The Party Misfits Part 2

The barrier groaned, claws scrabbling harder against its surface. One of the twisted wolves hurled itself over as the walls slowly came down.

I lifted the shovel reflexively, too slow—

An arrow split its eye. The body collapsed mid-stride, dissolving into fragments.

Lira didn’t even look at me this time. “Three.”

Dorran grunted from behind his shield, straining. “Verra! Now!”

“Everyone, stay behind me,” she said.

Verra lifted her staff, both hands steady despite the tremor in her arms. A shadow rune bloomed violet at the base, its glyphs bending the air around it, while above it a second rune ignited, burning gold-yellow like a miniature sun. For a heartbeat, they clashed violently, heat against void, flame against night—until her voice forced them into harmony.

“Fusion. Shadow coil… Endless sun…Bind and burn, lend me your strength, converge as one!”

She repeated the words, rising into song, each syllable a note that bent the runes into orbit around her staff. The Shadow rune wrapped the Fire rune like a cage, compressing the flames until they burned hotter, from red into a dark violet.

She aimed the staff forward, her body struggling to keep balance.

“Ignis Lance!” she yelled.

An explosion of violet flames burst outward in roaring waves. It swept across the pack of wolves consuming them in living inferno that ate fur, flesh and bone in a matter of seconds. The air itself twisted unable to take the heat and the warped trees ignited in silent flashes before flickering back to ash.

I winced, throwing an arm over my face. Even behind her, the heat licked at my skin. I clenched the shovel harder, forcing my legs not to buckle.

The recoil nearly knocked Verra backward. She caught herself on the staff, breath sharp and sweat dripping down her jawline.

For a moment, there was silence. Then the dungeon seemed to exhale, gush of wind blowing through us, strong enough to push us back.

Keiji’s system notice flickered again:
[CORE INSTABILITY: 78%]

He swallowed hard. “It’s not slowing down. If anything, we’re pushing it closer.”

Verra’s knuckles whitened on her staff. “I agree. We have to find the Nexus core before it collapses on us.”

Her voice trembled, the spell’s toll visible in the flicker of her runes. Violet light dimmed along her robes, one rune sputtering like a dying ember before cracking apart and vanishing. She swayed, staff dragging, and nearly went down—until Keiji stepped forward, catching her by the shoulder.

“Verra!”

I darted to her other side, bracing her with my free arm, the shovel awkwardly between us. “Easy. You’ll break yourself before this dungeon does.”

She clutched her staff tighter, breath ragged, sweat running down her face.

“Thank you,” she whispered, her weight heavy against us both.

Keiji shifted her staff into his grip, supporting her. “I should thank you. I know you cast something on me back there…it gave me a huge boost. I’d be dead if it weren’t for you.”

“I didn’t do much.” Her voice was quiet, almost wary.

Keiji blinked. “But that golden light…”

“No,” she cut him off, her eyes fixed on him. “I only wove a reflex ward and a temporary damage barrier. Everything else…. not my doing.”

I frowned. “Then what was it?”

She took her staff back, tapping her fingers against the glowing runes carved into its length

“You need to understand something before you rely on me.” Her gaze softened for a heartbeat, then hardened again.

Dorran and Lira moved ahead of us with extreme caution. I kept at Verra’s side, my Mourner’s Bag bumping against my hip with every step.

You see, Verra has an affinity to both Shadow and Fire elements, which explains her incredible strength but it seems to have an adverse effect on her body.

Verra straightened slowly, forcing herself upright. “I’m not as strong as others from my clan,” she continued. “But I can do what most can’t…I can anchor thirteen runes at once, ten in my robes and three bound to my staff. Basically, they’re like clones of my original two but I can’t perform heavy spells without pushback.”

As if to prove it, one rune detached from her robes and flared around her shoulder. She muttered an incantation, and her entire body glowed a pale blue. Instantly, the bruises on her cheek and arms knot together like melting wax. But I saw it —the tremor in her arm, the way her breath hitched. She wasn't looking good.

The rune dimmed its colour and crumbled into ash.

“So far, I’ve consumed five.” Her voice was calm. “And now…one more.”

