“Are those winged Abyssals?” Amalyse asked, trying to mask her fear.
Rieren nodded. As the monsters appeared out of the gloom, she caught sight of their enormous wings beating through the air as they made their way downwards.
The creatures, called Malomen Shifters, existed even at their base state as C-Grade Abyssals. Their wings seemed disproportionately huge compared to their apparently smaller bodies, but Rieren knew that was a mere ruse. Shifters could move around their bodies’ internal mass to grow whichever part they needed to, thus the name.
Rieren only spotted three of the monsters coming at them, but even three would be difficult to deal with in their current circumstances. Aside from their low numbers, they were also stuck on floating platforms above a lightless chasm. Not exactly the most manoeuverable of positions.
“I’ve never seen things like those before,” Amalyse said. “Rieren, what are they?”
Rieren supposed she ought not to be surprised that they expected her to hold all the answers from now on. “Malomen Shifters. Dangerous monsters that can change their shape to whatever they need. C-Grade, at least. We will need to be wary.”
“Wary? We need to get back to solid ground.”
“They will catch up with us in moments,” Avalien said. “We have no time to retreat.”
“Picking the right battlefield isn’t retreat.”
Rieren was inclined to agree, especially on the front that their real issue here was movement. They could survive against the monsters, but only if they weren’t turned into sitting ducks by the stone platforms. “We are still close to the other platforms. There isn’t enough time to return, but we can still use the space we have here.”
They couldn’t debate any longer. The monsters reached them, and it was time to act.
Rieren was the one that stood out the most. Being at the top and just a little ahead of the others tended to make one a more enticing target for monsters.
The bodies of the Shifters were mostly humanoid. Gangly arms leading to a slim torso attached to overlong legs. Aside from the bulbous head that was partly reptilian and partly lupine, with a spray of short horns instead of hair, and a short tail, of course.
But that all changed as soon as the monster got within striking distance.
Rieren had pulled out her Receptor sword already. She had intended to slash into the monster as it made the terrible mistake of charging straight at her, but then, its arms enlarged as its wings grew smaller instantaneously.
Any random slashing would have been ineffectual at that sort of size. Rieren barely flattened herself on her platform as the arms swung past her, ruffling her robe and her hair. She turned rapidly and swung her sword anyway, but the Shifter flew past too quickly with a screech and a curse that was almost legible.
Batcat had already flown off her head and was zipping around her platform. It hissed in the monster’s direction, but thankfully, it didn’t charge after the Shifter. Rieren couldn’t recall the last time she had seen it fly for that long, but it was better if it stuck close. If the kitten got tired, it could recover on the platform.
Screams and shouts echoed through the chamber as the other two Abyssals attacked her companions. Rieren couldn’t worry overmuch about them. She had to ensure her own survival first.
Nevertheless, Rieren was still able to spare the quickest of looks. No one was plummeting to the depthless chams below, at least. The rope between Amalyse and Avalien had been cut, though both groups had fallen low on their platforms so as not to teeter off.
Meanwhile, Folend had thrown caution to the winds to swing his mace around anytime the Abyssal came close.
Rieren refocused back on her immediate concerns. The Shifter targeting her had already transformed again, re-enlarging its wings at the expense of the rest of its body. That thing was fast, and she doubted another similar dodge would work.
Even as she thought so, the monster rose higher into the air before diving straight at her. This time, it fed much of its weight into its entire torso. Apparently, it sought enough momentum to shatter Rieren’s platform entirely.
She did the only option available to her—jumping.
“Follow me,” she yelled at Batcat as she leaped.
Rieren and the flying kitten avoided the onrushing Abyssal with ease, though the more crucial thing was that she had lost the pattern. As soon as she touched down on the nearest free platform, her feet stabbed into the switch, activating another platform. This one shot forward to smack into the Shifter harrying Folend. He cursed at the monster as it was thumped away.
“Amalyse,” Rieren shouted as the third Abyssal wheeled away from where the others were gathered to prepare for another flying charge. “You need to get on to different platforms. We have lost our pattern.”
She looked up, as if expecting Rieren to still be on the little stone platform above them all. But Rieren wasn’t there, only broken stones and a Shifter turning around to find its prey again.
“Over here,” Rieren said.
Amalyse turned to her. “Oh for—Vilhelm, we’re going to jump.”
That was likely the name of the guard next to her. As the Abyssal targeting her returned with flying fury, they did indeed jump onto another platform. Luckily, that controlled the exact one Rieren was standing on. She shot forward, flailing a little off balance, but quickly righted herself as the second monster came flying in.
Her slash was even faster than the last one, but the Shifter still managed to dodge. It veered to one side, evading her slice. Not completely, for she still managed to leave a slash across its side, but it wasn’t anywhere near deep or damaging enough.
