[Book II Chapter 18 part 2] HOPE: Prospecting

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When they dropped down, the first thing Hope did was fire glow bullets in every direction. We’re not being subtle. She shuddered involuntarily as otherworldly shrieks rang out.

They came from all direction, converging into the narrow space. Hope grabbed her first shotgun and fired, boring a wide circular hole through the center of the horde. In each of her shells were four-hundred pellets enchanted to grow in size and weight. The result was a dense ‘dish’ of steel balls that deleted anything in its path.

The skeletons immediately spread out, some crawling along the walls. Hope targeted them one by one as they got closer, adrenaline fueling her shooting spree. Fortunately, knocking a portion of their body far away slowed their regeneration, and she was able to keep up.

Hope risked a glance behind. Eren was dancing between large summoned rocks, confidently smashing her foes while shifting size to dodge talons and pickaxes. Occasionally she’d turn giant to hurl a boulder which would ricochet off the walls, crushing bones. Why is she smiling?

Focusing in front, Hope threw a handful of enchantments from which phoenixes flew out. They dove into the reassembling undead, setting the ground on fire. Simply breaking them apart would’ve been a slow process, and this would speed things up. She’d considered a flame thrower, but ultimately judged it infeasible this time. It’s effective, but the sight of skeletons charging through the flames isn’t helping my nerves.

By the time Hope had unloaded her fifth shotgun, she’d realized the cavern had gone quiet. Letting her fires extinguish themselves, she turned to find Eren watching her. Only the mangled minecart rails on her side remained as testament to the heated battle.

“Was that all of them?” Hope asked.

“All the lesser ones.” Eren agreed. “This area might have a boss, so we should do a sweep.”

The mines were big and empty. Soon they’d searched everywhere except for one ominous passageway. Venturing in, they instantly felt an oppressive aura far worst than what they’d just faced. It was so bad Hope was tempted to chicken out. However, when imagining the endless ridicule she’d have to endure, she found the courage to continue. Creeping forward, they arrived at a large chamber. In its center, an indistinct humanoid shadow was seated.

“A formless wisp,” Eren whispered. “A sapient mass of energy from the Abyss which can become a wide variety of undead. It takes the form most suited to its opponents.”

A chill ran through Hope as she stared. Suddenly, she was looking into a pair of human eyes. Familiar eyes. In front of her, Sion Gale stood up, clad in his golden armor. Impossible.

Eren yanked her back, shouting to run. Stunned, Hope watched golden spears smash where they’d been crouched. As they backtracked through the mines, Eren threw sealers behind them at each bottleneck. It wasn’t enough. Hope could hear their pursuer break through as fast as the barriers were formed.

Finally, they jumped to the ledge they’d come in from. Here again, Eren threw a sealer but this time the magic was on another level. A veritable vault door now blocked the way back. Anxiously, Hope watched dents appear as tremendous blows were applied from the other side.

“Don’t worry. That one is special.” Eren panted. “It only lasts an hour, but it’ll stop most immortals.”

“What was that?” Hope demanded.

“A vengeful spirit.” Eren said. “Formless wisps take the shape of someone you killed. They can be extremely dangerous.”

“Isn’t this way overpowered?” Hope asked in disbelief. She never suspected she’d face this same peril a second time.

“Most people haven’t slain an immortal.” Eren responded. “This is why undead are such a pain. At least it’s weaker than the original.”

“He wasn’t weaker at all! Rather he seemed more dangerous.”

“Calm down.” Eren spoke soothingly. “Sion Gale probably wasn’t at his best when he fought you. The vengeful spirit is certainly weaker than he was. Unfortunately, it’s the mind of an undead in control. They don’t play around, which is why it’s so intimidating.”

Eren looked Hope in the eyes. “We need to take him down. Undead are notoriously bad at respecting the rules of dungeons. Once they have been aggroed, they will leave their assigned areas and relentlessly track their target. If we leave him alone, Corthia will be in danger.”

“Can’t we just collapse this cave?” Hope suggested desperately. “I brought plenty of explosives.”

