My knees sagged, unable to hold my weight anymore. It didn’t matter though. The vine held me in place as it dug deeper into my stomach. I couldn’t think. There was only pain. My mouth was open but I couldn’t hear my own screams over the ringing in my ears. The black spots were back. But this time red blotches were dancing with them, blocking my vision of the sewer hag's cavern.
I hoped my friends would survive me. Nora would take care of Stella. My head dropped back against the wall. My health bar was just starting to flash. Would my body glow when I died like the other monsters?
Through the blotches, I saw one more of Emilia’s drawings on the wall. This one was happy again. The little girl was hugging her giant monstrous mother. Lines of charcoal ran from the depiction of the hag in a wonky half-circle to touch the upside-down mushroom scrawled above them. It wasn’t the worst graffiti I’d ever seen.
I closed my eyes and waited for the unavoidable. My spirit, or my soul, or whatever you want to call the life force flowing through all of us began to leave my body. I felt like I was floating but still anchored to myself. I could… feel the cavern around me. I could feel Nora trying in vain to reach me. I could feel Jacob stirring on the floor as he began to wake. I could feel how tired Sob was from the heavy drain on his mana resources. It was all there.
I was a shadow of my former self and there is one thing you should know about shadows; physical attacks couldn’t hurt them.
I focused on Stella as she charged around the cavern walls, her body practically glowing with golden energy. My body shifted. Morphing with the other shadows in the cavern as it shot across the space to be with Stella. With a cry, I toppled to the hard sewage-covered ground right beside my girl.
I tried desperately to suck air into my lungs around a deluge of blood violently exiting my mouth. I curled into a ball around the pain in my middle. The red puddle grew beneath me. I was free. I don’t know how but I was. It didn’t matter though. I was dead regardless.
New Skill Unlocked: Shadow Rush
You are of the shadows and they of you. With nothing but sheer will, you can transform your body into nothing but a shadow and traverse short distances in seconds. Be wary as submitting to the shadows can be addicting. Staying insubstantial for too long will make it impossible to return to your true self.
Well, that explained that at least. My health dropped to empty but before I left this place there was one more system message for me to read.
Level 7!
With the level-up came a small boost to my basic stats including my health. I was granted another health point. It was a double-edged sword though as in reality all it did was prolong my suffering.
Prolonged it long enough for Sob to reach me. With a brilliant flash of his magic, a small portion of my health was restored and the wounds inside and out healed over. I started coughing so violently that my chest ached as I expunged the blood from my lungs and replaced it with glorious but foul air.
Sob dropped to the ground beside me, too tired to hold himself up. I stroked his nose as I forced my aching body up.
“Rest. We’ve got it from here.”
I turned and stumbled away, Stella trotting beside me as I reclaimed my fallen weapons. Nora cut through the last of the hag’s vines as I plodded along on unsteady feet. Jacob was sitting up now, one hand holding his head.
The hag screamed as the final vine snapped back to her and began to thrash anew. Her health had dropped to just below half. Above the hag's head, the giant mushroom throbbed, the green splotches dripping a sickening goo onto the monster. The hag lifted a clawed hand and poked the mushroom. The drips turned into a gush as the hag tilted her chin and opened her mouth, swallowing the goo with delight.
Sbe morphed as the goo filled her, growing boil-covered tentacles that slapped against the ground outside the pool. She howled and began to spin, her tentacles sliding along the damp floor.
Nora yelped and jumped over a tentacle, stumbling back from the next that came flying her way. The tentacles were shorter than the vines but they looked far more deadly. Every time the hag completed a spin a little whirlwind shot from her, rushing across the ground until it smacked into the wall with enough force to dislodge some of the bricks.
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I swallowed but stood my ground sure now of what we had to do. There was only one problem. Without a ranged weapon it was still next to impossible.
Leaning back I took aim above the hag’s head and let loose one of my blades with as much force as I could. The sword spun in the air as it flew until the point of it sunk deep into the giant mushroom. The hag let out a deafening scream as her health dropped significantly. More goo dropped onto her head strengthening her even as it damaged her.
