The Ruby Magician

Another specter flew through the air, screaming, before being sliced in two by Wyn's glaive. Whether it was screaming from pain or anger was lost on him, and he didn't care. He just wanted something, anything, everything, to die to his weapon.

All of his frustration, his anger, his feeling of helplessness and despair needed an outlet. He talked to Daniel briefly but it only made him feel worse when he realized how close his guild, friends, and sister were to death. Because of his unwillingness to work with the Faceless Four, to help them achieve their own unknown and secretive goals.

Daniel had said no one blamed him or regretted their actions. Or his inaction at helping the Faceless Four. They were a group unworthy of helping, and the entirety of the guild was in Wyn's corner.

Wyn understood that, but he was still angry. Training wasn't going to help because he didn't want to exercise his emotions on his team. He wanted to join them, to protect them, to fight alongside them.

So climbing was the only option. He was thankful the rest of his team decided to join, and now he was pushing himself. He didn't want to stop until he felt better.

His glaive glowed a red hue from the Elemental Weapon spell he placed on it. The fire-element addition didn't have the same immediate impact divine magic did, but it was still a noticeable difference that Wyn could apply without asking Tasha for help. Wyn didn't want to change spells for the third tier Divine Weapon spell, and the mana cost of keeping the more basic spell on his weapon was negligible.

That was in addition to the other boosts he maintained to his physical body. He hardly noticed a dip in his mana due to his regeneration being so high, despite the constant fighting of enemies.

Their current climb of the thirteenth floor was the second day after the guild meeting and attack on their guild by the Faceless Four. Wyn had tried to let off steam pushing higher into Alistair but had come up short twice. Not clearing the floor had grated on Wyn like scratching a slate. Combined with the fact that the nefarious group still hadn't been caught, and were likely planning their next move unimpeded, Wyn was frustrated beyond measure.

"I think we need a break," Marcy said, physically standing in front of Wyn and ignoring the piles of loot behind her. "We've been at this for almost two hours straight."

Wyn breathed heavily, though not purely from fatigue. He looked around, noting the lack of ghostly monsters in their area. Had he really taken out most of them? They weren't the easiest monsters to kill with their hollow bodies and stronger magical power, but there had been nearly a dozen of them in this last attack. Did he blow through them that fast? And had they really been advancing for that long?

"Are you hurt?" Wyn asked.

Marcy furrowed her brow. "No. How could I be when you've been the one tearing through the enemies practically alone?"

Wyn looked to the others. John was mostly avoiding eye contact along with Cal, while Tasha and Cedric were looking at him seriously.

"It hasn't been a bad climb," Wyn said, deliberately choosing not to respond to Marcy's comment. "We've been making good progress, much better than the last couple of days."

"That's not the point," Cedric said. "The point is that you are pushing too much. This last group of monsters you were by yourself as Cal and John hadn't caught up, yet."

"I was getting there," John said, folding his arms. "I just… wanted to let Wyn go on ahead is all."

Tasha sighed while Marcy shot daggers with her glare.

"I'll go ahead and start collecting the loot," Lance said, pointedly ignoring the conversation.

Watching the Mapper materialize and start shoving coins into his pack was like a wake up call. Wyn knew Lance was always there, but being so well camouflaged made it almost seem like he was a ghost himself.

Wyn took a deep breath to steady himself. The others were right. He didn't need to put them in compromising positions just to satisfy his own shortcomings.

But… the point still stood that his anger wasn't subsiding.

"I'm sorry," Wyn said, throwing his hands in the air. "I just can't settle down. Everything that is going on is pissing me off to no end! And I just…I need to work through that feeling."

"But is getting yourself hurt or killed the answer?" Marcy asked. She walked up and put a hand on Wyn's shoulder. "I know you're in a bind and stressed. But you being careless is making us stressed."

Wyn nodded appreciatively.

"Plus," John added, "maybe we should take a break for a while and cool off. Make sure the guild affairs are in order and that everyone is okay. We're supposed to take on new students next week, right? Maybe prepare for that and stop climbing until then?"

Everyone turned to John, and he glanced at each of them. "What?"

Cedric laughed. It was his barking laugh that made the others laugh, too.

"That's very mature of you," Wyn said, "I think we just weren't expecting that."

John gave a mocked hurt expression. It only made them laugh harder.

