Part 5
Drake opened the door, before momentarily staring at the interior of the dungeon, with the rest of the party eagerly pushing him forward to see themselves. Just inside the intricately carved door was a wide, far reaching room, which split off into multiple different pathways from the center.
The ground floor was an open, flat space completely devoid of furniture or decoration. The walls, floor and ceiling looked to be carved out of the same, marble-like stone the ruins above were made of. The walls themselves were lined with the same ‘torch holders’ as the entry room, with the complementary blue flame. Regardless of the questionable source, the area around each was lit in a dim white light, providing some measure of visibility in the room.
“Whooaa…” Morgan and the others called out in unison as they slowly walked in, taking in the sights of the room. A series of winding roots were making their way in and out of the floor and ceiling, combined with an almost magical glow that seemed to originate from the roots themselves. However, all of them inevitably branched off into the passageways, leading the dungeon runners further down an individual path.
Undoubtedly, such a dungeon was meant to split off the group, at least from the looks of it. There were ten different pathways forward, and exploring each of them individually would take who knows how long. Without a doubt, it was meant to split off the group into more manageable fights for each individual. Without doing so, in a dungeon with multiple branching paths and no sure way of knowing the correct choice, a group could easily get exhausted and simply fail altogether.
Still, I can’t exactly have these guys just splitting up and dying on me. Drake thought shrewdly to himself. Regardless of the boost from the mana well, such a set up was likely meant to test our endurance or simply our luck. In that case, why not simply take the easiest path from the start?
Not giving the others any time to form their own decisions, Drake released a line of mana down each of the individual pathways using the more discreet form of his mana. Regardless of whether Yami could sense any potential threats, the weakness of her technique was that she was simply unable to establish anything outside of that. In comparison to that, Drake’s own technique had allowed him to map the layout of whatever he touched, even when someone like Ella was thoroughly hidden. Given that he was able to establish the mana radiation from various individuals of each path on top of that, and the difference was obvious.
Under the influence of his considerably enhanced power, he soon was able to establish the layout of the end of the paths, despite the lengthy twists and turns involved. By and large, they were simple, if somewhat lengthy paths. At the end, it expanded like the end of a bulb out into a larger, more open room, likely to give both the combatants and their challenger a fairer fight. That was what hardly surprised Drake about this entire dungeon, however.
The rooms themselves, and even the long paths to them lacked any sort of the typical contraptions you’d expect of a dungeon. Traps, hidden enemies, even an especially difficult terrain, none of it was present. It was all straight, simple, and to the point, almost horrifyingly so. If a game designer saw this sort of layout, he’d be accused of being outright lazy.
Drake sighed as he pushed his mana deeper into the rooms. Now that he thought harder about it, of course it would be something like this. He had initially expected them to be somewhat different, but Dryads were largely known to be straightforward, and were on the ‘good’ side of the scale. They might make the fight challenging, but they would be fair. Sadly though, that sort of thing never made a very tough dungeon.
Still, it wasn’t all bad. He could expect a good fight on the other end at least.
Establishing a solid connection with all ten of the paths, he began to examine them one by one.
Hm… Two large sources of mana on two of the paths, and if their size is anything to go by, it looks like the large, tree-like golems outside but the rooms only lead to dead ends… As for the others, there are large groups of low mana sources on another five but with no paths leading further. As for the remaining three, they have four larger mana sources each, but they have paths forward.
Drake chuckled to himself. Manageable fights for an individual… what was he thinking. Even with the entire group, it would still be a difficult fight, even if they chose the right path. Still, regardless of that, he had found the way forward with minimal effort, and no one even knew.
As for the three paths that led to the next floor, Drake held in a smile as he quickly surrounded the creatures guarding it with his mana. While this form of ‘scouting’ mana couldn’t injure easily, figuring out their identities would be child’s play.
As he wrapped his mana around the creatures however, the mana around them suddenly disappeared as if nothing was there.
