Chapter 11: XCVII — Hold Fast

  [You are in Dungeon Level 1 of 3.]

  Kayode guessed he knew where he was. But he did not like it.

  The place resembled an arena, vast and enclosing. Stone dominated everything: the towering walls, the sealed gates, the great doors, even the ceiling that capped the structure like a lid.

  “Where are we!” a man trembled angrily, trying and failing to replace his terror with fury.

  All eyes fell on Harlan. The veteran was still a wreck. On the floor, curled up into a fetal position, eyes wide and distant.

  He would be no help—the mere sight of him was the opposite actually.

  Everyone’s gazes fell on Clarke now, and the man looked just as confused as his men. He looked at the stone walls as if wary they might somehow leap down at him. They didn’t.

  Then Kayode saw a few eyes fall his way.

  Surely they weren’t expecting him to—

  “Alright everyone,” Clarke cleared his throat. “Relax!” he bellowed, and though his voice was shaky, it at least got people’s attention. “I…your leader, have gotten you through a great many terrors in my day. And—and today would be no different. I assure you, that whatever this Dungeon might throw at us, I have it under control. And you will live, as long as you follow m—”

  A grinding cut through the air. Hard and sharp. Kayode saw the several gates that lined this strange arena begin rising.

  Stone Hounds streamed from them—as big as wolves, and with a hungry redness in their eyes. On their foreheads were Gem Stones—the only thing capable of downing them.

  “Oh no…” Harlan whispered.

  They circled the arena like water spilling around a rock, rough coarse growls erupting from their hungry maws.

  “What do we do, Boss?” one Red Falcon asked.

  Clarke looked to the muttering Harlan, then back at the circling enemy. “Everyone spread out! Don’t let them surround us!”

  It was the best order Kayode could imagine Clarke coming up with. Which was to say:it was a disastrous one.

  Kayode shook his head. “That’ll leave too many openings in our formation. We won’t be able to protect the wounded.”

  He saw the men hesitate—saw them find logic in his words.

  He pressed on. “We need to—”

  “Who’s the leader here?!” Clarke snapped, panic cracking through his voice. “I’m the leader! And I say we spread out!”

  And the men did.

  Guardians first. Offense next. Utility behind. Support furthest back. All in all, it would not have been a terrible order—if the enemy hadn’t been faster than them and coming from so many sides.

  The Stone Hounds surged as one, splitting cleanly around the scattered Falcons. Some peeled off toward the Guardians. Others darted straight through the gaps Clarke had ordered open.

  The screaming started almost immediately.

  One came for him, and Kayode’s foot met its jaw before it could close around him. It went spinning back, eyes a stunned white.

  He moved to crush its Gem Stone, but teeth closed around his thigh. He fell to a knee, brought a fist down on the hound responsible’s crystal, and turned it to crumbled stone.

  [You have slain a Lupine Stone Golem of the 1st Awakening.]

  Kayode turned to see a Golem mid-air, claws raking for his face.

  Frost Guard!

  The shield sprang to life just soon enough to take the blow, shattering from the impact.

  Kayode’s sword struck into the Golem’s Gem a moment later.

  [You have slain a Lupine Stone Golem of the 1st Awakening.]

  The one he had dazed sprinted for him.

  Winter’s Teeth!

  It tried to dodge—failed—but managed to earn a crack rather than a shatter in its Gem.

  It was on Kayode a heartbeat later, driving him onto his back. Clawing. Biting. Snarling.

  He caught sight of two more closing in and knew he had to finish this Golem—now.

  Its jaws snapped for his neck. He fed it an elbow instead, driving the limb deep into its mouth and dislodging teeth.

  It reeled back, then Kayode’s boot met its forehead, and he felt the crystal crack.

  [You have slain a Lupine Stone Golem of the 1st Awakening.]

  He didn’t wait to see it crumble, immediately lashing out Winter’s Teeth at the nearest of the approaching duo—the ice shard punching into its shin, sending it stumbling over a dead man—as he sprang to his feet to meet the other’s leap.

  Frost Guard!

  The shield bashed into the Golem’s skull like a hammer and shattered an instant after the crystal, covering Kayode in a spray of stone debris.

  [You have slain a Lupine Stone Golem of the 1st Awakening.]

  The one he’d tripped was already rising, albeit unsteadily on its mangled leg.Kayode moved to finish it before it could.

