Withering Roots B3F…

Eila ran over, heart thumping wildly, as Genn moaned in pain on the ground. She dropped down beside him as Duran yelled orders and the sound of the monster screeching filled the air.

“Just a flesh wound, is all,” Genn muttered, wincing as Eila probed the wound on his ribs. “Got distracted like a damn Novice.”

Thankfully, the injury was minor; Marr wouldn’t be needed for this. He had gotten clipped by a stray attack from the monster, an [Apprentice | Elite — Withering Roots Giant Tunneler]. The massive beast tunneled through the large chamber, only emerging to let loose its acid or stone attacks. They’d faced this exact same monster here last time.

She clumsily pulled [Healing Hands] off her deck and cast it; the healing energy coated her hands, and she applied it on Genn’s wound. It was only Novice, so it was slow-going, but a quick glance at the fight showed it was about to end.

Varya and Mosi handled the two regular Apprentice [Worm Tunnelers] that the Elite had spawned, while Marr buffed Duran, increasing his attack strength. When the elite emerged from the ground, rearing its massive head back to let loose another attack, Duran’s Trap activated.

[Fire Cage] burst forth from where it’d been placed underneath the worm; it triggered, releasing lashes of fire that looped around the elite, searing its body and locking it in place. Duran immediately let loose a [Fireball] aimed right at its exposed underside, the plating there already destroyed.

The [Fireball] flew through the air, swirling with blue energy from Marr’s [Hydro Boost] buff. The Attack erupted in a burst of fire and water; Duran’s {Emberburst} activated, and the air-strewn cinders from the rush of fire suddenly converged on where [Fireball] had landed and burst in a flare of spikes.

The Adept Perks sure are something, Eila thought in wonder.

The monster’s head blew clean off. It fell with a ground-shaking thud, rattling Eila’s teeth. To the sides, Varya’s [Earth Spikes] impaled one of the [Tunnelers] while Mosi’s [Corporeal Knight] sliced the other one in two.

The fight ended. The roots blocking them in this room dissipated. Light flashed in the area, indicating this entire chamber was now a saferoom.

Marr rushed over to where Eila was still healing the grumbling Genn, complaining about how he didn’t receive any [Perkshards] for the kill. Eila didn’t either; she didn’t provide enough support to be registered by the System as a combatant.

She stood up and let Marr take over the healing. Her build was a mono-Water Support deck with a primary focus in those Perks, and so was much more capable at healing than Eila.

The others regrouped. Genn waved off their concern, seeming embarrassed. With Marr’s stronger healing cards, the older man quickly stood up, brushing the dirt off his pants, and nodded for Duran to resume control.

“The passage to the boss room is just past there, correct?” Duran said, nodding to the now open exit at the end of the chamber.

Varya nodded. “Yes, the passageway loops back down, directly beneath us.” She eyed the dissipating Giant Tunneler and let out a small, choked laugh. “The monster was much easier this time around.”

Duran cast an appraising eye over her, Marr, and Eila. She could tell he was impressed that the four of them had managed to get all the way to the boss room by themselves. Granted, Aidas had also been Adept, though a low one as he had no Perks and only four Adept cards, but still.

Her gaze was pulled towards the dark expanse of the next room, where the tunnel down into the boss room was.

A memory flashed in her head, of her, Varya, Marr, and Aidas in this exact room, the Giant Tunneler’s body dissipating in the past as it did now in the present.

It’s right there, Aidas had said as Marr healed a wound he’d gotten from the fight. The boss room.

Eila remembered staring at her brother’s wound; the Giant Tunneler had managed to hit him in the arm with one of its attacks before he’d killed it with his [Tyrant’s Polearm]. She remembered opening her mouth to say how she wasn’t sure if they should proceed, when Varya laughed, cutting her off.

Imagine the looks on their faces when we come back with the boss loot, she’d exclaimed. She draped a heavy arm around Eila and grinned. You’re going to have a field day with those materials, huh?

Eila had just shut her mouth and smiled back.

Let’s go, Aidas said, standing up and giving a nod of thanks to Marr. We clear this boss, and our future opens up. We’ll be able to apply to stronger Guilds on the Continent and leave this island. He’d turned to them and spread his arms wide, an even wider grin on his face. This is it, guys. Are you ready?

Varya had whooped; Marr had smiled; Eila had stuffed her doubts down deep and nodded.

