The Bridge (Part 6)

Desperately he turned to the last place he could look for help. For years he had explored the edges, the confines of the mental space occupied by his Light Mage class and found nothing. Only recently had he been lucky enough, in need enough, to form the mental model necessary to find Detect.

But that opening in him had felt so clear, so long in coming.

He searched the edges, mentally grasping into all the familiar nooks and crannies of the long burdensome class when he felt it. The window. It was open, it was there, but there was still another barrier beyond it.

Idris poured his XP into it, watched it drain and for a moment feared it wouldn’t be enough.

And then it burst open, filling him with knowledge of a new spell - one he somehow knew would never have been available were it not for that strange, multi-colored light.

Skill Discovered

Name: Life Light

Classification: Magic, Light Mage

Description: A rare skill even among Light Mages, at the first level of proficiency, life light enhances Radiance and attaches itself to an enemy. If that enemy is killed, part of its total life energy is absorbed into the light and can be transferred to the target of the casters choosing.

Higher levels of proficiency increase the amount of healing energy and unlock additional features.

HP Absorbed: 5%

Mana cost: 10, plus Radiance casting cost

It would cost him all his mana, but it was worth it. The ball of light made by Radiance still shone above the melee raging around Idris and, still unable to lift his head, he cast Life Light and sent the ball swirling through where he expected the fighting was. In moments he felt something, a confirmation that the ball of light had absorbed power.

He brought it back to him and let the power flow into his wounds. Instantly the drain of his life stopped, and even ticked up a few points.

Then it continued to climb. Eana! She had cast Recover on him in that burst of magic and it was still working.

Around Idris the battle still raged. He could hear Conrad and Kaladrian yelling back and forth, the endless chittering of the bug men, the panicked shouting of adventurers and townsfolk alike. What he hoped was insect goo spattered him where he lay, still facedown, as he concentrated with everything he had in him on the singular goal of calming his mind and recharging his mana.

It felt like far too much time had passed, like the group would move beyond him when finally the bar rose high enough and he once again invoked Radiance and Life Light. With what strength he had regained he turned his head far enough to see the fighting.

At the front Karno stood, weaponless and only able to shield bash the Soldiers that confronted him. One of them took hold of it and wrenched it aside while two others plunged killing spikes into his chest, dropping the massive man to his knees.

Instantly Troy and Conrad were at his side, and the target of their joint skill imbued attacks was the same one that Idris attached his light to. They killed it instantly, and moments later Idris took its life into himself.

The massive constitution of the thing was invigorating to the point that Idris watched nearly a quarter of his HP suddenly shoot upward. The wound in his chest knit back together the innermost parts, and though he was still hurt, strength returned to him.

He got to his feet.

Around him the battle was clearly lost. The sheer frenzy that the insect men were showing was well beyond what they had shown before. Then Idris remembered Kaladrian’s warning to Eana. When she cast it must have drawn them in, enraged them, something about how her magic interacted with the world broke down whatever “thought” had driven these things and turned it into blind, overwhelming fury.

But his sister had defied Kaladrian, she had bought him the time to heal himself. Why hadn’t she continued?

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He saw her then, slumped over Kaladrians shoulder and the man himself stood tall with a hand raised, magic swirling about him.

Was she OK? What happened?

Idris managed one more Life Light healing as he stumbled forward, hoping to check on Eana and join Conrad and the remaining Seekers when Kaladrian finished his spell.

A shockwave of light and power exploded outward from the man and into the surrounding melee. But what effect it had Idris wasn’t sure.

Anger overtook him then. All that light? All that buildup? All the expectations and trust they had put into that man for nothing more than a glorified light show?

It was rage now that burned so hot he was already breaking apart the massed insect men with his hammer before he registered the emotion itself.

All these creatures, all this death, all for what? They came here to destroy his town to murder his father and take away his sister? No. He wasn’t about to let any of that go unpunished. What a waste Kaladrian’s spell had been, good thing Idris was here to pick up the slack.

