Kaden stared at Trella as she shuddered. “You can’t just stick things in your mouth and swallow. That could have been a [Dagger Wasp] egg.” [Identify] had said it was Nocto Condensate, but his Identify had always been broken. That was a problem for later. Right now? “Start using mana. Condensate changes your mana’s nature. You’re going to be sick until it’s all gone.”
“I’m fine.” Trella [Shadow-stepped] forward, trailing thousands of shadows instead of the normal two or three. Her Dark Deception burst into existence walking beside Trella. It put a hand on her shoulder and helped keep Trella upright.
“Mana Dart. Keep them coming.” Kaden winced as black ooze whipped up from Trella’s skin, slicing his hand open.
Trella’s shadow went one direction—then another—then split off three more times to become thin versions of her Deception.
“Keep using the Deception. The mana cost goes up,” Kaden said.
The problem was, her original Deception was still there, standing on the other side. Kaden tried to disperse it. It caught his hand and shook its head.
[Shadow Step] mis-fired, sending Trella backwards faster than [Moment of Speed] could let Kaden move. He picked her up and carried her as bands of black errupted from her body and sank back in. As he approached the others, Eve took one look and came running. “What happened?”
Kaden lay her down on a bedroll. “She killed a spider with nocto condensate. I pulled it out. She absorbed it without even waiting. We would have let her have it. She didn’t need to take it without preparing. Eve showed us how to do it without getting sick.”
Sara hadn’t spoken. “She’s levels behind and desperately wants to catch up. I could have told you this was coming but I didn’t expect you to find the one kind of condensate she was planning on taking.”
Trella convulsed, completely unconscious.
Kaden drew a [Mana Spike] with a hundred points of power and gently pressed it to her.
Her back arched, and even unconscious, she groaned, biting the tip of her tongue until it bled—then sagged back against the roll.
“I’ve got this,” Eve said, putting a hand on Trella as she activated [Life Transfusion]. “There we go. Get the piece of her tongue and hold it in place. Good, good.”
A trickle of blood from Trella’s mouth ran down her cheek.
“She should be awake,” Kaden said.
“No,” said Eve. “When I took my condensate, I was unconscious for two hours that I know of. I say that based on the alignment of the moon when we started. Don’t move her, just let her rest.”
It was an absolute that Kaden could love someone and still be infintely frustrated with her decisions. It wasn’t like he didn’t grasp being less powerful than everyone around him, or that moment of decision when he’d taken the chrono condensate. It was just that he’d been in a safe—ok, Vichor wasn’t safe, but it wasn’t filled with monsters. Other than Jagi.
It was a terrible choice made worse by not warning Kaden. He could have at least warned her to expend all her mana. Now, they could only wait. Kaden set Trinity lose with simple instructions. Start at camp and kill everything in an ever expanding circle. She’d make a (probably bad) judgement call if she ran into a boss.
Skully stood at the center of camp, his head rotating three hundred and sixty degrees as he scanned for any incoming threats.
Kaden summoned Vip and let her lay against Trella’s chest, not because Vip had any form of magic, but because he always felt better when Vip snuggled against him.
“Would you mind helping me with an experiment?” Wren asked. “I know this doesn’t match your style, I just want to see if the bindings work. Sara’s too short, Eve doesn’t wear armor and it’s impossible to fully test something on yourself.”
Kaden stood still as Wren produce a breastplate obviously warped from a Mirror Shield. “How did you do this? You don’t have a forge.”
“That’s what my class does. Well, my specialization of it. I warp existing artifacts into new uses, and I gained two levels just producing this. There’s a reason we have project breaks. I can learn all the theory I want but at some point I have to do. I have to make. I have to fail.” Wren took something out of Inventory. It looked like a crumpled scroll, only it was shiny metal. “I stretched it too far. People laugh at times because I’m a dual class Shield/Artificer but anyone else wouldn’t have survived the failure.”
Kaden was probably three times stronger, and he couldn’t bend the metal at all. “I have to see this.”
“Some other time. Like I said, it doesn’t fit your fighting style, but you’re a decent armor dumy.” Wren pulled a full sized shield, unmodified and handed it to him, followed by a bracer and pauldron with an arm guard. “How does that feel?”
Kaden put them on and tried to lift and swing Reembrance. “It’s cutting into my arm on the underside and I can’t raise my forearm all the way.”
Wren stripped the pieces and set up her workbench. “See, this is what I was missing. My mace attacks are simple up or down, side to side swipes.” She locked the pauldron into place and began to focus on a set of tongs which arced white energy that reminded Kaden of the Void Walker. “Just a minor change here, we’re going to push this in a bit, and now the enchantment is all broken, so let’s adjust the enchantment flow. I should be able to make changes like this without breaking the flow, but my skills aren’t high enough level yet.”
