***

Kira Yune

As the rest of her team gathered more Mana crystals, Kira snuck away out of the trees, and towards the temple. Warring internally about the decision that lay in front of her, she steeled herself before entering and began jogging towards the hole Typhen had made leading to the higher floors.

“It needs to be done,” she whispered under her breath.

She pulled herself up through the opening, finding herself in an identical corridor. She passed through with the same urgency, dismissing stealth in favor of speed.

It only took a few minutes before she found the stairway leading higher and scaled them two at a time, catapulting herself to the next level.

Floor after floor passed her by, with no sign of those terrible creatures anywhere on her path.

She finally came to a stop when the last stairway revealed blinding sunlight pouring into the dark temple hall.

Stepping onto the roof, she looked around, expecting an army to be waiting but only found one of the monsters perched atop one of the dozen Altars.

“Guest of the Honored one,” it hissed in a rasping voice, bowing deeply. “I have done as asked of me and returned the Relics here upon the temple.”

The monster extended one of its grotesque limbs at a set of objects lined up neatly in the center of the ring of Altars.

Small statues, amulets, busts, and even a painting depicting one of the scenes in the murals from the entrance, were laid out.

Kira gripped her staff tighter, taking another step forward. She Identified the creature as she grew closer.

[Getra Queen-Level 78 (Novice)]

You can do this. This is what you prepared for. Come on Kira. Act.

Planting her front foot firmly on the stone, she activated her new tiara, and lept towards the queen.

Crown of Magus Furor

(Epic)

(Type>Growth)

Type> Equipment> Helmet

+(2% Vitality) Armor

(Novice)

Enchantment: Once per day, add (10%) of any given Stat to another for 60 seconds. (Beginner)

Enchantment: Add (20%) of your highest Stat to a chosen Stat for 60 seconds. Cooldown: 12 Hours. (Novice)

Affinity: Flesh

The force of her acceleration left a small crater behind as she channeled twenty percent of her Agility into Strength, bringing her staff up.

As she charged across the distance between herself and the queen, she guided her Mana into one of her Spellforms creating an exact copy of herself several paces to her right.

Binate

(Novice)

Affinity: Pure

Cost: 1000 Mana to activate 157 Mana/Sec

Effect: Create a double of the caster with (10%) of the caster’s Stats at the time the spell is created. Copy is unable to use Mana of its own or wield magical items.

The queen's eyes widened upon its sunken face, bringing its limbs up in a defensive block, but too late. Kira swung the end of her staff under the queen’s guard, aiming for its center mass.

Her copy dashed to the monster's side, sweeping its legs from underneath it, throwing the queen off balance and causing her to fall directly into Kira’s strike.

A sickening crunch sounded from the creature's tough skin as a small crack appeared in its bark-like hide.

Not pausing in her attack, Kira continued her strike with several more blows aimed at the same spot, hoping to take advantage of momentary confusion.

“Please, Honored one. I beg of you to stop this.” The queen cried.

Kira ignored the pleas from the terrifying monster as she kept up her barrage. The copy of herself grappling to the best of its ability to hold the queen in place.

“I do not understand.” Silver tears pooled in the sunken sockets that held her fearsome eyes as she begged for her life. “We have been faithful servants. We have never betrayed the Holy ones.”

The queen managed to overwhelm the copy’s strength and began crawling backward, trying to create distance between Kira and herself.

Why isn’t it fighting back?

Pausing mid-step, Kira lost herself for a single moment in her conflicted feelings before the faces of her neighbors and friends she had grown up with flooded her mind. Her father’s face broke through the others, making itself prevalent in the forefront of her mind.

It has to be some kind of trick. She told herself.

Kira ignored the queen’s words and focused on the anger that had been building inside of her for years. Holding onto it like a lifeline she pushed further ahead, gaining back her lost ground.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

She stared into the eyes of the queen who was still grovelling on the ground in front of her. She pounced on the creature, her training long forgotten, letting the blind rage take over as she pounded her fists into the monster with the help of her clone.

***

Cassieus Hinari

Picking up another cluster of Mana crystals on my way back to the entrance, I threw them into my ring before wiping my hands off on my cloak.

“It’s about time to get back,” Mel informed me. She was hopping from one small stone to another, appearing to avoid the muddy ground.

Yeah, we should hurry up. I want to attempt the next floor before we exit today. This floor ended up being far easier than I anticipated. If it is this easy for the first few floors, I don’t think I’ll have trouble moving through them relatively quickly.

I began walking towards the temple to rendezvous with the rest of the team.

“Don’t get complacent. This should not set the precedent and will likely become the exception rather than the rule. You got incredibly lucky that the Queen was a devout religious fanatic and that we had access to the books necessary to convince her not to kill us outright. Even with your strength, the chances of you being able to fight her by yourself would be slim.”

Avoiding a group of trees in my path I heard an echoing scream coming from the direction of the temple that sounded like a chorus of wails.

Dashing forward I reached out over our communication items.

“What was that? Is everyone alright?”

