Chapter 359: False Route-Song

"Hold this lane!" the mercenary leader shouted.

The portable barriers turned outward, and spears that had been aimed at the Sairren swung toward the monsters instead. Martin backed off by two steps. He was not going to rescue them from a trap they had walked into.

"Don’t chase," Rias said. "Let the dungeon spend their resources."

The Ringing Maw slammed into the first black barrier hard enough to buckle the frame. A Muteclaw went over it, landed among the archers, and scattered them before they could reset. Mireva descended beside Martin with her breathing already quicker from the constant movement.

"More will come."

"How long does the trail hold?"

"As long as the bell carries it cleanly."

Martin looked up at the bell. Silver vibration continued through the support cables, and for a moment the system worked exactly as the Sairren had designed it. Their people were hidden, the armed intruders became louder prey, and the dungeon defended itself without pretending its monsters had become servants.

Then Cassandra’s face changed.

"Wait."

Martin looked toward her and saw Hungerline split. One group of monsters still pointed toward the intruders, while the other turned sideways.

Cassandra followed the new direction with her eyes. "No."

A mercenary near the rear had opened a narrow metal case. Inside sat three silver tuning forks wrapped around a black spindle, and the device had already begun to hum.

Mireva heard it. Her wings snapped open.

"Stop that!"

Rias ran first. The rear mercenary struck the spindle, sending a second route-song into the avenue. It was almost Sairren.

Almost.

The nearest Muteclaw froze. Its head turned away from the mercenary standing directly in front of it and toward the upper bridge.

A Sairren family was still crossing it.

Cassandra drew. "Hungerline changed!"

The monster crouched and leaped. Martin threw the Galehook Trident before it reached the bridge. The weapon passed beneath the monster instead of striking it and buried itself in the bronze support ahead of the Sairren family.

Cast the Line marked the impact. Martin activated Warden’s Arrival. The lower avenue vanished, and he reappeared beside the embedded trident just as the Muteclaw landed on the bridge.

The Sairren father had already pushed two children behind him. He carried no weapon, but he had placed himself between them and the creature anyway. Martin ripped the trident free and stepped in front of him.

The Muteclaw struck. He caught the claws on Breakwater Aegis. The narrow bridge shuddered beneath his boots, but Stand Against the Current absorbed enough of the push to keep him from crashing into the family.

"Go!"

The father did not waste time thanking him. He grabbed one child while the older one launched into an awkward glide beside him, and all three escaped toward the next platform. The Muteclaw tried to follow, but Martin turned his shield and shoved the creature into the rail.

Below, the battle had changed. The Ringing Maw and the other Stalker still attacked the invading force, while the third monster no longer cared about them.

"The foreign trail is pulling it toward the Sairren!" Cassandra called.

Mireva flew directly toward the copied route-song device, but three mercenaries closed around it before she could land. Alexandra and Kumoe intercepted them. The curious head caught the first spear, and Alexandra used the opening to cross one sword beneath the attacker’s guard. Her second blade cut through the leather strap holding his portable shield.

Pack Rhythm triggered, allowing Kumoe to move faster with her. The right head slammed into the next mercenary’s side and turned him enough for Alexandra to pass without slowing. Mireva reached the device.

The mercenary holding it struck the spindle again. Silver-black resonance spread outward.

Elisebeth raised both hands. "Silent Stage."

Orange-white spell threads curved around the device, and the foreign note struck the spell boundary. Instead of spreading across the avenue, it bent inward. The metal spindle screamed inside its own trapped resonance.

Elisebeth’s face tightened. "I can keep that signal in there. I’m not blocking Mireva’s bell at the same time."

"Good," Martin called from above. "Don’t."

The Muteclaw attacked again. Martin blocked, drew Rainwarden Sword, and used Measured Answer on the recoil. His blade entered beneath the monster’s shoulder joint without reaching the core.

A Sairren warden landed behind the creature and drove her spear into the black knot under its ribs. The Muteclaw dissolved.

Martin turned toward the bridge and confirmed that the family had escaped. He then jumped down from the upper span without using another skill, landing first on a lower stair and then the avenue while Breakwater Aegis absorbed the worst of the impact.

The fight had become three separate problems at once. The mercenaries were still forcing a protected corridor into the city, Dark Force monsters kept emerging from the opened Lower Belfry, and the copied route-song device had proven the invaders could redirect at least part of the Sairren defense.

Martin ran to Mireva.

"What do you need?"

She pointed toward three bells visible along the lower district. "The western bell hides this avenue. The upper bell hides the shelters. The small relay beside the gate lays the strongest false trail."

Martin followed her claw. "If the gate relay stays clean, monsters come here instead of climbing."

"Yes."

"And they know that."

Mireva’s eyes narrowed. "Yes."

Martin raised his shield. "Then we don’t let them touch it."

Mireva looked toward her wardens and gave three clipped signals with one hand.

The Sairren changed formation instead of rushing the invaders. Several flew upward, abandoning the floor entirely, while two bellkeepers moved toward the gate relay. The remaining wardens took positions along the bridges.

The city had been built for them. Martin’s party had been fighting as if every road mattered, while the Sairren could simply stop using most of those roads. That changed everything.

"Alex!" Martin called.

She turned while Kumoe dragged a hooked pole out of another attacker’s hands.

"Stop holding the center. Protect the bellkeepers."

Alexandra looked toward the two Sairren moving along a narrow upper path and understood immediately.

"Kumoe."

The right head was already looking there. All three turned together. Alexandra jumped onto Kumoe’s back long enough to clear the first broken barrier, then dropped beside her as they ran.

Katherine and Kinnami followed from below. Golden barriers appeared beneath every exposed section of the bellkeepers’ route, not as permanent walls but as short protection against arrows and bad landings.

Rias remained near the copied device. She did not attack the mercenary holding it because her attention was entirely on his hands.

"Again," she told Elisebeth.

"What?"

"Let him try again."

Elisebeth glanced at the black spindle trapped inside Silent Stage. "You want him to broadcast?"

"I want to see which component actually changes the route-song."

"That is a terrible sentence during an invasion."

"Can you contain it?"

Elisebeth looked offended. "Yes."

"Then let him."

The mercenary must have reached the same conclusion about his own device. His signal was not reaching the monsters, so he twisted the middle tuning fork. Rias saw it.

"Center fork."

The man struck the spindle, but the note remained trapped. Rias moved. Shadow Step carried her through a patch beneath the portable barrier, and Gloamneedle flashed once.

The center tuning fork broke. The copied route-song collapsed into metallic noise, allowing Elisebeth to release Silent Stage before the trapped resonance rebounded again.

The mercenary stared at the ruined device. Rias kicked it from his hands, cut the strap around his wrist, and let a Sairren warden finish disarming him. Then she looked across the avenue.

"Second device."

Cassandra was already drawing on it.