The group used Life Vision to advance in the darkness while Ryka used Earth Vision to perceive threats coming from too deep in the ground for the other mystical senses to see.
Their advance was slow but not for the presence of obstacles or hostile creatures. After the experience in the Garden, they took their time casting life-sensing and array-detecting spells at regular intervals.
Also, they looked at moss, rodents, and small bugs with suspicion, expecting them to turn into plant monsters and attack them at any moment. For several kilometers, the only enemy was the shadows in their minds and their advance proceeded smoothly.
‘Gods above and below!’ Strider cursed via the mind link, the only method of communication they used to avoid making any noise. ‘If only we had flown instead of wasting time and mana, we would have gotten here in minutes.
‘Too bad that hindsight is always 20/20.’ No one felt safe advancing blindly so even though they shared his feelings, they had to take it slow until it paid off.
‘What the heck?’ The Zouwu’s life-sensing array detected negative energy signatures, the mark of undead and Abominations. ‘There are at least twenty hostiles ahead but they are too weak to be a threat even to a fake mage.’
A check with the array-sensing spell detected nothing which was even more absurd.
‘What’s the point of using as guards creatures so weak that they can block scared farmers at best?’ Ryka asked.
‘Only one way to find out.’ Lith said. ‘Wait for me here.’
He shapeshifted into the Voidfeather Dragon and activated Shadow Step, becoming one with the surrounding darkness. He kept the Eyes of Menadion active, to spot eventual dormant arrays and study the equipment the undead might carry.
‘Fuck me sideways. I hate being always right.’ Right behind a sharp corner, there was an X-shaped junction leading to three different directions.
Lith could see with the Eyes that Adria’s energy signature shone on the west of the crossroad and guess the right path. Yet there was a bone to pick there. Or rather, lots of them.
Twenty-four skeletons, six for each corridor, were lined up at tens meters of distance one from the other. It made it impossible to destroy them all in a single swoop and, to make matters worse, each one of the undead held a glass marble.
The marbles were all imbued with the same simple spell that the Eyes deciphered in a matter of seconds. Lith observed the lesser undead for a few minutes, wondering if there was more to them.
The answer came when a droplet of water fell from the ceiling with a plip. It would have been barely audible under any other circumstance but in the silence of the tunnel, it echoed like a bell.
“What is it now?” The red light of undeath of the nearest skeleton turned blue and an angry voice erupted from its jaw. “I swear to the Blood Mother if this is- I knew it!”
As the skeleton walked toward the source of the sound, Lith’s Shadow Steps form slithered back.
“Why the fuck has no one fixed the leak?” The skeleton pointed at a small opening in the ceiling from where water was dripping.
Whatever the answer was, Lith couldn’t hear it. Only the person mind-fused with the skeleton talked, giving Lith half the conversation at best.
“I don’t give a fuck if sealing the cracks is going to mess with the sensory arrays! If it really was so important, they should have fixed the gods-damn ceiling before my shift. It’s too easy to walk away and leave me to check every time one of the boys feels a damn plip.
“I won’t stand here listening to plip, plip, plip for twenty more hours!”
Another pause.
“Oh, yeah? Then fuck you and whatever bitch sired you! Tell her to come here and kiss my undead ass because I’m doing it now.” A wave of the skeleton’s hand a tier two fake magic spell sealed the fissure.
“Fucking finally! Silence at last.” Laughter. “Why should I care if it will happen again in a few days? It won’t be my problem. No, you shut the fuck up! It wasn’t supposed to be my problem in the first place. I-”
The eyes of the skeleton went back to red and it resumed its original programming.
Lith returned to his starting point as quietly as he could before explaining the situation to the rest of the group.
‘The beads are another form of alarm. If we kill a skeleton, make a noise, or do anything that draws attention, the closest lesser undead will break the bead and the enemy will detect our presence and position.
‘Even worse, they can use the skeletons to collect information on us and attack us from a safe distance.’ Lith said.
‘Wait a second!’ Solus said. ‘Undead, underground caves, shady stuff. Isn’t it what we picked from searching that asshole Redcap? The third Forgemaster who returned home?’
‘Great Mother almighty, you are right.’ Strider replied. ‘I think I know what happened here. He lied about his abilities to get hired but the moment they brought him here the other Forgemasters identified him as a fraud and kicked him out.’
‘I was thinking the same thing.’ Lith telepathically nodded. ‘You can’t fake your skills. Be honest with me, Ryka. Are Redcaps the Wyverns of the Fae or are we just that unlucky?’
‘A bit racist but I can’t deny it’s a fair comparison.’ She chuckled. ‘Redcaps are considered among the strongest of us because based on who they feed upon, they can use Origin Flames, Life Maelstrom, and every other bloodline ability they can get their vines on.
‘The stronger a Redcap gets, the stronger the opponent they can feed upon. It allows them to increase their powers in a virtuous cycle. Useless to say, it makes them arrogant like spoiled brats. By the way, I’m stealing that line.
‘The good news is that we know what we are against and how to avoid it.’
‘We do?’ The rest of the group asked as one.
‘Yes, follow my lead.’ The Titania flew a few centimeters off the ground and used the darkness spell, Concealing, to cancel her smell. ‘Skeletons have perfect vision in the darkness so we can’t use darkness magic to shroud us.
‘If they suddenly see nothing instead of rocks, they’ll sound the alarm. Lith, can you carry someone else in your shadow form?’
‘Yes, but only Solus since she already knows how it works and I don’t want to reveal my secret.’ He lied through his teeth.
‘It will be enough. Take her with you, I’ll bring Strider with me.’ Unbeknownst to them, Solus went back to her stone ring and she was assimilated by the shadows with the rest of Lith’s equipment.
As for the Titania, she used a chore magic spell to dig a hole big enough for Strider to get in and then closed it. The rest of the way, she dug through the rock by turning her body into a bundle of vines and without using magic aside from a Hush spell.
The skeletons didn’t notice anyone passing through the corridor because no one did.
