Chapter 221: ...Autarch's Key (5)

World: MSS - Loading...

***

“Wait, Sir Jared,”  Zenom frowned, cutting in, “We don’t know what will happen next.  We should use all the tools we have at our disposal.”

“And my most immense experience tells me most of the tools here are useless.”  Jared said flatly, “Slaveborn, the Lizard, the bitch, and the Orc.  Those four and I should suffice.”

Something was wrong here.

Why was Jared against cooperating with Zenom? 

He of all people should know how badly we needed a Healer, especially against the composition that Delas and Arione had.  They both had healers.  And if they joined forces…

Mage, Healer, Shielder, Blader.  The perfect composition for a battle.

While I was thinking, I saw Zenom give me a meaningful look when Jared was going on about something else.

Except I had no idea what the Holy Knight was trying to convey.

The thing was, Jared didn’t hit me as someone who’d stab me in the back after he’d given his word to cooperate with me.

…Which is exactly what made him the perfect Infiltrator-build.

Infiltrators –a type of Pioneer or Wayfinder that specialized in illusions, tricks, subterfuge and assassinations.  Rarely useful outside of battle against other adventurers.

But I guess in Turina, they’d have no shortage of uses for their talents.

Either way, I couldn’t have this continue.

“Jared, I promised everyone here my protection.” I extended a hand towards L’teya and Freier, “And my party composition isn’t up for debate.  Skaris, Aurora, Stole and K–, us four.  I’m not tearing us up.”

“You don’t know what’s waiting ahead of us in the trials, and trust me, little Slaveborn, the Autarch will have set up trials.”  Jared countered.

How the hell was Jared a [Candidate of the Autarch]?

That’s the tricky thing about a transforming Infiltrator…

Was he human?

Or Orc?

Was this his real form a different one?

Goddamit.

“I could guess.”  I bit my lip.

I saw something sinister flash behind Jared’s eyes.  “Oh, truly?”

And for a second, his eyes went towards the empty spot at my side.  No, not exactly.  The spot to the right and directly behind me.

The spot where Kyrian would have been standing if he was still with us.

I took a step back, taking a deep breath and composing myself.

Calm, Han.  Calm, Lock Slaveborn.  He’s not your enemy.  As much as he’s pretending to me… he’s doing this for a different reason.

Whatever Jared was trying to do, it wasn’t to fight with me –as much as it looked like it.  He wanted something else.  And until I figured it out, he was going to goad me till the end.

“We have no idea what’s in store.  Have you tried engaging the other parties in a fight?”  I directed the question at Zenom.

“Skaris did.”  Zenom answered.

“Ssssomething flung me back.”  He was glaring at Jared.  The beastman had caught the subtle jab too.

The Skaris from before might have thrown himself at Jared regardless.  I knew that none of my party members, Skaris, Aurora, and Stole, liked cooperating with Jared.

But I could feel all of our focus being sharpened needle-thin, and it was pointed towards one and only one man: Delas Ender.

No, that wasn’t correct either.

The entirety of the [Players].

A small voice inside of me said that I’d promised the [Player’s Guild] that I’d leave Astelion Giantler alive.

And I countered with the fact that promise was voided the moment one of mine died.

I shook my head, returning my attention to the issue at hand.

“So, violence is prohibited.”  I said.

“Yes.”  Zenom confirmed.

“Then there's a reason we’re all being made to wait.”  I said, “There must be a trigger.  Something we overlooked in this room, which is supposed to start the next stage.”

“Yes.”  The Holy Knight repeated.

“And we don’t know what this trigger will do.”  I continued, “So, in case the trigger functions immediately, it’s in our best interest to split up the party while we’re here.”

“Agreed.”  Zenom said.

Jared smiled and said nothing.

I looked around the group, calculating and trying to make the best decision.

Aurora - Shielder

Skaris - Elemental Blader

Stole - Pioneer / Ranged Support

Then there were the others.

Arrosh - Pioneer / Blader

Jared - Infiltrator / Assassin (I was guessing here)

Zenom - Holy Knight, a triple-threat in both Healing, Tanking, and DPS.

Freier - Healer / Support

L’teya - Bruiser (Poison-Shielder Build)

And then there was me: the Joker.  Because not only could I tank, I could output massive amounts of damage with the [Imugi] Core –a Knight that could act as a Shielder, Debuffer, Set-up Sweeper, and Nuker if the timing was right.

It was easy.

“Aurora, Skaris, Stole…”  I looked around, seeing everyone (except Arrosh who was blind) looking to see who I would name next, “Freier.”

“The elf?”  Skaris asked for confirmation.  

“She’s skilled, Skaris.”  I affirmed.

Freier met Skaris’ gaze and gave a curt nod in greeting, repeating the motion with Aurora.

“Jared, Zenom, L’teya, and Arrosh will be the other party.”

Zenom nodded.

I waited to hear what Jared would say.

He said nothing, simply eyeing the other members of his pseudo party.  “Well, I suppose I’ve worked with worse.”  He said in his that smooth speaking style of his, each word flowing seamlessly to the next.  

“I don’t know what the next stage of this dungeon will look like.  But seeing as how this room doesn’t allow fighting, it’s going to be something that’s not a direct confrontation with one another.”  I thought outloud, simultaneously addressing everyone, “I set up the parties to be as balanced as possible.”

I almost put Freier on the other team, while bringing Zenom over to mine.  It ended up being a personality call –I needed someone to keep an eye on Jared.

“Now what?”  Stole said petulantly.

I turned towards the magical letters floating in the center of the room.  

