Lassus Animus - Part 6

"They're slowing me down on purpose." It wasn't the first time that John had considered the thought, nor was it the first time he was certain that it was true.

It had started with the rest of their group not showing up from 'dinner' until an hour and a half into the rotation. Most of them might have had better table manners than the Nekos, but he'd still given them all a displeased side-eye when they finally deigned to join them. Lerianna told him to quit being so grumpy, and Shishun offered up an explanation about putting the kittens to bed. Neither helped his mood much, but at least he could pretend the tardiness might be normal.

The pace of their fighting was unmistakable, though. Julianna had closed a large part of the gap in power that existed between the second and third rotations. That made it all the more stark when the combined might of his allies was now lagging behind what John, Etriyya, Moira, and Kim had been able to do as a party of four just a few days ago. Lerianna seemed to spend more time bouncing around the terrain than their enemies. Sophia's swoops and soars were more flourish than fight. Even Orria's tangled webs of roots and vines seemed to fan out far more than necessary, blindly fumbling for their targets. Only Shishun's precision remained unchanged, the only performance that John could watch without a gnawing sense of dread and restlessness seeping into his very bones.

But he cooled the simmering impatience in the simplest way—by pulling more of the weight himself. The dungeons were now reaching genuinely threatening levels, something he reminded himself any time he nearly snapped at the others for not picking up their pace. But he was still strong enough to make quick work of most of the regular enemies when he was going all out, and the fact that the mini-bosses arrived alone meant no one could be too obvious about feigning their efforts.

His health and mana bars danced back and forth in a constant tug of war, diminished by each extra exertion and risk taken too lightly, replenished by each level and each slow tick of his regeneration... as well as the health and mana potions he'd collected from the lab over the past few days.

"We should be saving these... but if it helps make me stronger for the war, maybe we'll need less of them anyway." The justification shuddered and nearly gave way under the burden being placed upon it, but it always held long enough for him to uncork a bottle and pour the herbal-tasting remedy down his throat. Any regret came after it was already too late, after his stats were restored and he was already stashing the evidence away in his inventory.

That was a trend that continued into the third rotation, unfortunately, with John carrying even more weight. Aclysia and the Nekos were practically playing with their enemies. More literally, in the case of the Nekos, while Aclysia never seemed eager to land a blow. Every comment he made on the matter was assuaged all too carefully by an insistence that Aclysia was 'practicing her defense' or 'improving her swordsmanship', phrases that soon set John's jaw with annoyance. Even Vallya seemed in on the plot to delay him; she was even more talkative than usual, and far more flirtatious, too, preferring honeyed words to making herself useful.

Those delays were exacerbated by the fact that this rotation's strength had declined in comparison to the others, while their enemies' power only continued to grow. With diminishing returns from previously completed dungeon levels, he refused to repeat them more than once each. Even halving the completion bonuses felt like wasted effort, but the only alternative was to abandon those efforts entirely.

The Nekos had progressed significantly over the past few days, but they had always lagged behind the likes of Sophia and Lerianna. The lack of group shuffling and the faster pace of the third rotation only widened that gap even further. And so John took on yet more weight, his heart pounding, eyes always flicking for the next target, his mind setting itself ablaze as it struggled to reach and surpass its own limitations.

John didn't actually realize the extent of just how far he had pushed himself until the reality of the situation finally confronted him, though. During a lull in the combat, with his health nearly depleted by a cluster of arrows that had found their home in his side, John reached into his inventory for another health potion—only to find his pack barren, a single Lesser Mana Potion [Crude] remaining, with none of its ruby-colored brethren in sight.

"What? No, that can't be right. I just picked up a full batch the other night..." John muttered to himself, reluctantly tabbing over to where he had been storing the emptied flasks. "I couldn't have already used up all eight of the-"

"...Fuck off," John whispered angrily at his own menus, slamming the unwelcome reminder shut as he felt his mana trickling upward once more. Not a moment too soon, for Aclysia bounded to his side not long after.

"Creator John, I noticed your health was dropping... but you seem to have recovered it?" Aclysia's words were uncertain, the question lingering in her tone.

"Yeah, I did." John didn't waste a beat on elaboration, nor on giving her a chance to interrogate him further. "Aclysia, we're going to be moving a little bit faster. Stay by my side, and don't worry about working on your swordsmanship or your blocking practice for the next few days, alright? We only have three days left to train, including today. I have to get as much done as possible. We can worry about the rest later, just keep swinging."

