Spear of Destiny by James Baldwin (little bear else holmelund minarik .TXT) 📕

as she pushed the slavering, mutated dragon back toward the wall, and bodily rammed her into another of the bulging lava domes.

The stone shattered under the impact, and magma spurted out around the Sporemaiden’s shoulders. The Sporemaiden let out an unearthly scream, like rusted gears grinding against one another, and struggled pitifully as Karalti pushed it back into the spray of lava and held it there like she was trying to drown it. Magma splattered my dragon’s heat-resistant scales. The first droplets bounced away, but as the molten stone kept flowing, the smoldering particles began to stick. She snarled with pain, tanking the damage until she could no longer stand it. But as she let go, the yellow Sporemaiden’s head darted forward, belching another cloud of spores right into Karalti’s face.

“NO!” My pulse pounded in my temples as I slowly, haltingly strained against the Rotmother’s grip. My HP trickled away as my joints popped and my ribs groaned, but I shoved the pain away and fought with everything I had. I felt my fingernails distend, and my sharp teeth grow out into a double row of long fangs... and when my struggles proved futile, I howled and began to bite, rip and tear into anything I could reach. The Mark of Matir turned icy cold.

[You activated Mortal Grudge!]

[Speed increased by 25% for 60 seconds. 2.5 Adrenaline Point regen for 60 seconds!]

[You have been struck with a Death Sentence! Countdown: 60 seconds]

[Sporemaiden has died! Karalti gains 966 EXP!]

Cold power crawled through my limbs, as I shredded the tentacle gripping my arm. The one around my waist slackened, and I pulled myself free and Jumped, boiling with rage, and slammed weapon-first into the underbelly of the diseased Queen. The bulk of the dragon shuddered as the flaming Spear gouged into it, dealing blow after blow of raw force.

[You deal 8662 Damage to Rotmother! 13,449/28,773]

Tentacles flailed at me as I fell amongst the rain of burning fungus. Fangs bared, I hit Shadow Dance and dashed back up into the air. Once, twice... and then boosted out of it like a black meteor to land another Umbra Burst right in the dragon’s gaping ribcage maw. Shards of black ice burst out of her body like a gruesome flower.

[Umbra Burst deals 1990 damage!]

[Rotmother is Frozen!]

[Death Sentence: 32 seconds.]

Frigid steam erupted from the crackling tissue, letting out a shrill, scream-like whistle... and then the Dragonrot fibers meshing the queen’s corpse to the ceiling started to give way. The Rotmother’s body slumped, then sagged to one side. I caught one of her protruding ribs, hanging on with one arm. “Karalti! Look out!”

Karalti pressed herself to a wall as the hundred-ton corpse pulled away from the ceiling and collapsed. I Shadow Dashed away just before it hit the floor. And boy, did it hit the floor: the Rotmother smashed like a ripe pumpkin, crushing the thin veneer of stone between it and the lava that gurgled underneath. Magma splashed everywhere, and then the dead queen began to sink. Tentacles lashed out, striking everything within reach. Karalti tanked the blows against her back, crying out through gritted jaws. I blew another 20 HP to Shadow Dance out of range. The fungus-infected flesh of the Rotmother shriveled black before catching alight, and soon the cavern was full of choking smoke. All we had to do was avoid the flailing and smashing as the lava disintegrated her, dealing upwards of three thousand damage a second until my HUD’s victory chime rang through the cavern.

[You have defeated Rotmother and Sporemaidens!]

[Your Death Sentence is cured!]

[You gain 2012 EXP! Karalti gains 966 EXP!]

I landed on top of a Sporemaiden’s corpse and bounced. I was not expecting to bounce. The spongy landing pad threw me back up into the air, head over ass, and sent me careening toward the nearest wall. I braced for impact—but Karalti’s head darted out from my right, and she delicately snatched me out of the air in her jaws.

“Thanks.” I sagged in her teeth, and coughed as the smoke haze pressed down from the roof of the cavern, then groaned as a glowing blue ring jumped up in my HUD. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

[You are suffering from Mana Poisoning! -1 HP per second!]

“I know it’s kind of obvious, but we really need to get out of here.” Karalti dropped me and ducked her head. She held her tail low, her wings shivering by her sides. “I’m sure I breathed in some of those spores... I don’t know if I’m sick...”

“Don’t worry. If you caught a dose of mushrooms, I can cure you thanks to my boy Matir. We’ll sort you out once we’re home.” I stumbled around the cooling waves of magma, coughing as the Queen’s corpse continued to belch clouds of mana-laced smoke into the cave. “Can you loot the bodies?”

“Uhh... okay?” Karalti seemed slightly taken aback. She was immune to mana poisoning and could hold her breath a lot longer than I could, though, so she turned to do just that. “Do I have to? I just want to get out of here.”

“I’m working on it, but if we don’t get some decent loot from this dungeon, I’m going kick a baby dolphin into the sun.” I chugged a potion and stored the bottle just before I reached the door. At a loss for how to remove the Star of Endless Night from the Spear of Nine Spheres, I mashed the flat of the blade against the socket. To my great relief, the hole drew the weapon against it like a magnet and locked the stone into place.

A blue-black web of energy shot across the surface of the metal. Gears groaned and clunked from inside the walls as the doors began to slowly winch themselves apart. The halves made it about a foot to either side before the mana lines sputtered, and the