Chapter 37: Chapter 31 – Champion of Apophis

Jake used [Arcane Eye] to try to scout around outside the room, but found that it could not go through the walls or the door. They would have to leave this safe area, if it was really one, before they could scout the dungeon out.

They left the room, and found that they were in a long hallway as the door behind them closed. They tried the door to re-enter the safe room, and found that they could no longer enter it. There were sconces on the wall with torches, and there was even a wide rug that went across the stone floor heading into the distance. 

Jake did use the summon to scout around, and he even cast summon beast. He found that the corridor was empty, and that there were no traps, as the dog he had gotten didn’t even trigger anything. It looked like the dungeon master once again was putting their full budget in a major confrontation, where they would defeat Jake and his party. 

Jake reached the end of the hall with his summons, with the girls in tow. They were in front of a large door, over five meters in height. The [Arcane Eye] could not pass through the door, and he tried all the walls. Jake looked to Fhesiah, hoping she’d be able to glean anything with her [Divine Sense], but she just gazed at the wall and shrugged. It appeared he would not be able to get any intelligence on what lies in wait inside. Ophelia wanted to go first, the most defensible of the party, and he allowed her to go first with him and the demoness trailing behind. 

When they all entered, the door slammed shut. They were now in a fairly large room, long enough to fit an entire football field. At the end, a dais with a throne, and Jake could barely make out the features of the creature that sat there. His skin was dark, and his hair was bone white. 

“A dark elf,” the demoness said, her superior vision allowing her to tell what it was that sat there. So, the Champion of Apophis was a dark elf. Dark elves were known in various stories, sometimes this race lived entirely underground. They often worshipped dark gods of chaos, and they would come above ground for one thing: capturing slaves. A matriarchal society, they lived on thievery, deception, treachery and cunning. They were always malicious, and enjoyed torturing both their slaves and even each other. Their men would often be just as vicious as the women, but they would often be treated as little more than breeding stock by the women in many cases.

These were creatures that often never knew love, as any real amounts of it would be snuffed out with treachery and murder. It made plenty of sense for such a creature to team up with the outsiders, and Jake guessed this was one of the top members with intelligence to betray the other races of the multiverse and team up with it, though there were many.

Jake became concerned that there were more invisible opponents in the room so he used his [Arcane Eye], but then he saw that many dark elves were lined up along the sides of the room, near the back. Many of them were dressed in similar equipment to the ones they faced, but others held staves, and there were even some wearing armor with curved blades in their hands. Jake’s party fanned out on their end of the hall, and the dark elves set out to match them. Jake looked over the area with the [Arcane Eye], and he thought he somewhat understood the trap.

Using the [Arcane Eye], he was able to see the magical energies around the room. The sconces that lined the sides of the room had a strange energy being emitted, and that energy was being fed or somehow interacted with what looked to be a ritual circle in the rear of the room, in addition to the giant chandelier above the middle of the room. Jake guessed that something would happen when the encounter started, and this would be what was effective at harming those that relied heavily on fire. All told it was eight sconces, and the same number lined the eight spokes of the chandelier. 

Jake made his plan. He conveyed it to the girls as best he could over the bond, and they nodded to confirm they understood. He made his plans for countering all the dark elves, who were content to wait until they started the encounter. Jake formed two sets of glimmering runes, one after the other, and Ophelia formed a runic spear of ice of her own. Jake launched one set of them: a giant earthen spike, right for the chains of the chandelier.

When that happened, a lot of things happened at once. The dark elves that looked like casters or clerics started chanting their spells, and some of the other dark elves disappeared from sight. The warrior types charged in their own direction as well. From the sconces, eight red and fat imps a little larger than the size of a child appeared in motes of fiery light next to them. The flames on the chandelier started to do the same, but the blow rocked the chandelier and caused it to fall onto the ground, shattering and otherwise stopping the spawns from happening. 

