It all came rushing back to him. Kelvin was on a mission, and the new strangers were his team. He quickly moved to shield the crowded doorway, even as a two foot spike passed by his cheek. It landed not as it intended, in the heart of the blonde girl, but instead was knocked violently to the floor. The larger man, no- boy, Dexaon had moved to stand in front of the other two. As Kelvin watched, Valeria continued to transform, looking less like a spider and more like a scorpion now. Her waist was still human, but where her feet would be under her dress, instead was a plated scorpion body as large as a carriage. Her tail seemed to move with a mind of its own, throwing poisoned spikes as her more human half bobbed and weaved to throw smaller daggers with her arms. At least she doesn’t have any pinchers, Kelvin mused.
“Kelvin, what are you doing? Stop standing there like a brick!” The blonde girl yelled, even as she threw a glowing blob of gold at him. The wound on his lower rib knit itself over the current scab that had been left after the recovery potion and returned to a smooth skin. Almost immediately, Kelvin regained more memories of the past few days. Right, this is the Rosethorn Manor, infamous forest dungeon of the Galiinudes region. Cel had ordered me to exterminate it, even though he knows that nobody has ever come back out alive. He didn’t need to fake a mission to get rid of me. As king, it would have been smarter to just have me executed. He glanced over at his mostly-intact team. Those idiots didn’t need to come here with me, but it’s nice to see them alive, for now. The horde had been unending, ultimately separating him from his team after a large Benter Bug had knocked him out with a poisoned scratch. That made Valeria the boss of the dungeon. But how had she tricked him into thinking a whole night had passed before the ball?
His mind snapped back into the present, where Valeria was facing off against all four of his teammates. Ankor, having regained his own senses, seemed to be throwing himself recklessly into the battle as usual. His throwing knives bounced almost comically off of Valeria’s armored body, while he dodged the myriad of spikes that she threw his way. Dexaon, who would normally be the main force of damage in a fight, was instead holding a position as a meat shield for Armelia and Ian. Even though a spike would fly their way every now and then, Dexaon always easily knocked it out of the way, giving Kelvin the impression they were playing a game of catch. Armelia was busy healing the team, spreading a fountain-work of her golden Reject Reality spell.
Kelvin noticed that Ian, their wizard, seemed to be doing the most work. The room was still a beautiful ballroom around Valeria, who looked out of place as a huge scorpion-taur with the shredded dress hanging off of her. However, a bubble of grey light seemed to be growing around his team, revealing the true room to be a dull ruined shadow of the ballroom it had been only a moment before. Ian’s expertise in creating and disassembling illusion magic made for a disorienting battlefield, as the lighting above and the floor below Kelvin seemed to flicker from the warm light yellow of the fake sconces to the cold blue of the moonlight shining on them. Wait, moonlight? Above, the ceiling of the ballroom was caved in, betraying the beautiful painting of Valeria’s illusion.
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But, she doesn’t look like she’s really attacking us. “Guys, stop,” Kelvin shouted. Though Armelia gave him a confused look, it wasn’t until he added, “She’s not even trying,” that Ankor stopped throwing his blades of blood at Valeria.
Likewise, the strange monster former-girl paused flinging her spikes to taunt, “Aren’t you here to kill me?”
Ah, shit, a plan. “Yes,” Kelvin cleared his throat, “but I hardly think it’s polite to kill someone after only one dance.”
Valeria laughed, throwing her whole torso back in a cackle, which only served to unnerve his team. Ankor moved to flank her and Dexaon used the reprieve to add a bit of distance between himself and Kelvin.
“You’re clearly brainwashed,” Dexaon asserted.
Ian chimed in with, “Actually, Kelvin is completely free of his brainwashing. Or he’s as clean as the rest of us.” The room seemed to snap, as the last of the beautiful ballroom illusion dropped and the whole space was overtaken in moonlight.
“Does that mean you want another dance?” The question came from a very scandalised Armelia, who had finished the last of her healing and had taken out a sword of her own.
Kelvin raised his hands in surrender and walked towards Valeria on the other side of the room. “Honestly, I’d prefer a whole night to get to know you, my lady.” When he stood at the base of her legs, he craned his neck to smile up into the now pitch-black eyes nearly six feet above him.
She smirked coyly back down at him, bending where her human waist would be to say, “You’re a weird one alright.” Kelvin maintained eye contact as she shrunk into herself, only moving to raise a hand when Ankor started to attack. Luckily this time Ankor actually listened to him, because then Valeria said, “I surrender.”