TS6 - Chapter 34

The dragon took a deep breath, chest swelling as its scales scraped against the rocky floor before letting the air back out again.  It was b

The dragon took a deep breath, chest swelling as its scales scraped against the rocky floor before letting the air back out again.  It was bigger than any floor guardian she’d ever fought.  Some of them were close, but those guardians didn’t have any special ability.  Their only real asset was size and the strength that went with it.

Kat couldn’t tell how hard the dragon’s scales were, but from the way that they easily absorbed the huge creature’s weight without any sort of difficulty even as it shifted and pressed them against the stones and boulders of the cave floor.  The rest of its body left no question about the danger presented by the dragon.

Each of its fangs and claws was as long as one of Dorrik’s swords.  Its tail was about as large around as Kat’s torso and there was no doubt in her mind that it was muscular enough to snap every bone in her body if she got caught.

That combination made the dragon a more deadly opponent than any Kat had already encountered.  That wasn’t even taking into account her limited abilities and the myths of monsters like it breathing fire.

Really, the only positive that Kat could think of was that the dragon’s size could work against it.  The beast was huge, and as big as the cave was, it wouldn’t be able to fly or fully unfurl its wings.  Unfortunately, that also meant that Kat would struggle to dodge if it decided that the most effective attack was simply to throw its bulk at her.

She took a deep breath and entered the cavern, skirting around the outside looking for any features she could use for the upcoming battle while keeping one eye on the sleeping dragon.  It was clear as day that the upcoming fight was almost impossible.  With her magic and skills gone and gravity domain limited, there was only so much that Kat could do to the scaled behemoth.

Her dagger could probably do a little damage if she managed to hit her enemy in the eye or inside a nostril, but without Penetrate she wasn’t getting through its hide, and without Crippling Blow the odds of her cutting anything important were incredibly low.

Kaleek might be able to do a little damage using his sword as more of a bludgeon than a cutting instrument, but there was no telling how long it would take to smack the big lizard into submission, and the odds that the three of them would be able to avoid the monster’s claws in the meantime.

No.  The Tower wouldn’t give her a completely impossible task.  There was some way that their team could beat the dragon.  Maybe they needed to turn the orcs against it or find some way to drug one of the sheep that it seemed to live off of.  Still, none of that seemed appealing.  Kat could feel that she was grasping at straws, poking away at idea after idea all while knowing deep down that her plans would fail the second she tried to put them into action.

“Kat.”  Whippoorwill’s voice was barely a whisper.  In the center of the chamber the dragon shifted slightly.

“You can fly, right?” Whip asked while Kat kept her eyes trained on the stirring monster.  “Check out the ceiling.  Some of those stalactites are directly over the dragon.  You might be able to do something with them.”

She glanced up, pursing her lips as she confirmed Whippoorwill’s observation.  A half dozen of the stone spears jutting down from the ceiling were more or less above the sleeping monster.  If she could pry them loose, Kat’s gravity domain would be enough to guide and accelerate them into the dragon before it woke up.

That would clearly do more damage than anything she would be able to manage with her knife.  There was no question in her mind about that.  The real issue was whether she should go back to get Dorrik and Kaleek.

Once again, the dragon stirred, its tail slipping out from under its chin and dragging it along the cavern floor in a shower of sparks and stone chips.  Dorrik might be able to sneak in, but if Whippoorwill’s whispered instructions were enough to almost wake the monster up, there is no way that Kaleek would be able to creep in undetected, armored or not.

More than that, it seemed that the creature was starting to wake.  Already Kat could hear the difference in its breathing.  She wasn’t sure whether it was her presence or Whippoorwill talking that had disturbed its slumber, but either way there was a very real chance that any plan or ambush would all be for naught if she didn’t act and act quickly.

“Let Dorrik and Kaleek know that I’m about to move,” she whispered, trusting that Whip would pay attention.  Whippoorwill was a smart woman and she should be able to coordinate with the rest of their companions to put together a battle plan over the next couple of minutes.

If not?  They’d figure something out.  They would need to if the plan was to finish off the dungeon floor and escape.  It didn’t really seem like they had any other options.

She half closed her eyes, letting her senses extend outward and take control of the domain.  Kat grew lighter on her feet for a second before ultimately floating gently into the air.

The dragon chuffed out a deep breath, sending a wave of wind through the tunnel complex and forcing Kat to adjust the gravity around herself to keep it from blowing her into the nearby wall.  Hot air stung her eyes and dried her skin out in a fraction of a second as a flicker of flame erupted from each of the monster’s nostrils.

Fire breathing it was then.  Kat pushed her domain harder, wishing she still had mana to feed into the ability as she accelerated upward.

