NOVEL NEXT Bk 5 Ch 26: Orange Hell
They slogged on through the orange hellscape. The women's steps began to drag, and even Chang-li was feeling the strain. Every few minutes they were attacked by a small set of the sentient weapons.
On the next attack, Joshi managed to throw out three Binding Chains at once, snaring a pair of spears and a sword and smashing them against the nearest pillar before they could get anywhere close. Chang-li, for variety this time, focused his will like a whip and knocked another sword from the air. He wanted to try seizing one lux weapon and using it against another, but his will command wasn't that good yet. He did manage to swing one into the path of its neighbor, which made them easy targets.
The next group they spotted coming well in advance.
"You're up, Min," Chang-li said.
She took a deep breath. Still blindfolded, she drew her lux bow and conjured an arrow. Setting it at the string, she pulled and shot. She was fitting another arrow to the bow before the first one had even reached the halfway mark. She fired five arrows at the newest batch of enemy weapons, a longsword and two daggers.
Two of her arrows struck the longsword. It dissolved into drifting orange sparks of lux. The other arrows went wide of the mark. Joshi loped in and destroyed both of the other weapons, not even bothering to spend lux on them, just smashing them with his fist.
"Well done," Chang-li said as Min dissolved her bow.
"I hit with less than half my shots," she complained.
"You were firing blindfolded," he pointed out. "Keep it up. This is the best practice possible for piercing the veil of sight. Real pressure and a need to get things right." He hesitated, then figured he might as well finish. "Just don't shoot Joshi and me in the back."
Hiroko laughed shakily at that. "A fine vote of confidence there from your husband, Min."
"It was, wasn't it?" Min said cheerfully. She wiped sweat from her brow. Her skin and Hiroko's were mottled with tiny red spots everywhere. Even though they cycled Purification of Mind and Soul constantly, the orange lux here was taking its toll.
Chang-li could feel it too. Only Joshi appeared more or less unaffected, probably because he was able to cycle enough red to counter.
They continued on and on. Chang-li had lost sense of time long ago. In a tower, there was little to give you context to the passage of hours.
He drank water now and then, but wasn't thirsty. Even without intentionally cycling, his body at the Peak of Spiritual Refinement was sustained by the lux all around him. Still, there were limits, and he was starting to feel them, as at long last they saw the oasis Magen had promised.
How had it taken this long to reach, Chang-li wondered. He'd never noticed the lux creature being that much faster than a human. But no matter. Ahead of them, at last, was a relief from the relentless orange, a long oval blue and green lake surrounded by trees blossoming with different colored fruits and flowers.
Hiroko let out a cry of relief. "I can almost touch it," she called. "Hurry, let's go. I'm so tired."
Chang-li was feeling out with his senses. "This oasis likely has a protector," he said grimly.
Hiroko's shoulders slumped. "Oh, of course. I'd forgotten."
"What do you mean, protector?" Min asked.
"We encountered them in the Broken Moon Tower. It had similar oases, though it was a much nicer place than this," Chang-li told her. "Every so often, there were protectors guarding places like this. We defeated them and used their tokens to pass the challenge. Possibly the floor guardian here has a similar system."
"I guess we'll find out," Joshi said, as they started forward.
Chang-li felt a stirring from the oasis. "We've woken up whatever it is," he said.
"The closer we get, the better," Joshi said. "Gives us more lux to work with." He was right, though it didn't do Chang-li much good. They hurried forward, all four together. Chang-li could feel when Hiroko began inhaling spiritual luxes and cycling it around her body. Her steps became lighter and less labored. Min had her bow ready as the protector lumbered out to meet them.
Chang-li had trouble believing any of his senses, ordinary or lux. To his lux senses, the thing was a monster of swirling orange encasing it like a shell. To his eyes, it was a humanoid, a bit taller than him, but its arms ended in swords, and it had four of them, two sets, one above the other. Its head was a faceless mask. It came toward them, racing forward on narrow feet that propelled it in leaps and bounds.
Without discussion, Joshi kicked off in a Meteor Punch. He came down hard right in front of the guardian and punched it in the chest. The guardian swung at him, but he was darting away. Min, seeing an opportunity, fired a trio of arrows before Joshi was back in her way.
Chang-li raced forward, feeling useless. He couldn't use a Firepot scroll with Joshi so close. The creature slashed with four scissoring blades at Joshi. One of them caught him across the chest and ripped into him, a line of blood welling up as it got through his lux-enhanced defenses.
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Joshi fell back. Chang-li stepped up, his sword swinging as fast as he could to parry the series of blows.
Hiroko called, "I've got him!" Chang-li could see the flow of blue lux leaving the creature and flowing into Joshi, repairing his wounds. This thing might be coated in orange, but it was master of more lux than just that.
Hiroko's techniques had saved their lives on many occasions at Broken Moon Tower. Chang-li just had to keep up his defense for another minute while his friend recovered.
Now Joshi was back, shouting to Chang-li to get out of the way. Chang-li ducked under a sword, parried another, and stumbled to the side as Joshi pounded the guardian with both fists, his right one bearing the spiked gauntlet.
The strange creature threw up all four of its arms at once, blades pointed skyward. Its head split open across the center, revealing a dark, toothless mouth, and it screamed.
At the same time, Chang-li saw and heard it tossing out an elaborate weave, all spiritual luxes, mixing blue, purple, and green in a combination he couldn't imagine. The creature blurred. Then it was in three places at once, surrounding Chang-li and Joshi.
