บท 788: Cinderspire Citadel
After talking to the guide, Hera got ready, and the entire party went back to the Alliance Center just to confirm they had completed their mission. Thankfully, everything worked well; the horn was larger than they needed, and with their time frame, everyone could take the antidote. Milla also had prepared a route for them to take to the room where the rampage was going to happen. It was a place called Cinderspire Citadel, and according to the information they got, things would be very weird depending on where they were stationed. If they joined the group defending Hearthome, the residential city, it would be a standard affair with monsters coming from all directions and the people there working in shifts to protect it. The defense would be a mess if they stayed in the Core Spire.
For now, Milla didn't explain what that meant. The important part was for them to reach that room, and if they were assigned to the Core Spire, then they would be briefed about the entire situation. Their supporter was working to organize everything she could about the room and would send them a message with the details as soon as she could.
The team left the city and followed the route Milla had given to them. Unfortunately, having the option for Livy to carry them across the water wouldn't help in this situation. They had to move on foot through most of the trip. Everyone was focused on moving quickly, which meant the playfulness was at an all-time low. There was one more thing they had to figure out. Who was going to join the efforts to face the new prison/lab the Alliance had discovered. Hera, Neria, Skyler, and Roan already had confirmed they wanted to help, leaving only Flint and Vash to decide. They had to do so before they started the rampage. Those things could last a while, and the pattern that was happening was weird. The last five rampages in the Cinderspire Citadel had increasingly shorter durations, with the last one ending in just two days. If the pattern continued, it would be over in a day. If not, the rampage might last for a week, if not even more.
Because of all that, Typhera and the other Alliance leaders asked to let them know whether Hera's team was going to be a part of that operation before they were cut off. That way, they could consider them for the planning or not. There was also a slim possibility that something forced their hand, and the operation had to be pushed forward. However, due to the sensitive nature of the situation, they were hoping to be able to have as thorough a plan as possible.
The path to the rampage room was easy, just tiresome. First, they left the city in the Gallery Pathway, heading north until reaching a room called Zenith's Cradle, a small archipelago of floating islands in a sea of clouds. The place was beautiful but very small and dangerous. Strong winds attempted to push them from the edges of the isles, which would send anyone who couldn't fly tumbling to their death. To add to the struggle, there were several kinds of man-eating plants all around the place and a gigantic butterfly that patrolled the entire room. They moved stealthily and quickly through it, having just a couple of fights in the path before reaching the next doorway. One that would lead them to a room called 'Fractured Moonlight,' a strange place where the ground had a unique reflective property that made it seem like the moonlight was always covering the area, even in the middle of the day. In the middle of those light-up chunks of rock, there were cracks and scars, splitting the fields. There weren't that many monsters around, and most would only come out at night, but the biggest issue for the room was the actual travel. It was easy to get confused when moving in a place like this, and the strange light would play tricks in everyone's minds.
Yet, after a few hours of walking, they reached the final doorway, leading to the Cinderspire Citadel, the room in the 13th layer where monsters would be from levels 37-40. It was a bit above Hera's current level, but she felt confident she could handle herself.
Just as they crossed, a few people who were in charge of meeting the cavalry greeted them and pointed them to their assigned station. Hera's team would be helping protect the Core Spire, which was completely predictable for the Empress. She never got the easy jobs, even when she tried to get them. As they moved to the city proper, Flint and Vash sent a message to Milla. They had decided to participate in the operation. What the guild was doing made both of them very angry, and they decided they could contribute to the situation. Flint got the right blueprints for a few tools he was worried about, and Vash decided that if there were people stuck there, they might need someone to lift their spirits after they were rescued. Additionally, he understood sound very well, and that could potentially help them during any stealth mission.
The Cinderspire Citadel was a volcanic room. In its center, there was a large active volcano that never exploded, but the hot magma flowed constantly inside the caldera that was 3 kilometers wide. Around it was a field of cooled off lava with a few patches of fire or heat elemental plants growing here and there. To the east was a large city where thousands of people lived. It was called Hearthome, and there were several enchantments all around its walls to protect those who lived inside from the heat and the fumes. But the biggest landmark of the room was the spire that gave it its name. The Cinderspire was a massive obsidian tower rising from the middle of the volcano. It started deep underground, below the magma, and rose up into the sky until it vanished into the black clouds created by the ash and soot that was constantly being created by the caldera. Inside the spire was a complicated network of tunnels and caves covering not just its 500-meter radius but also another 100-meter radius on its outer perimeter. At the very center of the spire was a waterfall of lava that was constantly flowing. Nothing and no one was ever able to figure out where that magma came from or how it moved that way. Much less why people could get closer to that inside the spire and not be hurt. Unless they actually tried to touch it. The center of the spire was an unstoppable force of nature. A marvel that seemed to exist here since the beginning of time and would stay there until the end of everything.