One second trickled into another.  The dragon didn’t awake, but its sleep was hardly restful as it tucked one wing under its body and rolled over onto its side, exposing a gently rising and falling flank to her as Kat carefully approached the ceiling.

Finally, just as she was approaching the stone roof, Kat increased the pull of gravity around her, slowing her ascent. She reached out, placing a hand on the stone to finally bring herself to a stop.

The dragon lay sleeping beneath her.  It felt like the twenty or so paces separating the two of them was an insurmountable gap, but a quick glance at the creature’s torso and neck put that thought to rest immediately.

If it were to wake up, there was no question in Kat’s mind that it would be able to reach her immediately, and without full control over her gravity domain, she really didn’t have any way to dodge except trying to push her weightless body off of the various stalactites.  That might be enough to evade a single attack, but the moment Kat tried it she would be stuck floating and helpless, just waiting for the dragon to roast her alive.

She pushed the thought out of her mind.  At some point, Kat needed to slay the dragon to complete the floor, and she couldn’t really spot a path to that end without dropping the cavern ceiling on the monster.

Her domain began to pull on the stalactites, causing them to quiver.  Kat couldn’t put enough force into the energy field to tear the stone spears loose, but it was clear that they were struggling under the force of her ability.

Quietly, she willed herself to approach one of the stalactites that was directly over the dragon.  With a quick glance down she drew her dagger and began sawing the blade back and forth against the outside of the rock.

Flakes of rock dust began to filter down as she cut deeper, her blade dulling almost immediately as she used her enhanced strength to shear through the stone.  It was a slow process, the stalactite was half as thick as her torso, but after almost a minute of careful work, it was quivering and almost ready to fall.

The dragon grunted to itself, sending a surge of adrenaline through Kat.  She glanced down but it still looked like it was asleep, but there was no guarantee that its status would last much longer.

She floated over to another stalactite.  Kat bit her lower lip, looking from her target to back down at the dragon.  Its wing twitched, its clawed tip moving almost a pace through the air from the unconscious action

One more.  She wasn’t going to risk it beyond that. Two stalactites would have to be enough.

Kat’s hands began to ache as she sawed away at the rock.  Moisture, heavy with the minerals needed to expand the stalactite splashed over her face and chest, mixing with sweat as she quietly worked on her target.

Below her, the dragon yawned, its eyelids still closed but fluttering.

Her heart thumped in her chest.  That would have to be enough.

She grabbed hold of the stalactite, using it as an anchor to push her feet upward until her shoes found a toehold in the ceiling.  The second she found a crack, Kat dug her feet in and pushed off.

For a second, her body strained against the pressure.  Then with a loud crack, Kat’s gravity domain did its work and the weakened stalactite dislodged itself from the ceiling and began accelerating toward the sleeping dragon below.

It awoke with a start, head jerking upward.  Kat kicked off of her perch, sailing three paces to the right where she caught ahold of another stalactite.  She reached out with her domain, pushing every erg of energy she had into accelerating the stalactite she had knocked free downward toward the disoriented monster.

She flipped herself around, crouching against the new perch before pushing off with all her might toward the remaining stalactite that she had weakened.

Her first projectile landed just as Kat rammed her shoulder into the second stalactite.  The dragon bellowed below her as the heavy stone spike punched through its scales and deep into its exposed flank.  Wine-dark blood gushed from the wound, spilling over the monster’s sides and onto the floor of the cavern.

The second stalactite snapped free of the ceiling with a loud crack.  Kat quickly grabbed hold of it with her domain, correcting its course and redirecting it point first toward the dragon.  The monster bellowed in pain and rage, its head arcing up toward her.

Unconsciously, Kat’s hand tightened on her dagger.  Her eyes flickered downward to the dull and chipped blade.  Useless.

The dragon’s chest expanded, inhaling enough air to pull Kat’s floating body almost a half pace toward it.  Heat filled the room.

Before it could exhale, the second stalactite crashed down, penetrating the thick scales of its chest and shattering the monster’s ribs.  It’s mouth snapped open, and rather than fire blood sprayed out.

Kat winced as it hit her, the liquid hot onto the point of boiling as it hissed and burned her armor and exposed flesh.  Without hesitating further, she ended her control of her domain, letting her body drop from the cave’s ceiling even as the dragon thrashed in pain.

A shout echoed from the entrance, a pitiful sound when compared to the dragon itself, but Kat had never been more grateful to hear Kaleek’s happy yell as he sprinted into combat.  Dorrik appeared a half second behind him and the two of them closed the distance between themselves and the gravely injured dragon in a matter of seconds.

It swung its tail, a line of red streaking through the dim light of the cave.  Kaleek threw himself to the ground in a pathetic jumble of limbs and clattering metal from his sword while Dorrik jumped over the obstacle.

