Chapter 121

Brenna

Power Progression

“Here it comes.” Lykan said, as he sat in a floating meditation pose looking down on Brenna and the entire dungeon.

Brenna stood upon a vast open desert. Her feet were already falling ever so slightly into the loosely packed soil beneath her feet. This was a desert biome, at least that is what Lykan said the markers on the walls indicated this place to be. All around she could only feel heat, the place was so hot and bright that she felt as if her head was stuck in an oven. Her bare feet burned slightly from the heat of the sand, but not as badly as she first expected. At first, she thought the sensation would be too much and that she would need to put on her boots, only after a gentle encouragement from Lykan did she remove her footwear and begin the path of moving about unrestricted. That should have been enough of a sign to tell her how much she had changed since she first entered the dungeon.

Yet, it was only after she realized they were in the restricted section of the dungeon that she truly realized how much she had changed. The restricted section was not out of dominant hunting rites or anything, rather it was meant as a level of protection. The Crystal Legion, the elite troops of the Obsidian Fist Clan were the only ones who hunted in these parts. Even then, their hunting was meant solely as a way to thin the heard of the great earth-wyrms that ravaged these parts.

If the earth-wyrms were left unchecked for too long they would venture out away from this section of the biome and go out looking for food in the beginning desert regions. When this happened it generally meant trouble, as most members of the Obsidian Fist Clan needed to kill the weaker monsters of the dungeon in order to provide food for their families. When the earth-wyrms leave their restricted section, they tend to stay until dealt with by the Legion.

Thus no one complained when they saw Lykan and Brenna go to the restricted section. Nor did they complain when the two hunted the earth-wyrms. For the last two Lykan had assisted and played the position of over watch, dealing disabling blows to the beasts once they left the security of the sand. While Lykan didn’t do much, he was still credited with an assist in the kill. This meant that she only gained plus four Attributes for the last two kills. While this was amazing, and enough to give her an overall plus twenty to all Attributes since she began this mad training regimen with Lykan, it still wasn’t enough for Lykan. Thus, this fight would be all her on her own.

Lykan would be there in the off chance that there would be two, or Brenna got into trouble. But ultimately this was to be her first true test as a warrior. Brenna was both frightened and relieved. She was frightened in that these monsters were crazy fast and strong, even when they were out of their element they were amazingly powerful. She still remembered the first time she saw one, when it looked to have swallowed Lykan up whole.

She was also relieved, as this would be their last test. If she proved herself here, then she could go with Lykan as his companion. This battle was her chance to prove herself to him.

A moment after Lykan gave the warning, Brenna could feel the sands beneath her feet begin to vibrate. It was a subtle sensation, and one that she would have likely missed had she kept her shoes on. Instead she used the sensation to help her understand the movement of the beast. It was fast, exceptionally so.

Bracing herself she was jumping and rolling ahead before her mind had a full chance to process what was happening. She landed forward, rolled and then spun about all before the massive creature erupted from the ground, right where she had just been standing. She looked at the beast in shock for a second, it is so slow? Is it toying with me? She wondered, as she watched the creature look momentarily confused for a second, before it scanned the area and locked onto Brenna.

“Kill it already.” Lykan demanded.

Hearing the words of her master, Brenna felt a little sheepish. That had been a good moment to strike, the beast was up, its neck was exposed and she had missed it. There was a slight problem with becoming too powerful too quickly, she still wasn’t used to how fast her body and mind were. She knew from her conversations with Lykan that at least Attribute wise she should be nearing the third tier of power, especially since she managed to form her first basic core which increased Strength and Power by +2. Apparently there were ways she could make different cores that increased additional Attributes, but Lykan wanted her to learn those on her own. As for now she was content to have the added bonus to her Strength, the Attribute that has helped her out the most in killing these monsters.

This will make number nine, a lucky number. Brenna thought to herself as she shuffled her feet looking for an opening. She could feel Lykan getting impatient, but now she had to wait. The shuffling of feet not only made it so she could move and react quickly, while not letting her feet sink too deeply into the sand. The shuffling also had the added benefit of drawing the attention of the ravenous beast before her.

Lunge.

The beast lunged forward, on instinct Brenna shuffled back three steps avoiding the strike entirely.

