Book 2: Chapter 26
A vine ripped itself out of the ground and wrapped around the bone bow the tormented soul held. Just as fast as it shot up, it yanked the bow towards the ground, preventing the creature from utilizing the weapon. After Ian got turned into a pincushion a couple of times, Lana had come up with a new strategy to handle the most dangerous variant of the monster, and her efforts were proving to be incredibly effective.
Ian advanced on the creature as it struggled to pull the weapon free. Failing, it tried to hit him with the paralyzing breath attack that the tormented souls always used. Pushing through the pain as the cloud hit him, Ian leveled his new bone spear at the creature's chest and drove it in with magic soul activated. The twelve-inch blade was larger than it had been on his old spear, but the effect of the higher-level weapon on magic soul made him realize it had been exactly what he had been missing.
With the magic blade sticking out of the creature's back, it released a tormented cry before slumping forward as the glow faded from its eye sockets.
"It's amazing those went from the hardest ones to the easiest ones just by taking their bow away," Lana said as she ran up behind him. "I'm also glad that you aren't getting shot anymore. Those first two times had terrified me."
Ian nodded in agreement as he winced at the memories. Having a punctured lung was pretty awful. Luckily, their arrows were just giant needles and were easy enough to remove. Though they had discovered Lana's nature magic would remove any foreign objects from a wound as it healed…which was amazing while also being less than ideal in Ian's experience. Having a long wooden shard erupt from the area next to the wound, only to heal up again a moment later, didn't prevent the pain that went along with it.
"My goal is to never get hit by an arrow again," he said with a shudder. "Your healing is amazing, but I'll never be able to look at splinters in the same way."
Lana closed her eyes as she involuntarily shuddered as well. "Yeah, I'm happy it removes them, but it was also terrifying to watch as you screamed in pain."
"Alright, let's check this one out," Ian said, changing the subject as he reached down to loot the corpse. As it disappeared, he held up what looked like a carved fibula with a silver thorny vine design etched into it. At the top, it had a gem with white and blue swirls that gave off a small glow.
"Oh, it's beautiful, in a morbid, 'I probably killed this myself to practice my bone carving skills' sort of way," Lana said as Ian handed it to her. "It isn't a nature spell, though, so I'm not sure how well I'll be able to cast it."
"Give it a shot," Ian shrugged. "The worst that happens is that we kill some more if it isn't going to work for you. So far, we've managed to get Tram a sword, Claire three throwing daggers, Ash a bow, and me a spear. With eighty of these guys slain over the past three afternoons, I think we have a pretty good understanding of how to farm them. And with them dropping a weapon every five or so monsters, we could probably get another wand by the time the tournament starts."
"Yeah, and Ruth would also love you for getting her even more items to enchant," Lana said with a giggle. "She nearly had a joygasm when you gave them to her, along with the other items our group doesn't plan on using. If what she did with Tram's sword and Claire's daggers was any indication, we are in for some real treats soon.
"It makes me wonder what she can do with this," she said, holding the wand. "Though I wish I knew what spell it cast."
"Well, give it a shot," Ian said, pointing at a huge tree twenty yards away.
Lana's face lit up as she pointed the wand towards the target and pushed her mana into it. Neither of them was prepared when the wand made a loud clicking noise before the tree erupted in a shower of bark and wood pulp, right before it toppled towards them.
Reacting on instinct, Ian grabbed the petite woman, garnering a yelp of surprise as he took off running. He didn't stop until he heard the crash behind him. Taking a deep breath, he looked down to see his friend staring up at him, one arm around his neck, and looking absolutely terrified.
"Are you alright?" he asked, his heart rate still sky high.
"Ye-no, definitely not," she admitted, holding up the wand and staring at it in both awe and fear. "This thing is terrifying, and it didn't feel like it took a lot of mana. My rejuvenation spell takes considerably more per cast, so this is definitely viable."
Ian nodded, gently putting Lana down before they began walking back towards the downed tree. When they arrived, Ian estimated about two thirds of the six-foot-thick trunk had been completely blown away.
"What do you think that spell was?" Ian asked. "Some sort of wind magic?"
Lana shook her head. "Not wind magic, but maybe kinetic blast or something? It feels similar to your skill, but I haven't seen any pure magic casters at our level. Those spells require tons of prerequisite skills that make it a gamble if you have no affinity with them."
