Chapter 522 - 521: Righteous Reinforcements

Chapter 522: Chapter 521: Righteous Reinforcements

Colin stopped him. "Wait, let me cast [Intelligent Barrier] on you first. That way, the Aboleth’s dominating Spiritual Energy won’t affect you."

"I’ll go with you," Kase chimed in.

"No need. It’s easier for me to escape alone." Dorn stood and strode quickly toward the exit. "The Aboleth’s Spiritual Energy can’t do anything to me. Don’t waste your energy, Colin."

With that, he pushed open the main door and walked right out.

Once Dorn was gone, Donkexes said, "Don’t worry. He’s a mix of Gray Dwarf and Dwarf, and he lived in a city of Gray Dwarves for over sixty years. He’s even fought against Mind Flayers. Spiritual Energy really can’t touch him."

At these words, everyone except Colin was stunned.

Kase asked in surprise, "He’s one of those Duergar, too?"

"Good heavens, I thought Mr. Dorn just looked like one..." Orelia covered her mouth.

Colin wasn’t particularly surprised.

After Dorn had displayed his Spiritual Energy, resisted the Grell’s toxin, and single-handedly killed a Mind Flayer, Colin had his suspicions. He just hadn’t asked directly out of respect for Dorn’s feelings.

’Come to think of it, maybe the Golem attacked Dorn because it identified his Gray Dwarf bloodline. But Durkin never warned us about that.’

Colin thought back carefully.

’When they first met Dorn, he was guarding a gate in the sewers. Then Donkexes shoved him onto their team. And they never gave him any Magic Equipment or anything like that.’

’Thinking about it, Donkexes and the others probably never even considered him one of their own.’

Of course, it was hard to criticize them.

Getting a group of Dwarves to trust a Gray Dwarf was probably as difficult as asking a group of humans to trust a Demon.

Still, now that he knew, Colin figured the team’s attitude toward Dorn wouldn’t change much. After all, none of them were particularly sociable characters.

Colin subconsciously glanced at Ale beside him.

’Dorn wasn’t the only one on the team with secrets.’

’It wasn’t a big deal, as long as no one dropped the ball when it mattered.’

Just as Colin was thinking, Lanser’s voice echoed in his mind. *Hold on, we’re heading your way.*

*Then let’s meet by the river where we parted ways,* Colin replied, Casting a spell to send the message.

Once that was done, he leaned back in his chair and said to Kase, "The Tritons have agreed to support us. We need to head over to the river where we were attacked."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Kase stood up. "Let’s get moving, Colin."

"Not so fast. We need to put up our defenses first."

"Can we go with you, Mr. Colin?" Orelia asked. Ale immediately added, "Their Spiritual Energy can’t control me."

"Alright, let’s all go together then."

After speaking, Colin used Rising Tier Spellcasting to cast [Intelligent Barrier] on himself and Kase.

’Mind-controlling Spiritual Energy is less effective against beings with high Perception,’ Colin thought. ’Orelia can certainly resist it more easily than I can. And if Ale says she’ll be fine, then she most likely has a natural resistance, too.’

Once they were ready, the group pushed open the stone door and stepped out of the armory.

They had traveled this path twice before.

Besides, Kase claimed he never forgot a path he’d walked, so he should be able to lead them to the area around the underground river without any trouble.

As they moved forward, Colin mentally reviewed the information he had just heard.

’According to Langgrin, almost all the other Dwarves had been controlled before they even entered the Divine Hall. That was how the Aboleth could use its victims’ eyes to know their every move.’ 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

’So the Aboleth must have started its attack while they were passing through the upper levels.’

’Those Dwarves weren’t strong, so they had no way of resisting the enemy’s mental control. The Aboleth’s skill with Spiritual Energy was also superior to Dorn’s, which allowed it to find an opening.’

’Then, after controlling a single Dwarf, the Aboleth could track their movements through its puppet’s eyes.’

’Because the party was so large, even with Dorn and Kase there, the entire group couldn’t evade the Aboleth’s tracking. And that’s not to mention they were completely oblivious to the creature’s existence.’

’Once they got close to its lair, the Aboleth could easily use its lair abilities to create illusions and control the Dwarves, picking them off one by one until it had them all.’

At the thought, Colin instinctively glanced around, as if something were still watching them from a dark corner.

But he shouldn’t have to worry about that anymore.

’There were no Aboleth-controlled puppets among them now, so the creature had no way to track their movements.’

As he thought about this, Colin and his party arrived at the beach where they had last parted ways with Lanser.

When they arrived, figures were already visible on the shore.

The Tritons were all male, appearing slightly shorter than humans. Like Lanser, their legs were covered in scales, and they had webbed feet.

They wore an assortment of shells and conches, which offered what was, all in all, protection that was better than nothing.

There were twenty Triton warriors in all.

They carried sharp tridents, with Giant Crossbows made of coral shafts and some sort of animal sinew slung over their backs. At their waists hung bolts made from fish bones.

However, Lanser was not among the Tritons.

As Colin approached, one of the Tritons stepped forward.

He wore a shawl woven from conch shells, and he appeared to be a Triton of high status.

He spoke up. "We are grateful that you rescued Lanser. He is resting in our sanctuary now. I heard there’s a damned sea demon here. Is that true?"

"Not a sea demon, an Aboleth," Colin explained.

The Triton leader said, "A foul creature with several tentacles, three eyes, and the ability to mentally dominate other beings. That is what I’m referring to."

"That’s what I mean, too. We probably just have different names for it. It rules a Kuo-toa settlement and has also taken control of our companions," Colin said. "If you don’t deal with this threat now, you might be attacked by them later."

"We are aware of these creatures’ habits, which is why we have come," he said, extending his right hand. "I am Selan. This is a custom of you surface-dwellers, is it not?"

Colin shook his hand. "I’m glad we can come to an agreement."

"It is a certainty. Centuries ago, our ancestors lived on another plane. They won victory after victory against evil creatures, forcing those foul abominations to flee to the Material Plane.

For the sake of duty and justice, our ancestors bravely pursued them here. As their descendants, we obviously possess that same sense of responsibility and justice."

Selan continued, "I don’t expect you to understand all of this, but you can absolutely try to trust us."

"I am grateful for your dedication," Colin nodded.

’The few books that mentioned Tritons stated that most of them loved to emphasize these facts when first meeting surface-dwellers.’

’On this point, many scholars had left comments to the effect of, "not unlike arrogant Elves."’

’Still, if what the Tritons said was true, their past was indeed glorious and worthy of their pride.’

Colin spoke up, "We have a base nearby. May I invite you there to hear our plan, Selan?"