Growth Hero 2

by Brent Tyman

  “Augere, just like my last name,” I replied.

  “Ah yes, Clan Augere. My father would never let me hear the end of it, and I’d likely receive funny looks from my peers at the noble balls,” he said.

  “You get funny looks already,” Kesara drawled. “But he makes a good point. My parents would be furious if I left the Tasberg Clan, after they tried so hard to get me into it.”

  “Hmm,” Juliana said, her eyes unfocused before she shook her head. “We shall discuss this between ourselves, after we safely exit the Dungeon.”

  I could tell Juliana wanted to speak with me in private, so while the others moved off, I stayed by Juliana until we were far enough away to have some privacy.

  Clarissa gave me a knowing look when she glanced back at us.

  “I apologize about the others,” Juliana said. “To think they would even consider leaving my father’s Clan.”

  “I meant what I said. I’d gladly accept any one of them into my Clan. Maybe this is a good time to ask you to join me, too,” I said.

  Juliana’s eyes widened and I could instantly tell she was conflicted.

  “Alex, what we have… it’s wonderful,” she started. “But you don’t understand the consequences of what you are asking. My father…”

  “Hey, if push comes to shove,” I said, stepping in close to the flustered brunette, “I can talk with your father. He can be overbearing, but I know how to deal with guys like him.”

  “You do?” she asked, surprised.

  I nodded. I mean, Juliana’s father was no different from other stories in my RPG’s where one man had enough ambition to swim in it.

  He would want something in return, and If I played my cards right, I could have Juliana in my Clan and still be in his good graces.

  Not that I cared too much about the man, but he was Juliana’s father after all, and I wanted to at least try to make sure their relationship wasn’t soured.

  If there was much of a relationship.

  “I… ugh… I wish I had Clarissa’s infuriating brashness right about now,” Juliana huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “All the responsibility of being the heir to the Tasberg Sovereignty weighs on me.”

  I smiled as she frowned to herself and ducked in for a quick kiss that turned into a very long one.

  “You don’t have to decide right now,” I said as I pulled back from her gorgeous face. “But if these Clans are meant to include people I want in my life permanently, then you know which beautiful green-eyed brunette I want beside me.”

  Juliana’s cheeks lit up beet red at that remark and even I could feel my imaginary charisma stat getting a boost right there.

  “I… I’ll think about it and give you my answer soon,” she breathed, before pressing her lips to mine for yet another kiss.

  “Shredding through Glowering Serpents one moment and stealing sly kisses the next,” Clarissa said as she appeared beside us. “Oh, don’t stop on my account.”

  “Clarissa…” Juliana sighed as she pulled back and settled into my side. “Can we not get a bit of privacy?”

  “Remember our agreement?” Clarissa replied, wagging her finger at Juliana. “It’s best we keep things fair between us.”

  “Huh… What agreement is that?” I asked, curious.

  “Nothing!” Both women immediately countered at exactly the same time. All I could do was raise a single eyebrow, but they weren’t going to budge.

  “Let’s collect the Glower Serpent’s loot already, handsome,” Clarissa insisted. “And then we can leave.”

  “Indeed,” Juliana said. “We need to find a safe spot to make camp, one that won’t bring us into contact with any other monsters.”

  Both women dragged me towards the Serpent and my only thought was that I hoped Juliana and some of her retinue seriously considered joining my Clan.

  Each of them was amazing in his or her own way and would be a massive boon to my efforts at growing even stronger. After fighting that Serpent and the Titan before it, that’s exactly what we all needed to do.

  Get a heck of a lot stronger!

  The next few hours passed surprisingly quickly with little happening. I placed the Glower Serpent’s loot into my Clan storage, which happened to be two enormous, dull white scales.

  Glower Serpent Scale (x2)

  Condition - Excellent

  May be used for armor crafting material or for potion making material

  Clarissa assured me that these was far more valuable than even the Demon horn I had retained. The Titan’s loot still won the award for the rarest treasure I had in my possession, though.

