Chapter 36: Golem vs. Cat

  Marcus got up in the morning and felt refreshed. He met the rest of the small team in the kitchen eating breakfast. Nobody mentioned last night and Marcus was thankful for it. “How about that sparring you promised?” Achara was already in gear and went to the training room.

  Marcus finished his cereals (with lots of chocolate pieces and extra milk) and quickly got into his armor. Janette and Kou were also in the room, both going after their own daily routines. Kou was meditating and a small bowl with water floated in front of him while Janette was cleaning her rifle. Of course they could have done that somewhere else but they did not want to miss the fight.

  Marcus went through his warm up routine and Achara performed some movements and quick invisibility switches. Marcus could already tell this would be a nightmare for him.

  They both got into position and Achara held two short swords now. The fight started as she vanished, Marcus tried to stay cool but a second later something hid his back painfully. “Ouch!” Achara exclaimed. Marcus turned and she was shaking her wrist. “Shouldn’t I say this?” Marcus back hurt and it felt like she stabbed him hard. “I didn’t go full power but you are as hard as rock.” Achara said and Janette fell to the ground laughing. “THAT is what SHE said!”

  Achara ignored the stupid teenager in the room and looked at her wrist “Just cutting you down bit by bit is out of the window, I need to hit your weak points.” she nodded to herself and vanished. Marcus slowly turned, changing his direction from time to time. Achara struck again, a blade cut over his flank and left no real damage. Marcus made a swiping motion and Achara dodged and vanished a moment later. Marcus quickly stepped forwards and swung both his arms in a wide motion. His fingertips touched something and Achara appeared while steeping back. He tried to reach her but she vanished again.

  They tried to hit each other but it turned out the same every time. Achara failed to deal real damage and Marcus could not catch her. “Alright, we can not win unless the other makes a fatal mistake. How is your endurance holding up Achara? Marcus asked. “Maybe five more minutes like this and I’m beat.” she said and Marcus nodded “So, currently I would win a war of attrition. Things might change once you get your second ability and become even faster with your vanishing act.”

  “What is her second ability?” Janette asked. Marcus turned and removed his helmet. “Phase Shift, she can then move through objects while invisible, but it eats endurance like mad I have heard.” Marcus said and Achara agreed. “But it was exactly this that made me consider this new approach. In theory, if I can master it, I can quickly phase through enemy attacks and deliver deadly counters.” Marcus was actually impressed about her martial abilities but Achara had explained she had been originally a melee fighter because her family was involved in martial arts.

  “My dad has a training hall and like my brothers I learned to fight from early on.” She said with a smile and Kou looked at her with deep admiration. “I think you should hold on to your gun anyway. With your ability you have a lot of freedom to choose the distance to your target. And a full clip of armor piercing bullets in the head would take out even this pile of rock.” Janette pointed at Marcus. And Marcus had to admit, right now, there was nothing he could do about that.

  Suddenly Marcus found himself floating in the air. Without his doing he turned on the head. “I can beat Marcus.” Kou said with a small smile. Janette was about to say something but then left Kou this little victory, Achara smiled at Kou and Janette was not heartless. Kou lost his concentration for a second and Marcus fell on his head. Janette laughed and Kou apologized several times to Marcus.

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  But Marcus just lay their for a moment. “Don’t disturb him! That is his thinking face.” Janette said with a wicked grin on her face. Marcus got up and ignored Janette.

  “Can you do that again?” Marcus asked the perplexed Kou. And so they did and Marcus held his head in pain. “And again please, higher if possible.” Kou let him drop with a worried look on his face. Thud, but Marcus got up a second later looking happy. “It does hurt less. If I have Anchor running full power, it hurts less if I fall.” That was unexpected.

  Next, Marcus jumped out of the window on the third floor. People were watching with open mouths as he landed and shouted “This is AWESOME.” He had never tried falling with Anchor, why even?

  The impact was not fully gone but it was lessened by a lot. He tried with the fifth floor too and it hurt somewhat but his vitality cleaned that up in seconds. “That is an amazing upside for Anchor, falling damage is a main problem even for high level class holders.” Kou said. “But why does it work that way?” Kou asked but Marcus had no idea. Until now he had thought of Anchor as something that stops him from being moved but there was more to it, obviously.

  With this the morning was over and they met with the scientists and discussed the mission. The target structure was under a mountain about 500 km from the portal. They would need several days to get to the area and then planed one or more dives each two to three days long. In theory.

  “The reality is, ruin diving is dangerous and full of surprises. Things might turn out vastly different once we are there. We also have to carry a lot of supplies and gear.” Kou had been researching the topic. “There could be a whole lot of nothing, monsters, unstable corridors, flooded rooms or a treasure beyond imagination.” He finished his talk leaving everybody with mixed feelings.

  They prepared for the journey and they had the whole giant bus just for seven people. Provisions for over three weeks, special gear and personal items filled most of it but there was still a lot of space. The journey at least would be relaxing. In the evening before the start, Janette appeared at Marcus’ door with an annoyed look and put her phone into his hand. Cherry greeted him over video call, while Janette walked back to her room. Marcus took the phone inside and said hello to Cherry, the connection was bad. “Marcus, Janette told me what you are doing…” Cherry looked deadly serious. Marcus could count one and one together and knew what this was about. “She can be reckless and it is the first time on a different planet and you are ruin diving. If things were different I would be right next to you right now.” There was frustration in her voice and her eyes were full of worry. “We will be careful and Janette is very responsible on the job.” Marcus said with a firm voice. After a short chat Cherry seemed satisfied and Marcus returned the phone.

  “You two done treating me like a child?” Janette said, lying on her bed and kicking the wall with her feet. “I told her you are a pro and she does not need to worry.” Marcus sat down on the bed. “And you believe that?” Janette asked and stopped kicking. “You remember the ork Blood Knight?” Marcus answered with another question. “Give her time. The more she sees how capable you are, the less she will worry.”, he said and Janette exhaled hard.

  The next morning started early and the bus rolled out as the sun just started to peek over the horizon. When they passed the portal Janette was deeply disappointed. “It should at least tingle on the skin or make a funny sound. How can going through a portal feel like absolute nothing?” At least the different planet satisfied her, she made plenty of pictures for Cherry and Marcus discussed wormhole mechanics with Kou and the scientists. “You see, according to the newest findings, the actual wormhole is nearly infinitely thin that allows you to stand with one leg on two planets.” Marcus explained feeling wonderfully nerdy.

  They slowly made their way north with Kou at the wheel (Janette was banned from driving by Marcus’ order). It was mainly a slow, boring trip. The area was barren with little vegetation or animals. The mountain in the distance rose over time and on the second day they finally reached their goal. A mountain that looked not much different than the rest but seismographic tests had revealed a structure underneath. About at half of the mountain height was a series of caves that should connect to the network of tunnels and rooms.

  They went as close as possible with the bus and parked in a protected spot besides large boulders. The team gathered all equipment and provisions for a three days trip (+emergency) and started the climb. The surface was rough and not too hard to walk on, the trained class holders would have been faster but they did not want to leave the scientists behind. An hour later they reached the entrance of a large cave. “This should be it. About 150 meter in should the artificial structure start.” Carmen said reading a map.

  “Guys, how likely is it, that there is a cave troll in here?”, Janette said and lifted her weapon “I think, I just saw something move.”.