“Retreat!” I called out to the others, watching them disengage as best as they could from the elemental. After the boss charged once more and Adra leapt away, dodging, I used Overflow and put my Astral Power into instantly manifested Ice Walls, boxing the elemental in and forcing it to break through the walls before it could go after us. Luckily, the entrance was not blocked and we got into the tunnel before it was upon us again, the narrow walls around us preventing it from following us.

We re-grouped a little further down the tunnel, looking for a spot that had no ice, just rocks.

“Why did you call for a retreat? We were winning.” Adra asked, looking curious and slightly annoyed.

“No, we weren’t. The elemental was drawing upon the glacier around us, the endless Astral Power, to restore itself.” I explained.

Rai frowned, “Well, we certainly can’t fight that thing until the glacier is gone. If we tried, we would be here for an eternity.

“There might be a way. Remember how the other elementals were, well, designed for lack of a better word? There was a small core of Eternal Ice in the centre. What do you think, is that core the weak point and if we manage to attack it, the elemental will be destroyed?” I asked, trying to come up with a way to destroy our foe.

“Could be. And if it is, we will have to focus our attacks on a single point, better, focus all our power into a single attack.” Adra picked up my idea.

“Or into a single person. The spells you use on yourself, are you able to put them on Sigmir?” I spun the thread further, passing the idea back to Adra.

“Yes, but they are not supposed to be used that way. There might be some backlash.”

“What kind of backlash?” I asked, frowning.

“I think the spells would increase the power and speed but I’m not sure if they would prevent the person from harming themselves with the additional power.”

“Let’s keep that in mind. First, I want to heal you up and maybe we should look into the other tunnel before we decide?” I asked, and the others nodded. Healing them took only a few moments, none of them had taken serious hits in the fight. Luckily.

Afterwards, we walked back to the central area and from there, into the third tunnel. It looked very familiar, just like the two tunnels we had traversed before, querders and Ice Sprites annoying us every other step. But, the tunnel did not end in a boss-room with the big bad of the dungeon waiting for us, it ended with an ice-wall. A familiar looking ice wall, it looked just like the one that had closed the room of the first boss.

“I guess if we want to continue, we need to use one of the fangs from the first boss or we are stuck.” I said, using game-logic in a game world. The others nodded, but none of us made the first move.

“It might be better to take care of the elemental first. Just in case.” Sigmir suggested, mirroring my thinking and unease. By my gamer-logic, the elemental was either the second, necessary boss of the dungeon and after the wall would be another obstacle or the elemental was a bonus-boss that we may ignore. Its level hinted at bonus-boss but I was unsure.

“Sigmir, if we want to destroy the elemental, we depend on you. If we put my Blood Magic buffs and Adra’s buffs on you and maybe a weakening curse from Rai onto the elemental, it would depend on you. Unless I’m mistaken, you would face quite heavy backlash afterwards,” I explained, worry for Sigmir in my voice.

She gave me a soft, reassuring kiss, “Don’t worry, dear. I can handle it.”

“Well, then, let’s try it.” I agreed to her confidence with a soft sigh, worrying for her.

We turned back from the wall, moving back into the main room and settled down for a bit. I had to come up with a curse, using only Darkness Magic so Rai could use it. Lenore and I tinkered a bit, turning the runes for Curse, Devour and Magic into a chant that should allow Rai to place it onto our enemy by continuously chanting, draining its magic in the process. At least in theory. Teaching it to him took another hour or so, but then, we were ready.

Again, we went into the tunnel leading to the elemental, quickly crossing the distance thanks to the absence of enemies. At the entrance, Adra started chanting and I drew runes directly onto Sigmir, creating two formations, one centered on the Strength-rune, the other centered on the Haste-Rune. Keeping both active was mentally straining but I didn’t have to hold them for long.

Next to me, Adra was softly chanting and through Lenore’s sight, I was able to see the magic that normally enveloped her when fighting settle around Sigmir.

“I’m ready.” Adra announced and Sigmir stepped forward while Rai started chanting. The elemental seemed to only notice us when he did, hinting at the fact that it sensed the magic that targeted it. The next moment, he had to dodge to the side, when an icicle shot towards him but he managed, without even stopping his chant.

But then, it was a moot point whether the elemental had noticed us.

Sigmir, glowing with magic and her own abilities, charged forward. Her armour of red energy, the soft fur and golden eyes that came as part of her connection with Ylva, the pulsing glow of my blood magic and the shimmering of Adra’s buffs. all those effects surrounded her. In a way, Sigmir was using the strength of four people, all of whom had crossed the first divide. And I knew that I was not holding back, using Overflow to let my Astral Power freely flow into the buffs on Sigmir, supporting her with all my power. There was no way, that her attacks went unnoticed and the elemental quickly had bigger worries than Rai and his anti-magic curse.

Sigmir’s strikes, dealt with her Lok’nar, made good on the name of her class, Mountain Cleaver. Even the elemental felt those heavy and powerful swings, one after the other forcing it back and cleaving deep gouges into its frozen body and forcing it back. In my vision, I noticed a dark glow slowly taking away the icy mist that surrounded the elemental, preventing it from getting all the power it needed to regenerate. Not that its regeneration would be fast enough to keep up with Sigmir’s furious assault.

A part of me noticed that my Astral Power was swiftly depleting and I started to worry if our plan could work. But then, for a split-second, the elemental glowed brightly with silvery light, or rather, the silvery light that made up the elemental was freed from the dense carapace for a moment when Sigmir exposed its core. But only for a moment, and then that magical moment was gone. Her next strike, following the previous on its heel, had shattered the magic that held the spirit in the world of Mundus and I witnessed how it evaporated, either into the glacier or into the spirit-world of ice, where it undoubtedly came from.

Glacial Elemental died You gain 9 500 EXP. For killing an opponent 3 level above you you gain Bonus EXP For killing an opponent without a Traveller in your party, you gain Bonus EXP For killing an opponent with the Dungeon Traveller-Bonus in effect, you gain Bonus EXP For killing a Floor-Boss without a full party, you gain Bonus EXP You reached level 55 You gain one point Intelligence from your class, Lunar Sorceress.

I noticed the messages while I gently eased off the Astral Power I was pouring into Sigmir. If I was hasty, I might cause additional backlash to her and that was something I wanted to avoid. As I watched the ice that had made up the elemental evaporating only leaving behind the core of Eternal Ice, I noticed that Sigmir was staggering and rushed forward, in case she fell.

“Now… that was fun.” Sigmir mumbled when I reached her, only now really taking in the size of the chunk Eternal Ice that had kept the elemental alive. But, even the huge core paled in comparison to the worry I felt for Sigmir. Gently placing my hands on her face, I started channelling my Blood Magic, trying to ease the pain that the backlash undoubtedly caused her. Ylva left her Hallow next to Sigmir, visibly staggering as she did.

“And you tell me that I’m reckless with my magic, love.” I softly scolded, not really meaning it while I eased her to the ground, letting her use my lap as a pillow.

There was no way we could take on the rest of the dungeon today.