“Ayla’s tits. You think there’s a bloody dungeon core in there?”
Wes bent over, shutting his eyes as he blindly groped around for the hatch’s handle. “Only one way to find out.”
Not even his magically induced fire resistance could protect him from this heat. Wes wondered how the steel wasn’t glowing red as it singed his palm. At least he had a healer behind him. He grit his teeth and pulled.
The hatch flew open, sending the fire mage stumbling backwards.
Holding his robes over his eyes to help shield them from the worst of the oppressive light, Preston stepped forward. “You’re right. There’s something in there.”
Wes followed suit.
The trapdoor revealed a torrent of light, the same hue as the enchantments all about them but a millionfold as bright. “Gods below. Is that a—”
“A leyline. There’s a reason the Burendians built their settlements underground.”
Wes pulled away, grabbing a pair of long-handled tongs off the wall. He squinted as he peeked through the tiny holes in his shirt at the raging current of Mana and at the dark shape resting near its top.
“Let me.” Preston held out a hand. “I have more Spirit; I can handle more Mana than you.”
Wes shook his head. “Neither of us could handle a drop of this. I’ll need you to heal me.”
“No,” Preston insisted. “If you collapse I can’t out-heal the damage you’ll take. You know I’m not strong enough to pull you to safety.”
“But I am.”
Preston nodded.
With a sigh, Wes stepped behind the slim Priestess, handing him the steel tongs. “Tell me when you’ve got it.”
“Alright.” Preston tensed.
Wes wrapped an arm around the man’s waist, ready to rip him away from the opening at a moment’s notice. “Ready?”
The healer nodded. With a breath and a prayer, he plunged the tongs into the deluge below.
The earth shook. The enchantments around them flickered. The torrent raged. Preston screamed.
Ghostly wisps twirled up the ancient tongs, dancing along the steel as they reached for Preston’s exposed hands. He reached in deeper.
Wes dug in his heels, fighting to maintain his balance as the ground quaked beneath them. He prayed. Preston’s body shook before him. An eternity passed in seconds.
“I got it!”
Elation flooded through the fire mage as he leapt backwards, yanking Preston with him. The two landed hard on the stone steps. Preston fell limp. The healer’s skin burned against Wes’s, but he held him all the same. “Preston? Are you—”
The room went black.
Every jagged line, every bright light, every enchantment in the place winked out. The darkness pressed in against them, every bit as suffocating as the light before it. Until it wasn’t.
Preston’s eyes shot open, his irises shining in brilliant gold. It was a warm glow, a gentle glow. One Wes had felt—and resented—many times before. Ayla’s light spread through the priest’s slack form, coating the whole room in Her resplendent illumination.
Wes watched in awe as Preston channeled every ounce of foreign Mana into healing the very wounds it had wrought.
And then it was gone.
The earthquake stilled, and the enchantments flickered back to life, and Preston’s chest heaved with a powerful breath. He smiled.
Wes exhaled as relief flooded through him. “You did it. Holy shit, Preston, that was amazing!”
The healer sat up. “Being a Priestess has its perks.”
“That it does,” Wes chuckled. “I guess I can’t tease you about it anymore, huh?”
“Not if you ever want your share for finding this.” Preston held up a fist-sized obsidian sphere, handing it to Wes. It was cool to the touch, despite the maelstrom in which they’d found it.
Minor Dungeon Core
Rarity: Mythic
Wes grinned. “Sounds like a deal.” He slipped the core into his pack before extending a hand to help Preston up.
The priest took it.
“Now come on,” Wes said as he led the way back up the stairs and towards their next challenge. “Let’s get the hells out of here.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
So About that Giant Spider...
EVE PACED IMPATIENTLY back and forth across the hallway, an eye fixed on the foot-thick spider leg at all times.
The appendage and its owner sat deathly still, as if under the impression it would escape their notice should it avoid all motion. The tactic might’ve worked were it still the size of a copper instead of the twenty-foot monstrosity it’d become. Eve wouldn’t forget the thing without its looming presence.
Though its eyes rested too high on its face to peer into their tunnel, the women got a clear view of its deadly mandibles. They glistened with the sheen of venom, something Eve determined to be the least of her worries. The thing’s fangs were thicker than her leg. It wouldn’t need any toxins to bite her in half.
“Where the hells are they?” Eve cursed as heat blossomed in her chest, pushing past the realm of discomfort to that of pain. It came in waves, each burning hotter than before.
“They’ll get here when they get here,” Alex answered from where she sat leaning against the wall. “Maybe they’ve been more thorough in their searching?”
“We don’t even know for sure that their tunnel leads here.”
The warrior shrugged. “Maybe you’re right. Between you passing out after the golem and you passing out in the lab, they should’ve had a pretty big head start on us.”
“Shit. What if something happened to them?”
“We’ll worry about that if it happens.” Alex looked up at Eve. “For all we know, their tunnel is just longer than ours. Maybe they found a treasure room and are trying to haul a ton of loot with them. The plan is a good one. Wait as long as we can before taking on the widow.”
