Elsewhere

Duke awoke to system messages:

*** So, you germinated your seed. We’re still not sure how you managed to survive that at your level of power, but so be it. This will prove…interesting.

You have increased your TELEPORTATION Ability to Practiced 33

You have increased your TONGUES Ability to Initiate 4

You have increased your LIGHTNING Ability to Initiate 9

You have increased your CLEANSE Ability to Novice 7

You have increased your IDENTIFY Ability to Novice 6

You have increased your INVENTORY Ability to Initiate 7

Your Seed of Anomy has begun to sprout. What this means for you remains to be seen. Be assured that it will change things for you. ***

Duke roused himself, CLEANSED, and got himself ready for the next foray into the dungeon. Grat and Elaine were both waiting for him in the main room.

“Good morning. You two ready to jump into the second level?” Duke smiled at the pair.

“I would say so. Let’s get…get this show on the road. Did I get it right?” Elaine asked.

“Get this show on the road. But close enough, I guess.” Duke chuckled. “Sam, we’re ready for the second level.”

“Excellent!” Sam responded. The portal to the next level opened and the trio entered.

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The entrance was the same as Duke remembered it. He activated his LIGHT Ability and looked ahead to where the lone trap had hit him. He was easily able to see the glint of the tripwire and pointed it out to the pair. Grat smiled and reached his staff out one-handed to full extension, triggering the tripwire. The spear slamming into the side of the corridor surprised no one.

“That really was the only trap you found?” Grat asked.

“Just that one, but I have to say that I didn’t walk through the entire level. Things happened that brought me to the end of it prematurely. Things I definitely do not want any of us to experience.” An involuntary shudder ran through Duke’s body but he quickly clamped down with his willpower and carried on. Elaine noticed the reaction but declined to comment upon it. They continued down the hall to the first intersection.

“I went left here the first time. Maybe we should go right. If my guess is right, we’ll encounter something to fight that way. It will be a good test of this level’s power level.”

“Sounds good.” Grat responded. Elaine transformed into her bear form and smiled. It was a disturbing smile – too many, too big teeth. Duke shrugged and gestured for her to lead.

She tromped off down the hall, nonchalantly. She made it to the door and comically tried to open it with her massive paw. After struggling with it for thirty seconds, growling the whole way, Grat patter her massive arm (he couldn’t quite reach her shoulder in this form) and gestured that he would open the door.

Elaine moved back and let Grat open the door and prepared to launch her massive bulk through. It was at this moment that they all realized that her bear form was just too big to easily fit through doors in this place. Or, more precisely, the moment when her shoulders got stuck in the doorway. She roared and the sounds of whirling and clicking gears greeted the trio. As Elaine was the only one who could see into the room, the other two waited impatiently for her to either move through the door or come to the same conclusion they had – she was going to have to shift back!

The whirring continued and was greeted with the sounds of an enraged mama-bear and further sounds of combat. Duke and Grat waited, unable to assist. This continued for nearly a minute until Elaine collapsed to the ground in her human form, bleeding from countless cuts about her head and shoulders. Both rushed up to her.

Duke stepped in front to confront the denizens of the room while Grat began to heal his wife. The denizens looked like smaller, clockwork versions of the Red Dwarf Golems that Duke had fought last time on this level. Duke wanted to try fighting them without magic but Elaine was wounded and he would not take any chances. He spread LIGHTNING throughout their ranks, enhancing it with an additional 100 Mana. The LIGHTNING sparked and arced throughout the automatons, sending springs and gears flying like shrapnel all around the room. The numerous pieces that struck him either bounced off of his armor or barely scratched his ARMOR SKIN. Once he was sure they were all down, he turned back to check on Elaine.

Elaine was sitting up, adding her own healing to what Grat was providing. The look on her face was hard to read. It was a cross between frustration, anger, and embarrassment. Duke activated CLEANSE to at least get all the blood off of her and her clothes. She looked up at him and nodded thanks. Grat started to speak but she held a hand up to forestall him.

