Mary, driven by desperation and instinct, starts casting a new spell, one she has only recently learned upon leveling up.
Her blonde hair and face are illuminated by the white light now glowing at the tip of her staff, where she concentrates her mana. A gentle breeze stirs her golden locks, pulling them free from the hood that was covering them.
Meanwhile, the air thickens as a dense black mist seeps from the doorway, slowly creeping across the nearby floor. Within the mist, the atmosphere shifts, and something dark begins to take form. Small viscous puddles, resembling thick crude oil, appear on the ground, absorbing the magic channeled by the lich. The shadows in the air seem to move toward these puddles, feeding them until deformed figures start to emerge.
The lich, at the center of this macabre scene, raises its staff, intensifying its spellcasting. The blue flames on its skull flare brighter, illuminating the eerie ritual. The pools grow larger, and more nagas begin to emerge.
Zombie nagas? I think skeptically. I wasn’t expecting it to summon such a powerful enemy.
First come elongated heads with empty, glowing eyes and razor-sharp teeth glinting with a sinister light. Then torsos rise, followed by slithering bodies that seem to pour out of the black pools like animated tar. These are undead nagas—horrifying, serpentine creatures covered in a viscous, black substance that drips from their limbs as they claw their way free of the pools.
Suddenly, an intense light appears above the lich and the nagas that were beginning to emerge. It’s the same light that moments ago glowed at the tip of Mary’s staff, now magnified and directed at its target. The light has formed into a massive circular rune, hovering above the enemy and pulsing ominously. In an instant, hundreds of blinding white spears erupt from the rune, streaking down violently to pierce the many dark bodies below. The spears, elegant and radiant, finish their trajectory by embedding themselves in the ground.
The dark mist scatters, as if fleeing the brutal illumination that now dominates the area. The tar-like puddles hiss and shrink in size.
Some of the spears, however, fail to reach their target. The lich, upon realizing its summons were under attack, had reacted by frantically raising its staff. A dark barrier began to form around it, absorbing part of the impact from the light spears aimed at it. Now, the blue flames in its skull flicker as the barrier struggles to hold. Each impact causes it to vibrate, as though it were thick, cracking glass.
Mary’s spears, still pouring from the circular rune, finally manage to break through the barrier in a blinding flash. They strike the lich directly, forcing it to stagger backward. Its channeling ceases immediately, and its staff lets out a sharp crack, as though the magical strain had been too much for it to bear. The nagas, which had been emerging, are repeatedly struck by the spears, collapsing back into the black puddles they had come from.
Puddles that are now rapidly shrinking.
“Well done, Mary!” the prince praises her, astonished.
I imagine he’s as surprised as I am at what the girl has just learned—and not only learned, but used with such efficiency and power. I suppose it’s because it’s light magic, and light and darkness are inherently vulnerable to each other.
Mary advances, accompanied by Darius, who mutters under his breath as he searches for an opening to strike.
The lich has retreated to the room it came from.
“We have to stop him from summoning more,” Mary says with determination.
Meanwhile, Theodore launches a high-pressure stream of water directly at the golem’s crystal. The impact hits it squarely, but the colossus doesn’t even flinch. In response, it points its arm at Theodore and fires another volley of stone stakes. Theodore manages to shield himself but barely holds his position.
Taking advantage of the distraction, I analyze the situation. I try again to fragment one of the golem’s legs, but the same notification appears:
Magic resistance to the attack: Insufficient skill level.
Frustrated, knowing I’ve already wasted mana, I switch tactics. I focus my magic to create stone stakes behind the crystal in its chest, aiming to pierce it. This had better work—I’m down to my last three mana points.
This time, I feel the connection to the earth, hardening it and channeling earth magic to reinforce the stakes further. Yes, I know—it’s a gamble. But considering that they’re inside the golem and the dust cloud filling the room from all the sand stirred up every time we run or fight, or when the golem takes one of its heavy steps, I doubt anyone will notice the stakes faintly glowing. Using my control, I suddenly force the stakes to grow, and they strike the creature’s core with power. However, instead of piercing through it, the crystal is ejected from the golem’s chest, crashing to the ground with a loud thud.
I feel a sudden wave of dizziness—I’ve completely drained myself.
The golem staggers, briefly dropping to its knees in the sand, but it quickly rises again and begins moving toward the fallen core, as if recovering it were its only priority.
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I imagine that if we destroy it, the golem will die.
“We have to stop it from retrieving the gem!” Vincent shouts, seeing the crystal lying relatively close to him.
Wasting no time, he charges toward it, his muscles straining as he lifts it with both hands and raises it over his head. Determined, he runs toward the door Mary and Darius entered earlier, the one leading to the lich’s chamber, making it clear he intends to put it out of the golem’s reach.
“Everyone, head there!” he orders as he makes his way to the entrance.
Ronan runs alongside me as I hurry after the group. He manages to say:
“This is your chance. I’ll block the entrance so no one can see.”
He doesn’t need to explain further. He must be referring to the colossal scorpion that seems to be part of the ceiling itself.
