Anthony, at least as near as Josiah could tell, managed to grab hold of something. Josiah and Clara, though, fell head over heels down into the depths of a great pit. The table, chairs, and, of course, weapons, all fell along with them. When they came crashing down to the bottom, Josiah found his fall cushioned by a great pile of gold. Clocks, goblets, swords, shields, armor, jewelry, and other such valuables formed the landing pad that he came crashing upon. The table landed on top of him a moment later, and he groaned as he slid down the side of the immense pile.

  When he came to a stop, he groaned and shoved the table off himself, then stood up. Torches were beginning to flicker to life, revealing a vast cavern that had been carved from the stone. Immense pillars held the ceiling aloft, while a great many carvings in the wall marked the events that had apparently taken place in the kingdom. He sighed, then turned his attention back to the pile of gold.

  It was huge, fifty feet high in some places, and sprawled out through the cavern in an immense horde. In the distance, on the other side of the horde, something rumbled, and fire flared from the darkness.

  “Clara?” Josiah glanced around. “We’re about to have company.”

  “As soon as I get my leg… out of this chamber pot… I’ll be there.” Clara’s voice echoed from somewhere in the pile, but he couldn’t see her. “Side note, who makes a chamber pot out of gold?”

  Josiah cast his gaze upward, to the immense shaft that led down into the cavern, but he still saw no sign of Anthony. Likely for the better, really. He drew out Purity, then took a deep breath as a great monster appeared at the far end of the hall.

  It came low, sweeping through the great pile of gold. Long and serpentine, its wedge-shaped head sparkled with two enormous eyes. Fire welled up within its gullet, and it let out a terrible hiss as it approached. The stench hit him an instant later, and he gagged under the enormity of it.

  “You have come to take my gold.” The great dragon rumbled. “And, not only that, but you have polluted my horde with lesser materials.”

  Josiah shrugged. “The master of the castle above sent us here. You’ll have to take up your issues with him.”

  At that, the dragon let out a roar, and a blast of flame. Josiah stepped to the side as the flame erupted through the space where he had been standing, and the beast came to a stop. It had no wings, but was simply enormous, a hundred feet long if he was an inch, and as it reared its head high into the air, it looked every bit the terrible beast that it was.

  “There is no master of the castle but me!”

  “I imagine that there are at least a few other beings who would disagree with you.” Josiah countered. “Unless you kill them all, we really can’t make a proper determination.”

  “Stop talking to it!” Anthony’s voice drifted down from above. “It’s a dragon! Just kill the thing!”

  The great wyrm snarled and tilted its head back, and Josiah aimed Purity. “Purifying Shot.”

  He squeezed the trigger the moment the telltale glow appeared around the weapon. The resulting shot sent a great blast of light through the cavern, hitting the dragon in the throat, just beneath the head. It punched straight through and hit the cavern roof above, knocking the dragon backward. Blood and scales poured down across the ground, and the dragon let out a choked cry.

  Instead of dying, like most monsters would have done after such a grievous wound, the dragon simply took few steps back. Magic flared from its wingtips, down its wings and into its body, and dark energy crackled and pulsed around the wound. A moment later, it had healed, though Josiah suspected that both the overall health and the mana of the dragon had been reduced. With that, the dragon snarled and charged forward, scattering gold as it lifted enormous claws to slash Josiah into bits.

  Josiah raced to the side, drawing Faith’s Edge as he did so. The dragon lifted its head and opened its mouth wide, preparing to unleash a blast of flame. Suddenly, Clara leapt from the pile of gold, where she had been hiding behind a large, golden statue. She crossed her swords as she landed in front of him, and the great, fiery cross appeared in the air in front of them.

  Fooooooooooooooooooooooooom!!!

  Dragon fire exploded down and smashed against the shield, and for a moment fire strove against fire. The cross burned ever brighter, shining its brilliant light back against the dragon, and Clara glanced over at Josiah.

  “Should I overturn it?”

