A foot nudged me awake. "Eh. What?"
Rachel was looking down at me, hands on her hips. "Get up. Your watch."
Annoyed as I was to have been awoken, it was much nicer than my last experience. I yawned and moved to stretch, before remembering that my arms were still mostly bound. I shrugged, and found the motion much more palatable now. "Mind loosening me up? I think I'm mostly better." I kept my voice down. Rachel narrowed her eyes, but kneeled down to assist with setting my arms free.
I tested the motions afterward, and found that except for the more extreme positions, I could move decently. A cursory glance of my shoulders showed a couple angry scars, but even they were beginning to fade. Whatever went on here, it really was increasing my healing speed. Experience told me that with my wakefulness, my mana would be fully restored, which would be essential if anything came up during her watch.
"Okay, I think I'm okay enough for emergencies, at the very least. I'm not a hundred percent, but good enough."
Rachel eyed me, but moved away from the entrance to settle in. She apparently had volunteered for the middle watch, which, given my injuries, made sense. Within only a few moments, she'd fallen asleep with slow, even breathing. I was surprised at the ease she'd shown in falling asleep in this tense circumstance. Was the woman ex-military? A traveler of sorts? She'd mentioned a boat accident, but it didn't really give any real information on her past.
The rest had been a real blessing, though. I was feeling much more confident about the day ahead, though with my attention, a small headache returned. Shoulders AND head were going to remain injured for some time, it seemed.
The time passed, and I fought to keep my wakefulness. How long should I sit there? How to estimate the time? I stood up after a moment, making sure to keep myself at least somewhat loose. I used my hand to get myself some lukewarm water and started to nibble on some of the jerky. I guessed that maybe it was beef, but quickly dismissed the idea. Who said that Avare had cows? Even if this had been earth, there would have been no way for me to identify the meat.
"Not like I'm some jerky aficionado," I muttered. I let out a slight huff, and started to do some exercises. I'd never been huge on that sort of thing, but realizing that a fight was ahead, I figured it would be only beneficial to keep my physical abilities up. After all, there were no stats like "dexterity" or "strength" so it was more than likely tied to my actual abilities. Then again, maybe there were more powerful skills awaiting me that might affect that sort of thing.
I looked around while doing some quiet, slow, high steps. I was already getting bored. Someone of my generation was not exactly built for this sort of environment. Without music, or a phone, or a book, or something, I was quickly reaching the end of my attention span.
"Damn. They really fried our brains, huh." I stated, not bothering to make it a question. How to pass the time?
I checked out my remaining pieces of clothing, and started to strategize what to do when I got back to the Sanctuary. That was another question, wasn't it? Were the other two coming with me? Would I go to them? If not, it would be a good idea to put the cloaks up as a blocker in front of my Sanctuary to retain heat in the cool evenings.
Eventually, though, my mind glazed over a little bit and I stared off into the nothingness.
After an indeterminate amount of time, I was snapped out of my dissociation when Nathan began to stir. He groaned, opened his eyes, and blearily took in his surroundings for a moment before his eyes landed on me.
"Hey," he said, an easy grin on his mouth.
I didn't change my neutral expression at all, just blinking silently. After a few moments. I thinly smiled. "Good morning, Nathan." He huffed to himself, and rolled over. He did a pushup to reach his feet, going from asleep to fully awake concerningly quickly. "That is far too much energy." Also, worth noting, his arm had to be better.
He looked at her again after checking his axe, and rolled his arm. "Yeah, a little too much. Probably shouldn't have put that kinda stress on my arm yet." He put that smile to me another time, however. "So! Any issues?"
Rachel groaned where she lay, and also started to move. Her breathing quickened, and the two of us gave her some time to come to wakefulness. Though she was a stern woman when awake, clearly, it did not apply when she was just waking up. Her eyes were filled with confusion as she observed the room. Eventually, her attention focused and her eyes returned to sharp clarity. She smacked her lips and pulled herself to a sitting position, only taking a moment to check to make sure her equipment was next to her.