Grateful, I push past my physical and mental exhaustion and pull the pup from my backpack without slowing down much. I bring it close to my face, and it licks me with a gesture of trust.
Immediately, I feel better, at least physically. The healing lick restores 4 of my 8 depleted mana points.
As for the little one, I’d set him on the ground, but with the golem so close behind, I’m not keen on becoming a pancake.
“Awaken,” I whisper, a moment before turning and tossing it into the air.
And I keep running. Ronan follows close behind. The others have already crossed, and we’re just a few steps behind.
Just as we cross, the dying bear reappears, charging toward the entrance. It overtakes the golem and throws itself against the doorway, blocking it with its body. From inside, we hear its growls as it holds back whatever is coming after it.
I understand now—Ronan sent it there so none of our allies could see what’s about to happen in the scorpion’s chamber.
As for the seed, I’ll give it all the time it needs, as long as I have mana to maintain the channeling.
At the start of the dungeon, I was holding back a lot to conserve mana—just spending 2 on the earthen wall. Against the scorpion, I used 1 point on earth control to immobilize its pincer. Shortly after, I started wasting mana: 2 points on two control spells that failed, 1 more on earth control, and 2 on channeling. I was left with nothing.
I know I could ask Mary for potions, but that’s not something I can do while in the heat of battle, fighting for my life. That’s why I’m so thankful for the lick.
With the four points I’ve regained—or rather, three, counting the one I just spent to wake him up—that gives the shadow wolf a maximum of four minutes of playtime.
Considering how powerful it is, that will undoubtedly be more than enough.
If I’d had to fight that colossal scorpion mother myself, with just my flaming sword, neither my agility nor my runner’s skills would’ve saved me from being crushed or devoured.
Blessed wolf.
----------------------------------------
The new room is utter chaos.
The lich is successfully summoning its creatures.
Darius is behind a zombie naga, gripping it by the neck, when the creature suddenly rears up several meters into the air, lifting the warrior high above the ground on the end of its tail.
Theodore, nearly out of mana, fires a brief jet of water that strikes the naga’s body directly, severely damaging it.
Vincent has dropped the golem’s core to block attacks from another naga, while Alistair conjures a wall of fire around the lich. The flames begin to consume it, while Mary casts her light-based attack again, dealing heavy damage to the enemy, lich included.
Ronan moves away from me and, with Bob’s help, lifts a large rock that must have fallen from the ceiling—no surprise, given how the golem has been shaking the pyramid’s structure with its wall-destroying frenzy earlier. Together, they carry the rock toward where the golem’s core lies on the ground.
There’s sand here, though not as much as in the other room. Maybe some of it spilled over from there.
“Bianca, get ready!” Ronan shouts.
Not fully understanding what he means, I help them position the rock above the core, lifting it over our heads.
“I can’t. I don’t have ma…” I begin to say when I realize what he intends.
He wants me to channel my earth element, increasing the weight of the rock before we drop it. It’s not just about others seeing me—I only have three mana points left, and if I spend two, I'll be cutting the shadow wolf’s time short by two minutes.
But I stop mid-sentence as it hits me: we have potions.
“Give me a moment!” I ask him.
I spend two points channeling earth into the rock, giving it all the weight I can muster. Ronan must feel the difference in his hands as he holds it, and he gives the signal:
“Now.”
I release it, he releases it, and so does Bob.
The heavy stone crashes downward, slamming into the crystal with immense force, creating a visible crack in its surface. Energy bursts forth from the fracture, radiating outwards. At the same time, the rock we dropped shatters into pieces. Instinctively, I leap backward to avoid getting hit. The crystal’s energy shoots upward, striking the ceiling and causing it to tremble. Fragments fall. I’m no longer underneath, and Ronan and Bob have also moved away. I’m unsure if any of the rock shards that hit them caused injuries.
A naga, still alive after Mary’s earlier attack, charges at Alistair, knocking him to the ground and sending his mace flying out of reach. Ronan and Bob pounce on the creature, grabbing its arms to immobilize it. They don’t appear hurt.
The golem must have reached the wall by now and is trying to demolish it to get in and reclaim its core, as the heavy, rhythmic pounding begins again, shaking everything.
Alistair quickly recovers, launching a fireball that strikes the naga’s head, finishing it off.
“Mary, I need a mana potion,” I tell her as I rush over.
They’ll deduct it from my share of the loot later. If we want to survive, I need it now.
Without hesitation, the healer hands me one, and I down it in one gulp. I’m back to 7 mana. The golem’s pounding grows louder, shaking the entire structure more violently. At this rate, it’ll bring the pyramid down on us...
I toss the empty potion bottle aside and rush toward Alistair’s mace. Goodness, it’s heavy! I lift it as best I can and channel my magic to further increase its weight, losing two mana points in the process. Another point from my mana pool abandons me and goes straight to the shadow wolf, as it’s now been a minute.
If anyone sees the faint glow from the mace, I no longer care. Survival is the priority.
With all my strength, I hold up the increasingly heavy weapon, and when I can’t manage anymore, I let it fall on the core.
It splits in two with a deafening crack.
For an instant, time seems to stop.
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