[DCI] Chapter 67 - Master of Deception

Aisha exchanged a few words with Lulu, who was shocked to see the Berserker so coherent during her Berserk, and charged straight at the nearby crystal with a fierce war cry. Just as I had hoped, she had asked the imp Shadowmancer to capture the aggro of the Rib Titan, at least judging by the slightly pale face of our pink-skinned friend. Unfortunately, I had a different role to play, and her shadows were perfect for that one, so she was just out of luck.

But, that didn’t mean she wasn’t up to the task, and after one glance our way, she disappeared in a puff of black smoke, followed by a loud roar coming from an obvious source.

Meanwhile, I watched as the first Skeletons began passing the halfway point of the ritual site. Thanks to its cascading design, it took them a moment to climb up the slick steps. Unfortunately, I had no decent ranged attacks besides my floating handaxes so I couldn’t really push them back effectively. And Levia was quite busy at the moment.

At the same time, a few of those Skeletons that wielded crude bows began shooting their ancient, flimsy arrows my way. It wasn’t really a problem to deflect them with my Telekinesis or parry the remaining ones with my buckler, but after their melee friends would get much closer, that could prove to be much more difficult.

Seriously, couldn’t we just get a single Dungeon without a swarm of enemies trying to devour us? Perhaps I really needed to file a complaint with someone.

“Aren’t you forgetting someone, human?” The evil Witch’s voice reached my ears and my gaze snapped to the billowing cloak.

A medium-sized Fireball floated above its raised hood, swirling intensely with blue flames. I hastily stepped between one Witch and the other, putting my buckler up, mostly to cover my face, as the handaxes and my mace crossed over the rest of my body. The magical ball of azure fire hummed as it soared through the air before crashing right into me.

Thankfully, it looked like the things Aisha had used for maintenance on my shield and armor functioned properly. I didn’t even feel the impact, nor the heat, as the bluish tongues of fire licked all around me during the small explosion that followed after the blow. Those ointments worked wonders. And Levia was safe.

But, the Skeletons were getting closer and closer. As I turned around to check on all of them, a lucky arrow grazed my thigh, almost piercing right into it. My tough, leather pants protected me from the cut since its edges weren’t the sharpest, but things weren’t looking great. I could get nailed right in the back by one of those whenever I focused on repelling the cloak’s attacks.

There was only one solution to that, I had to keep the Skeletons close so that the Witch couldn’t aim properly. She might not fully care about damaging her pawns, but any spells that needed a direct line of sight or the point of impact easily visible to aim at would be out of the game since they could detonate on something before reaching the intended target.

Knocking away the first Skeleton that managed to reach our position with a well-aimed mace-to-the-face, I dodged what looked like Lightning Bolt from the dead Witch, which flew somewhere into the darkness, disappearing from our sight. Without further ado, I knelt by Levia’s side to get to her medical bag and fished out another potion, the stimulant.

She’d warned us that consuming more than one was not advised due to the potential aftereffects, but those were still better than death. And, the upper limit of most Defenders was three, as she’d told us, so I was still somewhat in the green. Or maybe orange.

I gulped the citrus-flavored liquid and immediately noticed my senses sharpening and my body filling up with newfound vigor and energy. Including in those parts. But, I just had to ignore that specific kind of energy and focus on the battle. Aisha would happily lend me a hand or something else to take care of those.

Side effects be damned.

As I stood up, a sound similar to something ceramic shattering filled the area, and the Rib Titan stumbled a little. The small shits also paused for a brief moment, turning towards Aisha, who had just succeeded in smashing one of the glowing pillars to pieces. They were damn tough if she’d taken so long with her strength, Impairing Blast, and all the other buffs and enchantments.

But, I could not let everything focus on her.

Quickly going through the menus in my mind, I invoked my Master-Subordinate Talen Draw ability. All charges refreshed, I borrowed Piercing Roar from my dazzling drakan mate. Without further ado, I invoked both it and my own Intimidate at the same time, releasing a loud scream that stunned the few nearby Skeletons but also sounded a little weird.

