by Atlas Kane
Again, he ground the root into a paste, a task that was mind-numbing and made his arms ache. It was also satisfying to see the dense pulp slowly transform to a smooth paste.
Finally, he poured some alcohol into the pulp and waited for it to strip away the oil before straining it out again.
While the alcohol worked its magic, Cade boiled a huge pot of the remaining root, and when it was done, removed the ingredient and mashed it up. The water was set to boil off, and in another half an hour, he scraped it free of the bottom of the pot and mixed it back in with the boiled root.
The other villagers were having their dinner when all the preparations had been finished. His two assistants were as broken in the head as he was, however, so they agreed to see the task done.
Beginning with the Powdered Bright, Cade crushed the Insect Crystal Shards into a fine powder. Mashta stirred in the Powdered Rinan Root after, and the clear crystals took on a ruddy cast as the root blended. Rhionne was set to stirring a pot of the Cohesive Slime Mold, now room temperature, as Cade poured the mixed powders in as slow as he could.
In ten minutes, the recipe was complete, and even as Rhionne took out his wooden spoon, scraping the excess Powdered Bright free to fall back into the pot, the substance changed before their eyes.
The slime mold was still moist, but as the three ingredients began to react, the moisture was somehow bonded. Heat began to pour off of the pot, and they set it down on a stone counter nearby. Cade gasped as he saw the magic begin to do its work. Like a fire spreading through a vast but faraway forest, the pot of goo turned to crystal and began to shine with yellow light.
“It’s done! And we have succeeded,” Cade said in a whisper. He was now Level 7 as well. The chance of the next batch succeeding had increased to 55%.
Four more times, the group completed the task, and only two of those were failures. Now Level 9, Cade completed the Shriek Gel. This recipe called, once more, for the shards to be powdered. Those were mixed into the slime mold and the substance was poured into a dozen smaller containers. The best part of the Shriek Gel recipe was that their final step was to pour a spoonful of Rinan Root Tincture into each of the containers and wait.
Only a third of these spoiled, the goo inside turning gray and foul-smelling. The rest, however, seemed to vibrate in the air, producing a subtle resonant sound.
They stored the successful creations away for later use, and moved on to the Shade Shards. This recipe was simpler than the last. All were liquids—or in the case of the Boiled Rinan Root, a paste—except for the Insect Shadow Shards, and even those did not need to be broken up.
The process was simple: mix them together and wait fifteen minutes for a chemical reaction to transform the substance within.
Their first attempt failed, but the four more that followed succeeded.
When the group stumbled out into the cold of the night, Cade was dizzy and his eyes had trouble seeing anything further than a few feet away. They grabbed food from the cooks and headed in separate directions, agreeing to meet the following day.
It was one thing to master an Alchemical Reagent, but quite another to implement it into one of Latsi’s cannon shells. Still, if things went well, they’d all have a hell of a show the following night.
And it had been a very successful day. Cade’s skill level had risen to 11. Depending on what they found further down within the dungeon, more advanced recipes would likely follow.
Gemma and Minda were up, chatting about the town’s many preparations. When he walked in, he had to try not to choke. Both were naked and had a small pot of Coco Melon cream between them. They’d found what Ketzal and he had left behind and used it to burnish their own bodies.
He tried to focus, tried not to think of them sitting there, at least while he ate his delicious lizard steaks. They’d been served on a flat bread the cooks had learned how to bake. The meal was immensely satisfying, especially having survived on pure fat and protein sources with raw fruit and vegetables for the better part of his stay in Antinium. Yet when compared to the glory before him, he found it rather tasteless.
“How’s everything going? Is the garden coming along?” he asked Minda, hoping to buy some time to finish.
She grinned at him, running her hand absently over one of her breasts, cupping it gently. “All is in order. We will have replenished our supplies and added a few new ones in three days’ time. Is that really what’s on your mind though, Cade?”
