Advent of Eternity - Chapter 61 (Patreon)

“So, are we doing it?” Stix asked. “The weaker monsters were never really that much of a problem for us, unless you count Cyll trying not to get stabbed as a problem. Actually, you got fireballed by the Wyvern. That counts as a mortal blow, so don’t you lose?”

“Knell ordered me to charge the boss as soon as we walked in,” Cyll replied, crossing his arms. “Not my fault.”

“We’re not doing this know,” Knell said. He studied the door below the ground for a few moments. “I think we’ve grown strong enough to take on whatever might be waiting for us down there. Frankly, time is running out before Mount Bloodwater opens. Who knows if we’ll be able to get to another dungeon in time. We should do what we can with what we have.”

“Then its settled,” Cyll said with a grin. He flexed his grip on the old bandit captain’s sword. Its blade was now pitted and dented hideously. What had once been a menacing weapon now looked like little more than scrap. “Do I get to fight normally?”

“Unless otherwise instructed, you should always fight as if you’re trying to conceal your abilities,” Knell said with a sigh. “That’s the point. And we need to get you a new sword. That thing is pathetic.”

“Not my fault it’s shoddily made.”

“The sword is fine,” Stix muttered. “The problem is you keep smashing it against things instead of cutting. It’s a sword, not a maul.”

“If it didn’t want to be used for smackin, it shouldn’t have been so big. Look like a duck, quack like a duck…”

“In we go,” Knell decided, cutting Cyll off. “You first, duck.”

Cyll snorted. He shouldered his blade and strode into the dungeon confidently. His foot caught on something and there was a sharp snik. An arrow launched from the wall and shot through his ear, sprouting from the other side of his head.

Slowly, Cyll reached up and pulled it free. Then he lifted his foot. Another arrow hit him in the exact same spot.

“You little piece of–”

Yet another arrow struck Cyll. He broke into a volley of curses and started dancing around the path, trying to make it to the door. Arrows hurtled from the walls, many of them striking true. By the time he reached the far side of the hall, he looked like a porcupine.

“Perfectly safe. See?” Cyll asked, turning back toward them. He pulled an arrow from his leg, tossing it to the ground.

“On second thought, come back here for a moment,” Knell said.

Cyll’s eye twitched. He made the trek back over, netting half a dozen more arrows in the process. By the time he got to their end of the tunnel again, even though the walls were clicking, no more arrows were coming out.

“Ah. Now we’re good,” Knell said. “You got rid of all the arrows. Thank you, Cyll.”

“All in a day’s work,” Cyll muttered, plucking one from his eye and offering it to Stix. “Souvenir?”

“I’ll pass,” Stix said, shaking her head. “I think you managed to catch more arrows than you missed. Considering they weren’t aiming at anything other than where you were standing, that’s pretty impressive.”

“I’m an impressive man,” Cyll replied, leading the way back over to the door. Knell’s eyes lit yellow as they walked, but despite the firing noises going off, no more arrows flew. The three arrived at the doors and Cyll plucked the last of the arrows from his body, letting them clatter to the floor.

“Ready?” Cyll asked.

Knell studied the door for a moment, then nodded. His eyes were a little strained from overusing his foresight so much over the past few days, but he wasn’t willing to risk anything right now, with a possible assassin watching their moves. “When we get to the other side, prioritize not getting hit. I don’t know how strong this thing is, but we need its attention on you. If you’ve been launched through the ceiling, that won’t be possible.”

“I’ll stay in the fight as long as I can,” Cyll promised. “You and Moon-eyes just do your magic stuff from behind and we’ll stab it until its dead.”

“That’s what you do to everything you fight,” Stix said.

“Exactly,” Cyll replied, shoving the doors open. Knell and Stix stood to the side as he strode in, sword raised. Four large, flaming braziers lit the room behind the doors. It was large and circular, with a surprisingly tall ceiling – it must have gone nearly all the way back up to the surface.

In the center of the room was a hulking minotaur. It held a double bladed axe in each of its hands and wore tarnished chainmail that barely fit its huge body. The monsters baleful, beady eyes flicked up to them. They were pitch black, without an ounce of any emotion but anger within them.

With a snort, the minotaur rose to its feet. Two metal chains running from its legs to the wall clanked as it stomped forward, stopping in the center of the room and letting out a challenging roar.

“Now that’s what I like to see,” Cyll said, laughing. “Come on, then!”

He let out a yell of his own and charged the minotaur.

“That idiot,” Stix muttered as she and Knell hurried into the room, closing the door behind them. “What’s the plan?”

“Let Cyll distract it for now,” Knell replied, not taking his eyes off the fight. Metal rang against metal as the two combatants clashed in the center of the room. “We need to wait for an opening, and something tells me–”

Stone shattered as the minotaur slammed one of its axes down. Cracks raced out from where the weapon had struck the ground, and shrapnel clattered down all around the two.

“-it’s very strong,” Knell finished. “If you get hit with one of those blows, you’re dead.”

“What about your anti-death thing?”

“You’d be out of the fight for a minute,” Knell replied, raising his staff. “That’s a lot of time. Go hide and wait for an opening. I’ll help Cyll tire the thing out.”