And yet, Li had to wonder. "For what reason would Zahaka do this for dwarves, I do wonder. They do not seem to worship her, nor do they seem like people who are particularly given to magic themselves."
"In the First Darkening, all three gods gave liberal gifts to the mortals that stood with them against the demons and the dark, regardless of whether the mortals were their believers or not," said Asala. "Though mortal greed, conflict, and the volatility of time hath lost many of these Godgiven artifacts to the ages, there are yet those that remain.
Such as the walls of Riviera, fashioned in tandem by the Fiery Bull and mine own goddess. Or the sunlit dome blessed by Helius covering Eclat."
"There is one among us," said Sheela. "From our god. Khaal the Nightstalker. Blade of curses. Pride of my people. But...lost now."
"The Nadir," said Asala. "Blade forged of primordial darkness and curses. Once wielded by the Hinterlanders, then taken in rightful combat by the Feli, and now lost to demonkind during the Fourth Darkening. Guarantees that something must die whenever it is drawn, whether that be an enemy or the user itself."
"I find again," said Sheela confidently. "When we go west. To my home. I take from demons. One reason why I go."
Asala made a note in her tablet. "And I shall record thine efforts dutifully. Ah, what an interesting epic it shalt be. The gold maned Feli, strong and brave among her kind, once reduced to the yoke of bondage, now risen above her circumstance to snatch from demons once more the divine artifact of her peoples."
Sheela might not have been able to follow exactly what Asaala said, but she did get a basic idea of it, and she smiled, liking the notion of basically being the protagonist of her own story.
"Regardless of whether this gate is divinely enchanted or not," said Li. "We have to go through it to see what's going on below. This strange ooze has intrigued me, for I have not seen anything of its like."
"Neither have I," said Asala, a hand stroking her chin. "It would be most gripping to my attention were we to investigate further."
"Then we shall go!" said Mercer, quite obviously wanting to please Asala.
"But how?" said Mason with more doubt. "No magic works upon the gate, and it is pure adamant. Adamant, brother. Metal we have only heard of in legend. They say that even falling stars from the heavens above may not bend it. Nothing we can muster will shatter it."
"Lads, you are too narrow minded," said Old Thane. "In the fourth invasion that I meself fought in, there was a platinum-ranked dwarven adventurer that wore adamant armor and blade, and in the face of the masterful swordsmanship of the herald of Pride, his armor was like naught but paper, torn apart in a mere instant."
Zagan stirred at the mention of a herald sin, especially pride with whom he seemed to have a personal connection too, but he did not react further.
Li knelt down to the gate, putting his hand on the hot, blue tinted metal. He felt for the gate's strength, getting a gauge of how durable it was. Certainly, he knew what adamant was and how durable it was. It was basically the best ingot one could farm until moving onto higher level godgiven to celestial gear.
Essentially adamant armor was the link between midgame and endgame gear.
"But we have not the might of a demon general," said Mason. "And the good seer I know is a man of magical mysteries. It would seem to me impossible to pierce through this gate of legend."
"And who decided that?" said Li. He smiled as he raised his arm into the air. An orb of green energy glowed and pulsated at his chest, where his heart was – the [Heart of the Forest] buff activating and massively enhancing his physical stats.
His raised hand shook for one second before shifting. It turned into a thickset branch of ashen oak gnarled with lines reminiscent of battle scars. The wooden arm was several times larger than his usual one, belonging to what must have been a giant, and its fist was like a mallet, the fingers wide and the knuckles studded with wooden protrusions that acted like the nature friendly version of brass knuckles.
And then two more of those arms sprouted from his back, all three arms now poised high in the air, balled into fists packed with power.
[Shapeshift: Aspect of the Treant Asura]
A full shapeshift into the Treant Asura, a creature at minimum level ninety and the strongest offensive variant of treant, even stronger in raw damage output than the Treant Justicars, was what Li usually preferred when he had to really get down into a melee brawl as it still allowed him to cast many druidic buffs and spells. Though the Howling Ursine form was what he generally took in more defensive battles with its regeneration and brawn.
"Brace yourselves," said Li. "Things might shake a little."
"Do not tell me he is going to smash his way through the gate? A gate of adamant? Of divine blessing?" asked Mason as he looked to his brother who also stared back at him with wonder. They turned to everyone else, but the others leaned forwards, interested in what Li was about to do, knowing that they were about to witness a miraculous spectacle.
"With papa, nothing impossible," said Tia matter of factly.
Li took in an excited breath, feeling power surge into his arm. Not the kind of power he felt with magic, though that was there. This was raw, physical power. The kind you smashed and tore with. And he had not used this kind of power in a while.
Breathing out, Li slammed his three fists into the massive adamant gate. A surprisingly muted, dull sound clanked out from the impact. That was one of the properties of adamant: absorption of physical force which also included muting sounds of impact. That made it extremely suited for physical defense, but weaker against purely magical power, but of course, these divine runes covered that weakness.
But the damage that came form the blow was far more devastating than what the sound would have indicated. Massive cracks emerged from the point of impact, streaking far into the distance in fissures of split and sparking metal. The runes flickered chaotically, the structural integrity of the gate faltering.
Li smiled, seeing the damage, and he let truly let loose. His three arms blurred as they unleashed a barrage of punches upon the gate, shaking it up and down, and Mason and Mercer fell down as the platform lurched up and down atop the breaking gate.
The fissures lining the gate began to increase in number, then in deepness, then, as once they reached a critical mass with so many breaks and faults and cracks along the gate that the runes themselves became unreadable, the whole structure shattered like a pane of glass.
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