Chapter 18: Boss

Chapter 18: Boss

They ran, a house sized lion-toad floating after them. Leland only managed to cast Fracture twice before the beast noticed. When it did, it turned right to Leland and Jude and crouched down. A moment later, it was sailing through the air with a harsh updraft following closely behind.

“Bad plan!” Leland yelled, the wind scattering the nearby animals as well.

Goats and gazelles became running hazards as everything scampered away from the mutated Mana Lion. Jude twisted his neck, finding the monster landing with a dull crash. It roared, shaking the top of the plateau and gathering mana.

Abruptly a thick beam of blue shot forward, cutting the highland in half. Both Leland and Jude dove out of the way, the former of which was gathering mana of his own.

“Slow!” he cursed, his heart momentarily syncing with the monster before him.

He was scared, like his home was going to be ruined. He didn’t want to be in trouble, he didn’t want to let the core down. He would build defenses just as he was told. There were just two mana invaders. He’d get rid of them.

Reality came back and Leland reacted right away. Snapping his fingers twice in quick succession, mana flowed towards the target.

“Fracture, Fracture.”

There was no crack, but Leland was expecting that. All he needed to do was escape. He ran, despite the sweat pouring off his face. His chest felt heavy, his feet like lead. A calloused hand suddenly gripped onto his waist, then he was flying through the air.

Jude, having picked him up and using this jumping ability, launched manically. “You were right! This is fun!”

Leland couldn’t agree, his stomach was already melting at this rate. They eventually touched down and continued running. Jude didn’t let go of his friend and eventually they were back up the hill overseeing the lake.

The lion-toad didn’t follow.

“Good,” Leland huffed. “The plan works but we don’t know if I dealt any damage to it.”

“Oh you did,” Glenny said, becoming visible . “Look at its tail.”

And they did, even Alkin squinted. Behind the toad legs was a normal, albeit overly large, tail. It was crooked, like a broken stick.

“Surely there’s more than one break, right?” Jude asked.

Leland wasn’t sure. “Don’t know. But I think we have a way forward. Let's get a fire going and when my lifeforce is back to full, we can try again.”

That brought Alkin from his thoughts. “You use lifeforce to cast spells?”

Everyone looked to Leland who hesitated. He sighed, not meaning to reveal that much information. He simply nodded.

“Lucky,” Alkin muttered.

In a way, Leland supposed he was lucky. As a rank one mage, he was supposed to have decently small mana capacity. But since the Lord of Curses Legacy flipped that on its head, it would only make sense for others to be jealous. After all, mana was a mage’s currency. Their whole life wrapped around the invisible resource.

Instead of dwelling on the fact that he was different, Leland opened his grimoire to his newest page. He quickly read over the description of Harbinger Halo, noting that nothing had changed about it. He did, however, have a new entry under a column entitled “Contracts.”

“New- spell.”

“Is it powerful?”

“Incredibly so.”

“Nice.”

Leland smiled, falling back and closing his eyes once he made sure Glenny returned. “Wake me in an hour, we’ll go again.”

And they did, three more times in fact. With an early dinner in their bellies, Leland, Jude, and Glenny strolled over to the lion-toad one last time. At this point the monster was licking its own wounds, slowly creeping up and down the lake while padding the ground flat.

It was unleashing low guttural growls, cries of pain, deathly throes. If left alone, it might live after a few weeks of rest. Maybe less since it was mana inclined. But they had a job to do, they had money to make.

It was a sickening feeling to Leland, one he desperately wished he didn’t have to go through. Causing agony, regardless whether it was to a monster, regardless whether it was to a dungeon created monster, didn’t feel right. He saw why the Lord of Curses warned him about Witchhunters, he understood more than anyone their potency.

There were large scholarly papers written about dungeons and whether their inhabitants are truly alive. Leland always erred on the side that they were, but now more than anything, he wanted himself to be wrong.

Would he have left the dungeon if he knew this was going to be the outcome? No, probably not. Not when the rewards could potentially save his or his friend’s lives in the future. He took no pleasure in this, it was simply something he as an adventurer was expected to do.

He’d progress and grow in strength. His spells would upgrade, he himself would upgrade. Eventually this situation before him would be a thing of the past. His magic would grow into something better than incremental torture. He felt sure of it.

Leland started off with Curse of Collapse. The spell took, and he felt the monster’s pain. It wallowed in anguish, its task too much of a guiding force to let it help itself. The core was the cause, it spoke to the monster like a god. It told the monster to protect and hide itself. And that was all the monster was supposed to do.

The core didn’t care if it died. It only cared about protecting itself. A fool's order, but the one given, nonetheless. The core made Leland question the identity of dungeon monsters. How could a semi sentient object have such a hold over the monsters within its walls?

In a way it made Leland question his own faith. His religion of Lords. His godly guidance. It was maddening to think about, something that stumped even the brightest researchers or most devout followers.

In the end, it didn’t matter. The monster was dying, and the quicker Leland killed it, the better he’d feel.

“Fracture, Fracture, Fracture, Fracture, Fracture.”

His dark halo blazed with radiant energy. It washed the battlefield with authority and willpower while sending those mundane few around into a frenzy. Animals rushed with dying terror. They ran, following their instincts to the tee.

“Maul,” Leland whispered, summoning forth a murder of crows.

They attacked, pecking at the weak spots of the lion-toad while ripping into the fleshy bits. The monster tried to run, tried to get to the precious core, but Jude and Glenny were there.

They attacked together, each aiming for the kill. Glenny sunk his daggers into a spot where the crows had lacerated, his ability creating a geyser of blood in the process. Jude hacked into the back legs of the creature, each cut inching closer to slicing tendon.

They continued hailing attacks into the dying monster and eventually it stopped moving for good – its broken and torn apart body making the final assault easy.