Azimuth: The Elden Throne

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The experience of traversing the gate was a strange one, bizarre even.

Dale felt his body be stretched and pulled in all directions, outward or inward as it crossed the film, as if invisible hands were competing with each to get ahold of him.

... Before it went back to normal once he arrived at the other side.

The experience was so unusual and momentary that he believed it to have been some sort of misunderstanding on his part, that those feelings were only tricks of his mind…

But his desire to puke was very real… Although he held that in once he arrived at the other side.

Looking back, he saw that there was indeed a gate like the one before embedded onto the wall, but it didn't contain any sort of film like the other, in a sense, it was like a deactivated gate.

But as he risked himself by reaching out with his hand, he did feel something different about the air around the gate, there was something there, it was pushing him away but it was too weak to do so.

Like they said, it was a one way trip.

Either way, nothing happened apart from that.

"Phew…"

/Inhale…/

Turning around, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

The air, the smells, the sounds, everything had changed all at once, contributing to his growing confusion.

Even if his rationale had already processed this situation, but his body hadn't, it was very much confused and it was starting to make him dizzy.

'It's… Hot.' He thought to himself as he felt the heat of the room

While the previous Tower was cold and damp, this place was like a greenhouse.

Heat… Dryness…

Dale felt as if he was below the shades of an umbrella by the beach…

But without the beach part.

"Is this the Mage's Tower?" He asked himself as he looked around

'Not really as magical as I've imagined.'

A dark and silent room stood in front of him, almost a mirror reflection of the hangar on the other side of the Portal.

It was large and spacious like the latter, but it reeked of mold and still air instead of rust and iron, making Dale concerned if this air was even suitable to be breathed.

He seemed fine as no notifications played by his ears, but he didn't wish to play around with fire and wait until he caught some strange disease.

So he moved with haste.

He could see several abandoned items lying around, boxes, and whatnot, together with a thin layer of sand that seemed to cover the entire floor.

This room obviously had to be as large as what was on the other side of the portal, otherwise, what would be the point of it being so large?

In the past, large machinery or supplies likely passed through here, Dale could envision the bodies of large creatures being shipped through the gates to the Mages to research and transform into something more useful for the soldiers.

Perhaps some of the accessories he wore had originated from here.

While the sand likely originated from the desert aboveground… Or just outside, Dale didn't know if he was underground or not, to be honest, he only knew that the Mage tower stood further North, beyond Resko.

When it was built, the Tower was still within the Forest, a landmark for all travelers that they had entered the territory of the Southern Corps, now, it's in the middle of an arid desert, perhaps even buried in sand…

/Shine…/

Faint light emanated from the ceiling, long squarish crystal lanterns as Sarferato told him, made with a luminescent material that produced light on its own for decades.

Albeit now it was fainter than even a dying lamp back on modern Earth.

Dale found them rather interesting, they likely produced light through a chemical reaction, but he hoped they weren't radioactive...

/Dash!/

Dale quickly dashed to the side as he confirmed his surroundings to be free of any dangers, seeing a terminal covered in a finger-thick layer of dust, some parts of it seemed even solid.

Still, it was less dust then he imagined, a result of this place being sealed for so long.

With a pensive expression, Dale started by removing the layer of dust which came off rather easily like a blanket of some sort.

This revealed a dirty terminal, one exactly like the one on the other side.

"So I need to put this here?" He asked out loud as he took something from his inventory, a brilliant gem that had been perfectly cut to look like a perfect large diamond

(Image? If you're reading this as the Privilege chap, I'm sorry, because I actually can't post images even through the app...)

There was a small compartment where something could be placed, according to the scientist he talked with, the socket was meant as a form of emergency coordination tracker in case the connection between the Core somewhere in this tower and the other regions failed for any reason.

By placing it there, it would boost the connection and also power the terminal and the surroundings even if only for a few days or even just hours before it eventually depleted, which was more than enough for what they needed.

Dale was still worried about the air, but they could solve that rather easily, worst came to worse, he would blast the entire ceiling with Caladgolg.

"... Damn… Just… Get in, dammit!" Dale exclaimed with a frown as he looked at the terminal

/Click!/

It was a bit hard due to the debris and dust that accumulated within, but Dale successfully managed to lodge the key into the terminal after cleaning it off multiple times.

