Chapter 379 (1/2)

Chapter 379

ELDER RINIA

The ancient bedrock trembled beneath my feet I felt how the atmospheric mana quivered at the release of such enor now

Soh time?” It was Albold’s voice “Should we set up an ambush somewhere, slow the asura further?”

I scoffed “Our hope now is in haste and good luck, not by force of arless death, any of you”

Another voice, from farther back in the line “You could join me on the beast” It was Madam Astera, who Eleanor Leywin had allowed to ride her bond, seeing as though she wasfrouts

“I know the way by foot and feel, not by bear I’ll walk” I squeezed Virion’s aro faster”

I felt his concerned look, despite not being able to see it, but he did as I asked, and I pushed my old body to keep up

This was the point where paths of potential diverged, and my ability to influence a specific potential future was liroup was sixty, perhaps seventy people: some council members, the adventurers known as the Twin Horns, the artificer Gideon and his assistant, and those aees who had shown the most faith in roups had broken off to head down dozens of different tunnels, led by the Glayders, Earthborns, or other strong , preventing the asura froht time, ould all die If Taci hunted us down too quickly or spent too ain, ould all die The tiht foot brushed a sharp outcropping of stone “Take the next branch right and doard,” I told Virion, and after another fifty steps he guided ht, and the path sloped under my feet

An explosion from somewhere far behind and above us shook loose dust fro Someone muffled a scream

At the bottom of the decline, the tunnel curved sharply left “You’re all going to feel a strong disinclination to continue onward This is a trick of the ancientdiscovered You h another handful of turns before the creeping sensation of unease set in It was e in the back of ourhere Be wary” The sensationhis increased rapidly as we pressed forward, becouided began to whie stone in the distance Even the bear was panting, each breath sharp and desperate

“Albold, take all the guards to the rear Keep these peopleforward Don’t let anyone turn around,” I said

“Y-you can’t force us on!” so us to our deaths!”

Several sets of footsteps ceased, and I heard people pushi+ng and shoving Guards moved to intervene, but there was a sharp pulse of intent frorew still

“You can all sense the danger behind us It is very real, while this ination If Rinia says that salvation lies ahead, then ill press on”

Virion’s confidence and command settled the riled crowd, at least for a ain, his body stiff at my side, everyone else followed

Thrum, the mana responded to the distant battle Thruh to keep even the ical dread that sought to push us away

But not entirely

After only fifty ain After a hundred, I heard weeping After five hundred, the guards in the rear were dragging the weakest forward After a thousand, the guards lacked the strength, and the first of those too weak to face the fear broke away, sprinting back along the tunnel, their cries echoing throughout the dark depths

“Let theht steps start to follow “Anyone who turns back now isare doo you”

Our pace slowed to a crawl Each step felt likefor the blackness to close over my head and choke the life out of me

I had knoould have to cross this barrier I thought I was ready

I rong

My feet stoppedso of ht I’d pushed th to continue on

The earth seeo silent The ainst the Lances was over Our last line of defense had fallen There was no time Not for doubt, not for fear

A thin arhaway Someone else, shorter and even thinner more thin than the first, replaced hih me Most of my body had become one interconnected ache, so ever-present that I had alotten it was there, but at the mana’s touch, this pain faded My breath cahter

Frohaway the darkness and despair

“Thank you, Leywins…” IWe’re wasting valuable tiht, but Ellie only held on ht time?”

I cleared my throat as it suddenly constricted with an upwell of emotion “We’re nearly there”

The two heldjust ahead of us The zone of dread seeainst our bodies and wills with a h an icy waterfall, ere free of it, every nerve inaura vanished Mythe approximate amount of time we’d lost

Wordlessly, I set the pace, ht as a feather without the ancientme down

A virulent intent entered the tunnels soine

We began to run

The rough stone floor grew s a finished hall I knehat they were seeing: ge the story of a place called the Relictoes before their fall

But there was no time Not to explain them, not even to spare the breath I needed to run, and so I pushed the others onward

Virion’s light steps halted ahead of us, but I shooed hiet everyone inside”

The onco it

Though my blind eyes couldn’t see the room, I kneell froonal-shaped space a hundred feet wide Steep stone benches led like steps down to a dais in the ular stone frame stood

“Takeon the carved stone fra now If it didn’t happen soon…

When we reached the dais, I pulled free of the intricate carvings

It was cold No mana or aether hummed within it

“What is this?” Madam Astera asked as she was helped down off Ellie’s bond “You’ve led us into a dead end!”

Others joined her, pleading for there to bethat could save theainst the frah Most rushed to the back of the cha aura as possible

“I have led you to where you need to be in order to survive,” I said, letting my tiredness and frustration bleed into the words “If I planned on allowing you all to die, it would have been much easier to simply stay where ere”

“Move away fro elsewhere “Everyone to the back of the room!”

I nodded in his direction “These people will need capable leaders when this is over Do as he said, Astera Survive this”

A screah the cold air, and I heard flesh tear and bones break

A figure so rich with lowed inintent was like athe life from me

The world seemed to jerk to a halt, the only sound a half-muffled cry of abject terror, the only ure’s head as he scanned the room

“People of Dicathen, followers of Commander Virion Eralith, I aant, the words echoing out of hiust for us “For your failure to see the way forward, your inability to understand the necessary evils of this war, Lord Indrath has proclaimed that you all must die to make way for a more sensible future”

Virion stepped forward Brave fool, I thought, though I didn’t try to stop hied frorowl as he said, “False allies and betrayers The Indraths are no better than the Vritra”

He dashed forward, hisquick I heard his sword slide from its sheath and cut the air, watched the radiant outline of Taci ic as a dozen other es hurled whatever spells they could to support Virion

I held race of a lifetiainst it, Virion’s animalistic speed and ferocity were as ied off a dozen other spells Virion lunged fro, a dark ind, but his blows never pierced the asura’s mana

Then Virion lurched to a stop Several people screaainst the stone benches with a painful crunch

Boo gave aa tortured yelp, and a heavy weight crashed down the stairs Behind me, Ellie shouted out in despair

The asura flashed across the roo into the atmosphere for the blink of an eye, and when he reappeared there was the sharp, wet sound of a blade cutting flesh Then he flashed again, and again, and everywhere he went, a nature winked out

But the portal fraic

“Stop!” I shouted over the screa arms that attempted to hold me back “Taci of the Thyestes Clan, I, Elder Rinia Darcassan of Elenoir, command you to stop!”

The asura stopped, and I had to listen as his blade slid out of a body, which then cruerly let the another step forward “You would be no more important to your lord than we are A tool, to be sharpened, used, and replaced as necessary”