Chapter 231 – Getting to the ship.

“Ey, those spells aren’t workin’… Be that thing gettin’ bigger?”

“I can see that…”

Roland watched as a large ball of tentacles rolled down the road. Even when it touched his mine spell the explosion didn’t cause a tiny bit of damage nor stop it in its tracks. A few minutes ago everything started, they had left the thieves guild corridor and ended up close to the port where they hoped to catch a ship and flee.

Regretfully for them, they were quickly followed by a bunch of tier 2 Lesser Abominations similar to the one he destroyed in the city with his firestorm spell. They had followed them all the way from that secret passage and were now chasing them down.

‘This is strange…’

There was something bothering Roland when seeing this scene. Most of the monsters going after them were the ones that followed them out of the tunnel. His radar showed the monsters as red dots but before they appeared the runic system would place a random number. This number would persist for the duration of the monster being in the scanning range and then get purged to save space.

If Roland wished he could begin registering his enemy’s mana signature. Saving their fingerprint took more time but allowed him to easily aim some of his homing spells during combat. Thanks to those systems in place he could tell that these creatures had mostly come from the thieves’ guild tunnels.

‘Think this confirms it, someone ordered them to chase after us.’

There was a person from the races in those tunnels, it was probably a high priest from the cult. He could have ordered the abominations to get them due to them seeing the secret tunnel entrance. Perhaps the cultists still wished to keep their secret lair down there a secret from the church. Even if their forces above ground got wiped out they could continue to rebuild as long as their foothold was there.

“Can nah ye use that spell ye used t’ blast the door open?”

“I don’t think that would be a good idea, the knockback from it could damage this carriage, aiming it will also be an issue.”

Roland replied to Isabela that kept looking back and forth from the coachman’s seat. The ride down into the pier was quite bumpy, the beam attack was powerful and could even damage a tier 3 monster. It traveled fast but was predictable as it went in a straight line from his chest. With how this carriage was shaking up and down he would probably miss while also using up a large chunk of his mana.

“Well ye better do somethin’, those things be gettin’ closer.”

While getting another spell ready he also looked around. When coming out of the tunnels the loud noises became apparent. Soldiers were fighting with the monsters and trying to keep them away from the port where all the cargo was. From the distance, he could even see armored men shielding themselves from the spine eaters.

Some of the ships were already floating away from the shoreline which made him nervous. Isabela reassured him that her sailors would wait for her but if that was the truth they would only find out when arriving where the ship was docked at. Luckily thanks to the guardsmen protecting the valuable wares there was still a chance of the monsters not reaching the docks. The sailors were less likely to be affected by the cult parasites as they all just traveled by water instead.

Finally, after gathering his mana an orb of blue light escaped from his casting rod. It traveled up into the sky before exploding. A large mass of guided mana bolts fell down on the abyssal creatures that were chasing them and riddled them with holes. This did indeed halt their approach slightly but soon the damaged monsters started combining each other once more.

“I can’t hit their cores like this…”

The homing spell worked well against regular monsters but against these creatures that possessed a core they were less than stellar. Damaging their outer shells only slowed them down slightly. With the addition of the other spine eaters that were coming from the sides, the few tier 2 abominations that were chasing after them had free healing potions that they could absorb.

‘If I can’t slow them down with attacking spells then…’

Roland had already tried raising the ground with his earth spells but the street they were on had been reinforced with something to the point of him not being able to. The little bumps in the road were not doing anything thus there was only one thing left in his repertoire to try.

They were about halfway towards their destination and some of the rolling masses of tentacles were gaining on them. The first one forward was showing its sharp teeth but before it could get in range of its target something moist hit it. There was no pain, just a mild feeling of annoyance as it gave out a low-pitched howl. It was hit in the face by a large orb of water which was not the only one as they continued to fly its way.

These orbs of water were common aqua ball spells that Roland was now shooting at a high rate from the carriage. This attack was not meant to hurt the monster but to prepare it for the following magic. He did not know if the creature could feel anything but if it could the drop in temperature would soon start causing it pain.

The air behind the carriage started dropping below zero while being pushed outwardly by strong winds. By combining three types of spells he hoped to stop the pursuing monsters in their tracks. First came water that was quickly followed by a cold wind, the freezing temperature of the frost spell was enhanced by the strong wind and the result was quickly noticeable.

This abyssal abomination started to be surrounded by a thin layer of frost. At first, it could just shrug it off but soon the air started to get colder and colder. The tentacles that were wriggling at high speeds started to be encased in ice which tremendously reduced its speed.

It was freezing and visibly getting stuck. The other abominations that were behind it were able to quickly catch up to it, with all the momentum they built up ramming into their ally was obvious. The stopgap was successful as he fired a few more aqua balls and a frost spell to encase more of the creatures in ice.

“This won’t slow them down forever, how much longer…”

“The hell are these shits!”

Roland had been successful in stopping their pursuers but another problem arose. When he turned around he could see some strange spider-like thing jumping at Senna. Yet on further inspection, it was far from an arachnid-type monster. The appendages that he confused for spider legs were actually human ribs. Its head was composed of some tentacles and a similar lengthier one that had a blade on the top.

The creature flung itself on the halfling with those bony legs as if it was trying to grapple her. Luckily Senna had predicted this movement and with her enhanced agility, she slipped to the side. Even though her feet landed on the side of the carriage she didn’t fall down but instead, she remained standing horizontally.

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“Aye shit, scuttle this thing!”

Isabela started screaming like a little girl when she saw this creature lodge itself into the roof of the coach.

“I got it!”

Orson that was inside the carriage was quick on the uptake. His long sword pierced through the wood that this monster attached itself to. The blade went right through the creature’s human spine which caused immediate death. The tentacle blade on its head started wiggling around as it just dropped dead on the spot.

This wasn’t over as many other smaller creatures like this one appeared on the buildings on the side. It seemed that they had abandoned their host bodies that they took over to achieve a faster form to chase them down. Now they were jumping from the sides and trying to attach themselves to the damaged carriage with eight people on it.

“Na ye don’t!”

From the left side, Dalrak popped out along with his halberd. One of the creatures was quickly smacked to the side by his weapon. On the right side, the same incident occurred with one of the beings being cleaved by a large axe.

“We’ll take care of the sides!”

The three adventurers that were on the inside of the carriage shouted while poking their heads and weapons out. While the abyssal monsters were faster in this form they were also a lot more fragile. Smacking them away was enough to shatter their bones and even one hit was deadly.

“Ye better grab somethin’, ’tis goin’ t’ hurt!”

Roland just like the others had switched from slowing down the main monster force to trying to get the smaller ones from attacking them. The trip could not last forever, eventually the party of eight found themselves at the end of the road. It was a miracle that the wooden coach made it all the way towards the port but now the trip was over.

“Everyone, jump!”