Dungeon Bound

by Bastian Knight

  “There is room for where we’s putting the block back in front,” Cuix said, thumping her chest with one hand.

  “That’s great. I want you to get in there and let Cuix close it up again.”

  “A-are you sure?” Meri asked.

  Gabriel smiled and nodded before she floated over to her cramped hiding space and vanished from sight. Turning back toward his bonded, he spotted Sthuza handing a dark-green potion to Cindra.

  “Are you two ready?” he asked, walking over.

  Cindra tucked the small vial into her ornate belt and nodded before she reached up to adjust the bronze and leather helm, drawing his eyes to the raised bumps where her ears tucked in.

  “Cindra is ready, Packmaster,” she growled. To emphasize her point, she casually reached back and unsheathed the massive black greatsword.

  Sthuza flashed a predatory smile, holding up her black and silver recurve bow. “I am prepared as well, Master.”

  Satisfied that both dungeon bound were prepared for battle, Gabriel took a moment to center his mind, then drew his treasured arcane conduit.

  Discount that stick Meri equipped me with, and this is the first non-clothing gift a girl has ever given me.

  His thoughts about how lucky he’d been to meet Sthuza, as well as Cindra and Meri, kept his worry away until a goblin’s cry broke the silence.

  Framed by the wide doorway were two heavily armored soldiers.

  Their armor looks thick enough for knights or real adventurers. The baron must have spent a lot on equipping these assholes.

  He shook his head.

  Doesn’t matter. They’re here to kill us all the same, so they have to die.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Without waiting for a command, Cindra rushed forward. Her fearless charge caused the pair to pause in the narrow confines of the heavy door frame. Their hesitation meant they’d only stepped into the room when Cindra reached them.

  She brought her enormous sword down overhead. Faced with the simplistic attack, the rightmost man had no trouble interposing his shield.

  Which promptly warped beneath the supernatural weight and power of Cindra’s enraged assault. The man barely groaned in pain and held his ground, showing great courage. When he didn’t fall back, he prevented the aggressive hellhound from overwhelming his partner. Despite his injury, he stood with his ally as the pair struggled to withstand her furious attacks.

  A half dozen goblins stepped up to support her, jabbing their crude spears at the pair of human invaders. The armored men worked together to fend off the goblins as Cindra focused on the one she’d attacked first.

  Gabriel heard the twang of a loosed bowstring and the screech of metal on metal. He tuned it out as he dove into his most ambitious spell attempt yet. As he started casting, he concentrated on the Interface and highlighted the mana bar.

  Mana 17%

  Just my luck to get a huge mana pool and have damn near drained it before a life-and-death battle. Definitely going to be more careful with it if we live through this. Maybe even set up a Mana Vault.

  With time of the essence, but aware of just how low his remaining mana was, he forced himself to harness the energy stored within his pool. He guided it swiftly, but carefully, as it coursed along his inner leylines.

  Raw magical power flowing through him, he began casting his most used spell of late. The arcane energy leapt from him, amplified as it passed through his conduit, and into the nascent spell he wove.

  More and more, Gabriel tapped his pool, frowning as he drained off half of what remained. Finally, he cut the flow as it approached the limit of what he could manage. His eyes snapped open once he was confident he’d spiraled the energy into the glyphs properly.

  A glowing double spell circle surrounded him. The powerful construct was the first he’d ever created with more than one layer, even for a single spell. Still, every symbol looked right. He let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding and glanced back to the fight.

  In the twenty-plus seconds he’d spent lost in spellweaving, Kelith’s people had forced the defenders back enough for six armored warriors to enter. They’d formed a semicircle in front of the entry, allowing a pair of casters to step in and join the attack.

  As Gabriel watched, the taller mage unleashed a spray of sizzling magic missiles, the green bolts darting between the front line to hammer into a pair of goblins.

  They screamed, staggering back. At which point, two of the armored men lashed out. One brought a massive war hammer down hard on his wounded target. The diminutive monster’s green head shattered under the heavy strike. Headless, it dropped lifelessly to the ground.

