DD 203 Ch 26

Chapter 26

The rest of our raid party had waited a full hour for the Royal College to make themselves known, but Prince Albar and the rest of his college never appeared to join us in the fight against the Naga and Dwarves.

I had no particular feelings about that fact. Their presence was not going to decide the battle.

Without them, we had all moved forward and were all huddled up behind a sand dune, which had not turned out to be as large as I had initially expected.

The Dwarves and the Naga were engaged in scattered fights, mostly the dwarven droves picking at the Naga line and getting diced apart for their efforts, only for the queen to mold the dead drones back to life. The Naga had erected some sort of coral barricade in front of their line, while the rest of the Dwarven drones were actively constructing something. The Dwarven Queen, standing twice the height of the rest of the Dwarves, was impossible to miss.

"We thought they'd be actually fighting," Marin whispered as we stood near the edge of the sand dune.

"A lot of battle is staring across enemy lines and preparing for the next clash. Though the clash might be brief and violent, that doesn't mean that the glory is there alone." Machen spoke like he was attending a military academy, which, he was. He pointed over to where the Dwarves were eagerly working away. "I think they are almost finished with whatever they've been building. When that's done, I think there will be a larger engagement again."

I nodded and pulled some crocodile jerky from my CID to munch on.

We had been restricting rations for the last several weeks as we felt them dwindling, and my stomach was starting to protest with the day's activity. Looking out over the Naga, I saw more than a few stuffing food into their mouths. I hoped that after this, we would be able to find a place with more edible loot.

The Dwarven Queen was walking up and down the line of Dwarves, shouting at them as whatever they were building suddenly came to life.

The contraption was lifted up on the shoulders of a dozen warrior Dwarves, and I now recognized it as some sort of flexible battering ram, likely for the Dwarves to rush through the boss doors and down the flight of stairs.

It made a certain sort of sense, however, humanity had not necessarily invested much development in wars within the dungeon. Most conflicts were solved by bringing people of higher and higher levels.

"All right, we need to prepare." I turned away from the other two leaders of their college and slid back down the dune. The other adventurers must have sensed my urgency. They were pulling weapons out of their CIDs, picking them up off their laps, and equipping any final pieces of armor. "Everyone remember the plan? We go in along the wall and try to drive ourselves behind the Naga. It looks like the Dwarves are going to rush the boss room and stairs. Our goal will be right behind that team."

The plan felt a little more risky now that I saw it in person.

But with the Dwarves' plan clear, there was bound to be extra risk. As they rushed the stairs, we would be running behind them and we would risk getting sandwiched between two forces.

The battery ram could also help us. The fact that the dwarves built the ram meant there was a chance they had already attempted the move once and encountered some sort of challenge. If they cleared it out for us then we’d escape a potential pitfall.

I had my own weapons out, then spun them to warm up my wrists.

On the other side of the dune, shouts and hisses became audible as both sides once again clashed.

"This is it." I activated [Sprint] and rushed around the sand dune.

Others were activating their own movement abilities, keeping up with me. The majority of Trusk were slow and in the back. With them saving their summons, they wouldn't be of much help.

Instead, melee DPS like Machen, Taylor, the tanks, and I made up the spearhead of the group rushing into enemy forces.

Like the raids, I stopped paying attention to everyone around me, focusing instead on my own fight. First, a Naga on the edge of their formation saw us coming and turned, shouting back through their ranks. A similar moment happened with the Dwarves, though they seemed far less concerned. 

I reached the group first, my blades catching the first Naga.

He pushed his back to the wall to protect himself from getting overwhelmed, our weapons sparking.

Machen jumped over the two of us, landing behind the Naga. The ability he used sent a shockwave that stunned my opponent and two others.

I punched my blade into the stunned Naga's throat, then carved up his chest with a series of swings. I activated [Shadow Strike] to swing again blindingly fast, but saved Triple Breach for a tougher opponent. 

I used [Cleave] from Fayeth to hit my target and another one that Machen had stunned, quickly dealing as much damage as I could, but everything was secondary to trying to build up my stacks. The two larger blades certainly made me slow down. Even with my high strength and agility, a heavier weapon was always destined to be slower. 

Both of those Naga fell, Specters pulling free of their bodies and joining me as I moved on to the next, using Earth Stomp to stun the group of Naga that had pushed Machen back, preventing him from barreling through. 

Spells and abilities flew over our shoulders.

As the Naga formed a line, I used Des’ [Shadow Wave] to add more damage to the group and stand back for a moment.

I scoped out the Naga forces, thinking about where was the weakest point I could apply pressure to.

There were healers among the Naga, casting barriers and stitching wounds closed as quickly as they could. They were the female variant of the Naga, looking far different with much larger spinal fins. Some of them had four arms as well. But it was clear none of them was a matriarch. Those, much like the Dwarven Queens, were larger than their brethren. 

