Magical Engineering [Progression Fantasy, LitRPG] (Book 3 Complete)

No one had come up with any solutions to our problem, and I was getting increasingly anxious as the seconds ticked by. I had no idea what we would do if we ended up stuck here. It seemed unlikely anyone else in attendance would let us go to their homeworld and borrow a gate there. As these thoughts doom spiraled their way across my mind, a chat window popped up.

I closed the window on that message, not knowing what else I could possibly say. They knew the reality of their situation better than I did. I just wished I was there to help. I took a deep breath and started to explain what had happened to Timon and Pryte

Karlinovo

"Each of us takes one of these, and one of these crystals. I have no idea how long Apollyon will be able to defend us at all, and I also have no idea if Mel will be able to do anything if the jesters spot us. Grant is going to attempt to give us cover fire if he can, but if we go down, then he and Quarilyn have to figure out a way to do this without us, so I don't want them joining us in this run," Karlinovo explained.

The best plan they had was that the moment the gate came online from their side, they would run through and all make a mad dash for the one-use gate. Karlinovo had managed to put together three mana shards that should function with the same instructions Dave did when he turned it on for the first time. The operative word being should. He was deep into theoretical territory on both a timetable and a potential death sentence. They weren't the best conditions to work under, even if it wasn't the first time he had been forced to work with a sword dangling over his head.

A small electrical hum grabbed his focus as the gate thrummed to life. "Well, gentlemen, I hope to see you all for a drink in the future!"

Dave

"The second that gate comes online, I'm flooring the bus through it. Once we are on the otherside, well, I guess that depends on what we see, but it's gonna be a mess. I'll open the door right before we pass through, be ready," Timon said, uncertainly clear in his voice.

I shared the feeling. While it was a relief that Mel was back, the fact that he was all that was standing between the city and death was not a thought that helped calm me. Once this was over, we would have to assess the entire city for new soul knots and then make it a priority to remove the existing ones. It was something I wished we had found a way to do already, but the damage there was already done, and now it was time to clean it up.

"For Mel to be tied up, he has to be fighting a 'great', hopefully just the one. If there is a 'best' involved, we are going to be in real trouble," Pryte said.

"How can I tell them apart?" My only encounter with the jesters remained the hazy one experience I had in the Arena with the two.

"The 'greats' are bigger than normal jesters. I don't actually know what a 'best' looks like. I've only heard of them," Pryte answered.

"They are the things of nightmares. Hard to put into words, but trust me, you will understand it if you see one. God, I hope we don't. I've only ever met one once, and the fact that I lived through it amazes even me," Timon added.

I swallowed uncomfortably, a new anxious worry born in my head. "What do…" I started to say as the gate initialized in front of us. It seemed to surprise the creature who had been directing us for a moment. By the time I spotted them giving us a signal to proceed, Timon had already slammed on the gas, and we were nearly into the blue vortex.

The moment I felt us enter it, I placed shields around everyone, myself included. The sight that greeted us as we returned to Alexandria made me glad I had. There was damage everywhere. Several buildings had holes in their walls. I leaped out of the front of the bus before Timon even had time to bring it to a stop.

Before my feet landed, all of the tools had been freed from my System storage. I spotted Karlinovo slumped over a railing near the gate. Johan was on the ground, covered in blood. Bert had been the one who actually made it to the gate and looked the worse for it. Somehow, despite their wounds, all three of them were still clinging to life. Some of the pressure in my chest released itself as I poured healing magic into them.

A new message window popped up while I worked.

Timon had already vanished from the bus by the time I closed the message window. Two of the jesters I had seen out of the corner of my eye while that chat was up were moving closer. I blasted away with several fireballs before they got the chance to close the distance.

It was time to help Mel. I placed a shield around him, while reversing gravity on one of the jesters he was fighting. It came crashing to the ground right where Beta was hovering. I joined them with my own attacks, mixing fire and lightning while Gamma fought side by side with Mel. How would he feel about that, considering his old distrust of dungeon cores?

"Dave, there's a 'best' in the city, haven't seen it yet, but the moment these three go down I'm sure it's gonna rear its head, so be careful!" Mel screamed from the sky.

"Okay!" I yelled back, not really sure what else to say to that news.

I reversed gravity again, first under one of the jesters, and then under the second, causing it to crash hard into the first. Beta, Gamma, and I each hit a different one with a powerful blast of magic as a rain of halberds fell from the sky. Moments after each of the jesters were impaled by Mel's attack, a horrible wail came from their mouths, all of the screams matching the others in a terrible cacophony of misery.

"Dave, get back!" Mel screamed as he zoomed toward the ground.

The warning was barely enough time as I felt my shield's strength rapidly drop. Soul mana started pumping through my channels, reinforcing all of us, but even that had barely been enough with how close I was to the creatures. The mind-piercing dirge had finally stopped.

