The monster tried to step out toward Mirea, but the woman and her brother each swung with their blades and smashed the creature’s advancing foot. It shuffled away from them a few feet and then kind of turned itself to the other side so that it could strafe back out toward the fenia and half-orc.
Every second between the statues was roasting the feet of the thing, and the white bones of its toes, ankles, tibia, and knee area were beginning to turn dark black because of the scorching. Every second a good 5% bit of red dropped from the creature’s health bar, and the monster had dropped to about 60%.
“Don’t let it get out!” Bylem shouted as he moved away from the monster’s slow progress toward him.
“Wicum!” Mirea shouted as she slashed at the heel of the foot she’d been cutting into.
“On it!” The man abandoned his spot next to his sister and dashed around the statue of the king.
Wicum didn’t have a shield on him, and I saw the giant skeleton raise his fist to smash down upon the swordsman. I used Guardian of Fortune again, and Wicum glowed with the teal light of protection as the skeleton’s attack landed.
The undead giant’s fist was the size of a recliner chair, and it probably would have flattened my companion into a pancake effortlessly. Fortunately, the 75% chance of not doing any damage that Guardian of Fortune granted seemed to trigger, and the man hadn’t been transformed into a bloody pool by the monster’s smash. The man’s face appeared whiter than a sheet, and I guessed that he was surprised that he was still alive.
It felt like someone had lightly punched me in the stomach. It wasn’t incredibly uncomfortable, but I hadn’t been prepared for the feeling. For half a second I wondered if it was just my relief that the swordsman was still alive, but then I realized that this was the first time I’d used an ability twice within a single minute, and it was probably the mana fatigue that Jennifer had told me about.
The skeleton seemed rather irked that Wicum was still standing, and it let out a frustrated growl when the auburn man’s longsword bit him in the foot. The thing had to be in severe pain now, and it looked like Bylem’s lava spell had brought the creature down to 45% health.
Then the magic faded from the ground.
“Do it again!” Mirea shouted at Bylem as she dug her sword into the foot of the monster again.
“I’ll get fatigued!” the fenia shouted back through the burnt legs of the giant skeleton.
“I don’t care! This thing is—” Her response was interrupted by the skeleton raising its foot in the air to kick her.
As soon as the monster pulled its leg up, I guessed what it had intended, and I used Guardian of Fortune again on Mirea. My stomach squeezed with the pressure of using the ability so soon, but my timing was perfect, and the enchantment caused her to glow an instant before the skeleton’s foot lashed out. The woman did her best to dive out of the way of the stomp, but the attack caught her on the shoulder, and she skidded across the floor toward me with a scream of pain.
Her health bar dropped by a third.
“Shit!” I stepped in front of Mirea’s sliding body and held my arms out so that my swords wouldn’t accidentally cut her when we collided. She’d taken the blow on her right shoulder, and I couldn’t tell if the bones there had been broken, or if she’d just had it dislocated.
“I’m fine,” she growled as she got to her feet. Her right arm hung at her side like a wet noodle, but she hadn’t let go of her sword.
“You don’t look fine,” I said.
“Watch your eyes!” Bylem shouted as he lobbed one of his fire softballs underhand. The magic projectile smashed into the chest area of the massive skeleton and then erupted like a smoky firework. The creature shrieked in agony, and I saw its health bar drop down another 5%.
“It is half-way dead!” I shouted.
“How do you know?” Mirea grunted beside me as she moved her right arm. It looked like the woman was trying to do a bicep curl with a ninety-pound weight instead of her broadsword.
“I can tell,” I said as I saw the skeleton turn around to face Bylem, Wicum, and Cornalic. I hadn’t seen the half-orc actually do anything during this fight, and I wondered if Mirea or Wicum had noticed the same behavior. If we lived through this, I was going to yell at the fucker for not pulling his weight.