  The other goblin fared better, in so much as he didn’t die instantly. His attacker thrust a short-hafted spear through his belly, the barbed tip ripping out of his back. Terribly wounded, he twisted and fell back, yanking the weapon with him and leaving its wielder overextended.

  And standing directly in front of an angry hellhound with a greatsword. Given a chance to land a solid blow, Cindra wasted no time reversing her heavy weapon away from her previous target.

  Faster than the man could recover, she brought it up and then back down with an earsplitting shriek of tortured metal and angry growling.

  The adamantite blade sheered through the neck joint of the man’s steel armor, driving deep into his ribcage as he screamed in terrible harmony with his victim. He fell to his ass, dragging the embedded sword with him.

  Upon seeing his bonded exposed, Gabriel forced the last tendrils of power to merge with his spell and released it.

  Anchoring a spell to the intended target through the Weave of Creation was one of the first lessons in Arcane Magic. It was a fundamental requirement to manifest a finished spell in the Mortal Realm. As such, every mage grew familiar with the process.

  His plan to anchor a spell to a dozen targets was a far greater challenge. Gabriel had expected it to be more taxing. But he was unprepared for the strain of establishing the connection to all ten targets at once, and it dropped him to his knees, sweat streaming down his face.

  With his vision focused on the gray stone beneath his hands, he hadn’t seen if the spell reached Cindra in time. Panicked, furious cries from the human intruders suggested it had.

  Gabriel drew a deep breath, then levered himself back on his heels. He watched in awe as the seven remaining goblins darted and jabbed like oversized, ghastly green hummingbirds.

  Another fighter had slipped into the dead man’s place, but the six men were flinching back and crying out as the hasted goblins kept trying to skewer them.

  Gabriel looked to his furry bonded in time to witness her kill another man. A powerful strike cleaved her target’s head clean off when the man got too distracted by a particularly painful thrust to the groin.

  The steel-clad corpse seemed to topple in slow motion as a naked goblin ran up the dead body and used its bloody shoulders as a springboard.

  Eyes tracking the airborne goblin lancer, Gabriel watched it adjust its weapon at the apex of its flight. Only the speed enhancement of his spell allowed him to follow the outlandish maneuver.

  He chortled when the goblin shifted its body, aligning itself above the spear. The streaking green monster timed its move perfectly, putting its full weight into driving the spear through the top of the taller mage’s unarmored head.

  Time appeared to slow again as the slender caster’s eyes widened, then lost focus. The pole-mounted goblin kept his rigid posture as the spear ripped through the dead mage. Even as the man’s knees buckled, the spear tip burst out through his crotch and propped the corpse up like a bloody tripod.

  The grisly death of his companion shook the remaining mage who paled and stumbled back into the hall.

  More angry voices called out, the lights dancing as someone moved around out of sight. It was hard to guess how many enemies remained outside. But without the mages, the five fighters struggled to hold back the hasted monsters.

  With the immediate t
hreat posed by the two spellcasters eliminated, Gabriel worked to catch his breath. His body was still reeling from the exertion required to fuel and control two spell circles. By comparison, maintaining the links to his allies was trivial, a pleasant surprise.

  ***

  As Gabriel climbed to his feet, he saw more of Sthuza’s black arrows flit by, many deflected by heavy armor or a well-timed block. Still, at least four feathered shafts stuck out between the thick plates of armor worn by the frontline warriors.

  Instead of more casters as he’d expected, three more armored men pushed their way into the crowded melee. Two of them carried oversized rectangular steel shields and short-hafted spears, while the third stalked in bearing an ax almost as long as Cindra’s sword.

  “Those shields will be a problem, Master.”

  “Yeah, I’m thinking that bastard Kelith might have been keeping his best people with him,” Gabriel muttered. He racked his brain for another useful spell. Something that was mana efficient, since he was scraping the bottom of his pool.

