Tahir met with his temporary teammates in front of the ruin in the afternoon of the next day. As he expected, the amount of guards around the barrier nearby increased drastically. He could even see multiple elven mages holding staves of gnarled wood. He supposed if they could expect a larger horde to attempt to come through the barrier the further they went down into the ruin, then a larger force to repel them made sense. He knew that his party, as well as Tsekani’s, hovered around nearby, ready to defend the area closer to the ruin and fire outside the barrier with magic if they needed to.
Tahir and Meti arrived last, with the other three talking about something he couldn’t make out before they noticed him. “Hey, there’s our extras.” Talibah greeted with a wave. Tahir and Meti both gave a nod in return as they reached the group.
“And here I thought we were making good time. Did we make you wait long?” Tahir asked.
“Oh no, not at all. I just had us doing some training in the morning. We headed over here once everyone had cooled down. But before we get too far, I guess introductions are in order. I’m Talibah Kamau if you haven’t heard, and I’ll let these two do their own.”
Out of the two, the beastfolk woman spoke first, giving a smile and a little wave. “Greetings. I am Larissa Rosin. We appreciate your volunteered aid.” Like before, Tahir noticed she held no weapons. Knowing that she used aura made sense, but did she only use aura?
The other gave a short bow. “Naevys Aedove. A pleasure.” The last time Tahir saw them, they had their hood up, but this time he could see their dark brown hair and brown eyes. They still looked androgynous with a feminine lean, and from their belt Tahir could see both their gold Redcloud pocket watch, as well as a symbol of what looked to be a cloud with a sword going through it attached to a chain. The symbol of Neharin, goddess of war.
“My name is Metilia Manicus. Nice to meet you.” Meti introduced herself, and then looked to Tahir expectantly.
“Unfortunately, I think everyone here already knows my name.” He said, which did manage to get a chuckle out of Talibah and Larissa.
“Right, we were all there when an elder of all people tried to get you kicked out.” Talibah said with a shrug. “I thought it was fishy when he first brought it up. If he’d been so concerned about you using spirit magic or whatever then they would have done something about it earlier. Ester really came through for you though.”
“She did. I’ve been meaning to thank her, but I haven’t seen her since then. Wasn’t she going to be a part of this whole thing too?”
“Figured. I think she had some business to take care of though. You’ll probably see her later.” Talibah waved the question off. “Anyway, you folks ready? The faster we clear these floors, the faster we get this whole ruin thing over with. Do we need to go over any plans for how you fight?”
“You go forward, we stay back?” Meti asked. In parties with groups of both aura and magic users, this was a normal formation. Mages fired spells from afar and covered for the aura users, who were up close and personal. Of course, different types of mages and aura users with different fighting styles didn’t always make this formation viable, but among many it was standard.
“That would be the deal.” Talibah confirmed, then looked to Tahir. “You gonna be alright with that? I’m only going off your fight with Ester, but…”
“I’ll be alright.” Tahir responded. Thinking back, other than the single fire spell he cast, he’d been pretty much in close range with Ester for that entire fight. Overall, however, his spirit magic made him incredibly versatile.
“I’ll hold you to that. Let’s get in there then. We’ll be out in time for lunch.” Talibah turned to lead the group inside the ruin, giving the guards a nod as they made their way to a teleportation circle near the end of the room, similar to that of the ruin Tahir, Meti, and Theo cleared with Neveroth. Unlike last time, however, they could actually see what looked to be a sealed door nearby.
“Did they ever try to open that?” He quietly asked Meti.
“Probably not. I imagine it is to keep whatever manner of enemies they’d find on the lower floors from being able to ascend to the surface. Assuming they don’t know how to use teleportation circles.”
Tahir nodded, then watched as everyone else stepped onto the slightly raised platform that held the circle. “One moment, please.” Calling on his bond, he summoned the Winged Serpent, as well as his fire spirit, and everyone on the platform looked on as his physical changes took hold. With the serpent resting around his shoulders, he stepped up himself. Without any further delays, Talibah activated the circle and sent them down to the fifth floor of the ruin.
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Like an inverted tower, this room looked circular, but overall wider than the first room they came into. Like the other ruin, Tahir could see something painted along the walls of dark metal. A lot of white and bright colors that depicted armored figures, but also tall, thin figures with a variety of colors, as well as wings that ranged from birdlike to butterfly and dragonfly wings.
He didn’t have too much time to examine the walls. Talibah quickly stepped off the platform, and the entire area started vibrating with the hum of magic. Not quite epic magic - Tahir hadn’t felt that same feeling since his fight with the lich, but strong enough to have a tangible feeling around the room. Seconds later, several creatures appeared in the room at the same time. Tahir couldn’t tell if they had been teleported to the space, or had been there the entire time and had been hidden by some kind of illusion magic.
