Soul Knight - Chapter 10 (Patreon)

Arriving near the portal and ready to exit, they received the completion prompt.

[1st Floor: Test completed. Individual reward: 1 silver, Iron dagger.]

A coin and a dagger landed on the ground in front of him, with similar items or objects landing in front of Kaya and Eirwen.

“This Ordeal fucking with me? I thought it was supposed to provide. I got like twenty knives on me, why’s it giving me a dagger?”

Eirwen laughed, and Kaya replied, “That’s probably why the bandits had so many. I got a pair of throwing knives, the Test was mostly for level one. We get a reduced reward, since we’re above that.”

Eirwen gasped. “I got a skill! First Aid!”

Nick smiled at Eirwen. “Oh snap, you’re a healer now? That’s awesome!”

She shook her head. “Not really. It’s just an emergency healing spell. It doesn’t even use mana, it uses ambient essence to enhance a bandages’ healing effect to seal and restore the wound, mostly. Still, it’s a great skill to have!”

“This Ordeal sure likes you, Eirwen. That’s two great skills for you.”

He could tell she learned the skill, the stone crumbling to dust in her hands, and her eyes becoming unfocused. Once they got their bearings right, they entered the portal.

Nick, Kaya and Eirwen arrived at the next floor, Nick’s Soul Servant wolf and snow gator coming along for the ride. Their party was within a shimmering barrier, that seemed to be at least partially translucent.

[Second Floor: Test of Courage and Endurance. Face your fears as you climb the stairs of burden. Erase all fear and doubt, and march with certainty, as those will only weigh you down. You have 5 minutes to begin, and a faster ascent will mean greater rewards.]

They were standing on a hill with stairs within a cavern.

Torches were interspersed at different levels or floors, and the shadows alongside the cavern walls themselves looked ominous. He could see far up the stairs into the distance, perhaps over a mile worth of stairs or more.

“So, we gotta remove all doubt and fear.”

He drew his blade of light, and took on a heroic pose. “Remember, Prince Nicholas Torian is here and you girls have nothing to fear. We’re gonna get to the top quickly, even if I have to carry those cute behinds up there. You got this.”

Kaya groaned, but Eirwen giggled. “Thanks, Prince Torian! I know your blade of light will blast back the shadows!”

“That’s some good thinkin’ there, Eirwen. As always, you got a great attitude.”

Nick looked around through the translucent shield, but couldn’t really see any special way up. He’d love to skip a section like in a racing game, but they were going up.

The way through the Test was mostly up and forward, so he didn’t really see how climbing up the cavern would really help.

“Any ideas on strategy? We just march forward and fight shadows as we climb or such? It’s time-based, so let’s move quickly.”

The girls nodded, and Nick once again set the wolf and snow gator to protect Eirwen and Kaya, so he could focus on fights. He was the first to stride forward through the barrier, and nothing really changed as he did.

However, the shadows and darkness looked even darker and ominous, now that the magical barrier wasn’t in the way. The torch every two dozen meters or so only barely pushed away the darkness, and there was one near where they started.

There were groups of five to ten steps, with a long walkway in between each set. The stone walkway and stairs curved along with the face of the cavern, them never being too far from the ominous shadows on both sides.

Nick set the pace with a near jog, making sure to keep a speed the girls could keep up with. Kaya was nimble on her feet, but Eirwen was carrying the pack.

“Want me to carry that, Eirwen? I could probably still fight well enough with it.”

She was breathing heavy. “N-No, Nick. This is my job, my class. I’ll get some help when I level up, the third level passive is to increase my carry weight. It’ll make this easy!”

“Let me know if you change your mind. I’ll take care–”

Kaya interrupted, “Shadows!”

Nick’s soul sense started to pick up the very enemies she saw, as they reached within his range. From what was the middle distance between two torches, three shadows appeared.

They were hazy and indistinct, and when they neared Nick felt something press down on his soul, trying to influence him. By the way the girls gasped, he knew they felt something a lot worse.

Drawing his Soul Blade, he easily cut through their shadowy forms with quick slices, but left one for the wollywompus to bite into as it neared.

It dispersed and disappeared, and a bit of essence was released. Nick did his best to make them feel confident in their success.

He looked back at them and smiled. “See? Those things are easy. Jerry and Jerome will keep you safe if I miss one, you got nothing to worry about. We’ll get to the top in no time.”

Kaya looked at the snow gator with doubt. “Jerry? What kind of dumb name is that?”

“It’s a million times better than wollywompus is what it is.”

Eirwen smiled at the creature, and even Kaya’s lips were quirking upwards in a small smile.

