Ebony's Fable

“The Earthen-Topaz Core Golems are likely elite monsters. There shouldn’t be too many of them in this baby dungeon.” Hector commented.

“We..we already en...encountered three of them.” Tuffock rebuked.

“...Crap. How long was I out for?” Hector was always so easily surprised or shocked when his expectations were wrong.

“Less than a day.” Ebony replied.

“Ar..are you really feeling okay to move around? Ma..mana poisoning is pretty serious, yo..your symptoms were even worse than what I’ve heard.” Tuffock asked with concern. Mana poisoning was not exactly rare but it wasn’t common so Tuffock hasn’t really seen anyone affected by it. Hector even showed symptoms that were beyond the common ones.

“Don’t worry Tuff. I’m used to it, I’ve got pretty high resistance. Being an enhancement mage and all. I overdid it a little but I’m just sore all over now. Nothing that can stop me from continuing.” Hector reassured as he patted Tuffock’s back. The loud smacks are due to Tuffock knowing Hector well enough to thicken his stone armour near his back.

The party had a boring journey forward. They were more cautious now and also lazier to rush forward. It was a painfully slow speed but even Scarlet didn’t complain. It was just at about a normal human’s running speed. Excruciatingly slow.

They could go on for hours without spotting a single golem. Unusual.

The long corridor didn’t even have any traps. If you didn’t count the first one.

“What kinda crap dungeon floor is this? It’s so boring!”

An entire day passed with them going on the seemingly endless walkway. Only meeting two groups of ten or so golems, none were the core golems that Scarlet wanted to slice apart so badly.

“Let’s go faster tomorrow.” Scarlet affirmed. Throwing caution to the wind. It had been a really boring day for them.

Another 5 days later.

“Where is this even leading? Are we stuck in a loop?” Hector complained for the umpteenth time.

All of them fully recovered from any injuries sustained. Tuffock did complain about feeling heavier and heavier and he had been having difficulties with raising his staff fast enough. Even Ebony’s shields have been getting hard to mentally move around. At least he was getting very familiar with moving around so many spells at the same time.

Ebony had been keeping quiet about the fact that he was actually the one making things more difficult for them. It was training for them too, he told himself. Magnified Gravity Field being the skill that has improved the most the past 6 days. His Sub-Class levelled once to level 82.

They increased their travel pace every day but the only thing that changed was the monster encounter rate which was actually also because they travelled faster. It just went on and on. They travelled 16 to 18 hours a day. It was not easy on any of them. Reaching their highest pace which was half of Ebony’s top speed. It was a reasonable speed for Hector and also Ebony's maximum speed that he could move his massive shields with Tuffock on one of them. A good pace for Scarlet and Ryley to not run for speed but distance for stamina conservation.

Ebony slept like he should. Only for 3 hours a day, it was more than enough but necessary. He made sure he had enough mana ores to charge. His own wasn’t enough. He tried to empty them out as fast as possible by using a lot of water for all their cleaning, washing and drinking. He resorted to borrowing empty Greens from Hector and returning him filled ones in the morning.

Hector only stood to gain from this but he didn’t ask because Greens were hardly worth anything to him. His pair of gauntlets alone cost dozens of Blues and his entire armour cost about another dozen or so Blues. He might have asked for his gauntlets to be extra durable but it was only expected considering how he fought.

Hector found it a miracle that Ebony was using such a low quality greatsword. What could he do if he had something of a quality more aligned with his equipment? Or even better, Scarlet’s. Well, she also wasn’t carrying anything better than what he’d seen or had but didn’t want to bring out.

Ebony had gotten pretty good at controlling an ice sculpture of himself. He could make it walk, jog, run, jump and swing his Ice Sword which was actually a copy of his greatsword in dimensions. He controlled it to practise his very own swordsmanship. It gave him a lot of inspiration. Both watch it from another perspective and mentally control every single micro action of the sculpture. All at an average human’s speed so it couldn’t be used to assist in battle. One step at a time.

All of that was not important to him now. Ebony was facing his greatest crisis since they entered Ordina.

He only had enough dry rations for 2 meals. More if he stretched them thin. He didn’t exert a lot of energy or stamina the past few days and he had been trying to ration it but he had underestimated how much he ate.

There was not much space here but they had tried to continue their short spars. After the serious fight between Ebony and Scarlet, they had not spared against each other again.

Spars with Hector and Tuffock went as usual. Hector kicked things up a notch. Tuffock seemed to do the same, slightly surprising Ebony with the smoothness of his manipulation over stone. Ryley sparred with Ebony in close combat.

