Side Story - Candrial 4: A Great Team

AN: First time writing some more proper action scenes. See this as a trial run, so feedback would be most welcome. The next few Side Stories will likely involve more fighting as I figure out how to write that. Gotta ease myself into it, though.

Candrial ducked below the approaching blade, letting it clash against the armour that covered the back of her hand in a bid to push it away from its sudden course towards her neck. Needless to say that the enemies on the tenth floor were a lot more challenging than any of the previous ones. To think there are so many more floors.

A thin blue barrier adorned with an endlessly repeating pattern of runes appeared behind the Elf, blocking a ball of black fire that would have otherwise burned her. Candrial smiled at Eziekiel, her husband offering a small nod as he embedded the blade of his lance into a knight that writhed on the floor, trying to grab its sword.

The Elven woman turned around, drawing her arm back as she did. Once she caught sight of the enemy that had shot the fiery projectile Candrial threw her sword, letting out a yell as she drew more heavily on her well and forced that mana into the skill that empowered her and her muscles directly.

A streak of orange fire raced through the air towards the enemy while Candrial thrust her other arm forward, the second sword she held sliding through a tiny slit in the armour of the knight that had struck at her neck and piercing the glowing violet gem that powered the construct.

Her makeshift projectile reached its target a moment later, causing the mage to stagger. In the blink of an eye, Eziekiel manifested a spear of blue light that instantly crossed the distance, striking before their opponent could recover. Much like the knight she had just dispatched, the mage crumpled to the ground. A small part of the magic that had kept it alive was rewarded to the mortals that had killed it, while the rest returned to the dungeon.

"They remind me of your Goddess' warriors," he said as he pulled his weapon back again and held up his hand to create another barrier. "Very ferocious, but kind of dumb."

"The order you are thinking of is made up of people who know nothing but the fight." She held out her hand. An almost silent whirr filled the room as the sword she had thrown returned to her, stopping at the exact moment she could close her hand and grab it. "But they also know how to work together and have proper tactics. These knights are strong, but ultimately work alone."

"For now," Eziekiel added as he spun the lance and drew a small rune into the air with his free hand.

As soon as the symbol was completed, it vanished, replaced with a blue glow surrounding both Candrial and her husband. The barrier Eziekiel had cast to protect them at the beginning of the floor had been restored to its full strength.

"They are getting more skilled the further we go in," Candrial admitted, giving the blade she had just reclaimed a twirl. "Perhaps further in we will find commanders who can make better use of these simple troops."

"I certainly hope so," Eziekiel said, falling into step behind his wife who had begun walking deeper into the dungeon.

As much fun as it was to fight the knights, they did not drop anything useful once beaten. Their armor could be claimed, of course, but both Candrial and Eziekiel already had equipment that surpassed that of the monsters. One of the perks of serving the divine.

Another perk was currently coursing through her body and caused the orange glow of her Goddess' blessing to brighten around her as she took a deep breath. One of her skills had picked up more enemies. Rounding the corner, their spear-wielding opponents came into view, moving in what could generously be described as a loose formation.

Candrial stopped and held up her left hand, peeling back three fingers from the grip of her sword before motioning to the right. She waited until she felt Eziekiel tap onto her back twice before invoking a skill that caused her to vanish and reappear above one of the spear-wielding knights. One of the few benefits of being a mortal: teleportation skills actually worked without costing half of your entire mana supply. Even if its only a small distance.

The fire that flowed through her entire being spread onto her sword at her will, flames tracing the edge of the blade she held in her right hand. She let go of her other sword and it obligingly vanished, freeing her hand to help push her remaining weapon into the enemy with more force.

With the screeching of metal and the muffled sound of breaking glass, her sword cut through the knight’s armour and embedded into its skull. Candrial twisted it as she forced more of her mana into the weapon, causing the fire bound to the blade to lash out and engulf the monster from within.

Candrial pushed herself off as the knight began to thrash. Landing in a crouch, she supported herself in one hand as her second sword appeared in the other, ready to strike at the two remaining monsters.

They had just taken their first step towards her when blue lines began to draw themselves underneath their feet. Candrial kept her gaze fixed upon the two knights, making sure that Eziekiel could use her eyes to see the enemy from his position around the corner.

Lines turned into symbols, circling around her foes, and as soon as the last symbol had manifested itself a pillar of light swallowed the monsters. The spell would not kill them outright but her love did specifically design it to be most hurtful for the undead, and indeed, from the pillar of light came guttural roars that belied their skeletal origins. They were simply being given back 'a bit of life,' as he had put it. That it also siphoned off most of the mana that they could use for spells seemed to mostly be an afterthought.