  Mana 7.7%

  Shield spells aren’t very efficient, especially if you don’t have an enchanted anchor for the spell, and time to weave it thoroughly.

  I didn’t learn very many offensive glyphs since I never expected to see this much fighting as a bureaucratic mage. And few of the ones I learned would do much damage through that armor. Why in the hells are they so well geared anyway?

  His breathing recovered before he came up with a viable spell choice, so he decided to save what little mana he could and move up to help Cindra.

  “Massster, You mussst not!” Sthuza hissed, punctuating her words with the sharp clang of an arrow striking against steel.

  “Just keep shooting,” Gabriel yelled.

  More hissing echoed behind him. He ignored it and advanced on an unsuspecting shield-bearer struggling to fend off two armored goblins.

  Sword held in the balanced stance his mother had drilled into his head nearly two decades ago, he risked a peek toward Cindra.

  “Shit,” he swore when he spotted the hard-pressed hellhound.

  She struggled to fend off attacks from two of the original men and two of the second wave. After a single glance, he realized the ones attacking Cindra now had learned better than to stand toe-to-toe with the fearsome powerhouse. Instead, they relied on evasion and teamwork to prevent her from smashing them.

  At the same time, the other newcomers were pushing hard to drive back the stalemated goblins and swarm into the room. Despite their cowardly nature, Cuix’s warriors held their ground.

  If they breakthrough and surround us, we’re dead.

  His fear started to rise, threatening to wash over him like a tidal wave when he felt a pulse of terror through his bonds. Terror soon drowned out by a surge of faith and devotion for him. A blast of unbridled love and lust flooded into him.

  He instinctively knew which bonded it was from. Another glance at Cindra confirmed his suspicion. His second bonded gazed at him in adoration, her bright-blue eyes glowing beneath the armored helm.

  Perhaps an effect of their accelerated state, it seemed like they stared into each other’s eyes for several long seconds. But when he returned his attention to the soldier he was stalking, the man had barely moved.

  I can’t fail her. Not her. Not Sthuza. And definitely not Meri. They’re counting on me, and I will not let Kelith steal this second life away from me.

  Not him. Not his father.

  And not these greedy! Fucking! Mercenaries!

  Revitalized by the feelings of absolute trust and love from Cindra, he focused on his bond with Sthuza. While muted when compared with the boisterous hellhound’s emotions, he could still feel her concern for him, her desire to save and protect him.

  Kind of funny that the smaller wants to protect me, while the stupidly strong one seeks my protection.

  Amused by the odd dichotomy that were his two bonded, he chuckled, causing his target to flinch and turn around. A move that left the man vulnerable to the goblin he’d been facing.

  Cuix wasn’t one to question a gift. The second his brown eyes tracked away from her, she jabbed her bloody spear into the neck joint of his heavy armor.

  The man realized his mistake a split second before the jagged tip ripped his throat open. What should have been a clean kill for the goblin war leader turned sour when the human fighter didn’t fall to the ground screaming.

  Instead of wasting his last precious seconds of life, the veteran fighter reversed his turn, lunged, and tackled his tiny killer. She squawked indignantly as she went down under the dying man’s bulk.

  A sliver of doubt crossed Gabriel’s mind when he remembered how annoying the female had been. He shoved it aside and kicked her attacker before his full weight could crush the now pinned goblin.

  “Be more careful next time,” he growled at Cuix, turning to face the next threat.

  “You’s is okay, big Boss,” she croaked happily. “I gonna make you the happiest man ever if we live through this!”

  He shuddered at the lusty tone in her voice that made it explicitly clear they had very different definitions of ‘happy.’

  That’s a reason to die fighting, not to survive.

  Fortunately, his next opponent stepped up to provide him with a much-needed distraction. The heavy shield user had broad shoulders and wore a suit of thick mail over a scarlet gambeson and a faceless helmet. Used to being of average size, it surprised Gabriel to find himself looking down on what he’d thought of as a large warrior.

