by Reed James
As she began her next chant, her hand shot into her pouch. She seized a Diluted Potion of Angel Milk. The words of power spilled from her mouth. The White Alder Staff flared. The arrow of purplish energy lanced across the battlefield.
Before it struck, she tossed back the potion, gulping down the creamy fluid. Her MP rose, replenishing her magic. She was burning through it fast. But she had to keep hers up. She couldn't relent. They had to defeat this boss.
What she sought, the Black Heart Diamond, might be found here.
She would fight to defeat this boss. She knew she should stay calm, but her emotions were rising. Marcus Aurelius fought with his all. He held nothing back, risking his life to take the punishment of the monster.
You almost died...
She had never met someone like him in her life.
* * / *
“Shit, he's breathing again!” I snarled. “Maria, move out to the flank. It's a cone! Don't cluster up!”
“Right!” she gasped and darted to her right, moving closer to Twist.
I braced myself for the pain. The Feverblight breathed the fog. It surged over me. A chunk of Hit Points evaporated. The fumes burned my skin. Muscles twitched as the penalty to hit debuff settled on me. I snarled through it, the DOT burning on me.
Dëshoma whimpered behind me.
“Get back!” I snarled at the acolyte. “I don't want you hit by this attack again, Lady Dëshoma.”
“If I give in to craven caution, Lord Marcus, how shalt I heal thee when thy takest grievous injury from the sycophantic cultist who even now doth threaten this once pristine temple and the lives of two innocent blossoms strapped to yon altar?”
Her Hit Points rose and then her bible slammed into my back. A rush of healing energy flowed through me. I shuddered at the bliss of her power. It swelled through me. I groaned, blinking against the momentary euphoria.
“Fine! But you need to stay back and—”
A bolt of dark energy slammed into my body. The ruinous pain burned across my chest as it chewed through my armor. I growled and caught his follow-up knife attack on my shield. Half the HP Dëshoma just gave me was devoured. I was back into the critical.
Maria's sword slashed in, hacking into Feverblight's hip while Twist landed a critical hit and an arcane bolt slammed in from Kulri. The combined damage shook Feverblight. He threw back his head, howling in rage. His hands grabbed his robes, his right still holding his dagger, and ripped it open.
His naked, deformed body appeared. Muscles twisted and bunched in strange ways beneath his pallid skin. Infected cuts crossed his body, red and covered in pus in the center. Cataracts had swallowed one eye. Liver spots adorned a head surmounted with wispy strands of lank hair. A large boil pulsed at the end of a hook nose. Boils marred his flesh, puckered wounds that pulsed with the festering rot beneath. Some suppurated the black mist. It spilled around him as he howled in rage. His robe had contained it, now it spilled over us, the air around him becoming caustic.
It attacked my Hit Points.
“Fuck!” I growled and drew my last healing potion while Dëshoma whimpered in pain behind me.
“Rūzem's greasy touch!” snarled Twist in her hissing pain.
“No, no!” Marie gasped, engulfed in it like the rest of us. I pounded back the angel's diluted pussy cream, healing a quarter of my Hit Points.
“A persistent aura of damage?” I growled in frustration. Phase two of the boss fight would be a meat grinder.
* * / *
Kulrigiizhai's fingers clutched her staff as she glared at the ruinous form of the boss. The mist engulfed her companions. Her stomach twisted and ears twitched. She slammed the butt of her staff down and drew on more of her magic.
“Let the mystical energy flow out of me and explode in an arcane bolt!” she chanted, her focus on the boss, the sounds behind her floating through her ears. Her Perception wasn't good enough to recognize the danger those sounds posed to her.
She got off her spell just in time for two daggers to slam into her back. She screamed in pain, thrown forward. They sliced through the pitiful defense of her cotton robes. Pain rocked up the elf mage's body. She stumbled and turned to see two more cultists had entered the sanctuary through the doors, their bodies bleeding from self-inflicted wounds.
“Little elf-bitch!” one said.
“A worm,” the other said, grinning, and slashed again. She gasped and stumbled back, her dodge not enough. She took a third wound, her Hit Points burning down fast.
