Outworld Liberators-Chapter 218: First Steps into Horror

As the last of the four thousand six hundred and four disciples hurled themselves into the ominous portal, Eldric released it with a grand flourish.

The giant face gave a long, keening wail that shook the ground beneath them.

Its roar reached even the other layers, making people pause where they stood and wonder what sort of horror could have birthed such a sound.

Those who were in the know, however, broke into a run for Radeon Terraces Arena at once. There was another show to watch, and the true spectacle was only beginning.

The masters and teachers wrapped their ears in qi. That human-faced creature was too horrifying, and the first thought in every heart was for the safety of the disciples already inside.

Eldric, for his part, merely flicked the sweat from his brow as though he had labored greatly.

"All right then. Bring these esteemed masters and teachers their screens," Eldric said.

The ghost attendants moved at once. Linen screens were dragged before each group, two for every participant under their care.

One showed the world through the disciple’s own eyes. The other followed from a third person view, taking in the surrounding area as well.

As the images began to play, some masters lost even more color from their faces. The horrors unfolding before their disciples had now become plain for all to see.

The disciples fell through an illusion array that felt far too real, so real that even the masters watching through the linen screens felt their hearts tighten, and as they fell, each saw himself die a dozen gruesome deaths.

The drop went on and on. Fay, Lifara, Thaddeus, and Oswin clung to one another as tightly as they could. They knew no more of what lay ahead than any other disciple entering the secret realm for the first time.

All they had behind them was a little practice against skeletons.

Radeon would profit either way.

If they won, they would gain confidence.

If they lost, they would learn how large the world truly was, and how many gifted people walked it.

After two hours of falling, the disciples were torn apart and flung into separate tunnels.

For all their desperate grip, all that remained of it in the end was the sound of cloth ripping. Some disciples even cried out when they realized they had been cast off alone.

Oswin was thrown into a bog thick with mud and rot.

He rolled a good half dozen meters before stopping. Algae and foul water filled his mouth, and he spat both out at once.

The first thing he did was reach for his divination artifact.

He was certain he had caught the meaning hidden in Eldric’s words.

Eldric had never said they would be dropped into wholly separate planes, nor that they would never see one another again.

If that was so, then the first task was simple. He needed to find the others.

Oswin took out the Homing Globe, one of the tools Radeon had taught him to make.

Inside were small bundles of hair from Fay, Thaddeus, and Lifara.

By spending a third of his qi, he could burn part of that hair away and force the globe to point toward its owner.

It was useful, though only for as long as there was hair left within.

Then he remembered he also needed to seize a fortuitous encounter if he found one.

He chose Fay first, the one Radeon had named the luckiest among them and reminded them of again and again.

Standing knee deep in the muck, Oswin began to turn in place, each spin lasting the count of a single second.

Once. Twice. Three times. Four.

On the fifth turn, the globe grew hot in his hand and pulled toward a certain direction. He spun once more, just to be sure, and the pull remained the same.

Oswin dashed off, keeping his Steel Stride at the lowest possible drain.

Even so, danger had already crept close.

A sudden chill ran down his back. He glanced behind him. Nothing.

He looked up into the dark branches overhead. Still nothing.

A smear of black muck clung to his foot, little eyes scattered through its liquid body.

It gave off a low, ugly hum, as though calling to its own kind.

Yet the moment the creature made that small move, Oswin’s instincts flared all the harder.

The muck seemed to sense he was too alert for it, so it flattened itself and slipped against the sole of his boot.

Oswin answered at once. Qi flared across his body as he cast a self diagnostic art.

Spirit Body Anomaly Search.

The thing revealed itself soon enough. A small patch of muck, shaped almost like a leech, hidden against him.

Oswin snapped his foot hard and flung it free. The creature struck a nearby tree with a wet splatter.

Relief washed through his body at once. Too soon.

Inside his shadow, a larger mass of muck had already seeped in.

It wore a smile lined with rows of sharp teeth, grinning with quiet malice before sinking deeper into the dark beneath him.

Elsewhere, Jackson, disciple of the Supreme Elder of the Hemal Tithe Cult, studied the building before him.

He was a sharp young man, not the sort to trust strange ground or silent walls.

Rather than test it himself, he pricked both thumbs and crouched to draw an array in the mud with his own blood.

The lines came out crude, but they held. Once the array was finished, he formed a series of hand seals, and the markings on the ground began to writhe.

