The rest of the first floor swept by as they set what was easily a new record in completion time. Having an extra person just made everything easier, even more so when she was competent and quick to react.
The second and third floors went much the same, with the krok flies being particularly vulnerable to Nepthys, their ungainly flight no match for her fast movements.
By the time they had finished the fourth floor with no injuries, Jake could see that the group had accepted Nepthys, which was a relief. So far, they could have replicated this level of success without her, albeit not at this pace, but he hoped the Challenge was where she would demonstrate her true value to them.
Jake had considered skipping the Challenge, but they’d done it enough now that it wasn’t the danger it had once been. There were still a lot of monsters attacking them, but a lot of it was quite static, so they were able to anticipate where and when they would arrive.
Jake and Karl took up their usual spot at the top of the ramp, where their shields would be the most useful, while Alan and Rhew took up their own positions on either side.
The initial attack of murk rats and krok flies was familiar enough by now that Jake was fairly sure that Alan shot the first one before it was even in sight.
Under normal circumstances, Alan would pull back from the wall, shooting down the final few krok flies as he did, letting Rhew focus on the rats.
This time, however, Alan switched focus to the rats as soon as the remaining handful of krok flies reached them, letting Nepthys slice them from the air one by one.
The single attacker that did manage to get close to Alan slammed into the shield she could conjure, her blade bisecting it a heartbeat later.
As expected, the early success carried over, causing fewer rats to reach them and allowing Jake and Karl to pull back in an orderly manner when the murk hound arrived.
The wolf-sized rat bounded its way up the ramp, being peppered with arrows and Wyrd-conjured ice as it went. The thick hide and iron-like fur that the creature was named for prevented too much damage from being done, but it was bleeding freely from one side by the time it reached the top.
Clearing the top of the ramp with a powerful jump, the murk hound skidded across the floor as it dodged the steady assault of arrows and ice.
As always, the creature circled for openings first rather than committing to an outright attack, but when it did, it moved fast and went directly for Nepthys.
While their newest companion lacked a physical shield, she was by no means defenceless, and the giant rat slammed into a pale grey barrier of Wyrd that Nepthys conjured with a quick motion of one hand.
The shield was barely large enough to cover her torso, and it shattered under the weight of the Enhanced beast’s attack, but the impact stunned the rat for a brief moment, which was all she needed.
With unerring precision, Nepthys’s two blades sought out the creature’s eyes, blinding it without having to penetrate its tough hide or resilient fur.
To Jake’s surprise, Nepthys didn’t press her attack, instead calmly taking several steps back and nodding to Karl, who came in with an empowered strike of his hammer that crushed the creature’s skull.
The Enhanced beast slumped to the floor and was eagerly looted by Karl, who beamed with happiness at their quick victory.
At most, Karl and Jake had a few small scratches between them, which was nothing compared to what they sometimes took to bring down one of the Enhanced beasts.
Even Rhew was grudgingly impressed by Nepthys’s performance, and the utility of her shield Skill wasn’t lost on any of them.
Confident in their success, they finished drawing the remaining Wyrdgeld from the fallen beasts and collected their reward from the chest.
“Everyone ready? Any last-minute questions?” Jake asked as they gathered outside the door to the Guardian floor. His heart was pounding, and his palms were sweaty, but he wasn’t sure if it was apprehension or anticipation.
“I’m ready. Let’s do this,” Karl said, hefting his hammer and grinning broadly at them.
Stolen novel; please report.
Jake waited for a moment in case the others had anything else to add, but it seemed they were as ready as they were going to be. “Alright then, on we go.”
The familiar open cavern of the final fight was as intimidating as ever, but Jake pushed past his memories of the deaths he’d suffered here and started along the outside of the area.
They’d experimented with a few methods of drawing out the murk hounds, and nothing worked quite so well as following the exterior of the room and forcing the hounds to come to them.
Karl took the front, then Rhew, Nepthys, Alan and Jake at the rear. This way, Nepthys was perfectly positioned to help either of them in case of a sudden attack.
It didn’t feel great to have to rely on Nepthys for victory here, but she was at the peak of the first tier, and that didn’t even touch the extra year of experience she had.
Moving carefully along the wall, they watched the darkness warily, past experience telling them that the two murk hounds were there, just out of view, stalking them.
The moment they were waiting for came swiftly, one of the murk hounds charging out of the darkness to leap at Jake, trying to get an easy hit in.
