Chapter Ten: The Drenchfort!
Drenchfort's entrance...
Chains held a big fortress-like building with a Stonefather's symbol of the Tears - a light blue G-clef symbol. Mosses, crawlers, weeds, ferns crept across the walls and chains. Hardened Corrupted crystals scattered around the entrance, slowly sapping away the colours, and lives of any plant life that grew close.
A large tulip-like hive, with roots firmly grounded on the earth, guarded the Drenchfort's entrance.
"That's the Stinger's Hatcher! Be careful, the closer you are the greater amount of them little critters it will produce!" Karn warned.
Death, Alito, and Chris nodded.
The pale Rider summoned three ghouls from the ground while taking out his Redemption, shooting the swarming Stingers. The silver bullets exploded upon contact, destroying the swarms of stingers quickly.
Chris froze the Stingers' wings with an icicle blast spell. She then twirled around, unleashing a powerful mini blizzard that tore through the thoraxes of every Stinger that swarmed around. Alito, as Lifebane, swirled around Chris's body like the beautiful rings of Saturn, slicing through the swarms like knife on hot butter. The blade's body sliced through the hatcher's 'petals', shattering them into little tiny bits.
Karn brought down his hammer upon the tender, hive-like core. Some of the Hatcher's green liquid stained Karn's harness, boots, and platter.
Death stomp his right feet as a green aura surrounded him and buffed up his biceps as veins bulged across his shoulders. He did two flipsaws with his possessed scythes, slicing the hatcher's body fatally as it exploded into a pool of green blood and staining the four adventurers.
"Well...that happened..." Chris sighed.
"Shall the both of you take a bath before we move on? There is a lake by a half-submerged abandoned structure that we passed by couple minutes ago." Karn suggested.
Chris shook her head. "No...We would be dirty by the time it takes us to crawl through this dungeon. That is a waste of time."
"Let's kill the perpetrator to whoever sealed off the Tears before bathing." Alito followed.
"Well, if that's what you want, matters not to me." Karn shrugged.
The Drenchfort interior...
The interior had several pipes branching out into a network, connecting to several walls shaped like a fortress's tower. The stones built upon the Drenchfort's walls became slightly black, a sign of erosion by the elements for eons on end. Two thick, black chains attached onto the Stonefather's symbol held the platform from which the four warriors stood.
They could see several mountain peaks from afar, reaching upon the fluffy white clouds in conquest.
"So...there's no water flowing due to Corruption overtaking the mechanisms that controls the flow of the Tears." Chris calmly said.
"It appears to be. We have to the end of the Drenchfort to activate the gate that will channel the Tears into the network of pipes. Before that, however, we must open a few more gates that governed the pipes so that the Tears can flow without interruption." Karn nodded.
"Right...no time to waste." Chris frowned.
Throughout their venture upon the Drenchfort, Chris, Alito, Death, and Karn solved puzzles by smashing through enmies and guiding through obstacles to reach the switches needed to go ahead.
In one of the rooms, Chris, and Alito have to wall climb their way into a Corrupted Bomb hatch with Death waiting at the Corruption Crystal that was blocking his way.
The Corruption Bomb has a darker shade of brown with no pale green aura of Corruption surrounding it.
Chris used her Project Tundra to scan through the bombs.
Results confirmed - Scans revealed that the Corruption Bomb is inert and cannot explode unless it any forms of weapons or inflammable materials, such as bullets, contacted the bombs.
"Shoot 'em bombs!" Chris shot out as she passed it to the Pale Rider.
The Pale Rider threw it to the Corruption Crystals and used his Redemption Pistol to shoot at the inert bomb, destroying it with the explosion. Beneath the crystals lies a slope, which led to a black sphere with several glowing blue intricate lines.
"Ahhh...A Construct's way of travelling and means to connect to their 'hearts', we call it the Maker's Sphere!" Karn shot out as he lifted it up and placed into a hemisphere-like hole that activated two gears, resulting in a platform between them to lower down.
"Construct, huh...How important are Constructs in the World of Makers?" Chris wondered.
"I know not much of it, but they are important tools for combat or traversing from place to place." Karn laughed sheepishly, rubbing his neck.
"Interesting..." Chris mused, resolving to find out about the Constructs later...
Alito approached the other Shadow Bomb hatch on the east and threw it to the Maker's Sphere.
"Head to the lifting platform, the lift will start shortly." Alito called out.
