Snow's communication was strange and disjointed.
It took him a couple of tries to get a semi understandable message through but this gist of it was Sow wanted me to leave the heart to him.
Fine by me.
Dashing into a connected unexplored tunnel, I lead the man of light through the winding labyrinth some more.
The gargoyles had all but given up by now and the totem were replenishing me far faster than I was using energy.
The Queen's thumping had increased as Snow began to siphon power from her heart.
Draining the heart's power would undoubtably kill her but it would take too long.
As tunnels collapse around me, dash for the highest point of the nest. The labyrinth is easier to navigate here as it isn't as wide but that means every collapsing tunnel is more detrimental than the others.
We found our path blocked repeatedly and searing through the rubble only increased the rate of collapse.
None the less, it wasn't long before we reach a large cavern located in the Giant head.
The cavern was larger than the hearts chasm. It had more open space. And in the centre of the cavern was a portal.
The portal shone with a bright purple glow which illuminated the entire space.
As the world shook and rubble fell from the ceiling it looked like a scene from a movie.
The shaking and bashing intensified the moment we took step in the room. It seemed like the Queen was trying to destroy herself now as the bashing clearly was targeted at the head.
I had never even considered it until now, but the [Corrupt Queen of Gargoyles] was a gate guardian.
Her anger at our presence only intensified as the stone construct destroyed herself. The caverns walls were comparatively thin compared to the lower sections, so it didn't take long for light to breach the cracks.
It's pretty clear that the gate is important. I knew this even before now, but now that I know I've been fighting a gate guardian and how she's reacting to not being able to protect her gate, it's a different kettle of fish.
Without wasting any more time, I set the entire cavern on fire with a healthy dose of [Incarnat]. Blistering flames caught light upon the fallen rubble as light spilled from the caverns cracks in the walls and engulfed the portal.
However, the portal was completely unaffected by the flames.
Honestly, I didn't expect that to work but it was worth a shot.
Regardless of the Queen's world-shattering bashing and occasional screams which lost power as she destroyed herself, the portal is a separate issue from her.
If she is going to destroy herself so thoroughly then there is no need to rush. My mere presence in this chamber will win us the fight.
Then, once the queen is dead Snow and I can find a way to remove the portal. Snow's [Divine Totems] may be able to siphon power from this as well, he's just a bit busy with the heart right now.
As the Queen wailed upon her own body, the cracks in the walls grew significantly larger, soon revealing the sun and the sky.
The damage she did upon herself was causing her to collapse, buckling at the knees and crashing into the land with an earth-shattering thud.
However, she never stopped wailing and bashing, even as her shield broke in two and her sword fell from her hands. Her stone gauntleted hands slammed against her own head, and she ripped the pieces away, reaching for the interloper.
I simply retreated into the tunnels as she did, causing her to try more desperately to rip her body apart and get to me.
Opting to aid her self-destructive tendency, I use [Plasma Arrows] to tear through the lower tunnels of the nest, reducing her internal bone network to rubble.
The stone inside her is much weaker than her armour and skin.
Before long, one of her legs gave out and the Queen, us included, all plummeted to the ground.
The devastation of the Queen's sheer weight as we crashed caused a dust cloud to spread in all directions, engulfing the land.
Even as we fell, and the collision destroyed one of her arms and caused a deep crack along her waist, the Queen continued to flail and rip at us.
Reeling from the collision, I notice the man of light fade away before rubble falls on top of him.
Feeling my connection to [Spark] change I opt to investigate the matter later. For now, I sprint through the remaining intact tunnels before climbing through a crack above me to reach fresh air.
The Queen is entirely laying down, flailing like a toddler having a tantrum.
Controlling my [Plasma Arrows] I bombard the Queen anywhere that seem weaker than the rest of her.
Despite the grievous wounds on her body, her size is still phenomenal, but without her gargoyles traversing the stony landscape is easy.
The Queen's head is all but shattered and the portal has been revealed to the world, silently glowing with corrupt power.
The heart remains intact but so do the [Divine Totems] and Snow is still siphoning its power.
The Queen's arms continue to move about, trying to catch me but I bombard the joints with arrows as I dodge and before long the crippled, weakened, unsteady limbs collapse in a heap of rubble.
At this stage the Queen is barely more than a pile of rubble, and the only part of her that can still move is her damaged leg, which is incapable of doing more than bang on the ground.
Even so I bombard the leg until it stops moving as well, leaving the Queen completely immobile.
She is still alive, but not for long. As soon as Snow finishes drawing power from the core and completely develops the Queen's corpse into a component of his domain she will die. Then we can see what we can do about that portal.
[Soul Archive] has marked the location of the portal so even if we cannot do anything about it now, we can come back later.
I wonder if the portal and the orb are connected somehow. Do all the gate guardians possess an orb?
With the battle complete I retreat to the heart to watch Snow's progress.
Sitting on top of a ledge above the heart, I watch as the totem grows to maturity and Snow begins crafting another.
Of all the times this is probably a good one to try conversing more with [Soul Link].
Carefully crafting the message, I want to send, which consists of a bunch of overlapping mana frequencies forming a string, I try to communicate with my partner.
It's janky at best, and so is Snow's reply, but we have plenty of time and slowly a proper conversation becomes possible.
"How much is this helping your territory?"
"Not a whole lot yet. It's powerful, but too far away. At the moment its more like two separate territories. I will need to create a link between them to combine their power."
"That will take a while. The Queen's corpse should be pretty significant as a ritual site though, right? That's a god thing, isn't it?"
"HA! Sure, something like that. But we would need citizens for that as well."
"About that. I think the Queen was attacking human settlements. There might be some nearby. I will investigate once we finish up here."
"Oh? More humans? That is good. They will serve well in my domain."
"Sure sure. Also have you seen the portal?"
"Yeah. I tried to draw power from it, but it seems different than the heart. It's not a source of power. It's more like a conduit, bringing corruption here from somewhere else."
"So, it is a legit portal and not just something I conveniently named because of its shape."
"You didn't know?"
"No, I didn't."
"Well… yeah it's a portal. It's likely how corrupt creatures came to this world and these beasties with the orbs likely prevent unwanted visitors from going back inside."
"Makes sense. Any idea how to close the portal?"
"Nope."
Overall, this basic conversation took a good few hours and the sun was setting well before Snow was anywhere near finishing with the heart.
Must suck to be the Queen right about now.
Returning to where the portal is, a stare down at it from above, standing atop a piece of the Queen destroyed head.
Knowing that more creatures could come out of this portal is troubling. Leaving it here unattended doesn't bode well. With this corpse becoming apart of Snow's territory, he would know when corruption invaded his lands but even so we might be too far away to do much about it.
A weak creature would likely die from the divine presence in the totems alone, but a stronger being could escape.
Approaching the portal, I consider the possibility of entering it.
Whatever is on the other side is effectively our primary enemy and even getting a glimpse at it before returning would give us invaluable information.
Speaking with Snow, he is sceptical of the idea as it comes with a large set of risks.
What if I can't return?
What if the portal itself kills me?
Can a non-corrupted being even use the portal?
If the orbs and portals are linked then I should have the authority of a gate guardian, just a much weaker one than the Queen was.
However, are the guardians even permitted to use the portals? They could be outcasts forced to protect the gateways but banned from returning. I could see that kind of drama playing out.
Standing right in front of the portal I consider all these things when suddenly an unexpected change occurs in my soul.
[Soul Manifest]
[Absorption of Focal Point Beginning]
[Absorption Completion – 1%]
My world went black with agonising pain.