Caster raced down the slope toward Dagon. He struggled to keep his little legs above the surface of the constantly shifting sands.
If I can climb to the top of his head and fight the goblin on top, or at least push him off, they might be able to hit kill him and free this thing from mind control!
Caster thought as the beast bellowed again. It slammed both of its fists down onto the sands, each one landing on either side of the shimmering silver barrier the Archmage had created.
Caster’s feet bounced off the ground. Even though he was twenty paces away, the shockwaves forced him into the air. With his feet cycling midair, he landed upright and continued to run faster than he could control.
With his arms flailing wildly, he raced toward the bottom of the pit. Dagon still hadn’t noticed him; the creature’s attacks were still completely focused on the other three.
Caster focused his eyes on the black pool that kept Dagon’s lower body hidden.
If I time this right, I won’t even have to touch the water. I can just jump onto his back and climb his spines the next time he slams the ground.
Dagon roared once more, shaking the walls of the chamber as he raised both arms for a third and final crushing blow.
20 paces… 15… 5… jump!
Caster leaped from the sands just as the attack landed. The force of the blow was so great that it seemed like a huge layer of sand had jumped with him as the shockwave ruptured the arena.
Caster’s mitten hands reached out for the nearest spine.
Got it-ooph!
Caster latched onto one of the teal spines as his body slammed into Dagon’s back, not only nearly knocking the wind out of him, but almost impaling himself on the razor-sharp spine spindles.
There was no time for him to waste. He grit his teeth and forced his legs to stand on top of a spine spindle below the one he’d grabbed. As a ladder, he began to climb.
With each step, Caster shoved his feet into the webbing between each spindle, like a cowboy would for a horse’s stirrup.
Level Up! Dexterity Increased +1!
Dagon’s movement’s slowed, and his back straightened.
Please don’t know I’m climbing your back, please don’t know I’m climbing your back.
Caster could see the top of the spines; he was already halfway there.
“The valiant Archmage Archibald, absorbing all the damage to save his underlings!” Dagon spoke. His voice was calm but theatrical. As if he was speaking to a crowd that only he could see. “This vessel will bring them to Leng, and The Audience will sacrifice their souls for my glory. Though their powers are meager, they will help me take the Broken Throne and mark my place as the victor of this Cycle for eternity!”
Dagon’s grandstanding wasn’t grand enough to distract Caster from the task at hand. As he reached the base of Dagon’s neck, he saw the figure standing on top of Dagon’s head.
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It was just a level 5 goblin, draped in the same dingy yellow robes as the one they came across in the Puzzle Room was.
Caster found his balance as he stood atop the beast’s shoulder blade and spine. He wasted no time and reached for his staff, then lifted it behind his head as he charged a Scaling Strike.
“Ulting!” Keith shouted.
Caster glanced down to see Keith’s hooded form vanish in a puff of smoke. His dozen throwing knives lingered in the air, floating in place as if gravity no longer applied to them.
“Trying to climb this beast’s arm? I see through your tricks, assassin.” Dagon raised his left arm, his palm was open as if he was about to slap an invisible fly crawling up its right forearm.
Caster released his Scaling Strike. The ball of air and energy flew through the space between Caster and his target.
-10 HP. Goblin HP remaining: 45
The goblin howled, reaching behind itself as Caster’s magic seared its back, leaving a smoldering black mark.
The goblin turned around; its eyes were completely covered with an overwhelming yellow glow. Its movements and words were not its own.
“Foolish fool!” The goblin’s words didn’t come from its mouth, but from its eyes, speaking phantom words that flowed right into Caster’s mind
“You dare to strike a mouth of an Avatar-” Its rant was cut short as a silver light sliced straight through its neck.
Keith’s dozen throwing daggers whizzed through the air, flying away from their hovering circle formation where they floated, and into the goblins’ back. With a rush of air Keith’s body appeared, snapping out of the invisible world he had escaped to.
“Nothing personal,” Keith said, eyes closed.
-410 HP. Goblin HP remaining: 0
Keith immediately performed a backflip, kicking the goblin away from himself as his target’s head flew off its body, and all the damage he had done activated at once.
Unfortunately, Keith hadn’t seen Caster and didn’t realize that he was kicking the goblin’s headless body right toward Caster.
In a panic, Caster raised crossed his arms over his face.
Wait, I should be holding onto Dagon so I don’t fall!
The goblin’s torso smacked into Caster’s body, and both fell off the titan’s shoulders.
Caster looked down, only to see the pitch-black waters below.
Keith recovered from his backflip by landing on Dagon’s shoulder, then slid down the beast’s scales by using the blood on his boots that had come from the goblin’s wounds.
He hopped off once he reached Dagon’s wrist, landing firmly on the sands. His victory was short-lived, however, as he realized that Elenore was pointing behind him.
“Caster was up there! Look!” She said.
Keith turned around just in time to see Caster’s little form splash into the water surrounding Dagon’s form.
“Damn, I’ll get him. Hang in there Archmage!” Keith said, sprinting away from his old mentor who lay motionless on the sand.
Caster didn’t even feel the water hit. He had only opened his eyes to realize he was surrounded by pure darkness and was sinking headfirst deeper into a pile of gel and goo.
He couldn’t breathe, but he didn’t need to. Caster attempted to turn his body and, almost like a dolphin, he swayed upright in slow motion.
He looked up, wondering if he should start swimming upward. But there wasn’t any light that shone from above. It didn’t seem like there was an ‘above’. He was in an Abyss.
Forms took shape in the darkness of the void. Lines of black that took definition from the nothingness. Color grew from inside them, slowly fading in.
As his feet touched the surface of a floor he couldn’t see, Caste realized that in the middle of the void, a sprawling series of shelves spread out before him.
Is this a library?
He wondered, daring to take a step forward. His boots formed small ripples that were absorbed by the never-ending stillness.
He continued onward. He passed the first row of shelves, each one housing thousands of books as they spread ever onward. Each shelf’s wood was a dark brown and every book had a color of its own.
From somewhere in the distance, a somber yet tranquil tune played from a violin’s strings. An ever so faint aroma of freshly brewed coffee flowed through the air, mixing with the smell of the infinite number of dusty pages.
In the distance, Caster spotted a clearing. It was a single desk made of the same dark wood. Then, Caster realized someone was sitting there, reading.
It was the skeleton.