"It's a great idea," Tasha said, kissing him on the cheek. John's cheeks flushed red as he smiled awkwardly.

"It really is," Wyn added, leaning against the rocky wall. He took another deep breath to settle himself. There was a deeper meaning to John's words that Wyn picked up, whether it was intended or not. Stopping climbing for a while meant they could stay at the guild house in case the Faceless Four attacked again or in case Aureus needed them. Protecting the rest of the guild was important to Wyn, too, and there was no telling what was going to happen next.

Maybe climbing wasn't the right answer. While he didn't feel completely assured of the situation, he did feel better. Taking a break would likely help in more ways than one.

"Alright," Wyn continued as the group started to settle down. "Let's try and finish the floor for today and then we'll pause for a while. I'm sorry I've been so aggressive."

"No apologies needed," Cal said, hoisting his large mace. "We understand, Wyn. Trust us."

Wyn did. That was one thing that never changed.

One of the advantages of him pushing himself so hard climbing was that they had made excellent progress on the thirteenth floor. It was the furthest they had traversed so far. The environment was similar to the cavern of the twelfth floor but more spacious and less constrained. The path wasn't around a winding series of tunnels but rather a more directed path inside a mountain. The monsters came in larger groups and more frequently, but were handled at the expense of more liberal magic use. Wyn was running through his mana so fast he had already drank two mana potions while advancing through the floor, something he hadn't done in some time.

But he was also climbing with a looser style. He was constantly casting skills and spells, trying to overwhelm the monsters with sheer power rather than pick fights on a more balanced scale. Reflecting on it, the decision actually served him better. He needed to use more mana potions but he had plenty of those resources available. Consistently using his mana should have been a priority for him anyway due to his mana regeneration rate. He had been approaching the situation like he wanted to balance spending it with recovery, but instead he should have been spending it more so he could be more deadly knowing that a mana potion could recover him in a second.

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It may have been the key to advancing through the third tier, as it was doing well so far through the highest floor they had yet to clear.

Pushing forward, they slowed their advancement as Wyn wasn't rushing them to get through the cavern. They met several more packs of monsters but with Wyn being incredibly liberal with his magic use, he felt they handled themselves well. He and John took several bad cuts and hits, with Wyn suffering a broken forearm at one point, but nothing that healing magic couldn't handle.

The anger was still inside him, but he chose to let it out only when fighting. After, he settled himself in order to remember that he still had a responsibility to lead his team. Being careless and reckless only hurt them, as Marcy and the others reminded him. Instead, he found a rhythm of channeling that anger only when fighting while still keeping a handle on not getting carried away.

That seemed to be working for the next two hours of their climb, right before they were going to leave to take a break. Instead, Marcy had a hunch they were nearing the end of the floor. Another half hour later and they stumbled upon another large open space, similar to the sixth floor expansive plains but on a smaller scale as was realistic for being inside a mountain.

It was an open space with a very clear path several hundred feet long to the most massive pyramid-like temple Wyn had ever seen. It was easily the size of multiple blocks back in Alestead, possibly even larger considering they were still so far away. In front of the temple was a set of stairs so wide and tall that Wyn stopped counting after the first several dozen.

Thankfully they wouldn't need to climb the stairs, as at the very bottom on the flat path in front of them was the closed, red floor portal.

And in front of the portal was the boss. A boss that made Wyn's face pale.

"Holy shit," John breathed. "That's the boss for this floor?"

"Are we sure this wasn't a raid floor?" Cal asked. "How in all of the gods are we supposed to fight that thing?"

"We fought the skeleton giant and they seem to be nearly the same size," Cedric said, not taking his eyes off of the boss still incredibly far away.

"That is definitely not the same," Tasha said, clutching John's arm with obvious hesitation.

"I don't even know where to begin," Marcy said, her voice cracking.

Wyn didn't blame them. He had no words for the boss of the floor, both because he was in awe of its size and appearance and because he was having a hard time understanding it. It wasn't a dragon, but had some resemblance to one with a similar head but longer neck. Except where one head and neck should be were four, all looking around the cavern separately as though guarding the temple.

Its body was similar to a beast with four limbs, two in the front and two at its rear. It didn't seem to have a tail or wings but Wyn wasn't about to bet his life on it. The monster appeared to be sitting, strangely, as though commanded to sit and obeying that command without question.

