Chapter 126 - Unleashed

  I turned as Maggie spoke. Something about her voice sounded off, and I wanted to make sure she was okay before pushing on. What I hadn’t expected was to watch her collapse in front of me! I dropped my blade and sped forward, catching her just before she hit the stone floor.

  “What is it? Were you injured?” I asked.

  Maggie shook her head weakly. “No. I think I’m just out of time.”

  Her face twisted in agony, and I knew in that moment she was right. It was the damned curse. The change to werewolf was taking over. Why it was hitting her first instead of me, I didn’t know. Presumably, some of my crystals were giving me some level of protection, but which ones? She already had Stamina and Natural Armor, although not as high tier as mine.

  What about Regeneration, then? I reached into my pouch and scooped up the spare tier three Regeneration stone I had there. I placed it into her hand and watched as it sank into her palm. Maggie’s eyes snapped open and she sucked in a gasp of air.

  “Oh! Wow. That helped, some,” Maggie said. Then her face twisted in pain again. “Only some, though. I’m sorry, Cam. I tried. I think this is it.”

  “I won’t accept that,” I told her. I scooped up my blade from the floor, then hers as well, and stuffed them both into my belt. Then, I picked Maggie back up, cradling her in my arms.

  “What are you doing?” Maggie asked, her voice pained.

  “Saving both of us.”

  Before she could protest, I activated my Flight and shot forward. I’d hoped that by fighting the monsters we ran into along the way, we’d have found a Cleanse spell before then. We’d gotten a bunch of them from the first dungeon run, after all. It made sense we’d find at least one!

  Now, we were out of time. I shot out of the lizard-man chamber, down a dry passage. I had a sense we were coming up on the end of this place. There couldn’t be too many more encounters before we reached the final boss. I had to hope one of them gave us a Cleanse, fast.

  We flew on, speeding down the passage as fast as my Flight and Celerity stones allowed, which was recklessly fast. It was all I could do to keep us on course in the center of the passage as it twisted and bent. All at once, things opened up. The passage grew wider, and I knew we were coming up on another challenge. We rounded the corner, and I found myself in the first familiar space I’d seen since re-entering the dungeon.

  The room ahead of me wasn’t just similar to the final boss room I’d seen on our first run. It was identical. The walls were the same. The floor, too. The ceiling was the same height. Arrayed across the front of the room where there had been fungal sacs the first time were what looked like giant eggs.

  In the back, where the giant fungus boss had been, was what I could only describe as a dragon. It was asleep, loud snores rumbling through the chamber.

  I landed near the turn and set Maggie down. “Hang on, okay? I’m about to fight monsters. If I can find even one Cleanse stone, I’ll cure you. Just hold on.”

  She gave me a weak nod before curling up around herself in pain.

  It was time to kick this fight off. Maggie wouldn’t last much longer without help. I stood back up and drew both of the blades, gripping one tight in each hand. Then I pointed one at the dragon and fired a Lightning Bolt at it. That woke it up! The creature rumbled to life, raising its head to glare at me.

  It was greyish-green in color, similar enough to the crocodile and lizard-men we’d fought. The thing was the size of a small cottage, and it was tier ten. So was I now, of course, but this wasn’t going to be a simple fight. The creature roared, and a dozen of the eggs closest to me shook themselves back and forth. Cracks spread down the egg shells. They broke open, spilling miniature versions of the dragon, each only tier five. The dragonets saw me at once, and rushed at me.

  “Gonna be like that, huh?” I asked, rising into the air with my Flight. Inwardly, I was thrilled. The boss from our first run had a bunch of minions, too. It looked like the dungeon might not copy things exactly from one run to another, but it did re-use some of the same materials.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Some of the fungus minions of the first boss had dropped Cleanse spells. I could only hope the dungeon would mirror that here, as well.

  I fired blasts of Lightning, scorching the first couple, then flew forward so I crashed into the ground dead center in the middle of the rest. I fired another Lightning Bolt, frying two more, and launched myself forward, slicing away with both blades. I whirled, each blade slicing deep into the hatchlings.

  That was six down. There were a lot more of them, though. The dragon continued to roar, rousing more of the dragonets with each cry. How many eggs had there been? At least fifty, I figured. I slashed and cut one down, then made an X with my blades and hacked the head from another.

  One chomped down on my left arm. I stabbed it with the sword in my right, forcing it to release me, then blasted it and the ones behind it with more Lightning. I hadn’t been able to use the Lightning Bolts before, because of all the water. But it was dry here. I was free to unleash everything I had.

