As the half a dozen different jets of water flew in from the side, the swarm of bats descended on Noracin from above. He swung his mace wildly, desperately trying to keep both himself and Alerio clear of attackers. The wave of relief he’d felt when these bats had also turned out to be level 1’s quickly drained away when he realized just how many of them there were.
All the packs that would’ve been spread out across the Floor were probably moved here after our first encounter. He guessed as he swung. Each swing scored a hit, and each hit scored a kill. Yet the swarm didn’t seem to be diminishing at all.
“Guardian!” Emmalia called out. Noracin’s gaze flew towards where she was pointing up into the cloud of black wings.
“I see it!” He called back. “Ceria! Left and up, near the ceiling.”
“Yeah I see it too.” The Fighter said. She backed away from the barrage of water, positioning herself closer to the other members of the party as the creature dove down towards him and Alerio. No, towards Alerio specifically.
Three Hells. It’s smart. Noracin yelled and swung his mace, but the creature weaved out of the way, moving with much more grace than the bats despite being more than thrice their size, before spinning around and rising back into the air and whipping its spiked tail at Alerio. He tried to dodge, but the whole attack had only taken less than a second, so he had no hope of actually getting out of the way in time. Noracin winced at the squelch as the tail pierced Alerio’s shoulder, causing the mage to scream in agony. A second later Noracin had used his [Healing Touch] on the man, but felt a resistance to his magic he instantly recognized.
“It’s got Poison of some kind!” He called out, reaching into his satchel for an [Antidote] and poured it into Alerio’s mouth.
“That wasn’t one of the elements we knew about!” Emmalia called out, dodging a diving attack from the Guardian. With Ceria now standing protectively over Alerio, the Rogue became the only clear target, only she was much nimbler than the Mage, and could twist out of the way of its attacks. In the meantime the bats seemed happy to keep the rest of them occupied, swarming back and forth around and attacking relentlessly, seemingly heedless of their own losses.
“It’s…” Alerio started from the ground, then coughed. “It’s [Blood Poison].”
“Alerio? Are you good?” Noracin called down towards him without looking. He swung his mace, hitting and killing another bat.
“Yeah, think so.” Alerio said. “Bastard did over a hundred damage though. Can’t take many of those hits.”
The cave was plunged in [Darkness], causing them all to freeze in place for a second.
“I lost it!” Emmalia called out.
Noracin cursed, trying to conjure a second [Orb of Light], only to find that it didn’t illuminate anything. Guess the Guardians’ [Darkness] was stronger. Not wasting any time, he dismissed the Skill and reached into his satchel to retrieve what he knew was a gently warm yellow stone.
“Using a [Sunstone]! Shield your eyes!” He called out, and hurled the stone into the ground. Light exploded from it in a silent pressure wave, forcefully pushing the [Darkness] away. Though it didn’t dissipate it completely. It continued swirling around the edges of the stone’s affected area, seemingly creeping closer to them with every second. The screech from the Guardian that had been about to strike Emmalia told Noracin that the stone had been effective though, and Alerio didn’t waste the opportunity.
“Ceria!” He yelled. The Fighter could hear the unstated message in the words, hastily placing herself behind the mage.
“[Flame Nova]!”
A wave of fire burst from Alerio’s outstretched hand, quickly spreading up towards the Guardian and the roof of the cave, through the swarm of bats. Two dozen shrieks echoed through the cave as bat after bat died, followed by a stronger, more musical one when the Guardian itself got struck. The flames continued harmlessly past Emmalia, due to Alerio’s [Glyph of the Dancing Flame], and stopped just above the pool of water the jets of water were coming from. There they remained, dancing in the air as Alerio maintained the conjured fire. The Mage stood on unsteady legs, reached into his coat and pulled out a blue vial, then chugged the party’s [Mana Potion] in a single gulp. Noracin winced, but didn’t speak. He knew it needed to be done.
At the same time Ceria, now freed from her duty of blocking the constant jets of water, was able to switch her attention to the Guardian and activate her [Taunt], focusing on it and it alone. Noracin knew that as a Guardian it would be resistant to [Taunt]-like effects. But resistance wasn’t immunity, and there was a huge difference between a [Taunt] being spread across three dozen bats and it being focused onto a single one. It spun in the air, glaring at Ceria and screeching a challenge, before diving down in attack, while sending her own [Water Jets] at the group. Ceria held up her shield to block, and tried to swipe at the giant bat-thing with her sword, but it evaded her attack easily and dove down towards her now relatively unguarded legs. Noracin swung his mace down to cover, and Emmalia hurled her dagger while sprinting back towards them. All three attacks hit at once, causing both the Guardian and Ceria to cry out in pain. The Fighter reflexively swiveled her leg to try and shake the creature loose, but it held on, twirling its long tail around her leg and biting down to keep itself locked in place. Noracin abandoned attacking with his mace; he knew he wasn’t good enough to hit the thing while it was attached to Ceria’s leg without hurting her as well. Instead he activated several [Healing Touches] one after the other, applying them to the wounded fighter.
