Seth drew Colossus and Nightmare from his teardrop necklace; the soft thuds of the direwolf’s paws and the sharp screech of the scorpion’s clawed legs against the stone floor broke the silence of the place.
'Alright, Colossus,' Seth began before pointing to the orb, 'this will summon a beast for us to fight. It’ll also put a protective barrier around each of us. It’s to test ourselves, so don't hold back. The moment the fight starts, I want you to cast Sandstorm Dome.'
'To test it against that beast?' Colossus asked, his large, multi-faceted eyes fixed on the orb.
'Exactly,' Seth answered.
'You’ll see, those orbs don’t summon real beasts,' Nightmare added, circling the large scorpion. 'They’re more like… aether puppets. But that small demon one is still strong. Don't underestimate it.'
Colossus dipped his head for an answer.
Seth took out his sleek combat gauntlets from his Endless Pouch and slid them onto his hands. After securing them with the straps, he took a deep breath and stepped forward to touch the orb, selecting the One-Horned Imp on the list. He and Nightmare had beaten the Rank-50 summon many times in the past, but it was only because of Shadow Step and Phantom Punch. Without those they would have never won.
The swirling aether inside the orb flared. Instantly, luminous particles coalesced around Seth, Nightmare, and Colossus, weaving together to form a shimmering, translucent layer over each of them.
Instead of their usual aggressive charge, Seth and Nightmare braced themselves, taking up positions on either side of the massive scorpion. Ahead, on the large white cross painted on the floor, aether began to gather and solidify with astonishing speed.
A few seconds later, the One-Horned Imp appeared.
Just like the last time they had faced it a month ago, Seth's core stirred awake and shot its familiar energy throughout his body. The creature was as small as in his memories, but it still exuded an overwhelming aura of power and death.
The demon floated just above the stone floor on leathery wings, its dark crimson skin lined with cracked veins of brighter red. A single, twisted horn of obsidian bone spiraled from its forehead. In its three-clawed hands it held the same golden trident, the prongs fizzing with a sheath of dark, crackling aether.
Without hesitation, Colossus stomped his heavy legs. Aether surged through his massive frame, building for two seconds before erupting outward in a shimmering burst. Almost instantly, a nearly invisible dome of swirling sand formed and distorted the air with its warmth.
The imp tilted its horned head, its glowing eyes inspecting the barrier for a moment. Then, it raised its trident and three crackling purple fireballs immediately sprang from the tines before hurtling toward them. The projectiles crashed into the invisible dome with three distinct thumps.
Seth and Nightmare instinctively flinched and took a step back, but the scorpion’s spell held. The fireballs simply exploded against the swirling sand, and not even a single ripple of the spell's heat reached the trio inside.
The imp’s face contorted with what seemed to be anger. It then let out a furious screech and violently flapped its wings before thrusting its trident forward again. This time, a large, spiraling lance of purple flames surged from the weapon. The spell crossed the distance in a flash and slammed into the dome of sand, the scorching fire washing over the barrier in a wave of purple light.
Yet, once again, Colossus’ barrier didn’t budge.
"Holy shit!"
Seth felt his jaw almost drop to the floor. Those were the spells of a Rank-50 beast with a hundred-sixty-six Arcane Power and a Silver-Tier potential. He’d fought it countless times before, and he knew from experience those spells could shred him and Nightmare with a single hit. For Colossus’ spell to absorb those as if they were nothing… it’s even stronger than I imagined!
Before Seth could even finish processing everything, the small demon, now thoroughly enraged, unleashed two more quick volleys of purple fireballs, six in total, that hammered Sandstorm Dome.
"Is that all you’ve got, ugly little runt?" Nightmare said aloud, his aether voice echoing through the chamber. "Must feel awful to be so wea—"
Before the direwolf could finish, the small demon let out a piercing scream and channeled aether once more into its golden trident. This time, the lance of fire that burst forth burned even brighter than the previous spells and tore through the air with blistering speed to ram into the dome.
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For a heartbeat the two spells battled, heat and sand grinding against each other in a furious clash. But then, with a low thrum, Colossus’ barrier gave way. The swirling sand crumbled, falling in harmless wisps to the stone floor.
"Let's go!" Seth shouted, dashing forward while Nightmare hesitated for a second before bolting after him.
Raising his fist, Seth pushed aether into Night Veil’s grooves and a thick, dark roiling smoke poured out from him and rapidly expanded to engulf the chamber in a light-swallowing darkness.
The One-Horned Imp, reacting instantly to the loss of sight, shrieked and shot a purple lance of flames straight at Seth’s charging form. Seth dashed to the left, and the weapon of fire seared past him. As he kept running, he then summoned Iron Fists’ hard stones, which encased his hands and forearms without slowing him down.
At his side, Nightmare launched his own attack by casting Chains of Darkness. The silhouette of a wolf leapt from the direwolf’s maw and pounced at the imp. The ethereal form then turned into writhing black tendrils covered with thorns that ensnared the small demon and bound its limbs.
The One-Horned Imp immediately screeched in pain while Seth seized the opening to strike.
Reaching the demon, he drove his rock-clad fist into its chest, punching it down with all his strength. The imp slammed hard onto the gray floor, and Nightmare was on it the next second, his fangs sinking deep into the creature’s shoulder. Shadow Bite billowed from his maw and began to eat its way through the Imp’s red flesh.
The small demon let out an agonized cry, and violent purple aether began to crackle around it.
Seth and Nightmare, already anticipating the imp’s next move from their previous fights, pivoted toward Colossus’ looming shadow to teleport away. But midway through his turn, Seth felt it: a sudden tingle behind his eyes, a strange pull.
