Chương 29: Chapter 26: The Mire Crown

Captain Aaron Mills never got the chance to answer James. The eastern Hydra head erupted from the swamp beside the platform, its jaws opening wide enough to take several people at once, and Elizabeth stepped forward before the nearest defenders understood what was happening.

"Down!" she shouted as power compressed around her voice, and the sound struck beneath the monster's jaw hard enough to twist its head sideways. The Hydra crashed through one of the broken statues instead of the line of survivors. Stone fragments sprayed across the ruins, dropping several fighters and forcing Aaron behind his shield, while another head rose from the western water with acid glowing between its teeth.

James slammed the Warpstone Warhammer into the platform and carved a temporary Anchor Rune around the point where the head met stone. [Anchor Inlay activated.] [Mana expenditure adjusted for load.] Kevin fired reinforced silk from the anchored hammer to a fallen slab.

"Behind it!" James shouted as the acid stream crossed the platform, and six survivors threw themselves into cover with him. The slab began dissolving almost immediately, yet it remained upright long enough for the worst of the attack to pass around them. The third Hydra head appeared behind Aaron's formation. Its jaws closed around a Level Ten swordsman before anyone could react, and the man disappeared between yellow teeth with one short scream.

Aaron's face hardened as the creature threw the broken body into the swamp.

"Three lines!" Aaron ordered as the blue mark around his throat brightened, and his fighters rushed into position around separate sections of the platform. Shields moved outward while ranged fighters crowded toward the center, creating a disciplined formation that would have worked well against enemies attacking from one direction. James saw the problem immediately.

"Break that formation before the acid hits all of you together!" he shouted as the northern head began drawing yellow liquid into its throat, and Aaron turned toward him with open anger. The Hydra fired before either man could continue the argument. Elizabeth struck the stream with another focused note. The liquid divided around the central group, but one half curved toward Aaron's eastern defenders and threatened to wash across the entire shield line.

James pulled a prepared Runebark spike from his belt, threw it beside them, and sent mana through the Anchor Rune carved into its surface. Green light locked the spike to the platform. Kevin wrapped three defenders with Silver Thread and attached the lines to the anchored spike. Living Reinforcement tightened a heartbeat later, dragging the fighters sideways just before acid crossed their former position. Two people still caught the edge of the spray.

Their armor began dissolving, and screams broke through the platform as nearby survivors dragged them away before the liquid reached skin. Aaron stared at the smoking stone, then at James.

"Stop trying to make one wall," James said as Julie moved beside him with her red-gold markings already brightening. The three Hydra heads were circling independently, and keeping dozens of people packed together gave every large attack a better target.

"Split them into mobile groups and keep the heads separated."

"You aren't in command," Aaron replied as his party mark pulsed. He sounded less certain than he had several minutes earlier, and James could see several marked survivors watching both men instead of immediately obeying their captain.

"I don't want your command," James said as another Hydra wake crossed the flooded ruins. He pointed the warhammer toward the nearest head and shifted his stance before continuing.

"I want fewer corpses between me and the boss." Elizabeth stepped between them as the central head rose again.

"Argue later," she said as she pressed one hand against the metal protecting her throat, and her voice had already become rough from repeated attacks.

"We have three larger problems." The Hydra slammed its jaws around the edge of the platform. Stone split between its teeth, and the entire ruin tilted several degrees toward the swamp while survivors lost their footing. Kevin fired silk in every direction, catching people against pillars and broken statues before they could slide into the water. Julie launched toward the nearest head as it lifted away.

She landed against the side of its face, wrapped around one of the crown ridges, and drove her fangs into a glowing eye. The Hydra thrashed hard enough to tear Kevin's emergency line from one pillar, but Julie held on until the eye burst beneath her bite. The head disappeared into the water. James barely had time to feel Julie's satisfaction before the western head struck. One claw swept toward the serpent as she dropped back toward the platform, and Kevin caught her with a line before she hit the water.

The reinforced strand snapped tight. James wrapped both hands around it and pulled. Elizabeth stepped beside him when the Hydra's claw came down again.

"Break," she said as the word became a concentrated wave, and two talons shattered beneath the sound. The remaining claw still struck her across the chest and sent her skidding across wet stone. Isaiah reached her first.

"Elizabeth?" he asked as he crouched beside her, keeping one arrow drawn toward the Hydra with his other hand. Blood appeared at the corner of her mouth, but she pushed herself onto one elbow.

"I'm alive," Elizabeth said as she forced the words through her damaged throat. She pointed toward James and Julie instead of accepting Isaiah's help immediately.

"Pull her up." James and Kevin dragged Julie onto the platform. The serpent immediately turned toward the Hydra with anger burning through the familiar bond, and James put one hand against the side of her crest before she could launch herself back into the fight.

