He nodded. “Yeah, I like the sound of that.”
After turning back toward the hall where Cindra was, he called out. “Get ready for a fight, Cindra.”
Before he could stand up, the well-muscled monster girl bolted into the room; her massive black sword held ready in one clawed fist. He met the hellhound’s bright eyes and grinned at the enthusiastic look on her gray face.
“Meri, can you tell Cuix to keep her squad watching the different groups as they advance?” he asked, glancing at the still shivering Core.
“Um, yeah, but you aren’t going to le-leave me, are you?” she whimpered.
Flinching like he’d been slapped, he looked over to his Prime before answering.
“Her concern is understandable,” Sthuza said after a long pause.
“Why would she doubt my loyalty now?”
“Because you are able to flee the dungeon and likely survive,” she hissed.
That revelation nearly knocked him off his feet.
Could I run away and live? Go back to living in the city and have a normal life?
He tried to freeze his face before they could read his expression, but it was immediately clear that he’d failed.
“I would not blame you if you do, Massster,” Sthuza whispered.
“Packmaster will abandon Pack?” Cindra whimpered, her terror written on her expressive face.
“You will have to leave us here though. While the ritual bound us to you, it likewise binds us through you to Lady Merideva. If we flee, we would both gradually waste away,” Sthuza confessed.
Gabriel wanted to comfort them, to tell them he’d never abandon them. But he was so low on mana. He wasn’t sure what he had left would have filled his pool back when he was an average human. They were likely facing eighteen or more elite soldiers, and at least one skilled mage. Did they even have a chance? Why shouldn’t he try to escape rather than die pointlessly?
But it wouldn’t be pointless, now would it? They’ve all saved my life. Each of them has given me hope of a far more enjoyable existence than mindlessly slaving away to pay for another day of mediocrity.
They’re my family. We’re Pack.
Unaware of his nervous tick, he gnawed at his split lip, causing it to resume bleeding, then nodded. Cindra and Sthuza both collapsed limply to the floor while Merideva let out a pitiful wail.
He tilted his head and stared at their unexpected behavior. “Why are you three acting like it’s the end of the world?”
“You are going to abandon usss.”
“What? No, I was just thinking through everything.”
Both bonded monsters stared up at him with crazed intensity.
“Truly? You will not cassst usss away?”
“Truly. You’re both bonded to me, and I’m not leaving you to die.”
He glanced over to the dim Core and smiled. “I’m not going to leave you either.”
Merideva brightened slightly, but her hue remained a deep blue.
“What if we just grab Meri’s Core and then slip away to your lair.” Gabriel smiled at the shocked look on Sthuza’s face. That smile melted when her surprise turned to sadness.
She shook her head, most of her snakes drooping. “They will be able to track her presence, allowing them to follow and trap us. Without something like the stolen crystal to conceal her, she cannot hide.
“And before you ask, we cannot take her outside of the dungeon. Without ready access to her Domain, no matter how tiny it may be, she would wither and perish even quicker than Cindra and I.”
“Wait, if she can’t leave the dungeon, why would they even want her?” he asked, his stressed mind racing with questions about the nature of Cores.
“This is not the most apt time to go into detail,” Sthuza said, a wan smile on her face. “But I expect they intend to perform a ritual tying her to a sizable power source. A decently sized mana vault or even a collection of magic stones would suffice. It would only have to last until they reestablish a Domain for her.”
“Then, can’t we do the same thing?”
She shook her head, snakes swaying limply with the movement. “No, it would cause irreparable harm to her. She could never function as a proper Dungeon Core again. It would leave her little more than a puppet.”
“Hmm. What if the three of us escape and then return later?” Gabriel hated to say it, but if he could save his bonded, that would at least be better than losing them and Meri.
I don’t want to abandon her after she did so much for me.
Sthuza tried to flash a smile, but her eyes started to tear up, and she looked away.
