Chapter 16

Seeud, Jorge, and Henrick cursed in pain. The scent of fresh blood tainted the air. Blood pooled around their feet and dripped from holes in their leather armor.

I took a look at their health bars. Each of the warriors had lost about a fifth of their health. I recalled when Henrick had said he had maybe 500-600 points of health, so by my estimation, they’d each received at least one hundred points of damage. How was this a level 2 dungeon? The damage seemed abnormally high. I didn’t have near enough potions or mana to heal each of them that much.

Gold light drew my attention. Samantah’s cloak trailed her as she leapt backward. Toppirius’s Lantern swung from a short chain and gold vine which she clutched in her left hand. A halo of gold light appeared around the lantern, like a monochrome rainbow of light after a summer rain. A gold metallic orb sloshed about inside the lantern.

Samantah raised her right hand away from the lantern as though pulling a thread through a seam in cloth. As she did so, the shimmering halo of gold reduced by a single point, which strengthened into a bright gold orb before her. She redirected her right hand, making a pushing motion towards Seeud in front of her. The orb shot forward and melted through the warrior's back plate armor and into his body. His entire form glowed a brief gold, and the arrows withdrew from his wounds and clattered to the stone ground. His health bar refilled all the way.

A second later, Samatah sent another orb toward Henrick. The same thing happened to him. Jorge was the last to receive healing.

The bandit mage launched its spears at us.

“Jorge! Defense!” Seeud shouted.

Jorge rushed forward to block the incoming spears. They both struck with explosive force and bits of wood burst away. Henrick slashed through both spears, which disintegrated with soft whispers.

“Charge!” Seeud commanded.

The three warriors leapt up and sprinted toward the gates. We three healers were suddenly exposed, but neither Antoine nor Samantah seemed bothered.

“Focus your healing on me and each other!” Samantah said without looking at either one of us. “I’ll focus my healing on the warriors.”

Antoine and I shared a look of determination. He wore a sly smile, born of thrill and adrenaline. I couldn’t help but match it.

“Perius. Ventrius. Twerus. Skerpus,” the bandit mage chanted.

Meanwhile the archers knocked arrows to their bows. The mage bandit lifted his other hand high to the sky and chanted, “Sekwus. Ventrius. Twerus. Skerpus.”

Samantah shot three more orbs toward the warriors, way before they arrived at the gate. The warriors were met with about half the amount of arrows as earlier. Jorge blocked every one, but Henrick and Seeud received a ton of damage. Seeud received an arrow to the neck, forcing him down to one knee. He clutched in a panic at the protruding arrow shaft.

Samantah had planned her healing orbs perfectly. They arrived not a second after the warriors were damaged and healed them back to full health. Jorge was the first to arrive at the gate. He came upon the intersecting bars of wood with fury, hacking and slashing with his short sword. Henrick and Seeud joined him a moment later, and already a wood pole broke off of the gate.

Samantah pulled out another three gold orbs and sent them sailing towards the warriors. Then she sent out another three.

“Heal me!” she said. “Now!”

“What?” I said, checking her health bar and finding it full.

When I looked back up, I was horrified. The other half of the arrows had been aimed at us. At Samantah. She tried to escape the descending volley, but several still plunked right into her.

“5 Pyrrhon’s!” Antoine called out.

He threw 5 Pyrrhon’s potions at Samantah. They descended in a quick cascade, bursting one after the other and bringing her health back to around 85%.

“Tosin!” Antoine said, gesturing my way in exasperation. “Healing? Or are you gonna sit there and twiddle your thumbs?”

Right. Healing.

“Seven of Gryf,” I called out and tapped my flagstaff upon the ground.

The Seven of Gryf ribbon pulled violently in an invisible wind. Its chain rattled against the circlet of my flagstaff. A pair of silver bird’s wings manifested above Samantah, fluttered briefly before disappearing, and her health recovered by 7 points. I cast the spell once more and her health returned to full.

“There we go!” she said, and drew out another three orbs that she sent careening toward our warriors.

The gate was in terrible shape, near complete destruction. Armed bandits waited just on the other side. Jorge had to focus on blocking the bandit mage’s spears while Henrick and Seeud worked on breaking through.

“We have to go,” Samantah said. “If we lose sight of them, I can’t heal them. Stay behind me!”

She ran forward, and Antoine and I scrambled after her. More golden orbs shot out in front of her. Whenever the warriors received a torrent of brutal damage, the orbs arrived on time to heal them once more.

Smantah’s lantern swung wildly as she ran. The artifacts halo of gold mana was dwindling. There was now an evident gap where the circle had once almost met. The lantern had plenty of mana left to work with, but it was surely being used up.

We were not too far from the wall and gate when another volley of arrows descended toward Samantah and Antoine.

I cast Fist of Wind, and aimed the spell just ahead of Antoine. My aim was true and the spell pushed the arrows off course. Antoine was safe, but Samantah received a handful of arrows to her chest. She dropped her lantern and fell back in a cry of pain. She coughed blood.

Antoine tossed a cascade of 10 healing potions to Samantah, and I followed with two castings of Seven of Gryf. She recovered, but was not quite fully healed

Her chest heaved with relief, she scooped up her lantern, got to her feet, and ordered us to hold position. The warriors were just breaking through the gate about a dozen meters before us. Wood Cracked and splintered. Seeud gave a mighty, “Hurrah!” before clambering over debris to meet the armed bandits in close combat.