As soon as the team got on the lift, Alito took a deep breath, her chest brought out as she shot out a highly pressurized air bullet out from her mouth to the inert bomb.
The inert bomb exploded, pushing the Sphere out of the hole, lifting the platform up to the door in front of them.
"So, how did you manage to learn wall climbing and wall-riding? You are slightly more agile than I am." Death asked in amusement.
"I'm quick to learn, Pale Rider. The mechanisms implanted upon me are a bonus catalyst as well, allowing me to learn things at a faster pace and gripping the walls fast." Chris explained.
"I gotta hand it to ya, you both jump like a lass!" Karn grinned.
"Thanks...Karn." Alito blushed and simpered, with Chris nodding along.
After opening two pipes...
Suddenly, several packs of dog-like creatures with spikes, sharp claws, two sharp horns, and brown, rough skins prowled through the sides of the platform and landed several feet from them. Each of the prowling creatures had two feral-like eyes with sharp irises.
"Prowlers, get' em!" Karn shot out.
"I think it's time to show them your hammer, pup!" Death grunted.
Chris and Lifebane ploughed their way through the Prowlers easily; tearing through the hard, spiky leather and dismembering their limbs and jaws.
However, Chris's eyes widened and squinted in pain, sweat trickling down her forehead as a prowler dug its razor-sharp claws through her armor and slashed through her back.
Chris sunk her teeth into her lips; blood flowed out from her lips as she impaled the prowler's belly, did a back flip, and cleaved its body straight on the hard, rocky floor.
The Icy Maiden then threw her dual Lifebane through several approaching prowlers and unleashed a huge energy slash filled with ice, followed by a flurry of slashes with icicle shockwaves as compliments, and ending with a wheeling slash with a merged Lifebane.
Karn simply smashed his huge, blunt hammer on every prowler's skulls, leaving bloodstains upon his clothes and armor wherever he kills his foes.
Soon enough, the dead prowlers' bodies disintegrated into red dust off the air.
"That was a welcome party, eh? Them prowlers always easy when there are along, they are hard when yer' dealing 'em in packs!" Karn huffed.
Alito transformed back from her spirit weapon form and widened her eyes in shock when she saw Chris wincing as she was on her knees, breathing and exhaling deeply with blood seeping out of her back.
Damage assessment: 40%
Preparing icicle Regeneration process for heavy injuries.
Quattro Sentinel EX Cardiovertor Defibrillator activated - regenerating health.
Project Tundra Protein Therapy delivery system regenerating muscles and blood.
"My Lady!" Alito's face grew pensive, beads of perspiration form from her forehead as she approached Chris.
"I'm fine...Alito..." Chris winced as she shook her head and exhaled deeply.
"Why do you keep saying that, my Lady?! The wounds are still deep however small you looked at it! Besides, they are from the other dimension and not ours; god knows if those wounds could be healed quickly without any help!" Alito chided.
"Oh dear...them prowler's claws are really sharp and are able to tear deep into a victim's body, no matter how thick they are!" Karn replied.
"Hold on, my Lady..." Alito crossed her arms as two green orbs glowed on her palms.
"What is she doing?" Death wondered.
Alito merged her two green orbs into one big green orb as streams of air sucked into it. She chanted some incantations inaudible to both Karn and the pale Rider as she dispersed her green orb into the soothing air...
"Oh great wind...Please caress the wounds of my Lady!"
Soon enough, a gentle breeze of warm wind blew past the open spaces of the Drenchfort and gently caressed the slash wounds upon Chris's back.
The Icy Maiden bit her lips and winced as a quick sting rippled through her spine, but it soon gave way to comfort as the wounds slowly closed up under the wind's influence and her regeneration programs. Her breathing soon steadied as she exhaled deeply.
Minutes later...
"Thanks...Alito. Sorry to get you all worried." Chris simpered.
"Give me your hand." Alito asked.
Chris extended her right hand, wondering what Alito was asking for. The Icy Maiden soon felt a short, sharp pain as Alito slapped the former's palm, then felt Alito embracing her.
"My Lady...We had not known much about the prowlers' capabilities and who knows how hard they hit? Yes, they might be easy to defeat, but the wounds they inflicted are not as weak as the monsters we have met so far! Please, don't underestimate them, okay?" Chris's loyal confidante chided.
Chris sighed, found herself simpering, and patted Alito's back while stroking her silky pale green hair.
"Sorry to get you all so worried...Alito. Thank you..."
