The acrid scent of smoke hung heavy in the air, a stark contrast to the usual earthy aroma of the mine. Rey walked through the crowd. He felt a surge of relief that no one was too gravely injured. Despite the chaos, everyone was alive.
" Things could have gotten a lot worse. Good thing no one was too badly hurt." He said heaving a sigh of relief, two figures materialized out of thin air, startling him. Kojo and Eden, their presence as sudden as a thunderclap.
"Don't do that," Rey grumbled, his heart still pounding.
"You should have been able to sense our presence. Your training is still lacking." Eden said.
Rey had a troubled look on his face. He was barely keeping up with his training and Eden spoke as if he'd done all he could.
" Don't tell me he's gonna make me train harder. Does he want me to die?" Rey thought restful remembering the time Eden had paralyzed his muscles and threw him into a pit full of spiked vipers while blindfolded in the dead of night,saying that "A warrior should be able to find a way to turn any situation to his advantage."
How was he going to fight serpents that were as wide as a house and as long as 26 of him combined?
" We'll work on that later." Eden added rousing Rey from his thoughts.
"At least you managed to hold your own. I'll spare you this time." He said turning to the smoldering ruins of the mine.
Rey let out a relieved sigh.
"What happened here?" Kojo asked, his gaze on the smoldering pile of rubble that was once a mine.
"Goblins," Rey replied.
"They infiltrated the mine, though I'm not sure why. If they were after the Mystium, they could have easily extracted some and left. And they took hostages so if they wanted to make any demands we'd have no choice but to oblige in order to save our people.I did notice however that they were particularly interested in a room on the lower levels, sealed with wind magic. It was breached during the fight, leading to the explosion."
" So you're the one who blew up the mine?" Eden asked glaring at him.
" No,no it's not like that." Rey said quickly waving his hands Infront of him.
" I managed to take down all the intruders while the miners evacuated. I didn't think they'd actually blow themselves up."
Kojo's brow furrowed.
"That confirms it. There's only one person who'd have that kind of information on the Iron Fortress.Marconni's the one who leaked information. But why would he destroy it? He could have benefited from it too even with our agreement he'd have made a fortune from marketing alone." Kojo folded his arms and rubbed his chin.
Eden shrugged. "Maybe they weren't trying to destroy it. Perhaps the explosion was an accident, a result of my students' incompetence."
"Sorry," Rey apologized.
" I don't think Rey's at fault. Thier plan was to secretly take over the mine but they didn't count on you and Rey being there at that time. Meaning their plans didn't account for any unforseen variables. But if that's the case,then the best course of action would be to retreat instead of suicide." Kojo said.
" But to the best of my knowledge goblins hate humans so it's understandable if they'd die than be captured by humans." Eden said.
" That may be true but if you think about it,this attack was too well thought out to simply be a hate crime against humanity. I'm sure even they considered the possibility of being caught. If not by unknown factors,them by any security that may have been set up to protect the mine."
Kojo looked at the miners. He overlooked the fact that there was the need for stronger security when he'd drawn up the plan for a new mine. He'd been so content with unity that he forgot about them be attacked by something external.
( Hey, now's not the time to be pitying yourself. We solve the problem at hand,then you can go cry yourself an ocean. So focus and stop being a wuss.)
Kojo smiled and shook his head. Leave it to Sysia to give a compelling pep talk.
" It is what it is" Kojo mutter r with a shrug.
Rey raised an eyebrow.
Kojo waved him off. "It's fine."
But there is one thing we need to understand." Eden drew their attention.
"Marconni's connection to the goblins. Was he paid to give Information?Was,threatened, or is he actively involved in their schemes? And even on the goblin side, we don't know if this attack was ordered by the Goblin King himself or by a rogue group, Decorum."
Kojo rememberer the drama with Felix.
" No. I'm sure he has a hand in this. Frim recent events ,I can gather that he's to some extent linked to slave trading which means he has a connection to the Continents Underworld. It wouldnt be a reach to say he offered up information for payment though I still think the destruction is the mine is due to misinformation or a transaction gone wrong. That bastard wouldn't pass up the chance to get his grubby hands in more money." Kojo said.
" This is so complicated " Rey sighed, scratching the back of his head.
Kojo thought about it for moment,before finally,it hit him. The reason why they blew up the mine.
It was preplaned.
The three men's senses spiked as they felt the change in the atmosphere.
A strange distortion rippled through the air, followed by the formation of a multi-layered barrier that enveloped them.
Kojo activated his Scan ability to analyze the barrier. His eyes widened in realization.
( This barrier has three fundamental layers. The first layer has Anti-magic to suppress your powers, the second has a Draining effect to sap your remaining arcana, and an Inverted barrier to keep you trapped inside. And these layers are repeated over each other to form the barriers 18 layers.)
"The plan was to isolate me from Ekron," Kojo muttered.
" What?" Rey asked in alarm.
" Their plan was to cause a big enough commotion that would draw me out of the city. Ekron was their target all along." Kojo explainer as the realization dawned on Rey.
A group of armed goblin soldiers materialized within the barrier appearing at all sides. Kojo,Rey and Eden formed a protective triangle with the miners at the center.
" I sense a stable flow from these people. It means they are unaffected by the Anti-magic'd effects.Each layer of this barrier is a prison within a prison. It's designed to wear us down, both physically and magically" Eden pointed out.
" So they don't think they can take us but they want to slow us down while the attack the city." Rey said. " Gotta say I'm both flattered and pissed by that.
Kojo tried contacting Sharone telepathically but the inverted barrier prevented his thoughts from breaching.
" Tch. Damnit." Kojo said in frustration.
Kojo summoned Caliburn and Dragonfang, while Rey and Eden prepared to fight, drawing their weapons .
A burly Goblin wielding a large mace stepped forward,a stupid grin on his dumb looking face.
"Prepare to die, human," a smug goblin taunted, only to have his head severed by a swift strike from Kojo. The other goblins recoiled in surprise.
" Wait,they're supposed to be weakened by the barrier. Why are they still strong?" One of them wondered out loud.
Kojo rested his shortsword on his shoulder
" Lets get one things straight. It's not us trapped here with you," his eyes gave a crimson glow,his aura flaring.
" But you trapped here with us."