DD 304 Ch 23 (Patreon)

Still, with Charlotte and Helen's help, I was back on my feet and resuming the fight. I cast [Eyes of Wisdom] to see where the Threadspawn leaders had gone, only to find that they'd retreated deeper into the massive structure while most of us were still fighting outside.

Crimson, on the other hand, hadn't moved, remaining stoic where she stood, as if waiting for something specific. I watched her for a moment, curious, before red lightning crackled along her form. She darted through the crowd like a sudden bolt of lightning, dragging one of my classmates out.

Wendy’s body was pierced and bloody with a dozen wounds. Crimson set her down and stared at one of the support staff until they began to revive her. It wasn't solving the issue for us, but I couldn't help but give Crimson a heavy nod of respect.

"Go," she said, with a nod toward the center of the dwarven hive. "I've got it handled out here. This is good experience for your classmates that you don't need. After all, they weren't trained to kill other people."

My mouth snapped closed, and any argument I might have had died on my lips as I nodded and motioned for my group to follow. Though the group that stepped forward to join me was not entirely who I was expecting. I glanced back to see Helen, Misha, Charlotte, and Selene hot on my heels.

"Oh, don't worry. We've got you, Ken," Selene promised.

I gave her a big smile in return. I wasn't disappointed, just confused by the change in group.

As we charged forward into the hive, the Threadspawn clearly weren't happy, diving forward and throwing themselves, life and limb, between me and the hive.

Misha showed off her strength, jumping forward and petrifying a dozen of them, only for Helen and I to come up behind her, shattering the petrified dwarves. My blades quickly found the Threadspawn within each of the bodies. I eliminated them with as much prejudice as I could summon.

Helen's shield glowed gold as she smashed it into several of the petrified figures, then spun and whipped her mace into another. "If they don't want us to go this way, then I think this is exactly where we should be," Helen shouted over the fighting.

I glanced over my shoulder to make sure Charlotte was keeping up, but I shouldn't have worried. As she passed one of the petrified statues, she drew back her staff and clubbed it with enough force to shatter it, pumping her fist in the air in satisfaction, before realizing we'd all watched, and blushing deeply.

"Go, Bun-Bun!" she shouted, pointing forward.

The rabbit, at least, seemed to be pulling his own weight in the fight. I hadn't been impressed with him lately, but he let out a shrill cry of victory and bounced through several of the crowd-controlled targets with a deep growl I hadn't expected from the little guy. Then he bounced off and continued deeper into the hive ahead of us.

Helen and Misha followed behind. I hung back only to make sure Charlotte and Selene were able to keep up. It was moments like these that I was glad that Crimson had made us train so hard. We all had the physical endurance to rush through a battle. But I still wanted to stay nearby in case a Threadspawn popped back to life and caught them unaware.

As if reading my mind, one jumped back up to try to attack Charlotte, only for Charlotte's staff to find its chin and send it sprawling out of the way. Then she puffed up and checked to make sure I'd seen her in action.

I shot her a thumbs-up, a small grin on my face as I flicked a dagger right into its chest to destroy the Threadspawn within.

Meanwhile, Selene rushed up to me with her arms up and wide. "Carry me, Ken!" she shouted, and jumped on my back.

I glanced at Charlotte, but there wasn't a flicker of anything on her face. Honestly, it made it hard to guess how she felt. But that didn't matter, because we were thrown headfirst into the next part of the fight.

It seemed the Threadspawn had decided that throwing fodder at us wasn't going to work, especially as we crushed any and all opposition, and so now we went into a more cavernous room. Inside, a dozen Threadspawn-infected figures awaited. These weren't dwarven drones who'd simply been possessed and thrown forward to wear us down. They were a variety of races, all waiting in the room, watching us carefully.

Helen, Bun-bun and Misha had stopped short, assessing the new opponents.

"I hope we didn't spook you," the central figure spoke. He was the Grim I'd seen before, carrying a massive blade over his shoulder. I'd call it a machete, but that wasn't even close. It might have the shape of one, but it was three times too big, even for his large form. He moved with it easily, resting it on his shoulder.

Seeing him up close, he had to be eight feet tall, giving the Orkai a run for their money, while also just being so disgustingly hairy.