Ryley used a single curved dagger on the larger side. He wasn’t exactly bad with it. Ebony could tell Ryley had trained with it. He had the stances, the strikes and even the timing of when to attack and when not to. Obviously having learnt some techniques with it. He was just a little stiff with it, using techniques that he trained hard at copying but was inflexible at abrupt changes mid-battle. His footwork and ability to read the flow of combat was also a little stiff.

Ebony had tried giving comments and advice but he wasn’t sure if Ryley was actually listening to him. Ryley didn’t improve all that much in close combat. Even losing to Tuffock. Tuffock had way more flexibility in spell manipulation than a mage his age suggested or so Hector told Ebony. Even better than Ebony but that was no surprise seeing how he was relatively new to magic.

The party had noticed the awkwardness between him and Scarlet for some time now. It didn’t take a genius when she didn’t cook for him for so long. Scarlet never spoke much to them but it was getting too obvious that she wasn’t talking to Ebony anymore either.

This was a matter of life and death if he didn’t have any food. Delicious food.

Being the man of action he was, Ebony had asked Scarlet to spar every day. She didn’t reply but the surroundings always got hotter. Baking them up. He didn’t complain or cool the area with ice magic. But Hector complained and complained. The dungeon was hot enough that they were slick with sweat and covered in grime every day.

Hector came forward and nudged Ebony as they moved along the endless walkway.

“Come on, this is really getting annoying and awkward. Just what happened between the two of you? I’ll help you with what I can.” Hector whispered almost inaudibly.

“I don’t know.” Ebony spoke in his regular voice. Silencing the conversation between the two so that he didn’t have to whisper. Hector was quick on the uptake since it wasn’t the first time he had done it. Hector always thought it was a pretty nifty trick. Useful in many ways.

“What do you mean you don’t know? Just tell me when it started getting awkward and what happened right before.”

“...We slaughtered a mountain choke full of monsters together. I thought it was going pretty well. I had her back. She had mine. We couldn’t move so we rested for a short while. Then she punched me really, really hard. Harder than your mega punch or whatever lousy punch you call it. We went back to the cave and she didn’t want to cook for me anymore.” Ebony didn’t see a reason not to share. Perhaps another perspective on things would be good. He was never familiar with the specimen known as women anyway. He just couldn’t help but throw a jab at Hector since it was always funny to see his expressions.

“What. Did. You. Say.” Truly he didn’t disappoint and gave a couple dozen punches straight to Ebony who dodged. Both knew it was just a joke. The strong wind pressure said otherwise.

“That can’t be all. There must be more.” Hector continued after his outrage, emphasising it was his ‘Mega Panch’.

“We got to the foggy part of the mountain where you hilariously punched at nothing. She stayed still for a while before trying to kill Tuffock so I brought Tuffock down hoping she would snap awake or not follow once we were out of the fog.” Ebony didn’t think to tell the others but since Hector asked and he didn’t really think there was a need to hide it he just told Hector.

“Wait what? Okay okay, go on.” Hector interrupted, shocked by the second part of the sentence but remembered that it was not impossible due to the nature of the fog. He didn’t even pick on the first sentence.

“Scarlet being Scarlet, she was too fast so I left Tuffock in that ice orb while I distracted her. She wasn’t under the fog’s effect like I assumed  . Then we fought a little seriously. I lost as expected. Then you came. She said something about it either being Tuffock’s death or ours. I said I thought she was more than that.” Ebony summarised as best as he could.

“...” Perhaps he was computing what Ebony said but Hector was silent for a long time. He then said "I see.” before backing off to where he was walking. In their formation.

‘What now?’ Ebony thought.

Hector just left him hanging like that. Did Ebony say too much? No, he didn’t think so and he didn’t regret saying what he said either.

Scarlet never tried to kill Tuffock or give off any intention to kill him anymore. She was acting like normal again except towards him. Ebony thought what he said had changed her mind. It wasn’t meant to diss her or anything like that. He didn’t think it was enough to harm their relationship.

Being honest to each other, saying both the good and the bad things but still being able to maintain friendly relationships was important to Ebony. It would strengthen trust if they were over it, if not then that’s all their relationship amounted to anyway.

So Ebony never apologised. He didn’t think there was anything to apologise for. But she acted funny and didn’t cook for him even before she tried to kill Tuffock so he was thinking that she was avoiding him for something else he did. As for what? She didn’t say and neither did she reply to Ebony when he tried to start a conversation or ask what he did.

Their almost uneventful journey continued.

It didn’t take long before something new finally happened. Ebony, who was up front, stopped abruptly.

“Golems?” Ryley asked. He was confused since he didn’t sense any ahead of them and he was always the first to spot them unless the golems climbed out of the floor, walls or ceiling.

Ebony brought them and backed up a couple of dozen steps. Touching the wall on their left.

“Hector, does this part of the wall feel thinner?” Ebony asked.

