‘Fuck! The moment we enter the range of their bloodline ability, they will shoot at us.’ Raagu warned the others. ‘I say we have bought the expedition team enough time. Let’s Warp out of here.
‘Once we relax the space, this bastard will have no way to track us. While he wastes time looking for us with the Black Tide, we can finish packing and go back to Garlen.’
Her plan was perfect but for one crucial detail. Raagu didn’t know that Lith was the reason Thaymos had sent the monster tide toward the camp in the first place. The lost city already knew where to find them the moment they disappeared.
‘You go. I’ll hold him off as long as I can.’ With no way to explain the situation without exposing the secret of the tower, Lith could only play hero and hope the others bought his act.
‘Are you insane?’ Ilthin said. ‘We have fought together until this moment and we have achieved nothing. What do you expect to do on your own?’
‘Okay. Bye.’ Inxialot waved his hand, opening a Steps that brought him to Nero and then another toward the camp.
‘Son of a bitch!’ Raagu cursed. ‘I’m going to kill him. I don’t know how, but I’m going to try.’
‘You go. I’ll stop him.’ Solus handed Lith her stone ring while Raagu was still swearing. ‘It’s me that he wants and as long as you have the tower, I can’t die.’
‘You are both insane!’ Tista said. ‘Let’s go back to the camp, if the lost city attacks Elysia-‘
‘Grandma would push him back while protecting everyone, Leegaain would protect solely the babies, and Tyris… I have no idea what she would do.’ Lith cut her short. ‘Still, I’m with Tista, Solus. I won’t allow you to-‘
[“Fine!”] Thaymos roared in annoyance the moment his body was back to its peak strength. [“You pests are resourceful, I have to concede that. But can your friends say the same?”]
The Eternal Fortress already had the dimensional coordinates of the Wayfinder so opening another Warp Steps took him seconds this time. To make matters worse, Lith’s group was still huddled up and missed one of its most powerful members.
Lith believed that things couldn’t get any worse but he was wrong. Thaymos walked through the Steps first, getting at spells’ range from the camp.
‘No!’ Lith stared in horror as the dimensional corridor rearranged itself to let through as many monsters as possible at the same time.
‘End of discussion, we need to go!’ Ilthin activated the Home Stone and conjured a Warp Steps leading directly in front of the Wayfinder. In the time since they had left, the elves had returned to Medolin and the monsters of Zelex had followed them back home.
The soldiers and mages were loading the cargo wagons as fast as they could and the non-essential personnel had already boarded the Train, waiting for the order to leave.
‘What are you doing? We must stay here and attack the Gate from this side. It’s unprotected!’ Lith tried and failed to resist the Firstborn Banshee’s grip.
‘You call that unprotected? The Black Tide is surrounding the Gate and those disgusting things are flying at us.’ She pointed at the incoming Wormlings. ‘It took our combined power to bring down the first Gate and we succeeded by distracting the lost city.
‘How are we supposed to do it from here and without Inxialot? Also, if we stay here who’s going to protect the Wayfinder?’
Lith gritted his teeth in frustration, recognizing Thaymos’ Gate for what it was.
A trap. Even if they succeeded in making it collapse again, the lost city would just conjure another.
In the meantime, the Eternal Fortress would be free to slaughter the camp and destroy the only means of escape they had. While in its village form, the Wayfinder was a sitting duck.
It would take Thaymos one spell of the caliber of Cruel Star to destroy the train.
‘Fine.’ Lith recalled the Demons of Darkness and stepped through the Steps just in time to avoid a barrage of energy projectiles from the Wormlings.
Ilthin left the dimensional door open and when the winged monsters attempted to follow her, she collapsed the portal, cutting several of them in half.
‘It’s not much but it still reduces their numbers and allows us to understand the relationship between the lost city and the monsters.’ The Firstborn Banshee said while holding the half of the Wormlings that had made it through.
The creatures spat their energy bullets in defiance, but the projectiles were too weak to do any harm to a powerful Awakened. The blow just exhausted what little life the Wormlings had left, killing them on the spot.
A red haze rose from the corpses that Life Vision identified as life force. At the same time, the mana cores of the monsters seeped out of the dead bodies without cracking. The red mist shrouded the mana cores, keeping the mana they contained from dispersing and amplifying their power as the multi-colored haze darted toward Thaymos.
‘Red Mother almighty!’ Ilthin blurted out in horror. ‘We have to get out of here and fast.’
‘That’s why the mana of the Gate resisted my Dimensional Ruler spell and its energy felt so revolting!’ Friya said. ‘It was mixed with the life force of the dead monsters and none of my spells can affect both dimensional energy and life force.’
‘Correction.’ Raagu said. ‘No spell can do that. That’s why even Silverwing’s Bastion barely worked.’
‘Each monster can’t be worth much energy, but we killed thousands of them and there are still millions!’ Solus suddenly understood why the lost city seemed to have an infinite source of power.
‘Even worse, if he’s that strong in the middle of nowhere, how powerful will he become when he reaches the mana geyser?’ Lith snapped them out of their reverie. ‘We can’t allow the lost city to take a single step forward!’
Solus nodded and rushed toward the camp, leaving her allies flabbergasted and furious.
‘I can understand Inxialot being deranged, but isn’t she too young for that?’ Raagu spoke through the mind link and the communication amulet at the same time, threatening the King of Liches with unspeakable horrors if he didn’t come back immediately.
‘Solus has her reasons.’ Lith perceived the tower taking form as his strength surged. Tista and Friya felt it as well since they were listed as apprentices and the tower now shared with them the effects of the Library and the Armory.
Solus had left there the Sage Staff so that everyone could benefit from the mind-focusing abilities of the Yggdrasill tree during the upcoming battle.
This way, even if Thaymos reached the mana geyser, most of the world energy would already be under the tower’s control, leaving him little to feed upon.
‘Bodya, make the ground below him unstable. If we make him fall over his troops, we’ll kill thousands of them and with a bit of luck, the dimensional energy will also cut him in half.’ Lith said.
‘Tista, with me. Friya, alert Quylla and Farg that we might need them for a Bastion or an Annihilation. Ilthin, Raagu…’ He stopped, not knowing their abilities or how to employ them best.
