Luke Everhart
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Chapter 219 - Speed
🕑 Added 2025-03-17 11:28:32 +0000 UTC“What in the pile happened here?” Kur whispered, taking in the scene. “Are those white goblins? And are they looting the forest goblins?”
“They fought each other, and the forest goblins lost,” Nar explained. “Those wolf riders were throwing ice skills around, and they killed the troll… And I don’t think the other trolls are alive either. They would’ve been here, fighting with the forest goblins to survive if they were.”
“They were fighting together?” Kur asked, frowning. “Wait, the trolls are dead?”
“I think so,” Nar said. “Did you get the exit prompt?”
“No,” Kur said, sighing. “Crystal dammit. It had to be our first dungeon too…”
Kur passed a hand over his hair, and looked out over the bloody field once more.
Looting… They’re just like us, Nar thought idly, as a pair of goblins snarled at each other for possession of a particularly dense quiver of arrows.
“What do we do now?” Gad whispered.
Kur groaned.
“I don’t know… I mean, since we didn’t get the exit prompt, this could mean either of two things,” he said. “One, since we didn’t kill the final boss, we won’t be allowed to leave.”
“Really don’t like the sound of that,” Viy muttered.
“Me neither. But I’ve been thinking, and the more I do, the less I think that’s possible and makes sense,” Kur said. “If things can fight each other in the dungeon, it would be a pretty glaring error to trap delvers inside it when something else fulfills the exit conditions when that can happen out of our control. And even worse, that would also mean that nobody else can use the dungeon while there are delvers inside, trying to survive for Crystal knows how long… Unless it just resets with people inside of it.”
A sound in between a whimper and a strangled cry escaped past Tuk’s lips at that, his brow sweaty under his thick bangs of dark hair.
“But again, that just doesn’t sound logical!” Kur hurried to say.
“Yeah… I think you might be right,” Cen mused. “So, you’re saying the dungeon would get cleared, regardless of who does it?”
“That’s what I think, but I can’t be sure of it,” Kur said.
“And the other thing?” Tuk asked, pleading for good news.
“Well, this one’s a bit of a stretch,” Kur said. “But with everything going so screwed up in this dungeon, who's to say if the final boss is not the final boss anymore?”
“What?” Rel asked, frowning. “You mean the final boss changed? Can that happen?”
Kur nodded. “It very much can, but not in a slaying dungeon… It happens all the time in the quest and variable dungeons.”
“So, you’re saying something else is out there,” Mul muttered, staring at the ice goblins still looting their defeated opponents. “And that's something that’s made everything in this dungeon piss itself in fear.”
“Maybe,” Kur said. “And if that's the case, then we just need to go and kill whatever that is. And then we'll clear the dungeon, I hope…”
“But where are we even going to find it?” Rel asked. “The place is huge!”
“Actually, I think it can only be in one place,” Kur said.
“The troll’s cave,” Gad said, nodding. “We need to kill these things. Now.”
“Yes. Wait… What?” Kur asked her. “Why?”
Gad nudged at the field of goblins with her chin.
“It’s a cave higher up the mountains that’s an easily defensible location in a potentially difficult to traverse terrain,” Gad said, and Nar easily recognized the TSA lectures in her logic. “If they hole up in there, with casters and a powerful boss we still have no idea about, things will go bad for us.”
“But if we kill them out here, there’ll be less monsters to fight,” Cen whispered. “But how… Oh. Me?”
“Yes,” Gad said, staring down at Cen with a toothy grin. “You’re the only one that can take them all out in one go. Or at least most of them.”
“They are bunched up together… But what if she misses some?” Mul asked. “What if they run back up the mountain and tell the others we’re coming? That would be worse, no?”
“I’m assuming this is too far for you, Tuk?” Kur asked.
Tuk snorted. “You bet.”
“Then that leaves Rel, Cen’s follow up quick-charge projectiles, and Nar and Viy’s [Speed],” Kur said, glancing at them in order. “You two will have to run after the ones that get away.”
“I don’t know if I can catch one of those wolves,” Viy said.
“Wargs,” Kur corrected her. “And no, I’m not sure you can either. But we need to do everything we can to make sure those three definitely die, especially if they really are casters.”
