Chapter Three Hundred and Eighteen — Sheepish
Chapter Three Hundred and Eighteen — Sheepish The monster’s first mouth stayed open, revealing rows of teeth far too sharp for any sheep. It’s bleat continued, pushing a wash of too-warm air past our group. All along its sides were some roots wrapped around its wool. Some were loose, and they wiggled with the bleating.I shielded my eyes from its breath, then coughed as I took a whiff of it.These demon sheep didn’t brush their teeth often enough.I pushed a surge of Cleaning magic ahead, forming a shield against the stench. It was a little difficult. The bleat was making me tired, I think.Then the demon sheep’s second mouth opened wide and it bleated. “BAA!”The third mouth opened a moment later and joined in the scream with a powerful bleat of its own.Soon, the three “baas” harmonised, becoming a single loud tone that was impossible to ignore. The blast of air grew stronger, and I felt my shield of Cleaning magic straining.“Hit them!” The lieutenant ordered.I blinked. It was hard to keep my eyes open. Hit them? Hit who?My hand lowered, and I felt my Cleaning shield start to fizzle out on the edges. It stank again... but I didn’t see why it mattered.I brought my hand up to cover a yawn, then let it drop.Everything was so heavy.Maybe we could retreat a little? I didn’t like fighting anyway.A loud snap-crack sounded and I felt the hairs on my arms rising as Amaryllis let loose with a powerful blast of lightning. The air burned and the stink from the sheep’s breath was replaced by the stench of burning wool and seared flesh.The bleats grew stronger, but took on a pained tone.The world went black, like shutters closing across my sight.Oh ... those were my eyelids. I was ... supposed to keep them open, right?Thunder sounded again.I got an eye open, and saw Lucille tossed a fireball ahead, but it was slow and weak, entirely unlike her previous attacks. And I saw Awen raise her crossbow from the corner of my eye. She was swaying, almost drunkenly, but for a moment she grit her teeth and glared ahead. The crossbow twanged and a bolt bristled out of the one the sheep’s heads.One of the three voices was silenced.Then the lieutenant and Erin were charging ahead. They hit the three-headed demon sheep all at once, clobbering and slicing into it with more violence than skill.I swayed. Blinked, then refocused. The bleating had stopped, and with it, the urge to sleep faded.Looking around, I saw two of the knights laid out on the ground. Lucille was on one knee, eyes closed, and Aria was hunched over, breathing even.I shook my head to push away the miasma of sleepiness. “Is everyone... okay?” I asked. The lieutenant and Erin seem to be finishing off with the monster.“They’re likely just asleep,” Amaryllis said. She moved over to Lucille, then extended a wing to the sylph to help her onto her feet.“Awa, that was scary,” Awen said. “No one told us about any sheeberus monsters in here.”“Yeah, I guess the lieutenant forgot,” I said. I moved over to the knights who had fallen over and shook their shoulders with a shoe. That woke them up. They were surprisingly spry in their full suits of plate, and were able to roll up onto their feet all on their own.“Did I fall asleep?’ Aria asked as I woke her up.“Just a bit of a nap,” I said.She rubbed at her face, then looked around in a panic before finding her notebook on the ground next to her. “That creature! It was covered in roots! Is that a natural evolution of the dungeon that became corrupted, or did the corruption lead to that specific evolution? I need to document this. If that kind of monster doesn’t appear after we’ve cleared the roots out, then it could mean... well, I don’t know what it could mean, which is why I need to write this down.”“Uh-huh,” I said. She was rambling a bit, but that probably just meant she was doing alright.I glanced up at the lieutenant and found that he was wiping his sword clean on the woolly fur on the three-headed sheep’s back.“Is everyone okay?” I asked again.No one asked for help, and everyone was either on their feet or climbing up. No injuries that I could see, just lots of blinking and people rubbing at their faces. One of the knights removed his helmet and emptied his canteen onto his head.Lieutenant Petalwrought stood taller, the monster at his feet dissolving into that strange dust that all dungeon creatures turned to once they were defeated. “This was a serious miscalculation on my part,” he said.“Are these creatures typical here?” Amaryllis asked.