Chapter 74: Chapter 73 – Between a rock and a hard place

Scarlett’s eyes were locked on the wall of stone, blocking them off. A groan escaped from beside her, where Rosa was slowly raising herself from the ground.

“H-Hello?” the woman’s voice called out quietly.

Shin grunted in response. “I’m here. Anyone else?”

The sound of stone grinding against stone sounded out. Scarlett looked back as Shin pushed aside a large stone that had landed on him. The side of his chest piece was bent inward.

“…There are only the three of us,” she said after a moment. She conjured a fire to clear away some of the darkness for the two of them.

The young man pushed himself to his feet, walking over to where his shield had landed on the ground. “I’m guessing whatever happened was because of those ancestors Fynn was talking about?” he asked as he picked the shield up, giving it a quick inspection.

“…Presumably.” Scarlett forced herself up as well. The fall had been violent, but [Sidhe’s Flowing Garbs] had done a good job protecting her. Getting her hands on the [Lifeblood’s Eternal Circuit] was really proving itself to have been a wise choice. But it wouldn’t do anything to help them in their current situation. She pointed to the mountain of stone at the center of the room. “Can you open a path?”

Shin studied the barrier. “I doubt it. Fynn is the only one who could move some of these stones, and I think it’d be too much even for him, from what I’ve seen. We also can’t trust in him being able to try, if these ‘ancestors’ can intervene like this.”

Scarlett clenched her teeth. That was true. But what the hell were they supposed to do now then? Would they have to beat the mini-boss by themselves? Her eyes roamed across the walls of the chamber, but she couldn’t spot any other way out, nor did she know of any from the game.

Damn it. She didn’t even know if the others were safe. Could the cave-in have hit any of them? Fynn was bound to be safe, but she wasn’t sure about Allyssa and Garside.

“What happens if we’re too slow with clearing the trial?” Shin asked.

Scarlett turned to him. “…Fynn could lose control once more. But I fear it would not be as tame this time.”

“That’s tame?” Shin frowned. “Then Allyssa and the others would all be in danger.”

“...Yes.”

Right, there was no point in jumping to conclusions when they couldn’t do anything about it. They had to assume the others were safe, which meant they couldn’t take it slow and try to find another way out. Judging from how Fynn had acted when making their way here, they were pressed for time.

She looked towards the passage that continued further inside the dungeon. “It appears as if we are left with only one alternative…”

Shin walked over to the opening. “What’s at the end of this path?”

“A powerful foe. There should be another one on the opposing side. If both were to be defeated, I believe we could meet with the others again.”

He looked at her. “Are you sure?”

“It does not matter how confident I am. It is the only route I can think of under our current circumstances.”

“Does Fynn know about this as well?”

Scarlett knitted her brows. “I am…uncertain. Regardless, it does not matter. He will attempt to defeat it, nonetheless.”

“But can they do it?”

“Most likely, yes.” At least if they had Garside with them.

Shin tapped his foot against the stone, peering down the dark passage. “So it’s up to us then. Do you think we have a chance?”

She walked up beside him, pulling out her [Wand of Fireball] from her pouch, along with two [Health Potions] that she held out. “I cannot say. And I was not willing to venture our safety on such an unknown.”

He accepted the potions, placing them in a thick pouch on his waist. “But you know what kind of opponent it is?”

“To a certain degree.” She tried to recall the features of these mini-bosses. “As far as I am aware, it is a type of warg, with no particular weaknesses. It should not be overly fast, but its strength will be too much for you to beat on your lonesome. Its howl can shake the spirits of those who hear it.”

In the game, it had been level 55. Garside might be able to take one by himself—depending on how strong he was compared to A-ranked Shielders—but for the rest of them, it was highly unlikely.

“With this shield, and Rosa’s support, I might be able to withstand it,” Shin said, holding up the shield taken from Temisbrook Glade. “That means it’ll be up to you to wear it down.”

Scarlett pressed her lips together. She wasn’t sure if she could wear it down. She hadn’t tried her magic out against anything of that level yet. And the effect of her [Charms of Apperception] likely wouldn’t work against it, since it was above level 50. This meant one of her main avenues of dealing damage was severely hampered. She had never expected she would fight opponents of this level this early to begin with.

She turned back to look at Rosa, who had been unusually quiet for a while now. “Miss Hale?”

