I present the next chapter, and hope it is pleasing. This time our heroes are facing great challenges as they work through the jungle. Someone may hurt, someone may come to understand themselves, and someone might just blow everything. Who you ask? Read on and find out!
XIII
Around the last corner sat a golden chest, the Eye counted among its contents. Reaching it would not be as simple as sighting it, however, for a large pack of spiders stood between the heroes and their destination. The spiders were blood red, and stood nearly four feet high. Their front legs were as sharp as any spear, and their overgrown black mandibles waited to chew on any prey that was captured. Eight eyes rested on the head of each spider, all of them twinkling in anticipation upon catching sight of fresh meat.
The party took no time to consider battle plans, instead opting to rush in and press the attack. Luther shot forward in his trademark charge, crashing into the front spider and knocking it back. The spider slid back a few feet, coming to a stop between the inner wall, and an outcropping jutting from the outer side, essentially blocking the rest of the spiders from reaching the group. Luther began swinging madly, aided by his aura.
Frost teleported to the side of Luther, and several steps back, and began throwing frozen orbs into the spiders. She kept the assault up, only taking a moment here and there to catch her breath and recharge her mental energies before resuming casting.
Keltar could not see a way to enter the fray with Luther standing where he was, blocking the way like he was. Every time a spider fell, another would rush forward, allowing no opening for the heroes to advance. The heroes had the upper hand, but the spiders were forcing them to either relent and move away so they could swarm, or kill them one at a time. Keltar was useless, and he wouldn't stand for that.
Inspiration struck him out of the blue. Keltar rushed towards Luther, and as he reached him, the barbarian leapt. He touched his feet down on Luther's shoulders. Before Luther could react, Keltar pushed off back into the air. As he became airborne, he twisted his body as fast as he could. As he reached the apex of his jump, he was already spinning with considerable speed. As soon as Keltar touched down, he was in a full whirlwind.
Keltar cut a swath through the spiders in the back of the pack. He then turned and began his rapid double swings. The remaining pack split, half going to attack Keltar, the other half remaining focused on Luther, allowing a small gap to develop between the two groups.
Frost saw this opening and took advantage of it. She teleported to the small gap, in range of all the spiders but out of range of her comrades, and began casting electrical novas as fast as she could. The shocking lightning streaked out from her, burning the spiders with its crackling energy.
With a few more swings from Luther and Keltar, and a few more novas from Frost, the rest of the spiders fell. The golden chest opened easily, and Luther took the Eye, putting it in the pouch built into his plated belt.
"I guess that's that." Keltar said, taking time to clean off his weapons.
"Looks like it. Your tactic was impressive, Keltar, but next time you want to do something like that, please warn me." Luther said, rubbing his shoulders jokingly.
Keltar roared with laughter. "Yeah, I will. I just wanted to get into the fight, and that was the only way I could see to get it done."
"And you, Frost, brilliant. I'm still awestruck even after all this time by your power" Luther waved his hands to emphasize.
Frost felt a burning in her cheeks and her heart leapt with joy. No matter how kind Luther was, even to all he met, it still made her feel so happy that he believed so much in her. Others had offered compliments because they feared her power. Luther truly meant what he said, he truly believed he needed her.
"Of course I'm brilliant. Are you forgetting who you are talking to?" Frost snapped, trying hard to throw attention off of herself so Luther would not detect her true feelings.
Keltar offered Frost no words of support or respect. He stood there cleaning his weapons, appearing to be quite pleased with himself, and the job he had done. He did not think beyond himself, and that angered Frost, even though she was guilty of the same sin. Her interest in the barbarian had nearly completely faded. She was just about ready to relegate him to the shelf, where he would wait for her to decide that she wanted to play with him again.
"Well, we're done here. Let's get started on the Heart now." Luther said, returning to the entrance to the Spider Cavern. It was time to head deeper into the jungle, and find the Flayer Dungeon.
The trip to the Flayer Dungeon was fairly uneventful. The same old monsters, the same old grind. Flayers fell, frogs croaked, and the undead died. By the time the trio had reached the second floor of the musty dungeon, it was all becoming old hat to them. They had worked out successful battle plans, learned on the fly that took a minimum of time to produce a maximum result.
The third floor was no different except only in the fact it was a tightly packed maze, many halls leading to dead ends. After a few hours of wandering through dead end hallways and slaying the remaining flayers and zombies, the party finally discovered a large central room. In the center of this room sat another golden chest, surely holding the Heart. The warriors walked into the room slowly, wary of traps. A scratching, clicking sound echoed into the room from hallways off each side.
In each hallway stood a group of flayer shaman, engaged in whatever activity shaman do when they are not belching fire on someone. Luther stopped and jerked his fist into the air to notify the other two to do the same. Keltar understood and stopped silently. Frost however did not catch the meaning.
"Why are you holding your fist up?" She asked.
Luther turned around, flapping his mouth as though he was screaming but dared not let any sound out.
It was too late, the shaman had heard her, and let loose an ear piercing shriek simultaneously. They turned and poured into the room, at least 5 from each hallway.
Luther instantly activated his salvation aura, hoping it would be some help in protecting the party from the fiery flame attack of the demons. Keltar moved away from the group, taking up a position to the side by several feet, hoping to lure a manageable amount of demons to him. Frost teleported away from the other two, forming a triangle, hopefully catching the creatures in a cross attack.