Nar considered the field of goblins and grimaced.
I’m fast… But am I fast enough? Maybe with my new, localized combat cycling… he considered once more.
All the extra sparring with Viy had helped tremendously in that new addition to his combat capabilities, and while he had made immense progress in its control, he was still hesitant to hinge their survival on the next stage of his cycling. But what choice was there? It was just the same as always… Shit happened and they had to make do with what they had.
It’s in these situations that I advance… Nar thought, steeling his resolve with his master’s words.
He took a deep breath. “Alright, then. Are we doing this?”
Kur checked with each of them, receiving nods all around.
“Cen, do it. Before they spread out or leave.”
Cen raised her staff and aura gathered at its tip, she was going for a massive blast from the single projectile version of her skill, and the aura projectile grew and grew above her staff.
“Gather around her,” Gad said. “Block the light.”
Gad, Nar, Tuk and Kur held onto each other's shoulders and pressed around the caster, stifling the light of her charging [Aura Projectiles] skill.
“Please don’t kill us,” Tuk said, staring wide eyed at the deadly aura raging at his waist.
“Please don’t say that!” Cen hissed.
“Sorry! Just joking!”
“How is that funny?”
“Shhh!” Kur silenced them. “We’ve been loud enough. Everyone quiet from now on!”
With his heartbeat steadily increasing, Nar looked up, away from the gathering light, and closed his eyes. He needed them adjusted to the darkness if he was to sprint out in a hurry.
“I-I’m ready,” Cen whispered about 20 seconds later.
Nar was curious to see how big the projectile was, but he didn’t want to risk blinding himself. His [Instinct] however, while not warning him, was decidedly not very happy about the ball of swirling, hot and deadly power a few inches away from his belly button.
“Rel. Where do we aim?” Kur whispered.
“They’ve moved east as they loot,” the archer replied. “The warg riders are right in the middle of them, two dismounted, one looking around from atop his warg. I think they’re arguing over the loot of the goblin bosses.”
“Thank the Crystal… This is it then,” Kur whispered. “Cen look to the east, to where they are bunched up, and focus on taking out those riders as the highest priority.”
“I’ll guide you,” Rel said, approaching to swivel the caster in the right direction. “There, that’s it, and it's about 330-feet from here.”
“Got it.”
“Ready?” Kur asked the caster.
“I’m ready,” Cen whispered.
“Alright. On the count of three, we get out of the way, and you blast them,” Kur said, licking his suddenly dry lips. “Get ready for anything, everyone. Here we go. One. Two… Three!”
Nar pulled Tuk with him, getting the slower trugger out of the way, then, in a smooth movement that would’ve made his master proud, he stabilized the ring tosser, and readied to dash forward by the edge of the bush, just as the light of the projectile flashed behind his closed eyelids.
Please hit! Nar hoped, shielding his closed eyes under his arm.
The ground beneath him shook with the force of the explosion, and a wall of wind and detritus rustled the bushes and trees behind which they hid.
“There’s still some standing!” Jul shouted.
In twin explosions of dirt and leaves, Nar and Viy leaped past the bushes. Ahead of them, the air shimmered and distorted with the discharge of Cen’s powerful aura, and here and there, stragglers stumbled about, looking dazed and bleeding. Arrows whistled overhead, or in between them, finding their marks before Nar and Viy could get there.
“GUYS!” Kur suddenly roared from behind them. “THE RIDER!”
Nar scanned the wounded goblins and he caught sight of something white darting away, heading east towards the mountains.
“Go!” Viy shouted.
Spraying dirt and grass everywhere, Nar came about and changed directions, exploding after the fleeing rider. Red arrows flew overhead, but the rider, or the warg, avoided them all, zigzagging erratically to avoid the cursed, red projectiles.
She can’t hit them! Nar thought, with mounting dread. Can I really catch them?
He pulled harsher on his [Speed], knowing he must be melting through his stamina to achieve such speeds… And his feet barely even touched the ground, and yet, he left a trail of destruction behind him.
So… Graceless, he thought, gritting his teeth. His master moved in the blink of an eye, and not even the damned air was disturbed!
