A furious bellow echoed through the dim and arid obsidian tunnels of the [Raving Depths], briefly overpowering the mana-conjured background of eternal screams and wails. The hound leapt forward, the last of its three eyes a malign crimson, and crashed heavily into the armored form that moved in front of its attacker. The guardian grunted as the heavy beast collided with his shield but held his ground.

Blood burning crimson dripped down its muzzle as it stumbled back, stunned by the impact. It shook its head, growling in anger and anguish and tensing to leap once more. The shieldbearer dropped to a knee for a frozen spear to whistle over his head and curve down, embedding itself into the hound’s shoulder with a thunk.

Not allowing the staggering monster to recover, the party fell upon it. The hound’s original attacker stepped out from behind her protector and the bladed whip in her hand flashed. A blade of wind sliced along the Flare Hound’s flank, carving a deep gouge. The spray of dark blood hissed against the rough cave wall.

An arrow flew past her shoulder, taking out the last eye, followed by a much slower boulder. Unfortunately for the target, it was now blind and so the boulder smashed straight into its skull with a crack. The swordswoman lunged forward, her bladed whip collapsing into a longsword, and with a heavy slash severed the creature’s neck.

[Flare Hound (162) - Defeated!]

Moments later, it began to dissipate, consumed by the dungeon once more even as the party stood tense, waiting for more to come. The only sound was the endless crying of the illusory damned.

“Clear,” a figure called lightly from the back of the party. Dressed mostly in concealing clothes, with minimal leather armor over vitals and a cowl covering her lilac hair and shadowing her features, Lilac was the party’s rogue, runaway princess, and baggage carrier. A mixture of enchantments and passive concealment skills left her form blurry and indistinct. She walked to where the monster had dissolved and picked up the common-rarity Flare Hound Hide and coins left behind.

“That wasn’t so bad,” commented the armored figure, his voice gruff and tinny through his full helmet. Even as he stood from his kneeling position, Eargor still didn’t make it to Lilac’s nose. With armor. And Lilac was quite an average girl, in height if nothing else (though her choice of class and clothes obscured the fact that there really was very little average about her). The absurdly dense man was an ironkin dwarf, with greyish skin and eyes like dim magma. As their smith and faithful tank, he was dressed in a suit of elaborate armor of his own making; dark, sleek, and intensely practical.

Slinging her seemingly-plain longsword onto her back (where it snapped into a holder designed and made by Eargor), Sah’ArYana called, “Mia, give me a splash, please. This place is baking me alive.” Dressed in clothes optimized for movement (and nothing else), the lithe mage knight moved body and sword with the wind. That mastery of the wind was likely the only reason her skirt didn’t regularly flash her undergarments. Hailing from a mountain people, she much preferred the cold, which was definitely the reason for her lack of cloth and her penchant for soaking what little was there.

“Quit complaining, Ari,” Mia responded, but a flick of the [Frostfire Arcanist]’s hand sent a glob of soothing water at the warrior regardless. Yana blew a kiss back. “Thanks!” Filling the typical mage role in their party, Mia’s one and only job (aside from watering Yana whenever they went somewhere above 75 degrees) was to sling magical death from her jeweled gauntlets. Her own robes looked much like a black trench coat, trimmed with violet lines. Her class abilities ensured she never suffered from Ari’s current problem, despite her heavy attire. Her most striking features, heterochromatic eyes of fire and frost and brilliant violet hair, easily made her the party’s flashiest member (though second place was flashy in an entirely different sense).

“Let’s keep moving,” the last member and leader of their team spoke. As a geomancer and nature mage, he was their team’s controller and healer, putting him in position to observe the entire fight. The dark-skinned elf was the oldest and most tempered member of the group. Unlike his more violent and flashy counterparts, Uluron’s robes were a plain affair, brown and loose, and his staff was a gnarled piece of wood with an opaque, dull gem at the head.

“Lilac, scout ahead. Yana, take the rear. We’re starting early so we should be able to clear the first floor, or at least reach the boss, by the time we need to sleep. And Eargor, one of them isn’t bad, but we should be seeing them, and other enemies, in groups by the time we reach the boss.”

Lilac simply nodded in response, her already ethereal form blurring almost entirely out of view as she silently prowled ahead. Yana fell back behind Uluron and Mia as the party began to move once more. They fell into a familiar, if tense, silence as the desiccating air flowed past and the wails ground upon their psyche.

Dungeons with background noise were the worst. The increased challenge didn’t even come with better rewards.

After ten minutes of walking, Lilac returned from her forward position. “2 more hounds, 100 meters up. 165 and 168.”

“Yana, get up front. Mia, prepare ice attacks but don’t waste too much mana. You two focus on killing one as quickly as possible. Lilac, take out the middle eye on the other one and support Eargor,” Uluron ordered and poured mana into his staff. The gem glowed brown before a matching aura surrounded Eargor. Both faded, leaving Eargor reinforced. “Let’s go.”

