"This feels kinda… weird."
"Quit your complaining, you're stronger now," Benedict answered Skandr. "You made your choice, now get used to it cause we're about to fight the guardian."
Skandr didn't say anything, instead muttering an incantation under his breath as he flexed his fingers through a series of sigils. It wasn't long before the party made their way closer to where the floor guardian was, their path taking them through the canyons for dozens of kilometers before they arrived at their destination. The environment changed as they continued, the canyons and cliffs that they'd walked through until now giving way to a huge mesa, where their path led them up a series of switchbacks up a steep slope until they stood on a flat, rocky plain. The drakes, whenever the Wanderers had encountered them until now, had seemed almost a nomadic creature without any home to return to. Here, on this mostly flat expanse, that thought was put to rest.
Several drakes patrolled, looking to the skies to ensure that there were no rocs approaching from above, and Astrid could see, far off and in the center of the mesa, a faint wall that showed where the guardian was currently being fought. Before the party could go to face the guardian, a drake noticed them and let out a trumpeting warning call. Then, it, and four more of the monsters rushed towards them from three different places.
"We've got to deal with these first ones as fast as possible before more of them show up," Astrid thought aloud. "Skandr?"
"No time like the present to do some experimentation, I suppose," he answered, his fingers flicking through a series of sigils before reddish lightning flickered all around his arms. "I wish I could experiment with something other than lightning, but I guess I can do that in a week when we're done here."
His tongue loosed a series of words that thrummed deep in his chest as lightning flowed from his arms and into a forming mist until it formed a cloud overhead. His pet cloud then flew from inside his sleeve into the cloud, somehow making it triple in size and then making the crack of thunder overhead drown out any of the words that Skandr spoke. The drakes continued charging towards the party, another three joining the other five as the first one drew close.
"Stay clear," Astrid commanded, but nobody needed the warning as lightning fell from the heavens like a god's wrath made manifest. That single spell obliterated over half of the drake's body, and a fine mist of blood and ash washed over the three party members who stood in the front as the thunderous boom threatened to deafen them.
Muti threw both of her fists in the air, swords gripped tight as she cheered. Then, while the drakes seemed to settle their view on her, she faded from perception. Instead of being invisible, it was as if paying attention to her was more difficult, and she slipped to the side while the monsters settled their attention on Felix, Astrid, and Skandr.
"I've got two or three more of those, do you want me to wait to let them out?"
"Even half of that strength is enough to mostly take them effectively out of the fight," Astrid answered Skandr. "Just keep it coming and don't hit us."
A thought occurred to Astrid as soon as she said it and she activated Immortal Warrior's Wura as Skandr unleashed another heaven–splitting lightning bolt. Astrid felt her face split into a smile as a small amount of her own stamina drained from her body. It began recovering quickly, and, as soon as the second lightning bolt fell and she could hear again, she asked Skandr, "How many more times can you do that now?"
He seemed to check his internal state after that, and then shook his head in disbelief.
"You can take the stamina and health expenditure with Aura?"
"I decided to give it a try. Now answer the simple question!"
"If I supplement mana expenditure with stamina and health, I can do another five and still be ready to go on the guardian."
"Then do it!" Astrid cackled as she adjusted her hold on her hammer and shield. Another thick pillar of lightning fell from the sky with a deeper red color, almost scarlet instead of being merely tinged red. When this bolt of lightning fell, Astrid felt her stamina drop a good amount, as well as some of her health. Her experiment was a success, and she watched the change in the spell with interest. Instead of the electrical, stunning quality that the other lightning spells boasted, this lightning was almost a physical force that, instead of burning, pulverized the monster. Where the lightning passed through the beast, its body was torn apart and it fell in two pieces.
It was strange, Astrid thought as she felt her health slip away, as she'd always thought of health as a very literal thing, the wholeness of her body and losing health was because she'd taken a wound of some sort, but she'd never had anything that was a direct sacrifice of health. Instead of taking an injury, this was a soul-deep pang that twisted inside her. It was so unexpected that she gasped, though she knew it was a very small portion of herself that was taken in that moment.
