Riding the amp from my just-heightened attributes, I strode forward to meet the huge arachnid monsters. I once again considered whether my attributes were affecting my mentality beyond simple confidence as I stared down the incoming monsters. Realistically, it was impossible to tell if I had been desensitised or if I had moved past being scared via self-belief. The fact I could have these calm thoughts was a testament to my growth, I just wasn’t sure whether it was in a good direction. I checked the cage around my Spirit Well and took a handful for later use.
Before I could ruminate any longer, the fighting began with a shockwave of chitin and wood. The Jingu Bang drummed a fierce percussion as the first Scorpion Prince lost its momentum against my response. Behind me, the air sang with mana from Merownis’ longer ranged response. As the flow of battle between myself and the first prince found a rhythm, we were interrupted by more. Just a few hours ago it had taken Merownis and I together to take out a prince safely. Now there were four attacking at once.
The first three were silver, as the initial attacker had been. The final enemy appeared slower, a golden sheen to its exoskeleton. It didn’t take a genius to know that one would be stronger. Accepting the cost, I decided to analyse the room’s worth of enemies.
Monster - Scorpion Prince - Level 25
Monster - Scorpion Prince - Level 27
Monster - Scorpion Prince - Level 28
Elite Monster - Scorpion King - Level 30
“Ah, fuck.” I was stronger than I had been in the first fight, but not enough to contain them all. This was going to get messy. The existence of “elite” monsters was a new one, and not particularly welcome right now. It looked strong, so I didn’t need the added threat of some System malarkey thrown in.
“They’re using magic!” Merownis shouted, drawing my attention. The first Scorpion Prince, level 25, was pushed back into the tighter tunnel at this point and I let the autonomous Jingu Bang hold it off while I figured out what to do. The other pair of silver princes had begun to kick up the dust storms which obfuscated and protected them. The cavern we fought in was large, but with this many sizable opponents and effects, it was beginning to feel cramped.
Over the next ten seconds, we were pushed back by presence and size alone. Before I could leave any lasting damage on the weaker prince with my staff alone, I was forced back by a charging cloud. I dodged its rush with a jump to the side, barely managing to get the Jingu Bang in between myself and the whipping tail which swung around. As the scorpion hit the wall of the cavern, it struck. My dodge left me off-balance and I was thrown backwards with no protection. Almost.
I slowed myself in the air with a Mana Shield. The construct came directly from my back, and with the speed I moved it was smashed immediately, but it was enough to stop me from turning Merownis into paste with my body alone. Instead, he caught me and my landing was much smoother. Unable to be proud of my new application of magic, I stood shoulder to shoulder with the Sundercat and judged the situation.
While I was more than capable of destroying the standard Giant Scorpions by the cavernful, they were a weak creature. Their strength was in their swarming numbers to the point the individual was feeble. If all the scorpions were an army, these were the generals, and they bucked that trend. Individually powerful, they were perhaps too much all at once. It wasn’t looking good. “We need to change the battlefield,” I complained, backing into the nearest tunnel.
The Sundercat nodded. “How do we do that?” A constant stream of Magic Missiles was being launched from the air around Merownis. While it wasn’t enough to hurt the princes or the Scorpion King, it served to slow them down a little. Between my strength, speed and the skill housed in the Jingu Bang, we were able to retreat carefully and without taking damage.
“Leave that to me. On my signal, bolt for the next cavern.” With a quick flick of my wrist a pair of heavy Mana Bolts formed. Timing our attacks wordlessly, the Party Leader connection informing our movements, I aimed for the exact moment a salvo of the weaker Magic Missiles created an opening in the nearest dust cloud.
The dense orbs fell through the air silently, belying the destruction contained within. I had put a little extra oomph in those, and they were as effective as I expected. Together with the analysis of their levels, these attacks brought my total mana below three quarters full. Like an eraser tool used on the world, everything the Mana Bolts touched was deleted. As this was my first use of the attack in this battle, the enemies hadn’t learned to avoid them yet.
They knew now.
The level 27 Scorpion Prince wailed in pain, the sound less alien than the standard arachnids, and therefore, much more awful. Instead of the screeching hiss its brethren loosed, this was one of genuine distress and pain. My stomach turned, but I lobbed another bolt for good measure as I did. This one was crushed apart by the golden claw of the Scorpion King, but I grunted in satisfaction all the same. I was glad to have forced the thing to make the first move, even if that was a casual swipe to destroy a potent attack.
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I had better, anyway.
“Move it!” The echoing call from behind me was heeded and I threw up three layers of Mana Shield in the tunnel behind me. They weren’t anything more than an easily destroyed obstacle, but each one caused a roar of rage from the charging procession as they crashed into each other. They might be simple to remove, but they caused an angry pile up between the stupid creatures. I chuckled as I placed another Mana Shield on the exit and dashed to the centre of the cavern. “So?” Merownis asked, “what’s the plan?”
