Marathon - Part 5

"Haaah, haaah… damn, these ones aren't so easy to push around."

"Oh my. Tired so soon? You were so excited about letting loose, I thought you'd go the whole time that John set aside for us. Are you really all tuckered out, or should I let a few more slip by for you to engage?" Orria teased Lerianna as another of the felhounds dissipated, crushed nearly to the point of absurdity by one of Lerianna's guillotine kicks. The blow was impressive, though it was undercut somewhat by the web of vines holding three more of the beasts suspended in the air, slowly squeezing the life from them even as Orria playfully poked at the exhausted bunny-girl.

"Fuck... you..." Lerianna managed the words between deep breaths, her hands never leaving her knees. The others weren't faring much better; John and Orria were the only ones that hadn't been pushed to the point of exhaustion. Shishun would never voice her fatigue, nor even allow herself direct signs of tiredness, but John had done his best to learn how to read her signs—what few the naga gave, anyway. The way she began to slouch, slight as the shift was, told him that she was beginning to tire to the point of losing her strict demands for perfection in even her posture.

Sophia was more overt, panting as openly as Lerianna, her wings no longer flexing proudly behind her. They hung low now, forcing themselves just high enough to not brush over the marsh's long grasses as she strode over the sloppy landscape. Still, she held her blade with the utmost care, almost seeming more worried for the weapon than herself at times, as if she thought allowing it to stray into a reed or brush pile might somehow tarnish the sword.

"Keep focused, we're not out of the woods yet," John warned, his eyes scanning the thickets, tracing the faint movements beyond. "These aren't just fodder anymore, and everyone is getting a little tired."

"Tired faster than I was hoping, honestly," John added in his mind, though he could hardly say he was truly disappointed. "We still have two hours left. Suppose this is still a lot of progress for one day, though..."

Training Aclysia had slowed their morning down somewhat, but between the last two shifts, they were already going up against a level sixty-one dungeon, high enough that the enemies were becoming a genuine threat. Thankfully that meant the dungeons were also high enough that the others were starting to level rapidly in their own right, even before John distributed the pile of Creation EXP he was accumulating with each completion bonus. He wasn't slacking, either; he was closing in on his current maximum level, just a few more to go before he could Reincarnate once more.

"Can't get comfortable now, though. Keep moving. This is no time to get cozy."

2,187 DMG!
1,762 DMG!
3,441 DMG! [Critical Hit]

The three felhounds that Orria had ensnared fell silent, bodies carved open by merciless cuts of his blade. Her vines retracted a moment after, releasing the twitching bodies before they began to dissipate. As soon as the last traces of their remains had vanished, a piercing howl cut through the swampy lands, and much larger movement in the brushes rapidly approached. Lerianna and Sophia moved into position at the front, but the creature seemed to have at least a few more brains than its smaller companions. The rustling shifted around as the mini-boss began to circle them, flashes of dark hide appearing in the gaps between reeds and tall strips of grass.

John tracked the movement, but he also let his eyes roam to evaluate the others. The other signs were enough as it was, but seeing their eyes lag behind the creature as it moved, John knew this would be their last dungeon for the shift. The beast seemed to sense their slight unease, creeping forward now with each circle it made around their position.

"Shishun, when it starts to move forward again, I want you to keep it guessing. Use your mobility and hit it from all angles," John ordered. "Lerianna, every time it looks like it's second-guessing itself, hit it hard from whatever angle it isn't looking at. Sophia, you and I are going to take its attention from opposite sides; these things don't have a lot of extra reach or limbs, so we should be able to get an opening. Orria, make sure it doesn't reach us with its first leap, and tie the thing down if you can."

John received a flurry of nods and soft acknowledgments, some more beleaguered or unsteady than others, but all confident in their responsibilities. Just in time, as well—the creature doubled back on its own tracks three times in rapid succession, trying to throw them off at the last moment, and then it barreled forward. A beast with purple skin so dark it verged on black burst through the treeline, snarling and snapping as it bolted like lightning toward them, keeping low to the ground.

