Chapter 18 - Spiraling
Things were not going well at all in the Hoffman Ruins as a thrown switch had nearly crushed the group, and split them in half instead. That was, if Bowman and Celine could be considered a half. "They're too heavy!" they could hear Claude say.
"I can blast it," Opera replied from the other side of the stones.
"Too risky," Ernest said. "There was a path back that way we should check. there might be instability here we don't see. Anything over there?"
Bowman peered down the dimly lit corridor, trying to see through the lingering dust. "I can't tell, not without going further down. there's a bend down there."
"OK, stay put awhile, we'll be back or on the other side."
Celine sat down a measure away from the rock pile that had nearly killed her and Bowman, if he hadn't pushed her clear of it while leaping. She sighed, dusting off her dress, and looked up at Bowman. "Thanks," she said, adjusting her hat.
"I couldn't let it happen," Bowman said. "Its not my nature."
Celine smiled slightly, the first she had since they'd entered the caves. "It's always been your nature," she replied. "Ever since I'd known you."
Bowman took a seat near her, smoothing his coat a bit and folding his hands behind his head. "I'm a doctor, it's my nature to save lives - no matter by medicine or by rescue or even if it means I have to fight."
"I know," she replied. "Funny how some things don't change, isn't it?"
"Yeah." Bowman closed his eyes, recalling when he had first met Celine. They had been younger, and he initially had been on business. Things changed over time, to the point that they ere going to be married - but again, things had changed, taking him from there, and her. He had found Nineh. and settled down with her. 'Was I a fool?' he asked himself, cracking his eyes open to glance over at her.
She still had her figure, though time was slowly aging her little by little - she was no longer a teenager - she was mature, and still quite attractive. Bowman was certain she had someone.. Didn't she? "So what have you done?" he inquired, trying to stave off the silence and boredom that was inherent with waiting.
"Not much, actually," Celine said, turning to look at him. "Mostly a lot of studying in heraldry, until I met Claude and Rena in Cross. Other than that, life's been pretty boring."
Bowman nodded absently, finding himself stealing a glance at her every so often as she closed her eyes and seemed to be nodding off. 'So then she never found someone. I wonder if she spent all her time waiting for me, of if it was that she couldn't find anyone. I don't see why anyone wouldn't be attracted to her.'
Celine was closed off into her own world as Bowman thought, trying to relax and not reflect on the unchangeable. 'He got married. I can't say I'm surprised that he went and married someone else. He's always had a roving eye. I'd always thought that we would end up together, though. Funny how you can be so very wrong about things.'
She pulled her legs closer to her, startling Bowman a bit and rested her head on her knees, eyes still closed. 'After he left, I focused on my magic, rather than get hurt again. I knew it was fleeting that he'd come back, and I was right. I'm always trying to be right, and yet, I wish I hadn't been that time. But then, it wasn't meant to be, I suppose. What comes may come, I suppose.'
~*~
"I'm telling you, it's this way!" Leon said, pointing a short finger towards the left fork.
Opera sighed, exasperated. "And last time you said it was a certain way, you nearly got us killed!"
Ernest put his hands on her shoulders. "Calm, yourself, Opera, he's only a child."
"I am not a child!" Leon nearly shouted.
"Enough!" Claude said, covering his eyes with his left hand. "Quiet down or you'll attract monsters. Those monsters might find Bowman and Celine before we do, and that's not good."
Leon sulked a bit as Claude peered down both forks. He furrowed his brow, straining for sounds of life, and heard an ominous growl from the right tunnel. "Let's try left. Sounds like something is to the right.
Opera rolled her eyes as Leon stuck her tongue out at her, grabbing her Kaleidoscope and walking ahead of Leon and Ernest, catching up to Claude quickly. "That kid's annoying me," she whispered to Claude, keeping her eyes alert on their path.
"I know he can be frustrating," Claude said, "but he's just trying to be a grown up like the rest of us. He's intelligent, but he lacks practical experience, I think."
Further back, Leon was by Ernest, his eyes darting around worriedly. "You don't think there's something no one knows about down here, do you?" he asked, trying not to sound worried, but very much afraid.
"Probably, considering they really haven't been checked thoroughly. Most ruins I've gone over have something unexpected in their depths. His hand was holding his whip at the ready, though his step was as though nothing was wrong. The tetregene male had been through countless places with unknown dangers, and had made it through. One more couldn't possibly kill him.
