Remley coughed. “Well, I think that’s enough story for now. Perhaps we should focus on the task at hand. There may be creatures about and such.”
Kimoura giggled. Or perhaps you’ll just have to use your unrelenting charm on some of these darkbeasts. Im sure a reaver would love to feel the soft touch of your-“
Quinn immediately made a gagging sound, causing Kimoura to cover her mouth and stifle a bout of full on laughter. Remley just remained quiet, his cheeks nearly as red as his coat.
Slowly, the conversation tapered off, replaced with a sudden intensity as the promise of darker things to come began to brush on the group’s spiritual senses. After a bit of walking, the dungeon pathway began to slope down, taking the group deeper beneath the realm’s surface and further into darkness. Soon, the silence of the tunnel was replaced with hisses and growls from creatures that lied just out of sight.
“Get ready,” Leila warned, lifting her spear to chest level in striking position. “The first wave of scouts is coming in.”
“About time,” Quinn said, placing his torch in a crevice on the wall before summoning a pair of long, bony blades from his wrists.
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Dread Hunter skill: Bone blades
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Another instant of silence passed by before a pair of creatures emerged from the darkness, diving at the group with claws outstretched. Roy immediately recognized them. They were more of the darkbeasts that he’d encountered in the woods... gray skin, clawed hands, wild yellow eyes and strange bone masks covering their jaws.
The first darkbeast lunged in Leila’s direction, its shrieks echoing out of the sides of its mask. The claws of the creature stabbed at her face, eager to dig her eyes right out of their sockets.
It was the last action the creature would ever take.
Leila’s spirit aura came to life as a torrent of wind whipped around her body, make her movements lighter than a leaf on the wind.
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Wind skill: Feather Dance
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She ducked the swiping claws with ease before stabbing her spear upwards, shoving its tip just below the creature’s skin. It’s screeching ceased as the spear slid through the beast’s brain matter and emerged through the other end of its skull, spraying blood and gore across the cold stone floor.
A second beast lunged in her direction, but Quinn stepped in to intercept, smashing his bone blades into the creature’s ribs. The weapons were sharp, but they were also thick and heavy, acting more as clubs then blades as they smashed the darkbeast’s exposed ribs.
Roy tensed as more growls echoed through the large, stone chamber. His eyes darted left and right, his spirit scan searching for activity in his vision as he waited for an enemy to show its ugly face.
And show their faces they did.
Another trio of darkbeasts circled around and attacked the Sky Wolves’ flank, leaping through the air with claws extended like rows of curved blades. These things had the crew surrounded, just as they’d surrounded Roy back in the woods. Even so, Roy’s fighting soul was absent of fear. He wasn’t just some ill-prepared newcomer this time… he had allies and a little power of his own.
Remley pivoted first and struck out, unsheathing his blade and lashing out before the creature’s feet even hit the ground. His movements were like a blur, silver sword slicing through the darkbeast’s flesh as flames from his fire aura danced on the weapon’s edge. In an instant, its body was covered in charred wounds and its yellow eyes lost the life they once held.
Remley moved to engage the second beast but Kimoura had already begun her technique, the wrappings on her hands now glowing with a soft, white light. The woman planted her feet and threw an open hand at the approaching darkbeast, taking aim at its chest with a strike that seemed almost feeble to Roy’s untrained eyes. He couldn’t have been more wrong.
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Battle Monk skill: Devastating Palm
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The chest of the darkbeast exploded as it ran into Kimoura’s open palm, gray flesh rippling from the force of the blow before pieces of flesh and bone flew out of a giant hole in the creature’s back. Its body went skidding back into the darkness as a cloud of soul essence rose from its lifeless husk and flew into Kimoura’s chest.
The final darkbeast had turned its sights on Roy, charging at him with bloodthirst clouding its yellow eyes. Roy noticed that his companions hadn’t moved to intercept the beast. They were leaving this one to him, the first test to prove his worth. Well, he didn’t want to disappoint.
Setting his feet, Roy began to channel his void aura into his right arm, forcing spirit energy into the limb three times over in a violent, spiraling rhythm. He could barely control this new technique that was taking form, but he doubled down on his focus, embracing the skills that the void manual had imprinted on his soul. Moving with a precision taught from years of martial arts training, Roy launched his fist at the beast.
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Vanguard skill: Void Spiral
The dark Vanguard sends his spirit energy into a spiral, launching an attack that sends a dense pulse of void energy into the vanguard’s opponent. If the Vanguard is under attack from multiple foes, he can extend his pulse of energy outwards, shielding his body in a spinning, protective globe.
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Roy’s fist erupted with void energy as it slammed into the chest of the darkbeast, Black-violet light drilling into the beast like a missile. It let out a screech as its body went spinning backward, the force of Roy’s attack just too much for it to overcome. The creature’s body slammed into the rocky wall with a sickening thud as the adept’s blast tore through more of its flesh with each revolution.
Finally, the creature collapsed to the ground as Roy’s technique dissipated and a cloud of soul essence floated into his chest. Roy turned to find the others staring at him in disbelief.
“Roy boy...” Remley uttered. “Where in the Realms did you learn that skill?”
