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Bk 2 Ch. 20 Walking the Warehouse
🕑 Added 2024-07-23 21:49:35 +0000 UTC20.
[Air Shield] broke in a burst of wildwind as the golem’s arm was stopped in its tracks. Santi ducked down and moved forward, his sword slicing the golem at waist height. A single blow was enough to cut nearly halfway through its thick body, but not enough to finish it.
[Air Current] gave him the warning of a pair of balled up fists coming down towards his head. Santi spun on the ball of his right foot, his momentum never slowed after slashing across the golems waist. He kept tight to its body and got behind it by staying tucked to its hip.
The golem smashed apart concrete like it was glass, the ground shuddering under his feet as Santi jumped away. Just in time as a discus came screaming, literally a woman’s shriek, and cut off the golem’s top left arm. A gold arrow hit a second later and exploded at contact, right where Santi had just cut it.
Metal shrieked as the golem folded in half. Its legs ripped free from its body, but the lower two arms caught the torso before it completely hit the ground. Lifting itself with the lower two arms functioning as legs, it started towards Chad and Adam.
Hana materialized behind it, plunging her dagger into its torso. The old iron dagger split the copper base of the golem with ease. The golem spun about on its hands, its remaining upper arm swiping around.
Hana bent at the waist and let the attack flow over her. Santi raised an eyebrow at the show of flexibility. Little ostentatious, but effective. She scampered away just in time as a javelin came sailing down to explode thunderously as it crushed the golem into the ground.
Adam’s weapons packed a punch. Santi couldn’t help but admire the pure punching power the man had. It made him a fairly stationary target, similar to an artillery piece. A few more evolutions and they wouldn’t have to worry about the mismatches in their party.
Smoke cleared away to show the ruins of the golem. Its lower arms were just stumps while its torso was full of jagged holes and molten metal dripped slowly to the ground. Still not dead.
Chad finished it off with a single arrow. That was the last of the guardians that had been forming a line around the warehouse. Everyone came together to stare at the now undefended building.
The area they were surrounding looked like the remnants of a warzone. The asphalt was cracked and had craters in it. Half melted metal was splashed around with haphazard abandon and the ruined remnants of golems were piled up in heaps sporadically across the block.
“I didn’t get a single fucking level,” Chad bitched as he got closer. Santi had to hide his smile. The first tier was easy for levels. It just got harder and harder from there. Gaining levels as a Disciple bordered on insanity. It was a reason that Santi had been a valued member of their alliance even if he wasn’t a straight fighter. Anyone who climbed that far, even while exhausting their potential, had drive and skill.
“Same,” Santi said to placate him. He couldn’t be having them pissed off constantly from not getting levels every time they got in a fight. They were also splitting the experience and potential amongst their party, as everyone contributed to the fights. Before they all fought together, but aside from major enemies, they fought individuals alone. With a few more levels and skills they’d be able to start doing that again reliably.
“I think we should check out the warehouse,” Tank said, staring at said warehouse. That got a lot of shocked looks as the normally most cautious person advised the riskiest plan.
“What? We’re running low on food. We should go and see if we can grab anything before clearing the rift. We have a lot of people to feed,” Tank defended his position. Santi just shrugged and looked around at the others. Adam and Chad would be more limited in the tighter confines of the warehouse, but Hana would have more cover. Tank hadn’t had to use any of his skills besides his attack earlier and was fresh.
It would be on him to keep everyone safe. Santi felt the hunger from his morph blade. The golem’s were powered by mana and the weapon had been siphoning some of it away with every strike. It still hungered though.
“Let’s go. Slow and careful,” Santi said and started toward the open doors that Daniel had gone in through last time. While they could get in by going down the loading dock and climbing, why? They had killed all of the guardians that both Santi and Hana had seen. A quick recon, in and out, back before dinner.
The warehouse was dark and hot. Light streamed from the broken doors and the cracked open loading dark. It was hardly enough to see the hazy outlines of mountains of pallets. Boxes were strewn everywhere, crushed to dust food covering the entire floor in a crunchy mess.
Santi moved forward while Hana quickly scaled a ten foot pallet and began hopping from one to the next. That was one way to avoid the loud crunching of the floor. Chad came next, an arrow on bowstring while his eyes swept around in a careful search pattern. Adam held a shot-put against his neck and shoulder and looked nervous. Tank strolled in behind them all with his club looking unconcerned.
“Let’s just see if there’s anything we can take back,” Tank whispered to the two ranged fighters. Both of them nodded and tried to quietly start digging through the boxes. Santi ignored the food and the others and worked deeper into the warehouse.
The building was cavernous and covered in goods. Past the loading area tall shelves stretched up towards the ceiling, all of them laden down with food. It was a veritable feast if they could harvest it all. Most of it was dried goods or canned food. The fresh section must not be near here or wasn’t stored in this area at all.
“What are we looking at?” Santi called out to the others.
“Graham crackers. Cereal. Saltines. More crackers and stuff,” Adam said as he looked at some of the stuff laying around.
“Same,” Chad said.
“Canned goods over here,” Hana said as she climbed over some more pallets and whispered to them. Tank didn’t bother going past the first pallet, just looking it over.
“Santi, could you hold this area? I can go and get the scavengers and their crews. Start emptying it out.”
“I don’t know. Hana you see anything further in?”
“No, but it feels weird the further inwards you go.”
The beginnings of a mana sense. She was likely feeling the draw of the rift that was further inside of the warehouse. Nice to see it developing without him having to work with her.
“Tank, you and Adam go and get everyone. Me, Chad, and Hana will watch the doors.”
Tank and Adam left without saying a word, breaking into distance eating jog instantly while the rest waited. Chad scaled up the top of the shelving unit without hesitation, setting up a nest near the top. Hana shimmered and disappeared again, off to scout around. Santi grabbed a box of graham crackers and started to eat.
There was almost no nutritional value to be had, but it would calm the growling for a few minutes. It was also tasty. He ate the entire packet of crackers while standing near the doors, patiently waiting.
He wasn’t the best at patience. By the time he dropped the empty packet he was ready to go and see the rift. The entire outline of golem guardians had been destroyed and none of them had been particularly dangerous. Strong and durable but lacking the speed necessary to be a true threat.
“Chad, I’m going to go check out the center of the warehouse,” Santi called up to the archer. Chad just gave him a thumbs up as he munched on his own stolen snacks. Santi started to weave through the pallets, heading toward the heart of the warehouse where Hana had disappeared off to.
As he got deeper and deeper into the warehouse, the darkness deepened to the point where he could hardly see where he was going. The trapped heat in the building caused him to begin to sweat, even with his increased stats. The mana grew thinner and thinner till it felt like he couldn’t breath. The suction of the rift on the world was beyond whatever the kobold rift had generated.
A tenseness formed between his shoulders as he looked around at the maze of shelves around him. The lack of light left everything just vague shapes that could hardly be discerned. Anything could be hiding in the mass of shelves and towers of pallets. His morph was a long curved knife, his head swiveling back and forth as he looked for the split in reality.
“Santi, it's over here,” Hana whispered. Her voice was so low that he could barely hear her. He followed after, sliding between the organized rows and seeing the rift and everything around it.
