Aven’R rolled to her left to dodge a stream of fire. The Scourge told them they would be fighting demons — but she expected him to summon a demon or two for them to fight. She was not expecting a trip to hell itself — or hells, for that matter.
The wizard said Baelneroth’s forces were diverse. He said they needed to train against different demons to increase their efficiency. She thought it was strange that he focused on efficiency instead of survival. He also failed to mention that all their training would be done in a single day.
Siege and Gwin were the first to experience the Scourge’s high-intensity training. The dwarf told them that it would be a while before they returned — if they returned at all. Av thought that he was joking, but the resigned look on the dwarf’s face made her believe there was a bit of truth in his words.
Now, she could confirm that the dwarf’s words were true. She faced a series of tribulations — from mantis-like demons to fire-breathing monstrosities.
She couldn’t even use her bow, since the Scourge said ordinary arrows were useless against demons.
Her hands strayed to the weapons on her side — a falchion and two daggers. They carried no enchantments, but they proved effective against the demons — and there were a lot of them.
The Scourge kept pushing her, barely allowing her to catch her breath before taking her to a new hell. She lost count after her first few battles — her mind focusing on survival above anything else. She was burned, frozen, stabbed, and maimed — twice!
The wizard didn’t even help when she lost a hand, merely telling her to adapt to the situation and survive.
At least the injuries allowed her to rest for a bit — though the wizard reminded her that her consumption of Lifesavers™ was going to her tab.
She was outraged. It was the Scourge who put them in that situation — now he wanted to profit from their misery?
He just scoffed and said it was part of the training course — her being reckless was not his problem.
Aven’R gritted her teeth and stared at her sisters. Gwin used only one and Rem managed without using any. Did they suffer through the same ordeals that she did?
She doubted it. There was no way a healer and a spellcaster could survive the Scourge’s trials without someone holding off the demons at bay.
Her eyes strayed towards Siege. The dwarf was there in each of their trials. In her case, he was fighting off his own set of enemies while she was fighting her own.
He probably had it worse than they did — traveling with the Scourge for each of their training sessions. The wizard made sure there was an extra demon for the dwarf — one more than the number they faced.
It was the intermediate course, he said. Apparently, Siege took an earlier course during the time he spent forging for the Corner Shop™.
Gwin had a strange fire in her eyes. Her sister was clearly enraged, but there was a subtle hint of fear behind it. She overheard Siege consoling her sister, telling her it was not her fault for asking the Scourge to heal her.
Aven’R didn’t even realize the Scourge was also a healer. He looked like someone who would take lives — not save them. His hands more apt to dispense pain and suffering than comfort.
“Is everyone ready?”
She shuddered at the voice. It was their last training exercise — this one as a team. The Scourge vanished for nearly an hour. He was probably scouring the hells for whatever horror they would face.
“If anyone wants healing, just say so,” the wizard offered.
Siege was signaling to everyone to refuse and she could see Gwin clenching her fists trying to contain her anger.
“Anyway, your next encounter will begin two hundred steps away from your target,” the wizard explained. “For this encounter, the Corner Shop will be providing thirty pieces of ammunition — either arrows or crossbow bolts.”
“What about the terrain?” Dallarath asked.
One of his trials was in a lake — against a fish-like demon. Aven’R couldn’t imagine how he could survive such a trial, and why the Scourge would put him in such a situation.
“Nothing special,” the Scourged waved a hand dismissively. “Passing marks to anyone who could survive without dying.”
Aven’R gritted her teeth. She was sure the Scourge wouldn’t lift a hand to help them if ever they were in dire straits. He would probably let them die — and then feel disappointed afterward.
“I would also like to remind everyone of their running tab,” he took out a small notebook. “None for Remilla, one for Gwin and Siege, two for Aven’R, and four for Dallarath — we thank you so much for your business.”
“I only used so much because you dropped me in a lake!” Dallarath protested. “Three times!”
“I was doing you a favor,” the wizard scoffed. “Anyway, you can settle your accounts with Sebas after the training. “I’m sure he would have several payment plans by the end of the day.”
The Scourge’s words lifted Aven’R’s spirits. Their chances of survival should be good. There was no way in hell would risk the life of paying customers — especially ones with standing debts.
***
Remilla stared at their next training partner. Knowing the Scourge, she should have expected this. In front of them was an abyssal dragon.
It wasn’t a full-grown dragon, much less a proper wyrm — but it was still a dragon. It was twice the size of a wyvern, and three to four times its weight.
