Chapter 24

Chapter 24 - LOT

“Arrrrgh!” The belabored scream of one of the black robed killers echoed in the sweltering air as Jack leapt over a set of rocks, running away at full speed. He took a moment to look behind, noting the situation.

One of the two black robed men had been caught in an encirclement by the red stone golems, now covered from Jack’s view. The other continued to chase after Jack, bringing along a small clump of the deadly giants. The screams of the surrounded killer grimly died off.

Jack swore and kept running, maintaining his Slowed State. He didn’t draw on his Time Essence yet, noting that he only had two seconds of slowed time left of it. He pulled strongly on his Spirit, enhancing his legs as much as he could.

*CRASH*

A large chunk of stone landed just to the left of Jack as he turned, leaping up the side of the mountain. Out of the corner of his eye, Jack saw several golems pick up stray boulders and rocks, and begin to throw them at Jack and the remaining black robed man.

The landing chunk of stone cracked as it hit the ground, sending up small shards of rocky shrapnel. Jack covered his face with a Spirit enhanced arm, feeling the rocky shards slam into his skin and then bounce off, unable to penetrate.

Jack’s mind raced ahead of him as he ran forward, constantly scanning his surroundings.

He needed to escape the attention of the surrounding golems, and avoid the man chasing him.

Jack turned his head slightly, looking back the way he had come.

In the instant that Jack had surveyed the valley, before the golems began attacking, Jack had noted a slight pulling on the imprint in his soul.

There was a Time Sealed room, or something similar to it, in the area. It made sense, after a moment’s thought. The Space and Time Clans were close allies, and since the portal chamber had a Time Sealed room, the destinations of the Space Gate having sealed spaces made sense.

The only issue was that the Space Gate had dropped him out in the open, instead of near another Space Gate. From what Jack had discovered, that meant the Space Gate on this side had been destroyed, and the damaged Space Gate could only transport to the general area.

What he needed to do was escape his attackers, and make his way back to the valley, to the Time Sealed room. He would figure out what to do from there.

*CRASH*

Jack sidestepped another massive rock, narrowly avoiding it as he twisted his body. He felt a few shards of shattered stone slice by him, tinging against his hardened skin.

For the next twenty seconds, the chase continued, with Jack slowly scaling the mountain face while also running at an angle, trying to put distance between himself and the golems.

His tactic worked. The golems were strong and able to move quickly in a straight line, but their overall agility when it came to climbing or quick turns was greatly impacted by their colossal size and weight. There was only so much they could do with body’s so large and heavy.

“Wheeze…” After running for a straight minute, Jack had managed to fully elude the stone golems, and crossed more than halfway up the mountain. His feet and hands ached, however, the sharp and rocky ground beneath him cutting into his leather shoes and hands whenever he climbed. If he hadn’t protected himself with Spirit his feet would have been shredded.

Unfortunately, while Jack had managed to lose the stone golems, the black robed killer was still following.

“Ha-halt!” A gruff voice called out, stuttered due to tiredness. While the black robed killer was strong, the merciless heat combined with the frantic escape and immediate battle after being transported had shaken the warrior. He still remembered his mission, though, and urgently set about pursuing Jack.

At this moment, Jack had just reached a large outcropping on the side of the mountain, a soft breeze blowing. A large sea of sand went covered the space, clinging to the mountain, despite the wind. The sand was dotted with several large boulders and rocks. A trail of smoke rose from the top of the mountain in the distance, giving off a dark red hue.

As Jack saw the sand, his eyes glinted, and he dashed forward, jumping from boulder to boulder till he landed a dozen meters in to the outcropping. He then turned to face the direction the black robed killer was coming in from.

Not a moment later the robed man appeared, his breath ragged. His eyes, however, latched onto Jack with steely determination.

“Sur-surrender yourself im-immediately!” The fighter wheezed as he waved his hands in the air. The icy daggers he had wielded had vanished, melted in the blistering heat. Instead, he pulled out a plan steel dagger, pointing it at Jack menacingly. The long black robes he wore dragged as he moved, drenched in sweat and slowing his movements. His face lay completely covered save for his eyes.

“Who are you? And if you think you have the strength, make me.” Jack kept his voice cool. He had a few guesses, but he wasn't entirely sure who had sent these warriors after him. Either the Duke of Snow, or the Snowbank City Lord, or perhaps some group interested in the blade on his waist.

Despite that, he played the part of an arrogant fighter, provoking the killer.

Instead of responding the black robed man’s eyes glinted, and he charged forward, ignoring Jack’s question. Blue icicles began to form on the weapon the man wielded, but immediately melted away, unable to maintain a steady presence in the heat.

“Damn it.” The man cursed. He continued his charge, barreling directly into the sand.

And it was at that exact moment Jack drew upon his Time Essence, slowing the world around him down to 1/5th it’s normal speed, while he himself remained at a normal pace.

The moment the killer barged into the sand, his feet sank a solid foot and a half, and he stumbled. The black robed man, in his haste to capture Jack, didn’t carefully assess where he was. Part of it was was also due to his unstable mental state at being in a new place where his Natural Ability was at a disadvantage, and where his comrade had just been killed after being chased by freakish golems.

The sand in this outcropping was roughly a foot and a half deep. Not enough to cause any real danger. But, if one wasn’t expecting it, it was just enough to catch someone by surprise.