The dungeon master shouted “What? Impossible!” from his throne, as Ophelia had targeted one of the sconces in the rear of the room, and both her and Fhesiah rushed for the ones near them to destroy them. The dungeon master could not imagine that a Tier 0 like Jake could spot the trap, and normally would be surrounded by non-stopping swarms of demons soon, but with just 8 child-sized imps and almost no more on the way Jake and his party would not be set as far behind. They did not seem individually strong, and Jake guessed they were strong against fire just from looking at them.

Jake finished his second set of runes: [Runic Magic: Spear of Force]. This fifteen rune word spell formed a spear of magical force, and he used it to smash into the downed chandelier. The chandelier was hit like a wrecking ball, and it flew at great speed towards the rear of the room from where it was on the floor. It spun through the air like a flipped coin, knocking into two dark elves as it did, until it smashed into a barrier in the rear of the room. 

The barrier cracked as a result of the blow, but Jake could see as the dark elf priests and casters in the back chanted their spells, that the cracks had already begun to heal slowly. Jake watched over the girls with the [Arcane Eye], trying to spot where the invisible dark elves were heading. Most of them were heading for him, but one was sneaking up on Ophelia; them completely ignoring the demoness. 

Jake cast more rune spears of both ice and earth at different demons to clear them out, and Ophelia started taking them down in earnest. When the invisible dark elf moved to attack her from behind: she was ready with a runic lightning attack, thanks to Jake sending her their location over the bond. Shocked and stunned, she tried to cut him down, but a dark energy reduced her slash of his throat to a slight cut. She went for the kill again with them trying to dodge, but she flapped her wings and corrected the attack to spear them straight through their throat and out their spine. This time, no energy blocked the attack, and so they bled out on the ground.

Ophelia had already destroyed her four sconces thanks to her ranged capability, and the demoness was not far from destroying her last, a dark elf warrior harrying her. Another demon spawned and tried to surround the demoness, but she passed them with her speedy winged movements and finished off the last sconce. Fhesiah continued weaving through dark elf and demon alike, only taking minor cuts and bruises in the process. 

The invisible dark elves were upon Jake now, about to try to assassinate him when Ophelia used her [Consecration] ability. A wave of fire washed over them starting from Jake, and he matched her fire with a [Runic Magic: Forked Lightning] on them. Ophelia had since slain the demons near her and only had some dark elf warriors to deal with, but Jake had one demon near him. While the dark elves took damage and were harmed, the demon near him sucked in the flames, and ballooned up in size. The amount of fire looked too much for it, and Jake decided nothing good was going to come from that, and quickly used [Force Push] to shove it away. It was just in time, as the creature let out a shocking explosion as it slammed into a wall, like it somehow amplified the fire that it consumed.

Jake was glad he was able to spot these traps, as it would have prevented them from using fire at all or worse, getting caught surrounded by dozens of the demons. Jake guessed that, left alone, there would already be well over 64 demons by this point of the fight if he did not destroy them right away. They now only had a handful more dark elves to mop up, and a barrier to destroy. Most but not all of the cracks were healed on the barrier that was struck, but the Champion now stood, and he spoke.

“You might have spotted my trap, but you are still weak; you are nothing to me.” He drew a ritual sacrifice blade: a kris. He then stabbed one of his own dark elf casters right in the heart, and he moved on to the next, and began to laugh. “The divine spark Hestia gave you will be consumed, empowering both me and [Tartarus]. Thanks to your weakness, your planet will be doomed: soon to be contested. I will torture your women, and you will suffer!” 

Jake was shocked: he had no idea that his failure could possibly lead to Earth coming  to harm, but thinking about it, it made sense. Jake didn’t like what was happening with these ritualistic sacrifices; each time he killed one of his clerics or mage dark elves, the huge ritual circle in the rear near the dais was empowered.

If the sconces and chandeliers were like a candlelight of magical power as observed by his [Arcane Eye], then this magic circle was a bonfire. He checked his and the valkyrie’s notifications, and smiled. Jake had other plans, but the dark elf’s statement of him being nothing without his women led him to choose this one; because Jake felt the dark elf was mostly right.

