The Chimera Summoner – Ch 21 (Part 1) – A Catalyst!
Ch 21–
The lost hour of the morning lit a fire under us. We tore through encounter after encounter. Our frog count grew as we wandered through the labyrinth of crystal tunnels through whatever route offered us a foe we could overcome. We slowly accumulated more of the valuable frog leather, which we assumed was the rarest drop the frogs offered. They were the lowest level monsters in the dungeon, and we were working through them like a logging operation.
With each battle, our coordination tightened, and our comfort with the frog’s tells increased. By the late afternoon we were comfortably taking on the larger groups of six frogs with less difficulty than our first fight with two.
After our second group of six frogs, I hit level four.
I was ready with my decisions.
Eir
Human
Lv 4 Chimera summoner
Body: 4
Mind: 7 (+3)
Spirit: 9 (+5)
Attribute points: 8!
Skill points: 1!
With the level bump I was able to reallocate my bonus points, for free. I had eight in total now. Brawly’s ring was helping a LOT with my mana issues, so I put most of my bonus points in Spirit and didn't look back.
With both a level, and my heavy investment in my Spirit, Lorna’s and Lucy’s power spiked substantially, along with a meaningful increase in my ability to store Pleasure for healing purposes.
I saved my skill point to rush my next familiar bond upgrade. So, my own skills remained the same, but Lorna unlocked a skill called [Dark Reflection], a hex that let her cloud a target’s vision with illusions drawn from their own fears. She promised it was core to her disruptive capabilities, and I thought it sounded super powerful even though she said she had to touch an enemy to apply it. Lucy got [springer leap] a powerful dash ability that further enhanced her already formidable mobility. Her Skillset seemed to be going in a straightforward mobility brawler direction. Simple Skills that could be applied in any number of ways. The perfect fit for her creativity and gutsiness to pick the right moment.
“Nice.” Jennie said, as we announced and tested our new power. “I feel like I'm close to six. Maybe I can get there this weekend. Especially if we can take on those golems now?”
I nodded. I was feeling incredible, bursting with magic. Even if we had to retreat, I was confident I could keep us all alive, including my familiars.
We sent Lucy to find the closest lone elite and went straight to it.
~~~~~~~
The golem towered over us, nearly ten feet tall and just as wide. Its disproportionately long arms whirled like a deadly crystalline windmill, threshing the air lethally around it.
Lucy bobbed and weaved around it, keeping her arms tight and seeking openings to throw little flurries of thunder punches to make sure she kept the monsters full attention on herself. Each blow sent little chips of blue crystal flying like she was a miner cutting at fine gemstones.
Many of the golem’s wild attacks went wildly wide of Lucy’s elusive figure.
Lorna flowed around the battlefield, haunting the walls, and quickly found an opportunity to apply her new hex.
The Elite Golem was a tower of strength and durability, for our Level. But it was slow and made only physical attacks, making it vulnerable to both of my Familiars’ specialties.
Lorna rose from the ground in its shadow, and touched a graceful finger to its forehead. There was a pulse of icy magic and the golem’s eyes went silvery and reflective.
The golem made a great angry swipe at her, but the purely physical attack passed through her and she sank easily back into the floor to return to my side, leaving behind the creeping frost of her slowing hex as a parting gift.
I caught glimpses of the golem’s projected fears. Phantasmal images of Lorna herself rushing the monster like a ghost jumpscaring me in a horror movie. The visions flashed uncannily, vanishing when the golem’s gaze swept around the room, only to reappear in whatever direction it was looking.
The golem wasted attacks on illusions, reacted to the wrong attacks, and Lucy was able to apply far more pressure with her [tempest strike], dancing in and battering at its sides and legs, throwing it off balance, and making it spin like a lumbering carousel just to keep her in view.
With the images, Lucy’s insistent pressure, and the slows which Lorna diligently stacked up, Jennie was given free reign to shine.
And shine she did. She showed off her higher level, cycling through her damage skills in a symphony of bladed violence. Wherever the golem’s crushing arms were not, there was Jennie.
