“Not your racial?” Dazel asked.
“I know what two of my racial advancements are,” she said. “And I don’t need either right now. I’d be getting offered one new thing.”
{Advance [Hellfire]}
{Choose an upgrade to gain, then choose to retain or replace all other options}
Upgrade [Hellfire] with [Hellfire Efficiency I]:
The cost of conjuring hellfire is reduced by 20%.
Upgrade [Hellfire] with [Hellfire Penetration]
Your hellfire now ignores an amount of your enemy’s highest resistance against it equal to twice your level.
Upgrade [Hellfire] with [Vampiric Flames]
Your hellfire now applies your [Energy Drain] when it causes enough harm to an eligible target. [Bloodfire] that would be restored to you via this [Energy Drain] is instead used to fuel the flames.
“Ooh,” Ashtoreth said. If she lit someone on fire with [Vampiric Flames], would the flames potentially grow so strong on a weak enough target that they would consume them entirely?
Perhaps. What was definitely the case was that her chain reaction explosions caused by [Hellfire Consumption] would be hot enough to apply the drain to many creatures at once, and thus be made even stronger.
She considered the cavernous chamber below her. It was blanketed in ashes that had settled over the hot stone. Did she need bigger explosions?
“I’ll take [Vampiric Flames], please!” she said after a nanosecond’s thought.
{You upgrade your [Hellfire] ability with [Vampiric Flames]}
{Reaching level 28 has granted advancement. Choose one of your progression paths other than [Hellfire].}
“[Armament], please!”
{Advance [Armament]}
{Choose an upgrade to gain, then choose to retain or replace all other options}
Upgrade [Conjure Rammstein] with [Rammstein: Rapid Ammunition]:
You halve the time it takes to conjure a round for Rammstein.
Upgrade [Conjure Rammstein] with [Rammstein: Reserve Ammunition]
If you dismiss Rammstein while it is loaded, it will still be loaded the next time you conjure it.
Upgrade [Conjure Rammstein] with [Rammstein: Hellfire Round]
You can expend an extra round when you fire Rammstein to fire a hellfire round, which bursts into an explosion of hellfire on impact.
And there it was.
“Up-grade!” Ashtoreth said in a singsong voice.
She chose to replace [Rammstein: Hellfire Round]. Her gun wasn’t meant to an area-of-effect ability, and if she really needed it to function that way, she could just burst an enemy with [Hellfire Consumption]. Or two enemies, given the ability’s cost in rounds.
“I’ll take the reserve, thank you very much!”
{You upgrade your [Conjure Rammstein] ability with [Rammstein: Reserve Ammunition]}
Hunter still wasn’t finished looking over his options, so she converted her sword to hellfire, then formed her cannon again, then began the process of loading 3 rounds into it.
“Can you figure out where we’re going, Dazel?” she asked. “Which of those other tunnels will take us to the castle?”
“That one,” he said, pointing with his tail.
She frowned. “You didn’t even look at the stonework.”
“The tunnels all go straight until they hit a big chamber like this one,” he said. “We’ve just got to pick the right direction, which is that way.”
“You’re sure?”
“Of course I’m sure,” he said. “I don’t want to get lost down here.”
“All right,” she said. “Anyone see the boss chest?”
They found it near the center of the mound in the bigger chamber, faintly covered in ashes that had been blown about the moving air.
She popped it open and found a very tiny box inside—one that contained a glittering black ring.
{Ashtoreth’s Adamantium Band}
+ 54 [Defense]
“Hello!” she said, sliding it onto her left ring finger and holding it up to examine it. It was a perfectly circular band with a matte finish. Flecks of what might have been diamond dust shone and flashed as they caught the light. “More [Defense]!”
Dazel leapt up onto her back. “So all in all, the system has given you three pieces of jewelry, a nice handbag, and some combat boots?”
“It must work with the recipient’s sense of style,” Ashtoreth said. “It sure understands mine pretty well!”
“I got pants with decorative buckles….” Hunter said.
“I figured that’s because you feel good when you wear them!” she said. “Don’t you?”
Hunter didn’t answer.
“I got a noose,” Kylie said flatly.
“And you know, Kylie? It’s a different sort of style, but you’re pulling it off.”
Kylie glowered at her.
“Speaking of,” Ashtoreth said. “I’ve been thinking of changing. After all—we are going to kill a dragon.”
