“Luana, Erik! Wake up! You and Avra have to help Bones in the front! Jane! Cauterize Manor’s shoulder and give him a health potion. we have to stop the bleeding! Burn the wound first! The health-potion won’t be able to close the wound, it is too serious!

Seph’s blood would have had the power, but not our mediocre potions.

My efforts rose my companion from their petrification and they sprang into action.

Avra rushed into the gap Factor had left. It did its best to stem the tide. I readjusted the shields for higher coverage and took stock of the situation.

My teammates behaved more like a flock of headless chickens than the future mages they ought to be. Jane had turned the unconscious Manor to the side to reach his massive wound but hesitated to do what had to be done. Erik and Luana shoot their spells at the incoming enemy, yet the inaccuracy and long cast time told me about their mental state.

I had feared this would happen. Because of it I hadn’t replaced Factor by myself. The others lacked actual battle experience. As long as everything went well they acted just fine, but if shit hit the van, they were too shocked and inexperienced to react decisively. They needed a leader who took control of the situation.

With the hole in our shield-wall filled, I moved over to the trembling Jane. I needed to be quick. Avra could only hold for so long, it was no defensive-oriented summon.

“Jane! Stop hesitating, otherwise he will die!”

“But, what if-.”

“No buts, do it. Now!”

My forceful words forced her into action. She cauterized the wound. The smell of burned meat filled the area. Manor remained unconscious, too far gone to be awakened, even by this sort of pain.

“Good girl. Now give him the potion and monitor him. Use additional potions if he gets worse and keep us in the loop.” Jane’s facial color had turned to an unhealthy white, but she kept it together. Burning her teammate had taken a toll on the innocent woman.

“Aron! We can’t hold the front, Avra is getting sliced to pieces!”

“I am coming!”

I knew from the beginning when the situation went sideways that this was inevitable. Yet I didn’t look forward to it. I would have to keep the overview, hold the shield, and fight in a melee all at once. This would push me to my limits. People that were forced to their limits and beyond made mistakes. I was not allowed to do any.

‘Bones, widen our mental connection. We will need to work together for this one.’

My little brother wordlessly changed the broadcast, and I adjusted it further to a two-way link.

I took over Avra’s spot. Bones and I were the shield-wall now. A conjured tower-shield protected my left side. Sword in hand we went to work while my teammates supported us from the rear.

‘To the side.’

‘Push.’

‘Fall back.’

Giving each other cues, we merged into a stronger whole, defending each other’s weaknesses and incorporating our movements to enhance the attacks of the other.

We were one.

I kept myself at a strength plausible for a mage. Manor’s life was not worth enough for all my secrets to come to light. I would do everything in the boundaries I had set for myself, if that wasn’t enough, then so be it.

“Aron, they must have coated the projectile with poison! The health potions aren’t working properly!”

Jane’s voice was tinged with desperation.

“Is he stable at least?” my reply flat, most of my concentration on the enemies that tried to skewer me.

“Ye- No! The poison is surmounting the healing!”

That made things harder.

“How much time do you think he still has?”

Covertly, I exerted a bit more of my strength and pushed the green wave back. This gave my little brother breathing space to readjust his bearing. A goblin had whacked him twice with his bludgeon.

“Maybe an hour, I am not sure! He won’t make it! We will need more than that to get back to the closest portal-chamber!

I defended against two sword-swings and buried my weapon in one of the many bodies that tried to fillet me. Finished with the immediate threat, I replied.

“There is another possibility. The boss should be right behind this chokepoint. If we can kill it, we should be able to make it in time.”

For a second no answer came. They had to digest my idea.

“That’s suicide! Are you two even able to hold the line?!” Luana was the first to find her voice. Although still emotional, she had emerged from her shell-shocked state. Good, my teammates were recovering.

“Yes. Give me a moment to check out the situation on the other side! Stop your spells when the shield expands!”

‘Bones, as soon as the shield covers the entire area, switch to your ghost state and check out the exact set-up on the other side. Be quick. Holding the shield against the entire wave will tire me swiftly.’

My usual talkative brother only sent an affirmative. He would take care of it.

Three, two, one. I forced my shield outward, closing off the entire tunnel. The pressure mounted. My roots saturated one after the other. This was different. Before I had to take care of one massive blast, now my shield had to soak countless attacks.

