Chapter 80 – Swarm Limits

  One good thing about their group is that everyone in it could hustle. Besson and Nutmeg traversed hills as though they were flat ground, with a seemingly limitless supply of stamina. Nona had supernatural ways of crossing distance, and both Howie and Roxy had top-notch endurance. Despite Roxy’s insistence that she hated cardio and Howie being more of a sprinter, both she and Howie were up to Fleet Marine Standard, with high baselines further enhanced by the Lewis Field enhancements. A trek which would have taken a day or more on Earth took them only a couple hours. They began passing up other groups of climbers heading for the top of the mountain and finally started finding more groups that had seen Beth. But they also spotted two other large groups of monsters making their way around the mountains.

  The only weak link in their group turned out to be Artian, who clearly felt the strain of the increased pace, but who also wasn’t willing to be left behind. Roxy was feeding him restorative charges, despite his injuries having been almost entirely healed.

  “I must say,” said Artian, between ragged breaths as they slowed for a breather. He settled down onto a rock by some bubbling pools. “Is it just me, or are we running into more and more challengers?”

  “They’re all being funneled in,” said Howie. “Coming from multiple angles, but all being concentrated at the top.”

  “That’s good,” said Roxy. “It’ll make it easier to locate Beth.

  “I’m not so sure,” said Cole. Something was bothering him about the ascension, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what, yet. He eyed Artian. “Not tempted to try your luck with any of the other teams?” he asked. “You know we’re not here for gold or glory.”

  Artian shrugged. “Perhaps it’s a misplaced sense of chivalry, but you went out of your way to save my life, and I’d like a chance to repay the favor before we part ways—so long as it doesn’t undo your hard work, as it were, if you take my meaning.” He also pursed his lips. “I should also say that your single-minded pursuit of this girl I find somewhat troubling. I would see no harm come to her by your hand. For what little obstacle I may pose, it is clear to me that you are soldiers of your world, and it is a world quite versed in forms of warfare beyond any I’ve seen. I have heard other challengers make mention of chasers during my time in these halls.”

  Cole laughed.

  Artian laughed along, somewhat nervously.

  “We’re a rescue team, Artian. We’re here to bring her home.”

  The man’s expression softened. “Ah.”

  “Come on,” said Cole, “We’re almost to the plateau.”

  The occlusion came by the time they finally crested the last ridge, pulling up and stopping short under the artificial night.

  “What the fuck…?” asked Cole.

  The flat plateau outside the gorge leading to the caldera spread out before them, and dozens of campfires dotted the ascent. Figures crowded around each one and more milled about before a narrow canyon opening that led down into the steaming crater. The canyon opening was barred with a wall of golden mist, much like the one that had greeted them in the safe room. Some few hundred meters beyond, the pillar of light indicating the portal to the next floor rose into the sky.

  “There must be hundreds of them,” said Roxy.

  Howie whistled. “No wonder the monsters are all swarming.”

  Everything clicked into place for Cole. “Jesus. They may not be together, but they’re together enough that the Lewis Field is sending army-size groups of monsters their way. What are they all waiting for?”

  Artian had stopped up short, looking at the wall of mist. “Oh, by all the baleful gods. The guardian is active.”

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  “The guardian?” asked Cole.

  “Floor boss, I bet,” said Howie. “A big bad guarding the stairs to make challengers prove themselves worthy, am I right?” he said to Artian.

  The man nodded.

  “Why hasn’t anyone killed it?” asked Cole. “There’s an army of attuned climbers here.”

  Roxy stepped up. “Cole, we need to tell them to get a move on. Otherwise, all these people are going to get crushed between a floor boss ahead, and an army of monsters from behind.”

  Cole considered. “Alright, split up. Besson, take Howie. Roxy with Nona. Look for Beth and get the word out. I’ll post up."

  Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, Artian took his own initiative, flitting from campfire to campfire, fast-talking his way into the circles of challengers with an easy smile and practiced aplomb that made him appear both terribly clever and charmingly harmless. Cole didn’t believe it for a second. Instead, he burned a charge of Meteoric Leap and jumped up the cliffside to a ledge where he could watch the approach. With the snake-bite rifle to focus his eye, he could see a few climbers pushing up the slope and groups of carrion birds circling in their wake. A few minutes later, his team started to report in.

  “Cole,” called Roxy, “Climbers say a few groups have challenged the boss, but the gate still up means they’re either dead, hiding, or still fighting it.”

  “I’m hearing the same,” called Howie. “They sent word back to Tallorax. Sounds like a high-level team comes and clears the boss for the low price of every mark in their wallets. And if they don’t have any, well we saw how those debt brands work. But something’s keeping the clear team longer than usual.”

  “Hold up! This group says Beth was with one of the groups that went through the gate!” called Roxy.

  Cole swore. Below, with word of the swarming monsters circulating, groups were starting to grab their gear, kick out their fires, and take their chances on the slope rather than being pinned in the canyon.

  Howie called again. “Cole, Artian just talked to another group that confirms Beth went through the gate just before the occlusion. Some people aren’t believing us about the monsters. They think it’s a scam of some sort.”

  “A scam to do what?” asked Cole.

  “Dunno. Rob them or get them to fight the boss for us or something. But some people are taking it serious enough to set up a perimeter.”

  That was good. But Beth pressing on ahead? Why on Earth would she do something that reckless? She could have waited here with the rest of them. He thought back to the briefing, of the low survival chance for kids that got taken to Babel. Maybe she didn’t know what the mist gate meant. Maybe the group she was with had forced her to go through. Plenty enough dirtbags who would take advantage of a teenage girl.

  Down on the slope, several of the climber teams who had decided to leave the plateau stopped as further below, teams of climbers came into view sprinting full tilt up the mountain. Cole watched through his aperture sight as they shouted something up at the descending parties, causing them all to turn, running back up the hill. Further down-slope, he squinted at what looked like an avalanche of rocks flowing up-hill out of the steam. Then he realized they were beasts. Dozens of apes, reptiles, and some too alien to label climbed across the rocks, faster than he’d seen them before. They rolled across the slowest of the teams, barely slowing as the monsters tore them to pieces and moved on.

  Cole’s heart began to quicken. Out of the mists behind the horde of apes, three figures in red and white robes floated through the air, surrounded by a mirage of warping air and ragged glowing runes that seemed to spur the apes on, as if they were desperate to get away from what they recognized as the superior predator. The beast cult mages were causing a stampede, funneling every monster on the mountain straight up into the choke point.

  “Fuck,” said Cole. “Exit’s closed. A hundred-plus monsters are about to swarm this plateau, and they’re being driven by the Beast-Cult mages.” He pushed himself up and slid back down to the base of the plateau. As if the swarming apes weren’t bad enough. The animal-headed assholes were whipping them into an even greater frenzy. And their armored warriors would no-doubt be close behind to mop up any survivors. “Meet at the gate. Looks like we’re the clear team, now, and if we don’t open the door, every person in this basin is mincemeat in the next twenty minutes.”

  He pushed through the throng of challengers flooding into the mouth of the caldera to look down at the impending doom. Some of the teams were already organizing defensive lines and getting mages and archers onto elevated positions. Not such a scam now, was it?

  Cole found the rest of his team assembled just before the wall of golden mist spanning the narrow chasm leading deeper into the caldera. Artian was with them. It looked like at least two other teams had had the same thought as him and were girding themselves to take their chances with whatever lay on the other side of the golden mist but not wanting to be the firsts through.

  “Still feeling like your best odds are with us?” Cole asked Artian.

  The man chuckled nervously, fingering the string on his bow. “You do seem to attract trouble of the highest order, Sir Cole.”

  “Yeah. But at least we’re never boring,” he replied.

  “Aye.” He sighed. “Aye, you’ve got me there.”