Dreadhound
Level 62 Felbeast
8,915 / 8,915 HP
Relationship: -100
Alignment: -100
Status Effects: N/A

The creature's attack fell short when a sudden forest sprung to life in its path. Its jaws found wood rather than flesh, thick ironwood branches tangling between its fangs just a scant few feet in front of the party. Above the crackling of wood, John heard the sound of thunder burst through the air twice at nearly the same instant, each accompanied by a brilliant flash of light. Shishun appeared behind the creature, unleashing a rapid flurry of throwing knives, only to vanish again when another bolt struck.

Party Member: 211 DMG!
Party Member: 197 DMG!
Party Member: 178 DMG!
Party Member: 204 DMG!

With a snap of Shishun's fingers the knives sparked with electricity and then slid out of the creature's body, returning to her new position, ready to be thrown again. The dreadhound howled, a confused and enraged sound, seeming torn between going after the nuisance that was causing it so much pain and tearing away at the twisting tree trunks in front of it to go after the prey that was so tantalizingly close. John held the Fang of the New World in front of him, muscles braced on the off-chance the creature somehow broke through the defensive barrier.

At first, the sound of wood cracking made him think that was exactly what was about to happen. But it wasn't Orria's barrier that was giving way. No, it was the trees surrounding them, as a blur of white, purple, and caramel zipped through the air fast enough that even John's eyes had a hard time tracking it. Lerianna bounced off no less than four trees, the sound of their trunks shattering drawing the attention of the creature further. It had just pulled its rending teeth away from Orria's weave of enchanted trees to investigate the approaching sounds when Lerianna slammed into it from behind, the creature's spine giving an almighty cracking sound.

Party Member: 872 DMG!

The beast's legs gave out almost immediately, its level far too low to hold up against such a tremendous impact. The moment that it started to tip over, Orria's defenses receded, clearing the path for John and Sophia to beeline forward, approaching on opposite sides of the slouched beast.

972 DMG!
Party Member: 719 DMG!
1,274 DMG!
Party Member: 883 DMG!

Silver and crimson flashed in the marshy air, sickly sweet sounds of metal and flesh biting into each other echoing over the still waters. The dreadhound tried to fight in both directions at once, and in doing so, effectively fought against its own efforts to regain its footing, instead winding up fully on its side after an overzealous whirl sent it rolling around on the ground.

The demonic dog's claws scrabbled for purchase as it fully slammed down on its right side, but the pointed nails only really succeeded in digging away at the muck and misery of the swampy terrain. Its neck snapped back and forth ferociously, whirling almost without control in a frenzied attempt to snag either of the two butchers currently carving it apart. Sophia and John merely had to alternate their efforts, darting in as it swapped its focus, dancing away when the creature's attention returned to them. They only suffered a few close calls, the worst being a long gash along Sophia’s waist when a fang found a gap in her armor.

Meanwhile, the others were completely free to strike as they pleased. Lerianna was too fast and too mobile for the dreadhound to even attempt to handle her. She forewent the sustained assaults that Sophia and John were so adept at, opting to leap in and out, each blow from a new direction and carrying the full power of her own strength and as much momentum as she could muster in the open environment. Shishun's daggers continued to dance in and out, now crackling with lightning on each strike, electricity arcing between the blades and leaving long, jagged lines of seared flesh and scaly hide every time they levitated back to her waiting hands.

The beast finally composed itself enough to stop futilely chasing its assailants, either by fatigue or an actual moment of passable intelligence. It ignored two more strikes in favor of setting its claws into the sturdiest bit of muddy ground it could find, then heaved itself upright, snarling and yipping as it set its sights on John.

Just before the mini-boss could launch itself at him with all its remaining might, the ground below it shifted—twice. John was ready to tilt the earth below it using his Elemental Infusion, intending to frustrate the creature by immediately launching it onto its side again, but just as the sloppy earth began to tilt and quiver, Orria beat him to the cast.

A thick, spiraling cluster of tree trunks grew in an instant, weaving together and rocketing toward the starry sky above so quickly that they resembled projectiles more than freshly sprouting life. The wood was like iron, and the blossoming trees carved through the dreadhound's body with a slick, nauseating sound.