Normally the shield affinity forced my energy into the roots, but the more they saturated the harder it got to keep the energy in. At some point, the energy forced its way out and flooded my body. Time was an additional factor. I could withstand a massive energy-influx for a second, but the same amount would burn me to charcoal in ten.

This meant it was essential to avoid excessive energy use over extensive amounts of time.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Exactly what I was doing now.

“Aron, what are you doing?!” This stunt was obviously something that a novice at my level had massive problems accomplishing, even with shield-affinity.

I pushed my hands out, taking on the weight that pushed against the anchored shield. The anchors could only hold so much. I had to step in myself. My physical support added to the shield with a factor, that meant I counteracted a much higher pressure than I normally could. So I stood there, my back straight, upper body slightly bent forward, hands raised, and fought against the living tide, keeping it at bay.

Root twenty-seven saturated. The pain intensified.

My concentration entirely on the spell, I hadn’t had the chance to check on Bones.

Root twenty-eight reached its limit. I felt blood leaking out from my ears, the delicate vein mesh too fragile for the pressure my body had to endure.

Common Bones, if he needed much longer, I would injure myself severely. It would exacerbate the fight against the remaining goblins. In that case, I couldn’t ensure Manor’s survival. We would need too long.

Then my skeleton reappeared next to me.

Not waiting for a second longer, I lowered the shield to what it once was. We slipped back into our normal rhythm. Pain lanced through me as my innards had been burned only moments ago.

I forced myself to not think about it. The pain could wait. I moved a part of my mind towards the connection between me and Bones, checking out the recon data.

Good, no unsurmountable threats visible. More so, Bones had confirmed the Boss’ location. The goblin captain was located further in the gate room. He had some goons around him. It was going to be a pain in the ass, but nothing that we couldn’t handle.

The soon to be fought battle could have potentially been even easier, but Manor’s windwolf had switched to overprotective mode and refused to leave his half-dead master’s side. That robbed us of another heavy hitter.

We would have to make do without Shor.

“Okay! the plan is doable. Most goblins are dead. The wave will run out, then we have to only content against the boss inside the gateroom.”

I felt the pressure receding as I spoke. Fewer and fewer goblins pushed against us.

“Aron! Manor is looking worse by the second, the poison is gaining ground!”

Damn, looks like we had to do this quick and dirty. Cheating was the only way. Too little time for anything else.

I might have to take back my previous thoughts about Jane’s spell. If this worked, it would be mostly because of her.

“Listen! We don’t have much time! Simply do what I tell you! Inside the gateroom a goblin Capitan and his four bodyguards remain. They are the only thing that stands between us and the portal. Bones will goad them back here into the tunnel. Stay behind me and Bones, attack them with all you have when they get into your range.”

Hopefully, the Capitan was as dumb as its subordinates that had attacked us previously… I stepped closer to the part of the tunnel Jane had detonated her fireball in. I stretched my hands upwards and let my magic do its work. I built a funnel-like structure all around it, only one goblin would be able to walk through at a time. Its length around twelve feet. I had created a man-made chokepoint.

I layered the spell, enforcing my structure, empowering it to withstand the hardest attacks.

‘Little Brother, get them!’

I felt my roots fill to the brim one after the other as I forced more energy into it, bending the spell to my will.

This was going to hurt.

Sudden noise from the gateroom informed me of the impending battle, Bones had engaged the enemy. Would he succeed in luring them back?

Root number thirty-two saturated.

Not long later, the little four-armed skeleton came sprinting into the tunnel.

Yes! He got them all!

Root number thirty-eight full.

“Aron, what are you doing?! the funnel won’t be strong enough, let alone you keeping it up for the time needed to kill the goblins! They will break it!”

Luana’s panicked voice reached my ears as she, Jane and Erik shot their spells as quick as they could at the incoming enemies. The explosions didn’t slow them in the least. But they didn’t need to. The spells had another purpose and they fulfilled it splendidly. Nobody heard the groaning and splintering of the rocks all around us as my tendrils drilled into the already damaged walls and ceiling.

Root number forty-one reached its limit.

“Aron?! You are bleeding out of your eye-sockets?!”