It was flying listlessly as if confused — perhaps due to some kind of spell from a wizard. No, that wasn’t likely. Most dragons were resistant to mind-affecting spells — and this particular one was fortified by demon blood.
“Can you bring that thing down?” Dal asked Siege while readying his hammer.
Instead of his usual sword, he opted for a hammer to cover all their bases. He wanted to bring two weapons, but the Scourge said he was only loaning a single item to each of them for the training session.
“I can try,” Siege answered. “but only if it comes near.”
“Av, draw its attention. Rem, protection spells.”
Remilla opted for the most obvious choices. Abyssal dragons were part wyvern, part dragon, and part demon — her protections should protect them from its most powerful attacks.
“That should be enough preparation,” the Scourge judged from behind them. “Here, Drakey!”
A haze seemed to lift from the dragon. It roared while scanning the ground — finally setting eyes on their party.
“Aven’R” she alerted her sister.
“Got it.”
Aven’R drew her bow, an arrow of silver on its string. It sang as the arrow flew towards the dragon — splitting into three as it neared.
The dragon dodged avoiding the centermost arrow, thinking the other two were illusions. It didn’t matter — none of her sister’s arrows were illusions, at least not before they hit.
It was an elven ability tied to precision — though Aven’R’s splitting arrows were a strange and unique manifestation.
The arrow struck the dragon in its shoulder, lodging itself so deep that only half the shaft could be seen.
The beast roared in pain and anger. It flew above the party, seemingly growing in size and menace.
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Rem stared at the flying dragon. She could feel the instinctual fear in her body — but being around the Scourge while she fought off demons made it seem bearable. She didn’t even bother to set up wards against dragonfear knowing her party members would shrug it off just as she did.
The dragon’s display earned it an arrow to its belly. Aven’R measured her shots, knowing she only had twenty of them.
It dove — its patience giving in to rage.
Rem could see flames surrounding the dragon’s body as it closed in to breathe fire. She moved away from her party members — far enough to avoid being clumped together when the creature attacked, but close enough to aid a party member if they needed it.
She turned to her sister in surprise. The spell should have been beyond Gwin’s abilities to cast.
She watched as a bolt of white erupted from her sister’s palms, shooting towards the dragon. She kept her eyes on her sister, watching as she almost collapses from the strain of powering the spell.
Rem turned to the dragon, catching the exact moment her sister’s bolt hits the beast.
The force of the spell stopped the dragon’s descent. The flames on its body died as rime formed into ice. The beast’s entire body was enveloped by a thick layer of ice.
It started to fall. Gwin’s spell had worked.
Rem’s exultation was shattered together with the ice that covered the dragon. A single beat of its wings stopped its descent. For a moment, the dragon hovered, its eyes burning with fury and indignation.
“It’s resistant to fire,” the Scourge warned.
“Abyssal dragons are resistant to fire?” Gwin asked, almost complaining.
Rem could understand her sister’s confusion. Not every demon was vulnerable to cold — but it was a documented vulnerability of abyssal dragons.
“No — but that one is.”
“You —“
Rem shifted her attention to the dragon. What the Scourge did was a bit unfair — but it should be part of their training.
The dragon dove. Only a couple of Aven’R’s arrows hit their mark, the rest were blown away by the dragon’s wings or shattered by the heat emanating from the beast.
Siege moved to meet the dragon’s charge. He planted his feet where he expected the dragon to stop, raising his sword above his head.
What was he doing? Even with her spell’s protection, a direct hit from a dragon’s fiery breath would likely kill anyone.
The dragon took the dwarf’s stand as an invitation. It dropped down to almost three stories before breathing a torrent of fire at the dwarf.
Rem’s shout of warning turned to a gasp as the dwarf was immolated by the dragon’s breath.
“I got ye, ye stinkin lizard!”
Siege was alive! Rem could see a vague outline of the dwarf inside the torrent of fire, his sword pulsing with what seemed like darkness.
She felt a wave of power as the dwarf roared, willing the earth to do his bidding.
The dragon stopped its fiery breath. It tried to beat its wings — harder then faster — to try and escape the pull of the earth. With the magic enabling it to fly canceled by the dwarf’s own — it slowly dropped to the ground, its wings unable to bear its weight.
Siege positioned himself so that the dragon would be flanked with him on one side and the party on the other. It also limited the effect of his gravity well on the rest of the party — but he was experiencing the same level of gravity as the dragon.
Rem estimated a two to threefold increase in gravity — doubling or tripling the weight of everything within a certain radius from the dwarf.
“Aim high!” Dal advised as he took out a crossbow.
She took out her own and aimed.