“No. I’ve never seen its like,” he said. “But we should have been better prepared to tackle unknown threats. We weren’t, which is why this one has taken us off-guard. It looks like some mixture of three of the normal sheep we have to deal with, combined into one larger abomination. The World acknowledges it as a new, singular creature.”I blinked, then brought up Mister Menu and looked for the experience drop from the fight.Ding! Congratulations, you have sheared Demon Sheeberus, level 16!Due to combating as a team your reward is reduced!“Do you think there will be more like it?” Aria asked.“I have no way of knowing,” the lieutenant said. “We’ll have to find out the hard way. Let’s take two minutes to catch our breaths. Check your equipment. Do whatever you need to do to stay awake.”I didn’t quite know what to do, so I did some stretching. I didn’t want to end up with a pulled muscle, and it would help me stay awake. At least, I hoped it would.Two minutes passed in a blink, and we reformed the same formation as earlier. “If we see one of those large ones, we charge in. They’re powerful enough to be a major threat. I want them off the field as soon as possible,” Lieutenant Petalwrought said. He spun his sword around, stepped up, then planted a boot against the next fence.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.It crashed down with a heavy whomp, and we moved into the next area with slow, cautious steps.A distant bleat was the first sign the next wave was coming. Then the first sheep were sailing over the wall. No big ones, but a lot more of the little ones than last time.I flung some fireballs ahead, smacking one of the sheep dead in the face hard enough that it stumbled into a roll and was trampled by the sheep coming up behind it.Then the sheep were on us and the knights raised their shields and met their charge with a wall of steel.Bolts and spells flew out ahead, swords were swung and Erin and Bron came around the flanks to prevent the sheep from encircling us.Things were going pretty well.Then the fence at the end crashed ooutwards with a heavy bang, revealing two of those big sheep. In the distance, more thumping sounded.The next wave, already? Had it triggered on its own?“Tighten up!” Lieutenant Petalwrought shouted. We squeezed in a bit closer together. “We need to hit them before they start using their sleep magic on us.”“Counter?” one of the knights asked.The Lieutenant hesitated, then nodded.The four knights and the lieutenant raised their shields up, then aimed their free hands towards the sheep battering at the front lines. Then blasted some sort of magic forwards. I could feel it, but it was otherwise colourless and hard to make out, like a heat haze.A few of the sheep slumped down. Asleep.Of course the knights had sleep magic of their own!“I can get to one of them!” I said.“You’re our VIP,” the lieutenant said.“I won’t be very anything if we lose here,” I countered.Amaryllis cursed under her breath, using some very unlady-like words. “Fine. Give it your all everyone. No point in holding back here!” Having said that, she reached her hand out towards the oncoming sheep, then grunted before slippery spikes of lightning shot towards them. I had the impression she was using a lot less finesse than usual and was instead focusing on pouring as much magic into the spells as she could.It worked. A few of the bigger zaps took out some sheep all on their own, and those that didn’t die right away were staggered or knocked out.Lucille joined in, and I saw Awen lowering her crossbow, a focused look on her face. Soon large glass caltrops appeared in her hands and she flung them over and ahead of our group.I nodded, bunched my legs up close, and launched myself out and over with a huge bounce that carried me up close to the ceiling.One of the heads of the sheep I was aiming for turned up. “BAAAA!” it blared.I grit my teeth and weathered the blast of wind. There was no falling asleep, not while in the air. I couldn’t afford that.Weedbane snapped open, and I spun my hips around so that I twisted in the air. The scythe’s point swept right into and through the course, root-covered fur on the sheepberous’ back. It made a pained sound even as its white wool was stained red.I landed, a bit awkwards with the weight of the scythe pulling me aside. I wanted to swing again, but then the sheep moved.For something so big, it could move pretty fast, at least with short bursts. One of the heads swept down and rammed me in the chest, sending me stumbling. I had to crawl away from its hooves as they came clattering down in an attempt to squish me.Weedbane couldn’t help here, it was too big... One of the sheep faces dipped down, maw