Loremaster - A Progression Fantasy Adventure, page 65
I really need to learn healing magic. Beneath his fingers, Darm’s bracelet was growing hot, just as it had when it had healed him. Encouraged, Rowan focused on it, searching for any way to help out. An idea struck him, and he attempted to insert mana into the bracelet, but the magic just bounced off. With no way to refuel the bracelet’s mana reserves, he was forced to just sit there and hope it would be enough to save her.
Two minutes after the bracelet had been placed on her wrist, Morgana stirred, her eyes fluttering slightly beneath her eyelids. Though she did not appear to wake, her chest began to move rhythmically, and her fingers curled briefly.
Had the situation not been so serious, Rowan would have smiled. She was performing the exact same actions he had earlier, afraid to move too much lest she give away her continued survival.
“I know you’re awake.”
One of Morgana’s eyes cracked open, completely bloodshot around her violet iris. “You?” she managed, her voice barely a croak. “You’re dead.”
“Reinne said the same thing. Now she’s the dead one,” Rowan replied. “Can you sit?”
With a bit of a struggle, though she did her best to hide it, Morgana pushed herself into a sitting position.
“How did you—?” Whatever else she had to say was interrupted by a sudden fit of coughing, the bracelet’s magic apparently not finished healing her insides, but Rowan got the gist.
“The bracelet is a healing artefact,” he told her, pointing to the band on her right wrist. “After Reinne stabbed me, I fell unconscious, but the artefact brought me back. I was a little too late to save you, but I managed to beat Reinne.”
Morgana nodded, blood and spittle coloring her lips. “Good.” Focusing on breathing, Morgana closed her eyes for a moment. Then she reopened them, capturing Rowan with her stare. “You killed Reinne?”
“I did.”
“And she’s dead?”
“I stabbed her through the neck. She looked pretty dead after that.”
“Where’s her body?”
“Over there.” Saying this, Rowan extended his finger, pointing in the direction of the brazier. The tall flame obscured Reinne’s resting place from view, and crane her neck as she would, Morgana could not gain the angle required to see Reinne’s body. Frustrated by her attempts, she turned back to Rowan.
“You’re sure that she’s dead?” Morgana demanded, strength returning to her voice.
“Unless you can think of a way to survive a dagger through the neck,” Rowan replied.
In response, Morgana held up her right wrist, showing Rowan the bracelet he had put there. Then a rumbling noise filled the air, distracting them from their conversation.
Searching for the source of the sound, Rowan was horrified to see Reinne, her torso and neck covered in blood, leaning against the door for support. On her left ankle, a small silver bracelet glowed softly, its light dim compared to her pendant or Darm’s bracelet, but enough to envelop her neck and torso with a faint glow. Next to her, the wolf’s head now had both eyes open, the jewels glittering prettily in the light. In her hands was the left antler that had so stubbornly refused to move before, now pulled down to the same level as the other.
The sound of stone grating against stone filled the room as the enormous door began to move. Slowly, the door began to open, the wolf’s head opening its jaws as the circular door slid gradually left.
Rowan was the first to move, but Morgana was faster, a lance of stone leaping from her fingers to impale Reinne against the side of the portal. Even as she died, Reinne wore a satisfied smile, apparently content to die with the knowledge that they would soon be joining her.
Dashing forwards, Rowan’s mind raced as he contemplated some way to stop the door from opening any further. Even as he did, his thoughts focused on the anklet worn by Reinne. He was so stupid. How could he not have guessed that she might have a second healing artefact, especially when he had just been saved by one himself, and used it to save Morgana as well.
Though he wanted to blame himself, it had been an easy point to overlook. For close to two decades, Rowan had lived knowing that a dagger to the heart or neck was a mortal blow. No healers would help those without coin, as the street dwellers often were, and even if they did, it required them to be willing to assist. He had even watched her original healing artefact break, shattering when his strike proved too much for it to overcome.