What just happened… He recoiled from the connection suddenly snapping. Then, just as suddenly, he felt Yami violently flinch on his shoulder, as if she had been attacked. She gasped for air suddenly, before simply grabbing her head in a pained motion.
Drake cut off his mana connection completely, and looked to Yami worryingly. [Are you alright?]
[Y-yeah… just got a warning from a certain Dryad is all.] She replied slowly, still recovering from the signal she received.
Drake’s brief use of his mana had initially tricked the Dryad. After all, who would have expected a typical humanoid to have such magic. Despite that, after watching how the mana had entered each of the paths, and merely filled the room before leaving, she became especially suspicious after the only rooms with the exits continued to have that strange mist persist there. When that same magic began to surround her creatures, she immediately used the mana of the Aesir tree to dispel the magic from the room, followed by a stern warning to the imp. Such behavior was appalling for someone who was challenging her dungeon.
“Is that how it is,” mumbled Drake after hearing Yami transmit the disapproving message.
Such a trick could only be used once apparently. He was lucky enough that she didn’t know he was capable of it in the first place.
Yami on the other hand, took the message much more worryingly, regardless of the flux of power that the Dryad used.
Why does she seem so upset… she didn’t come off as the type to get angry at all. Yami couldn’t help but mull over the message a bit.
Shaking her head free of the thought, she turned to Drake. [Don’t worry, I’ll handle the rest of the scouting. Despite what the dryad does, even she can’t block my abilities. As long as it isn’t a creature that specializes in stealth, I should be able to detect it with ease.] A mischievous laughter rang out from the small imp. She would show that uppity dryad just how good she was.
[I’ll be counting on you, then.] Drake replied with a smile.
Confident in the correct path, he turned to the others, who had been talking amongst themselves what to do. They initially thought to involve Drake, but Morgan thought better of it when they noticed him heavily focused on the various paths, and warned the others to simply give him time.
“I know which paths we can take without any trouble. Want to hear them?” Drake called out with a mocking smile.
“Of course. Why ask something like that?” Morgan smiled as she replied with an equally sarcastic answer. Her own sense of perception and power had grown significantly from her baptism in the energy of the well. Her own personality could even be said to have matured a bit.
“From the left, the third, fifth, and ninth passages have a stairway to the next floor. Unless you’re willing to fight some useless battles, we need to stick to one of those three.” Drake said matter of factly.
A quick, cursory glance was pointed at Drake, as Luke turned to him. “And how do you know that?” He asked with some suspicion.
“Hmm… Would you believe me if I said a trade secret?” Drake replied with a chuckle, as he held out his hand playfully and smiled.
Luke immediately looked to Drake with a hard stare, only to give up in a few seconds after sensing the fruitlessness of arguing.
“Haa… Whatever man. As long as you aren’t wrong, I don’t care.” Luke said with a reluctant sigh.
“Good.” Drake replied happily.
Satisfied with the knowledge of the correct path, the group decided to relax and recharge before going further in, especially given Morgan’s need to have all of her spell slots battling in a new place like the dungeon. The branch between the paths was safe, and as such, they quickly set down to relax in the middle of the cavernous area. Drake and the others broke out rations to pass the time and recharge, while Morgan was allowed to meditate and restore any missing spell slots.
[Blehh… It still tastes awful…] Yami’s voice echoed out in Drake’s mind, as she reluctantly ate into a dried piece of meat.
It was upsetting, but Drake could only agree. Regardless of appearances, the normal food that people enjoyed still tasted awful. It generally lacked the quality of mana that he was used to, and Yami felt the same way. Thankfully, he still had a few spare bites of meat that he had saved from the wyvern in his own bag, a fact that Yami quickly noticed and enjoyed immensely.
Peter looked over to the duo, with a serene smile on his face. “So, you two actually get along really well, huh? It’s nice to see, in a way.”
“Hm? Oh. Well, yeah.” Drake answered. “She was a bit shy at first, but that was to be expected. I was a bit terrifying to her.” Drake laughed, as he reminisced on the moment.
