"We couldn't even touch her..."
Fader glanced over at Gale as she spoke, her voice wavering. The damn kid probably shouldn't even have been there. Any normal dungeon floor and she'd have been fine, but this was anything but normal.
Fader lifted his visor and wiped sweat from his brow. "Come on, we have to keep moving."
Gale's shrill response sounded like she was on the verge of fleeing right there. "Keep going?!"
Fader looked from Eitina, who seemed empathetic, and the Prince whose expression had grown stony. He assumed the young Prince was remembering the last time he'd been in the Dungeon with Fader, his friends getting cut down one by one. This wasn't a new feeling for him. It was an old one. One that he'd had a lot of time to nurture.
"We're not going back."
Fader knew what was at stake for him here. Gale only weighed completing this against her own life. The Prince measured it against every life in the Kingdom. In that stare, he knew that the Prince would cut down every one of them here including himself if it would keep his Kingdom safe.
The Father would be pleased with his resolve. Fader didn't consider himself particularly religious even now, but perhaps he'd talk to the Prince if they lived through this...
"I-I.... W-...." Gale must have seen her own demise in his face as she couldn't even string together two words. Somewhere in this Dungeon, Eitina had lost her abrasive nature as well. She'd stopped fighting Fader and had stoically gone forward.
The Prince shoved himself to his feet with a wobble. The two mages had little in terms of Vitality and that was showing here, but the Prince made up for it with willpower.
"We have one more room. We don't have to fight. We just need to push through. We only attack when that's the best defense. Any Skills you've been holding back... now is the time to use them."
The Prince turned his stony gaze to each of them and even Fader felt the weight of it. He'd seen him as a snot-nosed noble brat, but now? He only saw a king.
"I don't have any additional skills that would help us here," Fader said.
"M-My [Mud Coffin] is..." Gale added little. Eitina, on the other hand, looked both reluctant and sour which Fader assumed meant she had something good.
"I've got a beserking skill... sort of."
"How's it work?" The Prince asked calmly, not asking why she hadn't shown it before now. The Prince, himself, had held his ultimate skill for their encounter with that undead monstrosity.
"It's a Heart based skill and is completely dependent on my Heart cultivation, but it both does some small damage and heals in a wide area of effect."
That sounded powerful. "What's the catch?" Fader asked.
"It eats up my body to cast it. I won't be in fighting shape for a week and I'll be much slower and weaker while casting. And it... well, I can designate allies in the sphere but the healing goes through their Heart. If they haven't awakened their Heart, they won't stay conscious long."
All three of them looked towards Gale who just shrank back under their gaze. She maybe had a half step Soul and that was it. The Prince returned his attention to Eitina. "You'll be able to run though?"
She nodded.
"Then we have our-"
Fader cut him off as he pulled a rope from his belt. "This first."
Eitina had thought strapping Gale to his back was a great idea until he also wanted to strap her as well. The Prince might be ready to leave Gale behind, but Fader at his heart was a guardian. He had to protect his party no matter what.
He'd failed thus far.
So it was that Fader with a Cleric and Mage strapped to his back peaked around the corner towards the boss room. He darted back in quickly, but he'd seen enough to feel screwed.
"How many?" The Prince asked.
"Not sure. There seemed to be a helluva lot more than four though."
The Prince nodded. "He was a Leadership type monster last time. It makes sense. Did you see the portal?"
"Yeah, there's some boulders in the way, but it was right over them. If I was by myself, I might could make it with a quick run, charge, and leap maneuver."
"You're not by yourself," Eitina added in from his back.
"That's true..." Fader looked down at the sword in his hand. It was demon steel, a material that didn't typically drop below the fiftieth floor. The Prince had gotten it for him and it was more expensive than a bustling village could make in a year.
With a sigh, he let it go and it clattered to the ground. He picked the Prince up who gave a confused cry and tucked him under one arm. He looked down at the Prince. "You trust me?"
The serious look he gave him had a dichotomy to it since it was being delivered from his armpit, but it still put a weight on his soul. "I do."
