as the one that had attacked them outside Tarren, though three dozen strike constructs and over a hundred scouts were nothing to sneeze at. Though that number was being reduced as the various adventurers with ranged weapons thinned the herd.

The standouts were Kozar and Sarah. Kozar’s arm blurred back and forth, with each motion resulting in a spray of shattered metal as a skill-conjured javelin tore through a construct at supersonic speeds.

Sarah meanwhile was laying down a slow metronome of fire with her rifle. The other Adventurers were glancing askance at her weapon, clearly confused as to its provenance. But nobody could argue with the results - her bullets were unerringly finding the eyes and exposed barrels of the approaching war machines, and the force that reached the gathered Adventurers contained only a few strike constructs.

Finally the melee Adventurers stepped forward, and Nathan joined them. He immediately had to skitter back as the third member of Kozar’s team uncoiled a pair of metallic whips. The weapons looked like they were made of the same stranded metal as Aarl’s new armor, and the man flicked them through the crowd of enemies. Metal limbs flew before the flexible weapons wrapped around a pair of the machines. Those scouts writhed for a moment before they were used like giant flails to smash apart the center of the advancing swarm.

Aarl and Nathan found themselves defending on the right side, while the Old Hands covered the left. With his new greatsword in one hand and the force-saber in the other Aarl cut a swath through the front lines, and Nathan bounded back and forth to deal with a few leakers.

He grabbed a lashing tail and used it to pull the construct into an stamina-empowered knee. He looked around for another target, bounding sideways to rip the limbs off another scout. That pattern repeated for a minute, and after a half-dozen kills the fight was over.

Kozar almost lazily flicked two more javelins at the final two emplacements on the cliff, which looked to be trying to reestablish the illusions that guarded the approach. Then he pulled another enchanted weapon from a pouch, and pointed it down the slope.

“Hold.” Khachi’s voice was firm, as he held glowing palms over the arm of one of the Old Hands, who had suffered a deep wound from the fight. Nathan noticed Delric glaring murder at the unnamed third member of the Gleaming Fist, whose whips were coiling back into gauntlets.

What’s all that about?

Kozar visibly ground his teeth, and looked like he was about to kick Khachi and the woman he was healing down the slope. But before he could decide to do anything drastic Khachi finished the spell, giving the wounded fighter a nod and a clap on the shoulder.

The woman flexed her arm in wonder for a moment before Kozar’s demanding shout had them all running down the slope. Nathan could have sprinted ahead but stayed back with the Heirs. Stella staggered along, leaning on Aarl’s arm for a moment until he scooped her up, bounding down the slope in his armor.

That’s worrying. Better she stick with us instead of staying behind.

Argan froze bridges of ice across the trenches, and Nathan took a moment to appreciate the scale of the fortifications - each trench was deep and wide, and they’d been built in a multilayered pattern that would expose anybody who approached each layer to a vicious crossfire. Several of them were deep enough to disguise the spiders, and Nathan was thankful there hadn’t been any present.

Honestly, these defenses could have held several times the force they did. But that’s why we gave chase so quickly - we needed to prevent the Foundry from replenishing their numbers before we got here.

He also grew impressed with Argan - and the mage on Simla’s team with similar ice and water magic. The two mages had conjured enough water to partially flood many of the trenches in only a few minutes. Additionally, Argan was able to raise bridges of ice wherever he needed to, and ensure that the surface wasn’t too slick to trip up the running Adventurers.

Then they were approaching the cliff face, and Nathan looked up at the opening. It was huge, much larger than he’d guessed from their previous vantage point.

I even had the big bricks for reference. And I knew that the giant siege-construct could squeeze through. Whatever. We’re here now. In we go!

But Kozar had other ideas. “I need a shot to the core. Gleaming Fist, with me! Everybody else, guard the entrance! We will vanquish this foe.”

Simla protested. “Uncle! I would follow inside the Foundry Fortress! Let me aid you!”

Kozar banished the idea with a wave of his hand, glancing at Stella’s slumped form. “This glory is mine. The spaces inside will be tight and hazardous. Ensure no forces that are outside the fortress enter behind us. There is glory in that. Guard the entrance, for I will not be long.”

Then he and his two companions charged into the colossal opening. The tunnel quickly angled down and they were out of sight in moments.

The remaining Adventurers looked around at one another. Delric’s voice sounded out, gruff and commanding. “We don’t have enough bodies to guard anything but the entrance. Back into the opening.”

Delric assigned one Adventurer from the Old Hands and one from Simla’s team to watch their backs, then split the entrance into three sectors. The Old Hands took the right side, Simla’s team took the left and the Heirs took the center.

Aarl set Stella down on the metallic floor inside the entrance and had a few quiet words with her before shoving a potion into her hands. She nodded grumpily as he let go, barely keeping herself sitting up as she took a few sips from the small bottle, grimacing at the taste.