As they continued up, the strange effect bearing down on him increased, but Nick didn’t really feel much. After two more spawns on shadows as they climbed, it was getting to the point where the permanent effect was the same as being near the shadows themselves.

Then, the shadows spawned were a lot more distinct. One was a large lizard, another was a bearcoon, and another was…

Kaya asked, “Why’s there a bald, scrawny guy?”

Eirwen giggled, and as she did, Nick thought the lizard shrunk. As Nick drew his Soul Blade again, the three shadows became a little indistinct. He still swiped through all three easily, dispersing them.

Despite how easy they were for Nick to defeat, essence flew out of them and joined the three of their bodies. He guessed it was due to them having no loot, the essence was split equally as if they were.

Kaya looked at Nick skeptically. “I get the scalemaw might be Eirwen’s, and the out of control red panda is my fear. But what’s with–”

“That’s me.” Nick interrupted.

Kaya was surprised. “H-Huh?”

“Rather, that was me, before I died. I was kinda like Eirwen. I had an illness, and I was weak. But that ain’t me no more.”

Eirwen asked, “Why would that be your fear, then?”

Nick shrugged. “No idea. If I had to guess, something about me becoming weak again? Let’s keep moving.”

Kaya now wore a frown, but they continued their jog up the stairs. At each halfway point to the next torch, more shadows came out. But Nick was uniquely suited to taking them out, them being easy for his blade of light to defeat.

“See, girls? Nothing to fear. That scalemaw will never touch you with me around, Eirwen.”

Continuing their march, both girls were eventually breathing hard. Traversing the steps and jogging up the cavern was not easy, though Nick’s body was able to handle their pace with ease.

Then, odd sounds were starting to come from all directions, making the place more eerie.

As they continued, the Test’s difficulty eventually went up. The shadows were much thicker, and there were even more of them as they charged Nick’s party.

But Nick approached them undaunted, his movements sure. He pierced through the shadowy scalemaw in the front first, before rolling under a large red panda’s claw. Spinning around, he cut through the red panda’s back twice, dispersing it into essence.

Two had bypassed him, another scalemaw and red panda, while two versions of himself charged at him, their fists turned into angry claws.

His were clearly weaker, and he rolled his eyes as he sliced through them in one swing and began his charge after the remaining shadows.

Jerry and Jerome both locked down the current shadows by biting into them, and Kaya dispersed one with her short sword. Jerry shook the remaining shadow with its prey trapped, and it eventually dispersed too.

“I don’t think we have too far to go, girls. We got this.”

As they rushed up the floors, eventually, the shadows got even thicker. The lights had become even further apart, making them exposed to the overbearing darkness for longer.

Nick kept his Soul Blade out as he ran, staying near the girls. Spawns of shadows started to come more periodically, and from each direction. But Jerry and Jerome kept the girls safe, Nick not really finding out how much damage these creatures could cause.

His blade of light was simply too powerful for the monsters, cutting through them with ease.

The portal for the next stage was in view, and shadows began coalescing near the end. Feeling something ominous, Nick filled his body with his soul magic. A wave of darkness slammed into his party, and Eirwen and Kaya both screamed.

This time, it coalesced into a single man. He had more than just shadowy features, a man holding two long curved blades.

Kaya’s eyes were unfocused, and she looked in both disbelief and fear, “How–how did he find us? How could he be here?”

Nick asked, “Huh? You know this shadow guy?”

Eirwen began to shake, but she immediately fired her crossbow at the man. The bolt was merely cut in two with his short sword. The shadow creature started jogging toward them.

Kaya shouted, “It’s Davon! We need to run!”

Both Eirwen and Kaya started to turn around, but Nick grabbed the two by their shoulders.

Jerome and Jerry positioned themselves between the girls and the oncoming Davon, while Nick shook his head. “We’re not running, that’s just a shadow. We’re in the Ordeal, remember? He can’t come in here.”

Eirwen seemed to snap out of it, but Kaya was trying to tear herself away from Nick’s arm. He tried to push his soul magic into her, to try to kick her out of it.

“Snap out of it, Kaya! We’ll fight him together. I’ll beat his ass.”

The shadow twisted, almost in response to Nick’s soul protection being lost, as he focused on Kaya instead. It twisted into more of a ghost, in the shape of a man.

Nick scoffed. “I ain’t afraid of no ghost. Get the hell out of here with that.”

However, focus returned to Kaya’s eyes, and she drew her blades. Seeing that Kaya was now not going to run, Nick drew his soul blade and stood between his two Soul Servants.

