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Chapter 315: Hound Versus Hound

The violet glowstone beneath my hand had multiple facets. Upon closer inspection, it seemed to contain a crystalline matrix inside, as if it had grown from crystals and then been sheared off. My earth pulses indicated that my guess was likely correct.

There were two types of glowstones: those that were mined and those that were artificed. Artificed glowstones were mined glowstones with runes embedded in them and were much more valuable, as the artificer could enhance their brightness. However, they needed to be recharged more often, as they quickly depleted their aether.

Mined glowstones, which I had thought could only emit a white light before now, absorbed aether from the environment. Their intensity faded over time, but they could be recharged as well. They also tended not to be as bright as artificed glowstones.

“What are you doing?” Mynasha asked as I stroked the stone in thought.

“Mining glowstones,” I responded as I overlaid my dimensional space to encompass a large cube.

“They are very brittle and difficult …” She stopped talking as a large void appeared in the archway. “Guess that works too,” she said, impressed.

A large block of unique glowstone could be valuable. I could also use it as a weapon or shield. It had taken more aether than I expected, indicating some aether resistance in the stone, but nothing significant. My aether reserves were now about half—primarily due to the mass of the stone I had collected.

My sight turned to the impatient hellhound. The violet glowstones lined the short tunnel leading to its chamber. It meant Mynasha’s lightning would be useless inside. “Are you ready?” I asked her.

She nodded and started to draw aether to herself. For this creature, our strategy was for her to provide defensive aid. She had lightning shields and a lightning aura that slowed everyone but her. The black hound’s shoulder was taller than me. Glasha said the typical strategy was to net or entangle the creature’s legs, restricting its movement. Aside from its powerful jaws, the beast could regurgitate a fiery napalm that stuck to you while flash-burning. I had been burned in the heat of a fireball before and didn’t want to go through that again.

“I am ready,” she said steadily. Her clothes steamed as the dense aether surrounded her. Together, we stepped into the short corridor of the hellhound’s chamber. It didn’t attack, and I could see intelligence in its glowing red eyes. Was this creature allowed to keep its memories like the doppelgangers in the Shimmering Labyrinth?

“The exit is sealed,” Mynasha stated. I took a quick glance behind us. A wall of violet glowstone had sealed us in. The hellhound began to circle to our right—toward Mynasha. Like dogs, hellhounds were pack hunters and targeted the weakest first. I was armored and armed, and it had assumed I was stronger than Mynasha.

The beast’s throat began to glow as it prepared its fiery breath weapon. As per our plan, I stood behind Mynasha and waited. Its long maw had dangerous-looking, yellowed fangs. A rumbling grew as it readied itself to attack. When its mouth opened, a wide, rolling flame erupted.

The wave of red-yellow fire caused blue sparks to burst from Mynasha’s lightning shield protecting us. Just a heartbeat later, a wall of flame stood before us, blocked by Mynasha’s spell wall. We were not wholly spared as the heat washed over us, making breathing difficult as the hot air entered our lungs. I coughed once and held my breath. Then our plan went to shit.

Neither of us was prepared as the hellhound slammed into her lightning shield, shattering it but slowing considerably. Glasha had told us its tactics would be to wash us in fire, and while we burned, it would flank us, trying to crush one of our legs in its fearsome jaws, and shake its victim. Instead, it had used the wall of flame to hide its rapid approach.

I stepped into Mynasha, wrapped her up, and spun her away with my shield arm to get her out of danger. With my other hand, magebane slashed down on the beast, catching its muzzle and opening a long gash. It yelped so loudly my ears rang. I didn’t stop its momentum, though. It was too large for me to dodge, and it barreled into me, forcing me to the ground. My aether shield flashed blue as its claws tried to rake across my chest.

Damn it, I didn’t want to use my instant kill, but I also didn’t want to risk an injury in a prolonged fight. I was currently very vulnerable to a potential injury. I took a large portion of the beast’s neck around the spine. It didn’t have as strong an aether resistance as I expected, but my aether still bottomed out.

The beast collapsed on top of me as a lightning strike shattered one of the violet glowstones in the wall. A second glowstone shattered overhead, showering me in violet crystal rocks. “It’s dead!” I yelled at Mynasha. “I’m fine!” My ears were ringing from the thunder following the lightning.

I had to yell two more times before she stopped the onslaught. The cleric was breathing heavily, with steam rising from her body. Since I had bottomed out my aether, I couldn’t use my aether-infused vision, but I could imagine the aether swirling around her. She also had her long, curved knife in her hand and was ready to stab the beast.

Mynasha sheathed her long dagger and helped push the hellhound off me. I worked the magebane out of its shoulder. I hadn’t been able to interpose the blade in time to stab it through its heart. This encounter might have gone a lot differently if I hadn’t had the aether shield amulet. Glasha’s advice had almost doomed us, but I couldn’t blame her. I should have added my air shield to Mynasha’s lightning shield, but I was too focused on reacting to being flanked.

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I was covered in hellhound blood, which was soaking my spider silk undershirt. It burned and would probably cause a rash, but I knew it was not dangerous. The hellhound’s body was self-immolating, consuming itself. Soon, only a thick ash would be left behind, which was useful in alchemy. Mynasha released her hold on the aether. Her halter top looked ragged. Even her leather skirt had dried and cracked in the short time that she was pulling aether from the environment.

