The Years of Apocalypse - A Time Loop Progression Fantasy

Aelius's first reaction to Mirian's proposal was disbelief. However, when she started outlining what she knew of the Vault—which was how to open almost all of the early room doors—he had to lean back in his chair and clench his jaw for a bit.

"How are we dividing it up?" he finally asked.

I'm surprised he's not more skeptical, Mirian thought. She'd claimed to have discovered information about the Vault in a forgotten archive in Palendurio. She'd decided to lie to Aelius and his group, just to limit the number of people who knew she was a time traveler. She knew Beatrice's group wouldn't put the word out there as long as she was stern with Cediri. The Ennecus group probably wouldn't, given their behavior later in the cycle, but the less risks she took, the better. "I get any special purple-orange liquids we find. Your teams can divide up what's left. I'll just want to take a look at what's there."

She hadn't told them what the dual-color liquid was, and had no intention to. As far as Aelius knew, it was just another Labyrinth-made substance that had interesting research potential.

Aelius considered that. "Map fee?"

Mirian waved her hand in dismissal. "The Labyrinth just shifted. Sometime after the 28th of the last month, but before the 5th. Good news: you don't have to remap it. I already know the route." She drew out a basic map, then added, "No spell engines. It riles up the horrors down there. Minimal econodes, so we're safe from most myrvites. And I have a way to deal with Scrappy." I hope, she mentally added.

"Fifty-fifty split," Cediri said.

"We're bringing more people. Seventy-thirty."

Cediri frowned. "We'll take seventy no problem."

Aelius rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean."

The haggling took longer than it should have, and eventually, they settled on dividing what they found evenly among the participants. Next time I'll lead with that, Mirian thought.

Then they started making preparations.

"A half-dozen baduka boar spears, except made for something even bigger," Mirian instructed the smith. "And three tower shields with serrated edges so the labyrinthine horrors can't grab onto the edges."

"That'll take some time," he said.

"Can it be done before the 16th?"

The blacksmith frowned, looked back at his two apprentices, then looked back at Mirian. "We don't usually do rush orders."

Mirian considered that. "What if you had access to an arcanist who could cast any heat spells you need and had access to shape metal?"

The smith raised an eyebrow. "You're offering?"

"Sure. Just give me a discount or whatever. And I need to go purchase an ink, then another five minutes to scribe a spell."

One of the apprentices chimed in. "Doesn't it take a lot more than five minutes to scribe a spell? My gran needed one done and they said each order took an hour. For the simple ones."

"Special circumstances," Mirian said.

She returned a few minutes later and got to work.

Fortunately, the smith had worked with enough arcanists before that he knew how to best instruct Mirian to help. Using shape metal to stretch a tin roof tile was one thing, but for an actual weapon or shield, overusing the spell could cause the metal to become brittle.

Mirian didn't quite follow all his explanations, but it was easy enough to use the spell to help tighten the spearheads they needed, or to keep the metal at the exact temperature the smith needed as he hammered out the pieces. It wasn't very interesting, but she told herself it was good practice in fine spell control.

She hadn't paid enough attention in chemistry to understand why they needed the barrel of salt water, and since the knowledge didn't seem necessary for her to retain, she let it pass in one ear and out the other. It wasn't like she was planning on taking up metalworking as a hobby. She had enough to learn as it was.

As she helped out with his other orders she made extensive use of filter air. She didn't know how they could all stand to breath such rancid fumes all the time. Her contributions sped up the orders considerably, and the smith gave her a fair discount.

Meanwhile, the frontliners practiced their formations. She joined them for some of the exercises, but Mirian spent most of her time making a large soul repository with three chambers, then filling it with myrvites from outside the spellward. She liked the efficiency of charging to soul repositories and also getting money for the parts. Then, she had a full day of rest so her aura could be at capacity.

By the 14th, they were ready, which gave them plenty of time for multiple attempts at the Vaults before the rooms shifted again on the 20th. As long as they got in an attempt before then, Mirian was happy. After that, there were entropic antimagic rooms between her and the Vault, and she still didn't want to risk those.

It took two runs of the elevator to lower the teams and their supplies down. Then they proceeded.

"I don't like the pace we're going," Gromaer, one of Aelius's heavies, said.

"We'll be fine," Mirian said. "As I said, I snuck down here and mapped it out." That was another lie she was going with.

Sure enough they made it to the Vault in record time. After that, Mirian showed them how the geometric solids puzzle worked, then they made rapid progress toward the room she was eager to see: the antimagic suppression room with the two greater labyrinthine horrors.

