A Dungeon’s Survival

Sean

“Keep your guard up. This place is dangerous.”

I heard Fable's voice over the still-present screeching that filled the room before I saw her. Immediately, I snapped my head to the side. She'd managed to sneak up on me while I'd been distracted killing another Shadow Viper. Somehow, she'd gotten within a foot of me before I noticed her.

“Where are the others?” I half shouted after the instant of shock her presence caused me had passed.

“They're safe. Hurry. I don't want to stay in this room any longer than necessary.”

With that, she grabbed me by the arm and began pulling me along. Shortly after, I realized something I should've probably already noticed.

“Hey,” I began, “Why isn't the fire reaching us?”

The fire around us, as far as I could tell, filled the entire room. Prior to meeting back up with Fable, I'd been forced to walk through the flames to a certain extent. Now, however, they'd abated somewhat. That wasn't to say they'd extinguished everywhere, far from it, but in a small area surrounding and moving along with us, not a single ember remained.

“On our ten and three,” she shouted in place of an answer.

It took me a moment to realize what she meant, but once I did, I took a step forward. I waited a second. Then, as soon as the first one exited the flames I struck.

Faint surprise filled me as the lizard resisted my strike far more than I'd expected it to. That didn't stop me from slicing it in half, but it was odd. Not letting that get to me, however, I swiftly turned and struck the down the second one as well. With that done, I scanned my surroundings only to realize something else that had changed.

The fireballs stopped.

From the moment I'd been separated from the others, fireballs had started streaking toward me. Now, just like the flames that had been lapping at my legs, they seemed to have vanished entirely. As for why that was, I soon got my answer.

“Anti-Fire Field,” Fable said as though the meaning was clear.

“Anti-Fire Field?” I repeated, not fully comprehending.

“Yes. It is a spell, a costly one, so I would appreciate it if we could pick up the pace.”

“Right.”

Following her lead, we continued onward, our speed only hindered by the heavy brush we were stuck traversing. It didn't take long for us to reach a stone wall, though, and as soon as we did, Fable wordlessly began to scale it in an impressive display of acrobatics. At her heels, I made to do the same, but that was when the second pair of flying reptiles attacked.

Piercing Light!

I acted before thinking, loosing a blast of light from the tip of my sword. That was only enough to handle one of the two reptiles, however, and the second zipped straight through the air toward my companion. In response, she thunked it over the head with her staff. Visibly, I could see her recoil, but compared to the Horned Draco, she came out of the exchange the clear victor.

A moment later, the monster's lifeless body came crashing to the ground beside me. I followed it with my eyes, which turned out to be a mistake. Had I still been focused on my ally, I might've been able to make out the warning through the movement of her lips. Instead, I only caught the slightest trace of sound from her, the rest drowned out by the continuous screeching, “B–nd y–!”

“Huh?”

My head snapped toward her, and a moment later, it came. From within the wall directly in front of me darkness erupted too fast for me to react. Pitch-black claws struck out at me as a broken, grating, and completely inhuman scream of anguish rang out.

“Freeze!” a woman's voice, as ethereal as it was harsh and authoritative washed through my mind, and I couldn't help but to both obey and marvel at the master's indomitable will.

Wait, that's not right!

It took only a moment to realize those weren't my own feelings. They were cold, detached, and, most significantly, unintelligent. It was an impulse, an instinct, but for the briefest of moments, I couldn't defy it, and that was when it struck. I didn't know what hit me, I just knew something did, and it sent me crashing into the wall in front of me with enough force to crack it.

Winded and head spinning, I toppled over backward a moment later. In my daze, I couldn't fully parse what I was witnessing. There was what, in retrospect, had to have been a pillar of lightning that came crashing down right next to me. There were also several fire balls that impacted me directly. Then, there was clarity.

“Get up,” Fable's voice reached my ears, “You should be fine now, but I'm not strong enough to climb while carrying you.”

I shook my head clear and made to do as she said. A few moments later, we were back atop the path that ran its way through the length of the room and stumbling our way out of a noticeably windy exit. On the other side of it, the scene of a normal, mundane cave met my eyes. There was no more raging inferno or the dense smoke that accompanied it, and the unbearable heat gave way to something that was only uncomfortable. As soon as we'd cleared the Dungeon's second room, I collapsed to my knees, trying desperately to catch my breath.

“Ugh. What happened?” I wheezed.

“Something leaped out of the wall and hit you before dying. It was the same manner of creature I glimpsed when we arrived at this place but weaker. It was also the same as what blinded us when we entered this room. Actually, you'd already run ahead by that point.”

“Ah. What happened after that?”

“One of those Horned Dracos, most likely a static monster, struck you from behind. I tried fighting the same one before I found you. It was too fast and powerful, however. It got away.”

“Something that small hit me that hard? Ugh,” I shuddered, “What's something like that doing in this place?”

“I'd much like to know the same.”

* * *

Vie

They're slow, I informed my sister,

“Yes?” she agreed, not comprehending the deeper meaning of my words.

We'll stay mobile. Hit-and-run tactics only. We're turning this into a battle of attrition.

“Um, I don't think we're outlasting the big guy! We can't even hurt him, can we?”

No, I answered immediately, but we don't need to.

“What?”

We were outmatched. That much was undeniable. Unless we used Mutant Surge, I doubted anything we could do would even be capable of harming the giant, not that being slightly stronger for all of thirty seconds was likely solve anything anyway. Also, going down that route would've meant severely weakening ourselves for the rest of this invasion. That wasn't something we could resort to yet. Our queen still had need of us.