The husks of the jesters lay lifeless on the ground. In between them stood some sort of transparent energy monster. Its form was similar to our invaders, but not quite the same. The fear it emanated was a wholly different monster.. It was feeding on the energy from the shields, rapidly growing as it drained them.

"Dammit, it's some sort of death curse, never seen it before though!" The hoarseness in Mel's voice made his words sound more like a bark than actual speech. The man was clearly more drained than he was letting on. How long had he been fighting these things alone?

I pulled up a message window, the barest hint of a plan hitting me. How the hell were we going to fight something stronger than this?

I felt the mana leave my core as the shields began to wrap layer after layer around the jester's curse. While they did that, I triggered overclock, mana tinkering, and universal bonds. A message flashed before my eyes as I felt a surge of my mana flow from my body.

I focused on the creature with mana tinkering as I held the other two abilities in place. There was a strange stabbing sensation in my head as it felt like my mana channels were moving. My vision burned as something clicked in my mind.

I closed the message window. That was a good idea. I had been expecting them to fly to me, but this was much faster. I pulled Alpha into my System storage and felt the crafting overlay change, giving me the option to bind the elements together. I selected yes, feeling even more energy pour from me into the core.

The remnant inside the shield vanished, and a new voice entered my head for a split second. Apollyon quickly pushed it back out. Had we just created a new dungeon core? There were some insane and possibly horrible implications to what I had just done. There would be time to figure those ramifications out later.

"Where's the 'best'?" I asked as I turned off everything except our shields. My mana pool started to regenerate, but it wasn't nearly fast enough. The jesters hadn't fought in a way I could drain their mana back into myself.

"No idea. Only saw it during my first scan of the city. It's been hiding from me since. Don't think it expected anyone like me to show up, and you being back has to have thrown an even bigger wrench in its plans," Mel answered, sounding exhausted, but his words seemed to come easier than they had earlier.

"What the hell do they even want with the city? Is it some revenge thing for the Arena?" I asked, my frustration boiling out in anger. None of them made sense. How were we worth anything to them? If this was revenge on me, why wait until I was gone to attack?

Timon

He had left the bus moments after Dave, in search of the terrifying presence he already felt in the city. A 'best' was loose, and they needed the intel. If they came upon that blind, they were all dead. Hell, they were probably all dead anyway. He didn't think the city had the strength to fight one of these at the best of times.

That, of course, begged the question that had been bothering him since he learned about this disaster. What the hell did the jesters want here? None of this made any sense. The 'best' should have slaughtered the city or, at the very least, killed Mel if any of them stood in the way of their goal. So then what was their goal?

"Oh no," Timon said aloud, as the realization hit him alongside a bit of panic. The jesters weren't here for the city. They weren't even here for Dave. They knew about William. They were here for one of the only easy core children they could get their hands on.

Was that the real reason they were in the Arena? Have they been planting soul knots in order to hunt down babies born with cores from the weaker factions? It was the only thing that made sense. That had to be why a 'best' was here. What the hell were they doing with the kids?

The answer didn't matter. What did matter was the need for haste. That meant the time for secrecy was over. He couldn't risk covertly hunting the jester leader if it was just trying to make an escape. Channeling mana into his voice, he yelled loud enough for the entire city to hear him.

"The 'best' is here for William. It likely already has him. Destroy all their ships, do not let it escape with the baby!" He knew his words had come too late as a small jester vessel rocketed from the planet just as his scream finished. For the first time in as long as he could remember, Timon felt a true, deep fear wash over him.

I was not sure I could do it at first. In fact, it came as quite a surprise that I managed to. But despite that worry, finally, I did it. I was able to push my way into lost space. I understood now why the first Spiral was abandoned. The reality that surrounds what is left of it is a shattered blackness worse than some of the dark pits within chaotic space. The creatures that infest what is left of the broken chambers of the Spire were enough to convince me to halt my explorations of that cracked tower, at least for now. The fact that I can see where it pierces into the current Spiral reality still taunts my mind, though, and I doubt that is a mystery of reality I can let lie unexplored forever.

If it is as I suspect, then that means that the bottom of the current Spiral connects to the top of the lost Spiral. What does that mean? Is the old universe reality truly a lost space or just something that has been purposely hidden from the residents of the new Spiral? And just who is old enough that they could be maintaining such an environment? While I ponder these questions, their answers are not truly meant for someone like myself. I care little for the motivations of people and only truly for the cartography of all that is.

As I ventured further from the Spire in search of other remnants of the lost space, more strange surprises greeted me. There were whole planets still here, connected still to the lost Spiral. Even greater of a shock came when I found them to be inhabited. Did that mean intelligent civilizations still flourished within the old Spiral? While the new question lingered in my mind, I felt for the first time an awareness focus on my presence. Something had realized I was here, and it did not wish me to remain. One day, I will return and finish my charting, but for now, I will move on to safer pastures.

Mapping Reality by a Chronicler of Existence