by Andrew Rowe
“We...may want to wait and make a plan first, Mara.”
She paused in her step. “Oh, right, you’re not in the class. Guess you probably don’t know much about serpents, then?”
I shook my head. “I learned a bit when I was researching the spire itself. Tough scales and a powerful shroud. They can exhale bursts of magic. Some of them can change in shape to a humanoid form, but they usually still have some characteristics that make them stand out. I didn’t learn much about tactics for fighting them, though. My plan was pretty much to flee in terror and hope for the best.”
Marissa laughed. “Well, that’d usually work, but not here. Gotta beat this one and get me a good score. Important thing to know — the scales usually tell you the type of breath it’s got. The environment helps, too. Blue scales and water mean it’s probably a water serpent.”
That made sense. “So, fire would be effective, then?”
“Nah. I mean, it wouldn’t be bad, but opposites aren’t usually the best for monsters. Like cancels out like, but that’s end neutral. You want something that has a violent effect. For water, that means lightning.”
I nodded at the explanation. Something about that bothered me, though. Mizuchi was supposed to be a water dragon, but I’d seen her breathe lightning. Was she actually a lightning dragon, or could she actually use a type of magic she was weak against?
Either seemed strange, but I supposed that the children of God Beasts were powerful enough to break all sorts of the normal rules about how monsters were supposed to work.
“Okay.” I pondered for a moment. “We don’t have lightning. Then what?”
Marissa grinned. “When you don’t have the right element, there is one thing every monster is weak against.”
“Oh?” This sounded like useful information.
“Punching.” She made a fist.
I laughed. “Okay. Anything else I should know?”
She shrugged a shoulder. “Serpents can use magic, like karvensi can. Most of them don’t bother unless they’re in their human form, though.”
“What sorts of magic?”
“Depends on the serpent. Usually matches their colors. The older ones get a broader variety, though. The really big ones, like the Tails of Orochi, even have things that work like attunement powers.”
I blinked. “So, there could be serpents that have Enchanter or Guardian abilities?”
“Yeah, sure. But it’s the scarier attunements you really need to worry about. You wouldn’t want to run into a serpent that could use Shadow abilities, for example.”
I wouldn’t want to run into a serpent in general, but she was right. The magic defense abilities of a Shadow or a Shaper being combined with the inherent abilities of a serpent would be terrifying. “Okay, I’ll keep an eye out for any attunement abilities they might use.”
“Great. Let’s get going.”
She led the way further into the tunnel.
We ended up in the largest chamber we’d seen yet. Lit torches were attached to the walls, which seemed strange until I checked them and realized they were enchanted. They’d burn forever, as long as they could gather enough ambient mana.
Maybe it was just for effect, or maybe it was part of the test. I couldn’t be sure.
The center of the room was dominated by a huge pool of water. A waterfall on the right side of the chamber was pouring into that central pool. At a glance, the central pool was too deep for us to see the bottom.
“Don’t get too close,” Mara warned. “Serpent is probably in there somewhere.”
I nodded, keeping my distance. “Do we try to draw it out onto land somehow?”
“Maybe. Let’s keep looking around a bit first.”
We searched the area until Mara found something of note. “Hey, Corin, c’mere.”
There was a wide indentation in the rock near the waterfall. It looked like a slot for something, like a keyhole, but flat and too wide for an ordinary key.
“The sword?” I asked.
“Was thinkin’ the same thing. Should I?”
“Maybe we should cut the side open first and look for the runes. It might be another trap we can disable.”
Marissa frowned. “But that takes soooo long.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine. Go for it.”
“Watch my back, yeah?”
I nodded, taking up a defensive position behind her.
Marissa stuck the sword in the slot.
I heard a ‘click’, followed by what sounded like a musical chime.
Weird.
Then the waterfall subsided, and the pool of water in the center of the room began to drain.
Behind where the waterfall had been, we could see another passage into a small chamber. A glimmering golden axe hovered in mid-air.
“Okay, I have to admit, that’s a pretty impressive effect.”
We were so distracted by the shiny object that we barely noticed that the room was getting darker.
That wasn’t shadow magic at work.
It was the gigantic serpent that had emerged from the draining water, and was now looming above us.
The creature was much smaller than Mizuchi, but still terrifyingly huge. A good twenty feet of it was exposed, and I couldn’t tell how much was still below the water or coiled up. It was only about four feet wide, but that still meant that it was big enough to swallow a person whole.
I noticed it first. “Uh, Mara?”
She was just about to reach for the axe when she turned. “Huh?...oh. Fudgenuggets.”
The serpent roared, reared up, and took a deep breath.
And, in spite of my better instincts, I didn’t run.
I attacked.
As the creature swooped down, jaws wide, I jumped and activated the ring. I aimed for its head, but it twisted to the side and tried to bite me out of the air.
I activated the ring again, blasting myself backward. The creature’s jaws snapped shut where I’d been floating a moment before.
Marissa charged and did exactly what she promised.
