The Great Core's Paradox

Chapter 92: A Timely Barrier

My head peeked through the wall-crack, color-shifted to match with the stone around me. In the darkness, it wasnt a staggering change; I only had to shift the hues of my scale-flesh a little, push it closer to a dark and mottled gray rather than its glossy black.

Either way, I needed an outlet for the light that I was absorbing. While the skin of ore-flesh that the-female-who-was-not-Needle had gifted me was powerful, it was less than worthless when it came to keeping me hidden; I was forced to pull the mana-light into my reservoirs so that I could stay hidden among the stones.

It wasnt enough that I could even hope to fill my reservoirs entirely, but it was more than enough for such a minor camouflage.

A number of large bad-things, matches to the crushed corpse that lay inside with my trapped Coreless, were on the other side of the wall. Like most bad-things, they seemed far from intelligent; their flesh was flecked with the blood of self-inflicted wounds, the injuries growing in number every time the mindless bad-things charged at the wall again.

Not that it wasnt effective. The stones shook violently every time one of the bad-things rammed against them, and the occasional crack was a worrying sign that the obstacle wouldnt hold for much longer.

The closest bad-thing shook itself off, staggering slightly as it recovered from its recent charge. Further down the tunnel, another pawed at the ground, prepping for a charge. The dim light of surrounding glow-caps, bursting from the tunnel walls in clumps and patches, was just enough to reveal the tightly bunched muscles that rippled across its flesh. Then, after barely giving the other bad-things enough time to move out of the way, it charged.

It started slow, held back by its own bulk, yet it accelerated with each and every step. By the time that it reached me, it was clear how the tunnel collapsed. The bad-things head lowered, and the flat edge of its horns slammed into the stones.

The wall trembled. Stones cracked. Dust fell.

The pounding in my head-scales spiked and, as I heard the trapped Coreless cry out somewhere behind me, my rage spiked in turn.

That rage transformed into a blue fire that spilled from my throat, coating the ground in front of the wall and forcing the bad-thing to stagger back with a startled grunt. To my glee, a few licks of flame stuck to a trailing limb, and the taste-scent of seared flesh began to fill the air.

I drank from the light of [Chrono Fire], forming an illusory false-self. It had been effective against the Blood of Tiamat before, and there was no reason to think it wouldnt be now. I sent my false-self towards the staggering bad-thing, feeling [Illusion Spark] begin to strain as the illusion moved further away from myself.

The bad-thing reared up on its hind legs, striking at my false-self with a painfully loud stomp. I hissed in annoyance before sending another, the second one more crude than the first; I had realized that there was really no need for accuracy. The bad-things just needed something to target while [Chrono Fire] ramped up enough to become an impassable barrier - until it guttered out, anyway. After expending most of my mana on [Little Guardians Totem] earlier, I didnt have much left.

Once the barrier of [Chrono Fire] was gone, the bad-things would be free to charge at the wall again. It was already cracked and crumbling; it wouldnt hold up to many more hits, and I doubted that the-female-who-was-not-Needle had managed to free the trapped Coreless yet.

They would need more time.

With that in mind, I slipped from my hiding place in the wall-cracks at last, slithering into the flickering embrace of [Chrono Fire]. Just like the [Mana Fire] that I had altered it from, the flames of [Chrono Fire] did little more than warm my scale-flesh, in direct contrast to the way that it seared the flesh of bad-things.

Already, [Chrono Fire]s slow-spot was growing, forcing me to shrug off the effect through [Traveler] after a brief moment of vertigo where [Chrono Fire]s slow-spot and the fast-spot provided by my skin of ore-flesh conflicted with one another.

Just in front of me, the bad-things crowded around one another, blocking the tunnel with their girth. As stomp after stomp slammed down on my false-selves, the bad-thing that had been caught by a tendril of [Chrono Fire] finally stumbled, forced off balance by the increasing strength of its slow-spot. It crashed into the ground with a meaty thud.

A second thud followed quickly afterwards, one of the bad-things brethren catching its head on the way down with a heavy stomp. The creatures hard skull took the impressively powerful hit with surprising resilience - though considering their tendency to charge headfirst at obstacles, maybe it wasnt so surprising.

Still, there was a light crack that made me think that it did not come out of the hit unscathed.

Before it could pull itself back up, I hissed loudly, ignoring the way that my head-scales still pounded as painfully as ever. The hiss shifted into something deafening, amplified by [Sound Shaping] and directed towards the bad-things with a slight tearing of my throat-flesh.

They staggered as the noise slammed against them, their thick skulls offering little protection from an attack by sound itself. Heavy limbs stretched out, looking for solid footing. Some found it.

Others didnt, landing instead on their fallen comrade. Its skull may have been thick, but the same couldnt be said of its other bones. I heard ribs creak and break, snapping under the weight of the massive beasts that pressed down on them. I saw a leg, pinned against the ground below, fracture painfully - sharp bone jutting from the flesh. I felt the stone underneath me vibrate with the immense force that pressed down upon it, pressing against my scale-flesh.

The bad-thing brayed in agony, blood bubbling from its open mouth. By the time the others regained their balance, it had gone silent.

Experience Gained! Reduced Due To Assistance Received.

I hissed in satisfaction as the thought-light flickered. With the mangled corpse and [Chrono Fire] blocking the path, the bad-things would no longer have the space to throw themselves against the stones - not with the force of a proper charge.

With a brief moment to relax, I touched on the link to the Totem behind me, feeling a noticeable spike of relief from my Coreless. A large number of other Totems were close by now, clumped together only a few slithers away from me. Immediately after they came close, a series of incomprehensible shouts rang out, muffled by the stones between us. I turned, peeking my head back through the wall-crack in order to check on my Coreless.

Hey! Were going to get you out of there, alright? Just stay calm while we get these stones moved, the voice of the Staring One cried out from the other side of the wall, filtering through the tiny gaps in the stones. I hissed with relief at the sound, feeling the emotion mirrored in the Totem that my Coreless still held on to. The Staring One was strong, with muscles large enough to overpower many bad-things; I had no doubts that the rubble would fall before his strength.

Clear everyone away from the tunnels edge and give me a shout when youre ready! We dont want rubble falling on anyone if these stones start to collapse, the Staring One continued.

The trapped Coreless - except for the one whose leg was still pinned by the opposite wall - moved away, scooting both backwards and closer to the center, away from the tunnel walls.

Ready! a Coreless shouted; I didnt know which one, nor did I really care. He wasnt one of mine. Not yet, at least.

A moment later, one of the uppermost stones began to shift and shake. It fell away entirely, followed by another, and then another.

I could sense a deep sense of joy at the sight, emanating from the nearest of my Totems.

I felt it, too.

Satisfied that my Coreless would be saved, I slipped back through the wall-crack.

There was still work to be done.