Legacy of the M'Zee, EG Book 6, Chapter 3

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

And here we finish this Dungeon run. Hope you enjoyed it! My plan for posting from now on is to alternate between books. If I get far enough ahead (I'm working on it :-) I'll post a chapter on Wednesday as well.

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

The effects of the Refined Jungle Gathering Powder had not yet run out, giving the first twenty minutes or so of the break time a large boost in efficiency. I was sitting at about two-thirds of my total Aether capacity when the vine wall we’d built dissolved into colorless flames. “No field modifications may be maintained into a different wave,” Bruno’s robotic voice announced.

“Any hints on the next wave?” I asked.

“Sorry bro, that’s against the rules. I can’t break them, even if I wanted to,” he responded in the Southern California surfer voice that was his real personality. “It will push you, but I totally believe you can do it. Only one minute until the new wave begins.”

Jon clapped my shoulder, “We are ready.”

“Let’s do this,” I shouted, then we spread out. Many targets or one? Let’s go with one very strong technique, just to obliterate something, I thought, then worked through the motions of Wrath of the Lightning Deity. Need to figure out what to call the other version. Something suitably pretentious to match the source. Eh, think of it later.

Seconds passed, then eight beams of Aether fell. I could feel them, this time, rather than just see them. In front of me, the spawn point disgorged a massive Mountain Bear, and I met its roar with a tiny Fireball. It snapped it up, snorted at me, then seized as the Lightning bolt that followed smashed into its skull. The Beast collapsed to its side, muscles locked up and unable to function properly.

The stream of Aether petered out. The Bear groaned and rolled to its feet. It’s movements were unsteady, but it was getting its faculties back faster than I wanted. I Blasted it with Air and Fire, leaving scorched lacerations around its body.

Eruptions of Aether surrounded me, as each of us focused on one enemy. I risked a quick glance and saw Vaya had entangled one with vines that pulsed as they constricted. Wicked thorns dug into its skin. Sia had grown much larger, stretching the limits of the collar he wore, and was savaging another Bear with flame and talon.

Jon and Zim had combined to create a field of Ice that left two Bears taking slow, stomping steps forward to maintain their footing. Bridget sent waves of Air Blades at a Mountain Bear that had stopped to erect a wall of stone. Kami rushed forward, seeming to swell in size and mass as she rammed into her target, and the two Beasts set into each other with tooth and claw.

A roar brought my attention back to my Bear, which had gotten its feet under control. It was charging at me, with only a dozen meters to reach me. I ran forward, meeting its charge. While running, I focused on forming a Forceful Punch, surrounding my right arm with the Technique. Aether glowed on the Bear’s claws, and it swiped at my head. The air in front of the attack compressed, screaming with the speed and strength of its arm.

I ducked, resisting the buffeting of the air, and sprung upward to discharge the Punch into its face, stopping the bite heading for my shoulder and shattering its jaw while slamming Aether into its skull. The Beast jerked upward, its body collapsing and running into my side, throwing me backwards by its sheer mass. I rolled, throwing my arms outward to regain my balance and spring to my feet. The Beast wasn’t moving, and the tiny amount of Essence that flowed into me let me know I’d defeated it. Plenty of room in my Core. It’s getting so much better at storing Essence, even if the size is only slightly larger.

I turned and sent a Lightning Blast at the Beast fighting Kami, causing it to spasm for a second. Kami took advantage, knocking aside its paws and clawing out the Bear’s throat before screaming in victory. Sia was already pouncing upon the slowed Beasts that Jon was effecting with his aura technique. They tried to reach him, but he was effectively kiting the slowed Beasts as he slashed at their noses from just out of range of their claws. Zim shot an Icicle into the top of the closest Bear’s neck, and Sia landed on it, driving it into the Beast’s brain. It collapsed, dead instantly.

Kami rushed to the side, landing on the Beast Vaya had trapped. In seconds, she had it ripped into ribbons, and Vaya dropped the technique and knelt panting. Within only thirty seconds, we’d mopped up every Bear, leaving only a single one bleeding out. “Rest and recover as best you can,” I yelled out. “If you’re at less that half your total Aether capacity, I have refill powders.”

