by Andrew Rowe
I stepped into the hallway ahead. My head was starting to swim, and the shaking of the platform beneath me wasn’t helping.
“Poison!” Reika gasped. “That’s a dastardly deed! Dawn, you should complain to management about using such vile tactics.”
I didn’t have time to chatter. The numbness was beginning to spread.
Instead, I unbuckled my belt and handed Dawnbringer — scabbard and all — to Reika. “Dawn wants to talk to you.”
“I’m not sure—”
My arm was rapidly going too numb to even hold up the scabbard. “Can’t carry things. Arm going numb. Keep her safe.”
Reika blinked, then her gaze narrowed and her expression turned more serious. “Right. You shouldn’t have to hold onto an extra sword while you’re doing the test and can’t use her, anyway.”
I agreed with her logic and wished I’d have pushed that earlier. Chatting with Dawn was fun, but having the extra weight on my hips while jumping had been tricky.
I didn’t have time to think about that any more. I removed the Sae’kes from my belt, scabbard and all, and set it down. Then I re-buckled my belt and picked the Sae’kes back up.
Swinging the Sae’kes in close quarters like the hall ahead was dangerous, but I didn’t want to be completely unarmed, either. I picked the sheathed sword up and carried it in my left hand. If I encountered any enemies, I could hit them with the sheathed weapon, much like I’d used it in my first fight against Reika. Using my left hand would be awkward, but my right was rapidly getting too numb to wield a weapon.
The corridor was pitch black. Fortunately, Dawnbringer provided a good degree of illumination, even while she was sheathed. I considered supplementing that by conjuring some fire, but I couldn’t afford the cost in body heat, especially while I was poisoned.
As the corridor continued, it also narrowed, until my head nearly brushed the ceiling and the walls hugged tight around me. I had to lower the sheathed Sae’kes and walk at an angle to avoid hitting the ceiling, but I decided that keeping the sword out in front of me was still better than putting it back on my hip.
“Uh, slow down a sec?”
I glanced back at Reika.
She was stuck. Her wings couldn’t fit this deep in the corridor.
“...You couldn’t, maybe, nudge me back a ways?”
I walked back to her, briefly setting the Sae’kes on the ground. “You can’t shapeshift the wings away?”
“I can, but it’s really uncomfortable to shapeshift while my wings are pressed up against something. They tend to move around when I’m shifting them.”
I nodded, braced against her, and then helped shove her back until she had a little more space.
“Sorry about that!” She stretched, then grunted, and her wings flexed outward for a moment before shrinking down and collapsing into her back.
It was a bit of a bizarre sight. When she turned all the way into a dragon, it was more like she was switching places with an alternate version of herself that was stored on another plane of existence. Her body wasn’t being altered; it was more like she was replacing it temporarily with a completely different one. Growing and getting rid of wings while remaining in human form seemed like a completely different skill set, since she was modifying her existing body rather than swapping it out with another one.
It looked kind of uncomfortable. “You okay?”
She nodded. “Yeah. Just need to remember not to do that in tight spaces in the future. Come on.”
I nodded, picking my sword back up and pressing on down the corridor.
The poison was spreading, and the numbness had reached my elbow by that point. I still didn’t know if the poison was actually dangerous, or if it was just going to slow me down for a while if I let it spread too far.
I wasn’t going to take any chances. In spite of the fact that Dawnbringer and Reika seemed very casual about these “tests”, they seemed to have plenty of things that could prove lethal if I made a mistake.
And while Reika might have saved me if I’d fallen in a pit, I was pretty sure her idea of treating me for poison was more likely to kill me than the poison itself.
I pressed on. The corridor remained tight and difficult to navigate, and the numbness spread almost up to my right shoulder. If it went much further, I’d have to consider taking more drastic measures.
Up ahead, I could see the passageway was obstructed by something crisscrossing the passage. As I approached, the light from Dawnbringer made the impediment clearer.
Spiderwebs. Thousands of them, splayed across the path and giving minimal room to maneuver. There were gaps in the webs, but they were so small that I would have had to duck and crawl to make it through the entire section.
I went with the direct approach instead. I focused my aura around the sheathed Sae’kes and swept it down, hacking through the first layer of the webs.
I heard a ringing noise on impact, like someone had rung a hand bell.
Well, I guess the spiders had an alarm, or at least a very musical trap.
I momentarily pressed myself against the side of the tunnel in case some kind of attack was going to fly in my direction. After a few moments, nothing happened that I could see.
I was too exhausted, injured, poisoned, and fatigued to keep waiting at that point. I pressed on, hacking and slashing my way through the webs. Maybe a boulder would roll down the passage in a few moments, or the floor would fall out from beneath me. I’d deal with it.
When I cleared my way through the patch of webs, the most surprising part was that I still hadn’t discovered the impact of whatever trap I’d triggered. That was somehow more foreboding, but I didn’t have the time to worry about it.
I pressed on further until I reached a T-junction in the path.
There were signs on both the left and right sides.
