by Tao Wong
“A friend of the lass is a friend of mine,” Tharuk grins, standing up to begin putting away the dishes. “Even if he’s stolen her away from me.”
Daniel blanches and shoots a look at Khy’ra who just smiles blandly at him. Tharuk seems to be missing the awkwardness his words have created, coming back and offering a plate of cake, “Cake?”
“Uhhh…,” Daniel stares at the cake and then shrugs, taking the plate. “Thank you.”
“The lass says you’ve been having trouble with the sixth floor?” Tharuk mentions around his mouthful of cake. Khy’ra stays silent, savouring her own piece as she lets the two talk.
“Yes. The Behemoth Crawlers are just too strong. We can kill one, but it takes forever and if there are two, we just have to run away,” Daniel grumbles, waving his fork around. “There’s always a few of them in a nest at a time and I don’t even want to think what the boss is like.”
“The Crawlers are horrible. Tough carapace, makes it nearly impossible to smash through or stab. Most Adventurers have to level up a few times or party up enough to beat the floor. Khy’ra says you’re too impatient for that though, got places to be and all that,” Tharuk says.
“Well, I’m… you know,” Daniel grimaces, shrugging his shoulders.
“Young,” Tharuk laughs heartily and points to the front of his hut and his workshop as he finishes up his cake. “Alright, I got something that can help. You and your Catkin.”
Walking past Daniel, he pushes the Adventurer down as he tries to stand up to follow. A few minutes later, Tharuk returns with two pairs of bracers with etchings inlaid in copper on them. “Normally I don’t work with so low materials these days, but I couldn’t say no to Khy’ra.”
“What are they?” Daniel picks one up, frowning at the etchings. There’s something about the bracers, a feeling of power that he can sense at the edges of his perception. He extends his senses a bit further, feeling the bracers through his mana and realising that the bracers seem to contain and hold mana themselves. “These are enchanted!”
Lesser Braces of Lightning
Effect: When worn, Braces add 3 – 5 Points of Lightning Damage per successful attack. 5% chance to stun (resisted by Magic Resistance).
Durability: 30/30
Item Class: Enchanted
Quality: Excellent (+2 to Enchantment Damage)
“Well, I am an enchanter,” Tharuk gestures to the bracers before him, smiling slightly in pride. “These are enchanted with lightning magic. If you wear them, your aura will be imbued with lightning magic itself and each of your attacks will do a small portion of lightning damage. The Crawlers themselves are susceptible, so you’ll be able to kill them a lot easier.”
Daniel’s grin widens even further as he caresses the bracers, “Thank you!”
“You are very welcome. I’ll also need 12 Gold for the bracer sets,” Tharuk states. Daniel’s jaw drops open, the sheer amount staggering. A thrifty man could survive on a single gold for a year, twelve was a fortune. “Each.”
Suddenly, the heavenly brunch he ate feels like lead in his stomach. He had been earning a decent amount for a while now, but still. “I uhhh… don’t have that much.”
“Of course not. Just give the money to Khy’ra when you can. I trust you!” Khy’ra just smiles, raising her cup as Daniel reels from the news. This was his first enchanted item, but for so much. He pushes down the feelings of trepidation. He always knew that being an Adventurer was an expensive proposition, it seemed it was time for him to truly decide. Would he strive for the top or become just another low-tier Adventurer, working small time dungeons and earning enough to have a comfortable, but unexciting life.
Put that way, there really is little choice. If Daniel had wanted comfort, he had simpler, easier options, “Thank you. I’ll repay you as soon as I can. We will.”
Unable to stop himself, Daniel quickly straps the bracers on. The moment both are equipped, a surge of energy ripples through him, invading his aura. Concentrating, he can feel the flickers of lightning mana that is now imbued into his aura, stretching forth to cover him. As he picks up a fork, he can feel how it flows down even to the fork, charging it with a slight measure of the lightning mana and his own aura. The two old friends just watch as he plays with his new toy, sharing knowing smiles.
