Implode ~ 5!

“I don’t particularly like the fact that we’re going to be traveling over land for a long period of time, but I also feel that it'll be good for you.” Major Cleave shot Joe a pensive look as she took the lead. “There are several things that will be working in our favor for this trip, namely the fact that Dehur Bethi is in the exact center of Alfheim. Wha…? Not Alfheim, Alfheim! I… I can’t call the Zone by our name for it?”

“One of the curses that comes along with being a Shattered Race.” Jaxon patted her back sympathetically, once, twice… then adjusted her, bringing her spine into alignment. “There you go! That should help you get used to reality faster!”

“Never try to touch me again without expecting an axe through the offending hand,” Major Cleave growled as she rubbed at her mildly aching spine.

“That soon? I suppose I can get you on a regular schedule if you’re this interested in it.” Jaxon replied cheerfully, drawing a chuckle out of Joe. There was something so… non-player-character about the chiropractor when his interactions were impacted by his low Charisma score like this.

“As I was saying, before I was so rudely adjusted by the system and my traveling companion,” Major Cleave barked, causing the others to wince at her anger, “the distance from any border is a benefit to us, as is the fact that getting there is difficult. You can only be led there by someone that knows the way, and you need to contend with monsters, traps, and enchantments that are attempting to lead you astray the entire time.”

“Few active enemies, lots of passive enemies.” Joe took out a notebook and started writing down his thoughts, as well as questions that needed answers. “How long will it take to get there? What sort of rituals should I make? Is there anything that you can think of that would be useful? Attack, defense, utility… anything that will give us an edge is good.”

“What’s all that about?” the Dwarf grumbled at the sudden barrage. “I’ve never seen you being so proactive.”

“I am a planner, believe it or not. The problem is that I almost never know ahead of time what sort of trouble I’m going to get into.” The Ritualist shrugged off the misplaced suspicion and pondered what she had been explaining. “If we can only find this place by being led there by someone who has prior knowledge, losing you means we can never find this place. To that end, I’m going to design a barrier for you that will keep you alive and send you away if the worst comes to pass.”

“You’ll do no such thing!” Major Cleave huffed at him threateningly. “I can abyss-well take care of myself.”

“There’s no reason to be so rude about it, Cleave,” Daniella shot at the Dwarf. “This is out of character for you. He’s just trying to help.”

“I can make it and apply it secretly, or I can do so openly in order to allow you to get rid of it when you don’t need it.” Joe glared right back at her through his dazzlingly white half-mask. “There’s no coming back for you alone, meaning this mission can always continue if we lose someone else. So, as I was saying, I’m setting up protection and escape for you, and some more general protections for the rest of us. I’m also planning weapons to take down any overly potent creatures we find, though we can use our standard weapons and spells for the rest of them.”

“How far away is this place, anyway?” Jaxon questioned the entire group. “Could we bubble-jump there? Walking is great, but there’s that whole ‘invasion’ thing going on.”

Joe lit up at that suggestion, already reaching into his storage ring to pull out one of the prepared ritual tiles he carried, but Major Cleave caught his hand and shook her head. “That’s a last resort right now. Don’t forget that Elves are powerful mages. We need to not be seen, and we also need to not have the bubble dispelled while we’re zipping through the sky at the speed of sound. Unless you’ve already figured out a workaround for those particular issues?”

The human ruminated on her points for a few moments, slowly shaking his head after a moment of serious consideration. “I can make it move, or I can make it blend in. I don’t think that I could make a camouflaged transport with this rank of Ritual Diagram. Maybe at the next rank, but I don’t have the needed… Knowledge, or Alchemical Lore.”

Mana drained out of him, then into his brain. His Alchemical Lore reached Apprentice four, and the nagging feeling that he had been forgetting something vanished. Major Cleave was staring at him as though he had just set off fireworks, and the others were sending equally confused looks his way. Daniella eventually cleared her throat, inspecting his mana-saturated form. “Did you just interrupt yourself and cast a spell?”

“I had just noticed that it went off cooldown, and I’ve been trying to make sure that I take full advantage of it.” Joe shrugged as the others remained silent. “What? You guys don’t have things that you need to do regularly for best effect?”

“Usually we don’t slap the ambient mana like a dinner bell when we’re trying to be stealthy.” Major Cleave’s voice was more high-pitched than usual, but she noticed that none of the others were exhibiting the same concerns. “None of you have Mana Manipulation at the Journeyman rank, do you? I didn’t think so… when you do, you’ll realize that you can feel powerful spells and skills being used, as well as when huge bursts of mana are expelled, like the one our clueless Ritualist just managed. Have you never wondered why incredibly powerful people show up during or just after massive battles?”

