“I Summon First Aspect of Phoenix,” Aern'Lenninisal shouted. Flames roared to life from the semitransparent construct. The Night Jackal was caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the four stride high bird. The dog-like creature was busy trying to get around my barricade when a flaming beak pierced its side.
I put another hole under the things front paws with [Local Portal], and took a step backward to give myself some room. That things jaws were too close for my comfort. This time it caught itself as it was falling. It had one paw on the lip of my [Portal] as the other one flailed about in the air looking for something solid to stand on. I had put all the Spell Power in duration, and the narrow opening gave the Night Jackal a chance.
The second attack from the phoenix took it away. The midnight colored canine's head hit the ground again, as its legs finally went through the [Portal]. I started wailing on it with [Force Punch]. The bird went for a hind leg, picking it so far the head went further through hole. I had to change the direction I was attacking, as the head was sticking down from the other [Portal] opening I put directly above the first one.
We were winning! Until the next two Night Jackals came out out of the same tunnel that first one had emerged from. A tendril of [Darkness] reached out from the two new monsters and reached out to connect to the jackal in front of us.
“Run,” I yelled. Aern'Lenninisal hesitated for a moment, but then took off. His Summon stayed and began engaging the approaching monsters. A phoenix looks a lot like swan. It has a big head at the end of a long neck. Instead of a bill it has a sharp beak. It started screeching and flapping its wings. The Night Jackals homed in on it. I used the distraction to run after Aern'Lenninisal down the rocky sloped tunnel we had come up.
He had stopped at the bottom and turned around. As I sped toward him, he yelled, “I must dismiss her soon or she will cease to exist. To where can we flee?”
The biggest problem with Summons was that if they died, they didn't come back. Instantiated constructs that came from casting Spells weren't limited that way. Aern'Lenninisal's Phoenix construct could be recovered by going back to the Shrines that allowed him to call it, but that would mean we would be without something to tank monster attacks for us.
“There's a big pool of water with an underwater passage to a different tunnel. Maybe they can't swim,” I said.
“Lead on. I will release the Phoenix in three...two...one,” he said.
We ran as together as soon as he finished his countdown. I was faster than my elven friend, so I jogged quickly enough to stay ahead of him, but not to fast too leave him behind.
“Do you think you can swim,” he asked as we ran.
“Yes,” I barked back in between gulps of air.
“I do not believe I can. I never learned, ” he said as he looked back.
I saw the jackals down the tunnel. There was a cloud of [Darkness] flowing over them as they ran. It must have taken them a few seconds to figure out we had fled. They were gaining quickly, but we were so close.
“We're almost there,” I shouted.
“Dive in and grab on,” Aern'Lenninisal replied.
“Grab on to what,” I asked.
He didn't answer directly.
Just before he reached the pool, he yelled, ““I Summon First-” and then lept into a arching dive into the pool, finishing off with, “-Aspect of Leviathan!”
I didn't try to put as much height into my dive. I saw the glowing blue construct from under the surface. My lantern went out as soon as I hit the water, which was ice cold. Leviathan looked like a thick sea snake with flippers and the head of a crocodile. It reach back at me with a flipper and pulled me against it's body. I grabbed the flipper and the Summon shot forward. I could feel the water rush by me as if I was in a gale force wind. In a few seconds it was rolling me out of the water. The blue-green glow of the Summon winked out and I splashed down into the water when it stopped supporting me.
I tried treading water in the pitch black, but I kept sinking down. The water felt thin. It didn't have the same weight or viscosity I remembered. Oh yeah. I was now twice as dense as I used to be. No wonder I kept sinking.
I eventually gave up, held my breath, and started walking. I only stumbled once before I reached a shore.
I called out, “Aern'Lenninisal! Are you all right?”
“I am well,” he replied.
I couldn't see anything, but I could read the little blue box that popped up in front of me.
You made a promise in front of a god not to let your balls get cold. Until they are comfortable again this debuff will remain.
You are suffering a debuff of 20% to all Statistics.
You are not happy with yourself. Experience earned is reduced by 50%.
