Penelope left the one over the doorway they’d entered, but that plunged most of the room into darkness.
“USE YOU SKILLS!” Penelope pointed at the outline of the monsters that were tearing pieces off of the downed man, covered in a soft green glow. “LIGHT TORRENT!”
A pair each went into the bugs, burning more holes in them.
Ding!
Experience +6
Experience +6
Penelope recast the spell and sent the balls to the doors the monsters had come through, but not fast enough to stop a three-foot-tall, blue-feathered birdman from running into the room. The monster was more bird than man, having five-fingered hands with nails like claws at the ends of its wings but otherwise being all bird.
The nameplate over its head declared it to be a Chom, and its red eyes were locked onto Penelope.
“Light Torrent!”
Penelope cast the spell in front of her like a wall. The four main balls, plus the four smaller ones, providing her a screen to hold the monster back.
The agile bird twisted to her left and straightened its neck as it dove beak-first at her.
All four of the Light Balls slammed into it, knocking the monster to the side where it rolled behind her.
Ding!
Experience +6
Penelope turned her attention to their Tank. “Someone—”
Ding!
Experience +6
A cluster of arrows stuck out of the Wulf’s head, letting them know it was dead.
“GIRLBOSS!”
Plink! Plink!
Penelope turned to look at a Shadow Knight charging into the room through the door behind her. The spiked shield connected with Whitney, bowling the archer over and rolling her across the floor.
Marlow ran to the southeast corner, away from the doors. He had both hands out, one pointed at Kent and the other at Whitney. Neither man showed any sign that they were getting up anytime soon.
Robert continued casting stones the size of a golfball at the Shadow Knight, but the small projectiles weren’t even denting the bloody shield. The metal-encased Demon shifted its attention to the other Caster and charged.
“Tornado Alley!” Penelope created the vortexes of air in between Robert and the Demon.
The small room was the same size as some houses, but that didn’t mean it could hold the violent air. The twisters pulled the dust and debris off the floor, making the room feel much smaller as the objects whipped around.
The Shadow turned its attention to the stronger Caster, its red eyes narrowing as it pointed the hammer in its right hand at her.
You die.
“Bring it!” Penelope took a step back, her foot slipping on the body of the Chum, forcing her to shift to her left to give herself more space.
“They can talk!” Robert backed away more towards the eastern wall, but that put him dangerously close to being in a corner.
“Just keep casting!” Penelope flicked her wand, keeping the columns of twisting air pressing on the Knight.
Stolen story; please report.
“And look for the other Demon.” Jeru added.
“And look out for the last minion!” Penelope cast
One
“LIGHT BLAST!” Penelope was ready the moment the shield swung to destroy her second projectile. The Shadow Knight was close, but she’d angled herself to where none of the others would get caught in the blast.
Her back was to the south, which was where the two doors could hole the last monster, but Penelope had to deal with the boss. Once it was dead, the lesser Demon would be easy to handle.
The Shadow Knight charged through the twisters, stumbling as it moved but breaking through. The stumble saved her from taking a direct hit, and only her right arm was cut by the spikes on the shield as it clipped her.
Penelope switched the wand to her left hand and pointed it at the Demon’s exposed back. Both Marlow and Whitney would get his with an area of effect, or AoE, spell, but she could still use her current favorite.
“LIGHT TORRENT!” She cast the spell, not bothering to control the balls of light instead, just letting them rain into the Demon’s metal covered back.
The first cast burned holes in the armor and knocked the monster down. The second cast pushed it back down as it struggled to get up. The third cast destroyed the back of the armor and reduced the Demon inside to a puff of smoke.
Ding!
Experience +14
Green light wrapped around her arm. The cuts itched as they knit themselves together.
Penelope pulled back her sleeve to inspect where the wound had been. If she’d still been wearing her red robe, she wouldn’t have been able to tell that she’d been injured. The silver one she had on now only had a few lines of red to tell that there had been an injury at all.
“I’m good; focus on the others.” Penelope recast
The Wulf felt like a mound of pudding when Penelope pushed against the hairless monster.
“Grab a leg.” Robert grabbed the front left leg near the hip and pulled up.
Penelope grabbed the back left leg and did the same. Together, they were able to roll the monster on its back and off of Bradley.
“You’re going to be okay.” Penelope kneeled next to the prone man. “Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Wha… What was that thing?” Bradley shivered in his metal armor.
“It’s one of the monsters down here.” Penelope glanced at the two doors less than five feet away. The Wulf was a good two-foot-high barrier if something tried to rush them, but if there was an archer or magic user still out there, then they were fully exposed under the light.
“We need to get away from the doors.” Penelope stood up and moved both balls of light deeper into the rooms. Jeru, do you see anything?
“I’ll keep an eye out, but you haven’t seen an eighth of this square, and there’s still three more groups out there.”
What about the fifth minion?
“One of the others might have taken it.” Jeru scowled. “The deeper you go, the more you’ll see mismatched dynamics and the Shadows establishing a hierarchy in each square.” He turned around to look at her from the corner with the double doors. “Don’t expect every fight to have exactly five lesser Demons and one Shadow Demon anymore.”
“Penny!” Marlow tugged at her shirt sleeve.
“What?” Penelope blinked as she pulled herself out of the internal conversation she was having with Jeru.
“Kent’s pretty bad.” The graying Healer pointed at the older man. “I think he’s stable, but he lost a lot of blood. I don’t think he’s going to be able to fight any more until after he’s had a good night’s sleep.” Marlow pointed at the blonde woman lying beside the unconscious man. “Whitney isn’t as bad. She’s weak, but could probably fight if she had to.” He swallowed and lowered his voice. “I think Bradley is in shock.”
Penelope looked at the Tank. Robert had helped the younger man over to the western wall of the room where Kent and Whitney were lying. Bradley was sitting down with his back against the stone wall, but he was very pale, and despite Robert talking to him, the younger man's eyes were unfocused, like he was staring at something very far away.
“We have to kill that last one so I can get them back to camp.” Marlow glanced at the two doors in the corner near them. “Shouldn’t it be charging at us?”
“New floor, new rules.” Penelope shook her head. “And there isn’t just one left out there. If these squares are four times as big…”
It took a moment for the realization to hit the other man, but when it did, Marlow gasped. “You don’t think there are twenty more monsters in here with us?”
“Nineteen, but yes.” Penelope took a deep breath. “And that one that got away is going to tell them where we are.”
As if on cue, the Dungeon let out its whistle.
WHOOSH…SCREECH
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