Monroe

Chapter Three Hundred and Seventeen.

Erick had been in love with Bailli since he was nine years old.

At nine, he hadn't known he was in love, but something deep inside him had seen the frightened, angry child, and yearned to see her smile.

They were fourteen when he'd admitted to himself that he was hopeless, irrevocably in love with her. By that time they were best friends, and it had taken him another year to muster the courage to confess his feelings. She'd always been the brave one, rushing into adventure, while he'd been the voice of reason.

It had been his desire to protect her that had pushed him into the clergy. There was absolutely no chance that Bailli wasn't going to become and Adventurer, not after losing her parents to a wave. Even his choice of Slyph had been driven by her decision to focus on Lightning as a Conjurer, although he'd grown into that decision, and didn't have any regrets.

When he'd been in Harbordeep, serving his time as an Acolyte, he'd fallen into a deep depression when she hadn't written him. He now knew that it had been the Church of the Light holding onto his correspondence, but at the time, he'd run through a thousand scenarios in his head, each of them worse than the last.

He hadn't reacted well when Bob had appeared, asking him if he knew Bailli, and if he wanted a ride back to Holmstead. Bob, with his hair a shade lighter than Bailli's, his eyes holding a touch of that same stormy gray in their blue depths, had looked like the universe had decided to make a perfect match for her. He was clearly either at, or approaching, the level cap, which had perfected his features.

That particular bout of jealousy had lasted less than five minutes, by which point he'd realized that Bob was a bit of an idiot. His mastery of the little nicities that greased the wheels of society, allowing it to function, were second to none. Closer in fact, very nearly achieving the goal of actually none.

During his reunion with Bailli, he'd learned that she'd been almost as worried as he'd been about the lack of correspondence. She'd spoken at length about Bob, telling him how Bob had helped her regrow her arm, then helped her with new paths, and even given her an Affinity Crystal.

Bailli had been forced to grow up quickly after he parents died. She'd been sent to live with her grandmother, who passed less than a year later. She'd learned the hard lesson in life that nothing was free. Erick's parents had also died in a wave, and they'd fallen into the care of the Church, which mostly meant Austan. As she'd grown into her looks, she'd quickly discovered that people were much more interested in giving her things, but the strings they wanted to attach to those gifts...

Aside from himself, Thidwell was the only one Bailli felt she could trust. The huge man's reputation was well known in Holmstead. All he wanted was to produce strong Adventurers to protect his town. His offer of a job as a server in the Tavern had been predicted by everyone she knew, and she'd accepted it as a way to become an adventurer more quickly.

Then Bob came along. Bumbling and clueless, socially, he seemed to be completely guileless. He'd helped Bailli for no reason other than she'd been nice to him, and she liked his cat.

Erick's opinion of Bob had warmed considerably after watching him spend his money getting kids who were otherwise facing a bleak future in Harbordeep moved to Holmstead. The toboggans had been an especially nice touch, offering a bit of play that they'd likely been denied for years.

It was after he'd settled back into his life in Holmstead that he realized what Bob truly was.

A fucking monster. Driven beyond reason, the man delved into the Dungeon, showcasing a brutal, sadistic streak as he shouted and bullied the freshers, screaming his vision of the reality of the world. Not satisfied with eight hours a day of that, he'd then go back in, alone, for another eight hours. He ignored the effects of mana density illness like it didn't even matter. At the same time, he discovered that Bob was responsible for the pamphlets documenting the discovery of Affnity Crystals, and new paths to take advantage of them.

Gradually, he'd discovered more information about Bob, although never from Bailli, who was fiercely loyal to the few who earned her trust, one of the things he loved about her. It had been Eddi, Kelli, and to a lesser extent, Harv and Elli who had filled in the blanks. When he'd learned about Bob's childhood, he understood why Bailli had identified with him. While her struggles weren't on the same floor as Bob's, they offered a slight reflection of his trauma.

