A small army of Lava Imps gathered between Inara and the furnace. They were plump little creatures with red skin, beady eyes, and pointed horns that rose up from each joint of their body. Their role in the dungeon was to operate the furnace, so they lined up in its defense.
That answered one question at least: that furnace was important, somehow.
Inara held her scythe at the ready, but she had a different idea for these creatures. They were small, effective in a swarm but weak on their own.
Your turn!
Inara rushed forward. There wasn’t much distance between them, just enough for her to get a running start and put some momentum behind a low kick. Her foot connected with the first Imp and sent it flying into a few of its fellows.
You have defeated Lava Imp lvl 7! EXP +0
You have defeated Lava Imp lvl 8! EXP +0
You have defeated Lava Imp lvl 6! EXP +0
She gave herself a second to enjoy the win. The imps were sturdy creatures. A single swipe from her blade would likely only knock one down to half health. They were powerful against each other, though. The horns along their bodies acted as an inherent weapon, and when she knocked one into the others, all three ripped each other apart.
She repeated the process two more times before her turn ended, killing six more imps and weakening four more. It wasn’t all of them, but it would be enough to keep her alive through the enemy turn.
Enemy turn!
One by one, the Lava Imps clambered over each other for the opportunity to swipe at her ankles. Her trousers held up for the first couple attacks, then grew more ragged. Each swipe dealt more damage than the last… but her health pool was larger than most. Even if her stats were embarrassingly weak, her health and mana remained, and she would make the most of it.
The worst part was knowing what should have been. With one skill, she could have taken out the entire swarm. Hell, maybe she should have used Blood Price and done so — it wouldn’t have cost that much more than what she paid in allowing them to attack her.
She quickly counted the imps. The swarm was massive; if James or Desiree encountered a room like this, she was sure they would not survive.
But of course, the dungeon knew that. The whole purpose behind separating the party on the first floor was for the dungeon to get a deeper understanding of each person’s capabilities, as well as to put people where they most needed to be.
Your turn!
Maybe it was the dungeon. Maybe it was the thrill of battle. Maybe it was having power available at her fingertips, with a cost she was willing to pay.
Inara activated Blood Price.
“Petal Storm!” It wasn’t necessary to call out the name of the skill, but she took pleasure in it. If she was going to do this, she was going to do this.
She tightened her grip on her scythe and swung it in a full circle.
As soon as she got the weapon moving, the skill took over. The room darkened under the weight of the magic. Her scythe let off a soft pink glow, and petals spun like shuriken from the edge of her blade. Each petal launched directly into an imp. Within seconds, they were all dead.
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!
You have defeated Lava Imp lvl 7! EXP +0
…
You have defeated Lava Imp lvl 8! EXP +0
MP -75
HP -150
Inara stood panting as the haze of combat lifted. Dozens of imps lay dead. There were even a few that had tried to sneak around behind her, but the full range of her skill spared no-one.
What a rush! How long had it been since mana had flowed through her body? Since her soul had merged with the scythe in the midst of battle? Too long.
She briefly checked her character sheet and sighed.
HP: 195/395
MP: 615/690
Of course, her victory had not come without a cost, and now that it was over, she had to wonder if her victory was worth it. She could have won another way for half the price.
She should have activated the skill immediately or not at all. Not doing so had cost her an extra fifty health points during an enemy turn that needn’t have happened.
Inara took a moment to eat the apples James had given her just before they entered the dungeon. The young man was foolish, but he had his moments. As she chewed the ripe flesh of the fruit and her health bar ticked back up, she tried to think more kindly of the man.
Maybe all heroes started off like that: ignorant and hopeful. How could they not, when they were yanked from their homes to a strange new world? Wasn’t that why the ancient masters chose to make heroes of strangers rather than Grimoran natives?
That was what she had always been taught, anyway. A foreign Hero saw the world with fresh eyes. They were wholly untainted by the infernal and therefore more suited to stopping it.
Two apples brought her health to 245/395. It didn’t feel like much, but she consoled herself by thinking it would still be higher than James’s maximum. It might not be what she was used to, but it was still a respectable amount.
That would have to be enough. And now that the dungeon had the measure of her, she shouldn’t be faced with a room like this until she rejoined her party. This was a two-person room, at least.
Inara walked around the edges of the room, looting the bodies. By the end she had eleven Imp Tails, seven Ashen Powders, two Molten Core Fragments, and one Impish Lantern. She promptly dropped everything but the Molten Core Fragments and the Impish Lantern. The others were decent alchemical ingredients, but from what she’d seen of James so far, she didn’t expect him to get too far into alchemy any time soon. Without a Hero’s inventory, she was better off only carrying what she knew to be important.
With basic house-keeping out of the way, Inara was able to shift her attention to getting out of the room. Once again, all the walls were rough stone, but this time she did not see any pressure plates. The main attraction of the room was the broken furnace.
Upon closer inspection, she could see glowing red crystals which looked to be twisted out of place. More than likely, if she turned them upright, that would fix the furnace and allow the heat to flow more smoothly through the vents.
The problem being, of course, that if she got too close to the furnace she would take heat damage. Touching the crystals with her bare hands was just asking for a burn, and though she had the health to spare, she had just wasted a ton on that fight.
Once again, she kicked herself for the indulgence of her skill — while at the same time knowing that she wouldn’t have done it any other way, even had she known what was coming. It would have been like denying herself a drink of water after a long hot day in the fields.
Inara rubbed her hands together. There had to be something here that would let her do it. Sure, there was always a way to brute-force a dungeon level, but with a little cleverness there was always an effective way, too.
She went back through the list of things she’d looted from the imps and landed on the Ashen Powder. It was a crafting reagent, used to imbue armor with fire resistance. This would be crude, but it would probably work.
Inara picked up the ashen powder one by one and smeared it across every inch of her exposed skin. It felt greasier than ash had a right to, but it went on easily enough and she was pretty sure it would do the trick.
Once she was fully covered, she approached the furnace — and sure enough, she took no damage. She barely even felt the excess heat. She might feel gross, but at least she was protected.
With a savage grin, Inara reached into the furnace and twisted one of the crystals. Just as she’d expected, the crystal snapped into place and a new vent opened up, funneling the heat away. One by one, the oppressive heat found a different outlet, and the room grew more comfortable.
When she locked the final crystal in place, she heard the grating stone on stone of an opening passageway. Whatever monster lurked in the passage, Inara was ready for it.
She was one step closer to finding her daughter.
