Ch 32–

“You got your tank!” Hera crowed, as we finished our first fight. 

We were back in the Dungeon, for our weekend dive. 

“No sweat, eyes closed, can't lose!” I grinned. I hadn't felt the need to share how close my last summoning had been to a disaster. 

“Fuck, yeah! So true!” Hera said. She was not a suspicious gal. 

Jennie on the other hand….

“Are Lorna and the angel like… exes?!” She hissed as we wandered the Dungeon in search of the next biome. 

“Huh! That's actually a good theory–” I said. 

“No!” Serenity and Lorna appeared at my sides heatedly. 

“My Lady, I pray your–” 

“Eir, please do not slander my–”

I laughed, waving down their indignant outbursts, and promising I didn’t really believe they had dated.

After the chaos of the week, it was almost relaxing to leave the school, the Netherim, and the endless demanding ‘envoys’ from various close city-states behind and get back to basics. Hunting monsters and exploring the Dungeon. I'd had more than enough of being a semi-conscripted translator.

“She seems brittle.” Nyke observed. “More of a defensive mage, than a tank.” 

Nyke was Hera’s tank, and as a heavily armored, immovable mountain of a woman, she was about as stock standard a guardian as could be found in the school. 

Serenity on the other hand…. 

“My aegis is unbroken.”  She proclaimed. “Concern yourself with your own charges.” 

“...right.” Nyke said, eying Serenity’s liquid light shield with skepticism. 

“Lay off her, Nyke.” I growled. 

The tank had been getting on my nerves for days, constantly implying that we were a liability, without actually coming out and saying it. 

“I don't care.” Nyke shrugged, walking away. 

“Let's keep exploring, if everyone is healthy again? Eir? Ravale?” Hera asked. 

Ravale and I were in charge of our collective wellbeing, and both of us gave assent. 

Jennie and I had grown considerably since our first dive, and with Hera and her gang, we tore through three biomes and their guardians like it was a relaxing, scenic hike. Now all that was left for us on the first floor was the floorboss.

We paused to rest within an expansive coral jungle. I marvelled again at the wild beauty that could be found within the Dungeon, dangerous and merciless as it was. With the floating fish monsters and the aquatic vegetation, it made me feel like I was underwater. It almost made me nervous to breathe, if I let myself get sucked into the optical illusion of it all. 

“Feels like we are on pace for a floor boss?” Hera asked, cleaning her returning javelin with a rag. 

I gave Jennie a quick check-in look before nodding. 

I had no need to check in with my Familiars. Our moment-to-moment synchronization was at a new height, and I could feel them chomping at the bit for harder fights. With the addition of Serenity, and her floating shield and sword combo, our team’s dynamic had been revolutionized. She was the final missing piece that made all of our strengths, including her own, truly shine.

Lucy, especially, was flourishing. With primary defensive duties off of her hands, she was able to put her new mobility to use and become the disruptive hit and run artist that she'd always been meant to be, and she was thrilled about it. She was prancing along at my side with a huge grin on her face. 

I ruffled her long ears fondly and she beamed at me, proudly. Gods, I could not look at her without feeling gushy little butterflies in my tummy. I had it bad for the girl. 

I tacitly estimated that my Familiars and I could have gotten this far on our own, with little more difficulty. 

In a few hours, we stood before the great silver doors to a boss room. My heart hammered in my throat. My previous confidence vanished in the face of actually taking on our first floorboss. 

Floorbosses were serious business.

Floorbosses were the number one cause of Wayfinder deaths. 

“We’re all new to this.” Hera said, taking a stance in front of the doors and facing us. “We’ve trained for this. We’ve prepared. We’ve studied.” 

Nyke grunted. 

“Some of us have studied.” Hera corrected. 

 

Another snort. 

“Eir has studied.” Hera plowed on, unfazed. “And let's face it. We are the best team in the year. We are ready.” 

She cast her confident gaze around the circle. In spite of myself, I felt belief rising in my heart. 

“Let's go, greenbeans!” She cried. “It's probably just a stupid fish, anyways!” 

