Limitless Path

Soph moved to the edge of the room and started channeling freezing cold between her hands. It didn't take very long for a small orb of bitter cold to form, flakes of snow whirling in the air in front of the small girl as she focused. When she felt the orb sufficiently powerful, she pushed it forward with both hands, flinging it into the center of the room. The ants only had enough time to sense the danger and turn towards the tunnel entrance before Soph pulled her hands wide apart with a jerk, exploding the orb almost perfectly centered between the large insects.

Kim and Sabs rushed into the room, each peeling to go after one of the ants. Soph followed in calmly behind them, a lick of flame now appearing above each of her hands. Kim took her ant to task with ease, a Sweep chopping off a section of its head before she returned the blade in front of herself, stepping forward with a clean lunge, skewering the ant's brain. Sabs had a little more trouble, as her knives, though quite sharp and dangerous pre-integration, couldn't really cut it anymore against mana reinforced creatures. She did manage to snap off one of the legs, but disengaged at a command from Kim before doing any other damage.

This opened the ant up for Soph, who had walked a fair distance into the room. Just as the beast was starting to recover from the ice, slowly beginning to move a little, she put her hands together, forming a triangle with her thumbs and index fingers. The flames that had been hovering over her hands moved down between them, and she leaned forward and blew into the gap. A gout of flame several inches thick billowed forward from her hands, encasing the level seven ant in flame. The temperature differential between magic ice and magic flame was apparently rather extreme, as large sections of the ant's carapace exploded, guts and ichor spuming out.

"Do you need to rest for mana?" Kim asked Soph as she wiped her sword off, eyeing the splatter zone of the second ant.

"No, the orb and the flame together didn't quite use a quarter of what I have right now. Maybe only a sixth in total?" Soph replied.

"Well, that's pretty good. You running out of mana would be bad, obviously, but being able to throw up to six combinations like that in a fight would just be devastating," Kim said with a nod.

"Damn overpowered mages," Sabs muttered, Soph just preening in response.

Kim motioned them onwards, the group making their way to the second room on the third floor. The room contained three level seven ants, all still being of the common variety. The girls went with the same strategy, having not been under any pressure in the previous room. Soph's magic attacks proved too powerful at low level, freezing all three ants with little effort. Kim took care of one, Sabs slowly whittled down a second, while Soph caused the third to rupture due to thermal differential again. It took Sabs longer than the others, but she did manage to kill her ant all the same.

The group rested for a while in the room, letting Soph in particular top up her mana by meditating. After about twenty minutes they were ready, moving on to the penultimate room of the dungeon. This room contained four level sevens, same as it had for Beth the day before. The girls didn't deviate from their strategy here, Kim simply requesting Soph to take out a second ant after she blew apart the first.

The fight went about how they expected, the only difference being Kim taking out two of the four ants. She was simply faster than Soph, especially as she charged in to start the fight before Soph walked in a moment later. The four ants died almost just as quick, and the group only waited a few minutes for Soph to restore a little mana before moving on to the boss room. This room stopped the other girls in their tracks, if only for a moment, as facing a level nine princess and two level eight normal ants was a significant jump.

"Same thing as the other rooms? Sabs and Soph, take care of the level eights and I'll engage with the princess," Kim said to them with a raised brow.

"We should be careful; I don't know how much my frost will affect the princess," Soph replied, biting her lower lip as she stared at the high-level enemy.

"You have Blood and I here still. It's important that you get levels and we get money. The more you level up, the better. Just do your best in the fight and we'll make sure it doesn't go wrong," Beth interjected.

"Right, let's try it how we normally do. I'll try locking down the princess first. When you're ready, Soph," Kim said, nodding to the group.

Soph performed the same spell as usual, creating the orb of frost between her hands. She let it build up for a little longer than this time, the cold becoming intense enough the rest of the group could feel the chill. When she pushed the orb forward this time, it moved a little slower, but not enough to make a real difference. The level eights only had time to take a single step by the time the orb was where it needed to be, Soph yanking her hands apart, coating the center of the room with ice and snow.