She was a terror, unleashed like this.
I barely had anything to do.
I threw out a couple heals just to keep the party completely topped up when a flailing club of an arm clipped someone.
The rock arms were genuinely terrifying for everyone but Lorna, and I didn't want to see what would happen if someone took a direct smash. But the golem never even got close to such an advantage.
We were simply too mobile for it. And now, we had just enough damage to outpace its recovery.
It was a long and patient battle. Valant’s lessons about discipline and caution were heavy on our minds as we methodically chipped the golem to pieces. Several times, we could have taken a risk and tried to finish the battle faster with an all in attack, especially Lucy or Jennie. I was tempted to get in the fray and try to land some [tempest strikes] of my own.
But we resisted the temptation.
We had a stable pattern that was making progress in the fight and presented virtually no risk of serious injury to us. So we stuck in it, doggedly.
Within a few minutes, our discipline paid off, and Jennie and Lucy were panting over the dissolving corpse of our first elite kill.
Lorna and I glided and trotted respectively to our companions from our relatively safe backline positioning.
“Well that was easy!” I crowed, excitedly.
“Speak for yourself!” Gasped Jennie.
She sat down with a thump.
Lucy wiped a sweaty brow, but grinned at me, giving me a fierce little waggle of her big bunny ears. The effect was astonishingly adorable.
I held out my hand, palm up, at head height.
“Chin.” I ordered.
Lucy’s eyes widened, and she approached demurely and placed her chin in my offered hand. I held her face firmly, drawing her to me and turning her with a strong grip first one way, then the other as I planted a slow, soft kiss on both of her flushing cheeks.
“Good girl.” I murmured.
“UUUUHHHHH!!!!” She moaned as I released her. She squeezed her thighs together tightly, closing her eyes, like she was savoring a delicious meal.
“You were amazing.” I praised her fondly. “And Jennie! My gods! I didn't realize what you could do with the target locked up like that.”
Lorna floated around me, to take a place expectantly next to Lucy’s serene form.
She offered her hand. I took it, and drew her in for a more formal kiss on each of her cheeks, as well. She turned quickly to give me both cheeks while she could maintain substantiality. I found myself mirroring her little smile.
“Excellent work, princess.” I offered, experimentally.
I wasn’t sure exactly what she wanted. I knew praise and acknowledgement were the general shape. But I also knew she wouldn’t thrive on the same brand of praise that Lucy craved.
Lorna faded back to her ghostly self, slipping through my hand. But I detected an icy blue blush on her cheeks and felt a deep satisfaction radiating through our bond–the purring of a great cat.
Noted.
‘Princess’ it is.
“Imagine if we had a dedicated tank.” Jennie loudly reminded us of her presence.
She was blushing scarlet, and seemed to be at war with herself. Her feet seemed to want to get in line, but the rest of her was absolutely not having it, making her dance bizarrely on the spot.
I chuckled. I would happily wait for her to be ready. And certain.
I let her bring us back to Wayfinding. “Maybe five people would have taken it down faster. Easier. But there's just two of us splitting the experience gains. We’re leveling what… two and a half times faster, per fight, than a five-hand team? Are other first year teams really going more than twice as fast as us? I feel like we are tearing through this biome.”
Jennie nodded, contemplating.
“What?” I whined, determined to be pleased about our progress.
“Wonder how fast you could be leveling, on your own.” She shrugged.
I stopped, frowning.
“It's unlikely we have the damage output to clear encounters with any efficiency, as it stands.” Lorna entoned gravely.
I latched onto the point. “Yeah, what are Lucy and I supposed to punch everything to death? You've seen me try and use that skill right?”
Jennie just shrugged. “Loots dropping.”
We turned our attention to the swirling rainbow mist that the golem had finished dissolving into. It whirled together in a miniature whirlwind until a shimmering orb of hundreds of shades of shifting grey landed heavily on the pink puffy moss.
We gaped at the treasure.
“A catalyst!” Jennie gasped.