It looked like my little trick worked and the Skeletons once more turned their attention to me. I wasn’t sure if I had properly intimidated them, but they now considered me an equal threat after I gave them a good old shout. Maybe they were just annoyed that some weakling was trying to scare them by raising his voice like someone strong, but I couldn’t care less. I had achieved my goal.

The only enemy that had ignored my valiant war cry was the Rib Titan. It went right after Aisha while Lulu tried to warn her. I couldn’t watch and see what happened next as the provoked Skeletons were beginning to surround me. So, I got to smashing and slashing.

I danced around Levia while smacking the bony boys with everything I had in me. It was like trying to carve through a solid, white wall with a reinforced stick. You couldn’t really see any progress, no matter how many pieces and dust settled at your feet. But, I had to keep pushing them away. Neither Aisha nor Lulu had it much easier as they also must have been swarmed. Thankfully, one was strong as fuck and equipped with powerful skills while the other could evade most dangers.

Injuries were inevitable in such a tangle. And even though one of the potions I had consumed rid me of feeling all the pain linked to them, I still was collecting cuts and bruises left and right. What didn’t land on my buckler or chestplate, had a decent chance at cutting through my new leather-reinforced armor. I could see a bunch of shallow wounds but did my best to ignore them, leaving it to the stimulants to carry me long enough for Aisha and Lulu to deal with the giant fuck or Levia to wrap up her magic.

“Struggle all you want, human. I’m enjoying your pathetic efforts greatly. Though it is all in vain, it provides decent entertainment. I had no idea how much I lacked that in my recent decades.” The cloak laughed in amusement.

So, we weren’t even worth any effort on her part, huh? Besides a few simple spells now and then, the evil Witch didn’t really participate in this battle, except for ordering around her massive Skeleton army, I guess.

That confidence would be her downfall.

I kept one eye on her as she hovered above the battlefield, most likely trying to get a decent angle on me or one of the girls. My plan to obstruct her had worked to some extent. But, I wouldn’t last forever. I could tell that my amazing mate was already working on the second pillar, yet I wasn’t sure if I would be able to repel all these monsters climbing up towards Levia for much longer.

Though, it looked like I didn’t need to.

A bright white flash almost blinded me as the relentless light exploded somewhere close to my right. All the nearby Skeletons acted as if it truly had assaulted their eyes and reeled back, covering their empty sockets. Then, they turned to dust in droves. A quiet whoosh accompanied their instant disintegration. The bony boys were completely eradicated in a sizable, circular area around me and Levia, unfortunately not covering the entire ritual site.

“I am done. Thank you for your protection.” Hearing Levia’s delicate voice, a smile forced itself onto my lips. “You are wounded. And I saw you taking the pain-nullifying toxin. I should treat you right away.”

I shook my head, meeting her pretty violet eyes for a fraction of a second. “I’m good. Can you do anything while upholding this spell?”

“I can cast some minor magic and weak arcanas,” she replied, still eyeing some of my injuries.

“Great. Please, keep that dirty rag busy while I help out the girls out there, alright? Just spam her with simple, annoying spells. We’ll go after the core the moment the Titan is down,” I suggested.

She clearly pondered over listening or arguing with me but nodded faintly in the end. “As you wish. Please, be safe.”

It was my turn to leave a peck on her pouty lips before running away and I did exactly that. The gentle warmth lingered over my mouth for a few seconds as I jumped past the edge of the protective barrier and pushed my way through the sea of Skeletons to reach Aisha and Lulu. I could see colorful flashes of various weak spells Levia began throwing at the evil Witch.

I somehow made it to my destination in one piece, Sparta-kicking a bunch of skellies off the current platform. It never became boring. My mace wouldn’t really help with the sturdy crystal so I started smacking the enemies bothering my draconic lady from behind. She noticed my aid and stopped caring about them in an instant, returning her focus to driving her massive hammer into the glowing pillar.

