by Dante King
As the Shade and the Bladesinger got to their feet to face off, Abby battled against the knights. Bertha joined her, and I looked to Talos. The few remaining Hellbats, sprites, and imps had joined together to swarm him. They were being led by the intelligent Lightning Imps, and their combined efforts had made him unable to do anything except fight them off.
With the strongest of their party preoccupied, the lords were forced to face off against Abby and Bertha. A knight stumbled and gave Bertha an opportunity to slam her halberd under his chin and rip out his throat. The armored lord gargled blood and staggered. The half-troll finished him off with a decisive chop that sent his head rolling across the obsidian floor.
“I doubt Nature Magic can make him regrow his head,” Bertha commented as she joined Abby against the remaining lord.
The two sorcerers still hung back from the fight, and I figured they operated almost exclusively as a support class. Taking them out would be priority number one, but Abby and Bertha were busy with the remaining lord, my minions with Talos, and Puck with the Bladesinger.
The second Knight of the Root smashed Bertha with his shield, and she stumbled a little. Abby swung her hammer, but he deflected it with a raise of his shield. He lunged to the side of the half-troll and sliced deep into her quadriceps with his blade. Bertha hissed, gritted her teeth, and didn’t hesitate for a second. She smashed the handle of her halberd straight into the knight’s helmet and stunned him. Abby dropped her hammer and grabbed the knight’s helmeted head in both hands. Lightning crackled as she cooked the insides of his helmet, and he crumpled in death.
Bertha jumped over the armored corpse while Abby snatched her hammer from the ground, and together, they attacked the sorcerers. The magic-users might not have had any offensive abilities, but every seal in their equipment must have made them faster, because neither Bertha or Abby could score a hit. Every swing of a halberd or hammer, every bolt of lightning failed to connect.
“This ends now!” Talos screamed as he slew the last of my minions and descended upon my champions.
The sorcerers darted backward so that they were standing on the dais. Bertha and Abby were forced to leave the magic-users and face the new threat. Talos reached into his pouch and tossed something at their feet.
“Eveline hear me!” he yelled as he reached a hand forward. Green light flashed from his palm as a beam of emerald power arced across the chamber. The green magic struck the item he’d thrown and produced a small mushroom cloud.
From the fading light of the cloud, roots sprang from the dungeon floor and grew into a mighty tree as big as any of my pillars. The tree suddenly became animated, much like the treants I’d faced inside Tyria’s dungeon.
Abby ducked under a swipe from a branch, only to be ensnared by roots that rippled along the ground and closed over her legs. She summoned lightning around her body, and it exploded against the roots, but they continued to climb over her body. They constricted and tightened as she screamed. I heard a series of agonizing cracks as they crushed her form and snapped her bones.
Abby’s essence faded from beneath the treant’s grasp and flew into a siphoning stone before it returned to her dungeon core.
“Summon your avatar again,” I commanded. “Bertha needs your help.”
“You. . .” Abby managed a tired laugh. “You really are young. My avatar’s gone, at least until I can gather the energy to build it again..” Her voice faltered from fatigue. “. . . Hasn’t your avatar ever died before?”
Every curse I’d ever heard in my time on Earth suddenly exploded through my consciousness. There was a cooldown on my dungeon avatar. A restriction I didn’t realize even existed. If Von Dominus fell in battle, my core would be unprotected. I wasn’t sure these lords even had the power to remove a core from its dungeon, but I couldn’t take the risk. They obviously had more abilities than those they’d already used, and Talos’ pouch was probably hiding all sorts of surprises.
“Abby!” Bertha roared as she chopped into the treant like a lumberjack. Woodchips flew as her halberd struck the summoned creature’s form, but it knocked her back with a swipe. Her halberd flew from her hands, and she tumbled across the floor before jumping to her feet.
The sorcerers on the dais sent out a new wave of healing magic, and the treant’s wounds were instantly healed.
I wanted to enter the fight, or at least call a retreat so that my dungeon could whittle down the enemy numbers.
“Retreat,” I said. “The Chasm will work to your advantage.”