  The fact that I received two pieces of loot from it, as opposed to one was also nice.

  We lost five soldiers to the Serpent’s attack, shrinking our already dwindled numbers. Even I could feel in the air that morale was getting low, but hoped that once we settled in for the night, things would take a turn for the better.

  After that ordeal, we all sorely needed some sleep.

  Anny let us know she had found a fairly secluded cavern a fair ways along our current route that should be big enough for us to camp in for the night with her Pathfinder skill. She claimed it was hard to tell at times, just exactly what it was she was seeing, with many different auras swirling into each other, but I trusted her judgement.

  We all groaned when she told us we had another hour or so to go before we could stop for the day. It was either that, or wander aimlessly, hoping to find an open area that didn’t have Serpents blended into the walls.

  “We haven’t seen anything for a while now,” Daiver grumped, bored by the lack of action. “The next monster I see will fall before me with one strike of my sword.”

  “Again,” Kesara drawled, “You’re supposed to be focusing on your Defense stat. What do you even talk about at those fancy balls of yours? I doubt the gossip there is any good.”

  “Knowing what we do,” Karl said as he pushed his glasses back up onto his nose. “He likely talks only of himself.”

  “Correct,” Daiver agreed, grinning. “What else is there to talk about?”

  There was a collective groan from the party before he continued.

  “But jesting aside, we haven’t come across any monsters at all lately.”

  “Anny is guiding us past the dangers,” Juliana replied. “Isn’t that right, Anny?”

  “Ahh,” Anny said sheepishly, fidgeting with her hands. “I haven’t actually seen any auras similar to the Glower Serpent for some time now. They are there, but too far away and out of reach for me to focus on.”

  “I suppose that explains why the path has been fairly clear,” I said.

  “Doesn’t anyone here not find the lack of activity strange?” Daiver questioned, drawing our attention again. “If Karl’s suggestion that the Glower Serpents came from below have an ounce of truth, then there should be other monsters here to fight.”

  He drew his sword slightly from its scabbard and motioned to the blade.

  “And yet my blade remains clean, and I lack the satisfaction of dispatching any non-Serpentine monsters today.”

  “It’s clean because you wiped it down after the Glower Serpent’s attack,” Vencia said as she shook her head. “But I must admit, the lack of monsters is curiously unsettling.”

  “Hmm,” Clarissa mused. “Reminds me of the time we first tried the fifth floor, handsome. We couldn’t find any of the Lizardnoots because the Demons had been hunting them.”

  I had been just thinking of the similarity between our current situation and that experience. I was more at ease, now, than I’d been back then because we had Anny’s skill on our side. Not to mention that I had grown significantly more powerful, but the silence here was disconcerting.

  “We still don’t know if the Ogres really passed through this way. If they did, maybe they pushed out whatever monster used to dwell here?” I suggested.

  “If that was the case,” Juliana said as she frowned at the ground, “shouldn’t we have foun
d their corpses by now or at least any corpses? I agree with the others, the lack of monsters—or evidence of their demise—is troubling.”

  She was right. We hadn’t encountered evidence of any life in these tunnels, other than the Glower Serpent. From what I had learned reading light novels and playing RPG’s, this probably wasn’t a coincidence. Then again, we had been traveling for hours now with little fanfare; we could only hope it continued as such.

  The next hour passed with no activity still, but I could tell that the party, as well as the soldiers, were on edge and even more on guard than before. Daiver kept a hand on the hilt of his sword, Karl scanned every inch of our surroundings and Anny checked the area with her path finding skill over and over again.

  We had passed into a large cavern that had little light compared to the rest of the floor. The tunnel’s green-veined walls had provided ample light before, but here, it seemed that wasn’t enough to push back the expanse of darkness.

  As Clarissa and Kesara each summoned their light orbs to give us more visibility, I suddenly noticed the air had grown cold. It was a stark change, easily noticeable thanks to the heavy, humid heat that was all encompassing before. Now, though, I could only feel chilling air on my face.