It was about this time that I saw the flexible Dwarven Ram disappear through the door. The Dwarves fell down upon the Naga. The wedge driven by the Ram became the perfect gap for them to pitch an all-out battle.

We hadn't managed to push through the Naga quick enough, and it was clear that the Dwarves were now in control of the space in front of the boss doors. 

I hacked with my two swords, cutting down another Naga, a specter rising to join me. Our opponents had shifted.

Not only were we fighting Naga, but they had pulled back, pressing themselves against the wall and exposing the flank of our formation to the dwarves.

The Dwarves were indiscriminate in who they attacked. Drones threw themselves at our casters and forced some of our tanks and melee to peel back to protect the healers, which weakened the tip of our spear formation. 

At this point, Machen and I were on our own ahead of the group as we tried to shove ourselves through the Naga.

My blade danced off my most recent opponent. I was faster than him. Ducking under his large blade, I raked mine across his stomach and spun around before using Absorb to block another spell. 

The group of Naga throwing out heals and spells were the biggest problem I could see on the battlefield.

Taking a risk, I used [Shadow Ambush] to jump in between all of them and immediately activated [Arcane Singularity], canceling out every spell being cast and sucking it into me. I suddenly felt like I had stuck my finger in a socket, too much magical energy inside of me. I quickly used Discharge on the closest caster Naga and cleaved into her with my blades.

The naga casters hissed and shouted, but I was determined to be the fox that got into the henhouse.

I let my Shadow Arm reach over my shoulder and latched onto the caster as I tried to burn her mana away before spinning and blocking another warrior.

The warrior was trying to drive me away from the casters.

I had ten seconds of the Naga casters being unable to use their spells. My whole goal was to deplete the mana of one of them. My shadow arm was completing that task while I defended myself.

Blades clashed, and I ducked back, using dodge to slide out of the way from a second longsword that had tried to take my arm off at the shoulder. 

As [Arcane Singularity] ended, I put my hand on the Naga whose mana I had been draining and activated [Mana Implosion]. The remainder of her mana got sucked into a point just in front of my palm, creating a blue sphere. But the second her mana was all dry, it instead pulled her flesh in, causing an implosion that ripped her apart a moment before she exploded, dealing massive damage to the surrounding casters. 

As I used my finisher, four more Naga specters peeled themselves away from bodies, and I ducked through them, using them to protect me from the Naga warriors closing in. My blades found several weakened casters, adding three more specters to the growing group that, at this point, were successfully holding back the Naga warriors from me. 

The warriors seemed confused to be now fighting their own kind, but before their confusion could be resolved, I had cleaved through the casters.

Quickly targeting any Naga casters that had been using healing spells and finished them off, I made my job easier.

At this point, fourteen Naga specters had joined me, and they had even claimed the lives of one of the warriors. 

I slashed over my specter’s shoulder, using them as a shield, my blade punching into one of the warriors' exposed chests.

Killing the Naga and adding more specters to the group added momentum that had been robbed from us. I pushed forward along the wall towards the stairs, turning to the big berserker fighting not far away. 

"Machen!" I shouted. "Get to the doors!" I pointed with one of my blades at the stairs to the safe zone. I directed my blades through the door to the boss room, towards the stairs that would lead down to the safe zone. 

The berserker shouldered forward, charging through several of the Naga, shouting at me as he went. "Get several healers to me!" He slammed into the bronze doors, stopping there and roaring as he let several Naga pierce him with their blades. His muscles swelled, earthworm-like veins crawling under his skin as his eyes lost their focus. He cleaved through a Naga with a single blow. 

I pointed out two ladies that I knew were part of his group. "Follow Fayeth. Get them to Machen!" I shouted. 

Machen had wedged himself between the boss doors and the stairs down to the safe zone. He was fighting like a man possessed. Even as heals and shields layered on top of him, blood flowed freely as he stood his ground. My growing army of specters pushed into the Naga to stem the tide that Machen was fighting. I cut through them, my blades adding to their number as my specter army grew. 

Purple lightning raced down my arms as [Liminal Speed] continued to gain momentum. I started to become fast enough to weave in and out of my specters and the enemy Naga attacks, despite the number of swinging swords. After another half a dozen Naga went down, their ranks gave way to the dwarves. Drones rushed me with their tough bodies and strong arms. They tried to hold down my specters, throwing themselves at them, while a stronger warrior came in to deal the finishing blow. 

Several of my specters popped into white mist, only for their number to be replaced by the drones dying by my blades as I continued to pick up speed, slashing through them. I had stopped using my skills after getting a sense of my mana levels.

I glanced beyond the dwarven ranks to the dwarven queen. She had stopped what she was doing and instead was staring directly at the section of the battle that I represented.

She lifted her hand, gesturing as if she could lift the corpses at a distance. Only in this case, it did.