Worst, though, was that it was both black and red, with the red appearing like lines of fire all across its body, necks, and heads. And it was easily seen because it was likely forty or fifty feet tall, and likely two to three times as long.

"That's no skeleton giant we can fly around and pummel until it dies," Cedric said. "That's… well, I don't even know what that is. But I don't want to get anywhere near it."

John scoffed. "You're our ranged magical attacker, how do you think I feel? That thing is going to chomp me in half!" Tasha squeezed his arm harder, and he embraced her back.

Wyn stepped forward in front of them. He wasn't about to let an intimidating boss stop them from completing the floor, not when they were so close. When would they have another chance like this? They had to at least try, after all. It would be the hardest fight they've had, but they were Climbers. And they were prepared.

"We need to push ourselves," Wyn said, turning his back on the monster and looking at his teammates one by one. "This is what we've been wanting to accomplish. No more second tier fights. No guaranteed success. But pushing ourselves so we can overcome."

"What's your plan, then?" Cal asked.

Wyn turned back to the monster and smiled.

Less than ten minutes later, the group was flying down the passage at a steady pace in the air. They all exuded auras that made them look like shooting stars, led by John and Cal who were the most vibrant. It didn't take long before the monster noticed their approach, snarling and scratching the ground, carving deep gouges with each pass.

Wyn's plan was the same as their usual single boss formation, except for one key difference - he wanted them to try and exceed their limits. To advance meant overcoming tribulations, and they had been playing it safe for too long.

No longer would they be passive against their enemies. The Faceless Four proved that, and Wyn needed to be more direct while embracing his abilities. Carrying that same idea to the others, he knew they could overcome the giant four-headed monster if they didn't hold back.

John and Cal were going to meet the beast first, but not before other attacks were launched ahead of them. Marcy's Hunter's Gaze locked on to the beast, creating a faint green aura around it. Wyn's Feeble was empowered with his item's ability and Ability Link, and the familiar skull initially appeared above it but then disappeared.

He expected that to happen, but still wanted to try.

Next came multiple abilities at once - Cedric created a storm cloud above the monster that rained, blew wind, and struck with lightning against the beast's back, while Wyn cast both Siphon and Web under the monster's feet. He hoped that even though the beast easily expanded past the barrier of both sigils that it would still be affected.

He was right as the monster tried to reposition itself and failed, and both of the abilities glowed slightly on the ground showing they were active.

Then came the onslaught. Marcy peppered the monster's necks and heads with one magical arrow after another, while Cedric aimed for its thick chest to try and pierce its hide. Cal was already in front of it absorbing claw strikes and bites, empowered by multiple layers of auras from both himself, John, and protective spells by Tasha. John was next to him avoiding blows when able to, all while trying to hack through the necks in order to behead the monster one at a time.

Wyn was helping John with a scimitar, curved so it could slash easier while still having a similar speed to a sword rather than a slower axe. Maneuvering around the monster was surprisingly easier than Wyn expected as they flew in the air, and hitting its neck wasn't difficult due to it being impossibly thick. It was so wide it looked it could swallow a cow as easily as a person could swallow a seed.

The fight continued as one blast of magic popped in the air after another. The team was relentless, ordered by Wyn to be far more liberal with their magic in order to overwhelm the monster as much as possible. Soon the one neck was nearly cut in two, and both Wyn and John pushed themselves to the limit to hack the head away from the body.

When the lone head fell to the ground and black blood sprayed in the air around them, the monster roared in pained anger. It glowed with a black aura and reared all of its heads back, unleashing a black smoke in the air that settled around it in a dense aura like some kind of magical defense.

"Don't let up!" Wyn yelled. "We can do this!"

Pushing to another neck to attack, Wyn felt the monster's hide thicken. Where his slices could cut through the skin well before, now they were limited. It would take forever to cut through a single neck from the monster's new aura.

"Tasha, John, now!"

John nodded and raised his sword, Angelic Wrath, in the air, activating its ability. A bright light emanated from the weapon as though it was a miniature sun. The monster reacted to the activation and recoiled, then flinched when John swung it two-handed deeply into its neck, slicing a fair amount with one slash with an effectiveness far greater than Wyn's as he joined their leader in removing the next head.