“So do I,” Bridget said.

I nodded at her, “Good.” With a thought, I dove into my center and felt my reserves. I’m just over sixty percent. Which for many others would be their entire capacity. Fifteen minutes isn’t enough time to refill, even with a gathering powder. I should still be fine, though.

“Hopefully they do not double in number for the next round,” Jon said, collapsing. “I do not know if we could deal with twenty-four or thirty-two of them.”

“That wouldn’t make sense,” I said. “They’ll probably just get stronger between each wave, with maybe a single doubling. Anything else would spike the difficulty too much.”

“Jon, can you make an Ice field over half the field with your potions?” Vaya asked.

“Yeah, but it will take over half of my supply,” he said.

“Okay, then in the third round, do that. We should be able to concentrate on the other half and eliminate them quickly, before doubling up. In this round, I will entangle three Beast’s legs and hold them off while you kill them. We will see what the fourth round brings,” she said before pulling out a pill and swallowing it. Aether flowed into her, a torrent that everyone could feel. Heh, good pill. I wonder what it was?

I downed another gathering powder, losing a bit of effectiveness due to repeating them so quickly, but it still increased my gathering speed significantly. I filled another fifteen percent before the warning of the next wave rolled across us. I stood, stretching real quick before stepping into my strongest technique again. I need to expand upon this. It’s not strong enough for opponents at my level without draining my Aether and Essence too. More Aether in, layer on the enhance, pull, and gather runes thicker maybe?

More runes flew out of my hands, all the practice that Librarian Narwan and Knight Kaminski had forced upon us enhanced my ability to create them and maintain them as my hands moved around me. Runes formed a dense cloud around me as the next round started.

Eight Bears formed, each one moving from a high level four to a peak level four, equal to a person about to move from Threshold to Complete Condensation. Since Beasts were supposed to be stronger than a person at their level, they should have been a challenge for someone two levels beyond us. Unfortunately for the Aether created Beasts, we were not typical gatherers.

My left arm sent a Fireball at the Beast as it charged at me, madness in its eyes. Like the Bear in the last round, it tried to eat the Fire, snuffing out the Technique with fangs of Metal. “Too bad,” I shouted at it, “that all I needed was a path!” My right arm thrust forward, and a full fifth of my Aether blasted out of me into a Lightning Bolt three times the size of the last round. The runes around me collapsed into Aether, slamming into the Bolt and further strengthening it.

The Bear barely had time to blink before it was blown backwards, Lightning searing through its insides and liquifying its organs. The Bolt carried it to the edge of the Arena, where it was slammed into a tree and split apart. My hand tingled, my projection and arm meridians feeling the strain of the massive technique.

I turned towards Kami again, only to see her on top of her Bear, slashing her claws through the Beast’s defense and shrugging off any of its counterattacks on her scales. Huh, I knew Bridget had gotten something that improved Kami’s armor, but I didn’t realize it was that strong. Nice.

I continued to turn and saw Bridget dancing around a thrashing Bear. Rather than attempt to weather her storm of Air Blades with a wall of stone, this one had simply barreled through and sought to end her with a single slash. Unfortunately for it, she was faster than even I was, and was just dodging around its powerful attacks and slashing lines of blood into its hide. She maneuvered it such that I had a clear line to its right rear leg, so I shot a massive blast of Fire, Lightning, and Air combined.

As the Elements formed around my trisula, I forced them together. Still haven’t gotten to talk to Librarian Narwan about mixed Elements, but these three should make Plasma, which I vaguely recall from the Affinity Powders. Let’s see what happens. The Aether’s merged, creating a single blast of pink Aether that absolutely destroyed the Bear’s leg, burning so hot as to turn it to ash so fast as to feel instantaneous.

Bridget immediately reversed her retreat, dodging the weak slash the collapsing Bear sent at her to stab her machete into its eyes, killing it with one final blow. With a shout, she sprinted at one of the three Bears Vaya had Entangled and I nearly flew to join her. Slashes and Blasts rained upon its head and torso, while it roared in anger and defiance, unable to move its legs. Jon, Sia, and Zim fell upon the other side, and quickly slew the Bear to Vaya’s left. I slipped to the rear of the last Bear and ripped the tendons of its legs apart, at which point Vaya dropped her Technique and collapsed.

