Dungeons and Dalliances

7.32 – First Assignment III

She couldn't actually die here, Natalie reminded herself, but it was a hard thing to keep in mind while fighting a bloodthirsty monster.

The beast was bear-like, roughly, with dark orange fur that was filthy and matted. It stood as tall as Natalie and was many times bulkier. Vicious curved black claws swiped with surprising speed, and even Natalie was finding it difficult to keep it in check with sheer strength. It was dumb, though, and relatively easy to outmaneuver. Though its thick hide and bulk absorbed her hammer blows with only grunts and staggers, rather than broken bones.

Maybe it was better that she didn't keep her partial immortality in mind, she briefly mused. Fighting for one's life provided no small amount of motivation. Besides, she could still feel pain, and being disemboweled by massive claws would be an extremely uncomfortable experience, even if the Arena would somehow … put her back together at the end.

It was the fourth round of combat. The first had been outright trivial for delvers of her and Vanetta's skill level. The second and third had been simple as well, though increasingly less so. Only now, on the fourth round, had the difficulty raised to the extent she wouldn't call the fights easy anymore.

Not hard though. If she were to pick a word, it would be … routine. Blood pounded in her ears, and her heart raced as she went through that deadly dance with her opponent, but it was nothing she found frightening. She didn't even need to tap into her mana-based skills.

Vanetta had claimed the majority of finishing blows in their duo, but Natalie had the pleasure this time. [Valentine] crushed into the bear-like beast's skull, and without a sound, it crumpled into the floor and went still. A second blow, an executioner's strike, ensured the fight was over. Sure enough, the corpse evaporated, leaving neither core nor Token behind.

They caught their breath, briefly, as two stone pillars emerged from the ground. Continue or forfeit, as the choices had gone each time before. The Arena was kind enough to let them recover between rounds. Only for a few minutes though.

"So," Natalie said. "Time to talk about it."

They hadn't finished their earlier discussion, on when they should call it quits. The fights hadn't warranted it; they were certain they'd be able to take on the next round, assuming the jump in difficulty wasn't astronomical. So they'd kept going. With this medium-difficulty fight, though, it was technically possible they lost by some unlucky fluke on the next, Natalie had decided, and so they had to address it. Or ought to address it.

"Talk about it?" Vanetta asked, though the sideways glance told Natalie she knew what she was referencing.

"Not saying that was hard," Natalie said. "Haven't even had to pull out basic skills yet, much less my heavy hitters." Vanetta seemed interested in that; she hadn't seen [Smite], only her illusions. "But it's getting there. And some unlucky misstep might end up with one of us dead." Especially Vanetta, the rogue. She was unbelievably skilled, but she was frail. All it would take was one wrong move. "So. Yeah. We should talk about it."

"I guess you're right."

She didn't offer more, so after a second, Natalie continued for her. "If we keep going, we might lose. Will lose eventually. When do you want to call it?"

Vanetta shrugged. "Not yet. Let's at least get to the harder fights before we worry too much."

Natalie studied her for a second. She wanted to press the issue, but that would be patronizing. Vanetta knew what would happen if they lost. If she wanted to continue, she was weighing the risk of defeat against the potential reward.

So, she nodded, and they pressed the stone button that advanced them to the next round.

Two more fights followed. The first, against three tall skeletal warriors. She and Vanetta did best against single opponents, even if they were strong, because Natalie could distract while the assassin set up devastating flanks. Even so, they dispatched the multi-enemy encounter without too much difficulty. Natalie did need to call up some illusions, though.

The second fight was against a black stone golem. The fight went much the same way as against the bear, but many times more difficult. The overall strength of each encounter wasn't increasing exponentially, but even linear jumps meant they were rapidly approaching opponents that were becoming too much for them.

Against the golem, she actually had to pull out [Smite]. Vanetta seemed impressed by the immense ray of energy that burst from her hammer, though Natalie had only been able to charge it halfway; it was rare to find long enough openings to complete the channel.

She hadn't [Empowered] anything yet, and wasn't sure if she would. These weren't lethal fights. She had no intentions of trading permanent advancement points to get a little further into the Arena.

Breathing hard, and bruised from a number of hits, Natalie broached the topic a second time.

"Keep going?" she asked. "We're getting to the point we might lose without a fluke. That guy was … tough."

"Wasn't that hard," Vanetta said.

Natalie raised her eyebrows. Vanetta too was breathing hard, black hair matted by sweat. She'd taken a glancing blow herself, which had to have left more than a simple bruise on her hip. The girl prodded at it gently, wincing, though didn't seem to notice what she'd done.

"Besides," Vanetta said. "If we really do give up, we've gotta get farther than this. The stake counts for a big portion of the reward, so we have to make up for it in rounds."

Except they might end up paying out along with getting deep into the Arena, if they weren't careful. But like before, Vanetta had to know that. So Natalie just asked, "You sure?"

The rogue walked up and pressed the button to continue, which was answer enough.

The next fight was brutal. The [Crystalline Seraph] was an angelic being made out of stained glass, and it tore into them with twin blades. It was both a well-suited and a horribly-suited fight for Natalie: the former, because its glass body was weak to blunt attacks, and the latter, because it was fast, agile, and its long dual-wielded blades had nearly the same reach as her massive warhammer.

Still, they made it through, completing round six. About an hour had passed. Natalie was aching all over, and she was bleeding from several cuts—some of them deep. She missed having a [Healer] on standby. For now, they relied on healing potions, but only enough to stop the bleeding. No point in wasting valuable resources for a non-lethal fight.

"It's a gamble to go again," Natalie said. "One not in our favor." The last fight had already been a gamble. They'd eked out the victory using all their skills. Even Vanetta had pulled out something new: she'd grabbed a nearby shadow and had slashed with it, somehow, dealing serious damage. Natalie would have been interested in talking about the ability with her if she wasn't exhausted and woozy from blood loss. "Do we call it?"

Vanetta hesitated. She looked away, cheeks flushing. "We can handle one more."

No, Natalie didn't think they could. And Vanetta had to know that too. The next fight would be even harder, and they were weak from their injuries. They would almost certainly lose.

Maybe Vanetta wasn't too worried about paying off their stake after all? Or was it determination and a need to prove herself, the reckless sort of competitive spirit that was common in Tenet delvers? Either way, Vanetta walked up and pressed the button to continue.

Natalie doubted they'd be surviving the seventh round. She would do her best, but she suspected Vanetta had just deliberately chosen to pay their stake. Which meant, soon, they would be …

Well. She put that out of her mind. She had a fight to focus on.

Taking a deep breath, she rallied herself one more time.