"I'm also a little concerned over the monsters you fought there," said Alice. "A lot of those beasts should not have appeared there. And the fact that there were always more waiting in the same spot bothers me as well."
"I fear some foul magic keeps the cave stocked with monsters," noted Thomas. "There's no way to know for sure, but it would help explain how you encountered the beasts in the same spot every time you went past."
"I suppose it helps ensure that there's always something to fight," said Ron. "It's not much of a test otherwise."
Suzanne rested the rest of the night. The next day she went to the blacksmith to have her armor repaired from where the mimic had bit right through it. Then she went back through the tunnel, into the desert, and back to the Navel of the Earth. This time Suzanne would not open any chest unless it was ceremoniously presented. Even then, Suzanne would be sure to be ready.
Suzanne returned to the large ceremonial room that split off into multiple paths. She checked the other three side passages and found they all lead to rooms similar to the one in which she fought the mimic, complete with their own treasure chests. Suzanne wisely opted not to disturb the chests. If she did not find the orb in a different spot then Alice could easily take the test herself and check these chests.
She continued into the passage on the back side of the ceremonial room. She found a larger room adorned with a singled skull on a stick. There was another, longer, thinner passageway on the left side of the room. In the middle of the passageway was a group of large green goat creatures. But like the mushrooms and crabs from the last time through, Suzanne dealt with the monsters easily. After dealing with them Suzanne reached the end of the passageway where a descending staircase awaited.
The next room was absolutely humongous. It had to be an entire mile or more between the north and south walls. The west and east walls were probably three quarters of a mile apart or so. As Suzanne would soon find, the room was filled with monsters. As the room was completely barren, Suzanne realized that she had to move quickly as it would not take long before she was set upon by a hoard of beasts. From what she could see, the monsters were of the same caliber as those she had been fighting. But even those monsters were dangerous in great numbers.
Looking off in the distance Suzanne could see two ascending staircases. She quickly realized that descending staircases would be difficult to see at a distance, but she did not have time to search around at a leisurely pace. She went forward at a quick jog to the staircase she could see on the northwest side of the huge room. Unfortunately, the monsters saw her. The noise that was stirred up soon alerted every monster in the room to her presence.
Suzanne quickly got the magic staff out. She decided it would be of more use than her sword since she could put the staff to use at a range. On her right approached a group of large purple ape creatures. In front of her was a group of mummies. She realized that she would need to switch between staff and sword in short succession. When she had done so earlier she always dropped her staff temporarily. But to do so now was to leave the staff behind. So she strapped her shield back onto her back and pulled out both staff and sword.
Suzanne lamented that she could not use both at once. Though the staff required only a command word to activate she had to guide the stream of fire with it for its duration. She quickly conjured up a fire stream at the mummies, intending to break through their line. None of the mummies were destroyed, but they were all injured. She was a decent distance away when she used the staff and was now closing in on them. Dodging the scratching claws of the mummies as best she could, she dispatched one on her left and began to sprint to avoid the other two. She suffered only minor scratches.
The mummies proved surprisingly fast in their pursuit and covered in her thick armor Suzanne could not hope to outrun them for long. Suzanne decided to make a quick stand against them. She used the staff to give them another dose of fire. The mummies all fell this time around.
When she turned around, Suzanne realized that she had another fight on her hands. The ape monsters had propelled themselves across the room quickly with their powerful, long limbs. Before she could send out another burst of flame an ape came up and swiped at her with its huge arm. With no shield to cushion the blow the best Suzanne could do was put her arms up to keep her head safe. She fell backwards, dropping the staff as she did so. Luckily, this put her out of the other apes' swipes.
Luckily, Suzanne did not depend on the staff to produce a magical assault. She reproduced the flame stream with her own magic spell. One of the apes fell dead and the others were wounded. She quickly rolled under the swipe of one of the apes but caught a blow on the shoulder from the other. She was almost directly underneath the beast that hit her and brought her sword up into its vitals. Before the remaining one could strike again Suzanne saw it off in a similar manner.
But there was no time to relax yet. She could see flying enemies coming from the east and a group of mushroom monsters waddling to the north to cut her path to the staircase off. Suzanne went to pick up the staff and broke into a run for the staircase again, knowing the flyers would overtake her soon enough. She kept an eye on her pursuers, ready to turn around with fire when she had to.
When she turned around to fry the flyers, three of them fell immediately. But the last one seemed to take no harm. As she looked at it she realized that she had never the seen the likes of it before. It looked like a baby demon wielding a pitchfork. The creature stabbed at her with its fork but Suzanne disarmed it and slashed at it. It proved to be surprisingly agile as it avoided the worst of the blow.
The creature fell back and tried to cast a spell. Suzanne realized she could not make it in time to disrupt the spell. She was surprised when sparks fizzled out of the creature's hands but no spell came out. Suzanne had seen and experienced this before: the creature was out of magic power. She found it odd considering that the creature had not cast a spell yet but decided not to question her luck. She ran the creature through with her sword and pressed on.