  A fleeing man slammed into his side, taking him off his feet and driving Kayode’s back hard into the ground.

  Teeth closed around his wrist, sending pain launching through his arm, and forcing his blade out of his grip.

  He swung his fist, but he lacked the reach, the Golem’s teeth just locked harder ,dragging him along the earth, and then he felt something crunch.

  He winced, groaned, and swore to the Ancestors. “Fuck!” But none of that was going to stop the pain.

  Winter’s Teeth!

  He shot, but the beast was jerking its head too furiously for Kayode to hit.

  Winter’s Teeth!

  And this time it sprang forth from the hand buried in the Golem’s jaw.

  Ice exploded into it, and the construct stumbled back with chunks missing.

  It rounded on him again, but this time Kayode swung with his shield. “Argh!” The impact caught the side of its face, sending it reeling—eyes blank.

  “Winter’s Teeth!”

  He splayed his good hand forward, and a sharp shard of ice struck the gemstone dead center, shattering it and collapsing the thing into a pile of stone, though a fistful of its head had already been blown out before it started crumbling.

  [You have slain a Lupine Stone Golem of the 1st Awakening.]

  The bleeding in his hand stopped, and the pain lessened, but Kayode reckoned he would need a good more kills under his belt before his ruined hand felt half as good again.

  Kayode rose to find the fighting stopped, and dead and dying around him.

  Many had broken formation, several had been mauled, flesh and bone, twisted and torn by stone jaws.

  He caught sight of several corpses next to the now closed gate the monsters had emerged from. They had tried to flee, they were caught there, cornered, and killed.

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  Miraculously, he found Harlan at the center of the formation, still clinging to himself in terror, but alive. And that was at least its own blessing.

  It was as far as blessings went, however. Nearly thirty men had entered this chamber, and Kayode reckoned only fourteen remained.

  “A—are we done?” came a man’s voice, weary but hopeful.

  Even in the calm, there was terror in the air. A waiting for things to get worse, for the rug to be pulled out from underneath them.

  Then it was.

  [Wave 1 of Dungeon Level 1, Complete.]

  [Wave 2 of Dungeon Level 1, Starting in…1 Minute.]

  “J—just one round of the first Level?” came a voice.

  “S—so there’s two more!? Another said.

  “How are we supposed to survive that?!”

  They looked at Clarke but he had no words now. His eyes were transfixed at nothing—likley the notification in his own eyes, and his face was pale.

  They would die if they performed even half as badly as they did against a second wave. Kayode would die too. And while he knew he’d awaken a month ago, that didn’t make him any more eager to be eaten alive by stone Golems.

  Nor to see these men taken with him.

  They needed leadership. Clarke had not a single bone of it in him and Harlan wasn’t in a state to give it. That left him only one option. “We can’t let them spill into our ranks like we did last time!” Kayode said quickly, well aware that the clock was counting down.

  Some eyes fell on him now.

  Kayode continued. “We’re going to be in a ring formation, Guardians with their shields first, and Offence and Utility slipping out to strike and then immediately back in. Support and the injured stay at the center!”

  Kayode saw the men search for fault in his words, and when they could not find any, they let their fear give them reason to doubt him. “Why should we listen to you anyways?! What makes you so certain this is going to work? I’d rather spend this time trying to break down the walls and get the fuck out of here.”

  Kayode could convince the man, and in doing so convince the room as well, but he simply didn’t have the time. He pulled in a deep breath.

  Sovereign’s Presence…

  “My name is Lord Kayode Nathaniel. Leader of the Great House of Balógun.” And he picked up his sword.

  All eyes were on him now, wide with shock at first, and then he saw the way they all stood straighter, stiffer, suddenly more aware of themselves, and their every action.

  “...And I am taking command of the Red Falcons for the duration of our journey through this Dungeon.” Kayode added, and now his eyes settled hard on the group. “Do you understand?!”

  “Y—yes Great Lord!” the man responded.

  Some nodded, others bowed, all obeyed, grabbing their weapons and stepping into formation without another word just moments later.

  Harlan was the exception—his nerves still wracked with terror—and Clarke, who only stared at Kayode, stunned. He moved into position not out of duty or respect, like the others, but simply because everyone else was doing the same.

  When the formation was ready, Kayode slipped behind the Guardians and their shield wall.

