Beneath the Dragoneye Moons

Iona continued subvocalizing to me as the adventurers scrambled to get into position.

“We’re all in it against the Pekari, and I doubt they’re a threat to us. Paris’s skill is low level. Still, keep an eye out. People don’t intentionally take the skill unless they mean to use it.”

My eyes drifted to Auri, who probably hadn’t heard any of that. I hadn’t quite mastered the fine art of speaking super quietly, but it only took a moment to think of the right thing to say.

“Go Iona! Go Sterling Six! I’ll watch your backs!” Iona would be able to figure out what I was planning.

It was tactically advantageous - I had the best senses and could prevent any ambushes. It kept the Sterling Six in my view as well. I was the designated backup - Radiance could instantly respond to any issues, and I could heal anyone who needed it.

It also didn’t put our backs to the Sterling Six and tempt them to try anything. Granted, even if we were leading, I would see if they tried to pull any nonsense, but they didn’t know that. Better to be obvious about keeping my eyes on them to prevent temptation.

I didn’t need anyone to spell it out for me. What happened in the deadly golem lair stayed in the deadly golem lair. Frankly, I wasn’t worried about us. I was worried about them committing suicide by Iona. I’d had my fill of death, if we could all get out of here alive, I would be a happy camper.

I’d managed a full year with only the occasional random, nonsense nightmare. I didn’t want to start again. Watching the civilians getting turned to a fine pink mist in Osengard was already weighing on my mind.

“On me!” Iona roared, hefting her shield up to her shoulder and standing tall in the hallway. She cut an imposing figure, a solid bulwark that none could pass, an indomitable pillar.

The Sterling Six somehow, by whatever Adventurer God they prayed to, managed to work around Iona. Paris thunked his shield down next to her, helping defend Iona and the rest of his team. His armor glazed over with frost, and a thin sheet of Ice layered over his shield and club, adding a layer of physical protection on top of whatever skills were specifically empowering his element.

Hadriana took two steps back and started to juggle knives, an impossible number appearing out of nowhere. She juggled a dozen, two dozen, three dozen without issue.

Zoe had a [Fireball] roaring between her hands, and a bead of sweat slid down her face as she scrunched up her eyebrows, staring at the flames. Clearly working on something - and did she not have [Fire Resistance]? Auri hovered over her shoulder, looking at another flame artist work.

Antonius kept it simple. He took a step to the side, and put his crossbow up to his shoulder. I was going to be keeping an eye on him - a little jerk to the side, and he’d be perfectly poised to put a crossbow bolt through the back of Iona’s head. Sure, Zoe and Hadriana also had access to Iona’s back, but I wasn’t nearly as concerned with knives and fireballs against her armor.

The Pekari turned the corner, marching in a thunderous lockstep that would be the envy of any Remus [Drill Sergeant]. Twelve Clankers turned the corner, followed by six Poppers.

As efficient as the elvenoid form was for… well, elvenoids, it was subpar for golems, which made the Pekari form of Clankers and Poppers all the stranger. The Clankers were properly overlapping their shields, with spears sticking out of the shield wall, marching with mechanical precision. The poppers had short tubes, but everything I’d heard said they could perfectly fire their metal slugs through the gaps in the shield wall.

Kind of reminded me of the Remus legions, shield walls and artillery mages. I had a brief moment of distraction, and I let part of my mind go nuts with [Parallel Thoughts]. I could think about four things at once, why not?

The two sides fired at almost the exact same moment. Metal slugs filled the air, but Iona and Paris stood firm. The slugs hit their armor and shields.

For the most part, Iona’s armor simply got dented, plain metal slugs meeting reinforced mallium and found wanting. Occasionally a slug would get deflected by [Selene’s Grace], but Iona was good. None of them got deflected into us.

Paris was struggling a bit, the level disparity between the two frontliners making itself known. The Ice covering his shield chipped and cracked, the occasional shard breaking free and spraying towards us in the back. He also needed to hunker and cower down behind his shield - his subpar armor wasn’t up to taking the punishment, and it was only a matter of time before his Ice layer was broken, and the slugs started to go through his shield. Explained why it was so banged-up.

The three ranged attackers of the Sterling Six let loose. As quickly as the knives fell, Hadriana flicked them out, each knife’s blade turning black before spinning out. It cut through the Pekari shields like they were wet tissue, but that clearly spent whatever she’d used to empower them. Just as obvious was Hadriana had experience fighting the Pekari - each knife was aimed for a joint hiding behind the shield, expertly fouling the gears and disabling joints. Three perfectly placed knives would disable a Clanker enough to put it out of the fight, but it took an average of five knives per Pekari before they fell over.

Disappointingly, one falling over didn’t foul the rest. The Pekari just kept uncaringly marching over the body.

