《Cascadia》Chapter 184: Titans
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Corvayne gritted his teeth and put everything into Adept Strength, muscles straining as he broke the stone door open into a dungeon now dark except for emergency lights. He turned and gave the rope a tug, then braced himself with Gravity as the others started climbing out of the elevator. The rumbling from below was getting more frequent. Corvayne forced himself to stay calm, and tried to push the same feeling through [[Unity]]. He could feel his allies feelings too as they climbed the rope.
Nyxion was annoyed at the delay, with a hint of fear. He had floated up rather then bother with the rope. What was he afraid of. The Golem? Of the dark? Getting buried alive when whatever was happening shook the ruins apart? Seeing Nyxion's face pale when Corvayne thought about it, he guessed improved [[Unity]] might also start sharing ideas.
Spears seemed scared, but had tight control over her emotions and a hint of confidence in him, a sense of satisfaction they were together. Also a hint of frustration, directed at him. For what Gylwin had said about [[Love]] being a dangerous pact, [[Unity]] was certainly violating some basic privacy just by contact.
On the other hand, he spent a moment too long looking down at Bell's cleavage, as she had shed her armor down to functionally underwear to climb the rope, and he could feel embarrassment well up in her. He had to reign the power in, and she coughed before she turned and helped her daughter up to the top before she started hastily dressing in her cloth armor.
Brines was next, and Corvayne could feel that there was a lot going on in the athletic man. Worry for Bearer, but also pride in his lover standing her ground.
Finally, Lady Blood Claw took his hand to steady herself as she pulled herself out of the elevator. There was a lot going on, but for the first time since using [[Unity]] he also felt there wasn't a whole picture. Something, probably the curse, left a curiously sharp edge in the emotions that Corvayne gently shied away from.
Touchy feely stuff could wait. They were now adrift in the seemingly endless ruins, this time near what looked like an abandoned road. The gentle curve of the large tunnel suggested a massive ring. Perhaps another part of the super structure that was supposed to keep it's diamond prisoner suppressed. Everyone else stiffened as Corvayne let his own concerns leak through their link. Then they picked up the pace. Corvayne and Nyx formed a wedge, with Spear's weapons slaying things like albino cyclopic orcs, more shadow spikes from the earlier floors, acid spitters, four legged battering rams that bounced around on elastic legs.
He and Spears were one, both because he was acting as the legs, but also because with her own weapons she acted as another pair of hands, bringing his total to something like eight including his shadows.
Bell had taken up a spot in defending Brines and her daughter, and did well enough with a red metal blade she had been given, blasting sparks as she warded monsters off until someone else could kill it. Hylal supported her mother with shards of ice that she was pretty good at aiming, rarely taking shots that could hit anyone else. Brines just focused on keeping them out of harms way, twin daggers burning his stamina to ward off larger monsters or kill a few too aggressive to bother dodging lines of lightning and fire.
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The fighting started to taper off as the rumbling was happening every few seconds, and after about ten minutes of walking the tunnel they were stopped by a huge metal door. A few [Sundering Strikes] rusted away a gap and let them squeeze through to an extremely dusty section of tunnel. Corvayne could see in the dark skeletons sitting near a wall, but didn't point them out, instead guiding his group to a side passage leading to one of the spiral stairs. Corvayne took the steps two at a time, letting his friends catch up when he inevitably had to start slaughtering werewolves with bee eyes that amounted to a messy chore.
At some point he smelled ocean, and like that he was strolling out of a cave into the humid tropical night, cloud swirling above the dungeon starting to condense. The rumbling was disturbing the ocean, the waves choppy and white with just the diamond moon to shine on them. Corvayne felt it looked disturbingly close. The group was thankfully only a few minutes walk on the beach from where they had left their hoverbikes.
"Should we leave one for Bearer?" Corvayne asked.
Brines shook his head, setting Hylal down so that Bell could help her get strapped in. "No, she told me if something like this happened, NOT to invite her in any way to follow us. She specifically refused to look at any maps."
"Why?"
"Invaders basically have to keep fighting and killing to claim territory. She was worried how the system would use her knowing where we were and might influence her to fight our way."
"It also does things to your mind?"
Lady Blood Claw nodded. "The system itself is at the very least always pulling from your intent. Someone once told me, to master the system, you need to master your own desires."
Corvayne wished it had been easier to pry answers from the woman, as it seemed he had not the slightest what the hell she was. "Noted. Then let's leave and give her time to work."
They had barely cruised out from the island when the sea started boiling, rays of silver light erupting from the water. The UFO flew out ahead of them, kicking a wake up as it flew low and fast, and Corvayne followed. Looking back, he saw an eruption of dirt and sand as a single jewelled hand burst from the ground, fingers larger then buildings flexing. He focused on driving then, as parts of the dungeon were now falling behind them like a stone rain, further churning up the ocean. There was a loud boom and Corvayne saw something propel itself into Diamonds monsterous arm. The limb shattered and Corvayne heard a titanic roar, but moments later the shards flew back into place, and a beam of white swept out over the water, water exploding into steam far from where the beam cut and giving Corvayne instant sunburn just from the light.
