“DoN’t leAVe mEE!”

This time the voice belonged to a brusque male voice. Their pursuer was approximately from the same direction from where the party heard the first cry. They were certain the voices belonged to the bodies they discovered, but this voice had different pitches, sounding inhuman.

Immediately, the miasma around grew dense and halved the lantern’s effectiveness. With it, Tower Monsters crawled out from hiding. Their wispy forms mimicked shapes of people, raising ethereal weapons against intruders.

“Could this be?” Martha gasped. “This might be the Screecher. This is bad!”

“We’re not going to make it to the core if more of them show up.” Lily took aim. “We’re so close!”

The Lesser Shadows’ purpose was to stall. Their overwhelming numbers and their ability to regenerate almost indefinitely made them useful fodders trying to buy time for the dungeon core to form.

As the mob of Tower Monsters rushed forward in a barbaric frenzy, they were met with a silver fireball rolling at them. Ordinary steel and magic would temporarily strip them of their physical form, but this wave of mystical energy wasn’t borrowed by asking elemental spirits. The Shades vaporized instantly upon contact.

The caster was Kihet. Chosen as the Oracle, silver flames bestowed onto him were the only known effective measures against the Tower’s creatures. If he used this power against other targets, it would have no effect.

“There’s more. Get ready.” He dropped to a defensive stance.

A cluster Shadowed creatures waited for them beyond the wall of flames. At the very front of the horde, a larger one stepped forward dual wielding axes.

Kihet raced to the front holding his shield up and readied his sword as he clashed against the Greater Shadow. The beard of his opponent’s axes caught onto Kihet’s shield. Before it could be hooked away from him, using [Crescent moon dance], he slipped free.

He moved in a semi circle like the shape of the crescent moon and swerved beside the Greater Shadow’s side. Keeping his body low, Kihet remained undetected until he rammed his blazing sword into its ribs, swapping to his dagger and pulled himself up its back. Once he found an opening, he anchored the enchanted dagger into the Shadow’s shoulder and watched his foe crumbled from purifying flames imploding it. It dropped its two crude axes and the sword stuck to it, to which he retrieved as enemies rapidly closed in.

“Lily, weapons out.”

“Here!”

After Kihet cut down the Shade running at him, he waved silver flames over Lily. Her sword and arrows burned with the Oracle’s blessing.

 The two then hacked and slashed their way through the horde of enemies while Martha limited the number of Shades throwing themselves at the group at once. Barriers popped up here and there, shielding them from stray projectiles launched by Shade bowmen.

“Four more hidden towards the left treetops! Three on our right!”

“Leave it to me!”

Receiving Martha’s directions, Lily swapped to her shortbow and returned arrow for arrow. Given the situation, it felt like cheating how easily she landed headshots with many covers in the way. Bud tipped arrows burned with silver light as they pierced through the dark mist. She struck her targets all while sprinting and skipping over obstacles through the overgrown path.

“You’ve become quite the master at archery.”

“That’s not all. Watch this!”

Lily loosened two burning shafts at once that split between a tree and into two Bowmen. Both targets lost their footing and slipped, disintegrated by being engulfed in flames before their bodies hit the ground.

“See that?” She shot a grin at Kihet expecting to be praised.

“Focus. We’re not done yet.”

Kihet brandished his shield, deflecting a spear thrusted at him and stepped in. He held his sword with both hands, stabbing the blade into the Shadow’s abdomen and lifted it off its feet. The Shade’s body cracked with silver light then exploded when it was thrown into the group of enemies.

“YoUuuu bAStAAAArrrdSSSS!”

The inhuman screech echoed through the air. A thick cloud of miasma rolled over them, spawning more Shades in the surrounding area.

“It’s definitely the Screecher!” Martha exclaimed. “At this rate, we’re not going to make it to the dungeon core.”

“In that case, we need to take care of the one causing this mist.”

“Towards it, right? I’ll lead!” Lily said.

The number of Lesser Shadows that could be summoned lessened, but nonetheless continued to be a nuisance. They fought through the horde and finally chased down the creature giving commands.

When Kihet first laid eyes on the creature shrouded in darkness, his body shivered in anger. He saw the resemblance of the beast humanoid creature conjured by the tower similar to the demon of the incident centuries ago.

“Found it!” Lily drew an arrow.

The creature began its escape, but a hail of arrows showered the path in front of it. The hunched creature sidestepped from a searing ball of flames that walled off its escape route. It turned its skull with long branching antlers as if it was once a deer-like monster. Its red glowing eyes stared back at their bewildered gaze.

“AwwwwRRRRiiieeE… kAAAAaaLlLL! KKEEEEEEeeeeeLLLL!”

At the sight of the Oracle’s flames, it unleashed a string of unintelligible howls. Bulges on its hump pumped clouds of miasma into the air.

With no where else to flee, the creature lunged at the party with feral movements like a starved beast. Arms flailing, long snake like tongue slathered in saliva, the wicked monster opened its mouth and showed its jagged fangs as it flew at the party’s vanguard in a fury.