Zoe and Antonius kept it simple. As Hadriana made a brief gap in the shield-wall, they fired in unison. Their shots went past the Clankers, before hitting the Poppers. Zoe’s fireball sort of… fizzled, for lack of a better word, flames wrapping around the popper before contracting into a tiny point of flame. The popper melted and twisted, warping around the point the fireball turned into.

Neat trick.

“Brrpt, brrrrpt.” Auri was appreciative of it, from one pyromaniac to another. Not that Zoe understood her, not unless there was some language that all pyros spoke in common.

Not that I would know anything about that. Nope. Not me. Totally not a pyro.

Antonius continued to keep it simple. His bolt smashed through a Popper, destroying enough of it that it couldn’t march anymore.

I kept an eye on the fallen Poppers. My academic understanding of the Pekari suggested that the Popper could still be live and lethal. They didn’t need to be able to march or swing a spear to be lethal. Just have one of their firing tubes live, whatever senses they had working, and a target to cross in front of them.

No plan survived contact with the enemy, and as predictable and mechanical as the Pekari were, they were still dangerous. The air was filled with projectiles of all sorts. The flying knives going one way, the slugs coming back. The Ice chipping off of Paris’s shield flew in all directions, and the bricks along the walls weren’t reinforced at all. When a strong blow hit them, they were just as likely to break as to absorb the impact. The slugs Iona occasionally deflected with [Selene’s Grace] had to go somewhere, and the only place to go were the brick walls all around us.

One among dozens plowed into the ceiling, and shards of brick went flying, more shrapnel filling the air. One unlucky shard hit Hadriana in the eye.

I pulled my lips back. Ouch. I was already moving, taking the three steps forward to lay hands on her and fix everything. Not too fast, she wasn’t in imminent danger and someone blurring up from behind could cause all sorts of twitchy reflexes.

If she’d been in mortal peril, I would’ve just [Imbued] a [Nova Lance].

Hadriana started to scream, forgetting her knives and clutching at her eye. The knives fell down around her, indiscriminately slicing, and of course with the way she grabbed at her eye she drove the shard in deeper.

“What?!” Antonius shouted, snapping towards us, crossbow and all. Zoe’s fireball wavered as Hadriana’s scream pierced through the air, and honestly.

Adventurers. It was like amateur hour, had they never seen someone lose an eye before? She was fine.

“Auri!” I barked the order, and the hallway where the Pekari were in turned into a blazing Inferno of solid flames. I snapped up [Mantle of the Stars] across the hall to stop Auri from suffocating us all, the two of us working in perfect tandem.

The flames died, [Mantle] cutting Auri off from her magic. They persisted a while longer as knives rained down around Hadriana. I grabbed her and pulled her out of the way, no need to get cut more.

For a brief moment the only thing we could hear was the steady plink plink of Paris’s melted Ice falling to the floor, the clatter of Hadriana’s daggers hitting the floor, and the sizzle and popping of the melted metal that used to be the Pekari.

Auri and I were fine, I was mostly curious about the Sterling Six’s reaction.

“What.” Zoe said stupidly after a minute.

“Why?” Paris asked in confusion, looking back and forth between the Pekari and us. “Why not start with that, save us the trouble?”

Iona shrugged.

“You weren’t in any danger, you’re clearly competent enough to handle Pekari, did you want a pair of high levels to just waltz right in and clean everything up? I’m sorry if I got the wrong read on you all, I thought you’d appreciate the chance to level. The conditions are ideal for it.”

The Sterling Six traded looks. Paris shook his head.

“Nope. No, thank you. Appreciate it, but we’d rather just clear the Pekari out, grab what we can, and get out.”

It was Iona and I’s turn to trade looks. I gave a small frown and tilted my head, communicating in our own way that I’d noticed the glaring oversight.

“Right, let’s go then.” Iona gave me a look, and I started to stride forward, checking for traps by looking for hidden mechanisms in the walls. I came to the melted slag that used to be the Pekari, still radiating heat, and snapped my wings open, flying over the remains. Auri and Iona followed, with the Sterling Six trailing behind.

They were talking with each other quietly, but I hadn’t biomancied myself to the almost-literal gills for no reason.

“Do you think…?”

“Maybe.”

“The bird’s cute, I didn’t know a hummingbird could live long enough to level that far.”

“Should we…?”

“Shh! The big one can probably hear us.”

That wasn’t suspicious at all. I dedicated an entire thought process to doing nothing besides watching them, and Iona, ever the consummate people person, struck up a conversation with them.

“So where are you based out of? And do you have a contracted patron, or are you enjoying the freelancer life?”

“Freelancers, lady Valkyrie.” Paris politely answered. “Exterreri rarely has individual patrons sponsoring teams, it tends to be on the city-”

I interrupted their small talk.

