I continued to tamp down my anger as best as I could as I pulled my push dagger out of the head of a man-sized snake. But from the looks I received from the others as we fought another group of reptiles, it was clear it wasn’t working. I’d left Santiago to deal with buffing the group as I tore into the monsters I shot arrow after arrow, and when one of the reptilian monsters got too close to me, I would bury one of my daggers into it. A cow-sized lizard hissed at me spitting a stream of venom at me. I dodged easily to the side and heard the sizzle of the venom on the concrete.
My vision narrowed, and it kept narrowing until all I saw were the monsters in front of me so when suddenly there were no more, I was just left standing in the street breathing hard. I felt a hand slap down on my shoulder and turn me around. It was Santiago and he looked pissed.
“I don’t know what the hell is going on with you! But get it the fuck together, you’re here to be a bard and auxiliary healer, and if you can’t do that job, I will send you back to camp! I don’t care how useful you are if you ever put this squad at risk again, I will beat you senseless and deal with the consequences later! Do you understand me?” I couldn’t help but just look at the man shocked. I wanted to argue back, but then I caught sight of the rest of the squad behind them. Some of them were sporting superficial wounds, and Eric was trying to nurse a spot of black that was trying to spread. Nodding my head, I pulled out my guitar and played the Song of Healing.
“Now that you’re back with us do you want to explain what’s going on?” Santiago said clearly, trying his best not to continue yelling at me. I recounted the meeting with Apollo explaining what information I could and excluding the information that I couldn’t. “Well yeah that’s shitty and it makes me mad too.” He said and I received some nods from the others in agreement. “But,” The other archer continued. “You can’t lose focus out here. Remember what the goal is right now. Get everyone back alive and then be angry later.” He’d calmed down, but I could tell that he was still angry at me.
That was fine, I did feel like we’d been becoming friends, but it’s not like I knew him all that well. He gave the order to move out. As we were walking, I glanced over at him every now and then. He caught me looking once and I looked away quickly. “Shit.” I thought upon realizing that he’d already become my friend. Deciding I’d talk to him later I shook the thoughts of my conversation with Apollo out of my head.
A few hours later my senses picked up what might be another human in a clothing shop close by. We stopped to check it out, and because of my aura, they sent me in first to scout. I used my new ability to silence my footsteps as I crept through the store just in case, I was wrong, but using my enhanced senses I confirmed that it was a human hiding behind a coat rack.
“Hello? I’m here to help. Do you want to come out so we can meet?” I felt the human move back farther trying still trying to hide. “My name is Nate, what’s yours?” I swept my aura over the person gently checking for a core, and I was shocked when not only did I find one, but it was a slightly familiar one. I moved the coat rack out from in front of the person, and sure enough it was one of the fighters that had left with Autumn's group this morning. Calling the others over, Santiago did his best to calm the panicked fighter down so we could get some answers. It was odd watching him do the same thing to this guy that he did to me the first time we’d met. He used a calming cadence and tone of voice lulling the person into comfort and then started questioning him.
“What’s your name?” Santiago began.
“Donnie Terent.”
“How are you feeling now Donnie?”
“Much better thank you.”
“Good to hear. Can you tell me who your squad leader is?”
“Autumn.”
“Good, you’re doing great, just a few more questions. Is that ok?”
“Yeah, that’s fine I don’t mind answering them if it’s for you.” Santiago gave him a kind smile and continued.
“Thank you, Donnie, can you tell me where your squad is?”
“They got pinned down in an apartment building a couple of miles from here.” My heart sank that was the Twins squad. I wanted to start running there immediately, but I remembered what Santiago had said earlier. I’d be putting the others at risk if I just took off right now.
“Why aren’t you with them?” “That’s a good fucking question!” I thought while trying not to let it show on my face.
“I ran away, I’m sorry.” My anger surged again but Santiago turned his head and shot me the smallest glare. I understood this was important.
“That’s ok Donnie, can you tell me what has them pinned down?”
“It’s an area boss, a Titan Serpent Level 65.” I felt the blood leave my face, and a chill go down my spine. My friends had grown in power, but hearing about them fighting a boss while I wasn’t there to help protect them made me extremely nervous.
“Thank you, Donnie you’re doing very well. Can you tell me more about it?”