“As I mentioned earlier, we are both now bound to Lady Merideva. If they destroy her, which is what they will do to her as far as we are concerned, we will die with her. Only you have a chance of surviving the feedback.”
Gabriel’s heart plummeted, and icy talons of dread clawed at his stomach. He felt like throwing up but fought down the urge. After taking a deep breath, he clenched trembling hands and forced his way past the terror.
“That just means we have to kill Kelith and his dad’s lackeys, right?” he said, injecting all the confidence he could muster.
His Prime hiccuped a laugh, but Cindra leapt at him and wrapped herself tight against him.
“We kill Packmaster’s old rival and protect Pack!”
Sthuza let out a crazed chuckle. “Sure, why not?”
Gabriel peaked around the feminine muscles of the hellhound and laughed when he spotted the gorgon. Sthuza was furiously glaring at a trio of shocked snakes staring at her. She glanced up and blushed when she caught him watching.
Guess she genuinely doesn’t have conscious control over them.
“Now that we have that decided, we should head out and ambush one of the squads. Sound good to you?” Gabriel asked. A quick look around got him two confident nods.
It took another few minutes to convince Merideva that he wouldn’t, in fact, leave her. But she finally accepted a soul oath, and they set out to prepare an ambush.
After two more equally unpleasant glimpses through goblin eyes, each quicker than the last, they settled in to wait near the northernmost descent from the second floor. It wasn’t the best route down, but it was the easiest to find.
When he’d first come through here with Estrial, they’d used a partially concealed spiral staircase. Kelith’s teams had walked right past it, spreading out and were wandering about with no clear direction. Almost like they didn’t have a map of the dungeon’s upper floors.
Of course, they wouldn’t have a map. Not if their delve is unsanctioned by the Guild. And if the baron is hoping to steal Meri for his own use, he wouldn’t want to risk anyone else knowing about it.
Just before Gabriel could mention his sudden insight to his bonded, Cindra’s triangular ears perked up, and Sthuza raised a hand for silence. Unable to hear anything himself, he had to trust his companions.
Thirty seconds later, his enhanced hearing picked up the sound of boots slapping the hard stone stairs leading down from the second floor, and he clenched his fist around his sword’s hilt.
The grip molded perfectly to his hand, and he risked a peek at the gleaming weapon. Charcoal-gray leather wrapped the hilt, and faint green runes glowed along the length of its silver blade. The large emerald set as its pommel doubled as a potent mana battery. Unfortunately, he hadn’t had time yet to charge the weapon.
Still, it’s a far better weapon and arcane conduit than I ever dreamed of before meeting Sthuza. Hopefully, it’ll be enough to best whatever trinkets Kelith has with him.
Worried about his budding anxiety, Gabriel closed his eyes and focused his mind. He snapped them open the moment six ‘adventurers’ stepped into the large cavern that served as the landing for this entry point.
The stairs they’d taken were on the far side of the spacious chamber, with dozens of stalagmites casting dancing shadows in the lanterns’ glow. Wet stone and tiny crystals caused the light to flicker and strobe
in odd ways, causing several of the intruders to flinch.
Gabriel studied the approaching band, momentarily surprised at their visible fear. All humans, he counted five men and a single woman. Two men wore heavier armor and carried sturdy shields, while the other three had lighter armor and carried rugged lanterns. Shorter than the men in front, the woman was harder to inspect. She wore simple gray robes common to low-ranked adventurer mages.
They can’t see without the lights, and they’re not trained for delving. Guess it makes sense they’d be scared of what could be hiding in the dark.
He grinned.
They should be.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Sthuza glanced back at Gabriel, waiting for his signal.
After taking one more calming breath, he exhaled slowly and nodded. He watched as both bonded monsters leapt into action as one. Not that the intruders could see either of them as they burst from cover. But they definitely heard Cindra’s ferocious roar.
She made my ears ring with that one!
