by Dakota Krout
While that didn’t get any reaction, his next announcement that freshly imported beer and ale would also be free for the event certainly got a loud cheer.
~Dale~
“This is weird!” Dale shouted, smashing his Morningstar into a Basher. “They have never been so aggressive before!” The Bashers were absolutely throwing themselves at the group, heedless of their losses or injuries. Tom swung his hammer back and forth, crushing several with each swing. If the Rune on it had not allowed for it to be light enough to swing around like a small branch he would have been overwhelmed already.
“Stop whining and kill faster!” Rose shouted back. Arrows were leaving her bow at a prodigious rate, so many in a short time that Dale was wondering how she hadn’t run out.
“Anything for you, my sweet Rose!” Hans chimed in, suddenly vanishing from sight. Unleashing his true ability for the first time Dale had ever seen, nearly a dozen Bashers suddenly fountained blood and dropped to the ground.
The fight unexpectedly over, each of them sank to the ground to catch their breath. All except Hans who was watching Rose, hoping for a hint of approval. They were only in the second of the four main rooms and already nearly exhausted. The Bashers were far more numerous than they ever had been, a veritable swarm of life that tried to crush others beneath an onslaught of flesh and bone.
“What is going on here?” Adam panted as he held his knees.
Dale shook his head, “No idea, but we can afford to go slowly. I say we take our time, get to know each other, and cultivate. Then, we come up with a plan to deal with all of this.”
Rose got a very uncomfortable look on her face. Dale noticed and tried to guess at the reason behind it. “Rose, try to cultivate in here. I need to as well. The sooner my Essence is fixed from that shattering, the better. I think it would benefit you as well.”
All except Hans - who was on lookout duty - sat in the lotus position and began to draw in the power of the heavens and the earth. A shocked look passed Rose’s face, as if she had thought this chance would be too good to be true. Essence filled her, being drawn in twice as fast as anyone else, as Dale watched in shock.
“Do you have a really good cultivation technique?” He smiled at her, “That is amazing!”
Rose shook her head, her voice coming out dreamily as her main focus remained on her cultivation. “It’s because I have a dual affinity. I have two open paths for Essence to flow along, but they both have to be used in parallel; else it sticks in my meridians and I cannot get the Essence to my center.”
Dale realized his own focus had faded, so he quickly began drawing in more of the Essence. All of the people in the D-rankings drew in massive amounts of Essence, yet still Tom’s center was filling faster than all of them. He bragged for a moment to tease them, then realized that it simply meant he could hold much less Essence in his center than them. He was only in the F-rankings after all.
“Is the Essence…? Fading in here?” Rose curiously examined the surroundings, unused to the effects cultivating might have on the dungeon.
Dale nodded. “It usually takes, I don’t know, half an hour? This was ten minutes, at best!” He looked at Hans for confirmation.
“Look at this! The Essence in here is… moving?” Hans questioned, his eyes bright enough that Dale knew he was using Essence enhanced vision.
“It is going deeper inward!” Adam exclaimed in amazement.
Hans nodded gravely. “That’s what she said.”
“Rose did not utter a word.” Tom corrected him, confused by this turn of the conversation. “Where is the Essence going?”
“I guess we are going to have to find out!” Hans jauntily began strutting deeper into the deadly dungeon. They all stood up and resumed their journey, moving into the tunnel that connected the rooms. Dale had to pull Rose out of the path of traps several times.
“I don’t suppose you have any open meridians?” He was a bit exasperated as he pulled her away from another rock fall she had almost triggered. “Can you cycle Essence to your eyes?”
“I know how…” Rose flushed, “I’ve never done it though. I’ve just never had a way to replenish my Essence if I used it.”
Dale nodded, “We’ll explain it when we clear the next room.” They stepped around the corner and went very still. Row upon row of Bashers blocked their way across the room.
“This should be interesting.” Hans noted, slowly drawing his daggers. As if that were a signal, the swarm bounded toward them with deadly intent.
~Twenty-Eight~
I watched the Cat until it finally awoke. Stretching powerfully as all cats seem to do, it exposed a regrown tentacle that the enchantments on the Silverwood tree had sliced off. It glanced at the tentacle and purred, pleased by what it saw. The tentacle reached down and pet the Cat, reminding me that they were separate creatures. The huge Cat glanced up at the celestial glass above and hissed. Apparently it did not like the brightness of the room. A few people had gathered and were looking down, commenting on the unexpected sight of the Cat. It gazed around the room, all three eyes again locking on the space where Dani and I cowered under the Silverwood tree.
It padded over and peered down at where we were. The night before had taught me caution however and I had reduced the size of the opening, as well as lined the space with poison and spikes. No one would put their hand in this jar without losing a chunk of it. I could feel the malevolent gaze of the Cat as it tried to determine if hunting me was worth the trouble. In the disconcerting way of all cats, it seemed to lose all interest and instead walked away and resumed basking in the thick Essence, occasionally lapping up a small droplet of the super-concentrated Essence.