[You were a Draconian, and a rather scary looking one at that. You’re red. Even among dragons, they’re known as intensely territorial and prideful.] Yami replied in a flat tone. [Of course, I would be terrified. You are terrifying, stupid.] Yami tore into another piece of wyvern meat, as a sudden blush filled her cheeks from the mana-filled meat.
[Hey…]
[Need I remind you of the size difference between us, as well?] There was a distinct sharpness to her words as she spoke, which Drake was more than quick enough to pick up on.
[Right, right…] He reluctantly admitted the point.
“See, that right there.” Peter jumped in with a poignant laugh. “That look you give one another, it’s obvious that you’ve never even tried to restrict her with a contract.”
“Of course, I’d never do that to her.” Drake replied with an impish smile. “Despite what she may look like, she’s a softy at heart.”
Peter chuckled to himself, before taking a large bite of rations. He slowly moved his gaze away from the piece of dried meat, and looked directly into Drake’s eyes, speaking with an unusually level voice. “To tell you the truth, I actually used to know a guy who owned an imp. Back before I met Luke and Morgan.”
Peter settled into a sort of soft reluctance as he spoke, leaving Drake with the impression that he seemed somewhat glad to get it off his chest.
“Luke mentioned once before that the imps he had seen were pretty miserable. Really, that wasn’t the half of it.” He laughed sadly to himself, as his thoughts were brought back to the first few days after the deadline was up.
“Imps, and most monsters in general, aren’t treated well. That should be obvious. For the most part, all they do is cause destruction and mayhem, and disrupt any notion that people can return to a normal life. Hell, even though Druids can just conjure up some basic food from thin air, and water and earth magic make basic necessities simple, that doesn’t replace it all.”
The beast-man fell silent as he gazed off into the far reaches of the underground dungeon, beyond the dimly lit, magical fire surrounding the walls.
“It’s not difficult to see how that all leads the more benign and intelligent among them to be treated like the rest. It’s how the human race is, and likely always will be. Those who are against us are treated like animals, while those on our side bond over a common enemy. Even if they couldn’t help it, those who were able to choose monster races and chose to transform right after the appearance of the aliens went wild. When put into terms like that, it was really quite ingenious of the aliens. Makes you hate them all from the beginning.”
“Heh…” He shook his head with a deep look in his eyes, before continuing. “Did you know that most demons under contract can’t even resist it? When it comes to the more gruesome orders, all they can do is go forward blindly, right into danger.”
“Peter…” Drake looked to him, as the beast-man continued.
“I mean, can you really blame us? When they’re doing nothing but destroying everything from the beginning, there’s really no choice.” A strained laugh emerged from Peter. “After all-”
“Peter.” Drake interjected, his eyes narrowed in a serpentine look. “What do you mean, us?”
A sudden silence came down across the entire group, with Peter’s face blanching white as the seconds passed. The forthcoming expression he held only a few moments earlier soured, as he only looked down at the floor, his face filled with guilt.
“Sorry… I.. I didn’t mean-”
“Haaa. Drake, just listen for a moment.” Luke brought the attention to himself, waving his hand in an attempt to dispel the tension that had been building up.
“When I first met Peter, it was about 60 miles out from the center of the city, to the east, out near Queen’s Landing. I doubt that you’ve heard much about what’s happened there, but to put it simply, the place went to shit. A few days after everything sort of spawned in, a Demon Lord took control of the area. It made a ton of trouble for the people there, and took over a pretty wide swath of all the monsters there as well.” He gave a brief explanation, waving his hands about emphatically to get his point across.
“Demonic corruption isn’t as simple as you’d think it would be. The environment changes quick, and that led the entire area to transform into a wasteland in less than a week from what others have told me. From there, however, it becomes complicated. Some monsters take to it well, mostly those that are connected to nature, but when it comes to those that are more animal-like and… human-like.”
