Lewd Dungeon, Chapter 405

Chapter 405 – Six on Three

The last of the fifteen Knight Slimes fell. It had been a hard fight, since the liquid metal bodies of the slimes meant that they were hard to injure with physical attacks, but they had a level of innate resistance to magic, as well. Still, with a full half of their party having attack magic, and the other half having magic weapons to overcome the normal deficiency of such weapons against slimes, they had managed. The problem was that they did not have the room to simply keep one of the slimes around while they rested, so they were forced to go into the next round immediately.

The gate on the far side of the arena opened. Out walked the Three Sisters. Thankfully, they were reduced in power to level 30 in Tier 1, while that fight with the slimes had pushed Rhys and his pets up to Level 27. A challenge, but not an unwinnable one. His Lord liked to keep the dungeon tough, but fair, so long as you abided by His rules. Rhys did not want to think about their chances if they’d been forced to fight the Tier 3 versions of these fighters that the Pilgrims had reported.

Of course, even if they were only a couple levels behind and had the numbers advantage, one could not discount the effectiveness of a Shadowblade, Divine Excoriator, and High Magus working together, especially when they had plenty of experience working as a group. Rhys took a breath, and offered a salute in the way of the Anfelon Confederacy to the trio. Unlike the goblins and the slimes, these were foes that deserved respect, for their abilities and threat, if nothing else.

The Divine Excoriator chuckled slightly. “Well, well, well. Is that the Anfelon salute I see? About the only thing your confederacy could agree upon, besides working against Vinastra, wasn’t it?”

Rhys had to crack a smile at that banter. She wasn’t wrong, after all. The Confederacy was famous for coming together only in matters of self-defense, which, until the Godessfall War, had typically meant rebuffing Vinastran advances. Saying something like that meant that the Three Sisters still had their memories from before they were bound, and they weren’t mere recreations, as some had theorized.

The only mortals who truly knew the inner workings of dungeons were those who had been bound to dungeons, after all, and anything said by them was suspect. Especially since it was known that dungeons could create creatures that looked and acted like free-willed beings inside the ‘scenario’ of their dungeon, and the dungeon would prevent one bound to it from saying anything they did not wish to be revealed. So, the only way to get a reliable ‘first-hand’ account was to find a mortal who had been bound to a dungeon long enough to learn their secrets, and then find a way to free them so that they were no longer under that restriction. Easier said than done.

Rhys nodded to the Divine Excoriator, and said, “Well, don’t even have that to agree on these days, what with Vinastra being pretty much cut up between all the countries it bordered. Oh, except for Nighthold, and everything a day’s ride from its walls. That’s the city-state of Knightmarch, now.”

The High Magus sighed. “Yes, we heard of that, along with the downfall of Pofmis. Still, as much as we would like to hear about what has happened to our homeworld since we’ve been gone, our Master will be upset if we give you too much time to rest. So, [Mass Curse of Manaburn].”

Rhys cursed as the spell crashed down on them. The spell was a nasty piece of work. Not immediately fatal, but it caused everyone affected by it to double all MP costs, and every time they used MP, they took damage equal to half the original cost. Which meant that using most of their abilities would not only tire them out quicker, but also chip away at their health. And if someone wanted to break the curse, they’d have to take the huge hit on both MP and HP to do it for the group.

“Teffany with me, on the Excoriator. Danyll and Emblema, Shadowblade. Elia and Merewen, healing and interrupts on casting!”

The thralls did not need to be told twice. Each one leapt into action. Teffany was already in front of the group, meeting the Divine Excoriator’s charge with [Stalwart Shield], stopping the other woman cold. At the same time, he lashed out with his [Hellthorn Razorwhip] to try and entangle the woman’s sword arm. It didn’t work, but she still had to react to it, halting her attack.

The warm glow of Elia’s [Nature’s Blessing] spell fell on them. A simple Heal Over Time spell, the MP cost was fairly low, but it offered a steady amount of healing for the next minute. When dealing with a [Manaburn], that was the most efficient healing they could ask for. But once that was cast the druid began using [Vine Growth] to try and harass the High Magus, ensuring that she could not just sit back and cast spells without keeping an eye on her defenses.

“[Cursebreak]!” Merewen’s spell shattered the curse on her. Smart, using the single-target version, which had less of a MP cost, which meant that when she used [Group Cursebreak] a moment later, she did not need to suffer the curse’s effects. Normally, it would have been better to just use the group spell, but in this case the single-target version as the lead made sense.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw shadows twist and writhe. With two Shadowblades attempting to use the shadows to travel, they were interfering with each other. According to Danyll, when he fought another person in the ‘shadow dimension’ they moved through, he couldn’t actually deal damage, but you couldn’t have two people occupying the same ‘space’, which meant that blocking and countering people’s moves was possible.

“[Solar Strike]!” Of course, that only mattered until someone found a way to break the stalemate, such as Emblema using one of her Mystic Spelldancer abilities to bring pure daylight into her blows. While they did not actually damage the two Shadowblades, it was effective at throwing them out of the shadows.

The move should have disorientated both Shadowblades, but only one of them had been expecting it. Danyll managed to score a hit with [Quick Strike], drawing blood on the other Shadowblade, before Emblema followed up with a [Paralyzing Kick], dealing a bit of lightning damage, but with a harsh stun effect. Except that the enemy Shadowblade dodged the kick! She wasn’t going down that easily!

