The bog was way worse than the misty forest, in Hadia's opinion. It stank, and everything felt wet even when they weren't in the water. The solid ground they did find was always slightly spongy-feeling, and grabbing a large stick to help add walking balance was not the worst choice. They made their way carefully along the water's edge, going north from their little moat. It was both a surprise and an inevitability, though, when Hadia saw Jin take a confident step forward only to slip and stumble forward suddenly.

"Shit! Jin!" Hadia called out as the Wayfarer sank instantly to the waist in a puddle of mud.

"Fuck! I swear that looked solid to my perception," she yelled back, trying to twist around only to sink another inch.

"No! Don't move!" Hadia interjected, quickly moving to the edge and gesturing for the others to stay back. "Those kinds of biome traps will usually swallow you faster if you panic and try to climb out yourself. Just let us stabilize, and we'll pull you out."

She gestured for Liraz to come closer, but paused when her gaze noticed something moving in the water off to the side of them. Quickly signing to Alim, she said, "Something might be coming. Hold it off while Li and I get Jin."

Jin looked in the direction Hadia had pointed at and signed to Alim, "It's a swarm of small fish! My [Draconic Insight] says they're Metal and Corrosion-attuned. Stay out of the water!"

When Liraz got close enough, Hadia explained, "Make another rope of slime as fast as you can, but let it be sticky for us. We can use it to pull Jin back without risking us falling in, yeah?"

Liraz nodded and began pulling a stretch of blue slime from her palm, twisting it as she created loops.

Karam moved closer to them as well, his lantern floating above to help illuminate the area where Jin had slipped and letting the rest of them clearly see where the ground shifted from solid to slick mud. "We'll get you out in a second, Miss Jin. Did you get hurt anywhere?"

"No, I'm just stuck and slowly sinking. How is a Champion that's running solo meant to escape something like this?"

"They don't," Hadia replied bluntly, keeping her eyes flicking back and forth between Liraz's progress and the fish swimming closer. "We're put into Sect teams for a reason. Many challenges require at least some amount of teamwork to overcome; some may even want the Sects to work together, but those don't always go well."

"Wait, so what about someone like Pax who turned on his Sect?" Jin asked with a furrowed brow, reaching out an arm as Liraz tossed one end of the slime rope towards her.

Hadia frowned at the question, not really wanting to say the truth while Pax's little sister was standing right next to her, but she had never been one to lie just to make others feel comfortable. "He'll need to find an ally, even if that ends up being us. Something like this mud trap would easily end him, unless he's managed to unlock a power to get out of it, like a teleport."

"Brother will come to us," Liraz said softly as she gestured for Hadia and Karam to take the other end of the rope and help pull. "He is careful. Smart. He will not die in here," the smaller girl said with such conviction that Hadia almost believed her.

Just as the group began to pull Jin out of the mud, Hadia looked to the side to see Alim lift his arm so the shield from his [Aegis of the Magister] came up to block the sudden surge of fish jumping out of the murky water straight at him. Hadia saw the first fish hit his newly unlocked [Reflective Shell], almost laughing when the fish screamed as it dropped dead, and recalling the description she had read when he bonded the Shell Spirit Gem to his Shield Aspect.

Class Ability: Reflective Shell

Type: Boon (magical, arcane, covenant)

Cost: Moderate mana.

Cooldown: 30 seconds.

Current Caste: Crystal 1 (0%)

Crystal Effect: You are passively surrounded by a reflective shell. The next incoming Spell or Special Attack that targets you is reflected back to its source instead of affecting you and incurs the cooldown and cost to reapply this Boon automatically.

The normally invisible barrier had flashed golden when the fish hit it, and the Special Attack the monster must have hit it with was enough to kill itself.

Flickers of blue light lit up next as the following handful of his slammed against Alim's [Mana Barrier], getting stopped in their path to fall onto the ground about a foot away from the armored tank. But there were too many attacking at once, causing the barrier to shatter, and the rest of the swarm collided with Alim's shield and armor.

Alim didn't yell out, and Hadia was impressed by that, considering she could clearly see the sharp metal teeth glinting in the lantern light. She internally winced as some of them latched those teeth onto the defender between the pieces of conjured armor.

"Keep dragging Jin out; I'm going to go help Alim," Hadia told the others, extracting herself and conjuring her own [Mace of Might] and pulling her Hammer of the Heartstopper out of the little leather loop she had Karam help sew onto her Sliksilk pants.

