Chapter 14
“That took all of my mana,” Tom said. “I won’t be able to claim anything else until I recover, unless we find the core.”
“That’s fine. You’ve claimed a very useful minion, I think,” Antoine said, stepping into the room proper for the first time. “What is your name, beast?”
“I am Lo,” the Korgoath answered. “I will serve. Do not slay me.”
“More intelligent than I was expecting,” Antoine admitted. “How many others are in this dungeon? What levels? Will they fight us or surrender as you did?”
“I am the only one of my kind here,” Lo answered. “It is only me and the others now. I hunt the others. I do not keep count. It changes so fast it is not worth the effort.”
“What sort of creatures are they? What levels?”
“Weaker than I, but dangerous in packs. I was not always the only one of my kind here. They drove me out from the depths. Gnolls, you call them,” Lo answered.
“Gnolls,” Antoine spat. He pulled a new sprig of his chewing herb from its pouch and put it under his lip. “What levels are they?” he repeated.
“Greater than six. Less than twelve,” Lo answered.
“Come on, we shouldn’t leave the others alone very long,” Antoine said, motioning the others to follow him. Despite his confidence in his Claim Skill, Tom was wary of turning his back on the creature, so he motioned for Lo to proceed in front of him.
The sound of evil laughter reached them through the narrow hallway, and Antoine cursed. He dashed forward, ducking low to avoid bumping his head on the ceiling. Lo chased right after him. Tom emerged from the corridor just in time to see Jessica melt two gnolls with her magic. The flash of magic and the screams of the gnolls caused the rest of the attacking party to give the girl from Earth plenty of space, the remaining five of the monsters going after Sevin instead. Sevin kept them at bay with his spear, and he nearly impaled Lo when the Korgoath tackled one of the gnolls and began savaging the creature with teeth and savage claws.
Tom was expecting the level one hundred six Hero to wade into the melee and put a stop to it, but aside from stepping aside to let Lo through, once Antoine was back at the junction, he simply stood by and watched the fight.
After a pause to recover from her first spell, Jessica launched another flaming attack, her liquid fire sticking to and incinerating two more of the gnolls, which died screaming. One of the surviving gnolls turned to flee, only for Lo to pounce on it from behind. Sevin took care of the final enemy, spearing it in the chest when it got too close.
Everything happened so fast. Not even a minute had passed since Tom had first heard the gnolls’ laughter. He hadn’t even done anything except for chase after the others, but Tom found that he was out of breath. His hands were shaking. Part of that, he thought, was the mana exhaustion from Claiming Lo. Another part was adrenaline.
The gnolls had given off a pressure that was unlike that of the low level Burrowers they had fought previously. While the vicious monsters had fought with tooth and claw instead of proper weapons, there was a feral intelligence in their eyes that earlier monsters had lacked. Were it not for Jessica’s magic, the teens might have been overrun, given Antoine’s apparent disinterest in helping them.
“Don’t relax until you’re sure that they’re all dead,” Antoine scolded as the others began coming down from the high of the fight. “The only thing worse than an uninjured enemy trying to claw your throat out is a wounded one that you turned your back on.”
Sevin perked himself back up and responded to the warning by impaling the corpses of the two gnolls that Lo had mauled with his spear. The first of the gnolls didn’t respond, the second one yelped as its attempt to feign death was seen through. Nobody bothered to check Jessica’s kills, her potent magic had left little behind but ashes.
“I don’t think I can do that again,” Jessica admitted. “I’m feeling woozy. According to my interface I ran down to three mana. It seems that two casts of Napalm is my limit.”
“Tom used most of his mana as well, if I’m not mistaken. Let’s retreat back to the entry way to allow you to recover,” Antoine suggested, and the party obeyed. They brought the horses inside the cavern and allowed them to drink from the pool after Antoine confirmed that the water wouldn’t harm them.
Tom felt sort of foolish, simply standing around inside of a dungeon, waiting for his mana to tick back upwards. Jessica felt the same, although neither teen said a word about it.
Lo examined his new master's friends. A part of his mind was scornful of them for their weakness, but he pushed that instinct aside. That sorceress had potent magic which would threaten him if she ever turned it his way. Lo was less afraid of the warrior. Then there was the frightful one. Had it not been for the frightful one, he would not have submitted to the magics which now bound his loyalty to his weak master. Were it not for the frightful one, he might even now struggle against the bond which tampered his instincts to rend and tear these children apart. But he knew that the frightful one could kill him with ease, so he would behave. For now.
At first he simply examined the party. But then he Examined them, tapping into his racial and class powers to see their secrets. The young ones had all gained levels from the fight with the gnolls; he could see the experience swirling around them and settling into their souls. The warrior had gained one level, the sorceress two, and Lo’s master had gained one as well.
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That last bit irked him, for it was Lo’s experience which Tom was siphoning away. He felt it even now, the bond between him and his master attempting to tame him and keep him docile. Were he weaker, or were the boy stronger, it might affect him more powerfully. Lo was uncertain how strongly that ability was working on his mind. Perhaps he could push and break the bonds? But no, the boy would notice and sic the frightful one on Lo in punishment.