While Jake has come a long way, and he could stand up against even warriors in melee now, it was only because of his sessions with the valkyrie, and that he stood side by side with her. While he could nearly outclass spell-caster types, it was only thanks to the demoness helping him form his core, otherwise he would simply not have enough mana to accomplish anything meaningful in a fight. Before the demoness and valkyrie came into his life Jake was truly nothing, just a lone man trying to better himself, in hopes of finding a family. He had found it, and he would not let the dark elf take it away, not when they were so close to finding true happiness.

 

Select a Spell Specialization

Offensive, Buffing, Healing

 

Jake selected the buffing specialization he had decided on since the very beginning, and he felt a pulse run along his concentrated buffing spells that were already on his party, their effectiveness increased, especially one of them. 

Buffing Specialization Selected: Buff Effectiveness +35%, Mana Cost -35%

Spell Advanced: Bolster Lv. 5-> Advanced Bolster Lv. 1

Effect: All Attributes +30% (Old +25%)

Spell Advanced: Summon Beast Lv. 5 -> Advanced Summon Beast Lv. 1

 

Jake’s reserved mana was released back for his consumption, restoring all that he had used in the fight so far as a result of choosing his specialization. 

Jake also saw that upon reaching level ten, a staple summoning spell had also improved, and the effects of the spell were presented to his mind. He grinned; it was time to see an old friend.

Previously, the spell was restricted by a random factor based on the biome, but now Jake could select from a list of creatures within the rank of the spell upon spell-casting. Jake made his selection, and a familiar figure emerged, even larger than previously: the badgerdillo. Jake cast his new [Advanced Bolster] spell on it, not wanting to invest any more in the creature, and the badgerdillo went about its savage business with vicious glee, blurring forward and slicing at the remaining dark elves furiously, ignoring their futile attempts to counter or stop the creature.

Jake once again sighed wistfully at the thought of what could have been. If Jake had taken the beast specialization, would this be a king badgerdillo or something? Would there be five now? Jake could feel the mirth and excitement from the demoness at seeing a familiar figure which his feeling matched, and the valkyrie looked at the creature in question and confusion; just why was Jake so nostalgic and excited about this creature?   

There were only a few dark elves left, and Jake had everyone move towards the barrier. The summoning ritual was reaching its conclusion, and while Jake doubted their ability to stop it at this point, he wanted to be ready. The dark elf healers and casters were somehow able to affect this side of the barrier, what if this summoned creature could as well? 

Jake cast his mini-einherjar spell on both the demoness and the valkyrie, and they quickly mopped up the last dark elf warriors. They were not a match for them before being buffed, just how could they be after? The four of them slammed into the barrier, slashing and pounding on it. Cracks formed, and it shattered after a few seconds, but the Champion had finished his final sacrifice, and the magical circle lit up, visible to the naked eye. 

From inside it came a giant red demon, through a portal in the void. It was smaller than the giant yeti that they had fought, but it still towered over them. Jake could tell it was like a giant version of the child-sized demons. It immediately roared, and shot a large flame at Jake’s party, who were now standing near the dais and where the demon was summoned. Jake and Ophelia both put up runic barriers in front of it, and it shattered the first but was rebuffed by the second. 

Jake sent both the badgerdillo and Ophelia at the demon thinking they would be best equipped to handle it, and it started preparing another fire attack. Jake tested whether it had the fire eating capabilities or not by sending a small flame spear at it, and sure enough it breathed it in like it was nothing, empowering it ever so slightly. 

Jake joined the demoness in taking on the champion. The champion’s helmet was down, now covering his face and he had drawn two wicked curved blades. Jake sensed that the two versus the demon were doing well enough, interrupting its fire attacks and redirecting any large blows of its fist; they could keep it busy for now.

As the demoness moved to attack the Champion, they felt a malicious aura wash over them. It made Jake feel weak, and even the demoness stumbled. The Champion dark elf charged them, moving fast enough that it was difficult to track with them being weakened, but Jake managed to raise his shield in time to stop a blow for his face. The demoness harried him from the side, but was blocked easily by the second curved blade. By just blocking her fist, her gauntlet had pieces shaved off of it: the blades were wicked sharp, and strong enough to slice right through her budget gauntlets. 