After several minutes, they repeated, and this time, Kaden could raise Remembrance far enough, though the armor felt heavy and restrictive. “What’s the advantage of this?”
“I call it ‘mage killer’ armor. [Mirror Shields] reflect spells. Imagine not being able to throw a spell for fear of hitting your friends?” Wren was near gleeful. “Imagine a full set of armor in this.”
He left her working and went to check on Trella.
She sweated drops of inky black that evaporated under the dim red glow of the cavern.
“Shit.” Sara swore. “Mabies are breaking camp. They didn’t message me, so they’re not heading for a boss. We’ve got to move.”
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Kaden recalled Trinity immediately and lifted Trella, bedroll and all, into Skully’s waiting arms. “Trinity will take west, I’ll take lead, you take east.”
“I’m with Sara and Wren,” Eve said. “I’m really hoping to escape these caverns without having to resurrect everyone.”
Kaden listened in with the Echo Beetle, but he’d missed the discussion that led to them breaking camp. “They’re not moving north. They’re moving northeast.”
“Let them roam,” Sara answered. “I’m applying [Speeding Wind] to everyone.”
The buff made Kaden that much faster, letting him keep up with the Mages, who weren’t constantly cycling buffs. They were conserving mana. “What gets a group like this fired up?”
“Power,” Eve sent back by Messenger Bird. “Power is their only goal and it’s what they’re taught to seek.”
Less than two hours later, the mages slowed, coming to a stop as they spread out into an arc. Kaden let Trinity start her sweeps while he fell back and circled the long way around to where Wren stood in heated discussion. “There’s three major trials. They have to beat one to receive their Quest reward. While I was bandaging one, I found out the Light Fairy isn’t on the list. She’s hidden. They were talking about the Path of Fire. It’s a challenge where each of them must keep themselves from being charred with nothing but mana.”
“It’s not a boss, so they didn’t tell us,” Sara said. “All right. Kaden, you and Trinity sweep to make sure we don’t have wandering bosses. Wren, if you don’t mind, keep an eye on Trella.”
Trella rolled over, kicking herself out of Skully’s arms.
[Acrobat] kicked in at the last moment, so she rolled when she hit stone. “Oh my gods. That hurt.”
“You’re not injured,” Eve said. “I could overheal but I can’t heal you.”
Trella rose, unbalanced and stumbled sideways into Skully. She might as well have hit a wall. The Skeleton looked down at her and put a hand on her head to put her upright. “[Mana Spike]. Why the hell did you hit me with [Mana Spike]?”
Eve spoke before Kaden could. “If you had any restraint, any intelligence, any form of planning, Kaden or I could have told you the key to transitioning mana is to exhaust yourself into near Mana Shock before taking the condensate. Kaden did you a favor. Sara did things the hard way, Kaden at least had Mana Dart. You didn’t have to do what you did.”
Trella wouldn’t meet her gaze. “I don’t want to be carried by the party. I said no when the Sisters offered because I watched initiates suffer. I regretted that every day, but the Sisters would make me wait until second tier and then I’d owe them. I got [Shadow Chains].”
Kaden waited as she shared the skill.
[Shadow Chains]
Summon chains of pure shadow to bind and harm your prey. The edges are sharp and will become sharper as this skill levels. The strength of these chains and the size of prey you may bind will increase as this skill levels. This skill deals double damage in the dark.
“This is what the noctomage used during our escort mission,” Kaden said. “It’s not leveled but that’s a powerful skill.”
Trella reached up to Skully. “I don’t mind him carrying me, I just want to sit up while I recover my strength. Eve, how many hours was it until you felt solid?”
“A week,” Eve said. “I went into Hell still unstable.”
Before Kaden could order him, Skully cupped his arms so Trella could sit against the smooth sides of his rib cage rather than the razor sharp points.
“They’re starting the Path,” Eve called.
Each mage stood with their back to the others as a column of flame rose up before them. Even from where Kaden stood, the Fire Mana was overwhelming, let alone the heat. A sphere of mana surrounded each mage. Solid black for the NoctoMage, deep green for the life mage. Two blue water mages, a yellow Kaden didn’t recognize, and a brilliant white sphere that pushed the column of fire back.
“There’s nothing we can do for them now except keep wandering bosses clear.” Sara turned to Trella. “Does your map cover this area?”
