by Sarah Lin
Bloodwraith shrugged. "We don't have an answer to that question and all we can do is push our way through as fast as possible without risking getting killed."
"That's true. I suppose I'll do a little enchantment work and then go to bed."
He nodded to her, but remained sitting on the floor for some time, staring at the bloody square where the trap door had once been.
Chapter 13
Though Danniah wouldn't dare tell anyone, because they would probably just frown at her, she actually felt a bit sorry for the wolves. They just kept attacking even though they always got cut in half by the dungeon barrier. Something about the way they threw themselves into certain doom made her feel a bit bad for them.
That didn't stop her from helping to kill them, of course. She remembered how much their claws hurt and knew they'd kill her friends if they got a chance. As another wolf began to drag itself across the floor, Danniah rammed it in the face with her shield. Though she wasn't really much stronger than before and they could still overpower her, she'd gotten much better at anticipating their attacks and so each encounter was a bit easier.
Even stunned, the Fellwolf began to wildly claw the floor until Gharavi zapped it with more lightning. The fact that they were so mindlessly vicious was part of what made it easier for Danniah to fight them. There weren't little Fellwolf families deeper in the dungeon... were there? That thought distracted her for a while before she pushed it aside.
How many wolves had it been now? Danniah had lost count, just concentrating on the next battle and otherwise focusing on her training. They hadn't taken any major injuries in their second day of luring wolves, but it was getting harder to find them.
"I don't think there are any more left in the corridor." Meara floated down the stairs to scout, since they had confirmed that the wolves couldn't harm her. "No monsters in sight - you want to pull up this set of corpses?"
"We might as well so that they don't get in the way." Bloodwraith moved forward and grabbed one of the dead wolves by the neck, lifting it in one hand. Danniah couldn't help but stare, imagining how the muscles of his body must be straining to lift such a massive beast with one hand.
She got herself under control and helped Gharavi drag another one of the corpses up the stairs. Danniah herself didn't have the skills to skin the pelts off the beasts, so she always did her best to help with the early work. Once she'd gotten over the weirdness of sleeping on them, the pelts had actually proven surprisingly comfortable, though she wondered if Meara's unnatural cleaning didn't have something to do with it.
While the others started on the bodies, Danniah stayed at the entrance to the stairs and kept watch just in case any monsters got past Meara. She found herself glancing backward to the others as they worked. Gharavi had always lived on her own and seemed like she would have lots of skills to take care of herself. Yet as she watched Bloodwraith skin the animals just as swiftly, she found herself wondering...
"Bloodwraith, why are you so good at that?" Danniah asked. "Is it because of all the wolves you had to kill in the Forest of Beginnings?"
"No, it's from my work as a necromancer." He glanced up at her, not needing to watch his hands as he worked. "You need to have an extensive knowledge of anatomy, if not exactly the kind of anatomy that a healer requires."
"Oh... I guess that makes sense."
Though Danniah didn't have anything else to say and was afraid things would slip back into silence, she seemed to have roused Bloodwraith's interest. He looked toward Gharavi instead. "I know we have a dozen different priorities, but have you put more work into the necromancy tools I gave you?"
"Some." Gharavi shrugged as she kept working at her own wolf. "I don't think I'll ever be a skilled necromancer, but I'm trying to cover the basics. Why, do you have something in mind?"
"Just a potential idea that would require you to make better use of the Wand of Undead Dominion. But it's contingent on the arbitrary laws of the boxes and we don't require it just yet."
They went on to talk about magical details, so Danniah's attention wandered and she went back to monitoring the dungeon corridor instead. It was nice to see Bloodwraith and Gharavi having fun talking about magic, but if she tried to participate they would just be humoring her.
Something flickered in the corridor, so Danniah immediately looked closer, but it was just Meara. Walking slowly. Puzzled, Danniah went down several steps to look at her.
"Everything okay, Meara?"
"Uh, I think so." She had a strange expression on her face. "Get everyone ready."
