This Quest is Bullshit - Chapter 148

Chapter 148 - The Worst Possible Place to Have This Conversation

The third of the particularly important-seeming doors opened up into a spiral stairway that Wes decided he absolutely hated the moment he set foot on it.

“It’s not a circle!” he griped as they rounded the first bend. “Look at this.” He placed a hand on the curved wall. “The curve is tighter here than a few steps ago, and it loosens up again down there.”

Eve gave Preston a sideways glance. “Are you hearing what I’m hearing?”

Preston rubbed the bridge of his nose and let out a groan. “Please no.”

But it was too late. “So, Wes, have you always been such a stickler for tightness?”

Wes rolled his eyes. “This stairway isn’t straight.”

“Neither are you.”

“Eve,” Preston said, placing a steady hand on Eve’s shoulder, “I think that’s enough.”

“Right, right,” Eve said, remembering where exactly they were. “What’s wrong with the stairs?”

“They’re not going straight down,” Wes explained, tracing a hand along the curvature of the stone wall. “The steps are spaced out all weirdly, but it looks like we’re walking down and to the right.”

Eve blinked. “Is that a problem?”

“Yes,” Wes spat. “It’s super uncomfortable to walk on.”

Preston scowled. “That’s it?”

“Right when I get into a rhythm, the next step is slightly off of where it should be, and it throws my whole stride out of wack. I hate it.”

“Interesting,” Preston mused aloud, “I wonder why they built it like this.”

“Maybe it’s a defensive feature,” Wes offered. “Someone who’s not used to these steps would probably fight worse on them than someone who is.”

“They’re not that bad,” Eve insisted, certain her relative comfort on the stairs had nothing to do with her multiple stability passives. “Could be the Burendians misaligned the top of the stairs with where they wanted the bottom to go. Or maybe they accidentally drilled the hole at an angle and had to build the stairs to accommodate it. Or maybe it’s built to dodge around some weakness in the stone or other room or any number of other things.”

Preston snorted. “I’m going to go ahead and not chalk this up to ‘Burendian incompetence’.”

“Hold up,” Eve called, stopping to focus and run Mana through her ears. “Do you hear that?”

Wes and Preston both nodded, leaning in to listen to the distant roar. The noise was muffled and tinny from bouncing around the many revolutions of the spiral stairway, but recognized it all the same. She’d grown intimately familiar with that noise over the course of their adventures.

She grinned. “I think we found the leyline.”

“Makes sense,” Preston said. “Three most important places would be where the royals stay, where they hold court, and the actual source of their power. The last two ruins had important stuff near the leyline too, so if there is a control room, it’ll be down—what are you doing?”

“Just in case,” Eve explained, shoving her pack into Preston’s arms.

“In case of what?”

“In case I have to go for a swim,” Eve said, digging through her pockets to remove the chess piece and her two copper coins. “Last time I fell in a leyline, all my stuff dissolved.” She handed it all to Preston.

“Eve, gross,” Preston said as he looked down at the copper coins. Blood and soot stained their surface beyond recognizability. One even had a hole through the middle where a drop of acid had splashed against it. Preston held them far away from his nose. “Eve, you gotta throw these out. They’re disgusting.”

Eve glared at him. “No way. Those are the coins ma gave me to buy my loaf of bread. Whenever that happens, I’m gonna damn well use them.”

“I don’t think any baker is going to accept these,” Preston muttered as he put the coins away nonetheless.

“Why do you think you’re going for a swim in the leyline?” Wes asked.

Eve shrugged. “Don’t know. I’d prefer not to, but knowing my luck, some bullshit will happen and I’ll get knocked in.”

“And knowing your luck, you’ll come out again with a brand new set of powers,” Wes muttered.

Eve snapped her fingers. “Now you get it!”

With a laugh she continued on down the awkward stairs, leading the way closer and closer to the din of the raging torrent below. Deep as they already were, it only took a few minutes’ descent to reach the metal door.

It was more of an opaque portcullis than a door, looming as it did atop the open passage. Eve wouldn’t be surprised if this were the most robust piece of security the palace had, ready to slam shut on any who dared intrude upon the precious leyline. Once Art confirmed he didn’t sense anyone inside, Eve strode in.

The leylines roared. All three of them.

The space itself was a thirty-foot stone platform suspended barely above the spot where the three leylines met. A narrow walkway led from the entrance, over the empty space between two of the torrents, to the platform itself, upon which sat a built-in stone table a metal chair. Eve couldn’t help but squint at the precarious position of the desk, readily imagining someone getting up too quickly and sending the chair tumbling into the leyline.

Of course, every inch of the space was enchanted to the high hells, though the intense glow of the leylines below washed out any detail Eve might’ve hoped to make out. She stepped across the walkway.

She felt more than heard the motion behind her, the leylines drowning out any noise but failing to halt the shake of the platform as something landed on it. Eve had an idea of what it was before she even turned around.

“We need to talk!” Alex yelled over the din.

Eve spun around just in time to watch the remains of a black chess piece crumble from Alex’s hand and fall to the stone platform, disappearing. The Defender stood between her and the others, blocking Eve’s escape with her back turned to Wes, Preston, and Art. Eve glanced over at the latter.

Alex must’ve noticed the look, as she went on to touch a jade earring on her left ear. “Did you think I wouldn’t take precautions against telepathy?”

“What?” Eve shouted.

“I’m immune to telepathy!” Alex shouted back.