“Stop!” I shouted, throwing my hands out. “Trap. Pressure plate.”

Everyone grinded to an immediate stop. Hadriana took a few steps forward, ending up next to me, and kneeled down on the ground. Her finger traced the hairline crack of the plate.

“Well spotted. Let me see if I can disarm it.” She said.

“Race you!” I replied. I was already staring at the gears and mechanisms behind the trap, tracing each one through. I was no expert, but there were only so many parts of the puzzle, each one connecting to only two other bits. I was spending most of my time making sure I was looking at the right set of gears for the right trap, and the whole thing wasn’t some elaborate decoy that would trigger the trap if I set it off.

I mean, I could probably walk through any trap the Pekari had, but where was the knowledge? Where was the learning? I was no thuggish [Brute], content to force my way through life. I wanted to know, to understand, to have experience for the day where I met a trap I had to disarm.

All this, while a parallel thought process kept a careful eye on the Sterling Six, eyes in the back of my head thanks to [The World Around Me]. It gave me a great view of Hadriana subtly putting her finger on the pressure plate and pushing.

[*ding!* [The World Around Me] leveled up! 69 -> 70]

The faint pops were barely at the edge of my hearing, and would’ve been entirely silent to everyone else. Still, with the forewarning and my Kirin nerves, I was able to lash my hand and arm out, intercepting the slugs before they plowed into the rest of us. Two of them bounced off my reinforced skin, four of them burrowed in uncomfortably, only to be popped out a moment later by my healing.

“Whoa! Careful! Don’t try to disarm traps if you don’t have experience!” Hadriana instantly accused me.

I narrowed my eyes at her. The rest of the Sterling Six shifted, preparing for a fight.

“You realize the same skill that lets me see and disarm the traps also lets me see behind me? I watched you press the pressure plate.”

“I don’t-” Hadriana started to protest, but what I’d said was clearly enough for Iona. Zoe was closest to her, and she grabbed her head, ramming it into the nearest wall and blowing her skull into a thousand pieces like an overripe tomato.

[*ding!* Your party has slain an [Incendiary Arcanist (Inferno, 215)]//[Flameborn Explorer (Inferno, 190)]]

She then lashed out at Antonius, her shield still on her arm. A large plate of metal was a large plate of metal, and the top of her shield went through and pulped his chest. No kill notification, but he was down and out.

Auri immediately caught onto what was happening, and Paris turned into a pillar of flame and ash.

[*ding!* Your party has slain an [Icebound Champion (Ice, 304)]//[Hoarfrost Legionnaire (Ice, 256)]]

Hadriana had the reflexes and speed to stumble away from Auri and Iona. I was [Oath] bound not to murder someone trying to run away from me… and I wasn’t quite able to bring myself to attack the adventurers with lethal force over Hadriana’s stunt.

Bless Iona.

She stumbled right onto the pressure plates.

“No - NO!” She screamed in despair at the massacre. A stone pillar collapsed from the ceiling, pasting her flatter than a pancake. The irony was not lost on me.

[*ding!* Your party has slain an [Swift Lockbreaking Burglar (Void, 285)]//[Phantom Thief (Void, 266)]]

And I knew it! There had been a second set of traps!

In two seconds, we’d gone from peacefully going through the Pekari lair, to blood and violence, and back to peace. I quickly looked at Antonius, lashing out a [Nova Lance] to heal him before he perished.

“Ugh. I fucking hate doing this.” I swore to nobody in particular. Antonius’s eyes went wide as his mangled chest was restored. “Stupid low level non-threat, bloody [Oath]!” I yelled to the sky - a solid brick ceiling.

Iona lifted an eyebrow.

“Would’ve been much easier to just let him die.” She said.

“Yeah, tell me about it.” I grumbled. “No big escape skills, right? Nothing I need to worry about?”

She shook her head as I started tracing runes in the air. I wasn’t caring much for efficiency here; I just wanted a strong binding.

“Want to tell me more?” Iona asked. Auri landed on Antonius’s bald head.

“Brrrpt, brrrpt…” She tried to menace him, putting her beak practically on his eyeball, and with the way his pants darkened and an ugly smell filled the air, her attempt to intimidate had worked.

“The Sterling Six are completely neutered at this point, he’s still alive, we can make sure he doesn’t do anything more, and turn him over to the guards. [Oath] is pretty generous when we’re in a fight or I need to defend myself, but right now I don’t need to defend myself or my patients at all. Sure, he was reasonably plotting to murder us, but there’s some minor doubt. Too weak to be a credible threat, and sadly it means he gets to live.”

Antonius started blubbering.