Now, she was back. Would things have changed if she’d said something? Knowing her brother, knowing Varya, nothing would’ve.

But at least she would’ve been able to sleep easier at night if she had.

“Here,” Duran said, walking up to her. An [Item Card] appeared there, hauntingly familiar. An [Exit Pass]. “It dropped from the elite. Take it just in case.”

Eila stared at the item. The past and present melded again, leaving her dizzy.

Here, Aidas said, the two of them standing a little away from the twins. He summoned the [Exit Pass] and thrust it into her hand. I got it from the worm. If anything goes wrong, you take that and you run, okay?

Eila shook her head, but Aidas already turned away, calling to the twins if they were ready. She sighed in exasperation but put the card in her [Binder].

She’d learned later that he gave the two other [Exit Passes] he got to the twins then as well. Leaving none for himself.

“No,” Eila said, the moment fading. She looked the frowning Guildmaster in his eyes and repeated, “No. Give it to someone else. I’m not leaving again.”

Duran opened his mouth to protest, but something in her eyes must’ve stopped him, for he simply nodded and moved over to Genn.

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Her knees suddenly felt weak. She felt like crying or screaming or both.

Instead, she steeled herself. Now was not the time for emotions.

Duran called for everyone to gather around him. She went over and joined the group as Duran hastily laid out a ground plan, using the little information Varya was able to give him about the boss.

“Once we get in that boss room, our [Binders] are locked, so we need our decks perfect,” Duran said, sweeping his eyes over the group. “You three said the boss had a near impenetrable shell, right? Varya, slot in any defence reduction cards you have. I’ll do the same. Marr, Genn, slot in buffs that increase armor penetration and focus them all on me. Mosi, swap out your [Corporeal Knight] for the [Archer]. Whenever you’re able to use that [Piercing Arrow] skill, use it.”

“I don’t have any defence reduction,” Varya said, frowning down at her [Binder]. “I could have sworn I had at least one or two…”

“How many times have I told you to be more prepared?” Duran snapped. “The difference between an alive cardbearer and a dead one is—”

“Preparation, I know,” Varya muttered, as she rapidly flipped through her pages.

Eila blinked. “Wait,” she said, opening her [Binder]. She pulled out the [Decaying Sap Blueprint] and held it up. “Will this work?”

Duran nodded to her as Varya breathed a sigh of relief. “Varya, give her the items. Eila, forge it, now. The rest of you, show me your decks and your [Binders].”

Eila scrambled away after receiving the items from Varya and summoned her [Forge].

It appeared in front of her. At Adept rank, her [Forge] didn’t manifest as the basic all-in-one device that Novices started with. Hers formed as three separate sections for each card component, each section upgraded beyond the System-standard with items.

Her furnace, inking station, and foci station formed in a triangle shape with the [Blueprint] mold at the center of it all. She slotted the [Blueprint] in, and all three stations activated, though she wouldn’t need the foci station for a [Minor Earth Source].

Her Forgeperks wouldn’t be too useful here, as she’d unlocked the Water and Dark ones, but she didn’t need any boosts for an Apprentice card.

Most Novice forgers thought they had to follow the order of base, ink, and foci. Through her training, Eila had learned better. She started with preparing the ink: the [Blueprint] called for 2x. [Concentrated Dung]. All the money she accumulated went towards upgrading her stations, and now she had an [Refined Inker] along with a basic set of brushes.

The [Refined Inker] was a large fire-engineered metallic device separated into four see-through compartments. She placed the Dung inside the very top portion, and a little dial allowed her to control the heat levels of that compartment. She cranked the heat, so the material would break down and feed into the next compartment quickly. Normally, she’d take her time with it, as that produced the best color and consistency, but the card didn’t have to be perfect.

While that cooked, she worked on the base. She placed the 3x. [Dung Beetle Shell] inside her [Refined Furnace], separating each item into a designated slot. Instead of a simple set of bellows that would heat the entire furnace uniformly, Eila had splurged an obscene amount of coin on a set up with three independent bellows each feeding their own slot. This way, she could vary the degree of melting she wished for each individual base item.

Unfortunately, automated furnaces were an Expert forge upgrade, so she still had to individually pump each bellow; a window at the back of the furnace allowed her to see the items heating up. For a card of this effect, with these materials… two of the beetle shells need to be near burnt, while the third is just a little underdone.