When did I- Instant and perfect recall of everything that happened when in the presence of a god on Elfandrael kicked in. Near the end of my conversation with Celestium, I was catching a chill while I was sitting naked on the floor. I had muttered under my breath, “I promise I'll never let my balls get this cold again.” Compared to having to wear nothing but boxers and go barefoot all the time, I'd say I got off pretty easy.
My lantern was somewhere on the bottom. I pulled out a torch and lit it with [Create Flame].
Aern'Lenninisal was sitting on the opposite side of the pool.
“Should we [Recall] and seek help,” he asked.
“We would need to wait a full month before it recharged. Neither one of us should be down here without the option to run. Worst case scenario I'll use [Living Components] to burn enough XP to get us to the nearest Shrine with [Local Portal]. I'm not wasting that much Experience if we can walk out of here,” I responded.
He nodded. I called up [Map]. The only Shrine on this Level was nearer to the entrance to the floor. The width of a Tier 1 Dungeon is the Level in leagues. Level 8 meant eight leagues, so we had a long way to go. At full speed we could have run it a few minutes, but that was reckless. I wasn't going to pull a train that might get someone else killed. I also didn't want to get on the main pathway this close to where we saw the Night Jackals. They might be there already.
I shivered and then replaced all my clothes with a new set from [Personal Wardrobe]. My other set of moccasins were black instead of brown. It did matter much. What did the trick was a new set of underwear.
Your balls are warm again. You are suffering a debuff of 10% to all Statistics. This debuff will remain for the same duration of time as it took you to warm your balls.
After less than a minute the debuff disappeared.
We took a side path that would connect back up with central roadway, but we didn't get very fare.
Arachna webbing
This webbing has a low level stunning [Poison] in addition to its [Entangle] property. At first it numbs the skin, but prolonged exposure will build up a [Paralysis] condition. The webbing is flammable but burning it aerosolizes the [Poison].
The hallway on the [Map] continued straight ahead, but we couldn't see more than a two or three strides into the webbing. I brought out my [Astral Grimoire] and tried casting [Local Portal] using full mana. With all my bonuses from School and Spell Masteries I had a reach of ten strides. The Spell fizzled.
“This webbing extends for at least ten strides,” I said.
“That is not what concerns me. All species of Arachna are sapient,” he said gravely.
“So its the Floor Boss from the end of Level 9. A Level 10, Tier 2 Floor Boss is roaming around here,” I said.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Aern'Lenninisal couldn't leave well enough alone. “At the least. For the Night Jackals to be here, they must have come from Level 10 or deeper. Their origin is on the other side of the Arachna.”
“I don't like being herded by a monster, but lets see if we can make it to the main pathway,” I said.
“Would it not be better to leave with your Spell,” he asked.
“Maybe, but there might be people that need saving. I still don't want to waste all that XP,” I answered.
He didn't nod this time, but he did follow me.
----------------------------------------
It took twenty minutes but we made it back to the main pathway. It was in the center of a large cavern. There were small pathways high above the central road at the edge of cavern. We exited from our tunnel onto one of the high pathways. The light of my torch easily reached across the sixty stride wide cavern, but petered out into an ominous black hole in each direction of the road. The [Map] told me that this cavern continued at about this width for at least two leagues.
I whispered, “No sign of the jackals. Let's stay up high. These pathways are narrow. I'd hate to get surrounded and mobbed down there.”
Aern'Lenninisal nodded, and we started sneaking as best we could with a torch. I was putting off [Infravision] until Tier two and I was regretting it now.
We got about two hundred strides when I hit the tripwire. It snapped and ground below us fell away in a landslide. Webbing pulled itself taut out a of a thin cover of sand. We landed on it and stuck! It wasn't touching my skin very much, but I was starting to go numb in a few places.
You are [Entangled] and [Immobilized]. You have been [Poisoned] and are losing feeling in your hands.
I called out my shortsword and started cutting the spiderweb. In the distance I heard the barks of Night Jackals. A lot of Night Jackals. I got through three major strands of the Arachna webbing before the first of the Pack came out of the darkness.
