by Phoenix Grey
“I’m assuming there’s a reason why they have stat boosts. We will probably need them.” Lonnell’s eyes raked over his staff. Much like his comrades’ weapons, there were intricate carvings down the white-silver pole, with the red jewel set near the bottom. It certainly looked like a far superior weapon to the gnarled wooden staff he had been using.
“You’re boosted enough, I think.” Azure’s gaze locked on the pendant around Lonnell’s neck.
“Whatever the case, they are keys first. We should go open the door and see if we even get them back.” His attention shifted to the door at the end of the hall.
“Agreed.” Azure nodded, and they all walked toward the door.
Once they arrived, Lonnell placed his staff in the indentation for it. The door seemed to vacuum seal it in place, causing the weapon’s outline to glow a soft shade of red that matched the color of the jewels.
“Aw.” Janine frowned. “I don’t think we’re going to get them back.” Still she stepped forward to place her ax in its respective spot, achieving the same result.
Last was Azure. He felt less bad about losing the sword.
When all weapons were in place, there was an audible click, and the door slid to the side. As soon as it was open, the glow around the weapons faded.
Lonnell reached out and tried to pry his staff from its groove. The weapon practically fell into his hand. “I think they’re no longer ghostly.” He stared at the staff in wonder.
And he was right. When Azure took the sword back, it now had weight to it. He brought up the item’s information to see the change.
Digby Mansion Sword Key
Attack: +5-10
Vitality: +5
Strength: +5
Agility: +5
Type: Two-Handed Weapon
Durability: 29/29
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 13.0 kg
Uses: Quest Item
“Good Gods, it’s heavy as hell now.” Azure clasped the sword with both hands, barely able to wield it. Without the +5 Strength that the weapon offered, it might have been too cumbersome. As it was, this was going to take some getting used to, and they really didn’t have the time to practice.
He stepped away from his friends to take a few cursory swings, but his form was sloppy at best.
“Jesus Christ! What are these things made out of? Lead?” Janine was now struggling with her ax as well.
“Who is Jesus Christ?” Lonnell lifted an eyebrow.
She waved his question away. “Forget about it. It’s just a way to complain where we’re from.”
“You know, you’re going to hell for saying that.” Azure smirked at her.
Janine gasped, raising a hand to her mouth. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Christian?” He pressed his lips together and gave a slight nod. “Surprising.”
“What’s so surprising about that?” Janine glared at him.
“Nothing. Nothing.” Azure shook his head and turned away. “But you did say the Lord’s name in vain. Noob mistake.”
“Would you like me to try this ax out on you?” She raised her weapon threateningly, but the way she struggled to keep it balanced made Azure unable to take her seriously.
“I’m pretty sure you’d miss,” he teased.
“You’re probably right.” Janine frowned, lowering the ax again.
Following Azure’s lead, she walked further down the hall to practice swinging the weapon. On her second try, it flew out of her hands, the blade lodging into the wall before the weight of the weapon caused it to fall to the floor.
“Whoa there!” Azure took a step further away from her.
“Sorry.” She shrank slightly, her features compressing.
Lonnell was the only one who seemed to be able to wield his weapon normally. That Pendant of the Adept was really making a big difference for him.
“Are we about ready to go?” he asked.
“Did you not see her just fling her ax?” Azure gestured to Janine. His hand left holding the sword sagged from the weight of it, the blade pulling toward the ground.
“We don’t have time to practice.” Lonnell knit his brow together. “To get stronger, we’d actually have to wield these in battle. Unless we’re going to go through and clear out whatever respawned several times over, there’s no point.”
“It might be worth the time,” Azure told him, watching Janine continue to practice while they spoke. It was painful to watch, and he was barely better with the sword.
“We only have a five-minute window to kill Airian once we use the scroll. If the three of us can’t put an end to him in that time, then we don’t deserve to be Adventurers.”
“If we can’t put an end to him in that time, it’s because we can’t wield these fucking weapons properly.” He slapped the hilt of his sword with the back of his hand. “Remember, we only get one chance to do this. There aren’t two Airian’s Demise Scrolls. We can’t fuck this up by going in unprepared. You of all people should know that.”
Lonnell’s entire body sulked. He bobbed his head slightly for a few moments before speaking. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“This probably won’t take long. Let’s just go back to the library and clear out the skeletons in there. That should be enough,” Azure suggested.
“I think that’s a good idea.” Janine rejoined them, panting. “I’ll probably get a better feel for this thing once I kill some stuff with it. Besides, I can always use more experience.”
“Fine. Let’s get to it, then. I want to get this over as quickly as possible,” Lonnell grumbled, taking point to head to the stairs leading up.
They were only a yard away from the bottom when the little boy and girl materialized again to block their path.
“Where are you going?” the girl asked.
“These weapons are too heavy.” Lonnell lifted his staff. “We need to go practice with them on another level.”
“If you leave, they’ll disappear,” she informed them.
“You will have to face Airian without them,” Gallus clarified.
The Adventurers all shared mixed looks of confusion and concern.