Eventually, her platform reached the outer edge of control for the one Amalyse had landed on.
“The rest of you,” Rieren said, raising her voice over the cacophony of screaming monsters. “You all need to start shifting around. We cannot use the same platforms as we thought. We—”
One of the nearby monsters tried to attack her again. Instead of charging at her, however, it moved a great deal of its mass into its tail, lengthening and expanding the appendage. It grew big enough that it ought to have crushed Rieren’s current platform as well, but the tail swipe was horizontal and she was able to jump right over it.
The Shifter tried to charge at her directly, but Batcat got in the way. It shot around and harried the monster like a gnat. With the Abyssal distracted for now, Rieren could temporarily turn her attention to her companions, if only for a few heartbeats.
“Folend, Amalyse, Avalien,” she said again, not taking her eyes off the monster. “You need to jump to different platforms. Do not stop moving. The monsters will seek to destroy the platforms themselves if they cannot strike you down.”
They proceeded to do so. Difficult as it was to try the various platforms under the assault of the Abyssals, they still had to try. At least they only had three monsters to deal with. The Shifters were frustrating to deal with, but once Rieren and the others spread out, the monsters could only focus on one of them at a time.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Which gave the others the opportunity to find the right platforms to get them all moving forward.
They could have attempted travelling backwards but there was only so far that would take them. The rearward platforms couldn’t be moved either, which meant they would have to keep jumping across if they wished to evade the monsters. No, better for them to push onwards.
So long as their distractions were successful instead of getting them killed. They were certainly flirting with danger here.
Nevertheless, their platforms kept moving. One good thing about jumping from one platform to another was they were in less danger of falling to their deaths. If the monsters accidentally caught one of them, they had as much to land on one of the nearby platforms if they missed their intended one. Not fumbling on occasion was impossible.
At some point, Rieren found her path blocked by the Shifter that had been on her from the beginning. Through the corner of her eye, she saw Batcat resting on a different floating stone slab not far from her own, apparently finally tired out.
The only problem was that the monster had come in front of her mid-jump. She was in mid-air, which meant there was no way to dodge.
Except for straight ahead into the monster.
As the Shifter increased the mass on its arms to land a devastating blow on her, she used Fray Passage to hasten her impact with its centre. The enormous arms were certainly useless at closer quarters. But if she had hoped to chop the monster in half when she reached it, she was disappointed.
Just as Rieren was about to slash into it, the monster shifted its mass once again. Its chest expanded this time, which meant the stab she did land on it was little more than a prick of a needle. Not good enough. A severe wound would be debilitating to the Abyssal, but only one that was appropriately sized for their overlarge body parts.
With nothing more to be gained from the exchange, Rieren pulled her blade free. Since much of the mass had been drawn away from its arms, the monster couldn’t counterattack easily. She used that little opportunity to push herself off the Abyssal’s broad chest and leap to the nearest platform to land next to Batcat. The kitten greeted her with a soft meow.
Someone else had activated a switch for Rieren immediately shot forward. She had to lower herself to her haunches, keeping her figure as low as possible so as not to be thrown off by the sudden momentum. This had the secondary effect of making the monster miss her with its follow-up charge. It also gave Rieren time to check up on the others.
She looked up just in time to see Avalien execute an excellent move. He had a greatshield and a broadsword in his hand. When one of the Malomen Shifters charged at him, enlarging its arms to smash him to bloody pulp. But Avalien activated a skill that made his shield glow with a bright light. The monster’s attack bounced right off the light encasing his form.
Then he counterattacked. The broadsword had turned white with the same light as well. Unfortunately, the Shifter swung past with too great a speed for him to land a square blow. Avalien slashed across its shoulder, but his blade only left a shallow wound on the back of the monster’s wing.
At least he was safe. The others were well enough too. The guards had so far survived, as had Folend, while Amalyse kept the third monster busy by making it difficult to attack her with her red shield and the greatsword she swung around with such ease.
Rieren had to return her focus to her own situation. The Shifter was already returning for another heavy strike directly against her, Batcat hissing louder as it approached. Her current platform had stopped moving, so she grabbed the cat and jumped to the next one, which also let her avoid the monsters’ attack. That also had the effect of moving Amalyse’s platform along.
Though, that made her monster shift its attention to Folend. He looked eager about it, at least.
More importantly, the other side of the tunnel was fast approaching them. Rieren could see it not far from their current position. Just a few more hops to activate a few more platforms, then they could leap right along the series of the closest platforms and get onto the chamber’s other side.
“Why is the dungeon shaking all of a sudden?” Amalyse asked.
Rieren hadn’t noticed it at first, but now her heart began pounding faster as the whole chamber began trembling. Dust and small debris rained down from the ceiling too far high up for them to see anything of.