Lo did not wish to die. That is why when the gnolls had appeared in his lair in force, he had fled towards the surface rather than fight against the overwhelming numbers. The other three of his kind had stayed and fought and died. Lo did not grieve for them; they were weak and foolish compared to himself. Although the deaths of the females would add difficulty to the prospect of claiming a mate. He would have to wait to see if the Dungeon would spawn more of his kind, and if it did not then he was unsure what he would do.
He had been ensconced in the new lair near the surface for two weeks, during which he had paid close attention to the flows of mana in the caverns. He had sensed more of the gnolls being spawned, but none of his own kind with which he could reunite and rally. Perhaps it was for the best that he had been Claimed by this weakling child; he could see the child’s class and its capabilities. That is how he had seen the boy’s intentions when he invaded Lo’s lair. Perhaps the boy could be convinced to Spawn Lo a mate?
The Korgoath considered his options, and decided to accept the ownership bond which had been placed on him. For now. But although the bond whirled at the edge of his mind commanding obedience, he kept within himself a spark of defiance, ready to ignite it into flame should he determine that it was in his interests to do so.
Antoine felt the creature’s examination of his charges, and he considered locking the ability down just to teach Lo a lesson. He was not fooled by the creature’s obsequiousness. The creature was too high level for the dungeon; that meant either that it had migrated in from elsewhere, or it had a successful career of hunting other dungeon creatures in its past. He did not know the limits of Tom’s ability to control monsters, but he suspected that Claim was less effective on intelligent creatures than the nearly mindless dungeon spawn that the boy had been controlling previously. Antoine would keep one eye firmly on the creature for any sign of betrayal, but for now he left the situation as it was.
Lo, for his part, noticed the suspicion of the frightful one, and did his best to make himself seem meek and subdued.
Oblivious to the posturing going on right next to them, the teenagers were discussing their gains from the combat when the sound of evil laughter came from the depths of the cavern once more. They straightened up, and Sevin stepped forward to stand in the narrow part of the passageway.
“I can maybe do one more spell by now,” Jessica announced. “I’m not certain it will be full strength, though. I’m still getting used to my magic.”
“Just don’t hit me with it,” Sevin said. “The corridor is narrow enough that the Korgoath and I should be able to block it up. Unless Antoine wants to just slaughter everything for us like he did before.”
“If I did that, you wouldn’t gain any experience,” Antoine said calmly. “I’ll step in if it looks like you’re getting over your heads. Be grateful you have a safety net.”
Before they could do much more strategizing, the gnolls attacked. Eight of them, but they could only come two at a time in the narrow confines. Ignoring the strategy Sevin had suggested, Lo leapt over the heads of the oncoming group to harry them from the rear. Sevin cursed and adjusted his stance to attempt to block the oncoming swarm of gnolls in the passageway by himself. He scored a lucky strike and impaled the lead gnoll in the chest as it charged forward. The blow was immediately fatal, and with his reflexes enhanced by his class and level upgrades, he was able to keep the spear from getting stuck in the corpse.
A bright flash filled the cavern and the laughter of the gnolls turned to screams as two of them were incinerated by Jessica’s Napalm spell. The magic demoralized the attackers and, not realizing that she had only fumes left in the tank, half of them turned to flee, only to find their way blocked by Lo, who let out a fierce growl, keeping them in place with fierce nips and slashes of his front claws.
Recognizing the hunter in the dark, the predator that had been picking off their clansmen in ones and twos since they had claimed the depths, the gnolls were further demoralized. Taking a chance, two decided to push through the soft-skinned humans to flee to the surface and hide in the forest. One met its end on Sevin’s spear, but the other got through.
The other tackled Tom. The monster slashed at him with its dirty claws, tearing his shirt and leaving gouges on his face. Tom stabbed it with his dagger, but it knocked the blade out of his hand after the second stab. Wrestling with it, he felt his skill sitting there, waiting to be used. So he used it, Claiming the monster. It paused it’s attempts at mauling him, huffing. Tom was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he was flooded with a deluge of blood, the copper taste filling his mouth. He looked up at the headless gnoll, realizing that Antoine had beheaded the thing in his defense. He pushed it away.
By the time he had stood up, Sevin and Lo had finished off the remaining gnolls that were still trapped between them. Tom spat out the monster’s blood and considered the carnage around him. Once again the battle had been over in seconds, and it left his heart thumping out of control. He spat again.
He considered complaining that Antoine had killed the gnoll he had claimed, but decided on the wiser course of keeping silent. Although he was once more nearly out of mana, he understood that the Hero had made a split second decision of whether or not to step in. That it had been made after Tom had been injured escaped his notice.
“Come on,” Antoine said, motioning Tom to follow him outside. “Gnoll claws can cause nasty infections. We need to get your wounds cleaned as soon as possible.”
Tom nodded and followed to where the horses were waiting, jittery from the sounds of combat. Antoine calmed them with a reassuring and steadfast presence before digging into his pack to retrieve his first aid kit.