Chapter 55: Weightlessness Weightlessness...
The sensation of absolute weightlessness was nauseating. Glenn Mcdonald felt his stomach drop as Caleb Sterling manipulated the localized gravity field launching them across the rainy abyss between the two corporate skyscrapers. The wind howled around them driving freezing rain into their faces but they moved in complete silence.
They approached the sheer glass face of the Astra Guild headquarters. Isla Sinclair extended her hands channeling a concentrated burst of absolute zero mana. The reinforced glass froze instantly turning brittle and white. Glenn followed up with a precise strike from the pommel of his heavy black longsword. The frozen glass shattered inward without a single sound turning into harmless powder that scattered across the polished marble floor of the ventilation corridor.
Caleb adjusted his wooden staff pulling them through the breach and gently lowering them to the ground.
"Gravity anchors stabilized" Caleb whispered his breath pluming in the cold air. "We have exactly twelve minutes before the automated patrol drones cycle back to this sector."
"Follow my path exactly" Isla ordered stepping to the front of the formation.
They moved deeper into the subterranean levels of the spire. The opulence of the upper floors gave way to cold sterile titanium and reinforced concrete. They reached the entrance to the main vault corridor. It was a long narrow hallway lined with glowing red optical sensors. The floor was constructed from interlocking hexagonal plates each one wired to a kinetic trigger.
"Pressure plates on the floor" Caleb muttered his eyes glowing with a faint purple light. "I am casting the suspension field now. Do not push off the walls. Just let the magic pull you forward."
Glenn felt his boots lift a fraction of an inch off the ground. He was floating suspended in a frictionless bubble of altered gravity.
Isla raised her runic pistols but she did not fire. Instead she closed her eyes and let her massive compressed mana pool bleed through her skin. The ambient temperature in the hallway plummeted drastically. Frost crawled up the titanium walls creeping over the glowing red optical sensors. The thermal lasers flickered and died blinded by the unnatural absolute zero environment.
"Move" Isla commanded her teeth chattering slightly from the sheer output of her magic.
They floated down the hallway passing over the deadly pressure plates like ghosts. Glenn kept his hand on his sword his senses dialed to the absolute maximum. He could feel the oppressive weight of the mana dampening field pressing down on them. It felt like trying to breathe underwater. If they cast a high tier spell right now the dampeners would instantly trigger the lockdown alarms.
They reached the end of the corridor. Standing before them was the vault door.
It was a massive circular seal forged from the shell of an S Rank Behemoth. The dark metal was completely smooth devoid of any handles or hinges. To the right of the door was a thick reinforced power conduit pulsing with blue electrical energy.
"The locking mechanism is magnetic" Glenn said studying the conduit. "If I cut the power the magnetic seal will disengage. But if I use my sword the kinetic impact will trigger the dampeners."
"Then how do we open it?" Caleb asked floating gently beside him.
Glenn looked at his left hand. He thought about the dark fragment pulsing in his core. He thought about the rotting energy of The Lost.
"I have a key" Glenn whispered.
He stepped forward and placed his bare left hand directly onto the thick power conduit. He closed his eyes and channeled the demonic anti mana. He did not use a lot. Just a fraction of a drop.
"Void Touch."
The dead gray energy leaked from his palm seeping into the reinforced metal. The titanium casing did not break or shatter. It simply rotted. The metal turned to brittle gray ash crumbling away to expose the thick electrical cables inside. The anti mana devoured the electricity instantly neutralizing the current without a single spark or sound.
The massive Behemoth shell door let out a deep mechanical groan. The magnetic seal died and the heavy door slowly swung open.
Isla stared at Glenn’s hand her green eyes wide with shock. "What was that Mcdonald? That was not a stolen skill. That was..."
"We can talk about it later" Glenn interrupted stepping into the vault. "Grab the Prism and let us get out of here."
The interior of the vault was massive lined with rows of glowing artifacts ancient weapons and priceless monster cores. But sitting in the very center of the room resting on a pedestal of solid white marble was the Abyssal Prism.
It was a geometric nightmare. A jagged asymmetrical crystal forged from a dark glass that seemed to absorb the light around it. It did not glow. It simply existed as a void in the center of the room.
Glenn walked toward the pedestal his eyes locked on the Prism. The fragment in his chest was pulsing violently reacting to the pure anti mana contained within the relic.
"Wait" Caleb said his voice suddenly tight with panic. "Glenn stop walking. Look at the ceiling."
Glenn froze. He slowly looked up.
Clinging to the shadows of the vaulted ceiling were two massive mechanical constructs. They were forged from polished silver shaped like gargoyles with razor sharp wings and glowing red optical sensors. Embedded in their chests were pulsing A Rank monster cores.
