The Ruby Magician

A loud pop rang through Wyn's ears. He blinked several times as sound disappeared, the sudden change of sensation jarring. Just as quickly as it disappeared it reappeared, his Regen spell working to heal him rapidly.

Rolling under another attack, Wyn brought up his shield to block the rest of the hit while activating Shield to further reinforce his defenses. The magical attack broke through his barrier but greatly lessened in intensity, and his shield dissipated the force in a blue plume of dust.

The undead dog-like monster in front of him yelped as he cut its front leg off with his sword and promptly stabbed it with a quick follow up attack. He activated Siphon to trap the beast, knowing it would regenerate its limb before long but hoping it would at least be slowed down.

The magical creature controlling the dgo was still alive, and Wyn was mostly helpless to act in his current position.

The ninth floor was a difficult climb, but Wyn's team progressed at a steady pace over the entire morning and midday with periodic rests. The later floors of the second tier was mostly in the castle he saw while on the seventh floor, and the interior was both massive and haunting. Ghosts, specters, animals, and abominations of people were all present inside, and they were all as disturbing as they were strong. Despite their undead status only the physical monsters were vulnerable to divine magic, while the ethereal ones were far more resistant. There was an obvious fear-based element to the floor's progression just as much as the actual challenge, and Wyn surmised it took a combination of individual courage and team trust to push through to the end.

It was a floor he had no intention of repeating again. Some of the things he saw inside were directly out of nightmares.

During their current engagement, they had come across a pack of rotten dogs with flesh hanging off their bodies. It wasn't the first time they had encountered the creature type, but it was the first time they found the monster that seemed to control them.

And now there were three of them.

A white arrow flew across the room, piercing a dark shadowy veil and dispersing the black smoke in a burst of light. The monster Marcy was aiming to hit shrieked and covered its hooded face, while its brethren simply cried in frustration and glided away from their nearby positions.

The room they were fighting in was an open but smaller chamber like a grand bedroom the size of the guild's dining hall. It wasn't exactly small compared to the other rooms, but since the castle felt to be the size of a village the room still had plenty of room for the team to engage without getting in each other's way. Which was good, since everyone was slinging around enough magic to make Wyn's head spin.

While the six met the pack of dogs and started fighting them, they found the masters controlling them had the ability to boost the dog monsters with some kind of demonic magic, both improving their physical bodies and giving them magical auras that made them feel like bosses all on their own. Considering there were eight of the dogs, that made it a tough fight. Worse, the three controlling monsters had abilities to heal the dogs even from the brink of death.

"I'm going after the one on the far left!" Marcy cried, redirecting her intent to one of the undead masters. Her Hunter's Gaze activated and marked the target, lighting it was a bright green aura as Marcy had a similar one coat her body.

Wyn glanced over at Tasha, who was still glowing and summoning a Calling. Once she was done, Baratheon would take over his place of distracting the dogs alongside John and Cal so he could help with the monsters that didn't heal from the shrouded masters. Those creatures were very obviously magical and needed to be dealt with. The problem was that their dog servants were a constant annoyance, and even when Marcy or Cedric tried to attack the shrouded creatures from a distance, they either used defensive magic to block or evade the attacks, or the dogs intercepted the blows.

With a loud boom, Baratheon landed and immediately started kicking and punching at the pack of dogs. The creatures were agile and most evaded the large Calling's attack, but several were slammed into the stone floor or thrown across the room. They weren't completely killed even without the undead masters healing them, but were focused enough on the giant summon as intended.

"Go," Cal said, raising his mace. "Kill them so the dogs won't regenerate!"

Wyn looked over to John, who nodded. Losing Cal's Paladin Aura would be hard, as it gave additional physical enhancements and a divine aura that was incredibly strong against the undead, but the Paladin needed it far more while helping Baratheon deal with the dogs.

John's Saint Aura would be enough. Coupled with Wyn's own speed boost and Decay active, Wyn sprinted to the closest master across the room along with John.

Swiping at the monster with his sword, Wyn was surprised that all he felt was air as the shrouded monster seemed to disappear in an instant in black smoke. A heartbeat later, it reappeared a small distance away, holding its green-tinted thin arms out from its body and forming a large rune in the air.

John moved to attack the creature with his greatsword but a barrier erupted in front of him, blocking his attack. The monster's ability activated and four large blobs of black magic the size of barrels shot out like arrows at Wyn.

Wyn ran to the side to try and avoid the magical attack, but they curved and followed him. Cursing, he kept running in a half circle, hoping to out maneuver the attack. The blobs were fast and kept pace with him, which was both a good and bad thing. Good in the sense that if Wyn kept running he wouldn't be hit, but bad that he didn't have unlimited endurance and he was still actively trying to avoid all four blobs while needing to attack rather than evade.

A quick strategy entered his mind, and he immediately turned course to run straight at the monster. It was still engaged with John as he was swiping at it with large, powerful swings of his sword, but each one missed as the monster would either teleport through shadows or have barriers block John's sword. How the creature could create a magical barrier that strong while also focusing on other attack was impressive, but it didn't deter them.