“The void manual,” Roy said. “I read it... sort of.”
Roy sighed. looks like there was no waiting now…
“Read it?” Remley asked. “Skills like that take hours of constant practice and training. You can’t just-”
“Later,” Quinn interrupted as he sent a pulse of green spirit energy into the surrounding darkness. “We’ve got more company closing in fast.”
“More of those?” Roy asked.
“No,” Quinn replied. “Those darkbeasts are just scouts and trackers. That’s why they have those masks forced over their faces, so they can’t eat us. They find prey, disable it and send out those shrieks while they wait for the larger, slower darkbeasts to come devour it.”
A shiver went down Roy’s spine. “How much larger?” he asked, though he felt foolish for doing so, for as the words left his mouth, a massive pair of yellow eyes illuminated in the darkness... eyes that evoked pure terror.
Chapter 16
Relic
The depths of Icerock Dungeon
Varyon moved silently across the stone ceiling, crawling like a spider carefully seeking its prey. His guild emblem illuminated on his forearm with a dark glow, the symbol of the thousand-legged spiders guild. Slowly, it drained away the adept’s spirit aura, but in turn it granted him his arachnid-like abilities… abilities he needed to execute his task.
Moving with the utmost poise, the temporal adept crept deeper into the dungeon, concealing his aura from the lurking darkbeasts below. His fingers were stained with the blood of a spirit beast, though the creature’s limb had lost its shine and its arm was tossed into shadow.
Soon Varyon made his way into the final chamber, a massive cave completely covered in a thick layer of ice. With a leap, the adept latched onto a large, icy stalagmite jutting from the chamber’s ceiling, the best vantage point he could find in the mostly open cavern.
Varyon’s eyes lingered on the center of the chamber floor, on an ancient weapon encased in a
n over-sized block of ice, a relic from an ancestor of the great dragon-gods… A weapon known as a Draconis blade. Even through the layers of bitter frost, he could still feel the power emanating from the sword. It was something ancient and cold, like the last breath of a dying god.
Varyon wasn’t the only thing drawn to the blade’s power. Circling the relic was a massive darkbeast, a gray-skinned drake with patches of icy scales covering different parts of its body. The creature paced around the block of ice like a dragon guarding its horde, occasionally running an errant claw across the frozen floor.
It was all too clear that the creature was guarding the weapon, though that was the nature of the darkbeasts. The vile things were drawn to power like a moth to flame. Whenever a relic would surface, the darkbeasts would gather at its location, drinking from its residue power and feasting on the adepts foolish enough to seek the item out. That was the danger of Eon’s dungeons, a danger that many adepts still chose to face.
Varyon studied the creature’s movements for several moments, the twitch of its tail, the scrape of its claws. He was fairly certain that with a great bit of effort he could dispose of the beast on his own… But that was not the plan. His interrogation of the godsayer emissary led him to believe that another group had acquired her knowledge of the dungeon’s hidden entrance. And, since he’d killed the woman, the other adepts were likely scrambling to claim the dungeon’s relic before him.
But no matter. Varyon was a patient man. He would wait here in the dungeon’s final chamber, masking his power until the group arrived to claim their prize. And when those foolish adepts had drained their resources clearing out the darkbeasts, he would strike. No survivors. No witnesses… it was an oath that Varyon had taken when he donned the emblem of the spiders, and Varyon never broke his oaths.
****
Roy tensed as a pair of looming, yellow eyes illuminated the darkness, their piercing gaze burning holes into his soul. Immediately he began to channel his spirit aura, strengthening his entire body as he prepared for what was to come.
Then the darkbeast revealed itself and Roy’s spirit shivered.
Towering over the adepts was humanoid-like beast, its back hunched and its body covered in torn, blood-stained rags. The creature’s face wasn’t much better with leathery, gray skin stretched over bone and its mouth filled with broken, jagged teeth. Perfectly round, yellow eyes scanned over the Sky Wolves as the creature’s hand squeezed the shaft of a gnarled, wooden staff. The creature looked like some sort of monstrous beggar directly out of one hell’s dark alleys.
In the breath of a second, Roy activated his spirit scan.
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Ragged Wanderer
Darkbeast
Ecology: Lurks within concentrated portions of the veil and in mid-level dungeons.
Nature: Scavenger
Vulnerabilities: Wanderers are susceptible to direct attacks to the brain.
Notes: Ragged Wanderers are slow-moving, scavenger-type darkbeasts. Nomadic in nature, these creatures tend to lurk behind their smaller, faster counterparts and use their brute strength to help take down their prey
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The wanderer let out a low, moaning growl before taking another lumbering step forward, torchlight reflecting off the creature’s bloody rags. By Roy’s estimate, the thing was at least twelve feet tall (and that was with its hunch). If its strength was proportionate to the smaller darkbeast scouts, then he was certain it could punch a hole through him with ease.
“Flank it, Rem!” Leila ordered, taking control of the situation in an instant as her spear returned to her hands.
Fiery spirit energy burned around Remley’s ankles, his flame aura pumping through his legs to enhance his speed. In an instant he dashed behind to the wanderer’s flank, silver sword moving like a blur as he slashed at the creature’s lower back.