I leapt off the crippled Bear to reach her side as quickly as I could. A quick examination of her condition told me she was just low on Aether, so I rushed over to where I left my bag and pulled the Wood Aether refill pill out. I knelt and held her head up, helping her swallow the pill and recover. “That was awesome,” I told her as she blinked in exhaustion. “Rest and recover quickly, we’ve only got fifteen minutes.”

Her energy levels soared in my perceptions, and she sat up under her own power within seconds. “That pill was amazing,” she said. “I am feeling much better now.”

I stroked her hair, “Good. Three more rounds.”

“We have got this,” she said. “You could probably beat all of them yourself.”

“Well, maybe,” I laughed, “but not while trying to protect the rest of you. Come on, you could too.”

“You should recover. I am fine now,” she smiled at me, the affection plain on her face.

I leaned in and kissed her lightly, “Okay. I will keep us all safe.” I checked my center to find myself with only two-fifths of the Aether left in my pool, and my meridians were down to only vapor. I dug out a Lightning refill pill and dropped it into my mouth. A storm of Aether, ninety percent Lightning but trace amounts of the other seven Elements, shot up my digestion meridian into my center, and I had to concentrate to force it to condense. My pool rapidly refilled, and then spilled into my meridians. Wow, that pill was amazing. From forty percent to ninety percent full with one. I wonder if I can get the recipe?

The next round had the Bears at the very bottom of level five, still nearly fifty percent stronger than the previous round. If they keep this growth, the last round will be incredibly difficult, I thought while unleashing my strongest attack on it. Even with the increase in strength of the Beast, my Wrath of the Lightning Deity still obliterated its ability to defend, at least when powered by nearly half my total Aether.

I dropped to a knee, a wave of exhaustion flowing through me at the massive expulsion of Aether. With a grunt, I forced myself to stand, and started to send ranged attacks at the Bear fighting with Kami yet again. If it worked before, don’t mess with it, I thought while blowing the Bear’s left rear leg out from under it with an Air Aether Blast.

We blew through the Beasts in this round, with half of them sliding around unable to find purchase to stand. Jon had used six vials of his (name) Potion, though he winced with each one. I knew roughly how much wealth he’d just sent sliding onto the ground of the Dungeon, but I also knew that the Cores we were getting from the Beasts would more than offset the cost, much less the rewards from the Dungeon. We’ll definitely stop at this wave, though, I thought, just to reduce our likelihood of injury. Maybe when we get back, we can try for the third wave.

The fourth went similarly, though I had to Blast the Bear I hit first multiple times, as it recovered too quickly from the Wrath to leave alone. By the time I had finished it off, Kami was in dire straits. I sprinted to her side, layering the Iron Bones, Granite Skin Technique over my upper body and shoulder checked the Bear off her. A few scales fell away when the Beast’s mouth was ripped off the pangolin. The Bear rolled with the hit, trying to crush me to it. All that did was let me stab my weapons deep into its body and then Blast it away with Air and Fire.

Kami and I fell upon Jon’s Bear and then we all attacked Vaya’s. Only a minute later we had cleared the round, though we didn’t get any extra time as a panicked Bear had dived at Zim and forced Jon and I to kill it. “Is anyone hurt?” I asked, then felt a wave of healing from Vaya flow into me. The cuts on my forearms and calves I hadn’t realized were there quickly healed. “Thanks.” I smiled over at her, and she smiled back while pushing Aether into Kami.

“Can you give Kami an Earth Aether refill powder?” Bridget asked.

“Sure,” I nodded, then pulled out my bag again. Jon and Zim took an Ice refill, while Vaya grabbed the other Earth one.

“Last round,” Vaya said with a stretch when the warning chimed out.

“Yup,” I responded, then stepped into my technique. Each round so far had led to tiny gains in strength and efficiency, and I thought through what I was doing yet again. I was mostly through when one beam of Aether fell behind me, in front of Jon. The pressure from the Beast’s Aether pushed down upon us.

“It is a level six Beast, though only just advanced,” Sia sent to all of us. “Burn it down quickly. Do not let it have time to prepare a technique!”