“Rising thunder!” Her first swirled with mana as she pulled it back, then slammed it into the creature’s scales. The serpent roared and recoiled at the impact.
I floated to the ground a moment later. “Let’s keep it flanked!”
“Got it!” Marissa punched it again, while I ran behind it.
I’d considered that a valid tactic right up until the creature’s tail flashed out of the water and slammed right into my chest.
I flew backward, crashing into the stone cavern walls. My barrier and shroud softened the impact, but it still knocked the wind right out of me.
It took me a few whole seconds to stand, and another couple to steady myself.
By that point, Marissa had fallen back on the defensive. The serpent descended to bite her, but she nimbly dodged to the side and landed another punch on the side of the creature’s head.
Its tail whipped out to slam into her, but Marissa was ready, and she hopped several feet in the air to launch herself over it. She couldn’t quite get the height that I could with the ring, but her attunement enhanced her physical capabilities far beyond what an ordinary human could muster.
Marissa drew back for another punch, charging mana in her fist.
The creature whipped its tail — but not at her, this time.
It smashed the water, sending a tidal wave across the room.
We braced ourselves, but the water still impacted us hard and threw us off our feet.
Cold.
I shivered as the water subsided. The chill didn’t bother me as much as the weight — my clothing was soaking now, and that would limit my mobility.
Before we had a chance to recover, the serpent reared up and took a deep breath.
“Dodge!” Marissa yelled.
“You don’t have to tell me that!”
We rushed to opposite sides of the room, both thinking that would help us avoid whatever came next.
We were mistaken.
When the creature exhaled, the temperature in the chamber plummeted, and I realized our first mistake.
We weren’t dealing with a creature of water.
This was a monster of ice.
The serpent turned toward me, still exhaling. The breath was freezing everything in its path solid. I couldn’t trust my shroud to defend against that.
“The wall!” Marissa screamed.
Shivering and barely capable of movement, I realized what she meant just before the serpent’s breath reached me.
I jumped to the side, activating my ring, and threw myself straight at the wall.
Or, more specifically, at the closest enchanted torch.
I slammed right into it. Normally, that would have been a terrible idea, but I was currently both wet and half-frozen from the serpent’s breath, so the flames didn’t burn me in the slightest.
After a moment of hugging up against the torch, I sliced it off the wall and grabbed it with my off-hand, pulling it dangerously close to my skin to evaporate what I could of the clinging ice and water.
The serpent turned away from me and back toward Mara. She had already grabbed a torch and was trying to warm herself in the same way.
Fortunately, the creature had stopped using its breath to freeze the room, but much of the damage had already been done. Part of the lake that hadn’t drained away was frozen solid, and ice clung to nearly every surface of the room. Even maneuvering would be difficult.
That made it all the more dangerous when the creature lunged for Marissa again, jaws wide.
I’m making a bad habit out of this.
I threw my sword at the creature’s back.
It was, fortunately, a much easier throw than hitting the spider had been. The serpent was basically one giant target.
The blade pierced the creature’s scales easily. The serpent screamed and thrashed, abandoning its attack.
I rushed forward, slipped on the ice, and hit the floor.
The serpent turned, howled into the air, and rose up like a snake about to strike.
I barely managed to stand, then fired a blast from my demi-gauntlet into the creature’s head.
That just made it angrier.
The serpent’s head descended, jaws side.
Snap.
The creature’s head continued downward...but fell off to the side, severed from the rest of its body.
Nearby, Marissa lifted the golden axe into the air and cheered. “Yeah! This thing is great!”
I blinked, turned my head to the headless serpent, and then back to Marissa.
Then I burst into laughter. “Talk about dramatic timing there, Mara. That thing was seconds from eating me.”
“I know! It was great!”
Mara twirled the axe around, grinning. “Think this is the real thing we came for. Cut through that thing like paper.”
“Sounds about right.” With my attunement active, I could see several runes glowing on the surface. I couldn’t identify them with Mara swinging it gleefully all over the place, though. “You did great there.”
“Thanks! Couldn’t have gotten a clean shot if you hadn’t thrown your sword at it. Do you practice that? You seem to do it a lot.”
I laughed. “I actually did used to practice throwing weapons, but mostly knives and darts. Swords aren’t great for throwing, but sometimes I don’t have better options.”
“What about that shockwave thing you can do when you swing it?”
“That’s not bad for small stuff, and it hits harder than a dueling cane, but it’s hard to aim and—”
I heard a rumbling to my side. I frowned.
Mara paused, too. “Did you hear that?”
I nodded. “Yeah, it sounded like it was coming from—”
We turned toward the serpent’s body.
It was moving.
More precisely, it was standing back up.
And then, as we gaped in horror, we saw something growing from the severed stump.
Or, more accurately, two somethings.
Something, in this context, being heads.
We hadn’t been fighting a serpent.
We were fighting a hydra.
“Uh, Mara?” I held the torch out in front of me.
“...Yyyyeah, Corinnn?”
