Backwoods Dungeon

Chapter Fifty-Five

Miasma Knight

Rio

Somehow, the demon knight's voice cut through the deafening cry of the guns, silencing everything for a moment.

The troopers didn’t give the knight the time to say anything more. As if offended by their own hesitation in the face of that terrifying voice, they began firing bullet after bullet at the demon. Each one ricocheted ineffectively off the metal armor as if it were a wall of solid steel.

It didn’t seem to matter what sort of bullet they fired. Someone, probably a cleric, started firing rays of light at the gigantic knight, but they regretted it immediately when one of the remaining jailers broke free of my ice and immediately attempted to launch its fire breath into the line of troopers.

Theo’s wind blade sliced through the demon’s neck just in time, turning what might’ve been a deadly gout of flames into a sputter of blue demonic blood and a puff of smoke. I wasn’t even sure any of them noticed, as all attention was focused on the massive demon knight.

Black armor. The creature was just barely smaller than the Rock Worm. I’d already seen it when I’d escaped before but that still hadn’t prepared me for the gut-wrenching terror that surged through me. Bullets were bouncing off it. Bullets had killed everything we’d fought so far. If we couldn’t use them…

“Humans. Cursed humans. My master has need of you…” the knight said. His voice lowered the volume of everything around us somehow, making certain we could hear him.

Master. Yes. He had mentioned that before, but I hadn’t believed… what could be powerful enough to subdue this thing?

He held that staff once more. My eyes widened as I saw him begin to raise it just like before. I could not let it use that nausea attack again. If he did, we were all dead.

“Theo! The staff!” I screamed, terrified. I didn’t wait for him to start shooting. The knight must’ve been nearly fifty yards away. Slightly closer than some of the gorillas I’d managed to hit on the ceiling. I missed my first shot but my second one slammed right into his gauntleted hands. It clanked off just like all the bullets from the closer troopers.

My next shots would’ve been right on, but the gun suddenly began to click. Out of ammo.

The knight raised its staff, but before it could, a massive warcry, even louder than his cursed voice, blasted out from one of the troopers.

I felt my mana pool expand. My muscles felt invigorated and my breathing suddenly came easier. The man’s shout had somehow boosted me. For a brief moment, I felt like I was on top of the world.

Then the attack came.

Theo’s claws were extended in an attempt to use his Gripping Vines, but they were far too slow. The nausea slammed into me with all the force of an entire week of food poisoning in a single instant.

I doubled over, and I saw the troopers do the same, but I didn’t fall. Bile rose in my throat, and mucus filled my nose, but it wasn’t as bad as last time. My vitality, the invigorating warcry, and possibly the new amulet around my neck granting poison resistance all allowed me to remain functional, where I’d been completely helpless before.

Gold was everywhere, though. That meant there was mana everywhere. I used Phase and immediately felt relief. With all this gold and all these mana potions littering the ground, the nausea amulet was wasted on me as long as I could avoid the attack with Phase. I needed a way to attack from my transparent form.

“Oh god!” gasped one of the troopers from his knees, where he’d just managed to wrench off his vomit-filled mask.

Another, the one who’d shouted, still appeared functional, but the demons were surrounding him. He’d discarded his gun and shield and frantically swung two swords into anyone who dared approach his fallen allies, but he appeared desperate. The shield had all fallen by the wayside.

These troopers… they were weaker than us. I realized it at that moment. How could that be possible? If they’d torn through all of these imps then surely they were higher level than we were?

I didn’t have time to think about that, though. Instead, I dug into my bag for the assault rifle. This place was big enough that the risk was more than worth it. The troopers had been using rapid-firing guns in short bursts whenever they could get shots out between their shield wall, but at this point, my only hope was that the ones we’d looted had bigger, better bullets. All guns weren’t created equal.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t physically affect my bag without dropping the Phase and fully immersing myself back in the aura of sickness generated by that terrible staff. I stood, reactivating Phase with the new gun ready, only for the hairs on my neck to stand on end.

Teddy.

Seemingly unaffected by the poison, the massive bear charged towards the knight like a bull. He emitted grunts of rage as he ran, which sent involuntary chills down my spine. They were followed by an ear-splitting roar as he barrelled over the fallen troopers, trampling a demon jailer that had been about to cleave one of them in two with its sword.