And despite it all, the burning in his legs, lungs and painful pressure in his heart and brain, it still wasn’t enough. The warg remained just out of reach, and soon, they would enter the forest, where the chances of Nar catching up to the fast, agile beast would quickly start decreasing.
I have no choice! he decided. I need to try cycling just to my legs!
If he didn’t stop those two, the already difficult fight waiting for them up the mountain would only grow even harder. Perhaps exponentially so, as their unknown enemies dug in to defend their well-established position, ready and waiting for them.
Damn it! Nar thought. Here goes everything!
And with a pulse that was half-thought, half-willpower, he reached for his aura pathways. In theory, localized cycling, as it was called, was an easy and obvious next step in aura cycling mastery. You closed, or limited, certain aura pathways, and that meant that the same quantity of aura would instead overflow into the still open pathways, increasing the aura boost to those body parts by several orders of magnitude. But that was the theory, and achieving it while combat cycling was a whole other level of troublesome, but such was his path, and his master had forbidden him from going through the motionless, localized cycling stage that everyone else eventually went through.
“You will learn by fighting and bleeding,” his master always said. “You will survive, or you won’t. That is your way.”
And what a way it was…
Nar withdrew all of his aura back to his core, his speed dropping drastically as he was still slow in his control, and then, clenching his jaw, he imagined his arms and head pathways tightening, and closing down.
When he was sure he had the image firm in his mind, he cycled his aura again, flooding it through his pathways in great, bright streams. His aura crashed against his blockages with such violence that for a moment, Nar almost lost his footing, but his barriers held strong, and with nowhere else to go, his legs exploded with sudden new power.
Holy shit! Nar thought, as he zipped through the clearing, heading for his enemies like a shot arrow. My Crystal!
He was going so fast, the best he could hope for was to crash into the enemy. He thought about striking with his sword, but the barest movement to lift his arm almost sent him crashing across the clearing.
Into them it is! He thought, a half grin, half grimace of madness spreading over his countenance.
The warg was about to disappear into the threes, but Nar was right behind it.
Come on… Come on… COME ON!
The goblin looked behind him, as though sensing the approaching danger, and it's all too sapient features went wide with horror… But it was too late.
Nar crashed into the beast, just as it crossed the tree line, and all three of them went flying across the forest floor, roots, and tree trunks.
Nar exhaled forcibly as he crashed back first against a thick tree, a mighty snap cracking in the still air, but though it shook behind him, the massive tree held the impact, and remained standing as Nar dropped to the floor, gasping for air and coughing in equal measures, his back a blinding cacophony of agony and his sight going blurry.
Get up, Nar! Get up!
Clenching his fist around his sword hilt, which he was proud to find that he hadn’t let go off, Nar stumbled to his feet, growling through his clenched teeth to push back against the pain and his failing body.
His mouth tasted metallic, but he ignored it, and scanned the forest around him with slowly clearing eyes. The beast whimpered weakly, not even 20-feet away from him, and from all the blood and broken bits jutting out from the fur, it was clear that it wasn’t getting back up ever again. As for its rider…
His [instinct] cried a warning to him, and Nar angled his body sideways, letting the ice projectile sail past him. Harmless.
There you are…
Nar half limped, half ran towards his attacker, his eyes focused on the gleaming blue dagger that the ice goblin held in front of his chest.
His enemy was propped against a tree, looking like it too, wouldn’t be getting up anytime soon. However, his skills, or that of his dagger, Nar now realized, still worked perfectly fine, and blue light shot at him, half formed quick slivers of ice the goblin flung at him in a panic.
They reminded Nar of Cen’s fast [Aura Projectiles], though they carried none of its might. Even his [Instinct] barely reacted to them, almost scoffing in derision at such feeble attempts at stopping him. He avoided and parried them with ease, even in his destroyed state, and closed the distance to his enemy.
With a final, leaping three steps, Nar plunged his blade through the goblin’s heart, burying it deeply into the tree behind it with just his pure [Strength] and momentum. The goblin pointed its blue dagger at him, and Nar, taking a page out of his master’ style, headbutted the monster. And between his head and the hard tree behind it, something cracked across the back of the goblin’s skull, and the ice monster finally went still, his dagger dropping onto the leaves at his side and losing its glow.
