Divine Apostasy Book 7 - Chapter 17

Chapter 17

“Who can’t swim?” Ruwen shouted.

Three of the Adepts raised a hand and Ruwen looked at Sift, sending him a message with Sphere of Influence. You take the one nearest you. I’ll take the other two. Remembering the underwater level in Blapy with the Octhorse, Ruwen added one more item. And don’t pee in the water.

Their current location put them directly between two sets of giant golem hands that supported the bridge. More bad luck. Demons covered the massive hands and they looked down on the Bamboo Viper Adepts with mirth.

The hands stretched thirty feet above the bridge, and he quickly calculated the height of the massive golems assuming they had human proportions. The bridge golems had already been bent over to allow the bridge to rest on their backs which meant when they kneeled, the bridge wouldn’t drop more than twenty feet underwater. It also explained why all the demons had climbed to the top ten feet of the fingers.

Twenty feet underwater would make fighting vastly more difficult, especially against anything that lived in the water. The Adepts would lose most of their training advantage, which Ruwen supposed, was the whole point.

Water covered Ruwen’s feet, and the coldness surprised him. He guessed the temperature came from the river’s source, the glaciers and snow-covered peaks in the distance.

“Form a line and grab the belt of the Adept in front of you,” Ruwen shouted as he strode to the front with the two Adepts who couldn’t swim.

Three pressure waves approached Ruwen and without looking, he snatched the first spear from the air and used it to swipe the two that followed.

As Ruwen’s calves sank into the water, he gained a clearer picture of the river. Water transmitted waves much better than air, even if they ended up a little more distorted. The vibration of the lowering bridge, along with all the demons moving on the giant hands, made the immediate area a little blurry. It didn’t matter though, as his map automatically updated with what he already knew. Creatures filled the water, many of them circling the bridge to grab the unlucky few who remained.

Ruwen had planned to form a line and pull everyone forward at a pace that he’d hoped would keep them safe. Now, after seeing the density of the surrounding creatures, he knew that wouldn’t work. He needed another plan and needed it quickly.

Golems, well most golems since Ruwen wasn’t sure about Tarot, consisted of some type of stone or clay or other similar substance. They didn’t feel pain, which was important because Ruwen only had one idea, and it wasn’t a good one.

Ruwen’s plan also made him a hypocrite, as he’d spent time telling Sift how the Adepts needed to harden in this furnace. But he couldn’t shake the fact that their current situation likely resulted from his deal with Tarot, and he didn’t want others to suffer because of his bad luck.

Ruwen didn’t want to just finish Savage Island, he wanted to do it without losing any of his Clan. At least any of the ones that remained with him. The waters surrounding them would make that unlikely, as the lake’s predators had perfected this feeding process and wouldn’t give him the time to protect everyone.

What would give them a little time, however, was if they were busy eating something else.

The water had reached Ruwen’s thighs, and he turned to Sift. “Change of plans. Take my two non-swimmers, group up, and get ready.”

“Ready for what?” Sift asked as the Adepts clustered around Sift.

“A hand.”

Sift frowned as Ruwen turned and leaped fifty feet down the bridge, the water covering his lower legs making the jump more difficult than normal. He landed next to one of the giant golems supporting the bridge. The golem had already submerged and only its hands remained visible as it cupped the bridge, holding it in place.

Demons covered the fingers above Ruwen, and they threw knives and other blades down on him. He ignored the weapons, knowing his natural Armor Class would protect him.

Ruwen ran a hand over the smooth surface of the golem’s wrist and used his fifty-seven levels in Stonemason, gained by preparing New Eiru’s city walls for war, to look for any weaknesses. He considered using other Abilities or Spells but wanted to stay as true to the Founders’ wishes as he could. He traced a finger along a slight stress fracture as the water reached his waist and more blades rained down on him.

The water around the bridge frothed as the creatures’ excitement for a meal increased. Ruwen focused on the massive wrist in front of him, and with a twist of his hips, slammed a fist into the hairline fractures running parallel to the bridge.

The demons above screamed as the massive hand wobbled and then tilted toward the bridge. Ruwen raised his hands and stopped the fall, the demons above going quiet in shocked appreciation. Then with a surge of Diamond Fortified strength, he pushed the hand outward, toward the river.

The demons screamed as the hand leaned outward, and their frantic movements and scrambling added the extra force necessary for the hand to topple over and into the water.

A yellow-brown cable, like a three-foot tendon, still connected the broken hand to the arm below. With a palm strike, Ruwen split the dense structure with a slice. He grabbed the tendon sticking out of the hand and shook it violently. More screams sounded as the demons, now in the river, desperately tried to hang on.

Ruwen lifted the hand and slammed it down, stunning many of the creatures nearby and shaking off the remaining demons. With a quick turn, he placed the hand onto the bridge between himself and the Adepts, the fingers pointing to the sky.

The water had reached Ruwen’s bellybutton, and he jumped across the bridge to the other hand. The demons there, knowing what was about to happen, tried even harder to stop him, but just as before, they lacked the strength or weapons to harm him.

Ruwen snapped this hand off at the wrist as well, although he had to punch twice, the water absorbing some of his force. The water had risen enough that the creatures had almost reached the Adepts. He slammed the now separated hand into the river, sending a shock wave and buying him a few seconds. Using his massive strength, he picked up the hand and slammed it three more times into the water, breaking the thumb off and creating giant tidal waves in the river.

