P-03. Trial By Magic, page 39
part #3 of PrimeVerse Series
Madison ignored her. “What is it with you? Why couldn’t you just let things go and let us all live in peace? You could’ve gone your own way and left us to live our lives. Hell, you could’ve just given up your stupid trick with Tim and lived with us.”
Cora slashed at the barrier again, watching intently as the energy between the casters flared for a moment. “Live with you? Don’t you get it yet? I don't want to live with you, your stupid simple lives digging in the dirt. I am meant for more than that, can’t you tell yet? Look at me, I am the chosen of a god, and I rule a faction. It is my destiny to rule, not to be ruled.”
I scrunched up my face at this. “Lady, what has gone wrong in your brain? When did you start talking like some kind of third-rate dictator?”
Madison leaned in close to the energy prison. “It’s your destiny to rule? Why, because you're a faction leader? So am I.”
Cora’s lips pulled back from her teeth in either snarl or a smile, it was hard to tell with her face like that.
Madison continued. “But you know that being the ‘chosen’ of a god is a misnomer, right? You’re still a vassal, it literally means you work for an archon.”
Faster than I thought possible, Cora fired a Chaos Bolt at the barrier, right towards Madison. Madison flinched, leaning back with her eyes wide, then breathed a sigh of relief. Her group behind her started to sweat.
“She can break the barrier!” I shouted. “Move! Or kill her now!”
Cora fired again, her Chaos Bolt splashing as it hit the barrier, turning into what looked suspiciously like alphabet soup, and again, this time the bolt hitting the barrier and bursting through as if it had hit a screen, fragmenting into many smaller bolts that sprayed Madison and the group. Their concentration broke, the barrier dropped, and Cora leapt out with a downward slash of her claws toward Madison.
Madison flexed her hand and her stone shield appeared in it, blocking the attack much to Cora’s surprise. Cora was off balance for only a moment, but it was long enough and Madison arched a bright bolt of electricity into Cora’s midsection, sending her flying back and skidding onto her rear.
The group of casters began launching spells, Mana Arrows flying towards Cora, and thankfully, Sarah throwing some healing magic my way. She came over to heal me further as the rest of the group fired off spell after spell at Cora.
Cora was fast in this form, though, and the casters were inexperienced in combat and kept firing at where she was, not where she was going, and mostly missed. They paid for that violently as Cora dove into their ranks, her claws slashing furiously, leaving bloody wounds in her wake.
Sarah removed my debuffs and healed me almost to full before a Chaos Bolt slammed into her back, propelling her forward like she was shot out of a cannon, and slammed into the enclave wall. She didn’t get up.
“No!” Madison yelled, covering Cora’s head in a ball of darkness. I fired off Poison in the same area, landing a DoT on her, following it up with a Mana Arrow to the face. Well, where her face should be, somewhere behind a ball of darkness and poisonous gas.
“Yes!” Cora screamed back as she charged forward again towards the three remaining casters. “I don't need sight to know where you are!” She made it to Sean, the only male caster of the group, her darkness enrobed head lunging onto him. When she pulled back, a huge chunk of his flesh on his upper bicep was missing, blood dripping from the wound. He fell to the ground screaming as the pain took hold and Cora spit out a glob of flesh at the feet of the other two casters.
One woman gagged, sickened at the sight, and this momentary distraction was enough for Cora to slash her claws across the woman’s neck in a move that was sure to inflict a massive bleeding debuff. The other spellcaster had a stronger stomach, thankfully, and cast a new spell, bands of glowing force like barbed wire wrapping around Cora and digging into her flesh.
Madison had a ball of electricity formed in her hand but was waiting to fire it. Probably to avoid collateral damage, but Cora was making plenty of that.
I froze the ground under Cora, hoping to make her slip again, but she dug the claws of her feet into the ice, holding fast to launch an attack at the last remaining mage. As she leapt, the globe of darkness lost its hold, and remained floating in the air behind her.
