Shadowcroft Academy Year 2 - Chapter Ten

Logan was about to say something to Inga, to try and make her feel better, when Tet beat him to it. “I can understand your worry, Inga. However, keep in mind, this is a controlled environment. Arketa is monitoring us all. If there is an issue, she can help, but more than that, you are in control.”

Inga smiled warmly. “Yes, of course. I will embrace my self-confidence. Let us all try, shall we?”

Another undead guy shifted under his burial shroud behind Logan. He ignored it and once more focused his mind, settling into his meditative technique. He let his Apothos cycle for a moment, then pushed the energy out and into the Spore Warg, forming a tether between them. It was surprisingly easy, perhaps because he’d done similar exercises like this while working with Inga and the others during the Symbiosis process.

His instincts took over.

He drew a small amount of Morta from the dungeon around him, cycled it through this knot, into his core, and then out into his minion—rain, falling into the river, only to be redirected into the sea. The mushroom pup started to change, growing larger and meatier, its skin turning black, letting off a terrible stench like the scent of a fresh grave. It was turning into a tank, but Logan wanted it to be nimble, so he reduced the flow of Apothos to the chest and heavy lifting muscles, rerouting it instead to the legs, shoulders, and back. Chitinous spikes grew from its spine. The warg opened its mouth to show black fangs that definitely would give someone a nasty infection while at the same time melting their flesh off their bones because of its acidic saliva. This creature was fast, spikey, fanged, and ready to feed on Raider flesh.

Logan was struck by his deep connection with Noodle Doddle. It was far more intimate than what he’d felt with his Skullcap Waddlers. It was like the thing was a part of him. Was this how it felt to have kids?

Not only was it fun to be so enmeshed with this spiked monster, but Logan also found this arrangement so natural. The monster gazed at Logan with alive, intelligent eyes.

Logan glanced at Inga’s creation. She’d changed her centipede into a more humanish-shaped creation; it now stood on a dozen creepy insect legs. She added two arms tipped with claws and thickened the armor on her bug warrior’s back. Using one of her native energies, Luminosus, she’d added two glowing eyes above wicked silver mandibles. A hard metal helmet covered the insect man’s head, giving him a Greek warrior vibe. Logan could easily see the centipede warrior with a round shield and gladius in its hands.

As for Tet, she’d increased the muscles of her cat’s legs, making them thick, powerful, and rather funny looking with the long tail and the long snake neck. She must’ve added Umbra to the thing because an indistinct smoke rose from the mew serpent’s body. Instead of fangs, she’d changed the teeth into serrated daggers. Green mist rose from the thing’s eyes at first, but then both the eyes and the mist turned black. Logan wouldn’t have been surprised if her boss monster could turn completely into smoke, race through your legs, and appear behind you, ready to strike.

Since both Tet and Inga had added such flourishes to their monsters, Logan decided to play around a bit more. He released Blister Wart Spores, letting the colonies settle into the warg’s flesh. He then sent a gentle pulse of Rapid Growth into fungal growths on the back of his floor boss. Normally, blister wart were innocuous looking mushrooms, white with red spots, like something out of fairytale, but Logan wanted the growths on his boss monster to be black, to match his skin and spikes. He kept the red spots. It made his mushroom beast look more poisonous and diabolical.

It would be a powerful combination. If you attacked the warg, you’d either get spiked, bit, or infected by the Blister Wart.

Logan tied off the flow and a prompt appeared in his vision.: Would You Like to Create a Blistering Death Warg? Yes/No?

Logan liked what he saw. He accepted the prompt.

Would you like to name your Blistering Death Warg? Note: Giving a Floor Boss a formal name will help the creature maintain memories and form a personality of its own. Yes/No?

That was a no brainer, since he’d already given the creature a name in his mind. He hit yes than spoke the name out loud, “Noddle Doddle.”

The words resonated with a clarion sound that carried in the air like a struck gong. A moment later sickly green light enveloped the Blistering Death Warg and energy rushed out of Logan’s core in a tsunami, leaving him reeling. He had to close his eyes or pass right out.

Once the sensation finally passed, Logan cracked his eyes to find his newly minted minion staring at him, head curiously canted to one side, concern etched into the lines of its monstrous face.

Logan grinned. “Aww, you care!”

Not a second later, an explosion rocked the entire dungeon, sending smoke and debris pouring out of the inner sanctum. Logan, Inga, and Tet were showered in debris.

While his senses were still trying to process what happened, Logan heard a single, piercing scream. That sounded like Marko.

Tet was the first one to pull the plug on her boss, sucking the enhanced mew serpent back into her core. Inga followed, re-absorbing her Golden Centipede Spartan.

Not Logan though. Tet shared one look at Inga and Logan than took off at a sprint, moving like greased lightning. Inga was only half a step behind her, flitting along the ground with her luminescent wings.

Logan wasn’t going to beat anyone in a foot race, but he had Noddle Doddle. The creature was now the size of a small pony, more than big enough for Logan to ride on. He slipped onto the creatures back, wrapping his hands around the wicked spikes protruding from Noddle Doddles shoulders. The creature surged forward on powerful legs, quickly catching up to Inga and Tet in a matter of steps. Logan raced into the Inner Sanctum three steps behind the others, scanning the room for the source of the commotion.

A dust loud lingered in the air, but he could still make out Arketa’s gem, floating above the pedestal formed by the twin coffins.