Once she was in range, she triggered her newest ability: [Sunder Iron], followed by [Bone Breaker], and swung horizontally with her mace at a clump of fish at Alim's waist.

Class Ability: Sunder Iron

Type: Special Attack (combination, elemental, metal)

Cost: Low stamina.

Cooldown: 10 seconds.

Current Caste: Crystal 1 (0%)

Crystal Effect: Deliver a crushing melee blow, inflicting Metal damage and an instance of [Sundered Armor]. When used in combination with another combination ability, the other ability inflicts an instance of [Land's Denial].

Sundered Armor (bane, stacking): Reduces physical resistances and armor effectiveness for a short duration. Land's Denial (bane, elemental, earth, metal, stacking): Reduces resistances against Earth and Metal effects for a short duration.

Hadia knew that [Sunder Iron] would be better against a single large opponent instead of this swarm of tiny fish, building up stacks that weakened it with every strike; however, she wanted to get used to using it in her rotation and the sense of her Banes landing on the enemy.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Many of the fish crumpled instantly from her attack, making it painfully obvious how weak each individual within the swarm really was. It was the sheer number that was dangerous, and proved it when Alim finally fell to a knee, trying to yank the glittering silver fish off of him. He wasn't even using his abilities, simply trying to toss away the creatures that were gnawing on him.

Hadia heard Liraz incant from behind her, "Have a dip, enjoy the stick!" and a spray of slime covered Alim and all the fish, including Hadia. Luckily, their little [Slime Companions] kept them from feeling the effects as all the little fish suddenly screeched in pain and fell to the ground, flopping helplessly in the sticky, acidic slime that was melting through them.

Ability: Slime Spray

Type: Spell (channel, elemental, corrosion, water)

Cost: Moderate mana per second.

Cooldown: 10 seconds.

Current Caste: Crystal 1 (28%)

Crystal Effect: Spray a stream of slime in a cone from a limb, which may inflict [Feeble Slimed].

Feeble Slimed (bane, control, elemental, water): Greatly reduced Strength. This effect ends when no longer in contact with slime.

Jin moved in a moment later, covered in mud but free as she stabbed any of the fish still moving and screaming. The Wayfarer glanced up in confusion and asked over the noise, "Does looting not work on swarms until they're all dead?"

Hadia slammed her hammer down on a wiggling fish as she retorted, "You're the one with the looting power. You tell us, Sky Girl."

The silence was confirmation enough as the girls focused on finishing off the monsters while Karam helped pull Alim back from the shoreline. Despite Alim not being able to hear him, the healer was speaking consoling words as he worked. "I've got you, Al. Just hold still while I get this [Regenerative Cocoon] around your waist—oh no…"

Hadia and Jin both snapped their heads towards Karam when he suddenly trailed off. "What is it?" Jin snapped. "You can't just say that and not explain!"

Karam turned slightly towards them to respond, and Hadia got a clearer view of Alim's face, covered in a sheen of sweat, paler than normal, and blood dripping from a corner of his mouth, but it was the wounds around his waist where Karam had lifted the Sliksilk shirt that made her worry turn towards panic. The puncture wounds from the tiny teeth had glowing green veins stretching out around them, and she already knew what Karam was going to say.

The healer frowned and said with a strained voice, "He's poisoned, and none of us have cleansing magic."

Hadia immediately pulled up her bracelet to check the shop, hoping that it had something they could afford in this rotation.

Total Points Accumulated: 221

Points Available to Spend: 20

Current Shop Items:

Crystal Weapon – 100 points. Crystal Crafting Tool – 90 points. Crystal Leg Armor – 75 points. Crystal Cloak – 60 points. Crystal Tattoo Imprint – 55 points. Crystal Healing Salve– 25 points. Weekly Rations Kit – 20 points. Mundane Surveyor Kit – 15 points. Hygiene Kit – 5 points.

Shop refreshes in 8 hours 13 minutes.

With a grimace, Hadia closed the shop and said, "We'll need to try healing him through it and hope it fades or the next shop refresh includes antidotes we can afford, or try to get back to the base and see if the tree has an option for us."

"Or we see if that camp over there has something we can use," Jin said quietly, walking closer to Alim and kneeling to look closer at the wounds, but pointing further north.

Hadia turned to look, and sure enough, in the distance, just at the edge of the swamp's perpetual fog, was a flicker of fire light and the fuzzy outline of rudimentary buildings. She moved to push Karam's little lantern down towards the ground, hoping it hadn't alerted anyone in the distant camp of their presence.

