[DCI] Chapter 48 - The Sound of Silence (Patreon)

“Since the probability of us killing all the Screamers fast enough to avoid their ability is extremely low, I shall cast a curse on us that removes our hearing for the duration,” Levia offered. “Please, be extremely careful as it can be disorienting, but it is still much less inconveniencing than the sinister screech that assaults your ears.”

“We need to target them first. Lulu’s shadows should be able to hurt them without an issue since they are both magic.” I glanced at the pink imp.

“I’ll do my best! They won’t even know what hit them!” She beamed at me.

“Great. We will do what we can to keep the aggro on us while you work.” I nodded.

“Aggro?” Lulu tilted her head.

“Attention.” I chuckled. “Ready?”

Everyone made the last check of their equipment and Levia quickly prepared the necessary ingredients to cast her curse. I’d never thought we would be using the negative effects of her magic on us to deal with another negative effect like that. But, she was a smart one and I was increasingly more glad we’d recruited her. Someone to cover for my mistakes and shortcomings was very much welcome.

Finishing her preparations, she crushed a Kobold’s nucleus and blew the dust and bits into the air between us. A moment later, I heard an effect similar to putting a tightly sealed full helmet on and my hearing was gone. I panicked a little at first, frantically looking around. From what I could see, I wasn’t the only one, and even Levia looked a tad confused by the sudden change.

This kind of silence didn’t feel easy to bear for a longer period of time so we better took those fuckers down fast before any of us lost our minds. Lulu looked the worst out of everyone and she jumped a few inches into the air when I placed a hand on her shoulder. As our eyes met, I kept taking deep, slow breaths, and she soon mirrored my actions, relaxing a little bit.

After everyone regained their composure, we shared a joint nod and rushed in. It felt incredibly trippy hearing nothing while you felt your feet step on the stone floor hard and your entire body move.

Aisha and Lulu led the charge, with me and Levia following after them, and finally, Ashmel closed the formation from behind. The moment we stepped into the chamber, a weird pressure tickled my body. It was slightly uncomfortable and felt like someone pressed a vibrator to the entire surface of my skin.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that those came from the screech released by the Screamers. The few ephemeral monsters dashed through the entire room with their ugly mugs twisted in the motion of their constant wail. If the noise was as powerful as to make my insides flutter, I didn’t want to experience their songs with my ears unblocked.

Nevertheless, I shoved that sensation to the back of my mind and focused on the task at hand. My lovely mate had already reached one of the Death Knights and invited it for a dance. They swung their massive weapons at each other, trying to overpower their partner and come victorious in that contest. She led her enemy splendidly, though, and almost every attack that missed her, sent at least one Skeleton Warrior flying in pieces.

Just as the second Death Knight tried to join the fray, slashing at her from behind, our Assassin friend appeared between them and parried the monster’s sword to the side. Knowing that he had no way of penetrating its armor from that angle, he immediately started running and the big, dark-boned Skeleton turned after him. He succeeded in luring the monster away from Aisha and that was plenty already.

Smacking away a few weak Skeleton Warriors with my mace, I managed to escort Levia close to the weird pylon. The moment we stopped, I felt some kind of static make the air around us all prickly and I hastily waved my left hand as my head snapped toward the source of the rising energy.

The Skeleton Mage launched a Lightning Bolt straight at us, but my trusty, bonded handaxe acted accordingly to my wishes and cut into its path just in time. The discharged energy ricocheted off the levitating weapon, hitting some poor Skeletons on its way before crashing into a wall. My handaxe was blown away god knew where but it had managed to save me from a serious injury.

I had to immediately focus on repelling the attacks of other enemies but Levia stepped forward to fill in for me. As I tripped the monster between us and the caster, she ran forward while muttering some magical words under her breath. My handaxe returned from its trip abroad and I divided some of my focus to having it orbit her in case an unexpected blow came her way.

She reached her target before it finished casting another spell and smacked the Skeleton with her palm, hitting its solar plexus. That didn’t send it flying but she made it take at least a few steps back. I noticed a red web of cracks originating from the point of impact as she began withdrawing.

~Mana Disruption. It is not as flashy as Mana Eruption but it is harder to get rid of,~ she explained while running back to me. ~Its current cast is broken and the future ones will take three times as long. If its spellcasting proficiency is low, it might not be able to use the most basic spells, so it will be limited only to the longer and stronger ones. I need you to finish it, though.~

~Perfect. You can focus on your thing. I’ll take care of it,~ I replied while obliterating the skull of another Skeleton.

When Levia appeared behind my back, I sent my handaxe to annoy the Mage even more while waiting for a good opportunity to deal with it without endangering her. Suddenly, the uncomfortable vibrations lessened just a tad and I glanced up, catching Lulu skewering one of the Screamers with sharp, shadowy spikes, and then plunging into a hole of dense, dark mist in mid-air, disappearing completely.