“We have to take out the mushroom!” I bellowed.
Jacob was on his feet now and firing every bullet he had at the giant mushroom. The bullets themselves didn’t deal a lot of damage but he was able to fire many in quick succession. It was a small benefit that so long as he had bullets in his inventory, he didn’t have to waste time reloading. Still, I wished that he had Mrs. Percott’s rocket launcher. That would have saved us some time.
As the goo continued to fall the hag's tentacles grew longer until they reached the wall. Our attacks were halted by the need to constantly jump over the things as well as avoid the increasing whirlwinds that she was throwing our way.
I jumped a tentacle and threw my last sword. I didn’t have a chance to watch it sink into the mushroom before I had to jump again. Nora let out a wicked warcry as she tossed her enormous axe. The thing hit the mushroom with incredible force, splitting the thing almost in half before the axe fell and clattered against the floor on the other side of the cavern. Nora tried desperately to reach it again but the hag was having none of it.
The monster wailed as her health bar began to flash. She writhed and for the first time climbed out of her pool, her vine-covered feet carrying her as she charged across the cavern at Nora. Stella growled and hurtled across the cavern, the same golden glow surrounded her that I’d seen in my shadow rush. I didn’t know what it was but it was safe to guess it was some sort of skill she’d been given.
Stella hit the hag with enough power to send her slamming into the wall. Nora took the chance to scoop up her axe. I started running toward the pool as one of my blades was shaken loose from the mushroom up above. I leaped with wild abandon over the sickening pool and grabbed the sword. As I plummeted toward the muck I focused on the hag and let my body melt into the shadow form granted to me by my new skill.
I stumbled as I materialized again, slamming my blade deep into the hag’s side and twisting it. Nora charged up beside me and shrieked as she landed a powerful strike.
The hag whimpered as her health bar flashed one final time and vanished. The hag crumpled, her enormous bulk crashing to the floor at our feet as she began to glow.
Across the cavern, a pained wail sounded as Emilia watched her mother die. I turned to face her, ready to strike again if she attempted to avenge the hag's death. The iron bars on that one tunnel shot up back to their place in the ceiling. Emilia wavered on the precipice before turning and disappearing deep into the shadows. Her cries grew faint as she ran.
“We did it,” Jacob said in a voice so quiet I barely heard it.
“Yeah, kid, we did it.”
Sewer Hag Slain!
2,500 exp points received.
I didn’t bother to try and loot the monster. My eyes were focused on Sob who was still laying on the ground, his head resting in the muck on the floor. I ran to him and placed a hand on his big chest, gratefully when I felt it heave beneath my fingers. He was sleeping and hopefully rejuvenating.
“Is he okay?”
I turned to Nora and smiled. “He’ll be alright. He gave everything he had and needs to rest.”
The worry on her face eased a little as she held out her hand toward me. “Here, this is your share.”
New Item Received: Fungal Arrows x 50
Description: Arrows infused with the poison of giant fetid mushrooms.
Attack power: 143
Effect: 50 points poison damage on strike.
New Item Received: Filthy Gloves
Description: Someone discarded their gloves in an open sewer pit. They stink but the leather has held up all right. Pinch your nose.
Armor: 87
I was grateful for the armor rating, even if it wasn’t as good as my croc skin gloves had been. Anything was better than nothing, even if it smelled.
2,000 gold received.
I slipped on my new gloves and wiggled my fingers. They fit well enough I guess. They’d do until I could kill another croc or two or three at least.
“Come on,” Nora said. “Let’s get out of here.”
It took a while for all of us to wake the sleeping horse but eventually, we managed it. With all the other tunnels blocked we headed for the one Emilia had been hiding in. We traipsed down it carefully, just waiting for another attack but thankfully it never came.
At the end of the tunnel was a solid brick wall but this one was different from all the others. Scrawled in a giant arch over the brick were a bunch of runes I didn’t recognize. Nora was the first to dare touch it and when she did the arch exploded with green light and sucked her in.
I bent down to pick up Stella and followed Nora through the odd-looking portal.
Minor level challenge dungeon defeated!
3,000 exp points received.
Level 8!