Ch. 54 – Zephelam VIII (Patreon)

The mass of insect-like hands that scrabbled over the floor sent a chill through Felix. Why the hell does it have to be like bugs?! He reached into the inventory and consumed three Anima Elixirs, immediately activating Hellfire Burst with the Anima restored by one of them.

The blast went down the tunnel and incinerated the tiny hands on the ground, the crimson and black flames charring them to cinders as the hallway itself screamed and growled in pain and rage, the walls blackening and crisping. The walls surged towards the two.

Tinuriel raised her hand, and an icy-blue aura surrounded her palm. Tapping into the Ice Affinity, she used her first ever Magic/Power effect.

A sphere of whitish-blue energy manifested in her palm before solidifying into an icy sphere, and then exploding outward in a torrential flurry of ice and snow. The whole hallway was coated with rime. The undulating hallway slowed down to a meticulous crawl as Tinuriel brought Valiant Edge to bear, chopping down into the closest segments. Felix used the opening to activate Detect Weakness.

The golden circles did not appear at all. “No weak points?”

“Just beat the crap out of it!”

Felix took a few steps back while Tinuriel held the front, pulling out his bow and loosing hardlight arrow after arrow into the gelatinous walls that surged and began to pummel Tinuriel. Thanks to her Bastion from before, she was unmoving and the impacts pinged off of her armor. The walls turned into hands and gripped her sword, trying to wrench it out of her hands. Her body flared with neon-blue light as her blade crackled with energy.

The hands that were pummeling here and gripping onto her recoiled in pain as they were zapped with the coruscating, silvery-blue energy that surrounded her body. She leaped into the center of the mass and swung her blade in an enormous circle – carving through the whole hallway as an instant later, a wave of water followed up her blow and echoed the damage.

Felix continued to loose shot after shot into the gelatinous mass and – slowly but surely – the two and their sustained onslaught of blows and piercing arrows caused the creature coating the halls to wither and deflate like a balloon slowly having air let out. It shriveled until a single, tube-like, meaty stick fell from the ceiling before dissolving into nothingness. Tinuriel had been hit several times during the fray, but her shimmering covering took the damage.

“You two are just not playing fair at all!” The Lich-Lord’s voice echoed around them once more.

Tinuriel growled and shouted up to the ceiling, “Will you just shut up! Your comments are pointless!” She turned to Felix and waved to him, “Come on. Take the lead, find those traps. I want this thing dead.”

Felix nodded and did as requested, scouring the hallway for traps with his gaze. He spotted the tiny, spindle-like thread of one and set to disabling it.

“And you can spot that? Okay. That’s it. No more Mr. nice Lich.”

Felix heard a crack above him. He flung himself backward as the ceiling caved in right where he had been a moment later, partially blocking the hallway. Great. It’s cut off.

But it’s sandstone. It’s weak, right?

Felix nodded and waved Tinuriel forward, “Would you mind destroying this chunk?”

Tinuriel swung her sword several times as if it was a pickaxe, carving away chunks of the stone with each swing until there was a big enough gap for them to squeeze through. Felix got through and pulled her along behind him. They were facing another set of double doors with no visible handles, locks, or other apparatus with which to open it. “Any ideas?” Tinuriel asked.

Felix laid his hand against the wall and – to his shock and surprise – the wall grabbed him back.

“Hah! No one expects the double mimic!” The Lich’s voice cried out.

Felix felt his bones break as his hand was snapped and pulverized. His mind went into shock at the sudden pain and adrenaline that inhibited the pain.

Tinuriel grabbed him and wrenched his arm free as it hung limp. She faced the door and yelled as she carved into it, backing away as hands shot outward.

That doesn’t look good. Regenerate.

Felix’s hand snapped back into place as his bones and muscles reknit themselves together. The relief from pain was barely felt as his adrenaline was still pumping. He pulled the phantom bowstring back and released shots into the door. He stepped back further as the arms reached further and further, until he was against the roof that had fallen.

Tinuriel had slowly taken staggering steps back as she kept swinging. But, it appeared the mimic door had some sort of intelligence to it – or maybe was somehow mentally connected to the other one in the hallway, as the hands never attacked Tinuriel – they went for Felix. She held the sword with one hand and raised her palm. An enormous spike of ice appeared in her grip, and she chucked it like a javelin.

The icicle impacted the door and a viscous ichor seeped down from the impact site as tendrils of frost crackled over it. And then, the spike exploded – and the door exploded with it. There was a shriek of pain as the mimic crumbled away as the frozen pieces slowly melted away into nothingness. Tinuriel turned around and looked at Felix’s now non-injured hand. “You okay?”

Felix nodded, “Yeah. Thank you.”

Tinuriel smiled, “I like using Magic.”

“You’re using it well,” Felix replied.

“Hey. Look at the room.”

Felix looked past Tinuriel. The room beyond the now-shattered mimic-door was a vast, vaulted crypt. Bones were interred in creches on either side of the room as sickly, glowing green, magical torches illuminated the space. There were tomes scattered all about. And, at the far end of the room, a purple film. Just in front of the film was a skeletal figure dressed in robes, holding a goblet in one boney-hand.

