The Path of Ascension 2: A LitRPG Adventure

51

He came over and put out a hand, quickly shaking both his and Camilla’s, before introducing himself.

“Geraden, Tier 6 solo fighter. I picked up these groups on my way to the meeting area. Please tell me there are others there. We need medical aid and some rest. This is the third ambush we’ve been hit with so far, and we’re almost out of mana.”

Matt took all that in and nodded at the man. He reached into his bag and pulled out two of their clotting potions. They weren’t true healing potions, but they could stabilize an injured person for a while. He didn’t give them everything, since they only had two dozen, and these resources would become increasingly scarce while the outpost was destroyed. Crafters needed workshops and infrastructure to work properly, and that would be in short supply with the ruin destroying everything it could.

As the potions were sparingly used, Matt thanked the man for his help with the lower Tiers. The reaction he got was not what he expected.

“I couldn’t give two shits about the people. These golems are destroying the forest with no regard for nature. If it wasn’t destroying everything it touched, I wouldn’t care at all if it slaughtered everyone here.”

Matt looked closer at the man. He was wearing what looked like woven-together leaves and vines. His staff felt more like a living tree than a piece of deadwood. The man’s manufactured boots seemed like a contradiction to the nature man theme, but they were a top-of-the-line hiking and combat boot. Matt knew, only because he was wearing a nearly identical pair.

Shrugging, Matt just looked at the retreating swarm.

“Did you all see where they came from, or have any guesses where they’re coming from?”

Geraden nodded and said, “The shits were camped out at a surface ore vein and were reproducing. We stumbled on them and, well…we didn’t win. Let’s leave it at that.”

Matt looked to the rest of his team, and they all nodded. They had their next target.

13

Before they could venture after the retreating hoard of spider golems, someone came over from the group of wounded. The hope was apparent in her voice as she called out to them.

“Are you from the prince’s group!? Have you come to help us!?”

Matt didn’t know what could have given her that indication. Glancing around at Liz and Camilla, he could tell from their body language that they were just as confused. They did their best to hide it, but he could read them well enough, especially after all the time they had spent together.

Being the closest to the woman, Matt shook his head in response. “No, we’re just a wandering team trying to help however we can.”

He paused for a moment, debating whether he should ask, and decided to state his curiosity. “Why do you think we’re with the prince?”

She c****d her head at the question. With the dried blood still coating most of her head, it made for a weird sight.

“Did you not get the message? After the prince’s broadcast, there was a second message. A text-only message that he was sending some of the stronger people with flight items to the gathering points.”

She pointed at the still hovering Liz and Aster. “You guys are Tier 5, and you fight like Tier 6s. You even have a flight item. Who else other than those close to the prince would be like that?”

Matt didn’t know what to say but didn’t want to lie any more than he had to.

“I see. Sorry, we aren’t a part of the group that was sent out. We’re just trying to do what we can…” At the woman’s downcast expression, he added, “The prince’s representative is probably on their way. They would have needed to fight directly under the fortress or go around. Going around is a lot safer.”

That seemed to work well enough, and she limped back to the other two teams. Looking back to Geraden, he nodded at the man’s impatience. He was shifting his weight from foot to foot and looked ready to run at any moment.

As soon as Matt’s armored form turned to him, he started to take off and asked, “You ready? Let’s go already!”

Liz brought the flying sword over to him, but Matt shook his head. “You and Camilla stay on the sword. I won’t run out of stamina, so I’ll stay down here and make sure Geraden doesn’t get ambushed.”

At that, Matt took off after the already retreating man. Matt assumed that with [Mage’s Retreat] and [Endurance], he would have zero issues in keeping up. But the Tier 6 moved through the forest as if he was born there. The bushes and shrubs that Matt had to avoid or plow through didn’t seem to faze the man at all. He ran as if he was on a wide-open track.

As they ran, Matt kept in communication with Liz. While the satellites had been taken out, their individual AIs were still able to link over a short distance. It was enough for Matt to take advantage of her bird’s eye view.

They didn’t fly too high, for fear that a patrolling golem would see them and engage. Still, a vantage point at even minimal altitude allowed Matt to see further than he could at ground level. The dense underbrush in this part of the forest was obstructing his view.

A little over ten minutes of running brought them to a mountain with a large c***k in the side of it. The fissure traveled the entire height of the mountain and gave them a glimpse of the mountain’s interior. It was teeming with spider golems.

They crawled over each other in what appeared to be total chaos, until his AI identified a pattern in the golems’ movements. They were feeding raw ore into a massive, rectangular construct which processed the ore. The spider golems were then building something with the processed ore.

Geraden’s fist tightened around his staff, which creaked audibly at the applied force.

“We need to destroy that factory at the center of the mountain.”

Matt looked at the man flatly for a moment. That was so obvious, he was wondering if the man was all there in the head.

“Yeah, but how do we do that? There are thousands of spiders down there. If…”

Geraden cut Matt off with a chopping motion, “If we don’t move now, there will be tens of thousands. Think about how much damage that could cause to the surroundings. I can’t allow that!”

Under [Cracked Phantom Armor], Matt raised an eyebrow. The man really didn’t care about anything but the nature around them.

Looking for info about the man’s capabilities, he asked, “Do you have some range? Or at least something that can take out the factory from this distance? We have some ranged skills, but you would be a big help. I don’t think our ice mage can guarantee a kill from this distance.”