The monstrosity floating above us was probably the scariest thing I'd ever seen. Even the Bone Wyvern, the previous holder of the title of 'creature most likely to make me piss my pants' didn't stack up to the sheer overwhelming horror of the monster. It wasn't just the shape or the size, or even the pressure from the flowers, there was something...awful about the thing. Each of those many shaped mouths had darkness behind those teeth. Not just normal darkness either, an empty gaping abyss that reminded me of staring into the void of space.

I found myself hypnotized almost, drawn into the depths of the yawning chasms littering the underside of the ray's stone underbelly. Then the thing SCREAMED, and I saw literal cones of sonic force explode from the mouths, overlapping and combining into one massive sonic blast that flew right at us.

Before it could hit though, a massive avatar of Abel constructed of blue gel appeared above us, intercepting the attack and shielding us from harm even as it disintegrated. As that happened I came back to myself enough to spur my goat back from the rocks and yell for the others to do the same.

The mounts bounded off the outcropping, down into the snow, giving us a bit of cover as the ray let out an unearthly howl of rage at being thwarted. "Shit." I panted as we moved out of the strike zone. "How the hell do we get the flowers off...that."

Benny looked at me in astonishment. "Seriously? That just happened and you're worried about FLORAL ARRANGEMENTS?" He glanced at Jessie apologetically. "No offense, Jess."

She just snickered. "Some taken. But I get your point. We can find the Dew in other places? Is challenging...that, really worth the short advantage?" Her voice was gentle, but I could hear an undercurrent of stress and worry causing it to tremble.

"Yes." I said firmly. "For a few reasons. First, we aren't getting out of here while that thing is after us. We'll need to put it down anyway before we can run. Second of all I have a plan, and third of all if the other teams get their hands on the damned Dew it'll make it that much harder for us to deal with them later. And if WE get it, it'll make us that much safer going forward."

I saw them pause and think it over. Benny didn't look convinced. "I mean...I can't really poke any holes in your logic. But it FEELS like a really bad idea." His smart ass tone was not appreciated, despite him having a small point, and I responded in kind.

"Let's not confine ourselves to things you think feel like a good idea." I said acidly. "I doubt the ray is going to collapse in defeat from starting a band or convincing all its friends to wear those stupid orange shoes with the springs in them you talked me into buying when we were fourteen."

Benny's indignation was somewhat muted by the giggling of all the other nearby party members, but he still found it in himself to to glare around at them until realizing no help was forthcoming. Then he crossed his arms and sulked, playing it up a little bit for attention.

Celine, who clearly knew my friend pretty well at this point, just rolled her eyes and ignored him, turning to Anna-Marie. "You're our local guide, princess, do you have any ideas? Any rumors of a creature like this? And information we might use. A plan is wonderful, but it behooves us to gather as much information on our enemy as possible."

When she shook her head, I nodded to myself, cracking my neck as I hopped down from my goat. "Ok. So my plan is pretty simple, you'll all need to be on alert for when it starts. I'm not sure how well this thing can hear, so I'm going to to put the first steps into action and let you guys pick it up afterwards."

I turned to Abel with a grin. "So let's get started. Do me a favor and throw me at the stingray." I tried to project confidence in my plan with my tone, but everyone else whirled on me, Callie and Nat both yelping exclamations of surprise as Abel grabbed me in a giant hand and HURLED me at the thing in less time than it took to blink. I'd already triggered State of Grace, luckily, and did the same with Ripple Running, planting my feet in the air to guide my now much more slowly soaring body.

Of course, the ray turned slowly to face me, and I worried that this MIGHT have been poorly planned, until a giant fist slammed into the thing, knocking it aside as Abel smashed it with Expert ranked Ragam. It squealed in pain and rage as it was knocked askew, and I stepped lightly three times, changing my direction to land on its back. State of Grace allowed me to stay on as I bolted around to the field of grass outside the flowers.

Dropping to a knee, I glared at the grass in front of me and triggered Pit of Despair. It was HARD. I had to push against the resistance of the ray, but my soul was strong enough that the earth skill was able to create the silt pit. A ten foot hole was punched right through the stone creature, and I had to roll sideways to avoid its tail as it whipped up to smash me.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Leaving the rest to the others now that I'd distracted it, I bolted for the flowers, crashing into the field to collect them before any of the other teams got up here. Hitting the crazy warping mass of Impact infused moonlight was...weird. Like running through a hundred worlds in sequence, each step taking me somewhere else without moving me at all. But it didn't matter. I started snatching up flowers and stuffing them in my ring, not bothering to be careful.