“I have an idea of what you’re getting at…” Drake’s face hardened into a stiff scowl. He’d always known about the side effects of his own magic, but after he’d interrogated the demons inside of Fortress, he learned of how it affected those like Ella or Aleria, or even the average humanoid. Simply put, they became something less human, often acting like nothing more than mindless slaves.
The Envy demons inside the city had a more limited, weaker version of such an effect. Turning thugs who already were prone to attack others, and giving them a few unconscious nudges, it wasn’t difficult to make a few drones for the demons. The effect was undeniably weaker, but it was still there.
Most of all, it wasn’t hard to imagine how that had affected all those who weren’t corrupted. In Fortress, all they had to deal with was a minor crime problem. Those who were influenced were so weak, and had no real training, that it made no difference. If that was reversed, and the humanoids were on the backfoot however…
Drake only shook his head, before taking a long breath to calm himself. It was too easy to get angry at this sort of thing. He never really had to fight for anyone but himself and those he came across. Even then, he had never lost anyone important. He could only imagine how much that must have differed for someone like Peter.
“Imps are commonly found in demonic areas, aren’t they, Peter?” Drake asked.
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“A-ah… yes…” Peter mumbled out an answer, his head still turned forcefully at the ground of the dungeon. His hands were practically shaking.
Drake took another moment to calm himself, the familiar swelling of anger subsiding as he took another breath.
“Fighting to defend yourself is natural. Don’t feel too guilty about it. But-” Drake climbed up to his feet, with Yami in hand. “Don’t act like they’re just monsters. Even those like our Ground Dragons have pretty tangible emotions, and for those like Yami, they’re no different than you and me. I don’t know about those who are corrupted, but she isn’t one bit different.”
“That…” Peter’s face warped into an even more solitary, and reluctant look. “That’s the problem…”
“So that’s what it was, after all.” Drake mumbled to himself. Peter was a good man, through and through. That made this easier.
“If that’s what is bothering you, apologize.” Drake finished.
“W-what?” Peter’s face shot up, his eyes widening as he looked to Drake and Yami.
“Apologize. That’s the crux of this whole problem, isn’t it?” He smiled a wide, toothy smile, as he held Yami up to Peter’s face, her own expression one of simple amusement. Drake was up to his old problems again. Constantly trying to help others.
“If you feel so guilty about those you’ve fought, even when you were forced to, then simply apologize. Isn’t that right, Yami?” Drake leaned over to the side, playfully looking at the small imp and Peter.
“You really do too much sometimes.” She shook her head reluctantly, before looking to Peter with an intelligent expression. “Let me in for a moment. I’m not as forgiving.”
Yami quickly transmitted the order to Peter, leaving him to simply shake his head. “Right, that link you can form. Here.” Peter concentrated on the young imp, forming the mental connection with her with nothing but a thought.
Yami quickly accepted, with only a small twitch of her eyes betraying any sense of the roiling emotion that was transmitted to her. Peter very clearly wanted to repent for what he had done, but at the same time, felt that he had no choice to do what he had done.
Peter had killed more than a few weaker demons like herself, with just as many often dying with fearful look on their face as he killed them. The Demon Lord responsible often attacked in large groups, sending out weaker demons to weaken those who resisted control before sending in the more experienced of his forces. However, not once had Peter been intentionally cruel to those who were left alive, an admirable if somewhat foolish quality.
This… As Yami shuffled through his memories, she noticed a peculiar ability. One of the demons Peter had attempted to finish off disappeared in a sudden rush of smoke, before reappearing a few feet away utterly exhausted. It had been promptly killed right afterward, but he ability itself gave away the identity of the enemy. It was the ability of the doppelgangers Drake had fought.
So, he fought them as well, right as that Lord was first expanding… Yami scowled momentarily, before looking to Peter with a thoughtful expression. He was a good man, for a humanoid that is. In the end, he was just making the best out of a bad situation. Those who he fought would have no doubt killed him if he hadn’t killed them himself, and she wasn’t exactly the most merciful when it came to enemies either. He did well.
