B3 Chapter 304: Further Reaches, pt. 2

Kaius descended into the tower, his blade drawn and ready. Dozens of new inscriptions wound over his skin, black marks of arcane potency ready to burn at the slightest sign of trouble.

Other than a still-repairing tear in the shoulder of his scalemail, he was in peak condition — an hour of rest all he needed to recover.

Porkchop took the lead, his jade armour clicking slightly as it butted up against the stone steps.

There was more than enough light to see thanks to the burning sconces that lined the walls at regular intervals — at least for the members of his team without darkvision — but it mattered little.

The stairway was no grand shaft that revealed the interior of the tower, it was a tight corridor of the same infused sandstone that lay above, gradually descending down one side of the tower. While it was still carved like the walls above, the stairwell was far less ornamental. No elaborate depictions of the creeping sand swallowing a city of four-armed people. No dark rituals. Just an endlessly repeating pattern of graceful curves that repeated like ripples on water.

Ahead of them, the stairwell turned sharply to the left and continued down the next edge of the building.

He still couldn’t hear a single sign of anything moving down below — or anything other than their soft breaths and light footsteps, really. Hopefully a sign that they were moving in the right direction, and not that this entire biome had been cursed with a population consisting solely of ambushers.

“You’re absolutely sure there’s no champion in here?” Ianmus whispered softly. Quiet as he was, the sound still felt jarringly loud — overpowering in comparison to the pervasive quiet.

“Positive, the closest one was far off to our right on our approach,” Kaius replied.

He could practically hear the mage clench his jaw.

“It’ll be fine — we walked the equivalent of a full day to get here at a straight shot, easily several leagues with our stats. That’s far larger than any other biome I’ve seen, at least in terms of absolute diameter. I’d say there’s a good chance that this is an exit.”

Kenva offered a grunt in response. “It’s not a certainty though — just be ready.”

“We always are.”

The silence returned as the unknowns that lay ahead of them stifled their already meagre conversation. Turn by turn, they descended through the tower — far enough that he was certain that they were now below the desert sand — with no change to their surroundings.

Then, right as they rounded another corner, light spilled across the far wall. Unmoving white and far brighter, it stood out against the flickering orange of the braziers, throwing the sweeping carvings into a crisp relief.

“That’s different! I think we did find the end.”

Kaius grabbed hold of his brother’s under armour as his pace started to pick up.

“No reason to hurry — let’s still be cautious. This stairway could be a nightmare to fight in if it comes to that, so be ready to break us out of it.”

Even if he agreed with his brother, that was no good reason to get lax with discipline — things didn’t always work out the way you expected, afterall.

Still — he had hope, and was more than ready for a change in scenery.

While the Temple-palace of Hyythenal wasn’t the worst biome he’d been in, the oppressive heat and endless sand was more than a little uncomfortable. That, and it was simply poorly suited to their needs.

The ruinbringers were not only tough bastards, they were almost impossible to hunt in a reliable way for them to level as quickly as they needed. Sure, they could have descended below the sands to test their mettle against the four-armed beings that lived there, but that had its own problems.

Right now, with their current strength, they needed open space — the tight corridors of an underground city would make it almost impossible to selectively pick their targets. Undoubtedly, they’d eventually find themselves battling a group far too large, with few options to flee.

No, they needed a biome that was open, but with plenty of cover to move through it in secret.

Porkchop paused, before he nodded and resumed his cautious advance. Reaching the corner, he poked his head out to survey what was waiting for them — only to suddenly bound forwards, armour clacking together as he raced forwards before Kaius could stop him.

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“Definitely the end!”

Forgetting his earlier words, he lept after Porkchop as his heart thudded in excitement. This could be it!

Descending the steps three at a time, the stairway opened into a large room that was a mirror of the one above — with one main difference.

The far wall looked like it had been cut away by the hand of god, a craggly natural face of grey stone with a cave set in its centre replacing it. There were no smooth gradients where stone met carved masonry, but neither were there any gaps. Two different materials, melded impossibly together with a clean line between them, like the striated layers of a cliff.

From his angle high up on the stairs, Kaius could barely see more than a few strides down the natural passage — but it was well lit, spilling a pale natural light into the gloom of the sandstone tower.