Azure sighed. “Well, I guess that’s that. We go in unprepared.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE REALM – Day 75
“Is there any chance they might be lying?” Janine whispered as they reconvened by the door leading to the boss level. The ghosts had not disappeared when the Adventurers had walked away. It was as if they were guarding the stairs going back up.
“Who knows. But it’s not worth taking that chance.” Lonnell kept his voice low as well.
Azure looked at the sword in his hand, flipping it over. “I’m fine either way. My Bergen’s Glaive has better attack stats than this sword.”
“And I feel more confident with my old ax,” Janine agreed.
“You might not be able to use your old weapons inside,” Lonnell reminded them.
“That’s true.” Azure frowned. They’d been given these weapons for a reason. They were probably meant to use them.
“I don’t like this.” Janine shook her head.
“I don’t like it either, but what other choice do we have?” He gazed dryly at the two ghosts.
“Well, are we going to do this or not? I don’t know about you guys, but I’m ready to get out of this dungeon.” Lonnell looked to the stairs leading down to the next level.
“You should probably use one of your last Health potions before we go in.” Janine locked eyes with Azure. “There might not be a lot of time to down one while we’re fighting.”
He nodded, pulling a Potion of Minor Healing from his bag and gulping the contents. Both Lonnell and Janine were already healed up after their fight with Digby.
Once Azure was done, Lonnell looked at him. “Are you good?”
“As good a
s I’m going to be.”
“Shouldn’t we come up with a strategy before we go in?” Janine suggested.
“Give her the scroll.” He nodded toward Janine. “She’s the weakest. She should stay in the back and use it. As soon as she does, I’ll cast Grease to put some distance between the boss and us. It should also slow it down.”
“Once it steps inside the grease, I’ll use my Small Flame spell if the area is big enough and I’m not worried we’ll get smoked out. That should shave off some of Airian’s Health,” Lonnell added.
“If you can’t do that, I’ll use Dirty Move once it gets close. That should blind it for a while. I think with all of our spells combined, we should have a pretty good advantage.”
“And I feel like I’m not contributing at all.” There was a twinge of discontent in Janine’s voice.
“This is about getting it done quickly,” Lonnell told her. “We only have five minutes to kill it. We have to make the most of the resources we have. If you see an opening to attack once we’ve cast our spells, feel free, but try to keep yourself out of danger.”
“I'm not the weakest anymore, by the way,” she said. “He and I are both level 10 now.” Janine pointed to Lonnell.
“Yeah, but we have magic, and you don’t. That’s why I want you in the back,” Azure explained.
“Is that it then?” Lonnell looked at his comrades.
He glanced at Janine one more time for reassurance. “I think that’s it.”
“I can’t come up with anything better,” she confirmed.
“All right. Then let’s go. I’ll lead since I have the pendant.” Lonnell wrapped one hand around the figurine danging from his neck.
The stairs leading down to the boss level were different from the ones before. Made entirely of wood, each stair had a strip of red carpeting on top of it. Before they’d even reached the bottom, the body of a man curled into the fetal position came into view. Azure suspected that it was Radclyffe, but he activated his Analyze skill anyway, hoping that the man was still alive.
Corpse of Radclyffe Smithe
It was curious to Azure how he was offered no additional information. Or that the corpse Analyzed at all since it wasn’t an enemy or alive.
They all paused to stare at it for a few moments.
“He’s dead,” Azure commented, in case the others couldn’t tell.
Janine raised a hand to her mouth, covering the gasp threatening to escape.
He turned to her and let a small chuckle slip out. “Why do you look so surprised? The ghosts told us that he had perished.”
“I’ve just...never seen a dead body before. It’s horrible.” She stepped closer to Azure and hid her face against his arm.
He patted her on the back.
“Whatever killed him wasn’t a blade,” Lonnell noted. “Airian must have magic of his own.”
“Probably,” Azure agreed.
Boss monsters seemed to have some type of magical attack, more often than not.
“He looks like he died in pain.” Janine gazed down at the corpse.
She wasn’t wrong. Radclyffe's expression was twisted into a grimace, his eyes pinched closed. Narrow features were framed by shoulder-length curly brown hair. Rigor mortis had set in long ago. A red fedora lay a few feet away, matching the rest of his rich attire.
Azure wondered if it would be possible to loot his body, then cast a glance at Janine, hoping she wouldn’t be mad at him if he suggested it. There was a silver bracelet on Radclyffe’s wrist that might be to her liking.
“We should take his belongings back up from the dungeon as proof that we found him,” he said, staring forward. Hopefully, it would seem noble instead of greedy.
“We should take his entire body.” Lonnell eyed Azure as if his suggestion had been stupid. “If a portal to the basement stairs opens up, it would not be hard to carry it.”
“That works, too.” Azure nodded.
“Perhaps we can take the body without fighting the boss.” Janine sounded way too hopeful and naive.
“That’s not how this works.” Lonnell shot her down.
“I was afraid of that.” She sulked.
“Well, we better get to it. Give Janine the scroll.” Azure nodded from Lonnell to Janine.