  “No. A dragon isn’t going to be harmed by flame.” Josiah shook his head. “We’re going to need to get up close and personal with this thing. With that, or I just have to pump it full of Purifying Shots until its magic wears out, but I’d rather not waste that much mana.”

  “You tell me what do to.”

  “Ahh… Actually, do overturn it. Right now.”

  The crackling flames of the dragon began to wear down, and Clara overturned the shield effect. A purifying blast of fire erupted straight back at the dragon, hitting it in the face. The monster staggered backward, and by that point, Josiah was already well in motion.

  His feet flew across the unstable mountain of gold as he raced up to meet the dragon. Still distracted by the unexpected blast of fire, it didn’t see or feel Josiah as he leapt up onto his back. Josiah’s feet slid on the smooth scales, and Josiah caught hold of one of the beast’s spines. It hurt his hand a bit to do so, but he muscled through the pain. After a moment, the dragon began to move, staring down at Clara with an intense fury.

  “Your friend has left you. You stand alone.” The dragon taunted her. “I will tear you limb from limb. I will devour you, I will—”

  Josiah held onto the spine as the creature lumbered forward, and he launched himself forward at the base of the neck. Finding a small gap in the scales, he drove his sword down with all his might.

  “Smite.”

  The blade flared with red energy, and with that, Faith’s Edge plunged into the thick skin of the dragon. It bit deep into the spine, and the dragon tilted its head back and let out a blast of fire in pain. Josiah yanked the blade back out with a flourish, then ran down, away from the neck, as the beast began to writhe and twist about, looking for him. While [Smite] was still active, he slashed at the beast several more times, drawing deep cuts from which a blackish blood poured forth. He wasn’t able to get in as many strikes as he might have liked, simply due to the thick layer of scales, but the creature was so big that, here and there, opportunities presented themselves.

  “You fiend!” The dragon snarled and spun rapidly. Gold was blasted into the air, and Josiah fell from the monster’s back. It slammed a claw into his body and pressed him down into the gold, snarling down upon him. “You made a mistake, little one.”

  “I’ve made many mistakes.” Josiah murmured. “And… I’m afraid… so have you.”

  “Helicopter!”

  Clara attacked from behind, once more hitting the dragon’s neck. She struck at the same spot that Josiah had wounded, carving it a bit deeper. She was even able to hook several scales from underneath, widening the wound as well. Drawn by her sword, a great deal of blood gushed forth, pouring down across the scales of the beast and dripping onto the gold. The dragon snarled and spun away, once more freeing Josiah.

  Josiah didn’t waste a minute, and climbed back up the gold to find Clara leaping over the immense piles, sliding down the slopes and scrambling back up the hills. Josiah watched it closely, then scowled as the same healing energy as before began to close up the wound that he and Clara had been working so hard on cutting.

  “We’ve got to find a way to slow that down.” He muttered. “If not, we’ll be here for the next decade trying to carve this place apart.”

  Clara dove forward, ducking behind a large statue. A blast of dragon fire an instant later melted the whole thing, and she only narrowly managed to escape. Josiah nodded, then pulled out Purity and aimed it at the body of the monster.

  “Purifying Shot.”

  The resounding blast hit the dragon dead in the middle of the back. There was a brief flash of light, followed by a resounding boom that shook the very foundation of the cavern. The dragon’s whole back was blasted apart, with scales and bits of flesh flashing up into the air. A huge chunk of the monster was now missing, and it staggered and swayed as it fought to keep itself upright.

  “Try to heal from that.” Josiah muttered as he charged down into the depths of the thing. “Or, rather, don’t.”

  Clara seized upon the opportunity, and charged back up the slopes of gold. The two of them leapt into motion, with Clara striking at its legs from below and Josiah landing on its back. He fired Purity several more times into the mess of its back, punching holes through a number of the monster’s vital organs. The dragon groaned and shuddered, then yelped as Clara crossed her blades and chopped off one of its feet. The whole thing swayed and fell, though it continued to writhe about. Josiah leapt free and landed in a great pile of goblets and coins, and he struggled to his feet.