Antoine cast a quarter of his mana bar into the rune at his neck. Clouds condensed in the air far above him. The clouds rumbled with thunder, and tumbled in on itself to form a gargantuan mimic of Gryf the legendary winged healer. The legend’s form was massive and clad in a single robe made of shades of clouds. Every feature was formed by the gathering weather. Clouds formed short curly hair, and colored his skin with marbled greys. A tiny hawk was perched upon his forearm. The hawk was cloud colored at first, but then slowly started to come to life with vividly brown and maroon colors. Gryf leaned down, held out his hand, and let the hawk fly. Then the legend’s form dispersed.

The hawk dove down with a shrill. It circled Samantah and beat its wings in her direction. I could see the ripples of wind that buffeted her. With every crashing wave of wind, I watched her health incrementally refill until her health was at 100%. Then the hawk gave another shrill, climbed the sky, and dove to circle the warriors, buffeting them with healing as well.

Samantah shot orb after orb towards the warriors. Antoine warned us of incoming arrows, and we both healed Samantah when she was hit. I received two arrows in another incoming volley, and the pain nearly dropped me. Two of Antoine’s potions burst at my feet. My wounds healed and the arrows withdrew without pain.

That was the last of the arrows. The archer’s dropped their bows in favor of swords, and leapt from their parapets to surround the warriors.

“Perius. Ventrius. Twerus. Skerpus,” the bandit mage chanted.

Before beginning his second chant, he tossed the spear at Samantah. On instinct I cast Fist of Wind and successfully deflected the spear. It sailed harmlessly down the mountainside.

“Look. We’ve won,” Samantah said.

Jorge kicked off a dying bandit that he’d impaled with his short sword. Henrick was covered in splatters of blood. He grinned and even his teeth were red. Henrick eyed the bandit mage still upon its parapet. He brandished his longsword.

“You want us to come to you?” Henrick said.

“Rinni will destroy you,” the bandit mage said, and eyed Henrick with menace. “You stand no chance against mighty Rinni! Our gate did not hold, but my master’s magic will vanquish you from this place! You will rue the day you challenged us!”

“He’s out of mana,” Smantah said. “He knows this is the end for him.”

Antoine’s Hawk Familiar circled him before alighting on his shoulder. The hawk triumphantly stuck its chest out. Antoine cooed softly to the animal.

I cast Fist of Wind and aimed for the bandit mage. He was blown back from his parapet, landing heavily upon the ground. With a quick swing, Seeud decapitated the monster.

The battle was over. We were free to pass through the gate. At full health.

The dungeon trail continued on through the gate and along the mountain ridge until descending into a bored hole tunnel once more. There were openings every now and then that gave us astounding views of the expansive mountain peaks and valleys. Clouds gathered in the valleys. The peaks collected snow.

“Hey Samantah,” I said when the tunnel finally leveled out. She slowed to walk beside me as we talked. “Are we sure this is a level 2 dungeon?”

She gave a wry smile before answering. “I think I know where you’re going with this. Well Tosin, it is a level 2 dungeon. However there are two more reasons why it's a bit more dangerous than what you’re perhaps used to. Firstly, this is a wild dungeon. Wild dungeons are substantially more difficult than controlled dungeons. Controlled dungeons are maintained through a schedule of adventurers, which keeps their levels on the low end. Wild dungeons grow inhibited, so they may be just on the brink of leveling up when adventurers stumble upon them.”

“I see,” I said. “So that’s why you recruited higher level warriors?” She nodded. “What’s the other reason then?”

“Dungeons that spawn high value items are extra dangerous.”

“So you think the rumors of a spellbook in this dungeon are true?”

“I think so,” she said. “We’re going to find out though, aren’t we?”

“I’m a little worried,” I confessed.

“Why’s that?”

“I’ve got a few mana potions, and Boera’s Flux to regenerate mana, but what if I need more? I’m worried I’ll run out.”

“Don’t forget that absorbing mana crystals will replenish your mana bar. After this dungeon run, I suggest you wait to absorb the mana crystal you receive. Since the mana crystal will be a level 2, it will replenish no more than 100 points of your mana pool when you cultivate the mana within. So save it for when we repeat this dungeon tomorrow. After we defeat the bandits at the gate, we’ll all take a break so you can absorb the mana crystal and replenish your mana bar. That way you can save your mana potions and your other spells for dire circumstances, especially since absorbing mana crystals does take a bit of time.”

I remember Garmar had taught us exactly this in my first or second lesson at the Beginner’s Guild. A level 1 mana crystal replenished your mana by 50 points, a level 2 by 100 points, a level 3 by 150 points, and so on. Samantah was extremely helpful and I felt a tremendous amount of gratitude toward her.

“One more thing,” I said. “Do you think the boss is gonna be tough?”

“I have no doubt about it,” She said. “Special spawning items like the spellbook, are extremely beneficial for wild dungeons. It boosts their inherent power, which promotes quick growth and expansion. I have no doubt we’re going to have a difficult time.”

“We’ll need a plan,” I said.

“As long as you stay on your toes and you do as I say, we’ll be fine. You’re doing great so far, healer.”