"Save it," he said as he checked the cracked scale beneath her damaged Runebark patch, and Julie reluctantly lowered her head.

"We learned what we needed." The destroyed eye was already rebuilding. Yellow-green energy moved beneath the Hydra's scales and filled the socket with new flesh. Less than ten seconds after Julie had destroyed it, a new eye opened. Isaiah watched the regeneration with a grim expression.

"We can't kill three heads if they repair that fast," he said as he stood beside Elizabeth, and she nodded while keeping one hand around her throat.

"The Behemoth healed through the forest," James said as he looked toward the cracks running across the platform. A steady pulse traveled beneath his boots every time one of the Hydra's wounds began closing.

"This bastard has something closer." Aaron reached the center with several fighters.

"The Southern Seal is under us," he said as acid continued eating through the western edge of the ruins. His party mark flickered when several survivors moved without waiting for orders.

"There were stairs before the water rose, but the lower passage collapsed." Elizabeth stared at him.

"You knew the Seal was below this platform?" she asked as anger roughened her damaged voice even further, and Isaiah looked equally unimpressed beside her.

"You decided the important part of our arrival was arguing about Timothy's authority?"

"You arrived threatening the position," Aaron replied as he looked toward the circling heads. His tone became defensive for the first time.

"I had no reason to give you information." James pointed toward a broad hole the Hydra's acid had eaten through the floor.

"You also had no way to reach it," he said as Kevin moved toward the platform's center. The spider placed several legs against the cracked stone and spread dozens of hair-thin strands through the gaps. Vibrations returned through the submerged structure. James closed his eyes and let Kevin's impressions become shapes inside the bond. Beneath the platform waited a flooded chamber, a broken staircase, and an enormous circular structure wrapped around a pillar.

Elizabeth crouched and placed one palm against Kevin's silk. She released a low vibration through the network, and the spider carried the returning echo with enough precision that James saw three massive chains extending from the submerged ring.

"The heads are connected to it," Elizabeth said as she opened her eyes. Her voice had dropped close to a whisper, so Isaiah moved nearer to hear.

"Three chains." Workman's Appraisal reacted through Kevin's mapped structure. [Hidden structure discovered.] [Mire Crown.] [Regional Boss regeneration source.] James looked through the acid-rimmed opening in the platform. A curved section of yellow metal had become visible below the water, and three pulses traveled through it in the same rhythm as the Hydra's movements.

"That's our target," he said as he rose.

"Break the crown's connections, and the heads lose their healing." The Hydra roared through all three mouths. The platform shook. Aaron looked toward the surviving fighters. Some were injured, two were dead, and the confidence behind Timothy's blue marks had begun fading after every failed formation.

"What do you need?" he asked as he turned back toward James. James appreciated the wording.

"Keep the heads apart and moving," he said as he pointed toward three sections of the ruins. Aaron's group already had enough people to occupy the boss if they stopped presenting one concentrated target.

"When acid gathers, move. If a head follows you, that's good." Aaron nodded and began reorganizing the defenders. His instructions were his own this time, and several unmarked survivors listened more quickly once the plan made sense. James looked toward Elizabeth and Isaiah.

"Kevin gets us below," he said as the spider started building a descent line around one of the surviving pillars.

"Elizabeth finds the chains through the stone, Isaiah covers the hole, and Julie helps me deal with whatever magic the crown throws at us." Isaiah glanced at the dark water.

"I assume my job includes shooting anything that tries following you down there," he said as he moved toward the opening. James gave him a quick nod.

"That would be appreciated," James replied as he secured one of Kevin's reinforced lines around his arm. Julie slipped into the water beside him without hesitation, and Elizabeth joined them after checking that her throat could still produce the softer pulses needed for echolocation.

"Try not to cut our rope." The comment would matter sooner than any of them knew. The swamp swallowed James completely. His armor pulled him downward, but Kevin's reinforced line controlled the descent while Julie's glowing markings illuminated the flooded staircase. Elizabeth followed several feet above him and sent short pulses through the water, allowing Kevin to convert returning vibrations into a rough map. They found an air pocket inside the submerged chamber.

James dragged himself onto a strip of broken floor and removed his helmet while Elizabeth surfaced beside him, gasping carefully around her injured throat. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The Mire Crown occupied most of the room. It measured nearly twenty feet across and surrounded the Southern Seal like an enormous metal collar.

Three chains extended from its outer ring into separate tunnels, and yellow energy flowed through links larger than James's torso. Elizabeth closed her eyes and listened through the stone.

"North is strongest," she whispered after several seconds, while James watched yellow mist rise from the crown.

"The other two pulse during healing. The northern one never stops."

"Then we leave it for last," James replied as Kevin covered the ceiling with support lines. If one chain carried constant power, breaking the weaker connections first would force the entire regeneration system through a single point.