"No," I finally answered. "All quiet on my front. Never even heard any noises."
"My watch..." Rachel started, then cleared her throat as she realized her voice was gravelly. "Mine was much the same."
Nathan nodded. "Cool. So, looks like Allison and I are looking better. Do we push on today? Take more time to rest?"
"Let's get some info first," I suggested. "Gather some food, fill up on water. I can move quick, so I'll step out and look at our surroundings." Without waiting for an answer, I moved to leave the chamber. Boredom was stronger in my mind than anything else, which was probably really, really unhealthy, considering the danger of our surroundings.
Should I get that looked at? Sure. But by who? How many therapists were there waiting for me outside the labyrinth, ready to tend to my mental health?
Upon leaving the safe chamber, I was immediately smacked with a gloomy malaise. Though the mine had seemed dark and uninviting previously, this was now openly hostile. My nose curled back, and I involuntarily fell on my back foot.
"Allison?" Rachel asked from the room. She'd noticed the slight movement in the wrong direction.
"Damn, that's... intense." I looked back at her and shook my head. "Check this out."
Rachel, who had already stood, approached me and stepped out herself. She looked around, and shrugged. "It seems unchanged to me."
"You can't feel that?" I asked, confused.
"No."
"Must be magical, then. It's a lot heavier than before." I sniffed, and even though it was entirely magical in nature, I felt stuffed-up. "It's entirely speculation, but I think the longer we're here, the worse it gets."
"So we should hit it up," Nathan said, chewing on some jerky. "I can't imagine this place goes on too much longer, you know?" He walked forward, testing a few swings with his axe.
I shrugged, only feeling a slight stiffness. "I agree."
Rachel looked less sure, but nodded anyway. "I'm not sure how much of a choice we have."
"So." I dashed back in to fill my bags with jerky, and drank enough water to quench my thirst - and a little more. I returned, wiping water off my mouth. "Rachel, you're up front. This time, I'd really appreciate if you could pull the biggest one. I was kind of out of my weight class there," I said.
"Pull?" She responded with a tick of her head.
"Uh, taunt. Like, grab them to fight you instead of me. You've got the shield there, so, like, you could hold out longer while I dispatch the smaller ones."
She stared at me, and did not give away any sort of emotion. "This is noted. I will... attempt. It is not exactly easy to predict what they will do."
"Thanks," I said. "I guess we should move."
The three of us started forward into the tunnels. I had never been claustrophobic, but was certainly feeling the closed-in surroundings getting to me. Each breath and step felt like it took more effort than normal. I frowned as we proceeded, and put my head on a swivel as we reentered the chamber where our last fight had occurred. I shuddered as I looked over at the large corpse of the mantis that had taken me out. It seemed much smaller while dead on the ground.
"Way forward's that way," Nathan said, pointing to the other exit with his axe. "It goes pretty far, that we could see."
"Nothing to do but do it," I responded. I made sure my weapon was at the ready, and slipped a piece of jerky into my mouth. Calories would help me get through future fights, and this was all I'd eaten for quite some time now.
The party was quiet as we padded through the mine, the only sounds coming from our equipment and breathing. That didn't last long, however. As we progressed, more and more of those veins of copper appeared with sparking electricity. The walls around us otherwise continued to get rougher and rougher, and after probably an hour of trudging and backtracking through empty corridors, the path in which we found themselves had truly morphed into another world, it seemed.
The tunnel would be a nightmare for anyone with trypophobia. There was nary a meter of length that was unbroken by some sort of odd indent, like honeycomb in the stone itself. It made no sense to me. Did mantises do this kind of thing? What on earth... or Avare, could cause it? Risking a feel, I discovered that the surface of the walls was vaguely wet. Extremely unpleasant. In addition, the further we progressed, the deeper that feeling of unease became, and eventually, the path terminated in a set of sturdy wooden doors that were in pristine condition despite the surroundings. Surrounding the doorway was a trim of some kind of metal, possibly copper by the color, that arced electricity over it constantly.
