Please read the author's notes. (Examples and explanation of moves and appearance+ Monster Sources)
Discord: https://discord.gg/K7f8qGpvuk
pat.treon: Keanu_Eugene
CHAPTER START---
Standing on the dirt ground of the 30th floor, the Trifecta can be seen atop a set of large boulders as they observe a herd of monsters below.
"Ugh, we've been here for 10 minutes can't we get this done already?" Thalie asks, annoyance clear in her voice.
"Yeah yeah just, they're so cool..." Yang quietly responds.
"I... don't get it..." Welf responds, clearly confused.
"Just, let me have this moment ok..." Yang trails off as he writes some notes in his journal.
Below the adventurers, a herd of almost two dozen Triceratops lay on the ground resting.
'Fucking dinosaurs, this is awesome, Anjanath was one thing but actual dinosaurs... man...'
"Ganesha familia tames monsters right..." Yang asks, muttering to himself as he trails off.
"No, hell no, YOU aren't taming anything even if you had the skill, you've already got more power than you know what to do with, I'm putting my foot down," Thalie says as she fixes a harsh glare at him.
"Such a buzzkill..." he halfheartedly replies, with a deep sigh he stores his journal into his inventory, "Alright, let's go deal with some Trihorns, such a lame name honestly..."
"Says the guys who wanted to call them Triceratops... whatever that means," Welf teases.
"YOU, don't get to talk about anyone choosing bad names," Thalie says with a toothy grin as Welf deflates a bit.
"Alright, Welf go left Thalie go right and I go in the middle, if these things are easy let's have Welf take the lead," Yang says as he leaps toward the monsters.
"Huh, he might actually have this expedition commander shit under control..." Thalie mutters as she follows him.
As Yang lands with a loud thud, the herd immediately perks up, all heads turning toward the new adventurer.
'They act like normal monsters even though they appeared when the dungeon changed, let's see how they act in a fight,' He thinks while taking a fighting stance.
As he sees many of the Triceratops stand on alert, one exceptionally large creature slowly moves toward the front of the pack.
As Thalie lands behind Yang, the 12 meter Alpha of the herd stands in front of the other members.
"Is this, normal?" Yang asks, clearly skeptical.
"Yeah, some monsters move in swarms, the alpha keeps them in line, it's not just something regular animals do on the surface," She quickly answers.
"Mhm,"
'So nothing too strange, just fighting dinosaurs, he, sometimes I fucking love this place,' He thinks to himself, a wide grin spreading across his face.
"Don't get too excited, it's gonna charge..." Thalie says, folding her arms across her chest as Welf stands behind his allies.
"Sorry just, dinosaurs," he mutters while taking a step forward.
As the monster charges, its breathing loud and the ground cracking and rumbling with every footstep, the entire herd begins to stir, all preparing to stampede over the intruders.
With almost 50 meters between them, Yang casually takes a knee and places both his hands onto the ground.
40 Meters...
"You uh, wanna do something?" Thalie asks as she looks between Yang and the charging creature.
"Yeah yeah just, I'm trying something..." he mutters as he closes his eyes and focuses.
30 meters...
The footfalls cause small rocks to bounce in place around the adventurers, the creatures huffs can be heart even clearer as it charges.
"Maybe you should do something soon..." Welf suggests as he stares forward at the charging monster.
"Gimme a sec..."
20 meters...
As the monster is already so close, Welf quickly makes to get out of the way, only for a hand to drag him back, now holding him in front of Thalie.
Her grip like a vice on his shoulder anchors him facing the charging creature.
"Trust your team kid, we haven't given you a reason not to..." She says as she takes a step forward to wrap an arm around his shoulder.
10 meters...
As the monster becomes too close for Welf to be comfortable, the ground suddenly darkens below it.
As its feet raise, they slam down, and the shaking stops.
Where it was expecting to meet hard stone like any other part of the floor, the small layer of rock breaks and reveals dark mud below.
"ARRR!"
The monster cries out as it struggles to free itself, only making it sink that much faster.
"Hidden mud pit, water and earth are my toughest elements, mixing them took a lot more magic than I thought, feels weird..." Yang says as he rises to his feet, a bead of sweat on his forehead.
