Chapter Eighty-Nine - Down to Earth

Three bursts of Insight did... nothing to help. There were still three wyverns hovering just above the pillars filling the room.

Where had the other two come from?

It was only when I ducked to avoid one of them that I noticed the black mark on its side. A mark left when Amaryllis blasted the original Wyvern. A mark that I quickly noticed on the other two dragon-like beasties.

“Ah,” I said.

An illusion then? Or a power that allowed the wyvern to split apart into copies of itself? I was thinking the former, we had seen some illusion stuff in this dungeon already, it made sense that the boss would have something similar going for it.

Which meant that we had to pick out the real wyvern and bring it down.

Somehow.

I crouched down, trying to make myself unnoticeable as I looked from one wyvern to the next. I shifted my grip on my spade, hands sweaty and nervous. The three all looked the same, that is, until one of the wyverns shifted and started casually flying my way and I noticed something sticking out of its chest.

One of Awen’s crossbow bolts.

The other two didn’t have the same mark on them.

“Gotcha,” I said before jumping up and above the wyvern.

The monster shifted, its mouth opening wide even as it turned in mid air to get a better angle to chomp me with. Eyes widening, I watched twin rows of serrated glass teeth closing down around me.

There was no changing direction in mid-air.

I brought my spade around, placing it vertically in the wyvern’s mouth just as it started to close its mouth. The wood strained, and I heard a very distressing crack. I was a little busy placing my feet on either side of the wyvern’s mouth to really wince at the damage my trusty spade was taking.

My hand shot out and I grabbed the wyvern’s nostril and used it to pull myself up and out of its mouth.

The moment I was out of the monster’s jaws, and clamped around its face like a very rude limpet, there was a loud crunch.

I whipped my head around as I saw the head of my spade, with about half a foot of torn handle, fly past. My spade!

“Rude!” I declared as I tightened my grip on the wyvern’s face. To be fair, riding someone’s face was probably a little rude on my part too, but I think a tiny bit of hypocrisy might be allowable in my situation.

I balled my hand into a fist and punched the wyvern in the eye.

Its head shifted, almost throwing me off as it shut its golden eye and rumbled deep in its throat. It took in a deep breath, its chest expanding and beginning to glow in a way that I did not like. “Oh no, you won’t,” I said.

For all my threats though, there wasn’t too much I could actually do.

So I decided to do my best.

Pulling my knife out of my bandoleer, I held it out and jabbed it into the wyvern’s eye. The steel edge clinked off the glass eye, but it still left a crack and the wyvern roared in displeasure.

Then it rolled over and I squeaked as the world spun around.

We were heading straight at one of the larger pillars.

I put two and two together and came to a result that I didn’t like, not one bit.

I screamed as the wyvern lowered its head and prepared to headbutt the pillar Bun-first. My foot caught on one of the scally ridges on its face, but just as I tried to jump it slipped on the glassy surface.

Terror made my breath catch. If I couldn’t place my feet, then I couldn’t jump. You needed legs to jump.

Did I need legs to jump?

It was with a startled squeak that I launched myself off of the wyvern’s face with a shove of my arms that tossed me a dozen feet into the air.

Below me, the dragon-like beastie crashed into the pillar with a sound like a bull charging a china shop.

I twisted in midair like a very confused cat to land on my feet with a scuff of shoes on rough ground. I was panting, heart beating in my throat as I watched the wyvern slam into the ground just a few meters away. It had a few cracks running across its snout and sternum. The beastie had done more damage to itself than we had managed so far.

It turned golden eyes my way, eyes that were not pleased.

I ‘eeped’ and rolled behind a pillar as its head snapped out and tried to chomp on me. I had just gotten to my feet when the wyvern came around the corner, walking on the middle joints of its huge wings like some sort of nightmare pterodactyl.

The wyvern stomped after me, and like a mouse with a cat on her tail, I ran and weaved into the pillars to try and find some sort of safety.

That’s when I ran past the girls. “Run!” I yelled.

Awen started running right away with her backpack bouncing along behind her, but Amaryllis took a moment to blink at me, then looked towards the Wyvern. She said some very rude and not-kid-friendly words as she took off.

“Split at the next junction,” I said.”Hit it from the sides. Get the wings!” I panted between steps.

“Awa!” Awen agreed.

“Idiot!” Amaryllis also agreed.

They split off to either side when we passed between two pillars and I kept moving in a straight line, wyvern snapping at my backside.

Amaryllis fired off a spell with a whip-crack and a burst of brilliant light, and I heard the ‘twang’ of Awen’s crossbow going off.

The Wyvern roared.

You have heard the screech of a fearsome creature! Your soul is shaken.

My feet both independently decided to go in different directions for a moment and I flopped onto the ground with an ungainly thump.

I shook my head, then looked over my shoulder to see glinting glass teeth rushing towards my head.

Rolling to the side, I avoided becoming half a Bun by a hair. The wyvern didn’t appreciate missing out on its lunch and tried to stomp me down with a wing.

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I rolled the other way.