"Watch out!" Wyn yelled, hoping John would be able to evade the blobs instead of getting caught. To his relief, John understood and hopped away, while the monster shrieked at Wyn.

Wyn immediately cast Frostsnap, hoping to freeze the monster in place, but failed to coat it in ice. It did, however, slow it down, and Wyn ended his Sprint skill at the last possible moment to teleport away while the blobs collided together with the monster.

"No way that worked," Wyn said to John, carefully eyeing the magical dust that formed from the hit. He reactivated his speed skill and then activated Silence Attack on his and John's weapons while the dust finally cleared.

The monster was half gone, its entire right half completely missing. It fell back to the ground and disappeared in more black smoke.

"Guess it did," John said with a smirk, then ran to the next monster.

With one of the monsters dead the other two were taken care of shortly after. Cedric took a nasty hit from one of the creature's magical attacks after his Mirror Image ability didn't fully work, but Tasha was prepared with several divine spells to combat the known dangers of stronger undead. The monsters were using curses, and while her Divine Light spell removed curses, it was incredibly mana costly and time consuming to cast, and had to wait until all of the monsters were dead.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

They consumed a half dozen mana potions between them, with Tasha taking half of the amount herself, though the rewards made up for it. The monsters were found to be champions after some post fight discussion and monster drop descriptions, and while they didn't drop any items, the treasure they did drop would cover the potions with some left over.

"Gods I'm ready to be done with this damned place," Cedric said, shaking his head. "Undead really are the worst."

"Especially magic resistant undead," John added. "My equipment's abilities aren't doing too much against them."

"At least you can take some of the burden off me for healing and protection," Tasha said. "I'm getting sick of drinking so many potions."

Marcy stood at the lone hallway exit of the room, pointing forward. "We're close, now. We should be near the end and then we can relax on the tenth floor and take some well deserved rest."

"You all deserve it," Wyn said, following the rest of the group through the long hallway. His lantern was glowing green and giving them enough light besides the meager torches and candles in the entire castle. "This castle really has been difficult."

The hallway had one turn before opening to a long stretch that was wide with tall open windows showing the night sky. No light came from moon or sun, but a soft breeze stirred up tattered red curtains that draped to the stone floor. It looked eerie and out of place as Wyn couldn't feel the breeze from the open windows.

No one said a word as they picked up their pace down the hallway. They had all complained enough throughout the floor and were ready to leave.

As they neared the end, though, Marcy froze. The hallway expanded into a large throne room, a grand environment that looked to be fit for a king. Or maybe one decades before, as dust littered the ground and patches of stone were missing from the floor or walls. It looked abandoned and empty, a relic of the past.

At the far end of the room was an elaborate throne easily twelve feet high, regal and ornate. It looked to be made of precious metals like gold and silver, as it was the only bright spot in the entire room. Behind it floated the red floor portal. Sitting on it was a lounging figure wearing a flowing black and silver robe and matching elaborate crown that somehow reflected the dim light of nearby torches.

"Now, now," the figure said, its voice smooth, "guests should come and bow to their hosts."

"Oh, fuck," Marcy said.

Wyn immediately understood. The boss spoke. That was… bad. Incredibly bad. Intelligent monsters were known to be in Alistair, but almost always were on the upper floors in the middle of the third tier and beyond. Having one at the end of the second tier was troubling.

"This doesn't change anything," Wyn said, trying to convince both his team and himself that they were fine. This was still a floor they've defeated before, and this challenge would be overcome just the same. "It's one monster and we're third tier Climbers."

The figure on the throne sat up straight, then pointed to them accusingly. "You dare look down on me? No, young warrior, you are mistaken. Here in my domain, I -"

The boss abruptly stopped speaking as it stood up. It was only twenty yards across the room, but it started stepping away from its throne. As it stepped closer Wyn could see it more clearly - it was a man, or at least it used to be. Its skin was pale and grey, while its eyes had a strong tint of red and black. It was taller than him, nearly as tall as Cal, and seemed to glide across the stone floor as its steps carried it further than normal.

Wyn wondered what in the hells it was doing, but summoned his weapon as a sword and expanded his shield. The others also readied their weapons, and Marcy used her Hunter's Gaze to mark the boss while firing an arrow. The green aura settled on the monster but was diminished almost immediately by a denser black and silver aura that looked like silver smoke intertwined in shadow. The arrow flew directly at it but it jerked its head and body down to the side, dodging the arrow with ease despite its grotesque movement.

As though controlled by strings, its body righted itself unnaturally, and continued walking to them without even pausing. "You," it whispered, pointing a crooked finger at Wyn. "You've finally arrived."

Wyn absentmindedly took a step back as his breath was caught in his throat. Was it trying to scare him?

"Get back, you ugly bastard!" John cried, running forward as a swirl of colors surrounded him, his aura expanding a full foot from his body. He met the boss and slashed downward with his sword.

The monster dissipated in shadow in the blink of an eye, then reappeared ten feet in front of Wyn before John even finished his swing.

