TS6 - Chapter 26

“Are you ready to finish up with this level?”  Dorrik asked, his eyes flickering back and forth at the various aliens that seemed to be milling listlessly around the adventurer’s hall.

Kat followed his gaze.  None of the other aliens were looking directly at their team, but Kat couldn’t shake the impression that someone was watching them.  

She pursed her lips.  That they were being observed was unwelcome but hardly surprising.  It was clear that the stallesp had found the rough area that they were operating in even if the agents gunning for them might not know their specific location at any given point in time.  Switching adventuring halls had helped them avoid observation for some time, but they were only one village away from where they had been discovered.  It was only a matter of time before their enemies tracked them down, and it sure seemed like that time was up.

“I think we’ve outstayed our welcome,” she replied.  “There are already a lot of eyes on us, and the longer we stay the more folks we will have dogging our steps.  I’m a little worried that someone will try to jump us when we leave town, but the longer this drags on the more likely that concern turns into a certainty.”

“Sounds like fun,” Kaleek cut in, eating some sort of meatball off of an ivory skewer.  “Of course, putting down a floor boss would be fun too.  I guess we should probably prioritize progress over pleasure.”

“In that case,” Dorrik replied.  “I have the location of the nearest floor guardian as well as the consumables we will need to defeat it.  We may as well set out now and I can cover details on the way.”

Kat quickly checked her knives and holstered hand crossbow, ensuring that everything was where it belonged before pushing gently off of the stone wall she had been leaning against.  Kaleek bit down on his skewer, quickly swallowing the last chunk of meat before throwing the sliver of ivory that had housed it into a nearby trash receptacle.

“Ready,” she said, eyes tracking back and forth across the interior of the building as she tried to see which, if any of the teams were paying attention to them.”

Dorrik led the way, pushing past the sparse crowds of avatars and tower generated salespeople as the three of them made their way to the exit.  Outside, the town itself wasn’t all that densely populated either.  On their way out, Kat saw somewhere between a half a dozen and dozen aliens.  Most of them were intoxicated, staggering through the street with lost and listless looks in their eyes.

People who had given up.  Once upon a time they had pressed ahead, conquering a couple easy dungeons per floor before challenging the guardians.  Some even used teams with an over leveled player or two to help them overcome that hurdle.

Eventually, every action comes with a cost.  Their abilities weren’t as developed as the perfectionists and their instincts weren’t as refined.  Apparently level twenty four was a big hurdle, offering a second class evolution and a chance to truly enter the upper echelons of the Galactic Consensus.

Theoretically it was still possible for some of the fighters milling around in the village bars to make the jump and crawl past the finish line to level twenty four, but a record of half measures slowed and weakened them.  Not everyone finished every dungeon available on every floor.  Most people waited until level nine or ten to even begin challenging their first iron tier dungeon.  It was rare to see a team devoted enough to growth to take the risk and challenge a floor guardian without any sort of backup.

It hollowed out their builds.  Not quickly, but like someone removing a grain of sand at a time from a beach, eventually there just wasn’t enough left, and by that point they found themselves trapped.  They didn’t have the talent to pass the floor guardian on their own and it was expensive to hire a team of ringers to help.  Most could still manage basic dungeons, but that wasn’t possible for everyone.

More than anything, fear crippled them.  As dungeon difficulties crept up to overtake them, the fear that they would lose everything grew almost unbearable.  For most of them, they’d spent years if not decades growing to the point where they were knocking on the door of their second evolution.  The idea of risking everything just to challenge one more dungeon for a single ability point was as alien to them as sprinting into traffic.

One of the revelers, a shaggy pile of fur and tentacles, shouted something more like a desperate bark than actual words.  The rest of the players around him laughed in reply and they staggered back into the nearest tavern, the door opening for a second to spill warm light out into the street along with the din of happy patrons.

Kat shook her head, following her companions out toward the city exit.  Even Kaleek, usually a sucker for eating and over drinking, was focused and on point.  The idea of losing momentum and falling into a pit of self pity and relaxation might be seductive to some, but to their group, it was barely even a distraction.  Their goal might not necessarily be the top of the tower, but even if they didn’t earn themselves a penthouse, that didn’t mean they couldn’t secure themselves a landing spot with a pretty nice view.