“It’s a giant snake, big enough that it’s constricting the entire building. Its scales have been immune to any piercing or slashing attack, and it doesn’t seem to be affected by magic attacks either. The two bards when I ran away the two bards were doing decently, they were holding it off using some kind of combination of mental skills but I’m sure they’re going to be out of mana by now.” That was definitely the twin’s they’d each gotten soothing skills a few levels ago. The fact that they’d been focusing highly on intelligence and wisdom gave me some hope though.
“You’re doing great Donnie can you tell me exactly where this apartment building is?” He did, and Santiago did something to help him sleep then we covered him with coats so that he wouldn’t be found while we went to go help the others. We sped through the streets and my heart pounded in my chest just as my feet pounded on the ground. The building that we were looking for was only a couple of miles away so it would only take us a minute or two to make it.
But before we even started traversing the last mile, I saw the form of the giant serpent. It was curled around a building, but it didn’t seem to be attacking anything now. Instead, it swayed from side to side looking down on something. When we arrived just under the snake I understood why. A rhythmic metallic sound rang out from the roof of the building, and I knew it had to be Tony.
“I’m going up,” I told Santiago and he nodded his head in approval. I coiled up my muscles and sprang straight up the side of the building floating down like a feather in still wind to land softly on the roof. S-There was Tony, he was performing a dance while smacking and shaking his tambourines. He moved with grace, and purpose moving his feet in a pattern that made him look like a professional dancer, and he created the beat that he danced to using his instruments.
I turned my head slightly away from the hypnotic dance and that’s when I saw Tina. She sat meditating so she must have run out of mana and was trying to rebuild it. They were both safe for now though, and I was grateful for that. I didn’t disrupt either of them, not wanting to break their concentration. Instead, I jumped off the roof and told Santiago what was going on.
“Can you find the rest of the squad?” He asked me nervously, and I nodded my head with a determined look on my face. I scanned the building as best I could with my range and when I didn’t find them at first, I circled the building doing the same on each side until I found them. Springing up to the window I sensed them, I grabbed the sill and pulled myself up. When I tapped on the glass, I saw several people turn battle-ready gazes and readied weapons toward me. Autumn recognized me and ran over to the window throwing it open.
“What are you doing here?” She asked me with fear in her eyes. “She must be scared for Santiago.” I thought before explaining how we ran into Donnie and came to help. She seemed to deflate slightly in relief when I told her that Santiago was fine.
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“Why haven’t you left?” I asked.
“Tina and Tony have been able to keep up their attack because they can like meditate and stuff to help with their mana. But if we start running and their mana runs out, we’ll be out in the open and totally screwed.” I nodded along with her explanation.
“Ok, I’m going to try and lead it away, get your people out of here quickly when I do.” She gave a short nod, and I went back over to Santiago. He wasn’t happy with the plan, but he knew that if anyone could escape that thing it was me and he told me as such. But that wasn’t my plan.
“Donnie told us that it was immune to cutting and stabbing, what about blunt damage?” I said the last part flicking my eyes at our two blunt damage warriors.
“You want to try and fight that thing?” I gave him a wild smile and nodded my head. Santiago looked up at the sky like he was praying for patience but then agreed with my plan. The next few minutes were spent explaining it to the twins on the roof and Autumn. None of them liked it, but they all agreed when I showed a confident smile. I wasn’t actually confident, but they didn’t need to know that.
It was time for me to start the plan. Setting myself up on the roof of a building across the street I took a deep breath, the butterflies in my stomach trying to fly up my throat. I swallowed them down and plucked one note. The Titan Serpent gave a hissing scream and looked directly at me. I did it again causing the same effect, but this time the snake uncoiled itself from the building and struck out at me. I jumped causing it to miss me and slam into the walls of the building.
I ran jumping from building to building occasionally plucking the note again to maintain the boss’s anger. After causing it to run into the side of six or seven buildings I saw that I was right a few scales hung loosely from the face of the snake and I could see some pinkish flesh underneath. Now that I’d proven my theory about it, I put more distance between us and had to activate Amplify in order for Tonal Torture to still be effective.
I found the two squads positioned where we’d discussed, and I shot them the signal. Now the real fight would begin. I shot between two buildings with a narrow alley between them and when I got to the end, I stood there continuing to play Tonal Torture. The serpent burst through the building across the way sending debris and shrapnel flying in my direction. Still, I didn’t move, I felt something hit me in the side, but continued to play.
