Chapter Fifteen: Don’t sneeze, Don’t look down and Don’t breathe in.

Peter stood there dumbstruck for close to ten minutes, just staring vacantly at the hilt that remained intact in his hand. Having left him to his shock long enough, Rory slowly approached, bending down to examine the shards that lay scattered on the floor. Analysing the shards failed to do anything. The remaining pieces no longer benefiting from the system and just becoming junk. Rory’s presence still hadn’t got a reaction from Peter, so he called his name. Peter's gaze snapped to Rory, his hands glowing bright white and coming up in a defensive position for a second before the fog seemed to lift from his eyes as he recognised Rory and relaxed, letting out a long sigh. “I should have realised my new class would clash with my sword, I’d have still picked the class anyway but it would have been nice to let one of the others benefit from it.” Nudging one of the shards with his foot he let out another sigh “now its no use to anyone.” With a grunt of effort, Peter cocked back his arm, readying to throw the hilt away. Before he could, Rory grabbed hold of his arm.“whoa! Peter, I know you’re annoyed at the sword breaking, but the sword broken or not is still one of the few pieces of metal we have. Someone at camp might be able to repurpose it.” Peter visibly brightened at Rory's comment. bending down, he gathered all the shards and passed them to Rory. “I suppose you are right. Put these in that crazy bag of yours.” Rory passed Peter his spear. While it was no replacement for his shattered sword, it at least didn’t leave him having to fight hand to hand. Scanning the rest of the arena, a doorway had opened up directly opposite of where they had entered. What lay beyond was illuminated by weak torch light and exposed cobweb covered grey stonework. Seeing no other way forward and with the path behind them ultimately leading back to a dead end, the group gathered themselves together and continued their unhappy journey. Rory wrinkled his nose in disgust. The passageway stank of damp. Every step the group made sent puffs of dust billowing into the air, causing them to choke and their eyes to water. Tiny skeletons littered the floor, bleached white with age, the slightest pressure causing them to crumble to nothing. Every footstep and sound the group made echoed down the passageway, setting the group on edge. Alex stepped onto a particularly large patch of dust, disturbing it and causing it to explode out in every direction. Out of nowhere, the dust solidified into a hand that caught Alex squarely in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Before anyone could react, the dust dispersed into motes that fell lazily through the air. A moment later, something solid impacted Rory's side. He clutched his side in pain, his hand coming away with blood and grit where he had been stabbed. The group caught the faint outline of a humanoid shadow made of dust before it too dispersed into dust. Part of the appendage that had stabbed Rory fell to the ground, coated in blood. Several members tried to analyse the creature they now knew was attacking them but whether it was because the creature kept disappearing or it wasn’t solid enough but analysis failed to read anything. Another limb materialised in front of Rory, aiming this time for his heart. Rory, however, was ready and sent a great jet of flame towards the figure. Just as the flames were about to hit the creature, it once again burst into dust. After the fire ended, the creature materialised again in the same place and seemed to stare at Rory as if taunting him that his attack had been useless. A hammer of holy light thundered past Rory’s head impacting uselessly where the dust creature had been but a second ago. When the creature reformed again, it was hit by both a spear strike from Alex and an arrow by Emily, this time the creature didn’t even bother to fully disintegrate, instead holes opened up where the weapons had struck, instantly reforming as soon as the arrow had passed through and the spear had moved. For their troubles, Emily received a gash to her forehead that bleed profusely and Alex had to back peddle furiously to avoid a strike aiming for his throat. The monster dematerialised once again, leaving a sharp blade of dust covered in Emily’s blood. Worried about the monster they appeared unable to injure, Rory shouted to everyone, “We can’t seem to hurt it. Everyone cover each other's backs, we need to get out of here”. Acting on Rorys announcement, everyone grouped together, their backs pressed against each other, watching every possible angle as they slowly continued down the passage. The attacks were relentless, claws, weapons, various animal heads with mocking smiles and overly large teeth lashed out at them, sometimes drawing blood but most often enough parried away in a cloud of dust before the offending item could injury them. Rory and the group suddenly reached the end of the passageway. Crumbling stone bricks and loose mortar gave way to a massive open cavern. Rich spears of purple amethyst the size of Rory's head had covered most of the ceiling and walls, causing Rory's flames to give off an eerily light that flickered hundreds of times in every crystal above them. The group also found themselves on a narrow bridge some two meters wide. Either side of the bridge was nothing. A hole that went down to complete blackness greeted them on either side when Rory dared to glance down. During this time of sight seeing, their attacker has not been slaking, instead of sharp attacks it had settled for blunt attacks, staying solid longer so that they were still impacted by the air pressure from the creatures powerful blows, whenever it was forced to dematerialise to avoid the group’s attacks. Peter’s footing slipped, and he found himself falling backwards. He quickly took two steps backwards to regain his balance and one of his feet found only air. With a gut dropping lurch, he fell backwards, his arms out windmilling as if wishing to gain the ability to fly. Both Rory and Alex halted their futile attacks and dived for Peter each grabbing hold of a leg and stopping his fall. With their enhanced strength, both of them could easily support Peter’s weight, and they immediately started to pull him up. The dust creature took advantage of Peter's vulnerability, repeatedly attacking him from behind where he was helpless other than to twist and swipe ineffectively at his attacker. Peter was dragged back onto the bridge and quickly forced to his feet so they could continue fleeing. Peter's back had been ripped open, appearing as if flayed. The fabric of his business suit as well as the skin on his back were missing and in their place was a weeping mass of flesh. The bridge was only twenty meters in length, but it seemed to take an age before they reached the end of it and entered into a wide cavern with a pool in the middle. The group fought viciously against the dust cloud. Spears constantly stabbed at it, jets of flame and lightning were hurled its way and glowing hammers impacted against it, all to no effect the dust never ceasing in its pursuit of pain. By this point, everyone was bleeding, everyone was cut deeply in several places. Emily suddenly broke ranks with the group suddenly darting away and towards the opposite end of the cavern where an exit lay “Emily, wait, we need to work as a team!” Rory cried out. Emily faulted midstride, glancing back at the group, a grim smile on her face. Just as Rory was about to swear over Emily, leaving them alone, he saw her stop by the pool, cupping a handful of water and then rapidly running back to them. As soon as Emily joined the group, she flung her cupped water straight at where the Dust cloud was. Instead of dematerialising, the parts of the monster hit by the water remained solid instead hitting the ground with a ringing bang. A maddened yell rang out due to Emily’s attack. “Guys, it’s made of dust. All we need to do is get it wet and it cannot hurt us. " With Emily's pleasing news, the group broke ranks and ran straight for the pond. Their lack of discipline serving to help them as the creature clearly didn’t expect them to bolt and missed its attacks. The group made it to the pool, jumping in without a care for what may lie beneath. Reaching the surface of the water, Rory wiped the water from his eyes and looked about, finding the Dust monster rapidly darting backwards and forwards above him. Emily slowly swam towards him and, upon reaching him, quietly whispered in his ear. With a grin, an explosion of force erupted out of the pond. Rory having cast his magic, causing a wall of force to displace the water. Water flew everywhere. The Dust creature let out a pitiful whine as it was plastered by the water, its form becoming solid. With a grunt of effort, Peter followed up Rory's attack with his smite skill. A golden hammer descended upon the now solid monster, causing both the hammer and the creature to break off into tiny fragments. A notification sounded through Rory's mind, and everyone in the group relaxed.