And thanks to his fungal vision he could also make out the body of Ed the Rot Troll, slumped against one of the stone columns—completely shattered, which explained the dust and debris hanging in the air. As for poor Ed, he was clearly dead. And not the kind of dead that dungeon guardians faced on a semi-regular basis. The kind of dead you could walk off with a little recovery time and some TLC from Ned and Zed, the rosebush doctors. No, his torso was a mess of ruined flesh, his head gone, his body already decomposing—adding a sweet smell to his usual rank odor. Most importantly devastatingly of all, though, his core was dark. Shattered.

On the floor under the dead guardian form, sigils glowed, curving arches, swooping lines, and angular symbols, all pulsing. But with each pulse, they began to fade.

Chadrigoth and Marko were nowhere to be seen.

Inga and Tet rushed to see if they could help Ed, though Logan knew they wouldn’t be able to. That dungeon core jewel had cracked completely, and his soul had rejoined the Tree. Logan muttered a silent prayer under his breath for Ed, then turned his attention to the next issue at hand—finding his friend.

“Marko?” Logan called out. He didn’t hear the satyr, but he heard Steve’s squeaking joints.

Logan sped around the shattered column, and there, among the ruins, was his goat friend, laying on Steve’s lap. The satyr was blinking his eyes.

“What in the holy name of my aunt’s wine spritzer happened?” he coughed, waving away a plume of dust with one hand.

Chadrigoth emerged from the smoke of the explosion, with a dazed look on his angular blue face. He wasn’t saying anything, but he instantly narrowed his eyes, glaring at Logan. “What are you looking at, idiot?” he snarled.

Logan ignored the abyss lord. He pulled Marko to his feet. “What happened?”

Inga and Tet came rushing through the dust cloud followed by a very concerned Arketa. The Professor raised a hand and her dungeon core blasted from the pedestal like a rocket, flying into her waiting palm. She quickly opened a small flap in the belly of her dress, expertly sewn as to be invisible, and the gem returned to her stomach.

“Well, answer him please,” Arketa said, voice frosty. “What happened here?”

“Chadrigoth here, was making some devil thing that kept looking at Steve like he wanted to eat him,” Marko said after a beat, stealing a sidelong glance at the Abys Lord.  “Me? I was concentrating on making a buddy for Steve, you know, so they could start a band. Like a soulful acoustic duo. It wouldn’t be Steve and Earl, though, no, they’d have a real band name, something like, This Indulgent Burden. They’d start off just doing coffee shops, you know, or wine bars in Haven’s Home, but then, they’d get a break. Their rise would be meteoric. Of course, more money, more fame, would mean more problems. Earl would start snorting Aldaleeran cat nip. Steve would be on his third wife. They’d start having artistic differences—”

Arketa snapped her fingers. Logan was surprised she’d let him go on for as long as she had. “Focus, please, Mr. Laskarelis. Did you see anything that might be useful?”

“You mean you didn’t, Professor?” Chadrigoth sneered. “Weren’t you in control of the dungeon?”

Arketa’s jaw tensed and she lowered her glasses, just a smidge. Chadrigoth’s face turned pale and he took a step back. He swallowed.

“Sorry, Professor,” he grumbled under his breath, finally averting his gaze.

Arketa scowled. “I was helping Eliza Fixhand with her boss in the other room. My attention was… divided. But I did feel something in this room. An odd presence. When I shifted my attention, it was too late. Ed’s gem had already shattered. There was nothing to be done about it.”

“I didn’t see anything either,” Marko said. “Steve is equally clueless.”

Chadrigoth wasn’t saying anything. He must’ve been still stunned from the Hellgazer’s piercing glare.

Arketa turned away, lifted her sunglasses, and made sure to avert her eyes from the gathering of students. She spent several long minutes crouched beside the decomposing corpse of the rot troll, appraising his body while the air cleared.

Students murmured, but again, Chadrigoth was quiet, though he did mutter something to Jimi Magmarty about Ed stinking up the place.

Finally, Arketa stood and adjusted her sunglasses. “It seems likely that Ed pushed himself too hard, too fast, and ruptured his core. It is a rarity, but it does happen.” She crossed one arm across her chest and tapped at her bottom lip with one slim finger. “My best guess is that the odd presence I felt was his would-be floor boss. It’s distinctly possible that he split too much of his core in the creation process.”

Logan listened to her words, but she didn’t sound entirely convinced. Her eyes lingered on the body of the dead dungeon core.

“Not sure if it helps, but I saw markings on the floor,” Logan said. “Runes, or sigils. Not exactly sure what they meant but they were glowing.”

“Glowing sigils?” Arketa asked. “Now that is unexpected. Did anyone else see them?” she asked, glancing around.

Marko shrugged. Steve shrugged.

Chadrigoth snorted and rolled his eyes. “The idiot is seeing things.”

“This idiot can see you’re a moron,” Logan fired back. “Be careful, or you’ll be the next asshat to have his core cracked.”

“Big words,” the abyss lord snarled, black fire blooming in one of his hands. “And just so were clear, you wouldn’t last thirty seconds against me—even if you are Rockheart’s new pet.”

Arketa raised her hands. “Yes, the posturing is very impressive, but I would like to know if Inga or Tet saw the sigils.”

Both shook their heads.

Logan didn’t pause. He bent and threw out God’s Eye Caps with a little bit of Rapid Growth. He used his glowing fungal growths to recreate a least a few of the runes.

“That’s basically what I saw.” He swept a hand over the glowing pattern. “I’m definitely missing bits and pieces, but this is the main body of the symbol.”

Inga was already copying them down in her grimoire.

“If that’s the case,” Arketa said with some worry, “then what happened definitely is not normal. That will be all for today. Class dismissed.”