"Are you in charge?" I asked, squaring up against him, only for him to completely disregard me. He leaned on his blade, cocking his hip to the side, not even remotely concerned with us.

"You know, you caused quite a bit of trouble," he said with an easy grin.

"I don't suppose you're just going to let it go at that."

"No," he said, with a heavy shake of his head. "You will die. Your women will die. And so too will your people. This is simply the price of standing up for yourself. It is the price many of my people paid. Do not be ashamed as your time arrives." He leveled his blade at me, eyes nearly on fire with a passion I didn't think I'd ever see from a Threadspawn. "Might I know your name, warrior?"

"Somehow, I don't think it's particularly important to you." I answered.

The Threadspawn grinned before he vanished from the space he'd been standing in, and the others around the room all jumped into motion.

Helen threw her shield out; it worked around the room, going one direction and then back the other way. As it moved, it suddenly caught the Grim where he must have moved while invisible, finding him in the middle of the room. Angelic wings sprang from her back, wrapping around our group and protecting us from the initial assault.

"Ha!" The Grim seemed undaunted by the loss of his stealth.

The other threadspawn all came down on her golden wings, their combined efforts shattering Helen’s barrier, but it was enough to stop their charge.

As soon as the golden wings disappeared, I was out from under Helen's protection, punching into an Orkai whose skin crackled with green lightning. My blades almost touched him before I stomped hard and pivoted to the side, his own axe swinging past where my head had been. He'd predicted I'd try to pull out of the maneuver. I could only grunt and twist my ankle painfully as his axe bit deep. Charlotte's heal blossomed in my chest just after.

I needed to wait out his [Absolute Reflect] and dodged away from his next swing as the green lightning still crackled around his form. I pivoted my attention to a nearby Nekorian, activating [Shadow Ambush] as I pulled myself from its shadow, blades crossing on its hamstrings before I twisted and stabbed right through the chest, aiming for where the Threadspawn should have been.

The Nekorian lashed out and grabbed the blade recklessly, slicing off half his own hand in the process, but saving the Threadspawn within the body. Then he spun and smacked my blade away with his elbow.

I was momentarily stunned by the maneuver, realizing we were playing by slightly different rules than I'd fought by before. I dove back into the fight with the Nekorian, who was already regenerating, preparing to fend me off.

Usually losing a hand was the same as losing a fight, but these Threadspawn had incredible regeneration like they all had their own personal healer on board at all times.

I should have been annoyed, but I found myself strangely excited by the difficult fight. I decided two could play at that game, especially with Charlotte here to back me up. I let the Nekorian's claws sink into my gut before I cleaved off his arm and twisted for his chest, my [Shadow Blade] coming out as my reach stretched slightly beyond what he might have expected, pricking the Threadspawn inside him with enough force to cause it to explode out his back. The hit left a far larger hole than my blade had made going in.

I twirled around, keeping the Nekorian’s body in my sights while I took in the status of the group around me. 

Helen was keeping the Grimm busy, her shield flying off in a golden flash and interrupting the Bigfoot-like humanoid every time he tried to slip away and blend in with some form of stealth. "Get back here!" Helen shout angrily as she flew across the room to try to chase it down.

While she handled that opponent, Misha had three that she was bouncing between, keeping them occupied with various crowd control abilities.

Charlotte perhaps had it worst of all, now riding on the back of Bun-bun while throwing out healing as quickly as she could to anybody nearby.

The only one being largely ignored was Selene, who had launched herself up into a corner of the room and braced herself there, creating floating ghostly skulls that were swarming anyone who tried to get close. Meanwhile, burning blue lines jumped from her and drained the souls of various targets, though it was doing little to stop the Threadspawn-infested opponents from healing far faster than any damage she could output.

I braced myself and darted back into the thick of the battle.

Three of the Threadspawn chasing Charlotte turned away at the last moment to find my daggers perilously close. One twisted out of the way, only for me to rush past and slam my full force into another, even as the infected human I'd passed turned and lifted an axe at my back.

I didn't bother with him, focusing instead on the one before me as my daggers punched in and out with incredible speed, my own trial ability sending purple lightning crackling down my arms.

Before the impact even landed, Charlotte's healing blossomed green light over me as my daggers played whack-a-mole with the Threadspawn squirming and worming its way through the body, twisting randomly in a desperate attempt to stay alive.