I switched partially to my combat persona and willed myself to keep channeling my spell as the routines did their work.

Vessel integrity is deteriorating rapidly. Implementing countermeasures. Sidestepping pain-receptors. Rerouting energy from non-critical systems.

I spit out a mouthful of blood and forced my attention back to the deteriorating situation.

A second later, my speedy brother screeched to a halt next to me.

“Brace for impact!”

“What?!” My teammates were now in full panic mode.

The goblins had reached the funnel, every one of them entered.

Blood leaked out the side of my mouth as I smiled. It colored my teeth red. My right hand fell, detaching the anchors and most of the spell. The magic structure splintered into pieces. All but the rightmost part of the funnel vanished. And so did the goblins, buried by the down crushing rocks and gravel.

I felt an immense amount of energy fill my core. My plan had worked. The remnants of my shield-spell were intermixed with the falling gravel and had crushed our enemies. The dungeon had awarded me the energy for the kills. I immediately used a part of it to heal myself, but pathway injuries were tricky.

I- Turning my body to the side, I vomited blood and went down on my right knee. Still, my left hand remained above, holding up the last part of the spell. I didn’t have much time anymore.

“Stop gawking! Grab Manor! Use the tunnel I have left open to get to the other side! I can’t hold it much longer!” The part of the spell that had remained changed from a wall to a tight corridor, securing us an escape through the collapse.

My teammates awoke from their stupor. Erik and Jane quickly took care of Manor while Luana grabbed my right arm and slung it over her shoulder. She forced my failing body through the narrow gap my spell held open for us. As soon as we reached the other side, I ended it. The rest of the corridor came down, closing off the passage. Luana let go of my arm as we all looked back.

Completely spent, I fell to my knees. My sight blurry, I tried to focus. Damn, I shouldn’t have forced that much mana through my roots. I had emptied my entire core. It hadn’t come without cost. My body was a mess, the experience energy had healed it partially, but it couldn’t heal everything. I needed a healer.

“Luana, I hope you can take care of the rest…” Finished with my sentence, I lost consciousness. My lifeless body fell to the side, coming to rest on the hard stone floor.

______

POV Luana Nightshield

Luana was still in shock when Aron’s body fell, coming to a halt close to her feet. Before she could react, Bones materialized between them and gazed at her threateningly. She took a step back. In response, the skeleton relaxed.

It grabbed its master and lifted him into a comically-looking princess carry. Bones’ four arms were just long enough to let the monster succeed.

Aron would be alright. His strange skeleton was taking care of him.

Still numb from the event, Luana turned to the rest of her party. Jane and Erik had used the time to check on Manor.

Maybe she could help them? Absentmindedly, she wondered about the disappearance of the little skeleton. Where had it been when she had carried Aron through the narrow passage? She could have used its help!

She shook her head, Manor was dying. She needed to focus! Was she still in shock?

“Jane, how’s the situation?”

“He is getting weaker by the second, we need to get him to a healer!” Jane poured another healing potion into her fellow member’s mouth, not that it would help much, she had already used too many on him.

“Lift him, we have to go!”

The portal glowed white as the bloodied and exhausted group made their departure.

_______

Teacher Monrose

Teacher Monrose sat on a chair next to the portal. Since the dungeon had behaved erratically, he had opted to stay close. The chance was slim for another disaster, like what had happened to poor Aron and Anna. The dungeon normally preferred to hunt down energy-richer prey. So statistically speaking, nothing should happen to his students. Especially after Aron had already been involved in a dungeon attack.

Teacher Monrose hadn’t told his students, but he felt quite satisfied with their progress. They were one of the better batches he had taught so far. So, most likely nothing would ha- the portal turned on.

They were early! As he had said, they were above average! He would give them some contribution points. Not much, but it would go a long way to empower their motivation. They would push themselves even further.

One last sip of tea to lubricate his vocal cords. He would welcome them with an elaborate speech. It was important to impress potential future famous- Monrose spit the tea out. His students had arrived. But instead of a group of proud heroes in the making, a bloody ragtag of a team greeted him. Two of them were unconscious. One missed an arm! The wound had already started to fester.

“Teacher Monrose! Help!”

What had happened to his students!?