Gemma giggled and leaned forward to whisper in Minda’s ear. The beastkin woman turned to her tigress companion and nodded. “Yes, I think he will.”
“Okay! So, Gemma, what have you and Satemi been up to now that hunting is no longer necessary? Enjoying the crafter’s life?” He tried once more, shoving the last mouthful of food into his mouth.
The tigress nodded, her jaw slack as she stared at him with her huge, orange eyes. He could see the tips of her fangs to either side of her pink tongue. More distracting, however, was that she had let her hands drift below her waist. The shifter was turning tiny circles with one while the other gripped her inner thigh.
He couldn’t help it any longer. Still chewing his food, Cade stood up, laughing. He swallowed a few mouthfuls of water from a skin hanging against the wall and doffed his clothes faster than a freshman at Mardi Gras.
Turning back to the women, he reached down and gripped himself. Wielding it like the epic spear he fancied it was, Cade flashed his eyebrows. “Enough of this teasing bullshit,” he said in a growl. “Which one of you is first?”
Minda began to purr and took a nipple between her fingers. Gemma chose instead to growl, dipping her head and staring at him with ravenous eyes.
His mind slipping into a realm of pleasure where time, toil, and impending doom could not touch him, Cade stalked forward. He had two very hungry cats living with him, and it seemed that feeding time had arrived.
24
Hu(Man) Nature
After three more days of solid crafting, construction projects, and improving the town’s defenses in every way possible, Cade wasn’t the only warrior itching for some action.
And of course, there was only one place left to conquer.
Cade led a group of sixteen villagers and ten Kotani ape alphas down the slope toward the dungeon. He was impressed to see the newly finished gate swing open on its hinges. Ten feet tall and made of foot-thick logs, all reinforced with repurposed scrap metal from the dungeon, it would be almost impossible to knock down.
Satemi had remained behind to oversee the final few construction projects. It turned out, unsurprisingly, that she was as much a general supervising workers as she was on the battlefield. Without her help, their efforts would not have come nearly so far.
Strolling through the grove of trees and down the dimly lit tunnel of the cave, Cade led the large group of fighters into the room with the Town Interface.
He called upon Micah, confirmed their report on the current amount of Mana Shards, and as suspected, they had sufficient resources to keep the town’s structures running for another week. It was enough to ensure their infrastructure wouldn’t collapse before the invasion, but unless more were found, and assuming they survived, the issue would come to a head soon after.
It wasn’t the time to consider such issues, though. Not as Cade strolled down the descending stairs, heading deeper than ever into the bowels of the dungeon.
Cade recalled each floor they’d cleared as he made his way at the head of the formation. The first floor filled with dryads and ending in a three boss battle came and went. He recalled golems with hands strong enough to crack rock and twist steel, a puzzle-strewn floor where robots fought them with lasers and gyrating blades.
The moth floor still stood out fresh in his mind, as simple as the foes had been, the clouds of blurring danger would forever be a part of his nightmares.
At last, they exited the stairwell, and walked out into the staging area for the sixth floor.
The walls were made
of crystal, glowing and shimmering a myriad of different colors. Tracing a hand along it as he approached the doors, Cade had to marvel at the impressive beauty so casually displayed.
“Let’s be prepared,” he said at last, turning to face the Casmeeri forces. “Four teams, as we discussed. Two filled with shock troops, five Kotani in each, Ronden and Dan acting to bolster the tanks, Polde and Vrin leading each team. Two more teams will act to support. One, which I will lead, is main support. All healers will come with me as will Minda and Sholl. The final team will be a specialized, high damage support. Gemma and her finest hunters will make up this group of six, all of whom can act as ranged or melee support.”
He paused to allow the groups to form up, each leader standing at the head. Then he gave them a simple, hard-truth pump-up speech. “We must defeat whatever we encounter. Stick together and kill everything that isn’t from Camp Casmeer. There’s no choice in the matter, everyone. We will crush the sixth and seventh level simply because we have no other options. Now, is everyone ready?”