"I get it," Ian nodded. "I have the same thing with my magic soul ability. My affinity with it isn't bad, but I definitely lack natural talent in it. It's the main reason that I need to get advanced mana regeneration soon."
Lana opened her mouth to speak when they both realized the forest had become deathly quiet. Both Ian and Lana looked around before giving each other worried looks.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," she whispered.
A cry filled with sorrow and pain erupted with such intensity that it knocked both of them off their feet as they tried to cover their ears. Ian felt the sorrow from the cry seeping into his skin as it tried to settle into his bones. Looking up, he saw Lana was completely dazed as her head lolled back and forth without her actually seeing anything.
Moving to get up, he froze in place when he heard something enter the clearing on the other side of the downed tree. Popping his head up slightly, he saw a tormented soul that was twice the normal size with two extra arms attached to the backsides of its shoulders with two heads looking around. One arm on each side held a bone club while the other was suspiciously empty.
Analyze Results - Uln'lok, Twisted Arbiter of the Forest
LVL: 3748
Ian dropped back down next to the fallen tree and looked over at Lana. She had passed out while he had been analyzing the monster. Looking for a way to protect her, he gently picked her up and tucked her up into the branches where the giant leaves prevented her from being seen from the outside. The tree bark had deflected nearly all types of physical damage, so he hoped she would be safe in there.
Pulling up his status screen, he looked at all the SP he had saved over their rapid level grinding from the past couple of days. He frantically began hoping to find anything that would help him in this fight before realizing that he was too off balance to know what he needed. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to calm down.
Clearing his mind, he stepped into his old routine and began to list out his goals. The primary goal was that he needed to survive and protect Lana. To do that he needed to minimize the damage he took to give him time to learn how this monster fought. He knew he couldn't outrun it while carrying Lana. The normal ones were as fast as him, and protecting her was his top priority. However, to do that he came full circle to the pressing need of staying alive.
He made his decision to spend nearly every point he had. Dropping ten thousand SP into the next nature resistance skill called Nature's Protection, Ian followed it directly up by dropping everything else he had into Herculean Fortitude to increase his endurance.
Nature's Protection 5/5 (Passive): Decreases the status effect of rare tier nature spell effects by 75% (20% additional to common and uncommon spells). Increases resistance to nature spells by 25%. Grants a 5% chance to completely mitigate hostile nature spells and effects.
Herculean Fortitude 2/10 (Passive): +3000 status increase to END.
He hoped the additional nature protection was going to be worth the cost in this fight. Until Lana got up, all he had was a potion and his own incredibly weak healing spell. He just needed to fight intelligently and not overextend himself. He should still technically be stronger than the monster in front of him, though he couldn't be sure this creature was a normal rare spawn. The only one he knew of from this dungeon was supposed to be an unnamed Twisted Soul of the Forest and was only supposed to spawn once a certain number of Tormented Souls were killed. However, the number was across everyone who ran the dungeon, and it usually took years for it to spawn. With it being killed six months ago, and the creature having a full name, they weren't the same monster.
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He shook his head clear as he heard the creature getting closer to the downed tree. He needed to make the first move soon if he wanted to keep Lana safe from the monster. Gritting his teeth, he moved to the end of the tree before taking a deep breath and launching himself out of cover.
Uln'lok saw him instantly, which was when Ian realized that the creature didn't have a front and back. It literally had two front sides. The shoulders were double set with a single socket for each appendage, creating a 'v' shape on each side of the monster where the shoulders fused together. Ian internally growled at the realization that all four arms and two heads gave the creature no blind spots and a great defense.
Not giving himself time to panic, Ian sprinted past the creature to pull its attacks away from the downed tree. The last thing he wanted was for it to cast a spell that hurt his friend when it missed him. His decision was quickly rewarded when the weaponless hand closest to him began to glow with green energy.
"This is gonna suck," Ian swore as he rolled left when the creature launched a green bolt that hissed and sizzled as it flew past him. Looking over at the tree it had struck, Ian felt a momentary pang of panic as it began eating into the bark. "Yup, yup, not letting that touch me if I can help it."
Ian looked back to see the creature sprinting towards him. He dodged again before he swung his spear to try and force the creature back. Unfortunately, as he was swinging at the creature's side, the monster's second arm on that side blocked the spear with its club. He backed up as the creature turned and brought the second empty hand up to cast at him.