She should have been finished. And indeed, she looked it. The anklet was clearly far weaker than her pendant had been, and Reinne had been barely standing before Morgana’s spear had impaled her. Even now, its light was dimming, the magic fading until it cracked and broke. This time, he was sure that Reinne was truly dead. But she had made sure to drag them to the afterlife with her.
They were in no condition to fight, and certainly not ready for whatever monster lay behind the opening that was gradually getting bigger. But even as he ran, he knew that it was hopeless. There was no way to put the genie back in the bottle. The door was opening, and any efforts to the contrary would most likely prove futile. Still, he had to try.
Slowly, the door rolled to the side, open air appearing in the space it left. At first, nothing was visible. Then something moved in the darkness, eight sinewy limbs grasping at the edge of the still moving door, followed by a grinning skull, its maw covered in blood.
Rowan’s blood went cold. The Aracocytus roared.
Chapter Thirty-Six
There was no time to think, and barely any to react. As the Aracocytus skittered across the still opening door, Rowan had already grabbed for his sword. For a moment, his hand had hesitated between the hilt of his sword and the handle of his whip, but the memory of his first battle against the creature in front of him swayed him. He would need the ability to conjure light if they wanted even a small chance at winning.
A quick check of his mana pool made Rowan grimace. The fight against Reinne had not been easy, and nor had the mana whip’s consumption been light. His enormous mana pool was down to a fifth, roughly the same as a full pool for most mages. Plenty for most situations, not much in the case of a battle to the death against a skeletal spider monster.
“You keep its attention!” Morgana shouted from behind him. “I’ll attack from the rear!”
With no time to look behind him and nod, Rowan tensed his soldiers in response, lifting the sword with his left hand as he directed mana into the ring on his right. Then the Aracocytus was upon him.
To say the battle was frenetic would be an understatement. Rowan leapt about frantically, doing whatever it took to avoid the eight spindly legs which scythed at him constantly, as well as the bony maw that leered evilly as it bit down any time he showed an opening. The fruits of his training had paid off. Months of entering dungeons to absorb mana now let him see and react to the Aracocytus’ strikes, something that had been impossible in his first meeting with the thing many months prior.
In retaliation, Rowan used his sword to inflict minor wounds on the sinew that covered the legs, releasing powerful bursts of light from his ring whenever he needed a slight reprieve.
One leg lanced out slightly faster than he could react, and Rowan hissed as pain rushed through his left thigh, a fresh gash visible through the slit fabric that was already starting to bleed. With a twist, he avoided two others, and used his sword to force the creature to abandon its planned fourth attack.
In the brief moments Rowan had to think, as most of his thoughts were currently devoted to acting on pure instinct in order to dodge the shower of scythe-like legs that were raining down on him, he wondered where Morgana’s support was.
Anytime you’re ready, Morgana. A moment later, Rowan received an answer to his prayers, as a stone bullet slammed into the creature’s left flank and sent it reeling sideways.
Abandoning defense for a moment, Rowan rushed forward, hacking down with his sword onto the closest leg. It did not sever, but the sword bit deep, and the Aracocytus roared in pain, rolling over and using four legs to attack. Immediately, Rowan returned to the defensive.
Twenty seconds later, the Aracocytus hissed backwards as Rowan used a particularly powerful Ball of Light spell to relieve the pressure he was facing. It did no damage, but it caused the Aracocytus to rear back, hiding its face from the blinding light. As it did, another stone projectile slammed into it, this time catching it right in the side of its far too human-like skull.
If the last spell had staggered it, then this one had properly stunned it. The Aracocytus’ main body collapsed to the ground, unable to support itself in the immediate wake of the attack. Seizing the opportunity, Rowan hacked at the same leg he had before, getting two good hits in before the monster could move. On the second, his sword swung clean through, taking off the leg near the base and reducing the number of ‘blades’ he had to contend with to seven, five if his foe still wanted a leg or two to stand on.