The effect was certainly lesser this time, as the level eights were slowed but continued moving at a noticeable clip. The level nine had turned her attention to Soph after the blast but seemed hesitant to charge her in the tunnel. Sabs and Kim charged the room, Kim barreling down the center for the princess as Sabs made for the righthand level eight. Soph followed in behind them, the flame forming above her hands as she walked toward the leftward level eight. Beth and Blood followed in after the three, keeping an eye on the progression of the fight.

Sabs definitely had more trouble with her ant, the creature not entirely frozen, as well as being much tougher for her weapons to cut. Beth didn't step in right away, however, knowing that this kind of difference could drive Sabs to put more effort into Dice. Beth wouldn't interfere with a chance for one of the group to gain skill levels, not as long as their life wasn't in imminent danger.

Kim, on the other hand, was having a much harder time. The princess had not been slowed nearly as significantly as even the level eights, and it was a speed type beast in the first place. Kim could only keep up at the outside with her allrounder type build thanks to the frost from Soph, struggling to deal with the ant's speed. She worked to keep the ant at range, burning mana at a great rate as she continuously used Sweep in conjunction with her new blade to keep the beast back.

Soph, in the meantime, had approached the second level eight ant. She waited for a moment again before unleashing the flame, letting it build intensity in her hands for an extra few seconds. She blew the flame forward with a great exhale right as the ant lumbered up to her, coating the beast in a massive gout of fire. The damage was only slightly less severe initially than to the level sevens, the carapace not blowing apart in quite as spectacular a fashion.

That difference was made up for in the more intense flame that Soph channeled longer, powerful wisps of fire sliding into the cracks on the ant's chitin and cooking its insides. The rather unpleasant smell of roast ant immediately began filling the boss room, making Soph retch while the others all scrunched their faces in disgust.

Beth moved forward as Soph tried to get herself back under control, moving around Kim to flank the princess. She drew her sword and swung as she stepped forward, smashing apart the middle-left leg of the ant. This staggered the beast momentarily, letting Kim get a good strike in to the head, leaving a large gash and further stunning the creature. Beth stepped to the side and swung again, smashing apart the left rear leg of the beast with another horizontal chop.

The ant's mobility now severely limited, she stepped back to resume observing, glancing over to check Sabs' progress. The older girl was a whirl of blades, her daggers slashing the ant in an unceasing chain. The beast was sporting quite a few lacerations and one leg was badly mauled at the joint, leading Beth to conclude that Sabs still had the situation under control, for the moment, at least.

The last part of the fight was really a battle of attrition, as Kim and Sabs both wore down their respective opponents over time. Kim still triumphed over the boss first, the difference in equipment being a key factor. After both the ants were dead, the group moved to the side to take time to rest and recover, as well as allocate points, the three lower leveled girls having leveled up after defeating the boss.

Once they had rested up sufficiently, the group made their way back up from the nest, glad to be in the sun again, even if they had only spent about an hour in the dreary underground. Blood took the lead as they made their way south, with Beth bringing up the rear. They didn't encounter anything on their way around the neighborhood, and quickly entered the open fields to the south. The level two and three wolves they encountered were no challenge, the group dispatching them with ease.

It didn't take very long for them to arrive at the Wolf Breeding Ground, entering together as soon as they got there. The group didn't make full circles as they did a few days prior, but instead did as Beth normally was wont and headed straight for the boss room. The first two rooms weren't much of a challenge, Soph's spells once again proving devastating to very low-level beasts. The group stopped to rest for a brief period outside the boss room, Kim analyzing the enemy composition as they waited.

When they were ready, Kim laid out the strategy, which was remarkably similar to the usual approach. "We go Frost Orb, I'll take the boss, Sabs takes the higher levels, Soph start with trash. Beth and Blood are here to back us up. Any questions?"