Puck shifted his form into a cloud of shadows, and the Bladesinger attempted to swipe at him as he flew away. The Shade disappeared into the spiral staircase, but Bertha remained.
“Bertha,” I said. “To the Chasm!”
“You made a promise,” she said as she jumped over a swipe from the treant.
Talos slashed at her, and she leaped back to avoid being eviscerated. Her halberd was a few dozen feet away, and the only weapon she held was her dagger. The half-troll lunged forward, and Talos chopped down. Her hand came off at the wrist, the dagger falling from her lifeless fingers. Blood spouted from the stump as she dashed backward to the safety of a pillar.
“You have failed,” I said. “Zagorath is not just its champions. Nor is it only its minions. A dungeon has traps, and other environmental threats. It’s time to let me finish this.”
The Bladesinger slowly moved toward her to join Talos and the summoned treant.
Bertha rested her back against a pillar as she sucked in air. Her chest heaved from exhaustion, and streams of sweat glistened between her breasts.
She smiled, and I knew she intended the expression for me. She couldn’t win this fight. She knew it, too. But she wanted to prove herself. Except she was completely outnumbered and quickly bleeding out. She had no weapons, and one less hand to fight with.
“Do you wish for me to return to the First Floor, Master?” Puck’s voice entered my jewel. He was waiting in the Chasm, and I figured he was wondering why the lords hadn’t arrived there yet.
“No,” I said after a second’s thought. “Bertha wishes to go down fighting.”
“The half-troll never struck me as intelligent,” Puck commented.
“She is brave beyond measure,” I countered as I returned my focus to the First Floor.
“Tell me, demon of Lilith,” Talos demanded as he moved between the pillars. “Where is Von Dominus?”
“Fuck you, Eveline’s plaything,” Bertha retorted from her hiding place. She’d torn a piece of her bodice and wrapped it around her stump. It didn’t staunch the bleeding much, but it would at least give her a bit more time before she’d die from blood loss.
“You insolent...” Talos whirled around a pillar with his scimitar raised, only to see Bertha was not behind that pillar of stone. He continued to creep forward as the Bladesinger stalked the other side of the vast chamber, checking behind pillars for the half-troll.
Talos decided a different tactic. “You, emerald maiden. Speak up. We are not unreasonable. We show quarter to those who surrender to us.” He licked his lips as he pounced behind yet another empty pillar. “Where is your master?”
“Oh, you’ll see him, adventurer. He’ll be there to send you groveling to your goddess before long.”
I reached out and touched Bertha’s consciousness. I curled around the instinctual powerhouse of her mind. She was disciplined from years of training and hard living. Even if the lords killed her, she could be resurrected once I’d dealt with them. They’d have to shatter my core to permanently kill her.
As foolish as it might have been to allow her to die, I was in love. She was my first woman in the Sinarius Realms, and this promise meant something to her. I might have been an evil overlord, but I had a heart beating in my chest. And maybe there was still some semblance of humanity remaining inside me.
“I’m with you, Bertha,” I communicated to her mind.
Her amethyst eyes glinted at my words. Bertha slipped out from
behind the pillar with renewed strength as she tapped into unassailable willpower.
Talos’ eyes were slitted with arrogant satisfaction as he spotted her. “There you are. You left something behind back there.”
The Bladesinger chuckled, a hoarse sound that grated me.
Together, the two lords closed in on Bertha, while the sorcerers trailed behind them.
Bertha flicked blood from her stump, raised her good arm, and slid her feet into a fighting stance. Every inch of her radiated power and confidence, even as she bled out.
Talos laughed at her defiance. “It’s a waste, you know. For all of your aberrant, monstrous surroundings, we could bring you pleasures you’ve only dreamed of in Avalonia.”
“You lie. I am an Infernal creature. I have no place in Avalonia.”
Talos chuckled. “Yes, you’re right. Eveline would order your death as soon as you stepped foot in her realm. You are a pestilence, and I will ensure no more Infernal monsters ever reach her dominion again.”
“Enough,” the Bladesinger croaked. “Let’s kill the bitch.”