He stopped gawking and kicked the speed up to maximum, aiming for the nearby adventurers guild. The bikes shields flickered as a shockwave blasted across the beach and tore the shingles off houses, with a few trees already knocked over. He glanced back again to see that Diamonds was up, a four legged centaur form missing it's head but rapidly regrowing it. Something small was clipping parts out of it, shards flying off into orbit then diving back into place flaming hot, so that the whole monster glittered red and white with arcs of fire against the night sky as it thrashed its way out of the island. All he could think was that the ruins had birthed a horror, even as part of him was mesmerized by her diamond curves, like the rest of her body glowing a soft white where she was not bleeding black ooze.
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"Two titans..." He muttered.
The moment was shattered when one of her diamond breasts was broken into a hundred shards and she and a shrill cry of rage belted out, silenced as Bearer once again demolished her.
After that Corvayne let the lanterns still hanging in town guide him, only slowing as they cruised onto the beach. He was trying to think of if he could help evacuate, but he had also picked the town as a place with flat ground to see what would happen next. Suprisingly, his teammates didn't just keep driving, instead setting down to watch with him.
Bell was staring at it. "What is that thing?"
Spears spoke up. "The other girl who has a serious crush on Corvayne."
Corvayne opened his mouth in shock as he beheld the undying titan.
"She liked me?" She was the size of a city. How would that work?
Nyx was staring open mouth at it. He shut it, opened his mouth to tried to say something, then stalled as he gawked at another blinding beam before turning to Corvayne, floated his bike over, then reached out and shook his hand.
"You're winning on the weird girlfriends."
Lady Blood Claw snapped her fingers. "Binoculars!"
Nyxion reached into a saddlebag on his bike and pulled a pair out. "You'll go blind you know."
"If it points the light at us, we are all dead." She muttered, skin deep green. "... Bearer is fighting it, right? I can't see her but shes winning."
Brines sighed. "She is trying to stall it. Once it leaves the ruins, Bearer is stuck there until she gives up the claim."
Lady Blood Claw put the Binoculars down. "Claim?"
Brines nodded. "She triggered an invasion by claiming the ground, and manifesting her true body."
Corvayne turned to him. "What's her real body?"
"She said she's an array of artifacts." He looked over at Corvayne. "I sorta thought it could be bullshit. Bearer doesn't exactly tell the truth as a habit."
Another blast pinged their shield, causing the cluster of their bikes to glow green a moment as they buffered the wave of force slamming across the water.
Hylal asked. "Can we leave? Please? I don't think even Corvayne-dad can beat it."
"Not a dad."
Spears added. "...Yet!"
He turned his neck as far as it would go. "Are you okay? That thing is terrifying."
"It's also not your problem." Spears said. Lady Blood Claw groaned at this.
Bell huffed. "I can say, with all due respect and appreciation for Corvayne who fought a war for me, saved my daughter and... perhaps is saving me... that's a foolish way to pry him from a hopeless quest."
Corvayne was only half listening, seeing the creature turning away from both the ruins and them, and taking it's first ponderous step forward before the miniscule enemy it was fighting blew apart a few more limbs, only for them to reform and the creature to stand back up.
Corvayne heard someone behind him, somehow against the din of low grade shock waves blasting through the land every other minute, and saw Corky climbing up the hill.
The guildmaster stumbled his way to the summit and adjusted his hat, which Corvayne noted had somehow not flown off his head despite the thunderous waves of force buffeting the town. "Well, that's not good... oh you found the bird? Well I suppose you can't make an omelett without releasing a world-class threat."
Hylal was the only one who had a short sharp laugh at that. "Because mom laid an egg! I get it."
Corvayne turned to Bell who was beet red. The princess turned on her daughter. "That's NOT something to talk about in polite company!"
Corvayne battled the urge to ask questions. How big was the egg? Did Bell sit on it? Can you warm an egg wearing pants, or...?
Corky pulled out a bottle of rum, which was almost immediately shattered by force. He looked at the broken handle he was holding, then shrugged and tossed it away.
The huge figure was straining but stomped another foot into the shallow waters, it's weight and the attacks making it move incredibly slow. Corvayne on a whim tried to use Compass to guess where it was headed. The power didn't mind being used for something appropriate to it's name, and gave him the monster's bearing, spiking alarm in him.
"We gotta go. Now!" He snapped.
Lady Blood Claw nodded. "What's up?"
"She's going right to The Source, and she's going to crush the capital on the way."
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