Rise of the Living Forge

Chapter 93: Secrets

Arwin ripped his gaze away from the cloud of dust. Lillia was fighting to keep the Bonehemoth’s attention, and letting his emotions get in the way of killing the monster would only result in the situation degrading even further.

He raced forward, his skull pounding in a furious haze, and leapt onto the monster’s massive arm bone as it raised to swat at Lillia. He dismissed Verdant Blaze and ascended the craggy surface, climbing it like a spider.

Lillia’s shadows stabbed at the monster’s eyes and it roared in anger. Arwin clung onto its arm for dear life as it swung at Lillia. Her wings tucked in close to her back and she dropped, shooting past the hand and gliding up behind the monster to send more shadows stabbing at it.

Beneath them, Arwin could just barely make out Anna sprinting away from the relative safety at the edge of the room toward where Rodrick had last been seen. His heart clenched and he ripped his eyes away, continuing his climb.

If the Bonehemoth turned its attention away from Lillia, Anna would likely be its next target. He scaled as quickly as he dared and then some, using small bursts of power from [Scourge] to jump from bone to bone.

The surface of the monster’s body was somehow simultaneously slippery and jagged. His feet only found purchase on the jagged cracks running throughout it, and keeping his balance when the whole world was moving around him was immensely difficult.

Lillia was forced to dive out of the way once more and the Bonehemoth screamed. Arwin’s body locked up – and a wave of blue slammed into him, freeing him after no more than half a second. Lillia plummeted in the corner of his vision, but all Arwin could do was hope that Reya would save her in time.

The Bonehemoth’s glowing eyes turned as the shadows finally stopped assaulting its head – and their gaze went right past Arwin, locking onto the easy target kneeling in the fading dust cloud.

Arwin gritted his teeth, pushing his body to the max. He leapt farther with every jump, using almost all of the energy he had remaining. The Bonehemoth’s arm lifted. Arwin swirled his hands, desperately trying to keep his balance, but it was impossible.

He fell – and landed on a platform of shadows. Throwing himself to his feet, Arwin raced up toward its head. An eye flicked toward him and a hand started to move, realizing the source of its pain was approaching once more, but it was too late.

Arwin leapt from the shadows and ripped the bracelet off his wrist. If this strike didn’t end the fight, then it was over for them anyway.

Metal Bracelet: Average Quality

[Roughshod]: This item was forged by strong, weary hands that longed for escape. It can direct all the power in its wielder’s body into a single strike at a significant cost of magical energy.

[Weary]: This item is imbued with the feelings of a man who seeks rest and freedom. Using its ability will cause its wielder to feel exhausted and slow their movements for a duration ranging on the amount of magical power [Roughshod] consumed.

Arwin shoved the bracelet into his mouth and bit down. Energy coursed through his body. Verdant Blaze materialized in his grip. He let out a furious scream as he brought it crashing down. The movement felt heavy and sluggish, like he was traveling through sludge.

Verdant Blaze struck the large wound in the Bonehemoth’s skull with a brilliant explosion of [Soul Flame] and enough force to send vibrations down Arwin’s entire body.

Bone shattered and caved in. Cracks raced out in a spreading spiderweb that enveloped the Bonehemoth’s entire skull. Its mouth yawned open – but no roar emerged. The cracking grew louder, a smattering of pops and breaks amid a dull undertone of grinding crunches. A huge plate of bone on its temple pitched forward and fell to the ground where it shattered with a crash.

The whole monster slumped, sliding back into the hole that it had clambered out of. Arwin threw himself back, hitting a dark slide that formed beneath him. It carried him down to the ground and sent him rolling across the dirt until he struck a large rock and came to a stop with a pained grunt.

A deep rumble shook the cavern as the Bonehemoth crashed against the walls of the hole on its way down. The last thing Arwin saw of it was a limp hand vanishing into the black. He barely even cared.

Shoving his aching body up, Arwin dismissed his armor and weapon as he staggered across the room toward where Rodrick had fallen. Exhaustion weighed down on his back and shoulders, trying to press him into the ground. His stomach twisted and churned into knots. He couldn’t bear the idea of losing another person. Not for something as worthless as a mere dungeon.

Anna knelt with her back to him, her neck as pale as sheet. Arwin stumbled as he ran up to her.