A rain of bolts, arrows, and eldritch power assaulted the dragon. Rem previously enchanted the bolts and arrows with divine magic before they left, making them bane to all things infernal. Gwin avoided elemental magic and focused on raw force, sending piercing bolts of mana into the creature.
“Tsk.”
Gwin could hear the Scourge scoff from behind her.
“Bringing down a dragon doesn’t mean the fight is over,” he lectured. “It’s still a dragon.”
As if on cue, the dragon lumbered towards Siege. It brought down a massive claw to smash into the dwarf.
Siege brought up his shield, but his own ability proved too powerful. The force from the dragon’s strike, coupled with the extra weight, was too much for him. He was slammed into the ground, the dragon’s weight slowly crushing him.
His breastplate protected his torso, stopping his shield from digging into his chest. The same was not true for his legs. With only leather for protection, the dragon’s weight drove the shield into them — crushing and severing both.
Injured and dying the dwarf refused to relinquish his hold on the dragon. He even managed a few hits with his sword — pinned as he was — leaving several open gashes on the dragon’s claws.
Rem fired the last of her bolts into the dragon. She picked up a staff from the ground, another one of her preparations from before the battle.
Her spell ignited every enchanted bolt and arrow lodged into the dragon. Beams of light emanated from the dragon as it thrashed in pain and fury.
“An acceptable tactic.”
She could hear the Scourge analyzing their battle — not even caring that Siege was in dire need of assistance.
“However, an angry would tend to breathe out fire — and some of you are standing too close.”’
Rem watched in horror as Gwin, Aven’R, and Dal were bathed in fire as the dragon turned its ire on the three.
Her companions dropped to the floor, her wards providing little protection from a direct blast.
The dragon charged towards her. Free from the influence of the gravity well, it moved like an arrow — one of its claws swiping at her, piercing her side and pinning her to the ground.
With her remaining strength, she turned towards the Scourge, her eyes filled with rage. She knew it would be no use — but she still pleaded for help.
“Okay,” the Scourge waved a hand dismissively and the dragon began to glow. A multitude of violet flames erupted from the dragon, eating away at the beast until nothing remained.
“Everyone did well, regardless of the results.”
Rem watched as the Scourge gave her party members a Lifesaver™. What was the purpose of the encounter? Was it just a display of power to show them how insignificant they were?
Finally, the scourge approached her.
“You don’t really need a Lifesaver,” he smiled. “I can heal you if you want.”
“Don’t do —“ Gwin’s slowly healing, but still charred form, collapsed from the effort of warning her.
“I’ll take the Lifesaver™.”
The Scourge shrugged. “Whatever. More gold for me.”
Siege would later tell her that they were never meant to triumph over the abyssal dragon. It was a test of how they would face failure and a grim reminder that they could die any time.
She felt that the last encounter was bullshit. Then again, it was in the name of the course itself — the Scourge’s high-intensity training.
***
It was a successful training exercise. Dal’s party was exposed to their individual strengths and weaknesses — while also learning the value of life.
It took Jeremy a bit of preparation. The demons were captured two days before the training program — and he needed to get Shelby’s help to bring the dragon to the ground so he could enchant several of its scales with a withering flame curse.
At first, the adventurers would likely complain about his training fees. They’ll soon find out that they gained resistance to numerous elements, as well as an immunity to fear and compulsion spells.
He even tried exposing the half-elf to rich elemental water, hoping it would awaken his latent abilities to control water.
It was an interesting knack. Dal wouldn’t be able to create water, but he could probably make an ordinary person drown with a single glassful.
The scout surprisingly adapted well to her sword — only needing three Lifesavers™ by the end of the course.
Jeremy checked his notes on Gwin. The sorcerer would undoubtedly be taken by mana within a decade or two. She tended to draw too much power — and her mind was slowly being corrupted by the mana she took in.
He could offer her a home in one of the hells. Mana was clean there, but he doubted she would accept.
Siege was Siege. The dwarf was becoming too familiar with his thinking — making him a less effective subject for his training program. Then again, it was his second time taking the course. Increasing the number of creatures he battled hardly counted for an intermediate ranking.
The healer was a revelation. Her use of divine fire rivaled his control over hellfire. He watched as she effortlessly slew demon after demon using a whip-like strand of divine essence.
Sadly, the whip only manifested when she thought she was going to die and had nobody to rely on.
He wrote down “pacifist” in bold capital letters — before adding “pretentious” to his notes.
It was a good session. The team managed to consume thirteen Lifesavers™ — bringing the cost of their training up to 2600 gold. Maybe just 2500 gold. It was a nice round figure and he was feeling generous.