“That wouldn’t work… As long as its prey is living, it won’t rest. We must come up with a plan…”

A plan to defeat Sion Gale by ourselves? Last time we were nine! With everything that’d happened, Hope had done her best to not dwell on the man she’d killed. This specter was dragging up all kinds of feelings.

“Alright, I have an idea. How much mithril do you have? Get everything out. We need to prepare.”

Hope emptied her bags, praying her companion knew what she was doing.

…

Eren ran into the cavern, spears impaling the ground behind her. As the vengeful spirit slowly caught up, it was suddenly knocked down by an invisible force. Rolling away, the Sion Gale sent out a dozen golden fairies with a swipe of its hand. Their light revealed hundreds of glistening metal threads anchored to the walls, aach a reshaped mithril bullet with a hasty strengthening enchantment. Eren had slipped between two of them.

“How do you like it?” Eren taunted. “This place is my arena.”

She went on the offensive, circling around while returning to normal size to throw quick jabs. When she did, her arm would grow to giant proportion, giving her attacks incredible reach and power. Sion reeled under the assault, the threads hindering his movements. He quickly gave up throwing spears, as they’d only embed themselves and become further obstacles. Instead he resorted to lunging stabs without much success.

As for herself, Hope was crouching behind a mithril shield at the far end of the cavern. While there were no strings around her, a thick spider web of mithril, followed by a small chasm, walled off her section from the rest. She was peppering Sion with burst of gunfire whenever he found his footing.

Although neither side was landing a decisive hit, the fight was not a headed for a stalemate. Each time Eren used the mithril strings to swing around, she was enlarging them, turning them into ever thicker bars. The area was becoming a prison.

To escape, the undead Sion Gale had two options: retreat the way he came or venture into the corner Hope was hiding. They’d sealed off all other exits. He choose the later, slipping through the mithril spider web.

I can’t believe it worked. Hope raised and fired her shotgun. Unlike the skeletons earlier, the golden armor resisted the blast. However, the rain of pellets did halt his charge. Perfect. Her goal was to delay him for a few seconds. She continued unloading as Sion shielded his head and struggled closer.

When he was halfway to her, the ground underneath him began rising. About time. This entire area had been a horizontal crevice a few inches wide. When Eren had shrunk the lower half, Hope had thought the cavern would collapse from all the cracking as the contracting rock separated from its surrounding. Eren had now released her magic.

The vengeful spirit grimaced in rage as it understood its predicament. Turning back, it saw Eren had been busy turning the mithril spiderweb into thick bars. There was nowhere to run. Several golden spears penetrated Hope’s shield as Sion desperately struggled to prevent the cavern from closing on him, but they didn’t penetrate far enough to harm her. The last she saw was his hate-filled face disappearing between the rock.

Ugh… Hope was uncomfortably squeezed into a small air pocket Eren had found, stone pressing against her from all sides. It took a few minutes for Eren to shrink the crevice enough for her to crawl out. No trace of their assailant remained.

“One nice fact about vengeful spirits is you only need to kill them once.” Eren explained. “The price they pay for borrowing a mortal form.”

“I’m amazed it fell for such an obvious trap.” Hope sat against a wall, letting relief wash over her.

“Ah, that’s another feature unique to them. They’re obsessed with the one who killed them. You were the perfect bait.” Eren collapsed besides her. “I’m so glad my gambles pain off.”

Hope shot her companion a questioning glance.

“Vengeful Spirits possess all the abilities and experience of their original.” Eren revealed. “Since he’s from the Norther Empire, I was betting Sion Gale had never fought a dwarf. It always takes someone a while to grow accustomed to our size changing. This, together with your mithril strings, gave me the edge I needed to match him.”

“Same deal with the shrinking trap. They’re hard to recognize unless you’re familiar with them.” Eren added.

Half-listening, Hope was lost in thought. Despite all her careful preparations, she’d been close to panic when faced with the reincarnated Sion Gale. If Eren hadn’t taken the lead… Is this the difference in experience?

“Alright, enough resting.” Eren jumped to her feet. “Now comes the fun part. Let’s collect your mithril and go back for the loot.”