The shadows pulsed and shifted, as if alive. The [Darkness] roiled with variation. It went from a pure pitch black to dim and hazy. Staring at one spot would only let me know something was probably there, but is was virtually impossible to make [Identifications]. The twisting effect the Night Jackals were having on the [Darkness] and shadows in the cavern meant that a rock or ledge in front of me would be visible for moment before a patch of pure [Darkness] would flow over my view in that area. It was like a blanket of Swiss cheese made of midnight was dancing across my vision.
A patch of [Darkness] swirled out the way to reveal a Night Jackal launching at me from above me and to my right. I caught it under the chin with my shortsword. It didn't even have time to whimper. A shot to the brain doesn't care about Health Points.
I went back to cutting myself free and said, “They're not hard to kill if you can see them.”
“And how many can you see,” Aern'Lenninisal asked sarcastically.
“I'm working on it,” I said defensively.
I squirmed a bit, trying to get at the strands above my head. I finally got through and fell the few inches to the ground once the web trap collapsed. I heard growling from over to my left. It sounded fairly close, but it wasn't a small group. I got to my knees. The light from my torch seemed more like cigarette lighter.
I couldn't see it in the [Dark], but the feeling was very distinctive. The [Fear] kept building. I thought, Jackals don't use-nope. Aern'Lenninisal fell after we collided. I landed with a thud. I looked up to see a slobbering maw lunging at me. I-nope. I scrambled up and ran. I felt [Cry of Souls] trigger and-nope. It was time to nope.
Noping can really wear you out. It's exhausting. But if you really want to nope, you have to focus on the noping. I put one hand over the other, and started up the cliff face. I was gonna nope with the best of them. Aern'Lenninisal screams from below were a little distracting, but it wasn't enough to take my focus away from the noping. Him clawing at my legs while I was standing on his face almost caused me look down, but I did it! I noped!
The edge of the pathway let me get grip so I could-nope. It was time to nope. I had almost reach the top when-
You have exited the zone of [Fear]. You are no longer under the effect of the Night Jackal Pack.
You hear the Cry of Souls and know the need!
I remembered where I was. I remembered. My friend needed help. He needed someone to pull the Night Jackals off of him. He needed the pain and bleeding to stop. There was a need for [Armor of Justice] and with a shout I was invulnerable. I remembered that their was need for an
Dozens of Night Jackals had the need to look at me. They couldn't help it. Most howled in anguish. They might as well have been staring at the noon-day sun. They winced in pain, but couldn't look away. I remembered Aern'Lenninisal needed to know that he could depend on a human. His face relaxed as he saw me descending. Another need met. The Jackals that had been tearing at my friend's body, now had a need to fight me. I landed in a power pose. I could do that because there was no need to worry about taking damage from falling. I was invulnerable.
“Get away,” I screamed.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him stand an then shout, “I'm not getting outside of that aura of yours.”
“Back up,” shouted.
Thankfully he started moving away.
I needed my Greek Fire in my right hand it materialized from [Inventory]. Then it needed to be broken over the the skull of a Jackal and it was. I pulled more Greek Fire, one after the other. I slung it all around covering as many I as I could. Finally I was overwhelmed. They swarmed over me. I was stronger than each of them individually, but their was more than one Grappling each limb. I took no damage thanks to [Armor of Justice]. The glow from it was nice. The light from [Create Flame] was beautiful in comparison.
The fire almost exploded as the fumes coming off the Greek Fire had filled the air. The flames did nothing to me, but the oxygen was sucked away and smoke seeped into my nose and mouth. I held my breath as the Night Jackals started running away. It was the wrong way to deal with [Fire], but I don't think they would have listened to me anyway.
Once the [Fire] afflicted left, another set of jackals attacked. I started slinging more Greek Fire.
“I Summon the First Aspect of Phoenix,” Aern'Lenninisal announced.
The bird started spewing [Fire] in narrow jet from its beak. It seared everything but me, even though I was caught of in the wash of its attack. My Greek Fire ignited easily. Another set of the mutts broke away.