"Make the final connection carry everything." Movement disturbed the eastern tunnel. Three Mirebound Lurkers climbed through the water toward Kevin's lines. James put his helmet back on and met the first with a warhammer strike before its shoulders cleared the surface. The fight lasted less than a minute. Julie poisoned one Lurker while Kevin pinned another beneath reinforced silk, and Elizabeth used low-pressure vibrations to keep the third disoriented until James crushed its skull against the chamber wall.

[Experience awarded.] James ignored the notification and entered the water again. The eastern chain passed through a stone arch before joining the Mire Crown. Workman's Appraisal highlighted a narrow hinge where the final link connected to the ring, and Julie bit into only the thin stream of energy feeding that specific joint. Her scales brightened. Kevin wrapped silk around the hammerhead.

James carved a stronger Anchor Inlay into the stone arch, connected the hammer to it through Kevin's reinforced web, and pushed mana into the structure until the rune locked. [Mana: 192/400.] James used the anchored warhammer as a lever. The hinge cracked. Julie released the stored yellow energy directly into the opening, and the internal channels shattered beneath the overload. James pulled again. The chain tore free. [Regional Boss regeneration reduced.] [Active Mire Crown Chains: 2/3.] A Hydra head screamed somewhere above. Elizabeth already had her hand against the western wall. She traced the second chain through stone until the echo revealed a section passing beneath less than three feet of floor.

"I can open it," she whispered as she pressed one hand against her throat. Her breathing had become careful and controlled.

"You finish the connection." James moved over the hidden chain.

"Do it once if you can," he said as Kevin secured another line around his waist.

"We don't need the whole floor gone." Elizabeth released a narrow tone. Stone cracked in a circle beneath James. A second, weaker pulse finished the break. The floor collapsed. James dropped directly into acid. Burning pain spread across his boots and the lower edge of his breastplate. Julie descended beside him, absorbing the magical energy saturating the liquid, while the physical acid continued eating through everything it touched. Kevin's line caught James above the bottom. The western chain glowed beneath him.

James found its hinge through Workman's Appraisal, swung underwater, and opened the connection enough for Kevin's silk to enter. Living Reinforcement locked the damaged joint in its broken position. Julie discharged her stored energy. James struck again. The hinge split. [Regional Boss regeneration severely reduced.] [Active Mire Crown Chains: 1/3.] Kevin hauled them out before the acid penetrated the armor completely.

James reached the remaining floor with one boot partly dissolved and several fresh holes smoking through the Runebark on his breastplate. Elizabeth sat against the wall. Her voice was nearly gone. The northern chain tightened. Something enormous hit the other side of the chamber. The wall exploded inward. A Hydra head entered through the flooded tunnel, darker than the others and crowned by a ridge of black bone. Yellow energy poured continuously through the chain beneath its throat. [Hydra Crown Head — Level 15.] James raised the warhammer.

"There's the bastard guarding the plumbing," he said as Kevin reinforced the damaged plates across his chest. Julie lowered herself beside him, while Elizabeth caught one of the spider's support lines and forced herself upright. The Crown Head opened its jaws. Acid flooded into the chamber. James anchored a broken slab and Kevin reinforced it long enough for the group to move behind cover.

Julie's Rune-Touched Scales absorbed part of the magical force spreading through the water, though James felt the pressure building inside her much faster than before.

"Dump it early," James said as the anchored slab began cracking. Julie released the stored energy into the water beside the Hydra, and the resulting explosion forced its head away from the air pocket.

"You're not carrying the whole damn crown inside you." The slab failed. They moved west. Kevin mapped the final conduit through the chain while Elizabeth sent the weakest possible vibration into his silk. The echo revealed three curved protective plates surrounding a single central hinge. Workman's Appraisal confirmed it. [Mire Crown Primary Conduit.] [Destruction will terminate external regeneration.] James moved before the Hydra could attack again.

The Crown Head tore down Kevin's western line and dropped all four of them into the water. James wrapped the warhammer hook around the chain, used it to pull himself beneath the monster's throat, and ignored the claw that slammed him against the Mire Crown when Kevin's reinforcement kept his breastplate from collapsing. Julie struck the damaged eye. The head twisted. James forced the hammer hook beneath the lowest protective plate and activated Measured Strike. [Mana: 128/400.] The weakness appeared. James pulled.

Regeneration immediately began forcing the plate back into position. Kevin landed on the chain and flooded the gap with silk. Living Reinforcement fixed the damaged plate where James had bent it, preventing the structure from repairing around the hammer. James pulled again. The plate cracked. The bright central hinge became visible. The Hydra drove its head toward him. Elizabeth released one final underwater pulse. The sound entered the wounded eye and traveled through the creature's skull.

