Overpowered Wizard

Chapter 202: B2: C102: Grimrock Enemies 1

As Hannah’s runic sound device played more medieval rock ballads, Zarian kicked at the smoky brimstone under his shadowy boots. He glanced back through the smashed doorway of the keep entrance where the dark, aged, and ruined frame of Castle Grimrock waited.

He could still hear the rumbling remnants of the defeated storm outside.

Zarian looked forward, past his friends, where the gaping throat of Hidden Hell stretched out further, ready to swallow them down into its bowels. Pulsating veins of red and yellow streaks ran across its twisted, bumpy, and smoky surfaces.

The Floridians stood on the bordering edge between two realms.

Behind them were the ruins of Castle Grimrock and the rest of Corma. Before them was a yawning tunnel that ignored the walls and structures of the castle and promised to take them on a hell of a trip.

Unlike God Land, which belonged to divine beings and God Rankers, Hidden Hell’s extremities could touch, fuse, and bridge the gap to other worlds with or without divine presences. It had to, because Hidden Hell was unreachable by all other means in the Infinita Star System.

Thus, Hell Gates were things that could even form on Lesser Worlds, which Zarian imagined being shitty to face for most people. Hell Gates provided an immense difficulty challenge only a few adventurers on Lesser Worlds could face.

Zarian had read about all of this in Reiki’s library, especially from books about sealing and unsealing. Too bad he wasn’t a master at sealing things, or the prospect of facing a Hell Gate would be easier.

They wouldn’t have to crawl as deep.

Gilbert even filled some gaps in Naomi’s knowledge of the dimensional realm stuff. There was a focused and intense gleam in Gilbert’s blue eyes. The man was ready for action.

Nodding slowly, Zarian and Para felt the heavy and powerful realm energy at work. They felt tiny, tiny traces of void energy in the mix, too, but nowhere near enough for them to be confident in breaking the dimensional tethers locking the Hell Gate in place.

Zarian tried anyway, casting Void Authority to bend things.

The Hell Gate replied. A cruel force of crushing realm energy slammed into him with a resounding, floor-shaking thump.

Zarian grunted, parts of his body rupturing, getting twisted and mashed up, blood jettisoning from his mouth. He held his ground and kept testing Void Authority as long as he could.

He felt Para’s anger spike. She pushed back at the assault with Aura Mastery. But they were out of their depths against the literal force of hell.

With an angry bellow, Bianca stooped down from her tall height and swiped three hands through the air above Zarian’s head. She released some pulses of light and the dregs of her free good +6.

Her free goodness was nowhere near as powerful as it was outside. But it was nice to see her try to use what she could from her worn sub-alignment.

She helped ease the pain and damage, but that also put Bianca at risk.

Zarian stopped messing around, and the Hell Gate quit pulping his insides into bloody juice. He spat out chunks of his guts and felt thankful that Para could keep him put together and staying upright.

With a grunt, he said, “Sorry, I was checking to see if I can push things around with Void Authority, and the answer is no. I don’t think I can even use Void Waltz here.”

“Mm, sure, but I gotta say I like that bearing, Marine. That’s how you earn your blood stripes,” Naomi quipped.

“Rah,” Zarian returned.

“That wazoo devil magic should’ve killed you,” Gilbert said.

“If I was a lame-o wizard, sure. But I’m tough,” Zarian said proudly.

“Yeah, I figured that much.” Gilbert pumped his Healing Force +2 with more fervor into Zarian, putting him back together at a decent speed regardless of the vitality curse.

“It’s worse here.” Hannah wiped away a nose bleed with the edge of her gloved palm. “I want to scan as much as I can and use my Aura Mechanic to tinker, but the Hell Gate is hurting me in response. You really need a warlock to decipher the runes and break the enchantments.”

“Take breaks,” Naomi suggested. “We all know how you are, Hannah. Determined. Relentless. And we love that about you. But don’t forget we need you as our brainiac when it’s time for brains to count the most.”

“Agreed,” Zarian and Para said at the same time. Gilbert, Loner, and Slip nodded.

Hannah frowned, saying nothing more.

When the tension visibly left her hovering body, Zarian knew she was taking it easy. Of course, she wasn’t idle by nature. She turned her attention to materializing and reshaping different objects with her Cube Maker Magic +3, creating and breaking stuff all at once, as over a dozen runic items orbited around her.

