Soul Merger

Alissa swore again under her breath as she looked around the fiery inferno they'd fallen into. They were in serious trouble, and it was her fault. Traps were her job, and she'd failed to notice this one at all.

Still, right now they needed to deal with the mess they were in. She shucked off her cloak as she asked, "Fili, can we get protection from the heat?" The dark red lava here wasn't enough to cook them, but it was too damn hot. Without protection they'd die of heat exhaustion before the monsters found them.

"Right." The mage pulled out five uncut red gems and started putting fire resistance spells into them. The crystals would only last a few hours, but Fili could recharge them.

Alissa fanned herself as they waited. "Damn it all. I can't believe I missed such a big trap."

"It's not your fault," Rosalina replied. "From the looks of it the lava had pasted over the cracks. You couldn't have noticed before the lava broke and the trap sprung."

"So it was my weight that did it," Clara muttered.

Alissa shook her head quickly. She didn't need the minotaur merge worrying about that. "The way it broke, the platform wasn't as stable towards the far end. We'd have probably triggered it anyway. It just would have taken a few more steps."

"Yep!" Ibaraki chimed in. "Nobody's fault, just bad luck for you. Now you gotta hope this cute little oni saves you. And she's way more likely to do that if she isn't hot and miserable so can I get one of those stones now?" Alissa glared at the oni, but it didn't seem to have any shame.

Fortunately Fili finished chanting soon. "Done." She handed out gems to each of them.

As soon as Alissa took hold of the smooth garnet, she felt much better. It was still hot and dry, but more like the evening desert than a blast furnace. "Thank you Fili," she said, getting a smile from the mage.

"And now that the map won't spontaneously combust," Rosalina said, "Let's try to make sense of where we are." She unfolded the section for the lower layers. "We have an approximate size for this room?"

"Ninety two feet, by one hundred thirty nine," Fili replied almost instantly.

Alissa shrugged. "Close to my guess. Suppose we should trust the mage when it comes to guessing distances."

"Wish our map was that good," Clara said looking over Rosalina's shoulder. "I don't know if we'll be able to pinpoint the room by that alone."

"We'll have to guess by the number of entrances," Rosalina said.

"Or we could do it the simple way," Ibaraki interjected.

Everyone looked at the oni who seemed completely immune to the gnawing fear eating at the rest of them. "What's the simple way," Alissa asked.

Ibaraki laughed. "The 'Saint of the Slums' there is carrying blood from a still living unicorn," she said waving at Rosalina. "And beefcake there is a minotaur merge," she finished waving at Clara. "Do the math."

Alissa had no idea what the woman was smugly suggesting, but Fili and Clara seemed to get it. Fili looked over at the minotaur merge. "Does the hunting instinct work on creatures you haven't hurt?"

"So long as I have fresh blood, I can track anything through any terrain," Clara said. "But it'll choose the most obvious path. Not the shortest or safest."

Alissa's hopes rose. "That's a better chance than we have with guessing at maps," Rosalina said for all of them. "Let's do it!"

The dragon woman pulled out a tiny vial and handed it to Clara. "Was going to use it as a panacea, but this is more important."

"Suppose we're curing being lost and confused," Clara said as she opened the vial and poured it on her hand. She took a deep whiff of the blood, a gesture that totally didn't match with her merchant airs. And then she looked around. "Alright. I know the way out."

"Do you know where we are?" Alissa asked. That would make life infinitely easier.

Clara shook her head. "I just know the exit is down that path," she said, pointing to one of the basalt bridges off the chunk of land they were standing on.

"It'll have to do," Rosalina said. Alissa and Fili nodded. It was much better than being totally lost.

Alissa reluctantly put her cloak back on to get the initial surprise on anything they ran across, and drew her sword. "Guess you're going to be up front now Clara. Tell me which way to go."

"Sure."

They gathered up and started to head into the burning labyrinth. Working with Clara was easy at least. The tall woman let Alissa set the pace, while still always being around to pick a path at every crossroad. That let Alissa double down on checking for traps and monsters trying to hide in the depths. She wasn't going to let the group get surprised again.

Her paranoia paid off very quickly. A slight shift under her foot told her a chunk of the bridge was too thin to hold a human's weight. She held up her hand and tested the floor around it. It seemed like a single patch, but it was a lethal trap all the same. "We'll need to travel single file. There's patches of thin floor." She looked over her shoulder at Clara. "And don't worry. I can sense the ones that'll fail for you in addition to the ones that'll fail for me."

Clara gave a sigh of relief. "Good. Really don't want to be cooked well done. Steak's best rare."

Alissa smiled as Ibaraki laughed. It was good to have a bit of levity.

They pressed on through the labyrinth. At points it became hard to see where the safe cooled lava ended and the dark oozing lava began, but they persevered. Meanwhile light radiated from the spots where bright yellow lava churned. It was a striking environment that honestly was worth looking around. Unfortunately, that was likely to get them all killed.

They'd at least lucked out with the monsters. Just firebats and magma worms so far. Nothing that had survived Fili and Clara's barrages, and the deaths of the lesser monsters hadn't drawn attention. The size of the fourth layer was working to their advantage. Sure the monsters were bigger, but there was a lot more space for them to wander about.