They quickly made the exchange, Janine keeping the scroll out for future use.
“You guys ready? Once we hit the bottom of the stairs, I imagine the fight will start pretty quickly.” Azure looked at his companions.
“Yeah. Let’s do this.” Lonnell stared straight ahead with determination etched in his expression.
“I’m so nervous. This is my first boss fight,” Janine muttered as she followed the men down the stairs.
“It will be fine,” Azure assured her, though he felt bad for lying. No boss fight ever ended up being fine. Someone always died. Could he really let it be Janine if it came down to it? Would he even have time to choose? Or perhaps he was walking to his own demise. There was no way of knowing.
A sick feeling filled his stomach with each step they descended. Doubt crept in. Perhaps agreeing to do this quest with Lonnell had been a bad idea. Dragging Janine along had been even worse. He had expected to pick up someone expendable. Azure had never thought that he might actually grow to care for the person, especially in this short of time. Why couldn’t she have been insufferable like The Asshole Knight? He hadn’t mourned the loss of Sir Nash Thornton. The guy had been an asshole. But if Janine died in this dungeon...Azure would never be able to forgive himself.
“Stay in the back. I’ll protect you,” he threw back for his own peace of mind.
Azure would protect her. With his life, if need be. It was his fault that she was in this dungeon. He wasn’t about to let her die for his selfishness.
The bottom of the stairs gave way to a massive room. It looked to Azure to be a ballroom. Oversized suits of armor stood sentry on wooden platforms on each side of the stairs. There was an expansive open space with an intricately tiled floor. Stars and squares and rectangles were placed strategically to form a beautiful dancing and socializing space. To the sides, furniture was covered with sheets, but the tapestries and paintings hanging on the walls were all exposed.
The ghost of a man stood at the back of the room with his hands crossed behind him. Oddly, he looked like a much older version of Digby. His white hair touched his shoulders but was balding on top. It led into a manicured beard and mustache. Pale from death, his body had broad, boxy features. Looking wealthy and dignified, he was dressed in a shirt with puffed sleeves and matching breeches, though their color was indiscernible thanks to the translucency of his form. Azure imagined they were brown though, because they were darker than the rest of him.
He quickly activated Analyze.
Level 14 Airian the Undead.
He's Analyzing as hard, but he shouldn't be difficult to take down for the three of us combined. Coming off of having just slain a level 13 enemy with no assist, Azure was feeling pretty confident.
“Mortals are not allowed down here,” the ghost said in a deep bass as he rushed forward.
“Use the scroll!” Azure called to Janine.
She stepped forward, holding the scroll up to Airian and wincing away from it at the same time. Light shot forth from it, hitting the ghost square in the chest. He gasped, his body convulsing for a moment before the light died down. The scroll turned to dust in Janine’s hands, and she quickly stepped back.
“Stupid mortals. Do you think that’s enough to stop me?!” Airian sliced forward with his hand, and sludge flew from his fingertips, sailing across the room.
Both Azure and Janine moved to opposite sides to avoid it, but Lonnell wasn’t fast enough. The spell hit him for nearly a quarter of his Health, the sludge sliding down his body to pool at his feet, making it difficult for him to move.
“Cast!” he yelled to Azure.
Azure did his best to aim his grease spell where Airian
was standing. As soon as the dark liquid began spraying out, the ghost jumped back, though not quickly enough to avoid it coating his feet. The problem was that Lonnell had to get closer to use his Small Flame spell, and he seemed to be practically glued to the ground, each step incredibly laborious and slow. By the time he was even able to take three steps forward, Airian had backed out of the grease.
“Your petty magic means nothing in here,” Airian said with a wicked grin.
Turning his attention to Azure this time, he held out his palm. A noxious-looking yellow cloud began to form, flowing in Azure’s direction. He ran toward the now materialized ghost, trying to dodge the cloud as he went, but it spread too far, catching him and causing his stomach to immediately cramp when he inhaled the acrid stench.
Level 14 Airian the Undead delivers 70 damage. You have been diseased. You will lose 1 Health per second for the next 3 minutes.
The cramping in Azure's stomach was so intense that he doubled over in pain. To signify that the status effect was in place, an icon of a hand covered in pustules appeared in his peripheral vision.
Well, that's enough to kill me. I'll be dead in three minutes. It looks like I drew the short straw this time.
There was nothing that could be done about it. Azure had to press forward, lest his friends faced the same fate. Pushing through the pain, he got in range to cast his Dirty Move spell. When he held up his hands, he saw that the same red pustules from the status effect icon were beginning to form all over his body. He was so distracted that he was barely able to register that his spell had hit its mark.
Janine hollered as she charged past him, her ax raised. Azure watched for a moment as she hacked at Airian with all the ferocity she had used on their enemies on the way to the mansion. He felt weaker as his Health ticked down, but he knew that he couldn't give up. Forcing each step, Azure drew his Digby Mansion Sword Key, which now felt even heavier thanks to having the pustules on his palms to contend with, and joined Janine in stabbing the ghost.