Luther walked to one and rummaged through the broken shards of one with his sheathed sword. The massive thing easily pushed any of the larger pieces away. He found a tiny shining pearl near the bottom of the pile. He picked it up and studied it in the light. There were swirling motes of Qi concentrated enough to be visible to the eye.
Baldwin grabbed another from another defeated pile. He took a quick bite, humming the entire time. “An ice core. You seem to have had quite accurate information, My Lord. This would be worth quite a bit in the right circles, maybe a bit more with the mages. Lots of practical and military uses for these tiny things.”
“There will be a lot more where this came from. But we might not have enough time to collect them all. The main goal is to get to the very end, there the final prize I have set my eyes on sits on a pedestal of crystals. Defended by hundreds upon hundreds of the same elementals. We best pace ourselves.” Luther looked ahead. There was a single exit, one that would lead to the next cavern.
Seven in total they would have to clear, each one with more than the next. Twenty, fifty, a hundred, two fifty, four hundred, six hundred, and nearly a thousand in the last. A veritable tide of Ice elementals they would have to fight through.
“Yves, call in six of the nights. We won’t need the entire group of them to power the Portal. We need to be in and out as quick as possible. It would do none of us good to meet any curious monsters wondering what the disturbance is.”
Yves nodded and quickly grabbed a few of the knights. They walked in letting out awes of wonderment at the cavern.
“No one is to speak of this, under oath of death.”
They all fell to their knees. Each one swore a similar oath to keep silent. He trusted their words. If they had been the normal Bellham knights, he would have been quite tempted to ‘make sure’ they were silent.
Once done, Yves gave them a few commands which they took up like fish in water. They made a wall with shields and blades in the ready. Two would remain in the back behind Luther and Baldwin to collect all the ice cores and any crystal they could pack up before the main group had left the cavern.
As they passed the first cavern, Baldwin summoned a rapier of flames, its basket-hilt had flames lapping at his wrist. It looked as solid as a real sword, just a million times more majestic. Luther couldn’t help but smile at the telltale sign the man was getting serious.
His game character had to go through the same blade that seemed to hit the players ten folds harder than any of the knights or the other Bellham sons. There was real prejudice when he struck without holding back. On the other hand, it was almost like he couldn’t bring himself to strike Luther’s brothers down.
A sad fate.
The next few caverns were quite simple. The knights didn’t even need to do much other than watch Yves and Baldwin obliterate the entire horde in moments. The most action they got was when three got around Yves and attempted to ‘flank’ the group. Those elementals were eliminated with a bit more enthusiasm than Luther expected.
It was only after they reached the fifth cavern did Yves and Luther take a step back. Instead, they took a more controlled approach. Yves joined the shield-wall, borrowing one from the two knights in the back. They started a grueling march of constant shield bashes and swinging blades empowered by fire crystals that tinted their weapons red.
Yves did not use an ounce of his Qi, only using his god-given talent and strength to take them out little by little.
Baldwin did not participate unless he saw one of the knights being overwhelmed. A quick flick of his rapier would quickly remedy any problem. It looked almost effortless for the old man. If asked, he could probably solo this entire dungeon, but Luther would not risk anything.
For all he knew, there could be ten thousand ice elementals in the next room. Or maybe a real threat that could end their entire force. Best they moved with a methodical pace and eliminate all their foes before moving forward.
Luther had tried to join in on the fight, but the knights seemed to throw their bodies in front of any attack the ice elementals sent his way. Breaking their shield-wall and endangering the entire group with how zealous they were to be the most loyal person. He could help but feel a surging sense of pride and joy at how quickly they were to try their best to protect him.
So it was decided he would stay in the back and ‘manage’ the back. Which meant he wasn’t going to do anything at all. All he did was watch the battle and then the two knights chopping as much of the crystals as they could or rummaging through ice elemental corpses for their cores.
He would soon be strong enough to participate. As a cyromancer too.
Luther bumped into Baldwin. “Sor—“
Baldwin waved his hands. All Luther saw was a sky filled with flames, they had made it to the sixth cavern. It hadn’t been a few moments of the slow, grueling march. Yves yelled in surprise and the knights covered their eyes from the unexpected light.
Luther blinked to get rid of the glare, but couldn’t help his mouth from dropping. The entire cavern was left as a scorching mess. What had been an army of ice elementals no longer existed. Only glimmering piles of ice cores remained in their stead.
“Forgive me, My Lord. We seem to have some bothersome company back at the camp.” Baldwin smiled. “I will go take care of it quickly. I am sure Yves is more than capable of marching through the last cavern, there aren't more than two thousand ice elementals there.” He bowed and left before Luther could say anything.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Baldwin seemed quite sure it was a minor inconvenience. Luther only gave it a moment before turning back towards Yves who had taken off his helmet. He wiped his sweat soaked face with a towel handed to him by one of the two knights in the back. They had taken to their new role with gusto. Without being prodded they ran to get to work clearing out the cavern.