Zarian looked up at Bianca’s towering form to check on her visually.

She seemed tense, but she kept her shining face directed forward, showing eagerness to get the hell crawl going. She said as much with an impression on the spider network: Dale!

Hannah put the music on pause, since they could make the most out of a stealthy approach. The spider scouts ventured ahead while staying close enough to benefit from the party’s intersecting fields of anti-curse defense. Bianca stalked quietly from behind as their giant guardian angel.

Zarian noticed how the further they journeyed into the tunnel, the more Hidden Hell crushed down upon them with its malicious curses. Even the air seemed heavier, making it harder to breathe, which would’ve killed most adventurers below Level 80.

Eventually, the hostile environment reached a point that felt stable. It was right at the edge of what the party could handle comfortably if they remained focused.

This was definitely a crawl that Zarian had to take seriously.

Zarian and Para kept their Aura Mastery in check, contracting their auras until they mostly hovered a little over the scout spiders at the front and Bianca’s towering form at the rear. It had to be this way or the Grimrock Hell Gate would strip away Zarian’s aura at a faster rate.

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The pulsating red and yellow tunnel was large enough for Bianca to stand tall and step from side to side, but that was it. They might as well get stuffed into a cupboard.

Zarian and Para weren’t used to having their aura range constrained after all of their growth, and the transformed Light Princess was working with a monstrous body that made her an easy target.

The tunnel changed as they crawled.

The floor tilted downward at an angle. Jagged edges thrust out from the rocky, veiny walls. The air became thicker with a smoky and sulfuric haze, and the pulsating red and yellow streaks became harsher and more fiendish.

Zarian didn’t let the environmental changes distract him. He and Para held up their part of the anti-curse defense. They ran through ideas they could implement with their spells.

Eventually, Zarian dismissed Morphs, since he was mainly useful for particular cases. Black, Gator, and Voidling remained in Para’s grasp amid the cloak of arms, scythes, and tentacles waving behind Zarian’s armored form.

After what felt like an hour, they found small side tunnels along their principal route. They noticed the path taking them left at a gradual pace, leading them on a constant downward spiral.

The jagged edges along the wall poked out far enough where Bianca had to stoop and duck. But other than that, the scout spiders found no major traps.

Nothing monstrous jumped at them. Nothing fell from the ceiling. Nothing tried to ambush from the smaller side tunnels. They kept going, delving deeper into the Hell Gate.

Then they finally heard something that was worth their attention and concern.

Naomi sent an impression through the spider network for them all to stop and wait. She crouched down, and the others did the same, with Bianca stooping low until her waterfall of golden hair spooled all over the floor behind Zarian.

Taking over the senses of a few brave spiders, they saw the world through their eyes. They watched as the spiders quickly scuttled around the bend while Zarian, Naomi, and Gilbert did their best to defend the little guys from the array of curses.

The further the spiders went, the more they heard a repetitive thumping sound.

“Drums,” Zarian whispered on the spider network. “Some very heavy drums.”

The spider scouts went even further, going beyond even Gilbert’s range of effectiveness. They risked their miniscule vitality to gather more info and show the party what was waiting ahead.

They heard the drumming become louder and more intense. They heard powerful chants and shouts that were too far and unintelligible for Zarian to translate with Identify.

The spiders kept going, relying on their spectral nature to survive, but the vitality curse worked on them anyway. Zarian ordered them to pull back at the last second before they went too far.

While it would be cheap to replace them, Zarian didn’t like losing spiders in situations that were avoidable.

Unfortunately, something hidden activated while the spiders made their way back.

A flash of furious red and orange light engulfed the spiders. An explosion resounded from around the bend with a sharp crack, reaching Zarian’s ears. He checked the spider network.

The spider scouts were no more.

Worse yet, Zarian noticed he couldn’t get a hold of the spiders outside of the Hell Gate. His party had crawled far enough where the heavy realm energy interfered with all outside transmissions.

They were truly on their own down here, and there were some nasty things lurking in wait or trying to capitalize on their ignorance.

Zarian grimaced as something tried to claw its way through the spider network and invade his mind.

His Floridian Mindset stopped the invasive hell virus, blocking it from spreading across the network and affecting the others.

It was a wonderful thing his mind remained at the center of the network and all links led to him first. Things could’ve gone terribly for the others without his Thematic Law being there.

