[LD-1] 39. Don't Hold Back (Patreon)

XXXIX

Don’t Hold Back

The void expanded as we went down. We held our breath.

Our first voyage into this realm felt like a lifetime ago. We’d entered as defenceless babes that needed to run from a goblin runt. Now, we could kill a grunt by looking at them.

And yet, our hearts beat in our throats. Shota’s technos patrolled the skies in a triangle formation, their silhouettes coiling with barely restrained power, much like the lightning climbing the void.

The electric energy roiled around a structure of which there was no telling how far up it extended—the lightning dispersed long before it reached the place where our elevator had been—but our imagination provided a ballpark that wasn’t conformed to reality in the slightest.

‘Just how big is this dungeon?’

Our elevator touched down right at that moment as if to mock me.

Mana burst from Douglas’s arms into his shield, and Char kept his taunt ability at the ready.

Nothing jumped out.

We waited ten more heartbeats to be sure, then advanced into the darkness in formation. Char hovered beside me with Kil hiding in his cloth.

Even here, Kil’s ability couldn’t penetrate the shadows. Only the recurring flashes of lightning lit up the world. When they did, reality coursed with it, and a terrible pressure descended from all-around onto our shoulders.

It was so heavy we had to stop to catch our breath.

‘This…is crazy.’ What was this place?

The answer revealed itself once we closed the distance to the building’s entrance.

Human faction recognised!

Enter the Temple of Lei? Y/N.Party Capacity: 0/50. Please select the party members you want to enter.

Warning: instance difficulty will increase based on the number of party members.

“An instance…” Alexa murmured.

For the first time, the president seemed at a loss.

“Is an instance special?” Evans asked.

Shota’s lips folded into his mouth. “Think of it as a dungeon within a dungeon. It’s a rare occurrence and offers rewards beyond what is normal.”

“Guilds would salivate if they found one,” Lily said.

We were not a guild, however, but students trying to survive. Instances may be rare and would offer unexpected rewards. Yet that came with a price tag.

“For every member…” Kiba said. He counted how many were in our group.

“Let’s not make any hasty decisions,” Alexa said. “First, I want to make sure that this is the only thing on this floor.”

Right. We shouldn’t think of challenging this unless we know for certain it was the sole path forward—

A bolt crawled over the floor and lit up an area near me. The tip of a boot poked out of the darkness, one large enough to cover my face twice over. My eyes crawled up the leg. The torso was as wide as the feet let on, and thin spikes of some kind jutted from the side of the back like a set of spider legs.

The thing held a large, club-like shape over my head.

Char’s big hand wrapped around me. Then my world spun as I hurled in the opposite direction.

‘Char…!’

A creature of that size, there was no way he could block that! The image of the summon splattered into paste flicked through my mind—

The summon whirled and crossed his arms overhead. Bones pushed their way into existence over his skin, half cylinders that snapped into place and covered his form like a ribcage.

The shockwave of the weapon smashing into the bones rushed over the entire area and whipped up the hair of those standing nearby.

I twirled like a cat and landed on my feet. My head snapped up.

Cloth and metal groaned while the two forces struggled to gain ground. Those were the only sounds passing over the shocked battlefield.

My eyes widened. ‘Char…’

He unlocked a new ability because you reached level fifteen, Master! Despite bringing positive news, there was no mirth in his voice. This is quite troublesome, though.

A students screamed; I didn’t have to look to know why—the elevator had gone back up.

The scream shocked everyone out of their reverie.

And then all hell broke loose.

“Formati—”

Bestial cries drowned out Alexa’s voice. My heart exploded. Blood rushed into my head.

What were we fighting? How many were there? Where was Emily?

My vision hurled towards Douglas and the three other tanks, who were already making a circle for the others to hide behind. Emily was never far behind our frontline…

I found her running from the other side of the room. A hob wearing mail swung a flail that passed right behind her skull. Emily had already shown her nimbleness once; hobs weren’t quick enough to keep up with her. But this one had a little extra oomph.

A warboar with tusks long enough they could gorge me head to hip and have room leftover trampled its feet and carried the hob into battle.

[Wild Hunt Rider - lvl. 18]

‘Dammit.’

We’d faced mounted enemies before. But these wouldn’t be in the same tier as the cavern tamers. Their level was higher, which meant—

Mana pulsed. The rider’s boar and flail glowed red. A dozen more screams pierced out of the shadows, and the footfalls rumbled like a stampede.

The gap between Emily and the rider vanished.

Eyes wide, she turned around—

A tentacle burst from the void and tripped the mount.

The chunk of mana ripping out of me was like a dagger in the back.

Emily waved and shouted. I assumed it was a ‘thank you,’ but I couldn’t hear her over the drone of hooves.

A rider jumped over his fallen comrade, followed by ten more units.

