Chapter 75: Shaman

“I hope real dwarven cities are built like this.” Kaius said as he stared at a row of immaculately carved statues that were laid in a circle around the plaza that he had spotted earlier. Each and every one was easily twice his height, and looked like they could have been living figures simply transmuted into a soft brown stone. They depicted a dwarven warrior, garbed in full plate with a stern expression revealed by an open faced helm.

“Why?” Porkchop asked, clearly far more interested in what lay beyond the ring of statues.

“I mean, look at this stuff.” Kaius replied, sweeping his hand across the plaza before waving it generally in the direction of the cavern walls. “It’s master stonework, melded together to look like a single piece. Let alone the bloody cavern, which is clearly not natural, or the crystal sun which looks about as big as a castle. It’s easy to imagine the Depths creating something like this, but I can’t wrap my head around the fact that there might be an original out there made by bloody people. The time -the resources– this would take is mind boggling.”

“Yes, yes, it’s all very pretty.” Porkchop said with a shrug. “But the Champion is right there. Now is not the time to be ogling buildings.”

Porkchop was right, but he also didn’t want to lose sight of the wonder of the Depths. It might have been a charnel pit of monsters and traps, but where else would you see a dwarven city right after exploring a glowing underground forest?

Kaius sighed. Despite his appreciation for the surroundings, he turned his mind to the task ahead. The goblin shaman seemed to be in the throes of some sort of religious ecstasy, its head raised to the sky while it screamed guttural chants with a fervour, its adherents hanging on to its every word.

Thankfully, it seemed far too preoccupied to notice them.

“You’re still alright to keep the shaman occupied while I take care of his minions?” Kaius asked.

“It makes the most sense. Even with this ring you gave me, three goblins who no doubt have weapons would be hard to deal with. I’ll be fine with my Spell Resistance.”

Kaius nodded. “I think with how distracted they are, we should be able to sneak behind one of those statues. It should get us close enough that I can take out one of the adherents before we even begin.”

“Not the shaman?”

“Too risky.” Kaius shook his head. “For one, it’s a Champion- so there’s no guarantee a single shot will take it out. It’s also a mage, so I’m worried it might have some way to deal with hostile magic.”

Porkchop grunted, clearly not convinced but he didn’t argue with Kaius either way.

“Once we’re behind the statue, I’ll get a cast off. That’ll be the signal to charge in, okay? You go for one of the statues closer to the shaman.”

“Got it.” Porkchop said, before he slunk off to the other side of the street where he would have a better angle of approach.

Kaius took a breath to reassure himself, taking another look to make sure the Champion and his flunkies were still preoccupied. Whatever service the shaman was leading, it didn’t look like it was going to end any time soon.

Dropping into a sprinters stance, Kaius felt his heart thump heavily in his chest. There was absolutely no cover between the road where he currently stood and the statue. Only a hundred long-strides of open pavement. If he made too much noise, or one of the Champions goons simply decided to watch their surroundings, he would be spotted in an instant.

“Here we go.” Kaius thought.

He kicked off. Sprinting over open pavement, careful to keep his steps as light as possible. With every stride his boots clacked on stone and his scale rattled, the noise driving a spike of anxiety into his ears. He watched the shaman like a hawk for any sign of it hearing his approach. Nothing. Its screeching calls were loud enough to drown out any ambient noise.

He shuffled to a stop, crouching down behind the raised stone plinth of the statue he had chosen as cover.

Taking a moment to let his racing heart slow, Kaius looked a few statues over to find Porkchop hunkered down watching him closely. He shot his friend a nod, receiving one in return.

Drawing his sword slowly so as to avoid making too much noise, Kaius peered over the base of the statue to stare at the attendants. Two of them were covered by the large stone pillars that held up the roof of the pavilion the shaman had taken over, but one stood exposed in a gap.

A perfect target.

Kaius thrust out with his left hand, pointing towards the enrobed goblins head with his finger. With a flicker of intent he cast Arcane Bolt. Tightly bound mana roared forth, exploding through the carefully crafted channels of his glyph. One of his four runic hymns on the edge of his glyph burst into golden light, High Lothian characters dissolved in floating embers as the force of the mana fractured the sacrificial spell array.

A shard of azure shot from his finger, glowing to his mana sight as it rocketed towards the exposed attendant.

Rune forged magic met goblin flesh and won with ease, rupturing its head in a splash of shattered bone and pulped flesh.

**Ding! Level 20 Goblin Adherent slain**

For a moment, everything hung frozen. Still. Then the goblin attendant’s body hit the ground with a wet smack.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

**Ding! You challenged a Champion: Spiritcaller Grikx! **

Then Porkchop roared. Storming out of his cover to charge directly at the shaman. The goblin Champions chanting stopped, its eyes snapping open as it looked first at the headless body of its attendant leaking green blood on the pavilion floor, and then to the rapidly approaching red and black incarnation of bestial fury that was racing towards it.

It hissed, thrusting its skull-tipped staff towards Porkchop. A hail of what looked like shards of bone slamming into him and punching into his barding a few heartbeats later.

The remaining attendants drew their blades. Strange crescent moon things of glistening bronze. Far from the half-broken affair that he had seen on other goblins.

That was his cue.