Eve’s eyes widened as, behind Alex’s back, Wes set his hand alight. “No fire! We’re not killing her!”

Alex didn’t even turn around. “You can’t kill me.”

“I wouldn’t press my luck if I were you,” Eve yelled. “I can hit pretty damn hard, and I don’t care how tanky you are or how many enchantments you’re wearing. If Wes gets you alight, you’re done.”

“She’s called her boss, Eve!” Wes shouted.

“What?” Eve called back as the roar of the leylines swallowed his words.

She didn’t need to hear him to see the curse on his lips.

He says she’s already called her boss, Art relayed. We need to get out of here before she arrives.

“Thank you, Art,” Eve muttered, knowing her words couldn’t pierce the din. The trellac wasn’t listening to them anyway. It’s the thought that counts, after all. “I’ll handle this. Tell him, no fire.”

On it!

“You wanna talk?” Eve shouted in the meantime. “Let’s talk. Let’s go somewhere quiet, okay? It’s loud as shit in here.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” Alex yelled, standing firm between Eve and the only exit.

Wes says okay, Art sent. But we gotta go now. Hit her hard enough to knock her out and make a run for it. We’re faster than she is.

“Alex, this is the worst possible place to have this conversation!” Eve called.

“What?”

“Exactly!” Eve yelled. “C’mon, can we please go somewhere quiet?”

In lieu of a response, Alex tightened her grip on her spear and lowered her stance, making it very clear she had no intention of moving.

“Alright,” Eve muttered under her to give shape to her thoughts for Art. “I’m gonna make a move. Tell them to back up.”

She didn’t need Art’s confirmation to know he’d sent her message, as he, Wes, and Preston all took hesitant steps back. Alex didn’t react.

“Suit yourself,” Eve shouted. “Let’s see how Indomitable you really are!”

Alex raised her shield. “You’re not going anywhere!”

A smirk crossed Eve’s face. We’ll see about that, she thought. Holding still, she activated Mana Rush for the full forty thousand per second she could, knowing full well it would drain her dry by the second tick. That wouldn’t a problem. Not here.

Running Mana through her throat and diaphragm to enhance their power, Eve bellowed over the roar of the leylines. “This isn’t just the worst possible place for a conversation.” Power surged through her as she pulled upon the unceasing force of the torrents below her. “It’s also the worst possible place to fight me!”

Eve waited for the ninth second of Mana Rush to tick by—so she’d be able to cancel it before leaving the leylines behind—before she Charged in. She kept her club tied to her back, its force multiplier unnecessary with the amount of power at her disposal.

Alex braced herself.

Eve shot forward like out of a cannon, barreling down the walkway at frightening speeds. The sonic boom barely managed to overpower the roar of the leylines below.

Eve threw her punch.

Twelve million Strength coursed through her body and down her arm, the limb reinforced by thousands of spare Mana. Eve aimed squarely for the center of Alex’s shield, well aware that even that risked killing the Indomitable Defender outright. So it was that with unstoppable force, Eve’s blow struck true.

Upon the immovable object.

Distant as they were, the shockwave of the blow was more than enough to send Art, Wes, and Preston tumbling backwards onto the stairway. The entire suspended platform quaked. A head-sized chunk of stone on the back side cracked and fell away entirely. The metal chair fell into the leylines.

Alex didn’t budge.

Eve Jetted back before the Defender could think to make a counterstrike.

“Alright,” she yelled once she landed back by the stone table, “I’ll admit that you are pretty indomitable.”

“We don’t need to fight!”

“She said, trapping me here and summoning a high-level to kill me,” Eve snarked back.

“They need you out of the picture,” Alex shouted. “They don’t care how. If you stay here until it’s all over, they’ll let you live.”

“Run,” Eve whispered to Art and Art alone. “Get out of here.”

But what about—

“I can handle myself. You and the others need to go. Now.” Eve let out a quiet sigh of relief as she watched her friends disappear up the spiral steps through the corner of her eye. She casually paced around the table as she yelled to Alex. “They already lied to you about what I’m doing, why should I believe them now?”

“They didn’t lie, Eve! You’ve been working for him this entire time, whether you knew it or not.”

“While you betrayed me willingly,” Eve shot back. She hoped Alex didn’t catch her quick glance at the door behind her. She prayed it’d be enough. They’d chosen this place to trap her for a reason, and nobody was as good at escaping as the Defiant herself. True to her hope, when the ground opened up to admit a woman with obsidian skin, it did so just outside the control room.

Level ?? She Beneath the Earth
Unique Tier ?? Class

“Good work,” the high-level woman said as she stepped into the room. “Your trap worked.”

“Show her what you showed me,” Alex barked without looking away from Eve. “She’ll flip, I know it.”

“It’s too much a risk,” the woman growled with a voice like sand against stone. “She stays here.”

Eve smiled and waved from across the platform. “You must be the boss lady,” she yelled with her Mana-enhanced voice. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

The obsidian woman glared.

“You did get something wrong, though,” Eve continued. She pressed her hand against the stone table, feeling the magic within reach out to touch her spirit before opening up. A dozen notifications flashed across her vision, but she dismissed them all.

All but one.

[Alert!] Long Live the Queen!

With a grin and a wink, Eve issued her first command as queen of Burendia. With a cacophonous crash, the metal door across the room slammed shut, the enchantments along it flaring to life. She smirked up at Alex and the mysterious woman.

“It’s not just me that’s gonna be staying here. You get to join me.”

Next