The sandy erg writhed with countless sandstingers. My sword swung, crunching into one of the large scorpion-lizards, and I quickly brought my shield up to protect my neck from another lashing tail.
Rashir was on the back of the sled, firing arrow after arrow into the mass of monsters, while Estorra showcased her improved ice magic with a minor hailstorm of ice chunks, firing like bullets into the crowd. Markas was at my back as we moved through the creatures, killing as many as we could.
“Hurry up, Sidel!” Markas shouted.
“I’m hurrying!” she shouted back, as she pulled at the harness straps, trying to release Tug from the sled before we were entirely overwhelmed.
The nomadic rhinothell bellowed once free and began to charge, circling the sled and hammering through the wave of beasts with her mighty horn. Markas and I fell back, clearing out the few that made it through her protective barrier, then finally collapsed on the back of the sled to catch our breath while we all watched the Gold rank beast obliterate the colony we had stumbled into.
“Damn, she’s good,” Sidel said with a grin, the only one who was still full of energy, having done little aside from unhook her beast. Piko bounced at her feet, squealing in glee at Tug’s display. I shook my head with a sigh. If I go on another adventure after this, I’m definitely going to go with a tamer persona. Or at least a mage.
Estorra sat, pulling her hair back and fanning her neck before she pulled a potion vial out, chugging half immediately. She checked her magic meter, sighed, and swallowed the second half.
“Good work with the ice,” I said.
“Thank you. It still takes quite a toll on me, but I believe I have successfully weaponized it. It will be more helpful against a single enemy.”
Rashir clicked his teeth and turned to Sidel. “Your beast is trampling all my arrows. If I can’t retrieve them, I’ll run out eventually.”
“Well, at least we’ll have lots of meat,” Markas said as he watched the corpses pile up.
“Just make sure you don’t cut into a venom sack while butchering ‘em,” Sidel commented, whistling for Tug as she chased down the final, fleeing sandstingers.
The rest of the day involved collecting some of the dead and processing them down into strips of meat. There were so many corpses that I was able to take a few into my inventory without anyone noticing so I could look at the venom and other potentially useful parts at my leisure. Rashir bottled some of the venom from the dead beasts as we worked, either to use with his arrows against future enemies—that we did not plan to eat after killing—or maybe to sell back in Haklan.
After harnessing Tug and driving the sled away from the slaughter, we preserved what we could of the meat with salt and smoke and cooked a large, meat-heavy dinner as we settled down for the evening.
We had already been traveling for a while when we encountered the erg extending north out of the desert, and had opted to cross it rather than detour around it. These kinds of terrains were precisely why we had Tug pulling a sled instead of a wagon, and crossing it was simple enough, until we stumbled into a sandstinger colony.
With the danger passed and bellies full, we enjoyed a comfortable evening under the stars together, one of many since I had started traveling with this party. Even Rashir seemed to be in a good mood despite losing so many arrows earlier in the day, which made me wonder how valuable that venom actually was to the right buyer.
Note to self, make sure Shirel keeps an eye on whoever buys that venom. Although I bet she probably already has eyes on those markets. Maybe I shouldn’t micromanage.
I took a sip of cold water, a true luxury given the summer heat in the south. One of the best parts of having Estorra learn ice magic was being able to drink chilled water while on the road. The mage grumbled every time we asked for a fresh shard of ice for our drinks, but she complied and then stuffed herself with even more meat to help replenish her MP.
As often ended up being the case, our campfire chatter turned to the subject of our past adventures, and we shared stories about the things we learned along the way.
“What drew you to magic, Estorra?” I asked during a lull in the conversation.
The silver-haired mage glanced up at me from where she was nursing her meat-swollen belly. She was silent for a moment before responding.
“My mother. She was a mage, as was her mother before her, and her mother before her. I’m told my maternal line can be traced back to water mages from before the time of magic circles, even.”
“Wow,” I said, leaning back.
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Estorra paused again, then continued. “I have no idea if it’s true, but my grandmother claims that we’re actually descended from the person who created magic circles, as well.”
I leaned forward, interested, but uncharacteristically, Estorra laughed.
“Don’t be so intrigued, Deklan, almost every mage in Haklan will make a similar claim. Whether or not it’s true for me, my maternal line has long worked towards mastering water magic. After the war with the Kingdom, it was done in secret, passing on our knowledge from mother to daughter to keep our traditions alive. Water magic is critical to life in Haklan, and always has been.”
Rashir nodded from the other side of the campfire, and I saw the Horuthian part of the party acknowledge this as well, having learned as much in the years they had lived there.