“Bringing the roof down,” I answered casually, focusing on controlling my mana more than making Merownis feel safe. Only one of those things was possible, after all. I vaguely heard him panicking, but I ignored it. If he had a better plan, he would have said it already.
I created a Mana Bolt. This was not a simple bundle of mana, however. This was a special bolt, much like the one which slew Master Thorn. Into that attack, I had poured desperation and my need to survive. It had been a learning experience, but that application was an ideal for the Mana Bolt. The skill wanted to destroy, so when the intent to do just that was added, it became a multiplicative loop of increasing power. This new bolt was not like that. I didn’t ask it for destruction.
I asked it for freedom.
As I released the bolt upwards, the scorpions tore into the room. Literally, in the case of the Scorpion King who had apparently decided to bore straight through the walls. Maybe it had been the source of the tunnels to begin with? If they saw the Mana Bolt, they didn’t seem to care to stop its slow rise. Instead of a throw, the orb of energy had leapt from my hand itself. “Go,” I whispered softly. The Mana Bolt floated upwards slowly.
Merownis was panicking, shooting his own attacks off to hold the scorpions at bay. I assisted with the Jingu Bang, its mutable length and weight coming into effect. With my mana regeneration absorbed by the weapon every second the fight continued, it only became more formidable. As I swung the staff, the tip extended away from me and the metal tip at the end multiplied in weight a dozen times over.
The magic sank into the dirt above us, causing my eyes to widen in surprise. Mana Bolts normally burst on contact, which is what I had expected. Instead, the energy went deep into the earth before detonating. Maybe it was all the practice of trying to control mana in the air or the Spirit held within the attack, but it was with dual perceptions that I watched the mana seep into the hard mud. To my eyes, it vanished. In my magical senses, the roof ignited with cracks.
It was perfect.
Down to below half my mana, I stopped feeding the Jingu Bang. Its work was done for now, and I would need all the mana I could get here. I dove to the side, right into Merownis. He had no defence as we tumbled to the ground and I threw a set of Mana Shields up around us with one of the remaining quarters of my mana pool. With an impossibly loud creaking, the ceiling began to give way. The cracks above began to weeping sand.
I grunted. That was good. If the sand was there, we couldn’t be too deep. Large chunks of debris began to fall and I snapped my head around at the sensation which crawled over my skin. The stale air in the room changed quickly, though not because it had opened to the air. Powerful magic erupted on the other side of the wide cavern. The caustic energy felt like spiders crawling over my arms and I could only dismay as the scorpions gathered into a compact pile around the Scorpion King. “What the hell is it doing?” I demanded.
My answer came as the collapsing ceiling above met the Mana Shields. Both sets. Mine buckled, but we were half in a tunnel and the damage was mainly over the scorpions. My hopes that the falling roof would crush the bugs was, itself, squashed as a dome of magical protection far beyond anything I could create came into existence. “It seems,” Merownis answered unhelpfully, “the gold one is a capable spellcaster.”
Biting my scathing reply, I told Merownis what we were going to do. “Get ready to run. You won’t be able to keep up, so just try your best.” I didn’t wait for him to complain about the implicit slight. It wasn’t meant to be insulting. It was just a fact. I dropped the Jingu Bang into the open maw of the Xaverweave Pouch before grabbing a handful of his neck fur in one hand and throwing the other around his waist. Then I began running forward, despite the Sundercat’s protest.
Haste.
The world turned grey and the sand began to hang in the air. I had to be careful when I moved, both to avoid the shrapnel in the air and to stop Merownis’ fur from ripping out as we ran. I was tired of getting ambushed and fighting on the terms of others. The Mana Bolt I released earlier understood that and created the perfect path to escape. I couldn’t have possibly planned the way the rocks fell, but it was immaculate. I brought all of my attributes to bear to perform this feat, even activating Tracking to help follow the patterns in the falling ceiling. With four quick, bounding hops, I launched Merownis and I into the falling sand above.
He began clawing upwards, and I did the same. I no longer had any faith that the scorpions had taken any damage from the collapse of the cavern, but as we pushed out of the sand and into the fading sunlight, I couldn’t be anything other than grateful. Taking blessed gulps of fresh, albeit arid air, we began moving. “Stay ready,” Merownis warned, looking behind us, “the fight’s not over.”
Gritting my teeth after a quick look at my health and mana pools, I took the staff from the pouch with a pat to thank it for its help. It sputtered out some sand but otherwise remained still. After a thought, I removed Severance and threw it to Merownis. He looked at me with a tilt of his head as if to say I don’t really use swords, though? I just shrugged. It was a good sword. The sound of burrowing below us got louder. “Here they come,” I warned.
Underground, it was impossible not to get surrounded, but we could control the terrain better above ground. In the distance, I could see the forest zone, and we headed in that direction while keeping ourselves ready. Of course, they wouldn’t let us get that far. Breaching through the surface like angry, armoured whales, the scorpions arrived. With an explosion of sand and the chimeric screeches of the Scorpion Princes, the second round began.