Trella nodded. “Not all the way through, but I’ve been north east of here almost to the exit. I could see the exit in the distance from where I was. West of here is a swarm of [Rock Rollers]. Don’t underestimate them, they’re classified as a Boss for a reason. I put myself into Mana Shock just to escape.”
“Swarms.” Eve spoke the word with pleasure. “I’d like to see this ‘swarm.’ I have a skill specifically focused for destroying ‘swarms.’”
She had to mean [Life Explosion]. Kaden had yet to see it actually function as Eve almost always used it in its less evolved form. “Skully’s [Plague Crows] could spread plague through the swarm before you use it.”
“I’d appreciate his company. I don’t need to do this myself, I want to hone my skills. Kaden, you are welcome to come in case of unforseen disasters.” Eve looked to Sara. “Would that be acceptable?”
“Absolutely, if Trinity has the far side.”
Trinity didn’t just “have” the far side, she was gradually murdering every monster in an ever widening arc.
Trella patted Skully’s head. “This way, big guy.”
He lumbered forward, leading Eve and Kaden for nearly an hour. The first sign they were near were scorpion husks. Centipede shells. Fragments of bone golemns still vibrating and trying to connect to each other, but with chips and chunks of bone missing, probably doomed.
Trella slowed Skully. “There. That looks like an open plain, and they don’t bother the little scorpions, but see the small holes? They’ll come boiling out the moment they sense vibrations. Anything other than [Shadow Step] wouldn’t have saved me. I was able to burn all my mana and [Shadow Step] out of their nest, then run and keep running.”
Eve studied the area. “If this goes badly, we’ll retreat. How close does Skully need to be to use the [Plague Crows]?”
Kaden moved them slowly back. “There.”
“Excellent. I’ll be using [Life Explosion], We just need a target to get started.”
“Got it.” Trella hurled one of her daggers deep into the field of small, narrow gopher holes. As it bounced off the stone, something gray and red burst into the air with a squeal.
[Life Explosion] blasted it into chunks that covered others, which was impressive and yet, as the ground rumbled and shook, Kaden couldn’t help worrying. He grasp Trella’s hand. *How’s your mana?*
*Rising, faster than it ever did before, but not full.*
Kaden gifted her mana with [Mana Well] to ensure she could use [Shadow Step].
She returned the favor with a mana regen potion that tasted like ash.
“Come on!” Eve shouted as she activated [Life Explosion] over and over. The tiny swarm beasts exploded in waves, only triggering more of their comrades to die. [Plague Crows] dove in between, nipping and scratching, and any infected Roller did twice the damage when it exploded, passing on plague.
Sometimes, a battle hinged on a bad bounce.
Eve had focused her [Life Explosion] attacks on the center of the field, but just as she activated it, a ring of Rock Rollers vaulted up, jaws opened wide to devour the expected threat. Most died in the [Life Explosion], tainted with [Plague].
One sailed through the air, bounced, and rolled to Eve’s foot.
She screamed as it chomped down on her toe.
Kaden smashed it, but already the ground began to tremble under his feet. “Run!” Kaden threw Eve and Trella over his shoulder and began to sprint away. He’d never considered Skully fast, but never tested Skully, either. The Undead monstrosity covered major ground with every thundering footstep.
Behind them, swarms of [Rock Roller] rolled through an [Agony Cloud] tossed out by Trella and kept coming. Kaden leaped up, climbing onto Skully’s back like Eve and Trella weighed nothing. “Keep going, big guy—that way.” He wouldn’t lead them back to the mages, no, Kaden crossed a pack of [Lava Scorpions] and kept going. “Why are they still chasing us?”
“Hold still!” Trella shouted. “There’s one biting your arm. One sets off the pack.” Trella stabbed at it until the swarmling dropped to the ground, immediately swallowed in the flood of [Rock Rollers] who rolled along behind them.
“Over the lava!” Kaden hated directing Skully that way and tried to imply him jumping. Many Adventurers had the [Acrobat] talent which allowed fantastic leaps and landings. Some fish could leap from the water and soar through the sky. Skully, like the average mountain range, was not meant to leave the ground.
His version of a jump was a slightly longer step that landed him in the middle of a lava stream. He stumbled two feet more and collapsed on the other side as his legs charred.
The wave of [Rock Rollers] hit lava and drew back.
Then began to stack atop one another taller and taller.
Eve hit them with [Life Explosion] but now there were three towers of [Rock Rollers].
Skully’s hair dropped off and re-arranged itself as leg bones for a quadruped, and he took off running at Kaden’s direction. “How far do we think the aggro goes on?” Kaden asked Trella.
“Not much—Look out!” Trella shouted as swarms of [Rock Rollers] converged from either side.