“Damn, I’m not all that great at elemental sensing. I’ll try.” Hector shut his eyes with both palms on the wall. He was never too great with elemental mana perception. It was partly why he went for an enhancement route rather than a pure spell slinging mage. That, and he liked to punch things.

The true problem being his extreme sensitivity to the elements. He took years to learn to shut off senses that would’ve been another person’s greatest blessing. He would be blind and deaf to everything else if he let his senses run free.

Ebony on the other hand felt that the gravitational waves coming from this particular section of the wall were a lot weaker. He had wondered why he asked Hector to sense it since Hector didn’t even try for 3 seconds before getting fed up and giving the wall a quick but furious jab.

The wall collapsed pretty easily, revealing another path forward. It was apparent to all of them that it was brighter up ahead. Ebony could hear what he assumed to be flowing water as well. They were all alert, getting back into formation. Tuffock hopped off and readied his staff, Ryley readied a metal arrow near his bowstring and Ebony got his shields in position. Hector grinned, excited to finally see a change after the repetitive walkway. Scarlet was always ready.

The path was even narrower. Ebony would likely be unable to swing his greatsword in there. They took their time and walked towards the light. It was a straight path. The deafening sound of water ramming into something resounded louder as they got closer.

Their sight widened up for the first time in days.

Ebony saw a round lake, it was only about 5 girs or 25 metres in diameter. Looking up there was a perfectly cylindrical fall of water constantly ‘ramming’ into the lake. Not a single splash or ripple in the lake. He also couldn’t see where the water was coming from.

In the centre of the lake where the water was falling onto was a spot of land with grass. Within the cylindrical waterfall, on the small patch of land was a spotless bright white cube.

The lake was just a few steps away from the path they exited. Ebony marvelled at the sight, making sure that his Mental Map was doing its job.

They looked around. There was no other exit or entrance. There was nothing else in here but the lake, waterfall and white cube. Above them were just the walls around them and further up was the ceiling, the waterfall coming through a hole in the ceiling.

There were no monsters. The water was clear. Ebony couldn’t tell how deep it was but none of them saw any aquatic monsters either.

“A hidden trap room?” Tuffock asked. Standing straighter than usual, he looked back to see that their path back wasn’t closed up. Ebony placed one of his shields at where the wall broke.

“I don’t spot any traps, the way back isn’t blocked either.” Ryley reported. The situation being weird, none of them let their guard down.

“I bet it’s a hidden treasure room instead.”

“Naive. Maybe the trap only triggers when we go closer or touch that white box.” Tuffock scoffed at Hector’s hopeful daydream. Trap rooms were obviously more believable than a treasure room. There may not even be a single hidden treasure room in most dungeons.

Hector wasn’t discouraged, he knew better anyway.

“So what? Turn back? Go for it?” Hector asked.

The party was silent. The dungeon was more dangerous than any of them expected due to the abnormally high levels of the monsters for a fresh dungeon. A hidden trap room was usually a one way death trip. There was a chance that there would be a treasure that was worth the risk. Stories of people getting rich in a single dungeon run were always present.

It was all the dungeon’s ploy to attract greedy people to risk their lives and essence to come in and try their luck. That was what most people believed. Yet, people have been taking the risk and 99 out of 100 times have died. Death had long proven to be insufficient to dissuade people from being tempted by their desires until death was right in front of them.

Ebony didn’t have an opinion. If they wanted to go for it then sure. He had the confidence to survive. Dungeons have limits too.

Hector was all for it.

Tuffock's facial expression changed a few times. An internal debate perhaps?

Scarlet was silent like Ebony. She probably didn’t care either way.

Everyone looked at Ryley. The supposed leader of the party.

They ultimately decided to go for it. Getting everyone to prepare for any sudden changes and using their old formation before they were squeezed into a corridor. Ebony ahead, Hector and Scarlet to the sides, Tuffock within and behind them while Ryley stood furthest towards the exit. An arrow shape formation.

Unsure what exactly he was supposed to do after everyone took their time to get ready. Ebony walked towards the lake. Greatsword drawn. Nothing happened so far.

Ebony bent down to touch the water. It wasn’t corrosive water or acid that melted his fingers off. Normal water as far as he could tell. Still nothing happened and Ryley gave a signal to continue, the exit still open.

‘Swim there? Nah.’ Ebony stepped on one of his shields and hovered on it. He didn’t understand why it was so much harder to keep yourself afloat than others. Hector’s explanation about how the centre of spellforce moved together with the caster eluded him. It was possible for him to hover steadily on his shield like when he carried Tuffock along. All in all, it should be possible to fly when he got fluent enough. Though Hector didn’t think it was as easy as that.

Nothing stopped Ebony from getting to the waterfall. No monster jumping out of the water.