“[Divine Wrath]!” The Divine Excoriator made certain he couldn’t let his attention wander too far, however, as she used an ability to infuse herself with Lord Kuronoth’s power. Now standing nine feet tall, with all her gear scaling with her, the former Paladin used a simple [Shield Bash] to send Teffany flying backwards.

Rhys ducked under a swing of the suddenly much larger and much more dangerous sword, and fired his [Spellbow], hitting the Excoriator in the knee. It didn’t do much to her HP, but the impact of the spell ruined her balance. The next three hits did further damage, pushing the knee in directions it was less than comfortable in going. That was the beauty of the simple magic bolt spells the [Blacksteel Spellbow] used. They might not do the most damage, but they had secondary effects. In this case, several rapid blows to the side of the knee meant that the Divine Excoriator would be limping for a few minutes. Which meant he could more easily dodge around her, and continue striking, looking for weak points in her defenses.

“[Prismatic Armor]!” Before he could follow up on the sudden gap in the Excoriator’s guard, a shifting, multicolored film fell over her, courtesy of the High Magus. Rhys cursed, and stepped back, since he knew this spell. Anyone who made contact with the film suffered damage and a random debuff. Worse, it didn’t matter if they hit only with a weapon, or if the person protected used a weapon to hit them. It was a truly nasty defense.

“[Stone Tomb]!” But Eria did not let the High Magus’s spellcasting go unpunished. Stones rose up in a dome, trapping the woman inside. Someone with more of a Dexterity focus might have been able to escape, but now she was trapped, at least temporarily.

“[Rebuke Deception]!” Merewen’s spell slammed into the Shadowblade, who began cursing in her native Vinastran. Not that Rhys blamed her. The spell, given to followers of the Goddess of Truth, temporarily sealed the victim’s ability to lie, deceive, or hide from the truth. In social situations, the results were simple, and brutal, but in combat, they were worse, preventing someone from using feints, misdirection, illusions, or stealth abilities. For a rogue-type like the Shadowblade, that was basically a death sentence.

She puts up a good fight, but with her main advantages sealed, it doesn’t take long for Danyll and Emblema to put her down. Meanwhile, the Divine Excoriator has healed herself in the time it took Merewen to dispel the [Prismatic Armor]. The fight is surprisingly quick, though only because we had two healers, and Danyll and I were able to keep re-injuring that same knee. Twice, blows from the Divine Excoriator’s blade nearly killed Emblema and Teffany, and it was only thanks to quick healing that they’d managed to stay in the fight.

KA-BOOM!

The [Stone Tomb] detonated like a bomb, sending shards of stone in every direction. One stone the size of his head caught Rhys in the chest, knocking him off his feet. If he hadn’t been wearing armor, that could have been lethal, all on its own. As it was, between the impact and the way his head hit the ground, the blow still knocked him unconscious for twenty seconds, and had him stunned for another sixty seconds after that.

When he was finally able to groggily get back to his feet, the results were telling. Clearly, the High Magus had used some sort of spell to blow up the [Stone Tomb], probably protecting herself with a barrier as she did so. Rhys wasn’t the only one who had been knocked around by the oversized shrapnel, though. Almost everyone had been bounced around a little, even the Divine Excoriator. Fortunately, Teffany had weathered the storm, and kept the Excoriator from attacking any of the stunned or helpless combatants.

As Merewen’s [Mass Heal] settled on him and his companions, Rhys saw where the High Magus had been standing. Danyll was standing there, now, her twin blades bloody as she stood over the High Magus’s corpse. She must have used [Shadow Escape] to avoid the attack, and counter from the mage’s own shadow. Without the other Shadowblade holding her in check, that confrontation was effectively done the moment it started.

Two down, one more to go. The last ‘fight’ was less of a clash between warriors, and more like a pack of wolves taking on a bear. The Divine Excoriator was dangerous, no doubt, but her shield could not face every direction at once. Four of them on the attack, with the two healers hanging back, keeping everyone healthy and in fighting shape. More attacks to the Excoriator’s knees, disabling first one, and then the other. Restricted mobility did the woman no favors, and soon, Rhys’s [Hellthorn Razorwhip] coiled around her throat, before he drew it back, the razor-thin blades decapitating the woman, and ending the fight.

However, they did not have any time to rest. No sooner did the Divine Excoriator’s head fall to the sand, but the arena gate opened for the last time. Striding forward onto the sands was one of the two champions this floor offered as a boss, Tels Xuan, the Blacksoul Protector who was once a Paladin of Pofmis before she’d found herself bound to a dungeon on Bluemountain. Her black power armor alone promised that this would be no easy fight, but she already had a glowing one-handed sword in one hand, and her strange gun with a crossbow atop it in the other, and the two-handed sword floating in the air beside her was already looking eager to strike.

“Damn,” Rhys said. “I was hoping for the banshee, honestly. With the amount of magic we have, that would have been an easier fight.” Looking to his team, he said, “Watch the sword, it flies and attacks on its own. More importantly, it can move in ways no mortal wielder would be able to pull off.”