That wasn't to say there was no path to victory, though. The giant was strong, nigh invulnerable even, and if what we'd just overheard was to be believed, he was also capable of regenerating any injury we did manage to inflict. Against an opponent like that, we stood no chance.

The human seemed to be the exact opposite of the massive man in every way, though. He was physically weak, unarmored, and if the insult, “fool with a death wish,” meant what I

thought it did, extremely frail. What he did have, however, was immense magical might, and that made him dangerous. The single spell we'd seen him use was enough to establish that fact.

Clearly, rather than precision, skill, or anything else, the man relied on wide-ranging attacks with overwhelming power behind them. That meant he was vulnerable to us. It also made him the most dangerous kind of opponent we, who likewise couldn't take a hit, could face.

In fact, the pair as a whole were similar to us in a number of ways. The giant, much like myself, was focused on melee combat, and his ally, similarly to Pee, was a dedicated mage that could watch his back and provide ranged support. They covered each other's weaknesses just as we did, but unlike us, they lacked coordination and trust. If they shared any kind of bond at all, I couldn't see it. That, along with how painfully slow the two moved, was something we could leverage to our advantage, and it would be key to us winning this.

Sister, I began, we can do this, but I need you to support me to the best of your ability. Don't worry about attacking. Just help to keep us alive however you can. Spare spare no expense on Shadow Surge, and tell me if the mage tries anything too dangerous.

“Got it!” she responded without hesitation

It didn't even matter to her if she understood my plan. She trusted me without question, just as I did her. That was our strength, and that was their weakness, and thanks to it, I knew we could come out on top. There was just one more thing we needed first, though I was loath to ask for it.

Just one moment, I informed my sister.

Then, I reached out to another, Our queen, can you spare a moment?

“Vie? What is it?” she answered immediately, panic in her voice but attentive nonetheless.

Can you do without the last Shade Lurker going forward?

“Um, probably? It depends. What do you need?”

Phase.

My words were met with silence, and for a brief moment, I worried I'd asked for too much. Then, I received a System notification.

[Aspect of the Shade Lurker gained: Phase!]

Our queen, thank you.

“You've got this,” she reassured us before saying, “I need to go now, though. Good luck!”

With a mental confirmation sent to her, I turned back to my shocked sister and stated plainly, We're going.

“Um, okay!?”

With that, we sprung into action. Fortunately, our enemies' bickering had stalled them momentarily, but once they'd resolved their issues, they'd hastily retreated back the first room, the massive, heavily armored man having made quick work of the boulders blocking their path. Their evident distaste for each other had bought us the time we'd needed to regroup, but that time was over now, and both parties knew it.

“It's over there!” the demanding voice of the mage rang out as we approached through the hidden tunnels..

Magic Sense! I noted in frustration.

That was going to make things more difficult, but so far, his proficiency with the ability had proven lackluster. The thought crossed my mind that maybe we could take advantage of that. First, however, we needed to probe for reactions.

At full speed, I burst from a hole in the ceiling. Immediately, I spotted a blast of magic, already in motion, coming our way. That was to be expected, though, predictable even.

Shadow Surge!

I responded to the threat immediately. It was easy to dodge, at least for the most part. I still felt a wave of discomfort from the freezing cold that rippled out from where the spell detonated, but if nothing else, we'd escaped unharmed. I also learned something crucial in the seconds that followed. The mage was relentless.

The man scarcely waited until his first attack had failed before launching a massive icicle at us. Pee carried us out of the way of that one with a cast of her own Shadow Surge. Then, it was my turn once more. We wouldn't be able to keep that up forever, but for a short time, it proved incredibly effective.

Shadow Surge!

I carried us out of the way of a blast of frost.

“Shadow Surge!”

Pee pulled us out of the way of another icicle.

Shadow Surge!

I barely dragged us out of an implosion of frost in time.

Like that, we took turns using the spell to evade the hail of attacks the mage sent our way until–

“–Vie!” my sister shouted to me, “That spell is dangerous!”

Had she not warned me, I wouldn't have known to expect it. To my eyes, the spell the man was casting looked no different than any other. I wasn't even sure how she could tell, but that was her area of expertise, not mine, and I trusted her.

Okay, I acknowledged her warning as I sprung into action.

This was it. I'd been carefully keeping us within the general area we needed to be in while we dodged attacks in preparation for this moment, and now that the time had come, I positioned us right where we needed to be. Moving in a clear, straight line, slow enough that I was sure he wouldn't miss, I prepared myself for what I needed to do and waited. From the fury and indignation in the man's eyes, I was certain we were all there was in the world to him in that moment, which was exactly what I'd been hoping for. A moment later, he released the spell.

Phase!

The instant the mage thrust his staff forward, I wasted no time in activating our new ability, and with it, I dove straight into the ground. As I did so, my mana rapidly began to deplete. Still, it was worth it, and I immediately knew that to be the case. The System made sure of that.

[You have gained a level in Tactics!]

[Achievement gained: Advanced Authority!]

[You have gained a level in Tactics!]

I didn't bother reading the notifications. I didn't have time to. In a matter of seconds at best, I knew Phase would drain me of everything I had to give. Then, it would deposit us in solid stone. Before that could happen, I had to surface, and when I did, nothing but ice and destruction remained.