“Foolish mortal. Know that your body will join the others in our army after your death.” He said, drawing four blades. The two hands by his shoulders drew scimitars. The set immediately below that picked up two small buckler shields. The bottom set had daggers dripping with poison. Not good. Oh, I didn’t care about the poison, that wasn’t an issue. But between his tails and arms, he had eight pointy objects to my one. Plus that additional tail that I didn’t know about. “Oh? You aren’t trembling? Perhaps you shall give me a good fight then. It has been far too long since I’ve been able to test myself.” Shrugging his shoulders, he prepared to battle.

I pulled out my hammerscythe, as the arbalest would just be a hindrance. Let’s see what he does with a ranged opening. “[Dark bolt].” I spoke calmly, avoiding the chant for now. I can always do that when there is a greater chance of doing damage. With a casual grace, he parried the bolt with one of his shields.

“I do hope that you have better skills than that.” He taunted, taking an odd stance. Body angled so I was facing his side to minimize my target area, he had one foot forward. The dagger arms were held at a low angle, ready to pierce my sides with a pincer type strike. One shield was forward, with his sword arm outside of it to provide either extra parrying or carry out a strike. The final sword was behind and above his head.

“[Ice spike][Earthen wave].” He took the initiative, launching a bolt at my chest while causing a rippling wave of earth to move beneath me. I parryied the bolt, but stumbled with the earth wave. As I frantically parried strikes from his scimitars, while trying to avoid getting poked by his daggers and tails.

“[Dancing shadow steps].” I was forced to use my skill to escape, and followed it with a low and horizontal [Reality slash] to keep him from following me. It looked like my avoidance technique needed work, as I guessed I had gotten stabbed at least twelve times in the brief exchange.

“Interesting.” He gloated, running a scimitar blade across his tongue to taste my blood. “You seem to have a poison immunity.” I kept my eyes on him, waiting for an opening. I desperately needed to reduce the number of attack avenues he had, or else he was going to overwhelm me. As I was thinking this, Inkler decided it was time for him to attack. He seemed to materialize from the darkness behind the drow, claws extended to grip him by the shoulder.

I thought for sure it would work. It should have worked. There was no sound, and I kept my eyes glued to the drow’s the entire time. Faster than should be possible, Drul’kaath spun on his heels and raised his arms in defense. The shields blocked Inkler’s claws, while the scimitars crossed at his neck. Using his superior positioning, and Inkler’s own momentum, Drul’kaath slashed sideways with his scimitars and decapitated Inkler. Eyes wide, I froze at the impossibility of what just happened.

“Naughty kitty! Thinking to sneak up on a drow.” He tsked. “That’s no way to get ahead in life.” He chuckled darkly at the end, and that snapped me from my stupor.

“You kill my friend, and make a pun?” I growled. “I’m going to end you slowly.” I promised. “[Dark bolt]!”

“Not this again.” He muttered, casually deflecting the bolt. Unfortunately for him, he had taken the same movements as last time.

“[Binding shadow chains].” I had launched my second attack right as he parried the bolt, and he had no way to evade. Charging in, I severed his left hand with the dagger by striking at the wrist joint. “[Reality slash]!” I snarled as I spun around behind him, targeting where his right arms connected to his body. I didn’t fully manage to sever them, but I know I had to have hit some tendons by the way they flopped a bit. “[Rocket slash][Keen edge].” This time I used a downward angled slash through his him. Luck was smiling on me, as it completely severed his leg. Forced to use a trump card, he shot a string from the central tail and launched himself across the room.

“Aw, that was inspired!” He laughed. “You nearly crippled my entire right side! Unfortunately for you, I can do this.” With a sick cracking noise, two tails on his right side twisted around to form a pseudo leg. The central tail bound them together with webbing to reinforce them. While he was doing that, I started pulling out vials of beetle oil and throwing them at him. He casually blocked them with a shield or sword. “That’s it? Vials of beetle oil? I thought you better than that!”

“[Cold grasp of death].” I said emotionlessly, smiling darkly as his eyes widened in fear. “I’m going to watch you burn.” I threw an inferno potion, watching him flail about in agony. After thirty seconds of screeching, the fires had died down to where I could see and walk closer to the drow. It wasn’t a pretty sight. He was lying on his back, all his tails and extra arms having burned off in the inferno. His skin was charred, and all his hair was gone.

