CHAPTER 515: A FORGOTTEN POWER

Tommaso’s acid potion burst as it hit the iron grate. Mason listened to the liquid drip and hiss, the growls grow from underneath.

“It’s coming,” he said. “Get ready.”

The players were in two ‘rings’ around the grate—Phuong, John, and Becky on the inner circle, the other melee a bit further back, maybe ten feet of space behind them before a straight drop into lava.

Mason and all the ranged stood along the narrow walkway where he really didn’t want to fight. Worst case, he figured, the others could all fall back.

The demon below roused fully with a terrifying roar. Huge hands reached up, claws emerging from the grate as the thing gripped and pulled. Mason readied his bow, putting away all second guesses. They could have walked right by, but he didn’t want this thing coming up behind them. Better to focus all their attention and deal with it now.

With some combination of raw strength and vicious claws, the beast pulled the metal bars apart and ripped them down. It leapt straight out, landing with clawed feet on either side of the hole.

It was huge and dark red, humanoid in shape but with big, bat-like wings, and a head somewhere between a rhino and a lizard. Demon-dinosaur came to mind. There was also a silvery chain connecting it to somewhere down in the pit, the links wrapped around its chest in an x.

Mason swept it with his Ranger’s Mark, but loosed a Power Shot at its chest without waiting for any results.

“Kill it.”

Fire, acid, and arrows streaked at the thing from the ranged players. All sizzled and flared with a red light as they struck, like they were bouncing off some kind of shield. The demon snarled and turned straight for Phuong after a sniff, and charged.

The swordsman slashed and flared with his own purple light, and Mason almost sighed with relief when the blade knocked their enemy back with familiar demon-slaying power. The creature looked a little confused, and a lot angry. It charged again, but the melee players struck.

Spears, an axe, a mace, and a lightning charged fist hit the thing from different angles. Yet again the red light flared all around its body, leaving no sign of damage. Mason hoped it was something like Jeong’s shield and could be worn down.

“Just keep hitting it,” he said, loosing more arrows at the thing’s upper body to avoid his friends, especially using Exploiting Strike on cooldown. The demon spun and tried to extend its wings, but they were trapped by the chain.

It growled and swiped at anyone it could, slit eyes narrowing as it observed its enemies. There was dangerous and concerning cunning in those eyes.

Ranger’s Mark didn’t tell much of a story. It showed an impossible thing that didn’t seem to need organs. What might be cynically described as a heart but was more like a black gem sat in the thing’s chest wrapped in bone. Mason saw symbols branded on the thing’s skin, glowing now in his enhanced vision. Not that he had any idea what they meant.

“There’s some kind of symbols on the chain,” Carl yelled. “Can’t read ‘em. Anyone?”

Mason winced and loosed another arrow at the thing’s face. “There one that looks like an upside down F?”

Carl inspected, then dodged a claw and stepped back. “Yup. And a little line thing with a circle at the bottom. And maybe the letter z with a stripe. And…”

“Think it’s immune to fire, boss,” Seamus called. “And uh, also non-fire fire.”

“Maybe we have to break the chain,” Garet shouted, jabbing the thing with another flare of light.

Mason bounced a handful more arrows off the thing, letting his players take turns stabbing, cutting, and smashing it while holding it contained. But one wrong move…

“We fall back,” he shouted. “Everyone out but Phuong. Back up and get to us.”

The players did as instructed, and moved pretty well—even Annie. They took turns stepping away, not turning their backs or just running, but protecting themselves as they withdrew. The demon pulled at its chain trying to follow, always giving up and turning back to Phuong.

When Phuong was the last person on the platform, he finally pulled back with a final swipe. The demon stared at them all walking away, then puts its head up like a wolf and…demon moo’d?

The far wall lit up.

“More of them drone bombs, boss,” Seamus said, and Mason winced. He was about to tell Phuong to get back in but the man glanced at him with a nod.

“I’ll keep it busy.”

“Bring down the drones,” Mason said, lifting his bow and loosing even at the impossible range. The others waited, then Seamus was roaring with fiery bolts, and Tommaso was chucking explosives. Between the three of them, they took down most, but a few more got through and blasted off Becky or Alex’s shields.

“Alright. I’m going down the pit. Wait here.” Mason banished his bow and ran straight by Phuong, dodging a sloppy swipe from the demon before sliding and dropping through the broken grate.

He found a filthy, reeking room completely covered in markings. Every wall was filled with lines and symbols, all running down to the center of the floor where the huge chain ran into a hole. This was obviously a thing to solve.

What, exactly? Mason had no damn clue. Why would these creatures chain their own demon? Was it just so crazy even they were scared of it? Or maybe Garet was right—maybe it was some kind of protection.

“Garet,” he yelled, “and Carl, I need you to…”

“Right here, kid.”

Carl popped out of nowhere and Mason just about broke his neck. He glared, and the older man winked before his eyes glazed with magical inspection.

“Yep. They’re runes. Now what the fuck do we do about it?”

“That’s why I called you. Do you see some kind of…pattern? I mean do they mean anything or?”

Garet dropped into the pit with a grunt and an anxious glance back up.

“I mean…what if it drops down? Would we…I dunno, like…”

“Focus, Garet. Look around, see any pattern?”

The clever spearman and apparently ex-gamer stared and licked his lips. Mason cursed Blake for the thousandth time, wondering how fast and easy the son of a bitch might have been able to handle something like this.

“OK,” Garet said. “I think it’s like…a puzzle. See the lines? The tiles move I bet. I think we make them sort of…point to the hole, or anyway there’s a starting point and an end point. We make it flow, yeah?”

“I think he’s right,” Carl said. “I mean I think I see what you mean.”

“Good.” Mason looked up and was just glad he could still hear Phuong fighting. “Figure it out. I’ll go help Phuong not die. Hurry.”

He leapt up without another word, just like the demon had. Something told him this sort of demon didn’t speak words like the abyssal, and that he didn’t have to worry about what he said. Or so he hoped.

“They’re gonna release that chain,” he shouted to the others, slashing another Exploiting Strike down the thing’s back as he summoned his Claws. “And then we’ll be able to kill it. But he’s gonna be free. So we wait with everything, then we bring him down fast and hard, understood?”

A few players called back, and Mason moved opposite a visibly sweating Phuong, slashing and trying to distract the thankfully slow demon. And he saw no reason not to keep building Exploiting Strikes. Already the power was sending his sword down like gravity worked different—like his enemy’s flesh was a magnet pulling in the blade.

They fought for what was probably thirty seconds but felt a lot longer. The demon was getting angrier and angrier, thrashing back and forth and throwing itself to the edge of the chain. After a dozen attempts it finally stopped and looked down into the grate.

“No, no, stay with us big fella.” Mason ran forward and bounced a blade off the demon’s shield. “Look how juicy I am. Look at those delicious titles. Don’t you even think about…”

The demon waved at Mason like it was swatting a fly, then jumped straight into the hole.

“He’s coming!” Mason looked at Phuong with helpless panic, not sure what the hell to tell him to do. Then he grabbed the chain, and pulled.

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