The dragon blinked, its eyes clouded with pain as it tried to track Kat’s descent.  It took a step forward, Dorrik and Kaleek ignored as it crossed most of the cavern in a single moment, blood pouring from the wounds Kat had left in its chest and side.

Silently, she increased her gravity, changing its vector slightly so that she would hit the ground at an angle.

Once again, it took in a deep breath, the rattle of blood filled lungs filling the cave as it prepared to roast Kat alive.  Dorrik jumped, his upper arms grabbing hold of the stalactite jutting out of the dragon’s hide while his lower arms clutched one of his swords in a two handed grip.

He jerked downward on the spear of rock, interrupting the dragon’s breath attack for a second time as the sudden movement drew a bark of pain from the beast.  At the same moment, he thrust upward with his sword, stabbing it into the narrow hole drilled through the creature’s scales by the stalactite.

Kat hit the ground with bone jarring force.  She transformed her forward momentum into a roll, bleeding off some of the impact but not enough to emerge unscathed.

Her collarbone snapped with an audible crack sending a spike of white hot pain through Kat’s body that destroyed her form, changing her smooth acrobatic movement into a disorganized tumble.  Stones dug into her torso and arms as he brought her good hand up to protect her face and chest.

Another bellow from the dragon echoed through the cave as Kat finally came to a halt, her vision narrow and dim from the pain.  In the distance she could hear Kaleek shouting something but her body felt heavy and slow to respond as she tried to stand once again, like it was mired in sand.  

Seconds passed.  Kat’s left shoulder was going mercifully numb as the pain reached a level that she couldn’t process anymore, the arm hanging limp and useless from her accelerated fall.  Finally, she managed to stand up, swaying slightly as dizziness assaulted her.

The dragon was trying to snap at Kaleek but its movements were impaired by the stake of rock jammed deep into its chest.  Dorrik was on its back, his swords shredding the delicate membrane of the monster’s wings while Kaleek easily dodged the creature’s stilted and wooden attacks.

Both of the stalactite wounds were bleeding freely, rent and damaged scales littering the ground around the dragon’s claws from Dorrik and Kaleek’s follow up attacks.  It rolled to the side, trying to dislodge Dorrik from its back only to expose the relatively thinner scales of its stomach to Kaleek.

The desoph didn’t hesitate, abandoning his evasion to launch himself forward, sword about shoulder high and horizontal to the ground as he thrust it deep into the dragon’s stomach.  It arched its back, finally managed to throw Dorrik free, and then time seemed to freeze.

A ripple ran through the air.  Kat didn’t know how else to describe it.  One minute she was leaning against the wall of the cave struggling to breathe and the next, reality pulsed around her and the world became brighter, her pain dissipating like breath on a cold day.

She blinked.  Her magic was back and her domain was its full size once again.  Kat didn’t know how she knew, but it was true.  Simply a fact.  Somewhere in the depths of the Tower, a switch had been flipped and all of her abilities were normal once again.

Near the center of the cave, the dragon sat, unharmed and almost three times the size it had been.   Kat blinked, finally registering that the cave itself was almost four times its former dimensions.  A rustle of fabric in the empty space next to her drew Kat’s attention.

Whippoorwill stood there in the open, looking just as confused as Kat.  Closer to the dragon, Dorrik jumped free, his crest rigid as he tried to make sense of the situation.  The only person that seemed unphased was Kaleek.  The desoph warrior simply ignored everything else and charged the dragon, his sword glowing red as he activated a skill.

Kat blinked.  One moment Kaleek was about to slash the dragon and the next he was standing two paces away from her, his empty hands clutching empty air where his sword used to be.  

Metal clattered on stone near the center of the cave, jerking Kat’s attention away from Kaleek and Whippoorwill.  Kaleek’s sword lay on the ground about five paces away from the unmoving dragon, right where the desoph had been when he was teleported next to Kat.

“Are you done?”  A deep familiar voice asked.  Kat’s head jerked up to the dragon.  She could swear that it was smiling at her despite its fearsome scaled visage remaining immobile while it gazed implacably down at them.

“Maybe?”  Kaleek said with a shrug.  “Fighting you was a lot of fun and things were just starting to get to the good part.  It’s a bit of a let down to have you cut me off mid swing.”

Dorrik’s eyes widened and his crest froze solid.  Evidently he’d managed to put together what was happening.

“Do you realize who I am?”  The dragon asked, cocking its head slightly to the side as if trying to make sense of Kaleek.

“Yeah,” the desoph replied with a shrug.  “The best fight I’ve had in like four months.”  He paused for a second before sighing.  “Also probably one of the people running this entire thing.  Look, if I apologize and show deference or whatever it is I’m supposed to do, will you let me fight you again?”