I was also getting stronger and was back to near thirteen percent capacity. To achieve my next rank, I needed to strain against the bounds of my current capacity until they weakened enough for me to achieve a breakthrough. If I had a week or so, I could easily move into D-rank four, possible even D-five if I had uninterrupted time to cultivate. The sun had risen though, and soon I felt the steps of a group coming to try their luck. I turned my attention to them, as the Cat didn’t seem to be threatening me anymore.
I no longer felt the need to hold back. With this influx of Essence, I had enough to fully devote my creatures to attacking, and could restore them to full strength without the worry of running too low to defend myself. Right now, it was far more important to me to get every drop of Essence I could in an attempt to force a breakthrough. If that meant cannibalizing my troops, so be it! I’d rather use them to take out the humans though. I called every Basher out of their hidden warrens, forcing their minds to the breaking point as I ordered all of them to fight to the death. The heavy pressure of combat that I was going to apply was now just beginning in the second room of the first floor.
Dale's group had new people in it, I recognized a few of them from their time in my dungeon, but the female was entirely new to my depths. I caught their names as they talked, and prepared to give them the fight of their lives - a real battle. As they wasted their time cultivating, I arranged all of the remaining Bashers of the first floor into ranks in the next room. When they attacked, they would move as a wave, the first rank jumping, then the second directly after. The third rank would start charging as soon as the first hit, and jump to attack when the second wave landed their attacks. Then they would reform in their lines to do it again, over and over until the humans were pulp.
The lazy adventurers made their painfully slow way to the third main room of the first floor, stopping in shock at the arrayed forces. They reached for the weapons they had foolishly put away... Which was when I gave my command to attack. The waves of Bashers charged forward, flying recklessly toward the uncomprehending adventurers. With a sound reminiscent of a drumline being played, the smooth horn of each of the Bashers found a home somewhere. Some were dodged and hit the tunnel wall, many hit the front line adventurers. A few hit those in the rear, Rose and Adam, who cried out in pain louder than those stan
ding on the front line. Those cries drove my bashers into a frenzy.
My lines of Bashers kept up a constant battering of the adventurers, even as they began to counterattack. A Warhammer I had gifted Tom some time ago came into play, the enchantment releasing a shockwave of force with each successful hit that was enough to burst the eardrums of the nearest Bashers, if not kill them directly. The Bashers actually hit would vanish in a spray of viscera, the force of the strike quintupled by the potent enchantment. The roaring barbarian was soon covered in gore and began laughing as the blows seemed to not affect him. He charged forward into the room, leaving his companions behind as he sought a glorious death in battle. I was more than happy to oblige him.
He spun his whole body in a spiral, killing a half dozen Bashers in midair. Their coats now sanguine where they were once white, the Bashers howled like dogs as they threw themselves at this lone target. Several were able to impact his knees from behind, driving him to the ground with an *oomph*. Racing toward his head from all sides, many were rebuffed as arrows slew them. A dagger attached to a swiftly moving Hans *snicked* into the battle, killing as many in near a second as Tom had managed the entire fight. Still, several Bashers landed their attack, but were knocked away at the last second by a glowing barrier. The cleric had formed a wall of solid Essence around his kneeling comrades’ head, though the cost of driving his Essence so far from himself was making him shake and sweat.
Dale had also joined the melee, swinging his Morningstar to deadly effect. The spikes on the ball, if they did not kill the Bashers directly, opened massive gashes that bled out the small bodies in seconds. Powering through arrows, Rose never stopped moving as she weaved amongst the attacks, firing at a speed which numbed the mind. If a Basher got too close, the hardened shaft of the bow would swing at them, most often crushing their spines. As many Bashers as there were, they still were simply no match for such a well-equipped team. I needed to increase my ability. This purge of creatures may actually be just what I needed to start filling the lair with more dangerous Mobs.
The Party stood in the room - until they fell to the ground that is. Adam fell first, the strain of holding the barrier draining him to a paler color than was his norm. He hit the floor with a small *splash* as he fell into the lake of blood and bodily fluids. The others followed suit, except Hans who eyed the floor with distaste. Despite a few splatters on him from the wildly swinging Warhammer, his clothing was still immaculate. The blood soon vanished, except in the areas where the human auras were too close. Small puddles of blood were soon the only remnants, but even those vanished as the party moved away from them.
They sat down and began cultivating in an attempt to recoup the expenditure of Essence they had used. Adam especially was working hard to swiftly condense the cultivated Essence, and color began returning to his face. The expended Essence had returned to him quickly, well, technically the Essence had actually looped out from him, formed a barrier around Tom’s head, then returned to Adam’s center when the barrier was dropped. Still tiring I assume.
Dani asked me to explain what was happening, so I connected with her to allow her to see as I did. We closely inspected the group. The lanky, rangy form of the blond Hans was our first, we watched his blue and roving eyes inspect his surroundings for any threat.
