Duelling Dungeons

As the team approached the boss room, the Miasma seemed to grow thicker. It swirled around their tails and legs, crawling up their bodies and grasping at them like some sort of shadowy spectral monster.

“What is this?” one of the girls asked as she kicked against the miasma that had wrapped around her leg.

“Jyssa’s magic,” Kass replied without looking back. “Now that we’re right at her door, she’s not satisfied with just sending the miasma out; she’s pushing her magic into it, controlling it, to slow us down.”

“She can do that?” Helen asked.

“It’s kind of her thing,” Kass replied. “She is capable of other magics, but she’s best known for her ability to create and manipulate miasma. It’s as natural for her as water manipulation is for you.”

“That’s a dangerous ability,” Helen muttered.

“Mhmmm,” Kass muttered. “She’s so adept at it that she can keep the Miasma off her allies while harassing her opponents; that’s how the Spellblades could sit in the Miasma and remain completely unaffected.”

“I really wish I had that ability,” one of the Sirens wheezed. “I’m not feeling so good right now.”

Kass glanced over her shoulder at the girl, and almost immediately regretted it. The miasma had obviously gotten into her system, because there were long, black, vein-like protrusions running up her neck, almost to her head, and down her exposed arms. The way they pulsed, almost rhythmically, had to be uncomfortable, if not outright painful.

“Are you sure you’re up for this?” Kass asked the girl.

“We already told you, we’re with you to the end,” the girl replied. “Besides, what am I supposed to do? Pull back? Even if I managed to clear the miasma, I’d be useless for the rest of the match. I’d rather use the little time I have left to do something useful.”

“Don’t worry about us,” Helen snapped. “Worry about finishing the fight as soon as possible. That envelope of water I’ve surrounded you with will protect you from the miasma for a little while, but if I collapse, then so will your only defence against the miasma. Use your time wisely.”

Now that she was looking for it, Kass could see the magic creeping through everyone on her team. Even Helen had faint black lines peeking out from beneath her tunic, writhing beneath her skin.

Kass took a deep breath, then nodded. “Right, leave it to me,” she declared, before facing forward and slithering into the Rogue’s boss room, where Jyssa was waiting.

The room appeared to be a massive, sterile operating theatre, similar to rooms they encountered earlier on the floor; however, while those earlier surgical areas had cabinets full of medical equipment, this one had dozens of mad-science devices bolted to the floor and ceiling. At the back of the room was a huge metal table surrounded by massive electrodes and jars full of twitching body parts.

Although she’d never seen Rogu fight, Kass could imagine the colossal Abomination pick himself up off the slab, as if he’d just been brought to life.

Instead, there was a petite woman in a long flowing black dress sitting on the edge of the slab, studying her.

“It was beginning to think you’d never make it,” Jyssa declared with a smile, before pushing herself off the table. As soon as she hit the ground the miasma in the room began swirling around her, becoming darker, almost like a roiling, living shadow. “I’ve been waiting.”

“Sorry about that. I would have been here sooner, but someone left a toxic magical fog everywhere,” Kass replied. “It kind of slowed us down. Don’t worry, I’m here now, and I’m ready to finish you off for good.”

“You’re welcome to try,” Jyssa snickered, before raising a hand and waving it towards the back of the room. The miasma parted, revealing a small group of scientists with coppery prosthetic limbs and a variety of sparking electrical weapons. “Doctors, kindly deal with the rabble while I deal with my Naga friend here.”

The head doctor seemed uncertain at first, but when he saw the state of the Sirens and Naiads, he smiled. “Of course, it would be our pleasure.”

“Leave the scientists to us,” Helen hissed quietly. “We have more than enough strength left to deal with them. Just remember, you’re on a time limit, so move quickly.”

“Don’t worry, I remember,” Kass replied without turning around. “Good luck.”

“And to you too, girl,” Helen replied, before leading the rest of the team along the wall to the left, heading towards the scientists while leaving the arena open for the main event.

“What? Too scared to face me yourself? You needed to get protection first?” Jyssa asked.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to get through you,” Kass replied, slowly dropping into a fighting stance and extending her knives.