These creatures looked leopard-like, but their front halves looked significantly bulkier than their back. Their eyes were pure black, and instead of a normal cat’s tail, they had something that looked more akin to a scorpion’s stinger. Upon seeing them, Talibah cracked her knuckles and stepped forward. “We’re in it now, everyone! Try not to get stung!” She spoke, and all but leaped into the crowd of them. Larissa and Naevys followed suit, while Tahir and Meti stayed back with their staves at the ready.
Unsurprisingly, the three who leapt ahead drew the most attention. The strange leopards quickly surrounded the trio. Tahir, Meti, and the Winged Serpent went into action, shooting off fire, bolts of pure magic, and motes of divine energy into the leopards that tried to close in around the forward aura users from the back. With the advantage of flight, the Winged Serpent flew forward and overhead, using a significant amount of the spiritual energy Tahir created from their bond to bestow divine shields over the aura users.
While this happened, one of the leopards leaped, covering over a dozen feet in height, it lunged for the Winged Serpent with its claws. To Tahir’s relief, the serpent expertly dodged and began to fly back toward Tahir, and the leopard that missed fell down and met one of Larissa’s rising fists with a sickening crack.
The Winged Serpent seemed to attract more attention than it meant to, as multiple of the strange leopards broke away from the crowd and began to chase after it, as the serpent led them back to Tahir and Meti. He heard a hiss that might have been an apology, as divine shields manifested over Tahir and Meti as well. Focusing on the oncoming monsters, Tahir and Meti’s divine and magic bolts slammed into one of the three that approached at once, dispatching it, but letting the other two reach them.
They dived to either side to avoid the lunges. Tahir rolled and came up with his staff pointing at one of the leopards, but it was faster on its recovery than he was, and it lashed out with a powerful claw, knocking his hand away. Thankfully, he managed to hold on to the staff, and swung with his sword to avert its jaws as they rushed to close around its throat. Its stinger rushed at him in two impossibly quick motions. He dodged the first, but felt the second bounce off the divine shield, reducing some of its power.
He started to regret not taking the earth spirit to make him tougher, or the air spirit to make him faster, but all of the aura training he went through with Murabi did not amount to nothing, however. He scrambled back from the leopard with aura enhanced speed, casting a spell and gathering divine energy at the tip of his staff. Predictably, it lunged at him again, and he released this divine energy in a burst of light and power in front of him. The creature yowled in pain, dazed and blinded by the light, and Tahir used the opportunity to run it through with his blade to finish it off.
Pulling the blade back, he looked over to Meti, who held her leopard back with a combination of a magic panel attached to one arm to act as a shield, and a long and thin magic blade at the end of her staff that acted like a spear. As Meti kept it at bay and stabbed away at it, a combination of fire from Tahir and divine bolts from the Winged Serpent took it out. Tahir ran over to her, and with a nod to confirm she was alright, they turned their attention back to the fight.
The trio held their own exceptionally well, though it was hard for Tahir to tell if it was due to how much attention Talibah demanded. Larissa dodged claws, teeth, and stingers gracefully, and had a way of moving so that the leopards that attacked her ended up swiping at and stinging each other. Naevys also focused on dodging with aura enhanced speed, but also deflecting with expertly timed strikes enhanced with aura, and then striking back to drastic effect. They fought so close together that Tahir and Meti firing into the melee became a little dangerous.
Larissa seemed to throw them a bone, by literally throwing one of the leopards toward them by the tail when it tried to sting her. Between Tahir, Meti, and the Winged Serpent firing away at, it was dead before it could recover. Looking between each other, Tahir and Meti decided to make their way closer, though the fight was basically over by the time they reached the aura-using fighters.
“We let a couple get away from the group - sorry ‘bout that.” Talibah apologized. “Having seen Tahir fighting, I didn’t think it would be that much of an issue, so I didn’t go after them but…”
“No harm done.” Tahir replied. “We probably would have called out if there was a major problem. As it was, the shields my spirit put on us didn’t even break.” With the divine shield, and their aura shields on top of it, they had a measure of protection from monsters that would allow them to take a few hits. Without them, the danger of being immediately killed by a bad swipe or the poison from one of those swings was a real possibility. Even with the shields, dodging or deflecting to keep them up for as long as possible was necessary. The shields could be refreshed, but all of the aura or mana going into keeping them up meant less that could be used to dispatch the enemy.
They had to strike a careful balance. The Winged Serpent’s divine bolts weren’t nearly as strong as they could have been since it used most of the spiritual energy covering everyone in shields, but Tahir himself certainly didn’t have any complaints about the shields effectiveness. “I would ask for a short break to make sure all of our energy is in order.” Tahir himself had a little less than half of his remaining mana left, and a generous amount of aura, but he wanted to refill the Winged Serpent’s spiritual energy - which would heavily drain both pools.
“Sound’s good.” Talibah agreed. “Everyone take a little break to stretch, and we’ll head on into the next room.”