“Wa..wait.” Tuffock said. Ebony returned to where he stood.

A shard of stone fired off from Tuffock’s staff. It didn’t go through the water, it didn't get pushed down by the flow of water. It burst on impact.

A sliver grey flash went past them. Ryley’s arrow was in the lake, bent and crumpled before they blinked. It sank till none of them could see it anymore.

A thick heavy stone lance formed as Tuffock tried again. He chanted some incomprehensible nonsense. The lance spun faster and faster. Ebony could feel it vibrating violently as well. Like some violent energy is being pushed into it to shoot forward but Tuffock holding it back to charge its propulsion forward. Faster than a bullet, it pierced through the barrier of water before getting washed down the lake. Some fragments made it to land but the rest were broken apart and washed down.

Ebony similarly had an Ice Sword try but he wasn’t hoping much for it since his spell slinging was way weaker than Tuffock’s. It was just as expected. Putting his Layered Ice Carapace into it was like putting something against a grinding belt machine at full power. He didn’t want to waste his mana by forcefully stabbing it in to stop the flow of water since it didn’t seem like it could withstand the pressure for long.

The good thing was that their exit didn’t close up but there was still the chance that it might be triggered by something else like touching the white cube.

Hector was too far away to attempt his super punch and what was the point of punching water away when the waterfall was so turbulent? Scarlet didn’t even bother trying since it was probably futile. They may possibly open a small gap for the cube to be exposed though.

From what he could see and when he went close up to feel. The cube was getting pounded by the water as well so it wasn’t like dry land behind a water barrier.

The intense water pressure also stopped Tuffock’s attempts at trying to fish out the cube since his stone just broke on impact.

They were out of ideas.

It was getting late so they just made camp. Ebony lightly froze the tunnel path they got here after Hector tried to compact it a little and Tuffock made a faux door edge at the exit. They made camp right outside the tunnel to the hidden room.

Ebony stayed inside. Sitting down at the edges of the lake and touching the surface of the lake. Frost Injection. The lake water near his palm started freezing. He took it slow but it wasn’t too hard to freeze water. Ice spread across the lake’s surface. He wasn’t able to freeze the whole lake instantly, copying a certain character. To do so would require him to force all his mana out of his body really quickly. He might freeze himself off before the lake does.

Ebony was a little surprised. Freezing the entire lake’s surface roughly 10 cm deep only took about 3000 MP. The water barrier actually did touch the lake but by some magic didn’t cause any ripples or splashes. He wasn’t able to freeze the water near the barrier. Ice constantly broke from the water pressure and melted into the lake.

Ebony spent more time and mana just sitting at the edge of the lake to freeze deeper into the lake. Meditating. Two of his shields had slowly transformed into ice sculptures and were exchanging blows with Ice Swords. The huge lump of ice mana was more than enough and even has leftover ice scales lying around.

He tried to slowly touch the waterfall with his gravity membrane on. It managed to dip in and push the water aside a tiny bit before blasting the flesh of his fingertips. Ebony’s Chaotic Repulsive Membrane was pretty strong now. So that was saying something.

“Holy crap.” Ebony didn’t think that ‘holy crap’ was a thing here but Hector had been saying it. Ebony stopped and tried giving light stomps on the frozen lake. It was strong enough to carry them now. Obviously, he couldn’t freeze the water barrier but they could try more stuff now that they can stand closer to it.

“Just in time,” Ebony told Hector who walked over.

Hector didn’t need Ebony to explain what he meant. Smashing his fist together with power. Water lubricated his blood, wind filled his lungs, fire pumped from his heart, earth cemented in his muscles. Brimming with multiple elemental mana, Hector felt so…alive.

His muscles relaxed before tightening up instantly. Punching out once, locking his muscles before water smoothens his blood flow to allow him to relax his muscles to bring his arm backwards. His blood boiled as wind rushed to supplement it. Repeating the same punch again and again. Each pushing to meet the force of the previous punch. The fifth punch, his current limit in his quadra enhanced state, fully extended. The forces fused, blended and exploded forth.

“SUUUPEEERR PAAAANCHH!!!” Hector screamed his new and strengthened super punch. It was no longer superrr paaanch, but suuupeeerr paaaanchh! The might of Hector’s fist shall be known throughout Elcra and more.

The mass of water burst apart. The shockwave or air pressure from Hector’s punch managed to push and shift the cube before the unrelenting rush of water filled the gap that was punched open and forced the cube down in place. The punch didn’t completely go through the waterfall.

“Super? It hardly moved half a ger.”

“Haa..haa.ha. Why don’t you give it a go huh?” Hector steamed down, tired from the painful punch that wore his body down. Ebony’s taunt and jibe were really infuriating when he couldn’t argue back. He will definitely smack Ebony’s wits out one day.