The imp placed her hand on Peter’s face, as a gentle smile spread across her face. Maybe she had been a bit too harsh on their species. Drake had been one originally, after all.
“If you really need to hear it, I forgive you for those you’ve killed. Blame the Lord for their deaths, not you. My kind has no choice in making such contracts, as we’d soon die otherwise. The same goes for most of demon kind, as only the strong can survive by themselves.” Yami spoke aloud, but her voice transmitted seamlessly to his mind.
“T-thank you.” Peter mumbled thoughtlessly, only accepting the words as they were. The things he had been forced to do to survive had haunted him, but he had never imagined that he would be forgiven for them. It was truly a gift.
“Thank you too, Drake.” He looked up to Drake as well, with only a small smile making its way across to him.
Drake merely smiled before giving a small laugh in return. “Of course.”
With the confrontation resolved peacefully, the rest of the time spent waiting resumed with grateful silence. Peter, Luke, and the rest continued to eat and rest, while Morgan silently finished her meditation in the off to the side of everyone else. It was an intriguing process to be sure. Wizards drew on the mana around them to fuel their magic, but the process of actually restoring their ability to use it involved thin, almost incandescent sources of mana that seeped back into their bodies through the top of the dungeon. No doubt the source came from the above the dungeon itself, much like the line of mana he saw enter Morgan’s body when they drank from the mana well.
Restoring their magic through the environment, or is it something altogether different? Drake looked on with amusement at the process. It was intriguing, to be sure. A process that was altogether different but used the same source as everything else in the world. Just how did it split off from his own source of mana?
He merely shook his head, as he noticed the thin line of mana suddenly disappear altogether, and Morgan opened her eyes.
“Finally up?” Drake asked with a thin smile.
“Ha, ha. Thirty minutes is already lightning fast, I’ll have you know. Those that are elven are special in that way.” Morgan bit back with her own sense of sarcasm.
“Hm. Drake, you ready?” Peter interrupted the conversation, as Drake quickly popped the last piece of wyvern meat into his mouth, much to the chagrin of the imp on his shoulder.
“Yep. Just follow me.” He responded.
Drake quickly took the position of leading the others down the fifth passageway. Given that all the different passages were somewhat similar in their construction, he was pleased to find that there were indeed no hidden traps or surprises on his way to the end. Still, despite that, it took the small group roughly five minutes to walk to the end of the passageway.
“Expect four enemies once we reach the end. As for what they are, we’ll have to find out once we arrive.” Drake said.
“Any ideas on what type of creature they are? If they use magic, me and Luke are going to be at a disadvantage pretty quick.” Peter lamented. “We might be faster than we were when we were humans, but that doesn’t count for much these days.”
“If I had to guess, it’s unlikely.” Drake mulled things over to himself, as he spoke to Peter. “Yami can sense that sort of thing, especially from this close.”
While true, Drake himself would have undoubtedly sensed at least some form of more intense mana radiation if they were monsters of that type. He had filled up most of the room with his mana before it was dispelled. Of course, if they were like Gwyn, and used actual magic, even he couldn’t do much about it.
“Looks like we’re here.” Luke interrupted, as the group suddenly slowed to a halt.
In front of them was exactly what Drake expected. A large, bulbous room that stretched out in a semi-circular motion in from of them. Despite that, he also saw a large array of roots, crisscrossing the entire room, providing cover and preventing them from seeing any of the potential enemies. Directly in front, unobscured by the various roots covering the room, looked to be a stone staircase firmly imbedded into the wall at the opposite end of the room, leading further down into the dungeon.
Although, it bothers me that I couldn’t sense the roots at all. Drake grimaced, still unsure of the origins of the dryad’s power.
“There’s supposed to be four different enemies in here?” Peter looked around cautiously, his eyes scanning dimly lit room for any signs of the threat.
“They’re in there, there’s no doubt about that. Yami, locate them from here.” Drake looked to his shoulder, and gave her a knowing smile.