She formed her claws and wove her hand through the air, weaving a new glamour to attach to her enchanted clothing, one that looked like a polished set of black plate armor trimmed with purple.
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“Lookin’ good, right?” she asked. “I just don’t know what to draw on the front. Maybe a lion? Lions have prides. And they’re used a lot in heraldry already.” She formed a rearing lion out of gold embroidery on her tabard. “But then I thought: maybe I should honor my lineage and do a goat? I mean, did you guys know that people sometimes say ‘goat’ to mean ‘greatest of all time’? I could go with that, but it doesn’t really convey pride, you know?”
“I’ll probably regret asking,” Kylie began. “But why does it need to convey pride, again?”
“Because I’m an archfiend of pride,” Ashtoreth explained. “And pride is the number one sin. You know what they say: if you’ve got it, you flaunt it.”
“So you’re just… the living embodiment of arrogance, then? I suppose that makes enough sense.”
Ashtoreth laughed. “Actually,” she began, "arrogance is an alloy formed of hindsight, self-esteem, and failure—failure most of all. So you see, I’m missing the most crucial ingredient. You can’t be arrogant if you never fail.”
Kylie looked toward Frost and Hunter. “Have you two noticed that she’s like this? I’m just wondering why you’re still here.”
“Well, Ashtoreth has been nothing but helpful since she met me,” said Frost. “I know she’s eccentric, but that wouldn’t be a good enough reason to abandon her even if she wasn’t critical to our survival.”
“Thanks, Sir Frost!” Ashtoreth said. “Say, what about a unicorn? I mean, they don’t really scream ‘pride’, but they’re noble and magical and have a horn to gore people with. That’s pretty cool. And in some realms they’re the natural enemies of dragons—unicorns are usually spellcasters, see.”
“We could ask Hunter,” said Dazel.
“Ask me what?”
“Are any of the unicorns named ‘Pride’?”
He frowned. “What unicorns? There are no unicorns on Earth.”
“O-kay,” Frost said loudly. “Let’s maybe skip Dazel going after Hunter for the tenth time.”
“What?” said Dazel. “That’s the best part of this whole day so far. You’ve got to learn to enjoy the little things, Officer Frost.”
“What about the sun?” Ashtoreth asked. “That’s number one in most pantheons, right? I could have a big sun on my chest. It at least opens up some potential Dark Souls references.”
Frost let out a long sigh and brought a hand up to rub his temples.
“Oh, God help me. It’s just a bunch of teenagers.”
“Uh, woah there, excuse me,” said Dazel. “I am an ancient, uh…” he trailed off, then said, “Well I don’t have any accomplishments, really, but I am old.”
“That’s nice, Dazel,” said Frost.
“And hold on a second,” Dazel said, turning to Ashtoreth. “Aren’t you going to tell him not to swear?”
“He’s a paladin,” she said. “I’m not gonna tell him he can’t bring the Authority of Heaven into it. That’s their job, half the time.”
“I’m a police officer,” said Frost. “Not a paladin.”
“Yeah,” said Dazel. “He brings the Authority of Authority into it, instead. Respect it or else.”
“Look,” said Frost. “If we’ve got some time to talk, here, then we should plan ahead, not bicker.”
“Right you are, Sir Frost!” Ashtoreth said. “What’s our strategy for the dragon?”
“You can’t fly yet?” Frost asked.
She pulled herself off the ground with as much of her racial flight power as she could muster. “Nope,” she said. Then she took a few long, slow bounds that saw her fall slowly to the ground. “I can moon-jump, though. See?”
“So we still need to get you enough levels to fly with, then,” said Frost. “That’s step one.”
“Am I missing something?” Kylie said. “Being able to generate enough force to lift yourself into the air isn’t exactly going to give you the most useable flight. You’ll just keep yourself from falling—the dragon’s not going have much trouble catching up to you.”
“There’s a racial skill I’ll get once I can lift myself off the ground,” said Ashtoreth. “It’ll strengthen my flight for a [Bloodfire] cost.”
“Oh,” she said. “Okay. Well then, I’m guessing my undead won’t hold up to any sort of concerted attack against the dragon.”
“Probably not!” Ashtoreth said.
“Definitely not,” said Dazel.
“So if anything, they’ll just serve to draw it toward the ground, right?” Kylie asked. “For a little while, at least. Hunter can’t fly, but he has high damage penetration—so how many of my skeletal mages do you think would bait the dragon into coming down close enough for Hunter to strike?”