  Guess being around my bonded and those tiny goblins kept me from noticing just how much Meri enhanced me, didn’t it?

  Gabriel parried the first measured spear thrust aside with contemptuous ease. The man facing him now looked up into his eyes and snickered. Then he introduced Gabriel to the difference between skill and raw power.

  If not for the haste effect empowering his speed and reflexes, he’d have been dead a dozen times in the first twenty seconds. Each strike his foe launched appeared simple and easy to parry. Yet with every new thrust, jab, or swipe, Gabriel rocked back on his heels.

  The grim soldier methodically worked Gabriel’s mithril sword farther and farther out of position, forcing him to rely solely on his superior agility.

  Not keeping up the training after Mother died was a mistake.

  Gabriel’s focus homed in on his opponent’s shield and spear to the point he lost track of his footing and tripped over one of the downed goblins.

  Arms windmilling, he stared, frozen in calm despair as the man shifted and threw his weight into his next thrust. A dark smirk was visible through the narrow opening of the smaller man’s helmet.

  Gabriel stared at the spear tip seeking his heart. It felt like an eternity. He found it surprising his life didn’t flash before his eyes.

  Certainly enough time for it.

  The sharp blade bit into his armor; the enchantments within weakening the strike from “rip clean through him” to “tickle his heart.”

  A burning sting marked the moment when cruel steel pierced his armored coat and parted flesh.

  Mind devoted to his impending death, it took Gabriel a second to recognize the flicker of a black-feathered arrow passing just over his head.

  Caught up in the glory of his kill, the armored man missed the arrow entirely. Right until it punched through his upper jaw, snapping his front teeth, and lodged in the base of his skull.

  Shocked out of his near-death experience, Gabriel threw his free hand back and arrested his fall. Then rolled to one side as a goblin and a heavily armored woman skirmished onto and over the dead man.

  A sense of satisfaction and excitement trickled into his mind, making him grin at the cute smugness he recognized as his Prime’s. He rose smoothly to his feet, nerves bolstered by Sthuza’s timely aid.

  Not risking the distraction of turning to face her, he waved a cheery salute the gorgon’s way, his attention on the embattled woman who’d nearly stepped on him.r />
  Approaching her from the rear, Gabriel noticed their defensive line had fallen apart, and more adventurers were flooding the room. Most of the goblins still fought but were being driven back.

  Not willing to waste time lining up a killing blow around the thick plates and mail protecting her back, he sliced across the back of her unarmored knees. He winced in sympathy as the blade severed ligaments.

  The hamstrung woman screeched in pain before toppling forward, almost on top of her fun-sized foe. Who promptly jumped onto her armored head and began jabbing into the gap around her neck.

  Gabriel discounted her, confident the goblin would finish the crippled woman. Instead, he looked for another enemy. Eager to avoid getting distracted by focusing on his bonded, he spared only a brief survey of the pell-mell battle spreading out across the large altar chamber.

  Sthuza stood atop the sinister black altar, her head-snakes lashing. No doubt hissing, though even his enhanced hearing couldn’t detect it over the raucous din of battle.

  A guttural roar pointed his second bonded out, and he frowned, his blood boiling when he spotted the tallest person in the room.

  Standing a head taller than most of the humans surrounding her, Cindra was easy to see. It was even easier to see they had her outnumbered. And hurting.

  The hellhound had lost her helmet at some point. Dark, wet streaks filled her wild gray mane, and her bright-blue blood flowed from a nasty cut along one perfectly proportioned cheekbone.

  She bellowed again in rage or pain and swept her massive sword in front of her, driving back three armored men.

  Gabriel’s heart clenched in his wounded chest when he spotted one of the two assailing her from the rear swing a heavy ax toward her back. Thanks to the preternatural speed he’d gifted her, Cindra astonished him by narrowly dodging what could have, should have, been a crippling blow.

  Instead, the aggressive backstabber whiffed, barely able to halt his attack before he struck one of his companions.