Raising his blade above his head, he had both hands on the hilt as the blade trailed behind him, parallel to the ground. Like Nick was about to chop wood, he could bring powerful momentum and his blade’s longer reach onto the target.

Shadow Davon had two short blades, and would be unable to fully bring power and leverage to bear to match Nick. As the enemy neared, it activated a sort of [Dash] like ability, moving faster.

It dodged to Nick’s right, as if trying to bypass him and get after Jerry, the snow gator. But despite its increase in speed, shadow Davon was not faster than Nick.

Nick twisted and stepped forward powerfully, lunging toward the shadow. Like a guillotine, Nick’s sword came down with speed and power. Shadow Davon raised both blades to block in a cross guard, as Nick’s attack was as fast as it was powerful; the creature could not dodge.

His blade pushed down into the shadow’s shoulder, as it did its best to counter Nick’s strength. Jerry and Jerome both bit into the creature, and it had much more resilience than he initially thought.

It was clad with a sort of shadow armor, the creature resisting all three of their attacks. It seemed that the shadows somehow absorbed the damage, but were being reduced as the shadow was injured.

Nick’s blade of light especially burned into it as he cut into its shoulder, but the shadows around its body were alive. It made blades out of the shadows, and they moved to pierce Jerry and Jerome, and even Nick.

Nick kicked out, knocking shadow Davon back as his creatures let go. Dashing left and right, Nick tested shadow Davon with feints and lunges with his longer blade. Finding the shadow to be decently skilled and fast, he angled for his Soul Servants to surround the shadow.

“You gonna get in on this, Kaya? I can take him out, but you should face your fear. Don’t be a pussy–you can’t even die in here like me.”

Kaya was confused. “A–A pussy? What’s that gotta do with–” She shook her head, before she joined in on the charge.

Nick swung as Jerome leaped at the shadow’s leg, but it was ready. It blocked Nick and sliced at Jerome, causing him to back off. But Jerry edged in after the other leg, and Nick swung his blade in a series of slashes that put the shadow on full defense.

His swings were vicious, always going for what would be a vital or removing the shadow’s hand holding a blade, depending. The wolf would dart in and out, and eventually Nick scored a blow on its arm.

The shadows burned away, and Eirwen managed to land a crossbow bolt in its side.

Nick was about to congratulate her, when Kaya’s blades pierced into the shadow’s back, triggering her [Backstab] ability with a fierce stab. The shadows began to shift, and Nick swung his blade right into its neck, decapitating it.

The shadow disbursed into essence, and Nick cheered. “That’s what I’m talkin’ about! You girls did great.” He froze as he felt the essence surge into him. “That guy had a lot of essence. The end is right there, let’s go!”

Stepping near the portal, Nick got a new prompt and reward.

[2st Floor: Test completed. Individual reward: 999 Copper, Copper dagger.]

A large clump of copper coins hit the ground, making a loud clinking sound. The copper dagger lay on top.

“Ah, hell nah! This place is really fucking with me now. How can the reward not be great, there’s like no way we could have been faster. And now I gotta carry all this copper? What the hell!”

Kaya seemed to laugh at Nick’s plight, as she inspected one of two bracers she received. It looked like the one Nick now wore, which could expand with her growth if she used her bestial transformation.

Eirwen laughed. “That’s almost ten silver, that’s really good! I’ll carry it for you, Nick. That’s weird.”

Nick scoffed. “Don’t tell me there’s some dude running this place and he hates me? And nah, I can’t make you do that, Eirwen. Gimme one of those wolf pelts.”

She gave him one of the pelts with an amused look, and he wrapped it up like a sack. He tied the corners together, since they didn’t have any rope.

He looked around as he jingled his hefty bag of copper. Nick thought it weighed a little over five pounds or so, like a shot put ball.  “We can’t stay here forever, right? How long can we hang around?”

Eirwen replied, “Just ten minutes, it’s mostly to handle your loot and get a quick breather. It’s like Kaya said, often times if the floor is smaller, there will be a safe area either near the beginning or the end.”

Nick nodded. “So it’s possible there might be one near the beginning of the next, since there wasn’t one here. Guess we’ll find out. This floor went quickly, but it took a lot out of me.”

Kaya gave Nick a small smile. “Thanks for knocking me out of that. I was terrified of Davon, but you proved once again you were dependable.”

“Aw, shucks Kaya. You sure know how to compliment a guy.”

Kaya growled a little. “D-Don’t make me regret thanking you.”

Eirwen laughed, as she hugged onto Kaya. “You both were amazing!”

The coins clinked in his makeshift sack as Nick entered the portal. His goal was to beat an enemy to death with it.