Erick had accepted that Bob was going to be a part of their lives, and made an effort to befriend him. That particular delve had failed before it even the Dungeon, as the countdown to Earth's integration had begun. Despite his former world having treated him badly, Bob had thrown himself into the impossible task of somehow saving billions of people.

In what he'd come to regard as typical Bob fashion, the man ignored the magnitude of the job, and started putting in the work. Erick had been carried along, first working to aid the Dungeons and Dragons group Bob had brought back, then the former soldiers that had become known as the Old Guard.

When Bob had been abducted, it had startled him. He and Bailli hadn't been with the group because they were celebrating Austan's reincarnation, otherwise they would have been abducted as well.

Erick had been aware that Bob had some sort of special insight into the workings of the universe, a sort of link to mana. It was an unspoken understanding amongst everyone that you just didn't talk about it.

Other parties had clearly puzzled this out as well, and they weren't willing to take no for an answer. That these other parties were willing to abduct Bob's friends sent a message that Erick had received, loud and clear. He'd suggested to Bailli that Bob was likely to leave for parts unknown, and that they would be safer if they went with him.

All of which had led him to dodging giant flaming boulders as the group fought to ascend a volcano.

He dropped another effect over time Anima Blast on Jack, then an Eye of the Storm, a shield spell that not only protected the target, but helped to deflect missiles. While it wasn't enough to redirect the boulders, it did help.

They'd entered the Dungeon an hour ago, and had received the quest.

New Quest!

Irth sabotuers are attempting to interfere with the grand design! They have redirected a crucial magma flow and created a volcano that threatens to destabilze the core, and to flood the sky with ash, cooling the world and killing the nascent life you've worked so hard to create!

Destroy ten Lava Elementals!

Destroy ten Irth Sabotuers!

Locate the magma diversion and set it back on course!

Destroy the Irth responsible for this cowardly attack!

The difference between a lava elemental and a magma elemental had been hotly debated.

Ultimately it turned out that magma had a bit more fire to it, and lava had a bit more earth. Rather than blobs of sticky fire, the lava elementals were flaming rocks. As soon as they appeared at the base of the volcano it had been obvious what they'd be facing, and they'd begun their ascent.

Monsters had, previously, rarely been ranged combatants. They would rush forward and attempt to devour or destroy the person with the strongest matrix projection, which was hopefully the party's beacon. The magma elementals in the Dungeon next to their new home, which remained nameless because no one could agree and Bob didn't have an opinion, had been been focused on melee, as had the feral winter minks. The switch to ranged combat had been an unwelcome surprise.

While Bailli and Dave were powerful Conjurers, Wayna and Elli had to close the distance to be effective, with Amanda and Eddi being somewhere in the middle in terms of effectiveness, as they could bring out their summons at range. Jake reflected Bob in that the monster wasn't dealing a lot of damage, but it the lava elementals just couldn't fucking stop it. With an ongoing shield and heal effect, the eerily life-like monster just keep honking furiously as it raked and clawed its way through the red hot stone that compromised its enemies flesh.

Dave and Amanda's attempts to explain what a cobra-chicken was, and why they were terrifying, hadn't come across that well, but the fact that Jake had developed a honk to replace his previous chirps had delighted them.

In no small part thanks to the summons, they'd made steady progress ascending the volcano, and had finally found an Irth.

It was a ten foot tall humanoid, and in direct contrast to the lava elementals it commanded, it was comprised of stone held together by what looked like glacial ice. This observation was reinforced by the spears of ice it conjured, which had a stone core. Those spears were significantly more powerful than the rocks the lave elementals were throwing, and had initially forced the group to step back.

Until the Irth had appeared, they'd been able to advance by using their summons to grab the attention of a few of the lava elementals while the rest of the group soaked the remaining boulders until Jake and Mike were in range to draw the monsters ire. The Irth's stone-cored ice lances weren't something that the Conjurers and healers could soak.

Bob had ended up sacrificing Jake to keep the Irth occupied as the group rushed forward, the UtahRaptor taking a half a dozen volley's of flaming rocks and frozen spears before he'd gone down, buying the party the time they'd needed to close the distance.