The head turned just far enough for James to swing. The hinge shattered. All three broken chains recoiled through their tunnels. [External regeneration terminated.] The chamber began collapsing. James turned toward Elizabeth. Her body had gone limp in the water. Julie reached her first and wrapped part of her body around Elizabeth's arm. James caught Kevin's remaining line, helped secure Elizabeth to it, and followed the spider's alternate route through a western crack while stone fell behind them.

They broke the surface beside the platform. Isaiah dragged Elizabeth onto the ruins. James climbed out seconds later and immediately saw the severed descent line lying near the broken statue. The cut was clean. A sword had done it. Aaron stood several yards away with blood covering his face. His spear pointed at one of Timothy's marked lieutenants, whose blade still carried strands of silver silk.

"I was following Timothy's command," Mason said as the blue mark around his throat burned. His sword shook in his hand, but he kept it raised.

"James couldn't be allowed to claim the Southern Seal before our main force arrived." Aaron stared at him with disgust.

"You cut their line while they were underwater," he said as the party mark around his own throat began glowing painfully.

"That wasn't securing anything. You tried to kill them." James raised the warhammer. The Hydra Crown Head erupted from the swamp behind Mason. Aaron moved first. He slammed his shoulder into the lieutenant and knocked both of them away as the jaws closed on empty stone. Then he rolled to his feet and pointed his spear toward the wounded neck.

"North group!" Aaron shouted as Timothy's mark burned across his throat. Pain tightened his face, but his voice remained steady.

"Ignore Timothy's order. Attack the damaged head." The marked fighters hesitated. Then one moved. Three followed. The rest charged with them. Blue marks flickered across their throats as Timothy's distant authority weakened. Kevin wrapped the hanging chain beneath the Hydra's neck with every strand he could spare. James carved an Anchor Rune into a fallen pillar and poured enough mana into it to hold against the Level Fifteen boss. [Mana: 72/400.]"Bring it down!"

James shouted as Living Reinforcement spread through Kevin's web. Aaron's fighters attacked the exposed neck, Isaiah put an arrow through the remaining eye, and Julie climbed the damaged conduit toward the torn scales beneath the jaw. Measured Strike illuminated the weakness. James ran forward. The first hammer blow broke through the scales. The head struck stone but remained alive. Julie released the last energy stored in her markings. James swung again. Bone collapsed. [Hydra Crown Head slain.] The eastern head screamed and rose with half its jaw hanging loose. Its wounds no longer closed, and Isaiah fired through the open mouth while Elizabeth, barely conscious, pressed one hand to the platform. She could not speak. A final vibration moved through the stone anyway. The pulse traveled through Isaiah's arrow and into the Hydra's skull. The eastern head collapsed. The third tried to retreat. Aaron's western fighters already had ropes around its damaged neck. Kevin reinforced them.

Julie attacked the exposed throat. James drove the warhammer hook into the platform and carved one final heavy Anchor Rune around it. [Mana: 16/400.] The Hydra pulled hard enough to drag men across the stone. The anchor held. More than twenty survivors attacked together. James reached the base of the skull and raised the Warpstone Warhammer with both hands. One final strike ended it. [Southern Regional Boss defeated.] [Mire-Crowned Hydra — Level 15 slain.] [Primary Contributor: James Roller.] [Major Contributors recognized.] [Regional Bosses Remaining: 2/4.] [Central Territory Status: Sealed.] The swamp began draining around the platform. Drowned streets emerged from black water, broken statues rose from the retreating mire, and the exposed Southern Seal appeared beneath the shattered remains of the crown. A yellow-green fragment floated toward James. [Channel Rune Fragment acquired.] [Channel Rune.] [Transfers compatible energy, force, or magical effects through a prepared connection.] [Effectiveness depends upon Intelligence, structure quality, compatibility, mana expenditure, and craftsmanship.] Golden light surrounded James, Julie, and Kevin. [Level up.] [You are now Level 13.] [Rune Carpenter growth applied.] [Strength increased by 2.] [Intelligence increased by 2.] [Endurance increased by 1.] [5 Attribute Points available.] James placed two free points into Vitality, then one each into Agility, Willpower, and Perception.

The new Intelligence expanded his Mana maximum immediately, though the nearly empty core remained nearly empty after the battle. [Maximum Mana increased to 440.] Julie and Kevin reached Level Thirteen beside him. Both familiars followed the growth patterns they had established after evolution, sharpening their minds and senses while reinforcing the physical attributes supporting their new abilities. James looked across the ruined platform.

Elizabeth was alive, although Isaiah had already wrapped cloth around her throat and was making it obvious that she would not be using her voice again soon. Aaron stood over Mason while the remaining blue marks around his fighters faded and flickered. Two Regional Bosses remained. James tightened his grip around the Channel Rune Fragment. The Tutorial had become considerably more complicated than killing monsters.