“The platforms,” she said out to the others. “The dungeon is reacting to having its parts destroyed.”
Amalyse ducked under another charge from the Shifter as she jumped to another platform, which was alarmingly moving thanks to a guard’s effort. “It can’t be that alive. It’s… it’s like a building. Buildings aren’t supposed to be scratching their arses when you poke them. Because that’s what this feels like.”
That was a strangely apt comparison. Rieren didn’t have an answer to it. For all that she knew, she wasn’t an expert on the whys of a Dungeon Core’s actions.
The more worrying bit was that she didn’t know what exactly the dungeon’s reaction was going to manifest as. Would it simply destroy the chamber entirely? Or perhaps, this grinding was simply a side-effect of it recreating the platforms at some other spot. Whatever the case, they would be safest once they were away from this pit.
Which got significantly harder when the Shifters all moved.
Finding their direct attacks weren’t having the sort of effect they had likely envisioned, the monsters all retreated. Instead, they reformed around the end of the chamber that had been their target.
“They’re blocking us,” Avalien said. “I suppose we cannot barge through them.”
Amalyse grimaced. “Well, we can. I’m unsure how many of us will make it through, however.”
All of them were silent for a moment, considering their new obstacle. Rieren didn’t need long to come up with an addendum to their plan, however.
“I know of a way we can get past them,” she said. “We will approach them at a normal pace. But you must listen to and obey my commands carefully and as soon as I utter them.”
“What exactly is your plan?” Folend asked, naturally the one among them to have the least faith in Rieren.
“We will draw them out by approaching them. And then, we shall trick them.”
“That doesn’t explain much.”
Rieren raised her foot and lightly tapped on the rearward switch on her platform. Not enough to make the platform it controlled go back, but enough to indicate her meaning to Folend without revealing it to the monsters.
“It’s enough for me,” Amalyse said. “Let’s begin.”
They forged ahead. Rieren might not have said it out loud, but the others were thankfully smart enough to understand it. When they continued jumping from one platform to another, she was grateful to notice that they kept one foot close to the rear switch. Batcat’s fur was on its end, the cat seeming to have expanded its little size.
All the while, the Shifters only floated in position, flapping their enormous wings and staring the guards and disciples down with murder in their black eyes.
The tension rose higher and higher as they approached. Rieren could feel her skin prickle and the anticipation of impending violence and chaos making her jittery in every iota of her body. The others were feeling the stress as well. The closer they got, the more precarious and dangerous their situation turned.
At one point, one of the guards had finally reached close enough to make the middle Shifter twitch. A second later, it let loose a screeching cry and charged.
The guard shouted in panic, but Rieren raised her voice over the whole cacophonous combination of noises.
“Rear switch!” she shouted at Avalien, whose platform was controlling the guard’s. “Now.”
Avalien was quick on the uptake. He slammed his foot, already close to the switch, down on the right spot. The guard hunkered down and screamed as his platform jerked backwards. Rieren’s heart was in her mouth, but she was glad to notice the Shifter miss its target, even if it was by a mere pace or two.
The disruption caused by the middle Shifter threw the other two off as well. A distant part of Rieren wondered if they were annoyed at their companion, if they were even intelligent enough to feel something like frustration. But her focus was drawn to what mattered.
“Now,” she yelled as the monsters started flying towards their nearest target. “Charge!”
None of them moved at first. They didn’t need to. Only Avalien had to press down on the forward switch to make the leading guard’s platform shoot forward this time, once more confusing the Shifter trying to reach it. It was close enough to the other side of the chamber that it only stopped a handful of paces away from the edge when it reached the outer bound of control.
The rest of the platforms weren’t far from it. In fact, with every other stone slab stationary, they could now jump across the platforms to reach the other side of the chamber. Which was exactly what they proceeded to do.
Since Rieren was the one at the back, she followed the trail left by the others, leaping from platform to platform to reach the chamber’s other side. The Shifters didn’t simply stand and watch, of course. The other disciples had to use their skills to ward off the unceasing monstrous attention they were subjected to.
Rieren was forced to use Fray Passage at times to get to platforms without being struck down by one of the enlarged arms. Amalyse and Avalien both had to hunker behind their shielding skills, until they were freed when the monster was distracted by someone else.
One of the guards even had a curious skill. He could use his dagger, thrown at random in whichever direction he chose, and teleport to wherever it ended up. Rieren certainly stared for a moment. She supposed it must have been a lower-Grade skill that he could use only once or twice, so he must have been saving it for emergencies or last-ditch efforts.
Eventually, they all reached the other side of the chamber. They had crossed the dungeon’s accursed trap, made all the more worse by the flying Abyssals’ assault.
And now, they would have to kill the Shifters.