The Dungeon’s Magical Residue (pt 2)

Fearfully, Miho and her protectors watched the gigantic monster made of glowing dust. Clarice’s immense vacuuming power had compacted the dungeon’s magical residue so tightly, that it came alive.

All defenseless, Miho pointed at Clarice, lying in arm's reach of the monster.

“I need to get her back,” she said with a soft voice.

Karen heard Miho’s demand and got ready to spring into battle, but before she could Lorian moved into her track and stopped her.

“Please Karen, let me charge at it first. I can’t let my little sister take on so much reason”

“But my big sword is way more suited for this type of combat,” Karen protested.

Lorian however, raised his thin rapier-like sword and charged toward the monster. It stretched out one of its two snake-like arms, trying to knock the brave warrior from its feet. Lorian ducked and dodged the attack. With a flash strike, he hit the monstrosity right in the middle of its body.

The monster let out a brief growl, after which the hole cut by Lorian’s sword was immediately filled in again by the surrounding magical residue. With a frustrated expression, he looked at the monster’s now fully healed body and immediately stroked at it again. With a rapid succession of attacks, he tried his best to seriously hurt the monster. But all he accomplished was exhausting himself.

“LORIAN!” Karen yelled as she saw the monster’s arm close in on her brother. The breathless boy looked in her direction, completely overlooking the green arm hitting him on his back, knocking him over. With a smack, his face hit the stone cave floor.

His body lay there moveless for about a second, after which he tried to get up.

“Stay put!” Karen yelled as she lifted her massive sword far above her body, getting ready to save her brother from the residue monster.

She better be careful, Miho prayed as she saw the girl sprint toward the monster. With one quick swoop of her sword, she knocked off one of the monster’s arms. The confused monster hurled, looking at its cut of arm. This bought Karen just enough time to put her sword away and reach out her hand. She pulled Lorian up, and briefly let him away to safety.

While hiding behind a rock, Miho tended to Lorian’s head. The impact against the sharp ground had caused a small cut on his forehead, from which dripped a small stream of blood. With a piece of fabric, she made a makeshift bandage. The fabric soon colored red, although the bleeding stopped soon after.

In the meantime, the monster had slowly regenerated its lost arm and looked in top form. From this relatively safe place, the trio watched the monster and tried to come up with a plan.

“The monster seems to be sticking to one place,” Miho said after observing it for a while.

She looked at Clarice still lying next to the monster.

Could it be? she thought before Lorian verbalized her thoughts.

“It seems like it’s sticking to your magical broom, Miss Miho.”

“Let me grab it for you,” he said while trying to stand up. But Miho’s hand held his pack.

“Please let us think this through before rushing into combat again. If we take Clarice from underneath, it might follow us here or start roaming around the dungeon.”

“On the other hand, I fear Clarice is our best hope for defeating the monster,” she added.

The two warriors looked at her with confusion.

“How can a broom be better at defeating such a monstrosity than my amazing sword,” she said while cleaning it.

“Karen, please” her annoyed brother responded.

“I think Miss Miho might have some point, I think a little magic might be useful for defeating this monster. And since the two of us can’t use any, we need her magical tool.”

“Me using magic? I am not some kind of nerd,” Karen said while laughing in a weird tone.

Says the girl staring at a sword all day…

“We need to find some way to distract the monster, so I can grab Clarice,” Miho said.

“After that, I will transform her into something that will help you two defeat it.”

Karen looked at her with amused eyes.

“So that means I get to use Chopzilla to deliver the final blow, reducing the monster back to a pile of dust?”

Miho shook her head.

“Please, work together with your brother. You two need to bundle your forces and work together as a team. See how you two trying to prove yourself keeps getting us into trouble.”

“Yes Miss,” Karen said with a sense of disappointment.

“I follow you,’ Lorian responded, looking at his sister.

“Let’s defeat this terrible monster, together!”

X

Slowly while trying to avoid catching the monster’s attention, the siblings followed the rock wall to the other side of the big open room. Miho remained hidden behind a big rock close to where Clarice was lying on the ground, protected by the residue monster.