“Let the geometries of space entwine around—” she began casting as they drew back for their attacks. Even with the Elf Bread enhancing her focus, they would hit her before she could finish speaking the arcane words to throw up her defensive spell. She abandoned casting to retreat.
* * / *
“Maria!” shouted Marcus. “Kulri is in trouble. Get to her!”
Maria glanced to her left and saw Kulri stumbling from two more cultists who'd added to the fight. “On it!”
She broke from the fight, fleeing the caustic mist that was devouring her Hit Points. She drew a healing potion as she ran and drank down the rich taste of the Diluted Angel's Passion. Her Hit Points rose to near full as she sprinted across the grounds.
“Keep Marcus alive, Lady Dëshoma!” she shouted.
“Keep me alive!” snarled Twist. “Rūzem's greasy touch!”
The air hissed behind her. Maria gasped as a bolt of ruinous energy struck her in the back, sizzling through her. A second hissed over her head and slammed into Kulri as she retreated. She stumbled, the two cultists almost on her. A third must have struck Marcus because his Hit Points dropped down to critical again.
He can cast three bolts at once now.
“You think you can escape the ruinous powers of Rūzem!” snarled the cultist. “His rot shall fester across this world. Decay is the natural end of all things. Every animal dies. Every plant withers. The world shall end as a worm-ridden midden heap! You merely prolong its suffering!”
“Thou art mistaken for verily doth life spring from the last generation. Though parents must one day die, they procreate. This temple is proof of that. A rejection of Rūzem's despicable ethos! Though this temple now lies in ruins, one day it shall flourish again. Life shall rise anew no matter what foul destruction your pathetic god thinks to wrought upon it!”
Feverblight roared in fury while Dëshoma's healing spread.
Maria reached the two cultists. She slammed her sword into the first, burying deep in his side and drawing his attention. She hissed and danced past him to thrust her blade into the other's back. Fury rippled through her. She would not let these foul followers of Rūzem win.
The Gods of Order and Balance had lost faith in the eight races. Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Nephilim, Cambrian, Changelings, Halflings, Draconis, and Orcs had to prove themselves to the Gods once more. They had to stand against Destruction and Chaos. That was why Shardhunters had to find the connections between the broken world and mend it.
This was more than just saving her village of Gastin—saving Derrick—this was about the entire world.
So Maria fought, pulling the attention of the two adds while Kulri turned. The elf's face, soaked in sweat and pain, grew strong and hard. Carved of marble again. She grabbed her staff and began her arcane chant.
“Let the mystical energies gather in me and explode in a burst of deadly power!”
Purple energy exploded around Maria, but it did not hurt her. It flowed over her. The two cultists screamed in pain as they faced Kulri's magic. Then Maria's bronze short sword slashed and cut, hacking into them both.
“You will not ruin this temple!” Maria du Marne, Shardhunter, roared. She thrust her hand into her pocket and pulled out an item entrusted to her. She drank the Minor Potion of Aphounga's Wrath.
It strengthened her limbs. Her blows fell harder as the rage of the Dark Goddess of War burned through her veins
* * / *
Dëshoma consumed her mana
too fast. Marcus and Twist fought side-by-side so she could keep them alive. Every Healing Touch dwindled her supply. She only had two mana potions. She drank her first one now, restoring a quarter of her MP.
I cannot maintain this healing, she thought. Should I use it?
She had about her neck her Blue Sardonite Necklace. It was hidden beneath her habit, but she could feel the magic in it. As she channeled another Healing Touch to keep Marcus alive, she realized it was now or never.
I need thy power. Unleash it!
A Blue Sardonite Necklace could hold a low-level spell charged in it and give it an elemental flavor. Blue Sardonite added ice to spells. She drew on the power and felt it rush through her body almost like one of her spells from her Goddess Ëshuxeri.
A bolt of icy energy, an Ice Bolt as opposed to an Arcane Bolt, launched from the necklace, vacating it. The attack struck Feverblight in the face. He snarled and flinched back as the ice burned into his flesh. He shook his head, his naked chest heaving while the ice delivered an additional effect. It flowed into him. His Resistance wasn't enough to shrug off the elemental effect.