Jake did his best to harry the dark elf Champion with his shield and spear. Dual wielders held no real advantage against someone with a shield, and Jake’s spear work was now deadly thanks to Ophelia. He aimed at extremities with his spear, going for legs or his weapon hands. He also interposed his shield in front of the dark elf any time he went after the demoness, becoming a general nuisance. 

The dark elf was fast enough to block or redirect any attack, but he was unable to capitalize on the demoness, thanks to Jake’s efforts. She had a look of frustration on her face, and her gauntlets and robes were now in tatters from small slices caused by the dark elf simply blocking her attacks. Lines of blood were drawn on her skin, as while the Champion could not land a decisive blow due to Jake’s harassment, he was still able to move faster than them, and the demoness unable to properly guard against his slashes and stabs without functional gauntlets.

Jake’s [Purifying Flames] eventually purged the magical weakness effect, and the demoness had finally managed to protect herself somehow, as well. Up to now, they had not landed a significant blow against the Champion, Jake only able to land shallow cuts thanks to [Mana Blade]. 

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Jake checked in on the valkyrie with her fight, and found the badgerdillo had at some point gotten taken out. The giant demon was riddled with wounds, but with the size of the creature he doubted it was on its last legs. Ophelia sported some scorch marks in places, but was otherwise fine. If she didn’t hurry, she would not be able to help them with their fight against the champion, and the presence of the giant demon would keep limiting Fhesiah. He signaled that he needed her to end this quickly. She nodded, and she began to activate her new level 10 Valkyrie skill.

The demoness was nearly enraged, and she rose off the ground, and Jake felt her Dao of fire push against reality, the feeling of heavenly truths manifest. She said, “That demon shall not stop my flames. My dragon fire is heavenly law. Burn!” 

She lifted a giant fireball above her head, and Jake could feel the power they gave off: it was more than ever. Jake guessed she put over half of her Qi into this single attack and instilled her Dao into the attack, something that taxed her mind and very soul. The dark elf activated some kind of dark aura barrier, and Jake tried to compensate by adding a lightning spell of his own to smash into the barrier first. The demon roared and tried to suck in the fire, but it did not budge at all like Fhesiah claimed.

Jake’s runic lightning smashed into the dark elf’s barrier first, followed by Fhesiah’s ball of fire. It shattered the barrier, and surrounded the dark elf. However, the flames couldn’t find purchase, and while the dark elf screamed in pain, it looked like it was being reduced in some way. They winked out, and the demoness looked nearly exhausted. The dark elf spoke, “This armor is resistant to dragon flames, I prepared it just for you! What’s the matter, cultivator? Your weapons and robes are in tatters!” 

Jake was surprised at the outcome, but Jake still glared at the demoness. Was she really going to risk the outcome of the fight over wearing equipment that she didn’t like the look of? Jake kept his thoughts closed off, but he felt that the demoness needed to learn some humility. The only reason she was in this situation at the moment was because of her pride. 

They long-since had enough funds to upgrade her gauntlets, but wearing those cheap ones in the first place was something she considered as a concession. She was a dragon, what dragon needed to wear claws instead of using its own? The fact that she didn’t have them because she hadn’t yet re-awakened her bloodline didn’t matter, she was too prideful to upgrade the claws before she could reawaken her bloodline, where her hands, her claws would become as strong as any weapon. She looked down on the dungeon, thinking that the enemies prior to the Trial were too simple.

Not only that, but she wore her robes instead of armor, too proud to change out of her cultivator clothing. The clothing was powerful, sure, but it required her Qi in order to be little more than scrap cloth. Armor required no energy and provided protection, at worst she could wear her robes over some real protection, and it wouldn’t cost her Qi in situations like this. 

Jake was also reminded of how he had to beg her to learn framework assisted alchemy, as they just didn’t have the resources to obtain what she needed to progress her alchemy using cultivator methods. She had a cultivator’s pride, and now it was increasing the party’s risk. 