/Shine!/

And like magic, the terminal lit up with bluish light, together with many other contraptions in the room.

He even started to feel a faint wind current in the air as it was sucked out of the room and replaced with hotter but more breathable air.

The only problem was that if this was kept that way, soon enough this place would be turned into a sauna.

/BZZZ!/

"Guess it worked… Then…"

As the terminal and the surroundings came to life, Dale turned his head to the terminal, trying to make head or tails of what he was looking at.

He needed to press a few buttons here and there to send a message back to the Bunker so everyone understood it was safe to progress.

"Here… And here to specify which… Pull this lever to send…"

"Ohoho?! You jumped a step there young man, if you do it like that the only person that'll receive that message will be the insects…"

"HAA?!"

Just when Dale's focus reached the pinnacle of his focus, the shadow of a tall figure materialized next to him, causing him to jump up in reflex as he exclaimed loudly.

/BAM!/

Unfortunately, he ended up hitting his head on the ceiling due to his leg strength, causing a sea of dust to casket upon his shoulders and the ground, leaving a small dent.

"!"

The moment he fell onto the ground, Dale immediately repositioned himself, holding his spear with his two hands as he crouched on the ground, pointing it upwards to the terminal.

But no one was there.

"You have great Physical Strength, and I recognize that stance, Basic Spearmanship taught during simple exercises…"

/FWOOSH!/

Dale turned around once more, but there was nothing there.

"... Meant to help the soldier get used to wearing armor and moving within it while also training the muscles that will eventually be used for more complex techniques."

He turned his head once more, looking at the terminal, and for a moment, he saw something there before it vanished.

Whatever it was, it was toying with him.

"Albeit… Not exactly meant for combat though." The voice proclaimed, this time, behind Dale

/FWOOSH!/

One last time, Dale turned around, meeting face to face with a tall humanoid creature!

Thick arms and a thick body, it was unnatural and even artificial…

It's skin looked rough and shinny, even a bit cracked and dusty...

Was it made out of metal?

/Shine…/

Unconsciously, Dale's body grew colorful as he started to gather his energy as he prepared to attack…

"Impressive, you mustn't be beyond 20 and yet, you're already like this." The metallic creature said as it stared at him

"But I can't let you go rampant like that, just thinking about the potential damages irks me, what can I even do about the ceiling?" It said with a tint of annoyance

/Rise…/

/FLASH!/

The creature raised its arm and it flashed before Dale even had the time to react.

[DING!]

And before he knew it, a notification played by his ears:

[Your Status has been partially locked]

"?!"

As a wave of weakness spread through him coming from within, Dale fell to the ground with one knee, trying his best to stand up but being unable to...

His body simply did not respond to him.

"Let's see... You were trying to contact one of the Pylon Outposts... Why?... Aha!" The creature said as it approached the terminal after Dale fell

"I see... You have a group, but how big, hum?"

/FWOOSH!/ .

Suddenly, a massive object pierced the air behind the construct, threatening to skewer it from one end to the other.

/Grab.../

"?!"

But much to Dale's overwhelming disappointment and even a tinge of fear, the creature just raised one of its arms, stopping Caladgolg in the air.

No... It was more as if it had been slowed down to a halt.

Caladgolg still moved, the connection was still there, it was just extremely slow to reply.

"You're very unusual, the wielder of Caladgolg, for centuries, the Corps remained without one but then you appear after it's collapse"

"How utterly baffling, it's even a bit regretful."

"Looking at you and the state of your armor, the surroundings, and even the systems of this tower, I can imagine how things must be outside."

"You should've been taught how to wield it properly, not to throw it away like this... Alas..."

The creature turned back to the terminal, seemingly done with Dale as it continued to tweak with the machine.

"..."

'What is that? Artificial life? Some sort of Arcane experiment that survived a century buried in this tower?'

'A Golem? An autonomous one or one controlled by someone else?'

Multiple ideas passed through Dale's mind as he thought of a way to break out of this predicament.

And finally, amidst everything he knew, one solution came to mind.

/Badum.../

From the center of his heart, something ignited.

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Notes

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