“You’re right, you’re right.” Eve tried to calm herself down. “I’m sure they’re fine. I just don’t like—ah fuck!” She doubled over, clutching a hand to her chest. It burned.
“Eve!” Alex shot to her feet, racing to the Striker’s side just in time for the feeling to fade.
“I—I’m okay.” Eve braced herself against the wall as she stood upright. Fiery pain lingered across her torso, but the wave had passed. “We might have to act sooner rather than later.”
“That bad?”
She nodded.
“Alright.” Alex turned to stare down the monstrous spider. “So what’s the plan here?”
“Well, it’s blocking the way into the main cavern, so we’ll have to fight it from here. I keep the leg busy while you stab it with your spear?”
Alex sighed, “It’s not ideal, but we may not have a choice. Maybe if we can get it to back off a bit you can slip into the larger area to have space to run?”
Eve gripped her knife. “On the count of three?”
Alex nodded. “One.”
“Two.”
“Thre—”
The tunnel went black. The earth around them quaked as the ancient enchantments winked out. Eve looked up at Alex, the only light in the room that from the glowing lines across her skin. “What in the—”
The enchantments flickered back to life, somehow brighter than before. Eve spun to watch the mouth of the passage.
The spider was gone. Now’s our chance!
“Three!”
She Charged!
The cavern was massive. Towering stone arches stretched fifty feet into the air, each lined with the familiar shimmering enchantments. To the far side, Eve spotted a spiral staircase leading upwards. A glimmer of hope welled up in the back of her mind. The second sight that greeted her compounded it.
The leygorged widow lay on its stomach with its face pressed against the side wall, six of its legs stretched out behind it while the other two reached ahead. Another tunnel!
A grin managed to fight through Eve’s burning chest and racing heart.
She weaved through the twitching hind legs, reversing her grip on the dagger for an overhand strike. With a mighty leap, Eve threw Fate-al Blow and Adrenaline Rush into the blow, hammering the belt-knife into the obsidian carapace.
It struck just above the beast’s rear end.
The monster twitched as the steel blade sank two inches into its abdomen. It didn’t hiss. It didn’t screech. It simply stood.
Eve clutched the hilt of her knife as the spider rose to its feet, yanking her up with it. Her legs dangled below her as she questioned the wisdom of her choice of attack. Her chest pulsed with fire.
In a single motion, the creature jerked its massive body, wrenching Eve’s hand from the dagger’s hilt.
She flew backward.
The Striker landed hard on the enchanted floor, the scores and holes the monster had carved over the years scraping up her back.
The spider turned, skittering across the ancient stone to exact revenge on this morsel that poked it. Alex got there first.
Her spear raised, the warrior dashed in, sidestepping a sweeping leg to plant her weapon directly in the beast’s maw.
It recoiled.
Eve took the opportunity to clamber to her feet. “I can barely scratch it!”
“Then try harder!” Alex yelled back. “Aim for the eyes!”
Easy for you to say, she thought to herself. You can actually reach them. Agony surged across Eve’s chest as Alex engaged the spider once more. She fought to keep her footing as the pain sent her reeling.
She cursed, gritting her teeth as she forced her focus outward. Now wasn’t the time. Step one: get my knife back. Eve dashed to the right, keeping her distance as she circled the beast.
Alex kept it busy with a series of sidesteps and warding strikes, but they both knew she was one misstep from death.
Eve hastened.
Reaching the spider’s rear, she leapt for the weapon still embedded in its abdomen. Her fist found only air as the beast surged forward once more. She scampered back to gain some distance before her next attempt.
A crash rang out. Brilliant raw light flashed through the room. Alex screamed.
The creature fell to its stomach, its legs still twitching. It wasn’t dead yet.
Eve raced around the massive beast to check on Alex.
The Survivor lay against the back wall, thrown there by whatever had caused the crash. Shattered bits of spear-handle pierced her bleeding right hand as she desperately clutched it. It glowed no more.
The Mana!
Eve skidded as she reversed direction, her Surefooted keeping her stable.
The spider twitched, its legs shifting beneath it as it recovered from Alex’s blow.
Eve ran faster, pushing the final seconds of Charge! as hard as she could. Her chest ached. Her heart pounded. She jumped.
Her hand collided with the knife’s hilt just as the monster lurched to its feet, taking Eve up with it.
She held fast.
The inferno within her mounted as she pulled herself up. The spider shifted beneath her. She prayed.
The agony built, coursing fire through her veins.
Now!
Eve pushed.
Her body burst with energy, searing her eyes with its blinding brilliance. Sight was the least of her problems.
The knife shattered, its metal unable to handle the sheer power she forced through it. Shards of steel pierced her skin. Even more pierced the ebon carapace.
The blast sent her flying, colliding into the back wall with a sickening crunch. Pain piled upon pain as her blood fell to the stone, casting the white enchantments in a crimson hue. She forced her eyes open, unwilling to lose consciousness. Not again.
Eve stared down the fallen spider as black spots danced across her vision.
Notifications flashed in her periphery.
She grinned.
The fire in her chest had faded, its pain replaced by the singed flesh and broken bones it had left behind. She’d bloody done it.
