"Keeper battles are not decided so much by the forces involved, but by territory, mana, and the what the keeper is willing to do to win." The Mentor paused there as he watched the imp drive it's pickaxe into the stone. "You have few resources keeper, but the few you have are very powerful. Your Greater Vampire alone can decimate armies given enough time to build up momentum, and I doubt that a weak keeper such as Keeper Sidarian has anything in his repertoire that might match Horny."
Ranma gave a small snort in response. "Hardly seems like this guy is even a threat. Why are we botherin' with him then?"
"Even the weakest keepers is something that can cause untold damage unchecked." The Mentor gave a ghostly grin as he looked at Ranma. "A keeper can relocate forces in the blink of an eye, can sustain an army almost indefinitely, and in their territory are something akin to a god. Despite all this, a Keeper has one weak point. Their dungeon heart. There are ways to defend it most certainly, and a good keeper has several minor ones sustaining an empire, but destroy the main dungeon heart... And the keeper turns to dust."
Ranma blanched slightly as he looked at the ghost at his side. Shuddering the pigt-tailed martial artist shook his head to rid himself of the images. He really didn't want that to happen to him. That said, his mind was already categorizing and evaluating what that meant. "I got three people can fight, including me." Ranma worked this part out loud. "I know a keeper can only concentrate on one thing at a time, and if I get occupied I only have Horny and Seras to defend my dungeon heart."
"Correct keeper. You see now why I suggested you attract and maintain your own army. Numbers are just as important as raw power." The imp in front of the pair finally broke through the wall and into a dark and water filled room. "This is as much a lesson as a necessity. The Vampire and Horny are in different tunnels, and once they break through into Keeper Sidarian's dungeon, they will massacre. Meanwhile, you will only need to casually walk into the center of his power, and destroy it."
Ranma sighed as he took a step into the water, triggering his curse. "Why did it have to be water?" The petite redhead grumbled to herself. Killing was never something that she took lightly, but adaptability was part of Anything-Goes. The best thing she could do to limit the killing was to eliminate the threat quickly.
With that thought the red-head ghosted forward, making little sound, and seeming to blend into the shadows. Stealth was not exactly hard for someone of Ranma's capabilities, though she did pause to wonder where all the denizens were. The place was oddly barren.
"Ahhhh yes, that hit the spot!" The red haired sorceress burped as she leaned back, smiling widely. "The guy might have been a slimy jerk, but at least he kept a large larder." Picking up a drumstick the girl bit into it.
Things had been going well after Lina had finished cleaning out the place. She had no real clue where she had been summoned, but the library held all sorts of interesting spells, and it would be only a matter of time before she managed to extract what she needed to figure out where she was, and how to get back.
"And he had all that gold!" Lina squealed happily as she thought about the treasury she had found. There was easily enough there to set her for life if she managed to get back home with it.
Really between that, and the odd mana reservoir she had found, she was easily completely independent when she finally got home. Sure the sources of power back home had more mana, but using that room allowed her some rather impressive casting without any sort of boost whatsoever. Though the side affects were rather strange.
If the sorceress hadn't been focused on going home she might have actually studied the this 'Dungeon Heart.' Having a map inside your head of the surrounding area was both entertaining, and irritating at the same time. Speaking of map inside one's head....
"Gahh!" Lina tumbled out her chair, avoiding the pair of arms that had lunged out of the shadows. The blond haired creature with a strange uniform frowned at the miss, stepping completely out of the shadows. It looked human, but Lina of all people knew that looks were deceiving. The dark power just rolled off the thing.
"It would have been better if you had just died."
"Like I would let that happen!" Lina rolled to her feet and began to run.
Only intuition and shear combat sense allowed her to avoid the claw-like hand that nearly cut out her spine. The sorceress grimaced at the speed of the creature. She was a sorceress, not a front line fighter damnit! That didn't stop her from causing a bit of havoc though.
The fire spell impacted into Seras was a muted thump, causing the vampire to cry out in pain. That had hurt far worse than any of the normal attacks that she normally took. It was like the fire had been concentrated. Fortunately it had felt rather weak, so the vampire recovered quickly, and glared at the empty hallways.