“Mrs. Hearth, what did we say about overdoing it?” Daniel grumbles, raising the elderly woman’s arm to inspect it again and then letting it drop later that evening.
The octogenarian cackles for a moment before wincing in pain, “Young man, at my age, you take what time you get and make full use of it.”
Snorting, Daniel sighs and reaches out with his Gift, slowly reknitting the torn tendons and muscles in the shoulder. Healing in this way was old hat to Daniel by now, though with Khy’ra’s guidance, he had learnt to use less power, making smaller adjustments to allow the body’s natural healing abilities to take over. However, his biggest gains in skill was when he helped the diseased and the elderly, their various ailments and illnesses outside of his previous experience in the mining camps. The hard life of the camp was no place for the weak or elderly, so what he mostly treated were injuries, not the common ailments he dealt with now.
Finished with the old woman, he sends her out before turning to Khy’ra who has wandered in. After exchanging a quick kiss, she announces, “That’s it for the day. Thank you for coming in with me Daniel, I felt bad about taking the morning off.”
Daniel just nods, accepting the thanks gracefully. It wasn’t exactly what he would consider a rest day but who was he to complain, “Khy’ra, one question.”
“Mmmm…?”
“I’ve noticed some of the patients, well, they seem to refuse to go to you,” he gestures to the now empty waiting room.
“Oh, mmm… not refuse. They’re just more comfortable with you,” Khy’ra explains, looking over to the youngster.
“Right,” Daniel’s eyes narrow before he flinches as Khy’ra punches him in the arm.
“Don’t,” she warns him and he sighs, nodding. No point making a fuss about it, even if their actions just made no sense. As his grandfather pointed out, fools would be fools. Still, he might make those wait a little longer next time and use more traditional methods with them. No point in wasting his gift for those… “Owww!”
“I said don’t,” Khy’ra holds her fist up, glaring at Daniel before he nods quickly.
“No fuss, no fuss.”
“Good. I much prefer being hit…” Khy’ra grins lasciviously at the suddenly blushing Daniel. He still rejoins however, “You do, do you…”
Chapter 22
“This.”
Smash.
“Is.”
Smash.
“Awesome!”
Smash. Lightning dances again as Daniel’s mace crushes the Behemoth Crawler. The creature shudders again, the lightning piercing through its shattered carapace. It doesn’t go down easy though, swinging its head around to strike at Daniel with its mandibles. The jerky attack is caught easily on Daniel’s shield and its body is levered up long enough for Daniel to swing an underhand blow to its thinner under-armour. The Crawler shudders once more and falls dead, allowing Daniel to survey the rest of the nest on the sixth floor.
To his right, Asin is throwing knife after knife into the squirming mass of junior Crawlers. They struggle to get to her but as they close, she lightly leaps away and continues her attack. As each strike hits, the tell-tale flicker of lightning arrives, shocking the crawlers. Asin switches targets as one Crawler gets too close, twisting the knife in her hand and sending it into a spiralling movement as she activates her skill proficiency, Piercing Throw. The newly imbued knife shatters the carapace as it lands, lightning mana doing further damage inside the unprotected flesh. Through experimentation, the novice Adventurers have learnt that Asin’s knives hold the enchantment for a short distance before fading away, though imbuing the knives with her Skill Proficiencies aided in extending the range.
&n
bsp; As the injured Crawler finally manages to close the distance, Asin backflips out of the way, her trailing foot kicking the Crawler in the face as one last spiteful farewell, lightning dancing as the blow lands to kill the creature. Daniel enters the fray then, his mace making quick work of the last few wounded junior Crawlers. As they loot the bodies, neither Adventurer can hide their glee at the speed they completed this nest.
“So….” Daniel tilts his head to Asin, hefting his mace and trying to sound professional. “Boss?”
The Catkin in her usual crouch looks up at Daniel, wrinkling her muzzle though her eyes sparkle as well. She takes a moment to act like she’s thinking about it but her mind is already made up as she nods firmly.