Not wanting to waste more time with pondering, Candrial kicked herself off of the ground again, launching herself at the two remaining knights. A small sacrifice of mana brought the sword that she had used to burn the first knight back in to her hand, and as soon as she had a firm grip on the newly returned weapon, she stretched out both of her arms and let the flames of her Goddess engulf them.

There were no trails left in the air this time, as the fire burning on her weapons was pulled to the leading edge and condensed into a thin orange line that simply split the monsters, armour and all, as though they were made of jelly.

Her foes taken care of, Candrial turned mid-air before her feet found purchase on the ground, and when her toes connected she pushed herself upwards into a back flip that helped her get rid of unwanted momentum.

While she was coming to a stop, Eziekiel stepped forward and summoned two arrows beside him. They hung in the air as they were engulfed by a blue glow, and with a sharp whistle from the Elf, they flew towards a new set of knights that had just rounded another corner, through gaps in their armour and into the crystals that powered them.

Neither of them were taking these encounters too seriously and Eziekiel had decided to stand back for now and let his wife enjoy herself. The knights they were fighting at the moment would punish any mistakes they made, sure, but they were not nearly strong enough to be a credible threat. Not without better tactics… And some coverage for their weak spots.

Nearly every spell that Eziekiel could use would be able to get past their defences and to the crystal that kept them alive. But then, the entire dungeon seemed to be formed around the dual purpose of teaching of ancient civilizations and instructing mortals how to fight.

Early on it had been just a normal dungeon with impressive views, but as they progressed further down, you needed some form of ability and at least four brain cells to rub together were required to figure out how to dispatch the monsters. Their current floor was populated with knights that would not be beaten simply with a sword or with magic. One needed to either overpower their enchanted armour to succeed or, as Eziekiel had just done, sneak cleverly around their defenses.

"I think we should press on further," Candrial said. "If we waste more time on the lower floors the others might catch up."

///

The building that housed the final boss of the tenth floor was not what Candrial had expected. It was not the first temple-like building they had found — or fought in — inside this dungeon, but this one stood apart from the rest.

What once had been towers that had likely reached high above them had been broken in a blast, and frozen in time. The scattered pieces of the structure simply floated above the rest of the temple while the white and red magic that had destroyed it pulsed around them, sending crackling arcs of what Candrial assumed to be condensed mana into the surrounding area.

Whatever civilization this section of the dungeon was based on had most certainly met a violent end. Temporal magic of any kind, she knew, had been outlawed since the third age by both the mortal empires of the time and the Gods that had been in existence. Candrial had asked Ferio about it once or twice, but her Goddess had never told her anything concrete about the matter.

"So my guess was right," Eziekiel said as he gestured towards the temple. "Second age, probably the same empire that built Lightfray and perhaps even the first iteration of Ardynshaide."

"You would think the people that built the place the dungeon is in would place themselves further down," Candrial said and began to walk across the empty courtyard towards the temple. "I do hope that whatever is inside uses time magic. That would be something new, for once."

"I doubt a dungeon cares about laws, divine or not," Eziekiel replied, falling into step beside his wife. "If I had to guess, I would say that this is a boss that causes people to leave this dungeon very fast."

Candrial let out a laugh at the words before she invoked her teleportation skill, ending up right in front of the door. Eziekiel appeared by her side shortly after, a blue glow and a few whispered words lingering as he brushed off some of the sparkling dust that stuck to him whenever he used the skill. A skill acquired from an actual Fae always came with some weird side effects.

Opening the door that lead into the temple was a lot more involved than it had any right to be as, like the temporally frozen towers above, it had seemingly taken quite a beating from rather forbidden magic. As soon as Candrial and Eziekiel managed to push it open, the door would shudder briefly before abruptly reverting to its closed state. The process repeated a few more times before they quickly managed to slip inside while, behind them, the door was just as closed as it had always been.

"I can see why the Gods don't want people to use this," Eziekiel commented as he knocked on the door that had technically still not let them through. "Very weird."

"Not as weird as that," Candrial said, nodding towards the various knights and mages that were frozen in time. They lined the walls, ones that were as broken as the bodies on display. It was as if something inside the temple had exploded rather violently, but reality did its best to pretend that it had never happened.

They appeared to be still alive, trapped in endlessly repeating movements and silent screams. Some of them — the mages especially — looked like they were trying to contain something, while others were praying in one moment and suddenly contorting themselves in the next.