"No, I'm good," replied Sabs.

"No questions," said Soph.

Beth just nodded to the group, and Soph immediately began charging her Frost Orb spell. She spent longer on the spell this time as well, just as she had at the last boss room they faced. When she eventually released the spell, it flew across the clearing like a small blue cannon shot. The wolves had better perception and higher DEX than the ants but were still left with virtually no time to react. Soph exploded the orb dead center of the clearing, catching the entire pack with the blast.

Her increase in INT from leveling was on display here, as she killed all the level ones and one of the three level threes just with the orb detonation. The combination of terrible cold concentrated in the center of the room alongside shards of ice shooting to the sides and rear of the orb proving just too much for weaker opponents.

Kim charged into the room as the scattering of frost from the explosion was still billowing outward. Sabs entered right on her heels, dashing out to the side to start engaging the mostly frozen level sevens as Kim charged the boss. Soph entered a moment later, walking forward quickly towards the two remaining level three beasts. Beth and Blood trailed in afterwards, keeping an eye on Kim the most, as the Great Wolf was least affected by the frost after already being the highest danger in the room.

Soph easily took care of the level threes in only a handful of seconds, bursting them apart with two gouts of high intensity flame. She moved on to help Sabs, as taking out the three level sevens would be the next highest priority before killing the boss. Sabs had already almost finished off the first level seven, her weapons somewhat more effective against the high-level wolves, as their hides were not as strong as the ants' chitin. She used her superior speed to dart around the boss to the farthest level seven, engaging it with her daggers as Soph set up to torch the middle level seven.

Kim, during the others' cleanup of the lower levels, was engaged with the boss, working hard to keep it at bay with her new sword. While the wolf boss was somewhat faster than the ant boss, its hide was not as tough, meaning it had to be more wary of Kim's blade. It found this out to its detriment when it tried to shrug off what seemed to be a glancing blow, but Kim activated Sweep during the swing, cutting a deep gash in the wolf's left side. She continued to engage with the boss as Sabs and Soph finished off the last two level sevens, stepping quickly while keeping up broad swings with her blade.

Soph, as usual, proved the most valuable component of the group, blasting lightning into the boss just as it was finished recovering from the earlier ice. The slight flinch and stagger as the bolt impacted the beast was all Kim and Sabs needed, the first viciously slashing the rest of the wolf's left side open with another Sweep while the latter buried both blades in the beast's neck with a leap and double use of Dice.

The beast halfheartedly attempted to bite Sabs as she withdrew her daggers, but she danced back gracefully to avoid its jaws. It was clearly on its last legs at this point, and Kim delivered the coup de grâce with a massive overhand Sweep to the neck, the boss collapsing to the ground before bleeding out a few moments later.

Beth clapped as the boss died, quite happy with the group's performance, Kim in particular. Using skills at just the right time was something she had been working on with Baelvyr, but Kim had picked up on it naturally during battle. The group moved over to where she was and sat to rest and recover, as well as level, Kim having gained another level from defeating the boss, bringing her even with the other two girls and Blood.

As the group was finishing resting, Beth asked "How much money do we have now?"

"Three silvers," answered Kim.

"Four silvers," answered Soph.

"Six silvers," from Sabs earned a stuck-out tongue from Soph.

"OK, I have two silvers and Blood has six silvers. I need to have ten silvers for Sabs' new daggers. Who is contributing?" Beth continued.

"I'll throw in two silvers. I expect to get something nice myself, when the time comes," Soph replied airily.

"Alright, give me the silvers and Blood and I will head down to the Hall now," Beth said, taking two silvers from Soph and four from Sabs. Blood also placed her paw on Beth's hand, giving her two silver coins as well, bringing Beth up to ten silver and eleven copper. She walked out with the group, escorting them back to the edge of the development before mounting Blood and heading for the CRA Hall.