Not just toward Colossus’s shadow—but to all of the area covered by Night Veil.
The thick darkness of the spell wasn’t just a visual barrier; it was a seamless web of Darkness aether, woven together by the same threads. In that moment he knew he could leap anywhere within the spell with Shadow Step.
He glanced at Nightmare, whose crimson eyes widened, having probably realized the same thing. Without a word, they both activated Shadow Step, but instead of aiming for the same spot, they reappeared at two different points on the edge of the black fog.
A second later, a devastating cyclone of purple flame erupted outward from the Imp, engulfing the space where they had just been standing an instant before. The moment the firestorm sizzled out, Seth dashed back in and poured aether into Phantom Punch’s grooves.
The small demon, seemingly sensing the massive spike in his aether signature, spun toward him, its trident already glowing. But before it could unleash its spell, Colossus, who had been charging forward, slammed his heavy claws together. A deep hum echoed through the chamber and caused the Imp’s head to forcefully snap toward the scorpion.
This was all Seth needed.
The large, skeletal fist of teal aether materialized around his stone-clad forearm as he lunged forward and rammed his gauntlet square into the Imp’s side. The impact was devastating: ribs shattered beneath the force and the small demon was sent hurtling across the chamber like a cannonball.
It crashed into the far wall with a sickening crack. The small creature tried to push itself up, wings fluttering weakly while its small legs dangling uselessly beneath it.
Before the demon could lift off, Nightmare was there. In a blur of shadow, he pounced and clamped its tiny throat between his jaws before tearing it apart and causing the Imp’s body to dissolve into a swirl of fading light.
As the last glowing particles vanished into nothingness, Nightmare immediately trotted over to Colossus, his crimson eyes gleaming. 'Your barrier is absurdly strong, Small Bite!'
Colossus’s three large tails immediately began to move back and forth, a wave of pure happiness radiating through Link. 'Tha-ank you!'
Seth smiled while looking at the two of them. It was great to see Nightmare being so encouraging toward their new partner. If Seth had to take a guess, the direwolf’s ease of dealing with his natural jealousy was a direct result of Colossus’s Guardian-like specialty. The scorpion was built to take hits and protect the direwolf while he attacked. Colossus was a perfect, synergistic match for a glass-cannon attacker like Nightmare.
I wonder, though, if he’ll still act the same when Colossus inevitably surpasses us in Rank, Seth thought.
The scorpion had taken basically a month to get where it had taken Seth and Nightmare five. With his Gold potential and the Heart of Brown-Peak Mountains inside his teardrop, it was only a matter of time for him to outrank them.
Nightmare turned his attention back to Seth. 'Summon a Silver-Tier beast next.'
"Hell no," Seth instantly shot back. "We only won against that Imp and the Gale-Hawk back in the forest, because they were casters. They both had terrible Toughness, which makes them a perfect matchup for us. Even if we went against a high-Iron offensive brawler, we'd get our asses kicked."
'Nah,' Nightmare scoffed. 'Show me the list of puppets… please.'
Seth rolled his eyes and put his hand on the training chamber’s orb, projecting the list into their air.
[...]
Aquamancer Fishlord - Rank 57 (High-Iron)
Cave Golem - Rank 58 (High-Iron)
Blazing Eagle- Rank 59 (High-Iron)
Skeleton Knight - Rank 60 (Peak-Iron)
[...]
'Ooh, that one!' Nightmare exclaimed after a moment. 'Let’s take on that Rank-60 skeleton thing! '
"Rank 60? You only picked it because it's the highest one there, didn't you?"
'And? We can’t do half-assed training! Not with your little exhibition fights in just two days!'
Seth sighed, knowing Nightmare was right: they needed to push their limits. "Fine."
As they waited for the chamber's mandatory six-minute cooldown, the silence returned. Seth tried to imagine what a Skeleton Knight would even look like. He pictured something far more formidable than the shambling Skeletons Sentinel he’d read about in his encyclopedia. Finally, a soft glow rose in the altar’s orb, and he turned to his companions. 'Ready?'
'Yeah!' Nightmare exclaimed, his excitement palpable.
'Yes,' Colossus answered, moving closer to Seth.
Seth stepped forward and touched the orb on the altar one more time, and the swirling aether inside brightened.
As their protective aether barriers formed once again, Nightmare immediately dashed to the side, vanishing into Illusionary Emptiness. Seth glanced at Colossus as the two of them advanced together. 'You can activate Desert Aegis right away,' he said. 'We’re probably going to need it.'
Just as the brown aether appeared around Colossus' shell and Seth’s body, a new figure materialized on the white cross on the floor ahead.
It was easily six feet tall, and unlike Skeleton Sentinels—which were made of yellowed bones—its frame was built with polished white osseous matter that almost glowed under the chamber’s light. A full suit of archaic, black plate armor encased most of its skeletal body, while a tattered, spectral cape drifted from its shoulders, swaying as if caught in a breeze that wasn’t there.
In its gauntleted hands, it held a massive, double-edged greatsword that crackled with the same teal aether as Phantom Punch. Its head was an elongated skull, and deep within its hollow sockets, two malevolent purple lights flared to life before locking on Seth, who immediately cast Intermediate Identify.
Seth took a deep breath; the sheer power radiating from the summon pressed down on him and caused his core to throb fiercely in his chest. He flexed his hands.
"Alright," he began as Iron Fists’ stone spread around his forearms. "Let’s try to kill that thing."
(NOT UPDATED):
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