Instead of a cheer, Cade got only three strong confirmations, each leader speaking for their group.
Excellent. I think we actually are ready for this. After facing off with the elder turtle, suddenly this dungeon doesn’t seem so damned scary. And yet, I in no way feel we are coming in over-confident.
He could see the fear and determination in everyone’s eyes. A perfect mix for any soldier.
Spinning on his heels, Cade shoved open the dungeon doors, and called out the first command of their day. “Alpha team, move in!”
Polde ran beside the Kotani Ma himself, Dan and four other apes trailing behind.
The delvers entered a large arena, green vines growing over the earthen walls. Pools of water were scattered around the edge. In the center, a field of grass and wildflowers rested between two tall trees.
It was serene and beautiful.
And it was a damned lie.
No sooner had the Alpha group entered the clearing that both trees came to life. Their long branches curled into recognizable limbs, and huge mouths opened on their trunks. They were close to oak trees, squat and powerful, relatively massive yet only twenty or so feet tall. Tearing up their roots, the trees advanced.
“Alpha, form a line and fight defensively. Delta, give me a little fire!” Cade bellowed and watched as his troops responded elegantly.
The Kotani Ma had been given a simple yet impressive shield. It was six feet from top to bottom and four feet wide. Made of two-inch steel, it formed the center of their defense.
The other four apes held shields of their own, two to either side of their great leader, not nearly so large, but just as effective. Polde stood behind the wall of near-impenetrable steel and called out orders. They advanced in a line, and Ronden spun his great hammer, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
Heavy limbs crashed down against the defenders’ shields, but though it sounded like a thunderstorm was humping a metal barn, the line held. On Polde’s command, Ronden sprinted around the right side of the shield wall and cracked his hammer against a tree limb. It cracked, dropping off to the dungeon floor, and the tree thrashed out to counter attack.
Thankfully, the giant had decided that order and reason were good things. By the time the tree could react, he’d already ducked behind the shields once more.
And then Gemma’s group let loose. The Delta team were primarily hunters, all fighters with bows or javelins as well as close-ranged weapons. Using nothing but the heated tip of her fingers, Gemma lit the oils-soaked missiles a second before they flew. Her own fiery arrow followed, and the first great tree erupted in flames.
It ran toward one of the pools of water, but the poor creature’s trunk cracked open from the intense heat and it fell to the ground, smoke roiling up in clouds.
The second tree proved no more effective and fell a minute later from two more fire volleys.
After they’d looted the corpses, both labeled as Dungeon Mini-Bosses, the pools of water stirred.
Dozens of salamander-shaped minions broke free of their watery homes, running at the Alpha group with fierce determination. Again, the shields were held in place, and Cade screamed for the next group to move. “Beta! Flanking position! Dan, light them fuckers up!”
He’d considered many scenarios when coming down on this final dungeon dive. If anything moist or water-based came at them, the Beta group was prepared. Dan sprinted behind a group of alpha apes, each bearing a smaller shield of bound wood. They moved much faster than the Alpha group, and were in position before the first salamander had attacked.
Vrin commanded the Betas like a rock star. “Open ranks! Attack!” The five shield bearers split, two on one side, three on the other, and Dan stepped forward. Lightning leapt from his clawed hands, bouncing from salamander to salamander.
The creatures shrieked in pain, their flesh twitching as their bodies died on the spot.
“Close ranks,” Vrin shouted, and the apes locked back up as soon as Dan retreated. Half a dozen minions were dead in a matter of seconds.
As the beasts crashed against the shield walls, the Beta group apes employed their long spears.
Forged by making thicker shafts and melting three times the amount of steel per spear, the apes had been turned into terrifying soldiers. Their own claws and fangs were enough to make them effective, but it didn’t take much training to show them how powerful they were with a huge pointy stick.