  Crash!

  The great tail of the dragon swept through the base of the pile, scattering articles of treasure. Josiah tumbled forward, landing firmly as items came crashing down around him. He was buried in an instant, unable to move so much as a muscle.

  Overhead, he could hear the distant roars and rumbles of the beast. A blast of dragon fire… Clara yelling something… But he couldn’t get there to assist.

  “Alright…” He groaned and slowly tried to force himself up, but despite his effort, he couldn’t move one bit. “I suppose…”

  He knew as well as anyone that dragon treasure was always cursed, but he saw no other options. Carefully, he wrapped his fingers around the object touching his hand, then added it to his inventory. There was a rattle as the gold above him shifted, but it held well enough, and it freed up that hand. Quickly, he touched something else, adding it to his inventory, and quickly began working his way around.

  It didn’t take long for him to clear a small space. He still couldn’t move much, but he had a bit more room. The golden objects, heavy as they were, locked together to form a small dome overhead. That done, he held Faith’s Edge in front of himself and activated Guardian’s Resolve. A shield formed around him, pressing to the contours of the small dome, and he nodded.

  “Overturn.”

  The resulting blast of energy tore open the pile of gold above him, flinging objects high into the air. As they rained back down around him, he scrambled up and out, then braced himself as the great dragon spun and spied him. Clara was nowhere to be seen, though from the intensity with which the dragon was attacking a small cave in the side of the area, Josiah could only assume that she was hiding there. The beast snarled, then began to thunder back toward him, limping on the stump of the foot that Clara had cut off.

  “Come at me.” Josiah raised Purity and leveled it at the beast’s head. The time for games was over. “Purifying—”

  KA-BOOM!!!

  A great blast of fire fell from the sky, hitting the dragon in the head. Josiah lowered Purity as a streak of red followed the blast of flame, dropping down to land on the great mountains of gold. It was Anthony, fashionably late, with a sword gleaming with darkened energy.

  The dragon reeled under the blast, and Anthony snarled and raised a hand. Dark energy crackled around the dragon’s body, shifting and pulsing, then focused upon the scorched and mutilated head. With a flick of Anthony’s wrist, he brought the beast crashing to the floor, sending bits of gold flying.

  “What exactly are you doing?” Josiah asked as he walked up to Anthony. The dragon lay before him, whimpering in pain, as a rope of dark magic connected the two of them.

  “Nothing that you would approve of.” Anthony muttered. “I am, however, killing this beast. That’s all you need to know.”

  “You’re torturing it!” Josiah snapped. “Just look at it!”

  “Yes. Torturing it, a dragon.” Anthony glanced over at him. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but your church has always seen dragons as being symbolic of satan himself, of the demons and the underworld, of everything wrong with the world.”

  “That’s true, but—”

  “And the demons are tortured for all of eternity, based on your understanding of the cosmic world.” Anthony snarled. “I’m simply giving this beast a bit of a head start.”

  Josiah gritted his teeth, then raised Purity.

  “No!”

  Bam!

  The bullet hit the dragon between the eyes. Weakened by Anthony’s blast of flame, the bullet punched down into the brain. The dragon fell dead, and the crackling burst of energy fell still. Anthony snarled and spun to face him, but Josiah simply met him with a stern gaze.

  “Why did you do that?”

  “Because I know a mana harvest when I see it.” Josiah stared him down. “You were planting mana in him, feeding it with his own mana. You were using his body as a mana converter, turning the natural fire mana in his body into… If I had to wager a guess, dark mana. That’s something I can’t tolerate.”

  Anthony met Josiah’s gaze, and a small smile flickered across his lips. “Perhaps you’re not as naive as I might have believed.”

  “Not in the slightest.” Josiah walked over to the dragon and knelt down next to the beast. “Now start working on getting out of here.”

  “And why do you get to harvest the wyrm’s mana?” Anthony demanded.