"So... there's a boss behind here, right?" Nathan asked, stopping. "That door even safe to open?"
"I'd have to guess yes," I said, responding to both questions. "If we're following design logic, then there's a creature, or a bunch of creatures, based on electricity. Shock-mantises?"
"Then my shield should prove extra useful," Rachel cut in. "Old, dry wood is a poor conductor. In the event of some attack of the like, find your way behind me."
We looked around at each other, but anything else we might discuss at this point would be pure conjecture. We had our marching orders, and there was nothing left but to do it.
Rachel stepped forward and pushed the door open. The electricity coursing through the trim suddenly cut out, and the room beyond, dark at first, suddenly came to life as the energy coursed through several veins of metal situated throughout the chamber. They covered the whole thing, floors, ceiling, and walls all.
A large, hemispherical arena awaited them, with a cutout on the opposite side of the room, cut off by a pit. It was impossible to tell how deep it was from this distance, and there was no real time to determine it. By the time we had all entered, the door slammed shut behind us. Nathan and Rachel glanced back at it, but I had pretty much expected something like it. We were here to stay, with nowhere to run, except forward. The cutout featured a squarish protrusion that glimmered with odd, but familiar, colors. The exit portal, then.
Shortly after we were closed in, a chittering sound started to echo throughout the area, supplementing the sparking electricity. The entire party began to split, each preparing ourselves for battle in our own way. Our foe made itself known quickly.
Crashing through a part of the wall, close to the tip of the ceiling, an enormous insectile creature burst into the room. The chittering at this point started a crescendo that almost became a roar while it slammed into the ground with ridiculous force. Rising nearly five meters into the air on a body that was likely three times as long, a centipede-like colossus moved with a rhythm that would have been mesmerizing were it not terrifying.
Each leg that protruded from its body was a huge scythe, like the ones on the mantises, but each the size of them as a whole. On top of that, four mandibles waved wildly as it made its noise. To top it all off, the ass-end of the thing terminated in what was basically a huge, metal mace that seethed with electrical energy.
"Rachel, go-" I began to call out but was cut off as the boss began to move. It darted straight towards me who had to Dash to put more distance between it and me as the mandibles thumped into the ground in front of me. My eyes alighted with fear as electricity arced between those as well. It left no time to respond as it reared up and went completely flat on the ground. The front of the creature shot two scythe-legs in my direction that I barely managed to Parry, sending a jolt up my arm. "Everything is electrified!" I cried, spinning about to try to reposition my footing.
The back of it wasn't lax. It pulled away from Rachel and went to attack Nathan instead. The mace whipped towards him at a troubling speed, but he managed to survive it by virtue of already having begun to Stomp. He finished his stomp mere milliseconds before it reached the correct angle and managed to ground the legs in a way where the weaponized appendage flew mere centimeters in front of his face. Rachel, looking to take advantage, charged forward and slammed into one of the legs on the side of its body, hoping to throw it off balance.
Rather than just hitting it, however, with a crack, the leg buckled under the force and pulled away from the body at a weird angle. The centipede quickly pulled back and screeched, a grating sound that forced all three of us to wince in pain. I was pleased that we'd already injured the beast, but was in no way convinced it would be an easy fight. It lashed out with lightning speed and brought the mace about to hit Rachel, who barely managed to bring her shield up. She blocked the attack, but it sent her tumbling several meters away. I spared a glance to make sure she was still conscious and moving, and Dashed forward.
If the legs could be taken out like that, it was just a matter of leverage then. I needed power, and it needed to be applied in the right spot. I jumped aside as a leg reached out at me. "Mana Bolt!" I yelled out, feeling the energy gather and watching a splash of pink hit the leg down below. I was pleased that I'd managed to hit, but unfortunately, the leg was quite secure on the ground, and it did little more than knock the single leg off balance. I looked aside and was very grateful to realize I'd barely avoided dodging directly into one of the electricity hazards.