After an hour of walking she saw a rough set of basalt pillars rising in the distance like stairs. Alissa's heart soared. They'd fallen to the first level of the fourth layer. The third layer would be dangerous, but not nearly as lethal as the fourth.

"We made it," Fili sighed.

"Boo. Not a single bit of fun," Ibaraki muttered.

Alissa ignored the oni and was about to press on when she felt the wind shift. It barely ruffled her cloak, but the ripples still teased at her skin. "Something's coming from the sky," she warned the others. Looking up in the direction of the wind, she saw a glint of silver in the sky. "There!"

She spread out from the rest of the group while she tried to see what the creature was. The others followed suit, making sure they could all scatter if the creature strafed them. Meanwhile the creature was close enough that Alissa could see it had silver wings, and a dark draconic body.

"It's a drake!" Rosalina said.

"Drakes don't fly," Alissa pointed out.

Fili gasped. "Metal slime symbiosis! I'd heard about this! They're forming the wings."

Alissa peered up again. Sure enough the wings weren't identical. "Seems you're right." Her stomach churned. A drake was much better to fight than a dragon, but it was still a massive, powerful, beast. And metal slimes were much more dangerous than their lesser cousins. "Do we have a plan?"

"Rosalina and I will have to kill the slimes," Fili said. "The rest of you harry the drake until we can get a killing spell in."

It wasn't a wonderful plan, but it was probably the best they could get with the gear they had. She pulled her knife. "Agreed."

"Good luck," Clara said, loading her crossbow.

"Sounds fun!" Ibaraki laughed.

Rosalina simply cast a spell. "True Resistance." Alissa shivered as the air turned cool. The priestess' protection was much stronger than Fili's. But it wouldn't last as long.

The next few moments were painful waiting. The drake loomed larger. It was at least fifteen feet high and over forty feet long. Its scales were the same dull red black of the lava, while fiery light glowed from within. Its claws were glowing hot, and its breath made the air shimmer. Rosalina's protection meant the hits wouldn't be instant death, but it'd still burn.

The metal slimes forming its wings were almost comical in comparison. One was a silver bird wing, complex feathers not working at all with the heavy drake scales. The other was a proper dragon wing, but it was undersized. Every now and then it had to flap to keep up with the lift of the other side.

That was probably why the drake gave up on flight as soon as it could reach its prey on land. The creature slammed into the ground, letting its tail dip into the lava, and roared a challenge, the slimes reforming into metallic orbs on its shoulders.

Alissa saw Ibaraki rush forwards, and followed a second later. But the real attack was coming from their allies.

Lightning cracked across the space sending the right metal slime spasming to the floor. Meanwhile a blast of concentrated flame slammed the left slime off just as a hefty crossbow bolt struck home in the dragon's lower body, piercing the softer scales. The drake roared again in anger and moved forwards, ignoring its fallen allies.

The giant lizard's charge was terrifying. Its heated talons remelted the rocks, letting it get more purchase as it crashed forwards, head bellowing and lowered to seize and crush the insect that had dared sting it. Alissa had to grip her dagger harder to keep it steady as she moved to strike its flank.

Ibaraki just ran forwards. The drake inhaled to roast her with its breath, then thrashed and screamed as an arrow stuck in its snout. The bolt wasn't enough to get too deep through the harder scales, but it still found flesh.

The possessed catgirl took that moment of weakness to slam her club into the monster's face. There was a hefty crack as the drake's head got knocked to the side, long neck trailing behind.

Alissa saw her own chance. She'd gotten past the monster's front, to the back legs. She steadied herself, broke out into a sprint, then leaped with all her might.

She slammed into the drake's upper leg, a few rough scales cutting her flesh, but her dagger slipped into flesh straight to the hilt. She felt heat washing over her, the drake's magical inferno trying to snuff out Rosalina's protection, but the magic kept Alissa from being hurt.

The drake screamed as the knife's magic triggered. Alissa grabbed onto anything she could as the lizard started to thrash. Her insides rattled as the beast tore up the ground and fell on its side. There were a couple of cracks that probably came from Ibaraki's club, but Alissa focused on staying stuck to her target.

Only when the blood started to rush to her head did she rip the wavy blade free and kick off with all her power. She hit the ground, the rough lava field giving her more cuts and scrapes as she rolled away.

And just in time too. The drake finished its own roll, legs slamming into the ground with a force that would have broken most of her bones. Instead they both got to scramble to their feet while the others continued attacking. Ibaraki charging the head and neck and Clara adding more arrows to the array of broken shafts lodged in the creature.

A massive crack rang out as Ibaraki smashed the drake's head again. The injured beast staggered, then swept back and hit the catgirl with one of its horns sending her flying. Alissa rushed forwards as the drake sucked in a breath, but the heat blast was snuffed out early by a blast of water.

Steam left the beast choking and Alissa took advantage of that to swing both her blades at the drake's neck. The scales blocked some of the blow, but the knife's magic left it screaming and jerking away.

Then a crossbow bolt snapped into the creature's open mouth and it jerked before going limp. With a heavy crash the drake's head fell to the floor, shivering a moment before it fell still.

Silence reigned for a brief moment as Alissa slowly caught her breath.

"That was a good time!" Ibaraki crowed from where she'd been thrown.

Alissa wasn't sure she'd call it a good time, but they were all alive. Now to deal with the aftermath.