“Hmph!” Lykan let out an annoyed sound.

Only after hearing the sound did Brenna realize she could have taken the action to dart under the strike and slice at the neck of the beast, just as he instructed. Still it is one thing to be told what to do, and another thing to do what you are told.

I need to get better. She chastised herself, at this rate she knew Lykan would ditch her. He had already done so much for her, rescued her from an overwhelming force. Escorted her and her charges to this settlement, then spent weeks, or maybe months at this point directing her and forcing her to improve. Now he stood as over watch, in case she got hurt, and she was only being defensive. Realizing she was holding her own self back, and had likely already ruined her chances to continue this great journey that felt like it had only just started, caused a fire to burn within Brenna. She felt heat burn in her stomach, as her mind and body began to focus.

“Oh?” Was all Lykan said, but that word while heard and registered by Brenna was lost in the moment. At this moment a fury rose up in Brenna as she didn’t want to be left behind. She felt fear and rage building within her, building tightly for a moment, before she exploded forward.

“GRRR!” A snarling growl left her lips as she charged forward. The beast that had recoiled slightly so it could strike out once more paused to watch her advancement. That was all the time Brenna needed as she darted under the jaw of the great beast and made a slash. Her swing was so quick that one would think she missed entirely, she would have too had there not been the slightest of resistances from her swing. A resistance that was over and gone so quickly that she thought she had missed. Or at the very least only made a minor graze. This only infuriated Brenna more.

She slashed down in a cross cut, then back in an arc. Her mind told her of the moving shadows over her head and body, letting her know the great serpent was on the move. So Brenna moved away from the weaker underbelly of the beast and quickly darted around to its exposed back.

Slash.

A quick strike caused her battle-axe to sink and get stuck in the spine of the great beast. Brenna jerked the axe, but it was stuck.

“GRR!” Brenna felt rage fill her as she had done something so stupid as letting her weapon get stuck in the enemy. She wiggled the blade for a second, then after a tense moment there was a slurping pop as the blade was wrestled free of the great beast.

At this point the beast began to shake, figuring it was preparing for some type of super strike Brenna struck down again. This time she hit the same spot over, and withdrew her blade cleanly. Then she struck again, and again, and again. The best wriggled, but nothing told her that she was in immediate danger. So she pressed the advantage, wondering if Lykan had done something again to save her, either by jumping down to distract the beast or taking the brunt of its blows immediately. Brenna struck over and over, until finally the section she had been hacking at fell off and detached completely.

What is this? Can the beast regenerate itself? Brenna’s mind raced as it tried to understand the new threat that it faced and what potential dangers awaited from its new form. The beast still twitched.

Clap. Clap.

Brenna paused as she looked to the sound of clapping, only to find Lykan still floating in his meditation position.

“What?” Brenna asked as she looked from Lykan to the wyrm and then back. She even looked towards the head to the area she was certain he would be, only to find that place empty as well.

“You killed it, congratulations.” Lykan said, his words hitting Brenna like a slap to the face.

“What? Didn’t you distract it?” Brenna asked, once again looking towards the head that was still going through death throws, its massive jaw opening and closing with wild spasms. Only now did Brenna realize what had happened, that she had killed the beast by herself, somehow.

Lykan for his part just shook his head before answering. “I was about to, but then you activated your core. Congratulations on that by the way. What type of core did you create?”

“What?” Brenna asked for the third time. Only this time did she take a moment to read her blessings from the gods.

Blessing Bestowed: Matriarch Slayer Earth-Wyrm Slayer Matriarch Slayer Earth-Wyrm Slayer (Epic): You managed to slay a monster at the pinnacle of existence. As a reward the gods have blessed you with a permanent +5 bonus to all attributes that can take you beyond the normal maximum assigned to your race. Blessing Bestowed: Earth-Wyrm Genocide

Earth-Wyrm Genocide (Legendary): You have managed to kill the last of a non-indigenous species to this planet. As a reward the gods have granted you +2 to all Attributes.

Those were the dual blessings she received from killing the earth-wyrm, apparently it was the last of its kind. This meant she was rewarded by the gods for eliminating the threat of this particular biome. She and Lykan had discussed such an event, and while she had noted the bonuses from killing each and every earth-wyrm she still felt it was somehow wrong to be rewarded for killing off an entire species of monsters. Then again, she knew of the dangers that dragons alone posed to the world and realized that these earth-wyrms would be as dangerous, if not more so than the dragons were. In a way she was okay with this change, not happy, but accepting of this fate.

