Chapter 1268: Lord's Glory
Tavza tapped the eroded wall again, prompting a dark ripple to pass through the stone. It was gone as quickly as it appeared, though specks were trapped by the lingering spirituality. She studied the incomplete tapestry and wrote down notes in her small journal. The stubborn spots faded soon after, at which point Tavza took out an ancient tome.
She was certain they were dealing with [Lord's Glory], though an enterprising Array Master had combined the battlement array with something else. After two days of searching, she'd finally found the final pieces of the puzzle on a piece of debris. Tavza's heart beat faster at the rush of uncovering another secret that was hidden in plain sight. The answers would only come to those who'd taken the time to learn the universal language of decay and time.
Tavza took out an ancient tome, flipping the pages to an image matching the crude blueprint she'd drawn in her notes. It was a [Twelve Day Reversal] array. To think they'd fused a Nature-attuned repair array with the defenses of a stone fortress. Was it lacking understanding? No, it had to be an act of desperation.
Turning walls into living stone that could recover on its own would greatly add to their resilience. Until it began to mutate. They'd understood as much, judging by the installed safeguards meant to delay the inevitable. The ancients did what they had to survive another day. It made Tavza's life harder, but it wasn't like the desperate warriors of the Limitless Empire had any obligation to consider her difficulties.
Tavza spent the next twenty minutes finalizing her schematic. The excitement of solving another puzzle let her forget her torment until a sudden movement triggered waves of agony. She couldn't prevent the slight gasp as she fought back against the growing waves of pain. Uroso Kavriel instinctively reached out to stabilize her, but his hand froze midway from the cold stares trained on him.
"Let's return," Tavza said.
The five deathsworn wordlessly set out, forming a vanguard that cut down the grabbing stone hands from the twisted walls around them. Tavza couldn't help but marvel at the scene. There really was nothing that could beat ancient ruins when it came to novelty. Where else could you find something like a castle that had become a hivemind homunculus? Only time and coincidence could birth something like this.
It took their group two hours to reach the temporary campsite they'd set up in a stabilized chamber. The living walls couldn't impugn on the small sanctuary, though standing inside felt like being stared at by hundreds of invisible enemies. The stifled atmosphere was no doubt why Usoro had begged to come along, even if his argument held merit.
The sudden betrayal by more than half the crew aboard the Riversee had left them sorely lacking in personnel. The medical bay had been especially hit, leaving Usoro as their most skilled healing Lich. He had no hope of helping with the problems ailing Tavza, but he could alleviate the pain if it became too much.