Claude stopped Opera, hearing something moving around the bend. "Stay here a moment," he said. Opera grabbed his arm as he stepped to go around the corner, shaking her head.
"Use the sword blade," she said. "It's polished enough. Don't walk in blindly."
Claude blinked, perplexed by her sudden actions but nodded, drawing his sword slowly. He extended it outward, angling it to see, and twisting it to check high and low, and saw two forms against the wall. "Bowman?" he asked, nearly causing Leon to jump from the sudden noise. Ernest glanced down, seeing Leon quickly collect his confidence once more.
"Claude?" he inquired, nudging Celine from her thoughts. "Is that you?"
"Yeah, we're around the bend," he replied, stepping forward. "See?"
Bowman stood, offering a hand to Celine. She took it, rising gracefully. "Thanks," she said.
"No problem," he replied. They walked over, rejoining the others. "Thankfully, these caves do intersect often. I'd hate to think what could have happened without it."
"The only place we haven't investigated was that right fork," Ernest said, pointing behind them.
"Right," Claude said, swallowing slightly. "Everyone better be ready - I suspect there's something large and unhappy that way." Leon moved closer to Claude as they moved back to the fork. After a few equipment checks - Opera putting in a new box on her Kaleidoscope, Leon checking over a few spells - they started down the path.
After only a few steps Celine was the first to pick up on something odd. "Say. is this path lit oddly?"
"It's kind of . green," Ernest said.
Bowman cracked his knuckles. "Be on your toes. It could be a trick."
They walked ahead, and found a room off to the side. Claude extended his sword again, seeing nothing but a green crystal scattered about the room, giving off the greenish glow. "Nothing but some strange green rocks."
"That's the Energy Stone we need," Leon said, walking around the corner confidently. "It will only take a moment to get some, and then-"
"Leon, look out!" Claude shouted, charging after him and scooping him up in his arms and rolling across the floor as the others followed in. "You ok?" he managed, spitting out some dust.
They both looked up to see something big, hideous, and hungry before them, having landed where Leon had been. Claude rose quickly, bringing his sword to bear even as the others prepared. Leon ducked back behind Claude, completely terrified by this unknown monstrosity.
Bowman whistled, pulling a few pills from his pocket. "Hey, ugly, over here! You look a little ill, so have some pills!" He threw them at the thing as it turned, sensing the motion behind him. They struck, exploding with force enough to shake the cavern itself and send small rocks falling on everyone.
Ernest took a shot next, whipping it to keep its attention off Claude and Leon, while Opera charged her weapon. "Fol!"
Celine was behind them, starting a chant. Claude glanced behind him at Leon, frowning slightly. "We need your help," he said, seeing that the physical combat was having little effect. "I'll buy you time, but we need to you cast," he said, swinging his blade around to get a better grip.
"B-but-" Leon stammered.
"Just try!" Claude said, charging in to strike the back of the beast with a lunge high into the air. Leon pulled out one of his books, and opened it to a random page, starting to chant.
Claude landed on the opposite side of the beast, having rolled off after failing to do any serious damage. "Damn it!" he muttered, glancing back at Celine, who had reached the pitch of her spell-
"Thunderstorm!" she cried, but not before another one of the beasts had shown up. Her spell struck the first, sending it sidelong into the wall, and throwing Leon off-chant as the other charged him.
"I think not!" Opera said, charging it, the Kaleidoscope shouldered. She skid to a halt in the heels, buying them into soft ground and went to her knees, aiming carefully. "Flame launcher, don't fail me now!" The end of the gun erupted in flame, jetting outward into the face of the beast, causing it to stop in its tracks and back up away from the scorching heat.
"Go Leon!" Claude shouted over the din of the creature's wailing and Celine's second Thunderstorm into the first one to finish it.
Leon started chanting again, focusing on nothing but the words. Opera's attack finished and she stood, bringing the Kaleidoscope to bear as a blunt weapon. "Try me you ugly bastard, you're not getting the kid!"
Ernest snapped the whip at it from the side as Bowman threw more pills, causing a cascade of small rocks again.
"Black Saber!" Leon cried, sending a spear of jet black at the other monster, lancing completely through it and out the other side before dissipating against the wall. The monster hit the ground with a sickening thud as Leon collapsed to his knees, exhaling loudly.
Everyone cheered, and Opera picked Leon up and hugged him. "I knew you could do it," she said, setting him back down.
"Yeah," Leon said, his voice weak. He was shaken by the experience. 'I was lucky that spell worked as good as it did. I had no idea if it would even work.'