"Eitina, cast that spell; Rell, use your whip; and Gale, if you don't pass out, fling some mud or some shit I don't know."
Fader didn't even wait for them to respond. He spun around the corner, pulling his demon steel shield up to his face, and screamed for all he was worth. "FOR THE ISLANDS!"
Caught up in his sudden patriotism, the other three yelled out matching roars as he felt his back turn into a beacon of holy light. The dark cavern illuminated like the sun was rising just behind him and it chased away most of the dark shadows of the room.
Arrayed against them were twelve otters. A guardian with one of those makeshift two handed rock maces stood near the front and the bastard was a head taller than any of the others had been. The other side had the dual rock wielding otter that had been harassing them in the latter half of the dungeon.
On one side in their hidden crevice, another three unarmed Otters who he assumed were mages started to charge up an attack. The other side had three more Otters each wielding a rock a piece. The agility fighters ready to step in if anyone fell.
In the back, there were three all white otters front and center arrayed around the boulders. To their left, a strange pair of otters swayed in time as they started to activate their devastating light spell.
The far right had the Boss. The same exact otter that he'd faced last time with his strange scars and useless arm. Now though, his fur was tipped with silver and his arm was tucked into his grey makeshift robe.
Before, the Boss had seemed plucky and deadly because of it. Now his presence had the weight of an old veteran who'd cultivated their Heart to the level needed to watch their friends and comrades die on the battlefield. Rage plastered the Boss's features, revealing the face of a veteran who now stood in front of their comrades killers.
The Boss wouldn't stop until they were all dead. No matter what it cost him.
In an instant, Fader took all that in. He wasn't close enough to the backline to use [Shadow Charge] so he shot forward the old fashioned way like a lumbering, screaming bear.
Bolts of light streaked towards him from the front, but his shield easily fought them off, including the upgraded bolt from the strange twin otters.
Light from his peripheral reminded him of the other mages and he activated [Intercept]. Since his target was on his back, the skill spun him around so his shield was facing out. More light pinged off the demonsteel, dissolving into Aether after it struck.
The two front liners closed in with the time it took him to block the two separate volleys. They both hesitated for a moment as they stepped into the burning light of Eitina's spell, but pushed through without considering their own health. The guardian with the two handed mace was at his front, leaving the agility fighter at the back.
The guardian slammed down his mace towards Fader and he raised his shield to take the blow. The two handed mace broke against the hunk of demonsteel, but the impact actually drove him back a step and the reverberating pain would have made him drop his shield if it wasn't strapped to his arm.
Behind him, he could hear the Prince's fire whip sizzling and snapping as he tried to fight off the dual wielding agility fighter while tucked under his arm. Gale must have already passed out because none of her signature mud flew around.
"Keep running!" The prince shouted.
Now that the guardian in front of him had lost his weapon, Fader bullrushed forward, shoving the monster back. As soon as the overgrown otter stumbled, he turned and darted again towards the back of the cavern.
Another round of light smacked into his shield and against his side. The light from Eitina's divine spell didn't die down nor did the sounds of lashing fire stop so he assumed that any damage done was healed.
One more step and the two front liners had almost caught up to him, but he was finally in range. [Shadow Charge] activated and he shot forward, directly towards the Boss. Normally, Fader would have become hidden by shadows as he charged forward, but the giant ball of light on his back drowned out that aspect of his power.
His [Shadow Charge] was very quick, but at this distance, the all white otters had just enough time to leap in the way before Fader crashed into them shield first. That by itself might not have ended them, but the grasping tendrils of darkness at the end of his charge stabbed into them.
...And they disappeared into wisps of Aether.
"He's a summoner!" Fader shouted. At this point, he wasn't even surprised that this aberrant could also summon monsters.
The slight distraction from his summons disappearing was just enough for the Boss to pull a mace out of fucking nowhere and hurl it at his face. Fader blocked it and then used [Burning Descent]. His greaves crunched against the cavern floor and he leapt over the Boss and the boulders that pockmarked the backfield, his eyes on the portal.