Emily jumped behind Douglas and the others. The tanks dug into their positions and faced the charge.

This clash would not end well for us.

I aimed one palm at the ground. Shadows pooled within and drooped to the floor.

“First Line!” Alexa somehow managed to scream over the cacophony.

We’d split our ranged users into first and second line members. The first line comprised disciples whose primary focus was range. People like me who had ranged options but had better uses for their mana were second line.

Flames congealed into a ball above the staff of a girl. Lightning wreathed the forearm of another, and the bolt left an ionised smell in its wake. Beams hurled in quick succession from the stream-lined muzzles of Shota’s technos. A few found the legs of two of the warboars and broke their rush.

The lighting bolt sailed wide and merely got one off-course, but the fire mage roasted her target.

Eight riders remaining.

Riri stepped in. The floor broke, and her vines toppled three more.

Five left.

Our two archers found the throat of a rider.

Four left.

And that was too many, for our formation was too shoddy.

Rhythmic steps. Flails spun on their axes. Shields went up, and another glow pulsed through Douglas. A barrier formed in front of him. The hit sounded like a hammer hitting a brass bell; he didn’t flinch. As a matter of fact, his face was relaxed, as if he was enjoying a stroll.

Our three other tanks didn’t fare as well. One launched an inch off his feet but caught himself to stop a second blow. The second’s shield dented in—he screamed as his arm went limp. The last flew into the centre of our makeshift formation. Of the three tanks, the second was the worst off. His guard had dropped completely, and the rider had already whirled around for the next attack. Eyes wide, the tank stared at the flail homing in on his face—

Rotting arms shoved him out of the way. The flail smashed the ghoul’s lower jaw to pieces, and the hobgoblin laughed heartily at the thought of its first kill…But the ghoul’s expression hadn’t changed at all.

The summon tackled the hob to the ground. What followed was a…nasty scuffle. There were better descriptors, but staring at it for too long made me want to puke.

Others in our formation shied away from that part of the fight, too. Some riders even slowed in rising to their feet for a second charge.

Alexa’s voice carried. “Now’s our chance!”

Her words distorted as they rippled through the atmosphere, like they knew themselves they were a lie.

Master, Char needs help…

I whirled in the summon’s direction. His bone armour was hanging on by threads. Specifically, the armour around his face had taken a beating, and I could see his gas-like skin beneath the protection. The only reason Char hadn’t died yet was because Kiba was fighting for his life alongside him.

I caught Kiba being hurled to the other side of the room, deep into the shadows where I could no longer see him. He was alright, but he wouldn’t be back right away.

‘Char, return,’ I said.

He leapt out of the way of another blow and retreated to Douglas’s side.

Unlike myself, Char had an internal cooldown on his skills. He’d have to wait to repair his armour.

‘Should I take him out of the battle?’ He wasn’t a good match for the commander. But he could disrupt the charge…

The commander must’ve read my mind. It put a bone-white whistle to its mouth.

I frowned as I waited for the whistle to sound. No sound came forth. What was it doing—

A haze collected in the air beside it which solidified. Whatever answered the commander’s call phased into reality with the soft touch of a feather falling from the sky.

My brows touched my skull. What in the world…

A whipping wind cut through the rest of my thoughts. The beast had opened its jaw and roared before it’d fully formed. But it’d been no regular roar.

The ends of my hair twirled in the wake of the twisting funnel of air that’d ripped across the battlefield.

Somewhere, I heard Emily cry out. My heart stopped working.

I breathlessly gazed over my shoulder. The tank I’d saved—Kevin, I remembered his name suddenly—slid to the floor and sagged like he had no more bones in his body. Three other students left blood trails on the wall beside him.

Their heads were crushed.

I turned back.

[Wild Hunt Commander - lvl. 23]

A silhouette bigger than all the other mounts combined lorded in the shadows beside the commander. The boar, if it could even still be called that, was covered in chain mail. Still, it was barely big enough to carry its rider.

The commander stepped into the beast’s saddle without a single grunt. Its visage betrayed nothing. The eyes peering from beneath the slit in its helmet were passive. No joy at murdering the weak passed through like it had in its minions. No triumph at landing a successful attack gleamed within those orbs.

There was solely a…silent conviction. One that promised the death of whoever opposed it.

An icy hand gripped my lungs and squeezed. To my rear, the world shifted, and the souls of my fellows slipped out of this realm into the next.

The loss of lives swept over my soul sea and cleansed the waters. I forced my chest to relax. Exhaled the breath I had been holding. I’d been trying to preserve my mana—though I was already down to half—but we’d all lose our lives that way.

Cull dematerialised. I interlaced my fingers.

“Consecrated Grounds.”

Four slits carved themselves into the world around me. My mana plummeted.

And then the floodgates burst open.