Then she looked at the last change that was noted by the gods and her jaw dropped.

Blessing Bestowed: Blazing Intermediate Core. Blazing Intermediate Core. You have managed to create a core to store foreign energy within your body. The energy stored here is considered to be permanently in use to improve your body. This core can be improved upon to receive greater results. Results: +6 Strength, +3 Power.

The core was different. She knew that her core was somehow different from the one that Lykan had. This was partly why Lykan seemed to avoid directing her on how to build her core. Instead he insisted that she would understand how to build her own core.

“Two things. First that was the last earth-wyrm and I was rewarded for the genocide of the species.” After hearing this Lykan gave an approving nod. After that, Brenna no longer able to contain herself continued “I also advanced my core. I now have a Blazing Intermediate Core!” She shouted excitedly, as she began do dance about on the back of the final slain earth-wyrm.

Hearing this Lykan let out a smile and a small chuckle, more due to the sight of her dancing on the bloody corpse of her enemy in bare feet. Realizing her own sight Brenna at first thought to be embarrassed, but then quickly changed her mind as she just accepted that this was who she now was. Or rather whom she needed to be in order to stay by his side.

Realizing she had improved, she suddenly realized a topic that they had discussed recently. “Wait, didn’t you say you had also gained a new attack ability?” She asked.

Lykan had always taken time away to practice on his own and had recently spoken of a new attack type power that he wasn’t quite certain of what the ability did.

“I did.” Lykan nodded.

“Then let’s see it…” Brenna said gesturing to the open dungeon. Off in the distance various monsters could be seen. Many no doubt were scavengers brought by the overwhelming smell of blood coming from the earth-wyrm corpse.

“Haven’t we killed enough of the monsters in this dungeon?” Lykan asked. “Besides I don’t know if we helped or hurt the chances of monster surges from this dungeon.” Lykan admitted.

After hearing that, Brenna sighed in understanding. “Well is it an awesome attack at least?”

Lykan chuckled, “sure.”

Brenna paused, as she didn’t know if she could stomach to hear the true response to this next question. Yet, she had to know. “So does this mean that I get to go with you?”

Hearing that and seeing her expression Lykan shook his head. The action was enough to make Brenna feel queasy in her stomach, before Lykan answered. “I can’t believe you have to ask. What were the terms of my taking you with me?”

“That I kill an earth-wyrm by myself.” Brenna shot back.

“And did you do that?”

“Well yes…”

“Then what should that tell you?”

“That I can go…?”

“Of course.” Lykan said, then he paused a second before he added, “besides how else will you see my new attack.”

Hearing that Brenna beamed as she ran forward to hug Lykan. Lykan seeing the blood and viscera covered dwarf running towards him just flew higher slightly. “You can’t touch me until you have a bath.”

Looking down at herself and seeing the blood that covered her entire front side Brenna nodded.

“Well while you are that dirty, you might as well get the core.” Lykan noted.

With that Brenna sighed as she began turning the beast over, only to find a number of what appeared to be lethal strikes on the underbelly of the beast. Then at the center of one of the slashes, was the glowing core. Shocked for a second Brenna just stared at the glowing mass before reaching her hand forward and pulling the solidified mass free.

“Wait, was it already dead?” She asked while looking at the strikes that felt like she barely touched the beast.

“It would have died, but that blow that severed its spine was the final piece needed to kill it instantly. After that its body only reacted on impulses.” Lykan said, hearing that Brenna felt a slow peace wash over her. She had done it, she had a mission and she accomplished it. She realized that she had likely taken much longer to complete the task than was absolutely necessary, but she had finally downed the beast. With that, she felt a strange sense of relief wash over her.

“Come on. We still need to shut this place down.” Lykan said, calling Brenna out of her revere.

“Oh sure.” Brenna said, before falling in beside Lykan.

With that the two left the open plains of the desert biome, and made their way towards the heart of the whole facility. Only there would Brenna’s true understanding of what Lykan’s mission was, fully begin to sink in.