"As you say, Creator John," Aclysia murmured obediently. She hefted her weapon and narrowed her eyes, an act that alerted John to the wave of enemies rapidly closing on them. He lifted his blade and vanished with a Lightning Jump copied with his Purifier's Muse.

He wasn't around to notice the disappointment on Aclysia's face as she began to sprint after him.

"We're taking our leave, Creator John."

"Yeah. Yeah, I'll be home soon. Just gonna rest a minute."

"That is good. I will wait with you," Aclysia said gently, already moving to kneel beside John.

"No, come on," John groaned. "I don't need you to baby me too. It'll be bad enough when I go back."

"I am not 'babying' you, Creator John. You are a fully mature adult, one who-"

"One who can handle himself. It's an empty forest, just... just leave me alone, please," John pleaded, too frayed for the words to even sound annoyed.

"...As you wish, Creator John." Aclysia still hesitated, but after a few beats spent staring at her creator, she finally straightened up once more and began to follow in the Nekos' fading paw prints. John leaned himself against the tree. His eyes closed, and he sighed deeply, though the tension didn't leave him.

"That goes for you too, Vallya."

John didn't know if his words were heeded. In his state, his own thoughts were too loud for him to catch the sound of movement in the branches above... and if Vallya wanted to remain hidden from him, she could easily do so. It didn't matter, either way. Trying not to think about being watched just made his paranoia worse, and for all the talk of rest, John could scarcely sit still for a full minute before the mounting anxiety had him climbing to his feet again. He was so eager to be moving, so eager to keep himself from stopping long enough to think, that he failed to process what he'd be walking into before World Shift delivered him directly into it.

"Right on time. Perhaps you're not as far gone as we thought, John," a bemused voice purred from behind him.

"Of course I'm not. I told you," John began defensively, though he tried to sound smooth about it. "I'm just as good as... I've ever…" John's mind was too tattered to process exactly what he was seeing; it took a few breaths for thoughts to return, his eyes wandering mechanically over the sight before him.

Kim and Moira stood in the full glory of their nudity, even the Warden's chastity belt draped across a chair against the far side of the room. Moira postured somewhat reluctantly, arms crossed over her chest, a faint blush stinging her cheeks from the mere act of being so openly disrobed. Kim had a more predatory look about her, not only more comfortable, but actively sizing up John as he gaped at them. Her hand rested in its usual place, but gripped the chiseled muscle and sharp lines of her hip, rather than a hilt of an even sharper blade. She angled those ruinous hips toward him as a challenge, wearing the grin of a woman who knew exactly the effect her physique had on a man like John.

"I'll be the judge of that," Kim purred, slowly stepping closer, sashaying far more than needed, in a way that John's shaky gaze couldn't tear itself away from. "And I expect you to be at your peak performance, John Newman."

"Wha- we- no, we don't have time for this, this- this stuff. Where is Etriyya?" John managed to stagger out, his mind restarting itself more than once during the process as Kim's fingernails glided along the side of his neck and traced the contours of his jaw. "What of Julianna?"

"We informed Julianna that the schedule had been... shifted today," Moira lulled, an attempt at a pause in her explanation that might have been meant as seduction, though it was tempered with an adorable charm by the awkward way she emphasized the words. "We have two hours to ourselves, John."

"Two hours? No, we can't- we only have two days after this, that's a big chunk of our time. I need to-"

"You're not the only one with needs, John." Moira's words were a little more energetic this time, more genuine, too, as urgency and frustration crept in alongside the more unnatural attempt at allure. "I've been using my Blessing every day as we trained together. Do you know what that does to a Warden?"

"I-I'm sorry," John said reflexively. His mind was still struggling with the sudden shift in tone, though his body was starting to catch on.

As Kim's hand pressed against the codpiece of his armor, he could feel himself stirring. For just a brief moment, John felt... tired, actually. Like he could've melted to the floor right then and there, slept away and let the two women do as they pleased. John lifted a hand to rest on her shoulder, feeling the satin of her flawless skin beneath his fingertips. So soft... he could feel his eyelids drooping as he caressed the curves of her toned physique.