Nar leaned against his dead opponent, breathing hard. His heart threatened him with turning into a bloody mush, and Nar let go of his sword, still embedded into the goblin, and tried to push against the tree, to get off the dead, cold thing under him at the very least.
“Nar?” Viy shouted somewhere nearby. “Where are you? Nar!”
“Here…” Nar said, feebly, and tasting red on his tongue.
“Nar!”
A pair of hands lifted him up from the goblin, and Viy cradled him in her arms.
“Are you alright?” she asked.
“No…” Nar wheezed.
Do I look alright to you? He glared at her.
“Y-Yeah… Dumb question. I, uh… Shhh! Yeah! Just breathe. Just breathe!”
Nar closed his eyes and did as she told him. Now that someone was there with him, he felt a lot calmer, and looking inward, he considered the maelstrom that was his raging aura.
That’s definitely not helping, Nar thought. I must have actually used all of my [Speed] points by the end… Or close to it. Or did I?
Ignoring the question, he reached across his body, and slowly eased the blockages to his arms’ pathways, keeping the one to his brain sealed for the moment. As expected, raging aura spread into his arms, and they spasmed of their own accord.
“Crystal…” Viy whispered, rubbing his back. “It’s-It’s okay! I’m here! I’m… Shit! What do I do?”
Nar would’ve laughed at her panic if he could.
“Relax,” he managed. “All… Good.”
“Oh? Uh, you sure?” she asked him. “I mean if you say so!”
Nar would’ve also shaken his head and rolled his eyes if he could, instead, he slowly coaxed his seething aura back into his core, leaving just enough cycling through his body that he didn’t do any damage to himself by suddenly withdrawing too much of it, and to boost the much-needed healing process of his back. And when he finally felt himself under control again, he undid the blockage to his mind, allowing his much calmer aura to flow through once more.
Just like the master taught me, he thought, sighing in relief. Everything’s alright. We’re good, Nar. We’re good. We got them…
“Are-Are you okay now?” Viy asked.
Nar raised a hand and flicked her forehead.
“Ow! What was that for?”
“For panicking!” he said, rolling off of her and climbing to his feet.
“Woah! Slow down!” Viy said, jumping up to help him.
“I’m alright,” Nar said. “And thanks for coming to find me.”
She grinned at him and squeezed him into a sudden hug.
“That was terrifying,” she whispered. “It was awesome, but terrifying.”
Nar chuckled, and patted her back. “Still think you can keep up?”
She crushed his ribs and he groaned.
“No,” she said, letting go of him. “But one day I will. You’ll see.”
Nar nodded, wincing at his sore chest. “I’m sure you will.”
“Hmm,” Viy said, nodding.
Then she looped an arm under his and lifted, supporting his weight.
“I can walk,” he said.
“Have you looked at your HP?”
Nar checked. “Oh…” It showed 67 points.
“That’s not good,” he said.
“You think?” she asked him. “Come on! Let’s get you to Kur!”
“Yes, please,” Nar said. “Time to go chug some potions…”
And now that he actually thought about it, he realized he knew nothing about said potions, other than that they would restore a percentage of his HP, or heal his body, since they hadn’t been able to acquire the higher-grade potions that achieve both.
I’m ready to down them all, Nar thought, remembering the twenty or so such potions they had been given by the androgynous quartermaster.
“By the way,” Viy said, as she guided him back to the clearing. “Thanks for the mind booster.”
Nar kept his face pained. “What booster?”
She pinched him on the side.
“Ow! Ow! Ow!” Nar cried. “Alright! Alright! You’re welcome!”
“That’s better,” she said, grinning, her eyes dancing with mirth. “You really thought Kur wouldn’t tell me?”
Nar swore under his breath, his feet touching grass once more as they reached the clearing, and they walked a few steps in silence.
“I have one too,” he said. “If that… Helps.”
He felt her tense for a moment, then she breathed out, her body sagging.
“It does, Nar,” she whispered. “It really does…”
Nar nodded.
“Good, then,” he said.
“Yeah…”
And together, they slowly made their way back to the others.
(Hope everyone has a great week ahead!)
Comments
Lucas Onderwater
Sorry! But that was a really cool guess, though ❤️❤️
CentaureHeart
Aww, no Dungeon break?