Still, it was a shame he lost his forward scouts and had to replace them with more.

The new spiders raised their front legs to the brim of their mini wizard hats and saluted the Floridians.

“We will make them pay for that,” Gilbert grumbled, tipping his cowboy hat down at the new spiders.

“Their sacrifice is unfortunate, but at least we know the Grimrock Hell Gate has traps that will trigger if you retreat,” Hannah said. “With that one revealed, I can find more with enough time and care. That might not be the only style of trap, either.”

“Well, I can tell you this. We will not have the luxury of sneaking around much anymore.” Naomi rolled her neck and shoulders around. “They must’ve heard that explosion. They’ll be coming.”

Who ‘they’ were was still a mystery. Could be more imps fused into lesser aberrations. Or it could be something they hadn’t faced before.

Either way, Zarian and Naomi shared the same thought: it was better to be on the offensive than the defensive. The others didn’t question that, which made sense, because retreating could turn the hidden traps against them.

There was one change to their formation as they followed the winding path to its end. Gilbert led the way with his shield up, his body a bundle of physical might and magical support.

He took them all the way down until they finally reached a significant change in location. A large room stretched out before them. It reminded Zarian of a chow hall, but one suitable for hell, which was quite appropriate except for it being made for people who were bigger than even Gilbert.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

It gave Zarian viking vibes, but the hellish version.

By this point, the heavy drumming became loud and clear, sounding more like rapid drum beats. The chanting had a bestial and boisterous growl to it that came from mouths that differed from humans.

Zarian tried to use Identify again but came back with a worrying notification saying <Unable to Identify in a Hell Gate.>

Zarian informed the others that they would have to fight blind. They crossed the dining hall between two extremely long tables, with Bianca moving with slow and lengthy strides behind them.

Gilbert and Naomi moved further ahead. Zarian inspected the area some more with his own eyes.

There were ancient and hellish weapons, with sulfur and smoke wafting off their edges. The weapons were embedded in the tables, seats, and walls. Platters, bowls, and goblets with nothing but charred ash and bones waited in infernal displays placed out for the denizens of hell to consume.

Old blood stained the frayed rugs. Streaks of red and yellow veins covered most surfaces.

The hell veins pulsated faster as the sulfuric smoke thickened. Ash swirled in small twisters. Embers flickered into appearance in the air.

As they drew near the end of the dining hall, the drumming dialed up with a sudden spike in fervor and ferocity!

A mannish creature appeared from around the bend in the opposite tunnel. Its blocky head reached eight feet into the air. Its huge and boulder-like shoulders reached nearly as wide as a man was tall. And its body bulged with rippling muscles that made Gilbert look tiny.

Before Zarian could suss out more details through the hellish haze, the hulking creature burst forward with roaring speed and rocketing force. It raised two heavy and crude axes as streams of vibrant red and yellow hell energy traced lines behind its body.

The attacker brought to bear its dual weapons, and Gilbert stepped up with his tower shield raised. The impact sounded like someone detonated a bomb.

Smoke, ash, and embers scattered away in one enormous wave. The nearest utensils, platters, weapons blew aside, tumbling and clattering.

Zarian held his ground as the shockwave rolled over him and the others. As first contact with the enemy played out, Zarian observed, feeling worried and excited.

Gilbert ended up slammed down to one knee, his legendary shield looking scuffed from the first exchange. The man strained to push against the attacker, but could do no more but stay knelt under his shield.

The attacker was too strong for even Gilbert.

Naomi jumped in to assist him. She struck a punch that could knock down a small mountain.

But up against this new enemy, she could only force it to stumble aside a few steps and no more. Its layers of muscle, fat, vitality, and Strength had absorbed the punch without it suffering too much damage.

Granted, the creature’s attention now turned from Gilbert to Naomi, which was fine.

Zarian knew what they were facing now.

With the haze cleared away, he saw tusks jutting up from the lower jaw like a boar. He saw greenish-gray skin. He saw a loin cloth made of bones, leathery skin, and the scalped faces of its victims.

Zarian saw something that had long gone extinct in the World of Castles and Caverns. Something that suffered a calamity from Ruvaria the Sorceress Queen. Something that had its entire species wiped out toward the end of the Reset Era, but was now back again as part of Hidden Hell.