[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 128: What Lurks Beneath

Matt moved to one of the windows to let in some light, but Sam put his hand on Matt’s arm to stop him.

Matt could clearly see as well as Sam, or at least had some understanding because when Sam shook his head, Matt didn’t argue the point.

“Let’s pick our way across the debris,” Sam said quietly.

“It smells awful,” Kai said, putting a hand over his nose.

Lenal was quiet, and for once even Komachi didn’t want to talk.

His cat didn’t even make that characteristic mew when Raiko picked her up and hid her within her conical hat.

The Ninja scooped up Chompers under one arm, tucking the mimic’s front keyhole into her body so he didn’t have to see what awaited them there.

Her sword arm wisely remained free.

Sam led the way as best he could, making a human chain where everybody put their hand on the shoulder of the person ahead of them. He called out the obstacles, told them when to lift higher to avoid tripping over something and… pressed on.

It was much easier than looking into the glassy stares of so many dead men and women. Elves, dwarves, and other fantastical kinds of people he couldn’t recognize. So many had lost their lives.

He preferred to see them in the gray film of Dark Vision. While he wasn’t a stranger to seeing death, not after the Battle of Shard’s End, he hadn’t been so close for so long to a corpse.

There was always some other new threat or enemy breaking through to distract from the loss. Not now, though. Sam tried his best not to think of it. Or of their last moments.

Save those who can yet be saved, Sam told himself. You can’t do anything about the rest.

From what Sam could piece together, the professors had used this room as a sort of storage facility. There were boxes and barrels, most of them shattered, lining the walls.

They might have been cataloguing things. That seemed about right for their type.

Just as Lenal had said, there was a small door and a series of narrow steps that led into the basement, or rather the undercroft. The former was a word of relative normalcy and comfort for Sam. The latter… not so much.

Undercrofts were the sort of places you’d find wights, zombies, and ghouls, to name a few. He was surprised Matt wasn’t listing the things they were likely to face, but he suspected the man had rather more pressing matters on his mind.

Nobody had the gall, nor disrespect to attempt to loot any of the bodies. Similarly so, Matt didn’t try to eat them.

Sam was all too uncomfortably aware that he could.

Once again, the door was unlocked and opened, though it would have been a simple affair to force it open without resorting to Breaking. Sam nearly ripped the door handle off it without intending to.

The cool dry air hit him as soon as they left the comfort of the stairs. Sam wished he had brought the [Archflame Coal] to light one of the torches set into the iron brackets to either side. He missed its warmth.

“Can we turn on the lights now?” Lenal asked, slightly unnerved.

I guess that settles whether or not elves have natural Dark Vision.

In the dark, Raiko’s eyes shone a faint violet. Not glowing like magic, but more like a feline. So perhaps the Ninja could see, but Kai and Lenal couldn’t.

Matt went up to one of the torches and struck two stones together to make a spark. Sam wondered where he had gotten them. The oil-soaked rags around the torch sprang to life.

He lit the other torch and passed it over to Kai, then took up his position in the Rear.

Sam gave a nod of appreciation. If he had to hold the torch, not only would one of his hands be occupied, but it’d further spoil what use of his Dark Vision he still had with the flickering light making macabre dancing shadows.

The ceiling was high and vaulted, swallowing up the light but still making it hard for Sam’s Dark Vision to get much purchase. He tried not to think of something big and nasty stuck to the ceiling waiting to drop on an unsuspecting intruder.

Raiko made a hiss, calling everybody to a stop. She let Chompers down.

In the gulping, sucking silence, Sam now heard what Raiko must have.

There was a rustling sound… like old dry paper being rubbed together.

“What the fu—” Matt began, but stopped because as soon as he made a noise, the sound stopped.

Chesty Chompers the Third made a strange whimpering sound and turned about on his many corgi paws, trying to look in all directions at once.

Sam wasn’t sure at what point they entered into a much larger room, but he could feel the unsettling vastness all around him.

He began to pump more mana into [Heavy Blade], setting himself slightly away from the group so he had room to swing the sword. Even though the room they had found themselves in was large, there were still a number of pillars sprinkled about, making it hard to see into the gloom beyond.

“Ridewords!” Lenal screamed as something much like a bat flapped into view and then disappeared. “Don’t let the glowing words touch you!”

“Words, what, where?” Matt asked, bewildered. Having danger called out, but not understanding what you were supposed to be wary of just made the whole situation even more stressful.

Sam watched in awe as what he had first taken for a bat was, in fact, a book that was flapping. Its pages fluttered silently, far quieter than they had been before the creatures were aware of them.

A [Rideword] flew down near Matt, who swatted at it, thinking it was nothing more than a nuisance. “Shoo!”

Glowing words rolled off the pages of the [Rideword], unfurling like a whip. The words snared Matt around the throat and dragged him up into the darkness.

Sam twisted on the balls of his feet and struck with [Heavy Blade]. The elongated aura of the sword flashed out and severed the words and cut through the book in the same swing. It cut deeply into the vaulted ceiling and a nearby pillar as well.

The pillar crumbled to dust, and the vaulted ceiling came down in a shower of brick and stone. The group dove for cover as the undercroft came down around them.

Matt fell to the ground hard on his elbow. He pulled at the now dead words strung around his neck.

“Don’t move,” Raiko said, reaching out and carefully cutting at the string. The material, despite being no longer strengthened by that nefarious book, remained strong. Though, with just a bit of mana lacing the blade, the edge sliced clean through, freeing Matt.