  When the light orbs appeared, we all noticed a figure standing in the middle of the cavern, unmoving.

  At least, I thought it was a figure. Despite the light shining its direction, it didn’t cast a shadow behind it.

  In fact, it looked more like it was the shadow, instead.

  “What the heck is that…” I breathed, and watched uneasily as the figure turned towards us.

  My eyes were having trouble processing what I was seeing. I couldn’t make out much detail at all other than that the figure wore tattered black armor with strange rune-like symbols etched into it.

  It was dressed in all black, yet the material it wore shifted between shiny and dull as it simply stared at us. Its gauntlets, shoulder pauldrons, and greaves ended in deadly looking spikes, which wasn’t a good sign. Every one of my gamer instincts screamed that this was trouble.

  “Hello?” Juliana called, but the figure didn’t answer.

  “Ahh…” Anny suddenly blurted in a panic. “It has no aura! How can that be? Every living thing has an aura.”

  “What do you mean?” Clarissa asked, but Anny wiggled in place as her eyes unfocused.

  “There is no aura on that person. This has never happened before. There should be something.”

  “Perhaps it’s a monster?” Karl mused, “it surely looks humanoid.”

  “What should we do?” Kesara asked, and at that moment, the figure moved its arms, drawing a thin sword from its hip that was just as cloaked in shadow as itself.

  “This is clearly some strange, shadowy monster,” Daiver said as he drew his own sword. “Stay back friends, I will handle this.”

  “Daiver wait!” Juliana called, but her warning had no effect as Daiver dashed forward, roaring a battle cry as he raised his sword high.

  The figure hardly responded to the sudden charge, but as Daiver reached it and swung his blade in an overhand strike, the shadowy figure’s blade leapt up to meet his, parrying the attack.

  With incredible speed, the figure retaliated, striking once at Daiver’s sword and knocking it clean out of his hand. The next strike slashed into his shoulder, knocking the man back. He yelped in pain as he flew through the air, striking the ground hard.

  That was my cue to engage, and as I drew my own sword, it seemed everyone else had the same idea. Fireballs and lightning streaked through the air before Juliana’s and Karl’s lines of sight were blocked by the soldiers who rushed forward.

  I was right behind them before I spotted the figure swipe its sword parallel to the ground in front of us.

  What must have been some kind of magical explosion followed, as all of the soldiers in front of me were blasted backwards, their forms twisting in the air. Some were even blown back over my head and I had to duck to avoid them crashing into me.

  A wave of dark energy washed over me, and I could feel a strange force seizing onto my arms and legs. I tried as hard as I could to resist, willing my body to move forward. Even with my prodigious Strength, there was an enormous amount of resistance when I tried to move my limbs.

  Everyone else who hadn’t been blown away from this figure’s magic was frozen in place, dark swirls of magic tangled about them. I looked back to see everyone fighting to break free.

  “What power is this?” Juliana huffed as she tried to call forth her own magic to fight back.

  “Ugh,” Clarissa hissed before her eyes widened. “Alex, watch out!”

  When my head swiveled back to face forward, I found the figure had drawn close in an instant and clutched my shoulder tightly. This close, I could plainly see that the figure was wearing a helmet, but that was the only thing I could see clearly. Its helmet looked to be shaped like the twisted, contorted face of a howling Demon, in all honesty, but I wasn’t sure what this thing was.

  I just knew that my one hundred and thirty-nine Strength meant little to this being.

  “You have her scent on you,” the figure growled in a low, rasping tone, gripping my shoulder tighter. “Reveal her to me.”

  Its deep voice rattled in my ears but sounded very chilling at the same time.

  Jeez…

  “Who?” I wheezed, doing my best not to drop my sword as cold claws dug into my shoulder as it pushed me down to one knee. The dark energy was still holding me back, but the pressure eased on my limbs the more I kept trying to move them.

