Too Stubborn to Die

Pulled into the challenge by the System, Talia appeared in a huge cavern filled with gold coins and all kinds of treasures.

“This… is not what I expected.”

She double checked, and the System confirmed that it was a shadow challenge. But where were the shadows?

Her gaze drifted upward to where a huge, sleeping red dragon lay atop a massive mound of gold.

“Huh.”

She couldn’t see the minotaur anywhere, which was a little troubling, but at least she was starting to get an idea of what the challenge was about.

Steal the emperor’s ruby and keep hold of it for 5 minutes to claim victory!

And beware of the dragon!

The moment the System message appeared, she knew immediately what was going on. Right beneath the dragon’s nose was the biggest ruby she had ever seen. It was the size of a soccer ball, and shone brightly as it caught thin rays of light piercing down into the chamber.

Okay, so I’ve got to get that, and keep hold of it.

She looked around and tried to sense for the minotaur, but got nothing. She guessed that it was probably waiting for her to make the first move. And while she didn’t particularly want to charge into a trap, she was up for a challenge.

Activating her Skills, Talia’s shadows crept out from around her. She wasn’t really a rogue Class, or at least, she didn’t think of herself that way. But perhaps she needed to.

Talia looked up at the dragon and the ruby. She had chosen shadows as they were the foundation of her path. And that had led her to a roguish challenge of thievery, and she wondered if the System was trying to tell her something.

She had already been embracing her shadowy side, moving further in that direction with each evolution. But she had to admit, now that she was staring down the objective before her, she hadn’t really been fighting like, or behaving like, a shadowy rogue.

Am I doing it wrong?

Talia tilted her head as she considered the thought momentarily. Perhaps she did need to consider how shadows worked into her path a little more.

This isn’t the time to sit around and think. I have a task to complete.

She needed more shadows, and mana pulsed as she poured more power into her shadow Skill. The shadows thickened and spread throughout the chamber, creating near-impenetrable darkness.

Most of her shadows came from a single Skill she had gained when evolving to D-grade. Shadowmancer allowed her to manipulate shadows in many ways, but so far, she felt like she wasn’t using its full potential.

Talia didn’t have as much mana as Aaron, but she was no pushover, and she cycled as she attempted to fill the entire chamber with shadows.

That’s more like it. Now, time to take my reward.

With darkness all around, Talia casually strolled up to the dragon to claim her prize. She kept her guard up, ready for the minotaur. If it were planning to attack, she would be ready.

As she neared the dragon, steam from its nostrils met her with a wave of heat, so hot that she shielded herself with one arm as she grabbed the ruby with the other. The moment she took hold of the ruby, the dragon’s massive eyes flicked open.

Huge wings spread out as the massive serpent unravelled before her, and steam turned to impossibly hot flames that washed down over her, melting the gold beneath her feet.

But Talia was okay. Her shield Skill had activated and absorbed the incredible flames.

It was an impressive attack, but it wasn’t good enough, and she turned to flee with her treasure.

Just five minutes—

She felt something. A pang of energy, and then furry arms slipping through hers, and wrapping around the ruby. It was fast, and before she could blink, the minotaur had driven straight for the ruby in her grasp, and rolled into a tackle like claiming a ball.

“I told you, girlie! I was born in the dark!” The minotaur roared and dashed straight through the dragon’s flames. It didn’t seem to care about the firebreath, but the stench of burned fur confirmed it hadn’t gone through it completely unscathed.

Talia didn’t miss a step, swinging around and taking chase. Which quickly led down into one of the many dark passages that lined the main chamber.

Some time ago, Talia had completed her Skill set for her armored avatar. In doing so, she had freed up multiple Skill slots, allowing her to take on more new Skills. Including Skills that improved her use of Shadowmancy.

As she took chase, shadowy tendrils shot out from her back, grabbing hold of her surroundings. She pulled on the walls with her shadow tendrils and propelled herself forward.

Then, with her avatar freed to strike, its dark sword swung down on the fleeing minotaur. But the furry beast whacked the sword away with its massive axe, barely slowing.

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Well, at least I’m allowed to attack.

It wasn’t a duel, so she hadn’t been sure that she could attack it directly. But since the System wasn’t complaining, she figured she was free to do whatever was necessary to reclaim the ruby.

Another breath of hot flames licked at her back as the dragon pressed its mouth against the passage entrance and flew fire. But they had already passed too deep into the passages to be damaged by it.

The chase continued through the completely dark passages. There wasn’t any light, and Talia quickly realized that the minotaur wasn’t bluffing. She should see as well in the dark as she could.

But she wasn’t about to give up. She wasn’t going to be left behind, and as she poured additional mana into her shadowy tendrils, they shot out further and farther than before, just barely managing to reach the minotaur and whipping around his arms and legs.

“Gotcha!” Talia shouted and lifted the minotaur up off the ground. For a moment, it looked hopeless in her grasp, thrashing in midair against shadowy tentacles.

“LET GO OF ME!” The minotaur roared, and energy bubbled up within it, and then was released as an echoing booming blast that shot out from his mouth, and sent vibrations through Talia’s tendrils. The shadow shook and then shattered. “HA! I’m not so easily beat, girlie!”