Some of them seemed to have more pistils, and I made extra sure to get those, but I couldn't see the special ones that collected the Dew, so I had to hope I'd get lucky. Which I did. I was picking a specific flower without looking too hard, and there was a pulse of power. The moonlight cascade condensed into a cloud, the flower rapidly becoming more moisturized as it did so, until three drops of mercurial liquid moonshine gleamed on the petals.

I grinned as I put it away, diving for more, yanking them up to try to create the same effect. The ray shook, and I almost fell off, grabbing a few more flowers and managing to accumulate ten drops. There was still moonshine floating above a small portion of the field, but I sadly couldn't go for the whole enchilada because my Danger Sense twigged hard.

I threw myself sideways, Ripple Running helping me change direction twice to make sure I was clear, as a massive waterfall of cerulean gas slammed into the back of the ray, gouging a HUGE hole in it. I stared at the tall woman with canary yellow hair in shock as she snarled something at me too far for me to hear in the ruckus.

She tried to tag me as I retreated, and for a second I worried she would, but Valk's blue gel appeared in front of me as a hand construct swatted aside the resulting frozen attack. I redirected my fall, landing on the rock outcropping with a grin and hopping on the back of my goat. "Let's ride!" I bellowed gleefully. "I got ten drops and they were NOT happy."

"You LUNATIC!" Screamed Callie as we booked it in the other direction. "You could have been killed. What kind of plan was that? Tactics require forethought and consideration. Planning isn't just thinking 'I bet if I do something stupid, this will happen'. That's just madness!"

I was cackling with joy, adrenaline flooding through me as my heart pounded. That had been intense. Callie's words drew me up short, and I was derailed completely as Benny rode up to smack the back of my head as we escaped. "Hey! Stop gloating and listen, asshat. That was stupidly dangerous."

Sighing, I let my rush recede as I looked at things objectively. I MIGHT have rushed a bit. "Yeah." I said with a wince. "It might have been. I should probably have given you all the details before going. I ju-" Danger Sense BLARED again. "MOVE!" I bellowed, urging my goat to hurl us sideways. The others listened to me, avoiding the attack as a massive war axe made of crystallized sunshine smashed into the ground where we'd just been.

The snow hissed, steaming away as we turned to face the new enemy. A short black haired man with wide shoulders and olive skin grinned at us, an axe just like the sunlight construct hefted up on his shoulder. His eyes burned with golden light, and I saw his feet scorching the grass under the recently melted snow as he walked.

"Hello there!" He called cheerfully. "I'm afraid I can't just let you walk away with those drops." He looked over his shoulder. "Hows about you let me take them off your hands nice and easy, and I'll owe you a favor. Christina distracted that thing with her Azureblaze Fog, but it won't hold her team for long. I'd rather be gone before she gets here."

I pointed back the way we'd come. "Well that thing still had flowers on it. Why not go grab some of those. What makes you think we're the easier option?"

He shrugged. "Christina and I had a run in at the bazaar. She's a nasty piece of work. I'm Raul by the way, if it matters. I hope me taking those drops won't make things too tense. I don't enjoy sewing enmity." His smile was apologetic as his grip on the axe tightened, but he took a menacing step forward anyway.

"Wow." I said with an impressed tone. "That was the politest way anyone has ever tried to rob me." I glanced at Abel. "You think you can take him?" I could sense that Raul wasn't at the peak or even midway through F-rank, so there was a decent chance.

My mentor grinned, strolling forward to stand between us and the threatening axeman. "Never know until you try. I've been dying to test out my Expert level Ragam Mastery."

Raul glanced at him, eyes flicking away then jerking back as that tangible feeling of terror and violence that Abel projected when he was serious. "Shit. You're not the Adamant I heard about are you?" His eyes narrowed consideringly. "No, I don't feel perfection. More...pure violence. You don't walk the Path of the Adamant. You're on the Path of Blood. You must have spilled a LOT of it to get that kind of aura."

He sounded worried. Which was a good sign for us, but despite that, he set his feet, clearly preparing to engage. I had to give him credit, I knew how terrifying Abel could be, and facing him as an enemy had to be even worse. My mentor didn't bother to wait, he blurred forward, body splitting as Cicada Stacking Step condensed multiple images of him.

Unlike the last time though, he was an Expert now. The images weren't brief flashes of combat capable construct. They were real clones spreading out to surround the axeman before surging inward all at once to attack. I glanced up at the battle in the distance, seeing the ray snapping weakly at a massive snake made of Azure gas and cursing.

We didn't have time for this, if they ganged up on us this would be bad...and that's when I remembered something important. We'd all come into this dungeon in teams of ten. I activated Eye of Revelation and groaned. They weren't moving yet, which was why my Danger Sense was silent, but we were definitely surrounded. Joy.