A small amount of non-repeating movement caught their eye. One of the monsters, standing near an altar, was not frozen at all. Candrial wanted to call it a priest, going by the robes it wore and the fact that it was seemingly praying, likely to a deity that no longer existed, but the shield on its back and sword at its hip did not quite fit that label.

"And definitely not as weird as our boss over there," Eziekiel commented as he turned around to better eye the maybe-priest. "It certainly seems to be a bit more aware than its brethren."

"It does," Candrial agreed, letting one of her swords disappear and replacing it with a dagger. She held the weapon by its blade, looking at her husband and throwing it after he had given a nod.

A hazy line trailed behind the dagger as it twirled through the air towards its target. Eziekiel murmured a few words next to her, the barrier he was so fond of establishing itself around their bodies again as well as around the dagger Candrial had thrown.

"Go," he whispered, tapping his love on the back once.

Candrial gave a curt nod in reply and took a deep breath, the magic of her Goddess' blessing coursing through her as she broke into a sprint. A moment later, a golden light shone behind her which made her body grow a little lighter. At the same time, the air in the room became just a little more frigid. There was no need to turn around to know what Eziekiel had done, as the [Blessing of Edisicio] he carried was unique in its nature.

The sword she had stored reappeared in her hand and, just as the dagger she had thrown was about to strike the boss, the monster turned around and slapped it out of the air in one fluid motion.

It let out a gargling scream that could not have come from its own skeletal throat before it drew the sword form its hip and the shield from its back. Before Candrial had come into range for a strike or the magic Eziekiel was working on had a chance to take hold, the monster thrust its sword upwards and howled.

In response to the gesture, the same red and white magic that had danced around the broken towers outside rushed from the ceiling and into the monster. It roared, throwing its head back as flesh that had likely been absent for years began to grow over its shining white bones.

Neither Candrial or Eziekiel had much interest in letting the monster do anything more. A circle of golden light appeared underneath the feet of what was now only a half-skeleton and, but a moment later, a pillar of equally golden flames rushed upwards to engulf the monster.

Candrial did not spare any thoughts for the fire as she teleported herself into the pillar, the flames of her Goddess that flowed through her simply spreading across her skin to shield her from her husband's magic. She thrust one of her swords forward, striking at a small gap in the monster's armour while she turned the other one around in her hand and moved to slice its neck.

"Again," the monster announced. Its deep voice echoed through the room as one blade slipped through the gap in the armour and the other slit its newly-acquired throat.

Candrial felt herself move backwards; saw the fresh blood flow off of her sword and back into the wound she had caused before it closed itself. The burns that had begun to spread across the monster's limbs receded as the fire of her husband's magic moved in reverse.

A blink later, the two Elves found themselves back at the entrance of the temple. The knights were as frozen as they had always been, and the boss of the tenth floor was once again praying at its altar.

Eziekiel waved his hand, likely taking a look at his [Status] before he gave a laugh. "It also turns back time on all the mana we spent," he said, shaking his head. "But I also get the feeling we have to completely kill it in a single attack so it doesn't even have the chance to do this rewinding thing."

"Or we are missing something," Candrial commented, checking her own [Status] and finding it as it would have been before using any of the skills she had just used. "Who would have thought that a dungeon could do this."

"Not me," Eziekiel commented as he rolled one shoulder after the other, rewarding him with a few small pops. "But now it has my interest."

Candrial could not help but heave a sigh as the swords her love had made for her disappeared from her hands, replaced by a claymore that was almost as tall as the Elf herself. Runes had been engraved over the entirety of the blade, and the same stylised image of a sun found on the amulet she usually wore was emblazoned on the hilt.

"This is going to give me a headache," Candrial mumbled as she closed her eyes. She took a deep breath, focusing on the blessing her Goddess had given her, letting more of its power flow through her body and into the weapon she held. The runes on the sword began to flow dimly at first, but as they filled with power they grew brighter until flames began to emerge from them to lick at the metal that housed them.

When the priestess of Ferio opened her eyes again, the world had taken a slight reddish hue. The natural colour of her eyes could no longer be seen, replaced with the fire of her Goddess that would burn this heretical time priest from existence.

"Oh my," Eziekiel said, the usual blue barrier around him replaced by a golden one. "Going all out already?"

Candrial took a step forward, firmly grasping her weapon before she lowered herself and prepared for the next assault. "I hate time bullshit."

AN: This ran a bit longer than expected, and as you can see is still ongoing, but I feel like here is a good point to stop so we can have the boss fight as its own thing next time.