open wide with crookedy teeth ready to bite. I grabbed it by the neck and held it away from me. This... wasn’t the best position to be in.Then the sheep started to bleat at me, and I felt things grow a bit hazy. This wasn’t too bad. It was warm, and I was on the ground. If I let go, maybe the sheep would be like a big blanket...I blinked hard, then pulled at the sheep’s magic. My own was running low, so I'd borrow some from the sheep monster. It felt as if the veins in my arms were going to burst.I had to get rid of that magic, and now.So I did. I turned the magic into a tiny fireball, then another and another and another blooming all over its body. The sheep recoiled at the constant onslaught of fireballs, but I didn’t let go of it. I planted my feet against its chest so that it couldn’t kick at me, then pulled at its magic even more. That meant more tiny fireballs zipping around and smacking into the sheep’s faces and underbelly.The sheep’s three heads bleated and it stumbled back and wrestled itself out of my grip. It looked pretty rough there.I rolled to my feet, kicked Weedbane up and caught it out of the air.Two slices later and the sheep was going down.I glanced back. The second wave had rushed past and was hitting the group while The other big sheep had thundered past and was busy fighting the lieutenant at the front of the group. Blood ran down the sheep's chest from where the lieutenant had savaged its throats. When it tried to bleat, only a wavering, gurgling noise issued forth.I tightened my grip on Weedbane, then rushed back. The sheep at the rear of the formation never saw me coming, focused (as they were) on trampling the knights holding them off.With the sheep falling left and right and a few of the knights being freed to move more, the fight turned from a desperate defence to a quick and dirty offensive.The knights focused on the biggest sheep, taking it down with ease once they outnumbered its heads. The others took out the stragglers, with Erin and Bron moving around to make sure that those sheep that had fallen asleep were well and truly done.And then the big sheeberus fell, and the fight ended.Bing Bong! Congratulations, your Cinnamon Bun Bun class has reached level 13!Stamina +10Flexibility +5You have gained: One Class Point
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Chapter Three Hundred and Nineteen — Nightie Knight
Chapter Three Hundred and Nineteen — Nightie Knight “Is everyone okay?” I asked once again.It was pretty clear that not everyone was in the best of shapes. One of the knights knelt down and started to remove the plates over his leg. There was a bit of blood there, and I suspected that one of the sheep had stomped his foot hard enough that the armour didn’t protect him entirely.Erin was sporting a nasty black eye, and Bron had a shallow cut through his gambeson right over his short ribs. The sheep did have horns, did one of them poke him in the chest?“I’m out of mana,” Lucille said. She slumped back onto the ground and leaned against her still-upright wizard’s staff. There was a sheen of sweat across her face and she looked exhausted.“We’ll take however much time we need,” lieutenant Petalwrought said. “At least we’ve reached the end of this floor. No combat for a while.”I glanced ahead. I didn’t notice earlier, but the fence the sheep had knocked over was the final one. The room ended at a wall with a doorway in its middle. The end of the floor? I relaxed a bit. If that led back to the bedroom that connected every floor together, then we’d be safe for a little bit.But then, we had the boss fight coming up.It was a little selfish of me, but I still checked on my friends before anyone else. Awen was stifling a yawn while carefully recranking her crossbow. Amaryllis looked stern, but a bit dishevelled too. Her feathers were all tussled up and swept back.“Are you guys okay?” I asked.“We’re fine,” Amaryllis said. She waved me a bit closer, and I walked over, expecting a hug. Instead she bonked me on the helmet with the back of a talon. “What were you thinking? Bouncing ahead like that? I saw you flop over and thought you were about to be crushed. You dumb bun.”“Hey! I made it out of there just fine,” I said.“If you had been injured, then no one here would have been able to help you,” she said. “Think of what that would do to Awen.”“Awa?”