Torn roots surrounded the demon knight, evidence that Theo had tried his Gripping Vines ability and that the knight had merely torn them to shreds. Pulses of green light periodically filled the room with renewed applications of the noxious aura, but it seemed Theo and I both had our defenses against it.

The knight readied himself calmly, seemingly unafraid of the bear that was almost as big as he was. It withdrew the gigantic sword and lifted the staff aloft with its left hand.

Shocked out of my stupor, I dashed forward, abandoning my plan to fire more bullets at the knight. Theo was going to fight it directly, which made my role obvious. I had to get that damn staff.

“Fuck you, you son of a bitch!” screamed the warrior. He no longer looked like a trooper with his helmet off and small cuts tearing his armor.

He let out another invigorating warcry as Theo’s charge gave him the breathing room he’d needed to clear the remaining demons and gorilla dogs harassing them. Barbarian. He had to have chosen Barbarian.

Theo pounced on the gigantic knight, and for the first time, I watched it move. The Knight’s maddeningly quick blade bit deep into Theo’s right claw, but even the imposing armor couldn’t stop Theo’s sheer momentum. His left claw sunk deep into the black armor, proving beyond any shadow of a doubt that the bear was somehow massively stronger than even a gunshot.

That made no sense, but I didn’t have time to think about it as I watched the bear scramble with the knight. His claws were lightning-quick, and I watched him bash the sword out of the Knight’s hand with his wounded claw before he raked his other claw through the demon’s right horn.

The knight wasn’t idle as he battered at the bear with his fist, becoming more desperate as he realized that Theo might actually be stronger than him. All the while, he never let his left arm drop, handicapping him in order to keep the miasma aura active.

Theo constantly tried and failed to bite down on the knight’s neck, but he was a bit too short to sink his teeth down into its armored throat.

My eyes narrowed as I ran as fast as I could, scooping up coins with quick drops of Phase to make sure I didn’t succumb to the sickness, circling the knight.

Not to be outdone, the Barbarian dashed after Theo ahead of me, screaming in rage and fury. I thought he was crying.

As I passed them, I spotted another trooper getting back to his feet. A strange glow of burning flame shimmered in his hands, but it didn’t look like the fireballs I’d seen Carla use. It seemed deeper somehow, more dangerous.

The knight tried to back away from the bear but it seemed surprised when Theo was strong enough to hold him still. Standing eye to chin with him, Theo slashed his bloody claws at the Knight’s left arm, trying to dislodge the staff. The knight kicked Theo rather than take more claws and bites to its face and arm. Claw marked pocked its obsidian black armor.

The Barbarian arrived screaming in fury as he leaped. Far higher than any man could possibly jump, the trooper brought both his swords down, swinging both of them for his left arm. Unfortunately, they both clanged off his armor, but again, sheer momentum forced him back a few steps.

As if realizing he was getting into a bad situation, the knight punched my husband in his throat.

‘Oh fuck, Theo!’ I thought, horrified.

Theo didn’t fall, but the strike did give the knight time to disengage from both Druid and Barbarian…

…Right toward me.

Rather than attack directly, I’d been circling around the monster, and now I was in the perfect spot to take him by surprise.

I dropped Phase and threw another Frostbite Trap before the sickness aura could debilitate me. Phasing to regain my senses, sheer luck kept me alive as the knight’s sword slashed right through me.

I hadn’t even seen him pick it back up!

I scampered away and found it easy to disengage as the Frostbite Trap’s nova of ice crashed through the Knight’s armor. It wasn’t powerful enough to flash freeze him like it had for most other demons, but it slowed him.

We were winning, whittling the bastard down. His armor was dented now, holes were torn in the spiked pauldrons, and Theo was already running after him to reengage now that he’d been slowed.

My window was brief. I let Phase drop once more and aimed the Carbine before firing. I didn’t aim at the Knight. My target was the staff.

Success! The staff exploded in a shower of splinters. I felt the miasmic aura vanish immediately.

I cheered at the return of health, but I paid for it.

Moving faster than something so big should be able to, the Knight was already upon me. It had no expression behind its metal helm, but I thought I could sense its fury.

I desperately tried to activate Phase, but my mana was utterly depleted. The skill failed, and the knight’s gauntlet slammed into my face.