That was far from what would be needed to beat the creature. Its head darted down towards my face and only a quick-thinking second Mana Bolt put it off course. Instead of ripping into me, one of its mandibles simply hit me in the side and I crashed away. I heard the pounding of boots and watched as Nathan ran forward and dove under several of the legs. A clean motion of his Axe cut into the creature from below, managing to strike right between where plates of its exoskeleton. However, he was unable to wrench it free right away, and was forced to dive away while leaving the weapon there, wedged inside of it.
I aimed a Mana Bolt at the axe, hoping to knock it loose, but the shot went wide. I had three or four more, and couldn't afford to waste them so quickly. I got to my feet as Rachel was running forward once again, leaping forth to block a lethal scythe as it curved toward Nathan.
The fight was deteriorating very quickly. I realized we'd been very lucky so far, with each of us able to do what we needed on our own against the smaller enemies. How were we going to take this thing down? Taking out each leg would be next to impossible. While it focused its attention on Rachel and Nathan, I narrowed my eyes and tried to observe how it moved. The whole thing was dangerous, but it couldn't just be a hurricane of blades, could it?
It certainly seemed so. I needed to either figure out what was going in or jump in myself. Rachel was holding off for now, but with Nathan disarmed, she'd be overwhelmed quickly. I gritted my teeth. What was it doing? With that many blades, one would think it could overwhelm the woman easily, but it was moving with less dexterity than I originally thought. A few cycles of attacks and it clicked for me. It was dangerous in three ways - its sharp legs, its head, and its mace-like tail. However, the key was that it could only attack a single target with one at a time. It could switch between them with rapidity, but still, no matter what, only one weapon was really on the offensive at a time.
I began to run at the creature, aiming to get to its middle and free Nathan's weapon. It was distracted with the other two, but it hadn't lost awareness of me. Even without looking my way, the mace headed towards me, but I had expected it. The head was currently harrying Rachel, so that was the option it had if it wanted to hit me. I Dashed ahead of it to get within its arc of attack and reached out, catching the axe with my offhand. I Dashed again in quick succession, using the momentum given by the skill to yank it out.
It didn't work perfectly. I felt my shoulder tweak badly as I passed at the odd angle, but the axe did come with me. "Nathan!" I yelled and threw the axe at his feet.
"Thanks!" He yelled back and picked it up, using it to counterattack and take some of the pressure off of Rachel, who was clearly running out of gas from having to tank the attacks for several moments. His sudden rush was effective, and he managed to hack away at one of the legs before they both had to disengage.
I felt at my left arm, and realized it wasn't going to be much use. It must have been dislocated with the maneuver. I wondered if my Daredevil trait hadn't spared me from worse harm. I gritted my teeth and began moving again. With all three of us on the same side of the centipede, the danger was increased. We needed to split its attention.
I Dashed around it, starting to feel my muscles strain. The increase to my endurance was welcome, but it was still limited. I was burning through my resources. Once again in three different places, the fight resumed much as it had begun, just moved over to the side of the arena.
However, not everything was the same. We three human combatants were at best winded, and at worst wounded, and the centipede was missing a few limbs. We were very close to one of the electricity hazards, and I noted with interest that when the bug lashed out at any of them, it avoided the terrain.
"Try shocking it!" I yelled out, hoping the others would listen in the din of the battle. Of course, they'd have to lure the thing in or force it into a trap to even try the tactic, so it was only of limited use. Regardless, we had to keep the pressure up. If the thing overwhelmed us, we were done.
Rachel was taking a moment to breathe while Nathan kept up the attack. His Stomp was proving pretty effective, thankfully, and the hesitations it caused in the insect were significant. I stalked over to the other side, waiting to try and take advantage of a strike to do one of my own. My most effective strikes had been counterattacks, so that would be the tactic I'd take. I moved to the middle of the side opposite of Nathan, and tried to provoke the centipede. It wasn't hard, thankfully. It was extremely aggressive, and I was injured.