"Let's get the stone and get going," Claude said, sheathing his sword. "Good work Leon."
Leon smiled weakly, feeling very drained by the ordeal despite the fact it had been an easy enough spell. "Yeah, I knew I could do it the whole time."
~*~
"Ready?" Dias asked, glancing at Rena.
"More than ever," she replied, standing close to him.
Dias gripped the blade of his sword tightly, eyes narrowed for the first sign of an enemy. "Good, because they're here!" He drew the sword in a lightning flash, slicing cleanly through the first monster to approach them. Rena turned to her right slightly, and swung out, striking another back and then chanting, casting Press on it to finish it.
Dias swung left, bringing his blade to bear on a long, gangly monster with many legs, stabbing it through the abdomen once, and jerking it out roughly. "Air Slash!" he cried, releasing the force of wind from Hope of Breeze with enough velocity to throw back two more oncoming beasts.
Rena twisted, and started chanting, aiming for a creature attempting to attack the back of another fighter. "Ray!" The beam of light shot out, striking it and alerting their fellow fighter to the threat. Unfortunately, as she turned she was too late to stop another monster from reaching Dias as he dealt with another threat and screamed as it struck the blue-haired fighter's side. She growled, and cast Cure Light on Dias, and then began another chant, this time for Deep Mist to make it harder for the enemy to hit them.
Not too far from then Ashton and Precis were dicing and bashing any enemy that came in their range, and there were plenty. Gyoro and Urunrun were getting into the mix as well, occasionally throwing a breath behind Ashton or bopping enemies on the head and chasing them off until Ashton could turn and deal with them. Precis had Bobot trying to cover her, but the machine could only do so much and shrilled loudly as one got past and knocked her down.
Ashton turned, having dispatched a mottled hairy beast to see another like it at Precis backside. "Piercing swords!" he cried, throwing both weapons hard into its back. He dashed over, drawing them back out and kicking the beast away from Precis as she picked herself up off the ground from where she had fallen initially.
"Are you ok?" he asked.
"Yeah, fine," she said, dusting herself off. "Thanks." She picked up Bobot and aimed at a monster off to Ashton's back and side. "Alley-Oop!" she said, throwing the Bobot and nailing the creature in the head, sending it off the wall as she caught him.
Further down, at a point farthest from the cannon were Ruprecht and Kher, trading places as they dealt with magician monsters and hairy creatures that defied explanation. "Duck!" Ruprecht said, stabbing over Kher into the body of a magician that had appeared out of nowhere.
"Thanks," he replied, pulling an arrow. "Ah. crap." Ruprecht spun at the first word out of Kher's mouth to see a big, ugly draconic beast perched on the wall. Around it were a host of small furry things that were all salivating, almost looking rabid.
"You handle the big ugly, I've got the small ones," Kher said, nocking a set of arrows on the bow in preparation of a technique he'd learned years ago form his father.
Ruprecht meanwhile overshot the small furries in favor of the larger creature, finding purchase on the mountainside nearby. "Hey scaly, up here!" he taunted, gripping his lance. He watched the arrows rain on the smaller creatures, and a few extras bounce harmlessly off the dragon. "Try the sword!" Ruprecht said, dodging a charge of electricity form the monster and seeing the last two small fluffy ones break for Kher.
"You're mine," Ruprecht hissed, bounding down from the mountain to the ground before the dragon. He held its attention as he waved the lance back and forth slowly, tempting it once more to try and breath on him. It worked, and he leapt up and back. He closed his eyes, focusing his attention on the lance, which he had had since he could remember. It hovered above his right hand, which was ready to throw it.
"Twin elements of shadow and light, bless the tines and strike with might," he whispered. "Impaled Fusion!" He threw the lance as the dragon's head came up, and threw his arms up to shield his eyes and face from the force of the blast as the lance ripped through it and into its throat lodging in deep and piercing the creature's brain. Ruprecht fell from his position, and landed rather gracelessly as he recovered from the force of the shock.
"You ok? Kher asked, wiping the blood form his blade before sheathing it.
"Yeah," Ruprecht said, shaking off the shock and pulling free his lance from the carcass. "Nothing I can't handle."
"Most people I know would have died or been severely injured by that," he noted.
"I'm not most people," Ruprecht said. Before more could be said another wave of creatures rose to the occasion, sending them back into combat. 'Sometimes, I wish I were,' Ruprecht though, lancing another monster and sending it off the wall into the ground below.