Her relief faltered as darkness continued to spread over her damaged eyes.
Until it didn’t.
Golden light flooded through her, scrutinizing every aspect of her very being as wounds knit shut. She shuddered beneath Ayla’s judgmental gaze but accepted every aspect of Her forgiveness as the price for Her healing.
The pain was but a distant memory by the time her vision returned.
“Thank bloody Ayla you made it!” she called to Preston where he stood at the tunnel’s mouth. “Since when can you heal at range?”
Wes answered for him, “Being a Priestess has its perks.”
Eve laughed as she pushed herself to her feet, crossing the chamber to wrap the man in a tight hug. “Your timing is impeccable.”
“Yeah, well, we got caught up doing our job.” He reached into his pack to withdraw an orb of pure jet.
Alex gaped. “Is that—”
Preston shook his head, pointing at the spiral stairway. “Let’s worry about getting out of here first, then we can swap stories.”
The party agreed, and Alex took the lead up the stone steps. It took a group effort to overcome the layers of earth and grass which had grown atop the trapdoor, but the adventurers’ combined strength proved enough to clear the way to open sky.
Eve never thought she’d be so happy to see a cloudy night.
Their battles survived and their adventures done for the day, the four companions crowded together around Wes’s campfire to tell their tales and read their rewards.
You have defeated Level 52 Leygorged Widow: +1560 exp!
You have cleared dungeon: Burendian Outpost: +5000 exp!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Ability Upgraded!
Passive Ability - Battle-hardened
Gained 20% explosion resistance!
Ability Upgraded!
Passive Ability - Surefooted
Increased stability on moving surfaces!
Ability Upgraded!
Active Ability - Adrenaline Rush
Cost reduced!
Ability Upgraded!
Active Ability - Fate-al Blow
Now applies to magical attacks!
Eve pondered the meaning of her skill upgrades, especially given they seemed to match with the events of the past few days. Gods-damnit, she swore. Even my bloody class thinks I’ve exploded too many things.
The level thirty upgrade was the most compelling. Unless she could somehow replicate the burst of Mana that had killed the spider, she had no magical attacks to boost. Eve cursed again. She’d really hoped to get a significant change for the milestone level, and this wasn’t it.
Perhaps the upgrade implied she’d get a magic attack someday? The existence of her secondary quest seemed to lead in that direction.
Wes and Preston received no credit for downing the leygorged widow, but the two were plenty happy with the whopping chunk of exp from the dungeon itself. It was hard not to be. Preston leveled four times off it alone.
Their levels claimed and their abilities upgraded, Alex and Preston disappeared back into the depths of the ruin to carve up some spider meat for their supper. While they did, Wes turned to Eve.
“Are you alright?”
“I think so?” She turned up her palms. “My chest doesn’t hurt any more, and the weird Mana-lines are gone. Status still says I have twelve out of zero Mana, but that’s a hell of a lot better than four hundred. And hey, maybe this secondary quest will have some interesting rewards.”
Wes carefully nodded. “We should still get you and Alex to a magical researcher as soon as we get back. Twelve Mana isn’t nothing, and if you still have the quest it means Preston’s healing didn’t fix whatever the problem is.”
“Right. Like I said, we’ll look into it.”
“Good.” Wes sat back. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”
A hint of red tinged Eve’s face at the thought of Wes
worrying after her. She banished it with great prejudice.
“Alright,” Preston’s voice rang out from the trapdoor behind them. “Who wants to learn what spider tastes like?”
Eve shuddered. “Not me. If that meat’s got as much Mana in it as I think it does, it’s not worth the risk.”
Alex’s face fell. “Shit.”
The fire mage shrugged. “Fine by me. I actually have a Mana pool.”
Without waiting for the others, he got to cooking.
The smell of roasting meat taunted the women as Preston and Wes feasted on seared spider. Reaching into her pack, Alex handed Eve a chunk of stale cheese. “Well hey,” she muttered, “at least we don’t have to eat Wes’s cooking.”
“I heard that!”
“She meant you to!” Eve answered, graciously accepting the food.
It wasn’t an easy dinner to chew, nor a particularly tasty one, but Eve enjoyed it all the same. Any meal felt wondrous after such a brush with death. Her spirits grew as she thought of the silver that awaited them in Lynthia, as well as whatever deals they could make with Alex’s five enchanted spheres and the dungeon core.
Things were looking up, and Eve reveled in it.
Until Preston’s voice rang out with wavering trepidation, “Um… Eve? You’re glowing.”
Her eyes shot open. Heart suddenly racing, Eve peered down her shirt to confirm the healer’s words.
Once more her skin pulsed white. “Shit.” She checked her Mana.
182/0
“I’ve gained Mana.”
Wes cursed. “You’ve what? How?”
Eve gulped as yet another notification appeared in the corner of her vision. “Hold on. I think I might know.”
Ability Upgraded!
Passive Ability - Ethereal Metabolism
Mana is just another source of energy, one your body has learned to produce. Convert a portion of the food you eat directly into Mana.
This Quest is Broken! (This Trilogy is Broken (A Comedy Litrpg Adventure) Book 1) Page 17