  I’d killed eight. Was there a Cleanse waiting for me in one of those bodies? I couldn’t tell while holding two blades, so I threw one of them as hard as I could. It bit into the skull of another dragonet, killing it. Most of my blows were lethal to these creatures. At tier five, they simply didn’t have enough magic to handle blows that landed with tier nine Strength.

  I had one hand free, so I reached down and touched the nearest dragonet body. The stone was clear, so I dropped it. I could recover those later. For now, I needed to look for white stones. I tapped another body quickly and got a grey stone, cursing under my breath as three more small dragons launched themselves at me. I stabbed one, killing it, but the other two clamped their jaws on my leg and arm. I kicked one away, then stabbed the other.

  Their teeth were powerful enough to hurt, but not to break my skin. At least, not easily. I had no doubt if they could overpower me they’d find a way to devour me eventually, even if it meant getting their mom to slice me up into bite-sized pieces, first.

  I touched another dead dragonet and got a clear stone. Tapped two more and found grey and clear. Damn it, where were the white stones? I spared a quick glance over my shoulder. Maggie was still where I’d left her, lying on the ground, hands clutching her chest and abdomen. She wasn’t furry, yet, but I knew that wouldn’t last. I had to hurry.

  More Lightning shot from my hand and the tip of my blade, striking two more dragonets. I was using the spell as quickly as I could, firing it off again every time it reset. There was a limit to how many more times I could cast it, though. My mana was already under pressure. Soon, I’d tap myself out. If I burned too much, it would leave me too weak to keep fighting, so I slowed the spellcasting and switched to relying more on the sword and physical combat.

  I sliced the head from another dragonet, tapped it, and found a white stone! Hoping I’d managed it, I opened my hand to glance at it, but it was just another Heal spell. Before I could drop the thing, it sank into my palm, absorbed into that new slot I’d gained. I’d managed to drop the others before they were absorbed, but holding onto this one the extra time meant I was stuck with it now.

  That was fine. If I found a tier five Cleanse, it would be absorbed into the second ring of that sixth Point. I just needed to find one, before it was too late!

  The bodies turned into a pile in front of and around me as the dragonets continued their mad charge. I stepped up on the heap, using the height to give me a little advantage against them, forcing them to clamber over their dead brethren before they could reach me. I blasted one back with Lightning, sliced another in half with my sword, and punted one clear across the room with a good kick. It still wasn’t enough. There were too many of the damned things!

  I touched one of the bodies, finding another white crystal at last. There was just time to open my palm and see what it was before it sank into my hand, flooding my mind with ‘memories’ of how to use the spell.

  It was Cleanse!

  I’d done it! I had the spell! There wasn’t a second to lose. I activated my Flight again and shot skyward, narrowly dodging bites from a pair of ambitious dragonets. Once I was out of their reach, I shot across the chamber to Maggie’s side.

  She lay there, gasping for breath. Her eyes were wide, her lips pursed. Black veins spread across her skin as I watched. In another moment or two, she’d start sprouting fur, and it would be all over. I wouldn’t be able to Cleanse her, after that.

  “Maggie, I have it!” I said, reaching her side, scooping her into my arms.

  She smiled up at me weakly, then convulsed as the curse entered its final stages. I was touching her now, though. I was close enough to cast, so I channeled mana through my palms until both glowed with brilliant white light.

  That magic flowed into her body. Maggie jerked once, then again, and finally let out a cry of pain as her back arched. Had I been too late? Was it not enough?

  But no, the lines on her face were already fading. Cleanse didn’t just let me remove things like the curse. It also told me something about the status of someone I touched, and just then it was telling me that she was clean. There was no curse, not anymore. I gently laid Maggie back down against the wall and held a hand to my chest, Cleansing my curse, too.

  “We’re free,” Maggie said. “Really free?”

  “Yup. We did it,” I said.

  Then the first dragonet reached me and bit my arm. That stung! I swatted it aside with my other hand, sending it spinning through the air to crash into the rest of them.

  “The fight’s not over yet, though. Don’t suppose you’d like to join me and finish this, would you?” I asked.

  Maggie cast a Heal on herself, then rose. She looked a little unsteady for a moment, but was recovering fast. “Oh, I’d be delighted.”

  “Awesome. Let’s do this,” I said as we turned together to face the boss and its remaining minions.