Then they assembled to block the wide entrance, with Khachi and Aarl’s very different armored silhouettes on either side of Nathan, and Sarah crouched just in front of Stella.

There was a minute of silence as everybody caught their breaths, and Nathan looked around at the other Adventurers. This wasn’t a great defensive position, but he didn’t see any trace of anything coming at them - no traces of any constructs descending towards them out of the hills.

Maybe we just wait here until Kozar and the Gleaming Fists finish the job, then it’s back to Tarren for a celebration. Or maybe they die down there and we have to go in after them to finish the job. Retreating from an intact foundry that continues to spit out war machines is a bad option. And so is splitting the party. Dammit Kozar.

Another quiet moment caused the rest of the Adventurers to relax even more, though nobody sheathed their weapons. The tension was reestablished by an explosion echoing back up the metal corridor behind them, and the floor reverberated under their feet.

Was that it? Are we done?

Nathan didn’t have time to follow that line of thought any further as the sound of squealing metal echoed through the trenches. The adventurers swung their eyes down from the hills to the fortifications in front of them, and Nathan caught a glimpse of an opening leading down into darkness.

That can’t be good.

A wave of strike constructs poured out, red eyes turning to focus on the Adventurers squatting in the tunnel.

Yeah that’s not good.

Then several enormous legs reached out of the deeper trenches, and two twelve-legged spiders pulled themselves onto the flatter ground. They each formed up at the head of a spearheads of strike constructs and lumbered towards the adventurers.

It would be hard for it to be less good.

The Adventurers didn’t have cover against the fusillade of magically fired spikes, and their methods to solve this problem varied by team. Aarl and Sarah retreated to Khachi, who grounded his hammer and was soon surrounded by a dome of golden light that shed the spikes like a pattering of rain.

On Nathan’s left, Simla’s team was shielded by a thick bulwark of magically conjured ice, which cracked and shattered in layers as it was battered by waves of metal projectiles. Delric’s team was the hardest pressed, as Neta’s hastily conjured illusion just served to throw off the aim on the spikes, not block them entirely. They took some wounds but retreated back to the cover where the tunnel turned downwards, using the lip to shelter from the onslaught of projectiles.

That’s a pretty smart place to take up a position. Maybe we should back up too?

Nathan himself was dodging waves of the projectiles, which seemed to track his position closely - almost half of the projectiles being fired at the Adventurers were coming his way. But Nathan had Rage active, four movement skills and was spending Stamina to enhance his mobility. He was able to keep ahead of the spikes, merely suffering the occasional wound that healed over in seconds.

High-tier Dodging Footwork 5 achieved!

Nathan was prepared to blunt the charge, but as the twin assaults drove forward it was clear that they were avoiding him. Each attack was going to the flanks, beelining for the Adventurers on either side of the Heirs. As he watched, the spiders sped ahead, disintegration auras flickering to life.

I can stay or move. If I move, I expose the Heirs. They can handle things. Neta and Delric or Simla and his team? Not a hard choice.

Nathan charged the spider on the right, hearing the tumult of battle around him as metal sparked off stone and the Adventurers returned fire with bullet, spell and arrow.

The strike constructs really didn’t want him reaching the first spider, and enough spikes flew his way it was like a wall of flying metal. But he dropped into a low slide, shielding his head. A few spikes struck his legs and torso, but they barely penetrated skin to crack bone. The damage healed nearly instantly.

The biggest problem was one spike that slipped through Nathan’s shielding to hit him in the back of the head. It didn’t crack his skull, but rang it like a bell. Nathan followed through on his planned movement, digging his feet in and then launching into the air, but a smooth leap turned into a wild tumble by the disorientation caused by the head injury.

Focus. Find the balance.

Nathan willed his eyes into focus, taking control of his tumble and spending Stamina to control the spin. Then he slammed himself towards the ground as the spider swung its metallic limbs at him. After a quick roll, Nathan spun upwards in a handspring that sent him flying off one of the giant legs.

High-tier Tumbling 2 achieved!

Gotta get to the central body, get underneath it, break the disintegration crystal.

Nathan landed atop a leg. He hunched low, using the bulk of the spider itself to shield himself from the continuing volleys of spikes.

But just after burning away his clothes, the disintegration aura stopped, flickering out as the crystal underneath the construct retracted into its body.

How? - I guess it knows that’s how I killed the last two. Annoyingly smart. I won’t have a straight shot to its innards if it closes the panel that protects the disintegration crystal. At least it won’t be able to disintegrate Neta or Delric like this.

Nathan danced down the leg, taking a second to examine the central body of the spider. It wasn’t too large, and almost a third of it was heavily armored housings where all twelve legs connected to the main body. Thick metal plates armored the construct, joined to one another with narrow seams.