Miho saw Karen raise her sword and heard her start screaming. She charged head-on at the monster, making sure to fully grasp his attention. Just before reaching his giant feet, Karen turned to the site trying to lure him away from Clarice.

With giant steps, the monster approached Karen who took on a defensive stance with her enormous broadsword. She held a stand while the monster's agile arms hit against her blade like giant tentacles. After a large enough distance between the monster and Clarice had been created, Lorian started rapidly striking at the monster’s legs, trying to temporarily immobilize the thread.

“NOW!” Karen yelled and Miho sprung up from behind the boulder and sprinted toward Clarice, almost tripping over a little rock in the process. Just before she was to crouch down, the monster turned his head toward Miho, his glowing eyes staring right into hers.

Miho froze, a shiver going through her spine. There were only a couple of meters of empty space between the monster and her. Aside from Clarice, she would have nothing to protect her from a potential attack.

It would definitely be able to kill me if I don’t move fast.

After refining her motivation, she reached out her hand, grabbed Clarice, and ran to the side, trying to regroup with her protectors. Carrying the magical broom with her, she hid behind a boulder and soon. The monster had turned

Lorian was able to get between her and the monster.

With fierce attacks, he tried to block the monster from closing in on Miho

“Karen, come here!” Lorian yelled, and his sister jumped past the monster, supporting Lorian. The two of them did their utmost best to ward off the attacks and keep Miho safe.

I need to come up with something soon, Miho thought while staring at Clarice.

The crystal still looked completely dim, after it did with the explosion. It was clear to Miho that Clarice wouldn’t transform in this state, she needed to clean something to gain some magic dust.

“Karen, can you bring your sword here?” she yelled at her party members.

“Don’t you see we are busy here?” Lorian responded in an annoyed voice while blocking one of the monster's attacks.

“It’s dirty! Let me clean it with Clarice,” Miho yelled trying to motivate Karen.

She jumped back and rushed toward Miho.

“Please clean my Chopzilla, I can’t stand it getting dirty,” Karen said while holding it before Miho. With a couple of brushes, Clarice’s crystal started glowing and a small cloud of magical dust had formed around the sword.

“Don’t worry about it, this might be good for defeating the monster,” Miho told Karen.

“Yes, Ma’am!” she enthusiastically responded. She closely inspected her sword, admiring its new clean, and magically enhanced state.

“Can you come back already, I can’t hold it for much longer!” Lorian yelled while frantically stabbing at the monster which was at the brink of overtaking him.

“On my way!” Karen yelled while she charged at the monster, gripping her sword with both hands. She lifted her sword and swung it at the monster’s green body. Her blade hit the monster’s tentacle-like arm, which it severed in one motion. Miho observed the battle closely, her eyes narrowing as she realized something, the arm wasn’t regenerating like before. Instead, it dissolved into a glowing orb of energy, hovering just above the ground.

It seems like Clarice’s magic is working.

“Please keep at it Karen, you’re close to defeating it!”

Karen paused briefly, her breath heavy but her resolve unshaken. She looked at the monster and declared a dramatic statement.

"For every strike you've dealt, this is your reckoning!"

Then, with renewed determination, she raised her sword and charged again. She continued hacking at the monster, and sooner or later, was reduced to nothing more than a sticky ball of magic residue.

“Now what do we know?” she yelled at Miho.

Miho looked at Clarice, who started glowing and shifting in shape. Soon she had taken the form of a small black box. Carefully, Miho lifted the lid and immediately it started sucking up the monster’s remains.

The trio watched the big stream of green-glowing magical residue enter the tiny box. In a matter of seconds, all the magical residue had disappeared, the large cave room looking virtually untouched by human hands.

Will this suffice for your upcoming raid party, Lord Cedric?

With a sense of relief, the party rested and took something to eat.

“Thank you for saving me,” Miho said in gratitude.

“Me?” Lorian asked.

“I would have if my sister stopped stealing the spotlight.”

Miho shook her head.

“Please stop that, I obviously meant the both of you. You make a great team, you know?”

“That is if you can put aside your arguments for once,” Miho added in a sarcastic voice.

Karen and Lorian looked at eachother and started laughing.

“We?”

“A team”

“Never!” they yelled in unison.