Cora’s face was a rictus of pleasure as she attacked, and we watched in terrible fascination as she bit the woman who had cast the barbed wire spell, breaking her concentration and the spell. Cora’s jaws latched onto the poor mage's arm at the elbow and flexed and twisted. Our mage screamed as her lower arm was bitten off, blood spraying in a fountain. She fell to the ground, writhing, and I knew that the time to worry about collateral damage was over.
I DualCast a jet of flame at Cora, crisping up her scaly, mangy back and leaving huge blisters, while Madison pulled her staff from her inventory, channeling a Spark spell through it into an eye-piercingly bright bolt of electricity that hit in nearly the same spot as my fire. Cora flipped through the air, landing almost where we needed her to be; in the circumference of the enclave’s buff.
Madison ran closer, her staff lighting up as she channeled another spell through it. I also ran, hoping to knock Cora into place. Before Madison could cast her spell, though, Cora launched another Chaos Bolt at her, the bolt rapidly growing in size as it approached Madison until it was larger than her, though it seemed less dense. Instead of an inky blackness, it became more of a foggy grey. The bolt enveloped Madison, traveling through her and scouring her flesh like sandpaper.
I grimaced. Madison was taking a beating. A quick glance at her health bar showed she was hurting for sure, but she was still around 50%.
I grimaced and chucked a Mana Orb at Cora, hoping the explosion would push her into the buff zone. It did, tossing her into the air, and I was able to land a perfect Mana Arrow on her as she fell. Cora had to be hurting now, blood leaking from many places all over her.
Madison pulled her stone shield out, holding it in front of her like a holy symbol as she fired off another Spark, but missing as Cora dodged. She was so fast. Cora fired another Chaos Bolt, directly into Madison's shield, and barked a laugh of victory as the bolt pierced the shield, turning into tentacles on the other side that wrapped around Madison's legs, tripping her.
I tackled Cora before she could finish off Madison, dragging her to the ground and slamming my fist into her ugly face. I’m sure punching did the least damage of anything, but damn, did it feel good.
I got another punch in, when I noticed that the wounds we’d been inflicting were healing, slowly, but still healing. This form must have had some kind of regenerative ability. Yay. “Madison she can heal!” I shouted as Cora bit me, tearing out a chunk of my arm.
Cora actually swallowed the chunk, and I goggled at her. “Cora, what is happening to you? How are you so inhuman!?” I shouted and shot her directly in the face with a Flame spell. She screamed, bucking me off and rubbing her burning face.
Madison, the black tentacles no longer around her, channeled a spell through her staff, poking it hard into Cora’s writhing form. As soon as the staff touched her, she changed back into her normal self, no longer the mutated form. Which also seemed to heal her a little. Wonderful.
Cora blasted Madison in the face with a Chaos Bolt, and I screamed as I watched half of Madison's face wither like it had aged a hundred years. Madison gasped, grabbing onto her cheeks, and Cora whipped out a stone dagger, slashing it across Madison, scoring a hit on her neck. Madison’s HP bar was plummeting to dangerous levels.
“Run Madison!” I shouted as I wrapped myself around Cora’s legs to prevent her from chasing.
Madison did just that, hobbling into the enclave and slamming the door, leaving me alone with Cora.
“Here we are again, Cora, just you and me.” It would have been more impressive if I hadn’t been on the ground holding onto her legs.
She spit on my face and I released her to wipe it off. Yuck. Cooties.
She kicked at me and I rolled out of the way, quickly getting up. “Haven't you figured out yet that you aren't a threat to me Hudson? Now would you kindly-”
“No!” I shouted, chucking a Mana Orb at her. I had figured out her trigger phrase for manipulating people and really didn't want to have to fight through that again. She dodged out of the blast radius of the Mana Orb and threw her stone dagger at me at the same time. I couldn’t dodge fast enough, and the dagger hit me square in the forehead, hilt first thankfully. It still hurt.
I saw stars for a moment, and then something else. Someone sneaking their way through the crack in the wall. Then all I saw was pain as a Chaos Bolt hit me full on in the abdomen, sending me flying towards the enclave like a shotgun blast, tearing out a massive chunk of my health and leaving me with a Stun and Poison debuff.
