34.

  “Just me or was that easier than it should have been?” Trevor asked as they all caught their breath in the passage leading to the next zone. Santi wanted to groan at the man jinxing them but managed to keep his displeasure to himself.

  “This dungeon is much more like a game than the world is. Even with the stat screens. This shit is designed and the bosses are designed too. We must have missed something with the first boss, but this one had a power up mechanic that Santi stopped,” Tank explained. Santi looked at the big man and nodded in affirmation.

  “Earth, then fire, what’s next, air or water?” Bo said with a chuckle

  “Neither. This next fight should be the last one. We get through this last part of the dungeon, clear the boss, and we’re in the free and clear,” Duncan said.

  “How do you know?” Trevor asked with suspicion.

  “Because if you come up here you can see the exit and the final boss,” Duncan said. The entire group moved as one to stand at the edge of the platform, a metal walkway leading down and to a gate. They could see over the gate and there was one more platform waiting for them, and then beyond that was a gate where even from here they could see the portal rippling with sunlight.

  “Want to bet the gate is a puzzle gate?” Duncan whispered so softly that the others couldn’t have heard. Santi shook his head imperceptibly. It would have been a bad bet to take. They all moved off the ledge of the platform and down the metal walkway and toward the towering gate.

  It was silver and glowed brightly, blue runes shining brightly enough that it stung Santi’s eyes as they got closer. It was nine feet tall and arched, stretching from edge to edge of the platform they stood on. On either side was just an endless void, dropping away into the center of the world. Something stirred in that darkness, swirling about just outside of the illumination of the gate.

  Going around would be impossible. Santi was sure that the minute someone tried it and veered outside of the protection of the platform and the light of the gate, that they’d meet a grisly fate. Duncan marched right up to the gate and peered his head back trying to take it all in.

  Santi stood next to him and they both just looked at the thing. The mirror finish of the silver gates reflected the lights of the dancing runes, pushing it further out against the encroaching darkness. Both men cocked their heads at the same time and hummed in frustration looking at it.

  Different shapes of runes flowed about, dancing from one end of the polished silver to the next in a dizzying pattern. Santi tried to figure out the pattern, but he had never been good with these types of things.

  “You guys figure it out?” Bo asked as he trooped up towards them. The big man looked about and then back at them.

  “No, not quite yet,” Santi said as he tried to unfocus his eyes to see the pattern.

  “You should probably hurry it up, the lights getting dimmer,” Bo said. Both Santi and Duncan froze and turned back to the man.

  “Why do you say that?” Duncan asked.

  “When we first got here, that rock over there was fully illuminated. Now it’s not,” Bo said, pointing toward a rock sitting on the edge of the platform.

  “Timed puzzle, shit,” Dunca said, his head snapping back toward the gate.

  “You notice anything else, Bo?” Santi asked.

  “Yeah, the thing is a pattern. Those square ones with the rays coming out of them, well anytime a U hits one, the U changes direction. There’s also three locks in that door. Or at least three zones the U is avoiding.”

  Duncan and Santi turned back to the big man. Bo just shrugged his wide shoulders at the looks of amazement they shot him.

  “I’ve always been good at pattern recognition stuff. Love doing puzzles” Trevor snorted behind them as Duncan and Santi shoved Bo toward the door.

  “Alright, you tell me what to move and where to get those U’s where the locks are supposed to be,” Duncan said. His one hand went up and the moment it touched one of the runes, the rune flashed gold and froze at his finger. Bo started to quickly bark out orders, his own hands excitedly showing Duncan where to place what rune. When Duncan released the rune they stayed locked in place, sending the entire stream of runes scattering into new patterns.

  The light also started dimming noticeably faster. Santi turned back to the catwalk they had come down and chuckled to himself. Shapes were coming out of the abyss, crawling up the platform and dropping soundlessly to match eyes with him.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Shadow Elemental lvl. 56

  “We’ve got company. Hurry it up with that door,” Santi said over his shoulder as he moved in front of Tank and Trevor. The two big men slid behind him, with Tank getting close to Duncan and Trevor with his club in hand.

  “Just give us time, we’ll get it done,” Duncan snapped back. The light faded further, until it barely reached the perimeter of the platform. The elementals surged forward and Santi surprised them by lunging out of the protection of the light, morph blade slicing apart the creatures with ease.

  The magic weapon and Santi’s own spells were a horrible matchup for the elementals and they died much easier than they should have. Each strike of the morph blade splintered them into a revealed a core of inky blackness that Santi grabbed with [Air Manipulation]. He threw them backward and toward Tank even as he cut, ducked, sliced, spun, and cast spells in a whirlwind of destruction.

