Taboo Online

Kellan looked from the cracked reservoir to the hostile markers closing in behind them. "You make survival sound almost manageable."

"I didn’t say it was," Rhea replied.

The black seal filled most of the chamber floor. Now that Rhea knew what to look for, four thick binding wedges stood out along its outer ring, each driven through the black metal and into the ancient silver stone below.

She stepped onto the edge of the seal. Blue light passed through the remaining panels of her shield, and a system window opened across her vision.

[Sanctuary Warden detected.]

[Native Forge authority remains obstructed.]

[Break the four hostile binding wards to begin seal removal.]

Three narrow silver channels appeared beneath the floor. They ran from the seal toward vents built into the lower walls, though grime, black plating, and modern cables had hidden most of them from view. Her class recognized the channels as part of the Forge’s old purge system.

"If we wake those first, they should pull some of the corruption away from us," Rhea said.

Kellan followed the channels toward a control frame beside the reservoir. Much of its ancient silver surface had been buried beneath a modern power box and several branded switches.

"So I’m the battery."

"A careful battery."

"You could’ve led with that."

Gunfire echoed from the passage behind them. Dorian moved toward the entrance with the broken mace shaft in both hands, and the bronze circle beneath his boots spread until it filled the narrow corridor.

"They’re here."

Rhea pointed toward the passage. "Keep the corridor shut. If your circle moves, we lose the room."

Dorian nodded and settled into position.

Iris stayed beside Kellan with one hand hovering near the golden anchor attached to his injured thigh. Her other two lifelines stretched away from her. One disappeared into the corridor behind them, where it kept the wounded defender alive inside Rhea’s Sanctuary, while the second remained wrapped around Rhea’s ribs and upper arm.

Rhea looked down at the golden light surrounding her. "Let mine go."

Iris stared at her. "You’re already bleeding through the armor."

"Dorian’s about to need it more than I do."

"If the corruption severs the link, I may not be able to attach it again."

"Then make the next choice quickly."

Iris’s jaw tightened, but she closed her hand around the glowing thread. The light loosened from Rhea’s body and withdrew into the anchor floating beside her.

Pain sharpened beneath Rhea’s ribs, and blood began seeping through the broken plate on her upper arm. She flexed her fingers despite it and raised the shield.

"One free lifeline," Iris said. "I’ll keep it ready."

The first operator entered the passage with his rifle raised. Dorian turned the broken shaft across his body and caught the barrel before the man could fire, then drove the metal end into the operator’s chest and shoved him backward into the people behind him.

Two corrupted elves climbed over the fallen bodies. Their brands flashed in time with the black seal as Dorian struck the first across the jaw, turned the shaft, and blocked the hooked fingers of the second. Bronze light passed through the impact and spread toward the brand along the elf’s spine, making the creature gasp when it reached the black mark.

"Nothing past you," Rhea called.

"It won’t."

Kellan limped toward the ancient control frame. The golden anchor around his thigh tightened with every step and held the damaged muscle together, though it could not make the leg reliable.

He placed one hand against the silver surface and immediately jerked it away when black sparks bit into his palm.

"It bit me."

"Stop introducing yourself and turn it on."

Kellan gave her a look, then planted both hands against the silver.

Rhea drove the lower edge of her shield into the first binding ward. Blue light burst across the black metal, and although the wedge bent, it remained lodged in the floor.

The second blow snapped it, sending a heavy pulse through the entire seal and into the stone beneath her boots.

[One hostile binding ward destroyed.]

Inside the glass reservoir, several long shapes pressed against the surface before sinking back into the black mass.

Iris watched the cracks spread. "Every ward is making that reservoir worse."

"Yes."

"I was hoping the plan would sound better when one of us said it aloud."

Another burst of gunfire struck Dorian’s bronze circle. The bullets slowed as they crossed the light, giving him time to knock one aside with the broken shaft, but the second round cut across his side.

He stayed upright and caught the next corrupted elf by the wrist when it lunged through the passage. After dragging it into the circle, he held its claws away from his throat while the black veins covering its body twisted beneath the bronze light.

The elf opened its mouth. "Help me."

Dorian’s expression tightened. Rather than strike its head, he drove the broken shaft into the brand along its spine.

Bronze light cracked the black mark, and the elf collapsed at his feet, still breathing. More enemies filled the passage behind it, forcing Dorian to step over the fallen body and raise his weapon again.

At the control frame, Kellan sent a weak pulse of lightning through the ancient silver beneath the branded casing. The machine answered with a dull chime, and one of the three channels under the floor brightened.

"Again," Rhea said.

"That went through my jaw."

"You’re conscious enough to complain."

"A reassuring benchmark."

Rhea slammed her shield into the second ward. The damaged panel near her shoulder cracked farther, but the wedge tore free and skidded across the floor.

[Two hostile binding wards destroyed.]

One side of the black seal lifted slightly, allowing corruption to leak through the opening in narrow streams. It crept across the silver stone until two shield panels folded around the gap at Rhea’s command.

Blue light trapped the corruption between them and burned it away before it could reach Iris.

"Pick up the pace."

Kellan sent another controlled pulse into the frame. The second channel lit, followed by half of the third, but black symbols spread over the modern casing and fought the current.

As he pushed harder, his injured leg began to shake and the anchor around his thigh flashed in warning.

Iris touched his shoulder. "You’re pulling against the anchor. If that muscle tears again, I can’t rebuild it."

"Then how do I get through this?"

"Stop treating it like a locked door."

"Most doors eventually respect enough lightning."

"This one needs precision."

He gave her an irritated look, but the charge around his hands weakened.

At the passage, Dorian blocked another operator and drove him into the wall. A copper wire snapped through the opening and wrapped around the broken mace shaft.

Somewhere beyond the smoke, the woman they had thrown through the control frame pulled hard. The weapon jerked toward the corridor, but Rhea detached one shield panel and sent it past Dorian, cutting through the wire with its blue edge.

The loose end fell across the bronze circle.

Kellan glanced toward the smoke. "I thought we threw her harder than that."

"Apparently not."

"Disappointing."

The third binding ward sat beneath the largest bundle of cables. Reaching it would force Rhea to cross directly in front of the passage, but Dorian saw where she was looking.

"Take it. I’ll close behind you."

"You won’t have cover."

"I have the line."

The bronze circle beneath him flared as he tightened his grip on the broken weapon.

Rhea crossed behind him, turned her shield sideways, and rammed the third ward with her full weight. The wedge tore halfway out of the floor before a rifle round struck the back of her armor and dropped her onto one knee.

Iris started toward her, but Rhea immediately raised a hand.

"Save it."

Planting one boot beside the damaged ward, she caught its edge between two shield panels and ripped it free.

[Three hostile binding wards destroyed.]

A crack split the reservoir from top to bottom. Black corruption sprayed through the opening and struck the wall in a smoking line, while the glass bowed outward under the pressure of the shapes trapped inside.