“No, that was abysmally stupid of me. I let the bear’s spirit take over and blind raged while stuck in a doorway. I deserved to get my face cut to pieces, especially since I couldn’t move my paws through the door at that angle. Thanks for stepping in and helping me out. We need to change the plan in these corridors. I can’t tank through these doorways. The hallways are a bit tight, but workable. The rooms are spacious enough, but the doorways aren’t going to fit the bear through. That was really dumb. I’m sorry.”

“No need to apologize, my love. We learned. No one received lasting damage, and we can adjust our approach now. Right, Duke?”

“Absolutely. That was no worse than what I did the first time through here. I blasted the golems with so much magic that the resulting explosion knocked me clean out. And then things got worse. Way worse. I’ll tank the room entrances for now. You can back me up if there is room to ‘bear out’ and we’ll go from there. I want to try and fight some of these in melee anyway. I rely too much on my magic and that concerns me long-term.”

“That is a valid concern, unless you are taking Baslin’s path. An Archmage is a terrible opponent no matter how much you think you are prepared or how you attack them. Magic is not to be underestimated, but mixing magic and physical attacks can be absolutely deadly.” Grat responded.

“I see. I’ve done it some but let’s see how well I can get it to work in the next few fights. I don’t see an exit from this room, do either of you?” Duke replied. Both shook their heads. “OK, so we go back across the hallway and continue in the direction I started the first time out. There should be a full squad of these things in the next room too.”

The group set out and Grat opened the door this time with Duke stepping in first. Sure enough, there was a group of 10 of the clockwork golems dismounting from the wall and coming towards them when they opened the door. Duke readied the Singing Sword for kicks and charged into the room.

The sword did indeed sing. It sung out a war chant about blood and blades and enemy entrails at a nearly deafening volume. Duke found himself instinctually swinging the sword in time with the song and, for the first time ever swinging a sword, Duke didn’t hit at the wrong angle. The sword struck true against the neck of the first automaton and cleaved right through it! Duke whooped with excitement as he slashed at another one just as easily.

Elaine had charged in at Duke’s left and transformed in mid-strike, nearly flattening another of the automatons. She proceeded to tear into the crowding constructs, tearing huge rents in them with her massive claws. It seemed that transforming with the claws of the previous floor boss’ claws had indeed enhanced her strikes.

Grat, meanwhile had thrown a handful of seeds into the midst of the constructs on the right from which plants instantly sprung up and tangled themselves in their gears and the inner workings. Before Duke could take his third swing, the fight was over. His sword fell silent.

Elaine transformed back and the trio looked around at each other and the destruction they had wrought so quickly and laughed. The tension of the previous fight completely broken.

“Well, that worked.” Grat chuckled.

“I’ll say.” Duke acknowledged.

“Next room?” Elaine asked with a wide smile.

The other two nodded, grinning as well. They proceeded on through the far door, down the hall, and didn’t hesitate opening the next door and charging in. This room passed in largely the same fashion. The automatons did not employ any real tactics such as interlocking their shield and were far slower than Duke had expected. The group tore through them effortlessly. Duke even found himself singing along with his sword. The fear and stress of setting foot on this level had drained from him and he was finally enjoying fighting side-by-side with friends again. It was like he had a pair of wingmen and they were all quickly learning each other’s moves. His mood continued to buoy.

Room by room, hallway by hallway, the story was the same – the trio just tore through the constructs. Eventually, they came to a hallway that spiraled in on itself, ending in a green portal.

“Do we enter?” Grat asked.

“I…guess so.” Duke responded. “I never went through any portals, but I did TELEPORT to the boss in the end. This is probably the way to go.”

They entered the portal and emerged in a 4-way intersection. Each direction went about 20 meters and ended in a door. The hallways were taller and wider than the others had been. Likewise, the doors were considerably larger – large enough to handle Elaine’s transformed bulk. They quickly scanned the area but saw no traps or other dangers. All things being equal, they decided on “that way” being the best path. The moment they set foot off the portal area, the portal winked out and the other three doors swung open and giant automatons charged out.