Unfortunately, actually finding the Boss in the sixth level was a chore. Nearly half again as large as the fifth floor, the two Adventurers have to call it a day before they are able to locate its lair. Even with Daniel occasionally wiping their fatigue away with his Gift, he could do nothing about the mental exhaustion of crawling through the dark in constant danger.
They have no luck either for the next 3 days, and on the fourth, they arrive too late as another party finishes the monstrous Crawler off minutes before they arrive. Glumly, the pair leave the celebrating party to their spoils, knowing the Boss would likely respawn in a new location. The only major gain during the last few days were that they found the stairs down to the seventh floor where they registered themselves but did not explore.
“I’m feeling lucky today!” Daniel states as they transfer down to the sixth floor once again. Asin just chuffs, having heard this pronouncement four times already though she is as excited as to get this done as he is. However, this time, he speaks the truth as they come across the sixth floor’s boss only after a few hours of searching and a single fight with a nest.
As Mary had initially mentioned, the boss in the Dungeon was of the same form as the other monsters before it, just more powerful. Having seen the corpse of the boss before, neither Adventurer is surprised at the Titanic Crawler’s size, but a part of them still wander how it managed to make its way around the tight tunnels of the sixth floor.
The Titanic Crawler was twice the size of a Behemoth Crawler, its head alone 4 and a half feet wide. Its body stretched behind it, curled up in what looked to be sleep and stumping their guesses, though it was at least 20 feet long. Its carapace gleamed darkly in the faded light, the creature resting while its prey searched for it.
The two do not need to speak, having worked out sure-fire tactics when dealing with a single enemy. Asin enters first, silent as only a Catkin could be and quickly clambers up a wall, putting herself out of danger. Hidden in the shadows, she readies her attacks and begins the battle with a Piercing Throw. She follows up immediately with another, targeting the same spot in the middle of the back, looking to shatter the carapace. Too far away for the bracers enchantments to work, the shots still shatter the carapace in small chunks, sufficient to allow the knives following to land in unprotected flesh.
The Crawler roars, shaking the cavern as it comes under attack and rears towards Asin’s newly revealed presence. Daniel takes advantage of this, charging the creature to Shield Bash it. The creature stumbles back, lightning dancing as Daniel proceeds to target the legs on one side to cripple the Boss’s movements.
It is only two blows in, a single leg among multitudes shattered before the Crawler spins, using its bulk to smash against Daniel. He brings his hands up together in time to block, using both his Shield and mace to support his block. Safe the from the immediate retaliation, Daniel begins to hammer at the creature, keeping it focused on him as Asin drops from the ceiling and runs the creatures length to reach her embedded knives. Once there, she begins tearing at the shattered carapace to get at the unprotected flesh inside.
The Boss trashes, attempting to throw Asin off while attempting to crush Daniel with his mandibles. Daniel fights defensively mostly, foiling attacks against him and lashing out when he can to send sparks of lightning damage against the monster. It seems little slowed by the repeated bashings and as Asin finally creates an opening wide enough for her own liking, she plunges her knife into its back.
The Titanic Crawler does something unexpected, rolling over entirely. The Catkin throws herself off, but the momentary surprise means that she is unable to clear the body entirely. The Titanic Crawler’s bulk lands on her legs, forcing a choked scream from her.
Daniel leaps, using both arms to swing his mace at the softer carapace that the Crawler has exposed. The blows forces the creature to roll again to protect its body, a foot spearing Asin in the stomach as it does so. She lets out a chocked groan, pain radiating from her broken feet but the Catkin pushes past it, chopping at the leg with her knife to free herself. Once she is able to do so, she begins to pull herself away from the monster, letting out choked off whimpers of pain with each movement.
Luckily Daniel has the creature’s attention now, allowing Asin to crawl away as he triggers his proficiencies again and again, battering at the creature to keep its attention. He can feel the strength of his blows slowing, fatigue catching up as he attacks and dodges in a desperate attempt to save his friend. Finally, a lucky Shield Bash stuns the creature for a few seconds, allowing Daniel to run and grab his teammate to escape into a nearby tunnel shaft.