I grabbed the dome of runes surrounding me with a grunt, forcing them to turn and move sideways. The Beast stood and roared. It was six meters tall, and it had layers of stone armor covering its back, head, and legs. The second I got a clear shot, I blew every bit of Aether I could without damaging my meridians, dropping me from about seventy percent to fifteen in only a few seconds. My Lightning hit its front most leg at the same time a massive Fireball landed on its snout.

As the Fire flashed out, an Icicle from Zim stabbed into a seam in its shoulder armor, stabbing a few centimeters in. A small area of frost spread from the injury that was further accelerated when Jon sent his Slowing Snowball Technique into the same spot. Vines shot from the ground, dripping poison from their thorns and an Earthen Spike exploded from beneath the Beast into its chest.

As the other’s techniques impacted the Beast, I ran towards it and activated my Dancing Northern Wind Technique, stepping into the air three times so I was above the Bear. It roared again, a wave of Aether shattering both Vaya’s vines and Kami’s Spike. A ball of Aether formed in its mouth, strong enough to worry me. I flipped over, conjuring another platform of Air under my foot and shoved downward. I rotated before slamming feet first into its snout, crushing the technique before it could finish it.

The Aether detonated, shattering the Beast’s jaw and staggering it while sending me flying back into the air, this time uncontrolled. I arced up, then Sia caught me and helped me to the ground. Zim and Jon were pelting the Beast as it stumbled, and then I saw Lampart dart under its legs and slice a chunk out of its suddenly exposed throat before narrowly dodging the blind return swipe. Sia set me down, and I nearly collapsed.

“Are you okay?” Vaya asked me while sending a Wood Aether Blast that rocked the thing’s head backwards.

“Yeah, just sprained,” I said with a grimace.

Jon ran forward, his sword glowing with Aether, and cut into the Bear’s leg that I had blasted. It tried to retaliate, but the damage was too much and it collapsed to the ground.

Jump! A voice I didn’t recognize sounded in all of our ears, and Jon didn’t question it. He leapt upwards, easily clearing two meters of vertical distance, which is all that saved him from a field of Stone Spikes that would have skewered him a dozen times over. Jon’s shield glowed as he fell, the bottom edge getting coated in Aether, and he landed on the Beast’s side. With a scream of effort, he drove the point at the bottom of his shield into the Bear, cutting though it for half the shield’s length.

The Bear groaned in agony, but its twitching form quickly stilled. The Essence from the Beast was equal to every other Bear combined, and the total haul of the day put my Core at nearly half full.

We all collapsed, exhausted and just about out of Aether. “Great job everyone,” I panted out. “Bruno, we’re done with this, right?”

“Congratulations on completing the second wave! You were doing so well, I increased the difficulty. That was awesome, and I got so much Mana from it! Because you defeated the Boss, you get extra rewards this time,” Bruno announced. Two chests materialized just off the side from where we were.

I staggered to my feet and opened the first chest. Inside were sixteen of the unattributed Cores, each the size of my fist. “These are level six Cores,” I said.

“You did beat a level six Bear,” Bruno stated. “I knew you could. Awesome job bros.”

The second chest held a set of stone armor that would fit over Kami’s head and back, and Bridget wasted no time in helping her get into it. The headpiece included spikes to either side and straight up, giving Kami some additional weapons as well. A bracelet and a staff were the last of the rewards.

“Okay dudes. Have the pangolin put some Earth Mana into the armor,” Bruno’s voice bounded through the clearing, obviously excited.

Kami did, and the armor vanished, shrinking to a collar. She repeated the action, feeling it out, and the armor spread across her body, this time covering her legs as well. She walked around the Arena, testing her new equipment.

“Now, that bracelet should work as a way to speed up your natural healing,” Bruno said. “It works with any type of Mana, but best with Water. The staff increases the strength of any Water, Wood, or Earth spell cast through it. I know none of you use a staff, but come on. Wizard staff, dude.”

“Thanks Bruno,” I said. “We’re just going to gather back to full, then get out of your hair.”

“No problem, dude,” Bruno said. “Except you need to leave so I can start recharging for the next run. I can’t wait for you to come back! Now shoo!”