Since she had crossed 300 in her Power and Fortitude, Astrid's ability to supplement her body's current state with ambient mana had spiked, even though it had only been an hour since she had crossed to level 36. She still had a handful of seconds before she needed to do anything, so, with a thought, she pulled the mana in the air into her body to revitalize herself. She couldn't quite understand the changes she had experienced quite yet, but she did feel, as Skandr had said when he crossed 300 in Magical Potency, that it was just an expansion on what crossing the 100 threshold had offered. Now, if she wanted to, she knew that she could put even more Power-aligned mana behind one of her blows or better fortify her body against a hit and would do so at a greater efficiency than before, but more, she could feel the way her body interacted with mana had changed. Though it wasn't enough to make a serious difference in a fight, she could pull the mana that surrounded her into her body and use that to recover more quickly.
With how that interacted with Immortal Warrior's Body's bonus to recovery rate, Astrid had no doubt that she would continue making steps towards living up to her Class's name.
"How was that?" Skandr asked as he checked with her. "If you want to make me use less, that's fine."
"I don't know about health," Astrid answered, "but that was a bit under a fifth of my stamina. Cut back a little on both and we'll take care of these drakes without a problem."
"You're insane," Skandr laughed. "That would have been over half of mine. I calculated that would cost you more like a quarter."
"And the fact that I have three times as much Fortitude as you doesn't factor into your calculations?" Astrid asked as the first two drakes got close enough to be considered threats. They didn't care about the two corpses that lay in front of them, and Muti suddenly appeared beside one, plunging her short sword into its eye before withdrawing it and chopping down at its neck with her seax. That first attack blinded the beast and did significant damage, but didn't kill it. Her chop crushed a couple scales and pierced its flesh, but without significant expenditures of her resources, the monster was able to keep its feet. With a howl of her own, the Ambusher continued the attack.
Felix used both of his attention drawing Skills to draw the two closest drakes' attention to him while Astrid circled around to the side opposite of Muti. Another bolt of lightning fell behind them, and Astrid felt another precipitous drop of her stamina and health as she watched Felix start to lose his focus and then settle himself on maintaining the interest of the monsters instead of trying to kill them. With a smile, Astrid pushed a Spectre Burst into her hammer's head before activating Immortal Warrior's Body and smashing her hammer into the untouched drake's head.
For the first time in quite a while, her attack was fully boosted by Body and was as strong as it could be, and where she struck the beast's jaw, scale and bone shattered before the deadly energy pierced into the brain, killing the beast in a single blow.
Checking the notification, it was a level 35 drake, and she killed it in a single hit. Astrid cheered as she waited for the next monster to arrive. After all, only three were left, not counting the one Muti and Felix were in the process of dismantling, and the party could deal with three of the monsters with ease. Another bolt of lightning fell as Muti raised her seax and chopped through the other drake's spine, reducing the enemy numbers to two, and Skandr panted from behind, "I'm done, gotta keep myself ready for the guardian."
Astrid didn't complain as the three melee fighters, boosted by Benedict's Skills, made short work of the two survivors.
"Warlock's Constitution is treating you well," Astrid said as the party gathered themselves and watched for any other approaching monsters. All the while, she consciously kept from using another charge of Body. Instead, she let Benedict's Restful Reverberations work with her prodigious recovery rate, and it wasn't long before she was back at her peak.
"Yeah," Skandr replied as he recalled his cloud. The red lightning that suffused the cloud faded and it went from an angry gray to a soft white as it wrapped around the Wizard's neck. "I'm still not sure if it's the right choice, but…"
"But the decision was made," Astrid finished. "Don't question it too much and just ask Benedict for more information when he crosses the base hundreds in just a couple levels."
Skandr waved her off, sitting on a rock as he drew mana into himself so quickly that Astrid could feel it leaving less in the ambient air for her.
No other drakes approached as the Wanderers all recovered, and then, having seen that they were all recovering, Astrid settled down. With a wide grin, she checked her Status before asking for her allies to share theirs as well as their notable equipment effects and bonuses, now that they had all crossed the level 36 watershed.
Status
Name: Astrid
Class: Immortal Warrior (Iron)
Total Level: 36 (3,024/155,000)
Attributes
Current
Per level growth
Power
300 (+44)
+12
Alacrity
211 (+27) [+95]
+9
Fortitude
301 (+59)
+12
Magical Potency
89 (+19)
+4
Self-Mastery
106 (+34)
+5
Acumen
90 (+4)
+4
Skill List
Immortal Warrior's Aura (Iron)
Immortal Warrior's Body (Iron)
Immortal Warrior's Equipment (Iron)
Boon of Potentiation
Spectre Burst (Iron)
Gravity Surge (Iron)
Status
Name: Skandr
Class: Storm Wizard (Iron)
Total Level: 36
Attributes
Current
Per level growth
Power
75 (+10)
+2
Alacrity
93 (+22)
+3
Fortitude
130 (+37)
+4
Magical Potency
341 (+65)
+14
Self-Mastery
210 (+18)
+9
Acumen
195 (+12)
+8
Skill List
Storm Magic (Iron)
Storm Administration (Iron)
Lightning Enchantment (Untiered)
Summoned Stormcloud (Iron)
Warlock's Constitution (Bronze)
Locked
50% boost to all storm-related Skills and spells.