[Will do.] She gave a short response. After a brief flash of the locating magic she typically used, her eyes immediately began to dart back and forth among the various roots that littered the space in the room.
[Three are up among the very top of the roots, while one is prowling on the ground. It’s some sort of fey creature. I don’t recognize it, but it’s definitely not demonic, or even beast-like in nature. It’s too unnatural for that.] She quickly spread her link to message the other three along with Drake, informing them of the nature of the enemy.
“Is that so.” Luke frowned as his eyes continually scanned the areas of darkness cast by the large roots. “Morgan, light this place up.”
“As you wish.” She replied playfully, before digging into a small satchel on her waist. Bringing out a small rock, she raised her hand as a brilliant white light suddenly began to shine from it.
“Light!” A twenty-foot cone of light suddenly surrounded them, completely illuminating the small passageway around them, while audible hisses immediately sounded out from the room in front of them.
Morgan smiled as she rolled the makeshift beacon of light up and down in her land, before looking to Luke in expectation. “You want to throw it?”
“Yea, just hand it over. I thought I saw something.” He held out his hand expectantly, not daring to take his eyes off a small area underneath a section of root that dug further into the dungeon.
Giving him the rock, Luke quickly threw it into the suspected area, catching one of the creatures off guard, and exposing it for all the others to see.
As he did, Drake’s eyes widened as he looked on, and he immediately knew what they were facing. The group he came into town with had actually captured some themselves.
Displacer beasts. Supposedly creatures of the fey, they resembled the panthers of the old world, only with six limbs instead of the standard four, and a threatening appendage that split into two barbed tentacles that originated from the base of its neck. This, along with being packaged into a nine-foot-long, 500-pound bundle of muscle and bone made them a formidable predator; from what Drake knew about them, they were also incredibly troublesome to deal with without sufficient numbers.
As a species, they often hunted in packs, although they sometimes could be caught on their own. What was troublesome about them however, was their innate ability. When faced with danger, they were capable of bending the light around them, making them appear to be a foot or two off from their actual position. In close range, such an ability could mean the difference between life or death quite easily.
“Just what the hell are those things?” Luke let out involuntarily.
“Displacer beasts. Be careful to not let them trick you. They can bend the light around themselves, and make themselves seem like they’re in a different location temporarily. The effect doesn’t last long, but it doesn’t need to.” Drake looked on as the creature quickly bolted out of the sphere of light, and into the darkness surrounding the room.
It was obvious why they hadn’t attacked yet. In the narrow corners of the passageway, their innate ability would have done nothing, and just funneled them straight into the others in his group. While the displacer beasts couldn’t attack, his own group had no way of luring them forward as well. To put it simply, they were at a stalemate.
“So, what now?” Morgan looked to the others before turning to look further into the darkness. It only took a moment before she shook her head in frustration.
“Darkvision.” She mumbled, her eyes lighting up in an arcane energy. “Much better.” She said with a smile.
“Morgan, do you have any spells available that could draw them to us?” Peter looked to her expectantly, hoping that she would have some sort of solution.
“U-uh… No. Sorry. I could deal with that annoying ability though, at least in a roundabout way. With Invisibility, you guys could sneak up on a few, as long as they aren’t overly strong. Then again, we’ve never fought these before, so it might not do much good…” She started explaining in a hesitant voice, before slowly shifting into one of possibilities, more talking to herself than to any of the others.
“But that’ll use up all your 2nd level spell slots, huh?” Peter looked to Morgan with equal hesitation, making sure to keep one eye pinned onto the darkness, before shaking his head.
“Whatever, just use it on Luke and Drake. You keep all the first level spells for yourself. You just refreshed that new 3rd level slot, and given that all three of us are close range fighters, that’ll be best.” He made the decision for the group, as he often did. He had long been the main source of group decisions, and he hadn’t steered them wrong so far.