"Automated Guardians" Isla cursed raising her pistols. "Silas warned us there was a final surprise."
The Gargoyles dropped from the ceiling landing on the marble floor with a heavy metallic crash. They did not roar. They simply raised their silver wings and charged.
"We cannot use high tier magic!" Caleb yelled dodging a lethal swipe from the first Gargoyle. "The dampeners will trigger the alarms!"
"Then we break them the old fashioned way!" Glenn roared.
He activated Assassin Reflexes and Obsidian Skin keeping his mana output low enough to avoid the dampeners. He ducked under a sweeping strike from the Gargoyle bringing his heavy black longsword up in a brutal uppercut. The unbreakable A Rank metal of his blade slammed into the Gargoyle’s silver jaw staggering the machine but failing to pierce its thick armor.
Isla danced around the second Gargoyle her movements a blur of aristocratic grace. She fired short controlled bursts of absolute zero mana freezing the joints of the machine to slow its movements.
"Caleb!" Glenn shouted parrying another heavy strike. "I need them grouped together!"
"I cannot cast a full Gravity Well!" Caleb shouted back blocking a silver claw with his wooden staff.
"Just give me a localized pull!" Glenn ordered. "Right in the center!"
Caleb gritted his teeth slamming his staff into the marble floor between the two machines. A brief intense pulse of gravity dragged the Gargoyles toward the center of the room causing them to crash into each other.
Glenn did not hesitate. He channeled his mana into his legs activating Thunder Phantom Step. He blurred across the room a streak of purple lightning and kinetic force. He bypassed their armored plating entirely driving his black longsword directly into the glowing red A Rank core exposed on the first Gargoyle’s chest.
The core shattered. The machine went completely limp crashing to the floor.
Before the second Gargoyle could recover Isla stepped forward. She pressed the barrel of her right pistol directly against the frozen joint of the machine’s neck and pulled the trigger. A concentrated blast of explosive thermal energy slammed into the absolute zero ice. The rapid thermal shock shattered the Gargoyle’s head completely decapitating the construct.
The vault fell silent.
Glenn breathed heavily pulling his sword from the ruined machine. He walked over to the marble pedestal and reached out. His fingers closed around the Abyssal Prism. The dark glass was freezing cold but it felt strangely familiar.
"We have it" Glenn said securing the Prism in his canvas bag. "Let us move."
Miles away the massive jagged crystalline structure of the Red Gate pulsed with a dark ominous light.
The joint expedition forces marched into the Sunken Necropolis. One hundred of the strongest hunters in Johannesburg stepped through the portal leaving the rainy streets of Sector Seven behind.
The interior of the dungeon was a nightmare. The sky was a swirling vortex of bruised purple clouds. The ruined temples and towering statues of the Necropolis were covered in a thick layer of gray ash. The air smelled of sulfur and rotting meat.
Elias Vance gripped his heavy battle axe his scarred face grim. He looked at the decaying architecture his S Rank instincts screaming that they had just walked into a graveyard.
"Maintain formation!" Viktor Rostova ordered his voice echoing across the ash covered courtyard. "Astra mages form the vanguard! Valor berserkers hold the flanks! We sweep the central temple and we burn everything that moves!"
The army moved forward their boots crunching loudly on the gray ash.
Elena Rostova walked at the front of the formation her silver staff glowing with a pale blue light. She looked terrified her shoulders trembling as she navigated the ruins of the dungeon where her previous team had been slaughtered.
Viktor stepped up beside her placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Stay close to me Elena. I will not let anything happen to you. We will avenge Gideon and the others."
Elena stopped walking.
The entire Astra vanguard paused looking back at the Executive Director and his daughter.
"Elena?" Viktor asked his brow furrowing in confusion. "What is wrong? Keep moving."
Elena slowly turned her head to look at her father. The terrified trembling expression melted away. Her facial muscles relaxed settling into a look of absolute profound boredom.
"You humans are so incredibly tedious" Elena said.
Her voice was wrong. It was not the soft melodic tone of a traumatized girl. It was a layered echoing resonance that sounded like two voices speaking at once. One was Elena. The other was something ancient and infinitely cruel.
Viktor froze his hand still resting on her shoulder. "Elena... what are you saying?"
Elena smiled. It was a perfect flawless human smile but it did not reach her eyes.
"I am saying that the play is over Viktor" The Wanderer whispered.
The illusion shattered. The pristine white and gold robes of the Astra Guild began to rot turning into black ash. Elena’s blonde hair dissolved into dark smoke. Her flesh melted and shifted the anti mana rewriting the physical structure of the vessel.
Viktor stumbled backward his eyes wide with absolute unadulterated horror. He tried to scream but the sound caught in his throat.
