Chapter 113 : A Dragon’s Story (2)

*Better safe than sorry.* Dealla thought as she raised one hand causing gold energy to flow forth as she muttered the words ‘Drake’s Scales’.

This light stretched outwards in strands and curled around each of the nearby teammates, prompting an alert for each member involved.

“Only 5%.” Dealla clicked her tongue in annoyance as the defense buffing spell took hold, giving each party member an additional 5% damage reduction. Dealla could only think of the 15% she could be applying — if she was united with Chloe, that was.

One of the party members shouted their thanks as they too prepared for combat. The spear wielding Fighter quickly realized that his choice of weapon was not a good match up. Normally spears would be a shoe in for piercing defenses but these small, stocky creatures used their massive forearms as shields. The moment the spear would even come close to piercing their bodies, the Grimlock would shift both their position and weight. This caused the spearhead to glance off of their hardened bodies.

Lee’ahn’dra, witnessing the skirmish from afar quickly sprung into action. She nocked three arrows simultaneously and fired them in rapid fashion.  Two of the arrows glanced away as well but the third found its mark — piercing the Grimlock threat through the eye socket.

Of the three attacking creatures one was easily taken out, causing the Fighter to shift his focus. Dealla hanged back on purpose, choosing to stay near Lee’ahn’dra so that her buffs and spell could maintain their optimum power.

“Behind!” A Fire Mage shouted as she released a stream of flames from her fingertips.  Dealla turned just in time to notice one of the curious creatures just two meters away. Somehow it had managed to breach their lines and was now headed straight towards the elven Archer.

“Oh no you don’t!” Dealla shouted as she lifted her long sword and allowed it to hang over her shoulder like a baseball player preparing to smash a strike. The moment the creature moved into distance she was greeted by its information and a chance to attack.

[Lithe Golem

Miniature golems that seem infatuated with rocks and metals. When they consume such materials their body undergoes a transformation — making them as durable as a mass of minerals.]

Dealla swung her blade downward in an overhead arc, her goal was to bring the edge of her blade down on top of the Lithe Golem’s head and separate it from living. Unfortunately, the creature’s head was every bit as hard as a thick shield. All Dealla was able to claim for her efforts were a small chunk of rock and pain.

She immediately grimaced as her weapon clanged and reverberated ferociously in her grip. It was a struggle for her to hold on at this point. The creature’s face was small but considering that its mouth was broad and filled with dozens of sharp teeth. Dealla was instantly reminded of a piranha as her eyes locked with the golem, the short creature lifted it’s unnaturally large forearm and landed a blow squarely in Dealla’s gut.

She grunted her teeth as she took the blow and lowered her stance to avoid losing balance. Then she countered with another blow of her own, this time choosing an upwards slash. In order to connect she hopped backwards suddenly and cleaved her weapon upwards with a great deal of might.

Having been caught off guard by this, the Lithe Golem wasn’t able to cover up in time and Dealla’s blade easily cut through to the creature’s soft(er) belly and chest.

“Aim for their torsos! There’s much less rock there!” Dealla shouted as she wrestled her blade from the creature and gave it a second piercing stab for good measure.

The party continued this way for nearly half an hour. It wasn’t due to their ineptitude, but rather the sheer numbers of their foes. The Lithe Golems continued to assault them, oddly enough in waves of three to five Grimlock each time. The Golems were much more agile than their larger, lumbering counterparts but it mattered very little with accurate long range fighters and Strikers working together.

“Rest up. Catch a breather, but don’t get too relaxed.” Lee’ahn’dra said as the party found a nearby uprising of rock to take refuge near.  Dealla and all the other members of the party were keenly aware that camping inside a shard could be dangerous — still this was their job as a clearer chapel. To take on the challenge of the shards and clear them out before the problems became too serious.

*Still. Something’s bothering me.* Dealla thought back to Lee’ahn’dra’s original statement at the start of the battle.

“Be on your guard. This Grimlock type isn’t native to this area, it’s not what we were prepared for.” 

For chapels that specialized in “cleaning” shards, the process was basically a science. This routine allowed things to run both efficiently and without incident. For there to be a lack of intel concerning creatures they might face — it seemed improbable.

Shards were an enigma all unto themselves. No one truly understood how they worked or if there were rules governing their existence. Some shards would completely collapse once cleared. Others were persistent and needed to be cleared. To Dealla’s reckoning she couldn’t recall a single time that enemies within a shard changed, however.

