A spear-sized lance of purple energy manifested.
All of her eyes widened.
He launched it with a thought. The powerful missile split the air and struck her shield before he could blink.
The lance ripped right through the weakened barrier. It hit just beneath her dark breastplate, piercing her armored skirt with contemptuous ease.
Yesera screeched. Her high-pitched wail almost made Gabriel drop his sword, and he glanced up to her scarred face.
Their gazes met, and he couldn’t look away. The unscarred side of Yesera’s face locked in a tortured grimace, and her red eyes blazed with a frightening intensity. She stared at him, unblinking, and reached down to grip the magical shaft buried deep in her chitinous abdomen.
Envenomed fangs glistened, and her lips peeled back as she pulled the weapon free.
The lance had made a nasty squelch on the way in, and it sounded even worse as she ripped the weapon loose. She winced and snarled in pain.
If looks could kill…
“That was a mistake you will soon regret!”
She hurled herself toward him.
Gabriel froze, then recovered and dove to his right just before her purple-bladed spear sliced the air.
Running on instinct, he rolled forward. He gasped when Yesera struck the stone just behind him.
“Stop struggling. I’m not going to kill you, male. You shall be my mate. The harder you make this, though, the worse it will be for your disgusting bitches!”
Gabriel leapt to his feet and glared at the enraged arachne. “I’m going to pluck your fucking legs!” he roared.
Yesera blinked, then laughed. “Really now? Do the two of them mean that much to you, Dungeon Master?”
He didn’t reply.
A reckless rush brought him into melee with the gigantic monster. With his Haste spell still active, he kept her on the defensive for several long seconds.
Mana 11%
It felt like second nature to weave a spell with his free hand, and half his mind, while he pressed the advantage with his mithril sword.
She has to die! I won’t let her touch Cindra!
Gabriel could barely think, but that didn’t seem to impede his spellcasting. A single thought dismissed the last remnants of his previous spellshield.
He replaced it with a simpler physical barrier.
Yesera laughed. “That will only delay the inevitable.”
She whipped her spear down and across faster than he expected. He stumbled back and threw a weak parry.
His sword went flying from a numb hand, but she didn’t exploit his weakness.
When she skittered back, he blinked, then bent to recover his blade. From the hall, he heard continued fighting. Cindra roared.
“I don’t want to leave you the delusion that resistance is anything but futile.”
I’ll show you futile.
Gabriel seethed. His vision blurred.
‘Do it. Do it! Show her your power.’
“Fuck you!” Gabriel screamed.
Yesera momentarily flinched, then stared at him.
He blew out an angry breath and stepped back to rush out another spell.
Mana flooded his leylines. He held his conduit before him and cast Eldritch Edge, causing it to glow a dark red.
“The same enchantment you used last time? I admit it hurt, though you won’t get a chance to strike me before I end this farce.”
He rushed toward her, sword raised high.
She parried his blow, then swept her spear and forced him to duck. One of her legs snapped out at his face.
The shield flashed and stopped her chitinous limb, but he recoiled from her attack and stumbled.
Shit.
Her disturbing half-face shifted into a smirk. “Is that the best you can do, Dungeon Master?”
Gabriel growled low in his throat. He rushed her again, then rolled beneath her swing. He came up inside her reach and thrust hard.
Yesera skittered to the side, easily dodging his magically accelerated attack. She countered with a sweep of her spear at his waist.
Again he jumped back and stumbled twice, working to regain his balance.
Metal rang out from parry after parry. The arachne advanced on him with furious intensity. She kept him off balance with a relentless barrage of spear strikes and spider kicks.
Rage still filled Gabriel’s mind, and he struggled to think.
Not going to beat her with anger.
Now that she fought with such focus, her reach advantage prevented him from even trying to strike her.
It took all of his enhanced talent and half-remembered training to dodge or parry each precise strike. The arachne countered his speed with her greater skill.
If I wasn’t buffed up, she’d overwhelm me in seconds! How do I beat her?
He winced as another perfectly timed thrust slipped by his guard. It glanced off his shield, causing the barrier to flicker into view. When it did, several small hexagons cracked.
“Your shield looks pretty shabby, Dungeon Master. We both know it won’t survive another blow. Perhaps now would be a good time to surrender? I truly do not wish you harm,” she said. Her voice still grated on him, but it sounded more human than it had earlier.
His lungs burned from mana fatigue and overexertion. Gabriel swallowed and shook his head as exhaustion dulled his rage, clearing his mind.
While his body slowed, his thoughts grew focused. He brought up the Interface and checked his shield’s strength.
Less than ten percent. She’s not wrong.
Yesera sneered at him. Her hideous half-face drew another shudder from him when the magical glow illuminated her partially exposed skull.
How can she still function with half her face burned off?
Once again, she executed a rapid series of attacks. Gabriel knew that there was a pattern to it, but he couldn’t keep up enough to interrupt her.
“I can do this all day, but you flag already. Let us end this. I promise it will be easier on you if you simply yield.”
Gabriel snorted. While he had no intention of surrender, he knew he couldn’t defeat her like this.