Status
Name: Muti
Class: Dread Ambusher (Iron)
Total Level: 36
Attributes
Current
Per level growth
Power
301 (+32)
+12
Alacrity
264 (+43)
+11
Fortitude
164 (+36)
+6
Magical Potency
41 (+23)
+1
Self-Mastery
89 (+17)
+4
Acumen
142 (+22)
+6
Skill List
Ambusher's Aura (Iron)
Dread Ambusher's Equipment (Iron)
Vital Strike (Iron)
Dread Master (Iron)
Shadow Leap (Bronze)
Locked
Enhanced jumping.
Status
Name: Felix
Class: Hewing Guardian (Iron)
Total Level: 36
Attributes
Current
Per level growth
Power
232 (+47) [+23]
+9
Alacrity
216 (+41) [+22]
+8
Fortitude
300 (+70) [+30]
+12
Magical Potency
74 (+25)
+3
Self-Mastery
122 (+25)
+6
Acumen
57 (+12)
+2
Skill List
Guardian's Equipment (Iron)
Guardian's Wrath (Iron)
Whirling Blades (Iron)
Immovable Stance (Bronze)
Tiger's Pride (Iron)
Locked
Status
Name: Benedict
Class: Caustic Bard (Iron)
Total Level: 36
Attributes
Current
Per level growth
Power
94 (+12)
+3
Alacrity
127 (+25)
+5
Fortitude
126 (+35)
+5
Magical Potency
264 (+52)
+11
Self-Mastery
210 (+18)
+9
Acumen
179 (+24)
+7
Skill List
Song of Vindication (Iron)
Hasty Rebuke (Iron)
Doubletalk (Iron)
Silvertongue (Iron)
Restful Reverberations (Bronze)
Locked
Minor protective barrier if channeled. 10% boost to all Skills originating from voice, 30% boost to all Skills cast through flute.
Astrid stood, ready to get into the real fight as she watched the protective wall around the guardian's arena disappear and a couple of the drakes seem to decide that they should come and trouble the Wanderers.
"There's no reason to stick around here, is there?" She asked as she looked at the rest. Muti was the first to jump into position as she laughed.
"To new adventures!"
The other delvers stood as Benedict used Doubletalk to use Hasty Rebuke twice over. Then, Astrid didn't say anything as she bent down for Skandr to get on her back. He grumbled wordlessly as he did so, but his body shuddered with power as he began preparing a spell from this far off. The rest of the party used Alacrity-aligned mana to speed themselves and rushed forward. A couple of drakes came, trying to pursue them, but didn't manage to draw close enough in time, and even if they had, they wouldn't be a threat to the party. That was a lesson hard won, and not one they would soon forget.
With Skills speeding them and mana strengthening their bodies, the Wanderers raced forward over rocky terrain. Behind them, the drakes could run without issue on the uneven terrain with their four limbs, but as soon as they got close, Hasty Rebuke kept them from running at their top speed and fell behind again. Though they roared and screeched in rage, the party continued their escape towards the guardian.
The drakes stopped their pursuit as a nearly invisible wall flashed into being, though they continued looking at the would-be escapees and roaring. Now in the arena to fight the guardian, they all prepared to deal with the drake. How the scouts had learned that it was the drake matriarch didn't matter, but the Wanderers all prepared for the fight. They strode forward and approached the divot in the center of the mesa where the matriarch made her nest, where Astrid prepared to put Skandr down. He hadn't stopped his constant channeling of the spell, whatever it was, and a pervasive energy had started to emanate from him as soon as he'd started his chanting. Now, though, the spasming mana all around him had become visible and it was only with obvious effort that he managed to keep the spell from exploding from his body.
"How close is this thing?" Skandr asked as his face screwed up in frustration. "I can't make it too much longer."
"It is coming now," Muti said as she strode forward. "Straight ahead."