“How do we fight a hydra?”
“I....uh...” She was shivering, and I was pretty sure it wasn’t just the cold.
The two heads were finished emerging from the neck now. I watched it with a combination of horror and fascination. How exactly did a regenerative process like that work?
Then the two heads snapped their jaws in the air, and turned their gazes toward us.
I looked at Mara. “Nevermind. Pretty sure we run.”
I grabbed her by the arm and pulled.
She required no further encouragement.
We rushed out of the chamber at maximum speed. The hydra howled in fury behind us, slithering closer to snap at us with twin jaws.
Then we were in the tunnel. One serpentine head reached in to try to bite us, but we kept running.
Moments later, we were too deep for the hydra to reach.
But we still weren’t quite safe.
Water was beginning to drip from the ceiling, seemingly from everywhere. It was like it had suddenly begun to rain.
The cold from that was a problem, but not the main one.
The real problem was that the chambers above and below us were filling with water.
If we didn’t move fast, we were going to drown.
We rushed as quickly as we could, still hand in hand. I slipped once, but Mara dragged me back to my feet, and then she was leading the way.
We reached the elevator. Without a second to converse, she threw her arms around me — fortunately, not chopping my head off in the process — and I dropped the torch to lift her.
I jumped. And, then, mid-air, I jumped again, using the ring.
I kicked off the side of the shaft, then jumped again.
Finally, we landed up top.
Water was still dripping from the ceiling up top. It was either some kind of trap, or some spell the hydra had cast. It hardly mattered.
We knew the way out, so we ran.
We were drenched when we finally got outside.
When we finally sat down, we were laughing like madmen.
Neither of us expected the voice that approached from my right side.
The spider loomed over us, arms folded. “You two absolutely ruined my lair. I’m going to expect reimbursement for this.”
And with that, our test was over.
***
“I admit, I have never seen someone bribe the jorogumo with beef jerky before. That was an inspired tactic.”
Marissa’s teacher was Sir Tanath, a knight of the Soaring Wings. He looked more like a storybook hero than any of the other Soaring Wings I’d seen, his short beard and gleaming blue eyes complimenting his silvery mail and the gold-hilted sword at his side.
“Thank you, sir.” Marissa beamed.
“I’m not done yet. You still left a hideously dangerous monster alive, that could have ambushed you — or someone else — at a later time.”
“But—” I began to interject.
He raised a hand to quiet me. “Nevertheless, too many people fail to realize that intelligent monsters can be used as a resource. I’m a Summoner myself, and that darling creature you met was one of my contracted beasts. I met her in a situation not too different from the one you did, and like you, I realized she was smart enough to be worth working with.”
I blinked. His outward warrior-like appearance made me assume he’d be something like a Guardian, or maybe a foreign attunement like a Soulblade.
Sir Tanath continued. “When I was serving in the Unclaimed Lands, she was one of the best resources at my disposal. I made many other contracts with intelligent monsters there — some were useful, some were dangerous liabilities. A Summoner’s pact is not inviolable; a monster of sufficient
cunning can and will find ways to work around it. I am fortunate that thus far I’ve been too entertaining for that particular friend to betray me.
“When you are in a situation with monsters like her, you must ask yourself what the odds are that they will be a threat to you if you leave them alive. In that scenario, virtually all students merely fight her — and lose. You made a wise decision to make a deal. It might have been wiser to simply run, but nevertheless, you did well.”
Sir Tanath turned to face Marissa directly. “I’m pleased to say that by retrieving the axe, you’ve passed the test. By also managing to handle the hydra and jorogumo without any major problems, you’ve earned an A. Once again, you’re near the top of the class. Congratulations, Miss Callahan.” He extended his hand, which Marissa shook enthusiastically.
“Thank you sir! I’m so happy!” Then she raised the axe, grinning. “Uh, can I keep this?”
***
In the end, Sir Tanath did not let her keep the axe. He did, however, return my sword, with a few stern words about leaving my weapons behind.
I really did have a bad habit of doing that.
Even axe-free, Marissa was in a great mood as we walked, still soaking wet, all the way home.
Chapter VII – Overdoing It Just a Tad
It was much later in the same evening that Derek brought a Diviner friend over.
I was far too exhausted from Marissa’s test to pay much attention at that point. His name was Harold or something.
I’d almost forgotten why he’d needed the Diviner. They were looking for the teleportation trail of that strange dagger that had disappeared. They managed to confirm that something had teleported out of the area, but the Diviner explained that his tracking magic was being blocked by something more powerful.
That was not a good sign.
We did get to bombard the Diviner with a few other questions, though.
The magic ring that Keras didn’t recognize turned out to be something that enhanced physical strength. I was sorely tempted to ask to borrow that as well, but I’d already borrowed two things, and Marissa beat me to it while I was hesitating.
In truth, it was a better fit for her skills than mine, but I wasn’t sure she’d need it. We weren’t planning to bring Marissa with us to the spire, and that was the main reason I wanted to stock up on items.