My back to hers, I blocked, parried, and threw my own blows at the assaulting us Skeletons. The Rib Titan was still on Lulu, perhaps thanks to the fact that she was luring it outside of the ring of the ritual crystals. It had many more options out there than here, where it could easily damage the rite by accident. We could only hope that she wasn’t caught by the legless abomination.

Before that could happen, though, Aisha destroyed her second crystal. The shattering noise was much louder when I was standing right next to its source, to the point that it was almost scary. I barely remained in my position and continued to repel the incoming blows as the entire thing came crashing down behind my back. I trusted Aisha to protect me from anything happening out there, but that little voice in your brain that told you to increase your distance from the demolition zone couldn’t stay quiet.

The skellies paused once more, visibly struck by the loss of another magical pillar. But, it was the Rib Titan that suffered the most. With a pained or annoyed roar, it lost an entire arm, tumbling into its lesser brethren and turning plenty of them into bone dust. It raised itself fairly quickly on its single remaining hand and spun its giant skull our way, done playing cat and mouse.

It dragged itself towards the ritual site as the two of us sprinted to the third crystal. Aisha charged forth first, making way for me with her devastating hammer, while I smacked away any strays that managed to avoid getting blown aside by her swings. She was like a goddamn freight train.

“Look out!” Lulu’s warning cry reached our ears and we jumped aside in opposite directions.

Right after, the Titan’s skeletal palm smashed into the ground where we had been a second ago. With two spiritual pillars gone, it could use their former locations to put its humongous rib cage down without worrying too much about damaging the ritual circle.

It then began its desperate attempts at revenge by doing something akin to one-arm pushups. Lifting itself up on its single hand, it then raised it up too and slammed its spooky column-like fingers down alongside its entire weight. One after another, it continued that repetitive motion while targeting either me or Aisha as we rolled around the nearby crystal unable to land a blow on it.

That fucker could move fast. If there was a Guinness World Record Book for undead, he was the fucking champion of one-armed pushups per minute.

Lulu tried to get it off our asses by pelting it with her shadows and jumping all over its bones, but it was in complete tunnel vision after we had wrecked two of its precious pillars, confirming Levia’s statement about it being somehow linked to them. Well, if the missing arm wasn’t enough proof already.

The two of us couldn’t really do much except for dodging. At the very least, the Titan destroyed dozens of Skeletons with each slam, doing our work for us. But, the grunts were kind of infinite. We couldn’t see the end of them in the darkness surrounding the ritual site, and I was pretty sure all of us remembered the swarm we had seen from the stairs during our first contact with this place.

“Lucas! Catch!” Levia’s voice suddenly reached me from behind and I quickly turned her way after avoiding being turned into a strawberry jam once more.

She was standing at the edge of the protective spell while drawing her arms back over her head like a kid trying to score the perfect shot with a basketball from half a court. I soon understood that she wasn’t holding a basketball but her familiar, the Divine Fowl, and her intentions were more than clear.

With a visible grimace of effort on her always serene face, she launched the holy chicken towards me, throwing it over all the Skeletons separating us. It soared my way with a heavy arc, flapping its small, golden wings to remain in the air for as long as possible, clearly shocked by this whole situation. Yellow and white feathers lazily floated down to the ground in a trail behind it.

I dropped my mace, jumped up, and caught the chick with both hands, perhaps a tad too firmly, causing it to squawk in protest. There was no time to apologize though, so I rolled away from another squashing attempt, brought it close to my chest, and looked down at it as it stared back at me with that offended gaze I was already too familiar with.

“Ummm… I have not the slightest idea what to do with you buddy, so you do you, and you better do it quickly.” I chuckled wryly at it as the fowl tilted its head and clucked back at me.

I took it as an agreement, turned around towards the incoming skeletal palm, and raised the chicken of all the chickens above my head. Noticing the approaching death, it squawked in panic. But, while in clear dismay, it did not sit idly.

It reeled its neck to the back and threw it forward with the loudest rooster crow I had ever heard in my life. The sound dragged on and on and on for all eternity as the holy chicken began emitting golden radiance which was almost hard to look at. Then, that radiance somehow focused in one direction and formed a thick beam of heavenly light that shot toward the Rib Titan.