"This is such bullshit," Ian growled as he dodged another hissing nature blast. Ducking in, the spell barely missed him as he quickly jabbed at the closest arm holding a club.
The creature moved just far enough back that the blade failed to make contact. Without giving it a chance to recover, Ian took another step and went after the same arm. As the blade closed the distance, he activated magic soul, letting the extended magical enhancement slice deep into the creature's arm and severing half of the vines. Ian went to lunge again, but the creature spun, bringing the second club swinging around on a path to hit him.
Pulling the attack short, Ian barely got the haft of the spear up to block the attack, sending a jolting impact through both of his arms. As he went to jump back from the hit, pain suddenly flooded him as a hissing bolt exploded on his chest, tossing him back.
Rolling back to his feet, Ian glanced down to see that a good section of his armor was heavily damaged. Small, red patches of skin fully covered in caustic burns were visible through the spots where the armor had been completely eaten away by the spell. As Ian dodged another incoming blow from a club, he could feel the burned flesh protesting every movement as pain began to spike through his body.
Ducking low, he brought the spear up to the shoulder of the casting arm as it continued to turn. He jammed it deep into the socket as he activated magic soul, completely severing the arm and catching the back of the one he had damaged earlier, making the arm nearly completely unusable.
He didn't have time to celebrate his minor victory, as the creature didn't stop spinning, and his spear got caught in the damaged arm as he tried to pull it back. Choosing to let go of the spear so he wouldn't get pulled along with it, Ian swore, finding he had nothing to block the mace as it came at him. Without the time to pull out his sword, he brought his left arm up to protect his chest and felt one of the bones in his forearm break on impact.
Working through the pain through sheer force of will, his gladius appeared in his right hand as he quickly slashed half of the vines of the remaining casting arm just as it was charging up for another cast. Instead of finishing, the spell exploded, burning holes in Ian's armor and lighting even more of his body up in pain.
Ian managed to move back a couple of yards as the creature's heads both looked up towards the sky as it cried out in torment. As it returned to advance on him, he discovered his body was having issues moving around properly from the weird cry. To make matters worse, his blistered skin was getting stuck on his armor and pulling, causing intense spikes of pain to shoot through him as he and the monster slowly circled each other.
After a moment, Ian stopped and moved into a defensive stance. He was going to have to do something to end this quickly, or he wasn't going to be able to keep fighting. The creature started to lean forward to charge when Ian heard a clicking sound and was suddenly knocked on his back when a part of one of the creature's legs suddenly flew up and hit him in the chest as an explosion went off.
Pushing himself back up, he saw the creature was also on the ground—one leg completely missing and the second in tatters.
"Move Ian," Lana screamed from where she stood next to the tree holding her wand. "I don't want to accidentally hit you."
Storing his gladius, Ian began limping away at an angle to make sure the creature wasn't between them. He felt like he had gotten far enough away when he heard another explosion, followed by the creature letting loose a soul-crushing scream. A second later, another explosion sounded, and Ian lowered himself to the ground in exhaustion.
Congratulations! You have defeated an enemy more than 1250 levels higher than yourself. Experience rewards multiplied by 10. You have earned 106 levels. You have achieved level 2249. You have been awarded 3180 skill points!
"Ian, how bad is it?" Lana asked in a panicked voice as she skidded to a stop next to him and dropped down, placing her hands on his shoulder. "Hurry up, Ian, say something."
"I'm alive," he said through gritted teeth.
A warmth started to sweep through his body as both of Lana's hands began to glow. The pain began to lessen, only for the areas the spell hit to begin to feel like he was being stabbed by pins and needles.
"I'm so sorry, but your body is growing back the nerves in those areas," Lana said in a pained voice as he clenched his teeth. "Just bear with me for a moment to fix the acid damage, then we'll fix your arm."
It took nearly five minutes of excruciating pain before she moved on to his arm. In comparison, resetting a broken bone and having it healed was nothing compared to regrowing a couple of layers of muscle and skin in half a dozen places across his body. By the time she was done, he felt human again, though he needed to take a shower as soon as possible. He thought he could still feel the sticky spell trying to burn through him, even though it was gone.
