Alice Angel of Mercy

Soon the mist surrounded us making it hard to see anything that was more than a few feet in front of us and we had to move closer together for safety. Janet slung her bow across her back and with practiced motions pulled out her sword and a cloudy yellow potion. The yellow potion probably had an enhancement effect, they tended to be that color, while the cloudiness showed that it was an inferior make. I expected them to have low quality potions, assuming they had any at all, since they were just starting out. This world seemed to support the theory that if you throw more people into the dungeons sooner or later one of them will become tough enough to survive instead of preparing them step by step. The rich and a lucky few being the exception.

The message ‘Group three has entered floor two section A1’ greeted me as we took the final step off the slope. I got more messages like 'summon wights (Yes/no) and move group of monsters to a certain sector but without knowing where the sectors were they did not help much.

“Ok, listen up," Tom's voice startled me. "The way down is against the far wall and a little to the left. We will move slowly in that direction. Stay close and yell out anything you see. There is no telling what is dangerous or how close an enemy is.” Tom’s speech echoed into the mist and faded away. Well, most of his speech faded away and I thought nothing of it. Until, I felt somebody whispering ‘Dangerous’ right into my ear. It was in that distorted voice the mist created and I almost clobbered Janet who happened to be standing on that side of me when it happened.

We set off. This floor was a dead forest covered in mist. There were buildings inside the forest like an abandoned cabin, a rotted chapel, a graveyard and probably others that had not been found. Why the dungeon spent DP on such things was beyond my understanding but if I could help it I would do my best to not end up in those areas. They had to have a purpose. I would not have much choice on this floor though since the forest blocked us from wandering too far off the narrow pathways that crisscrossed throughout it.

I got two messages as we walked down the pathway.

‘Move skeletal archers to B2 (Yes/No)’

‘Move Plague Rats to A1 (Yes/No)’

Yes was clicked for both and I noticed that the rats were moving to where we just were and the other seemed to be close by. I warned the others and got ready. We would probably be attacked soon. I cast ‘Guardian Angel’ on Twist. Out of everybody he seemed the person with the lowest health. This spell was slow to cast but lasted fairly long without me having to maintain it. There was nothing flashy about it so nobody even noticed my preparation. When the spell went off only I could see a clear soap bubble floating around him.

As I finished casting, a ‘HOLY MAGIC DETECTED’ message flashed briefly but there was no follow up like ‘kill the blonde’ so it was probably just a generic message. I’ll just ignore that it was bright red and in bold. Yup, just a generic message. Ok, I am screwed.

Still I needed to focus on the issue at hand which was rats and archers. It should be soon so I ripped my aura apart. The normally slow tendrils moved around like lightning wrapping around my party members in seconds. Then I loaded my mace with a vial. It was sadly my only area of effect option that could do damage. I was pretty sure the dungeon was, in its way, testing us. As if it was trying to gauge our strengths and weaknesses so it could kill us easier. I was in thought about how to deal with the possible attack as my party moved down the path. The trees swayed causing clacking noises to be heard from time to time. I could only hear the banging of trees, an occasional squeak and the leaves rustling behind me but, with my sight hindered, I could not see anything. Our path snaked around and as it straightened, there was a whistling sound coming from in front of us, then another, then another. I heard the arrows well before I could see them due to the mist.

It happened suddenly. Three white arrows shot out of the mist and into our group. Even as they got closer it was hard for me to make them out. Still, I bent at an odd angle getting out of the way of the one coming at me. All of Peter’s training made me move almost instinctually. Tom and Jake also had arrows flying at them. Tom let out a grunt as the arrow shattered off his leg guard. I expected Jake to also get hit since Janet was standing behind him but he nimbly danced out of the way. Her face showed astonishment, then resignation as she tried and failed to move out of the way in the last second.

She still managed to shift her position enough that it did not hit her in the middle of her chest. Instead it pierced through her arm. While only a small section of the shaft remained enveloped in her skin, the front and back of the arrow protruded from either side of the wound. The red of her blood highlighting the jagged edges of the barbs at the arrow’s tip. I was probably as shocked as she was. I thought they were a couple and would protect each other. I wanted to heal her but if I did her flesh would heal around the shaft.

As I thought about how to deal with her arrow, I saw Tom’s eyes dilate. With a roar, he rushed off into the fog moving in the direction the arrows had come from. Jake soon rushed off as well leaving the rest of us alone. I knew there were rats coming up behind us and I warned the others as I moved over to Janet. I could hear their squeaks getting louder as I began to focus on healing. I wrapped the extra tendril around Janet, whispered to her that “this was going to hurt”, and broke the shaft of the arrow before pulling it out. I saw tears in her eyes and I quickly cast ‘Minor Healing. Her skin quickly re-knit.

Twist finally fished out a few tiny metal balls and tossed them toward the noises the rats were making. When I could see them, I noticed that there weren’t as many as I expected. I had thought there would be hundreds that would swarm us but only about a dozen zipped out. They were more like mutated mice instead of rats. Their skin was peeling along their backs and each step released a brown powder from those wounds. The balls Twist tossed out hit the floor, rolled and started to secrete a gooey liquid.

It took time for the goo to come out and by then they were already next to us. Janet was swinging her sword while Twist had pulled out a metal pipe. I watched as Tom and Jack’s displays took wounds and Janet’s, Twist’s and my figures now displayed “Flesh Rot: Disease”.