“Right. Good luck.” Placing her hand on Luke and Drake one at a time, she casted the Invisibility spell, and each one of them disappeared completely.
“Oh. Uh, sorry Yami. I don’t have any slots for you…” Morgan laughed as she noticed the entirely visible imp floating in midair on Drake’s shoulder as she finished the spell for him.
“Hm?” Yami looked down only to see the ground beneath her. “Tch.” She flew up off his shoulder, slightly annoyed before she received Drake’s order on what to do concerning the monsters.
[Right.] She responded.
“Luke, I’ll go forward and distract the one that just landed on the ground. That’ll give you the chance to kill it without much trouble. As for the others, Morgan will give me another light rock, which will make me a beacon for all the ones above. Morgan can support me from there, given she used Darkvision.” Peter laid out the plan, directing each of them for their own roles.
“Will do.” Morgan responded happily.
“Easy as pie.” Luke agreed.
“As for you Drake… uh, you do whatever you do.” Peter looked to him awkwardly.
Truthfully, Peter felt that he had no real idea of how to effectively use him, or if he would truly even listen to him. He obviously was hiding some sort of power, but the magnitude of that power Peter was unsure of, and given that Drake wasn’t sharing, it was best to let him go on his own. He had his own form of support in Yami, and had been given Invisibility by Morgan. He would be fine on his own.
“Don’t worry about me. I should be able to take care of one. At the least, I can keep myself out of trouble.” Drake responded.
“Hm.” A short response came from Peter, before he looked out to the winding roots and darkness in front of them.
Preparing themselves, Peter was quickly given another makeshift beacon of light, making him the center of attention as the tank. Morgan stood in the entrance of the passageway, as both Drake and Luke quickly moved along the various roots, jumping and climbing accordingly to reach their various targets.
He didn’t even try to give me any orders. Is he still unsure of my place in their group? He mused to himself. Clearing his mind, he focused on the task, quickly climbing the large roots that made their way up to the ceiling, in an attempt to catch the Displacer beasts off-guard. He had planned on attacking the larger group regardless, and Peter’s own plan fit into Drake’s neatly.
[Yami, have you identified the exact location yet?] Drake looked on from above, as Peter walked out from the passageway resembling a sort of holy object. At the very least, the light spell on the stone he was given acted as the perfect bait, and a sphere of protection at the same time.
For a creature that seemed to thrive on sneak attacks, and taking advantage of their own abilities, that zone of light looked to be annoying them immensely. Even though he couldn’t see them, the unearthly growling they were making was echoing off every part of the room.
[One is directly above you, looking at Peter. It doesn’t suspect a thing.] Yami called out to Drake from the side, her body covered in a faint, red glow. She had been given the role of keeping himself and Morgan notified of the monster’s locations with her tracking magic.
[Right.] Drake answered her mentally. Summoning up his crystal gauntlet, he quickly clambered up the root until he found himself directly behind one of the supposed Displacer beasts. Given that Drake had been gifted Invisibility and the creature was distracted by Peter, it hadn’t heard a thing as he approached. It was merely looking onward towards Peter, who was acting the perfect position as bait.
[Time to see if this ability of theirs is automatic.] Drake remarked sarcastically.
Drake pointed his hand in a knife-like motion before quickly stabbing down towards the spine of the creature. Aiming towards its head would be much too troublesome, and crippling a beast that relied so heavily on agility would be just as effective.
Just as Drake was about to reach the body of the creature, he noticed the creature’s ears suddenly perk up. Then, just as his gauntlet was about to dig into it, the creature visibly shifted in its position, as if it simply popped out of existence and shifted a foot to the left.
Dammit, so that’s its ability. Drake remarked to himself, a look of utter annoyance clear on his face. The invisibility had dissipated the moment he had attacked, as it should have, but the creature was still able to shift away from him in that split second.
The sheer speed of such a reaction time was simply impossible, which left only one other possibility. They didn’t shift at all, rather, they kept a consistent field around themselves that projected a false location. You wouldn’t know their actual location until you pierced the illusion, which only furthered their defense.