Things were not going well at all in the Hoffman Ruins as a thrown switch had nearly crushed the group, and split them in half instead. That was, if Bowman and Celine could be considered a half. "They're too heavy!" they could hear Claude say.
"I can blast it," Opera replied from the other side of the stones.
"Too risky," Ernest said. "There was a path back that way we should check. there might be instability here we don't see. Anything over there?"
Bowman peered down the dimly lit corridor, trying to see through the lingering dust. "I can't tell, not without going further down. there's a bend down there."
"OK, stay put awhile, we'll be back or on the other side."
Celine sat down a measure away from the rock pile that had nearly killed her and Bowman, if he hadn't pushed her clear of it while leaping. She sighed, dusting off her dress, and looked up at Bowman. "Thanks," she said, adjusting her hat.
"I couldn't let it happen," Bowman said. "Its not my nature."
Celine smiled slightly, the first she had since they'd entered the caves. "It's always been your nature," she replied. "Ever since I'd known you."
Bowman took a seat near her, smoothing his coat a bit and folding his hands behind his head. "I'm a doctor, it's my nature to save lives - no matter by medicine or by rescue or even if it means I have to fight."
"I know," she replied. "Funny how some things don't change, isn't it?"
"Yeah." Bowman closed his eyes, recalling when he had first met Celine. They had been younger, and he initially had been on business. Things changed over time, to the point that they ere going to be married - but again, things had changed, taking him from there, and her. He had found Nineh. and settled down with her. 'Was I a fool?' he asked himself, cracking his eyes open to glance over at her.
She still had her figure, though time was slowly aging her little by little - she was no longer a teenager - she was mature, and still quite attractive. Bowman was certain she had someone.. Didn't she? "So what have you done?" he inquired, trying to stave off the silence and boredom that was inherent with waiting.
"Not much, actually," Celine said, turning to look at him. "Mostly a lot of studying in heraldry, until I met Claude and Rena in Cross. Other than that, life's been pretty boring."
Bowman nodded absently, finding himself stealing a glance at her every so often as she closed her eyes and seemed to be nodding off. 'So then she never found someone. I wonder if she spent all her time waiting for me, of if it was that she couldn't find anyone. I don't see why anyone wouldn't be attracted to her.'
Celine was closed off into her own world as Bowman thought, trying to relax and not reflect on the unchangeable. 'He got married. I can't say I'm surprised that he went and married someone else. He's always had a roving eye. I'd always thought that we would end up together, though. Funny how you can be so very wrong about things.'
She pulled her legs closer to her, startling Bowman a bit and rested her head on her knees, eyes still closed. 'After he left, I focused on my magic, rather than get hurt again. I knew it was fleeting that he'd come back, and I was right. I'm always trying to be right, and yet, I wish I hadn't been that time. But then, it wasn't meant to be, I suppose. What comes may come, I suppose.'
~*~
"I'm telling you, it's this way!" Leon said, pointing a short finger towards the left fork.
Opera sighed, exasperated. "And last time you said it was a certain way, you nearly got us killed!"
Ernest put his hands on her shoulders. "Calm, yourself, Opera, he's only a child."
"I am not a child!" Leon nearly shouted.
"Enough!" Claude said, covering his eyes with his left hand. "Quiet down or you'll attract monsters. Those monsters might find Bowman and Celine before we do, and that's not good."
Leon sulked a bit as Claude peered down both forks. He furrowed his brow, straining for sounds of life, and heard an ominous growl from the right tunnel. "Let's try left. Sounds like something is to the right.
Opera rolled her eyes as Leon stuck her tongue out at her, grabbing her Kaleidoscope and walking ahead of Leon and Ernest, catching up to Claude quickly. "That kid's annoying me," she whispered to Claude, keeping her eyes alert on their path.
"I know he can be frustrating," Claude said, "but he's just trying to be a grown up like the rest of us. He's intelligent, but he lacks practical experience, I think."
Further back, Leon was by Ernest, his eyes darting around worriedly. "You don't think there's something no one knows about down here, do you?" he asked, trying not to sound worried, but very much afraid.
"Probably, considering they really haven't been checked thoroughly. Most ruins I've gone over have something unexpected in their depths. His hand was holding his whip at the ready, though his step was as though nothing was wrong. The tetregene male had been through countless places with unknown dangers, and had made it through. One more couldn't possibly kill him.