“Lady Dëshoma?” Marcus gasped in surprise.
“You got a few tricks, don't you,” Twist hissed, her bronze poniard falling.
Dëshoma shared a smile with the rogue before she thrust her bible at Marcus's back to heal him as the black fog burned around them, slowly devouring their Hit Points and weakening them. She already wanted to drink her other potion as she pivoted and shared healing power with Twist.
* * / *
Kulrigiizhai wouldn't let pain stop her. Maria fought with passion. The lean human's muscles bulged, veins popping out across her skin. Her sword cut and slashed, inflicting greater damage on them. The elf deduced what she'd drunk.
Dangerous, she thought. The rage can consume those who are not prepared for it.
Maria roared, channeling her anger into the cultist while Kulrigiizhai dropped Arcane Blasts on the enemy. More mana and though it dealt slightly less damage to an individual cultist, she was hitting two and thus inflicting a greater amount in total. A risk as her MP dwindled faster and faster.
She had no more way to recover it.
Then Maria's sword slashed hard, cutting through a cultist's throat. He gurgled in a splash of blood and went down. He spasmed on the ground, life spilling out of him and onto the rocks. Kulri shifted, realizing Maria could finish off the other.
She would unleash the last of her mana on Feverblight. Maria shouted behind her as the elf drew in her mana and unleashed death upon the enemy. Her first Arcane Bolt hissed through the air right for him.
* * / *
Twist chugged her first healing potion, one of three she had on her. It restored Hit Points the black mist corroded away. Her scales tarnished beneath the foul miasma bleeding off the wounded cultist. He cackled naked before them, his withered cock swinging above a pair of shrunken testicles.
She sliced her knife right for them. It wasn't a slicing weapon—a poniard was meant to stab—but she didn't care. She wanted to cut it off, fury burning through her. The blade sliced home, cutting off his desiccated manhood and both his nuts, too.
Feverblight didn't even care.
Three ruinous bolts burst from the diseased man and crashed into the three fighting him. Twist gasped, her Hit Points she'd gained from slugging her potion devoured. Dëshoma smacked her bible into her chest, healing herself.
Next, she'll get Marcus up, thought Twist. She cursed and thrust her hand into her pouch, summoning the next potion. She ripped it out and gulped it down. Now she had only one left.
It felt so pointless as the mist around him attacked her Hit Points. Dëshoma gulped down a potion of her own, milky white instead of crystal clear. Glass shattered as she thrust another Healing Touch at Marcus, raising his Hit Points to half full.
“Rūzem's greasy touch!” Twist snarled. “Cut your balls off and you don't even care!”
“The balls are just the fruit of life!” howled the madman as he swung his dagger hard and fast at Marcus. Wood thunked, blocking two hits before a third buried into his chest. He grunted, taking the damage, and responded with a crit from his ax. “They were sacrificed long ago for this power!”
He thrust his arms into the air and swept them down. The three ruinous bolts crashed into Twist, Dëshoma, and Marcus. The rogue screamed. Her Hit Points plunged toward critical levels. She had only 6 left.
5.
4.
The mist ate through them. She threw herself back, sprinting out of the fog before she died. Dëshoma's Hit Points rose as a divine light burst from her bible. Marcus held on long enough for her to help him out.
In a hiss of fury, she flung three shurikens at him. The flashing stars struck the naked, twisted cultist. The metal weapons quivered in him. He laughed and breathed a gout of black mist that engulfed Dëshoma and Marcus, devouring their life.
Then Maria raced by. She shouted her cry and plunged into the battle. Twist panted and drank the last Potion of Diluted Angel Passion she possessed. She threw the glass vial down, drew three more shurikens in her off-hand.
Never going to get loot sitting on the sidelines, she thought and rushed forward, throwing another three bronze stars. They flashed through the air, appearing as golden disks, and buried into his stomach. An Arcane Bolt crashed into him a moment later.
* * / *
Dëshoma whimpered behind me. Maria appeared, gasping as she entered the fog. It chewed through her Hit Points as she buried her sword hard into the cultist's side. It was unreal that he could keep taking so much damage, but he was animated by such dark malevolence. It poured out of him, a palpable fume that choked my every breath.