It was, in fact, a giant deepsea eel, spined all over, and swimming through the air at whiplash speeds. 

It roared a sub-nautical, distorted roar, and a stream of boiling bubbles issued from its horrible ring of deadly, spear-like teeth that it used as a maw.

Serenity raised her open palm, and her rippling, golden tower shield rushed to intercept it, sending it streaming to both sides in a skin peeling cascade. She swung her extended fingers around, and her great light sword shot forward like it had been launched from a ballista. 

I mentally winced. I hadn't realized, when she had pointed that sword at me, that I was facing down a projectile. A homing projectile that flashed around the twisting eel and slashed at its sickly green scales. 

Level ten had brought significant changes to not only my own Skillset, but that of my Familiars. Each had unlocked a new Skill. 

Lucy's was [Tail Wind]. It passively let her build up speed as long as she stayed in motion. With it, she raced around the battlefield, drawing attacks, and landing flurries of vicious kicks when she had the opening.

Violette had gained [Splinter Shot] which let her fire a huge conjured arrow in an arching shot into the air that would break apart and come down as a rain of projectiles that applied her signature Cinder blossom condition. 

Serenity’s skills were [Light Forge] which let her make various objects out of her halo, up to a capacity dictated by my magic stat, [Divine Presence], which applied a mild boost in durability to any ally her halo shone on, and [Angelic Intervention], which she used now. 

She teleported in front of me in a burst of silver feathers, slamming her shield into the side of the Eel’s maw before it could shred and devour me in a single bite. 

“Thanks!” I yelped, stumbling backwards. 

“Mind your surroundings.” Chided Lorna in my ear. Then her presence vanished, to haunt the Eel's twisting shadow, cursing it with confusing visions and frost slows. 

Lorna’s newest skill was not useful in this combat. But it was the one I treasured the highest, for personal reasons. She’d finally unlocked her [possession] skill. We hadn’t had time to fully explore its applications, but one thing I knew for certain was that I would soon be able to touch my ghost Familiar. We just had to get someone to agree to lending her their body. 

So, no big deal. 

I [Spectral Waltzed] through a vicious tail swipe that rattled the coral forest of the massive boss room. The move was huge, and difficult to dodge. But my timing rewarded me with an open shot at the scaled flank. 

I charged up [Tempest Strike] with every drop of mana I could spare and slammed my fist into the Eel's side. 

A concussive thump followed by a thunderous rumble shattered the air as my fist shattered a clump of scales into glittering dust. 

Hera’s javelin fell from the sky in a blinding column of light. 

The eel screamed and thrashed, making us all retreat from its razor sharp tail spines. Then in a flash, it slithered up into the cavernous roof, vanishing into the lush coral and sea vegetation. 

Hera extended her hand, and the weapon flew back to her, like a loyal falcon, dripping blue Eel blood. 

“Regroup!!” Hera cried. 

But it was too late. A school of hundred or more razorfish, a swarm monster type we’d fought many of in this biome, came darting out of the vegetation above. Their silver scales flashed iridescently as groups peeled away from the main writhing mass and shot toward each of my scattered allies and me. 

They would have been pretty, if they hadn't been on the way to slice us to ribbons. 

Oh shit. I sensed my Familiars darting to my aid. But they were too far away.

I grimly set my feet and prepared to take damage. 

The razor fish flocked around me, dragging their sharp scales against every exposed surface of me they could find. It felt like I was a block of cheese meeting a grater. I felt hot blood running down my burning sides. 

I lashed about myself with the lowest power [Tempest strikes] I could. The fish were vulnerable to the concussive damage, but slippery and fast. Only a few blows landed. 

Ravale’s heal hit me a second later. Damn, the girl was good at knowing when she was needed. 

The swarm reformed and took another pass at me.

I [spectral waltzed] straight through them, avoiding a good bit of the damage, but sacrificing offence. I stumbled around, raising my fists, preparing to try and blow up the group with a giant Tempest strike. I'd wanted to save it for the boss. But not getting shredded again took priority. 

Luckily, I had bought enough time. 