Rosa’s back was turned to them, and she wasn’t moving.

“Miss Hale?” Scarlett called again, slowly walking up to the woman. She reached out a hand and touched the bard’s shoulder.

Rosa startled, spinning around to stare at her. “W-What?”

Scarlett’s eyes narrowed, focusing on the area under the woman’s eyes. It had turned a pitch darker. She’d been afraid of this. She met Rosa’s eyes. “Are you okay?”

Rosa blinked slowly, twice, her gaze refocusing. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just a bit shaken. Almost had the ceiling fall on my old noggin, after all.” She glanced at the center of the chamber, then looked around them. “Where are the others?”

Scarlett forced her expression to remain neutral. “They are trapped on the other side. If we are to continue, we will have to traverse down that passage and defeat a beast waiting there.”

“I see.” Rosa peeked over her shoulder. “Is that all? Why don’t we get moving then?”

Scarlett took a step in front of the woman before she could move anywhere. “This will be dangerous. Truly dangerous. And while I do not wish to be crass, you do not appear to be in your best state.”

Rosa paused. She gave Scarlett a long look, before smiling weakly. “I’m a bit tired, yeah. Those mana potions must not have been enough. If we could rest for an hour or two, I’m sure I’d be right as rain again.”

“Unfortunately, that is not an alternative. We do not know how much time we have, but we cannot dawdle.”

“Is that right?” Rosa let out a light chuckle. “Then I guess I’ll just have to grit my teeth for a bit.”

“...Will you be alright?”

The woman leaned down and picked up her klert from the ground. She patted it on the side. “Of course. I’ve fought through hangovers worse than this. And from the sounds of it, we don’t have much other choice, do we? Besides, I’ve gotta live up to my name, don’t I?”

Scarlett eyed her. She knew Rosa was far from ‘well’ right now. But the woman might be able to fight through it for the time being. And the fact was that they wouldn’t stand a chance without her. Waiting was also too risky. In fact, it was likely to make Rosa’s situation even worse.

“Take this,” Scarlett said, pulling off her [Ring of Umbral Defiance] and handing it to Rosa. The dark-type resistance it gave helped defend against most types of mental attacks, which could prove helpful in the upcoming fight. It might be a relatively low-level item, but it was better than nothing. And right now, it looked like Rosa had more need of it than her.

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She turned away from the bard and walked up to Shin. They would just have to hope that Rosa could make it through the fight. As long as they survived that, Scarlett had a couple of emergency measures she could take to deal with whatever situation might emerge.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then set her sights down the passage. “Let us move.”

Shin went at the front, with Scarlett and Rosa following a few steps behind. They relied on Scarlett’s magic to light the way, but she kept her enchanted glasses on in case something happened.

The passage continued for a short while, eventually opening up into a wide, circular room. Unlike the rest of the dungeon, which had clearly been built by somebody, this looked more like a natural cave. The walls were damp and uneven, with jagged rocks jutting out here and there, and sunlight shone in through a hole in the ceiling. It was concentrated in the center of the room, where a large, curled-up shape with jet-black fur lay, tail in front. Behind the figure, at the far end of the room, was a set of closed stone doors.

The wolf—or rather, the warg—looked up as Shin stepped into the room. The young man raised his shield as he readied his sword.

The beast climbed up on all fours and bared its fangs, letting out a low growl. It stood at roughly the same height as him.

Shin threw one last glance back at them. Scarlett nodded at him, and he took off towards the warg.

Scarlett conjured four Aqua Mines in front of the boss, aiming for its eyes. The warg ran straight through the mines with its head lowered before she could detonate them. Notes rang out from beside her, forming a discordant unity as they reached the warg. Scarlett saw how a grey luster attached itself to the boss, its movements slowing just as it bore down upon Shin.

He held up his shield, catching its teeth on the edges of the metal. The warg’s legs kicked off from the ground as it tried to reach past the shield, forcing him several steps back. Scarlett summoned more Aqua Mines, all larger than usual, and detonated them as soon as she could. Waves of steaming water crashed into the beast’s sides, but it didn’t show any reaction as it continued pushing against Shin.