It all happened in less than a second. The beast fell to the ground and swung its massive axe. The attack looked normal enough, but it was seemingly imbued by some kind of power.

Talia just barely managed to block the axe with her shield Skill, but even as she survived the attack, she was alarmed when the seemingly mundane strike ricocheted off her shield and cut straight through the hard brick walls around them, severing the passage in two.

The walls and ceiling caved in on them, and she pushed the rubble back as she continued to chase the minotaur.

“Still trying? Just give up, girlie! You are not my equal!”

The minotaur turned and swung at her again, and Talia was once more forced to block with her shield Skill, which flicked when the impressively powerful strike slammed against it.

As impressive as her shield Skill was, it was flawed. It could block most damage, but it was mana expensive. But more importantly, she felt like it suited a style that was no longer her. The shield belonged to the knight. That was the old Talia. It was the knight who blocked with the shield and then struck with the sword.

But she was more than just a knight now. She was one with the shadows now, wasn’t she? Or at least, that’s what she told herself. But if she was truly going to follow that path, then she knew she had to embrace it.

The rogue didn’t trade blows. They didn’t hold up their shield defiantly as powerful blasts slammed against it. They just avoided the attacks altogether.

She felt like she was at odds with herself, and that needed to change.

Losing was not an option. On the other hand, even if the minotaur took her out, she wouldn’t die in this fight.

It’s now or never!

Talia realized this was the perfect opportunity. She had the urgency of a real fight, with real stakes. But if worst came to worst, she could accept failure here, as long as it pushed her further along her path.

When the next strike from the minotaur came her way, instead of blocking, she used her shadow tendrils to pull herself out of harm's way, and managed to, if only by half an inch.

But she was alive.

There was a problem with her plan, though. The minotaur could obviously see through the dark. She was going to need to be a little more creative if she was going to embrace her roguish side.

Instead of just pouring shadows out, Talia focused on her Shadowmancer Skill and condensed the shadows around her like an impenetrable wall.

The shadows had changed. No longer mere darkness, they were closer to a veil, or a dark shield of impenetrable blackness not much bigger than herself. Of course, since the shadows were so much smaller, the minotaur no longer had to follow her and could just watch where her shroud of darkness went.

Talia bounced from side to side, constantly moving as she closed in on the minotaur.

“HA! Cheap tricks! You’ll need more than that to beat me!”

But Talia’s plan involved more than just the shadows. Her avatar hovered over her, a protector and a warrior she commanded like a second skin. But she had a feeling it could be more than that.

Talia had watched as Aaron pushed himself and his Skills so many times. How he seemed to defy the very logic of the System that gave him power.

And she wanted to try.

Cycling mana, Talia poured a tremendous burst of it into her avatar, pushing the ghostly specter away from her. And it actually worked. She momentarily separated her avatar, projecting it several meters away, and using it to attack the minotaur’s flank.

“So, that’s your trick?!” The minotaur roared, brought its axe up to block, and then swung at the avatar. “Huh? What is this?”

There!

The moment the minotaur committed to its attack, swiping its axe straight through her avatar, Talia sprang forward. She closed the distance between them in a split second, and her tendrils shot out, wrapping around the ruby.

“YOU DARE? GET BACK HERE, GIRLIE!”

But Talia was already gone. She was speeding down a corridor away from the minotaur as fast as she could go. But that wasn’t all. She wanted to push her shadowmancy further, and she condensed shadows into walls that she put up behind her to block the passages as she ran.

A second later, she heard the shouts and screams of anger as the minotaur tried to bash its way through the shadow walls. The walls were neither solid material, nor quite immaterial, but rather something in between. They were impossibly thick and of a very real substance; one could not simply walk through. But neither could they simply be destroyed with regular attacks.

That said, the minotaur was a true elite, and seconds later, he managed to break through, blasting the shadows with a sonic boom that lasted several seconds.

But it hardly mattered. Talia was long gone, and creating new walls of shadows as she ran.

Another echoing roar sounded through the walls as the minotaur reached the next wall of shadows. It had no doubt realized that it was playing straight into her hand.

And a moment later, she felt vibrations rocking the tunnels and loosening debris. The minotaur had decided to start tunneling straight through the rock. It was a D-grade top ranker, after all. And tunneling straight through rock wasn’t that hard, but it was a sign of desperation.

In truth, it was all over. Talia kept running, forgoing her shadow walls. She didn’t need them anymore. The timer was ticking down, and the minotaur couldn’t hope to catch up while digging through solid rock.

And a couple of minutes later, they both reappeared on the chessboard.

“Damn you!” The minotaur shouted. “Cheating scoundrel!”

“What? A little girlie is too much for you, is she?” Talia mocked.

The minotaur snorted and stamped its hooves. But there was nothing to be done about it now. Talia had defended her tile, but neither were knocked out of the match.

However, eyeballs from across the chessboard had already turned to the next encounter about to get started.

Aaron and the man in the star helmet were moved into position, both sliding onto the tile with the quest objective.

Two queens going head to head. And competing over quest objectives was not the same as regular tiles. Here, both were at risk, and whoever lost would be out of both the game and the dungeon.

“You ready, mate?” Aaron said, stretching as he prepared.

“For the Helios Sector!” The opposing queen roared, raising a fist to the air.

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