“In the end, the northern mages learned this as well, and learned much of the same water magic that my family passed on through the generations. If you studied water magic in the capital, much of it probably derived from mages in Haklan. Possibly even my own family’s arts. Still, we pass it on from mother to daughter. With less danger in practicing magic as a southerner in the modern era, I grew up using it to help the city and the farms, but ended up finding my place as an adventurer. I learned how to use water as more of a weapon, which I’ll go on to teach my own daughters one day.” The small southern girl blinked her pale purple eyes, looking up from the fire and around at the rest of us. “I suppose that will include ice magic now, as well,” she said with a grin.
Sidel laughed loudly, stroking Piko in her lap. “Who would have thought, huh? Feels like things are changing fast for us all.”
I smiled softly at that, but stayed silent. The Pilus Effect, I thought. Hopefully the change is for their betterment, in the end.
For that to be the case, we all had to survive the coming dungeons. I glanced at the massive tower shield leaning up against the sled, hoping I could advance my shielded skill sooner rather than later and keep these people safe.
“What about you, Mark?” Sidel said. “Feeling any different? You’re probably closing in on Gold rank.”
Markas shrugged. “Maybe. That’s not really my goal, though. I just…” he trailed off.
“Enjoy the adventure?” I suggested.
The party leader nodded. “Exactly.”
Rashir snorted. “Well, I like the money.”
Sidel and Markas laughed at that, with Estorra shaking her head with a small smile of fond exasperation. I glanced at the rogue again, trying to figure him out. I found the man hard to trust, but the others seemed to have no problem with that, and I wanted to trust their judgment. Class-wise, Rashir was not all that different from Atlessoa or Shirel, though without the magical expertise. Not having magic should give me all the more reason to trust him, since he was not using illusions and magical trickery, but something about his blatant greed and dismissive attitude rubbed me the wrong way.
Was that not proof that he was trustworthy, though? He did not hide who he was. Even if I was being put off by his honest self, I could trust the man to be who he was. Knowing that, I could work with it, and simply needed to plan for it to ensure there were no issues. So long as he was making coin, he was happy, and this party seemed to know that and make good use of it.
I shook my head, trying not to overthink it. We had been working together without issue for so much of the season already. There was no need to go looking for enemies that did not exist. That was how I ended up in a one-sided conflict with the Church, after all.
As the fire burned down, we fell into a comfortable silence before one by one the party excused themselves to go to bed. I rolled my neck out, thinking of the challenges ahead, and got up to put myself to bed as well.
We would need our rest for the days to come.
* * *
The dungeon cave stood in the middle of an ocean of grass, nothing but sparse savannah stretching in all directions. With no roads, and no settlements nearby, it could have gone undiscovered for decades. With the natural deterrent effect the dungeons seemed to have on the people of this world, it almost certainly would have.
“How did the Church even know this was here?” Sidel wondered aloud as we surveyed the perimeter. I squeezed my lips shut, hoping no one would push the issue further. The dungeon compass provided some explanation, which was hopefully enough.
The grass in the immediate area was dead thanks to the dungeon’s influence, but the rest of the savannah sheltered a number of smaller beasts which would likely make appearances within. I had seen some wild durcats on the journey already, and expected to see some inside. We had yet to encounter any mecrokotas, but I would not be shocked to encounter them in the dungeon either.
There were other local beasts that I did not recognize, as well. Small horned prairie dog type beasts were common and actually pretty cute, which I was surprised had not made its way back to the Guild in my day, but it probably just seemed like a low value rodent to tamers with a more financial mindset while hunting.
Perhaps they’ll trickle in from new Haklan-local tamers looking to advance their membership, I thought, as I steeled myself against trying to encourage Sidel to tame some of those for me as well. I was pretty curious what they would look like evolved, but I had more important things to deal with.
Markas frowned at the dungeon meter as he measured the rank of the core within. “It’s a Gold rank dungeon, like we were told,” he said, looking back at us. “We’re going to have to go slowly and cautiously, and potentially fall back to recover. This might take days.”
“Tug won’t be as helpful inside the tight tunnels, too,” Sidel added. “She’s too big now.”
“Fortunately, we should not be dealing with large swarms of beasts, if this dungeon is like the last,” Estorra chimed in. “If we are handling each beast one at a time, the challenge should be manageable.”
I rapped my knuckles on the front of my shield with a grin. “I won’t let them get past me.”
“I’ll have to conserve my arrows, but this should slow them down,” Rashir said, holding up a vial of the sandstinger venom. Then he frowned. “At least, for the regular beasts. I have no idea if it’ll work on the corrupted ones.”
“All right,” Markas said with a nod. “Let’s set up camp now, something longer-term than just a quick overnight stay. We’ll eat, prepare, and take a quick run at it, just to get a feel. Tomorrow we’ll delve deeper.”