Wary of just such an attack, Jake was able to quickly turn and get his shield into position to block the creature. Thankfully, he didn’t have to take the full hit himself as a flat plane of Wyrd shimmered into existence in front of him, taking the hit for him before shattering.
The full charge had given the murk hound just enough force to carry over through Nepthys’s shield but not enough to make contact with Jake, leaving it out of position and open to attack.
Cutting at the creature’s face, Jake did his best to stay out of the reach of its sharp claws while still keeping it focused on him.
Rhew and Alan peppered the creature with attacks, though Rhew’s ice was far more effective than Alan’s arrows at digging into the creature’s thick hide.
A heavy hit on Jake’s shield knocked him back for a moment, but he was just able to get out of its way before it could latch on, leaving a cut across its face in the process.
A shouted exclamation from behind Jake told him that Karl was already engaging with the other rat, but Jake had no focus to spare as he desperately tried to keep one step ahead of the creature.
The murk hound was unrelenting in its attempt to close in and attack him, which in turn made Jake’s movements erratic and stopped Alan and Rhew from getting clear shots at it.
A squeal of pain came from off to Jake’s right, and he risked a glance to see that Karl had finished off the second hound with Nepthys’s help.
The rat Jake was fighting darted forward, punishing him for his lapse in concentration as it bore him to the ground, claws digging into the wood of his shield as it bit down, ripping the only protection he had apart.
A concentrated clump of icicles slammed into the side of the creature’s jaws as it bit down at Jake’s head, knocking its aim off so that it bit deep into his shoulder instead.
Jake cried out in pain as he tried his best to stab the creature, but between how it was biting down on his shoulder and the weight of it pressed against him, he just didn’t have the leverage.
An abrupt increase of pressure from the hound drove its teeth down further into Jake’s flesh, and the creature itself went lax, slumping down on him and stifling his already laboured breathing.
“Quick, get it off him,” Alan said, his voice sounding distant to Jake as he struggled with the creature.
What Jake could see told him that Karl had caved in the back of the hound’s head, killing it, but in the worst way possible for Jake.
“The bugs are coming. I’ll go help Nepthys!” Rhew called out, leaving Karl and Alan to lever the hound off Jake. As soon as it was off Jake, Alan grabbed his bow and hurried off to help the others, leaving Karl to help him.
“Fuck me, that was heavy,” Karl muttered as he pulled out a potion and liberally poured it over Jake’s arm. “You okay, Jake?”
“Fuck,” Jake groaned, partially in relief as the potion reduced the pain.
“He’s fine,” Karl called out to the others before looking over to see how they were doing and shrugging. “Well, the bugs are in hand. Rhew’s going a bit crazy now that she doesn’t need to conserve anything.”
Karl helped Jake to his feet, the latter being careful not to do much with his arm. All the fighting and all the injuries he’d taken in the last few weeks meant that he was coping with the wound a lot better than he once would have done.
The wound wasn’t Jake’s concern now, though. His pain-addled mind had just caught up with what Karl had said.
Grabbing his sword from where it had been knocked out of his hand as the murk hound was rolled off him, Jake cast his eyes across the sparsely illuminated battlefield and watched as Rhew slaughtered the remaining krok flies.
There was a moment of silence as the final monster died, and they processed the fact that they’d finally done it.
They’d completed the final floor of the Dungeon.
The last few potions were handed out to bring everyone back to fighting condition, just in case, but Nepthys reassured them that the Dungeon was complete.
Gathering at the far side of the cavern, Jake watched eagerly as Karl opened the chest, waiting for them.
“Huh, not what I was expecting, that’s for sure,” Karl said as he pulled out a pair of the Wyrd-infused wooden branches they sometimes received.
“Damn, don’t knock it. That’s another forty Wyrdgeld to split,” Rhew said, her face lighting up as she saw their reward. “That’s thirty-two each split five ways.”
“I’ll wave my split for this delve and the next,” Nepthys said with an absent wave of one hand. “Consider it my thanks for letting me join the group.”
“Of course,” Rhew said with a bright smile. “That’s forty each, then.”
“Let’s get back to the inn before we start splitting the loot,” Jake said, nodding to the door out, which was bracketed by two flaming torches.
A nervous energy grew in Jake as he watched the rest of the group hurry out of the Dungeon.
This was going to be the moment where it would all change, and that was terrifying.
Taking a deep breath, Jake walked hurriedly into the unknown.