The left sign said, “Antidote and Exit”. Beneath it, it read, “If you step over the line, you fail the test.”
The right sign said, “This way to continue the test.”
I paused. My arm was entirely numb. I glanced to the left, and I could see the aforementioned “line” immediately — there was a clear line of silvery metal in the ground, crossing the path.
Beyond that, there was a small chamber with a table, and another silvery door.
On the table sat three things. One was a lamp, illuminating that entire side room. The second was a glass bottle containing a reddish fluid. The third was a sign that said “Antidote”.
Beyond that was the door, with a sign on it that was clearly labeled, “Exit”.
“Keras? You okay? We can leave now if you need to, it seems like the poison is really bothering you. You made it a long way. We can always try again later.”
I shook my head.
“No, I’m not leaving.”
I considered my options.
The line in the ground appeared to be a vein of metal. I could almost certainly move it. Semantics aside, though, I was pretty sure that would still count as failing the test.
Similarly, I could have turned my sword into a whip form again and attempted to lasso the bottle. That seemed somewhat less likely to count as failing the test, but still too likely for my tastes.
I gestured at the antidote bottle. “Go grab that for me?”
Reika glanced at the potion, then back to me. Her mouth opened to protest, then closed again. “Dawn says you’re right, it’s not technically failing if I’m the one who goes. It is skirting the rules a little, but...” She folded her arms. “Whoever poisoned you wasn’t playing fair in the first place. I’ll go get it.”
She walked toward the other room.
The instant she stepped over a line, a wall of stone began to emerge from the ground to block the way back.
I’d been ready for that — it was one of the most obvious ways of enforcing a failure condition for crossing the line.
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br /> As soon as the wall began to come up, my sword came down, aura wrapped tightly around it. My destructive power ripped a line through the stone. That wasn’t enough space to move through, but a few more swings divided the wall into cubes, and I shoved them out of the way. I made certain that I didn’t actually cross the location of the line, even with my hand, while doing so.
Reika stared back at me from the other side of the wall. “...I don’t think you were supposed to do that.”
“I don’t think I care. Antidote?”
“Right.” She walked over, grabbed the bottle, and walked back to me.
I stepped back, allowing her to cross back to my side of the line before accepting the bottle. I was reasonably confident that there was something watching us and “judging” me, much like a spire judgment was supposed to work, and I didn’t want to take the chances that I’d fail on a technicality.
I propped my sword up against a nearby wall. After that, I accepted the antidote and began to drink it.
It tasted absolutely foul, but I chugged it down anyway.
I did consider the possibility that it was just another type of poison, left in that area to eliminate cowards who wanted to leave the test early. But in spite of how little respect I had for whoever had developed deadly traps to make arbitrary tests to “earn” a sword, I didn’t think that fit the personality of whoever had set this up. They seemed to have their own idea of fairness, and I felt like that type of deception didn’t fit what I’d seen so far.
Probably.
I didn’t feel any immediate change after drinking the antidote. It was possible it was the type I should have applied to the injury site rather than drinking, but I didn’t think so.
Rather than feeling a change, what I felt was the lack of it — the poison seemed to have stopped progressing further up my arm. It was possible that was simply the essence in my body working to fight it off, but I chose to believe that the antidote was probably beginning to work. I hoped so, anyway.
I picked my sword back up and headed down the corridor toward the right, continuing the test.
The cavern went on for what felt like another half a mile. My numbness didn’t get any better, but it didn’t get any worse, either.
Eventually, it led to another large, open chamber.
The entrance to that chamber was covered with webs, and I could see even more webs in the large chamber beyond.
More importantly, I could see what was probably the result of the trap I’d triggered by cutting the first web — spiders.
Gigantic spiders, most of which were about the size of a dog.
Those were the small ones.
Toward the back of the large chamber, just in front of the door, was the large spider. It was about twenty feet tall, and like the others, it was looking right at me. Its eyes were glowing red, which if you’re not aware, is not generally a sign that something is feeling affable and friendly.
I decided to give peace a try anyway, though, because I’m like that.
I cut my way through the spiderwebs at the entrance of the chamber and stepped inside. “Hello. On the off chance you can actually understand me, can you please let me move into the next room safely?”
I heard something drop down right behind me, then the largest spider reared up on its hind legs and let out a hissing sound.
“Going to take that as a no.”
I kicked backward.
My kick connected with something heavy, much heavier than a spider should be. And in that moment, I felt a strong and familiar sense — I’d made contact with metal.
The first spider went flying backward...right into Reika.
“Eep!” She punched it out of the air, and it fell to the ground in a lifeless heap. “Watch where you’re kicking things, Keras!”
“Sorry!”
Three more spiders descended from the webs around me.
I sensed metal in the air around me again, and without any further hesitation, I focused my aura and swept outward with the sheathed Sae’kes. Legs flew and spiders hissed, dripping ichor.
Not natural ichor, though. The spiders leaked a blue fluid that was, at a quick evaluation, probably the mana that was keeping them animate.