They displayed proper training by reacting to the ambush without panic. All six closed ranks, raising shields and readying their weapons. The two with shields stepped in front. At the same time, the other three men arrayed themselves to protect the mage, who began casting a light spell.
By then, the hellhound’s mad rush brought her into their weak illumination, and Gabriel laughed when two of the warriors flinched back and almost tripped at the sight of her.
Well, Cindra can be pretty intense.
The two largest men moved to intercept her, and she slammed her black greatsword down against their shields. Bright sparks flared, and a deafening boom echoed in the broad cavern. Cindra forced both men back, staggering them as she pounced again.
She brought her sword down repeatedly, launching a relentless barrage of devastating strikes. It took both fighters working together to block her savage attacks.
Even from his position, Gabriel could see the fear in their eyes. He shook away the distractions of Cindra’s battle, spared a quick peek at Sthuza readying her bow, and then focused on his magic.
Between healing Cindra and then attuning those rooms earlier, I’m way too tapped for mana. Need to be stingy if I want to have enough left for dealing with that asshole later.
One calming breath after another, he turned inward and tapped his woefully depleted mana pool. He harnessed a tiny dollop of power and wove it into the beginnings of a spell. Not willing to waste even a single drop of mana, Gabriel tracked the flow of energy from his pool, through his internal leylines, and out through his still new arcane conduit.
Channeling spells through a sword was never something he’d trained for in school. Fortunately, it wasn’t too dissimilar, and he relaxed somewhat when the mana flowed smoothly.
It was his first time casting a spell with such efficiency, but he turned his focus to drawing more mana for his spell before he got distracted. He fed one tiny sliver of his pool at a time into the slowly forming spell construct.
Cindra’s howls and the maddened cries of the men struggling to fight his bonded faded into the background along with the sounds of ringing metal. He tuned everything out to ensure his spellwork was perfect.
Given that Cindra was already ridiculously strong, Gabriel skipped buffing her attack power. Instead, his first spell focused on enhancing the statuesque hellhound’s speed. He’d located her within the Weave before starting and after connecting the spell to her, he opened his eyes and grinned.
One of the frontline fighters was already down. The man’s shield was a twisted ruin of warped wood and steel, which mirrored the horrendous gash carved through his thick breastplate.
Looks like his armor wasn’t enchanted, I hope that applies to the rest of them.
The other three fighters had stepped up to help the one facing Cindra. Between them, they’d landed a few serious scratches on the armored monster girl. Unfortunately for her attackers, Gabriel’s spell was complete, and it homed in on his bonded as soon as he released it.
One second Cindra’s powerful slashes were only slightly faster than her opponents’. A moment later, the blue glow shone around her muscular body, and she morphed into a blur. The woman in the rear cried out something, then dove into casting a spell of her own.
This might be interesting. I’ve only ever faced off against that ghast.
It took the slightest thought to shift his vision into his improved Magesight. When he did, Gabriel couldn’t help but laugh. Before being bound to Merideva, he’d needed to cast a minor divination spell to get even a quarter of the insight he now gained with a single glance.
Is she trying to boost their speed to match Cindra’s instead of dispelling my spell? Am I that much stronger, or is she just lacking confidence?
He shrugged at the irrelevant thought, shaping the glyphs for a counterspell. Still careful to conserve his limited mana, he had no trouble outpacing the plodding woman’s hesitant spellwork.
Gabriel was feeling slightly vindictive. They were trying to murder his bonded after all. So, he waited until the enemy caster was finishing her spell.
At the last second, he released his countermagic and laughed at the startled woman’s panic. The shocked spellcaster collapsed as his laughter echoed through the poorly lit cavern.
“Packmaster enjoying the fight?” Cindra asked, drawing his focus back to the heated battle.
“Yeah, I guess I am,” he replied, chuckling. He moved closer to the battle, stepping within the soft lighting from the discarded lanterns.