“Anna! Is Rodrick–”

The words caught in his throat. Rodrick’s head rested in Anna’s lap. The bottom half of his armor was completely gone and he was naked from the waist down – but somehow in one piece. Shimmering white light poured from Anna’s exertion-ridden hands and into him.

“Alive,” Anna rasped, her hands dropping at her sides. “The bottom half of his body was crushed. He went unconscious from shock, but I hadn’t used any energy yet, so I had enough to heal him. I–” She paused to draw in a deep breath and refill her lungs with air. “I thought I lost him. Godspit. What was that huge fucker doing down here?”

Arwin dropped by her side, leaning back onto his arms as a relieved, hysterical laugh built in his throat. It grew in intensity until tears streamed down his cheeks and he had to drop back onto the cold stone to compose himself.

He could feel the Mesh swirling at the back of his mind, but it seemed that it was going to wait until he was actually in a state of mind to process its words before giving him any information.

“Thank God.” Arwin’s throat was so tight that he could barely even breathe properly. “I don’t know what I would have done if he’d died. I’m sorry. I should have better prepared us. It was stupid to–”

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“Oh, cork it,” Anna snapped. “We aren’t children, Arwin. We knew the risks of advancing and all agreed to do it. Nobody died. And, even if he had, it wouldn’t have been your fault.”

Arwin couldn’t do anything but nod. Lillia and Reya were both on the other side of the room and approaching them, the relief on their faces clear when they saw that Rodrick wasn’t a mushed splatter on the ground.

“He’s alive?” Lillia asked as they arrived.

“Yeah. It would have been really bad if I was a second or two slower, but he’ll make it,” Anna said. “There’s no need for anyone to take responsibility for anything other than a new pair of pants. There’s a lot of him that I’m willing to share, but this isn’t one of them.”

Arwin let out a choked mixture between a laugh and a cough. He didn’t have a pair of pants to spare on him, but he pulled his shirt off and draped it over Rodrick’s midsection. Even that felt like an arduous task, but the effects of the detrimental trait in the bracelet he’d eaten were already starting to wear off. It didn’t seem like the magical effects of items he ate lasted for more than thirty seconds or a minute at most.

“I can’t believe we won that fight,” Reya muttered. “I’ve never seen a monster so big.”

“I can’t believe we killed it,” Anna said. “If I saw correctly… Arwin, did you manage to somehow use its own magic against it?”

“Yes. It was a feature of my armor,” Arwin said. “It gathers magic that’s cast around it and can eventually let me empower an attack with it.”

“Damn.” Anna shook her head and let out a whistle. “That’s a really impressive piece of gear. A warrior going around and casting magic without having a class based on it… terrifying.”

“And badass,” Reya put in. She glanced back at the hole and shuddered. “Thank whatever god is listening you had that, though. If you didn’t get those extra hits, I don’t know if we would have made it through this. That monster could have destroyed an entire town if it were outside. How did it get down here?”

“It probably wasn’t that big when it came down here,” Arwin said wearily. “Something in the dungeon gave it enough power to evolve, and it definitely had a number of Titles and Achievements. I suspect the Mesh will let us know some of that soon enough.”

“Is it just sitting around and waiting for you as well?” Reya asked.

“Yeah. I owe it thanks for that. I think anything I read right now would pass right through my eyeballs without even registering,” Arwin said. “Is everyone else okay?”

“Yeah. I’m fine,” Lillia said. “I don’t think we would have been if it weren’t for Reya, though.”

“We’d all be dead,” Arwin said with a nod and a grimace. He’d known how useful Reya’s ability was, but he hadn’t expected it to save their lives this quickly. “You did fantastic, Reya.”

“I should have broken the control on you before Lillia,” Reya said with a shake of her head. “My screw up almost got Rodrick killed.”

“Everyone screws up inevitably,” Arwin said. “And Lillia was in imminent danger while I was not. You did the right thing. There’s nothing to blame yourself for, especially when nobody actually died.”

Reya flopped down across from Anna and nodded mutely. It didn’t look like she’d be able to muster any more words anytime soon, and he didn’t blame her. Distant eyes spoke volumes. Reya had gotten something from the Mesh for her participation in the fight. Lillia walked over to sit next to Arwin, making a small semi-circle around Rodrick’s body as his chest rose and fell in slow breaths.