Joshi threw a Binding Chain at one of the creatures. It passed right through. Chang-li guessed that one was an illusion, but the creatures blurred again. Had they just changed where they were? He used his lux senses, but each of the three felt the same to him.
What should they do now?
Min's bow sang as she loosed arrows at the farthest out of the three. A few of the arrows plopped into the ground by its feet, but others sank into its torso and held fast.
Hiroko, on the other hand, was shouting. It took Chang-li a moment to understand her words. "They're all three the same one! They share a pool of life!"
In that case, an attack on one should hurt all three.
Chang-li sprang forward, pulling a script from his soul space and activating it. An instant later, a Firepot fell into his hand. He hurled it at the creature and, as the Firepot exploded, sending flames spouting down the creature's body, he swung his sword hard.
It bounced off of the orange body. The creature was using lux like armor. Chang-li already had Bloodflame Venom on his sword. He'd been spending a scroll every time the previous ran out to keep it up. Now he reversed his grip on the hilt, putting both hands on it, and drove it hard as he could into the creature's abdomen.
The point of his sword broke past the orange lux. Bloodflame Venom began to creep into the creature. At the same time, he could feel Liar's Blade ripping away the outer lux protection.
Joshi had two of the creatures on him. He was fending off one using illusory punches from his Thousand Fists technique. It looked to Chang-li like he was up to ten strikes now every time he used the technique.
Chang-li's own attention went back to his enemy. The creature slashed at him. Chang-li threw out his will like a barrier, and the blades faltered as the creature's arms lost strength. He pulled Liar's Blade back and then swung it hard as he could.
As he hit the creature, the orange lux shattered, ringing like a bell. Chang-li's senses picked up the tones of that note, a counterpoint to the pure note of orange. It rang out across the battlefield, and the protector's shell fell away. Underneath was a pale thing with soft, tender flesh that was wrinkled and gray, reminding Chang-li unpleasantly of a maggot.
His sword slid in deep. Behind him came the steady hum of arrows as Min unleashed more into her target. Now every one of her arrows was finding its home.
The creature in front of him screamed again and shattered, sending a blast of will against his, like fury. It was incoherent and no match for Chang-li's, but Min staggered, raising her hand to her head and setting herself, while Hiroko bowed under the onslaught.
He turned on the spot, feeling as the concentration of lux grew in strength. The Protector appeared again with a fresh orange shell, this time, between him and Joshi. It was weakened, but not dead yet.
They fell on it, attacking it, breaking through its defenses more easily now that they knew how. Again, it shrieked, dissolved, and reappeared, armored once more.
"This isn't working!" Chang-li shouted.
As far as he could tell, it was no weaker than it had been before. While he and Joshi still had strength in their arms, they couldn't fight like this forever. "We need to try something else."
"I can help!" Hiroko cried. "I see its patterns now, and how it draws itself back together. You need to give me an opening. Chang-li, one of your Firepots!"
Without stopping to ask questions, he tossed her a scroll. She registered only a moment of surprise as she caught it. Then she activated it. As the Firepot dropped into her hand, she was already concentrating. He could see her weaving green and blue, but he had no more time, because the Protector was racing toward him.
Chang-li blocked. He wished he could use his Mirage Blade technique. There was plenty of blue here, and with all the orange in the air, it would be an easy matter to give it substance.
Joshi was beside him. He punched the creature in the head, knocking it backward, and sprang forward and came down with a heavy kick. Orange sand particles flew up everywhere. The creature knocked back.
"Just a minute!" Hiroko said. "I'm almost ready!"
The Protector clambered to its feet. It lowered its featureless head and raced toward Chang-li, two sword arms extended, two back behind it like wings. As it approached, it began to spin, racing toward Chang-li like a whirlwind of blades.
He set himself. As it reached him, he threw up a barrier of will. The creature faltered, its spin dropping just long enough for Chang-li to step in and skewer it once more. The thing dissolved into lux and Will again.
Chang-li turned to where it was already beginning to reform. Hiroko hurled the Firepot right into the center of the reforming Protector.
It exploded, sending up a gout of blue-tinged flame that, instead of using up its strength and dying down, exploded in a conflagration that sent sand and a wave of force against Chang-li.
He wasn't prepared. The orange sand scoured his arms and face. He threw up a hand to protect his eyes. Someone screamed.
As the wave passed, he turned. Min and Hiroko were on the ground, crumpled into heaps. He was there in seconds, helping Min up. She blinked up at him, her face bleeding, her eyes red. But she managed a quick head nod. "I'm all right," she said.
He turned, but Joshi was already at Hiroko's side, helping her up. There was no sign of the Protector. A lump of something that called to him lay where it had been. He'd look in a moment.
Joshi studied Hiroko, his face grave but his eyes full of concern. "You are unharmed?" Chang-li was glad to see they were seemingly on good terms again.
She nodded. "I'm fine." She managed a smile. "Just glad to be able to contribute again."
"More than contribute, you won the fight there."
"I don't like being so dependent on spiritual luxes," she said quietly. "This is making me see it as a weakness."
"We'll talk about that later," Joshi said.
Where the Guardian had been was a yellow-orange lux pod, about the size of a man's head. Chang-li tapped it with one finger, and it crumbled away, revealing inside a badge with the symbol for "West" on it.
He picked it up and tossed it to Joshi, who looked it over before slipping it into his satchel.
"I will assume we need to defeat more of these before we can approach the Floor Guardian," Joshi said.
"Seems like a safe assumption." Chang-li lifted his eyes toward the oasis that lay ahead of him. He stretched out his lux senses. He couldn't sense anything there, but there was so much dense lux, it was hard to say.