Talos sprang forward and aimed his blade at her heart, but Bertha twisted and batted the blade aside. It slid past her arm, and my champion smashed her foot down onto Talos’ knee. He screamed as his knee came apart. His dagger arced up and found my champion’s ribs. The blade slid deep into her organs, but she didn’t so much as flinch.
Her hand found Talos’ shoulder-plates, and she smashed her skull into his face as a wet crunch signaled a broken nose. Bertha tore the dagger from her stomach and spun to face the Bladesinger. He sliced at her with twin swords, but she twisted, ducked, jumped, and weaved around the spinning blades. The treant arrived with its lumbering limbs, but the pillars provided Bertha an easy way to maneuver around its snatching branches.
The Bladesinger curled around a pillar, and Bertha was there waiting for him. With a backhanded strike, she plunged the dagger into his chest. He dropped his katanas and reached for the dagger, but Bertha leaped on top of him. Her thighs pinned him to the ground, and she twisted the blade before wrenching it from his chest. For final measure, she stabbed his face a dozen times in quick succession before leaving the pulpy mess behind.
The sorcerers had used their healing aura to regenerate Talos’ nose a second time, and he now stalked the pillars for Bertha. She had slowed down considerably, and she clearly knew her time to prove herself was at an end. Talos dashed around the pillar where she was hiding, and his scimitar came swinging down. Bertha rolled aside at the last moment, and the paladin’s blade crashed against the stone block and sent sparks flying.
Bertha attempted to run, but she stumbled and fell to the floor.
Talos grinned as he moved toward her. It took every fiber of my being not to summon Von Dominus there and then. I forced myself to hold back. Bertha would never forgive me if I intervened now.
She forced herself to a sitting position and assumed her meditative stance. Her eyes closed, and it seemed she was now completely at peace. Only obvious to me was the dagger she held in a reverse grip, the blade hidden beneath her forearm.
Talos stopped behind her and lifted his scimitar for a decapitating strike. As his sword descended, Bertha used her feet to spring backward and slide against the stone. She came between his legs and drove the dagger up, right into his groin. Talos screamed as the blade cut through his mahood. He slammed the scimitar down, and Bertha wasn’t fast enough to dodge.
“You insolent wench!” he screamed as he ended her life with a decisive chop.
Bertha’s essence raced into my core, and I felt her weakened consciousness throb. She wasn’t yet ready to speak, but I would congratulate her on a superb effort when she awakened.
For now, it was time to get serious. I’d allowed Bertha the chance to prove herself, but now, it was on me to ensure Zagorath’s victory.
Chapter Twenty
The remaining four Sap Lords paused at the top of the staircase leading to the Chasm. The sorcerers uttered incantations, and a green aura flowed over Talos.
“Can you heal it, Marlyn?” Talos asked a sorcerer.
“Yes, but it will still be scared terribly. I’m afraid your days of whoring are over, Talos.”
The other sorcerer, Silrin, snickered. “You won’t be able to convince them you don’t have a nasty disease.”
“Once we destroy this dungeon, I’ll have enough coin to buy as many whores as I like. Mangled cock or not.”
“The dungeon’s champions killed Harven and Althir,” Silrin said. “Do you really think the rest of its depths will be so easy?”
“And we killed two of their numbers,” Marlyn said. “They have only the shadow demon and Von Dominus remaining.”
“You think there are no more hidden secrets?”
“Perhaps,” Talos answered as they reached the final step on the spiral staircase. “But they will die by my blade as the troll and the elemental did.”
“She almost bested you,” the Bladesinger croaked.
“Don’t be a fool. I could have ended her at any moment.”
The Bladesinger shrugged. “If you say so.”
The lords left the spiral staircase and stared into the depths of the Chasm.
“It’s a long way down, my friends,” Talos said.
“I do hope you remembered to bring more seeds,” Marlyn said.
“You disappoint me with your lack of faith.” Talos pulled a handful from his belt pouch. “Let’s make this swift. I have an appointment with an army of whores who care not for scarred cocks.”