The leagues seemed to melt aways as the three of them jogged through the subterranean ruins, stopping only briefly to avoid the various monsters that inhabited the floor.  Once in a while Kat heard sounds that couldn’t be attributed to a monster in the distance, likely observers set to report back to the stallesp agent that had put the hit out on them.

She sighed as the three of them approached the floor guardian’s chamber, a massive cavern with the circular stairwell jutting up and out of it.  Kat had hoped that her talk with Dringbek would’ve ended the hit, but either the stallesp was playing games with her or he hadn’t gotten a chance to strike a deal with his superiors yet.  

“Ready?”  Dorrik asked, handing out goggles and a small tin of thick cream.  “Remember, its primary weapons are an acidic mist that limits visibility and electrical strikes.  You should be able to feel the charge building a half second before it uses the electrical attack, but there won’t be any warning if it uses its body.”

“Got it,” Kaleek said enthusiastically.  “Big snake tries to smack us with its big snake tail.  If we don’t move quickly, it’ll crush us with its body.”

“I should be able to limit that,” Kat replied.  “If I keep close to it I should be able to keep most of the guardian within the range of my domain.  There’s a limit to how many different gravity vectors I can create and hold at once, but at a minimum I should be able to keep it disoriented.”

Dorrik nodded gravely, slipping a pair of goggles over his own eyes as he responded.

“Don’t expect to finish it all on your own Miss Kat.  This guardian appears to hover and fly.  I do not know if it also has gravity magic, but if it is given a second to orient itself, it might be able to partially counter your abilities.  I don’t expect you to be able to bash it into the ceiling and ground repeatedly until its scales give way.”

“No delusions of grandeur,” Kat replied.  “Check.”

“No promises,” Kaleek butted in as he slathered acid resistant oil all over his fur.  “I am both deluded and grand, so your request is tantamount to asking me to not be myself, and as I have learned from a great number of Earth cartoons, I should always be myself.”

Kat felt an eyelid twitch involuntarily, but she didn’t reply, instead focusing her attention on casting protective magic.  It would take a fair amount of mana, but between magical and alchemical acid resistance, the three of them should be able to persist in the guardian’s defensive cloud long enough to kill it.

When the final layer of crackling energy snapped into place around Dorrik’s scales, Kat fished out her cloth face mask, hooking its straps into the bands of her goggles as she pressed it down over her nose and mouth.  Her face tingled for a second as it drew mana from her, and almost immediately the earthy stink of rotting flesh and vegetable matter disappeared, replaced by the crisp dry taste of overly recycled air.

She cast Shadow on herself.  It didn’t completely render Kat invisible, but it made it much harder to see her, and at the moment that would have to be good enough.

With a deep breath, she broke into a sprint running toward the boss chamber, eyes trained on the gigantic cloud of roiling yellow-green smoke that seemed to fill the entire area.  Just before she entered the huge open space, she Leapt aiding her ascent with a sudden pull of gravity.

Through the murk and darkness, Kat saw the vague outline of a gigantic snake curled around the pillar that represented their pathway to the next floor.  She didn’t give it a chance to defend itself.

Kat darted through the air, knife leading the way as she used Penetrate to stab her blade deeply into the monster’s side.

Its scales were like metal plates, and no matter how Kat’s spare hand dug, she couldn’t find any purchase.  Still, her skill flashed red as it burned through stamina, parting the monster’s armor with the screech of steel on steel.

The guardian jolted in alarm, bellowing in surprise and anger as Kat’s attack awakened it from its slumber.  It began uncoiling itself from around the stairwell, and Kat used those precious seconds of indecision and disorientation to cast Pseudopod.

She pulled her knife free in a spray of yellow blood and the tentacle of water ripped her spare weapon free from its spot on her hip, jamming it into the hole created by her first attack.  A second later, Kat activated Penetrate and slammed her primary knife home.

