CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN: TRIBUNE’S REST

  “Finally, you thick witted cows,” Zhang Wei said, stopping mid blow. The older man sheathed his gladius, pulled it free of his belt and threw it to the side.

  “Tribune?” Cassius asked, breathing hard as sweat stung his eyes. A long cut along his thigh healed slowly, his mana nearly drained from the fight. Vira was in no better state, leaning on the splintered spear haft as she drew in gales of air.

  “How hard did I have to explain it for you to understand? The legions recruitment must be drawing from the dregs if this is the best that can be presented,” Zhang Wei said with a scoff, shaking his head before he continued.

  “I do not have long before the dungeon reasserts its will. I will fade away and be replaced by the true guardian, who you may have been able to best if you were fresh. Legionnaire, you must stab me, now!” Zhang Wei commanded and Cassius obeyed instinctively, stepping forward and using [Thrust] to empower his attack. Dungeon forged steel cut through the tribune’s lorica right below his heart.

  “At least you can do that right,” Zhang Wei said as blood ran over his lips and down his otherwise unstained armor.

  “The foe above, it is one of the challenger races. They are skilled witches, using the spirits of the dead to empower their creations. We fought a party of them and won, but not without cost. Their commander couldn’t be slain, only imprisoned here in this dungeon,” Zhang Wei cut off, spitting out blood. His amber skin was paling quickly, sores opening up across his stern face as teeth rattled and fell from his mouth.

  “He has lured many to their deaths here, using my spirit to override the dungeon’s guardian. It is their souls which allow him to stray further and further and I fear he is close to breaking free,” Zhang Wei panted.

  “How do we kill him?” Cassius asked, looking around the dungeon as if the witch would appear. Blood spattered across his face as Zhang Wei sputtered a laugh.

  “I had several [Magus] with me and even with their magic, they could not kill them. Take the tool out of the dungeon and shatter it. It will free our spirits and trap the witch again,” Zhang Wei said, blood running down his face as his eyes leaked crimson, chunks of hair fell off his head and he rattled another long cough.

  “Let us rest, brother. Please, ignore the temptation of it,” Zhang Wei whispered as his skin grew translucent, bones visible as he shrunk in on himself. Cassius nodded, just once as he knew what needed to be done.

  “Then finish me before I finish transforming.” Zhang Wei issued his final command as Cassius ripped the blade up and out, severing the tribune’s heart and killing the man. The body hit the ground in a rattle of armor, stuck between whatever it was going to become and the man it had been.

  ANIMA LEGIONNAIRE

  LEVEL 16

  INFORMATION: THE ANIMA OF A POWERFUL LEGIONNAIRE IMPOSED UPON A DUNGEON BEAST

  “Level sixteen,” Cassius said with a whisper, looking over to his companions. Valeria had crossed the stream, holding an iron pot covered in delicate symbols with her mangled hand pressed hard against its side.

  “He was a tough bastard,” Valeria said, looking down at the corpse with a hint of sorrow in her eyes.

  “If he had wanted us dead, we would have died. This was his gamble,” Cassius said, shaking his head. Vira was just looking around, dazed as she was, staggering toward the stream.

  She fell to her knees and pushed a hand into the stream before shoveling a palmful of the water up at herself. Over and over she did it, manic in her desire for water. Cassius let her be as he turned to look at the superbia which still stood in its glory, trickles of golden energy flowing off of it.

  “The superbia, you noticed as well?” Cassius asked.

  “How could I not? It strengthened us both,” Valeria said, eyes locked on Vira as she drank heavily.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “But not Vira. We shall keep this quiet then?” Cassius had no desire for more untoward attention as they left this dungeon.

  “Between us and Marcus when we get back,” Valeria promised.

  “As it should be. Let us claim our reward. The tribune insisted we break that outside of the dungeon,” Cassius said, pointing his chin toward the pot.

  “Another trap you think?” Valeria asked, setting the pot on the ground.

  “It could be. But it felt like we battled a true legionnaire there and his death is marked as the soul of a legionnaire. I say we trust our fallen brother,” Cassius said. Valeria grunted and spat to the side.