As she’d feared, she couldn’t see through its defense at all with her [Charms of Apperception], so all of her attacks were essentially a shot in the dark. As Shin tried to force the warg’s head aside with the shield, Scarlett felt a rush of power stream through her body as another of Rosa’s tunes played out. A moment later, Shin knocked the beast’s head away just long enough for him to cut forward with his sword. The warg leaped back, passing right through the wall of high-intensity fire Scarlett had conjured behind it.

A loud yelp echoed out across the room as Scarlett let the flames dissipate. Parts of the boss’ fur had been singed by the attack, but it was much less than she’d hoped, and using her fire like that was incredibly costly. But at least this meant she could hurt it.

A silver light gradually began forming around Shin’s sword. Scarlett recognized it and hurried to form another wall of fire between him and the boss to buy him an extra second. A moment later, the warg came running around the wall. Now, however, its sights seemed to be set on her instead. As she dispelled her firewall, she raised her [Wand of Fireball].

“No you don’t!” Shin shouted as he cut in from the side, the light around his sword spread out before him like a brilliant lance. The weapon slashed straight into the warg’s midriff, but it was only enough to create a gash as the silvery lance dissolved in the air. The beast spun towards him with a growl, its mouth shooting out to bite into the young man’s outstretched arm. He let out a scream as its teeth tore through the metal on his bracers.

Scarlett cast two fireballs in immediate succession, aiming at the side of the warg to avoid hitting Shin. Fiery explosions burst forth, and the warg released its grip on the young Shielder. Unfortunately, the spells didn’t seem to cause any actual damage. Was the spell too low level? Or was it her pyromancy that was too low?

She pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind as she raised her hand to conjure a low-intensity wall of fire between Shin and the warg, hoping it’d be enough to hold it off for a moment. The warg gave the flames a wary look as Rosa ran forward, stopping a few steps in front of Scarlett. A mellow tune sounded out from the woman’s instrument as a purple light soon enveloped Shin.

The boss’ attention turned away from the fire, to where they stood.

Shit.

Scarlett pushed her hand into her pouch as the warg started running towards them. She quickly detonated as many Aqua Mines as she could to block its path as she tried to delay the warg, but it effortlessly dodged past most of them, charging through the rest. Rosa ran to the side, but the warg kept its eyes locked on Scarlett.

She hadn’t thought she could outrun this for even a second. She pulled out her hand from the pouch, holding a small glass bauble in her palm, and willed the object into the air. A small connection formed with the water at the center of the object, enough for her to steer it straight towards the warg as it came at her. Then, at the last second, she formed another high-intensity wall of fire between them and threw herself to the side.

A crack rang out, and something tore into her side. She could feel how [Sidhe’s Flowing Garb] fought against the blow and a burst of pain shot out from her abdomen. Landing roughly on the stone, she heard loud whimpering from behind her. She looked back at the warg to see it throwing its head back and forth, as several large spots on its face were beset by dark flames.

While Scarlett had focused on having Allyssa make health potions, that didn’t mean the young Shielder only made those. Scarlett had wanted to experiment, and Allyssa just happened to know several concoctions that were both highly flammable and hard to extinguish.

A purple light enveloped her and the pain from her side lessened considerably as she felt Rosa’s magic suffuse her. Her injury closed itself within moments.

At the same time, Shin came running with sword raised, cutting down towards the distracted warg. The blade cut into its behind, leaving a wound and removing some singed fur, but it was hardly enough to bring the boss down. It snarled, its head spinning like a mallet and slamming into Shin’s shield with enough force to knock him back several steps. One of its eyes had been completely burnt by the flames. The other appeared to remain intact, but was closed. Despite that, it seemed to pinpoint Shin without issue as it leaped at him once again.

Scarlett crawled away and hurried to her feet as Shin exchanged more blows with the warg, aided by more of Rosa’s boosting magic. She stopped when the warg jumped back several meters, lowering down onto its haunches. It let out a low howl that quickly rose in strength. She covered her ears as the noise grew louder, an inkling of dread rising from within, before suddenly spluttering out into nothingness.

The warg she’d fought back in Whistlecreek had a similar attack, but it had been equally ineffective against her. Still, this one was much louder. She clenched her teeth as she looked to Shin and Rosa, who were both frozen from the attack. So much for lending Rosa that ring.

While mental attacks in general had proved relatively fruitless against Scarlett—for reasons she wasn’t entirely sure of yet—she had no good way of protecting others from them.

