Zectas Volume V: The Sequestered Seminary of Sawtorn (25 page)

Trapped, Leshak let out another fog, but this time it quickly faded. Instead of seeing a monster skewered by broadswords and bounded by ropes, they saw a bleeding Mamelon in its place.
"Don't let it go, Men! That's not me!" yelled the real Mamelon.
"You know what's really scary about this place?" asked a bounded-up Leshak while in Mamelon's form. "I'll show you anyway, even if you didn't ask!"
"Underlings to me!" yelled the transforming monster.
Sierra, and her comrades vigilantly watched the tunnels' exit. Seconds turned into a full minute, but still no one came out.
"They must be stuck or something," said Leshak. "Or maybe, they didn't hear me?
"Most of them are hard of hearing," defensively said Leshak. "Let me try this one more," added the monster quickly. "Underlings, to me!"
Then, they heard dozens of footsteps running out from all of the passageways.
"Bwakakakaka! Here they come now!" proclaimed Leshak.
A gasping Hazard was the first one to come out.
"The Poison slimes suddenly started charging," began Hazard. "Luckily the Druids and the Shamans Healing abilities have kept the monsters at— What's that thing?" he stopped mid-sentence as he pointed at Leshak.
Shortly after, Vrai, Ardu, Phen, and Rear appeared out of their own tunnels.
"You!" angrily shouted Leshak, pointing his root-like fingers at Sierra. "You and your men just got lucky! If you only ordered a full on attack, you would have been swarmed by—."
Sierra did not allow the monster to finish, as she called out to Virer. "Do it now!"
Virer leapt up and unleashed the largest fire-lance he could muster. It was twice his body size and plummeted straight towards the entangled Leshak.
BTOOM
"Arrgh!" screamed Leshak in pain. The monster's tree saps had dried out, turning it to a flammable substance.
Tugging hard on their ropes, the Avendre Mercenaries quickly pulled out their broad swords.
"Druids, use Starfire!" ordered Sierra, as she pointed her own ferule at the plant-like beast. The light emanating on top of her staff glowed even brighter. Then, a series of bright white-lights fired out from her ferule.
Leshak's scream resonated throughout the cavern. Desperate, it let out another fog, but Sierra and her men quickly backed away.
Only Leshak's flaming body was slightly seen through the smog.
"The monster can copy anyone it touches," warned Mamelon. "Avendre create a barricade while we continue our attacks."
Although it was not visible, Leshak still had a massive life bar.
Numerous starfires and elemental lances flew through the air as they targeted the flaming silhouette.
"Keep it up, Guys!" encouraged Mamelon.
After ten minutes of continuous ranged attacks, the flames inside the smog died out. Yet, they still continued their onslaught, as all of them knew they were still far from killing the monster.
"Mamelon, is there an Aero Knight on your side of the cavern?" called out Sierra, without once stopping her starfire attacks.
"Yeah, Jaseur arrived a couple of minutes ago," replied Mamelon. "He came togeher with Vrai."
"Jaseur, clear the smog!" ordered Sierra.
A strong spiral wind attack pierced through the smog, exposing a clear line of sight between them.
Peering into the opening, Sierra saw Leshak's lifeless body, but a troubling feeling instantly overcame her.
Sierra called the Aero Knight. "Jaseur, one more time!"
"Of course, I was just adjusting the distance of my wind-lance," replied Jaseur.
WISS WISS WISS WISS WISS
Several wind-lances pierced through the smog, and broke the visual obstacle apart. After it was cleared, the hollow shell of the giant with stag moose antlers and roots for a beard stood still in its place.
Slowly, the gathered Vigilantez stopped their ranged attacks.
Then, they heard Hazard shout for joy. "We did it! We did it! We've cleared the dungeon."
Sierra shook her head. Hazard had grown to be obedient, but his impulsive nature was still a problem. She cautiously walked towards Leshak's body in order to scrutinize it.
As the Zectians began to cheer with Hazard, Sierra realized that this shell was indeed not alive. However, she also noticed one crucial missing piece. There was no notification window of them killing the monster.
"Everyone, Leshak is still alive, this is just an empty shell!" shouted Sierra, as she quickly scanned through her men.
Mamelon then released a water-lance up in the air. "All of you attack with your abilities," she said. "I've noticed that Leshak isn't able to copy that."
At once, all of the Druids, Shamans, and Elemental Knights filled the cavern ceiling with their active abilities.
"Avendre stand down and lower your swords," said Sierra.
As they only had no special ability to show their true identity, the Avendre Mercenaries lowered their weapons.
"Avendre, state your name and the units you belong to," said Sierra, thinking that the silenced Avendre would confirm that one of them was Leshak.
"Commander Hazard, I belong to General Sierra's Unit," replied Hazard, as he led the series of Mercenaries calling out their names and units.
It took two minutes for all of the Avendre to call out their name, and all of them were able to do so. During this time, no attacks were done to Sierra and her men.
"Where's Leshak?" Mamelon asked Sierra.
"I don't know, but we better get the relic and get out of here," said Sierra.  She looked down on one of the passageways, she saw that the men who they left behind were still fighting for their lives against the never ending respawning mob. "Before our members run out of mana and stamina," she quickly added, fearful for the welfare of their men.
Sierra walked over to the blue-sphere blocking the relic and touched it.