The ground strangely rumbled beneath her, but she barely noticed. When she was forging, nothing mattered but her and the materials.

She kept a careful eye on the shells, alternating between the bellows. She aggressively pumped the first two, while doing light, delayed pumps for the third. Soon, the first two shells liquified, and she left those bellows alone, letting them blacken with the residual heat while she focused her attention on the third shell. When that one was just close to being done, she pulled a lever on the side of the furnace. The three liquified shells poured into a heat-proofed container.

She picked it up and was carefully carrying it over to the [Blueprint] when the ground shook beneath her again, more violently. She just barely avoided spilling the base on herself.

“What in Nyx’s eyes was that?” Genn shouted.

“Something’s wrong,” Duran growled. “Everyone, finalize your decks. Eila, hurry.”

“Almost done!” she shouted back. She quickly poured the base onto the [Blueprint], wincing as a bit of the base splashed over the edge of the mold, then hurried over to the inker.

The liquid component of the dung had poured into the second compartment, leaving behind waste to dispose of in the first. She looked up, saw the group in a frenzied state, and hurried up. No time. She set the controls for the next two compartments to the bare minimum standard and ran to the [Blueprint].

She pulled out the two required [Minor Earth Sources]. With sources of this strength, it would’ve been better to ink the image first, then infuse them, but there was no time. She converted both sources in her hands and mentally sent them simple images they would understand: spring, the earth, growth, roots. Her being in this underground space helped in that regard, and quickly the sources grew compliant. She gently placed them inside the [Blueprint], the template glowing green.

The ground groaned once more. A giant rend fractured the floor, and Eila stumbled, dropping down. She quickly scrambled up and ripped the fourth container of the now refined ink out of the machine, snatched up her brushes and skidded over to the [Blueprint].

She heard her group members shout her name. She yelled back that she was coming.

It was foolish of her to focus this hard on a card. But she had to finish it. She needed to do something. She’d just been watching as her guild members fought, put their lives on the line for her, for her brother who she abandoned.

She inked the image in with reckless abandon. The machine separated the ink of the card into the required color components for her, and she filled in the card at a speed and carelessness that would’ve made Forgemaster Alder faint if he saw.

With the last stroke, the [Blueprint] flashed and faded away, leaving behind the finished card. She sucked in a deep breath and grabbed it.

“Varya!” she shouted. The older woman turned to her as Eila raised her arm to throw the card to her.

The ground crumpled beneath her as she threw, throwing her aim off.

The card flew off to the side of the chamber; her [Forge] dissipated as she and the others fell through a sudden hole, directly into the boss room.

***

Withering Roots B2F…

Tristan was about to finish off a [Withering Roots Guardian] when the entire Dungeon shook. He stabilized himself, killed the monster with [Shadow Spear], and scanned the area.

Tiny cracks had appeared all across the chamber he was in. The disturbance had come from the floor beneath him.

The passageway down to the third floor was just in the next room. He rushed for it, ignoring the various monsters that popped out at him; he leapt over a [Withering Roots Defecator], slid underneath some disgusting weevil-looking creature, and plunged down the passageway. It was another tunnel leading further down into the Roots.

The minimap switched. He saw clearly now that the Dungeon was in a funnel shape, each floor smaller than the one above it. The passageway down to the bossroom was at the heart of this floor.

He ignored all the mobs he came across, deliberately avoiding the rooms that looked as if they’d spawn an elite as he didn’t have the time for that. It meant taking a roundabout path to the bossroom, but it was necessary; the Dungeon shaking was ominous, and he had a sinking feeling in his gut.

He burst into the room before the passageway. Judging from the size and look of the entrance, this had been an elite room, but it was now cleared and had been turned into a saferoom. Signs of battle were everywhere; scorch marks, displaced earth, rends and holes in the floor and walls.

A massive hole had formed near the center of it. Looking at the minimap, he saw that the boss room was directly beneath it.

Something caught his eye on the side wall. He ran to it—it was a card. [Decaying Sap]? Why was this here?

He decided to slot the card into his deck, replacing [Stonehold], and checked his remaining casts. Not good, but not terrible. He had stopped at a saferoom at the start of this third floor, so he was relatively topped up.

A horrifying, ear-piercing chitter noise came from the hole, followed by screams.

Tristan didn’t think. He leapt into the boss room.