“Goddamn, cock-sucking bastard!” I snarled and buried my ax into his back.
Dëshoma thrust her bible into my back. The soothing healing energy poured through me, driving back the pain devouring my body. I struck my ax hard into the boss, missing having any TP. Maria's blows struck hard. Her muscles bulged.
“DIE! DIE! DIE!” she howled like she was in a rage. Where did that come from? Her eyes had a red tinge to them.
She pulled aggro. His knife slammed into her shield. She threw it back. Dëshoma whimpered behind me. Her Hit Points plunged as she stepped up beside me and slammed her bible into the Feverblight's side, using it as a pathetic club.
“You out of mana?” I asked.
“And potions!”
“Then get clear!”
She whimpered and then rushed away. We only had what we had. Twist joined us. Arcane Bolts hammered into the boss. He raised his hand up. Another ruinous bolt was coming. I could run. Try to escape it. I didn't have the Hit Points to survive it.
I could get one last hit in. Twist plunged in her bronze poniard in a blur of speed. Maria hacked with her short sword, black blood spurting from the wounds. I threw down my shield and two-handed my ax.
Did it make a difference in this world?
I slammed forward as the ruinous energy formed between his fingers. He cackled in mad rage. The mist choked at my lungs. Burned my eyes. My ax fell with power. I could feel it. The blade was hungry for the cultist's rotten blood.
A hard hit. A crit. The power of the blow shivered through me.
I closed my eyes, prepared for my end. The bolts would hiss down and kill me. I had fought hard to keep the women of my party alive. I'd saved the life of the air elemental, Haîcze, and hopefully, Maria, Kulri, Dëshoma, and Twist could slay this monster and save the two girls on the altar.
This world was real to me. I wanted to die knowing that it would continue on without me. That I had made it a little better.
The bolts didn't hit.
The burning around me faded. A body crashed to the ground before me. I opened my eyes to see him twitching. His skin rippled and writhed. Black steam burst out of him. I cursed and fell back, retreating with the others. Dëshoma grabbed my arm. I stood there with 7 HP left, my body swaying as I watched the darkness
within Feverblight devour his flesh.
He rotted in seconds. His skin putrefied. He bloated and then deflated. His skin hardened to leather then rotted. Bones appeared and even those started to weather away to dust. An eons worth of decay unleashed in moments.
Silence fell across the room, broken only by our heavy panting. Then the two sisters on the altar whimpered, their naked bodies quivering. An energy rushed through us. It slammed into me and surged over me.
I hit Level 10 and felt something inside of me change. Snap. A potential stood before me. Three paths from which I had to choose. Three different ways I could take my powers. I panted, my fingers flexing and relaxing.
“We won,” I groaned.
Maria swayed. The bulging to her muscles faded. Then she sank to her knees and sobbed. Dëshoma hugged me tight, trembling in my arms, her face pressed into my chainmail which had been knitted whole by the magical power of my level up. Twist bent down to examine the discarded robes of the boss, already looting. Kulri walked up, a stunned look on her face. She stared at me and, for a moment, I thought she was going to hug me.
Then she stood alone while Maria took my hand. She kissed at my palm, her face wet with tears. She stared up at me, emotion rippling off of her. I saw so much in her face. Pain, fear, exhilaration, and more.
I understood. I felt drained.
I pulled Maria to her feet. She didn't resist as she pressed against me. I kissed her hard. I reveled in the simple fact that we had all survived. We had prevailed against the dark cultists, destroyed a minion of Rūzem, and preserved this temple from falling into darkness.
We'd saved two sisters.
“My Lord Marcus,” whispered Dëshoma. Then the acolyte's lips pressed in to join the kiss. She joined Maria's mouth on mine. The three of us were kissing each other. They clung tight to me while exhilaration rushed through me.
My first dungeon completed.
Chapter Twenty-Two: Quest Rewards
“It's okay,” I said to the two sisters. Both had brown hair. The older, but only by a few years, had round breasts that jiggled. Tears soaked her eyes. She had curving hips and delicate fingers held by the manacles. I swung my ax.