“Because they can… sense it?” Joe ventured as he started mentally kicking himself. “Why have I never thought of this? For that matter, why hasn’t anyone ever mentioned it?”

“Think about it.” Major Cleave hung her head slightly as she once again found herself needing to explain basic world mechanics. “When’s the last time you had to be sneaky around high-ranking magic users? For you, Joe, how quickly have you been discovered each time you use a powerful ritual? The point of this is to say, don’t use… whatever you just did… unless you’re in a safe area, or at least an enclosed area where the ripples in the ambient magical fields will rebound to enough of a degree that they scatter.”

“I got it,” The Reductionist promised her as he worked to pull his Neutrality Aura, Exquisite Shell, and Retaliation of Shadows back to full power. “In case anyone forgot, restart your buffs after leaving the city. They’ll deactivate if you don't, but I think the guards were too busy to stop a group of humans that was leaving, you know?”

Each of them accordingly activated their various spells or skills. Jaxon wiggled around happily as he pressed against his joints in strategic locations, and Daniella seemed to reflect slightly more of the daylight cascading through her hair after a moment of concentration. Major Cleave rolled her eyes and muttered something about working with amateurs, then shot a glance at Jaxon. “The foothills of Dehur Bethi are approximately five days' travel inland. That’s assuming we move at least at regular marching speed for a full twelve hours each day.”

“Celestials.” Daniella shivered slightly, though she firmed up after the others eyed her with droll amusement. “What? Is it so bad that I’m a city girl? Either way, I’m sure it’ll be good for boosting our Constitution.”

“When you get tired enough that you need to focus on staying upright, it’ll help you with your Dexterity as well.” Major Cleave half-grinned as her declaration landed with its intended effect. “Let’s get moving.”

She started them out at a punishing pace, something that by Earth standards would have been an all-out run. Joe relished the chance to see what his massively-characteristic-enhanced body could do; he had already been mightily pleased during combat in the tunnels that surrounded The Shoe. There was something just… amazing, about performing at this level with just his physical body. The wind blowing over his bald head created a pleasing whistling sound, while the pounding of his feet on the dirt road sent small rocks and dust into the air. “Constitution makes it not hurt… Strength sends me forward at higher speeds, Dexterity lets my feet land perfectly every time. I love this.”

“Maybe you should look into getting some physical skills!” Daniella called to him over the roaring wind. She was falling behind Major Cleave and Jaxon, just as Joe was, as both of the others were specialized physical-builds. “I know I need some. That reminds me! I heard there was a woman in the capital that mastered ‘power walking’ to such a high level that you can barely see her move!”

“Yeah… almost ran into her once.” Joe chuckled at the memory of Havoc needing to dodge the lady who couldn’t see where she was going. “She really is that fast, but her lack of Perception gives her a lot of issues.”

“Is that a problem you have, Joe? Can’t see what’s right in front of you?” Daniella turned her head to smile at him, and he was about to respond when she slammed into a tree.

The tree had not been there a moment before, Joe was sure of it. His concerns were confirmed as a long, undulating war cry rose from a half-dozen Elves erupting from the ground around where she had fallen. Joe skid to a stop and Omnivaulted back as he simultaneously bellowed, “Cleave!”

Jaxon and Major Cleave had already crossed half the meadow that they had been traversing, and he knew it would be a few seconds before they managed to re-enter combat. Whilst airborne, he tossed out his two most-used orbs and sent them spiraling at the same target: a red-haired Elf. As the weapons sped through the air, he noted that the newest Alchemical-enhanced orb resembled a standard dumbbell—two orbs connected by a short bar. The information on the fully shifted weapon appeared in his vision, and he would have whistled appreciatively, were he not entering combat.

Ritual Orb of Strength (Masterwork). Base Damage: 182 Blunt (100 blunt + 50% Strength characteristic).

Characteristic assigned: Strength. Any spell assigned to this Orb will have its primary damage effect slightly altered. Base damage increased by half of your Strength characteristic.

Automatically grants Orb the ‘recall’ ability; it will return to you after five minutes if left behind, forgotten, or stolen.

Core assigned: 902/1,112

Spell assigned: Corify (Beginner V) -> Corify Deadlift.

Ritual Diagram captured: None.