The axe fell heavy on my back, crunching into my spine and splitting me open, but Charlotte's healing immediately washed over the area and stitched it back together.

Feeling my skin mend, I stabbed to kill the Threadspawn beneath me before I spun on the floor, blades with me, and took him out at the ankles, rolling and flipping back to my feet.

A moment later, Helen came in on a searing golden light and pancaked the infected human I'd just laid out. There was still a small moment of wiggling amid the mashed body, so I finished the job. One of my daggers shot out, piercing the Threadspawn and ending both it and the host. But I had to believe that no longer being possessed was a relief to most even if that was their last solace on their journey to the afterlife.

The original ten Threadspawn had now been reduced to five. The group gathered behind Helen as she stood with her shield raised, staring back at our opponents with deathly calm.

"Was everyone okay?" she asked, her breathing heavy and ragged as she took her stance.

"I'm fine," Selene said, the last to join behind us. "If I'm honest, though, I could use a less invisible, spooky Chewbacca over there." She nodded toward the Grimm.

"What's a Chewbacca?" Misha asked.

"A very hairy humanoid," I offered, and Misha's eyes lit up with a dozen questions she immediately suppressed.

"What now?" she asked, only for the side of the room to explode as spells flew in from a dozen different directions. One of the remaining Threadspawn shifted aside, crossed its arms, and the Orkai grew to three times its original height as green lightning crackled along its skin once more.

"Shit," I said, grabbing Charlotte and Selene, ready to run.

Helen stepped in front of us, her shield doubling in size just in time for the Orkai to take all those flying spells and turn them back on us. [Absolute Reflect] crackled dangerously before exploding and filling the room with green light bright enough to blind me for a moment.

If it wasn't for all my grandfather's training, I never would have felt the bloodlust coming from behind me in time to spin and swing, catching the Grimm's massive machete on my two blades hard enough to buckle my knees.

I gritted my teeth against the blow as the light faded and I saw Helen charred where she'd taken the explosion. Healing washed over her from both Selene and Charlotte. Only then did the group realize the Grimm had appeared behind us, and I was still working to hold it off. Selene launched three ghostly skulls at it, and it disengaged from me, leaping back as a dozen adventurers poured in through the broken wall.

I recognized them briefly. Candice's mother's guild, the Arcane, came into the space. Each wore heavy purple mage's robes as they turned and began blasting spells over the Threadspawn.

Two of them leapt forward to protect the others and were utterly obliterated in the process by the volume of spells cascading over them. This group was a magical battering ram, punching straight through the Threadspawn present.

The Grimm must have realized their power too; he waved his massive blade, and the two remaining Threadspawn jumped with him, throwing up protections behind them as they fled deeper into the hive.

Our group paused, sagging as we recovered from the fight, while the Arcane moved in a measured, unified step, robes swaying in time.

As they swept past us, Candice's mother, who was apparent by her features now that she'd lowered her hood, stepped closer. "Children, we will push. When you are ready, please join us," she said, gesturing, and several spells washed over our group.

I could feel my health and stamina replenishing faster than before as they cast a variety of buffs over us.

The mages resumed blasting spells, boring through the hard structure of the dwarven hive. They were apparently uninterested in using doors, simply blasting their way through instead.

Helen plopped down on the floor near me, crossing her legs and laying her shield in her lap. She let out a heavy breath, then glared at the rest of us. "What are you doing? Rest and recover. The Arcane might be all mages and hardly famous for dungeon delves, but they're still one of the best damn raid teams out there, and they brought their whole A-raid." She nodded at the hole they'd made in the far wall and the continued destruction beyond it.

"If they're good at raids, why aren't they good at the dungeon?" Misha asked.

"Something about critical mass," Selene said. "When they've got the full twenty-five for a raid, they have so many buffs going around that their magic is near endless, as long as they don't fight something too far above their level."

"Yeah, they don't have tanks," Helen nodded. "Just magicians creating barriers while other members use buffs to increase strength and mana regeneration. Supposedly they've shown they can tank bosses indefinitely." She crossed her arms and took a deep breath, as if trying to force herself to relax. "That's their shtick, though. We've got our own. Though Ken, you really need to be better at defending the healers."