Standing before him was not his daughter. It was a tall slender entity wearing a tattered gray suit. Its skin was pale and flawless. Its eyes were empty silver voids that contained no light no mercy and no humanity.
"Elena..." Viktor choked falling to his knees in the gray ash. "Where is my daughter?"
The Wanderer tilted his head looking down at the broken man. "She was delicious Viktor. Her fear tasted like copper. Her despair was exquisite. But do not worry. You will join her very soon."
"Ambush!" Elias Vance roared his massive voice shattering the silence. "Astra vanguard open fire! Burn that thing to ash!"
Fifty A Rank mages raised their staffs channeling a massive wave of elemental destruction. Fireballs lightning strikes and jagged ice spears illuminated the dark sky hurtling directly toward The Wanderer.
The ancient demon did not even raise his hands.
He simply smiled and unleashed his aura.
A massive shockwave of pure anti mana exploded outward from his body. The wave of dark energy slammed into the incoming magic. The fire rotted into black smoke. The lightning dissolved into harmless static. The ice crumbled into gray dust. The combined magical output of fifty elite hunters was erased in a fraction of a second.
The shockwave continued outward slamming into the front lines of the Astra formation.
The mages screamed as the anti mana washed over them. Their pristine white robes rotted away. Their silver staffs rusted and shattered. The dark energy pierced their spiritual cores devouring their mana and their life force simultaneously.
"Arise my children" The Wanderer commanded his voice echoing across the entire Necropolis. "The feast is served."
The gray ash covering the courtyard began to shift.
Thousands of Hollow Crawlers Ash Fiends and corrupted Lycans erupted from the ground. They were nightmare creatures born from the rotting energy of the Abyss twisted and hungry for mana. They poured out of the ruins a tidal wave of rotting flesh and dark energy throwing themselves at the terrified hunters.
"Hold the line!" Elias screamed swinging his massive battle axe and cleaving three Ash Fiends in half. "Valor vanguard push forward! Do not let them break the formation!"
But the formation was already broken.
The Astra mages stripped of their magic by the anti mana shockwave were completely defenseless. The Ash Fiends swarmed over them tearing them apart with jagged claws and rotting teeth. The screams of the dying echoed through the bruised purple sky mixing with the wet gurgling sounds of the monsters.
Viktor Rostova remained on his knees staring blankly at the slaughter. His mind had completely snapped. He watched as the monsters tore his elite hunters to pieces but he did not move. He just stared at the empty silver eyes of the demon who had worn his daughter’s face.
The Wanderer walked slowly through the chaos stepping over the bodies of the fallen. He reached down and grabbed a dying A Rank mage by the throat lifting him into the air.
The Wanderer opened his mouth and inhaled. A stream of pure blue mana flowed from the mage’s chest directly into the demon’s mouth. The mage withered and died his body turning to gray ash.
The Wanderer closed his eyes savoring the taste. His anti mana density spiked the dark aura around him growing thicker and more suffocating.
"Yes" The Wanderer whispered dropping the pile of ash to the ground. "More. I need more."
He looked across the battlefield his silver eyes locking onto Elias Vance. The S Rank Berserker was fighting like a cornered beast his heavy axe leaving a trail of destruction in his wake.
The Wanderer smiled. The main course was finally ready.
Back in Sector Four Glenn Isla and Caleb burst out of the subterranean access tunnel emerging into the rainy streets. They were breathing heavily their clothes soaked with freezing rain and sweat.
Glenn held the heavy canvas bag tightly against his chest. They had done it. They had robbed the Astra Guild and secured the Abyssal Prism.
"We are clear" Caleb panted leaning on his staff. "The dampening field is behind us."
As soon as Caleb spoke the canvas bag in Glenn’s arms began to vibrate. A faint dark pulse of energy radiated from the Prism piercing through the thick fabric.
"The signature is active" Isla said her green eyes scanning the dark rooftops. "If Silas was right Eden knows exactly where we are right now."
Glenn looked up at the sky. The rain was falling harder now washing the chemical smog from the air. He turned his gaze toward Sector Seven toward the location of the Sunken Necropolis.
A massive pillar of pitch black energy erupted into the sky piercing the bruised clouds and shattering the blue energy shield of the Mega Sanctuary. The sheer density of the anti mana was visible from miles away a terrifying beacon of absolute destruction.
The massacre had begun.
Glenn gripped the strap of his bag his knuckles turning white. He knew that one hundred elite hunters were dying in that dungeon. He knew that The Wanderer was feasting on their souls growing stronger with every passing second.
"We need to move" Glenn said his voice hard and cold. "Eden is coming for the Prism. And when they get here we are going to make them tell us how to kill a god."