Now clear of demons, Ruwen reversed the golem's hand and positioned it on top of the previous hand. The two hands now looked like they were praying, but more importantly, they reached almost twenty feet high. As the water reached his armpits, he hoped it allowed his brothers and sisters to survive.

Sift had understood Ruwen’s intent and had already thrown the three non-swimmers onto the topmost hand, his Gold Fortified strength making the throw trivial. The other Adepts quickly climbed out of the river. The hands should keep most of them out of the water.

Ruwen turned to face the far shore and check on Rung One’s progress. To his dismay, they had not quite reached the shore and stood in the shallow water covering the bridge. An enemy Clan waited for them at the bridge’s exit and the surrounding water had filled with hungry beasts.

Echo’s speed had separated her from Rung One and she stood two hundred feet downstream from the bridge. She watched the six Adepts trapped on the bridge.

Ruwen could imagine the calculations going on Echo’s mind. The Adepts of Rung One held a terrible position, and to help them, she would need to attack the mass of enemy Clan fighters at the bridge’s exit. Even with her Gem Fortified body and superb fighting skills, it would put her in danger, and the examples she’d witnessed growing up would make her decision easy.

The water reached Ruwen’s armpits as he watched Echo turn away from her Rung One team.

“Echodriel,” Ruwen shouted, using the name he’d heard Madda use back at the Black Pyramid.

Echo froze and slowly turned to face Ruwen. The water had reached his neck and multiple pressure waves approached him from the underwater beasts.

“Do better,” Ruwen yelled and then sank under the water.

If Echo didn’t go back and help her Rung, they would all die. Her Step skills were the only thing that could save them. And from experience, he didn’t hold much hope for their survival.

A tentacle wrapped around Ruwen’s waist. He grasped it with one hand and violently twisted his hips, ripping it from the beast’s body. Three of the creatures aiming for him turned and attacked the bleeding creature.

Ruwen used the tentacle like a whip, snapping it in the water, creating vicious pressure waves and stunning the surrounding monsters. He used the few seconds of safety to swim in between the cupped hands.

As the water creatures swam close to the giant hands, Ruwen attacked the largest ones, leaving the Adepts above to handle the smaller beasts. A large flat creature approached and he pushed off the hand below, careful not to use too much force. He didn’t want to destroy the only thing keeping the Adepts above out of the water.

Launching himself out of the cupped hands he shot through the water toward the fifty-foot plate-looking creature. As he passed through the monster’s body, he spread his arms and legs, creating the largest hole possible.

The water around Ruwen had filled with blood from all the dying creatures and it drew more of the monsters toward them. He hadn’t thought that part through, but it didn’t matter since he hadn’t had another plan.

From the pressure waves Ruwen sensed, it appeared most of the beasts had turned and headed toward them. That would give Rung One a sliver of hope to survive on their own. He prayed someone would make it out of that situation alive.

The dead monsters around them created a feeding frenzy for the other creatures and even though they’d attracted what felt like the entire river’s deadly beasts, the abundance of food had slowed the attacks on Ruwen and the Adepts above.

The respite gave Ruwen more time to think. He didn’t understand the selfishness of a person like Echo. How could you let others die like that when you had the chance to save them? An uncomfortable feeling blossomed in his chest. He knew the desire to save everyone was a weakness of his and one his enemies would exploit. While he stood on the opposite side of the spectrum from Echo, his behavior would create problems as well.

Swimming back to the cupped hands, Ruwen floated in the middle of them. For now, they’d created a ring of dead bodies to feed on, but that wouldn’t last. He flattened his hand, as if telling someone to stop, and quickly pushed it outward, careful not to use his full strength. Using all his strength would vaporize the surrounding water, and he’d learned firsthand when launching Uru’s Third Temple out of a water-filled hole, the power of steam.

The compressed water traveled through the river like hardened spikes, causing damage like siege bolts. He launched them out of each side of the hands, creating more dead beasts farther from the bridge.

Small creatures swam above him, but from the bodies floating past him like rain, Sift and the Adepts had it under control.

They kept this up for five minutes when the bridge rose. Thirty seconds later, Ruwen’s head cleared the surface, and he jumped out of the hands and onto the bridge, which had become covered in bloody-slime and shredded body parts.

Ruwen studied the Adepts above him. A few of the Adepts had significant injuries, but they had all survived. With a heart full of dread, he turned to the far shore and found what he’d expected.

The bridge exit and surrounding water were empty. The Adepts of Rung One had died, either pulled down by the creatures in the water or overwhelmed by the enemies on the shore. Ruwen’s throat tightened in grief and his shoulders slouched as he studied the shore.

Ruwen would make that enemy Clan pay for killing his brothers and sisters, but he would need to find them first, as they had retreated after the bridge sank and disappeared.

“Famine!” Echo yelled.

Ruwen turned toward Echo’s voice. She stood a thousand feet down the shoreline. The six Adepts of Rung One stood behind her.

Echo raised her arm across her neck, pointing her elbow at Ruwen in a rude gesture Sift also loved.

Echo turned and sprinted into the plain, the members of Rung One following.

Ruwen grinned.

Being wrong had never felt this good.