She fought through the pain in her ears until the warg finally stopped howling, then immediately lowered her hands and created scores of Aqua Mines in front of it. Torrents of water blasted into its face and the warg snarled as it jumped back. It growled in her direction, eye still closed as the fur on its snout burned. The damage from her mines was minimal compared to what the alchemical concoction did, but she certainly got its attention.

“Rosa! Shin!" she called out, but neither of her allies stirred.

She conjured another wall of fire when she saw the warg move, this time encasing it entirely to buy as much time as possible. She used her wand to cast two fireballs for good measure before running up to Shin. He was staring straight ahead, eyes filled with a strange haze.

She shook his shoulder.

“This is no time to idle!” she snapped. There was no reaction. She threw a look back towards the boss. Her cage of fire was consuming massive amounts of mana, but at least the warg seemed to be afraid of her magic. But it wouldn’t matter if she couldn’t wake up the others. She turned back to Shin with a scowl. How strong was this effect? The debilitating howl of wargs in the game had usually just been a debuff or a short stun, but this was much more than that. Was it because they were all so much weaker than the warg?

Not knowing what else to do, she threw her hand up and slapped Shin across the face. “Focus!” she yelled as she did it again, noticing a small response. She shook him even more, and his eyes slowly regained their clarity.

He turned to her with a disoriented expression.

Scarlett pointed behind her. The warg had finally had enough, it seemed, and jumped straight through her flames to escape from its temporary confinement. She quickly dispelled her flames to save what little mana she had left. She glanced to the side.

[Mana: 467/4474]

Maybe she should have saved some of those mana potions for herself. Rosa was still out of the fight.

The warg let out another howl, this one without any magic behind it, as it ran towards them. Shin shook his head and pushed Scarlett back as he stepped forward to meet the attack. The warg dove into him with all its strength and the two of them flew back. It landed on top of Shin and he let out a scream as claws tore into his sides, its jaws repeatedly trying to get past his shield.

Scarlett pulled out a second of those glass baubles from her pouch. It was the last one she had. Raising it up, she used this opening to crash it into the warg, where Shin had caused the first wound. The glass splattered and a transparent liquid spread over the injury. A small mental effort on Scarlett’s part was all it took to light it up with a flame.

The warg roared at the sudden fire tearing into its side and got off of Shin. The young Shielder was covered in blood as he shakily pushed himself off the ground, left hand now limp to the side as he held up just his sword.

The warg bounced around like mad now, trying to put out the fires across its body, but all it succeeded in was spreading smoke around the room. Scarlett could actually see how parts of its face were beginning to pull off where the flames were touching. While she couldn’t be completely sure about it, the defenses around that area must be weakening. “Target its face!” she cried out.

The wolf kept jumping around. Suddenly, it just stopped, freezing completely for several seconds. As Shin righted himself, the warg turned its attention neither to him nor to Scarlett, instead shifting its snout towards the unmoving Rosa.

Scarlett’s eyes widened as it started moving. She created another firewall with what remained of her mana, but the warg didn’t even seem to care about that now, continuing straight through the flames.

Shin wasn’t about to let it have its way, though. He came running from the side, putting his entire weight into it as he slammed into the warg. Both of them were knocked to the stone once more. The warg frenziedly bit into Shin’s shoulder as it tried to throw him off. Shin continued to resist though, putting his whole body up against the beast as he raised his right arm. His sword started glowing again, a miniature variant of his previous silver lance forming.

Scarlett stretched whatever reserves she had left to create one last sphere of high-intensity fire in front of the warg’s face as it struggled with the Shielder. Just as what remained of Scarlett’s mana petered out, Shin sunk his dazzling weapon straight into its face, digging into the skull. The boss stilled, and Shin’s sword clinked to the ground as he went limp on top of it.

A sharp pain pushed against the sides of Scarlett’s temple as the exhaustion that came from using all of her mana hit her. She panted as she stepped forward, eyes focused on Shin’s now limp body. Mana depletion was no joke, but she had to help him. She wasn’t sure if Rosa was in any condition to heal him right now. Moving her hands unsteadily, she reached down to her pouch of holding to pull out a health potion. She froze when she looked up again, finding Rosa staring at her.

And the woman’s eyes were completely black.

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