In the half-minute or so he’d spent watching the woman try to cast her spell, his bonded had dropped three of the remaining men. Two lay dead with multiple black-feathered arrows sticking out of the joints of their armor. The other was still recognizable as a human, albeit missing a head.
Gabriel turned in time to witness Cindra cleave the last one in twain with a vicious overhead chop. The devastating blow sent two gory pieces tumbling away to sprawl across the rough cavern floor, and he choked back the instinct to vomit at the horrific sight, turning to the last intruder.
When the female caster locked gazes with Gabriel, she shivered and backed away, wide-eyed. She kept retreating until she tripped and fell on her ass. The sour stench of her fear was pungent enough for him to detect it over the smell of blood and death that pervaded the area.
“Please, don’t kill me,” she sobbed, crawling on her knees.
“Hmph, you shouldn’t have signed on with that arrogant little shit and come barging into my home,” he growled.
“I didn’t know there was a powerful mage living here. None of us did. Please, have mercy,” she gasped, tears streaming down her face.
Gabriel paused for a second and pondered her request.
At his introspective look, she flashed a tentative smile, freezing in place.
I didn’t really consider the consequences of being a Dungeon Master, of being on Meri’s side. I’m going to have to kill adventurers, aren’t I?
Fighting down the urge to spare her, he blew out a breath and shook his head.
“No, I don’t think that letting you leave here and warning everyone about me would be a good thing,” he said after a long pause.
The woman’s fragile smile shattered, and she began ranting, pledging secrecy. When she begged Gabriel to accept a soul oath, his resolve weakened, but he forced it down, reminding himself about why the woman was there.
“Relax, it will all be over soon,” Sthuza said tenderly, her soft, cultured voice drawing the crying woman’s attention.
She turned toward Sthuza just before a black blade sliced through her neck. Gabriel watched as the now-dead mage continued to kneel there for a moment before toppling. Her severed head tumbled off just before the lifeless torso struck the stone floor.
“That went well.” Sthuza moved to inspect the dead.
“Ye-yeah, that was shockingly easy. If we hurry and ambush each party separately, we might survive this.” Unable to resist the u
rge, he spent a moment surveying the battle scene.
They got what they deserved for working with Kelith. Worry about your bonded, not the assholes trying to murder them.
With a force of will, he switched his focus to the Interface. An infuriating number of unreadable entries still filled Sthuza’s pane. Fortunately, Cindra’s provided almost all the information that his own page did. The detailed display provided more feedback than even the most powerful Soulstones.
Would be nice if I could figure out how these HP and BP relate to actual injuries. Still, it doesn’t look like she took too much damage.
After inspecting his bonded via the Dungeon Interface, he moved to check the hellhound over in the flesh.
“No worries, Packmaster, Cindra is strong. I didn’t even lose self this time,” she said, thumping her impressively strained chest armor with her free hand.
“I noticed. Still, you took more than a few hits in that melee,” Gabriel commented, pointing out several scuffs and two dark wet spots on her armor.
She blushed at his action, seeming to shrink into herself, and nodded pitifully.
“Do not act so pathetic, Furball. Master is merely worried about your safety, no matter how little use you may be.”
“Sthuza, can’t you be a little nicer to her?” he asked, surprised by his Prime’s vehemence.
She sighed, held his gaze for a second, then turned back to face her fellow bonded. “You did a good job of eliminating most of the threats to our master, Cindra. But we still must work on your tendency to fixate on the foe in front of you.”
The hellhound nodded her armored head, then flashed a dazzling white smile at Gabriel. “Cindra will get stronger and keep Packmaster safe!”
“Yes, I am sure you will,” Sthuza muttered darkly.
“Anyway, we better hurry if we’re going to catch another party before they leave this floor,” Gabriel said, pausing to activate Dungeon Sense. It still made his head ache dully when he attempted to peek at the scouting goblins’ visions. After repeated use, he’d found that keeping the scrying brief and light on details helped reduce the disorientation.
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