“Nothing good,” Clive said.
They set off down the earthen tunnel, still knee-deep in water. It didn’t seem to bother Onslow, with Clive riding on his back, or Jason, who walked along the surface. Humphrey was left to trudge unhappily through water and mud. The tunnel turned out to be fairly short, breaking back into another room of the complex. It was another large hall, very much demolished. In addition to the breach they entered through, much of the brickwork had been torn out. In its place, recessed alcoves looked like they had been dug out by claws, each one stuffed with a dead creature. Most were swamp creatures, although there were a few dead people as well.
“This one,” Clive said, tracking stone in hand. He led them to one of the bodies, an elf in tattered armour. Jason took a casket from his inventory, supplied to him by the Adventure Society.
Objective complete: Retrieve the remains of your fellow adventurer 1/1.
While he and Clive placed the body inside, Humphrey was looking around with a concerned expression.
“We should take it and go,” Humphrey said. “Fast.”
“What is it?” Jason asked. The contract wasn’t just to retrieve the body but also kill the monster. If Humphrey wanted to bail out, it was probably bad.
“A swamp-dwelling monster whose appearance could be mistaken for a wyrm, burrows deep into the earth and builds elaborate larders to fill with prey,” Humphrey said, and Clive’s eyes went wide.
“Yes, we should go,” he agreed. “Now.”
Jason looked down as a ripple of water came from the corner of the room, spreading over the water that covered the floor. It suddenly occurred to him that he had no idea if all the water was knee-deep. Something bulged up from the surface in the corner of the room. Water poured off its huge mound of a body as it rose up from a submerged tunnel. The creature was a brown, fleshy mass, with five serpentine necks ending in heads like that of a snake, if snakes had a lot more teeth.
“Marsh hydra,” Humphrey said breathlessly.
None of them had felt its aura approach, but now it washed over them with bronze-rank strength. It moved to block them from the tunnel they had entered through. Its thick legs ended in webbed claws poorly suited for land movement. Humphrey could have escaped, but seeing Clive and Jason would be cut off, he moved away from the tunnel to join them. The creature, apparently satisfied at boxing them in, eyed them patiently with its five heads.
“Marsh hydras heal fast,” Humphrey said. “Combined with bronze rank toughness, our only chance is that you can pile up enough afflictions to kill it, Jason. Clive and I will try and distract it so you can get close.”
“No need for close,” Jason said. “I’ve got some new tricks; just keep it off me and I’ll get it done.”
Four tree-trunk legs supported the fleshy mound of the hydra’s body, the long necks rising off it like trees on a hill. The creature lumbered towards them and Humphrey went to meet it. Clive patted Onslow on the shell and pulled a long staff from his storage space. It had a large, clear crystal set into the end, and vibrant red-orange runes that shone like fire carved down the full length. He aimed it at the hydra like a gun, and a blast of flaming energy launched out, striking one of the hydra’s heads. The runes on the staff dimmed as the struck head shrieked. Its skin was blackened, but the damage appeared superficial.
Jason slit the back of his hand with his wristband razor, sending leeches splashing into the water. They quickly made their way across the room to crawl up the hydra’s trunk legs and swarm over its body.
[Sanguine Horror] has inflicted [Bleeding] on [Marsh Hydra].
[Marsh Hydra] has resisted [Bleeding].
[Bleeding] does not take effect.
[Sanguine Horror] has inflicted [Leech Toxin] on [Marsh Hydra].
[Marsh Hydra] has resisted [Leech Toxin].
[Leech Toxin] does not take effect.
[Sanguine Horror] has inflicted [Necrotoxin] on [Marsh Hydra].
[Marsh Hydra] has resisted [Necrotoxin].
[Necrotoxin] does not take effect.
“That’s not good,” Jason muttered.
Even with his aura that penalised resistances, almost every affliction his leeches piled on was shrugged-off by the bronze-rank monster. Fortunately, Colin offered both quality with quantity, and some of the afflictions were getting through. Jason followed up with spells.
“Your fate is to suffer.”
Spell [Inexorable Doom] has inflicted [Inexorable Doom] on [Marsh Hydra].
[Marsh Hydra] has resisted [Inexorable Doom].
[Inexorable Doom] does not take effect.
Jason cast the spell a second and third time, each resisted.
“I’m going to need some time,” he called out.
Jason would have liked to toss Humphrey his dagger, which inflicted poison and ignored bronze-rank resistances. Humphrey hardly had time to switch out weapons, however, and trading the enormous sword that was barely holding its own for a small dagger would likely get him killed.
Humphrey’s huge sword, dragon-scale armour and incredible strength were a terror to iron-rank monsters, but they were barely keeping him alive as heads the size of his torso snapped at him. Even his strongest attack, the unstoppable force, was significantly more stoppable against the power of the bronze-rank hydra. Only the added attention of Clive and his familiar allowed Humphrey to hold out. Through their combined efforts, Humphrey was finally able to cleave off one of the heads.
“Watch out for the head growing back,” Clive called out, but to his surprise, there was no sign of it doing so. From what he had read about the creature, its heads should grow back fast enough to see it happening.
[Marsh Hydra] has regenerated enough health to negate [Bleeding].
[Leech Toxin] has been consumed to reapply [Bleeding] on [Marsh Hydra].
In the meantime, Jason was casting spell after spell.
“Your fate is to suffer.”
Spell [Inexorable Doom] has inflicted [Inexorable Doom] on [Marsh Hydra].
“Yes!”
With inexorable doom in place and the leeches making slow but constant progress, the afflictions would stack up. Jason raised his hand again and cast one of his new spells.
“Carry the mark of your transgressions.”
Spell [Castigate] has inflicted [Sin] on [Marsh Hydra].
[Marsh Hydra] has resisted [Sin].
[Sin] does not take effect.
Spell [Castigate] has inflicted [Mark of Sin] on [Marsh Hydra].
[Marsh Hydra] has resisted [Mark of Sin].
[Mark of Sin] does not take effect.
His sin curse was one of the keys to his escalating damage combination. His new spell allowed him to apply it at range, so long as it wasn’t resisted. It was the first of Jason's two new spells. The broker he went to had taken a while to find a good trade for the rat essence, as it was not popular with anyone who could afford to be choosy. He could have traded it for a half-dozen awakening stones of the fish but instead went with two stones of the magus. It was a common awakening stone, especially with humans. It almost guaranteed a spell, which humans rarely awakened, with an outside chance of a coveted summoning or familiar power.
Ability: [Castigate] (Sin)
Spell (curse, holy)
Cost: Moderate mana.
Cooldown: None.
Current rank: Iron 0 (00%)
Effect (iron): Burns a painful brand into the target, inflicting slight transcendent damage and the [Sin] and [Mark of Sin] conditions. The brand cannot be healed so long as the target retains any instances of [Sin].