Mark of the Fool

Chapter 869: Death Beams

“Claygon!” Alex shouted, instantly teleporting to him.

The golem was pressed to the stone wall, his chest glowing red-hot, waves of heat rising, moisture steaming, drifting off the hot metal.

“Are you alright, buddy?” Alex asked him. “Is your core—”

“I am…fine! Look out…father!” Claygon pointed.

Alex turned.

The columns of flames faded, revealing the Ravener in all its glory. Undamaged. Not even in the slightest. A point of blinding light flared along its pitch-black surface.

“If Uldar is to blame for his own death,” the construct’s voice rose. The light shone brighter.

“Then take ownership of yours.”

Another beam—wider around than Alex was tall—lanced from its surface. Air rippled and crackled, the beam racing for the archwizard.

The General’s Mark flared. The world slowed…but the beam was still coming fast.

Unnervingly fast.

His mind began planning: one stream of consciousness focused on spell casting, another on the Traveller's power, it flared inside.

The world sped up.

With a twitch, he cast Shred Magic while touching Claygon. Alex fought to keep his hand on the golem, nearly jerking it away when he heard sizzling through his greater force armour. Claygon’s body was as hot as a forge. He clenched his teeth, forcing himself to keep contact with Claygon, then teleported across the cavern.

An invisible wave of magic-destroying power flowed from his spell, surging for the Ravener’s beam of destructive force.

The magics clashed…

…Alex’s spell was blown apart.

The beam headed for the wall where Claygon had struck the stone, then curved mid-flight.

“What in the…?” the young wizard started.

It turned, chasing the golem and archwizard like a hungry serpent pursuing its prey. Clenching his teeth, Alex used Mana to Life, healing his burning hand, then teleported away with Claygon.

Uldar’s construct focused the beam on the golem and wizard as they appeared and disappeared throughout the cavern. It was fast, but they were faster, staying ahead of it.

Until…

“Take this, y’piece o’ filth!” Cedric shouted.

The Chosen of Uldar pointed his morphic weapon at the Ravener. “Oh mighty Traveller, rip our great enemy to pieces!” he yelled.

His weapon pulsed with power, a ray of holy light fired, lancing into the construct’s surface, making it growl. Alex felt its attention shift.

The Ravener’s beam stopped its curving pursuit, instead, soaring straight in the air before slamming into the ceiling, spiralling through rock. After a few feet, it exploded. Chunks of stone dropped to the cavern floor, crushing Ravener-spawn beneath scores of pieces.

“Damn!” Alex swore.

A deep crater had formed in the ceiling.

“Everyone! Keep it off balance!"

“Father…let go!” Claygon warned. “Your…hand!”

Alex’s hand was still touching the golem, the skin on his palm was burning.

He jerked his hand away, drawing on Mana to Life.

“I will handle…the Ravener…father!” Claygon said. “Do what you have to do!”

The golem turned, flying at the construct, his spear raised.

Alex felt the Ravener’s attention shift again. The air shimmered around it. Multiple spots on its surface flared blindingly bright. A dozen lethal beams fired.

These were smaller, perhaps only as thick around as one of Alex’s wrists…and didn’t shoot toward any of the party members, instead snaking around the Ravener, forming a cage of energy around its spherical form. Beams of power undulated around the construct at terrifying speed, creating the bars of a deadly cage.

“Claygon, keep back!” Alex shouted. “Don’t touch that cage!”

The golem halted in mid-air. ‘What should…I do then?’

‘Focus on the Ravener-spawn!’ Alex said over their link. ‘Eliminate the living cores, then focus on the titans and those air blasters!’

‘Understood…father,’ the golem thought back, flying at the Ravener-spawn army.

The world slowed around Alex as he called on the Mark of the General.

Things had moved too quickly.

They were only heartbeats into the battle and things had already collapsed into chaos. He needed a moment to assess.

One stream of consciousness focused on the party.

They had quickly spread out as soon as the battle started.

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Isolde and Drestra were focused on the Ravener-spawn army. The young noblewoman was unleashing a multitude of lightning spears while the Sage had shifted back to her true form. Flames were spewing from her maw, searing the creatures below.

Cedric and Hart were charging for the Ravener—their weapons raised high—meanwhile, Merzhin remained in the air, his body surrounded by a nimbus of divine light, his hands clasped together in prayer.

Alex’s many summons followed Bjorgrund, Grimloch, Theresa and Brutus as they went for the most powerful Ravener-spawn.

Thundar and Khalik, meanwhile, were flying toward an entrance to the cavern.

‘They must be going to shut those openings,’ Alex thought. ‘That’ll stop the Ravener from calling in more forces. Good thinking.’

Lastly, there was Asmaldestre.

The war-spirit aimed her weapon at the Ravener, her eyes focused on the construct. Calculating. Assessing.

Alright,’ Alex thought.

He began spellcasting.

A stream of consciousness would focus on the aeld staff, having it summon endlessly. Another stream would continue focusing on praying to Hannah.

The last two would focus on Walls of Lava.

The world sped back up.

His staff’s crystalline blooms flared, and monsters began pouring from it. Greater ice and water elementals appeared, dropping among the hordes of Ravener-spawn below, attacking with ice, and draining the creatures of their life fluids.

With a couple of twitches, he cast Wall of Lava twice, focusing on two of the cavern’s entrances. Ravener-spawn were pouring into the cavern through its yawning openings, but two walls of boiling rock suddenly appeared, obstructing their passage through two.

Some still tried to rush ahead, but could only shriek and burn between the molten rock walls.

Alex next turned his attention to the Ravener.

The world slowed.

He activated four spells.

The world sped up again.

He teleported again, appearing near the Ravener, releasing four Cone of Ice spells at the same time.