I groaned as Cora stalked towards me, unable to move. “Hudson, I know I said you could watch as I destroyed everything in front of you, but I think I’m over that now. Frankly, I'm over you. So instead, I’m just going to kill you. But if you don't get to watch everything you love go up in flames, you can at least die in pain.”
She shot my leg with a Chaos Bolt, and it lit on fire as if it were trying to cast its own Flame spell. Instead of the flame going out, it went in, charring me and filling every nerve ending with a pain so intense I couldn’t find my voice to scream. My throat squeaked as I inhaled, sucking hard on the air while my body writhed on the ground.
Cora laughed. Not a forced, creepy laugh, but a hearty, sincere one.
“Don't you see, Hudson? My power is too much for you, too much for any of you. This is over. I’ll finally be rid of you, rid of all of you stupid people that wouldn’t listen to me. You failed, Hudson. You never even stood a chance.”
I managed a smile at the form that was stalking its way towards me during her villainous monologue. “Sure,” I croaked, “you’re right. You’re more powerful than me. But power isn’t the only thing that matters. I have something you’ll never have.” I spat salty blood from my mouth.
“What Hudson, what inane sarcastic thing are you going to say? What could you possibly have that is better than my power!? Better than the very thing that destroyed your town, that killed your friends, that has you vulnerable and dying at my feet?!”
I pointed behind her. “Friends.”
She whirled around just in time for the massive fist of the zombified ogre-Carl to connect directly with her face. Her face exploded in a revolting squelch and she was propelled violently into the wall of the enclave, head first. She crunched against it, and slid to the ground, twitching, leaving a trail of blood behind her.
I pushed myself up on my elbows but couldn’t support my weight.
“Tim! Help me over to her! I have to be close!”
Tim came out from behind his giant zombie and hoisted me up on his shoulder. “That was an interesting reunion,” he said.
I didn't respond as I pulled the dungeon core from my inventory, clenching it tightly in my hand. I ignored the searing pain in my legs, the ache in my head, the burn I could feel through my entire body.
Cora was breathing as we approached, and without so much as a sarcastic last word, I launched a Mana Arrow directly into her forehead. A small line of blood rolled down her face and her eyes rolled back, nothing but the whites showing through her eyelids. Her chest stopped moving.
Enemy faction leader has been destroyed! Take over faction headquarters to win the war!
I cast Soul Trap. Immediately a window opened, a phantasm of Cora on one side of the screen and the dungeon core on the other. I dragged her figure over the core and hit the accept button. The dungeon core glowed as if being filled with liquid light.
I breathed a sigh of relief at the next system message that populated.
Enemy faction leader cannot respawn. Congratulations, your faction has won the war!
Then my relief turned to panic.
Warning! Your Primitive Dungeon Core may not be strong enough to contain the soul you have captured. Use immediately or risk core destruction, and loss of the soul.
Chapter 51
“Gah!” I shouted, “Tim, help me over there!” I pointed to a place a few yards away.
He started dragging me and I could feel the core in my hand rising and falling in temperature.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“No, time...” I gasped out.
Madison came out of the enclave then, her face still aged horribly on one half, but the wound in her neck healed. She ran over and grabbed my other arm to help Tim.
“That was amazing! What can I do, Hudson? What are we doing? Isn’t it over? Is she dead?” I didn't have the energy to respond, and could barely move my head to even look at her.
They finally heaved me to where I had gestured to, an empty spot next to the enclave. The dungeon core was vibrating in my hand now, and I opened my fingers to see the core flashing and shaking like a Pokéball. I quickly activated it and the world paused. Madison’s frozen figure in front of me, face plastered in concern, mouth open, trying to get answers. Tim was still half crouched, as he was moving away from having set me down. I could move, but nothing else in the world did.
A blue light beamed out of the dungeon core, forming a grid on the ground. I moved the core around and the grid followed, showing me locations where it could be placed.