The drones had their bodies stitched back together, wounds sealed up like their bodies were made of clay and a potter had just run his finger over the cracks, crudely sealing and restoring them to life.

Even though I held their specters, it seemed that did not prevent the dwarven queen from bringing them back. 

A drone caught me by surprise coming to live at my feet and managed to grab my foot before he hammered a stake through his own arm to pin me to the ground. Other drones came in from every direction, their mallets and picks swinging for me.

I had to twist and turn, my blades blocking all of them. As I moved with incredible speed, the two over-large swords proved their worth. The drones' weapons sparked off of the large flat of the swords.

I realized in that moment that in order to defeat these dwarves, the dwarven queen absolutely had to be a top priority.

Otherwise, we were going to be overwhelmed as the queen continued to bring the downed dwarves back onto their feet.

I cut the dwarf's arm off that had been holding my foot down, and I spun with my blades, using all of that speed that I had gained, creating a small whirlwind around me.  My blades stuck out, striking drones and warriors alike and giving me a bit more breathing room. I came out of the spin and charged straight to the left, slashing through several more dwarves before I activated [Shadow Ambush] on the furthest dwarf that I could find near the queen. I reappeared out of his shadow in a flash, swirling and severing his head with a single strike from behind before landing and rushing towards the dwarven queen.

The Queen showed no surprise as I appeared before her. The impassive look on her face might as well been chiseled from marble with how much it moved.

In a flash of purple lightning, I lifted both swords high and brought them down together. I was trying to end this quickly, but to my shock, the Dwarven Queen was incredibly fast.

Using [Dodge], a skill I recognized, and sliding a foot backwards.

My blades only glanced against her chitinous armor, sparking and failing to penetrate. She thrust a palm forward, and a blast of physical force lifted me off the ground and threw me back. 

I somersaulted through the air, landing amidst three drones. My blades flashed out, killing them instantly, and I rushed back towards the Queen.

At this point, Dwarves of the warrior caste had broken away from the fight and rushed to defend their Queen. Most of them held large weapons with reach.

When we had been scouting the situation, Des had jokingly pointed out that they were likely trying to make up for their lack of stature with long weapons.

The thought made me chuckle as I wove between the warriors and assaulted the queen again, activating [Triple Breach] each strike having a chance to penetrate armor. The third strike punctured a chunk of her chitinous armor on her left side, but I failed to follow up as a warrior thrust a spear, forcing me back.

I blocked his weapon and twisted with my blades, only to discover the warrior was strong enough to stop me. He wrestled me for a moment before I disengaged, killing another drone and trying to re-enter the fight against the Queen.

Familiar heals from Charlotte wrapped around me as a meteor of green fire landed amidst the Queen and her warriors. Des used her strongest ability to try and create an opening for me. 

I rushed through the still-burning spot of the impact and went for the Queen again, scoring a deep gash along her side where I had broken her armor.

But it was not enough to stop her. She flicked her wrist and several more drones revived and tried to grab onto me. The Queen herself drew a wicked black sword out of nowhere, slamming it down on top of me.

I had been busy killing the drones and hadn't gotten out of the way of the hit. I prepared for impact, but before that came. Fayeth wrapped in root-like armor had appeared with her shield to block the sword from hitting me. 

I took the opportunity, crossing my blades and slashing into the Queen's side as I used [Dodge] to slide underneath her striking arm and come up behind her. I spun, slamming my blades into her back repeatedly. 

Her back was far less armored than the front, and I did not have to deal with her obnoxiously large armored breasts that actually made it difficult to get a good angle on her torso. Those things had been like two tower shields strapped to her front.

Wounds quickly appeared on the Queen's back. However, the Dwarven Queens seemed to have some obnoxious level of regeneration, the wounds healing nearly as fast as I generated them.

The Queen tried a familiar attack, though it happened a little differently this time. Fleshy Dwarven hands reached out of the sand, grabbing at my ankles rather than whole dwarves. She blasted Fayeth away and tried to come for me again.

Felin leapt out of the crowd, a storm wrapped around her spear as she stabbed it into the patch of broken armor.

Penny rushed out of the crowd of Dwarves, wearing a set of frozen armor as frost trailed off her blade. She stabbed into the nearly closed patch of broken chitinous armor and ice spread over the Queen's side, only for Penny to rip the sword out, shattering more of the armor with the move. 

Turning, the Queen backhanded Penny and sent the tank sprawling with a single strike.

Watching that hit, I understood just how much stronger this Queen was than the rest of us. If it hadn't been for my incredible speed, I would have likely already been seriously hurt. 

With several more joining the fight, I knew we were almost there. I activated metamorphosis, my long blades merging into my arms as my claws glowed with the same green sheen that the sword normally contained.

My frame bulked up, adding on more muscle as I stepped in to attack the Dwarven Queen once again. I wasn't quite her size with my enhanced form, however I certainly had enough strength to feel more matched with her.