The others had already heard, so they pushed aside the wolf corpses and prepared for a fight. If wolves had been chasing Meara, they would have caught up, so her slow pace was rather strange. Danniah moved in to peer further, curious what the situation was, when she finally saw them.
Behind Meara scuttled two creatures that looked like some sort of giant cross between spiders and crabs. Their black shells were heavy and spiked, which seemed to slow them down to a walking pace. Danniah knew that they had to be dangerous, despite how slowly they were moving, so she tried to take them seriously, but they looked funny to her.
"I was looking for wolves and one of these things tried to drop off the ceiling onto me." Meara began to speed up as she got closer and the creatures sped up a little too, but she still outpaced them. "I have no idea about their capabilities, but I'm guessing that the barrier doesn't care how hard their shells are."
Floating up the steps, Meara quickly got out of the way so that she wouldn't distract them from the fight. Danniah readied her shield and hefted her mace. Now that she got a better look at them, with their sharp claws and their beady eyes, she didn't like the look of them at all. Even if they turned out to be the weakest monsters in the world, they were a bit creepy.
When they reached the stairs, the spider crabs climbed them easily enough, getting closer and closer. They shied back from the light of the tavern a bit, eye stalks retreating deeper into their shells. Eventually they moved forward, one of them creeping up to the top step.
The trap door disappeared, the floor immediately slicing the first monster in half. Unlike the wolves, this one didn't manage to keep attacking, it just lay there. Purple juices leaked out from under it, staining the floor.
Just in case it had more fight left in it, Danniah approached from behind her shield. But when she reached out and whacked it with her mace, the remains just fell over. Sighing in slight disappointment, she began pushing it out of the way as she looked back to Bloodwraith.
"Well, what do the boxes say?" As much as he complained about them, sometimes she wished that she could see the boxes as well.
"It was worth 6871 EXP and that item is apparently called a Fellcrab Carapace." Bloodwraith rolled his eyes and summoned the box again. "I'm sensing a theme in this place. Alright, we'll do the same with the second one."
The trap door opened and in a fraction of an instant the crab burst out. Danniah had a horrifying instant to realize it was shooting toward her and then she was slammed back against the opposite wall of the tavern. One of those massive claws had stabbed at her arm, skating off some of her armor but managing to dig in enough that she was bleeding.
Once such an attack would have completely disoriented her, but Danniah was too tough for that now. The creature's awful legs were pinning one arm and her shield, but she still had her mace. Yet when she tried to strike at the creature's eyes, her blows bounced off the shell as the eye stalks retreated. Worse, she saw a nasty set of pincers emerge from its mouth area, threatening to take off her arm.
"Bloodwraith, get it away!" Gharavi was the one yelling, so she must be planning a spell. Yes, Danniah saw her bolt of lightning gathering strength.
As he rushed to help her, Bloodwraith threw out a burst of force. Yet it entirely dissipated off the crab's shell and it didn't even seem to notice - Danniah felt it more than the crab did. The creature wasn't able to ignore the greatsword striking it in the side, however, severing one
of its legs.
One of the huge claws snapped out, the side catching Bloodwraith in the chest and sending him flying. Yet that movement allowed Danniah enough freedom to brace herself against the wall. She pushed off it, thrusting out her shield and pouring mana into it. Though the crab flinched less than she'd hoped, since it had already been up against the wall in an awkward position, it fell over onto its back.
The instant the spider crab was free of her, Gharavi thrust out her wand and the massive bolt of lightning shot through the monster's exposed stomach. Yet a moment later, the crab twisted, beginning to spin on its back as if completely unharmed.
It spun toward Danniah with surprising speed, serrated edges of its armor biting into her legs. She cried out in pain and almost pitched forward, which would have taken her into the creature's grasping legs and potentially those jaws. Yet its spin was halted by shards of ice stabbing down. Gharavi summoned them overhead and jammed them into the cracks in its armor.