The skeleton raised his leg to make another kicking motion, and I used Guardian of Fortune again on Mirea’s brother. He glowed teal as the monster’s foot descended, and the man raised his sword up in the air with a challenging shout. His yell echoed in the chamber from all sides, and I saw my UI flash with a party buff. I didn’t have a chance to gesture over the icon on my screen to see what it actually did, but it looked like a shouting man with a red circle around it.
The skeleton stepped down on the sword, and it cried out with shock. The beast kind of hopped back on its rear leg so that it didn’t set all of its weight down on the foot Wicum had impaled, and it teetered dangerously off balance for a half a second.
Then Bylem threw another one of his fiery softballs. The pitch connected right with the skeleton’s face and the giant monster toppled over backward.
“Shit!” I yelled as I threw my shoulder into Mirea. I hadn’t intended to hit the woman with a lot of force, but the skeleton was about to fall right on top of her, and she had been standing flat footed. We both fell a good ten feet to the side and I accidently landed on her stomach when I tried to avoid cutting her with my glowing short sword.
“Get off of me!” she groaned half a second after we landed.
“Sorry!” I rolled free of her thrashing shield and then dropped the short sword so I could help her stand. Once she was on her feet, I spun around to get the lay of the battle.
The fallen skeleton had managed to get one of its massive fists on the ground. I watched it push itself to its knee, but then Wicum was at the rear of the creature, and he was hacking into the back leg with two handed swings of his sword. The skeleton moaned at the flurry of attacks, but none of the cuts had broken the leg bone, and the creature got to its feet a second later.
Then it made four quick lumbering steps and reached for its massive axe.
The weapon was buried under a pile of rubble that must have weighed thousands of pounds, but the creature yanked it free with ease. Wicum had continued to make his cuts against the creature as it moved to retrieve the weapon, but the thing was now at 30% health, and I didn’t think we would be able to kill it before it got a chance to use the axe again.
Mirea sprinted past me and went to stand at her brother’s right side. I had no idea what her plan was since she couldn’t use her sword arm, but I guessed by the movement of her body that she planned on blocking as many attacks as she could with her shield. The idea seemed insanely ridiculous; since we’d just witnessed the axe destroy a stone wall and flight of steps with ease. If the woman did manage to block an attack with her shield, it would probably kill her.
The skeleton raised its axe over its head with its left hand, and I used Guardian of Fortune on both of the siblings as quickly as I could. For a second afterward, it hurt like hell to breathe, and it felt as if someone was standing on my chest as I inhaled. I grunted against the pain and watched the skeleton bring its long axe right down on top of the auburn-haired warrior woman.
She raised her shield with a loud grunt. The weapon connected with her block, but there wasn’t a sound of impact. I let out an exhale of relief when I didn’t see her health drop, and I thanked whatever random luck I had that my enchantment had absorbed the attack.
Wicum stepped in again with another series of slashes. The skeleton swung its axe sideways into the glowing man, but my enchantment also protected the warrior, and the axe strike did nothing more but push the man slightly to the side.
A bolt of lightning emerged from the left side of my vision and arched across the space of the dungeon room between the two statues. The blue energy smashed into the skull of the monster, and its head snapped backward as if it had been hit with
a giant baseball bat. The creature’s health bar dropped down another fraction, and I estimated that it was now at 20%.
Wicum swung his longsword again, and the blade smashed through the leg bone that the man had been targeting. The giant skeleton let out a howl of outrage, and then it began to fall to its right side. The creature’s axe was close to the ground because of its previous attack, and Wicum managed to avoid the blades of the weapon by dashing under the skeleton’s hip bones before it completely collapsed.
Cornalic was suddenly on top of the creature’s fallen torso. I hadn’t seen the half-orc even run up to the skeleton, or jump on top of it. The muscular cloaked man was just there as if by a teleport, and he began to slice across the creature’s bones with a flurry of his short swords. The man’s attack was surprisingly quick, and his arms were just a blur of shining blades. The skeleton’s health had been a bit below 20% when it crashed into the ground at the foot of the ruined stairs, but two seconds later Cornalic had chewed up the remaining health bar with his attacks.
