Mel stabbed down into the prone monster, trying to spear the creature through its wriggling maw.
To her utter disgust, the Priest’s body blocked her attack. The creature had spat the Priest’s body back out at her, knocking her strike wide.
Mel dodged to the side and swung her twinblade in a low, slicing arc. Trailing fire, the tip of the blade sparked against the stone and cut into the creature’s shoulder.
The flames on her blade caused the creature to go berserk. It flailed and bucked like it was being electrocuted. Though she had only grazed it on the shoulder, the wound looked grievous and blackened.
Twisting and kicking out with its freakish feet, the monster tried to knock Mel down. Mel used every trick in her book to keep upright. She knew without a shadow of a doubt that the moment she was on the ground, she would be dead.
Icy patches formed randomly. Her [Hidden Mist] spread out, obscuring her form and those of her friends. The flames made it hard to push the effect too far, but Mel lent them what aid she could muster while keeping herself alive.
Her boots, enhanced by the difficult terrain, kept her one step ahead of the monster’s attacks.
Biding her time, Mel waited for the perfect moment to strike. Using [Quickstep], her twinblade dove in when the monster over committed to an attack, and she was forced to jump above its flailing legs.
Mel traded one leg going into its maw for the ability to stab down with everything she had. Her stomach seized in horror as her leg sunk up to the knee inside the creature’s maw, which should have been impossible.
It couldn’t have been more than half a foot from the ribcage to its spine, but Mel didn’t bother to refute the obvious display of magic. She gripped her twinblade’s hilt and twisted the blade back and forth as flames roared from the blade.
If the monster had gone berserk before, it entirely lost its mind now. Mel was bucked and kicked through the air, but her twinblade remained lodged in its bloody maw.
A torrent of scalding blood erupted from its gaping maw, covering her entire body, tanking her health. Mel refused to let go. She twisted and wrenched on the twinblade with all of her might.
Ash flew into the air as the blood turned to black flecks wherever they touched the licking flames of her weapon.
The monster bucked one final time, throwing Mel off and across the altar. She heard and felt a rib crack on the edge of the blood-slick stone. Paralyzed by the pain that wracked her body, she could do nothing but watch as the monster got to its feet and charged.
With the last burst of strength she possessed, Mel pushed off the altar and spun her twinblade end over end, slicing up as she faced the creature’s deadly embrace.
A dozen fingers were sheared clear of the monster’s maw, their nubs burning down to nothing as they crashed together with her twinblade between them.
The flames didn’t just burn the monster’s skin, they ignited the blood that squirted from its missing fingers as if it was gasoline. Mel barely managed to spin away, stumbling to the ground in a haze of pain as the monster’s battered body went up like a magnesium torch.
You defeat the [Minor Bloodfiend (Copper Rank)].
You gain runes of Mist and Serpent aspect experience.
You gain Battle Points.
Mel didn’t have time to celebrate. She staggered to her feet and joined her friends at the edge of the guttering flames. The smell of blood and oil was thick here, nearly making her swoon, but the sight of Sabrina swinging a burning plank of wood brought Mel back.
One Bloodtide zealot lost an arm to her whirling twinblade’s first strike. She speared him through the middle as she reversed the attack, the second blade coming in low under his remaining arm.
Shane booted the zealot off Mel’s blade, sending him back through the obscuring smoke and flame that was quickly filling the rest of the room.
Before Mel could thank him, another zealot jumped through the flames.
With Mel’s spinning, twirling twinblade, her allies found a new anchor and centered their attacks around her. Bernard’s arrows found gaps in the zealots that were kept busy with Mel’s whirling twinblade.
Shane swept zealots aside with a show of strength she could not have even guessed at. Nathan was there by her side, darting his blade inexpertly in and out wherever he could find a gap. Having to deal with Mel’s twinblade and Nathan’s sword proved too much for the zealots.
Those that managed to find a way around them were met with a burning plank of wood to the face courtesy of Sabrina. All the meanwhile, Maddie used [Sacred Path] to mend their wounds, keeping them going even as their health plummeted. She was the only reason Mel hadn’t fallen over from her injuries.
As the fighting wore on, instead of weakening, the six fighters gained steam. Meanwhile, the zealots were losing limbs and numbers fast.
The loss of their Priest and monster was a devastating blow to their morale. Mel took several cuts and bruises that would have spelled her end without Maddie’s constant wound repair. Even still, her health dipped dangerously low.
Healing wounds did not recover health. They only allowed her to keep fighting and prevented additional, life-threatening damage from further wounds.
The difference between her group and the zealots was obvious. They lacked a healer to wash away their wounds. Cuts bled freely. Broken and sprained limbs refused to move, further weakening their ability to stand against Mel’s party.
Standing with the flames crackling in front of the dais’ steps, Mel waited for the next zealot to come at them. She couldn’t remember when she cut the last one down, or when she last saw a notification.
Using the last of her mana, she condensed her mist and smothered the flames to reveal a charnel house.
The zealots that were alive were barely clinging to consciousness, grasping their missing limbs or grievous wounds. Mel walked among them, granting them a merciful end that they didn’t deserve.
She was just glad none of them tried to blow up. However, judging by the splatter marks and blasted stone pews, several had.
“Is…it over?” Sabrina asked, hefting her burning plank. She followed Mel’s eyes to the burning plank and gave a bashful shrug. “I lost my wand.”