The party quickly rearranged itself for combat with Yana and Eargor at the head and Uluron at the back where everyone was in sight. In less than a minute, the Flare Hounds came into sight, twenty meters away as they rounded a corner into a wider cavern. It only took moments for one of the pair of massive red wolves to spot the team. The larger one signaled the start of the fight with an echoing howl.

“Move quick, others may have heard that,” Uluron cautioned. Yana nodded in answer. Quick, she certainly was.

“Mia, we’re taking the right one.” With those words, Yana’s form blurred forward, covering the twenty meters in a moment. She whipped out her sword as she moved, the bladed chain flashing across the lead hound’s forehead with crack, taking out its more dangerous eye and earning a bark of pain. The other moved in time to dodge an incoming arrow and turned its wrath upon the closest target. Flames colored an unnatural crimson flared around its central eye.

A deafening gong threatened to concuss everyone present as Eargor slammed hammer into shield with a taunt skill. The uninjured hound changed targets in a heartbeat and a lance of blood-red fire roared through the air, only to splash harmlessly against the dwarf’s heavy shield. Its own flames served as its undoing; flying through the light, an arrow from Lilac’s bow took out the eye and ensured that the hound did not use fire again.

The two wolves split, each seeking vengeance. The larger lunged at the wind mage, but every swipe and bite found nothing but air even as untraceable flashes of her chainsword left cruel gashes on the wolf’s hide. The wolf disengaged only to let out a howl of agony and fall as half a dozen bolts of ice pierced its flank.

“I’ve got this one, move to the other!” Yana called to their mage as she closed the distance. Brutal strokes from her collapsed longsword carved through flesh and sprayed burning blood (which would have been a really stupid way to injure herself had she not blown it away with wind in time), soon putting the beast out of its misery.

[Flare Hound (168) - Defeated!]

She turned to aid with the other hound, only to see it collapse like a puppet with strings cut as a heavy lance of ice went in through its forehead and out its spine.

[Flare Hound (165) - Defeated!]

Taking a proper look around, Yana noted that there were two possible tunnels to head down further. She rejoined the rest of the party as Uluron queried, “Status?”

“More incoming from the left tunnel. 3 or 4,” Lilac answered.

“This is ramping up fast. Yana, how confident are you at dodging that fire at close range?”

“If it’s holding me down, I’m pretty screwed anyway.” That fire was slow.

“The tunnel’s widened out enough that you can maneuver. Take some heat off Eargor and focus your attacks on their faces. Lilac, you as well. What’s the ETA? Mia, you aim for whatever’s still enough to hit reliably. Eargor, you know what to do.”

“One minute. 4 of them,” Lilac answered.

Mia and Yana quickly downed weak mana potions to top themselves off as they prepared for the coming wave, the latter moving in front of the party.

Soon, they were able to hear the coming wolves. As the small pack rushed out of the tunnel, the leader let out a howl. An arrow answered it, narrowly missing its eyes and cutting along its forehead instead, leaving a shallow gash. With a growl, the wolf charged and the others followed, eyes blazing.

As they neared fifteen meters, all four released gouts of flame. Yana flitted back behind the bulwark of Eargor’s armored form even as his shield glowed and he slammed it into the ground. A wall of molten orange light erupted from it to meet the torrent of bloody flames. The flames faltered after seconds and the barrier flickered out. The ground in front of where it had been had melted, leaving a trench of cooling lava. A nova of cold washed out from behind the party, cooling the scalding tunnel air back to a manageable level.

Yana rushed forward, wind wreathing her body as she ran along the wall, her sword unraveling to lash out at the nearest Flare Hound before she twisted in the air and landed gracefully behind the pack.

Her blade coiled lazily, drifting in its shroud of wind like some living thing as she gave the hounds a cocky smile. The hound she’d cut faced her with a burning hatred. Though, Yana thought, it’ll be literally burning once its cooldown is up. It stalked forward with a slight limp, a growl calling for the assistance of another of its comrades.

She identified them and grimaced.

[Flare Hound - 167]

[Flare Hound - 171]

The new one was over 170 and had a good chance of being significantly more powerful, the likelihood heightened by its slightly distinct appearance; it was noticeably larger and streaks of lighter fur ran down its flanks. Still, her only goal was to stall them. With a flick of her wrist, her sword whipped out to its full range, grazing along the muzzle of the second wolf. It had avoided losing its eye, but at least it should be mad at her now.

It lunged at her and she jumped, her wind-lightened body easily clearing its meter and a half-height, even with the added height from it snapping at her. The smaller leapt at her. Were she not a wind mage, it would have been a greater threat, but as it was, wind coiled at her feet as she twisted upside down and kicked off nothing towards the floor. Her blade collapsed and slashed down the larger’s flank, leaving behind a shallow gash.

She met the ground with her free hand and, in a feat of inhuman acrobatics, sprung off, twisting to face her foes once more as she landed. Her attack on the stronger wolf had met more resistance than the previous wolves.