I picked a spot and let the core do its thing.
The world came alive again as it floated out of my hand about ten feet above where I had selected. A beam of light like a beacon of the angels exploded out of it, as high as the eyes could see, and covered the ground in a blinding display. The beam flickered in and out of existence as the core, the one thing I had carried with me the longest in this new world, disintegrated.
Congratulations! You have created a dungeon! Dungeons created this way exist for 100 years, or until the dungeon boss has been defeated 100 times, at which point the soul contained is freed.
You have earned a new title! Dungeon Master - While this title is active you and your active party may defeat the boss as many times as you wish. Defeating the boss this way does not count as a defeat for the boss counter.
World First! A dungeon has been created by the Magic Faction! As the first dungeon created, rewards have been significantly increased!
In the grid on the ground was a perfect portion of stone, as if it had been a part of the town all along, and directly in the center was a manhole cover. Fitting. I expelled the breath I didn't even know I had been holding and drug myself over to it. I touched the cover and a menu screen popped open.
Would you like to enter: Dungeon of Chaos? YES/NO
I selected NO and collapsed to the ground.
“It’s over. It’s finally over. She’s gone.” I shoved the words out between heavy, labored breaths. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I wasn't sure I could even do either. Cora had been such a huge part of everything here. All of the struggles, most of the annoyances, at least half the complaints. She was finally gone.
Madison rushed over to me and began casting healing magic, my debuffs fading away as my health bar grew. Her hands moved quickly, touching me gently as my skin mended itself.
When my health had returned to about half strength, I finally stood and embraced her. She didn’t say anything, and neither did I. The moment spoke for itself. The weight of the ever-looming threat of Cora and the Archon of Chaos had been lifted. I wasn’t naïve enough to believe there would never be another adversary, but for now, and the immediate future, we could live in peace.
I looked up to see Tim, watching. I nodded, and he returned a smile. He looked peaceful.
“Get over here,” Madison told him, and brought him into the hug. We broke apart as Sarah came out of the cave towards us, a handful of others from the town following. With the war over, the 24-hour respawn timer was gone, at least for our faction.
“Is it over?” Sarah asked, a huge smile on her face, eyes expectant. “Did we do it?”
“We did it!” Madison said and jumped up to grab her friend. They ran into the enclave, leaving me and Tim with the excited townsfolk. A few minutes later a town-wide quest prompt appeared, and I knew Therese had respawned.
Town Quest - Clean up the damage: Town wide, clean up all the rubble and repair the damage caused by the war.
Reward: 10 XP
I gladly accepted the quest and looked around for our gromlin mayor. I knew she’d want to recap, and I was happy to tell her about Cora’s ending. Except when she came out of the cave with Graham, she wasn’t a gromlin. The two humans held hands as they walked up to me.
“Hudson,” Therese said, “we won.” I won’t lie, tears threatened as a huge smile spread across my face. She pulled me into a tight embrace, while Graham stood back.
“Okay, that's enough of that,” Graham said after a few moments. Therese stepped back to him with a chuckle.
“What happened to your super sexy gromlin self?” I asked, staring at the mayor in disbelief. She looked exactly like the day we had first met her, only perhaps a little happier and less stressed, her worry lines smoothed out by the smile she wore.
“This is how I respawned.” She shrugged. “I got a message that said the Chaos Curse was broken because the Vassal of Chaos that placed it was destroyed.”
“Does that mean...?” I asked excitedly.
“I sure hope so,” Graham said. “I can’t wait to see everyone in human form again.”
“Me too,” I said. “With Cora gone, our first priority is going to be getting them back.”
Hudson > Ryan, are you still out there?
Ryan > Yeah, boss! When the war ended that thing hunting me just kind of... gave up and ran off. Good thing too, because I think it was winning. Do you still want me to take over the other respawn point?
Therese > Yes, please. I’m back Ryan, human again.
Ryan > Alright! It’s about time!
Hudson > Yeah, get your butt back here, we've got a rescue mission to plan!