Though Danniah gratefully retreated, nursing her bruised legs, she saw that the crab was still moving. The ice had impeded it, but done very little harm. "Gharavi, it isn't working! You need t-"
But her warning was too late. Slamming one claw into the ground, the crab launched itself through the air toward Gharavi. She somehow managed to duck underneath the lunge, but one of the claws struck her in the side, knocking her to the ground. Worse, the crab managed to land on its feet and began scuttling toward her instantly, claws rising.
Though Danniah started to move to defend her, she knew that she would be too late. And even if she arrived, what good could she do? Her mace would just clatter uselessly off the monster's armor and it might even ignore her as it attacked her friends.
Fortunately, Izzy jumped in, landing on the crab's shell and stabbing down into its eyes. Her blow sank deep and the crab let out a terrible shriek, but it managed to clip Izzy with one claw. She crashed against the wall and crumpled to the ground.
Both of them had tried to defend her and now they were both threatened. Danniah was almost there and she would gladly suffer anything to help them, but would it be enough? The monster had ignored their attacks so far, what good could she do?
Danniah felt angry and tried to use that to fuel her, throwing herself into the crab's path and blocking it from her friends. Yet a moment later its claws clasped down on her shield from both sides and to her horror, it began to pull the shield away from her. She fought back, hoping her anger would give her strength, but it was overpowering and her anger seemed to be slipping away...
In its place, Danniah found a strange heat. Not rage, but the gentle warmth of protecting her friends. Thoughts of many battles swirled together in her mind, then kindled into flame.
As her shield was tugged away, Danniah swung her mace into the monster's face with all her might.
To her shock, her mace exploded in flame. The blow smashed into the crab's face with force she didn't know she possessed, sending it flipping over onto its back again. Danniah stared in shock, realizing that her mace was glowing like a miniature sun. She could feel the heat emanating from it, yet felt no fear that it would burn her...
Fortunately, Bloodwraith wasn't distracted. While the crab was on its back, he hacked through several of its legs. The beast screeched again and struggled to right itself, its claws still quite dangerous.
Snapping out of it, Danniah rushed to help finish it off even though her mace was fading and she wasn't sure she could find the same strength in herself again. Gharavi was struggling to her knees, though, and Izzy was still down... she had to protect them...
The crab swung a claw at her face and on instinct Danniah swung back at it. It should have been a mistake, yet the burning aura lit up around her mace again. Though Danniah stumbled back from the impact, the crab staggered as well, stunned by her attack.
She wanted to attack again, but suddenly Danniah's vision began growing dark. There was still a flame burning inside her, but it burned very low. Then she'd drawn too much...
Though the crab turned toward her, jaws snapping, a moment later it was consumed in a column of fire. It screeched for a long time, but it shriveled up and died. Danniah forced herself to remain on her feet by sheer willpower until she was sure it was dead, then collapsed.
Bloodwraith caught her to prevent her from hitting the ground, which didn't surprise her, but Danniah didn't expect to be lowered to the ground with her head in Gharavi's lap. The half-orc woman smiled down at her. "Good work, Danniah. You shouldn't have needed to be the one to find out that fire is their weakness, but you did well."
"I think that... was my fire ability..." A bit delirious from the strain, Danniah giggled up at both of them. "I'm gonna fall unconscious now... if that's okay..."
The shadows claimed her, but she wasn't worried because they were there to hold her. And deeper than that, she could still feel the flame burning within herself.
~ ~ ~
Concern for his allies had kept Bloodwraith too distracted to read any boxes, but once he confirmed that the battle was over and Danniah was safe, he took the time to look through them. One box simply announced that the battle was over, which meant more EXP but nothing complex. He was far more interested in the announcement regarding Danniah.
[Quest Complete!
Sub-Quest IV: Help Danniah acquire a flame-based attack.
EXP +10,000]
Then that was almost certainly the link to fire that the Phoenix Amulet had spoken of. When he looked at Danniah's box he saw that she had a new skill called "Flame Blow" - that seemed a rather dull name for an impressive skill that had been a real breakthrough for her. He found himself proud of her in a strange way and wanted to reach down and pull off her helmet, but didn't with Gharavi right there.