The snake rose towering above the building, it coiled its body preparing to strike at me. I waited until the last possible moment so when the snakes’ fangs almost reached me, I jumped up out of range. At the same time, the warriors from my team jumped down from the two buildings on either side of me unleashing furious attacks on the back of the serpent. The scales of the beast cracked and shattered underneath the combined might of the two warriors leaving a four-foot area of soft pink flesh uncovered.
The Titan Serpent turned its head toward the warriors, but then the thrum of a deep bass line and the shimmer of tambourines crashed through the area gaining the Serpent's attention once again. I’d landed on a roof right now and signaled the next person to attack. It was a spear wielder from Autumn's squad. The woman paused, and I could tell from the nervous look on her face that she really didn’t want to do this. So I activated up the octave, and amplify at the same time playing a solo from one of Underdawns original songs.
In the next moment though she drove her long spear deep into the area that the warriors had cleared of scales. She let out a battle cry and twisted her spear causing the skin in the area to twist. The snake thrashed but, at that moment, Autumn appeared behind the serpent and summoned several glowing green barriers from her book that appeared to trap small areas of the serpent, not allowing it to get any momentum. The spear woman pulled out her spear and slammed it home again and again. Flesh, blood, and guts sloshed around her feet as my solo finished and my skills fell away.
After a couple of seconds, I saw the woman getting out of the way I could hear her whispering. “Ew, ew, ew.” To herself as she rushed away. As soon as she passed it was the Ice mage's turn from our squad. One of the warriors picked him up and threw him up on the back of the serpent. Once the mage found his way to the disgusting wound the spear woman had left, he thrust his wand deep inside the creature. Using the same technique, he’d used to help separate the wing from the Queen Mother I watched as the cold-blooded creature became more lethargic.
It stopped trying to thrash against its bonds, and I could see frosty mist lifting from beneath the scales of the boss. As the frost traveled up and down the length of the serpent it was clear that the strength and life were quickly seeping out of it. Another minute later the snake’s head dropped to the ground. It almost looked like it had just fallen asleep, but seconds later I received the kill notification. I was disappointed when I didn’t level from this battle, but it was fine I’d still gained essence and the shadow of an idea popped into my mind.
It was just the seed of a thought, not nearly close to an insight, but it was there. The others were celebrating the kill and I floated down to join them in their revelry. Several people clapped me on the back congratulating me on a successful plan. My reunion with the twins was good too, but unfortunately short-lived. Santiago’s voice rang out over the sound of our celebratory conversations.
“Ok, ok everyone that was a great job! We still need to clear the Venom Trap dungeon. There’s still more to go and we’re down a man so let's focus up.” At the mention of Donnie some of the others scowled but Autumn wouldn’t have it.
“Stop that, if it weren’t for Donnie, we’d have never gotten the help we needed, and we’d like literally still be trapped in that building. Damien said it was fine to run away to save your own life and that’s what he did. So just deal k?” We discussed our new extended formation, which was essentially the same as before except we put two warriors in the back of the formation to watch our back. Any groups of monsters we ran into were taken care of quicker than before since we had many more combatants.
It was still a relatively slow process making our way to what used to be Madrona Park. With buildings knocked down, streets damaged by trees that had sprung out of nowhere, or large ponds that shouldn’t be there consistently got in our way. That didn’t even include the roaming packs of monsters. It took us much longer to get to our destination and I couldn’t help but wish that I could travel like I did when I’d been scouting out the dungeons.
Unfortunately, no one else could travel as fast or as safely as I could. When we finally made it to our destination the others looked at the dungeon in shock. I’d already seen the tropical forest that had grown along the coastal park, but when I’d first seen it, I had the same reaction. It was like anything we knew about ecosystems just wasn’t true anymore. It was around April now, almost three months had passed since the apocalypse started. The city was still chilly, but as soon as we stepped into the small rainforest it felt like we’d stepped into a sauna.
It would have been awful if I hadn’t realized something new about the air portion of my aura at that moment. I felt fine, almost like a light breeze rippled across my skin. Testing a theory, I stepped back out into the cold, and I felt comfortable enough as well. “How did I never notice?” I laughed quietly realizing that not only did my air aura make me floaty, but it also gave me my own heating and air system. I played with it for a while until Santiago, and Autumn called everyone over to go over the plan.
“Alright who here has any scouting skills?” A woman with two daggers strapped to her waist raised her hand. “Ok, you’ll be scouting ahead with Nate, follow his lead. I’m going to go ahead and link us since we have enough people for my skill to work.” I didn’t know what skill he was talking about, but I didn’t have to wonder for very long.