“Twenty or more,” Dazel said. “Just don’t put them in a line, he’ll do a flyover. You want him to rampage through the skeletons, or at least hover over them for a bit.”
“I can fly, so you all know,” said Hunter. “My [Embrace of the Shadowflame Dragon] is ready. I need only cross the twin fangs to activate it.” He seemed to think for a moment, then added, “I’m not good at flying, though. I have no experience.”
“Ambush it is!” said Ashtoreth. “Because that dragon will one-shot you, and he does know how to fly.”
“My minions have [Energy Drain],” said Kylie. “Will that help, or will they just be a distraction?”
“Oh, that’ll help!” Ashtoreth said, grinning. “He’ll have high enough resistance that the debuff will wear off quickly… unless we keep applying it. And since I have [Energy Drain], that can be arranged.”
“There’s no point in anything but ranged minions, right?” said Kylie.
“None,” said Dazel.
“And let’s hope there’s forest where we come out,” said Ashtoreth. “If there’s not, let’s hope there’s one nearby. The wind is blowing in the direction of the lava lake, but it’s not strong. Still, my [Magic] is high enough now that my hellfire burns hot enough that I can probably set the forest ablaze. We can hide Hunter and your minions inside the flames.”
“Magic fire competes, it doesn’t combine,” said Dazel. “Since everyone is immune to Ashtoreth’s hellfire, it’ll act as a moderate shield against the dragonfire. He’ll have to first burn away her hellfire for his dragonfire’s heat to roast any of you.”
“Which he’ll be able to,” said Ashtoreth. “Just to be clear.”
“Oh, definitely,” said Dazel. “Dragons don’t go light on their breath attack upgrades. A full blast of his breath will wipe away your hellfire in a moment. Standing in fire’s not going to save any of us from the dragon, just buy us a second or so.”
“But if he does rear up to breathe fire, will that be my opening to strike?” Hunter asked.
“Sort of,” Ashtoreth said.
“Sort of?”
“Dragons are cunning,” she said. “The only time you can be sure they’re not baiting you is when you’re sure they don’t know you’re even there. That’s when it’s safest to attack.”
“So after the first strike I should fight unpredictably,” said Hunter. “All right. Where do you want me to hit him?”
“If you can, go for the eyes or the flesh just above where the wing meets the shoulder. Now, I don’t mean the part that meets the shoulder, I mean the flatter part of the back above the wing. Cut as deep as you can, then leave. And when you leave, it’s best to just fly straight up, or up and in the direction of his tail. You’ll have to dodge either a lunge and a bite, a gout of fire, or a spell.”
“Right,” he said. “Straight up.”
“He’ll be able to heal the damage you cause,” said Ashtoreth. “But I can really get to work on him in the meantime. If you can sever one of his wings or put out one or both eyes, I can probably end it fast.”
“Okay,” he said. “Just temporarily wound it. Got you.”
“It may be best to wait a bit before you strike,” said Ashoreth. “We might want to see about applying tons of [Energy Drain] before you engage. And if we can drain him to death, all the better—we won’t need to risk your life!”
“Not sure how I feel about that,” said Hunter. “Not helping, I mean.”
“Good,” Frost insisted. “You feel good, Hunter.”
“As for Sir Frost,” said Ashtoreth. “He’s buff spells. Maybe he can open up with his shotgun to distract it if things look bad, but with the dragon’s [Defense] and its prior training, the shotgun won’t do much more than cause it pain, which it’ll probably ignore.”
“So I’m mostly useless—except as a potential distraction if anyone else gets in trouble.”
“Yep!” she chirped.
“Hey boss,” said Dazel. “I think there’s something up ahead.”
She squinted. At the end of the tunnel ahead of them, she saw faint red glow. “That doesn’t look good,” she said. “Go check it out and report back. We’ll wait here in case the tunnel is flooding with lava.”
Dazel sighed. “Yes, boss.” He darted away.
“Couldn’t you just run up yourself?” Kylie asked. “You’re fast.”
“Yeah, but I don’t want to leave you all without me,” she said. “It’s dangerous. Besides, Dazel’s fast and he’s got good eyes.”
True to her expectations, Dazel returned only a minute later. “You were right,” he said.
“It’s lava?”
“No,” he said. “But it’s not good.”
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