Arwin stepped out into the Guildwall’s courtyard for the second time that day.
He didn’t have nearly as much magical energy or strength as he had the first time around. For that matter, he was practically spent. The others really didn’t look much better. Even Anna and Reya looked like they’d been pretty wrung out in the time that he’d been unconscious.
And before them were quite a number of the Guild’s forces. Many of them were dressed in armor, while others were clearly mages. All of them looked competent, and there were at least thirty people in their path with only the Mesh knew how many more potentially on the way down to the Deepmind’s hole.
This was far from the ideal situation to challenge a powerful monster, much less the strongest one that Arwin had ever faced.
For an instant, he and the rest of the members of the Menagerie that had come with him stood in silence.
Lillia, Anna, Olive, Kien, Koyu, Reya, and Art.
That was it.
Everyone else was fighting with everything they had to protect the Devil’s Den. They were all counting on them to find a way to defeat the Deepmind.
And that was what they were going to do.
“That’s a lot of people,” Reya muttered as a few of the guildsmen started to turn toward them.
“I will clear the way,” Kien said.
“As will I,” Olive said. She gave Arwin and the others sharp nod. “Give them hell. We’ll be counting on you.”
“I’ll back you up,” Art said grimly. He pulled his deck of cards free, rifling through them in a blur. “I won’t be able to keep up with the rest of you anyways. I can’t move fast enough. At least this way we can try to make sure you don’t get collapsed on too badly from behind.”
Olive and Kien nodded. Then the two of them charged forward forward. Wooden growths cut out from her arm to streak through the air like a tree spreading its branches. They drove into the nearest guildsmen, knocking them aside as surprised cries rose into the air.
Kien slammed into them like a wrecking ball moments later. The guild’s men crumbled almost instantly under the intense force of the surprise attack. Others spun in alarm, with the faster among them moving to stop the Menagerie — but they weren’t nearly enough to get past Kien and Olive as fast as they needed to.
Arwin and the others raced through the courtyard before the guild’s forces had even properly realized what was happening. All they could do was try to gather their ranks… but two people would only be able to hold them so long.
It was with some tiny amount of amusement that Arwin noted the guild had not yet replaced the door he’d eaten the hinges off. Of course, it would have been ridiculous to put something back so quickly.
All that mattered was that the entrance to the tower was nothing but an empty doorway with a few unfortunate guildsmen standing in front of it. Arwin only accelerated. He summoned the Wyrm’s Revenge to his hands. The guildsmen’s eyes widened.
Arwin smiled at them behind the jagged helm of the Gehenna armor. He raised the shield before him — and then he leapt.
The guildsmen did the only thing that could possibly keep them from getting ground into paste against the stairs behind them.
They dove out of the way.
Arwin moved the Vengance down beneath his feet a second before he slammed into the edge of the stairwell. Sparks screeched beneath the shield as it hit the bumpy ground. He nearly lost his footing in that moment. But before he could, molten strands of magma shot out from his back to connect him to the shield.
And then, the shield beneath him like a sled, Arwin skated down the winding stairwell and into the darkness.
A terrified scream rose up from a guildsman who had been unfortunate enough to be climbing the stairs. Neither of them had a chance to react. Arwin was just moving with too much momentum — and nobody expected a giant smith to come hurtling down a stairwell riding a wyrm-shield.
Arwin slammed into the man shield-first, plowing right over him and continuing on without losing a moment of momentum. The man’s scream came to an abrupt end as the force of the blow knocked him out on the spot. He tumbled along behind Arwin before sliding to a stop a few steps later.
The rest of the Menagerie raced over his body, hurrying as fast as they could to keep up with Arwin.
It wasn’t an easy task. Arwin could have sworn he was somehow accelerating. The stairs wound down and down, deeper into the earth. It took everything he had to keep himself balanced on top of his shield, even with the Infernal Armory holding him in place. Every step he hit nearly bounced his stomach up through his throat. At times, he could have sworn he was flying.
The screech of metal on stone filled the air with a deep rumble that echoed along behind him, as if the spirit of the Wyrm within the weapon were announcing the Menagerie’s return.
And then the stairwell vanished. Arwin shot out from the bottom steps, a comet of man and metal hurtling straight into the open room beyond. There were three guildsmen that had been standing around at the edge of the Deepmind’s domain.
Two of them were unfortunate enough to have been directly in Arwin’s path.
Their eyes had just enough time to widen before he slammed into them. The guildsmen crumpled, kindly absorbing all the momentum that Arwin had picked up as they were sent tumbling across the room like discarded dolls. Arwin skidded to a halt a few moments later.
The tendrils of magma connecting him to the Wyrm’s Revenge released, and Arwin stepped off the shield as the other guildsmen watched in stunned disbelief.
Arwin fought the dizziness gripping him off as the rest of the Menagerie piled into the room behind him. One of the magma tendrils extended, picking the shield up off the floor.
“What the fuck?” the only guildsman still standing asked.
Then the magma tendril blurred. It brought the shield crashing down directly on top of his head with a clang and a crunch.
He collapsed to the ground in a pile of limbs.