The rats were just too fast. It was like watching a cartoon of a few hopped up Mexican mice playing with us mere humans. They bit or scratched for a tiny bit of damage as Janet and Twist swung their weapons about ineffectively. The wounds were no bigger than small paper cuts but the edges soon turned gray. I let my aura snap back into its normal shape, switched it to ‘Consecrated’ and pushed it out as far as I could. Because I extended it the effect was reduced but still the rats slowed down a little. Not enough though, as I started to cast I watched my group take more and more wounds. One minute into my casting I saw Twist clip a rat with just the tip of his pipe and it started twitching as he kept the pipe in contact with it. Its eyes bugged out, smoke radiating from its fur, until it finally stopped moving. Still, the other eleven never stopped crawling all over us leaving behind their marks that soon traversed and marred our skin.

I had to close my eyes and concentrate on the spell and not what the rats were doing to me by the two minute mark. Our gasps and their squeaks were distracting and I could not afford to lose focus. The spell was too new, too complicated, and the noises made it way too easy for that to happen.

For once I was really, really glad my new leather armor is skin tight. They could not break the enchantment and get inside it. The most I had to deal with was one that had crawled into my hair and was gnawing on my ear. I opened my eyes as the third minute passed and I let out a cry of “HEAVENLY RAIN”.

It started out slowly, a drop here, a drop there. A warm soothing breeze blew across my skin and I noticed my wings had manifested and were outstretched toward the sky. The feathers rustling with the breeze. The “rain” began to fall within an area of forty-eight feet. The mist faded away as if it was never there. I watched the golden drops land on everything in the area. The rain and breeze felt like a spring shower at the perfect temperature. The withered trees started to look more alive and as if I was watching a time delayed video. Tufts of grass started to grow on the ground and buds popped out on the branches of the trees at a rapid pace. The skeletons simply fell apart as if their strings were cut, our wounds began to slowly heal and with a high pitched squeaks the rats ran away.

I looked at the messages that had popped up while I was looking around but I heard Bill’s snarky voice cut in, “Do you think I should tell the stupid girl that her armor spell would have solved the whole fight much easier?” before I could read them. His comment hit me right where it hurt. I looked at where the voice came from but still did not see him. ‘Probably for the best,’ I told myself.

I let the rain continue for a little while but failed to make my wings vanish until I stopped concentrating on the spell. I was drained. My mana near zero. That is my most powerful spell and it took a lot of my magical power to get it to work. The fact that Bill pointed out that one of my cheaper spells could have solved the problem just reinforced that I should not forget my older spells when I acquire new ones. Even if they are pretty cool.

I looked around making sure everybody was ok, re-checking my displays and then finally the messages. Most were XP rewards that totaled Six hundred and thirty. A lot of that was for trashing… I mean reclaiming the land.

‘Section B2, B3, and A1 compromised restore for 18,000XP (Yes/No)’. No was highlighted but every second there would be a new message except the amount kept decreasing by one. From what I had read the dungeons auto-healed so I figured at the rate it was decreasing, that in five hours this area would be back to its normal look.

The other messages were both nice and horrible to read.

‘Skeletal Archers destroyed’

‘Plague rats routed’

‘Stop pursuit of Group 2 Mage (Yes/No)’

‘Move Wrights to graveyard (Yes/No)’

‘Move Ghast to chapel (Yes/No)’

‘Move Ghouls to chapel (Yes/No)’

'Move Stitched horror from floor three to floor two (Yes/No)'

Any water from the rain evaporated as it stopped and my wings slowly dematerialized. I plopped down into a lotus position so I could start meditating. I needed to recover my magical energy in case this dungeon wanted another fight. My group can figure out our next step as I did my best to only half listen to their chatter.

***

"Why are you here? Where is 0013?" An added voice came out from the short hooded figured that sat opposite of the travel worn couple.
"Ma'am, she reported to school..." The man started but was cut off by the woman on his left.

"Elisa, we've raised her like you assigned us to do. No matter how evil she was, we covered it up." Shelia gave a shudder as she finished that sentence. She hugged herself before continuing. "I even moved to that backward country to do it. Now she might even be pregnant with Oliver Moore's kids. I tried to get her married off so we could visit you as 'family' where you could help raise her kids but that Duke's kid sent thugs and military soldiers to capture her. Our only real choice was to let her go to school until they kick her out for having a child out of wedlock. But, that never happened so I came here to get further orders."

"Ok, I'll send more people with you. After ten years I think it’s time we meet again."

Steve nervously cut in, "She changed. She isn't like that anymore. I wrote you on how she had changed months ago…"

Elisa looked at him until he stopped talking and with a bit of malice in her tone said, "I see being in the land of men has made you bold. Let me show you why you listen to me." 

***

"So, I met Alice and I think she is adorable. She will make a prefect concubine for you. I heard your fourth and fifth brothers might be coming to check her out. Lucky, my future husband is so smart to get her before anybody even noticed her."

Lucas, "…"

"She is just what you need to claim the throne!" Penelope continued. "I just wish you told me. I had to hear it all around campus." She pouted her lips and gave him a playful smack. "But after I met her I knew why you rushed off. With all she can do, whoever gets her first will have a huge advantage. Ok, I have a tea party I need to get to." With a quick hug and peck on his cheek she rushed off.

Lucas, "..." His dazed look slowly faded into a look of contemplation. "Perhaps." His voice breaking the now quiet room.