The mace whipped out towards me and I ducked to aim my sword at where it met the thing's body. My aim was true, and my sword managed to pierce into the connecting area, but the momentum of the strike pulled the weapon out of my grip. "Shit!" I cried, diving away.
It wasn't wholly ineffective. The centipede's movements using the mace were suddenly much less effective, and slowed down immediately. It was off balance, and that's when our moment came. Without my weapon, my options were more limited, but I still had the capacity I needed. I saw Nathan raising his leg for a Stomp on the other side and prepared. As the foot came down, I Dashed forward and brought my foot forward and aimed my good arm at the centipede. As it shuddered momentarily, stunned by Nathan's skill, I kicked it with all my strength and shot a Mana Bolt into it at the same time, heaving the huge beast in one direction - straight into one of the electrical hazards.
There was a flash, and it thrashed around, the chittering turning into wild, high pitched screams. Unable to disengage, I was hit by two of its legs. The first cut my already wounded arm and the other hit me in the stomach with the backside, knocking the wind from me and putting me on my ass some distance away. I couldn't see Nathan or Rachel past the creature's wild flailing, so had to trust they were okay. What now? Was there a phase two?
The screeching continued for a moment, and all of a sudden, the gigantic beast seized up, unmoving, half its bulk raised up into the air. The mandibles twitched, and soon after, though it stayed where it was, smoke began to pour from its wounds. Was it dead? Done?
The screeching stopped a moment later, and with a last, guttural chitter, the insect lost all coordination, like a marionette with its strings cut. It crashed into the ground, where it lay with several of its legs sparking from contact with the electrical ore vein.
With it on the ground, I could see the other two as I slowly got to my feet. Nathan was cut on his non-dominant side, though it wasn't deep. Rachel, unfortunately, wasn't the greatest. I spied a nasty gash on her forehead and she was walking with a slight limp.
"Allison, are you well?" Rachel called out.
"Kinda," I replied with a yell. I waved my good arm. "Got a dislocated shoulder and feel like I can barely move, but I'm alive."
Nathan crossed around to take a closer look at me, and grimaced at my injuries. His scratch was only a minor one, but the blood dripping from his wound meant it definitely had to be addressed anyway.
I slowly sauntered up to the beast, looking at its smoking corpse. "God damn, that was huge. But we got it."
"No thanks to me," Rachel muttered.
Allison shook her head. "Nah. You gave me time to observe it and find out how it moved. If you hadn't been able to hold it like that, I wouldn't have been able to see it was avoiding those things." I reached down to wrench the sword from its body, but had to pull back my arm after just a moment of contact. Electricity was coursing through it with such power that even getting close was a jolt.
"So. What now?" Nathan looked over at the portal. It seemed far more corporeal now, and while no one had been looking, a bridge of stone had coalesced over the gap, looking like it was always there.
"I guess we beat this area," I said, sighing, and I closed her eyes and leaned my head back in exhaustion. "We go our separate ways, I guess?" The fight had been short, but so intense that it felt like I'd been at it all day.
"We are in poor shape, for certain. We should - NO!"
I only had a brief moment to wonder what the Rachel's shout was before an intense pain seared through one of my legs. I crumpled to the ground in agony, dimly noting that I could see a pool of blood beginning to form around my left leg.
Nathan was standing above me, a sick grin on his face. "Thank you for your assistance," he said. No longer was the suave look of a playboy plastered on his expression. Instead, a manic look had taken his eyes. "I'm so glad you both put so much into this fight."
"What the fuck are you doing?" I screamed, bringing my arm up and firing a Mana Bolt at him. It missed, with the man having already begun running towards Rachel. She was injured, too, and in poor shape. Was this his opportunity? What was the goal?
I could certainly guess. A man, in the middle of nowhere, with a couple of women who couldn't hold up to his assault? They had to fight with everything they had. The ring of steel let me know that the two others had begun fighting, though I couldn't see over the bulk of the insect. I attempted to get to my feet, but with the gash in my left leg and my unusable left arm, I was unable to rise. Instead, I dragged myself slightly over to try and see the fight, but fell short.