Quinn and Kimoura launched off at nearly the same time, each bounding to either side of the creature with a boost of their spirit energy. Quinn struck out with his bone blades, smashing them into the darkbeast’s fingers as the creature reached for his waist. Opposite him, Kimoura delivered a devastating palm strike, slamming into the creature’s forearm and loosening its grip on the gnarled staff.
“Roy, to my side!” Leila growled. “Fire at the eyes!” in a swift yet graceful motion, she swung her spear onto her shoulder, gripping the weapon in both hands. Spirit energy coursed through the weapon’s shaft and into its point, causing it to glow like a like a beacon of light as she took aim at the creature. Then with another growl, she fired her technique at the beast.
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Spiritlancer skill: Wind Lance
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A bolt of nearly invisible spirit energy rippled through the air and plunged into one of the darkbeast’s yellow orbs, spraying a fresh bit of blood onto its already stained rags. It howled, letting loose a screech that echoed through the dungeon’s many stone walls. Perhaps this creature wasn’t as menacing as it first appeared…
Or perhaps it was.
Seething with a newfound rage, the wanderer tightened the grip on its gnarled staff and swung it in a sweeping arc, knocking away Quinn and Kimoura before either of them could generate a proper defense.
“Keep it on the defensive and get the other eye!” Leila roared in Roy’s direction before sending two more wind lances at the wanderer’s face. The beast lifted its free hand into the air, absorbing the blows on the forearm as two large gashes appeared on its flesh.
A burst of flame appeared at the creature’s back as Remley unleashed one of his flame techniques, charring its skin and setting some of its dangling rags ablaze. It seemed like the Sky Wolves had put out an insurmountable amount of damage in a matter of seconds… and yet the darkbeast only seemed angrier from it all. Its movements were getting faster and that remaining yellow eye was glowing with hunger even brighter than before.
It was time for Roy to enter the fray.
Channeling spirit energy into his palm, Roy pointed and finger and took aim at the darkbeast. A tiny ball of black-violet void energy began to spin at his fingertip, growing denser with each revolution as he poured his aura into the impending attack.
The darkbeast growled as it stepped to the right and slammed its staff down on Quinn, smashing the adept’s bone blades into the ground with brutal force. Its free hand snatched Kimoura off her feet and launched her in Leila’s direction, causing the woman to relinquish her wind lances and roll out of the way. Fortunately, that left the beast’s face open for a well-placed aura blast.
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Void Skill: Aura Bullet
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The tiny ball of energy left Roy’s fingertip at an insane speed, tearing through the cold and mist before slamming into the creature’s face. The wanderer roared in protest as the aura bullet tore a hole in its cheek, blowing away a large chunk of gray flesh before dissipating into the darkness.
The creature paused for the briefest of seconds, seemingly stunned by Roy’s sudden display of force. Remley took advantage of that, letting out a grunt of approval from behind the beast as he leaped on its leg and plunged his blade deep into its calf, pinning it to the ground.
“Keep up the pressure!” Quinn yelled, climbing to his feet as aura pulsed into his arms. His bone blades immediately went to work, slamming into the wanderer and battering away at its staff hand, preventing it from swinging on him again. Roy nodded in agreement before channeling his energy for a second blast. By the gods, they were doing it. They were taking this thing down!
The adept’s optimism faltered in the slightest as he readied a second blast, feeling the pain and fatigue of pushing his body to its limits. Roy’s spirit ached as he drew on his energy for a second aura bullet. The skill was extremely taxing on his spirit aura, especially at such a low rank. To be honest, he wasn’t even certain if he’d be able to pull the technique off again without leaving himself debilitated, but he had to try. He had to prove his worth.
Void energy swirled at the tip of Roy’s finger as he took aim at the wanderer’s face, muscles in his forearm straining with an unfamiliar pain. He fought through the discomfort and poured his remaining spirit energy into his technique, preparing to fire.
Time seemed to slow as the creature’s singular yellow eye locked on Roy, clearly sensing the threat that the adept’s attack posed. Roy returned its gaze with a resolute stare, teeth clenched, muscles tight and arm shaking with spiritual pressure.
“Eat this you bastard,” Roy muttered, sending a final surge of spirit energy through his outstretched limb. Then with everything he had left in him, Roy fired his attack...
And his arm gave out.
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Void Skill: Aura Bullet
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The muscles in Roy’s arm flared with pain as he unleashed his aura bullet, forcing him to flinch as the technique left his hand. In that instant, he had felt something happen to him. His unseasoned spirit aura had been pushed beyond its limits, stretched to capacity until it ultimately failed... And when one’s spirit failed, the body was always soon to follow.
The aura bullet spun through the air, gaining momentum as it headed in the wanderer’s general direction. Rather than a dense ball of energy, it was now a swirling, unrefined mass of black-violet light.
Roy held out the tiniest bit of hope that his botched technique would still land true, that it would still strike the wanderer and hinder it in some meaningful way, that it would still be enough to help put the darkbeast down...
Edge of Eons: A Cultivation Novel (The Adept Archives: Book 1) Page 14