"Not good, not good!" Lina muttered to herself as she ran across the halls. The creature was following her, and now that she was paying attention there was another, larger creature roaming the halls too. Lina grimaced slightly at the look of that one. She didn't fancy her chances against it right now without knowing what it was if it was friends with the thing that walked through the shadows.
First things first, deal with the quicker one. The big one looked slow.
Turning a corridor Lina began to siphon mana off the dungeon heart. She had to get the range and timing just right. Fortunately being able to see the things in the hallways made the timing part easy.
Right about.. NOW!
"FIREBALL!" Lina let loose one of her favorite spells, and the end of the hallway was engulfed in flames. A roar of pain and rage was just barely audible over the flame. Lina laughed, and gave the hallway a wink as she turned away.
A charred arm wrapping around her throat stopped the sorceress in her tracks, and Lina could just barely make out the glowing red eyes as a mouth opened wide and the burnt creature hissed. Lina felt this side of her head explode in pain, and in some corner of her mind the girl realized that the thing had bit her. Lina responded the only way she knew that wouldn't blow her up too.
"Freeze!" The invocation was shaky and incomplete, but it did the job. The fangs in Lina's neck let go, and she staggered away.
Pressing a hand to the side of her neck Lina turned to be sure that the creature was down for the count. The body twitched, but it looked like it. Grimacing Lina looked at her now bloody hand. She didn't know healing spells really, but something to stop the bleeding was in her capabilities.
The sorceress staggered away from the body of the vampire. She really didn't want to be around if the thing was still alive. If the other creature was even half as powerful she didn't want to face it. Running was the best bet now.
"Now here I was thinking that I wouldn't get to kill anything today."
Yeah running was the best bet. Lina decided with a shaky smile. This creature was decidedly more dangerous looking up close. With that thought Lina turned tail and ran.
Horny sighed as he watched the girl run off. "Why do they always run? It doesn't matter in the end anyway."
Lina gulped as she watched the creature come after her. It was faster than it looked, and the few spells that she had thrown at it did absolutely nothing. Trying to loose it wasn't working, and it didn't look like it was getting tired. She was, and the blood loss was not helping.
Finally Lina stopped and turned with a grimace. There was only one option, and hope that she could get it off in time. She was NOT dying alone. She drew as much mana as she could safely handle and began the evocation of the most destructive spell she knew.
Horny grinned as he raised his scythe and approached the sorceress. It didn't matter what she was casting, it wouldn't do any good. The dungeon's lights flickered once, and the mana Lina was gathering dissipated. So did the girl. The horned reaper blinked once, and the growled with rage, slamming his scythe into the wall.
"Keeper!!"
Lina blinked as she found her world dissolve into flashing lights. The ground seemed to open up underneath her, and she impacted a stone surface with a painful thunk. It took time to reorient herself, but once she did she found herself in the dungeon heart that she had been drawing mana from.
"Heyya! Name's Ranma Saotome."
Lina turned towards the speaker and blinked. She looked human. Dressed in black cloth and with her hair done up in a pigtail, she would have barely looked twice at her had she been anywhere else. Really the only notable thing about her was the red slash-like mark on her cheekbone. Oh, and the fact that the girl had a bigger bust than Lina. Not that she noticed those things of course, really! It didn't irritate her at all that even the evil blood sucking monster that had attacked her was larger than her.
"What is going on!?" Lina demanded as she got to her feet and reached for mana that just wasn't there.
"Eh, this guy said something about binding another person's dungeon heart to my own." Ranma gestured to the spirit hovering nearby her. "Something seemed screwy with how the dungeon was setup. Glad I did, it would suck to have killed a cute girl like you."
"What?" The sorceress stopped trying to cast and blinked at Ranma. Too many highs and lows in the past few minutes were starting to confuse her.
Ranma shrugged with a small smirk. He didn't know the girl really, but the next part was bound to be classic. "I am actually glad you are cute, cause it would suck to have an ugly servant."
"WHAT!?!"
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(Posted Sun, 30 Nov 2008 03:56)
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