A moment later, she popped out of another hole and took a swing at another Screamer, unfortunately missing the nimble ghost. She roamed the battlefield through those shadowy portals, mostly focusing on chasing after the Screamers, but taking a Skeleton or two on her way whenever she could. Thanks to our efforts, she could do her job without much distraction. The sooner we got rid of those debuffing phantoms, the sooner we could fight to the best ability.

~Watch your footing!~ Aisha shouted through our connection.

A second later, powerful tremors shook the chamber and startled our companions. Thanks to the warning, Levia and I were able to keep ourselves stable through the use of Aisha’s Ground Pound, which came with like five times the power thanks to her using a huge hammer. She clearly wasn’t holding back either.

Taking a peek her way, I understood why she’d decided to use it. The Death Knights had prepared a trap for Lulu in coordination with the Screamer she’d been chasing. My incredible Berserker had noticed the ploy and foiled their plans before they became reality. Ashmel had been thrown off a bit but Lulu avoided the shaking since she’d been in the air.

Thanks to Aisha’s skill, most of the Skeletons near my position had fallen too and I immediately rushed towards the Mage. Before any of them recollected themselves, I reached my target and smashed my mace into its ribcage, crushing it into pieces. My bonded handaxe flew from behind me and dove into the created opening, slicing into the exposed nucleus, which luckily was hidden right there.

Sparing it just one more glance to make sure that it was truly dead, I hastily ran back to Levia, who was consumed by her research of the unknown structure. She examined the carved circuits in the metal fangs holding the crystal, clearly working as fast as she could. We had to know at least something about the weird device.

The pressure lessened again so it was obvious that Lulu had hunted another Screamer. I spotted three of them left, zooming close to the ceiling and sometimes inside the dome like startled chickens. They had to move down often, though, since it looked like their sonic assault weakened with distance, which was quite logical.

Defending my new Witch companion’s back, I kept an eye on the battlefield. Both Death Knights had judged my fierce lover a big threat and were putting some effort into taking her down. Of course, Aisha wasn’t a pushover, plus she was boosted by a few useful skills of hers and mine that increased her stats and such, so she somehow held her ground.

But, with both Elites coming after her and the trash mobs still pestering her from everywhere around, she wasn’t able to escape all the attacks unscathed. I had to help her get rid of at least one big guy. Ashmel had a hard time finding a slit in their heavy armor to poke through with all the chaos around. If he stopped to locate the nucleus, the normal Skeletons would gang up on him immediately.

~Give one a pat on the back,~ I instructed Aisha.

~One second, boss,~ she grunted in reply.

She’d read my plan perfectly well without me having to elaborate. The benefits of a deepened bond I shared with someone Bonded were quite useful. I loved being able to understand her clearly with just thoughts and intentions and I was sure she found that as fascinating as I did.

Reaching into one of my pouches, I brought out a fragile flask with a dark green liquid inside, holding it in preparation. While waiting for the right moment, I repelled the Skeleton Warriors with just one hand and the help of my flying handaxe. Its presence was such a cheat on its own. Though, I could use another mace or hammer more right now.

In the corner of my eye, I watched Aisha duck under Death Knight’s swing and spin around. She hit the bottom part of its massive tower shield, knocking it to the side. Retaining the momentum, she slipped between its legs and arrived behind the monster. Trying to continue on the same path, she swung her hammer at its armor as the flat surface of her weapon gained a silvery coating.

I regretted not being able to hear the beautiful gong that definitely followed the perfect impact. But, just as planned, a web of white cracks flashed over the Death Knight’s armor for a fraction of a second before disappearing. Impairing Blast had done its job.

Making sure that I was in no immediate danger, I turned around and chucked the glass ampule I’d been holding in my left hand in Aisha’s direction. Following it with my gaze, I focused my Telekinesis on it and forced it to fly exactly how I wanted it to. The vial made a beautiful arc and arrived right where it needed to be.

The Death Knight, annoyed at getting smacked in the ass, spun around to return the favor. And that was when it directed its back to me and the acid crashed into its armor exactly where my beloved drakan partner had struck it earlier. Unfortunately, she didn’t get a chance for a follow-up attack and had to sidestep a fierce swing.

But, our Assassin ally saw the chance and took it.

Ashmel nimbly appeared behind the same Death Knight and thrust his serpentine dagger into the weakened armor. Eaten by the acid and affected by a single hit of Aisha’s Impairing Blast, it crumpled under his assault and his arm dove inside the chestplate. Before the monster noticed, he located the core and destroyed it, causing the Death Knight to lifelessly fall apart as its dark bones turned into black mist.