“About time,” The Lich-Lord stated. “Congratulations, you made it.”

“Tinuriel,” Felix whispered. “Use some Elixirs.” Felix used one Anima and one Vigor. Tinuriel used one Anima and three Vigor.

Felix walked forward cautiously, “This level of the Dungeon was much easier than the last one. Why?”

The Lich-Lord stood up and set the goblet down, “Look, I’m not a fighter. I’m just a skilled mage that wants to live the good life. This place was meant to be where I retire to. You’ve killed a lot of my undead servants and some of my pet mimics. You can’t go down to the next level unless you kill me, which is a problem because I like being undead. So, this is as far as you go.”

Lucifer, sync with me. I want to get the whole room.

The golden targeting reticles appeared on the Lich’s goblet and the throne he had just stood up from. I’d bet the goblet is the phylactery. But the throne…Felix wracked his brain and thought through every fantasy novel he’d read before, but no chair creature came to mind. Except…Really? Another mimic?

“Well…I guess I’ll make the first move,” The Lich stated plainly as he raised his hands.

Not so fast. Anathema Prison.

The Lich was surrounded with sparkling, blue and white starlight as the Magic he was focusing on faded and fizzled out of existence. “What?”

Tinuriel launched herself forward, activating several Skills in rapid succession.

She had taken a few steps before she zipped in the blink of an eye right in front of the Lich. She brought the blade down vertically, cutting him in half cleanly as the radiant blue sword carved through it, shortly followed by a gushing torrent of water that pushed the bones to the sides as they clattered away.

The goblet floated in the air and that’s when they both realized that the voice was coming from the cup. “Hah! You really think I’m that dumb? Surprise! I’ve been a mimic this whole time!” The throne rose up on its four legs and the back arched over as enormous teeth protruded down and combined with the seat to form a monstrous, gaping maw. The creature expanded in size as the goblet rose up to the ceiling and joined itself to the creature. The mouth came down on Tinuriel and chomped into her arm. Thanks to her Bastion’s Reflection upgrade, some of the damage was redirected back to the creature as it oozed the viscous blood.

Felix tried to draw a bead on the goblet, but the creature was moving too much for him to get a clear shot. He switched to his knives. He muttered through the several weapon enhancement Magic/Power effects, and a Class Skill.

In the blink of an eye he dashed forward to the creature’s face and plunged the Anathema-imbued Wyrmtooth Knife into the throne-mimic, followed by the Hellfire and Netherlight imbued Channeling Dagger The creature shrieked and crunched down harder on Tinuriel, drawing a scream of pain from her as it thrashed wildly. Felix pushed off the creature and gracefully flipped through the air before landing in front of it. That’s when he saw Tinuriel’s Health – rapidly draining.

“Regenerate!” Felix shouted at her. Use a Health Elixir on her!

I can’t! This thing absorbs any healing while it has a hold on her.

Felix felt panic rise in his chest. I need it to focus on me.

The silver-white aura of Netherlight surrounded Felix and pulsed above his head. The mimic-creature looked at him, dropped Tinuriel, and charged at him. Heal her!

On it! Focus on yourself though. Lucifer used four Health and four Vigor Elixirs on Tinuriel, and she roused from the ground.

Felix rolled sideways as the mimic tried to bite onto him. He glanced around the room looking for some way to gain more distance. That could work.

He blitzed around the room, cutting all six torches as they clattered to the ground and fizzled. The mimic monster was able to track him because of Netherlight Beacon, but now the room was pitch-dark save for the subtle glow of Felix and Tinuriel’s weapons – and the Netherlight surrounding him. Which counts as both light and darkness. Time for a broken combo. Thanks to Lucifer, he could see in the dark and knew Tinuriel was capable of the same with her elven heritage. Be ready Lucifer. Timing has to be perfect.

I’ve got it. Let’s kill this guy!

He teleported through the shadows right behind the creature and stabbed down with the Wyrmtooth Knife, sending another surge of poison through its body. As it began to turn around on him, he repeated the two Skills. He warped in front of it, plunged his knife into the face, and then teleported once more. The monster roared and swung at him – but he vanished again and appeared behind it, stabbing it. It began to slow as the poison coursed through its body – amplified by the Vital Strike. Felix replicated the ability combination again, appearing in front of it and stabbing again. But the creature was ready this time – and grabbed him in its maw, crunching down. He activated Shadestep, teleporting out of its maw and across the room, allowing Netherlight Beacon to fade.

An enormous spike of ice slammed into the creature’s mouth before erupting into an icy explosion that finally put the creature down for good. The goblet shattered as the mimic’s body shriveled away into nothingness.

“That…wasn’t the boss.”

Felix looked down at his mid-section, feeling the blood seeping through and down his body from enormous puncture wounds. “Heal”

Pink energy radiated from his palm as flower petals cascaded outward and sealed his wounds over. The pain lessened immediately. Tinuriel came over and reached a hand down. He grabbed it and she pulled him up into a hug. “That was close,” she whispered. “I’m sorry I wasn’t stronger.”

Next Chapter >