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Alerio, still focusing on maintaining his dancing flames, backed up a bit to give Ceria some room to maneuver, which she utilized to stomp down her leg hard, then slamming her shield down onto the creature, trying to pry it loose while gritting her teeth against the pain. Despite her best effort however, the thing didn’t budge, and Noracin was forced to use [Healing Touch] after [Healing Touch] to keep the fighters continuously draining health. The woman was shaking at this point from excess damage, but managed to keep her [Taunt] active until Emmalia arrived, stabbing the creature right where its tail was holding it in place. It screeched a musical crescendo, and twisted itself free from Ceria’s leg.
A second [Darkness] dimmed the light of the [Sunstone] temporarily, distracting the Fighter for just long enough that the creature could free itself from the [Taunt] and launch itself into the air, the remaining bats descending down to give the creature cover. Noracin used two more [Healing Touches] to drain the [Blood Poison] from Ceria and let her recover enough Health to reduce her shaking, though she was still having difficulty putting weight on the damaged leg. Meanwhile Emmalia slashed at the bats with her daggers. There were only a few left at this point, most having been burned by Alerio’s spell earlier, but the ones that remained were able to stall Emmalia long enough for their Guardian to fly up towards the ceiling.
The Guardian spun in the air, and started raining down a series of rapid fire [Water Jets] towards Alerio, who it seemed to have determined as the priority target now that it wasn’t under the effect of a [Taunt] anymore. Noracin did his best to shield the Mage, as he knew that too much damage could break the man's concentration, letting the flames blocking the creatures in the water dissipate. The [Water Jets] almost seemed to burn where they struck, though it was more a freezing burn rather than a hot one. He grunted, reflexively going to use a [Healing Touch] on himself, but stopped before activating it. He was almost out of Mana. Even with his Glyph, he only had two, maybe three depending on how long the fight lasted, usages of the Skill left before he’d be completely drained. He couldn’t afford to waste them on himself. Letting out a frustrated screech at its failed attack, the Guardian flew up and into the tunnels in the ceiling, vanishing from each of their sights. The few remaining bats also flew up and away, hiding themselves in the rock. Noracin looked around suspiciously for where those tunnels could lead to, until a glance at the dancing flames told him everything he needed to know.
“It’s waiting for Alerio to run out of mana.” He growled. “Then it’ll rejoin the battle with additional fire support.”
“What the hell is this thing?” Ceria gasped, limping over towards him. “It’s way too tough for a Floor 1 Guardian, surely?”
“My instinct says yes, but I haven’t done any more Dungeons than you, so I only know what others have told me.” He turned to Alerio. “How much longer can you maintain the flames?”
The mage still remained where he’d been, standing with an intense focus in his reddening eyes that had continuously stared right into the flames. Now they flickered to the side as he checked his status.
“One minute.” He said. “I have 127 Mana left. The potion’s worn off too.”
Noracin swore as Emmalia also rejoined him and Ceria after collecting her thrown daggers.
“I say dissipate them now.” She said, looking up at the ceiling. “I can’t find it up there, so it can just wait up there forever. We however have a time limit.”
Alerio grunted, but lowered his outstretched hand and shut his eyes. He slumped a bit as the flames faded, feeling the effect of spending so much mana at once now that the Skill wasn’t active. Noracin took a step toward him, when something struck the mage in the back. Alerio let out a soft whimper at the sudden and surprising burst of pain, and all but collapsed onto the ground all the while the Guardian faded into existence on top of him, its spike sticking into his back.
Ceria screamed and activated her [Taunt].
Emmalia yelled and raised her daggers, preparing to hurl them at the monster.
Noracin screamed and started running. Then he felt his feet slide across the ground, wettened from the Guardians previous [Water Jets]. Time slowed down as he lost his balance, and he thought he could see the Health being drained from Alerio faster and faster as his body slowly approached the ground. He was only two steps away. It would take him less than a second to cross. If he hadn’t slipped he’d have made it. Yet now it seemed so far.
He landed with a grunt and instantly tried to push himself back up and forward, but his feet once more slipped on the wet stone, making him do nothing but flail around on the ground. He stared at Alerio, and a wave of helplessness washed over him. He wasn’t going to make it. His friend was going to die, and he wasn’t going to be able to help him.
Time slowed down further, almost to a standstill, as there was a faint rumbling coming from all around. Not from the ground or the ceiling. Or anywhere specific for that matter. This rumbling was from the world, as it itself seemed angry at what was happening in front of Noracin’s eyes. A ripple spread through the Dungeon, originating everywhere and going in every direction. It passed through him in an instant, yet he thought he could feel frustration in its wake. Then it vanished as fast as it had come, leaving everyone and everything in the cave too stunned to move.
To Noracin’s horror, the Guardian was the first one able to react. But then something unexplainable happened.
It let Alerio go.
Not only that, it picked him up and dragged him over to where Noracin was laying, dropping the man in front of his face. He stared blankly at the beast as it turned to look straight at him. It opened its mouth, and sang in dissonant tones.
Heal him. This ones' Story is not supposed to end due to mere misfortune.
Then it beat its wings, and flew up into the darkness of the tunnels above. Noracin reached out, more out of instinct than after any actual active thoughts, and activated his [Healing Touch].