Those plates aren’t connected by rivets or anything - I wonder what holds them onto the body. I’m gonna bet it’s magic.

Nathan struck at the corner of one of the plates, trying to project his antimagic through the blow. It wasn’t something his [Magic Absorption] wanted to do, but he’d done variations of this several times, and it always felt like trying to push a novel muscle. He exerted his will on the antimagic, trying to force his Talent outwards and feeling it flex in response.

There might be a Development there - but I’m trying to save the Old Hands, not Develop my Talent. Not going to waste time.

After the fourth strike, the plate’s corner popped loose. Nathan moved to the adjacent corner, repeating the strike and focusing on replicating the feeling of pushing his antimagic out and through the armor. He struggled to keep his balance as the spider flailed, trying to scrape him off its armored body. But it wasn’t really positioned to strike him here - the legs just didn’t flex properly to attack upwards.

It doesn’t really count as a weak spot if it’s this heavily armored and somebody needs to survive a close-range disintegration every second they stand here.

It only took three strikes for the second plate, and he got the next two in one strike each. His [Magic Absorption] Talent flexed slightly, but didn’t feel like it was on the verge of Development - the bar was just that much higher for Developing an already-unique Talent. Regardless, Nathan ripped the plate free of its enchanted mooring.

I’ll need to think about if I want to Develop my antimagic to extend outside my body with my strikes. It’s not that impressive a Development, but it’s the only Insight I’ve got right now. Not sure it's even a full Insight yet.

Nathan's introspection didn’t slow him down, as he reached his arm inside the exposed framework, aiming for where he knew the control unit for the spider was. It was almost anticlimactic to find it and siphon out the thinking-magic, causing the enormous and extremely dangerous enchanted machine to simply slump in place.

Nathan sat up, taking in the noise and complexity of the battlefield now that his little piece of it was dealt with. The Old Hands seemed to be holding their own, with Neta establishing a series of illusory pieces of terrain that the Old Hands were using as cover to team up on strike constructs that reached them.

The Heirs were doing fine in the center of the room, with Aarl and Khachi striking at the flanks of the attacks while Sarah methodically knocked down strike constructs. Stella was throwing desultory spells, but it was nowhere near her usual battlefield showing, much less the level of dominance she'd demonstrated in the last few fights.

Simla’s team didn't seem to be doing so well. The other spider was running amok, even though its legs were grooved with deep cuts. It was chasing three figures down the tunnel and even as Nathan vaulted off his perch he saw it pin somebody against a wall and hold them until empty and brittle armor fell to the ground.

I gotta take that thing down.

Nathan was halfway there when a sonic boom shattered the battlefield. The spider exploded, metal spraying across the battlefield.

I guess Kozar’s done and on his way back.

That marked the turning point of the battle, as the Adventurers were more than capable of dealing with the remaining strike constructs now that the spiders weren’t leading them. But the last vestiges of the swarm didn’t retreat as they had before, dashing themselves against the defending Adventurers.

Nathan found himself on the far side of the battlefield, aiding Simla’s reduced team against the remaining enemies. As he drained the mana from the last one, his eyes landed on a sword lying on the ground.

That’s one of Simla’s. Wait…

Nathan let the immobile enemy clatter to the metal floor, stepping toward the sword. He looked around, finding a familiar breastplate on the ground not far away. Many of the engravings were gone, and the overall piece of armor looked thin, like something that had been partially corroded.

It’s been partially disintegrated - probably with Simla in it. I didn’t even notice because I was busy taking out the construct heading for Delric and Neta. Damn, just like that. I wonder if Kozar will hold it against me.

Nathan turned and looked down the long corridor extending down into the Earth. Kozar and his two teammates were far down the passage. They were stalking upwards, looking victorious and proud of it. Kozar’s eyes were scanning the gathered Adventurers, and his frown grew as he couldn’t find Simla.

Uh oh.

You have leveled up to level 116! Your party has vanquished an Old Gemore Fortress Foundry and the associated guards!

Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Magic Absorption 10

Permanent Talent 2: Perfected Body 4

Talent 3: High-tier Slow Fall 8

Class: Implacable Antimage level 116

Stamina: 3388/3780

Antimage’s Impassivity

Antimagic Momentum

Raging Thrill

Implacable Inertia

Unarmored Resilience

Improved Antimagic

Strenuous Agility

Hand-to-hand Expertise

Utility skills:

Battle Meditation 4

High-tier Earnestness 9

Mid-tier Sprinting 10

High-tier Spellsense 8

High-tier Notice 4

High-tier Identify 4

High-tier Dodging Footwork 5

High-tier Enhanced Memory 7

Mid-tier Lecturing 8

High-tier Tumbling 2