Chapter Fifty-Four

Harmony let [Shadowed Graves] end as the brood mother’s body dropped. Soul strike had improved under the shadows it cast, but not enough to punch through the floor guardian’s defense against that kind of attack. The most pleasant surprise had been how deaths under the effect returned some of the energy she lost keeping the spell in place. Just enough that she could hold perpetual shadows as she rushed through the first floor killing woozes.

“Groak.” Hyacinth complained.

“You’ll get enough of a workout on the third floor. Just keep practicing tricks with the shadows.”

As He’d gotten bigger it had been harder for him to find shadows that were appropriate for him to move through. Harmony would have taken this skill just for the utility it gave him if she had known the effect. It’s the secondary fear-based aspect that was trouble.

Bates immediately suggested the guild and Thorne. Field skills were more likely post-evolution, and his experience in Naewauld had given him enough background to know what to do. Training was scheduled, and notices were distributed over the area that would be affected. The benefits of having a membership.

How could an effect that gave everyone some version of the heebie-jeebies be useful on a battlefield? One has to look at the exceptions. Hyacinth seemed unaffected, sparse with information he hadn’t mentioned any benefits, but if something negative was annoying him he was crabby enough to complain. Adric thrived in it, but that could be chalked up to him being “undead.” Maxwell seemed unaffected as well as he practiced under Thorne’s supervision. But the new agent of change had avoided her outside of dropping off notes for last night's dinner guests. New oath issues or embarrassment over almost killing her? Actually killing her if [Stride Before the Fall] was a metric.

Connections to her? That didn’t help the innocents and strangers forced under it. Authority was a tenuous one, but that was their beliefs, and not everyone seemed to contribute to it. The note about researching authority had been gathering dust on the priority list. That wasn't something she could control. What could she control?

The twiggys were affected by the fear. [Keen Investigative Awareness] was able to pick up subtle differences. Either extra franticness in some aggression, a brief freeze when they crossed into the closest and strongest effect, or maybe they’d scoot back some before regaining what could be considered confidence and moving to attack again. The ones that tried to appease her had only been hinted at once, moving to block another strike from the cluster of enemies from attacking. Even then, after that one act, she was fair game.

It was weird. Theoretically, reactions to fear were based on experiences or how someone thought. These ubiquitous dungeon monsters should either all act the same, or be unaffected. There were implications there that could be accessed. [Manipulate Dead] had been similar in the early days in how it affected dead material. The base usage chaotically ripped, twisted and bent dead material until it exploded. Randomness she’d controlled with time and effort.

“Grack.” Hyacinth prodded from his spot on top of a pile of two soul-damaged twiggys and a mix of cut and limp vinestrictor vines.

“One more minute, then I’ll be recharged enough to face the tree lord. I want to beat that coward as much as you do.”

The risk of [Shadowed Graves] spooking the thunder roc well before they got in range was a worry. There were contingencies for that, but they weren’t pleasant. Tree first, then birds.

[Stride Before the Fall]. Two Harmonies and one toad dashed toward the tree, dancing around the vines. [Final Silence] stopped them and the crashing branches cold. The saw could have worked but Hyacinth was right, skip this. One Harmony joined Hyacinth, the original with the healing patch, and survival gear. They leaped into the shadows. The tree tried to stop them like it always did. The soul strike that followed cracked through the defense allowing the pair to get past and continue on.

One stayed behind the choice of who stays a foregone conclusion. Just a sacrifice. The tree lord was waking up. Time to get wild. [Shadowed Graves] expanded this time with [Cold Touch] synergized into the mix. A brief shivering chill paired with the shadow as it expanded. That wasn’t the aim. She leaned into the concept of freezing in the face of death, that fear chilling you so much it was hard to move. [Could Touch] out-leveled the baby skill too much, and she could feel even the darkness of it burn under the application. That would take time to heal if it existed.

Even damaged [Shadowed Graves] persisted long enough for Harmony to watch the great and powerful tree lord still out of fear. Was it luck? Or had she tapped into it? Only for a moment was it under that spell. The branch came crashing down but she was already gone, the choice made. [Stride] didn’t need levels like that right now and dying hurt.

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Having [Shadowed Graves] at only level two would be an issue. It would be stupid to break it again. Letting synergies guide the way fear manifested did have potential. Kind of like how she used [Beautician] with the control of [Manipulate Dead].

The birds of the third floor should provide plenty of fuel for the skill though. Stepping up onto the grassy plane she unleashed her darkness as she gripped onto Hyacinth’s back. The great eagles and other birds prompted to attack were harder to see in the starless dark.