A paw wrapped around his boot and with far more strength than he'd expect forcibly changed his trajectory.
Into a boulder.
Pain slammed up into his gut even through his breastplate where the rock hit. Fire ballooned out from the latter half of [Burning Descent], scorching the Boss and all of Fader's passengers. Eitina bit off a curse on his back as fire singed her, but her spell had to have healed her right back up.
An impact from behind told him that something had hit him after he fell, but Fader didn't have any time to figure it out. The divine light was still going and the fire whip was still sizzling. He focused on those two things as he rolled off the boulder, dropping to one knee with only some slight complaining from Eitina.
He started to charge forward, but the Boss had somehow gotten around him and then adopted an honest-to-Hyshtel fighting stance. This fucking monster was a strong, fast, durable summoner who also knew martial arts! Fader didn't know what god he'd pissed off before meeting the Father, but they had to be angry.
The Boss's grave visage spoke of witnessing his species die to Fader's hands much as he'd watched the young adventurers die long ago. He'd expected no mercy, but hatred burned off this creature.
Fader's slight delay cost him.
The twinned otters appeared behind him and immediately launched their twin bolts of light. Fader darted to the side and the bolt shot past towards the Boss monster instead. He ran around the boulder, but just as he made it two steps the Boss was there again.
Fader tried to backhand him with his shield, but the furry bastard pivoted around the attack before slamming his palm directly into his breastplate. The attack did practically nothing until a thousand shards of light exploded against his chest.
The Prince screamed as some of the shards dug into his shoulders and neck whereas most of the damage was contained to his demon steel which itself had even been scuffed by the powerful attack.
How could a level twenty five boss even damage material from the fiftieth level?
Fader couldn't let this go on any further. He bullrushed the scarred otter with his shield. As the swift Boss pivoted sideways, he activated [Sure Strike] on his shield. Like a dog chasing a ball, his shield swung around and smashed into the Boss.
Even with the Boss's high stats, the solid hit sent him flying back into the nearest boulder. The Boss kept his feet, but it gave Fader just enough space to shoot the gap. A quick glance down told him that the Prince's wounds had been healed by Eitina's spell, but he was dazed.
The portal was only feet away and he just had to get there before one of those bolts hit him in the back and killed his party. With one more second, he could activate [Burning Descent] and could get-
"FADER!"
On instinct at hearing Eitina's cry, he activated [Intercept] which miraculously was off cooldown. He spun around completely in place just as a storm of light struck his shield. He flew backwards from the sheer concentrated power. His back clipped against a boulder and he heard a horrible snapping sound with a scream from Eitina.
He didn't have time to look though. He only had the briefest of moments before more of that horrible light crashed down on them. Gravel flung up into the air as Fader activated [Burning Descent] one more time.
He could hear the blasts of light whistling through the air, but the sounds were cut off as they disappeared into the Dungeon Stream.
Fader could hardly catch his breath in that river of light surrounded by darkness. When his feet finally landed on the well worn stone brick of the tower, he fell to his knees, dropping the Prince to the ground.
Prompts appeared, but he ignored them, studying the Prince who'd rolled over on his back, exhausted but alive. Guards had already moved forward to check on them and he could hear them shouting for mages. Relief that he'd brought the Prince back was almost all he could feel.
He untied the knot of the rope across his chest and Eitina and Gale slid to the floor. Eitina's face looked gaunt and she'd passed out at some point, but her chest moved up and down. Gale hadn't been so lucky.
Her corpse was burned and mutilated. Limbs had been broken during the rough fight amongst the boulders and one of the bolts of light must have hit her at some point. Her insides drained out of a thick hole in her side, every inch of her charred and smelling of pork.
Acknowledging her gruesome death didn't even reach his exhausted mind. He just checked off the box of confirming his companions' states and then collapsed, resting his overexerted muscles.
I hate that fucking otter...