Sam had dived out of the way, only to get up and find that he was cut off from the rest of the group. He turned at the sound of more rustling.

“Sam!” Kai called from somewhere on the other side of the rubble. “Are you okay?”

“Fine!” Sam called back. “Just a little busy. Are you guys okay?”

“Could be better,” Matt choked out.

“Machi,” she said forlornly.

Sam and Komachi were separated. His pocket healer, in somebody else’s pocket.

Raiko’s hat probably counted.

Lenal sidled up closer to Sam, and he realized without the torch, she couldn’t see anything. “It seems it is just the two of us on this side.” She heard the sound of the [Ridewords] and shivered. “I did not know the Academy still had such an infestation. As I said, do not let them touch you with their words.”

Sam nodded and sheathed his sword again. This would be one of the rare opportunities to use [Shadow Veil], but not with Lenal there. She’d draw them to her and the elf was by far the weakest among their number.

Even Chompers was sturdier than she was.

Okay, Sam thought, now that the light is gone, I can actually make out the little bastards a bit better… but Lenal can’t see a thing.

“Stay down as low as you can get,” Sam told her. “Do not get up, for anything. I need all the room I can get to fight.”

They were gathering, Sam could see. Up by the apex of the vaulted ceiling, the [Ridewords] were massing into a flock—if that was the right word.

The sounds of fighting broke out on the other side of the collapsed pillar. Magic flashed against what he could see past the heap of rubble.

If he had time to Break it and clear it away, Sam would. But they were under attack on all sides.

He heard Komachi cry out and the swirling notes of [Regen Paeon] flowed around every crevice they could find in the rubble on their way to Sam and Lenal.

On the other side of the blockage, Matt shouted and launched a globule of poison at one of the books, wielding a torch in the other hand to keep the [Ridewords] away. They seemed spooked by the flames. “Use fire!” Matt called out. “They’re afraid of it!”

“Would that I could,” Sam said, unsheathing his greatsword as the [Ridewords] dove at him and Lenal. “Down!” Sam told Lenal again. She slowly got to her hands and knees, then curled up against the rubble.

He had to remember that to Lenal, aside from that brief spark of light from drawing his sword, there was nothing but utter darkness. He could barely spare a thought as to how terrifying it must be for the Analyst, who out here in the middle of battle without a combat Job to defend herself, entirely reliant on Sam to protect her.

Sam caught two of the [Ridewords] with his [Heavy Blade]. They went down easily enough, cut into two pieces. Despite being made of literal paper, Sam somehow expected to see a shower of blood, but there wasn’t a single drop.

You defeat a [Rideword (Level 23)].

You gain substantial Experience for slaying an Even Match monster!

You defeat a [Rideword (Level 23)].

You gain substantial Experience for slaying an Even Match monster!

They were exactly what they looked like. And decently strong, too.

But in the end, they were just books.

While the others battled away, Sam used [Rally] and pivoted around as the rest of the [Ridewords] split up and attacked from opposite sides.

He swung another lightly charged [Heavy Blade] into the bulk of one group, but he only managed to kill one of three.

You defeat a [Rideword (Level 23)].

You gain substantial Experience for slaying an Even Match monster!

They were fast, and before Sam knew what was happening, one of them had lashed out with a whip of glowing words. He managed to get the edge of his greatsword up to sever it in time, but the pain around his throat was like a necklace of fire.

How did that hurt, even through my armor?

The next whip of glowing words came even faster and fastened around his wrist. Sam pulled with all his might, bringing the [Rideword] within striking distance. He pressed his palm against it fluttering pages and used [Void: Scour].

A burst of silver-black flames engulfed the creature.

You defeat a [Rideword (Level 24)].

You gain substantial Experience for slaying an Even Match monster!

Level Up!

Your [Swordsman] Job has reached Level 24.

+6 Strength | +6 Vigor | +3 Agility

+3 Dexterity

+2 Bonus Points

Level Up!

Your [Voidknight] Legend has reached Level 14.

+2 to all Stats

+1 to all Talents

Level Up!

Your [Void] Path has reached Level 19.

+1 Insight Talent | +1 Strength Talent

+1 Arcane Talent | +1 Vigor Talent

His hunch has been right, as a magical creature, removing all its mana flat-out killed it, returning the [Rideword] to nothing more than a simple book.

The [Ridewords] continued to harry him, diving and snapping their toothy spines at him while trying to strangle him with their whips of glowing words.

Annoying, but hardly deadly. They didn’t seem to deserve the fear that he heard in Lenal’s voice for sure.

Sam culled four more as he started to get a feel for their group tactics and baited them into a dive, only to use [Void: Surge] when they got close.

He was burning through his MP faster than he would have liked, especially considering that they weren’t even where the survivors were.

The [Ridewords] made another dive. However, they weren’t the mindless monsters he was used to. They didn’t use the same tactic for long. When they dove again, he wasn’t their target. It was Lenal.

Sam struck out one-handed with the colossal [Dullahan Greatsword]. The [Ridewords] vanished into a cloud of sheared paper, but Sam realized the purpose of the attack too late.

Three whips of glowing light lashed out and took him in both wrists and around the neck.

A freezing numbness crawled across his body as he fought as hard as he could to pull free.

He managed to break the chains of glowing words, but he still felt weak. As if something vital had been taken.

“I told you,” Lenal said with horror. “Don’t let the words touch you….”

Sam turned to see what had caught her eye in the revealing light of those chains.

He looked right into a shadowy copy of himself.