“Exactly,” Amaryllis continued. “If you were hurt, or died because of some overgrown sheep, then she would be inconsolable. Then I’d have to deal with her crying and I’m the last person we want dealing with that kind of useless emotional outburst.” She took a deep, deep breath, then let out a big huff. It was the sort of huff that outright admitted that she was projecting her emotions onto someone else.I hugged her. “Thanks for worrying about me,” I said.She carefully returned the hug, with much grumbling and half-hearted attempts to say that she wasn’t. I opened the hug up a bit, making room for Awen who joined in as soon as she could hastily put down her crossbow.Congratulations! Through repeated actions your hugging Proficiency skill has improved and is now eligible for rank up!Rank D is a free rank!“Oh, nice!” I cheered. “My Hugging Proficiency skill finally went up a rank.”Amaryllis sniffed. “So, that’s why you kept hugging us so much. We’re just here to grind your skills, are we?”I laughed. “Sure! Let me grind my hugging skills on you some more!” I squished my cheek against hers and wiggled until she squirmed out of my grip.“Well, it’s good to see that your moods are difficult to bring down,” Lieutenant Petalwrought said.I let go of my friends and all three of us stood up straighter. It was a bit embarrassing to be playing around while others were still hard at work. “What can we do to help?” I asked.“There’s not much to do now,” he said. “Just relax, recoup your mana as best you can, and if you have any wounds, then now would be a good time to let others know. Every knight, myself included, has taken some courses on how to apply first aid in the field.”I shook my head. I was fine. I might have lost a couple of points of health in that scuffle earlier, but I wasn’t hurting any. My mana was very low, but that would fix itself if we just waited a little while. “What’s our next step?” I asked.“We’ll move on in just a minute. I think Aria is inspecting some things and taking notes. Once she’s done with that and everyone is able to move again, we’ll continue on to the next room. I’ll brief everyone on what to expect from the dungeon’s boss there.”I nodded. “Okay then.”Aria finished with her note-taking next to the sheeberus’ body, then rejoined the group just as one of the knights finished helping another back into his armour. He had a small gash that they’d bandaged up. The armour was dented, but it still looked usable.I don’t think anyone expected to meet as much resistance as we found on this floor.Once everyone was ready, we moved on.The bedroom was... disgusting. The bed was a rotting mess, the walls were cakeed in mould, and the entire room stank of rot. Roots were poking through the walls and dark sludge was steadily dribbling from the ceiling and pooling in one corner. The floor was clearly uneven, with parts of it bowing upwards and a definite slant to it, as if the entire room was tilted just a little bit to one side.The air reeked so badly that my stomach was roiling. The other party members didn't look much better, and even the Lieutenant seemed taken aback.I instinctively sent out a flood of cleaning magic, then remembered I was trying to replenish my mana and forced myself to hold back. In seconds the air was once again nearly unbreathable.We spread out across the room. Despite our exhaustion, no one sat down; we even gingerly avoided the walls.“I'll make this quick; I believe some congratulations are in order,” Lieutenant Petalwrought said. “This dungeon is one of the more challenging ones, at least for its level. Few floors can be solved without violence, and those that can are no easier for it.”“The next floor is the last?” Aria asked.This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.The lieutenant nodded. “The boss floor. As soon as we cross that door, we’ll be facing the dungeon’s boss.” he gestured to the only other door in the room other than the one we’d come in from.“What’s the boss like?” Aria asked.“His name is the Nightie Knight. Same as the initial class you gain from the dungeon.”I pressed a hand over my mouth to keep the giggles in. “That’s such a cute name,” I said.“Yes, well, in any case,” Lieutenant Petalwrought went on while ignoring me. “The Nightie Knight will come out of a large building. He rides upon a steed and will charge across the floor in an attempt to hit anyone that might challenge him. His lance will stun anyone it hits, and his steed can easily trample you if you’re not careful to avoid it.”“Is it alone?” Amaryllis asked.“He is, yes. In all honesty, the Nightie Knight was never a great challenge. The previous floor is usually much more difficult, if only because facing many weaker foes can overwhelm you where a single stronger opponent can be kited and fought more directly.”“So what’s the plan then, Lieutenant?” Erin asked.