Dealla tried to fight it with every fiber of her being, the nagging sensation which clawed at her. A feeling of slow burning dread that something was amiss. Even as she cleaved the Grimlock and coordinated with her party in battle, she couldn’t help but wonder about the safety of Chloe and the others.

This sensation welled up and formed in the pit of her stomach until finally Dealla couldn’t take it anymore.

“Lee’ahn’dra. Something’s wrong. This whole job feels — wrong.” Dealla once again tried to voice her concerns to the party leader. She didn’t expect things to go any differently than before with Tedrin. Lee’ahn’dra surprised her however.

“Agreed. After we rest up,we’re leaving this shard.”

“Huh?” Dealla seemed caught off guard. She half expected to be admonished, after all it was no secret that Lee’ahn’dra took issue with Dealla at times.

“I agree. The air here — it’s all wrong. It doesn’t feel right.” Lee’ahn’dra further explained as she gripped her longbow.

For Lee’ahn’dra to use those words, it suddenly dawned on Dealla why she was feeling so uneasy.

“We need to leave, now.” The dragon-kin suddenly insisted.

“Dealla. I know that you’re ‘situation’ makes you uneasy at times but–”

“No. You don’t understand. I remember this feeling. It’s…” Dealla struggled to articulate her thoughts.

“It feels like we’re in a red shard.” Dealla simply said her thoughts, partially because she knew how ludicrous her suggestion would sound.

“A red shard? Dealla. You saw the shard before we entered. It was clearly not a blood shard.” Lee’ahn’dra responded. Still, the elf didn’t seem annoyed. She searched Dealla’s face for some sort of meaning to her words before she asked, “What makes you think this?”

“When I first started in Guiding Light. I… I sort of got obsessed over red shards. I know, I know it’s stupid. I can’t always help it. But for a while I was attached to one. Tedrin made me sit out the push to clear it but — against my better judgement I may have stepped  foot inside…” Dealla confided to her party leader.

“You what? Dealla! By yourself?” Lee’ahn’dra couldn’t believe her ears. If she wasn’t smack dab in the middle of hostile territory, she just might feel inclined to strangle the dragon-kin.

“I know. But my point is, the air, this…thickness of the miasma. It’s not the same as normal shards. It’s much heavier, more taxing. You feel it too right? It’s the same as that time — maybe even worse.” Dealla explained.

Lee’ahn’dra sat, assessing Dealla’s words for several quiet moments. Shard clearing was a dangerous job on the best of days. To Lee’ahn’dra today seemed a bit too out of sorts. Strange monsters and the sheer numbers of them.

*If this were another group of adventurers would they have even survived something like this?* The elven woman thought to herself.  She then looked behind Dealla, outwards at the swirling mists and realized that visibility had grown even worse. Suddenly Lee’ahn’dra was beginning to regret opposing Dealla and her “feelings” so often.

“Everyone. Pack up. We’re leaving now, and double timing it to the exit.” Lee’ahn’dra said as she got to her feet. Within just two minutes everyone was on their way. They half expected to meet resistance on their way. But ironically enough — nothing. They walked as quietly as possible and proceeded as quickly as they could — but the miasma was thick like fog. If it weren’t for Lee’ahn’dra’s abilities as a scout to mark surroundings with magical glyphs, the party would surely have been lost.

“Sound off.” Lee’ahn’dra said as she skulked stealthily ahead of the party. She’d taken the lead partially because of her need to lead the way. One by one the people in the party began to sound off, it was a quick way to keep track of each other in poor visibility situations.

Dealla mindlessly spoke up as the second person but she turned her focus outwards immediately after. She couldn’t help but tense up, gripping her longsword as she peered around, hypervigilant to any potential danger.

“I said sound off.” Lee’ahn’dra repeated. At first Dealla didn’t understand the request, but she did as told once more. This time she paid attention to the result, however.

“Aye.”

“Here.”

“Here–huh?”

Both Lee’ahn’dra and Dealla turned their attention to the back of the party, quickly coming to a halt as they peered into the miasma behind them. The Fighter class Striker who had been tasked with bringing up the rear was nowhere to be found. Standing in his place was a tall imposing figure shrouded in wisps of miasma. “Retreat.” Lee’ahn’dra said as she quickly nocked her bow and leveled it at the lurking threat.