* * * * * * 

Looking around, Sierra found herself floating inside a blue bubble. She could freely move towards any direction. Her illuminated ferule poised to unleash a flurry of starfires at a moment's notice.
"Relax, relax," said Leshak. The monster's voice came from above. Yet, the tree-like monster had changed its shape. It had transformed itself into a man, but its stag moose antlers remained protruding out of its head.
Sierra did not reply and flew straight towards the now smaller Leshak, charging with her ferule pointed at the monster.
BOOMP
An invisible forcefield suddenly stopped Sierra's advance.
"I told you that won't work," said Leshak. "This place let's us battle our Leadership ability, and maybe slightly increases the power of my underlings."
"Of course, with these odds, I don't think that I'll have any trouble defeating you," added Leshak.
Sierra took a neutral position and studied Leshak's expression.
"As you know, there are nine tunnels all leading to the relic," began Leshak. "The winner is the side who has more forces in all ten sections of this dungeon within the next hour."
"You're wondering why I told you the mechanics?" asked Leshak. "That's how confident I am that you won't beat me!" he said mockingly.
A map of the tunnel suddenly appeared in front of her. There were several dots of red and green scattered on it, with color coordinated percentages in their respective areas. She recognized the green to be her allies, as there were a few of them at the cavern of the relic.
Another window popped up, as it displayed the summary of the various sections.

"Now, I know what you might be thinking," said Leshak. "Right now we're about even in the tunnels, and you have the lead in the relic chamber."
Leshak paused and sniggered. "But that's all about to change... Underlings, flood the entire cavern!"
At once, the number of red colored dots on Sierra's map doubled. Half of them remained to fight the green dots in their respective tunnels, while the rest of them rushed towards the relic chamber.
Sierra then spoke into the open conference window.
"Everyone, listen to me," began Sierra. "We've got to move fast."
"What happened? What's going on? Where are you?" asked a worried Mamelon. "You vanished when you touched the blue sphere."
"I'm stuck in some sort of bubble with Leshak, but don't worry, I'm safe. It can't attack me," replied Sierra. "But you guys are about to be mobbed. Block all the tunnel exits. A lot of monsters are heading your way."
Listening intently to their reply, Sierra heard them scramble to follow her command.
"Next, you need to tell the people in my tunnel, Mamelon's, Virer's, and Phen's to run towards the relic chamber. Forget about fighting the monsters. As for the rest of the tunnels, tell them to keep on fighting."
"Alright, we'll report back when we've accomplished that," replied Mamelon.
Seconds later, she saw a few green dots scatter from the relic chamber towards the designated passageways she mentioned.
Meanwhile, the remaining green dots stationed themselves on the exit of the tunnels. She could see several red dots vanish as they clashed against the green dots in the relic chamber.
Ten minutes passed, and still there was no chatter in the open conference window. Sierra found herself biting the tips of her nails, as she watched the green dots slow progress towards their destination.
"Anyone there? Have you secured the relic chamber?" asked Sierra. "This is torture," she accidentally said to the conference window, while she anxiously waited for an answer.
"Only the men from your tunnel have yet to make it pass the seven-hundred-fifty marker," answered Mamelon. "I'm sending in more Druids for fire cover now."

Watching the map, Sierra saw several green dots flock towards her tunnel. She checked on the other tunnels that she asked to keep on fighting. They were slowly being outnumbered.
The only section left that showed them in the lead was the relic chamber.
Sierra let out a deep breath, as she feared that her plan might have backfired. Then, she heard a pleasant update.
"We've secured the relic chamber, but I don't know how long we can hold them," said Mamelon. "Also, the tunnels that are still fighting are about to be overrun."
Sierra grinned, as there were still thirty-minutes left on the timer. "Guys, our counterattack starts here!"
"Mamelon, please have your men help out Ardu's tunnel," said Sierra quickly.
She paused and examined the map again, as she double checked the percentages. "Virer, you're up next. Have your men assist Vrai's passageway."
"Next, Phen, you go and help Hazzard's members," ordered Sierra. "And make sure that our Druids use Conversion on those black slimes."
"Rear, you and your men can hold those water elementals by yourselves," encouraged Sierra. "But you need to find a way to Convert those greater water elementals to our fold."
"Now, I need someone to make sure that those skeleton summoners in Courant's section are converted," said Sierra.
"I'll do it," offered Vrai. "I'll lead a group of Druids and take care of that. I'm sure Virer can handle my tunnel by himself."
"Alright! Everyone, move!" commanded Sierra, and she watched the green dots mobilize on her map. All she could do was clench her fist and wish them well.
True to her word, Vrai was the first one to infiltrate deep into her assigned tunnel. Sierra saw a few red dots turn into green, confirming that Vrai had indeed converted the skeleton summoners.
A few seconds later, the greater slimes inside Rear's section were converted as well. Slowly, more green dots appeared on Sierra's targeted tunnels.
Several Minutes past, and Sierra's grin grew wider.