Gore spattered him with every swing of his hammer into his foes. This was how you killed.

He swung, murderous, and with each attack felt his strength and fury grow hotter. But through it all he could hear Kaladrian, like the sweetest voice of reason calling, “PUSH FORWARD!”

And Idris did. He invoked every skill he had available to him and even invested in one of his Dungeoneer skills as he attacked.

Skill Discovered

Name: Dungeon Bane

Classification: Passive, Dungeoneer

Description: Using their knowledge of the specific creatures of a dungeon, a skilled Dungeoneer can pick out the weaknesses of his foes. Allows the dungeoneer to pick a monster type from a dungeon and increases the damage he does to that specific type.

Higher levels of proficiency increase the number of possible target creature types and the damage bonus inflicted.

Damage Increase: 25%

Number of targets: 1

Duration: 1 minute

Cooldown: 5 minutes

Slaughtering the drones and Eaters was trivial, so he selected Hive Soldier as his target and carried on with his rampage.

Idris was fighting beside Conrad now and could see in the man’s face a brief moment of shock seeing Idris alive, then it vanished, replaced by the same fury Idris felt. They were an unstoppable force of death as they moved forward, unwilling and unable even to slow down their furious assault.

But it wasn’t just them. It was the entirety of their remaining force pushing forward across the bridge with insane fervor. As one, finally as one, they slaughtered their way across the wooden planks.

All of them but Kaladrian. The man held the unconscious Eana in his arms now and walked at a steady pace, letting the flow of combat take him forward.

Troy, swords in both hands, dismantled a Soldier blocking the way before a leaping Eater clamped down on his shoulder. Normally Conrad or one of the other Seekers would have been there to pull it off him, but they, like Idris, were caught up in their own enraptured slaughter.

Troy dropped a sword to pull the thing off him when another latched onto his leg. He skewered it, only to have a drone leap to his back and begin tearing at his neck. Arterial blood sprayed outward and Troy tossed the thing from him before collapsing and, like so many before him that night, was dragged into the roiling mass of bug men.

Idris watched all of this through his own haze of unabated need to continue killing. It barely registered that, with the man’s death, there was suddenly a gap. A small opening through which they could escape.

Escape? No, Idris’s purpose here was punishment. Killing.

Kaladrian though? He rushed forward and with a small wave of his arm sent the remaining drones out of his path and continued charging off into the empty road beyond.

Some part of Idris knew he should follow but the fighting was here not out there. Besides, all the others were continuing to fight as well.

Jibs lay about him on all sides with his bow, arrows long since depleted and string snapped. He went down under the furious blows of a Soldier who didn’t even register the beating of a longbow on its armored carapace.

It was Conrad, Idris, and half a dozen other adventurers who remained to continue the slaughter.

Good, he thought, more for them.

He saw Conrad’s face then. It was a mess of tears and the screams that came from the man were those of anguish, not the battle cry Idris expected. Some small part of the fury he felt diminished for a moment and the pure insanity of everything around them attempted to flow in. Troy, Jibs, Karno, countless others all dead. From the entire town, this tiny group was it.

The thought drifted away, unimportant. There was still killing to do.

Idris smashed a Soldier’s head to pieces as Conrad sank his blade into the unarmored gap at the joint of another. An Eater, nearly dead, crawled forward and Idris thought to smash his foot down on the thing but Conrad beat him to it. With reflexive speed beyond anything human, the creature jutted its head aside and clamped down on the foot Conrad had meant to smash it with.

The thing twisted and tore the limb halfway toward the knee off Idris’s mentor. The screams of anguish intensified with pain and the man’s eyes locked with Idris’s own. Conrad clutched at him, for support Idris thought, but there was no time to hold him up, there were monsters left to kill.

The last thing Idris saw was the frozen moment of Conrad’s fist flying straight into his face.