“I wasn’t interested before… Cindra burned off your ugly face… Why would I want you now?” he taunted between gasping breaths.
Her eyes flashed, the three red ones flaring brighter. Yesera swung her spear around with a sudden ferocity that hadn’t been present in her earlier attacks.
This is it!
He dropped into a roll beneath her overhead strike and came up sword first inside her guard.
He thrust his mithril conduit into the narrow gap between carapace and breastplate. The strike landed next to the gory missile wound.
The sharp tip punched through with ease, and ichor flowed as he drove it deep. She let out a terrifying screech above him.
Exhilarated by his success, Gabriel twisted his blade and tried to slash her open.
It didn’t work.
Yesera pulled both arms back and slammed her spear shaft into the back of his head.
His shield finally shattered, and stars flared painfully in his vision. He wobbled drunkenly while the world spun.
Got to keep moving!
He ducked under her, seeking to escape beneath her massive spider-body. His grip slipped, but he clenched tight and tore his sword from the arachne’s abdomen.
Still disoriented, he stumbled into one of her chitinous legs and spun away from it.
“That is enough!” she screamed.
A wave of power slammed into Gabriel, and he blinked when the glow of his blade flickered and died.
He blinked again when he slowed.
Area Suppression?
The field of magic nullification caused his guts to writhe as he struggled against the recoil of seven open spells severed all at once.
Gabriel could barely stand between the blow to his head and the magical feedback. Mana flooded out of his pool, trying to sustain the poorly woven spells. In the split se
cond it took him to shut the mana taps, his pool all but drained itself.
Shit.
Yesera chittered something, and he staggered away from the sound.
Think!
His head throbbed, and his vision swam. A dark shape moved to his left, so he ducked away. He leaned too far and fell. Going with the impromptu roll, he popped back to his feet.
Yesera rushed forward. She snarled and whipped her spear about with one arm.
He managed to dodge it, more through luck than intention, but the agile arachne twisted around.
Two taloned legs lashed out and caught him by surprise. They struck his chest and flung him into the air.
Gabriel slammed back-first against the altar, and the blow blasted the breath from his lungs. He landed poorly and rolled over.
Vomit rose into his throat when he came to a halt facedown in something wet, hot, and foul.
Yesera drove her spear into his back, and fiery pain blossomed in his left shoulder.
He screamed. His whole body contorted in agony as the glistening blade cut muscle and shattered bone before sinking into the stone beneath him.
“Ah. And it seems it is over now.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Pinned to the floor by the spear through his chest, Gabriel craned his head around enough to glimpse Yesera looming over him. The wounded arachne snarled and drew her twin swords.
His pool was nearly tapped out, but it didn’t matter with the powerful Area Suppression that filled the room.
Everything ached, but Gabriel could still feel the textured leather of his sword’s hilt in his right hand. After drawing an excruciating breath, he twisted to bring his good arm up and slashed at Yesera’s exposed underbelly.
She cackled and slapped his attack aside with one of her swords. The hard parry broke his grip, and the ornate weapon clattered to the ground.
His empty hand stung when it fell and slapped the hard stone just inches from the mithril conduit. Biting his lip at the pain in his chest, Gabriel reached for it, fingers outstretched.
One of her curved swords flashed down and impaled his hand to the floor, ripping a hoarse scream from his throat.
Wide-eyed, he stared at the black metal that pinned his hand.
“I said I didn’t want to hurt you, not that I wouldn’t,” she said. Her frantic, outraged breathing calmed rapidly.
She called out in a nerve-wracking chitter. A similarly disgusting reply came, and indistinct chatter followed. A moment later, Gabriel heard the last sounds of fighting fade away.
Did they kill Sthuza and Cindra? Reyna?
He tried to reach out to his bonded, but the Area Suppression blocked their connection, and Gabriel couldn’t sense Cindra or Sthuza. At least, he hoped that was the reason.
Gabriel could barely think between the pain and the lingering echo of fear that still permeated his bond with the Core. Through it all, his mind screamed at the thought of his bonded dying.
A flurry of footsteps and the clatter of talons on stone approached him, then all of his companions called out to him.
“Massster!”
“Packmaster!”
“Fucking shithead.”
Gabriel twisted his neck to watch as three wounded arachne escorted Reyna and his bonded into the Core Room. Cindra and Sthuza stared down at him. Reyna stood to their left, but she shot him only a brief glance before snarling at the remaining arachne.
The lycan was soaked in blood and ichor, but the way she favored her right side hinted that much of the blood was hers.
Lycans can die if they burn through all of their energy, right?
His Prime shifted next to Reyna, and he flinched at the despair in her green eyes. Sthuza’s face was tight with worry, but she looked calm and relaxed compared to the hellhound at her side.
Cindra’s chest rose and fell rapidly as her eyes locked on the brutal wound in his back. Her hands clenched into fists, and sharp fangs drew blood from her dark-gray lips. She had several injuries beneath the gory ichor and blood coating her armor, but Gabriel doubted she’d even noticed them.
Yesera stepped away from him, leaving her spear and sword thrust through him. She approached his bonded slowly. “It was wise of you to surrender. I really wasn’t looking forward to hurting him anymore.”