Once again the massive snake shook.  Each of the attacks was little more than a pinprick against its great bulk, but that didn’t stop the monster from treating them like grievous blows.

It twisted in the air, launching itself from the stairwell and bringing the cloud of acidic fog with it.  Almost immediately Kat felt it interfering with the gravity around it.  Whatever magic it was using wasn’t anywhere near as sophisticated or powerful as her domain, but it was certainly enough to keep the monster from touching the floor of the dungeon any time soon.

She grinned wickedly.  Of course, that was only if no one interfered.

Kat doubled and then tripled the pull of gravity on the snake, a portion of her will erasing its levitation magic from existence even as the rest of her domain grabbed hold of the floor guardian and yanked it downward.

It twisted skillfully, rolling its body to put Kat between the rest of the snake and the rocky ground.

At the last second, Kat kicked herself free, avoiding being crushed between the guardian and the floor by an eyeblink.  Gravity pulled her up and around its cylindrical back, and before the monster could recover from the impact, her knife had jammed another hole through its scales.

She ignored its thrashing as she planted her Pseudopod held blade into the wound, letting her body slide down the monster’s scales for a pace or so before activating Penetrate for a fourth time.

  As her knife punched through the guardian’s thick scales, Kaleek slammed into its side, hacking down with his greatsword just as the snake tried to take off.  The blow slammed it back into the ground, creating a small crater.

Kat reached out with her mind, trying to gather up the entire length of the snake.  It lifted its head from the cracked and broken stone, tongue whipping back and forth through the cloud of acid as it tried to taste her scent.

Her hands tightened around the hilt of her knife and mana rushed into Kat’s domain.  An eyeblink later, the head, tail and center of the guardian were slammed into the ground by gravity, as if giant hands formed from Kat’s will had grasped it and were trying to pull the struggling and squirming viper deep into the dirt and stone below.

Dorrik danced across the floor, his toes barely touching stone as his entire body burned with purple light.  His swords sent showers of sparks flying as they flickered through the air.

The first pair of blows removed a scale, revealing pale white flesh beneath that began to hiss and sizzle once it was exposed to the roiling cloud of acid.  The second slashed deep into the snake’s unprotected body, removing a lump of meat almost a half pace deep in the blink of an eye.

Kat activated Overpressure, and the wound in front of Dorrik began to gush blood.  The snake thrashed one more time, trying to free itself from the grip of her gravity.  When it failed, it stopped its escape attempts, and instead Kat felt a thrill of electricity run through her body, forcing all of her hair to stand on end.

“Back!”  She screamed, releasing the snake with her blades and kicking off a half second before its entire body crackled with electricity.

It buzzed, flashing with blue white light as sparks arced from its scales toward the ground.  Kat’s eyes went wide as the field of energy that stretched a couple paces around the monster somehow eroded her control over gravity.

The moment the guardian’s magic faded, Kaleek pounced upon it again, swords glowing purple as he ripped another scale free.  The snake whipped its head around, opening its mouth wide to swallow the lokkel only for Kat to regain control of her domain just in time to pour her mana into the field and yank back on the monster’s neck, half strangling it as she caught it just short of her friend.

Kaleek bellowed happily, sprinting back into the fray and cutting off the tip of the guardian’s tail as it gagged against Kat’s restraint.  It struggled again, and Kat found herself pushing more of her mana into her domain as she struggled to keep her mental grip on the monster.

The lower portion of its body lifted itself into the air, swinging toward Kaleek.  He managed to get his sword up and angled toward the oncoming monster in time to stab deeply into its torso.  That did nothing to actually stop the attack.

With a sound like a refrigerator being thrown down a staircase, Kaleek rocketed through the air with a thin stream of yellowish blood flying after him.  He hit the far wall with another clatter before rolling over with a groan and popping back up onto his feet.

Once again, Kat felt the tingle of electricity building, but this time it didn’t appear to be as undirected as the snake’s first attack.  On instinct, she jumped free of the snake, flipping gravity so that she dove even as the guardian jetted upward.

Three crackling bolts of lightning illuminated the acrid fog, one targeting each member of their team.  Kat’s quick movements were enough to evade almost the entire attack beyond a flash of light and heat across her back that felt like little more than a sunburn.