Skandr opened his eyes and checked as, for the first time, a swarm greeted the party. Instead of a single monster or a small group, the drake matriarch sat behind her spawn as dozens of low level drakes burst out of a cave. A roiling sea of scales burst from below, every hue of green, brown, red, blue, black, and white while the matriarch reared behind them, her multicolored head different from those of the other drakes they'd fought. That face wasn't so angular and vicious as the others, instead a softer, rounder shape that seemed to be more motherly. Her limbs were shorter, and though she towered over her progeny, it was obvious that she wasn't a physical fighter, especially as she huffed out a breath that strengthened every one of the monsters that filled the area in front of her.
The Wizard groaned and said, "I've gotta let it out," as the mana all around him roiled even harder.
"Go ahead," Astrid chuckled to herself as she rolled her shoulders and looked at what was in front of her. There were precious few visual differences between the drakes as they grew in level, but what the party had learned through their previous encounters with drakes taught them that these were low Irons, all of them. This was a strength born of numbers and relatively sturdy bodies, and Astrid hefted her hammer as she strode forward to go to battle.
Skandr didn't wait to release the spell, and as the red lightning coursed over his arms and danced towards his fingers, he groaned and tried to make sure it was going towards the guardian. Then, the deep red lightning, not nearly so scarlet as before but still a deadly hue, ripped from his hands and into the drakes that charged forward. Instead of bouncing between the monsters as the lightning usually did, it burned through half a dozen as it lanced towards the matriarch. Scales and flesh were ripped to pieces as the lightning coursed forward. Hollowed out corpses littered the ground between him and the matriarch, though much of the spell's power was consumed in the passage.
When the bolt finally reached the matriarch, it was only a handspan wide, but it smashed into her face and sent her reeling back with a pained screech. Skandr sagged, only staying upright by holding onto Benedict's shoulder. Throwing her head back in the air, the matriarch tried to gather herself, but Astrid turned to the rest of the party.
"Are you ok with these weaklings for now?" She asked.
"Go ahead," Felix said. "I'll keep everyone safe here, but you prioritize the healer, if you can. You've got three charges, right?"
"Yup," Astrid confirmed as she bent low and pushed mana into her legs. With Steady Load's bonuses, her Alacrity was over 300, and none of these beasts, regardless of how they were strengthened by their mother, could stop her. More than regular mana, though, Astrid pushed Power-aligned mana along with Alacrity-aligned mana through her whole body, as well as Fortitude-aligned mana just for good measure. Then, creating a small crater underneath herself with the force of her leap forward, she rushed into battle.
She followed the path Skandr's spell had carved, and the drake that got in her way became nothing more than experience for her as it splattered against her shield. Everything that stood between her and the matriarch died, until she was a few short meters away. There, she saw the matriarch's elites. One drake of each of the colors, six of them, surrounded their mother, and they were all strong enough to pose a threat to Astrid.
At least, if she was taking things easily.
With a shout, she activated Gravity Surge and made all seven of her foes, the fighting drakes and the matriarch, stumble. When the fighting drakes started to recover, Astrid screamed in challenge, spent a charge of Body, and layered another Gravity Surge over everything within five meters. With an additional eight times their body weight weighing them down, the drakes were pushed to the ground once again, and the matriarch went from feebly raising her head to flat on the ground.
As Astrid's Magical Potency had climbed, the Skill lasted almost two seconds, and that was more than enough for her to spend another charge of Body and further stack the deadly blow she had planned for the matriarch. So much of her mana and stamina had been consumed, and she amplified the attack further in the off chance that it wouldn't be enough. Spectre Burst's dark aura covered the head of her hammer as she raised her arm high and swung down.
There was a thunderous boom as her hammer obliterated the monster's head. Astrid's body was covered with pulped flesh as the kill notification flashed in her eyes, and in that single hit, a thought occurred to her.
"Maybe I'm finally seeing the greatest aspects of having an extraordinary rarity Class," she muttered to herself as, with the supporter guardian slain, she decided to retreat to her party's side. The fighting drakes that posed the most threat to her started to regain their feet, but she paid them no mind as she leapt back to be beside her allies, where, once she reentered the space where Benedict's Restful Reverberations helped her recover, she could throw herself once more at the enemies. In the distance, the fighting drakes howled their rage, but she could barely hear it over the sound of Skandr speaking.
"Dammit. I thought I'd finally made an impression of my power on you all."