I rushed forward, cutting one of the injured spiders in half.
There was no reason for my usual hesitation; these weren’t ordinary spiders at all. I confirmed that again as my scabbard passed through the center of one; there was no flesh involved. The spiders were machines.
And that meant that, for the first time in ages, I didn’t need to hold back in the slightest.
Finally.
I felt my heart beat faster in anticipation. This was going to be fun.
“Give me some space,” I told Reika. She backed off into the previous hallway, giving me ample room to work with.
In spite of the numbness that remained in my right arm, I felt a grin spreading across my face as more spiders dropped from the ceiling.
I got to work.
The two injured spiders that I hadn’t destroyed were creeping closer. I kicked one, pushing metal mana into it when we made contact.
Then as the next one skittered forward, I hopped over it, spinning and smashing my scabbard into it. It flew backward, hitting a nearby wall, and fell inert.
Three more spiders rushed me. I ducked and swatted one with the flat of my blade, again pushing metal mana into it. It flew back a few feet.
One of the other two managed to close in and jump on my leg. I brought my elbow down onto its head, feeling a satisfying crunch, then kicked it toward the other approaching spider. They crashed into each other and fell over.
I charged forward, sweeping my aura-wrapped scabbard through the ground and splitting them both in two.
One more fell from the ceiling from right above me, but I was actively sensing for metal now, and it couldn’t surprise me. I stuck my scabbard upward, and the spider fell right on top of it, falling into two pieces as it hit the scabbard’s aura.
This is too easy. It’ll be over in seconds if I keep this up.
Let’s play a little more.
I pulled my destructive aura back to surrounding my body, then pushed metal mana into the lining of my scabbard. After that, I swept it downward to crash into one of the damaged spiders that was still getting back up.
Two more spiders rushed me from sides of the room. I jumped, and they crashed into each other. I landed on top of them, flooded them with metal mana, and then hopped again.
Then I rushed for the big spider.
It swung a tremendous leg toward me, big enough to crush me on impact. I dropped to the ground, rolled forward, and jammed my scabbard into its abdomen.
And then I pushed metal mana straight into it, of a variety that happened to interact with the types I’d been flooding the other spiders with.
In specific, I’d magnetized them all.
Sharpen.
I pulled my scabbard downward, tearing my way out of the spider, and then rolled out of the way as the smaller spiders that I’d magnetized flew toward the huge one.
They crashed into it hard, knocking the giant spider off its legs. I had to tumble out of the way to avoid having it fall on top of me.
And then, with the giant spider toppled, I sprung to my feet and swung for the neck.
Slice.
The neck parted without resistance, and the gigantic metallic head rolled to the ground. The red light emanating from the construct’s eyes faded and it fell inert.
A moment later, the same happened to the few spiders that were still standing.
I frowned at the smaller spiders. I hadn’t expected them to deactivate the moment I’d killed the big one.
Is that it?
I felt a twinge of disappointment. Maybe I should have avoided the big spider a bit longer and taken more time to savor the experience.
Revert.
I shifted the scabbard’s metal lining back to normal, removing the sharpness and magnetism I’d applied to it.
Reika stood back at the entrance to the corridor, her arms folded. “You’ve been holding out on me. Like, a lot.”
I shook my head. “Not exactly. Metal is my specialty. I can handle metal monsters much more easily than anything else.”
“...Okay. But that...,” she waved to the fallen monsters, “...that was pretty good.”
I grinned. “Glad you thought so.”
I admit I may have been showing off a bit. The whole magnetism thing wasn’t strictly necessary.
And by strictly necessary, I mean it hadn’t been necessary at all.
It was fun, though. Maybe if I was lucky, I’d find some more metal monsters to play with deeper in.
“C’mon. I’m sure the hard part is still to come.” I waved at the next door and moved forward. Reika nodded and followed me.
I finally reached the next silver door, complete with handle.
I wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice. I lifted the sheathed Sae’kes, wrapped my aura around it again, and cut a hole around the entire handle. After that, I stuck the sword through and levered the door open. It swung open easily.
The hallway ahead was somewhat wider and taller, giving enough room that Reika and I could have walked two abreast without any difficulty. It also meant I’d have more room to swing my sword if we came across any enemies, and I was relieved by that.
The style of this area was different, too. It was still stone, but it was cleanly carved into flat sections. It looked more like the entrance to a fortress, rather than just another section of a mountainside cavern.
Torches lined the hallway ahead, meaning there was ample light.
I briefly considered sending Reika back for the lamp that had sat on the table next to the poison in case we ran into another dark section, but I didn’t feel like it was worth the time.
I checked the floor ahead for any obvious traps, because putting another trap right on the floor ahead of the door seemed like the most likely thing to catch me if the handle wasn’t one.
And, to my surprise, I actually found one. There was a large rectangular area in the ground just ahead of the door that was clearly cut apart from the rest of the stone. It didn’t take up quite the entire hallway, but it was right in the center. It looked like the type of thing that would sink into the ground and trigger something the moment I stepped on it.