“It came from the temple,” Fras said. “I just got back to the clearing.”

“Trennel? Isamaar? Kira?” I asked.

“I’m not back, yet but I’m okay.” Trennel chimed in.

“Aye. I’m also still a minute away.”

“Kira?”

I waited for a response but there was only silence.

“Kira?” Trennel asked, worry clear in his tone.

“I’m fine,” she finally answered. “I’ll be there in just a second.”

Racing back, it took only a minute to find the spot where we had agreed to regroup, the rest of my team already gathered and waiting.

"Does anybody know what happened?" I asked.

"Based on the vibrations, the entire horde is coming this way and fast," Kira said, catching her breath.

"I thought you figured out how to bypass them?" Trennel asked me, confused.

"I did," I said, equally stumped.

Did the queen see through our ruse?

"It's possible," Mel answered. "But she seemed convinced when we left her."

I looked toward the temple but saw none of the creatures pouring down from the side of the structure.

"Can you tell if they are still inside?" I asked Kira.

"I can't pinpoint them, but that would be my guess based on the fact that we can't see them yet even though they are growing closer."

"Alright, original plan. Trennel in the dome, the rest of us will stay out here. There are a lot of them so we will need to regroup when we start to get overrun."

Trennel nodded and disappeared from sight.

"Kira, take the position to the west. Fras, you're between Isamaar and me. If you find yourself overwhelmed call out. We can retreat to recoup and come back after we recover a bit.”

Receiving confirmation that we were all on the same page, we took up our positions and waited for the impending attack.

“Somethings bothering me about this,” Mel said.

I stood watching the temple entrance, activating my Nieve for more power output.

Like what?

“If the Queen knows about the trap why would the Numliques be exiting through the temple entrance this time when she had them go around it previously? I can’t see her sacrificing her children like this for no reason.”

Thinking about it, I found myself agreeing with her logic. She had seemed so upset at the few that had died during my rampage.

I didn’t have time to ponder it for very long as the first few manes of orange fur became visible as a few dozen of the creatures began filtering out of the temple.

“It’s working! There are a few coming towards the trap,” Trennel informed the rest of us.

Isamaar pulled out his twin blades gripping them both defensively in front of his chest. Fras planted his tower shield in the wet soil creating an obstacle for the creatures while he brandished his large weapon, coating it in a thin flame.

Kira conjured a clone of herself who stood at her side while she cast another spell that created a low hum that echoed throughout the clearing before fading away.

“Brace!” Isamaar called out as the quickly approaching monsters came within a dozen paces of our line.

The Numliques ran on all fours, charging us like a pack of wild animals. The closest to me landed one of its strides within a few feet in front of me.

I dashed forward to meet it, activating my greaves Enchantment to channel the momentum into my fists. Accelerating quickly I smashed my knuckles into the face of the creature as it growled, attempting to reach out with the tendrils at the end of its arms.

My fist connected with its tough skin, knocking it back several paces. I didn’t have a chance to follow up as a second Numlique took its place, trying to get ahold of me.

I initiated another quick dash toward one of the creatures directly behind it swinging another Mana-infused punch, before repeating this maneuver on a third monster.

Jumping back to avoid getting entrapped, I landed a few quick blows, activating my Ring of Nature's Lament.

Phantom vines burst out of the soil grabbing at the legs of several of the charging monsters, trapping them in place, giving me a few moments to focus on the others.

I looked to my right noticing Isamaar stalking between the first wave of creatures and creating havoc as he swung his enchanted blades like an icy dirvish.

Taking the opportunity I dashed toward one of the creatures that had evaded my trap. Extending my claws I slashed at its throat and pivoted on my front foot to sweep the legs of the one next to it.

The creature’s short statures helped with the amount of force needed to uncenter them, but I knew that it only took a few to manage to immobilize a human of our Levels, so staying up and moving was the most important.

I tried moving back to my original position but felt as a group of tendrils found purchase on my left arm, preventing me from escaping the following bite to my shoulder.

Pain shot up my arm as the sharp fangs sunk into my armor. The attack didn’t piece my flesh but the powerful force of its jaws crushed my shoulder nearly dislocating it.

I pushed out my Mana sphere, careful not to extend it too far for fear of impacting too many of the incoming horde.

As the Numlique was pushed back, I placed one of the mana siphons from my Ring of Perilous hunger on the creature, instantly receiving a small percentage of Mana regeneration that began ticking up my bar slowly.

Still on my potion cooldown from the depletion of my resources due to the entity possessing my body, this would have to be enough for the time being until the timer was up.

Giving a glance at my surroundings, quick enough to see everybody's position but not enough to process the information myself, I reached out to Mel through our connection.

How are they doing?

“Well enough,” She answered. “Fras is doing surprisingly well, his flames are doing a number on their flesh. Isamaar is fine, and Kira seems to be using her clone as a distraction while she attacks from their blind spots. All in all, it's going as well as can be expected.”

Relieved, I focused on an incoming pair of creatures that leaped over their trapped brethren.

A few down, only a thousand to go.