Twisting his arm harshly towards his target, he rammed his gauntlet firmly into the creature’s ribcage, resulting in a hideous growl of pain.
“Still got you, you bastard.” Drake smiled to himself in a self-satisfied manner, before his eyes widened suddenly, and he quickly ducked and jumped away to a nearby root. The spiked tentacles on the creature’s back almost clubbed him right as he finished attacking it, almost if they had a mind of their own. Still, he had gotten away in time.
Drake braced himself, as the creature twisted around, before turning to glare at him. The creature hissed momentarily, before it turned to the side, and broke his line of sight, only to suddenly appear on a nearby root roughly ten feet away from him.
The creature leaned as if to pounce, only for the barbed weapons on its back to launch towards.
Shit! Drake quickly dodged a barbed tentacle that was aimed straight at his head, only to see another quickly join it. Breaking the attack away from him with his gauntlet, he retreated again, only to see it leap forward and take his former position, making sure to stay just within range to harass him.
They’re much more troublesome than I was expecting. Drake snarled.
Get close, and they would evade with their innate ability, making it difficult to even damage them. Try to attack them from far away, and they would take advantage of their range and speed to outmaneuver their enemy. They really were perfect for testing a group of people.
Hearing a sudden yelp of pain from below, he could see that Luke had taken advantage of his own target. He was having a difficult time keeping up with it, given the creature’s speed but he was still slowly driving it towards Peter and Morgan.
[Drake, behind you!] A sudden shout from Yami alerted him to the threat, only for a hard, cluster of spikes to wedge themselves firmly in his back. Thankfully, the clothes he had made using his mana shaved off most of the damage he would have taken.
Stunned from the blow, another attack soon hit him after, only this time, the cluster of spikes forced themselves past his protective clothing, and imbedded firmly in his side before ripping out in a vicious motion.
Coughing from the sudden blow to his side, he reached down instinctively only to see a handful of blood from the attack. The attack itself was shallow and hadn’t pierced deeply, but the numerous spikes had left a large wound on his side,
Dammit. Laughing lightly, he could only smile reluctantly at his situation. In the heat of the moment, he had completely discounted the location of the other Displacer Beasts. One had gone down to assist the one Luke attacked, but the other stayed to deal with him.
“Heh.” Drake muttered. He could see now that he had been cornered, and that attempting to attack them in this sort of environment played heavily to their own advantage. They were quicker than him certainly, and that coupled with the range from their spiked tentacles downplayed any sort of physical advantage he had with his mana gauntlets over them.
These two had chosen to attack him, while the other Displacer beasts were playing a game of cat and mouse with the others on the ground. The barbed tentacles, which gave them about ten feet of attack, allowed them to keep out of range of any potential counterattacks as long as they fought defensively. From his vantage point, Drake could see that only Morgan was able to reliably attack them, and that was only when she used the magic missile spell.
Huh? Drake looked on, only to see one of the creatures who had shifted to avoid Morgan’s locked-on attack be ruthlessly slammed with Peter and Luke’s weapons a moment afterward. Those two attacks, coupled with Morgan’s own smaller hits, had almost single handedly crippled the creature, and it was obvious to everyone that it had been dealt a serious blow.
So, it has a weakness after all. Drake looked on with glee. Once the illusion stopped, and its location shifted to avoid Morgan’s attack, it seemed that it was left utterly unable to use its ability again until it had time to recharge the ability.
Drake swiftly dodged two more attacks from the duo in the top of the room, before making his decision to retreat down towards the others. Against an enemy like this, he likely wouldn’t be able to effectively attack it alone unless he filled the entire room with mana, an action that was made even less likely given the creator of the dungeon. It was clear, he needed other’s help to disable to ability, and Morgan’s Magic Missile spell was perfect for such a thing.
“It’s time to finally get the real fight started.” Drake jumped downwards towards the others, a battle-hungry spread clear on his face.