My position wasn’t exactly sustainable, and it came to a head when the wyvern snapped at me again. It missed, but just barely.

Still, its head was now really close.

Coiling up my legs to my chest, I kicked out as hard as I could and winced as a painful thud ran through my legs.

The wyvern’s head snapped up.

Taking my chance, I rolled backward and got onto the balls of my feet, then shot straight up and into the air. I came down hard atop the beastie’s noggin.

Its head crashed down into the ground with a crunch.

And just like that, I was nearly spent. I landed awkwardly to the side and stumbled over towards the nearest pillar in order to hide.

The wyvern was having none of that. It turned its head my way, opened its mouth, and from its roiling gut came a blast of dusty glass.

I covered my eyes, cleaning magic blasting out towards the breathy attack to push it back. It worked, but wasn’t sustainable.

Mana 48/115

The wyvern paused for just a moment. I thought I was safe, then its attack redoubled and it started to stomp its way closer to me faster than I could backpedal.

Mana 37/115

My back bumped into one of the pillars.

Mana 24/115

My cleaning magic wasn’t catching all of the dusty glass, some of it scoured across my feet or flowed around after hitting the pillar behind me.

Mana 12/115

I took a deep breath and got ready to bounce away as soon as my faltering defences fell.

A beam of pure electrical energy rammed the wyvern in the joint between its body and wings. Glass turned red. The wing folded in on itself and the boss crashed to the ground.

Then a blue blur shot out from behind the pillar. “Don’t, don’t hurt my Broccoli!” Awen screamed as she practically flew at the wyvern’s head.

She had something long and brown in one hand that she placed right between the wyvern’s eyes, then her hammer came racing down.

A dull snap echoed out across the room.

Cracks racked out from the wyvern’s forehead.

Its glowing eyes glared, then turned dull and whatever spark of magic lit them from within faded.

The wyvern’s legs collapsed lifelessly, bringing the entire boss down with a thump that made the ground tremble.

I panted, arms slowly lowering from where I had held them up while casting. Awen was no better, her breathing coming in sharp inhales and exhales.

I laughed, relief warring with the dregs of adrenaline. I wanted to laugh for the rest of my life, or at least the evening. I also had a terrible urge to hug Awen, so I ambled over to her on shaky legs. “It’s dead?” I asked.

The wyvern’s unmoving head seemed to suggest as much, so did the wooden Wand of Cure Hysteria jutting out of its forehead.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Congratulations, you have defeated Dungeon Boss: The Stained Wyvern of Mirrored Paths level 11! For defeating an enemy above your level, bonus exp is gained! For defeating a Dungeon boss, bonus exp is gained! Due to combating as a team your reward is reduced!

“Haha! We did it!”

“Awa,” Awen said.

I glomped her. “You did it! I thought I was a goner there!”

“Awa!” Awen said. She blinked at me, then carefully wrapped her arms around mine and placed her head in the crook of my neck. The poor thing, she must have been terrified at the end there, so I hugged her extra hard to make up for it.

Dungeon Cleared!

All adversaries with The Path of Endless Reflections Defeated.

All Bosses Defeated

Broccoli Bunch, Cinnamon bun, level 8 is awarded the Glass Cannon class.

All class slots filled.

Replace current class with Glass Cannon?

Replacing your current class will reset your level 0.

I laughed and squeezed Awen one last time before stepping back.

Amaryllis walked over to us just as the Wyvern started to break apart and fade away. Her eyes were glossed over a little. “Well, we survived,” she said. “The experience hasn’t... ah, there we are.”

Bing Bong! Congratulations, your Cinnamon Bun class has reached level 9!

Stamina +5

Flexibility +5

You have gained: One Class Point

“Oh! I levelled up!” I said.

Amaryllis nodded, then she gave us a brilliant smile. “As did I.”

“Awa, me, me too. I’m... level ten. Whaa, I didn’t think I would reach this level for a long time.” She stared down at her hands, then a magnificent smile spread across her lips. A smile so big and wide it made her cheeks pinch and her eyes crinkle at the corners. “Thank you, Broccoli!” she said before crashing into me for a big hug.

“Hey, no problem!” I said. “You saved my behind back there, you know!”

Awen pulled her head back a little, her arms still wrapped around mine. “S-still, th-thank you!” she said. Then she pecked me on the cheek before pulling back with a red-faced ‘awa.’

I smiled right back. “Cool! Does this mean you both have class evolutions?” I asked.

“I suppose it does,” Amaryllis said. Her eyes were unfocused as she stared at what was probably her own version of Mister Menu. “I have some of the standard evolutionary paths available. Ah, and I’ve unlocked more general skill slots, of course.”

“Sweet! Do you know what you’ll take?” I wondered. I looked around for a place to sit down and relax a little, now that the fight was over.

“I thought I did, but some of these options are... intriguing. We’ll have to see. I’m not in any hurry.”

“Ah, I... I have one that’s strange,” Awen said. “I... think I might take it.”

“I’m sure you’ll pick the right thing,” I said as I basked in the combined glow of levelling up, of beating a tough fight, and of having awesome friends. Today was a good day.

***