Jake understood that she had a right to be prideful, as [Nascent Soul] cultivators were just one stage away from what was godhood or its equivalent. She had already been able to destroy cities in a single attack, and previously could have erased this Champion with little more than a thought. But that was then, and this is now. Now she is a sort-of Tier 0 existence, and she needed to accept it.

Jake allowed some disappointment to leak over the bond, and Fhesiah’s face looked pained. He signaled his intentions: he would distract the Champion, and she would do what was needed to achieve victory, even if she didn’t like it. Ophelia had finally finished her preparations, activating her level 10 ability. [Sacrificial Flames: Valkyrie Champion]. Jake smiled; Ophelia’s choice of the chosen specialization would really pay off here. 

She cast the spell, consuming nearly thirty percent of her current reserves, and Jake and her were surrounded in the flames of Hestia. The valkyrie became larger until she was nearly three meters tall, and her wings and hair were coated in flames, while her armor, spear, and shield took on a divine glow, and changed as they became larger. Jake did not become larger, but he received a fiery holy glow around his armor, shield and weapon, and he now had wings of fire as well. Jake felt stronger, and now he wished he had been able to practice with [Winged Combat].

The giant demon tried to suck in the flames, but was unable to find purchase; their flames were more solid and stuck to them. The demon roared, and the valkyrie blurred into a thrust right into the demon’s gut with her now giant spear, reaching deep into its torso. She retrieved her spear and was easily able to block and redirect its return blow, the size difference much less substantial to where the effect of her shield was more than enough to stop it. Jake knew she would be able to handle the demon from here, no matter what ability it pulled out. 

Jake rocketed at the dark elf with his new wings and smashed into him with his shield, and the demoness retreated to properly arm herself. Jake’s movements had increased thanks to the divine glow, and he was now a proper challenge for the dual-wielding dark elf. Jake managed to pierce one of the dark elf’s legs, to which he grunted and returned the attacks with murderous dark energy surrounding his blades. Jake managed to block them all, and even used a runic barrier against one that might have managed to slip past his guard. The demoness finally joined the fray, and scored a deep slash across the dark elf’s back. 

The dark elf retreated, and when he was no longer blocking Jake’s line of sight to the demoness, Jake couldn’t help but stifle a laugh as he saw her: she looked ridiculous, her dainty pale arms ending in giant blue furry hands. She sensed this and blushed. For the first time since he met her, Jake thought she looked embarrassed. 

Jake guessed the dark elf sensed that keeping up with the status quo was no longer going to work, as Ophelia should have the demon defeated in mere moments. Jake couldn’t see the Champion’s face, but his voice projected his sneer, “You think you’ve won? But you are not yet a true Champion until you pass this trial, unlike me. I call upon the god, Apophis. Make use of my body as your vessel and crush them, so that we can bring them torment and suffering.” 

A malevolent aura emerged from the dark elf champion, and Jake felt a different kind of divinity than he had felt before. It was much weaker than Hestia or Odin’s that he had felt, perhaps due to the limits of this Champion’s vessel, but was certain that it was evil. His stomach roiled at the feeling given off by the evil god, and he was just covered with a sense of wrongness that he could not explain. 

Two snakes emerged from inside the dark elf's armor, and they snaked up his body to sort of mount themselves around his shoulders to attack; it was like the dark elf now had four limbs, with two of them having the head of a snake.

Jake and Fhesiah had tried to stop the transformation, but the malevolent energy rebuffed their attacks easily. Once the transformation was complete, he charged Jake with supernatural speed. Jake only barely got his shield up to block the attack with the sword, but a snake whipped around and bit Jake’s shoulder. Jake grimaced, as the feeling of a painful poison was getting pumped through his veins.

Jake’s body was wracked with pain, and his vision blurred. Even trying to watch what was happening through his [Arcane Eye] was a challenge, as he felt dizzy besides. The purifying flames started working against this, but it would be after Jake had taken a lot of damage that it could be cleared completely from his veins; a poison powered by divinity, and Jake could tell that the poison was causing him to bleed mana. 