With just one Death Knight left and a bunch of slow, weak trash, the battle was starting to look decently good. Lulu had taken another Screamer down in the meanwhile and was working on the last two. There was a chance that we would finish things up before she caught them all.

But, maybe I was just getting a little bit overconfident as the vibrations grew weaker again just as I’d thought that. With just one more, she was almost as good as done.

I glanced at Levia, who was still focused on the pylon. We had switched spots a few times as she looked for more hints at different parts of the magical device. I could ask her mentally how she was doing but I didn’t want to disrupt her focus yet. Our situation didn’t look bad so there was no need for that.

Ashmel started clearing up more trash now that he didn’t have an Elite after his ass, leaving the other Death Knight to my reliable mate. Dancing with a new partner, she tried to send a Sunder into the ceiling now and then but the movements of the Screamer were too erratic for her to land a proper hit. At least while under the assault of multiple enemies. And, damaging the already weak ceiling wasn’t the best idea so she stopped after a few attempts.

~Ah. I see. So it was like that.~ Levia’s voice resounded in my head.

~Did you figure something out?~ I asked, taking a peek at the Witch.

~I am sure that this crystal does not affect us negatively. I can not be sure about its exact purpose yet but I do have a lead. I recognized a few circuits which I need to investigate deeper. I will need to use magic and that might capture the attention of more Skeletons,~ she replied calmly.

~Do what you need. I have your back,~ I assured her and prepared myself for a change in difficulty.

I noticed a faint glimmer of multi-colored light from her direction and a bunch of Skeleton Warriors turned to us almost immediately. Chuckling wryly, I looked around. An entire army began marching down on our position from every direction. I was quite proud of how far I’d come, but I wasn’t yet badass and OP enough to handle this many on my own.

~Aisha? I need you to stop playing with your food.~ I reached out to my trusty mate.

~Alright. But I expect to be paid double for a rush order. With extra sauce.~ She grinned at me mentally.

I chuckled and shook my head, knowing well what her favorite sauce was. She currently held a full monopoly on its production center and dispenser, though she was sneakily working on introducing another player into the market, regardless of the owner’s wishes.

Getting a little bit more aggressive myself, I started actively targeting the enemies holding the more troublesome weapons like spears, shields, longswords, and such. All equipment with shorter reach was easier to deal with, but anything that had a longer swing or stab radius than me was a hazard.

Aisha didn’t spare her mana and kept invoking Impairing Strike repeatedly, hammering the Death Knight all around. I wasn’t able to split my attention like the last time and toss another vial of acid at it so she had to make do with her own abilities and the help of the Assassin guy. The silvery flashes evoked by her hits made it look like she was using the Death Knight’s armor like an anvil. Only bright sparks were lacking to complete the image.

Soon, it became so brittle that each of her strikes chipped off layer after layer as the tough metal crumbled in our eyes. Ashmel had picked up a random mace and started removing the protection from the Death Knight alongside Aisha as they both danced around the monster with it unable to decide on which one to focus on.

After stripping it down almost completely, they searched for the nucleus, but it was nowhere to be found. The only remaining piece of armor the Death Knight still had on was its helmet so the implications were obvious.

My crafty companion shattered its kneecaps to bring the monster down to the ground. Before it regained its composure from falling onto its knees, Lulu appeared next to it and multiple shadowy tendrils slithered through its exposed bones, restricting its movements completely.

She gave Aisha a happy nod and my drakan partner bonked the Death Knight right on the dome so hard that its skull was driven into its ribcage. Ashmel wasted no time and wiggled his dagger into the shattered part of its cranium, nailing down the nucleus. We could have saved one, but he most likely didn’t want to risk the monster regenerating inside the Dungeon.

The crystal could possibly be feeding them energy to do that or something. I’d noticed some of the Skeletons I’d smacked away recollecting themselves after a few minutes, looking not as hurt as I’d remembered.

Lulu nodded at them once more and jumped into a shadowy hole, resuming her pursuit of the last Screamer. But, she was taking lots of time with that one and I noticed how much faster and agile it was when compared to the other phantoms. It was the smallest one of them too. Our imp friend was having lots of trouble catching up to it.

Well, now we had the ability to help her without risking too much.

~Aisha!~ I called out to my mighty Berserker.

Instead of answering, she sent three Sunders my way, knocking away a decent group of Skeleton Warriors from my close vicinity. She immediately turned around and lowered her posture, watching the ceiling.

The moment she used her Launch, I juggled my mace to my left hand and spun around while extending my right to the side. The bonded handaxe flew into my palm and I hurled it with everything I had, both physical and magical.