Kaleek took his blast of energy head on, armor bleeding red as his stamina fought back against the electricity.  The attack rocked the giant otter backward, but almost immediately he found his feet and continued his charge back into the fray.

Both of Dorrik’s swords flashed with enough purple light to rival the lighting itself, and he slashed downward with both of them, hitting the bolt and somehow deflecting it into the ground.  A distant portion of Kat’s brain wondered over the physics behind the action, but the end result was simple.

Her brain just shrugged.  Sometimes, magic was just magic.

In the distance, she heard someone shouting.  If Kat let her attention stray, she would’ve been able to make out specific words, but the floor guardian was already arching its back and turning toward them as if to strike as it hovered in the air, actively fighting against the pulse of gravity that had sent it upward.

She reached out with her domain, one part of her focus grabbing the snake’s upper torso while the other grabbed its lower third and pulled in opposite directions.

It let out an uncharacteristic squawk of surprise as its body flipped vertical and taut just in time for Dorrik to strike its injured tail and cut a wedge from its flesh with his empowered swords. 

More yelling from outside the boss room confirmed Kat’s concerns.  They were being observed and the observers were moving closer.

“Chamber entrance!” she screamed, floating to the side and infusing her domain with more mana.  

A quick check of her reserves sent Kat’s hand to her belt.  With a practiced motion she popped the cork off of a mana potion and took a deep swig from it, watching as her mana slowly began refilling from where it had settled at about one third full.

She flexed her attention again, infusing her steadily regenerating mana into her domain and transforming the gravity around the floor guardian to pull it toward the entrance to the boss room.

It flew through the air, Dorrik following in its wake as he jumped into the artificial gravity field alongside the monster, continuing to slash scales free and looking more like a sashimi chef preparing a meal than a warrior engaged in a life or death battle.

Kaleek rooted himself in their path, his entire lower body glowing red as one of his skills rendered him Unmoveable.  As Dorrik and the guardian accelerate toward him, Kat tweaked the gravity slightly, nudging the giant snake slightly so it would just miss Kaleek, giving him enough room to strike it without being demolished by an avalanche of scales and writhing monster.

The desoph swung his sword, its entire length burning with a bonfire of red light.  The blade hit the snake in a shower of sparks and blood as it carved a deep gouge into the rapidly ‘falling’ monster.

At the last second, Kaleek released Unmoveable, letting the guardian’s momentum jerk his sword forward, spinning his body in an oddly graceful pirouette as he planted a metal boot on the monster’s back and yanked his weapon free.

Just as the guardian was set to slam into the entrance of the boss chamber, six aliens came out, heavily armored and clearly spoiling for a flight.

Kat reached out with her domain, slowing Dorrik and Kaleek’s descent and plucking them free of the guardian as the gigantic snake crashed into the interlopers.

Almost immediately, the entrance to the chamber erupted into chaos.  Axes, warhammers and spells flashed as the attackers began trying to batter their way throught he monster that had suddenly enveloped them in a thick cloud of acid.

Kat pulled at Dorrik and Kaleek, bringing them to a stop before pulling them back entirely.  As they flew to safety Dorrik fired a volley of Ego Shards into the fray stunning the attackers while chipping steadily away at the floor guardian’s prodigious health.

Its head darted doward, envenomed fangs punching straight through a birdlike alien’s chest armor and dissolving the warrior’s internal organs.  A second later, the guardian flashed with power, electricity snapping and arcing in every direction as it turned its body entia a tesla coil.

When it was done, it whipped its head around to glare angrily at them.  Dorrik and Kaleek took the moment of freedom to drink stamina potions, refilling their reserves even as the snake’s slitted gaze spat hatred at them.

The floor guardian was covered in blood and charred corpses.  Almost a tenth of its scales were missing and the pale flesh underneath was hissing and shriveling as the acid field around the giant monster ate steadily away at its own body.  Despite that, the snake was undeterred.

It was battered and damaged, but it wasn’t out of the fight.  It was just angry.

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