In an instant the creature's torso was impaled, its body actually lifting off the ground as the tree continued to grow. Multiple smaller branches emerged from their base trunks, each piercing through the creature in a different spot, ending with the creature mounted atop a fanning array of thick branches as sharp and lethal as any spear. It gave the impression of some sort of grisly monument to the horrors of nature, a creature's blood pouring down on the already-soaked plant life below in crimson rain.

Party Member: 1,037 DMG!
Party Member: 822 DMG!
Party Member: 692 DMG!

The notifications rolled out with each new piercing stab, though the creature was dead by the time the third strike landed. The dungeon completion message and the level-up notifications actually popped up in the middle of the array of notifications, nearly drowned out by the chorus of blows that had landed too quickly for the hound to properly finish dying.

Mini-Boss defeated, Dungeon complete [Level 61]!
+7,625 EXP [+50 EXP from Perks]
+$30,500 ($15,250 + 100% from Perks)
+32 Corrupted Ichor
+14 Fel-infused Charcoal
+3 Envenomed Fangs

John has Leveled Up!
John has reached Level 88!
+18 to all stats

Lerianna has Leveled Up!
Lerianna has reached Level 61!
+13 to all stats
+13 Growth Points

Shishun has Leveled Up!
Shishun has reached Level 68!
+14 to all stats
+14 Growth Points

"Very nice, very nice," John said appreciatively. "We don't get many triple level-ups in these things anymore. Great note to end on."

"I am sorry that we fell short of your expectations, Father," Sophia murmured, voice stark in the sudden silence that followed the dissolution of the dungeon. "We will rest and prepare ourselves for a lengthier training session tomorrow."

"I'm not terribly worried about it. I'm actually about to hit the level cap already, so tomorrow should be something of a rest day. They're getting a lot slower, but I should hit it sometime tomorrow." John tapped his chin thoughtfully as he swiped away the last of the menus. "Going for almost twenty-four hours got me five today. Even slowed down, I should be able to top off sometime tomorrow evening."

"Mmm. You don't intend to have us train alongside you when you Reincarnate?" Orria asked, stepping to John's side. Her arms wrapped around his affectionately, and he felt the softness of her golden locks brushing his cheek as she leaned into him. "We'll be ready and willing, you know."

"When I Reincarnate I always end up clearing low-level dungeons in a few minutes for completion bonuses. Since I'm the only one who gets them, it's not even worth your time to come along, and the enemies are so weak that having anyone else barely speeds it up. Worst case I get a sprawling cave system, or something, and being alone maybe speeds it up by a few minutes, but... I'd rather you all train on your own, or catch up on sleep, rather than keep you all occupied with menial dungeon trash."

"I'm not tired at all. Kind of energized, actually. I could go a few more rounds, if you'd like to keep training while the others go rest."

John smirked and turned his body towards Orria, snaking the arm that she held down toward her waist and pulling her body even closer to his own. "That's exactly what I was thinking... but we don't need a dungeon to go a few rounds while the others are resting."

John tried not to let his eyes wander, but he could still see the moment that Lerianna tensed up from the corner of his eye. Even the athletic bunny-girl knew she was giving it away when her leg began to thump against the wooden floor.

"Oh? Lerianna, did you find some energy to spare?" John teased, turning toward Lerianna. "Not as tired as you thought?"

"Tch, I'm not falling for that one again," Lerianna harrumphed, turning away from John and stomping toward the training room's door. "I'm gonna go rest up for tomorrow night. We'll see how smug you are when I'm fresh and you've been training for two days straight!"

"And yet I'll still feel like I've just had a great night's sleep! Aren't my powers great?" John called, earning himself a middle finger just before Lerianna made it around the corner.

"Well, she might enjoy pretending to be above a little romp, but I don't have any problem telling you how much I want one. And I've got all kinds of energy left over," Orria whispered, her fingers tracing down John's neck in a way that made his head start to go numb.

"That last display of yours didn't use it up?"

"You're not the only one who has been training more than usual…"