Inside the smaller tunnel, safe for the moment, Daniel spins around to focus on healing his teammate. He doesn’t need his Gift to tell she is gravely injured, both her legs shattered by the weight of the behemoth and the Crawler’s leg still sticking from her stomach.
Focused, he pushes his Gift out even as he extracts the leg and begins to rearrange her leg bones manually. Asin chokes back a quick scream before falling unconscious from the pain as Daniel sets her bones with quick, efficient movements. His Gift begins to take from him almost immediately, pulling memories of previous battles, stretching muscles and nerves as it strips it of their gained experience to fuel the healing. What feels like days later as memories and experience both good and bad disappear, Daniel comes to from his trance and slumps next to his friend.
He shudders, his body slowly accustoming itself to its new state. Asin is awake by the time he is fully aware, staring at her healed body with awe. She points to him and Daniel just nods and she chuffs out, a low rumble coming from her. Still not having learnt to speak Catkin, Daniel just shrugs and forces himself to stand up.
“You know, I bet that Boss hasn’t healed yet…” Daniel muses, his mace slapping into his hand.
The agreeable yowl from Asin indicates her agreement and Daniel’s face tightens into a grim smile. Time to get some experience back.
“Ugh…” Daniel shakes the remnant of his shield loose, tossing it to the side in disgust. The Crawler had attempted its smashing move again, this time dropping its weight on Daniel. Unfortunately for the Crawler, it hadn’t expected the Adventurer to just block it, the strong ex-miner catching the full force on his extended shield arm and just about able to hold it off the ground. The mistake was fatal for the already wounded creature, Asin sliding underneath to savage the creature from beneath and pierce its three hearts.
The creature dead, its body dissolving, the two Adventurers rest for a few moments before they move to pick up the Boss’s chemical sac and mana stone before walking to the chest. Inside, they grin at the largest mana stone either has seen, glowing with clear light.
Now, this is a real stone, Daniel thinks, picking it up to admire it. Asin purrs for a moment and then her face closes down, looking between the stone and Daniel. She then points to him and states, “Yours.”
“Huh?” Pulled from his greedy contemplation, Daniel shakes his head at her implication. “Ours.”
“Yours.” Insists Asin, now pushing at his arm to make the stone get closer to Daniel.
“No. Ours.” Daniel pauses, realising he’s falling into the rhythm of her speech again. “This is ours. We’re partners. You save me, I save you. That’s the way this works.”
“No,” the two then exchange glares, eyes locked in a contest of wills that neither want to give up. The tense silence hovers around them for long minutes, neither willing to look away or give in. It is only the sound of approaching Crawlers that make the two break their gazes. Daniel glares at her one last time then shrugs, tossing the stone back into the chest.
“Fine. No one’s then,” Daniel grumbles, turning to walk towards the incoming monsters. If they weren’t taking the stone, at least he could start making some money back from the other Crawlers.
Asin just stands there shocked at this frustrating human, a low rumbling growl in Catkin arising from her throat. That was money he was throwing away, a lot of it! Why would he not let her show her gratitude for saving her life. Frustrated and unhappy that she lost, she grabs the stone out from the chest again and scrambles after him. At least she wasn’t willing to leave good money behind to make a point.
Chapter 23
“You two should talk,” Liev says to Daniel as he waits around for Asin to finish up with their day’s take.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Daniel replies, looking back to Liev and the older attendant sniffs, running a hand through the curly mess of his hair again.
“You two are having problems. It’s affecting your work. I’ve seen the tally for the last few days, you two are down. And it’s not just the shorter hours you are working either,” Liev says and raises a finger. “Though that’s part of it. I’ve never seen you or her out of the Dungeon before eight bell two days in a row before, and this is the fourth day you are both here.”
Daniel crosses his arms, replying. “You all keep saying I should take a break, maybe that’s what we’re doing.”
“Is it?” Liev reiterates and Daniel shifts uncomfortably, looking away from the attendant. “I thought so. Talk.”