The salamanders fell in droves, and after a few volleys from Gemma’s hunters and a single Explosive Shot from Cade, the room had been cleared.
“One down, and more to go!” Cade yelled, drawing a few smiles from the eager fighters around him.
They looted the bodies and moved forward through the yawning passage that had opened up for them.
Again, the room that followed could be described as an arena. This was larger than the last and it was more brightly lit. Cold slabs of granite ran between polished steel paneling. Four large holes gaped black and menacing around the room’s central floor.
Knowing they were only pawns in the previous dungeon designer’s scheme, Cade ordered his fighters forward. “Alpha and Beta, take up positions on either side of that central disc. Charlie, form up behind Alpha, Delta behind Beta. Move quick. As soon as we get into position, I am sure something nasty will pop its head out for us.”
As the Casmeeri forces jogged into the ring, a whirring noise filled the room.
Sure enough, before they’d even finished preparing, four hulking golems were raised in the chamber from the holes in the floor. Two were made of stone and stood fifteen feet high and just as wide. They had three arms, each ending in a mallet-shaped appendage good for only one thing: smashing.
The other two were metal, and though they weren’t nearly so robust as their stone companions, towered ten feet higher. Vast red eyes lit up as the machines came to life. They too had three appendages, but rather than use them as arms, the mechanicals lifted up their torsos and walked like insects with half their legs. A turret dropped out of the belly of each and a laser rifle began spitting out red energy bolts.
“Alpha! Shield wall! Intercept those lasers!” Cade cried, and the group shuffled around a quarter circle to follow his command. Several of the energy bolts had found their marks and a few cries of pain sounded, yet the attacks were not immediately deadly. And once the shields were in place, the assault was neutralized.
They had certain roles given to each group, but it was time to shake things up a bit. Cade barked out another order, hoping his theory would pay off. “Dan! Pull back, and move to attack with Ronden. Lightning on one of those shiny bastards!”
The wolf man seemed taken aback, but after just a second’s hesitation, turned and ran to huddle behind the Alpha team’s shield wall. Ronden counted to three and the two burst free of cover.
The stone golems had begun to spin at great speeds, and Cade fired an Explosive Shot at one of them. Fragments of stone scattered off, but
it was obvious they would need a bit more to take them down.
Gemma had given orders to the Delta team, and projectiles were clattering off of the stone golem’s tough hides.
Minda could be called upon for her Mycelium Mastery, but he didn’t want her to waste the skill if at all possible.
Lightning crackled away from Dan’s hands, and one of the steel golems froze in its place. Ronden fell into a whirlwind attack with his hammer and knocked out one of its legs. The huge machine fell to the ground, pushing its fellow mechanical away.
“Alpha and Beta, reverse positions,” Cade bellowed. It was an awkward order to follow, but one he’d planned on. The two team dropped their shield walls and ran to face the opposite side of their defenses. In less than twenty seconds, the Alpha and Beta teams were standing behind their shields again, facing new opponents.
They managed to pull it off just in time. The stone golems advanced at last, moving toward the heavy steel shields with too much force to deny. If the golems managed to reach his fighters, Cade knew the Casmeeri would be torn apart. “Boom Sticks, now!”
Only his Charlie team had been given the explosives. So when he shouted the command, all five of his support fighters, including himself, Minda, and the healers, summoned the grenades.
Lobbing them in a single volley, everyone crouched to avoid any collateral damage.
One of the stone golems was torn into huge chunks of spinning rock. A few of these crashed into the steel shield wall but didn’t cause any real harm. A few others pelted the second stone golem. Though they didn’t kill the thing outright, it did make it stagger away.
As soon as the explosion had settled down, Vrin ordered his Beta apes to charge the disabled metal golem. Storing their spears in their Inventories, the Kotani apes pulled out the short and heavy hammers Satemi had made for them. In moments, they’d crushed the metallic golem to pieces.