It was war. On one side was a general with his four commanders and an army of soldiers willing to fight and die for their leaders. An organized group that worked together and used synergy to become more than what they were individually. There were thousands of them, every single one towards the end of D-grade.
On the other side were two people. A hunter with a bow and a dragonkin who seemed to finally have found an opportunity to let loose. These two were naturally the heroes of this fight. The brave men who would stand against the evil mushrooms.
It was also a display of something else… the disparity of power even in the same grade and level bracket. Jake was at a lower level than most of his opponents, and Draskil was still lower than a few of them. One would think their numbers would matter, that their synergy would allow them to fight. It didn’t.
Maybe if they had actual tactics and not just sometimes tried to take hits for one another, it would matter. Maybe if they had ritual magic or complex formations. Had healers working together to form large barriers. However, as it was, they had none of these things, which made what transpired next only describable by one word:
Massacre.
Two words?
Justified massacre.
Explosions of arcane power lit up the cavern as Jake bombarded his opponents.
A dense mist of poison hung thick in the air as Draskil and Jake both pumped it out of their wings. Jake killed primarily using explosive arrows that tore mushroom men apart with ease and followed up with occasional kill shots with stable arrows, while Draskil had a far simpler style.
He was more the rip and tear sort of fighter. His entire body was a weapon that none of their opponents could even scratch. His scales offered defenses to nearly all magic, his attacks unstoppable to the mushrooms as he tore their limbs off and ripped up their flesh, leaving rotting wounds behind.Draskil also showed fighting methods Jake could never even attempt. His tail was like a fifth limb that whipped around and sometimes even impaled his foes. If not, he used it for movement, yanking himself back or using it to push himself, or while he was mid-air as a counterweight to allow him to rapidly reposition.
The dragonkin did not show any magic besides some to strengthen himself. Jake did notice how he also had the Pride skill like Jake, but his version was clearly far more focused on the mental attack aspect and making a domain of intimidation without any of the mana-control amplifying aspects.
Jake was actually pretty certain Draskil had all the of the Malefic Viper skills. He had believed it for a good while, but after the dungeon, it was more obvious. He clearly had Palate based on all he ate and Sagacity to properly store the knowledge. Jake did think Sagacity was still at a relatively low rarity, and Draskil did say that he had some bad skills he was working on. Besides that, he clearly had the wings, claws, and scales skills. These were likely unavoidable racial skills for any Malefic Dragonkin.
Sense of the Malefic Viper was also obvious based on how well he found mushrooms. That just left Blood and Touch. Jake was most unsure about Touch, honestly. Draskil also had Blood based on how he had used some of it as a weapon once, but Jake had yet to see the dragonkin use the familiar glow of Touch of the Malefic Viper. It was possible he had it and just never used it, but it was also possible he didn’t have it or had changed it to a form very different from what Jake used. Like a purely non-combat version or something.
Now, Jake could just ask him, but where was the fun in that? He would rather just try and figure it out himself while slaughtering an army of mushroom men. The human and dragonkin had already killed hundreds before meeting up as Jake turned to Draskil.
“You want the big boss?” Jake asked. “Just remember we need all the Lifecores intact.”
Draskil grunted in confirmation before asking: “We need the small ones?”
Jake shrugged. “Some, but not all.”
Draskil then grinned. “You wanna see my breath?”
“I guess?” Jake asked. He wasn’t sure what Draskil meant initially but soon understood.
The dragonkin took a breath, and for a moment, Jake felt all the mana in the environment stop before getting dragged in like Draskil’s mouth was a vacuum. Intense mana gathered at a level far above Jake had ever seen anything in D-grade do.
Then he released it. A green beam was emitted from his mouth that swept across the cavern below. It was only a few meters in diameter when it hit the ground and made a grand sweep from one end of the cavern to the other. Not a single mark was left on the ground where it hit… but everything between the dragonkin and the ground was gone.
A line had been made through the entire dungeon. For a few dozen kilometers, a rotting black line that emanated death and decay had been formed as everything the breath had touched had decayed to nothingness in an instant. It did not matter if it was a plant or mushroom men over level 180. They had all just ceased to be.
Jake stared a bit at the sight that was both impressive and unimpressive at the same time. It was not an impressive-looking attack. There was no grand explosion, no massive scar left by the breath… just an eerie nothingness. It had simply killed everything it hit, and even more scary was how Jake did not feel a single whisp of mana from where it had hit. It was just… desolation. Jake didn’t know for sure, but he had a feeling no mushroom would grow on that black line for a very long time.
