Chapter 3 #2
Yet before Alex could even flash a rictus of a smile, the roars increased in pitch and fury, filling nearly half the party with mindless dread.
And then, by some miracle, they were abruptly before the gate once more.
Only at that moment, a heartbeat before they could jump through, did the prince slow to a halt, his look of terror becoming one of furious determination.
The headmaster herself, wild-eyed like a hunted animal and heaving for breath, somehow managed to stiffen her spine before the prince’s hot glare.
“We have to go through, we have to go through!” Sulia sobbed.
Her husband just held her, panting for breath, locking eyes with the prince as Alex gently put his gestalt down.
The haunted eyes of a ruler met Alex’s own. “You know what will happen if we can’t gain control of this rift.”
“It’s already lost to us. We have to accept that,” Sulia sobbed. “We did what we could. Water cores of silver and gold. It will be enough, Your Grace. It has to be!”
The headmaster closed her eyes and massaged her forehead, the simple gesture quenching her own panic.
When she opened them, standing tall once more, she spoke to a trembling Sulia with genuine empathy, having been ruled by that same fear, just moments ago.
“I’m afraid it isn’t that simple. If we can’t regain control of this rift, far more will be lost to us than the boon of a thousand delves.
” She, too, turned her focus to Alex and his companions, noting the look the prince was giving him.
Alex swallowed, forcing himself to say the words. “Six Silver-tier Dark Qi stones were placed in a shattering configuration. A cursed configuration. It wasn’t designed to flood surface levels of a rift with the treasures of the deep.”
He held the prince’s measuring gaze, saying what needed to be said.
“It was designed to rupture the rift entirely.”
This earned several blanches and oddly accusatory glares.
“How could you possibly know this?” Sulia hissed.
Alex’s gaze turned sympathetic as he took in the drained and terrified mother of four who had already done so much to protect the city her family now called home…
and just as clearly was overwhelmed with the horror of how cruel and savage the world truly was, how close her children had just come to being orphans, thanks to a delve turning so brutal and vicious that even achieving Silver wasn’t enough to protect one from being smacked free of life’s game board with a single twist of fortune’s wrist.
“If that configuration remains intact, our home will be flooded with Gold and Silver-tier spirit beasts, thanks to the awful pressure of countless overlapping versions of this delve forcefully fused together. It will be a slaughter of monstrous proportions and spell the end of the city.” Alex calmly endured the looks of horror and dismay that his words earned him.
The prince turned to the headmaster, his now reassuringly calm demeanor belied by the way his hand clawed the hilt of his jian. “Lady Shweng Fa. Your artificers… should we be able to find those who could infiltrate the heart of the jungle without alerting those creatures…”
The headmaster flinched before seeming to regain her composure, stiffening her spine and dipping her head. “I will see to it at once, Your Grace. I can only pray that…” She swallowed, visibly paling as she looked back the way they had come.
Prince Quiang looked that way as well. “I know. It is a most fearsome task. You need but gather those artificers willing to rise above all others in service to our city while I recruit the services of a woman who I believe is an absolute perfect fit for this mission.” He flashed a bleak smile.
“It goes without saying that anyone who can avert the disaster that I now fear is every bit as great as the one we faced last night will be awarded property, stipend, and title. We now have a number of vacant properties and businesses in need of worthy owners and powerful allies.”
His bitter smile made it clear who he was referring to, Alex having no doubt that the Duo Yi clan had been forced to pay a price even steeper than they had feared, for daring to cross their prince.
Yet Alex, to his dismay, knew it was all for nothing.
He swallowed the anxious lump in his throat, forcing himself to meet the man’s haunted gaze. “Your Grace…”
“Speak, my Ruidian friend.”
Alex took a steadying breath, forcing himself to say what needed to be said. “The one you hope to cloak your artificers in shadow is, I suspect, already days away.”
He ignored the flinch and glare this earned him, the alarm in his fellows as he dared to toe a line most knew better than to cross.
Because one should never piss off a prince.
“Even if she were here, even if our ally might be a match for a Silver-tier shadow puma, their king is Gold. Gold in stealth and I’m betting at least high Silver in the attributes that determines the fate of so many battles.
He’d instantly pierce a certain girl’s wards, then tear out all their throats before they could blink. ”
The prince curled his fist. “Do you expect us to do nothing, to simply let those abominations destroy our home?”
Alex slowly shook his head. “Right now, shadow pumas and stone dogs are vying for control. Were it otherwise, most of us would already be dead.” He flashed a bleak smile at the hisses and soft curses this earned him from his companions.
“He’s right,” Sulia whispered. “It’s only because they were distracted that we’re even alive.”
Alex nodded. “And the minute the battle is won, one way or another, is the minute this entire delve becomes the territory of Silver and Gold-tier monsters—days, weeks, or months before this rift erupts and spills those abominations all over the caldera. Should those Silver-tier shadow pumas escape, the entire city will become their hunting grounds. And if any of the Gold-tier monsters escape…”
“We’re all as good as dead,” the headmaster whispered.
The prince held Alex’s gaze, daring to smile. “But you have a plan.”
Alex flushed only slightly before lowering his head.
“I do. If the artifact can be disrupted, if even a single black jewel can be knocked loose of its configuration, we have a chance. Maybe. It would be even better if we could gather them all, like what Ya Ling and I did in the Southern Rift, but the pressure is far greater here. The devastation will occur much quicker. But, well, it also means that the jewels themselves are under pressure.” He swallowed his suddenly parched throat.
“A lot of pressure. If the configuration can be disrupted in any way…”
“It will save our home,” Headmaster Shweng Fa declared.
Alex dipped his head, not taking his eyes off the prince. “That is my sincerest hope.”
“But those abominations will surely kill us, the minute we launch our attacks!” Sulia whispered.
Alex nodded. “And that’s why I need to do this alone.” He turned to meet Linnea’s gaze, gently pulling out of the mind meld while keeping her gift of Infravision. “Though you and I still need to keep our link. Your heat sense might just be the key to my survival.”