Kaleek smiled hopefully up at the dragon.  It blinked.

Out of the corner of her eyes, Kat could see Dorrik opening his mouth to intervene, but before he could say anything the dragon burst out laughing.  Waves of energy rolled over Kat and reality seemed to flicker, the walls of the cave around her disappearing for a millionth of a second, leaving her suspended in a vast nothingness.

Time seemed to stop for her.  Below her feet was a star.  It couldn’t be anything else.  She was so close, maybe a league or two away, that Kat should’ve been immolated immediately, reduced to nothing but trace atoms and plasma before her nerves could even process the concept of heat and pain.

Above her strange constellations seemed to writhe through the sky, stars winking out even as others sprang into existence, all trapped in the one terrible moment.  A vast shape moved past, leisurely and unhurried as its titanic bulk blocked out the stars.

Kat tried to gasp for breath but there was nothing there.  No air, no heat, no cold.  Before her mind could properly process what was happening, a pair of massive eyes, yellowed and reptilian opened, staring down at her with a mixture of apathy and curiosity.

She collapsed, falling to her knees.  Kat was back in the cave, both colder and hotter than she’d ever been before.  It felt like her body was ripping itself apart, her domain going wild as it detected gravity that could only come from a black hole or neutron star.

“Oh?”  The dragon said, its laughter stopping immediately as it cocked its head to the side in curiosity, its eyes almost dancing as it watched Kat closely.  “That was unexpected.  Truly.”

Another voice, rasped through the air, a series of untranslatable hisses and coughs that seemed to pulse with the same strange energy as the dragon’s.  The walls around the wavered and Kat could feel reality itself drawing thin.

“I just said it was an accident,” the dragon snapped.  “How could I expect that she would both transition through dimensions and somehow survive the process?  As soon as I lost her I thought I was going to have to do a memory wipe and reboot her avatar.”

The other voice hissed back, strange syllables crawling across Kat’s skin.  Whippoorwill stumbled, her eyes unfocused and blank.  In a flash, Kat was on her feet stabilizing Whip before her girlfriend could lose her balance entirely.

“No,” the dragon replied.  “I am going to keep the translation function active because I feel like it.  There is no reason for you to get this upset about her seeing you.  She’s looking at a smaller version of me right now and it's not causing any problems.  Now, I cannot say the same about you using the full force of your magic to pierce the dimensional barrier.  It's causing all sorts of problems for the mortals.  Not very good stewardship of the younger races in my opinion but-”

It stopped talking.  Kat couldn’t hear the hissing alien voice anymore, but once again the sensation of the strange energy brushing across her skin.  The feeling wasn’t anywhere near as overpowering as before, but it still made the hair on her arms stand on end.

“Excuse me,” the dragon rumbled, cutting off its inaudible interlocutor.  “I found her first.  She is my project.  If you want to tag along and observe her you can, but I’ve been following the human since she ended up in a six person dungeon with an undersized team.  You can’t come in and poach her now after I went through the time and effort to design her gravity domain for her.  That wasn’t something prebuilt into the system.  It took ages for me to dust off the old mana code and make those tweaks.”

Once again, Kat felt the ripple of strange energy.  Now that the dragon had mentioned her domain, the source of her discomfort was obvious.  Gravity itself hadn’t changed in the slightest, but through her domain Kat felt waves of contradictory energy washing over her skin and forming eddies and vortexes around her.  In part, it felt like mana, but there was something more than that, something more solid about the sensation.

It didn’t seem that it was impacting her companions anymore.  Whip managed to right herself, but she still kept a hand on Kat’s should for support.  Dorrik stood statue still, watching the conversation between the dragon and its unseen companion with equal parts wild-eyed curiosity and awe.

Kaleek was the only one that was acting entirely true to character.  He looked bored as he wandered around the back wall of the cave, poking at cracks in the rock as if he expected to find some sort of secret or treasure therein.

“There’s nothing you can do for her,” the dragon continued.  “She is in the middle of some sort of ritual or contest set forth by the younger races.  Apparently they need to advance to the twenty fourth floor in the near future, but that’s why I created this pocket dimension.  With that out of the way-”

“Actually,” Kat cut in.  “I’m not sure how out of the way that problem is.  This dungeon helped a lot, but I still have to make it through the twenty third floor as quickly as possible.  The person I’m racing against has already been there for months, and if he beats me to level twenty four, I’m as good as dead in the real world so any help would be appreciated.”

The strange energy tingled across Kat’s skin.  She could swear that the unseen entity was laughing.

“Right,” the dragon said dryly.  “I’ll see what my colleague and I can do about that.  Until then, I think you’ve overheard enough realm shaking secrets for one night.  It’s about time that the four of you woke up.”

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