The dark elf once again spoke with a sneer, “You cultivators think you are so special, above everything else, even [The Framework]. But in the end, your pride is nothing but food for the dungeon. Dragons are especially delicious for [Tartarus], I hear.”

The demoness flew into a rage. She was beyond frustrated that her dragon fire was made useless both by the demon and the armor the dark elf was wearing. On top of that, her pride had really put them in a bad position. If she had just worn the ugly gauntlets and armor from the beginning, perhaps her reserves of Qi would be higher, and perhaps Jake wouldn’t now be poisoned. Her blows were powered by her righteous fury, and they came faster and with more strength with each attack. 

The Champion powered by his god was now on the back foot, and Jake could feel something different coming from the demoness. Jake did his best to move to harass the champion once again, but they were both moving too fast for him to really aid in the melee, or to land any spells while the fighting was so frantic; their blows swinging wide, and their movements too fast to keep up with, along with the poison still weakening and disorienting him. He instead focused on purifying the poison out of his system, taking a sort of universal antidote that he thought he would never need, hoping it would help. 

Jake felt a new type of energy being emitted from Fhesiah growing: some kind of heavenly truth of claws, or dragon claws Jake guessed. Fhesiah channeled the pride and power of dragons with each blow; their ferocity and intensity increasing. 

She managed to slice off one of the heads of the snakes, and eventually, that power congealed into a visual manifestation of an eastern dragon swiping its right claw downwards in an overhead strike as she did the same, and Jake’s soul shuddered like it was going to be cut in two from just looking at the sharpness of the dragon’s claws. 

The dark elf brought up both of his swords and the remaining head of the snake to block. But the dark elf might as well have been trying to stop a mountain, as the snakehead was sheared off and their guard was pushed down with their body collapsing down to their knees as her claw slashed across their chest, causing five lines to spread across inches apart and deep, the armor completely shredded.

Blood sprayed from the dark elf’s chest, and Jake used the opportunity to land a spear blow with [Mana Blade] in their gut as well, now that the frantic melee had stopped, and he was already starting to feel better from the antidote and [Purifying Flames] working on it. 

Fhesiah moved for another blow and Jake retracted his spear and was going to go for another, but suddenly a wave of shadows blasted him and the demoness away from the dark elf champion, sending him a dozen meters away, and despite Jake having his shield up, his body was battered all over from the explosion of shadows as it bounced and rolled across the ground. Luckily, Jake could feel that Ophelia had just finished the demon off for good, but the [Valkyrie Champion] ability had now worn off, them both losing their divine glow.

The demoness was not looking so good, with her reserves of Qi having nearly run out. She had been furiously absorbing the kill energy throughout the fight, even if her efficiency would be much better if she could put her full attention on it. She even held a Qi crystal in her hand and was absorbing it, from where she tried to stand, but was unable to: her wounds were too heavy from the shadow explosion. Jake was protected by the divine glow, but she was not. Ophelia used her [Renewal] spell on the demoness, and it healed Jake as well. Fhesiah was still too drained to be able to mount a decent offensive, however.

Jake got up, and he guessed it was a little bit too much to ask for Fhesiah to defeat the Champion on her own, or with Jake assisting her, anyway. The mana bleeding poison had been removed from Jake through the purifying flames, but not before he had lost nearly a quarter of his mana. He drank a mana potion, one of the top-quality ones available to him from the [Multiverse Market].

The Champion himself wasn’t looking so good either, having lost a fair amount of blood. Whatever divinity they had dwelling in them had disappeared with Fhesiah’s shocking blow, and the shadow eruption must have been the remaining energies. They had wounds on their back and their front, along with a deep gut wound that Jake had hit him with. Jake could still feel that the enemy champion was more than a match for any one of Jake’s party members: but no more than that. The Champion was alone, but Jake and his lovers were not. 

Jake still remembered what the Champion had said about him being nothing without his women. Jake’s entire plan for his specialization originally was to buff and heal others, and make them be the best they could be, and if Jake never swung a spear or cast an offensive spell, that was okay with him. But Ophelia and Fhesiah had made him better, so that he could do those things and be so much more. Ultimately, the enemy champion was wrong. Jake was amazing in his own way; it was just that his girls shined so brightly, that it was easy to forget it.

