Chapter 188: Eclipse Makers (1/2)
I raised an eyebrow, ”It has something to do with the dry air?”
Torix shook his head, ”Most definitely. I'll be sapping water from the mountain and its innards. The amphibious gialgathens will suffer.”
I scoffed, ”Yeah. Chapped lips and dry skin. Real deadly.”
Torix brushed a hand at me, ”You've no understanding of the extreme those discomforts may inflict. On the desert world where I gathered the rations you eat, I explored some of their water magic. They mastered the art of weaponizing dehydration.”
Torix spread his hands, ”I watched many a soldier's skins crack wide as trenches. It was as if they turned their skin into a brittle paper. Thick blood oozed out of the wounds, coagulate in massive scabs that ruptured as they moved. This was against a reptilian race who's skin resisted said parching magic.”
Torix brought his hands in, ”The gialgathens aren't so fortunate.”
I winced, ”Well shit. Remind me not to get on your bad side.”
Torix waved his fingers with delight, ”Oh, you won't need reminding after this. This display will carve itself into your memory if all goes as planned.”
As we stepped up the mountain, Torix raised a hand, ”To explain further, the coagulated wounds also serve as stroke inducers. Giant blobs of congealed blood float in their veins, wreaking havoc on their circulatory system.”
Torix waved his hand,
”Of course Schema's system assists greatly with repelling these health problems in a normal sentient. The eldritch will likewise resist this kind of death as they own many hearts and many circulatory systems to fall back on. The gialgathens are normal creatures, a fact I realized when I watched your battle with Delilath.”
I bit my lip, ”Yup.”
We stepped in front of a cave leading into the mountain. Torix placed a hand on my shoulder,
”You did well in that fight. She was a worthy foe, and you expect far too much of yourself.”
I took a deep breath, ”Yeah, you say that and I know that. I saw her family though. Hard to ignore the consequences of your actions when they throw themselves at your face, yenno?”
Torix gave me a curt nod, ”We'll have time to reflect later. Are you prepared to enter the cave?”
I nodded, sweat still pouring down my brow from channeling my Lightning Eater skill. Torix raised his hands, dominion mana flowing like fountains. He converted it into the light, airy blue origin mana, his experience evident. With further skill, he transformed the blue mana into plumes of dry air.
It was like watching a math professor do complex calculus. Before he fumigated the mountain, I reached out a hand and heated the air with Star Forger. Torix turned to me, and he gave me an approving nod,
”Well done, disciple. This eases the constraint on my own mana.”
I grunted out, straining under the demands of Lightning Eater. My other skills were inherent by now, so it required next to no thought. Lightning Eater was like using a different part of my brain all of a sudden. That increased the demands of the skill by leaps and bounds. Torix relished his role as our team's driver. I was fine with taking a backseat for once.
Along for the ride, my ears popped as the pressure changed around us. With the air pooled, Torix flourished a hand up. His blue fire eyes flared red, and he whispered,
”Kill them all, save any espens you find.”
Hiding among the many spires, crags, and crevices around the mountain, an army of silvers crashed into the magnetic field. The entire mountain rumbled as the feet of the horde quaked the ground. The distant echoes of starving cries racked the air like a whip across a sinner's back. They crowed for a meal of soft flesh, their mutant eyes consumed with hunger.
At first, the magnetic field around the mountain held against the onslaught. The silvers repelled against an invisible barrier, some silvers breaking limbs on the repulsing force. It mattered not. More and more silvers stacked behind their brethren. Less an army and more a moving wall, the endless troops built up.
They stacked up taller, silvers atop one another. They reminded me of ants covering a grasshopper, their victory inevitable. Torix kept his hands spread wide, relishing in the sense of power. At the same time, he maintained absolute focus on the task at hand.
The thousands of silvers never relented, his command unmitigated. The dry air siphoned into the mound, choking the life out of its inhabitants. After minutes of his assault, the magnetic field on the outside of the island faded in strength. The gialgathens were losing mana liked a sliced tire losing air.
Their time was running out.
Within ten minutes, the forcefield dissipated. The silvers swarmed across the greenery, tearing trees and rocks apart in their wake. They were a tidal wave, washing away the living creatures on Mt. Ash. As the dense wave of silvers passed, they left nothing but dirt behind them.
Several silvers keeled over, choking on the organic matter. Just as a Giessian creature rejected silver matter, the silvers rejected normal animals, at least in excess. That's why they stayed contained within their metalscapes.
Torix pushed them past this impulse, forcing them to cleave a path through the life here. With no survival instinct, they acted as kamikazees. The exchange proved lethal for both parties involved. Unfortunately for them, we had more troops on our side.
The remains of the army approached a puddle beside me rippling as the silver's approached. The low rumble evolved into a deafening roar, their footsteps many. With the entire mountain ravaged, the horde descended into the caverns below.
Every exit swarmed with the beasts, leaving no escape for the Skyburners. The monsters scrambled over one another, squeezing themselves in. My skin crawled watching the tactic take place. Inside, the gialgathen's skin was broken and cracked as they fought this swarm.
They never stood a chance.
Torix laughed as he prepared icicle spears above his head, aiming to cut off a Skyburner's escape. Foolproof and methodical, Torix carried out his execution. His confidence evident, he turned to me with his fire eyes red,
”Is there anything more satisfying than watching a plan come together?”
”This is an execution.”
Torix shrugged, ”Eh, both are equally fulfilling, aren't they?”
I looked up, thinking about it,
”Depends on who you're executing.”
Torix pointed at the gialgathen's base, ”Then I've much too look forward to. Killing slavers is always exhilarating.”
I frowned, ”How different is slavery and necromancy though?”
Torix waved off my concern, ”Life isn't something to be stolen so easily. Once life is gone, however, there remains little to be taken. Instead, I'm using a resource left behind, nothing more and nothing less. It would be like leaving a freshly uprooted tree instead of harvesting it for lumber. It's wasteful.”
”Huh, kind of like how I eat the eldritch after they die. At least some good comes out of it instead of letting it rot.”
Torix waved his arms, ”In a sense, but we must elaborate further. You see...”
After half an hour of philosophical discussion, the swarms lessened. The silvers trickled in instead of flooding. Torix raised a hand to the cavern in front of us,
”As much as I enjoyed the conversation, they should be ripe for the taking.”
I scoffed, ”If they're still alive.”
We paced into the cavern, finding little of anything. A few minutes of walking later and the edge of a room filled my senses. I raised a hand and turned to Torix, ”Be ready. The room is close. It's big too.”
He acknowledged me with a nod. As we came closer, I charged my mana, saturating my blood with energy. Torix coalesced two spells in his palm, the holy dark combo ready to fire. As we reached the end of the path, a steady, fluorescent light leaked into the tunnel.
I peaked into the room, finding a massive cavern. The size of a warehouse, it contained enough boxes and supplies to cover the gialgathen's needs for months. Unlike the Skyburners, these gialgathens lacked any slaves as well. They preferred the company of books and archaic rituals.
All seven of the gialgathen mages licked their wounds, shivering at the center of their magical sanctuary. Mahogany robes draped over them instead of platemail like the Skyburners, reminding me of handwoven carpets from some middle eastern country.
Despite their different style, the gialgathens wheezed in a circle all the same. The luscious fabric contrasted their broken wills and broken skin. They looked like dry mud, wounds winding over their skins.
A mound of charred corpses surrounded them in a large, outer ring. A tighter, inner circle drenched the ground in silver blood, leaving a puddle of purple mush. Gialgathen blood, skin, and cloth mixed in with the blend, looking like an art project gone wrong.