Dani murmured to me, trying not to get the attention of the Cat, “You think he is about average for a human? I heard Rose call him an assassin under her breath, and I remember someone saying assassins tend to blend in.”
I serenely murmured.
Dani whipped her attention to me, “Are you feeling ok?”
“Well, turn some of it into loot drops then!” She demanded. Oops. I had forgotten. I dumped a bunch of potions, poisons, and a few trinkets. Coins clattered to the floor, drawing their attention.
This brings us to Dale. Good ol’ Dale. He was a husky young man, and had the look of someone who had transformed fat into muscle through hard work. While his muscles were not as well defined as Tom’s, I knew for a fact that he could land a hit with the best of them. He had the common look of the area, brown hair with a well-trimmed beard and moustache, and common brown eyes. I was very familiar with Dale, and looked forward to absorbing him. During our scrutiny of them, they had finished cultivating and began to move to the next room, planning their attack on the first floor Boss.
~Dale~
“That *pant* was *pant* insane.” Adam managed. The Essence he had forced out of his body was slow in returning, and cultivation had only been able to restore it to a certain point. “What the heck is going on?!”
Hans looked troubled, which had the effect of making Dale very nervous. To see Hans without a sarcastic grin felt like a true portent of doom. He had even stopped flirting. Hans looked startled when Dale lightly punched him to get his attention.
“What's on your mind, big guy?” Dale prodded, giving Hans a look that conveyed his worry.
Hans shook his head. “This is making me remember a tale I heard a while back. I didn’t think it was true. According to legend, sometimes it seems that a dungeon is suddenly filled with danger, far more than is typical. There is always an event of some kind that sets it off, and the dungeon seems to be filled with raging creatures and sudden maliciousness.” He nodded at Dale, “We’ve had a taste of that, when we came here to find the cursed earth blocking the entry. I think… I think we should leave.”
The others, especially Tom, cried out in surprise and negation. Hans, the strongest killer in the group, wanted them to leave? They argued with him furiously for a few minutes, though he eventually won the argument with a simple reminder.
“Tom, as a Guild hopeful, cannot enter the lower level without a C-ranked cultivator to grant him permission, I will not grant it. He could enter, if he were to forever leave behind his chances of joining the Guild. The rest of you I outrank, and I order you to stay out of the lower level.” Hans calmly stated with steel in his voice. He began walking back to the entrance. Tom was the first to follow, face as red as his hair as his anger threatened to engulf him.
“Well, dammit.” Rose muttered harshly as she joined them. Dale and Adam fell into the line. They continued picking their way back to the entrance with Dale pointing out each trap to Rose, so she could familiarize herself with the features of them. Soon her sharp eyes were allowing her to point them out before even Dale saw them, making him swell with pride at his teaching skills.
The normally Essence-filled air had very little in it currently, making Dale nervous. Something was very wrong in the dungeon, and they were running away from finding the source. The dungeon was everything to him, a source of wealth and power that he was only just beginning to taste. His rumination was interrupted as he walked into Adam, who had abruptly come to a stop in front of him. Startled for a second, Dale started to glare until he saw what had caught the group’s attention.
A wall of light stretched the span of the doorway, shimmering and seeming to whisper secrets that begged for the attention of the listener. It was... seductive. Dale found himself drawn toward it, his mind lost in the pulsating glory he beheld. He was jerked off of hi
s feet - to his great protest - and placed facing away from the entrance along with the other members of the group. His mind was filled with rage at the treatment, soon washed away by confusion.
“Wh-” Dale paused and cleared his throat. He was so thirsty suddenly. “What just happened?”
Hans was the only one looking back the other way. “Barrier spell.” He answered shortly. “Touch it, get fried by Mana. We may be screwed.”
“Someone trapped us in here?” Adam whispered, eyes getting round.
Hans shook his head. “No, someone locked everyone out. I think we must have missed something important. Frank wouldn’t just lock this place down without good reason. Something must have spooked him beyond a minor breakout of Bashers. Dammit! Why didn’t we wait for more information?!” He shouted abruptly, startling the group.
“Screw information, why did we skip breakfast?” Tom groaned, his stomach realizing it had been forgotten. His reminder made everyone realize they had not planned well for this dungeon dive. Stomachs rumbling all around, tempers started to flare. A few minutes of arguing got them no closer to a solution, forcing them to make decisions.
“Hans,” Rose started, “How long until this barrier is removed?”
Hans shrugged, knowing where this would lead the conversation. “Likely, they are building defenses around the stairwell. Normally, this would take a day, maybe two, but the earth Mages that would do that quickly are all tied up building a sewer system at the capitol. It could be a week before the door is open again.”
“Well, then our path is clear.” Dale announced. “Hans, there is no way but onward. We need to clear the dungeon and leave through the Boss room.”
Hans began to worriedly fret. “Listen, if there is something that spooked Frank enough that he would close the place instead of fighting it right away, I don’t think it would be wise to charge in blindly. It is very possible this will end with all of our deaths. Are you ok with that?”