“Damn, Arwin,” Reya said. “When did you learn how to—”
“Just now,” Arwin replied. He shook his head, looking to the doors that barred entry to the Deepmind’s pit. They had been closed once more while the Menagerie been gone. “Come on. Let’s do this.”
“I’ll distract it while you get into position to do what you need to do,” Koyu said, stepping forward as his metal features turned cold. “Let me distract the Deepmind. Now that I know what it is… well, its magic won’t work on me. I’m already dead for all intents and purposes.”
“And I’ll help you get where you need to, Arwin,” Lillia said, shadows extending from her back to form into massive wings. “Reya can back us up, and Anna will stay back to pull anyone that gets injured back into the fight. Remember, everyone. One chance. We need to get Arwin to the crystals.”
They all nodded.
Koyu and Arwin strode up to the doors.
They shoved them open.
The, with Koyu at the lead, the Menagerie strode to meet the ancient monster once more.
Cold laughter greeted the five as they stepped into the room beyond. The huge skeleton was waiting for them. It leaned against the wall, the green shackles connected to its wrists still sinking down into the darkness below. But something was different.
Large swathes of its robes had been burned away, and there were dozens of holes riddling it. Arwin could make out a few faint shimmers of green energy from the slightly exposed crystals jutting out of its body.
The Deepmind reached out, grasping onto the edge of the hole as if to pull itself out as they all entered.
“So eager to die?” the Deepmind asked. “Though I am pleased to see that you returned, Koyu. It suits me to know that you will be here when—”
The Deepmind suddenly thrust its hand forward, sending a thick beam of sickly green energy tearing across the ground toward Arwin.
Lillia thrust her hands forward. Shadows exploded up from the ground, twisting into five thick barriers in the path of the Deepmind’s magic. The first three of them shattered near-instantly, but the beam weakened as it continued, buying the Menagerie enough time to scatter before the rancid magic could find them.
“Sneak attacks?” Koyu asked coldly, as he strode toward the Deepmind. “That does not become you. It almost seems like you’re scared.”
“Silence!” the Deepmind snarled, thrusting its hands out once more. The green chains holding onto the translucent green flesh pulsing in and out of being around the exposed bones that made up the monster’s soon-to-be-body rattled as they went taut.
Beams of deathly magic sliced out across the room for every one of them.
Humanoid shadows exploded up from the ground at Lillia’s feet, their eyes burning with purple light as they flung themselves forward and into the paths of the magical attacks.
Not one of the beams managed to connect.
“There was a time when I feared you more than life itself,” Koyu said, continuing toward the Deepmind. He craned his neck back to maintain eye contact with the massive monster. “And I must admit… when I laid eyes on you last, I was terrified. Terrified beyond compare. I nearly broke on the spot.”
“As you should!” the Deepmind roared, sending a beam of brilliant green light slamming down on Koyu.
Lillia’s shadows weren’t nearly close enough to reach him this time. But Koyu didn’t even flinch. The magic enveloped him, casting his metal body in a horrid, dead tinge.
And then it faded.
Koyu stood exactly where he had been, his metal features cold.
“No,” Koyu said. “I feared you because I feared what you had built yourself to be in my mind. But you… you’re just who I was months ago. We’re the same. Or at least, we were at one point. But now I’ve changed. I’ve grown. I’ve left my street. But you didn’t. You’re just a ghost, too terrified to realize that your age has long since passed.”
The Deepmind let out a roar. It brought a fists crashing down toward Koyu.
Reya thrust her hands out. Brilliant blue chains snapped into being around the monster’s hand, freezing it in place for no more than a flicker of an instant. But that was enough for Koyu to dash out of the way.
The hand slammed down where he’d been a moment ago harmlessly, and Koyu’s own laughter filled the air.
“You know what the worst part is?” Koyu asked mockingly. “You’re so greedy that you can’t even realize you could have had everything you wanted long ago. The magic you’ve taken is more than enough to leave this place. To live once more. But it’s not enough, is it? You need to be king. And now, you will be king of nothing at all.”
“Kings die!” the Deepmind thundered. A wave of pressure erupted from the huge skeleton, driving into Arwin and sending him skidding a step back. “I am a God!”
“No, you aren’t,” Koyu said, staring defiantly up at the Deepmind. “You aren’t even a lich.”
A deep rumble shook the room. Green light filed the room as the Deepmind’s eyes lit like twin suns. Power crackled through the air, gathering in clouds around the huge monster’s head.
Arwin’s hair stood on end.
“I think Koyu’s got its attention,” Reya whispered.
Arwin nodded.
“Get me to its chest,” Arwin said, his eyes focused on one of the patches of crystal behind the heavily damaged robes covering the skeleton. He had his target. And, this time, he wasn’t going to let it go.
“I’m ready,” Reya said. “Don’t worry. I’ve got you.”
Lillia gave them a nod. Her shadows had already slithered across the room to move into position.
All of them were ready.
And, as the Deepmind’s furious scream filled the air and it brought every single scrap of magic it had bearing down on Koyu in a thunderous crash, the rest of the Menagerie mounted their final assault.