“And I’ll do whatever I need to to stop you. I’ve never been much of a close combatant, and you’re definitely better armed than I am. Pun intended,” Jyssa said as she stepped back and gestured towards Kass’s four arms. “That does not mean I’m helpless. Come get me, if you can!”

With a flick of her wrist, Jyssa caused the miasma in the middle of the room to begin to collect in several spots, condensing down before forming half a dozen long tentacles made of inky black smoke. The one nearest Kass reared its tip towards her, like it was the head of a snake, reared back, then lunged.

Kass threw herself to the side just in time to avoid the attack, and the tentacle smashed into the wall with enough force to crack the stone wall. A moment later, the tendril dissolved, dissipating into a cloud of miasma, again allowing a new tentacle to grow in its place.

“Neat trick,” Kass snarled, “I wonder how long you can keep that up.”

“Long enough,” Jyssa replied. “The real question is, how long can you avoid them?” She flicked her wrist again, and two of the tentacles reared back at the same time, while a third extended upwards, thinning out while it elongated.

When the two thicker tentacles sprang forward, trying to crush Kass as the previous one had, she darted forward, ducking into the shadow of a third, out of sight of Jyssa.

“You’ll have to do better than that,” Jyssa snarled as she flicked her wrist, sending the elongated tendril ripping across the room. The thin tentacle whipped about at neck height, tearing straight through the tentacle Kass was hiding behind.

As the ruined tentacle dissolved, Kass sprang from her crouched position, dashing through the dissipating miasma, knives flashing as she closed the gap. “Your magic is impressive, but you should work on your combos. You never know when someone may identify your patterns and figure out how to take advantage of them,” she exclaimed.

Jyssa’s eyes went wide, and she pulled something that looked like a long silk ribbon out of her left sleeve. She grabbed the strip of cloth in both hands and held it up in front of Kass’s two upper knives. Surprisingly enough, the flimsy-looking fabric easily deflected the blades.

Unfortunately, it didn’t do anything against the two lower knives, and despite Jyssa’s attempt to dodge, both of the sacrificial blades bit deeply. She jumped back, pressing one arm tightly across her wounds, and gave Kass a bitter smile. “You’re right, I should have switched things up a little, but it’s easy to fall back on well-practiced maneuvers when concentrating on something else.”

“So your excuse for getting cut is you were distracted?” Kass asked. “Really?”

“It’s the truth,” Jyssa replied. “Or have you not noticed? Your little shield is wilting.”

Kass felt her eyes go wide, and she risked a glance back at the rest of her team. Although the fight against the scientists appeared to be going well, several massive hands had grown out of the miasma and were grasping at her team. The biggest of which had grabbed Helen and was repeatedly slamming her into the wall.

As Kass watched, it reared back one last time and slammed the Naiad into the wall with enough force to cause her to disconnect, and as she did, Kass felt her protective envelope of water fail.

“What can I say? I’m good at multitasking,” Jyssa jeered as the miasma surged around Kass, forcing itself into her nose and mouth. The Naga gagged, staggering back, trying to find somewhere she could breathe, but every time she moved away, Jyssa followed, keeping her in a swirling maelstrom of dark magic. “You know, I’m a little disappointed. I thought you’d be a more difficult opponent,” she said.

“I underestimated you,” Kass admitted, trying not to cough her lungs out. “But that’s okay, you underestimated me too.”

Jyssa smiled. “Oh really? In what way? You’re already so weak that you can’t even stand upright anymore.”

Kass gave her a weak smile back. “Helen’s not the only one that can use water magic,” she replied. “Thanks for following me.”

Jyssa frowned and began to turn around just as the tiny water elemental that had formed behind her charged forward, smashing her in the back. Even though it was small, that bump was enough to send Jyssa stumbling forward just as Kass used the last of her strength to make one last desperate lunge. When the two collided, Kass had just enough strength to embed a single knife right into the center of Jyssa’s chest.

“I guess we both learned a lesson, huh?” Kass mumbled into Jyssa’s ear as the pair simultaneously dissolved, leaving what was left of their crippled teams behind.