Surprised that the spell assigned had been shifted, Joe made a note to look at the details later. He knew better than to cast Corify on any intelligent race, such as Elves, and he assumed that the small alteration wouldn’t change that. What did matter was the fact that his Strength-bound orb was going to hit a lot harder than his Intelligence-bound version. The bonded objects slammed into the Elf’s face, the first shattering a hastily-cast barrier and then his nose, the second hitting at just the right trajectory to break both cheekbones. Joe winced as he angled himself to land in a stomp on that guy. “It’ll be better for you to be unconscious. Yeah.”

Damage dealt: 169 piercing, shield absorbed 150!

Damage dealt: 251 blunt!

He realized that his landing on the Elf hadn’t counted as damage, so he clapped a hand over the downed Elf’s mouth and cast Acid Spray directly down his throat. “I’m sending you on a one-way acid trip, but you aren’t gonna like it.”

Coup de gras! Instant kill of unconscious Elf to prevent unneeded suffering. (Damage would have accumulated enough to slay him.)

“Now let’s take care of these basic Fighters.” The other Elves had completely stopped as they took in his entrance, and Joe could see that a few of them had shaking hands. “I’m guessing you're not the usual fighters that the Theocracy sends out. Who hit Daniella with a tree? Is one of you a Druid?”

One of the scholarly-looking Elves was pointing at the rapidly vanishing Elf whom Joe had already beaten down. “This one was… Senior Andre was-”

“Ayy!” A blond Elf to his right slapped the trembling hand down and yelled, “Stop talkin’ and make with the killin’ of the Dwarf sympathizers!”

“In some people’s eyes, throwing acid is wrong,” Joe was already next to them, sending a wash of corrosive liquid at them both. They flailed back, but their barriers were apparently more well-put together than their compatriots had been, “But ignoring the battle is just an oxidant waiting to happen!”

As the more aggressive of the two tried to dodge to the right, he found that Joe had planned for him to move. The icicle-shaped orb lodged in his shield with a shriek, sending charged energy flying as it tried to tear through the hardened mana. “Dark Lightning Strike!”

The electric current finished off the shield as it struck and ran through the orb, and Joe winced as the weapon lurched forward and came to a stop with a wet *squelch* like a blender trying to pulp an entire mango at once. He hadn’t forgotten the other attackers, but he was fairly certain that Major Cleave had joined the battle, based on the sound of rapidly-fading screams behind him. It was nice to know that he had someone watching his back so that he could do things properly.

Joe completed his kill with acid once more, pleased that he didn’t need to just keep hitting an opponent until it stopped twitching. It made him miss getting knocked out during high-level battles; he almost hoped that the next boss that got its paws on him would trigger an event like that for him, instead of being forced to endure. His eyes fell on the final Elf, the one that had seemed reluctant to battle. “Why are you here? What’s your mission?”

“I-I-I don’t-” The Elf fell on his butt as Joe advanced like an avenging angel. “This pathetic one is merely here to be a lookout for any major Legion movement. This one is just a scholar that got dragged along to start cataloging the new territory of the glorious Theocracy. Please don't… acid wash this one.”

“There’s no need for any of that,” Joe assured the fumbling sapient as he crouched down next to him. Major Cleave came to stand next to him, her axe streaked with blood that was just a little too purple to be a human’s. “All I need from you is some information, and I’ll send you on your way.”

“My… I can’t… that’s not needed!” The Elf stumbled over his words until Major Cleave swung the blade of her axe forward to rest on his throat. “H-here.”

The Elf presented a paper covered in Elvish script. “As you can see, these are our orders, and they are written in a fashion that prevents someone without an Elvish affiliation from reading it. You can have it, but it won’t do you much good unless-”

“Surely you can help us out with that…?” Joe’s grin was wide and as dark as the lightning he could call down.

“Don't trust him, Joe.” Major Cleave demanded as the Elf helplessly offered the document. “There’s no way someone like him was here by chance, and a Gold-haired Elf acting like a servant? This reeks of a trap.”

“Let’s hear him out.” Joe reached out and grabbed the paper, and a fanatic smile blossomed on the Elf’s face.

“Fool.”

The Elf yanked on the sheet, and a blast of energy shot into Joe—while a column of light raced into the sky and hung there like a flare. “Now there’s no escape.”

His head fell to the ground with a twitch of Major Cleave’s axe, a happy smile painted on his face. Why wouldn't he be happy?

The mission had been a resounding success.