Claude stopped Opera, hearing something moving around the bend. "Stay here a moment," he said. Opera grabbed his arm as he stepped to go around the corner, shaking her head.
"Use the sword blade," she said. "It's polished enough. Don't walk in blindly."
Claude blinked, perplexed by her sudden actions but nodded, drawing his sword slowly. He extended it outward, angling it to see, and twisting it to check high and low, and saw two forms against the wall. "Bowman?" he asked, nearly causing Leon to jump from the sudden noise. Ernest glanced down, seeing Leon quickly collect his confidence once more.
"Claude?" he inquired, nudging Celine from her thoughts. "Is that you?"
"Yeah, we're around the bend," he replied, stepping forward. "See?"
Bowman stood, offering a hand to Celine. She took it, rising gracefully. "Thanks," she said.
"No problem," he replied. They walked over, rejoining the others. "Thankfully, these caves do intersect often. I'd hate to think what could have happened without it."
"The only place we haven't investigated was that right fork," Ernest said, pointing behind them.
"Right," Claude said, swallowing slightly. "Everyone better be ready - I suspect there's something large and unhappy that way." Leon moved closer to Claude as they moved back to the fork. After a few equipment checks - Opera putting in a new box on her Kaleidoscope, Leon checking over a few spells - they started down the path.
After only a few steps Celine was the first to pick up on something odd. "Say. is this path lit oddly?"
"It's kind of . green," Ernest said.
Bowman cracked his knuckles. "Be on your toes. It could be a trick."
They walked ahead, and found a room off to the side. Claude extended his sword again, seeing nothing but a green crystal scattered about the room, giving off the greenish glow. "Nothing but some strange green rocks."
"That's the Energy Stone we need," Leon said, walking around the corner confidently. "It will only take a moment to get some, and then-"
"Leon, look out!" Claude shouted, charging after him and scooping him up in his arms and rolling across the floor as the others followed in. "You ok?" he managed, spitting out some dust.
They both looked up to see something big, hideous, and hungry before them, having landed where Leon had been. Claude rose quickly, bringing his sword to bear even as the others prepared. Leon ducked back behind Claude, completely terrified by this unknown monstrosity.
Bowman whistled, pulling a few pills from his pocket. "Hey, ugly, over here! You look a little ill, so have some pills!" He threw them at the thing as it turned, sensing the motion behind him. They struck, exploding with force enough to shake the cavern itself and send small rocks falling on everyone.
Ernest took a shot next, whipping it to keep its attention off Claude and Leon, while Opera charged her weapon. "Fol!"
Celine was behind them, starting a chant. Claude glanced behind him at Leon, frowning slightly. "We need your help," he said, seeing that the physical combat was having little effect. "I'll buy you time, but we need to you cast," he said, swinging his blade around to get a better grip.
"B-but-" Leon stammered.
"Just try!" Claude said, charging in to strike the back of the beast with a lunge high into the air. Leon pulled out one of his books, and opened it to a random page, starting to chant.
Claude landed on the opposite side of the beast, having rolled off after failing to do any serious damage. "Damn it!" he muttered, glancing back at Celine, who had reached the pitch of her spell-
"Thunderstorm!" she cried, but not before another one of the beasts had shown up. Her spell struck the first, sending it sidelong into the wall, and throwing Leon off-chant as the other charged him.
"I think not!" Opera said, charging it, the Kaleidoscope shouldered. She skid to a halt in the heels, buying them into soft ground and went to her knees, aiming carefully. "Flame launcher, don't fail me now!" The end of the gun erupted in flame, jetting outward into the face of the beast, causing it to stop in its tracks and back up away from the scorching heat.
"Go Leon!" Claude shouted over the din of the creature's wailing and Celine's second Thunderstorm into the first one to finish it.
Leon started chanting again, focusing on nothing but the words. Opera's attack finished and she stood, bringing the Kaleidoscope to bear as a blunt weapon. "Try me you ugly bastard, you're not getting the kid!"
Ernest snapped the whip at it from the side as Bowman threw more pills, causing a cascade of small rocks again.
"Black Saber!" Leon cried, sending a spear of jet black at the other monster, lancing completely through it and out the other side before dissipating against the wall. The monster hit the ground with a sickening thud as Leon collapsed to his knees, exhaling loudly.
Everyone cheered, and Opera picked Leon up and hugged him. "I knew you could do it," she said, setting him back down.
"Yeah," Leon said, his voice weak. He was shaken by the experience. 'I was lucky that spell worked as good as it did. I had no idea if it would even work.'