Just as Aisha reached the apex of her leap and began falling, my handaxe arrived right in front of her and she grabbed onto the handle with one hand. I poured as much mana into Armsweaving and Telekinesis as I could to keep it locked in place for just two seconds. No more was needed.

She swung her body while using it like a gymnastics bar and soared even higher, flying into the space of the intricate dome. The head of her hammer gained a silvery glow and she roared silently, taking her weapon into two hands.

With our timings perfectly aligned, she smacked the Screamer that had just appeared in front of her after being chased away by Lulu with an overhead swing. The magical nature of Impairing Blast made it possible for the hit to connect and she smashed the phantom from above, sending it hurtling toward the ground.

Lulu waited for it down there and shaped up a pillow full of sharp spikes to cushion its fall. The Screamer couldn’t correct its path and nailed itself onto them with full force. Right after, it exploded in a puff of purplish mist and faded away. I sensed no more vibrations in the air.

~Cancel the curse, please,~ I requested from Levia.

Our hearing returned momentarily and everyone instantly covered their ears. After so many minutes of complete silence, just the noise of pure existence made it painful to listen to. We had to adapt quickly, though, since we weren’t yet done. The small army of trash mobs still surrounded us and Aisha already began rushing my way to aid me in repelling it from Levia.

“Well, at least this should be a cream pie now.” She winked at me and snickered while obliterating three Skeletons with one swing.

I rolled my eyes. “Please, this is not becoming a thing in our conv—”

A weird, clickety noise reached my ears as they grew accustomed to the usual ambiance and the sounds the remaining enemies made. Everyone looked around as much as they could while fighting and I saw Rose suddenly bolt into the chamber with a panicked sway. She stopped in front of my face and started frantically bobbing and drawing loops.

“Ah, shit… That is not good…” I winced.

“What is?” Lulu asked, glancing up at me.

“An entire horde of Skeletal Hounds is right behind the corner. We would have definitely heard it earlier if we weren’t deaf,” I replied, clicking my tongue.

The first bone dog entered our chamber with a slide, trying to regain traction with its slick, skeletal feet. It wasn’t some tiny, cute, chihuahua but a fucking massive, chunky English Mastiff in terms of size. Fighting just one of them would be a drag.

“Aisha! Juice up! Right now!” I commanded my brave drakan mate and she roared loudly while entering her Berserk. “Levia! Wrap up! We are running!”

The ferocious hound leaped over the entire army of Skeletons and headed straight for our group with its giant jaws aiming to tear us into shreds. Aisha stepped forward and smacked it out of the air with a well-timed hit, sending it tumbling to the side. More of them began rushing at us, knocking the Skeletons down in their charge, and she invoked Whirlwind, starting to spin around us to intercept the next opponents and begin clearing up a path.

“I got it!” Levia suddenly shouted. “Destroy this brace! Then the crystal! Quick!”

“Do as she says!” I screamed at Aisha, invoking Command once more.

As she lunged past us, we jumped forward to block the incoming hounds. I grunted in pain as I barely managed to block the bite of one of them by putting my buckler-clad arm in its jaws. Ashmel tried to use a fallen shield to cover himself but part of it shattered and his shoulder got injured. Lulu handled the horde the best out of us, spreading her shadows wide and creating a vast, decently high wall, but it clearly drained everything from her at a rapid pace.

A loud clang resounded in the chamber and I took a peek over my shoulder. One of the clamps holding the crystal was bent heavily to the side and Aisha was taking a wide swing at the core. Levia cast some kind of an ice spell and a whitish frost burst out of her extended hand, covering the blue gem’s surface. She must have hidden a card in her palm, covering it with her big sleeve to avoid anyone noticing.

Aisha slammed her hammer into the crystal and shattered the frozen area into bits. The very moment the broken-off, detached piece hit the floor, all the enemies crumbled onto the ground alongside it. We lost our balance and tripped as the force pushing onto us disappeared completely.

“The hell?” I muttered while staring at the sea of bones lying in front of us.

“That device was a relay. It extended the range of the spell that is raising the dead, spreading its influence over this area. I am not sure about the exact distance, but all the undead in this part of the ruins should have returned to their eternal rest,” Levia explained.

A low growl reverberated through the chamber and we flinched. Everyone’s heads snapped toward the source and we stared at Aisha, who seemed a little bit jittery as she stood behind the short Witch.

“Lucas?” A wry smile broke through her enraged expression as her hand holding the hammer started rising.

I hastily got up to my feet and jumped forward, catching her wrist.

“Chill. The sun’s going down. And you know very well what happens at night.” I tenderly grazed her cheek, imbuing my first word with Command.

She sighed heavily and a delicate smile warmed up her expression as her Berserk receded.

“Night is my favorite time of the day.” Aisha leaned forward and pecked my lips.

I chuckled and kissed her back. She earned it.