"You are not angry that I slapped you on your palms?" Alito wondered.
Chris shook her head..."No. You are right...I should not underestimate those wounds. Besides...you are the one doing it."
Alito and Chris's mind wandered back to when they were Chris was just six and Alito was twelve.
Both Chris and Alito were playing their usual 'catch', this time along the long corridors of the Fuschia's mansion, whoever lost shall be slapped gently on their palms as 'forfeit'.
"Come get me, Alito!" Chris stuck her short tongue out.
"Hahaha... get back here, my Lady! Don't be naughty now and run all over the place!" Alito laughed.
"You can't catch me, Alito!" Chris grinned, not knowing that she ran into her bedroom and tripped over the soft mattress!
"GOTCHA!" Alito cheekily caught Chris by her waist.
"Ehhh! Not fair!" Chris pouted.
"You sure are a naughty person, huh, my Lady? Aie!" Alito gently slapped Chris's right hand as a 'forfeit'.
Chris could feel her cheeks becoming hot as a strange sort of pleasure rippled through her nerves onto her spine. She smiled, prompting a shocked Alito.
"I thought...I thought you might cry because..."
"Because you slapped my hands? Hehe...silly girl, I let you win so I could be close to you! No hard feelings!" Chris grinned as she did a 'peace sign' and hugged Alito by her waist, blushing happily.
Silence screamed in return as both Chris and Alito enjoyed the quiet moment they had together...No one talks for the next moment or so, but they seemed to enjoy each other by their side; they were blushing happily, leaning on each other side by side.
By the time they fell asleep by each other's arms, hours have passed with gentle smiles upon their faces as they drifted into sweet dreams.
Alito blushed. "That's...a relief..."
Sensing a tense atmosphere, Death decided to disperse it by interrupting.
"Errhmm..." Death grunted, "I think we have the Drenchfort to recover? We have restored the two major linkages to the pipes. The Tears should be able to flow freely now if we kill the perpetrator."
Soon enough, the calm melody of flowing water echoed through the Drenchfort as water began filling the pipes.
"Parts of the water have been restored...We're getting there!" Karn cheered.
Chris and Alito looked at each other, nodded, and stood up as they dusted their armor.
"You still have scars left, my Lady, but we'll look into that later...okay?" Alito simpered, patting Chris's back with her right tender hand.
Chris nodded, simpering.
Death continually looked at Chris and Alito, his eyes raised in amusement.
"They might think that it's their fault that their loved ones died...but they still appreciate each other's appearance, like as if they are the only people who can understand each other's pain...Humans...again, such interesting creatures."
As they walked past the pool of black residue left by a destroyed Corrupted Crystal leading to the big door leading onto the perpetrator's den, several streams of black air managed to seep into Chris's scar on her back.
Chris gasped as her heart temporarily quickened, winced in anguish as her irises shrunk, and beads of perspiration formed on her forehead.
Foreign materials infused upon your body systems.
Project Tundra - Isolating unknown substance for further analysis.
"My Lady, what happened?" Alito rushed to pick Chris up.
Chris caught her breath and shook her head. "I don't know...We are just walking through the destroyed Corrupted Crystal but...but I could feel an ominous wind or something ominous running through my scars on my back to my spine..."
"Are you okay, my Lady?" Alito hoped.
Chris took a deep breath, exhaled, and scrolled through her settings in her Project Tundra OS settings.
"Not much of a problem there; no damage into the systems whatsoever. My systems could have isolated it, preventing contact with my systems." Chris heaved in relief.
"Alright then...If there's anything..." Alito nodded, with Chris nodding along.
"Mmm..."
"It must be those high-tech devices keeping you safe. That's a relief!" Karn replied.
Death pushed the lever that unlocked the metal door guard leading to the Drenchfort's lever.
"Everyone's ready?" Death asked.
"Yeah...let's get this over with!" Chris nodded.
As the team entered the room with a big lever, they saw a mini tree with hardened rocks, small branches, two rhino-like horns and six legs that burrowed into the ground as thick roots.
"That is Karkinos, an Earth Crag that used to be a wild creäture until Corruption overtook its weak mind and caused mayhem in the Drenchfort." Karn explained.
"Earth Crag?" Chris wondered.
"Earth crabs. Crab-like creatures that are like moles; they lived underground, feeding upon the minerals, roots. Ya know, all the stuffs in the ground." Karn replied.
Chris scanned through Karkinos's hide...