"Let's get the stone and get going," Claude said, sheathing his sword. "Good work Leon."
Leon smiled weakly, feeling very drained by the ordeal despite the fact it had been an easy enough spell. "Yeah, I knew I could do it the whole time."
~*~
"Ready?" Dias asked, glancing at Rena.
"More than ever," she replied, standing close to him.
Dias gripped the blade of his sword tightly, eyes narrowed for the first sign of an enemy. "Good, because they're here!" He drew the sword in a lightning flash, slicing cleanly through the first monster to approach them. Rena turned to her right slightly, and swung out, striking another back and then chanting, casting Press on it to finish it.
Dias swung left, bringing his blade to bear on a long, gangly monster with many legs, stabbing it through the abdomen once, and jerking it out roughly. "Air Slash!" he cried, releasing the force of wind from Hope of Breeze with enough velocity to throw back two more oncoming beasts.
Rena twisted, and started chanting, aiming for a creature attempting to attack the back of another fighter. "Ray!" The beam of light shot out, striking it and alerting their fellow fighter to the threat. Unfortunately, as she turned she was too late to stop another monster from reaching Dias as he dealt with another threat and screamed as it struck the blue-haired fighter's side. She growled, and cast Cure Light on Dias, and then began another chant, this time for Deep Mist to make it harder for the enemy to hit them.
Not too far from then Ashton and Precis were dicing and bashing any enemy that came in their range, and there were plenty. Gyoro and Urunrun were getting into the mix as well, occasionally throwing a breath behind Ashton or bopping enemies on the head and chasing them off until Ashton could turn and deal with them. Precis had Bobot trying to cover her, but the machine could only do so much and shrilled loudly as one got past and knocked her down.
Ashton turned, having dispatched a mottled hairy beast to see another like it at Precis backside. "Piercing swords!" he cried, throwing both weapons hard into its back. He dashed over, drawing them back out and kicking the beast away from Precis as she picked herself up off the ground from where she had fallen initially.
"Are you ok?" he asked.
"Yeah, fine," she said, dusting herself off. "Thanks." She picked up Bobot and aimed at a monster off to Ashton's back and side. "Alley-Oop!" she said, throwing the Bobot and nailing the creature in the head, sending it off the wall as she caught him.
Further down, at a point farthest from the cannon were Ruprecht and Kher, trading places as they dealt with magician monsters and hairy creatures that defied explanation. "Duck!" Ruprecht said, stabbing over Kher into the body of a magician that had appeared out of nowhere.
"Thanks," he replied, pulling an arrow. "Ah. crap." Ruprecht spun at the first word out of Kher's mouth to see a big, ugly draconic beast perched on the wall. Around it were a host of small furry things that were all salivating, almost looking rabid.
"You handle the big ugly, I've got the small ones," Kher said, nocking a set of arrows on the bow in preparation of a technique he'd learned years ago form his father.
Ruprecht meanwhile overshot the small furries in favor of the larger creature, finding purchase on the mountainside nearby. "Hey scaly, up here!" he taunted, gripping his lance. He watched the arrows rain on the smaller creatures, and a few extras bounce harmlessly off the dragon. "Try the sword!" Ruprecht said, dodging a charge of electricity form the monster and seeing the last two small fluffy ones break for Kher.
"You're mine," Ruprecht hissed, bounding down from the mountain to the ground before the dragon. He held its attention as he waved the lance back and forth slowly, tempting it once more to try and breath on him. It worked, and he leapt up and back. He closed his eyes, focusing his attention on the lance, which he had had since he could remember. It hovered above his right hand, which was ready to throw it.
"Twin elements of shadow and light, bless the tines and strike with might," he whispered. "Impaled Fusion!" He threw the lance as the dragon's head came up, and threw his arms up to shield his eyes and face from the force of the blast as the lance ripped through it and into its throat lodging in deep and piercing the creature's brain. Ruprecht fell from his position, and landed rather gracelessly as he recovered from the force of the shock.
"You ok? Kher asked, wiping the blood form his blade before sheathing it.
"Yeah," Ruprecht said, shaking off the shock and pulling free his lance from the carcass. "Nothing I can't handle."
"Most people I know would have died or been severely injured by that," he noted.
"I'm not most people," Ruprecht said. Before more could be said another wave of creatures rose to the occasion, sending them back into combat. 'Sometimes, I wish I were,' Ruprecht though, lancing another monster and sending it off the wall into the ground below.