“Grat left, Elaine right. I have the back!” Duke’s command was barely audible above the din of his sword but the other two leaped into action. Elaine charged down the hall to mee the giant’s charge. Grat threw seeds out, growing plants as fast as he could. Duke didn’t hesitate and launched a 500 Mana FORCE BOLT back at the giant construct. He normally would use his go-to, LIGHTNING but that had been causing the constructs to explode. He didn’t want that much shrapnel spraying back down the hall.

The FORCE BOLT struck first, shattering the giant and punching clean through its chest with a hole the size of Duke’s torso. It collapsed with an earthshaking crash, spilling parts down the hallway. Duke turned to check on his companions. Elaine was trading blows with the construct in her hall and seemed to have the upper hand. Grat, on the other hand, was struggling as the construct had raced past his plants and vines as they grew to a useful size. The plants were just barely holding it back from crushing the druid. Grat for his part was parrying blows as best he could with his staff. Neither he nor his staff seemed to have enough strength to hold up, it seemed.

Duke leapt over Grat allowing his full strength to propel him three meters in the air and forward, over the man’s head. He brought his sword down on the giant construct’s head with the sound of a tremendous gong. His momentum carried him forward into the unyielding metal of the giant and bounced him back on top of Grat. They went down in a tumble of limbs as the giant construct tore free of the vines now that Grat’s concentration had been broken.

Duke struggled to the top of the pile, making sure he took the brunt of the construct’s next blow. It hurt and would likely have smashed Grat flat. Duke, however, was much higher level and had enough Health to soak up the blow. Physics, however, still didn’t work in his favor. Duke went flying, bouncing off the wall and landing in the middle of the portal landing.

Duke’s heart nearly stopped as he saw the giant construct lift its massive foot and stomp down on Grat. The cracking and splintering sound that accompanied the blow nearly froze Duke. He heard the ursine scream of rage from behind him as he was tossed aside in Eliane’s charge to get to her love. She slammed into the giant construct with the momentum of a freight train, slamming it backwards and savagely tearing into it, shredding metal parts from it with every swipe. It, likewise, slammed metallic claws into her and the pair strained and struggled against each other.

Duke ran to Grat’s side to see him virtually unmoving, bleeding, and wheezing blood. His hands were clasped around the splintered stub of his staff that was planted against the floor next to him. He must have used it to try and stop the giant’s stomp. Splinters from the staff stuck out of his body like quills of a porcupine. Duke’s IDENTIFY Ability triggered unconsciously and he saw that Grat was dying, his Health in the teens with a Bleeding condition that would end him in seconds if he didn’t stop it.

Duke mentally scrambled. He had no healing Abilities. He had his REGENERATION. Why would he need a healing Ability?

Grat burbled out a final few words that would have been completely unintelligible if not for Duke’s XENOGLOSSIA Ability. “Tell Elaine that I’m sorry that I never was able to give her a child.”

“NO!” Duke screamed. He had lost too much already. His whole world was gone and now one of his only friends was breathing his last right before him and he could do nothing about it. Nothing! He poured all of his considerable will into denying the reality before him. He screamed down to his soul. This could not happen! And then Duke felt something shift inside of him. Something deep inside sprouted and CHANGED.

Duke’s consciousness wavered as every drop of his Mana poured out of him in a river, infusing Grat’s body. Grat’s shallow, gurgling breathing eased. His ribs reformed from the shattered ruin they had been. Bones reknit, skin regrew, and internal organs reformed. Grat gasped a full lungful of air and began breathing again as Elaine landed in human form next to the pair. Duke’s head swam and slowly steadied as his Mana began to regen.

“Grat! By the Sacred Tree! You live!” Elaine wept over her husband.

“By the grace of the Mother, I do yet live. I breathed my last and yet I live. How can this be?”

“Duke. Duke did it. I don’t know how, but he did. You were beyond Nature’s ability to heal you. I tried. By the Trees, I tried.”

Duke sat back against the wall, recovering. He had a system message blinking which was odd since they usually waited until he slept unless it was something entirely new or critically important. He read the message.