And it was that moment of surprise that Jack took advantage of.

The world around Jack became slightly grayer as he dashed forward, the Time Essence wavering about his body.

Gravity, and the constraints of the world, seemed to work differently, Jack noticed, when he was using Time Essence. Much like how he ran up the wall back when he was escaping Snowbank City, Jack found that certain things worked differently.

In this case, Jack was able to directly run atop the sinking sand. Because of how fast he was moving, by the time he took his next step, the sand had only slightly sunk, letting him conserve his momentum. If he had been moving quicker, it was possible the sand wouldn’t even sink at all.

A second passed. Jack had one second of Time Essence remaining.

In that second, however, Jack had crossed the entire distance to the black robed man, his body a blur.

The black robed man’s face was a mask of surprise under his black cover, his eyes distracted as he looked downward at the sand. That moment of surprise proved to be fatal.

*SHHHK*

Jack took another step forward, releasing his Time Essence. In his hand, Wyrmblight gleamed with a shimmering gold light, a few drops of red blood dripping down it.

*Thunk*

The body of the black robed man fell to the ground, his last look one wide with shock and surprise, a gaping wound in his chest. He was killed without even being able to respond, the sharp blade easily piercing through a protective mesh under the fighter's robe.

Jack’s eyes were cold as he looked back at the body, nodding. He wiped his blade in the sand next to it, getting rid of the bloodstains.

“I’m not incredibly strong, nor is my bladework incredibly skilled yet.” Jack muttered, staring down at the corpse.

“But I am very fast. A single moment of letting down his guard was enough.” He nodded, pleased. It didn't matter how strong someone was, they couldn't be that strong at all times. He shook his head as he looked at the corpse, however, feeling a little sick. Taking the life of another human was still something he wasn’t used to.

Jack was about to kneel down and search the corpse when he heard the clatter of heavy rocks pounding on stone, growing louder. He spun around as heard the familiar sound and then immediately went back to scaling the mountain, fleeing.

A few moments later, a group of stone golems appeared, giving out low, rumbling growls. When they saw the corpse of the black robed man, they pounced on it, roaring in delight. Jack, meanwhile, rapidly made his escape, climbing higher and higher up on the mountain while circling around to the original side he had been on, trying to find the Time Sealed room.

..

..

About 30 miles to the south, deep within the Magma Lands, lay a large mountain. It looked almost identical to the surrounding mountains, a large, red edifice with a stream of smoke rising from it. A few floating stone islands lay in the sky above it, and a forest of the large crimson trees that dotted the landscape covered the lower regions of the mountain.

In this place, however, everything was not as it seemed.

At the base of this mountain, a seemingly normal chunk of rock abruptly wavered and vanished, revealing a long, dimly lit cavern.

Four figures emerged from this cave, one middle-aged man and three younger boys, teenagers that appeared to be 15 or 16. The group all wore red garments that blended in with the surroundings, and each had a pair of swords strapped to their waists. The middle-aged man had a mid sized cross spear strapped to his back, and turned to look at the younger boys in satisfaction, his blue eyes gleaming. A small, bushy grey beard betrayed his age, as did his bald head.

Of the trio of teenagers, two of them were muscular, with short brown hair and solid brown eyes. If it weren’t for their clearly different faces, one with a hooked nose and strong chin where the other had a short nose and weak chin, one might think they were brothers.

The two young men looked at the other teenager, a handsome blonde haired, blue eyed warrior with a warm smile on his face, as if he was their leader. A long red scar marred the face of the handsome young man, just to the left of his right eye, all the way down to his strong chin. His eyes were cool as he nodded at the older man.

“Now, remember, we are members of the Iraqouy Clan if we meet anyone, traveling to gain experience for you youngsters. You are only allowed to use Spatial Cracking Arts, no Spatial Manipulation.” The boys all nodded, a bored look in their eyes, as if they had heard this a dozen times before.

“Come, we are off to investigate the spatial disturbance to the north, this will be a good opportunity for you lads. Liren, you will be in charge of the mission.” The blonde haired boy grinned at this, his eyes delighted.

“Thank you Uncle!”

The group set off from the base of the mountain, eagerly heading towards Jack’s location. They moved carefully as they transversed the land, easily avoiding the valleys of stone golems and ducking away from other beasts from experience.

Behind them, the cave vanished from sight, the space around it shimmering as it was replaced, once more, by a bland mountain wall.

..

..

Meanwhile, while all of this was occurring, a strange beast began to move, atop the mountain Jack was currently encircling.

At the top of the mountain, where the plume of smoke rose, a large opening could be seen. Boiling heat blasted out of this opening as magma pooled about a hundred meters below, moving sluggishly.

Within the magma pool at the peak of this mountain, a large, black and red wolf rested, playfully sloshing burning magma across its body. The wolf was around the same size as the Tundra Wolves Jack had encountered before, around a meter and a half tall.

In the center of this wolf’s chest was a pulsing, glowing red gem. This gem was roughly the size of a closed fist, and gave off a feeling of energy and oppression, causing the air to twitch.

The wolf stopped from its play in the magma, however, as it looked upward, curious.

The sounds of the stone golems attacking and searching for Jack had reached the wolf’s ears.