The demons screamed into the room, some pouring towards Luther, some towards Keltar, and about 3 towards Frost. Flaming billowing infernos filled the air. The shamans that were not spewing flames were stabbing at the heroes with all their might. Chaos reigned over the battle.
Luther faced down a handful of the demonic creatures with little fear. His salvation aura was strong, and he took only minor damage from the infernos aimed in his direction. His Guardian Angel armor helped deflect the fire, as well as the knives of the shamans. He was well protected.
The Blessed Hand cut through the air, slamming into the shamans. When a shaman died, the flayer that was carrying the witch doctor would draw its large knife and attack. Basically each shaman had to be killed twice, once for the witch doctor, once for the minion carrying him. Though this slowed Luther's progress, there was no real threat in the battle, except for wasted time.
Keltar had complete control as well. His natural resistance to the elements was augmented by Luther's salvation aura, making the barbarian nearly immune to all magic. Keltar swung his axe hard, stunning a shaman. He then double swung his weapons a few times, destroying the stunned demon, and the creature beside him.
He continued this pattern, stun then destroy, until all the shaman had been killed and only the minions remained. The rest would fall quickly under his assault.
Frost wasn't going to have such an easy time, however. The shamans approached her quickly, one from the left, and two from the right. As soon as they were in range, Frost quickly created a firewall under her feet, and teleported back a few paces. The shamans charged right into the fire as she had hoped, but they didn't seem to be affected by the fire. Instead of falling dead, they stood in the flames defiantly.
The demons turned to her and two of them released a deadly inferno in her direction. Frost had moved outside the range of Luther's aura, and had no other protection from the elements. The fire danced towards her, unbearable heat blowing onto her face, luckily causing her to stumble back a few steps. The inferno flared up, inches from her skin.
The sorceress was blinded by the heat, her eyes feeling like they were cooking inside her skull. Instinct took over, and Frost fell back, attempting to duck but losing her balance altogether. She landed against the floor with a hard thud. The third shaman had worked around beside Frost, and was waiting for her. When she landed, the shaman thrust its knife at her with all its strength. The blade parted the armored shoulder pads she wore, and bit deeply into her skin. Searing pain shot through Frost, making instant friends with the pain that danced on her face from the infernos.
Frost felt the knife leave her shoulder, and knew another blow was quick to follow, and the next one might be fatal. She had to get away, this much she was sure of. Straining through horrible pain, she opened one eye enough to take in her immediate surroundings. She was in the small hall indention at the top of the room. Behind her were Luther and Keltar fighting, and the hall they had entered from. To each side of the room were the halls the demons were in. In front of her was a metal grate, and beyond a T intersection.
She had only one option, the other side of the grate to the hallway intersection. The hall was wide enough to keep her out of range of the infernos if she huddled against the far wall. Frost focused her mind as much as she could through the pain, and willed herself to teleport. The spell was successful, and she disappeared from the floor, and rematerialized in the hall, the metal grate separating her from danger.
When a teleport completed, the caster always ended up standing, such was the nature of the spell. Frost was too weak from her shoulder wound and burns to stand, and immediately crumpled to the ground with an anguished cry. The pain on her face forced her eyes to remain closed, darkness covering her sight, punctuated only by the sparkling bursts of pain. She prayed that one of the other two would notice her injuries and save her.
Luther was through all the shamans around him and was working on destroying the minions when he heard Frost cry out. He looked up to see the sorceress teleport outside the metal grate, then collapse into a heap. Panic shot through Luther, followed by blinding, burning rage. At that moment nothing mattered to Luther than saving this woman he now admitted he loved. That and destroying those who dared harm her.
Luther shot forward, smashing through the minions around him, and into the group of shamans that were standing at the grate, trying to find a way to reach the fallen sorceress. He stopped behind the shaman standing against the grate. His movement had been so swift the demon did not even know of his presence. He swung his shield back, and with all his might, drew it forward. The cold steel of the shield smashed directly into the shaman. The demon was pushed forward from the immense force.
Having nowhere else to go, the shaman was forced through the grate. There were no holes big enough for a flayer, so the shaman was instantly carved into pieces, each line of metal in the grate became knife like, slicing away at corrupted, evil flesh. Chunks of the demon fell to the ground on Frost's side, accompanied by splattering blood.
Luther quickly changed auras to his healing one. He looked to make sure it would extend to the wounded sorceress. Satisfied it would, he cast a few holy bolts at Frost, holy energy that would heal her on contact. Luther turned back to the remaining two shamans, ready to destroy them.
The two demons both expelled infernos in the paladin's direction. Luther bit back pain, no longer protected from the elements, but hell bent to protect Frost. Using his shield, he pushed forward into striking range of one of the shaman. The fire on his shield burnt his hand bad enough to make him bleed. Seeing the opportunity in this injury, Luther held his weapon under the dripping blood from his gauntlet. He said a quick prayer, imbuing his weapon with the strength of vengeance.
Vengeance served the paladin well, and soon the last two shamans lied dead on the cold stone floor. Luther turned to the grating and the wounded woman beyond. He had to get her back to town before she bled to death. He charged the grating with everything he had. Metallic screeches filled the air, as the grating fought hard to stop the advance of the armored warrior. The warrior won, however, and with a clang Luther was through. He quickly sent up a town portal, before scooping Frost up in his arms. The pair disappeared into the portal, leaving Keltar behind to deal with the few remaining minions.