A Dungeon’s Survival

Vie

“Ready?” our queen asked.

Yes.

“Yep!”

“Begin!”

At her words, the battle commenced. I immediately began to move, and so did the Plated Gator we were facing. This time was going to be different.

I didn't head toward my opponent in a straight path. Instead, I swerved back and forth as I advanced. As I moved, muddy soil flew into the air in my wake. It was the result of my newfound speed. I noted that I could probably use it for cover if the situation called for it, but my thoughts didn't dwell on that for more than a moment. Instead, my focus was on the battle.

My adversary opened its gaping maw in preparation for our first exchange. That was my cue. I lunged toward it, my path leading me directly toward the cavern of deadly teeth that was its mouth. Then, right when I was about to reach it, I cast a spell, Shadow Surge.

I wasn't against the use of magic in general, and I definitely wasn't above using it. It wasn't my specialty; that was true. I preferred to leave most of the casting to my sister, but it was still a tool I had at my disposal, and I wasn't normally one for squandering my advantages. What my issue had been last time was with my inability to harm the thing with physical attacks and the sense of uselessness that instilled within me.

I was not going to use magical damage to bypass its defense in this fight, and my sister wasn't going to either. We were going to kill it through other means. That meant neither of us would be using Shadow Blast, but magic that enhanced our mobility was fair game as far as I was concerned. We were going to make use of all of the tools we had available to us besides the one that would outright trivialize the fight. That way, we could overcome the challenge before us and use it as an opportunity to grow.

With that being our plan, I used the spell, and we sank into the shadows. Just then, our ability, Shadow Cloak, came into play. The innate ability of our kind caused shadows to cling to us, and the spell we cast let us move through shadows. Combined, there was almost nowhere we couldn't go. As long as there wasn't too much light, we could always be wherever we wanted to be.

We darted through the shadows in this way. The ease at which we moved made it feel almost like we were being pulled to our destination rather than making our way there through our own efforts. The mouth of our opponent was quickly approaching. Right before we reached it, we arched upward, re-emerging above our foe. Its teeth snapped together below us, but we were nowhere near that zone of death. We were safely landing on its back.

The first thing I did after securing my grip on the beast was to bite at its scales. The result was a mere scratch. There was no real damage left behind, yet that alone was an immense improvement. I felt its body begin to lurch, but I wasn't going to back off without gathering at least one more piece of crucial information.

I cast another spell. This time it was Shadow Enhancement. The spell used magic to enhance a weapon or body part. I couldn't use weapons, so the target of my magic was my fangs. Unlike Shadow Blast, the increased damage it provided was physical, meaning the armored monster resisted it. It would do no immense amount of damage, but an increase in power, no matter how small, was still invaluable in a fight.

With the spell active, I bit down again. I could feel the scale crack under my fangs this time, but even if I were to break through it, it would be far too much of an ordeal to get to the creature's flesh beneath. I stood little chance of injecting it with venom like that. That was fine. I was only benchmarking the increases in our power anyway.

It was then that the creature we were perched on top of began to roll. I felt it move and knew: if we didn't put distance between it and ourselves immediately, we would die. For as strong as we had gotten, we were still painfully frail. It wouldn't take much for us to die, so we had to move. I didn't need to pull us into the shadows, though; my sister took care of that. Before I could even attempt to use the spell, we were already within the darkness, and a moment later, we were re-emerging a short distance away from the monster.

It will be tough, but this is doable.

“Yeah, we've got this! What's the plan?”

My sister's constant presence and optimism brought me comfort. We would do this.

We tear into its belly. It should be possible now.

“Got it!”

The Plated Gator did not wait for us to strategize. It was already rolling back in our direction. Pee pulled us back into the shadows so that we could cross over to the other side of it safely. Once we exited the shadows, I began to search for the perfect opportunity to strike.

Shadow Surge didn't have a cooldown. Practically, the only limiting factor we had to worry about when using it was its mana cost, and both of our mana pools had grown substantially. Between the two of us, we could use the spell over twenty times with full mana. We would be waiting for nearly a full day to get all of it back after, but we could do it. The only thing keeping me from using the spell in that moment was my inability to use multiple at once.

I still had Shadow Enhancement active. I couldn't use Shadow Surge without dropping it. I could have done that easily, but I would have had to wait for the five second cooldown on it to run out before I could reactivate it. I didn't want to risk needing it in those five seconds, so I let my sister handle our mobility for the moment.

