“Ranger Verhen, you’ll remain here until the next reset.” Vorgh’s hologram said, making Lith aware that the Living Legacy had kept an eye on him ever since his first visit in Huryole.
Then, the images changed, showing a montage of all his previous visits. The sequence highlighted Lith’s battle tactics, his ability to shapeshift into his Wyrmling form, and cast true magic.
More than a polite introduction it sounded like a threat.
“As for what I’m talking about, I’m offering you to enrol in the final academy, the Golden Griffon.” The man raised his hands and the entire room started to glow with power.
The light coming out of the walls surrounded Lith as if it wanted to seep inside his body, but his enchanted armor and strong mana flow kept it at bay.
“My name is Hystar Sevenus, born from the fusion of the Headmaster of the seventh academy and its very power core. I hope we will get along.” The man said.
“Thanks, but no thanks. Been there, done that. I think it’s better if I leave now.” Lith moved toward the door, but it’s outline disappeared and became one with the wall.
“What’s the rush? There is still plenty of time before the next reset. The gods only know why the King never entrusted me with the power of making it happen at will. I’ve lost so many promising students because of Arthan’s short-sightedness.” Hystar said while making two comfortable chairs appear.
‘Solus?’ Lith refused to sit down. If Huryole worked like his tower, the chair could easily turn out to be a deadly trap.
‘Don’t worry, the corridor is still there and the wall hasn’t changed its thickness. Get ready to move on my mark.’ She thought.
“Why should I accept? This place is a dreadful prison, whereas the entirety of Mogar is up for the taking.” Lith had to keep the conversation going, otherwise his host might activate arrays that would make his escape more difficult.
“As all those who came in the past, dear Verhen, you’re letting fear cloud your judgment. This is no prison, but the birthplace of the final army that will make Arthan’s dream of conquering the entire Garlen continent come true.
“Where others just see a bunch of people forced to become cannibalistic psychopaths, Arthan saw the possibility to create a battlefield where death has no place. Our students can practice their tactics until they perfect or discard them.
“They learn how to distinguish true friends from those who instead would betray them for a bowl of soup. Here there is no such thing as fatal mistakes. You can really learn how to improvise, adapt, and overcome any adversity.
“Your research needs Dragon’s blood? We have a dragon. Even if we bleed him out, he’ll just be reborn. The same stands for Phoenixes, Unicorns, and any rare ingredient you might ever need.
“Here at the Golden Griffon, everyone can make the extreme sacrifice for their country over and over again!” More than a pitch, Hystar’s words sounded like the rant of a madman.
The basic concept was interesting but the total lack of free will to join the experiment or of any safe words to qui it, made Huryole no different from a prison camp used to conduct human experimentation.
“As our guest, I allowed you to pick a few souvenirs. But if you enrol and graduate, I’ll award you with this.” The Headmaster made the image of the Davross Forge appear in front of Lith’s eyes.
“What do you mean, graduate?” Lith licked his lips with a greedy light in his eyes.
“All you have to do is to stay here until the reset, reach the exit, and then escape the pesky arrays that block me here. You’ll be awarded extra points if you deactivate them. Would you be interested in a full suit of dragonscale armor?” Hystar said.
“Well, when you put it this way…”
‘Mark!’ Solus cut Lith short and made the shortest path to the exit appear in front of his eyes.
“Bye!” Lith charged at the point where once the door had been while boosting his armor with mana and activating the Spirit Barrier ring at the same time.
The combined effect of the artifacts turned him into a living battering ram that smashed through the solid stone wall without wasting a single spell.
Lith could always regain mana with Invigoration, whereas weaving new spells would take him time.
“How dare you ruin my school! Come children, lunch is ready!” Hystar sent the living light after Lith while all the doors of the Golden Griffon leading toward the exit opened at the same time, guiding the hunters toward their prey.
The walls of the academy came to life and took the form of golems. Unlike those from Kulah, they were made only of stone. The golems had no head nor neck, their eyes were on their ample chest, making them look like humanoid manta rays.
They were slow, but their number was so great that the moment Lith slowed down, he would be drowned in their stone limbs.
By the time he was out of the girls’ locker room and back into the canteen, Lith finally understood the real meaning of the Headmaster’s last words. The floor was filled with golems and the tables with steaming piles of gruel, probably made from the latest batch of fallen ‘students’.
The stench made Lith turn his nose up to it, but to the rest of the inmates the meal smelled like heaven. All kinds of creatures swarmed from all sides of the academy, following the aroma to the canteen where Lith was fighting for his life.
War cut deep inside the golems’ stone thanks to its enchantments scrambling their defences and allowing Lith to make short work of the golems. After the events of Kulah, Orion had modified his crafting method so that his loved ones would never be cornered by a construct again.
Both Ruin and War were capable of absorbing mana from nearby spells, which included the arrays that animated the golems. War, however, was much more efficient so that the moment it struck a construct, the earth magic that made it impervious to all kinds of damage faltered.
With each slash, the angry blade pierced the golems’ external armor and reached their power cores, turning them into rubble. It would have been an impossible feat if not for Life Vision revealing the weak point to Lith and War allowing him to exploit it.
The bastard sword emitted a screech akin to a battle cry while it absorbed the power core’s lingering energies and made them go haywire. The golem exploded, freeing War and repelling the other assailants without letting a single piece of rock hit Lith.
‘Fuck me sideways. Whoever pissed Orion off this much has better to entrust their soul to the gods, because I’m pretty sure they will soon meet their makers.’ Lith thought while clearing his path toward the exit.
‘I have good news.’ Solus said. ‘Even though each golem you destroy is quickly replaced, their creation is weakening Hystar’s energy signature in both the walls and the light that is chasing us.’
Behind them, the canteen had plunged into chaos. The living fought for the food, the undead fought to eat the living, while the weakest of the prisoner feasted on their fallen colleagues.
Only the constructs kept chasing their prey relentlessly, yet Lith’s situation had become much worse nonetheless.