The monster let out a final roar of dismay, but it was cut short when the half-orc raised both of his short blades over his head and slammed them down into the creature’s skull. Then the giant monster went limp, lost its animation, and seemed to fall apart. Cornalic sprang from the top of the monster, made a flip in the air, and then landed with a tumbling roll on the ground. When he stood up, his short swords were once again sheathed, and the man gave me a wide grin.
Quest Completed. The words flashed over my UI. You have been awarded 4 attribute points. The reward seemed very well deserved, and I almost opened my status screen to check on my total unspent points, but I didn’t since I knew I had 11 unused. I was at 15 now.
“Thank the Light that big ugly bastard is dead!” Bylem gasped from behind me. I turned to see the fenia crouched on the floor. He had one of his paws on his chest, and the other pushed against the ground so that he didn’t fall down. I guessed that the mana fatigue had really hit him, and he’d used all of his power for the last lightning bolt.
“Aye,” Mirea groaned and then sat down crossed legged on the ground by the bones.
“I believe the correct term is ‘dead once again.’ Since he was dead before, but now he is non-animated,” Cornalic said as he helped Bylem stand.
“I don’t care what you call it, I’m just happy we are all still alive,” Wicum said as he walked over to his sister. I had already beat him to her side, and I used Breath of Life on the warrior woman. She glowed greenish orange as soon as the enchantment activated, and I watched the health bar over her head slowly fill.
“Ahhh. That’s so good,” the woman moaned with pleasure as she began to move her right arm. “Leo, I’m impressed by you. You took excellent care of my brother and me. I’ve only grouped with three other protectors before, but your timing was impeccable.”
“You did get injured,” I stated as I pointed at her arm.
“That wasn’t your fault, though. Your enchantment was on me when he struck, I just got unlucky.”
“I agree. We’d all be dead right now if not for you,” Wicum said as he helped his sister to her feet. Her health bar was almost filled now, and she was flexing her arm as if the limb had completely recovered.
“Team effort. We couldn’t have lived if Mirea wasn’t taking hits from the skeleton, or you were hacking his leg, or if Bylem hadn’t of burnt him with his lava pool. Even Cornalic,” I said as I turned to the half-orc, “Finished him off when the rest of us were tired.”
“It was nothing, my dear friend Leo,” the green-skinned man said with a bow.
“Are you tired? How is your fatigue?” Bylem asked me.
“My chest hurts a bit, but I’m fine,” I answered.
“Really? How many times did you use Guardian of Fortune?”
“Hmmm. I’m not sure. Five, maybe six times? I lost count. I wasn’t sure who he was going to hit with his overhead swing, so I used the ability on both Wicum and Mirea.”
The four of them stared at me a moment, and I looked back at the fenia. “Why? Something wrong?”
“No, no, no. Just seems a bit unusual, that is all. I’ve spent time with a few other healers and protectors. Most haven’t been able to manage their fatigue as well as you. Then again,” the fenia shrugged, “you are quite muscular looking. I believe that having a high Brawn helps with those things.”
“I’ve heard that it all helps. The higher all your attributes are, the easier it is to resist the fatigue. Is that correct?” I asked.
“It’s true, but I’m still a bit surprised you aren’t doubled over in pain. Or even passed out. You did a lot of work.”
“I do recall mentioning at the start of our journey together that I believed Leo was a fine addition,” the half-orc said.
“You called me a dung beetle.”
“And that is high praise! What would happen if there was no such creature? We wouldn’t be able to walk for ten feet without stepping in animal poop. We owe a great deal to the mighty dung beetle, just as we owe a great deal to you, Leo.”
“You actually owe him 200 gold,” Bylem pointed out.
“And I am looking forward to paying my dear friend back that full amount.” Cornalic reached his hand to pat me on the shoulder, but I stepped away before he could touch me.
“So, we have a decision to make,” Mirea said as she looked to her brother. The man gave her a nod and she turned back to face the rest of us. “We’ve lived through this so far, but it will only get tougher. We can climb up the stairs and head back to the city. Then we can try one of the other paths tomorrow. Or, we can continue. No one is injured, our healer seems fine, and we don’t really have anything to show for our efforts yet. Save for an axe too big for any of us to use,” the woman said as she glanced at the weapon on the ground next to her. The haft of the thing was probably as tall as she was. “What say you all?”
