"They have done great during the first, but we all know they won't make it through the second." Cosmo voices.
"Well, that's the reason why we gave them the chance." Magnolia grins. "And as gullible as all low-borns are, they took it."
"They took it because some of them had no other choice." Cosmos corrects, disgust in his tone.
"Though they might not have a chance at defeating the second stage." Vice leans back on his chair, his tone serious. "They do show exceptional skills, ones that mages of our era need."
"Even so, low-borns have no place among us." Her eyes flicker to Cosmo. "We already have a whole group of them; we don't need to add more."
"If you would ever like a tournament to see which family is better, I'm sure you'll be surprised," Cosmo replies dismissively.
"We don't have time to continue this nonsensical battle." Ansil intervenes. "Eyes on the screen."
.
.
.
The second stage sparks to life, all their eyes bulging as they lay eyes upon it. Mossy roots sprawling all around them, even above, where sunlight spilled through the cracks and gaps, the floor even more lush than the last.
'This is breathtaking...'
Yet in the middle hangs a green cocoon, swaying from one of the massive roots overhead like a pendulum of doom.
<<<...WARNING...>>>
[DANGER ESTIMATE: Death level]
HISSS!!!
The hiss comes from the cocoon; its hiss rattles the floor, shaking the roots and the floor vigorously.
"Everyone take cover, it's an earthquake!" Ichor shouts.
"No!" Nela interjects, stopping all of them in their tracks as they split. "It's not an earthquake... I sense them." His eyes dart around. "All around us."
"Sense what?" Chivalry inquires.
"Mossed spiders," Meraki grumbles, pulling out her daggers and scanning the area.
'What the hell is happening?' Lux thinks, his pistol metalizing in his grasp. "It's moving." His eyes find the cocoon shaking.
"No... It's listening," Pearl corrects. "Sensing us." Her face twists into worry, sweat tickling down her pale face.
Without warning, the cocoon begins to pulse: once, twice, then rips open from the bottom with a sickening wet snap.
"It's coming." Neal backs away, petrified.
Thick green ooze plummets to the ground, followed by a grotesque, spider-like creature unlike the mossed ones before. Its legs are longer and jagged, like splintered bone, and a mossy mane grows across its armored back like overgrown fur.
Eight glowing eyes snap open.
And it screams.
__________
[Monster]
Category of beast: Dungeon boss
Name: Lovat Broodmother of Moss
Beast Affinity: Mossed corrosion
__________
"Scatter!" Ichor shouts as a wave of green mist erupts from its mouth, blanketing the area in a noxious green cloud.
Lux grits his teeth, sliding behind a mossed root for cover, watching as the others dodge and scramble.
"The swarm is coming!" Neal alerts as mossed spiders emerge from the roots, barreling to them.
'Take control.' Lux reminds himself, patting his trembling hands. 'Control the fear and maximize the full capacity of my brain instead.'
"Split the team!" Lux commands. "Three on the boss, the rest control the swarm!"
'Use fear as a way to survive while fighting. Fear saves you from a multitude of situations, so master it; if you can, you'll dominate the field.'
Scarface advice vertebrates through his mind.
"Ichor, Meraki, and Neal, on the boss." Lux commands. "Pearl, Chivalry, and I are on the horde."
'We need wide-range magic for the horde. The rest of them are mostly close range; they can go for the boss.'
Chivalry and Pearl join his side behind the root.
'After dealing with them, we'll join them.'
"Does everyone agree!?" He yells.
"Yeah!" They holler back.
The horde of spiders drops down from the roots, rushing for them. Chivalry lifts his flute to his mouth and blows the same soft tune. The air ripples as Chivalry's melody weaves through the roar of the swarm.
Magic circles form just a few feet away from them, emerging in ghostly forms; illusions of twisted spiders spring to life, darting into the real mossy spiders. Blurring lines between what's real and what's not.
Then the illusions swarm together as the music becomes more intense, and among the real, in a grotesque scene, they merge themselves, becoming a black orb.
"What's happening?..." Lux mutters out loud, dumbfounded.
"History," Pearl replies, a small smile forming.
'As I look at it and the scene when I first met them, with the craters, it isn't something Pearl butterflies would do, and it was just two of them, so how can mere illusion create an explosion?'
Then, as the melody reaches a crescendo, Chivalry's eyes flash gold, and Lux feels it, an energy slowly absorbing the mana around them.
BOOM!!
The orb bursts and the sound is loud, earth-rattling, but nothing happens; the mossed spider rushes forward, nearing closer.
"What-" Lux pulls back, surprised that nothing happened, but Pearl and Ichor remains in place.
'"I..." Pearl whispers. '2...' She extends her hand, and Ichor's melody slows to a stop. 'Boom...'
The ones at the front and others scattered within the horde convulse violently. Their bodies swell, bulging with sickly bubbles beneath their skin...then erupt.
Chunks splatter across the mossy floor, disrupting the charge of those behind them and carving deep craters, just like the ones Lux had seen when he first met Chivalry and Pearl.
"Now, my turn." A magic circle forms in her palms, and butterflies shoot out, swarming around them, attaching to them like before.
Chivalry joins Lux's side. "What was that?" Lux questions. "I've never seen magic like that before. Wasn't it an illusion at the start?"
Chivalry nods. "I am an illusion caster, yes. But my magic teeters between illusion and reality," he admits.
He gestures subtly, and the same magic circle forms over his index. "The spell I used is an illusion; it takes the form of something alive. But once it's seen by that object... the real magic begins."
Lux furrows his brow. "What do you mean?"
Chivalry's voice lowers, more deliberate now.
"When the object it has taken from of lays eyes on the illusion. I can command that illusion to act, and their minds will believe it must happen. If I order the illusion to explode, then their minds simulate that explosion, and their bodies follow suit. It's not the illusion that harms them... It's their own perception. Their brains register it as real, and their bodies react accordingly."
A slow grin forms on Chivalry's face, his eyes gleaming with a golden hue. "I'm just their orchestra."
'Wow...' Chills wash over his body. 'And Axel called me evil.'
"Lux, your turn!" Pearl grunts, falling behind.
"On it." He moves up, pointing his pistol at them. 'With a horde like this, I should use all fifty. I'm sure it would clear them out.'
<<<...CHARGING...>>>
Clenching his stance firm, he waits as it comes closer, taking long breaths to stabilize his raging heart.
<<<...30% CHARGED...>>>
The gun heats up, but hold it still. "A little bit more."
<<<...40% CHARGED...>>>
"I suggest you shoot now," Chivalry suggests, stepping back, worry replacing his calm.
'Hold...'
<<<...50% CHARGED...>>>
His skin sizzles under the heat.
"There."
He pulls the trigger. A blinding beam surges forth with a low, resonant hum, arcing through the air. It tears through bodies in its path, flesh seared, bones vaporized. Some are left with smoldering holes; others caught dead center, are reduced to nothing at all.
.
.
.
"An illusion caster whose magic is both a conjunction of an illusion and reality." Ansil voices to herself. "That's rare."
"He must have honed that skill for years," Hideaki adds. "It's no feat a new caster would achieve this early."
"It's valuable." Vice reluctantly admits.
"Cosmo." Ansil switches her attention to him. "I'm giving you the option to save them if you please."
"I was going to." His eyes narrows. "Even without your permission."