  “I thirst as much as she does. Claim your prizes, Cassius,” Valeria said, smacking him on the shoulder with her good hand before marching over to the stream.

  There was no jubilation in his steps as he retrieved Zhang Wei’s gladius, using it to replace his own broken blade. Nor of the cutting required to dig out the skill shard that formed in the middle of the tribune’s forehead in a nasty lump of glowing light.

  SKILL CRYSTAL

  UNYIELDING SPIRIT

  ACQUIRE SKILL Y/N

  THREE SKILL SLOTS AVAILABLE

  Cassius accepted the skill and watched as it dissolved in his hand, a spike of pain flowering behind his eyes as he took a long breath. With a thought he found the skill and activated it.

  Nothing changed.

  “Cursed gods, what did I do?” Cassius muttered to himself, thinking he had taken a skill that was broken. But despair did not come, nor anxiety, or even worry. None of those sickly emotions touched him as he straightened up, understanding filling him as he thought of the name of the skill.

  “That will be useful. I will have to experiment further,” Cassius said to himself as he walked toward his companions with the skill still active. It took less than [Hunter’s Sight] to keep it active, but even that was straining his perilously low reserves. It was with great reluctance that he let that blissfully confident state slip away.

  “Rewards well worth the cost?” Vira asked, sitting back on the ground, exhaustion writ across her face.

  “The blade is equal to the dungeon forged blades and the skill…well we shall see,” Cassius said as he sank to his knees, cupping his hands and coming up with a double handful of the slightly glowing water.

  It was cold and electric, energy pulsed through him as he drank heartily, ignoring the blood that tinged the water from his dirty hands. His eyes widened as he felt the mana in his body roar back to life, filling him with power as he turned to look at the two girls.

  “Do you want the good news?” Vira asked, a self-satisfied smile on her face.

  “That would be good,” Cassius said. Valeria was looking at her hand and the cleaved fingers on it. The fingers that were slowly regrowing as [Regenerate] knitted it back together.

  “Everything here is heavily invested with mana. Eat and drink it and you’ll see some growth in your mana stat and maybe some of your mind stats,” Vira said. Cassius could see she was waiting for him to ask, the way she had casually said it, the common derision to just eating and drinking it.

  “And if we do not just drink and eat it?” Cassius finally relented.

  “We can grow strong here. Beyond what the levels would suggest. That is what I would do. It is likely we are far beyond our rendezvous date already and when we leave here we shall have to face those hunters in the wood and the summoner too if our luck is foul. We should stay and train here, recover, and grow strong,” Vira said. Cassius wanted to instantly agree with her, but turned and looked to Valeria first.

  “If we leave now, we’ll likely have to fight and die to those archers. I say we grow strong enough to stand a chance now that our numbers have dwindled,” the older legionnaire suggested. She shrugged before adding.

  “As long as we return before they find us, lashings are better than a crucifixion.” Cassius swallowed at that grim thought but turned to look at the plentiful fruits and berries in the room and the thick stream that ran through it.

  “What do we need to do?” he asked.

  “Train like you did at the camps. But more intense. Your body, mind, and mana, all at the same time. Run your skills till you there is nothing left, then eat as much as you can and then train hard. Lift rocks, sprint, play word games and solve math problems as you do. It will not be fun or enjoyable, but we should see good results,” Vira promised.

  “You have done this before?” Valeria asked.

  “Not somewhere so rich. It is one way for you to strike above your ranking or beyond the blessings you have earned.” Cassius felt a shiver run down his back at those words, that what they were about to embark upon was a journey that only the rich and powerful nobles took.

  “We should start now then, while our mana is already low,” he insisted, rising to his feet and beginning to unbuckle his armor.

  “So eager. Take one of the pomegranates and eat all of it, then go and pick up those rocks above your head until I tell you to stop,” Vira ordered, seemingly eager to command him.

  “I will gather our gear and bring it here while my hand heals.” Valeria rose and trooped off as Cassius carefully set his gear to the ground, reached up high and plucked one of the said pomegranates off the tree, splitting it open with his thumbs. A thousand seeds sat in plump glory waiting for him. Even as he bit down, feeling mana race through him, he couldn’t help but wonder at how fast his life had changed.