Keiji’s eyes widened. “That means….”

“Seven left,” she cut him off. “When they’re all gone…let’s just say I’d like to avoid that.”

“Rune burnout,” Keiji spoke suddenly.

That term clawed at the edge of my memory. Keiji had mentioned it after his evaluation trials —something about overusing runes until they destroyed you. The archives were fuzzy on the details but all we knew was that burnout was different for every rune weaver.

Verra grinned. “So you have heard of it, good. I have a favour to ask.” Her eyes flicked to me, then back to Keiji. “Both of you. Don’t tell the others about this.”

“Why not?” I asked, sharper than I intended. “If you might collapse mid-fight, they deserve to know. We need to plan for that.”

“You are right. Transparency is important in any mission…,” she murmured, breathing heavily between the words. “…but not this one. If they learn that their only healer will fail to perform her duties…it will cause panic which is the last thing we need.”

“Then why tell us?”

She chuckled, glancing at me. “I don’t know why but I feel like I can trust you two. Maybe it’s something I’m imagining but there is more to you than just a mere scrap picker. It’s why Keiji vouched for you, isn’t it?”

“I…” Keiji started, but Verra raised a hand.

“We need to focus now. If it matters, I’ll find out soon enough.”

The ground trembled beneath our boots. A low growl rumbled through the chamber, rolling into a roar that made the stone walls shudder.

“What now?” Keiji asked.

Verra’s gaze snapped, her voice sounding tight, “That’s the pre-merge Guardian. If it’s here already, the core is more unstable than we thought.”

The chamber bloomed with red-orange light—thick, slow pulses that made the air vibrate in my bones. Then the roar came out so louder than anything I’d ever heard, we practically had to close our ears with our hands.

[SYSTEM NOTICE: Elemental Entity – Fire Guardian / Leo Draconic]
• Magna Reservoir: Critical levels – unstable discharge imminent
• Elemental Output: Variable – sequence unknown
• Core Instability: 84%

When the Guardian stepped into view, I finally understood why Verra’s voice had gone tight.

It wasn’t just big.
It was colossal.

About six meters tall, standing on all fours. Its head resembled that of a lion with dark sclera and red iris. The mane was a halo of living fire arcs around its neck like a blazing crown. Two Draconic horns curved backward, dripping sparks like meteor trails, while its scaled body was covered with molten cracks. The same scale pattern ran to its segmented tail, tipped with a blade-like protrusion that dripped molten liquid into the floor below.

The Guardian breathed—and the chamber floor erupted in a geyser of molten rock.

“Scatter!” Dorran bellowed, throwing himself in front of Keiji. The blast hammered into his shield, the rune blazing green across the metal.

“No. Let’s keep our formation, we can do this!” Lira shouted, sliding into a roll.

“Don’t break formation? Easy for you to say!” I said, yanking Verra down with me, ducking behind an outcrop of stone.

The Mourner’s bag jolted open as I hit the ground, spilling a length of chain, a flask of dried sand and bones —gods, always bones. I shoved the bag closed again, muttering, “Not now.”

The Guardian’s mane flared brighter, the crackling arcs of fire hissing in the air. It bared its fangs and slammed its tail down, molten sparks raining across the chamber.

“Earth form…clay of stone, rise and hold!”

Dorran provided cover, bending the earth overhead.

“Now’s our chance…Verra!” he called out, releasing the earth.

Verra shook her head, gritting her teeth. “I can’t…not another high-level spell yet…”

Lira didn’t wait. Her bowstring glowed white, the rune on it tracing down the shaft of her arrow as she drew. “Then I’ll keep its eyes busy.”

The arrow launched, streaking into the Guardian’s fiery mane. It struck—but only flared, consumed instantly by the burning crown. The Guardian roared, molten saliva dripping from its jaws as the chamber quaked again.

Dorran braced again, shouting, “Earth form….root of stone, anchor and bind!”

The floor surged upward, wrapping the Guardian’s forelegs in rocky chains. It snarled, molten cracks splitting the bindings, but the moment of restraint bought us a breath.