"Wait, I'm... tired? No, I... I don't get-"

John came back to alertness as Kim's fingers sought out the buckles of his armor. That sense of fatigue washed out of him in a matter of moments, a sudden alertness fueled by adrenaline overpowering the urge to give in. His heart sped up as the worries returned, the overpowering need to be as ready as he could driving his body as hard as his mind.

"I understand. You can sit out the first dungeon or two. You as well, Kim, if you also-"

"John, I don't want to sit out a dungeon. I don't want to sit here and relieve myself, I want... I want you, you daft oaf," Moira growled, some of her usual self finding its way through the attempt at silky-smooth seduction. "You've been running me dry for going on five days. I want you to run me wet for a little while."

The wordplay tweaked at the corners of his mouth, but John couldn't find the drive to smile. Kim continued to fiddle with his armor, but the pulsing in John's veins overpowered his arousal. A quick un-equip and re-equip of his armor foiled Kim's attempts, and as she was recoiling from the unexpected disappearance and reappearance of his armor, John stepped away from her.

"I'm sorry, but we can't waste any more time," John said, fingers like lightning as he opened up his dungeon menu. He just needed to get one open—just one. The three of them could handle a single dungeon easily enough even without the others, and once they were in the heat of combat, John knew he could count on their honed instincts to suppress their arousal until a more convenient time.

"Is that what we are to you, John? A waste of time?"

"No, but this-" John bit back the reply as soon as it started, realizing a moment too late how harsh it would have sounded. "No, but I need to be efficient. I can come early tomorrow instead. The rotation before yours is slower, we can use the time from theirs instead. Anything else is just asking for ****."

"John, listen to yourself," Moira pleaded, stepping forward to join Kim by his side. Kim grabbed onto his arm, but John didn't bother trying to shake it off. He wasn't trying to escape this time. "You weren't this afraid of a war a week ago. You're getting paranoid; you're certainly not yourself. You're falling apart, John."

"I can fall apart once we're done training," John said numbly, finishing the menu selection with his other hand. "I just have to hold it together until then."

"Enough of this. Restrain him, we-"

Kim's words were lost in the transition between reality and Dungeon Barrier. A field of graves stretched out in all directions, replacing the noble-

"Wait, why did she go quiet?"

John's eyes abandoned the task of taking in his new environment as a whole, turning instead to focus solely on the space surrounding him. It was... wait, it was empty?

"No, I brought them with me. I didn't- there isn't even a solo option, it just pulls the whole party! I..." John's face paled as he glanced at the HUD showing their statuses. "No, no, no..."

John had not only failed to invite Kim and Moira, but he hadn't even bothered to clear out the former members of his party. Aclysia, Vallya, Maera, and Mithra were all on his status screen, partially translucent and grayed out, marked as "Separate Instance". John's blood ran cold as he stared in slack-jawed horror at the display, willing it to shift, praying that there was some kind of glitch.

"I do that without even thinking. It's all reflexive, I've never... I've never messed that up, why now?" John murmured in disbelief. He had intended this to be a group effort; the dungeon was set to the next level they hadn't completed yet, a level 75 instance. He himself was only up to level 72... and at half health and nearly no mana, to make matters worse.

He hastily removed the others from the group and tried to send an invitation. No Targets Found. He tried to use Summoner's Warp on Sophia, hoping for a helping hand to clear the dungeon quickly so he could get back. ERROR: Skill Failure.

"No, no, I can't let them in. I can't get anyone in here once we've started. Has it always been like that? Have I ever- m-maybe they can still help. They're going to have to get in on their own, though... they're not Fateweavers, will they even be able to enter it if it's blocked off? Does this even work like a normal Barrier, or-"

Already, John could hear the shuffling and shambling around him, gravestones stirring and their formerly deceased residents beginning to rise. He searched frantically—there was no dungeon escape mechanism in his system. He'd never needed one before, never bothered to develop one. Every option felt insufficient, and he couldn’t think clearly enough to come up with more. His brain felt like it was on fire, and he could scarcely hear his thoughts over the beating of his own heart.

"This is fine. Stop panicking. Just... stop it," John pleaded with himself, pounding the palm of his hand against his forehead. "You used to do dungeons at your level all the time alone. It's just one. Just one dungeon. Please, please, just stop freaking out! It's fine, you're fine. You're going to a fucking war, this is nothing, this is-"