She skittered to the side and stopped just in front of the blood-covered hellhound. All six of her eyes glared at Cindra. “You, on the other hand, I am going to enjoy very much.”
“Don’t you lay a finger on her, you disgusting bug!” Gabriel screeched, his voice hoarse and ragged.
All four remaining arachne chittered laughter. Their revolting noises amplified the pain escalating in his pounding head.
“I’m going to take my time with that flaming bitch, but I’m willing to spare the other two. If you submit yourself, and your hidden Core, to me.”
“Massster, you mussst not!”
“Silence, filthy serpent,” an arachne yelled. A loud slap followed her words, and his Prime let out a pained gasp.
“I’m… going to enjoy killing you,” Gabriel growled through clenched teeth. “Rip your soul out and feed on it!”
More screeching laughter, but this time it didn’t bother him as much. He hardly noticed.
Gabriel focused on his bonds. All that mattered was reconnecting with them.
I can still almost feel Meri. This spider bitch can’t sever our connection!
The more he visualized reaching out to Merideva, the less intense the pain wracking his body. He withdrew his mind entirely from the Mortal Realm and raced toward the Core.
His efforts succeeded, and he could suddenly feel Cindra and Sthuza crying out through their bonds. The unbridled panic and despair from them drove all remaining thoughts of pain from his mind.
The link between them felt jagged and grated on his senses, but Gabriel reached out blindly for his bonded and grasped at anything he could find.
He brushed something and latched on. Merideva clung to him just as firmly, her connection carrying even more dread than those of his bonded.
The innocent Core was a glowing ball of raw emotion, and he wrapped her shivering presence with his own and calmed her. As he soothed her fear, a trusting warmth rushed from her depths and seemed to settle within him.
Meri didn’t want him to leave, but he pulled back and reached out to the next bond. It was cool, green, and filled with centuries of loneliness, regret, and a sliver of hope. He followed it to the gorgon’s presence.
Sthuza, his incredible Prime, was a twisting, spiraling serpent in the immaterial space. She thrashed and hissed. He gently stroked the coiling snake and thought of his love and respect for the talented, loyal gorgon.
Unlike the innocent warmth he had drawn from Meri, Sthuza’s very soul rose and flooded him with her Essence, all of her energy. She seethed in desperation, willing all of herself to him, to sacrifice her being to save him.
He drank deeply from her offering but stopped when the glowing serpent began to shiver. Stroking the smooth scales one final time, he slipped away from her presence.
Looking for Cindra now, Gabriel turned his senses toward the lovable hellhound. He almost drowned when she pulled him into a molten pool of energy.
Innocent trust. Absolute loyalty. An overwhelming need to serve him.
All of her emotions washed over him and dragged him deeper into the viscous lake of blue magma that was her innermost self.
Her unshakable faith warmed him, penetrated his soul, and scorched clear all the fear and doubt that plagued him.
Gabriel calmed. He wasn’t drowning—he couldn’t drown here. Cindra would never hurt him. He felt it with every last strand of his tattered soul.
And he suddenly realized that it was tattered. His loyal hellhound softly whimpered as her blue tongue licked at the ragged edges.
Right where Estrial sacrificed me to steal the crystal. My soul is no longer whole.
Where there should have been a single, smooth fabr
ic of Soul Essence, was instead a tattered, patchwork abomination.
Patches of four different colors bordered the worst of the damage.
Pink—his powerful but fragile bond with the young Core.
Green—the growing connection he’d built with a lonely, wise gorgon.
Blue—the absolute devotion from a cheerful hellhound, so bright he could barely look at it.
And an evil, purple-black miasma that actively burrowed tendrils of shadowy darkness into the rifts torn in his Essence.
That’s… concerning, but I need to focus. Stopping Yesera is all that matters right now!
Feeling confident, he plunged back into the fiery depths of Cindra’s soul and embraced her eagerly.
She responded instantly and shared of herself just as the others had. Her essence flowed smoothly into Gabriel and seemed to fill in the frayed wounds of his soul.
He pulled back from her, then soothed her reluctance with a gentle mental caress.
Soon.
◆◆◆
All of the agony that filled Gabriel’s battered body rushed back into his consciousness at the same time.
Then he vomited.
Bile seared his already raw throat as the pain blanked all thought from his mind.
“That is disgusting, but it doesn’t change anything, Dungeon Master. You. Are. Mine. There is no reason for you to suffer like this, or for your little whores. Surrender,” Yesera said. Her voice came from across the room now.
Gabriel forced one eye open, trembling with the effort, but grinned when he saw the hideous arachne standing in front of his kneeling bonded.
“Please do watch, I would hate for you to miss out. Wasted suffering is such a terrible thing,” she said, the unblemished side of her face toward him.
Despite reconnecting to his bonded, the Area Suppression still prevented any spellcasting. Even if it didn’t, he couldn’t perform the precise gestures to help form the glyphs, and as battered as he was, he wouldn’t dare try casting without his conduit.
Not that I have any mana left—
His thoughts flashed back to what he’d seen within his soul.
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