Mel couldn’t help but laugh. It was an infectious sound that spread throughout the group as the weight of what they had just accomplished settled in.
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Their momentous achievement was followed by a flood of relief. It was finally over.
Mel staggered over to them just as Maddie nearly fell over from exhaustion. “Sorry I wasn’t able to contribute much,” she said as Shane eased her into a sitting pose beside the altar.
Nobody seemed to care about the blood and gore all around them. They had been victorious against odds worse than they could have ever anticipated.
They didn’t talk for a while as they recovered and recuperated.
Mel looked down at the leg that had slipped up to the knee in the bloodfiend’s magical maw, surprised that her [Scalebane Trousers] were still in one piece.
The same couldn’t be said of her [Exile Coat]. The Mist effect flickered and faded in and out as the magic of the coat failed. It was filled with more holes and rips than she could count.
There was a faint pop somewhere above the altar as a small spray of blood gently pattered to the stone.
Mel had thought the portal closed earlier, but clearly she had been wrong.
Quest Complete: The Descent
Objective: Stop the ceremony (1/1).
Reward: [Aspect Gem (Legendary)]
(1) [Aspect Gem (Legendary)] has been stored in your inventory.
Shane let out a surprised shout as a gem sparkling like the sun in the dim room landed in his lap.
One by one, the others gained their first aspect. Each Legendary aspect was different from its fellows. They glowed so powerfully that the room was filled with multi-colored light.
“What do we do with them?” Sabrina asked, looking at her seething purple aspect gem.
All eyes found Mel, but she was so relieved she hardly cared that they were seeking her advice. “Pick the stat you want to invest in. Until you get another aspect, that’ll be your strongest one. If you want to deal more damage, pick a stat that’ll do that.”
“Like strength?” Shane asked.
“Or arcane,” Mel said, motioning to Sabrina and Maddie.
“What did you pick?” Nathan asked, one eye swollen shut.
“Agility first, then sense.”
“And now?”
Mel shrugged. “I guess it depends on the aspect, doesn’t it? What’d you all get?”
Nathan held up a black gem. “Darkness.”
They each held up their gem for Mel to see. Despite how tired and drained she was, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride. Not just in how far these people had come, but in herself. She never could have done this on her own.
A smile blossomed on her pixie features, her emerald eyes glittering as she looked hungrily at each of the aspect gems. It seemed oddly appropriate that they were all sinister in some way or another, considering the quest they came from.
Each of the Legendary gems was a gorgeous concentration of power. Power that would elevate them beyond anything they had ever thought possible.
For the briefest of moments, Mel realized she could have taken them and finished binding her stats once and for all. It would have been easy if she were as bloodthirsty and power hungry as the Bloodtide had been.
Just two extra aspects and she would have every attribute at Copper. How easily would she have beaten her opponents then?
She dismissed the thoughts out of hand. Not only because it was wrong, but because they had earned their rewards. For some reason, the thought of taking somebody else’s aspect filled her with a strange sense of revulsion.
Mel reached into her inventory and pulled out her reward. She nearly dropped it as one of the sharp edges cut into her palm when she gripped it a little too hard.
“Brutal,” Shane whispered, looking at the sharp angular stone in her hand. “What is it?”
“Omen aspect,” Mel said, staring at the hypnotic item.
[Omen Aspect Gem]
(Aspect Item)
(Legendary)
A distilled manifestation of Omen Aspect in the form of a polished gem. Accursed symbols scar the angular, multifaceted surface, dooming an infernal realm captured within crystal.
Imprint: Use to bind Omen aspect to an attribute.
Mel wasn’t sure she wanted the aspect. Not after what she saw in that portal. Power is just power, she reminded herself. It’s up to the wielder to shape it. Not the other way around. Only the weak are shaped by their powers.
Concentrating, Mel sent a thread of mana into the gem. The feedback of power it gave her was immense. Despite her initial misgivings, she could hardly wait to see what it gave her. She sped through the confirmations.
Do you wish to bind [Omen Aspect] to an attribute?
Please select an attribute to bind: Strength, Vigor, Arcane.
Omen felt like a magical aspect, though she couldn’t have said why. It just was. So far, her instincts had been spot on, so why not keep trusting them?
Are you sure you wish to bind [Omen Aspect] to Arcane? This choice cannot be undone.
You bind [Omen Aspect] to your [Arcane] attribute.
Your [Arcane (Omen)] advances to [Copper Rank (Grade 0)].
You awaken the [Omen Mark] Omen aspect skill.
The flood of power that roared through Mel’s veins crumpled her legs. She wasn’t the only one, either. One by one, each of her friends slumped to the side as the power settled firmly onto their weary shoulders.
Darkness descended over Mel, but she had weathered this twice before and found a reserve of willpower to push the fatigue back. At least one of them needed to stay awake. There could be more zealots showing up at any moment.
Shifting her legs out from beneath herself, Mel grabbed onto the lip of the altar and pulled herself back to a standing pose. She limped over to the large doors and shut them, barring them with a heavy wooden plank dropped into the iron braces.
She shook her head, realizing that if the zealots had properly barred the door, they never would have gotten inside.
Safe for the time being, Mel set up a campfire in the center of the room, cleared out the bodies to one side, then read and reread [Omen Mark] several times.
Coming from a Legendary aspect gem, it was notably different from her Serpent and Mist aspect skills. She couldn’t wait to try it out.