Arwin’s heart still slammed in his chest like a runaway freight train. Now that the adrenaline was leaving his body, all that remained was a heavy blanket of weariness that wrapped around his shoulders and weighed down on his back. They’d won – but now that the fight had ended, his mind had nothing left to distract it.

Does Rodrick have some form of Unique class or ability? I can’t claim to know every single warrior ability in existence – I don’t think anyone can – but there’s no way that glowing light was a normal warrior. His attacks were also doing more damage to the Bonehemoth than I feel like normal blows, empowered or not, should have been.

He could tell by the look in Anna’s eyes that she knew what he was thinking. Her features tightened and she shook her head, a silent request to hold off on mentioning anything. Arwin wasn’t in any rush to press for more information – he had secrets of his own that he suspected wouldn’t be lasting through the night.

Golden light shimmered before Arwin’s eyes. The Mesh finally decided that it had let him rest for long enough. It would be denied no longer. Golden lines shimmered through the air as if drawn by a dancing butterfly, light blooming from them and turning into words.

Achievement: [Savior of the Bonehemoth] has been earned.

[Savior of the Bonehemoth] – Awarded for aiding in the destruction of the Crystalline Bonehemoth and granting it peace from its agony. Effects: Your party has received access to the Bonehemoth’s Hoard. This achievement has been consumed.

[Giantsbane] – Awarded for slaying a monster over ten times your height. Effects: One skill in your next Skill Selection has been upgraded to Unique. This achievement will be consumed upon choosing your next skill.

Holy shit. Two Achievements? The Mesh is really raining the rewards down on us. I suppose it makes sense. That might be one of the roughest fights I’ve ever had, and we actually managed to win it.

A delicate chime rang through the air. Arwin looked up as a shimmer of green energy lit in the air directly above Rodrick’s head. A loop of metal the size of a small dog emerged from it. It was followed by a thick, rusted bar and, after that, the rest of a key. Arwin’s hands shot out to grab it before the heavy metal could land on the resting warrior.

“Did everyone else just get that Achievement?” Arwin asked, holding the key out before him. It was comically huge in his hands, but when compared to the Bonehemoth, it was the opposite.

“I got two achievements,” Reya said. “A skill upgrade and the Savior one.”

“Two here as well,” Lillia put in.

“Same for me,” Anna said. “Along with other things. I went up to Apprentice 4 and got a ranged healing spell. But… did the Mesh make a mistake? I don’t think what we did could be considered saving in any sense of the word.”

“It didn’t seem particularly intelligent either,” Lillia said. “Or, if it was, it was far too malicious for it to matter. That thing was doing its absolute best to kill all of us.”

“You think the hoard is in that platform above the hole?” Reya asked as she squinted across the room.

“Where else would it be? That’s prime treasure-hiding estate, Reya.”

They all looked down as Rodrick spoke. His voice was weaker than normal, but the cheeky grin on his lips told them that he was alright.

“Rodrick!” Anna exclaimed, pulling him up into a tight embrace and pressing her lips to his. She said something muffled, then pulled back and cleared her throat. “Are you okay?”

“Thanks to you, yes,” Rodrick said. “I knew you’d save my ass. You always do.”

“Idiot,” Anna said. “What if you’d gotten crushed? If the hand was just a little higher up…”

“It wasn’t. That’s all that matters. I took the risk. If I hadn’t, I suspect Arwin would be a pancake. It didn’t seem like he had any way to throw off the paralysis and Reya’s ability has a limit to how fast she can use it.”

“Rodrick’s right. He saved my life,” Arwin said. “I owe you one.”

“Hey, we’re a guild, right? That’s what mates are for. Also, I got two Achievements. If all I have to do for that is nearly die, I think I’m going to do it a whole lot more.”

“Don’t even joke about that,” Anna snapped.

“Sorry, sorry.” Rodrick pushed himself into a seated position with a grunt. “Damn, why is it so cold?”

He looked down at his legs, then pulled the shirt back. “Ah.” Rodrick hurriedly returned the shirt to its spot. “That would explain it. What do you think the chances are that treasure waiting for us has any pants in it?”

“I think we’ll find out,” Arwin replied, hoisting the key and slinging it over his shoulder. “And, with any luck, maybe it’ll have some clues as to what the hell happened here as well. Shall we go see what it left us?”

“Hold on,” Anna said, swallowing and setting her jaw. “I think there’s something we need to speak about first. Rodrick and I have been hiding something.”

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