“Two thousand? That should be doable. It would require us to manage my Qi but clearing out the next cavern should be simple enough. The Northern Wing knights are quite capable. They move like experienced soldiers on a battlefield.” Yves patted their shoulders.
Luther couldn’t see their expression through the helms that covered their heads, but he was sure they beamed with pride. That was obvious with how they began strutting around with their chests puffed out. They hurried to help the first two and clean up everything they would want.
But that brought Luther back to another issue. There were nearly double the amount of ice elementals if Baldwin was correct. It just showed how things could have changed to a million and one different situations. If he had brought a force strong enough to take out the original dungeon but not much else then he would have been in deep trouble. A tide like that would overwhelm them faster than he could think possible.
Once done cleaning up the place, they sat for a few moments and channeled Qi into their bodies to help relieve any fatigue. Luther only watched with a frown since he had yet to walk with a quick pace much less exert himself in any way.
They moved after the break and walked into the last cavern. They looked at the massive army of ice elementals surrounding a single platform of ice. On the platform was a pedestal of an ice carved warrior holding up a plate. On the plate was a tome he was looking for.
The scene was majestic, but was quickly stopped as every single elemental stopped whatever meaningless thing they had been doing and turned to them in a single motion. All at once. There was dead silence, before they began to swarm forward.
Yves stepped to the front. He grabbed his blade hilt down and blade up close to his face. “Glorious Lord, bless this wayward servant of yours with the strength to rid this world of the damned and unthinking monsters. Let my blade brighten this world in the darkest times. Without your grace I am weak. Without your will I have no power!”
His blade began to glow in a golden light that blinded Luther. He was forced to cover his eyes and only hear Yves roar as he swung his sword. A clap of wind tried to topple him over that lasted for a good few moments. Then the light disappeared like it had not been their moments ago.
Yves was on his knees, shaking from exertion. The knights pulled him back and left Luther to look on as a third of all the ice elementals simply did not exist any more. This caused a pause as the elementals tried to figure out what happened, before marching forward again. All six of his knights formed the shield-wall, they bought time for Yves to get his Qi back enough to fight without being a liability.
Luther wanted to help, but his knights seemed to forget how to fight when they tried to throw themselves to sacrifice themselves as martyrs.
It took a good ten minutes of wading through a massive number. They had used the entrance of the cavern to funnel them enough to not be overwhelmed without Yves to act like a real tank and massive muzzle blasting small portions every time they got close enough to start climbing over each other.
Once he returned, it was only a matter of time before they cleared out the entire mob of monsters. It seemed endless, but once they reached the final ice elemental that thoughtlessly attacked them by itself, his knights all sagged in relief.
Yves led Luther to the platform. He took careful steps with his blade at the ready. Only when he finally cut down the ice statue did he let Luther grab the Tomes that had fallen.
Luther grabbed them, feeling a rush of energy that seeped into his arms.
[Status Menu-
[Novice Ice Elemental Caverns - Cleared - Gained 5 Skill Points]]
[Acquired -
[Tomes of the Ice Elemental - Two Skills]]
[Do you wish to assimilate the Tomes?]
[Yes -]
[No -]
Luther mentally pressed ‘yes’. The Tomes began to glow a faint blue light before fading away in motes of light. Yves yelled from a distance, but otherwise nothing else happened.
Then he heard a chime in his head.
[Name: Luther Morgan Bellham]
[Skills:
[Heavy Bladed Striker]
[Adept Battle Awareness]
[Novice Swordsmen]
[Fledgling Pyromancer]
[Fledgling Mana Control]
[Fledgling Pyrokinesis]]
[Traits:
[Contemptuous]
[Sesquipedalian]
[Pertinacious]
[Merciless]
[Supercilious]
[Overbearing]
[Dignified August]]
[Mana: 734/734]
[Skill points: 37]
[Skill Upgrades -
[Novice Pyromancer - 7]
[Novice Pyrokinesis - 7]
[Adept Swordsmen - 10]
[Novice Mana Control - 7]
[Advanced Battle Awareness - 19]
[Fledgling Cyromancer - 3]
[Fledgling CyroKinesis - 3]]
Luther couldn’t help the massive smile that bloomed on his face. Their skills were just waiting for him. He wanted to place all his points on those two and ‘Novice Mana Control’ but held himself. There was no telling what the process would look like. Whether he lost consciousness or started floating without warning, none of it was good in what could be a tedious situation .
Yves cleared his throat. “Seems like you got what you wanted?”
“Yes. I did acquire what I had intended on our tiny expedition.” Luther turned around without allowing Yves to ask anymore questions. He wasn’t going to answer any and then had to get out quickly and disappear. They had been in here for only God knows how long. Baldwin had said minor inconvenience had appeared, which could only mean someone curious had arrived.
Best they were long gone when someone a bit more than an inconvenience appeared.