The mushrooms were in front of the staircase now but a quick look around the room told Suzanne that if she was fast enough she could get past the mushrooms and make it to the staircase. She ran as fast as she could to get within range of the mushrooms and blasted them. Of the five that blocked her path, only two died. One other was wounded but the last two shook it off.
The mushrooms stood in their place, realizing their best weapon was magic, and sent several missiles of ice into Suzanne. Suzanne ignored the pain and blasted them again. This magical battle lasted for one more round before the mushrooms fell. Suzanne saw she had little time to make the staircase. She made a break for it.
Suzanne made it to the staircase just before her pursuers made it to her. She climbed up it and made a quick check for enemies on the next floor. Seeing none, she turned around ready to stand her ground. The remaining monsters on the floor had pursued her to the staircase, but now she had the tactical advantage. Any melee monsters had to go single-file up the staircase to get to her. And any ice missiles or other magic spells her way were blocked by the floor between her level and the monsters'. To hit Suzanne with a spell would mean to bring itself within the wrath of her power.
The next few minutes were a blur of steel and flame. Suzanne furiously used both her sword and the magic staff to fight off a seemingly unending tide of monsters. It seemed for every one she vanquished another two took its place. None of her opponents on their own were all that dangerous but they were dangerous enough to give her a scratch here or there. Besides that, Suzanne was getting very tired. She began to wonder if she should try to disengage and warp out.
Suzanne shook the thoughts from her head and stubbornly defended her position. If she left now chances are that all the foes she had defeated would probably be back when she returned. She would have to get through this at some point to proceed. She went at her enemies with increased fury.
After another minute, the sea of monsters was drying up. Suzanne realized that many of the creatu
res were retreating. They apparently realized they had little chance against her, even in such numbers. Suzanne dispatched the last few that fought against her and went back down the stairs to observe. Indeed, the monsters were fleeing for their lives.
Suzanne took a few moments to rest and heal herself. She had not suffered major injuries but she knew if she had to go through that again she might be in trouble. After recovering she went about exploring the floor. Deciding she would not have to fight such a group again she took her shield out. She could still see the staircase to the southeast but decided to check out the northeast corner of the huge room first. She was rewarded in her search when she found a descending staircase.
Deciding that this staircase was as good as the other she descended. She found herself in a small room with a small passageway in front of her. She went through the passage and came into a large hallway, with paths to the left and to the right. She decided to take the left path. The hallway quickly turned to her right and continued on for a ways. Suzanne walked cautiously, on the lookout for monsters and traps. The silence on this floor was eerie compared to the noisiness of the beasts on the previous floor. Adding to her unease were the faces that decorated the walls. The faces were shaped like human faces but portrayed looks of inhuman malice.
Suzanne soon came to a dead end and was forced to turn back. She came back to where she had started and took the path that had been on her right. This portion of the hallway was almost identical to the other, though the faces on the wall were different. These faces portrayed looks of terrible fear and agony. A chilling thought struck Suzanne: maybe these were the faces of those who had failed and died here, their last moments immortalized on these walls.
Suzanne suddenly thought she heard a whisper. She could not make out the words but she was almost positive she heard someone. But the hallway had no cover or places to hide in it. If there was anyone here talking they would have to be invisible. Suzanne continued down the hallway slowly, on the ready for anything to suddenly jump out of nowhere.
As she continued down the hallway, she heard the whispering voice again. This time she could definitely make out what it said, "Turn back!" She made a quick check to make sure that there was still nothing else in the hallway.
"Another trick to confuse and scare a test-taker," concluded Suzanne.
But as she continued the voices got louder and louder. Suzanne realized that a different voice spoke each time, but all had the same message, "Turn back!" As she reached the hallway's midway point the voices had risen to speaking level. A few steps later and the voices were shouting at her. The voices were not those of a menacing beast but of people. These people did not want Suzanne to share their fate.
Suddenly, Suzanne heard an agonizing scream. She jumped at the sound and looked around. Still nothing else inhabited the hallway. Another scream sounded. The voices were no longer speaking warnings to Suzanne but letting her listen to their last, painful moments. Suzanne had to keep herself from bringing her hands to her ears to shut out the terrible noise. She needed her hands free to fight if need be. But the screams continued, each in more agony than the last.
It seemed to have been an eternity before reached a turn in the hallway. The hallway took a turn to the left. Suzanne cautiously looked around the corner, saw nothing, and went forward. The screams instantly stopped. The sudden change in noise caused Suzanne's ears to ring, and the ensuing silence to seem just as scary as the screams. Suzanne had to reassure herself with each step she took.
The hallway took another turn to the left. Suzanne could see this leg took a turn to the right. According to her sense of direction, this would have to be a dead end. But as she reached the middle of the leg she was currently on there was a great flash of light. Suzanne, temporarily blinded, desperately listened for any sound of an ambush. But all she could hear was the sound of several voices shouting in unison, "Join us!"
When the light cleared Suzanne saw she was suddenly surrounded by three armored men dressed in dull silver armor armed with swords and shields. There was one behind her and two in front of her. She quickly took out the magic staff and blasted the two in front of her. She was met with disappointment as neither showed any sign of pain or injury; the flames did not seem to touch them at all.