  Pain flared through his leg and it nearly buckled as he was just a half step too slow. Shadow claws parted his pants and boots like they were tissue paper and Santi’s blood splashed across the ground. The curse growled in his chest, eager at the scent of blood.

  Santi jumped backward, into the fading light of the protection of the gateway. Tank was there instantly, hand clamping on Santi’s shoulder. The healing spells washed over him, helping slow the blood loss and speed up his one naturally fast regeneration rate.

  The mass of shadows he had leapt in had thinned a bit, but more and more of the monsters were crawling up the sides. It was good leveling though for him. Santi looked at his kill notifications and grimaced. Not quite to fifty yet.

  The light from the silver gate was fading quickly. Dull golden runes spotted all up and around the gate, replacing the bright blue-white ones. Nearly half the platform was now in darkness and the horde of elementals was getting closer. Santi wished for a fire mage right about now.

  He leapt back into the crowd, using a razor whip to slash apart half a dozen of the shadowy forms. They tried to reform, but Santi was faster, [Air Manipulation] yanking away their cores like they were candy from a baby. He pushed them back with a combination of lighting fast strikes and [Gust] throwing the creatures off the side of the platform. It wouldn’t kill them, but it might buy them a few minutes.

  “How much longer?” Santi yelled, forced back as a strike cut him down his already bad leg.

  “Fuck!” Santi screamed, leaping off his good foot and back to Tank. The healer shoved a healing potion in Santi’s hand and then stepped forward with his club glowing with his only attack spell. The blast of the blow sent the elementals backward for a few moments, but they quickly surged back. It was enough time for the potion to heal most of his lame leg and then Santi was holding the bridge again.

  Shadow Elemental lvl. 59

  “They’re getting stronger! Hurry it up!” Santi yelled at the duo as he cut apart a weaker elemental. He was too slow to snag its core and the tattered remnants of the elemental fled, already regrowing its severed limbs. Santi cursed, ducked under another strike and leapt back into the thin layer of light still offering its protection. They were now only a few feet away from the back of Duncan and Bo, the two men working desperately as most of the symbols were now gold.

  A great clunk sounded behind him and Santi looked back to see that one of the divots had a U rune drop inside of it, unlocking it. Only two to go, but it looked like it would be faster with most of the routes already blocked off to herd the proper runes into place.

  The space the light illuminated was now only a few feet wide. A wall of shadows loomed up and over them, Santi couldn’t even see the differences in the elementals as they all formed together. His morph blade was a storm of movement, silver slashes slicing apart the darkness and keeping it at bay.

  Trevor was gripping his weapon and trembling, so terribly outclassed that he wouldn’t last a moment. Then again, Santi wouldn’t last much longer with how many of the elementals were crowded about the platform. Santi spat another curse and then a prayer of thanks as a second clunk happened.

  The light was nothing more than a dim glow, projecting only feet from the gate. Santi’s back pressed against Bo’s back and he cast [Gust] again, pushing the elementals back a few feet. If he had the time, he could overcharge the spell like he had done in the township. It would leave him drained and they were about to leave this platform and enter directly into a fight with whatever was on the other side of the gate. He didn’t have the time anyway.

  The tide of shadows surged back toward them the moment the spell faded, a wall of claws and indistinct shapes. A final clunk happened and the light faded for a moment leaving them in darkness. [Gust] and [Air Shield] were cast back to back and then the gates flared, brighter than before. The elementals dissipated, flowing away like the water receding from the bay, and the platform was bathed in light again.

  Santi exhaled heavily and turned back to look at the gates which had begun to laboriously swing open. Duncan looked back at them and then at the bag that they had collected the elemental cores in. The naked avarice in his eyes gave Santi pause, but then they were all shoving their way through the gate and onto the next platform.

  Santi watched behind them until they were clear of the gates which had already begun to swing back shut. Turning he saw that they were standing on the last platform, the only illumination the gate showing the way outside. A single figure stood between them and the gate.

  Tall and broad with a massive obsidian sword on his shoulder, his pale face was bloodless and his eyes were swirling voids. Dark armor and a flowing cloak of tattered shadows floated on an invisible wind, drifting around him as Duncan slowly started to edge around the corner of the circular platform.

  “I see you, brother. First to claim the key I guard. You are not strong enough,” the figure said, voice the sound of velvet decay, its eyes glaring at Duncan. The one armed assassin just smiled politely and pulled his knife out.

  Santi used [Identify] on the creature and wanted to go back through the gate. The dungeon boss was powerful and if what he had just said to be true, then this was some type of challenge dungeon that Duncan had lured him into. It now made a lot more sense why he insisted that all loot go to him.

  Shadow Knight lvl. 65