Then a golden aura settled around the monster as its body started to sizzle as though it was burning. The two conflicting auras clashed, its black aura fighting against Tasha's strongest healing spell, until they were both nullified and dimmed in the span of a few seconds. Screams raged from each of the three remaining heads, and the Climbers flew well away from it to avoid any possible backlash from the writhing heads and limbs.

When the auras dimmed, Wyn cast Feeble again. This time the spell took, and the monster's gigantic body shrunk a bit while the skull remained hovering over its body.

That was a huge boon to their success with the spell taking hold, and Wyn knew if they kept applying pressure they'd be able to kill it.

Cal cried out as he repeatedly bashed one of the monster's heads, using Crush with each swing of his mace. The sheer force of each impact sent a small but visible shockwave out from the head, bruising its flesh and cracking bone repeatedly.

Lightning boomed overhead as another strike pierced the monster's back, causing it to seize in a stunned response. Tasha flew nearby on golden wings, aiming directly at the third remaining head with a beam of pure light that joined smaller silver arrows that were being shot with incredible speed and power.

Each one of them unleashed their magical might over and over, hoping to wear down the monster before they ran out of mana or it somehow attacked back with lethality.

That hope was nearly lost when one of the heads reared back and snapped forward, catching John in the side with a loud crack. With a shout he shot off towards the ground with terrifying speed, hitting the rough cavern floor with a sickening thud.

The move reminded Wyn of Arabelle's whip, and he was instantly afraid John had taken such a serious hit that he was either critically hit or outright dead.

Tasha yelled in mixed anger and fear as she flew down to John's side, casting Greater Cure before she even reached him. The Sword Saint was still limp on the ground as she cradled his head, but Wyn could see him open his eyes while he spat blood on the ground beside him. His leg and arm were both twisted in bad angles, but they were still attached and he was alive.

Then Marcy shrieked in surprise as a black glob the size of a small building lobbed in the air towards her. Another immediately followed it that seemed to be on course for Cedric, though he changed his flight course up and away to try and avoid it while activating Mirror Image to have a greater chance of avoiding the attack. The two remaining heads of the monster started retaliating besides just physical hits, obviously angered at losing half of its heads.

Cedric just avoided the attack but Marcy was caught before she could fully escape, and she screamed as the glob sizzled and burned her skin on the entire left half of her body. She dropped her bow and fell towards the ground, but Cal intercepted her before any impact could hurt her further. He gently guided her down while pulling out a healing potion for her to take.

Wyn's anger exploded. He had focused it while fighting but seeing his friends be seriously injured made the emotion return with a fiery dominance.

The monster had to die. It was either it or them, and he refused to allow anyone else to be hurt.

Activating as many spells in quick succession as possible, Wyn tried to slow or freeze the monster with the combined effort of Snow Swarm and Frostsnap. The swarm spell replaced Cedric's storm that was fading, pelting the monster repeatedly with snow and ice, while the pulse caused ice to form on the skin of the monster's hide where Wyn was flying.

Still, it didn't seem to be enough as the monster was still so huge and the ice wasn't working fast enough. Which meant Wyn needed to be faster.

Slicing into its neck with ferocious slashes, Wyn channeled pure primal rage as he simultaneously and repeatedly cast Frostsnap as he hacked through one of the monster's necks. He constantly repositioned himself to avoid the blow from the other head, but he refused to give up. A war cry left his throat ragged and dry, but he didn't let up until the head was severed. It wasn't easy as the monster was thrashing about trying to both attack him and avoid his blows, but his speed and determination made short work of the monster's neck.

Then there was the lone head remaining. The monster's body was nearly half covered in snow and ice, and it was starting to visibly slow from the ice spells. Then wind started to coalesce around the monster from Cedric, forming small tornadoes and swirling pockets that caught the falling ice and used them like spinning shards of death. Wyn focused his energy and strength on the last neck, amplifying his strikes with spell after spell.

With a groan, the monster slowed and eventually stopped, and Wyn hacked the final, nearly frozen neck in two with sloppy strikes. He was exhausted, both physically and emotionally, and was on the brink of fatigue overtaking him.

But the monster fell, its body shaking the cavern before slowly disappearing back to where it came.

Wyn looked down at the loot pile with satisfaction, still flying in the air, then cried up to whichever of the gods were listening in victory with a hoarse yell.