“Oh graceful lady, oh kind lady, thank you, oh thank you, I’ll be your eternal servant for-”

I glared at him.

“Shut it. I don’t want to hear it. If the circumstances were even a little different, I would’ve put a hole through your head myself.”

Iona looked unhappy, but then her face morphed into a wicked grin.

“Not the way I’d do it, but we’ve all gotta make compromises. If Exterreri justice is as good as I’ve heard, he might end up wishing he’d died instead.”

My spell finished, and iron manacles appeared on his arms and legs, connected by too-short chains. I squatted down in front of him.

“Now, listen carefully. If you escape, I’m not going to bother trying to chase you. I’m just going to let Iona do it, she could use a few levels in [Relentless Pursuit]. I won’t be around to save you a second time.”

He nodded furiously, and I started a second spell, one to bind the iron manacles to the floor.

That done, I went back to studying the mechanism in the wall. Having seen the traps in action, and being able to compare things before they were triggered and after they were triggered made it a breeze to solve.

I could solve it myself, but why not spread the love?

“Auri, I need hot flames here, here, and here. Or… actually, honestly, trying to half-melt the entire wall would also do the trick.”

I hadn’t even finished my sentence when Auri ignited everything. Iona stepped back from the fierce heat, but there was no point for me. I was immune, on top of being too close already. Antonius moaned and turned away from the vicious heat. I just put my hands on my hips.

“Aoife Auri Stentor!” I yelled at her. “We do not have an unlimited supply of money and clothes! Let me get out of the way next time.”

Auri took a look at me, then a double-take.

“Brrrpt!” She apologized, landing on my shoulder and nuzzling my cheek. “Brrpt brrpt?”

I sighed.

“Yes, I can make it better. You’re right that it’s nice to get all the muck and gore off. Give me a moment…”

There had been enough incidents with Auri, combined with what happened at the Gladiator Gauntlet, that I had an entire spell book dedicated to conjuring up clothing for myself.

[*ding!* [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm] leveled up! 81 -> 82. +80 Dexterity, +80 Vitality, +80 Speed, +240 Magic Power, +240 Magic Control, +240 Mana, +240 Mana Regeneration per level from your Class! +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Speed, +1 Vitality, +1 Magic Power, +1 Magic Control, +1 Mana, +1 Mana Regeneration per level for being Chimera (Elvenoid)! +1 Mana, +1 Magic Power per level from your Element!]

If only all levels were so easy to get.

“You could say the Sterling Six have a bit of a tarnished reputation now.” Iona joked.

I dutifully groaned at the pun and punched her arm.

“BrrrrRRRRrrPT.” Auri made retching noises.

“That was terrible.” I said. “Simply awful.”

“Thank you.” Iona grinned at me. Goddesses, that grin.

With that, Iona and I went deeper into the Pekari lair.

[Name: Elaine]

[Race: Chimera (Elvenoid)]

[Age: 27]

[Mana: 790,550/790,550]

[Mana Regen: 455,245 (+888,728)]

Stats

[Free Stats: 0]

[Strength: 1,316]

[Dexterity: 6,818]

[Vitality: 25,762]

[Speed: 25,794]

[Mana: 79,055]

[Mana Regeneration: 79,174 (+88,873)]

[Magic Power: 45,437 (+1,165,459)]

[Magic Control: 45,353 (+1,163,304)]

[Class 1: [The Dawn Sentinel - Celestial: Lv 513]]

[Celestial Affinity: 513]

[Cosmic Presence: 328]

[The Stars Never Fade: 12]

[Center of the Universe: 472]

[Dance with the Heavens: 513]

[Wheel of Sun and Moon: 513]

[Mantle of the Stars: 492]

[Sunrise: 472]

[Class 2: [Butterfly Mystic - Radiance: Lv 449]]

[Radiance Affinity: 449]

[Radiance Resistance: 449]

[Nova Lance: 449]

[Lepidoptera: 449]

[Nectar: 449]

[Solar Corona: 449]

[Scintillating Ascent: 449]

[Kaleidoscope: 449]

[Class 3: [The Very Hungry Bookwyrm - Spatial: Lv 82]]

[Spatial Affinity: 82]

[Comprehensive Speed Reading: 82]

[Channeled Blink: 36]

[Bookwyrm's Hoard: 82]

[Beneath the Dragon's Eyes: 82]

[Vivid Dream Reading: 82]

[Astral Archives: 82]

[Hunger for Knowledge: 82]

General Skills

[Long-Range Identify: 380]

[Parallel Thoughts: 173]

[Companion Bond between Elaine and Auri: 470]

[The World Around Me: 70]

[Oath of Elaine to Lyra: 513]

[Sentinel's Superiority: 513]

[Persistent Casting: 432]

[Imbue: 188]

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