Morphology: Karkinos
Race: Earth Crag
Description: Signs of Corruption can be traced upon its body which enhances it durability to extreme levels; its rock-like armor cannot be pierced by any weapons that the team's weapons now possessed. However, it cannot resist huge impact stuns.
"Huge impact stuns..." Chris frowned as she scanned her environment and saw a yellow, scaly sphere.
Scans confirmed that it is a baby Earth Crag curling up into a ball for protection. Armor reported to have high-impact rating as their armor have the same toughness as Karkinos's.
"The bug sphere; maybe Karkinos will awake if this sphere slammed upon its hide." Chris spoke calmly.
"I will take it." Death, who was near the sphere, summoned two Reaper Form's spectre hands and pushed it towards the Karkinos at a great velocity.
The sphere struck Karkinos's hide hard. The sphere unrolled itself into a baby Earth Crag, which Karn smashed it with his big hammer.
The team could feel the ground shaking hard as the big Earth Crag shook dirt out of the ground, jumped, and land on it six legs, realizing a loud screech with his sharp, jagged teethes.
Chris slammed her right fist on the ground as a huge icicle spike pierced Karkinos's underbelly and flipped it to the ground. Blood flowed out from its underbelly as Karkinos keeled over, screeching in pain.
"Full force, NOW!" Chris shot out.
The team managed to land heavy hits upon Karkinos's underbelly before the Earth Crag gathered enough strength to push them away with a burst of earth spikes covering around it.
Karkinos screeched as it charged into the team, but its linearity made it easy for them to dodge the Earth Crag's attack. It crashed upon the rocky walls, shaking the surroundings and causing another baby Earth Crag ball to drop from the ceiling to the ground.
Death promptly ran over to the ball and pushed it straight into Karkinos at full force, the impact was enough to bring it down to its kneed, revealing its underbelly once more.
A flurry of attacks later, Karkinos pushed them away once more and buried its legs on the ground, unleashing big, thick vines from the ground in wheels.
"Watch out, they ain't linear; they can home in on people!"Alito, as Lifebane, warned.
Chris and Death managed to evade their way with acrobatic flips, leaving Karn behind, who was unable to dodge because of his big size despite his best attempt to run from it.
Chris's eyes widened as she saw the wheeling vines approaching Karn.
The Icy Maiden quickly teleported right in front of the bald Maker just as the wheeling vines struck and constricted her body.
Chris's eyes glowed blue as a blue aura surrounded his body. Her tattoo glowed upon her armor and body, and four intersecting rings glowed upon her forehead. Her glowing blue eyes formed the symbol of ice as a flash of blue light blinded the team for a few seconds.
When Death and Karn recovered their eyesight, they looked around the battlefield...
"Where are Chris and Alito?" Death wondered.
The Karkinos screeched in pain as ice began sprouting out of its legs and mouth, implanting its legs on the ground against its will and flipped itself upside down!
Death and Karn immediately charged in, the former unleashing a powerful flipsaw and Karn just mashing ahead.
Tearing a large gash upon Karkinos's underbelly, Death transformed into his Reaper Form and unleashed several slash upon it, ending with a flipsaw boomerang that slashed into the underbelly's gash and returned into his hands. Vital organs and blood began gushing out of its belly.
Chris and Alito shortly burst out of Karkinos's horn shortly before the Earth Crag dissolved into thin air.
"Just how..." Karn gasped.
Chris brought her hand over her left eye, a symbol of Ice forming upon her iris. Alito followed suit, only in her right eye, the symbol of the wind upon her right eye's iris.
The Icy Maiden explained, "Possessing them by blending ourselves into molecular structures and controlling them on a cellular level, as a parasite should work."
"So how did you..." Karn wondered.
"Let's activate the Drenchfort first, and not divert our attention towards some sub-plot until we pull the Drenchfort's lever." Chris spoke calmly.
"Right, the lever..." Death snapped his bony fingers.
Soon enough, the main gate opened up as the Tears of the Mountain began gushing down the Stonefather's Peak in immense volumes. The gushing voices of flowing water echoed through the Forge Lands...
Chris looked at her glowing blue palm imbued with a flame-like aura, clenched it, and closed her eyes...
"Kako...Kako Takafuji."
"I don't follow you." Death wondered.
"We will explain it all as we go back to the Forge..." Chris answered.
How does Project Tundra and Ventus came to be?
Who is Kako Takafuji?
Just what gave them the ability to possess creatures like Karkinos?