Instead he handed Danniah over to Gharavi and Meara, who managed to pull her armor back into her sphere somehow and then got her comfortable on the makeshift beds. While they did that, Bloodwraith moved back to look at the corpses.
Though the fight had been difficult, it hadn't crippled them in any way, so he considered it a significant victory. More important than the EXP was the actual experience they had gained against enemies like these. If they had started with a battle against both a Fellwolf and a Fellcrab they would certainly have died, but now they were much more prepared for what this dungeon could throw at them.
"Can I eat this too, Da?" Izzy crouched beside him, teeth snapping as she stared at the crab corpse. Bloodwraith nodded.
"I think you should, though I'd be surprised if you can get through that armor."
To his surprise Izzy bent right down and managed to bite through it, but a moment later she spat out fragments of the carapace. "It's not tasty at all!"
"There should be meat underneath." Bloodwraith began hacking apart the corpse so that she could get at it, though he spent more time thinking about the carapace. Izzy might not be able to eat it, but could it serve other useful purposes? He would need to ask Gharavi, who was currently occupied, but he suspected that it might serve as a useful component.
Since he couldn't make progress on that currently, Bloodwraith instead looked to his own box. He was pleased that the Sub-Quest for Danniah had given him a full 10,000 EXP, but was surprised that it hadn't taken him to Level 16. When he looked to the relevant part of his box, he saw that he was frustratingly close:
[Level: 15
EXP: 432,518/437,400]
That was just one wolf... but there was no such thing as a simple fight in this place. He wished there had been just one more wolf in the previous group, but that was just his luck.
"Not quite there." Meara appeared beside him with a speculative look. "You want me to go lure some more monsters here?"
"No, let us recover first. The risk of a failure is too high." Bloodwraith paused for a moment, watching Izzy gnaw at the crab meat, before glancing to Meara. "How far did you have to go to find these?"
"Definitely further than before. I'm not sure how long we'll be able to k
eep luring monsters here."
"We need to keep it up at least long enough to make some more progress in raw strength. Beyond that... we'll need to change strategies."
Meara nodded in acknowledgment and moved away. Since they needed some time to recover, they would definitely rest for a while, but Bloodwraith found himself thinking too much to relax. EXP and ally Level and equipment and Necromancy Points... his tasks as arbitrary points merchant were becoming a real job, yet lives were on the line depending on him to do it well.
Instead of pushing his allies past their most efficient point, he needed to make progress of a different sort. Once framed that way, the most logical element to focus on was equipment. Once Bloodwraith finished dismantling both crabs, he placed their carapaces into his inventory. He was carrying quite a load of Fellwolf pelts that had to be useful for something other than just bedding.
Pulling out one of each, Bloodwraith did his best to examine them via the boxes. Usually he tried to suppress descriptions of mundane objects, but now...
[Fellwolf Pelt (crafting component)
Rarity: Rare
The pelt of a Fellwolf.]
[Fellcrab Carapace (crafting component)
Rarity: Rare
The carapace of a Fellcrab.]
He muttered under his breath about the descriptions being idiotic and useless, but his heart wasn't into it. What really mattered was that the boxes explicitly labeled them as crafting components and both were considered rare. Though thanks to Raigar he knew that the rarity system was irrational and extended beyond that, it was still a positive sign. They could theoretically create good equipment with these components... if they could figure out how.
While Bloodwraith was experimenting with the carapace, Gharavi came to sit down opposite him. "I believe those could be useful materials. The problem is that we don't really have the tools or facilities to work them properly."
"I'm hopeful that the boxes will allow us to avoid many of the logical steps." Bloodwraith held up the item to her. "However, I fear that I've never studied item creation in depth - as a lich I preferred to increase the strength of already high-quality equipment. Can you help me with the basics?"