Ice and frigid liquid sprayed over the construct, crusting parts of its surface in frost, but doing little else. Four fifth-tier spells had done no real damage.

But, that was fine.

After all, Alex had only wanted to slow it down.

He teleported around, repeatedly spraying it with ice…but the Ravener was fast. Even as he sprayed his spells at the orb, it moved through the air at speed, gliding silently, dodging his spells and Cedric’s miracles and magic, no matter the wrath the Chosen loosed on the construct.

“Your struggle is futile,” it said simply, aiming another beam at the Champion and Chosen. Cedric cursed at it, dodging to the left while Hart dodged to the right.

The beam shot through the air where they once were…but it did not chase them as the other one had.

“What’s this?” Alex’s eyes narrowed.

The world slowed.

He analysed the Ravener’s magic.

Its death beam was narrower than the one from before.

Slower, too.

Less power had driven that shot.

One stream of consciousness focused on teleporting.

The other concentrated on casting Shred Magic again.

He teleported, appearing beside the beam, casting the powerful ninth-tier spell as he did. The invisible wave crashed over the Ravener’s death beam once again, failing to stop it.

But…no that wasn’t quite true.

The world slowed again.

Alex could see it. He could sense it.

Earlier, the Shred Magic spell had done nothing to the beam he’d dodged with Claygon. The ninth-tier spell could only destroy magic effects that were less powerful than its caster; as much power as Alex had gathered, the Ravener’s first beam was so mighty that even he couldn’t stop it. He hadn’t even slowed it.

But this beam—this smaller, slower one—had been weakened by Shred Magic.

‘It held back with this beam and it’s weaker,’ he thought. ‘We can use that…’ He watched the Ravener closely. ‘I bet that means the beams forming its protective cage are also weaker; Shred Magic might be able to sever them. Maybe. Still, we need to be careful.’

One look at the Ravener sent his mana senses screaming.

The construct was emanating vast waves of power; Alex understood why Baelin hadn’t been sure if he could come out on top in a contest against it.

‘We’ve got to be real careful,’ he thought. ‘Or we could find ourselves in big trouble.’

The Ravener was in trouble.

Externally, it had taken no damage from the mortals’ attacks. The General’s ice had washed over it, but the magic had barely slowed it. That strange metal construct’s fire had struck it when it had defended Uldar’s body, but the damage was superficial. Its internal processes were already doing their repairs.

Externally, it was fine.

Internally, that was a different story.

‘I should not have started with two such two powerful beams,’ the Ravener thought. ‘Anger guided my response, and this is not the time to squander power.’

Such mighty attacks had taken more of its internal energies than was wise to use so early, considering that those attacks had done no damage to its enemies.

The iron construct was still active, its form already cooling as it cut through the guards. Even the General had escaped unscathed.

‘I am not gathering enough energy to sustain such powerful attacks when they have no effect,’ it thought. ‘I must focus on reducing the number of attackers…but there are so many. Where did the renegade General gather such mighty warriors?’

The Heroes at their full strength were devastating, but that was to be expected.

Using mighty magics and flame, the Sage of Thameland blasted away entire hordes of the Ravener’s guards. The Saint was praying, emanating a holy light that burned Ravener-spawn with its radiance. Even the Ravener was cautious to keep its distance.

The Chosen and Champion were racing for it, brandishing…were those the creator’s weapons? Yes, they were!

Thieves!

They were not only traitors, but thieves as well.

It would make them pay for taking Uldar’s property for their own.

And there was the General, teleporting around the battlefield, unleashing ice on it before teleporting away to strike its army with deadly magics, and blocking passages with boiling lava.

The Heroes were doing terrible damage.

But, that was to be expected.

What was not to be expected were the warriors that accompanied the Marked ones of Uldar.

‘Who are these interlopers?’ it watched and assessed the other rampaging mortals.

Two wizards flew from entrance to entrance.

The horned one was shooting blasts of force magic, pulping anything in their path and multiplying himself. He acted as the defender.

Meanwhile, the other wizard—with the bird of prey flying close—attacked the cavern’s entrances with earth magic, closing them with spiked stone walls interspersed with boiling tar. The bird would fire crystalline spikes, lancing into anything trying to get near.

They were blocking the entrances at an alarming rate.

Then there was the other wizard beside the Sage.

She was unleashing waves of electricity, bringing death, churning water and wind down on the hordes of Ravener-spawn before her. Lightning crackled between her fingers as she radiated power.

There were also the other warriors.

Two giants—one who looked like a predatory, aquatic beast—were reaping their way through Spawn Knights. Their titanic weapons crushed everything in their path while Uldar’s armour deflected blows that would have ended most mortals.

There was a dark haired woman surrounded by four glowing blades, and also wielding two. She would repeatedly vanish, then reappear, repeating the same pattern over and over again, while carving a path of death through the spawn. The hulking three-headed beast beside her mauled everything in sight.

Then there was…the strangest being.

A large female creature with six arms, standing beside a machine radiating earth magic. She had not done much, merely watching the battle with three eyes while aiming an odd metal weapon she held in one hand.

In addition to the powerful warriors, there were dozens of beings summoned from beyond the material world. Elementals. Celestials. More.

Their number seemed endless, with more pouring from the General’s staff.

‘Where did they come from? Why were they helping? They are not Uldar’s Heroes, yet they are so mighty. It is nonsensical,’ the Ravener thought.

This was unprecedented and—after thousands of years focusing on battling the Heroes and the chaff-like Thameish army—it found itself unsure of what to do, never having faced a situation like this before.

‘I need to thin them. Remove factors I could not have considered before.’

Reaching into itself, it called upon a powerful magic from deep within itself.

‘I will have to burn more power. But it will be necessary and of benefit in the end.’