Jennie, Lucy and Serenity came to my aid. Jennie and Lucy annihilated the little fish with blades and kicks, while Serenity kept them away from me with her floating sword and shield. 

They were all bleeding from a dozen tiny wounds, and I quickly started healing them with [Paramore’s Mending]. 

Serenity gasped, and wheeled on me as my healing washed over her, flooding her body with pleasure. 

Ah right! She’d never experienced my particular brand of healing. 

“Probably should've warned you!” I hollered. “My bad!” 

She sliced her sword absently, leaving a dozen fish halved and evaporating into monster smoke. 

“I do not protest.” She said, shivering.

I noticed her voices had spread over a much wider range than normal, and wondered what exactly that meant. Excitement? Emphasis?

Across the boss room, we were regrouping, having killed most of the remaining swarm. 

As Violette and Hera sniped off the last ones, the boss emerged from its hiding place in the ceiling. 

“It's healed!” Nyke roared, as she took its initial charge on her shield, narrowly avoiding the tearing rows of teeth. 

“We have to kill the swarm faster next time!” I yelled. “Stay together!” 

We fought in tighter formation. 

The Eel’s back was starting to look like a glowing flower garden as Violette’s arrows found their mark. Each blossom slowly burned away at the boss, and each arrow refreshed the life of the flowers. Her building damage over time let us pass this second phase much quicker than before. 

Before long, the smoldering boss once again attempted to scatter us before vanishing into the ceiling to heal. We cowered close behind Nyke and Serenity, and managed to hold our formation through the boss’s tail lash. 

I thought that Violette’s Cinder-blossoms might negate a lot of its recovery if we were fast enough. 

Another batch of razor fish descended on us. 

Huddled tightly between Violette and Ravale, I had a much safer time. The swarm split and came at us in coordinated waves from each direction. But with all of the squishy members safely protected in the middle, the fish were far less effective. Violette had saved her [splinter shot] for the swarm this time, and was able to rain arrows down on them. Hera threw her javelin and made a ring of electricity arc out of it, dancing between the small razorfish in a deadly chain. 

She threw back her head and whooped as the swarm of razorfish dissolved into black smoke. 

The boss re-emerged, roaring its watery bellow, and sending a stream of boiling bubbles down on us. 

As predicted, it hadn't had time to let Violette’s damaging flowers time out, and she refreshed them instantly with arrow after arrow, trusting our tanks to deal with the scalding breath attack. 

They came through, hurtling forward to intercept it, accepting the splash damage as the bubbles burst on their shields. 

Ravale and I streamed healing on them instantly, naturally attending to our own tanks, so as not to overheal and waste effort. 

We battled our way through three more cycles of damaging the boss, and then racing to exterminate a swarm of razorfish.

With less and less time to recover between damage phases, Violette’s scaling damage built to critical mass. 

The boss was wreathed in pale flames and white flowers covered it. I snapped my fingers and activated my Execute Skill [Cinder-Blossom Harvest]. Before, it had just been a nice way to recover some mana when an enemy was about to die. With the massive health pool of a floorboss, the Execute damage was finally able to shine. 

As one, each of the dozens and dozens of flowers on the boss's body bloomed revealing their brilliant interiors. 

Mana flooded into each of my allies in a reinvigorating torrent. 

The boss glowed like the sun, writhed, and perished, vanishing into a massive cloud of black monster smoke.

I slumped to the ground, panting.

My Familiars fell in around me, glowing in our victory. 

Through the fatigue, I felt the electrifying surge of power that meant I had leveled up.

“Ding! Level eleven!”  I shouted, exhaustedly. My mana was nearly topped off, with the huge [Cinderblossom harvest] but there was a soul deep fatigue that stats couldn't touch which had me on my ass. 

I now had twenty-two stat points to allocate!

Eir

Human

Lv 11 Chimera Summoner

Mind 11

Body 11

Spirit 11 

Attribute points: 22

Skill points: 1

Skills: 

Familiar bond (4/4)

Chimera Assimilation (3/3): Tempest strike, Spectral Waltz, Ember-blossom Harvest. 

Paramore’s mending (1)