The city of Core Spire was located in the actual center of the spire. The power stations used the magma to generate electricity. That waterfall of lava was also used for vertical farms. Taking advantage of the rich soil of a volcano, together with the constant light coming from the melted rock, created an environment where the crops not only would grow but thrive. Despite the benefits, rampages here were particularly dangerous. Monsters would come from both above and below and even from outside of the spire. Even worse, it was common for a rampage quest to be created where a group of monsters tried to stop the flow of the magma waterfall. They would be able to halt its progress for a while, and when that meat damn broke, every floor below would be flooded by lava.
The last time that happened was decades ago, and the entire Core Spire had to be rebuilt. The problem was that if this were to happen now, the Alliance wouldn't have the resources to rebuild the place while the war raged on. It wasn't a small room by any means, the Zenith Archipelago being at least 10 times smaller, but even so, the diversity of monsters in the room was staggering.
Cloudwing Striders, agile avian creatures with razor-sharp talons and the ability to control lightning strikes. Glimmering automatons called Magma Constructs guard the spire's core, utilizing beams of focused heat as their primary weapon. On the lower floors, shadowy figures known as Void Weavers lurk, manipulating darkness to steal memories and emotions. Beneath the city, in the caves and tunnels of the spire, dwell Gloom Bats, monstrous chimeras with bat wings and spider-like bodies that feed on bioluminescent flora. In the highest floors, nests of Cloud Serpents, serpentine creatures wreathed in ash and lightning watch over the room. Magma Crawlers, hulking creatures with molten rock armor and claws that drip burning ichor. The ashen skies above were patrolled by Ember Wyverns, winged beasts with fiery breath and feathers that smolder like embers. And within the volcano's core, in the middle of the caldera lurks the Forge Lord, a colossal being of living magma, its every movement causing tremors and small eruptions. And that was just to name a few of the monsters who lived in the room. There were a number of others who would not only come in their own packs but be mixed with others.
The big advantage they would have here was an extremely wide and all-encompassing network of surveillance cameras along with an announcement system that could create a 'mock system' window in front of anyone who was around it. Thanks to that, people wouldn't need to memorize everything about every monster. For now, Hera's team was already being guided to the entrance of the Core Spire. The doorway that took them here was in the middle of the obsidian tower that existed in the center of the volcano, but to reach the city, they would have to follow a path on the outside of the spire. A long incline that spiraled around the structure until the were closer to the top. If Nimbus was around, he could just take Hera up in a few minutes, but without him, the trek took a while. As soon as they arrived, they were led to the command center of the area. The Core Spire was a city where all houses and buildings were carved out of the obsidian and the dark rock that surrounded the place. People were very careful when building the place. Any sharp edge was made from the cooled lava, while the smooth surfaces were carved from the actual obsidian. Due to this unique formation, there were a number of traps spread around the tunnels. Any monster or person who wasn't careful while moving around would easily get injured by the spikes and jagged edges that were intentionally left alone.
The vertical farms were located on the outer ring of the spire in a few of the more open chambers, which allowed people to see the entire extension of the tower. A small handful of those plantations also had openings to the outside. That was a very problematic weak spot for the rampage, even with the blast shields that would be lowered to protect the area. Any monster who managed to break through those defenses would be in the heart of the city. On the other hand, the power plant was located in one of the most well-guarded locations in the entire room. The lava waterfall was the main source of electricity, and thanks to a chamber where that molten rock would gather in a pool before finding the next opening, it was virtually impossible for anyone to attack that building without dying before reaching it.
Unlike other rampages Hera participated in, the defenders could stay in a proper hotel here. One that was evacuated as soon as people became aware of the danger. Still, it wouldn't be a luxurious bedroom. Those who worked here lived in Hearthome but would spend a few days up in the Core Spire during their shifts using the houses provided by the company that owned the power plant or the farms. A hotel wasn't high on their list of priorities and would generally only be used by inspectors, people who came to do some specialized maintenance, or those who came to give training about something new to the current employees.
Thankfully, Hera and her team wouldn't be taking the first shift. After all, they just spent around 17 hours traveling, almost without rest. They had the right to be placed in the last part of the rotation. That way, they could sleep and rest, and when they woke up, they would head out to defend the city from the onslaught of monsters.
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