I stepped further into the scrum and got dogpiled by Jackals. There were Night Jackal hanging all over me. I had one on each limb, two on my left leg. It was hard, but not impossible to stab. The Jackals were heavy, but my Strength was ridiculous at this point. Eventually I was bowled over by a wave of [Lawful Evil] Monsters gone berserk.
“Are you injured,” Aern'Lenninisal called out in panic.
“I'm fine. It doesn't even tickle. How are you doing,” I replied from the bottom of the pile.
He shouting from a good ways off. I could barely hear him over the constant yapping of these annoying bitches. “They are ignoring me and my Summon.”
“Bring it then,” I said.
I pulled out another Greek Fire and I didn't even have to light it. The flame from the Phoenix set it off inside the vial. It covered me with the sticky combustible, but it didn't hurt. [Armor of Justice] was too much for it. I started fling the goop on the jackals near me. It was effective to the point that almost as soon as they to got close enough to attack they started running away on [Fire].
Some didn't even wait to catch fire. A pass of the flame throwing Phoenix sent them running. It didn't seem to care about lighting me up as well. I looked over to see him smiling.
“You're enjoying this entirely too much,” I quipped as his Summon's attack hit me again
“You stepped on my face. I am only seeking [Balance],” he said sincerely.
The smell of burning Jackal was not pleasant. They didn't go down quickly, but he was chasing them off faster than me. I wiggled away the from the mass of bodies covering me. They didn't want to get closer to the Phoenix
“I'm out of Greek Fire, and [Armor of Justice] only has two minutes left on it. I don't think we could face that Arachna Floor Boss even I had that left. I need to get another league closer to the Shrine to open a [Portal] to it. I say we run,” I suggested.
“I have heard that suggestion before,” he said with friendly sneer.
I started running and he followed. The Phoenix took flight. It strafed the jackals a bit before following behind us. I didn't need a torch because I was the torch. Remnants of my last Greek Fire covered my arms and my chest. I hoped running would burn it away faster, but it just wouldn't quit. I pulled out a towel and started wiping myself down. I saturated the towel enough to have it catch on [Fire]. I dropped it and pulled another towel out. [Inventory] made me a hoopy frood factory.
A pack of wargs waited for us in the middle of the road. I stopped and started casting [Local Portal]. They started falling to pieces. The few that made it to me didn't last long before the Phoenix came up behind me and lit them up. We took off again. The next group was Fiendish Fire Beetles. The Phoenix wasn't much help. They were resistant to [Fire] and their carapaces where tough. I had to cut them all in half myself.
[Armor of Justice] cut out right after I killed the last one. I screamed as my hair caught on [Fire]. I pulled a waterskin out and poured it over my head. That cooled my head off but didn't put it all out. I pulled out a towel and smothered it.
I pulled out a torch and lit it.
“Does that Title mean what it I think it means,” Aern'Lenninisal asked.
“If you think it means I'm godspoken, then yes. I would appreciate it you kept it a secret. Some people go a little crazy when they find out.”
“Of course. I will respect your wishes. If you had been a little a more open about it, we would not have fallen victim to the [Fear Aura] of the pack. You should consider how you could to use it against our opponents. Monsters in the Dungeon, petty bureaucrats, my mother. There are lots of uses.
“That's pretty cold. The thing about your mother,” I said.
“Yes. I get that from her,” He replied.
I looked around at the piles of dead beetles, and said, “I think I'm close enough. Come over here.
He dismissed the Phoenix and approached. I made a full casting of [Local Portal] amped up by [Living Components]. I felt 3,300 XP slide away. The [Portal] opened below us and we fell into the Shrine that was over three leagues away. I changed out my Title for
It took a while to get to the Level 1 Shrine. The next casting opened up at the entrance to the [Chaotic Dungeon]. Two human guards stood on the other side of the small [Portal] I made.
“There's a Dungeon break on Level 8. Night Jackals and an Arachna,” I said after I returned my [Flow] of time to the base level.
“Who are you,” one guard asked.
The [Portal] closed.
“Good enough,” I asked Aern'Lenninisal.
“We have done our duty,” he responded.
“Time to leave then,” I said, opening a [Portal] to an above ground Shrine.