“E. E. En. End. End it. Pa. Please.” He gasped, health in the red.

“As you wish.” Rearing back, I unleashed a mana shockwave from my hammer right in the middle of his face. That done, I looted his body and walked away a bit to deal with notifications.

Your pet has died!

Your pet has died in battle. If you wish, you may resurrect him now for a loss of three of his character levels. For every hour you wait, the cost will drop by one level.

Resurrect? Y/N?

“Take a rest Inkler. I’ll see you in a few hours.” I said, choosing the no option. There was no rush.

Loot

Worn leather pants

Worn leather boots

Drul’kaath family scimitars x2

35 platinum, 17 gold, 22 silver

Magical tablet x1 (quest item)

What the hell? The worn leather pants and boots were the same quality as the armor I had gotten from Boulder. The scimitars were items to build reputation no doubt, which might be useful for the upcoming raid. Now that I think about it, perhaps I was a bit premature in smashing his head. It would have made a lovely drow trophy. Shrugging my shoulders, I headed deeper into the area.

Once again, there were stairs leading down. And down. Eventually it did level off, opening into a large round room. “I heeeeeaaaarrr, a whissssper on the wiiiinnnd.” A breathy voice said. “It speaaaaaaks, of deathhhhhh.” The speaker was a twisting vortex of winds, resembling a four pointed star. Two green eyes peeked out at me.

Endrian

Heroic corrupted air elemental

Level 95

Corrupted by Zandkazaar’s magic when the Solomon’s kingdom fell, Endrian was forced to serve as spymaster for the lich. His ability to see and hear the faintest whispers on the wind make him the ultimate spy.

“Endrian, I presume?”

“Yesssss. Aaaare you heeere. To killlll me? Sssslayer of Ssssolomon?”

“Not if I don’t have to.” I answered. “I assume that was the point of you talking to me?”

“Yesssss.”

“Any plans for that?” I asked, confused.

“With Ssssolomon’s death, Sssandkasssarr’s hold on meeee, hasss weakened.”

“I think I see it. Solomon was connected to all the land’s elementals, so he managed to corrupt you through Solomon. With no direct connection, we can hopefully break his hold on you. Sounds like a good plan, any idea on how to do it?”

“Cleaaaaanse meeeee.”

“Sure thing. [Purging flames].” Throwing a green fireball at the elemental, I watched as it flickered within him for a second, before guttering out. Watching the status of Endrian, I saw his corruption level drop down to 98%, before returning. “Damn, that’s a potent curse.”

“I fellllt it weaaaaken, aaaand return.”

“Yeah, we have to break it all in one go. Is there a way for you to dampen your internal magic for a minute? I have an idea, but would prefer not going blind.” As the elemental complied with my request, seeming to shrink in upon himself, I activated [Mystic vision]. With his natural essence tamped down it was easy to view the black cage of magic that corrupted him. Each node was interconnected, no less than three and no more than five.

“[Purging flames].” I tried again, targeting one of the nodes and receiving a hiss of pain from the elemental. This time I watched as the flames consumed the node and started along the net of connections. Halfway to the adjacent nodes, the flames stopped, guttering as the magic of the net fought back. As the green flame flickered under the assault, it was driven back and overwhelmed. The node reformed, and the corruption count that had dropped to 93% rose back to 100%.

“Thaaat, was mooooossst paaaainful.”

“Sorry. We had a little more progress though.”

“And youuuuuuu, caaaaan breeeaak the curssssse?”

“I’m not sure. Not without a breakthrough. The cooldown for my skill takes too long, the curse will have fully regenerated before I can use it again.”

“Weeeeaaaaakkk.”

“Yes, I am weak. But, if you are able to hold up through some pain, I have a mad plan that just might work.”

“Proceeeeeeed.”

“Dampen your magic again, please.” Once more I activated [Mystic vision], targeting the web of vile energies. This time, I actively tried to alter a spell as I was using it. I had some slight practice overcharging spells, so hopefully this would work. At the exact moment I felt the mana of the spell start to cut off, I started channeling more into it. Making it stronger. Extending it. I managed. For an entire half a second. I let my mana recover, and tried again. And again. And again. Each time causing pain for Endrian, and apologizing. But it was working! Each repetition got longer and longer. Each time, I became more proficient.