｢ Welcome to the Top Floor of the Autarch’s Spire ｣

｢ You are the 3rd [Candidate of the Six Heroes] in Attendance ｣

｢ The Autarch’s Goal is Simple ｣

｢ Build your army.  Conquer. ｣

｢ Only one may receive the Key ｣

｢ Candidate of the Grand Magus: Arione Popindale ｣

｢ Candidate of the Sword Saint: Lock Slaveborn ｣

｢ Candidate of the Autarch: Jared Akka Xalud ｣

Then I spied the what the other parties were doing.

Delas and the [Players] had completely separated themselves from Arione.  It seemed that negotiations had broken down.

The room definitely had some requirement that we had yet to meet.  All the parties seemed to have sorted themselves out, meaning there would be no more changes to the roster.  Yet, the room hadn’t revealed the way to the next step.  Which meant only one thing.

There were more people in the Spire making their way up here.

I quickly ran through the number of people that could still come.

“We wait.”

***

I sat nearby, sharpening my sword.

Zenom kept glancing towards Cecilia, held captive by the [Players].  I don’t know if it’s a good thing or bad thing, but they hadn’t done anything to degrade her as a woman.  Only as a priestess.  Regardless, Zenom kept calm under the pressure that his friend was next to helpless.

What else could he do?  None of us could use our Cores or weapons to hurt one another.

After a series of tests, I realized this room was a [Special Field] which didn’t allow any of the inhabitants to hurt each other.  Only themselves.

The rest of my party also sat in silence, each brooding.  Skaris was sharpening his sword, going through a series of breathing exercises to stay calm; something I’d seen him do more than once.  It was a breathing exercise taught to [Walkers] of the beastmen, so that they wouldn’t give themselves into the Cores.

Aurora sat next to me, neither sharpening her lance or shield.

I knew why she was down.

It was Shielder's job to keep the backline alive.

She probably blamed herself.

Just the same way I blamed myself.

Neither of us spoke.

Stole walked around, restless.

I thought back to Doror and the other dwarves.  Zenom said that they survived, but he’d left them out of the Spire with a detached force of auxiliary adventurers.  They were working on repairing what was left of the boat.

Fluporuin had died.

Till his last breath, he commanded the ship; trying to keep it upright.  No matter how many monsters scaled the sides of the ships, he didn’t cower.

He fulfilled his responsibility till his last breath: taking as many of his passengers to the safety of Claw’s Nest as he could.  Zenom told me he fell dead on the spot –no one had spotted the dagger embedded in his back; the man had been bleeding out from poison since the first [Players] attacked.

Another reason to kill Delas Ender.

The sound of footsteps made every single member of the room stand up.

People drew weapons.

This was it.  The last survivors of this Spire.  And once they entered…

The expedition would resume.

And if the curtain that prohibited violence was lifted…

I tightened the grip on my sword.

At last, the newcomers made themselves known.

Familiar faces.

The Bishop and his two bodyguards, the Akka Xalud and the Kojisan.

The Bishop’s wrinkled face rested his gaze on each inhabitant of the room.  He turned one by one, until at last, he saw Jared.

He sneered.

“Is that the choice you made, Jared?”

Jared shrugged.  “Oh, you know how it goes.  I was never one to bet on the winning horse.”

The Bishop turned to face Zenom.

“Your excellency.”

“Zenom,”  The Bishop straightened his chest, “By decree of the church, I order you to–”

Steel sang as Zenom freed his bastard sword out of its scabbard.

An answer in and of itself.

The Bishop sighed.  “This is why I cannot deal with those born outside of the church… filth and mongrels, corrupting our ranks.”

Then he finally made his way towards a camp.

…Arione.

“Arione Popindale, I trust that our deal is still in effect?”

Arione said something to the Bishop that I couldn’t here, his voice muffled by what sounded like static.  A magical disturbance trick meant to keep people like Stole and I,with high [Hearing] stats from overhearing.

“Excellent.”  And just like that, the Bishop and his two guards stood behind Arione.

And the magical letters changed.

｢ Welcome to the Top Floor of the Autarch’s Spire ｣

｢ You are the 3rd [Candidate of the Six Heroes] in Attendance ｣

｢ The Autarch’s Goal is Simple ｣

｢ Build your army.  Conquer. ｣

｢ Only one may receive the Key ｣

｢ Candidate of the Grand Magus: Arione Popindale ｣

｢ Candidate of the Sword Saint: Lock Slaveborn ｣

｢ Candidate of the Autarch: Jared Akka Xalud ｣

…

｢ First Trial: Survival through Sacrifice ｣

｢ Survive against the Grade-2 Monster for 15 minutes ｣

The room shuddered as curtains beamed down from the ceiling, separating every single party from each other.

Skaris reached out, touching it with his spear.  It bounced back.

“It issss the sssame sssshield.”  He hissed.

But I wasn’t listening.

The room continued to shake, as a [Dimension Portal] opened up in the center of the room.

And stepped out…

A white-blue-scaled body in the shape of a horse…

Hooves that ended in wicked sharp points that were the size of my head…

A single horn that crackled with lightning… and bristles of fur that covered its neck, all the way to the front of its body, creating a huge mane of thunderous fur that stuck out on end –needle upon needle upon needle.

Grade-2 Monster.

[Kirin].

Lastly…

A single chalice rose up from the floor, made of clear crystal.  Just large enough for a person to fit in.

Mana coalesced into more words.

｢ The first lesson of a commander ｣

｢ Some battles are not meant to be won｣

｢ The role of a rearguard is to be thrown away｣

｢ Sacrifice one of your own in the chalice and I will grant you reprieve from this trial ｣

Slowly, the curtain separating Zenom, Jared, L’teya, and Arrosh disappeared.

Jared turned to me and winked.

“So Slaveborn… any suggestions on who I should sacrifice?”

The [Kirin] roared and charged towards them.