“The knights and I will form a wide cordon near the centre of the room. I would suggest that everyone else split apart. Be ready to move aside when the Nightie Knight charges your way. His turning radius is relatively large, so it’s easy to avoid him if you start moving early. Magic is effective, as are most ranged attacks. Take out his steed and he’ll become a greater, though less mobile, threat. Dodging him when he’s charging around the room is less dangerous than fighting him one on one.”“So we just pelt him with magic and win?” Amaryllis asked.“Essentially, yes,” Lieutenant Petalwrought said.“Sounds... easy?” I tried.The lieutenant made a so-so gesture. “It’s not a difficult boss. I’ve fought him entirely on my own before. It’s a rite of passage within our order. It’s not an easy fight either. The boss moves quickly and hits hard. One blow from his lance and you will be knocked out, either from the hit itself or from the powerful sleeping magics he employs. Likewise from any strikes once he has been unsteeded.”The lieutenant fielded a few more questions, about terrain and tactics we could use, but in the end we pretty much decided to fight the Nightie Knight in the safest way possible. bombard him from range and hit him when he got close to the knights.After a good twenty minutes of breathing through my nose as little as possible, most of which were spent in quiet as we all just worked to refill our mana and stamina, the lieutenant stood taller and stretched his back out. “I think it’s time,” he said.We filed in behind him, and I noticed that everyone was a lot more comfortable with being close to each other than we had been at the start. It was wonderful what a few hours of near-death could do for making friends.Petalwrought had described the boss room as a big field surrounded by stone walls, but he had failed to mention the fact that the field was a farmer’s field.Big stalks of what I think was wheat stood in neat rows to one side, and a beaten-dirt path led all the way up to a big stone windmill with motionless sails.It would probably have looked like an idyllic scene if it wasn’t quite so dark and if the earth wasn’t broken up by invading roots the size of tree trunks.At least it just smelled like earth, rather than an open landfillThe sky above twinkled full of stars, and a big crescent moon sat big and plump above, casting everything in pale blues so that even if it was dark, we could still see pretty well.“The knight will come from the windmill,” Lieutenant Petalwrought said. “Avoid the crop field. The footing isn’t great, and the wheat will cut your visibility.”The windmill creaked, and it looked like it wanted to turn, but it was held in place by a thick root that wound its way up the stone side of the building. That didn’t stop the double doors at the front from banging open.Golden light spilled out onto the fields where the knights and the lieutenant were spreading out.I hurried to find a place to stand away from anyone else, just like he’d asked, and I noticed that Amaryllis and Lucille were both preparing to cast some pretty big spells.My breath caught as the boss moved out of the windmill with a heavy clop-clop of hooves on dirt.The Nightie Knight was a short man on the back of a mule. He held a two-by-four tucked under one arm, and a garbage lid strapped to the other. His armour was a resplendent set of baby-blue pyjamas decorated with little teddy bears and sheep. He had a long, floppy nightcap.Amaryllis snorted.“Don’t underestimate him,” Petalwrought warned.“Oh, no worries,” Amaryllis said. “I’m not underestimating him. I’m merely mocking his sense of fashion.”I pouted. That looked pretty comfy, though.The knight raised his wooden lance and his mule brayed into the night.“Roots!” Aria said. “There’s roots all over him.”I squinted into the dark, then flung a little lightball ahead to make things clearer. She was right. The Nightie Knight was covered in roots all around his body, like cords holding him tight. They kept his legs gripped to the side of the mule, and as the steed moved forwards, it became obvious that the roots were making it harder for it to move at all.The knight charged... only it was more of a limping trot.“Fire!” Lieutenant Petalwrought shouted.Amaryllis and Lucille fired off twin blasts of lightning, followed soon after by Awen’s crossbow twanging into the night.I joined in with a brace of sticky fireballs which splashed against the knight and its mule.The fight was on!And then it was over.We all started as the boss flopped to the ground and started to turn to dust.I blinked."Huh."
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