Without the mana to maintain the light spell for long, Rowan was forced to let it fade, and the Aracocytus recovered quickly. Even as Rowan’s blade severed its leg, the other seven were already moving, scrabbling against the rocky ground as it surged to its feet.
The Aracocytus’ skull was cracked where Morgana’s spell had caught it, but the injury only served to make it look more fearsome as it roared at him and skittered forward on its five remaining legs. In exchange for this damage, Rowan had used a quarter of his remaining mana, leaving him with less than a hundred manaleths to fight the skeletal abomination. Morgana had likely used a decent amount as well, which meant that their already limited resources had just been stretched thinner. He just hoped the damage they had dealt had been worth the expenditure.
The assault became frenzied, the fearsome predator clearly outraged that a mere prey had dared hurt it so. Despite his opponent’s loss of limb, Rowan found himself increasingly unable to dodge the blows. One leg stabbed past his defenses, catching him in the left thigh. Only Morgana’s timely intervention saved him, her stone bullet blasting bone shavings from the Aracocytus as it struck it squarely in the jaw. Rowan gritted his teeth as he beheld the wound. It was not enough to truly cripple him, but more than enough to make avoidance of further injuries that much harder.
Another stone bullet came flying in as the Aracocytus advanced on its wounded prey, but with a powerful leap, the Aracocytus jumped straight upwards, avoiding the bullet and nearly impaling Rowan as it descended with all five legs poised to pierce him.
His stamina lagging, Rowan panted heavily. They had done well for just two first years, but the power of their adversary was starting to show. After the loss of just one leg, it had become far harder to deal with, and seven legs still remained attached to that horrifying body.
Worse yet, the Aracocytus’ move just now showed that it had grown wise to Morgana’s presence. Without her support, it was only a matter of time before Rowan was too slow and joined Reinne in the afterlife, with Morgana sure to follow.
Raggedly, Rowan continued to fight, unwilling to die to such a creature. But skill is not born from desperation, and power born from adrenaline was only a fleeting thing. Soon he took another hit, his sword arm impaled at the shoulder, causing his blade to clatter uselessly from weakened fingers as his arm hung limply by his side.
Unwilling to die, Rowan fought to stay alive, but a once difficult task seemed to have turned impossible. His next blow was hasty, and as a result, his balance was affected. This opening was not missed by the Aracocytus, and it jetted forward, its maw closing down on his right shoulder.
With a scream, Rowan instinctively cast Ball of Light, consuming more precious mana in an effort to stay alive. Ripping himself free from the momentarily stunned monster, he shot backwards, but the damage was done. His sword was gone, his sword arm now hanging uselessly by his side. His mana, already severely depleted at the opening of this fight, had been reduced by a further half, leaving him with a mere tenth of his pool to work with.
At the speed he was casting light spells to force the Aracocytus back, that remaining tenth would probably dry up in about a minute’s time, maybe two if he stretched it. And then he would die.
A sinuous shake of its body allowed the Aracocytus to avoid another stone bullet, the segments twisting strangely to let the bullet pass by harmlessly. Rowan let out an internal groan, which morphed into an external one as he was forced to sacrifice his right wrist to block another attack, a cracking sound announcing that his wrist had most likely been broken by the impact.
“Make me an opening!” Morgana’s cry filled the cavern, her voice ten times louder than Rowan had ever heard it, and filled with infinitely more passion than he had thought her capable of.
She hasn’t given up. The realization inspired Rowan, whose energy and resolve were both at rock bottom. If Morgana was still here, putting her life on the line alongside his own, then how could he give anything but his best? Even if death did find them, this time he wanted to greet it knowing he had lived his life to the fullest the second time around.
Without hesitation, he reached deep, pouring all of his remaining mana, the entirety of the last tenth of his pool, into one last Ball of Light. He had never used this much mana in a single go before, and his mana paths felt like they might burst as he forced it into his focus, straining to both control the mana and not die to the still attacking Aracocytus at the same time.
