43. Traversal
A while later everyone had gotten back to their feet. Grant and Darius still looked worse for wear, but they assured that they were doing fine. Castus could see where the knives had left cuts there were now a spreading purple around them, indicating poison or infection. Those men had been assassins through and through. They stumbled through the cave system, occasionally Darius or Grant would dispatch a beast with little effort. The monsters here didn't seem to be much of a threat to the two of them.
After a few more hours of slogging through the cave system, Castus noticed that Grant was no longer as lithe as he had been. His movements had slowed and the cuts on his body had begun to fester with black ooze. Castus reached into the pack he had been given before all of this and rooted around. Looking at the potions in there he didn't see much that would be useful. A healing potion might subside the poison, but it wouldn't stop the root of the problem. The only solution would be to get out and get help, but considering how long they had been walking down, it didn't look like it would be a short journey.
The group finally halted for a rest under a rocky overhang. Grant was now breathing harder, even though they had only been walking all this time. Darius himself seemed to be slowing down as well. As everyone pulled out some more rations and ate or drank some water, Castus overheard Grant and Darius speaking. "Those damn assassins got me good Darius. We need to get control of the umbral and get out of here quickly." Darius squatted next to Grant.
"I know. Not to mention one of the assassins is still here in the cave somewhere. Have you picked up on him?" Grant shook his head solemnly. Darius looked over at our group, surveying the transplants. "Grant, you convinced the higher ups they were crucial to this plan, why?" Castus kept his head down, but the words Darius just spoke made him remember that campfire he had shared with Grant in the marshes. 'Is Grant pulling strings to try to help us escape?'
Grant took a deep breath and spoke. "I've trained up a number of them, and honestly I don't think the old legends are true anymore. I think there were a few that were bad eggs, but I don't think they are the continental threat we talk about. Regardless I truly believe that they were needed to easily penetrate the Morden defenses. Zed's speed allowed us to scout ahead quickly and currently, Cerone to provide the strength we needed to push through the Mordens, Wyden to gain the distance we needed, Alyssa is a great disruption to their lines and helped to make sure they couldn't organize after us quick enough and Castus..." He paused. "I think out of everyone he is the most underutilized. If we could let him grow..." He sighed then continued. "regardless someone needs to be able to take care of equipment in long excursions. He's the ideal candidate." Grant painfully sat up. Darius also stood.
Castus turned his attention to the rations. Darius was perfectly under the churches control, but it seemed that Grant had some other motives. While they were speaking in hushed tones, the quiet of the caves allowed the sound to carry much more effectively. Darius looked to Grant. "I believe you Grant. Come on, drink and eat up. We can't sleep here. Too open."
The group took another hour of rest. Nothing came by, but when Darius rose up again to start the journey again he gave a warning to everyone. "Listen up. What we have been in so far is the outer layers of the umbral. We are going to be moving into the inner layers. The dangers will magnify significantly. Stick close." The group stood up with him and they slowly continued their decent.
As they traveled the number of monsters steadily increased as well as the pressure the atmosphere continued to exert on Castus. When they first entered it wasn't all too difficult to breath, but now Castus was actively pushing himself to breath in air. Hearing the familiar clambering of a beast rushing towards the group Castus moved to the back, leaving Darius up front to deal with the monster. This time however, Darius didn't simply stand his ground. "I can't take this on easily, Grant move with the others, this will take some time to kill." Grant had been getting worse, but he was still moving. He nodded his head and the group moved back the way they came from.
A loud bang erupted. Castus turned around to see Darius locked in a tight hold with an armored lionlike creature. It had shining horns on its head; blue metallic plates lined its body and a serpent's tail coiled around its rear. Darius had gripped onto the horns and was trying to push it back, the maw of the creature opening and snapping shut. They seemed evenly matched in a contest of strength. The first time Castus had witnessed this. Even more so, the creature seemed to be gaining strength the longer the hold lasted. Darius' footing began to slip backwards when Castus heard a clang of metal from behind him. Spinning back to look at Grant, the assassin from before had returned. Zed bravely stepped forward with a dagger and readied himself as Cerone cast that same red mist. For a moment it looked like Grant had defended successfully, but the assassin reached behind himself and grabbed a dagger, throwing it as he used the momentum from Grant's defensive blow to toss it forward.
The dagger found its mark, piercing Grant in the chest. His reeled backwards. Black blood poured from the wound. Zed attempted to strike the assassin, but the man was prepared, unlike his comrade before him. He rolled out of the way and dashed down the path towards Darius. It seemed he wanted to get to Darius while he was distracted. Zed flared up with lightning and began to dash after him. The assassin simply disappeared into the shadows again.
Castus helped get Grant into a laying position and looked at the wound. It was definitely fatal. Even this close Castus could smell how bitter the knife was. The poison on it was far denser than anything from before. Grant wheezed a breath in. "You all need to run. I'm not sure if Darius can win. He's hurt badly too. He's just trying to hide it." Another wheezing breath. "Hide, it should only be a few more days before the umbral goes critical. If you can avoid the monster born of it you can live." His breathing shallowed significantly. Castus looked up at Alyssa, Wyden, and Cerone.
"What do we do?" Cerone leaped into action quickly though. "For now we try to help Darius. If he dies we are free, but if he's not alive we don't have much hope in here alone. Besides Zed and I no are the only ones who can fight. Zed's the best between us, but that doesn't amount to much in here." Wyden looked conflicted by Cerone's words, but nodded. Castus slowly placed Grant down on the ground. He realized that Grant had passed away in his arms. He felt guilt and pain. Grant had been something of a mentor for six months to him. He didn't have time for worry though. Darius needed help, and he needed Darius to survive.
The group slowly moved towards the raging battle of Darius and the monster. Darius had taken a shallow bite to his forearm that bled and the beast was now missing its tail. Alyssa shouted into the battle. "Darius the assassin is here!" Those words noticeably tensed Darius. His back muscles and arms flexing. Darius looked round the cavern they were in currently and then locked eyes again the with the beast. He then attacked the beast, aiming for its throat. The beast responded in kind with a kick forward. Darius shifted his weight to the side and wrapped his arms around the leg. He leaned into the momentum and used it to throw the beast into a wall. His breathing was heavy and the beast was in no better shape. Crawling out of the wall with a limp the beast looked battered and seriously hurt. Darius took a stance once again and he began a chant. The beast righted itself and Castus could feel the mana in the environment going berserk and responding to the beasts call.
Darius continued his chant, ignoring the beast's own movements, that's when a shadow moved quickly, coming directly at Darius. Darius noticed too, stopped the chant and punched forward at the shadow, connecting with the emerging assassin. The blow landed firmly and the beast let loose a blast of concentrated water at the two. A massive amount of steam over took the area, making it impossible to tell what was happening. A loud noise erupted from the fog and a shadow of a figure of a man slowly limped towards the group.