It was hard to tell, because Jake was always angry, but it had seemed even angrier than usual when Bob had brought it back out.

All of that would have been fine, had three more Irth not appeared a few seconds into the fight to support their friend. Even that would have been ok, except they brought lava elementals of their own.

Erick loaded another stack of his effect over time Anima Blast to Jack, bringing him up to ten stacks.

It was time to put a stop the shower of boulders and spears.

He had been dismayed to discover that he couldn't sense Slyph in this universe. But despite the lack of her presence, he knew that where there was Air, so there was Slyph.

Erick took a deep breath, feeling the air fill his lungs. He held it for a second as he came dangerously close to emptying his mana pool, infusing that mana into the his held breath. The process took a full ten seconds and a full two hundred and sixteen mana, by which time his effect over time Anima Blasts had rolled off, and Jack was taking significant damage.

That didn't matter though, because he was putting a stop to the rain of missiles.

"Rage of the Hurricane," he intoned, unleashing the power of his capstone spell.

The air suddenly stilled, the heat haze freezing in place. Then it exploded into motion.

The still air become a screaming wind, rushing by at a hundred and fifty miles an hour, picking up rocks and small boulders, smashing them into anything that stood in it's path, be it another boulder, a lava elemental or an Irth.

Erick knew the spell would only last six seconds, although he could push another thirty-six mana each second into the spell to prolong it. He was counting on his team to know what to do.

From his side, he heard Bailli's voice. "Fury of the Storm," she said, and he smiled.

The howling wind that surrounded the party seemed to become alive as a lightning rushed through it, causing an afterimage of veins of light to sear into his eyes.

"Leeeeerrrrroooooooyyyyyyyyy!" Jack yelled as he dove into the maelstrom, confident in Erick and Bailli's ability to scuplt their spells around their friends.

Wayna, who looked like a cross between a lizard and turtle, something Bob had called an Anklyosaurus, was moving alongside him, as well as Mike and Elli.

They crashed into the line of lava elementals like Monroe on that seafood buffet back in Hawaii. The elementals, already taking significant damage from flying debris and lightning strikes, were unable to mount either defense or offense, their attempts to throw their boulders reduced to paltry, glancing strikes at best. The Irth faired little better, with the beacons close enough to deflect their shots, or in Elli's close, to dodge.

Dave was working with Harv, who was cursing each elemental in turn, weakening it just as Dave's eldritch blasts landed. Meanwhile, Auruffra and Rexy were working with Jake, taking down one elemental after another.

He kept the spell going for eight seconds before he was forced to drop it and refocus on healing Jack up, who had taken a real beating. Those eight seconds had turned the tide, with the lava elementals being reduced from over thirty, to under twenty, one of the Irth's going down, and the entire party now holding the advantage of having their melee combatants decisively engaged.

The battle well in hand, Erick had a moment to reflect.

It was understood that people tended to rise to their own level of comfort. A simple man who just wanted to work on something he enjoyed, without worrying about where is next meal would come from, or where he would sleep that night, tended to achieve that level of security. A mother or father who wanted to make sure their children were protected and care for would rise in power until they'd reached that level.

Some people had grander ambitions, who pushed themselves to become monstrously powerful. Thidwell was one. His desire to avenge his father's betrayal pushed him to become the greatest curator in the world. The King of Greenwold was another, although his ambitions were somewhat more nebulous.

Then there were people who followed the monsters. In other circumstances, they might have tiered up once, or even twice, before settling in at the tier cap. But in order to avoid being left behind, they pushed themselves harder to keep up to the monsters they followed.

If Bob had never come to Thayland, he and Bailli would have probably stopped at tier six. But Bob had arrived, and they'd become his friends.

As he poured an Anima Blast into Jack, he reflected on the fact that were it not for Bob, he and Bailli wouldn't be in this Dungeon, on this strange planet, in an entirely different universe.

He couldn't help but wonder just how far Bob would go.

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