When they finally saw it, Gromaer looked at Grimald. "She's really serious about this?"

Grimald finished tying the straps of the tower shield to his arm. "Apparently." When he glanced up and saw the other fighter's look, he said, "You're not thinking of backing out, are you?"

That challenge was apparently enough to steady Gromaer.

Mirian took her position by the door. "Arcanists, you're on watch. Shout if Scrappy shows up and we'll retreat from that room. Frontliners, you're backliners now. Keep the first one off me, but stick to the door. Call if we need to rotate out and try again." They'd rehearsed this, but if Mirian had learned anything from the Battle of Torrviol, it was that repeating orders was never wasted.

Mirian had pre-summoned Eclipse and kept it in a sheath at her belt. Summoning it was much cooler, but also, a bit suspicious. She drew it now, then embraced the form of The Dance of the Dusk Waves Across the Ocean. "Heavies, ready?" she shouted.

"Ready!" came the chorused reply behind her.

"Advance!"

She moved into the room, heart pounding.

The greater horrors charged, scurrying forward like oversized centipedes, their tendrils flailing about.

Mirian dashed forward as the first horror's spined tentacles came down to grab her, then lashed out with Eclipse. The adamantium edge sheared right through the thin tendrils. One of its front legs came in as a follow-up, looking to spear her, but she was already tucking and rolling. The first horror slammed into the wall by the door, and Mirian's blade bit into its side as she rose to her feet and backed away from it.

With a roar, the heavies slammed their spears into the horror's torso and side, the lugs of the spears preventing the blades from going in to deep, but hooked edges in the tip ripping out chunks of sinew as the horror pulled away from them. Naturally, its tendrils went to pull the steel-plated tower shields they'd planted on the ground away so it could use its legs to spear them, but the serrated edges of the shield ripped gashes in the tentacles. When it moved away, though, they advanced and stabbed it with the spears, then retreated back towards the door when it circled around them.

Mirian saw all this in her peripheral vision; with the first greater horror distracted, she engaged the second one in the wide open room where she could maneuver. She switched to The Spear That Cuts Water form, using her mobility and footwork to keep out of range of the legs. The greater horrors liked to use those tendrils whips, but piece by piece she cut them apart. The labyrinthine horrors didn't behave like normal animals that retreated when wounded, or reacted strongly to pain. They simply kept coming. They were neither predators nor prey, but something far less natural.

The second horror lowered its torso to charge. Mirian dodged again, but the creature had learned. It paused its charge and slammed one of its legs down. Only her quick reaction prevented the spiky leg from going through her torso, but it still left a fiercely bleeding gash. Mirian stabbed the offending leg, then retreated, fighting through the pain. She switched to Lone Pine On The Mountain, and so when the horror tried to use its torso to simply slam her into the wall, she stood her ground, then jabbed it twice for its efforts before circling around, leaving it to leak ichor over the ground.

"Target one charging!" came Grimald's voice.

Mirian swore, sprinting to the side as the first horror disengaged from the heavies, but the warning had come too late. The first horror still had its tendrils, and one of them wrapped around Mirian's leg and tried to pull her off balance. She cut the offending tendril, but the spines had already slashed up her leg, which was now poisoned.

She switched stances, needing the speed of lightning just to keep her blade moving fast enough to ward away the attacks. Then a spined leg slammed through her chest—

***

Mirian woke up, water dripping on her face. "Five hells," she whispered. At least it had been quick.

***

She repeated her preparations, then headed to Frostland's Gate again. She achieved another 97 myr on the tripoint meter, then gathered up the Labyrinth explorers. This time, she spent more time practicing with the fighters, and worked on strengthening her forms. The last trip had jogged her memory, and it was easier to hunt down the nearby myrvites. She ate ravenously, feasting on bastion elk venison and scimitar lion steak.

By the 14th, they were ready again. The greater labyrinthine horrors were right where she'd left them. Round two, she thought to them.

This time, her tactics were to push the heavies slightly further in, then use their shield wall as a place to hide behind as she darted out. She started by systematically cutting their tendrils to ribbons, but the horrors started smashing into the shield wall with their sharp legs, sending the group retreating.

"Rest up," Mirian said. "Anyone wounded?"

Gromaer was. A nasty slash across the shoulder, and some bruises. She healed him.

"How… you're not a priest too, are you? Or…?"

The 'or' was dangerous. "Trained as a priest for a bit," she lied, then shot Beatrice a glare so she wouldn't say anything.

After some rest, they came at the greater horrors again. Despite the ichor they'd leaked on the ground, they didn't seem any weaker. Grimald led the center forward, sending a powerful thrust into the torso-maw of the first horror while the other two heavies took up the flanks, shouting and jabbing at the creatures.

