by Dakota Krout
Dale seemed surprised, but covered it well by punching an exceptionally fluffy bunny in the face as he contemplated his answer. “Evan? I heard from him this morning, you really don’t know? He had found some rare metal, he called it aluminum. It is worth more than platinum — per weight — and holds Essence so well that the metal itself becomes stronger. When Enchanted, it becomes something that he calls ‘Mithril’. My turn, how did you not know what he had taken?”
Dale paused, considering. “I guess I don’t know? My guess is that it accumulates in mineral deposits rarely, and there is no known method to extract it from everything else? If it is all around like you say, that is the only logical explanation that I can think of.” I grunted, he had answered as best he could so I had nothing to call him out on, dang rules. Why do I always set rules for myself?
“I’m going to save my question for now, we are coming up on a Boss room, and being distracted while fighting Raile is a bad idea. I hope you remember our non-interference agreement.” He carefully phrased his words so that they weren’t a question; Dale was getting clever.
~Dale~
The dungeon was getting to him. He had been distracted the entire time they were here, and the others were starting to catch on that he was not paying attention. A Basher had gotten past him and landed a damaging blow on Adam’s leg when Dale was supposed to be watching out for him, even now it was darkening into a deep bruise.
Hans was looking at him closely, “You back with us now?” He asked directly, in the tactless way Hans was known for. “It looks like you’ve been arguing with yourself for the last hour, and if you aren’t done we should prolly just wait. You know, instead of fighting a bear-sized armored rabbit that tends to squish people.”
Dale flushed; he hadn’t realized he was being so obvious. “Yeah, sorry Hans. Sorry Adam. I’ve been thinking about other things. I know we are suffering for it. I am now fully focused, let’s go kick this pig.”
Tom cleared his throat, “Um. Art thou feeling proper? We go now to kill an overgrown rabbit, not a pig. If hallucinations or a fever are afflicting your person, we should seek a healer.”
“He is fine, Tom.” Adam interjected, “That was a saying, and it means that he is ready and willing to go.”
“Ah. That does make more sense now.”
They stepped into the room, and Raile wasted no time in making his attack. Sometimes he came from a hole hidden high in the wall, and sometimes he tried to hide, blending in with the wall. Today Raile just seemed ready to kill, and was dashing at them even as they stepped into his territory.
Raile ran at an angle to the wall, then jumped and pushed off it to maintain momentum whilst changing direction. Midair, he flipped just before landing, increasing his momentum and creating a much larger area of damage than Dale had previously seen. Stone shards went flying from the ground, chipped off and sent at high speeds from the impact site. Small slivers pinged off weapons, while others opened small cuts wherever they touched.
Tom roared and stepped forward, swinging his Warhammer at Raile with deadly intent. This had worked the previous day, easily slaying the Boss, but today Raile leaned back on his haunches, and swung his paws like a boxer. The huge Warhammer caught the blow just behind the head of the weapon, sending it flying across the room.
Rose landed a few arrows into the flesh around Raile’s neck, prompting a Glitterflit to zip across the room and *boop* him with a powerful influx of healing Essence. Hans executed the Glitterflit with a cartwheel in midair, turning into a surprisingly effective whirling succession of blades.
Raile bounced, jumping straight up and coming down heavily, making the standing members of the group flinch, almost losing their footing. His armor fell off him as his ability — Avenger — activated. His head suddenly had a crown of jagged granite, and Raile was furious. While the humans were off balance, he dropped to all fours and rushed Rose, as she stood in front of his real target — Hans. She easily dodged out of the way, and Tom was suddenly in front of Raile, swinging his Warhammer in a fury. Raile dropped, head mangled beyond repair, and the others sat down to catch their breath.
“What was that?” Hans questioned the others. They shrugged, so he shook his head and skinned the Glitterflit.
“I heard he had an ability, but I’ve never seen him fight like that before.” Rose considered the slowly melting form of Raile.
Adam looked at Tom who was shaking, trying to come down from his fury, “You okay over there, buddy?”
“I… I have too much of the rage of my ancestors. If I had… it would be easier if I had more to kill.” Tom ground out through gritted teeth. His hands were white where he held his hammer in a too-tight grip.
Hans looked at the deeply breathing man, and nodded. “That clears that up at least.”
“What?” Dale looked between the two, and Tom seemed suddenly ashamed.
“I… there is something I must explain.” Tom began, “I was born the crown prince of the Wolf Kingdom, but when it was found that the taste of blood sends me into a rage I was disowned. The blood rage is an outdated remnant of a time in our history where those of us with the fire-infused blood were the only real defense against the ice giants. Now though… who would trust a man that can barely control his bloodthirst to be a leader of men? I was disinherited by my father, refused the cultivation techniques that were my birthright, and sent out to find my own way in life. Now… here I am.”
“Is this why you took that extra swing at Raile that killed a member of your former team?” Hans's tone was laced with barely controlled anger.
“It is.” Tom admitted shamefacedly. “I had taken a blow that tore my lip, and the fury raced through me. I could find nothing else to attack besides my friends, so I released my anger on Raile’s corpse.”
Hans barely waited for him to finish speaking before beginning to yell, “So you are telling us that a small injury to you may cost us our lives, and you never thought to warn us?!”
“Hans, maybe you should-” Dale tried to interject.
“No!” Hans shouted him down before turning back to Tom coldly, “I thought I was your mentor, a person that you trusted to teach you everything you needed to know. Why would you not tell me about something this important? If you can’t control your body’s reaction to fire Essence we need to fix that, it isn’t hard to do!”
“I am sorry.” Tom was staring at the ground, “It is not so much a secret as a shameful… wait. What?” His head snapped up, eyes bulging with confusion and a touch of hope.