  “What next, Great Lord?” a woman asked. She was Offence.

  Kayode gazed through the shield wall and at the gates which stood closed for now.

  “Now,” he replied. “We wait.”

  He counted the seconds in his head.

  Five.

  Four.

  Three.

  Two.

  One.

  The gates lifted. The enemy came. This time they charged straight for the Falcons.

  Like before, there were wolves, but this time they were accompanied by men as well. Or rather, something resembling men. The human-shaped statues were like the one they’d faced in the cave, only shorter—man-sized—and lightly armored with no shield.

  Winter’s Teeth.

  Winter’s Teeth.

  Winter’s Teeth.

  At this distance, each shard missed a Gemstone, but managed to clip the soldier Golems as they approached, and got a two to stumble with bits missing.

  Nothing he did changed the fact that they were coming.

  “Brace yourselves!” Kayode barked.

  And the Falcons tightened their formation.

  The wolves came first, hungry, and deadly, but found that their claws met shields rather than flesh.

  “Offence!” Kayode roared.

  And he sprung into action. His sword slid through gaps in the shield wall, slamming into Gem Stones and reducing the hounds to crumbled earth.

  He caught sight of other Offence-Types doing the same, and having less effective, but ultimately similar results—their blades hit the mark less, and found it harder to break the Gems when they did.

  Already they had killed a score of these things and had not lost a single man.

  A soldier Golem met the wall, and his blade swung into reinforced metal.

  Kayode drove his own blade into the Gemstone in its chest, shattering it.

  The soldier staggered back. A heartbeat passed.

  Then it exploded.

  The blast hurled Kayode’s section of the shield wall onto their backs—himself included.

  [You have Slain a Combustive Stone Golem of the 1st Awakening.]

  I fucking noticed…

  His head hurt, he blinked debris out of his eyes, and opened them to find the inside of the wall flooded with hound Golems.

  Rather than patching the hole in their ranks, Guardians were breaking formation to deal with the wolves, allowing even more hounds to spill through the wall and wreak havoc behind enemy lines.

  Another blast over another section of the wall, and that told Kayode someone else had struck the gem of a soldier Golem.

  “The soldier Golems explode when destroyed!” Kayode forced himself upright. “Defence, Keep formation! Half of the Offence, handle the leak!” he ordered, and when he saw Defence begin to carry out his order, he led the latter.

  He found the nearest Golem hound, one that was attacking a defenceless Support, and brought a foot down on its Gemstone.

  Then he was onto the next.

  [You have Slain a Lupine Stone Golem of the 1st Awakening.]

  [You have Slain a Lupine Stone Golem of the 1st Awakening.]

  [You have Slain a Lupine Stone Golem of the 1st Awakening.]

  [You have Slain a Lupine Stone Golem of the 1st Awakening.]

  [You have Slain a Lupine Stone Golem of the 1st Awakening.]

  Kayode shattered Gemstone after Gemstone, and the Offence did not disappoint either. Soon all that remained of the Golems within the circles were crumbled stones and debris that clung to the earth.

  There was no time to celebrate the small victory, however, his attention was needed again.

  “Great Lord!” a voice screamed from the far side of the Offence line.

  “They’re—they’re pushing through! The man-shaped ones.”

  “We can’t hit the Gemstones!” Another voice came again, ragged and from the opposite side. “Every time we try, they knock us flat—we can’t hold them! What do we do?!”

  There was no point shouting an answer. They wouldn’t hear it over the clash and roar of battle.

  So Kayode showed them.

  A Golem was nearly forcing its way through the shield wall—men and women braced against it, too terrified to lift their weapons.

  Kayode broke into a sprint.

  He threw his full weight into the kick, driving his foot straight into the construct’s chest—directly onto its Gemstone.

  Kayode felt the crystal give, and he Golem went flying.

  It ploughed into a pack of hounds and detonated in a storm of stone, bodies, and dust—sending its allies tumbling across the arena.

  [You have Slain a Combustive Stone Golem of the 1st Awakening.]

  “He kicked it!” one voice came.

  “The Great Lord kicked it!” Another.

  “Kick em’ boys!”

  “Send them flying!”

  And the men sprung into action not an instant later.

  The arena was filled with the sound of exploding Golems.

