102 Chapter 30 - The Demon Crawler (2/2)
The Crawler turned to the adventurers attacking its side and built up a great glob of the fiery web. Ellie slid down it's back as the Crawler built up that horrible attack and slid her razer sharp Butcher's Blade down its pulsing abdomen as she did so. Hellfire exploded after her, barely touching the ground before she rolled beneath the Crawler to avoid being melted by fiery web. It screams caused her world to shake, and yet while under the Crawler she cut again and again into the furred ceiling, globs of purple blood caking her while the Crawler screamed again.
As its legs arched she dove out from underneath, just as the Crawler slammed its torso against the ground. \”Use the spells now!\” Ellie yelled, a blizzard of ice, storm of wind and a lazy bolt of lightning reacting to her call and slamming right into the Crawler's abdomen.
Screaming horrible, the Crawler's backside exploded, it's body turning into energy and screaming as it was sucked away and through the portals were its kind had originated.
In its place remained a purple chest with eight eyes and spiders painted along it appeared before them in a burst of violet light. Limping over, Ellie brushed away the Sundrakes healing spells, others more wounded than she.
\”Ellie, practically no one but you is heart,\” Taki said curtly, and began using his druidic power to rejuvenated her scorches body, \”you're lucky no lasting damage will come from this. What you did was reckless and you know it.\”
Elli just smiled and threw open the chest, the Grand Guildmaster appearing by her side with a twinkle in his eyes.
Inside was a skill book for the spell [Hellfire Web], a thick demon steel shield with anti-Hellflame runes on it, black boots that could activate [Wall Walk] and a spider in a vial. The spider had a teeny tiny crown, it's a little fuzzy body rather cute in comparison and upon touching it Ellie felt violently sick.
'Release me...and I shall grant one wish...' the thing hissed in her mind, a great evil emanating around her like the foul aura of the Plague King. 'Let me free...and everthing you've ever wanted will be yous...'
Ellie pulled her fingers away from one at a time and sank to the ground when it was done. Heaving heavy breathes, the compulsion to obey still stung at her deeply while the Grand Master gave her a concerned look.
\”That thing, it is cursed,\” Ellie concluded. Without another word, the Grand Master made the vial vanish, and put a hand on her shoulder.
\”We'll get you checked them. Taki can you do anything for curses?\”
\”That was no curse,\” Taki murmured, \”but the influence of a great evil. We should not let that vial fall into the wrong hands, there is no telling what it could do. You did well Raid leader, I don't think there are many who could have resisted such a potent mental attack as well as you.\”
\”Thank you Taki. Here Grand Guildmaster, the other items.\”
The Grand Guildmaster quickly doled out the shield to Dwargon, the spell to the Sundrakes and the boots to Ellie.
\”They're meant for a rogue, and I've seen how you've looked at them too. Not to mention you were the integral force in defeating the beast, best you get rewarded for it eh?\”
\”Thank you Grand Master,\” Ellie mumbled and received her shining black boots in hand. Up close she could feel the power in them, trace the little red lines that formed the pictures of spiders and webs. Putting them on they felt comfortable on her feet, contorting to fit, and the skill [Wall Walk] now felt as natural in her mind as if she had trained with it for years.
\”Let's get going already,\” Ellie said standing tall, \”I've had enough of this blasted floor. With this, we'll have the last Captain's favour, and can pass on unopposed.\”
\”You sure we shouldn't fight him? The boss is guaranteed to drop a chest too,\” the Grand Master said. Ellie stared, trying to figure out what this test was about.
\”Indeed. But Bazza said that by garnering a relationship with the boss of this floor we can farm equipment here effectively. Kill him even once, and that possibility goes up in smoke.\”
The Grand Master paused and nodded.
\”I wise decision then.\”
Sighing, Ellie felt relieved she had passed. He always asked such strange things, sometimes insightful, sometimes such stupidly greedy statements it would throw her off. Ellie always feared those trick questions, coming up with the right answer a difficult one when she didn't know whether he was serious or not.
\”When we're done being healed we'll go to the shattered throne again, I think that's where Bazza has been too. Chatting with the boss there like an old frient.\”
Peering to the crumbling citadel, the Grand Master nodded. So unphased by the war all around them, always looking to the next step, no doubt having thought so far ahead in his plans that Ellie could only barely catch up to the present with all her mind. How did he do it, this strategic genius?
Ellie shivered at the thought of just how deep his plans went, how far his strategems were cast. Perhaps with him as he teacher she could excel further, although the prospect of playing these mind games endlessly was a daunting task. Yet it was his challenging of her that had allowed her to think in new ways, and for her to look after her party so well in the last week.
\”Please continue to teach me, Grand Master. I think I speak for us all when I saw we look forward to your instruction,\” Ellie bowed as they moved away from the battlefront, the other adventures doing the same. They had too, for the Grand Master's power was such he could have likely accomplished this Raid by himself, they were sure.
If they didn't want to be left behind on this Legendary tale, they would have to continue to give their all. The Grand Master increased his pace, as if he wanted to press them harder as yet another test.
Eagerly Ellie matched it.