Mirian used the lightning form to increase her speed, stabbing into the torso of the second greater horror again and again. The blade was great for piercing the carapace, and the holes it left were clearly doing more damage than the spears, but the beasts were incredibly resilient. Even an adamantium blade simply wasn't a replacement for even an 80 myr lightning bolt.

"Getting fatigued," Grimald called out.

"Pull back," Mirian immediately ordered.

They retreated again to rest, pulling out water skins. Mirian healed the wounds, then sat down to breath.

"We can stop," Beatrice whispered to her as she rested.

She shook her head. "No, I can't. It doesn't matter if I die. It doesn't matter how many times I die. I have to keep going."

Beatrice was silent at that. Finally, she said, "Mirian, I am… so sorry."

"Well. It's… it's not really better for anyone else." She went back to meditating. After a while, she got up, watching the greater horrors as the others continued. Then she started grinding her teeth. "They're healing," Mirian announced.

"What? Ah, shit," Gromaer said, getting to his feet.

She watched as another hole in the left greater horror slowly knit itself together. It wasn't as fast as what a priest could achieve, but it was magnitudes faster than what the human body could do on its own. "Weapons up. Let's go again."

They pushed in, Mirian taking the lead this time. She managed to get several quick slashes on the second horror before having to retreat behind the shields, tearing gashes through its torso, exposing the strange maw inside it. The first horror slammed a leg into her side, but she fought through the pain, cutting a deep gash in the carapace, then striking the same place again so that the leg fell off. While she retreated, the heavies slammed their spears into the monsters, pushing them back.

The second horror charged right into the shield wall, and Mirian went into a frenzy, stabbing and then gouging out big chunks of the sinewy flesh. The creature let out a chittering hiss, then the other one responded with the same, torso cracking open to reveal the strange, spiny teeth. They started backing up. Hmm. Some of those features remind me of Apophagorga. Much closer to that than other myrvites. But what are they doing?

Beatrice had the same thought. "What are they doing?" she called out.

The greater horrors soon answered that. They smashed their bodies together, thick bodies joining as each extended a side of legs into the other. Like extremely gross yarn, their legs in the middle entangled and pierced their bodies.

"What in the five hells and fucking cosmos is that?" Gromaer said. "Are they combining?"

"Push forward. They may be vulnerable!" Mirian called.

The group charged in, spears jabbing at the writhing flesh of the thing. What the hells am I supposed to call it? An extra-great labyrinthine horror? Mirian came in with heavy slashes, hoping they could inflict damage on it before it completed its strange meld.

Then the horror charged.

With twice the mass, it was able to snap two of the spears and break the shield wall apart, trampling Grimald and sending the other two heavies flying. She winced as a leg slammed through Grimald's torso, killing him in a moment. Mirian cut off another leg, but more leg—migrating from somewhere inside the body—pushed out to replace it, while the other excess legs sprouted from the creature's new torso, covered in the venomous teeth-spines. Mirian switched to The Spear That Cuts Water form, but as the horror added more and more limbs to its front, she found herself in a desperate retreating battle—and the abomination had cut her off from the door. She rolled underneath it, cutting a huge slash under it, spilling ichor out.

Then the wind was knocked out of her as the horror simply slammed its body down on her.

Mirian tried to steady her soul and switch to the Lone Pine form, but two legs jabbed down and—

***

"Shit," she said as water droplets slowly dripped down on her.

***

Mirian had fought the Battle of Torrviol countless times and never given up. She wasn't about to let two overgrown jellyfish centipedes stop her, even if they could fuse together to become an even bigger, grosser thing.

This time, she convinced two of the soldiers to join them.

"It is a threat to Frostland's Gate," she told them. "I just came from Second Cairn, where they found a greater horror in a room and left it. Then, the next Labyrinth shift, it made its way to the surface. Believe me, you don't want one of those stalking through town at night. The next shift, they might emerge."

Grimald had opened his mouth to say something, but Beatrice had kicked him in the shin to shut him up.

The sergeant gave his approval after Mirian delivered the corpses of two scimitar lions and five frost scrabites to town, estimating that she'd decreased the patrols they needed. Donating myrvite corpses to the guard technically wasn't bribery, she'd learned from Cediri, even if it served the same function.

Cediri and the sergeant had practically had a whole conversation just waggling their eyebrows. Mirian ordered extra spears for the guards, making sure they each had a backup in case a spear snapped.

Once again, they headed for the Vault, packs loaded with supplies.