I knelt as the body of the beast was destroying itself and used the collector. The stream of blue wisps diminished quickly. I hadn’t thought to harvest the creature right after killing it—a minor fire affinity formed on the collector’s plate. Maybe I could have gotten a major essence if I had acted quicker.

We both watched the hellhound shrivel, combust, and turn to ash over the next minute. All that was left was a black skeleton and its two nubby horns. I shook the ash off the skull and handed it to Mynasha. “I was useless,” she stated despondently.

“We just weren’t well prepared enough,” I said, blaming Glasha. Having almost died multiple times over the past two years, I could easily dismiss it. “See if you can find the reward chest while I gather some of this ash.”

The ash was almost sticky and would need to be dried to be useful. I would need to replace my alchemy equipment, but this ash was utilized to make napalm pellets. My spider-silk gloves were coated in ash when Mynasha returned with a bone chest, hundreds of tiny bones fused together to make up the walls and lid. It might have been attractive if not for the fact that the lid was made from tiny skulls.

I opened the chest to find a bed of silver and gold coins supporting a book. Taking the book out of the chest, I opened it under Mynasha’s watch. “You can read that?” she asked, a little surprised.

“Just because I swing a big sword doesn’t mean I haven’t studied magic,” I replied as I worked through the pages and spell forms within. It was a very complex spell, but I could piece it together a little bit. “It is definitely a fire affinity spell. Maybe halo—or ring of fire. Do you have the fire affinity?” I asked, closing the book.

“No,” she replied. “Anything we find in the dungeon is yours,” she asserted. I nodded and the book disappeared into my dimensional space. Maybe Raelia would want it, or I could sell it if I ever needed coin.

“I need about fifteen minutes to recover aether and recharge my amulet. Then we can head to the ice demon room.” I sat on the floor and pulled out a waterskin, taking in the chamber in detail for the first time. Mynasha sat next to me, and I handed her a second waterskin. The skull thudded on the stone as she dropped it.

“I need to recover, too,” she said. After taking a long pull, she closed her eyes and rested her head against the wall in meditation.

The chamber was almost entirely stone, with some black lichen growing in patches. I wondered what the dungeon fed the hellhound. My experience was that each room had some type of ecosystem in it. Veins of water with a violet tinge from the glowstone light drizzled down the walls. It almost looked like the walls were crying.

The mystery of what the hellhound ate would have to remain a mystery. When my aether had sufficiently recovered, I elbowed Mynasha gently. She was instantly awake from her trance. Her lack of urgency to complete the Trial told me that becoming the Supreme was no longer a priority for her. We drank some more before venturing into the large cavern and heading toward the blue glow in the distance.

I paused to harvest some of the yellow mushrooms, not getting close enough to set them off before sending them to my space. I noticed tiny bites from some of the mushrooms, so I guessed that was what the quasits were eating. I hoped to come across more of the green imps. So far they had yielded unique and rare essences.

As we followed the outer wall, we found the blood stirges nested high above. Three to five would launch at us when we passed under one of the nesting crevices. Mynasha was grateful to be of use, as her lightning shield made quick work of them.

The dretches didn’t seem to wander near the walls, as the blood stirges appeared to feast on them. We disturbed one such feeding. The bloated corpse of one of the dretches had a half dozen stirges draining it of fluids. We could have passed it without disturbing the feeding, but the stirges yielded their own treasure.

When we finally did attract the attention of a green imp, we acted ignorant of its presence, pretended to rest, and left a bag of nuts just out of arm’s reach. The quasit took the bait, thinking itself invisible, and tried to steal it. Magebane took one of its legs and it squealed in pain as it rolled on the ground. Its bulbous eyes looked at me for mercy. Its small, needle-like teeth didn’t help its cause, and I ended its life.

I took the collector out quickly, and my eagerness was easy to read. A small, shiny, black sphere formed. A third quasit, a third different essence. It was one of the most valuable of the magic attributes—channeling. There were so many burnt mages in the world that the price for such essences was astronomical. This minor essence would be just a drop in the bucket for Castile. Still, I planned to save it for her.

Concerned, Mynasha advised me, “Make sure you hide that.” She indicated the collector. “If Jhuarkasha or Rhuuk see it, they might find an excuse to take it. I’ve never heard of a collector being so—efficient.” I had gained trust with Mynasha over the past month, but I wasn’t going to confirm her suspicions. She owed me, since I had guided her through the entire Choosing.

I nodded to her and stood. We only encountered one dretch before we came in sight of the blue-ringed entrance. I had collected twenty-two quickness essences and two more minor healing essences from the blood stirges. In addition, I added one more minor charm for the single dretch we slew.

As we approached the entrance to the ice demon cave, we were not surprised to see Cleric Jhuarkasha and Warlord Rhuuk coming from the other direction. I was surprised we had beaten them here. The shadow demon was a difficult opponent, and it was inevitable that they would come here next. They were still over fifty yards away, with a few wandering dretches between us. They hadn’t noticed us, as they were engaged in a fight. The cleric stood behind Rhuuk as he managed to fight three dretches while being dive-bombed by two stirges.

We observed one of the stirges bouncing off an invisible shield. Jhuarkasha focused on protection magic while Rhuuk handled all the combat. Despite that, he appeared exhausted and was covered in dretch blood, moving much slower than when he had entered. “We should quickly eliminate the ice demon before they arrive,” I said, interrupting Mynasha’s focus on the pair. She nodded, and we stepped into the blue cave.

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