She dashed back as the wolves fell upon her again, alternating in their attacks to avoid giving her a moment’s respite. Splitting them up had been a good move. Her sword lashed out occasionally, but she was unable to make accurate strikes with both of them attacking her. She flowed around the attacks, every near-miss reducing the cost of her own skills and every strike increasing her power and agility.

[Flare Hound (164) - Defeated!]

Apparently, the rest of the party was faring better. A quick glance saw one of the hounds lying on the ground with its skull completely caved in at Eargor’s feet. It must have learned that his hammer was not for show. The other had enough ice sticking out of it to ensure it was not long for the world.

The higher leveled of the two hounds fighting her did not forgive her lapse in attention. Its body blurred forward, far faster than it had moved before and even her skill warning her of harm wasn’t enough to fully evade its attack. Its powerful jaws closed around her trailing free hand. Yana let out a shocked yelp as sharp teeth cleaved through several of her fingers almost without resistance, a byproduct of her practically nonexistent vitality. Though, the lack of resistance was more blessing than a curse, as she glided out of the other wolf’s path, cradling her maimed hand instead of being trapped and having her throat torn out.

“Ari!” Mia’s anguished cry was accompanied by half a dozen lances of ice which slammed hard into the now almost lethargic larger wolf. The dash must have left it slowed, though between the rapidly building pain in her hand and the remaining wolf, she barely had the attention to note it.

[Flare Hound (169) - Defeated!]

Yana did not spare the attention to see how it had died this time as the remaining mobile wolf leapt for her throat once more. She dropped to the floor at a premonition of heat and was bathed in crimson light. Rolling over, she slashed at the neck of the hound flying above her head, a blade of wind ensuring that it came down in more pieces than it went up in.

[Flare Hound (168) - Defeated!]

She turned to the wolf responsible for the flames and found it half-frozen, the frost having crept from the rods of ice Mia had stuck it with. It opened its mouth to howl and Yana rushed forward, stabbing her sword up its open mouth with all the pain-fueled force she could muster with one hand. It was enough.

[Flare Hound (171) - Defeated!]

[Sah’ArYana (149 > 150) - Level Up!]

Comforting golden light flowed around her, mending her hand and washing away the pain.

[Finale (Active) - Skill Unlocked!]

Rapidly consume stacks of Rhythm and Tempo to massively increase their effects.

Moments later, Mia nearly collided with her, expression filled with unwarranted concern. It wasn’t even the first time she’d gotten hurt, though it was fortunately infrequent. “Ari, are you alright!?”

Yana waved her restored hand in response, giddy at finally reaching the milestone and getting a skill for it. Levels had really slowed down lately, but fighting the overleveled monsters had given her the needed boost, making her their second party member over 150 after Uluron. “Thanks for worrying!” she said with a bright smile.

“Good job keeping them occupied and congratulations on 150. Did you get a skill?” Uluron asked as he and Eargor approached. Lilac made a detour to pick up the drops.

“Yep. It’s a finisher ability that burns through my cumulative abilities for a burst in power.”

Name: Sah’ArYana ir Mrana - Level 150

Race: Human

Mana: 2134/2400

Class: Aerodancer

Active Skills:

Hurricane Glaive (Class) - 44

Wind Rush (Class) - 46

Guiding Gale (Class) - 53

Like the Breeze (Class) - 43

Air Manipulation (Class) - 39

Finale (Class) - 1

Meditation (Uncommon) - 30

Identify (Common) - 30

Passive Skills:

Rending Storm (Class) - 50

Tempo (Class) - 48

Rhythm (Class) - 48

Read the Dance (Class) - 45

Flowing Sword (Epic) - 51

Evasion (Rare) - 43

Dance (Uncommon) - 30

Unarmed Combat (Common) - 30

Daggers (Common) - 9

Stealth (Common) - 30

Cooking (Common) - 22

Tailoring (Uncommon) - 16

Smithing (Uncommon) - 7

Stats (5 points remaining):

Vitality - 50 (+)

Strength - 100 (+)

Intellect - 232 (+)

Wisdom - 160 (+)

Dexterity - 235 (+)

Perception - 100 (+)

Throwing the 5 points into Dexterity, she dismissed her status. “That’ll help against the boss. Lilac, check the path that no hounds came from, see if it dead-ends soon. I assume it should since nothing came from there, but we should make sure,” Uluron instructed. With a nod, Lilac vanished down the tunnel.

Noting her naturally decaying rhythm and tempo stacks, now that she was no longer dodging or landing attacks, she decided to test out her new skill. As soon as it activated, she felt a surge of energy go through her. The wind swirled around her and her body felt as light as a feather. The effect lasted less than five seconds, but if she’d had more built up to start with, it would be a very potent finisher.

She saw Mia sitting against the wall, using meditation to top off her mana as they waited for Lilac, and joined her.

“Could you give me some water again?”