Soon, the beast finished its roll and was landing back on its feet. It wasn't exactly an opening, but from my prior experience fighting one of these and some lesser versions of the species, I knew it was the best we would get.

Now!

At my word, my sister pulled us back into the shadows. As we re-emerged, I activated an ability. That was the main difference between spells and abilities from what I could tell. There were also some smaller nuances, but the biggest thing I had noticed was that, while an individual could only cast one spell at a time, my sister and I each being able to cast them separately aside, as many abilities as someone wanted could be activated simultaneously.

Mutant Surge!

With the ability activated, our power increased substantially, but we put ourselves on a timer. We had thirty seconds of increased stats, but after that, we would be weakened for what would likely be the rest of the battle. We had to make that time count.

Appearing below the monster, we struck. Lunging, our magically enhanced fangs bit into its stomach. It was still armored there, but it was lighter armor than on its back. I ripped away at the scales in my mouth and bit into it again in the same spot. I wasn't through the layer of armor yet, but I kept going.

Seconds passed, and my fangs found flesh. I injected the monster with my mixture of venoms. My Viper Venom would ravage its body, putting it on a timer to finish this fight as well. Then, my Necrotic Venom would reduce its ability to heal, something that wasn't overly useful due to it not having any extra healing capabilities. Lastly, my Anti-Immune Venom would exacerbate the effects of both of the other venoms. With my opponent's stats, the last wasn't likely to make much of a difference, but it couldn't hurt.

No sooner than I got my one successful attack off, it dropped.

“Eh?” I heard beside me as my sister echoed my own thoughts and my mind raced to catch up.

The Plated Gator was trying to crush us under its weight. The distance between us and the ground was short. My sister clearly hadn't even comprehended what was happening, and there was only a fraction of a second to react. I, without a moment of hesitation, dropped Shadow Enhancement and activated Shadow Surge. I felt the ground on my belly and an immense weight on my back. Then, there was only darkness.

[You have gained a level in Evasion!]

A second later, we materialized next to the Plated Gator. I was on high alert. My body ached, and adrenaline coursed through me. I doubted I could have reacted that quickly under normal circumstances. The only reason I was likely able to then was because my mind, agility, and will, the stats responsible for my thinking speed, reaction speed, and magical control, were all benefiting from an extra twenty percent. It had been just enough for me to manage it.

How many effective bites did you get in? I asked after a second or two, needing a moment to collect myself.

“Two,” came my sister's response.

It was more than I had managed, likely thanks to her higher soul stat increasing the potency of her Shadow Enhancement slightly more than mine did. That didn't matter much. What did was that we had gotten three doses of venom off. With our vitality, the stat that determined our venom's potency, that should have been enough to kill our enemy in a handful of minutes time, even with its high fortitude counteracting it.

Going back in to inflict it with more venom would have been an unnecessary risk. Our best option was to wait it out, even if that meant we would need to do so for several minutes with reduced stats. It was entirely doable. Once Mutant Surge ran out, we would be left with forty-six points of agility. That was still more than we had the last time we faced it.

Shadow Surge! Shadow Surge!

We couldn't afford to let our guard down. Even if we had a lot of mana available to us, that only translated into so many uses of the spell. Each use bought us time, but it was a race between the beast's health and our mana pools. The victors would be decided by which gave out first.

We retreated and kept our distanced until the beast managed to close in. Then, we Shadow Surged away. That exact scenario repeated itself time and time again. The thing was angry and had seemingly thrown caution to the wind as it did everything in its power to kill us. That meant the time between our Shadow Surges was short.

Our mana pools dwindled and eventually ran out. Luckily, by that point, our opponent was having trouble walking, let alone charging at us. It stumbled and crashed as it tried in vain to catch us. All we had to do at that point was keep ahead of it, and that wasn't too hard. Eventually, a pair of messages popped up in our fields of vision.

[Plated Gator (Level 5) slain! No experience gained.]

[Achievement gained: Tyrant!]

We had done it. We had broken through its defenses and won. I felt an immense surge of pride at that. We had even earned a new achievement for our queen. I had no clue what it did, and I didn't bother checking it. There was something far more pressing in the moment than that.

“We did it!” my sister cheered.

Our queen, we have defeated our opponent. Never again will we let your life come into danger. We shall protect you, no matter what.

“Well done,” she congratulated us.