Smiling and showing yellow jagged teeth, the boss held its hands up by its sides as though reciting to a crowd. "The Patient One has been expecting you, Ruby Magician. It is my honor to be the one to greet you first, as my reward will be grand for ending your journey now."

Wyn couldn't take his eyes off the monster as his mind raced. What was it talking about? Who was the Patient One? And why did it only focus on him?

Unless it had something to do with the Avatar. That was the only other creature inside the tower that spoke to Wyn directly. He remembered the words it spoke to him during his very first climb about how it would be watching him.

Cal moved forward to block the monster from Wyn's line of sight, roaring an attack. His mace was covered with a red and white aura, and he swung it through the monster. Instead of disappearing again, the boss carefully bent to the side while parrying the hit with its forearm. A sizzle came from the contact, and it leapt to the side and away with a hiss.

"Come on, Wyn," Tasha yelled, "ignore it!"

Wyn focused to snap himself out of the trance. He thought about the techniques he had reviewed with Daniel if he were to mentally return to his time at war. The one that worked for him was reviewing his environment in a flash to ground himself and reorient his mind to the present.

Stone floor underneath his feet. His friends around him preparing to fight. Musty air with faint hints of magic settling on his skin. The monster redirecting itself to attack John. Metallic scent of blood in the air.

Blood?

Wyn immediately refocused and saw that John was moving nearly as fast as himself with his speed skill, parrying the monster's bare-handed swipes with his own greatsword or blocking attacks with his gauntlets. Despite the fear of him being injured, he didn't look hurt at all.

Why did he smell and taste blood in the air?

The monster kicked John away as easily as Baratheon kicked away the monster dogs, sending him tumbling head over heels. It then growled and flew close to the ground towards Wyn, its hands outstretched with wickedly sharp nails as though he wanted to grab and strangle him.

Wyn activated Sprint, his mind sharpening and quickening at the boost. The boss was closing in fast, far faster than Wyn thought a monster could move.

Instead of moving, Wyn cast Flash and ended his skill by teleporting behind the boss when he was only a foot away. Wyn immediately reactivated his speed skill as he saw the monster cover its face with its arms and stagger.

A slash across the monster's back caused it to lurch forward and bleed black blood. Wyn tried to follow up his hit but the monster vanished in a puff of smoke across the room.

Directly beside Tasha.

Tasha was busy with some support spell, but was interrupted as the monster slashed at her with an open palm. She screamed with a pained yell, then raised an arm to shield herself from another attack as the boss swiped again faster than she could react.

"NO!" John yelled, immediately running from across the room.

Wyn cast Shield to block an attack, which only broke under the monster's next hit. Tasha was struck across her face, the blow spraying blood across the stone floor as she was sent hurdling to the ground.

Running to help her, Wyn immediately cast Regen on her and moved to intercept the boss. It was fast, and seemed to be equally as fast as Wyn, and tried to once again to attack Tasha while she was on the ground.

Was it targeting her because she was their healer? Its tactics were both brutal and smart, Wyn reluctantly had to admit. Just how badly would this fight go?

John crossed the distance quickly and yelled as he struck out at the monster multiple times. It dodged his attacks with relative ease, moving its body fluidly sometimes like a leaf on the wind, then bending at harsh angles other times. It was unpredictable and strong.

As Cedric rushed over to administer Tasha a healing potion, Wyn funneled his anger and pursued the boss with all his focus. When he joined the fight, Cal was already helping John fight, and the pair was driving back the monster but not doing any damage. It was too nimble and fast, coursing around their weapons as though they were trying to somehow hit black smoke.

Wyn changed that as his speed was still higher, and he quickly cornered the monster with an assist from Marcy's arrows along with John and Cal adding to his advantage. They were a game board with Wyn moving the pieces exactly where he wanted.

It wouldn't be long before the boss fell to their combined efforts. Wyn's confidence grew in the few minutes they exchanged blows.

But then the boss changed. Frustration was obvious as it growled at them, cuts littering its face and blood dripping from its hands from various wounds. It then used a cloak of shadow to teleport back in front of the throne. It raised its hands as a large red and black rune formed under its feet, causing a circular hole to completely envelop him and the throne.

A hole that was actually a portal. Blackened and decrepit hands started to reach up and out of the darkness, climbing onto the stone floor and scrambling out. The figures that emerged looked exactly like human soldiers, wearing armor with weapons equipped on their bodies. Over a half dozen rose to their feet out of the lingering black void, all of them immediately drawing weapons while rushing at the Climbers.

Except for one monster. One that the boss personally held in front of it as though it planned to use a shield.

Wyn readied himself to attack the new minions but then watched in shocked fascination as the boss bit into the creature's neck. The armored creature started to shake and spasm, its body shriveling in moments as though it was rapidly aging into an old man.

Armor clanked to the ground as the creature disappeared into dust. The boss, licking its lips, had a smirk on its pristine face as black blood dripped from the corners of its mouth. To Wyn's astonished horror, its previously cut face was completely healed, and its gaunt body looked to be fuller and stronger.

Its laugh echoed through the room, drowning out the sounds of metal and battle.