“I mean, it is a slow process, but it is just tedious, not difficult.” Hans looked at the odd expression on Tom’s face. “What?”
Tom swallowed, clenching his jaw as he tried to formulate a question. “There is a cure to the Blood Fire?”
Hans nodded, “Yup. It is such a rare condition that I suppose that it isn’t widely known, but it is easy to learn.”
“Hans, if you are jesting, I will be hurt beyond measure.” Tom pleadingly informed his teacher.
“I am quite serious.”
“I… can’t believe it.” Tom looked at the ceiling, his height and the angle h
iding that his eyes were misty. “I could go home.”
~Sixteen~
I watched Dale’s team leaving the dungeon after cultivating for roughly half an hour.
She separated from Snowball, who sank down to the ground, exhausted. “Hmm, that is odd. You had it far enough away from him?”
She ‘shrugged’ more of a conceptual thing than an actual movement of body parts, “I had lost control of Raile by that point anyway. As soon as his ability triggered, he went into a blind rage and charged. I was just along for the ride.” We spent a little time whilst thinking. I casually fixed a wall that had cracks along it before Dani spoke again. “Well, the Warhammer was bound to him, correct?”
“…Yeah. That is what I was going to say.” Dani coughed. She looked over at Snowball, who was sound asleep. “Well, there goes practice.”
“Well, what did you have in mind, then?” Dani prodded me, obviously trying to get me to the point.
“Interesting. That way, there will be a higher chance of growth for you. Currently, only about a third of the groups that enter the dungeon continue all the way to Raile. Usually those are the people that are sure that they can fight Raile and win, or at least survive.” Dani pondered for a moment. “If only a third of the groups can make it down to the third floor, that means they will need to pull double duty, guarding and escorting as well as fighting. Then they are stuck until the miners are done, and likely need to help haul ore outside.”
I watched her in awe.
“I am very intelligent.” Dani noted breezily.
“I am afraid that virtue does not exist among my many talents.” Dani laughed at the strangled noise I made in response.
“Why not worry about that after the floor is made? I know you have been extending downward with your influence, so let’s take a week and lower the third floor far enough that you can grow that new mining floor quickly.” She paused, gathering her arguments, “That way you can save on Essence by not using it in a big burst, and people may not notice for a while that there even is a new floor. No one has come to this one after that huge party got destroyed.”
“What is the matter?” Dani was seriously concerned. After all, I almost never got this concerned, I’m basically a laid-back people-eater.
“Do you want to drop the panic doors?” Dani was trying to keep a brave face, but when I was nervous, Dani always became even more so. The panic doors were her idea, after the Distortion Cat incident she told me that I needed to put more direct defenses into high-traffic areas. The panic doors allowed me to drop five-ton cursed-earth granite doors, which should be sufficient to at least slow overly powerful people.
Dani nodded, accepting my answer. Sometimes I think she trusts me more than I deserve. “Where are they now?”
“What?”
They reached the final approach to the Boss room, and began moving down the straight corridor. My Assimilator raised two of its stingers to chest level on a human, and the air vibrated a bit as the Essence I was directing into my Mob passed through. The Elves never paused, actually increasing their speed forward. I had my Assimilator release as much Essence as it could channel, a huge burst of fire pushed through a focusing lens of celestial corruption.
The fire that poured outward was white tinged with gold, hot enough that a shock wave formed in front of it from air being burned and displaced. The rock walls in the fairly narrow hallway glowed cherry-red as the wave of fire moved past, some of it cracking or shattering from the huge temperature differential. Any shards of rock that fell off stuck to whatever they landed on, fused together.
This at least got the Elves attention, their eyes widened for a moment, then narrowed with intense focus. The first of them stepped forward, making a motion that displaced air but had no other noticeable effect. The second swept forward with her hands, forcing dirt and dust into a thick wall of particles in front of them. The third halted entirely, making motions that caused a band of — infernal?! — Essence forward, wrapping around the particle wall just before the wave of fire reached it.
I was watching the interplay of Essence as closely as possible to see what they had done, it was quite ingenious really. The infernal Essence counteracted the celestial
in the fire, and though the fire was still intense, it no longer burned like a bar of magnesium. The particle wall absorbed the force of the blast, and apparently the first of them had done something to the air that reduced the potency of the flame. The fire raged against their efforts for a moment, but when it subsided a pane of clear glass stood in the hallway, allowing them to view the fiery landscape just beyond.
The first one punched the glass, shattering it and allowing a blast of heat to escape. The influx of oxygen made the hallway glow brighter for a few moments. Oh! That is what the first person did, the air must have had the oxygen removed from it in a small space. That would greatly reduce the potency of fire. I wonder if I could do something similar… oh damn the people moved again.
They ran directly at the glowing area, right when I thought they would get third-degree burns on their tender feet, they began walking two inches above the floor. My Assimilator — completely wrung out — fell to the floor and cooked near instantly, cracking and spitting like bacon. Oops. Forgot to replenish its Essence.
“Nice work on the air-boots, Minya. You do decent work for a human.” One of the Elves offered a backhanded compliment.
“Thanks. Sure would be a shame if they suddenly failed over this molten floor, wouldn’t it?” A raspy, distinctly human voice answered. I had heard similar voices on adventurers that smoked heavily.
The Elf in question looked at the bubbling floor, suddenly nervous. He swallowed. “It would at that.”
The final Elf in the group spoke up, “Enough you two. Minya has a reputation as the best dungeoneer in the business, and you,” she pointed at the condescending Elf, “have a reputation as a bigot. Who do you think Brianna would listen to if it came down to a complaint?”
“Whatever. I… where is the tree?” They had turned the final corner, and were now facing a thick wall of steam.
“I’d assume,” Minya rasped, “That it is beyond the sauna.”