  [—Level 9—]

  [—Skill(s) Acquired—]

  [Class Skill ? Eyes of the Throne — I — Passive: A leader must see in chaos. Your senses sharpen, cutting through noise and motion.]

  [Learned Skill ? Winter’s Teeth — II — Active: You may shape the summoned ice into a chained blade, allowing it to be thrown, recalled, or swept in wide arcs for a brief moment before shattering.]

  The world sharpened—almost slowed. Colours bled brighter, scents cut clearer. Kayode tasted blood in the air and heard the uneven breathing of a terrified Falcon nearby.

  He caught the very instant a stone soldier forced its way through the line. And moved without hesitation.

  Winter’s Teeth.

  This time, the shard emerged bound to a chain. It drove straight into the Golem’s Gemstone, shattering it and biting deep into the stone beneath. Kayode snapped the chain taut and swung.

  The Golem smashed into the ceiling and detonated, raining debris down over the Falcons.

  [You have Slain a Combustive Stone Golem of the 1st Awakening.]

  The enemy’s numbers had thinned, and though much of that was less due to Kayode directly, and more to the Falcons following his orders, perhaps the Level Up was the System recognizing his leadership.

  The Golems seemed to notice it as well.

  He heard the thunder of stone feet and saw the last Combustive Golem slam its fist against its Gemstone before leaping into the wall of men. It exploded before they could send it flying.

  A hole opened instantly, and the hound Golems flooded in. They ignored the Offence, the Utility, even the Support. And came straight for Kayode.

  “Protect the Great Lord!” he heard someone scream.

  No. he could handle himself as long as they kept the walls sealed. Kayode thought. But the enemy was on him before he could utter a single word.

  Frost Guard!

  He blocked a slash with a shattering shield.

  Winter’s Teeth!

  The chain stabbed into a wolf's side and he swung it crashing down hard on another with all the new energy of his Level Up.

  [You have Slain a Lupine Stone Golem of the 1st Awakening.]

  [You have Slain a Lupine Stone Golem of the 1st Awakening.]

  They both turned to rubble.

  Teeth and claws came for Kayode and he slashed at them all the same, kicking, shooting, striking, blocking. Each time a notification flashed in his eyes and he barely had time before another beast leapt upon him only to be downed once more.

  [You have Slain a Lupine Stone Golem of the 1st Awakening.]

  No beast came next.

  And he looked around, expecting to see a shattered formation where men had abandoned their post to protect him.

  Instead, he saw them all uniform, backs facing him, and putting their weapons only to down the creatures that came for their position.

  “Don’t let them through! Keep your eyes on the enemy! The Great Lord can hold his own!” Harlan roared—and the Falcons listened.

  There was that steely focus Kayode had come to expect in the man’s eyes, born again. The fear was not banished—no, if anything it was more intense. Kayode could see it in the tremor of Harlan’s hands, the flicker of his gaze—but he seemed to hone it into an unyielding resolve.

  It did not take much longer for the last wolf Golem to crumble.

  Kayode was panting on one knee. He looked at his sword, gently struck the chipped, damaged thing against the ground, and watched it shatter.

  That it had survived this long was a miracle in itself.

  He waved a Support off to focus on someone else, and saw the man be dragged away by Clarke to fix a bruise on his face. Kayode did not have the strength or time to do anything about that.

  “You okay?” came Harlan’s voice. “Great Lord,” he added awkwardly at the end.

  Kayode looked up to meet the man’s eyes and found the veteran avoiding his gaze. Embarrassed? Ashamed, he realized. “Yes. You?”

  “I’ll live.” He nodded stiffly.

  “Thank you, for what you did back there.” Kayode tried.

  Harlan just nodded.

  “How many dead?” Kayode asked, pushing himself up to his feet with a grunt.

  “Only two,” he said, trying to sound hopeful.

  “So we’re down to twelve.” Kayode stripped the optimism out of it.

  “We’re down to twelve…” he grimaced.

  Each wave was stronger than the last. And they learned too—likely why towards the end there, the last Combustive Golem sacrificed itself for a chance to take down Kayode.

  Kayode looked at the bruised, beaten, withered and exhausted Falcons and wondered if, with their numbers cut even lower, they still had more in them.

  [Wave 2 of Dungeon Level 1, Complete.]

  [Wave 3 of Dungeon Level 1, Starting in…1 Minute.]