Marlyn sniggered at the comment as Talos tossed a small seed at a nearby wall. He held out a hand and magic flowed out from his palm. Thick vines twisted free of my dungeon wall, bonded together, and created an instant bridge.
The Sap Lords had just bypassed my entire first set of stairs.
“Well, that’s just cheating,” Abby said from within her core.
“Makes no difference,” I said. “Haven’t you heard? Cheaters never prosper.”
The invaders stepped confidently out onto their new ramp of leafy branches and kept their eyes on the walls. They were running high with the satisfaction of Bertha and Abby’s deaths. But I had so many more tricks up my sleeve. The best way to catch your enemy was when they were at the height of confidence. So, I let them stroll down to the first landing without any resistance.
“This dungeon is far too powerful to be a new vassal of Lilith,” Silrin commented.
“Its power is an illusion,” Talos said. “The champions we slew were weak. Impressive physical ability, true, but not accustomed to a real adventurer party. Our victory is assured, my friends.”
Silrin glanced at a shimmering skull. “I trust that you’re not letting your confidence overwhelm your good sense.”
“His brain just got skewered,” the Blademancer said, “so it might not be working all that well.”
Talos glowered at the man. “This dungeon is but a newborn.”
“How does an Infernal Dungeon come to have a travel stone that connects to our realm?” Marlyn asked.
“It matters not how,” Talos said as he approached the first set of the rewards I’d left for skilled adventurers. He sheathed his scimitar and examined one of my own straight swords of Zagorath Alloy. “Look at the workmanship of this. It’s sloppy. Taken from the hands of savages. Created with the best that the Infernal Realm has to offer.” His fingers traced the enchanted seals on the blade. “Lilith is desperate. She’s grasping at scraps. Much like this dungeon.”
Talos tossed the sword over the precipice and into the abyss. The weapon spun end over end before clattering against the spikes hundreds of feet below. He reached into his pouch and tossed another seed before activating it with his magic. Another bridge formed out of a mass of tangled roots and provided the lords with a way around my traps.
I made a mental note to acquire some of those seeds after I killed Talos. The intruders brimmed with confidence as they moved down the next ramp,
but they made sure to keep their eyes peeled for any sign of attack. They were professionals, after all. They were the most dangerous adventurers I’d ever faced. It was going to be difficult to catch them off guard.
Puck’s voice echoed through our mental link. “Are you simply going to let them stroll down and claim your core, Master?”
“Patience,” I answered.
Puck waited on a platform halfway down the Chasm for my order, but I wasn’t about to send him in yet. I wanted the lords overconfident. I wanted them to underestimate me. It would make it that much more satisfying when I killed them all.
The lords used more of their essence-fed seeds to stretch out new paths. They crossed their makeshift paths and avoided every danger with these vine-wreathed pathways. The ramps they created itched against my dungeon’s walls. I could feel them brimming with Physical and Nature Essence.
“Puck, do your best to agitate them,” I commanded. “I want them to make mistakes. A single misstep and they’re mine. If you want to prove yourself, now’s the time.”
“Invaders of Zagorath!” Puck’s voice boomed throughout the Chasm as he uncloaked himself. “Your arrogance and presumption displeases the goddess of this realm. Surrender, and your deaths will be swift. Continue to fight, and your demise shall be lingering, agonizing, and unlike anything you’ve ever before experienced.”
“We are of the Sap Lords of Avalonia, aberration,” Talos shouted back. “We are past negotiation. You have shown your hand. Allow us to show ours.”
“Oh, my dear little paladin,” Puck laughed, “we’re only beginning.”
At my command, Lightning Imps exploded from hiding. Red electricity crackled from their carapaces as they swept in to greet the Sap Lords.
Without knights to protect them, the sorcerers were forced to rely on the quick swords of Talos and the Bladesinger. Marlyn and Silrin fed the pair with yet more essence, and most of the imps were cut down quickly. A number slipped past the swordsmen and dived at the sorcerers. Long claws crackled with scarlet power as they tore into the softer targets of the robed lords. The imp’s carapaces made it difficult for the sorcerers to even swipe them out of the air, and there were too many for Talos and the Bladesinger to ward off.