"We can't fight a whole camp of what's probably goblins with Alim coughing up blood and slowly dying," Hadia growled at the Wayfarer, signing for Alim as well so he knew how crazy Jin was acting now. "He can't help keep their attention off us if he can't even stand."

"They could have an antidote, Dia," Jin replied, her hands moving more slowly to show her sincerity. "I'm not trying to be reckless, but Kar's right. We don't have cleansing magic, but those hoarders might."

Hadia let out a huff of frustration as she looked from Alim's face, and despite his mouth pressed thin with determination, she could see the worry behind his eyes.

At her questioning gaze, he weakly signed to her, "I'm not going to ask any of you to put yourselves at risk for me… but I won't stop you if you believe you can do it without me. If you want to retreat, I'll do my best to hold on while Karam tries to out-heal it. We still have the longer cooldowns that we can try using to help."

"Well, I'm not going to let you play the martyr now that you put it that way," Hadia signed back quickly, her agitation showing in the sharpness of her movements. She looked at Jin, who normally played the leader, and asked, "Think you, me, and Li can take out that camp while Kar stays to help Alim?"

Jin slowly nodded, her face currently that blank mask they all recognized by now as her [Poker Face] hiding her real emotions. "I think we should find a safer location near enough that if one of us gets seriously injured, we can quickly retreat back to Kar, but far enough away that they won't get caught in the crossfire. I'll open it up, be the distraction for them all, and try my best to be a dodge-tank while Li lays on the AOE damage and you pick off the stragglers. Does that work for everyone?"

Everyone nodded, and Hadia moved to replace Jin at Alim's side. "Let me help Kar support him while you lead the way, avoiding any more mud traps," she quietly said, wrapping Alim's arm over her shoulders and one of her own hands around his back to help him stand again.

She was relieved that Jin didn't argue and simply moved, that more confident and decisive air returning to the Wayfarer as she moved to lead the way. Hadia knew Jin was still struggling with their losses, and the idea of losing Alim was making those worries rise for all of them, but for once, she was also grateful that Jin's Talent seemed to help her compartmentalize better and keep fighting for all of them.

Hadia had to do the same, but at least she had expected the losses when they first entered the tower. She had also lost close friends before, too, so grieving wasn't new either. Death was an inevitability in the tower that the rest of them had grown up knowing. She didn't blame Jin for struggling with that fact, but she was glad to see her adapting to survive, for all their sakes.

It was not much longer before they found a decent location near a large gnarled tree for Alim and Karam to hide behind as the rest of them moved in on the camp. The flickering firelight was coming from a central fire pit that had a single goblin lying near it, dead asleep.

Jin signed to her and Liraz, keeping their sound to a minimum, "They're probably nocturnal. Our invader got too close during the night while we slept. I bet we can clear them out quickly without worrying about getting too many at once if we go for quiet kills."

"Just like my brother!" Liraz signed back, bouncing quietly with obvious excitement. "He says sleep assassinations are the most merciful and clean."

Hadia nodded, not able to disagree but not sure how Jin would react to the comparison. Their eyes met, and she knew that Jin could see the unspoken question in her aquamarine eyes.

Jin's gaze hardened a moment later, and with a sharp nod, she signed, "I'll take out the lookout in a single hit, then we can take out each building silently, even if that means you two holding one down while I slit its throat."

With that morbid mental image firmly in place as their inevitable future, Hadia and Liraz nodded and watched as Jin triggered [Leap] jumping higher into the air than Hadia had seen her go so far before the Abyssal Dragoon seemed to rocket towards the ground like a meteor and it almost came as a shock when Jin landed the spear through the sleeping goblin's skull without making any sound thanks to the spear's silencing effects with only a soft whoosh as the air dispersed around the Wayfarer carefully balancing herself along the [Silent Spear] so her feet stayed in the air instead of the ground.

A second later, Jin carefully set her feet to the ground and stood straight again, pulling her spear out of the monster that was quickly turning to white ashes. Gesturing for them to approach, Hadia and Li didn't hesitate to follow, heading for the first makeshift lean-to made of bundled sticks that Jin began to make her way towards.

Hadia didn't flinch as she saw Jin position herself over one of the sleeping goblins, the point of her spear just above its throat. She didn't flinch when Liraz moved to lift her pillowy blob of slime over another goblin's head, ready to smother it as soon as Jin gave the signal to. And Hadia didn't flinch when she positioned herself at the head of the last sleeping goblin and raised her mace high above her and aimed for its skull.

She didn't have remorse to waste on monsters as the trio slaughtered them all to save her friend.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.