  “You’ve already indicated that you didn’t care about the natural mana here.” Josiah shrugged as a Level 40 fire stone was extracted. “You’ve already got plenty of dark mana. Leave it at that, and be glad I don’t demand it from you at gunpoint.”

  “Fair enough.” Anthony turned his eyes back skyward, then sighed. “This is going to be a long climb.”

  “Well…” Josiah shrugged, then opened his inventory and pulled out the claw gauntlets. “Thankfully, we have some experience in that matter.”

  Chapter twenty-five

  Unspoken

  When Josiah, Anthony, and Clara came staggering back out of the portal, they found quite the crowd waiting on them. A massive formation of hunters stood high above, armed with a vast assortment of weapons. The scout team, late as always, was slowly getting ready to enter the portal to scope things out. The heartstone, meanwhile, was being installed on a new pedestal not far from the pit that had been carved out by the portal. Of course, since they were down in the pit, the trio couldn’t see much of this work, but from the general chaos and noise, they got the gist of it almost immediately.

  “Alright. Let’s get this closed down.” Josiah turned around and held up his hand to the flickering energy. Pulses of light shot out through the thing upon his touch, though it wasn’t quite as pronounced as when he closed the portal at the farm. There was a long pause, and it slowly began to shrink. Soon, it had collapsed all the way down to a single crystal, just like it had been prior to erupting. Josiah picked it up before anyone from above could see, and tucked it into his inventory.

  [Portal Crystal will open again in 6 days, 11 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds.]

  “That’s enough time to get rid of it. Hopefully it’ll be for good.” Josiah muttered, then slowly turned back as officers and hunters came charging down into the pit. He suddenly noticed that Anthony was nowhere to be seen, and he and Clara forced smiles on their faces as a great many guns and swords were pointed in their direction. “Alright. The dragon’s dead. Time for the difficult part.”

  The two of them were quickly led out of the area and brought out from the Pine District. There was a brief scuffle as a minor debate was held about where to take them. The police wanted to try them at Police HQ, since they had caused so much damage to the city. The Hunters Association wanted to try them for crimes against the Association, and, of course, just about every single guild wanted them brought into the Central Guild Hall. In the end, the association yielded to the will of the guilds (likely because the Association would still be the one conducting the trial, and doing so at the Guild Hall would allow them to do so without receiving dozens of requests for transcripts or cross-examinations.

  In any event, Josiah soon found himself standing on the central dais in the middle of the Central Guild Hall, surrounded by a growing crowd. The Association booth, directly in front of him, was filling rapidly with a number of S-ranked hunters who were all higher up in the organization. In the meantime, just about every other booth was filling with guildmasters and their high-level cronies. In fact, the only guilds who didn’t have a guildmaster present were Stormforge and the Enclave of Elders. Anthony had come back out of the woodworks, and now sat in his box, looking down upon the duo with a sneer.

  “Do you think he’ll come to our aid?” Clara whispered, nodding up at him.

  “You know, I generally consider myself to be a good reader of people.” Josiah answered softly. “In this case, I honestly can’t tell you what I think he’ll do, though I suspect that he’ll mostly stay silent for awhile to watch the proceedings and determine what direction the winds will blow.”

  “Attention!” The S-ranked, lead hunter, slowly walked forward to take the stand. He gazed down at Josiah and Clara, both of whom folded their hands behind their backs. “This trial has been convoked to determine the fate and guilt of Josiah Mathers and Clara Smith. How do you both plead?”

  There was a long pause, and all the guildmasters peered forward eagerly. Clara looked over at Josiah, who paused for a good, long moment.

  “I would love to answer your question, believe me, but before I can do so, I need to know what the charges are.”

  The hunter blinked a few times, then cleared his throat. “For starters, we have damage to private and public property. Illegally entering a rift, closing said rift without disclosing any possessions taken from the rift, we have—”

  “Pipe down!” Anthony rose up from his box, hands folded behind his back. All eyes, including those of Clara and Josiah, turned to him in surprise. “You’re talking about things you don’t understand.”

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24