Hyacinth as a creature of shadows didn’t have that issue. Through [Familiar Bond] he relayed what was needed to her. He leaped and she used her skills to blow off their feathers sending them crashing to the ground. No longer did Hyacinth need to jump as high with the range slightly increased for Harmony. That made for easier landings but only slightly. The biggest change was how the shadows rippled when they landed creating a cushion, or if need be a portal the shadow toad could slip through.

A few times Hyacinth grabbed a free-falling bird with his tongue before it hit the ground, hastening their deaths and feeding himself.

With the now mostly featherless birds done, there was but one last one to pluck. A chance, it still sat on its spot even after the dark had come. The giant toad sprinted forward, Harmony riding on his back for their run.

The thunder roc flapped its wings and the first gust came. Just as it hit, Hycinth slid into the shadows of the ground slipping under like it was a pool of water carrying her. Harmony’s new [Shadowed Graves] darkness was easier to slip into. They’d noticed the dungeon resistance was less as it had to contest with her skill. It still kicked them out, but they managed to get closer and conserve momentum. Together they charged forward. When the second blast of air came they slipped under it too.

Now Harmony was close enough to start stripping feathers, focusing on the wings, determined not to let it escape and at least blunt its next blast of wind. The bird squawked annoyed. An electric field charged the air, lightning sparked along its body, and where feathers were missing quasi-substantial feathers formed coating the house-sized bird.

[Final Silence] struck out. Those quasi-substantial feathers flickered… then stayed. “Bloody blasted. Plan B!”

The guides were right. They usually were. Silence was extremely limited on the oversized chicken. The replacement feathers were resistant to it. It drained the guardian, but that didn’t matter if it got away. The third flap came and the pair slipped into the shadows again.

The thunderous roc launched into the sky. Coming up quick out of the ground she might be able to get a good [High Kick] in before it got too far away. Too bad for that coward that wasn’t what was going to happen.

The shadows from [Shadowed Graves] coated not only the ground but the sky above. The shadows weren’t meant to be used like a pool of water, they were meant to be traveled through. This is where Hyacinth’s practice on the other floors mattered. Extra straining effort and the pair popped out of the sky above the rising bird.

Gravity carried her down and Harmony added its momentum to [High Kick] as she lept off of Hyacinth’s back and aimed her steel-booted heel down through the air at the bird. It didn’t see what hit it.

Something broke as she landed with a crash where the neck and body met causing the bird to squawk in surprise. Not enough, it was the size of a house. The electric field did more than give it wings. It jolted through Harmony enough that she bit her cheek and tasted blood. Still, she gritted through the constant pain, using the remaining fathers to create grips with [Manipulate Dead]. Latched on, she was ready. Even the size of a house, the roc really felt it when the horse-sized Hyacinth crashed down.

Harmony without those grips would have been thrown from the bird in how it bucked at that impact. The Shadow toad dug in with his spurs into its flesh even as he twitched against the field. Despite the assault the guardian continued to rise, passengers on its back.

They dug in for the long haul. Hyacinth raking with his sharp spurs. Harmony alternating strikes empowered by [High Kick] and [Cold touch], as well as stripping more feathers it was forced to replace with the electric effect.

[Shadowed Graves] cost ticked away. [Mana Rotations] swirls stilled and she was forced to pull from herself. Die damn it.

The bird inverted, flipping one-hundred and eighty degrees until all the pair could do was hang on gripping with all their strength as they dangled above the ground. One of them would give out first. She forced chronostasis on. Time slowed so Harmony could keep track of how much energy she had left. If the shadows failed first they’d have an extra hard time landing. [Stride Before the Fall] sat ready and thankfully didn’t use mana. That was the value of the quantum bond in the skill.

Two clocks racing against each other in a war of attrition. So close…. Electric feathers blinked out and now all the combatants were falling. Can’t… lose… the… shadows. Harmony pushed off towards Hyacinth, grabbing back on.

They didn’t feel the impact as they slipped into the shadows, but when they emerged the ground was still shaking from it. That guardian’s death recharged her just enough to keep her from bottoming out. But pantingly she let [Shadowed Graves] stop and the sky brightened.

Hyacinth lay similarly exhausted beside her spread out on the grassy ground. “Grooooaak.” He groaned.

“I agree. Toads were not meant to fly.”

Besides the corpse, the third-floor exit opened up. A path down and paired with a spiral of floating stairs rising up to the fourth floor. Harmony’s new skill reached level three. As for the fourth floor. They’d face that battle tomorrow. Today there was more training to be had at the guild facilities.