Lily loosened four arrows confident the screecher wouldn’t be able to dodge in midair. A sort of membrane spread from its arm connected to its ribs, letting it twist away from her arrows.

“It dodged?! Kihet, watch out!”

He timed his swing once the Screecher flew into range. His sword went wide and missed as the abomination tucked its limbs in and performed an acrobatic feat. It somersaulted forward with its hands together for a hammer strike.

“Foram, Exlas, Dupil, Val!”

Martha layered barriers over Kihet, but the creature smashed through them. There was a loud crash as its fists hammered his shield. Such power would break any ordinary person’s arm. The Oracle’s blessing granted Kihet a boost in physical strength and protection but not to his shield which shattered it into pieces. The power behind that attack launched him away. He shuffled back and forth on his heels as he balanced himself upright while sliding backwards.

“Kihet!” Martha shouted.

Right before Kihet was thrown back, he managed to land [Blooming Petals] for a counterattack. The monster had two silver scars drawn on its left arm and set ablaze. It tore off the infected parts to stop the flames from spreading. A few seconds later, it regrew the dismembered limb.

It sucked in air and let out a horrific bloody screech. “SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!”

While it let out its battlecry, Lily took a running leap. Holding her breath, she jumped through the cloud of miasma coming from its back and went for the neck. The Screecher leaned away from her blade that nicked a bit of flesh and clawed down at her.

“Dammit!” Lily rolled away. “Kihet, can you hit it with another blast?”

“The first burst is strong, but the longer I shoot the flames the less effective it becomes. I can’t rapid fire it either and it’s draining, but-, get ready!”

They felt a tailwind blowing on their backs. The miasma exhausted from the Screecher was being pulled back into the body as it bubbled and expanded in size while retaining its humanoid form.

“Umm… is it supposed to do that?”

“It’s growing? I won’t let that happen!”

Martha quickly deployed and stationed barriers at an angle where the sharp edges chopped into the growing mass. As chunks of raven black blobs touched the ground, it crawled back to the main body and grew over her barriers, stopping when it peaked over treetops.

Kihet also directed his flames at the monster, but the rapid growth smothered any attempts of the Oracle’s powers to break through.

The Screecher let out an ear-piercing screech and looked at the party with blood teary eyes. It slowly raised a claw and dragged its weight down at them.

Kihet casted his broken shield from his off hand and drew one axe, bracing himself.

All the sudden, a figure flew over them.

Kihet gritted his teeth as every strand of hair on his arms stood up from its spine-chilling roar. Common Wyverns near his village only had hard scales as their only protection. This Winged Wyvern was unlike anything he witnessed. He could now see it clearly, soaring the air with its feathered wings, fur growing between its dark green plates that protected the rest of its body. It almost tripled the size of a horse drawn carriage.

“That Wyvern from before… No! It’s an Ikaga!” Lily shrieked.

He watched the Ikaga shot up in the air and looped for a second pass. When it passed over them during their initial encounter, he remembered it brought forth a powerful gust of wind.

“Get close to me, now!”

Upon Martha’s warning, Lily and Kihet dove towards her as she deployed an invisible dome sheltering them from trees and debris being flung off the ground.

“GWAAAAARRRRRRR!”

“EEEEEiiiIIAAAHHHHHHH!!!”

Shortly after the wind had died, the Ikaga swooped downwards at the growing Screecher. Its talons snatched the Screecher’s skull and smashed it against the earth. As it took to the skies, black tentacles quickly wove themselves into a net to catch it. In response, a shower of embers fluttered between the flying lizard’s maw then a lance of fire was shot at the Tower Monster point blank, unleashing a mass of hot air. It shook off the Screecher’s grasp and took flight.

Judging how it stayed airborne and focused the enemy below, the Wyvern hasn’t spotted Kihet and the others. The Screecher’s attention also completely fell on the Wyvern, trying to drag it down with its long whip like limbs.

Kihet watched the Wyvern circled around in the sky and dodged a barrage of harpoons while launching fireballs at it. Once it noticed the Screecher retracting its limbs, it dove in with its sharp talons for a swipe.

He saw the opportunity to destroy the Screecher as it was distracted but decided not to attack. Perchance he eliminated the Tower Creature, the Ikaga would then target his party. If anything, the Wyvern was more of a threat to him than the Screecher as he had nothing in his arsenal to keep it grounded. The Oracle’s flames couldn’t damage anything other than monsters the Tower created.

Compared to him, Lily and Martha started to show wears on their faces. They had been continuously attacked by Lesser Shadows the Screecher summoned. It was in the party’s best interest to preserve their strength and focus on their main objective.

“Lily, Martha, let’s move. We can’t interfere.”

Using this chance, the party distanced themselves from the scene letting two giant creatures battle each other. For now, Kihet wanted to find a safe zone to let the two rest and recover some stamina.

Looking at the Wyvern once more, he couldn’t help but worry why it was close to the dungeon’s core.