Suzanne quickly found herself on the defensive, flanked by the three swordsmen. She tried to charge the foe behind her with her shield out, hoping to bowl him over, but he sidestepped and managed to hit her with his sword. The other two enemies were quick to follow, giving similar cuts to Suzanne. She quickly dropped the magic staff and drew her own sword.
Though Suzanne was skilled, her enemies were almost as skilled and they had a three to one advantage. She tried to strike the enemy behind her but the swordsman easily shoved her blade to the side. Suzanne dodged his return strike and managed to block one of his friends' attacks as well but the other foe managed another hit. Suzanne knew if it were not for her great armor she would be in bad shape already.
It was time to get serious. Suzanne faked a shield bash to the foe behind her. When the swordsman reacted as she thought he would she came around and caught him in the side with her blade. The enemy noticeably staggered in response to the blow, showing that Suzanne had indeed hurt him, though no blood poured out.
Suzanne used the momentum from her strike to spin around, executing an impressive move in which she blocked the other two blades coming at her. The wounded one came up behind her to try to behead her, thinking her vulnerable. Suzanne just barely managed to duck her head in time.
Suzanne knew she had to eliminate that enemy quickly as she could not keep up such impossible dodges forever. She launched a shield bash at her opponent's legs. Having been fooled once, the man was slow to realize this attack was not a fake and took the blow in full force. As the man's legs gave out Suzanne easily stabbed her blade into the man's head. Still no blood poured forth but the man fell over.
Suzanne did not have time to check if the man was truly defeated, she had two more to worry about. She sidestepped one attack only to walk into another. Unfortunately, the man had turned his blade sideways, using it like a blunt object, and hit Suzanne square in the head. She staggered backwards, dazed from the blow.
Fortunately, she managed to shake the stars quicker than her opponents thought. She acted like she was still in a daze, causing one of them to charge her, thinking her almost done. The man soon learned his error as Suzanne seemingly came out of her stupor just in time to launch a vicious strike. Suzanne, as though suddenly possessed with incredible strength, had managed to cut through her foe's armored neck, severing his head. Like the last man, there was no blood to indicate a kill but Suzanne was sure he was down for the count.
Unfortunately, she left herself open to her last opponent. But instead of trying to slice her, the last swordsman tried a daring move. He ran forward and tackled Suzanne, sending their armored bodies to the ground. Caught by surprise and with the momentum of her attack still carrying her, Suzanne was slow to recover and the man quickly had her pinned. She was unable to move her arms or legs to try and free herself and she had dropped her sword.
The man tried to reposition his pin, trying to get his blade to Suzanne's neck. Suzanne tried her best but the man had her stopped. She realized she had only one chance left, and it was a long shot. She had been learning a spell recently, one from the old days of the Great Wars. The spell was unlike one either Thomas or Alice had mastered. But unfortunately, Suzanne had not yet mastered it either. It was highly dangerous to cast a spell one had not yet mastered. And as she had seen at the beginning of the fight, these foes had magic resistance. Lastly, with her foe on top of her she would likely blast herself as well.
But with her sword knocked away and the swordsman bringing his blade closer and closer to her neck, Suzanne began chanting the words with grim determination. She no longer doubted whether or not she would get the spell right or whether she would harm herself. A wave of courage poured through her. She would cast
the spell and end this fight.
A blast of lightning, seemingly from out of the ceiling of the cave, came down on the two combatants. Caught in the blast, Suzanne was temporarily blinded. She could feel the pain of the lightning bolt hit her, but she would not give in. She suddenly realized that she was no longer pinned, her opponent had grown limp. She pushed him off of her and quickly retrieved her sword. She checked her three opponents, all still lying on the ground. None of them moved even when prodded.
Suzanne took a moment to rest and heal herself. She could not take many more fights now. She still had the magic to teleport herself out but another tough fight and she probably would not any longer. She wondered if she even had enough strength to last through another fight. Nevertheless, she stepped forward to the end of the hallway.
The hallway curved into a ceremonial chamber. Two large statues of great giants flanked an alter, upon which sat two treasure chests. Suddenly, dread came over Suzanne. She did not know how, but she suddenly knew without a doubt that if she left to rest that she would have to fight all those enemies over again. And she did not know if one or both chests were a mimic. Even if the blue orb did rest inside one of the chests, it was pure luck to guess which had the orb and which was a mimic.
Suzanne slumped to the ground, feeling defeated. She did not think she could handle a mimic in her present state. Even if she won, she probably would not have the magic left to teleport out. The two treasure chests sat in front of her, almost taunting her. Which one was the orb? Which was a mimic? Are both these chests mimics?
Suzanne got back to her feet. She could not come all this way and leave empty handed, knowing that either she or one of her companions would have to go through all she had gone through. She took a coin out of her pocket, flipped it, and decided based on the flip which chest to open. She walked up to her chosen chest, sword drawn, and carefully started to open it.
She sighed in tremendous relief when the chest opened all the way without snapping at her hand. And sitting peacefully inside the chest was the blue orb.
Dragon Quest Novel Page 26