“Santiago Fuentes would like to invite you to a party. Accept? Y/N” I accepted the prompt and a smaller screen appeared in front of me it showed the health bars of each of the other members of the party, and a small chat box next to it.
“Ready check?” a chat bubble showed up in the box next to Santiago’s name. A stream of “Ready,” from each of the party members showed up but I didn’t see anyone texting or saying anything. Figuring it must run off mental commands and I shot off my own message. We were given the order to move out and I jumped into the canopy staying at least 300 meters in front of the main party. Anytime I found a monster I’d either kill it quickly if it was low enough level, or if it was a higher level, I’d contact the main unit and wait for them.
We stopped to rest, and I looked around at the people that made up the team. Many of them were breathing heavily and drenched in sweat. I stayed away from most of the people, but I joined Tina and Tony. We chatted for a while telling stories about the day we’d had before Santiago and Autumn joined us. We said hello and sat down for a while.
I noticed Santiago crack open a bottle of water and lifted it to his lips, a small drip escaped his lips and traveled down his chin then down his neck. His eyes shifted to me, and I stopped looking pretending that I’d been doing something else. I didn’t know why I felt embarrassed about watching a drop of water. I’d done it plenty of times when I was a kid watching the rain on a car window. Still, he raised the water bottle at me in a mock cheer, and I awkwardly lifted mine to do the same. The break didn’t last nearly as long as any of us would have liked it to, but it was time to get moving again.
We’d made it far into the jungle at this point and I could hear the sound of the waves slapping against the shore. I relayed that we were close to the water but continued to move forward. When I finally got to the beach I paused in my approach. From here I messaged the other scout to stop, she must not have seen it though because she didn’t stop. Before I could even move the monster struck grabbing the scout and tossing her straight into its mouth.
“NO!” I yelled, drawing the monster’s attention toward myself. The scaled beast mostly had the body of a serpent, but when it saw me, it hissed and spread a massive leathery fringe. Beneath it, four muscled legs held the monster off the ground. Connected to those legs were webbed feet with wickedly curved claws.
“Level 100 Shallow Shore Leviathan.”
I felt it start to move in my aura and I moved before it could snap me up too. It moved faster than I expected it to though and before I knew it the scaly beast was upon me. We continued playing tag like that for longer than I would have liked before the main unit came charging onto the beach. The opening salvo came from the casters, earth, ice, and fire rained down on the beast and it flipped around to begin the attack on the new threat. The beast almost matched my reflexes so even though I tried to get out of the way when it turned the tip of its tail smacked me, throwing me through the air out over the water.
The blow knocked the wind out of me, but with my aura active I still floated gently down toward the surface of the water. When my aura touched the water, I felt the vibration of another beast swimming directly up at me. The next instant an enormous shark jumped out of the water towards me. I heard myself make a small peeping sound before kicking off the shark’s nose propelling myself back toward shore.
When I landed, Autumn was attempting to hold the Leviathan down with her barriers just like she’d done with the giant serpent in the city, but it just smashed through them like they weren’t even there. Tara, the rapier wielder from my team lay farther up the beach the ground was stained red and she was unmoving. I attempted to make my way over to her already starting to play the Song of Healing, but when I reached her, she wasn’t moving a large chunk of her torso was missing.
I let the song fall away and my anger burst through turning back to the giant lizard. I started playing Tonal Torture. I didn’t play slowly like usual trying to conserve my mana, instead, I played it repetitively draining my entire mana pool. The leviathan rolled onto its back screaming and thrashing around and that is what gave the fighters their chance. Attacking the monsters’ underbelly, they ripped the boss to shreds. The kill notification came though but I completely ignored it I fell to my knees and clenched my teeth in frustration. This dungeon should have been the easiest to defeat, but the boss took out two people in a flash. It was a good lesson for me to never let my guard down again.
“Are you hurt?” I heard Autumn's voice as she checked me over. I didn’t answer, even when she lifted my shirt and saw the giant bruise spreading across my chest from the tail swipe I suffered. She healed it in a second before moving on to someone else. The twins checked on me as well and seeing that they were safe gave me enough energy to get back to my feet and talk again. My eyes fell to the party screen and saw two names that were blurred out.
I wanted to get mad again, but I remembered what Santiago said. “Feel it later, focus now.”