"I'm so sorry, Ian," Lana said after he sat up. "I can't believe it's cry knocked me out. We're teammates, and I wasn't able to do anything while you fought that creature on your own. I put you in danger, and—"
"Woah, slow down," Ian said, reaching out and touching her shoulder. "You just saved my life there, Lana. I'd be dead right now if it wasn't for you."
"But what if I didn't wake up when I did?" she asked, shaking her head. "You would have been dead, and it would have been all my fault. You could have escaped if it wasn't for me. You should ha—"
"Don't you dare finish that sentence," Ian said, wrapping her up in a hug. "Everyone in our party will do everything we can to protect each other, and none of us would ever leave a friend behind. I don't want you to ever think that you aren't worth the effort to save because I would make the same choice without blinking every time.
"Do you understand what I'm saying?"
She nodded against his chest, and he could feel her tears through the holes in his armor.
"Alright," he said, slowly pushing her back. "We need to loot and get the hell out of here. Think you are up for it? I'll need you to blow away anything we run into on the way. I've seen skimpy chain bikinis that provide more protection than this thing does now."
She snorted as she wiped her eyes. "I can do that. It's your turn to rely on me."
*~*~*
Dinner had gone by in a blur. Ashlyn had freaked out, continuously asking him if he was alright before turning her attention to Lana before restarting the cycle. With the emotional roller coaster his day had been, he had to admit she was just a little too much for him, which was why he took the first opportunity to excuse himself after dinner.
When his doorbell went off, he was sure it was going to be Ashlyn again, but was surprised to see Lana through the display. Quickly opening the door, she gave him a smile.
"Come on in," Ian said, moving to the side. "You alright?"
She gave him a smile before it disappeared as she looked past him. He turned around to see his armor slowly repairing itself on the enchanted storage rack. He wasn't sure it was going to be able to fully fix itself without Jimmy's help, but he figured it was worth a shot.
"It's just armor," he said, giving her a small smile. "It did its job, and we are both still here. I'll take that sort of win every time."
She nodded. "I know, but it shows how close we were to losing you today, and your sister said something after you left that I couldn't stop thinking about."
Ian followed her into his main room as she turned and leaned against the back of the sofa.
"What did she say?" Ian said with a frown. "She didn't try to blame you or anything, did she? I swear she can—"
"Oh, nothing like that," she cut him off, holding her hands up. "With how much she is doting on me right now, I kind of wish she did blame me a little bit. Even with you saying it isn't my fault, part of me still feels like I could have done more if I just pushed myself a little harder.
"But she said that you were taking this one a lot harder than the last one. When you got attacked by the patriarch, you were actually closer to dying." Her eyebrows came together as she looked up to meet his eyes. "I saw the replay, and you may have been able to kill it without me. It wasn't looking good, but I have faith you would have pushed through and won.
"But your sister's right, you are beating yourself up over this one, and I want to know why."
Ian opened his mouth to argue, but couldn't bring himself to do it. "Honestly, when I thought I was going to die after killing the patriarch, I was just angry. I wasn't in a good head space, and I still felt like I was alone in the world. I was the one suffering from my weakness, even if the situation was caused by other people's actions and decisions.
"This time, though, I knew if I wasn't good enough, you would have died. I'm not a solo adventurer anymore. I tried to hide you as best I could in that tree, but I was worried that it wouldn't matter, that it would find you. You're one of my best friends, and I never want anything like that to happen to you."
Lana walked over and gave him a hug, holding him tight. He closed his eyes as she held him and was shocked when he felt her lips touch his. The small kiss quickly turned into a passionate one. After a long moment, their lips parted, and he found her looking up into his eyes.
"I'm not sure—" he started before Lana put a finger on his lips.
"We're both adults here, Ian. I want this. I want this a lot. No strings, just you and me taking comfort in each other tonight."
"It's been a long time for me, and—"
"I don't care about that, Ian. Being with you tonight is all I care about." She looked up as she bit her lower lip. "I'll leave if you want me to, but if any part of you wants me to stay…"
Ian closed his eyes as his mind rushed through the list of reasons why they shouldn't…when the memory of today's near catastrophe bulldozed straight through it to stand front and center in his mind. Opening his eyes, he looked at the beautiful woman staring up at him. The understanding that any time he entered a dungeon could be his last made all his reasons seem so insignificant.
Leaning down, he pulled her closer as he let go of the chains holding him back.