  “The Chosen!” the figure demanded impatiently. “She is near. Reveal her to me or…”

  I heard a familiar shout from behind me as a fireball whizzed through the air and struck the shadowy figure in the head.

  It barely reacted, and there was no visible damage.

  “Let him go, or I’ll…” Juliana hissed before the figure waved its free hand, causing even more energy to whirl around the fire mage, binding her even more tightly than before.

  That she had managed to break free from this figure’s magic was nothing less than incredible.

  Her distraction had bought me some much-needed time, as I was almost ready to strike with my sword. Maybe if I struck with all my might, it would be enough to at least free my friends and the soldiers.

  There was only one way to find out; I couldn’t afford to mess this up.

  “Reveal her to…” the figure started to demand once again, before another voice cut it off.

  “Ethereal Spear!”

  I couldn’t glance over to the side where my shoulder was being squeezed, but a massive explosion of light lit the cavern before a giant glowing spear crashed into the figure, whizzing in front of my nose by mere inches.

  The shadowy figure released its grip on me as it staggered back from the blow, its chest now lit up by a massive, glowing magical spear that pierced all the way through its torso.

  I didn’t waste any time to process what was happening. The dark energy still offered significant resistance as I lurched to my feet, but I had enough Strength for a strike.

  With a roar and a considerable amount of effort, I lunged forward with my sword, aiming the tip for the wound opened by this magical spear. My sword struck true, and I slipped my blow alongside the spear, striking into whatever this thing had under its armor.

  Black blood leaked out and the figure hissed in response, falling back another step. It dropped its sword as it used both hands to try and pull free the spear in its chest. I twisted and then pulled back my own sword, realizing that the dark energy no longer constrained me, and I could move freely once more.

  “Everyone, attack as one!” Juliana ordered as she channeled a fireball much bigger than the last.

  I looked back to see who had thrown the ‘Ethereal Spear’ earlier, but I couldn’t see anyone behind us. The voice had sounded like a woman’s, though.

  Clarissa dashed to my side and gripped my arm, ca
sting a much needed heal on my shoulder.

  “Guess this is one time I’ll actually have to fight, handsome,” Clarissa winked as she rushed past me. She drew a dagger out from between her cleavage, of all places, and slashed the same place I had, eliciting another howl of agony from the shadowy figure.

  Anny blurred into place beside Clarissa just long enough to strike with her own dagger, smacking the figure’s helm. The blade bounced off harmlessly, but it distracted the figure long enough for her to whisk Clarissa back to safety before the figure could retaliate.

  They both narrowly escaped the figure’s grasping lunge at them.

  Any soldiers not still dazed from the magical explosion took up their arms and swarmed the figure. The mass of green and red armors enveloped it from my sight. The entire party also followed up with their attacks. I saw Juliana’s fireballs and Karl’s lightning zip past whenever the soldiers made an opening for them.

  Kesara was also casting some spells I hadn’t noticed previously. If I had it right, she was buffing the party. It looked like there were red streaks of magic zipping from her hands, primarily going towards Karl and Juliana.

  Those were likely damage buffs, and I vaguely wondered how it all worked. She had mentioned previously that she also used her magic to enable Daiver to take more hits, but that wouldn’t help much at this point.

  He was still very much knocked out.

  The figure made a last, desperate attempt to regain some ground as the soldiers and party wailed on it from all angles. A burst of magic erupted from its being, pushing everyone back several feet.

  I was just about to dive back into the fray myself when another glowing spear streaked through the air from above and struck the figure’s armored helm. The spear ripped through its head, and the figure froze.

  It still hadn’t dislodged the other spear, which still poked out of its chest. I couldn’t imagine how much more damage we’d need to do, if it wasn’t dead yet.

  It let out a chilling death-rattle of a hiss before its form disintegrated before us, crumbling first to ash and then those ashes vanishing in a swirl until there was… nothing.