He would make more preparations just in case, but he removed another rod from his belt, and started preparing the spell, [Einherjar]. The dark elf charged the demoness, and Fhesiah was barely able to stand and properly block an attack. Ophelia went to protect Fhesiah and she blurred with [Charge] as she slammed into the enemy Champion and knocked him away from her.

Jake finished activating the runes for his runic spell, [Einherjar], using up most of what was left of his mana. He would [Mana Transfer] some of Ophelia’s mana after she too drank a mana potion, if things were not looking good. A cascade of different colored light surrounded Jake, and he felt strong, like he could take on the entire world. 

Jake launched himself at the enemy champion, crossing a dozen meters in a single step, and the enemy champion was barely able to raise their swords in an effort to block Jake’s attack. But Jake was moving too quickly, and it was almost like the dark elf was moving in slow motion. Jake covered his spear with [Mana Blade] which was larger than usual due to the powerful buff, and stabbed right at the enemy champion’s heart.

With a combination of twisting their body and angling their swords, they had only barely been able to direct Jake to miss his exact target, piercing the champion above his heart and into their shoulder. A large chunk of their shoulder was removed by the strength and size of the [Einherjar]-enhanced mana blade, enough to where the champion had dropped the sword in their left hand.

The dark elf started to try to counter with their other sword, but Jake had already taken another powerful step and slammed their shield into them, ripping his spear out of their body in a shower of blood and sending them flying through the air. They spun and rolled as they hit the ground, but Jake could tell his shield slam had probably broken some bones. They were hardly able to stand at this point, and Jake charged them once again, arriving just a step away in a mere instant.

The enemy champion had gathered some shadow flames in their hand and aimed where Jake was, but he sidestepped the shadowy bolt with ease, able to easily see the energy gathering and guess his goal using [Arcane Eye], the bolt striking the wall behind him harmlessly. Jake stabbed out once again, and this time they were unable to block. He achieved his goal of stabbing him through the heart, this time. He sent a spear of runic fire through his spear-staff, cooking the body inside the armor.

The Champion of Apophis fell lifelessly to the ground, and the light surrounding Jake faded. 

Trial Completed: Champion of Hestia. Exit in 30 minutes.

 

They had done it. They won, and against a Champion of Apophis. Jake wasn’t sure what this meant, exactly. Was a champion supposed to face another, in their first trial? The champion claimed to have killed many paladins and priestesses of Hestia, if he could be believed, and he was already a proper Champion, whereas Jake was not. That did not seem fair for a level ten trial, and Jake wondered if this guy was dead for good, or if he would be like Jake and revive once again to prey on others. Questions for later.

Jake looked over to Fhesiah and Ophelia, who was helping hold Fhesiah up. Ophelia was absolutely beaming, reveling in her victory, and despite her embarrassment and shame Fhesiah was also smiling. 

Jake wryly smiled at the result, and his plans that he had made before going into the fight. He had consumables in the form of expensive potions, scrolls of various kinds to produce effects that Jake felt could change the tide of battle, and even doping pills that would temporarily increase his and the girl’s capabilities. He used none of them, and he was reminded about how in role playing games growing up, he would get to the final boss and they would all remain unused, until the end, being hoarded and saved until they were no longer useful; the threat vanquished, with 99 elixirs in his inventory. 

They set about looting the dead, and the demoness set to absorbing the kill energy. Thirty minutes was not enough time for that, but he assumed she could continue consuming the energy back at their [Refuge]. Jake made sure to restore everyone’s health, and also began cleaning their armor. It was a long run, and they would be happy to be home. Their victory would require the biggest celebration yet. They kissed and held one another, glad that they had come out the victors, and that all their hard work had finally paid off.

Instead of a portal opening when the timer went off, the inside of the dungeon was pulled into a single point of light, and they felt the effect of teleportation when they arrived back home in their [Refuge] in front of the portal. The three of them received a ton of notifications; It would take quite some time to review them. 

They had done it. They won and were safe at home.

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