“Pleeeeeaaase. Hurrrry.” Endrian’s pained whisper came to me. Steeling myself, I tried one last time. With a flash of green, I found myself on a barren plain.

Etherscape Battle Commenced!

Congratulations Adventurer! You have managed to bind your will into an etherscape battle with a living curse! Whether luck or folly remains to be seen. Here are the rules:

1) Your life here is based upon your mana reserves.

2) Damage accrued will be deducted from your mana

3) Mana is required to be projected here. You will be deducted 3 mana for every 5 seconds.

4) Defeat the curse’s avatar before you run out of mana.

After reading the popup, a blue bar appeared at the top of my vision and slowly started ticking down. In front of me, an entirely black approximation of Endrian formed. I charged in, not wasting any time. It responded by firing blades of air at me. The first hit, taking a small chunk out of my mana. Dodging the rest, I slashed at him. Minimal damage. His winds almost seemed to part around my blade, as if they could do anything they could to avoid a strike. Sensing danger, I leapt backwards. The curse had spread its wind and tried to envelope me!

“Nice try.” I muttered, resting my weapon on the ground. “But you’ll have to be faster than that.” With an ear piercing screech, it lunged toward me with its hands extended. I smiled as it grasped my throat, as it couldn’t escape while trying to kill me. I swung my hammer end into the middle of the creature, using mana to detonate the small parcel of earth I had collected on the end of it.

Rage turned to agony, as the small particles of mana charged dirt tore through the core of the creature. I had lost half of my mana, but the end result was worth it. Massive rents had appeared in the form of the creature, and its labored breathing encouraged me. Time to end this. With a flurry of blows, I started dismantling the creature. It tried to flee, but I was faster. It tried to retaliate, but I could move better. In the end, no matter what it tried, it could only die.

Gasping, I found myself back in front of Endrian. “Did it work?”

“Sssssoooooo clooooose.” Looking with [Mystic vision], I could see that the curse net was gone. The natural magic of Endrian was fighting, desperately trying to prevent a thin cord of darkness from regaining a foothold.

“[Reaper’s edge].” I used the last of my mana, and sliced through the cord. The freed force caused Endrian to stumble backward, and a wail drifted in from some place in the complex.

“Freeeeee. After sooooo llooooonnnng.” He spun in circles a few times, reveling in his freedom. Checking his information, I saw that his race was simply air elemental, no mention of corruption. “Maaaany thannnnnks, adventurerrrrrrr.”

“You’re welcome.” I replied, and got a popup.

Hidden quest completed!

You have saved Endrian from a fate of eternal slavery. In return, he is gifting you with the things he was ordered to protect.

Rewards:

Worn leather bracers

Worn leather gloves

Large wind mana crystal

15 platinum, 7 gold, 3 copper

Magic tablet x1 (quest item)

As I was looking over my gains, Endrian had disappeared. Checking the time, I saw that I had half an hour before I could summon Inkler again without penalty. I decided to sit down and have a small meal while I waited. It would also give my massively depleted mana time to recharge.

“It’s good to see you again buddy.” I said, scratching Inkler’s neck. He started purring, and practically tackled me simply by walking forward. That devolved into us playing around for a while, in the chamber of a recently freed air elemental. Eventually we had to stop. We still had a dungeon to finish after all. “Alright bud. Three generals down. You ready to help me slay a dragon?”

Inkler gave me a toothy grin, and dug some furrows into the ground with his claws. “Heh, I’ll take that as a yes. Come on then, let’s go see what this lich has conjured up, eh?” Simply having him back at my side had restored a lot of the pep in my step, and I felt as close to invincible as I could. Ten minutes later, I was rapidly rethinking that feeling. We had snuck into an absolutely massive treasure room, and the dragon’s skull was as tall as me. His entire body was covered in the same type of plates from the armored lizards, and the stench of foulness was overpowering.

Plaguedeath

Legendary Undead Dragon

Level 100

Fused from the bodies of thousands of creatures, Plaguedeath is a blight upon this world. Technically not a true dragon, do not underestimate his strength. Do you dare to step forward and challenge this menace?