"It's inevitable," Nathan's ugly voice called out. It was the same as it was, but now, with his true colors shown, it sounded far more sinister. He and Rachel were circling each other, and had made it across the bridge and were now near the exit portal. Had I passed out? It was possible, I was losing blood and still slightly concussed, as the pounding in my head both woke me and kept me from thinking properly.
"I'll kill you where you stand, you fucking monster," Rachel spat out. She wasn't looking good. She also now had a bloody injury on her sword arm, and it was much lower than one would normally have it to threaten the other. Her shield was looking battered as well, both from the boss fight and the subsequent fight with Nathan.
"No," he laughed out, "you won't. You've hardly got anything left in you. You're done, Al over there is immobile, and I'm nearly unharmed. This wound is nothing. I will kill you, then I will kill her, and then I'll have this place all to myself."
Was it really that simple? I was both relieved and disgusted that that was his motivation. But... why hadn't he just struck my head or neck then? Why my leg? It wasn't that simple. It never was. I had to do something. The fight was going poorly for us, and the suddenness of the betrayal still hadn't worn off, at least for me. But I held one advantage. I figured that my best chance was to rely on the Labyrinth allowing me to come back after dying within it. If it only worked once, I was done for, but in truth, I was done for anyway. At this point, it was my only hope.
I waited for my chance, breathing becoming shallower and my vision starting to cloud at the edges. Pain tinged my senses, but I used as much willpower as I had to stay conscious. What could I do for Rachel?
I blinked, and it came to me. I'd just done the same to the insect. The positioning was perfect. Rachel was obviously not leaving through the portal behind her in order to try and protect me, and I was absolutely touched by the choice, but Rachel had to leave. I knew that. So I slowly positioned my good arm at the duo, and waited for the right moment.
I could no longer see Nathan's expression, but that didn't matter. What did matter was him raising his leg for a Stomp. Rachel brought her shield to bear, recognizing the action, which was exactly what I was waiting for.
"Mana Bolt. Mana Bolt." Two orbs of pink, one after another, launched from my arm and towards the pair. Nathan, having heard me, turned around to try and dodge the shots, but it was futile, mostly because neither Bolt had been aimed at him. Sucker. Eyes wide with confusion but momentarily unable to move, Rachel was surprised by the Mana Bolts colliding with her shield and shoving her backwards. Rachel lost her balance and fell over on her back. She never landed, however, her body hitting the portal behind her and disappearing between one moment and the next.
Silence fell over the arena as Nathan took in what just happened. "You bitch," he said, immediately pivoting and walking towards me. "Was that planned?"
I grinned as I rolled over on my back, more towards the creature. He was approaching, and I thought fast. How much could I do? I eyed the creature, and a mad little plan began to formulate.
"I'm going to enjoy watching the light go out in your stupid fucking pink eyes," Nathan declared as he approached me. I screamed out in pain as he kicked my good leg right at the knee, and heard something unpleasant from it. He dropped down on top of me, and his hands reached around my neck. They weren't gripping me yet, and he gave a sickening smile. "Any last words, Al?"
"Yeah," I huffed, not bothering to reach at his face with my one good limb. His arms were longer, and I doubted he'd care if I managed to injure him. "My name is Allison, fuckface."
Nathan grunted and squeezed. I found myself unable to breathe, and what little vision I had left was quickly leaving me.
But that was fine.
With my good arm, I did not attack Nathan, but instead, grabbed the sword still stuck in the centipede. Pain shot down my arm with (literal) lightning speed and I only had a moment to gleefully watch as Nathan's eyes opened wide and were wracked with agony from the electricity coursing through us both.
"One of these days," I let out, opening my eyes to stare at the white ceiling of the portal chamber, "I'm gonna have a single fucking day where I don't pass out or fucking die."