All in all, the breath had killed only about ninety mushroom men that had been hit. Mind you, it didn’t matter where they were hit. As long as a single part of their body had touched the breath, their entire bodies had turned to black sludge in an instant.
One thing was also clear… if Draskil ever used that attack on Jake, he would have to dodge it using his precognition. The beam moved faster than any attack Jake could make, and if he didn’t move before it was released, he would have no way to get out of the way. And if he didn’t dodge in time? Well, then Jake was just happy he still had Moment of the Primal Hunter because that would sure as hell activate.
“Impressive?” Draskil asked with a satisfied grin.
“Definitely wouldn’t wanna be hit by it,” Jake agreed. “Ah, but don’t use it on essential foes… it didn’t leave even a single Lifecore behind. Or anything, really.”
“Bah,” Draskil jokingly dismissed his words. “I kill the general. No breath.”
Jake motioned for him to go ahead as he instead targeted the commanders. He saw that Reika and Irin were doing fine on their own, too, killing a few here and there themselves. Compared to Jake and Draskil, they barely made a dent, but they were never meant to anyway. This dungeon was made for members of the Order, not just those who were supremely talented. Jake and Draskil were way above the expected power level of anyone expected to do the dungeon, even on the ninth floor, and only the C-grade could potentially offer them a good fight. Shit, this was a dungeon where the alchemy portion was the real challenge, so maybe it was silly for them to expect a good fight to begin with.
But before alchemy, it was always good to get some killing done. Always got Jake in the mood to do some concocting, ya know?
Meira was incredibly nervous as she waited. Master had given her permission, that was true, but she still felt unsure about actually doing it. In the end, she agreed to it after she and her friends had completed a lesson together and began working on an assignment where some of her Master’s books could be useful.
The Grand Elder had also made it clear he didn’t care if she invited people over and had told her that he would just not be there if she did. Meira was still perplexed why someone like the Grand Elder even bothered spending time on her, and it made her even more confused when she considered that her Master had clearly been the one to make him accept such an arrangement.
She just tried to not think about it too much and instead did her best in everything. Her Master clearly had plans, and Meira would do her best to follow his will and try and make them a success. If inviting her friends over was something he had explicitly given her permission to do, and if even the Grand Elder had voiced his lack of concern about doing this, perhaps it was just their way of telling Meira to do it? She wasn’t good at subtle hints and trying to interpret commands, but maybe it was possible he didn’t just allow her to bring people but wanted her to?
That is why when she was asked to bring some books, she then spoke up and said she had been allowed to bring them to the library. Meira felt proud of herself for that and was happy that the three of them had agreed to come. The only one a bit reluctant was Izil, but Nella and Utmal had both agreed that it was about time she invited them over. Maybe it was? Meira didn’t know… she had never invited friends over for anything before.
Or had friends at all, really.
About five minutes later, a gate opened, and out stepped Izil. The elf instantly saw Meira and smiled.
“Thank you for the invitation,” she said courteously as she took out a small basket with flowers in it. “A token of my appreciation to you and the Lord of the mansion. Native flowers of the Altmar empire, all with their roots intact for potential planting.”
Meira was surprised at seeing the gift but quickly understood. It wasn’t that odd to bring something for her Master, considering he was far above the four of them in status as a black token. Ah, Meira had told them her Master had a black token as he had allowed her to do so.
“Thank you,” Meira bowed as she accepted it. “I am sure my Lord will appreciate it.”
“Is he present?” Izil asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Sadly not. My Lord had other engagements,” Meira answered. She would not have dared to invite them if her Master was there… she barely dared to when he was not.
Izil just nodded and followed Meira as they entered the mansion to place the basket of flowers. Just as they entered the house and she had stored the basket properly, Meira saw that the gate outside activated again, with Nella and Utmal stepping through.
Meira hurridly ran outside to greet them and got a disapproving look from Nella as she approached. “I hope you treat your owner better than guests,” she scoffed once Meira got close. “Or maybe you just consider it acceptable to not greet guests?”
“I apologize!” Meira said with a bow. She really didn’t want to be a bad host, especially not if it would reflect badly on her Master.
“She was just inviting me inside,” Izil said as she walked out of the mansion, glaring daggers at Nella. “And if you two had been here on the agreed-upon time, there would be no issue.”
“Relax, I was just joking around,” Nella said dismissively, Meira now feeling even more awkward as she had apologized. She still wasn’t good at jokes or that sarcasm thing… or was it called irony? She really didn’t quite know the difference.
“Nice place your Master got,” Utmal then spoke, throwing Meira out of her thoughts. “You didn’t lie about him being a black token, it seems. Where is he?”