Inside and outside, the battle raged on both fronts. Within his focus, the mana warred to escape the formation he carved for it, unwilling to be stuffed into a formation that had never before contained such power. Outside, the Aracocytus doubled its assault, its predator’s instincts perhaps warning it that the prey in front of it was about to try something.
“Guh!” Rowan grimaced as he felt a sharp edge against the back of his left leg, his split concentration missing the hidden attack after dodging a frontal assault from twin limbs. Although he was close to losing one battle, he emerged victorious in the other, his mana at last acquiescing to its master’s desires as it duly entered the formation.
His consciousness flickering from the effects of draining his mana pool, Rowan activated the spell. The effect was instantaneous. A blinding light filled the cavern, an enormous ball of light— No, it was better to call it a small sun, hovering in the air in front of Rowan.
With a horrible screech, the Aracocytus reared back, sinewy flesh rippling as if attempting to crawl away from the incandescent brilliance of Rowan’s spell. With three spindly legs, the monstrosity covered the eye sockets of its skull, like a bad child attempting to hide from its parents. Ball of Light was no offensive spell, but with so much mana poured into it, it seemed to have become one—now producing enough light and heat to burn—as the Aracocytus continued its terrible scream.
A moment later, that cover was blown away as a stone spear the length of Rowan’s body ripped through first the arms and then the skull, running straight through the defenseless Aracocytus. Ripped off of its remaining legs, the Aracocytus was carried twenty feet before its journey was finally halted by the unyielding cavern wall.
No sounds emerged from the dead bone spider, its lifeless body nailed to the wall by Morgana’s stone spear. It had been dead the moment the spell had struck, its skull blasted apart by the sheer force of the blow, and bone fragments littered the ground around him.
Relief washed over Rowan, and he collapsed to his knees, the last of his energy having been spent to cast the spell that had created the opening Morgana had required. This time, it was over for sure.
Behind him, slow footsteps could be heard, the heel of one foot clacking against stone, while the other dragged slightly with each step.
“You okay?” Morgana’s voice asked from behind him.
Rowan nodded. “Yeah. Just used all of my mana. Give me a minute.”
He had earned a huge amount of mana from the death of the boss, but it needed to be integrated into his body for it to become useable.
Closing his eyes, Rowan focused on his mana pool, feeling the emptiness of the space that was normally teeming with mana. It wasn’t possible to refill it without magical aids, but he could help it recover a few points of mana, just enough to get rid of the empty-headed feeling that was threatening to take his consciousness.
Searching for the mana from the Aracocytus kill that filled him, he directed a small portion of it towards his mana pool. Normally, no one would waste mana that could be absorbed into the body on the act of refilling the mana pool. It was inefficient and wasteful. But right now it was necessary for their continued survival.
A minute later, Rowan opened his eyes, meeting Morgana’s, who extended her hand. Surprised, Rowan accepted it, hauling himself to his feet and dusting himself off. He could not put any weight on his left leg, and his right arm still hung limply at his side. But he was alive.
“Any major injuries?”
“A few,” Rowan replied. “But I’ll live.”
Fiddling with her wrist, Morgana removed Darm’s bracelet and handed it back to Rowan, who accepted it gratefully, sliding it back over his arm. Unsurprisingly, there was no warm sensation this time, the bracelet remaining a cool piece of metal which hung prettily from his wrist and did little else.
“It’s not working?” Morgana instantly deduced what was happening.
“Nope,” Rowan replied. There was no need to wonder why that was. It had healed both of them from the brink of death. It was strange that it had not broken apart like Reinne’s had.
Perhaps Darm’s is a higher quality item? Whatever the reason, Rowan was forced to bear the discomfort of his wounds. A few bandages from his supply pouch allowed him to staunch the bleeding, but it would be a long walk out of here with his leg like this.
Morgana’s eyes strayed across the gaping holes in Rowan’s armor, now removed in order to allow better access to the injuries, and for a moment, Rowan thought he saw a wince of discomfort cross her face. Then it was gone, and her normal resolute expression was back.