“I need to rest a bit, maybe fifteen minutes, then I will be fine,” Bylem said.
“I have not yet found enough money to pay Leo back, so I vote that we continue onward,” Cornalic said with a nod to me.
“I’d like to wait until I can use Breath of Life on you again,” I said to the woman, “but Bylem also needs to recover, so I’ll be ready by the time he can continue.”
“It is settled then,” Wicum said as he sheathed his longsword. “We’ll rest for a quarter of an hour and then continue on. Cornalic, can you check the next room to make sure there are no skeletons nearby?”
“Of course,” the half-orc said.
“Good. Then once Bylem is ready, we’ll continue forward.” Wicum turned to face behind me as he spoke, and I followed his gaze to see the statutes of the undead king and his queen.
Chapter 15
“I’m feeling good. Let’s continue,” Bylem said after we had rested for a bit. The fenia was sitting against the wall near the hole that the giant skeleton had left by the massive double doors. He rose to his feet with a cat-like stretch and fanged yawn.
“Was there anything in there?” he asked as he nodded to the hole.
“Nope. Looks like it was a small offshoot room that they covered up,” I said.
“Did you ask Cornalic to search inside?” the fenia asked as he looked at the double doors. The half-orc was sitting cross-legged with Wicum and Mirea on the other side of the cracked wooden slabs. I would have guessed that they were out of hearing range, but the green-skinned man had already proven he could hear very well.
“No,” I sighed.
“I know you don’t like the man, but half-orcs have sharp senses. Not as sharp as elves, but much better than humans.”
“What about fenias?” I asked him with a smirk.
“With vision and hearing,” the man let out a chuckle, “but not smell. I know you had steak for lunch about six hours ago.” The cat-man inhaled deeply and then grinned at me.
“Ha. That is correct. I guess I’ll ask him,” I said, and I almost yelped with surprise when I turned around to
find Cornalic standing a foot away from me.
“Hello, friend Leo!”
“How did you get over here so fast?” I asked him.
“I heard you need my help investigating this room. I am honored to be of assistance. Allow me to use my half-orc magic to find any treasures.” The muscular man took a few steps through the broken hole in the wall, and then he disappeared around the edges.
Bylem and I waited for half a minute, and then the half-orc stepped back in. He held a small chest in his big hands and gingerly set it on the ground in front of us.
“What did you find?” Wicum asked as he walked over with his sister.
“This was hiding in the other room. There is a small trap on the lock, though. Never fear, I shall disarm it so that we might uncover the secrets within.”
“Finally, some loot. I felt like we deserve something for taking down that skeleton. I wonder if there are any other rooms walled over like that one?” Mirea asked as she gestured to the room with the two statues.
“I should have spent our break looking for them. If you all don’t mind waiting, I can do so. But first, this.” Cornalic flicked his fingers into his sleeve and produced a rolled up bundle of leather. He set it on the ground with a bit of reverence, and then undid a string around the wrap. It unrolled to show an assortment of lock picking tools, pliers, saws, and a small magnifying glass that was wrapped in another bundle of silk.
“What kind of trap is it?” Bylem asked.
“It is a spring loaded trigger. See these holes?” the man asked as he pointed to the tiny divots in the lock area around the keyhole. “One, or all, of them conceal a needle. Put the wrong key in the lock and snap! You’ll get stuck with one of them.”
“Poison on the needles?” I asked.
“Oh, most definitely. The chest is old, though, the poison may have worn off with age, but I’d prefer not to take any chances if I don’t need to.” The man picked up his magnifying glass and then lay on his stomach so that he could look into the keyhole. We didn’t say anything for a few moments, but then the man grunted and put the glass down. “There’s a cut lock on there.”
Lion's Quest: Dual Wield: A LitRPG Saga Page 19