The sharp pillar of brilliance cut right through the monster’s shoulder and separated it from its socket. The Titan lost its last means of supporting itself and came crashing down without any control over its direction. Unfortunately for it, that turned out to be the direction of the third crystal obelisk. The blue pillar shattered as the gigantic rib cage crushed it into oblivion. Afterward, the Rib Titan did not make any more movements.

The Divine Fowl stopped its deadly cry and the dangerous holy laser ceased its operation too, returning the chicken back to its omnidirectional radiant glow. But, instead of that light fading away as I expected it to, the bird went poof out of nowhere, popping like a wedding balloon that flew too close to a hot lightbulb. Only a bunch of feathers remained in its wake.

I brought my hands down and stared at the fluffy sticks.

Did I just murder Levia’s familiar?

“It exhausted itself beyond the limits of its contract! Do not worry! It is back in its home realm!” Levia shouted at me from her safe zone, answering my unasked question. “Our fight is not yet finished!”

“You unruly mongrels!” The evil Witch boomed at us from above. “Do you think I need that embarrassingly clumsy sack of giant bones? I’ll finish you off myself!”

Multiple, much higher-tiered spells surrounded the billowing cloak. I recognized Melting Meteor, Acid Aureola, and Fist of Frost among them. Some weaker ones like Fireball or Lightning Bolt were starting to take form on its sides too.

It looked like mommy was pissed. And she just found her slipper.

We instantly threw ourselves into evasive maneuvers. Bobbing and weaving between the basic Skeletons, we didn’t even look back, diving behind the remaining ritual pillars for cover. She definitely wouldn’t want to destroy more of them with her powerful magic. Thankfully, Levia’s protective ring covered one of the crystals and she didn’t have to forgo her very useful ritual.

Even after all of us hid away, the evil Witch continued pelting our surroundings with spells while her grunts tried to assault us from all sides, most likely aiming to push us into her view or take us down while we did what we could to stay out of it. The Rib Titan was no more, but it wasn’t that much easier to destroy the ritual orb.

Quickly getting surrounded and separated, I used Aisha’s Piercing Roar again, this time just to stagger the nearby enemies, and took a peek past my crystal. The cloak was still on it. I watched it send a Stone Javelin at Aisha after finding an angle on my beloved companion. She, of course, dodged it easily, but I frowned at the aftereffects of the rocky spear hitting the ground or the Skeletons on its path.

Or rather, their lack of.

Then, the moment when I had been hit with a Fireball at the start of the fight replayed in my mind and it finally clicked.

“The Hanged Man… You can’t do anything…” My brows rose in realization and the cloak froze for a second, turning my way.

“What?” Aisha shouted from somewhere on my left.

I boldly stepped out of my cover and stared down the azure cloak. It targeted me instantly, throwing Lightning Bolt straight at my chest. The furious, zigzagging line rushed for me like a vicious snake and struck true… without doing anything. The visual effects of the spell hitting could be spotted, but it lacked any force behind it. Or even damage.

It was all fake.

“Get out of there!” I shouted to my companions. “Everything she does is not real! She can do no more than taunt you and control the undead! Though, I’m not sure if she even can do that!”

And suddenly, her acting so haughty and mocking, barely taking part in the fight while wielding this much magical power began making sense. Maybe because of the ritual, or because of what she was, she could do no more than watch, and perhaps operate this mysterious magic to create more Skeletons.

“Lucas!” Levia’s call for me captured my attention and I turned to her position. “The Soul Severing Curse! If her corpse has been properly preserved, this cloak is only a part of it! We need to find her body!”

That was easier said than done. We were standing at the bottom of a massive underground necropolis with multiple spires rivaling the tallest skyscrapers. Where would we even find a single body in all of this?

Then, my gaze fell onto the central altar with the glowing octahedron floating atop it and a smile forced its way onto my lips.

That thing looked hella sus.