“He is busy elsewhere,” Meira once more explained apologetically.
“Oh? That is unfortunate,” Nella said with a smile. “I would have loved to meet him. Now, if he is not here, let’s just get going. Where is the library?”
“Right this way,” Meira said, motioning towards the large mansion. The three of them followed as Meira wanted to keep the mood good, but Izil and Nella had been less and less friendly recently, and Meira really hoped they could get along better.
As they walked through the mansion, Izil asked: “Are there no other servants or occupants?”
“There is-“ Meira began but quickly cut herself off. The Grand Elder had been staying there most of the time, but he wasn’t there now and wasn’t truly living there. Also, she shouldn’t share he was there at all. “There is currently only me here. My Lord doesn’t have any other servants or slaves residing within the Order of the Malefic Viper as far as I am aware.”
Meira saw Utmal and Nella both frown a bit as Izil just nodded. “I see.”
Then suddenly, Meria felt a mental probing from Izil. She was confused and accepted it as a telepathic connection was formed. “Meira… I didn’t want to ask before but are you a slave of the owner of this mansion?”
Now Meira was even more confused. “Yes?” she answered instantly, using the connection. Didn’t they already know that by now?
Izil frowned even more than before. “If possible, can I meet the owner of your contract?”
“I can maybe ask…” Meira answered, more than a little unsure. She didn’t want to bother her Master needlessly with matters that were clearly her own to deal with.
“That is all I can ask,” Izil responded as she smiled again and spoke out loud just as they entered the library. “What an incredible library. Could you point me towards the tomes you spoke of?”
Meira responded positively but was still not sure what Izil had actually wanted… but what she did know was that Utmal and Nella were both looking at her quite a bit differently than before. It should be fine, though. They were friends, right?
A great wrong had been set right. The abominable mushrooms were now dead, slain by the two heroes as their bounty had been harvested. Jake and Draskil had disengaged after a good period of fighting to collect materials from the areas they had cleared of mushroom men and then taken a small break.
By now, Jake was sitting at the exit of the ninth floor together with Reika, trying to figure out a solution. Both of them had their crafting equipment out, Jake using his cauldron and Reika having a far more advanced setup with several flasks, bottles, filters, and whatnot… still surrounding a cauldron, though.
It had been over two days since they entered the floor, and Jake and Reika had been busy as hell. Jake was eating and experimenting at all times with the different materials on the floor, but making the required poison wasn’t as straightforward as one could hope.
Draskil was off hunting alone again with the alchemists working while Bastilla was dismantling corpses, having Irin protect her.
During this time, Jake decided to enter Serene Soul Meditation as he experimented to also check in on a certain someone.
“Could you do me a favor and spend less time sitting hunched over a cauldron and more time watching that dragonkin fight?” sim-Jake asked the moment Jake popped into his Soulspace.
“What?” Jake asked, confused as he oriented himself. He saw that sim-Jake had resealed the Eternal Hunger chimera using some kind of shadow barrier and had been standing impatiently waiting for Jake to enter.
“I just want you to reflect on what you gave up on,” sim-Jake shrugged. “I would have one hundred percent chosen to become a Malefic Dragonkin. And no, giving up on alchemy would not be a loss.”
“Oh, are you getting jealous you can’t be a scaly boy? I thought you wanted to learn from his fighting style or something,” Jake smirked.
“Heh,” sim-Jake scoffed. “Not much to learn there. His style is simple and effective but far below what I am aiming for.”
“But you are jealous of the claws,” Jake still pointed out.
“Fuck yeah, you bet I am! Those things are insane,” sim-Jake grinned. “Now I will excuse myself and allow you to do your alchemy… but just one quick question. If you want the life affinity energy to be more volatile, isn’t it enough to just mix in a bit of our arcane affinity? Just the destructive aspect. If not the affinity, then at least the concept you know?”
Jake shook his head. “Thank you for pointing out your utter lack of knowledge when it comes to alchemy. Won’t work. We need it volatile but still with a direction to cause harm using the life affinity energy. Life affinity does not deal damage by destroying… it is more like it grows stuff wrong.”
Sim-Jake nodded. “Yeah, I have no idea what the fuck I am talking about. I am gonna play some more with the chimera. Now that thing is a good example of a bundle of energy turned very antagonistic and full of life even when getting smacked around!”
“See you arou-“ Jake began as he got an idea. An idea he had not even considered before now, and it was an incredibly novel one.
Curses were all about emotions… powerful emotions… so what if they could add some of that to the mix? Make a curse poison? One making use of an emotion Jake had plenty of:
Hatred for mushrooms.