A moment later they rose into the shape of a second Jackson.

Mirror Blood Visage.

The clone rushed into the building while Jackson kept his back to the outer stone and swallowed a blood pill to recover what he had spent.

After a short while, the clone returned with an old pill bottle in hand.

"Eat it," Jackson ordered.

The Mirror Blood Visage obeyed at once. Jackson watched closely. Nothing seemed wrong. No corruption touched the blood.

Satisfied, he drew the blood back from the clone into his palm, and the false body crumbled into the mud.

Then he consumed it himself. At once, his pores opened. Blood qi moved through him more smoothly than before, sharper and fuller, and he felt the improvement at once.

Not everyone had a peaceful entry.

Jenkii found horror waiting for her the moment she landed. A half-rotted corpse lurched into her path, its neck ending in five ragged stumps while eight arms juggled its own five severed heads as though they were toys.

Then one of those arms snapped forward and hurled a head at her.

Jenkii had never seen such a creature in her life.

With a sharp curse, she swung the flat of her axe and batted the flying head aside. Then she ran.

"What in the hell is that thing?" she hissed.

She had barely put distance between herself and the monster when another figure came racing along the trees. A woman in black and white robes.

They slammed into each other hard enough for their faces to clash. Fay was thrown back with a wince.

"Watch where you’re going," Fay snapped.

Behind her came something worse.

An elk, monstrous and towering, stood at least five meters tall.

Its skull had been split open, and whatever brain had once filled it was gone. In its place, a man’s body had been grafted into the cavity, the ruined stalk of him rooted into the beast while his arms were pinned across its horns.

The man kept muttering under his breath, but neither woman cared to listen.

The moment Fay and Jenkii looked at one another, both saw the same truth.

Cooperation.

"Is that big ugly beast bothering you?" Jenkii asked.

She raised her axe and shifted her stance, already placing herself behind Fay.

"Yeah," Fay said. "I don’t have a good way to bring it down."

Jenkii gave her a hard look.

"Deal with that sick clown that chased me and then we’ll talk."

As if summoned by the insult, the headless corpse came crashing through the brush a moment later.

Fay moved first. Her feet turned spectral as she burst forward.

Ghost Specter Blur. The movement art she had learned before.

She drove her full weight behind the buckler on her left arm and smashed into the chimeric creature.

Steel met rotten flesh with a hard crack, and the creature skidded across the moss slick ground. Its five heads flew upward in a grisly spray.

Fay exhaled sharply and touched two fingers to her lips. Ghostly energy gathered in her cheeks. Then she looked up and blew.

Nether Fire Breath.

Teal flame poured from her mouth in a wide arc and washed over all five heads.

They shrieked in agony. At the same time, the whip in her right hand lashed out.

Its wolf head bit into the creature’s body, then opened wide and spat the same teal fire across the stiffened corpse.

The whole exchange ended almost as soon as it began.

Yet when the flames died, there was still no true sign of damage upon the chimeric thing.

Meanwhile, Jenkii was left panting. The great elk still lived, even after being split clean through the abdomen.

It kept running on its front legs alone, dragging itself onward while its hindquarters lay abandoned in the mud behind it.

That sight pulled a laugh from Fay despite the danger.

"Honored elk, you seem to have misplaced your hindquarters. How do you intend to answer nature’s call now?"

Jenkii barked out a laugh at Fay’s joke. The sight was too absurd to bear with a straight face.

What sort of creature kept running after leaving half itself behind?

Then her gaze dropped to the corpse of the chimeric man rotting in the mud.

"What art did you use? There is only that shallow bite on the body and nothing else. Are you some kind of poison cultivator?" Jenkii asked, edging away without quite meaning to.

She had thought Fay must have some hidden method for killing that stitched-up clown.

The two creatures had felt close in strength, yet Fay had finished hers first.

That alone left a deep impression.

"No, I am not," Fay said. A small teal flame rose over her palm. "I use a magical fire that does not burn."

Fay conjured a small teal flame on her fingertip. She knew she needed to show at least this much if any trust was to take root between them.

Jenkii’s brows rose. Her battle instincts told her at once that the flame was no ordinary thing.

She had the strong feeling it would hurt her badly if she touched it, so she forced down her curiosity and waved a hand.

"Put it away. Name’s Jenkii. Let us work hard together from here on."

"Fay Neumann. I will be in your care," Fay replied, reaching out her hand.