Hector knew he didn’t have time to stay down. He rolled off the pile of lavatorial debris he’d made and sprinted for the door, but a string of explosions sent him through another wall instead. He could hardly tell what was happening, but he could hear acid hissing against his armor and feel the fumes burning his nostrils. He found himself in a darker room this time, perhaps some kind of storage closet, but he didn’t get the opportunity to check, instead hearing that deep piping sound closing in again.
Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Two: ‘Diversion of Fire...’
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The evening fete was finally underway. There had to be hundreds of people here, most with very recognizable faces. Unfortunately, he needed to find a face that he didn’t recognize. At the moment, all he had to go on was a name.
“Jimmy, don’t walk so fast!” came that agonizing voice.
The last twenty-four hours had been an exercise in patience, thanks to that voice--or rather, thanks to the person it belonged to.
He had to resist the urge to break out into a run. “Yes, Miss Reach,” he said instead.
“What’re you in such a hurry for, anyway?” She held her hand out for her purse, and he gave it to her. She retrieved a compact mirror from it, checked her face for half a second, and then promptly returned it to him. “Excited to see someone?”
“Something like that.”
“Mm,” she mused. Even among all the fanciful dress around, her attire stuck out. The strings of feathers in her blond hair and the huge sleeves on her long dress gave it a faintly tribal look, even if the colors on it were probably too varied and bright. “Well, if you’re nice to me, maybe I’ll go talk to whoever it is you’re interested in.”
“Impossible,” he said.
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every day at noon PST by ~400 words.
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Saturday, August 1, 2015
Page 1066
Hector pushed on through the debris. If he couldn’t rely on Garovel, then he would just have to find Lord Asad himself. He materialized a cloud of iron dust ahead of him in order to scout out for any more invisible opponents in his path.
There were at least a dozen.
Hector summoned a field of spikes over the whole area but didn’t stop moving for a moment. With a flourish of his free hand, he annihilated a path for himself. His opponents were already doing similarly for themselves.
‘...Agh, Hector...’
‘Garovel?!’
‘Go to... shards...’
‘Shards?’
Another string of explosions stole his attention, nearly knocking him off his feet. He stumbled through a wall of smoke and fire but found his balance again and kept stomping onward. He’d nearly reached the underground entrance.
‘Garovel?’
The reaper did not respond.
Hector racked his brain as he ran. Shards? What shards? Was that supposed to help him locate Asad? How would--?
And it hit him. He knew exactly where to go now.
The doors on the underground entrance flew from their hinges as Hector bulldozed through and stormed up the nearest staircase. It was time for another cloud of iron dust, he decided, and sure enough, there were plenty more hostiles waiting for him down the next hallway.
There was nothing for it, he supposed. He just had to push through. He leaned even farther into his run and prepared to weather still more shit.
Something changed, however. In an instant, all of his opponents were suddenly visible. It happened so suddenly that he lost focus and nearly stumbled.
A path of destruction caught his shield, which took the attack admirably, but the impact still put him through a wall. He brought down a line of bathroom stalls and landed on his back.
There were at least a dozen.
Hector summoned a field of spikes over the whole area but didn’t stop moving for a moment. With a flourish of his free hand, he annihilated a path for himself. His opponents were already doing similarly for themselves.
‘...Agh, Hector...’
‘Garovel?!’
‘Go to... shards...’
‘Shards?’
Another string of explosions stole his attention, nearly knocking him off his feet. He stumbled through a wall of smoke and fire but found his balance again and kept stomping onward. He’d nearly reached the underground entrance.
‘Garovel?’
The reaper did not respond.
Hector racked his brain as he ran. Shards? What shards? Was that supposed to help him locate Asad? How would--?
And it hit him. He knew exactly where to go now.
The doors on the underground entrance flew from their hinges as Hector bulldozed through and stormed up the nearest staircase. It was time for another cloud of iron dust, he decided, and sure enough, there were plenty more hostiles waiting for him down the next hallway.
There was nothing for it, he supposed. He just had to push through. He leaned even farther into his run and prepared to weather still more shit.
Something changed, however. In an instant, all of his opponents were suddenly visible. It happened so suddenly that he lost focus and nearly stumbled.
A path of destruction caught his shield, which took the attack admirably, but the impact still put him through a wall. He brought down a line of bathroom stalls and landed on his back.
Page 1065
“Papa?” was all Emiliana had to say, and the ice dematerialized. The bodies of Zeff’s victims were still not visible, Marcos noticed, but there was so much blood that it dripped from the ceiling and splashed against a dozen red puddles on the floor.
With her arm around one of Zeff’s, Emiliana led everyone out of the room, and together, the Elroys left blood-soaked footprints as they made their way down the hall.
-+-+-+-+-
Dunehall was finally in sight again. The constant assault from every direction made it feel like he was running underwater. He’d tried launching himself on platforms, only to be knocked off course and forced back to the ground. He couldn’t remotely make out what was hitting him. In the low light, it was just an indistinguishable flurry of shit, but he had little doubt that it had all been materialized.
The shield did its job, though, and he pushed onward, recreating his full plate armor each time it was destroyed. On that front, he was also seeing progress. At first, the armor had only lasted a few seconds before being melted away or exploded apart, leaving his shield-strengthened flesh to weather the brunt of the force; but now, the armor was lasting longer, and while Hector had a vague idea why that was, he didn’t have time to stop and question right now. He only knew that he wanted his armor to be stronger and that his soul power was making it happen.
‘Garovel,’ Hector thought in the middle of a fully armored sprint, ‘can you sense Asad yet?’
He waited, but there was no answer.
‘Garovel!’
A pair of deep piping noises demanded his attention, and Hector rolled through a picket fence to his right, out of the way of two destructive paths that dug up the sidewalk and sent chunks of dirt and concrete and splintered wood flying past him.
With her arm around one of Zeff’s, Emiliana led everyone out of the room, and together, the Elroys left blood-soaked footprints as they made their way down the hall.
-+-+-+-+-
Dunehall was finally in sight again. The constant assault from every direction made it feel like he was running underwater. He’d tried launching himself on platforms, only to be knocked off course and forced back to the ground. He couldn’t remotely make out what was hitting him. In the low light, it was just an indistinguishable flurry of shit, but he had little doubt that it had all been materialized.
The shield did its job, though, and he pushed onward, recreating his full plate armor each time it was destroyed. On that front, he was also seeing progress. At first, the armor had only lasted a few seconds before being melted away or exploded apart, leaving his shield-strengthened flesh to weather the brunt of the force; but now, the armor was lasting longer, and while Hector had a vague idea why that was, he didn’t have time to stop and question right now. He only knew that he wanted his armor to be stronger and that his soul power was making it happen.
‘Garovel,’ Hector thought in the middle of a fully armored sprint, ‘can you sense Asad yet?’
He waited, but there was no answer.
‘Garovel!’
A pair of deep piping noises demanded his attention, and Hector rolled through a picket fence to his right, out of the way of two destructive paths that dug up the sidewalk and sent chunks of dirt and concrete and splintered wood flying past him.
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