Sunlight Ichor bled from the joints of my armor, and I fed it with raw Vigor. Green spikes of solidified amber punched outward, impaled the minotaur’s hand, and forced it to release its grip. I slammed the trident into its chest to give myself some room to move and retreated until my back was against the cell beside Cinder. Hamon and Vesma distracted the second minotaur with ineffective blasts of flame, and Mahrai ran circles around the third.
“What are you doing, Swordslinger?” the Broodmother mocked. “Leaving your friends to fight your battles for you? Come, strike me down with your fury and your so-called power.”
“I plan to,” I replied. “Cinder, get back against the wall.”
Cinder backed quickly away from me. “Defeat this monster, Swordslinger. No matter what it takes. If you must bring the castle down on our heads, so be it. A creature such as this cannot be allowed to take the valley.”
“I like her,” Nydarth murmured. “Strong-willed and infused with the fire of her people. Have you considered drawing her into your collection of wives, Master?”
“Kill demons now, worry about getting me a date later,” I replied. “Vesma, Mahrai!”
Vesma risked a glance over her shoulder. “What?”
“It’s about to get steamy in here,” I called.
“Is this really the time?” Mahrai demanded.
I vaporized the sap from the tip of the Depthless Dream and pushed pure water Vigor through my internal channels. A spout of water spat from the tips of the weapon, and I added the Vigor of the environment to the technique. A small trickle turned into a torrent of high-pressure water, and it crashed into Hamon’s flaming body. He shot across the room, and steam boiled off his body. He turned to face me, and a fierce Untamed Torch flared from his hands to combat my Crashing Wave.
Determination shone through his eyes as we joined our powers together. A thick blanket of steam filled the room, amplified the smell of rotting corpses, and in seconds, the entire space was blanketed in hissing mist. I cut the flow of water and reached deep into my pool of Vigor.
“A little steam is nothing,” the Broodmother hissed.
“I know,” I said. “I’m just stalling.”
Black fire belched from the growths on the ceiling and threatened to chase the steam away from the room. But it gave me the time I needed.
I called upon the power of Crashing Wave, concentrated it around the Depthless Dream, and infused the dripping water with Sunlight Ichor. I pushed more power into Crashing Wave and formed a wicked-looking scythe of ice around the head of the Depthless Dream. Yono’s clear, infectious laugh echoed through my head as I hefted my new weapon and added a layer of Frozen Armor over my Sap-infused obsidian suit.
The steam cleared, and I stalked toward the nearest minotaur. My body bristled with clear, green-tinted ice, and the enormous scythe glistened in the hellish light of the dungeon.
“Pretty,” the Broodmother sneered.
“It gets better,” I called back.
A minotaur ripped Mahrai’s staff from her hands and pinned her to the floor with a cloven hoof. Mahrai’s skin turned stone-like as she activated her Physical Augmentation. The minotaur’s blow smacked uselessly off her, and I took advantage of the opening. The Depthless Dream swept through the air and sliced through the demon’s arm like it was soft cheese. The minotaur roared in agony and stumbled away from Mahrai’s prone form.
I heard the Broodmother snarl above me, and bone-tipped whips snapped out of the portals to my right. They bounced uselessly off my Augmented armor and recoiled as the healing sap burned away their corrupted flesh. The wounded minotaur roared, dropped to its one good arm, and thundered toward me in a charging rush.
Flight jumped to my will, and I lifted myself into a flip over the demon’s charge. I swung the Depthless Dream downward, and the blade of green ice tore into the creature’s back. The minotaur howled as my attack ripped through its armored fur, bit through its elemental defenses, and splattered the ground with its black blood. The minotaur smashed into the bone-spiked cage behind me and stumbled away from the bars with a confused growl. Tentacles shot out of the ceiling to smack me into the ground, but they burned away as the tips touched my new armor. I landed, sprang toward the stunned minotaur, and ripped my scythe across its lower legs. The blade tore through fur and gristle and cleaved the monster in half. Cinder’s eyes widened as I took the minotaur’s legs from its body and finished the monster with a stabbing strike to its chest.
“You stretch yourself too thin, Swordslinger,” the Broodmother taunted.
The portals widened, and another horned head poked through one of the veils of energy. A bolt of fire crashed into the portal, and black fire rose to meet it. Vesma hurled another Untamed Torch at the organic doorway, obscured the portal with more black fire, and forced the minotaur back through the portal.
“Keep it busy!” I called out.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Hamon joined Vesma, and they released a torrent of fire at the portals. The Broodmother hissed as it fired back with its own countermeasures. Mahrai’s golem pushed away from the wall, smashed into the second minotaur, and trapped its arms in a wrestling hold from behind. Mahrai gestured, and the golem swung the demon around to face me.
I took a running start, leapt into the air, and used every shred of momentum I had. The Depthless Dream whipped around and cleaved the minotaur’s head from its shoulders. Black blood fountained over the flaming golem and evaporated. The