"No wonder you took so long, and you left to top layer stone so it couldn't tell, smart." Thalie compliments.
"Thanks, now let's see how tough it is, do you wan---"
"Nope, first one's all yours." Thalie quickly says, cutting off his words.
"Right..."
Taking a few steps forward, blue flames envelop his body as his mage armor flares to life, before the creature can squirm any more, Yang flies forward and deliver a strike to the head of the creature, directly between the horns.
*CRACK!*
The skull of the creature echoes with a loud breaking noise, but the monster only begins to struggle in the mud more causing Yang to hold onto its horns to keep steady.
"Ok, thought I could try and muscle through the reinforced head and see if it's weak but nope, definitely level 4..." he says over his shoulder before placing his foot on the cracked armor.
As blue flames and purple lightning envelop his foot, the monster cries out in agony as Welf and Thalie each take a few steps back from the sheer heat. As the mud dries out and the flames grow hotter and hotter Yang quickly raises his leg and stomps onto the creature's head.
Instead of a loud boom, there was only the sound of a loud "FOOM!" as the flames jet from below his foot, penetrating the skull of the creature and hollowing out a tunnel through its body, destroying the crystal within.
With one leap, Yang lands softly in front of Thalie and Welf with his back facing his allies.
"Yeah, level 4 maybe..." Yang quickly says as the rest of the herd begins to rile up.
"See kid, gotta trust your team, plus Yangs a freak so..." She says as he draws both her daggers.
"Hit the undersides and legs then move on, control their numbers then we can clean up afterward, think you can take point on this?" Thalie says before pointing a question at Welf.
"Yeah, this is my kinda fight," He says with a grin while drawing his greatsword.
---10 Minutes later...
As Yang flips over another Triceratops from its side, he looks around at his teammates.
'Thalie's general plan had been smart, remove the enemy's mobility then we can take our time finishing them off, but why the hell can't I focus...'
Activating his Mage Armor once more, he takes a moment to calm his breathing and focus on his own body. Looking at his arms, the blue flames that are normally matted and condense appear more... loose.
As if they were falling apart on his body instead of holding their normally rigid form.
"Somethings wrong here," he says, deactivating his magic as he takes a deep breath.
"Yeah, you're stopping to sightsee while we're fighting!" Thalie yells as she flips away from a charging monster, casually re-engaging on the monster and cutting the tendons on its legs.
"Not them, it feels like, something's up with my magic!" He responds across the battlefield as he leaps toward another creature.
"Then we need to finish this up quick, think you can deal with these guys or wanna hang back and let us take over?" She questions, making her way closer to him.
"Nah just, get back for a second..." he says, raising both his hands together with his palms cupped, lightly facing forward.
As Welf leaps away, purple lightning begins to crackle and arc between Yang's fingers. The mobile members of the herd rush toward them, Yang doesn't acknowledge them, pouring more mana than ever into this attack.
'Chain Lightning'
*CRACK!*
Thunder echoes throughout the battlefield as a stream of purple lightning leaps from monster to monster, Yang squints and forces more of his magic into the attack, the creatures cry out in agony, one by one they fall to the ground with smoke rising from their bodies.
As the final monster drops, with a huff, Yang drops to one knee and pants heavily.
"Hey hey... you ok?" Thalie asks, genuine concern in her voice.
"I just, I don't know... I think my power is declining, that took way more magic than it had any right too..." he mutters.
"Uh, they aren't dead..." Welf says, drawing his greatsword and rushing forward to finish off the remaining paralyzed monsters.
"What, that, that should have fried them, that doesn't make any sense... what?" Yang questions nobody in particular, completely confused by what just happened.
"Let's let Welf deal with them, focus on just breathing for now ok," Thalie says, shooting Yang a concerned look before watching Welf carve up the remaining creatures.
After a few minutes of carving into the underside of the creatures, Welf was now back with his team as he and Thalie stand in front of Yang, the mage in question sitting atop a small rock chugging water from his water skin.
"Feeling better?" Welf asks, concern blatantly plastered on his face.
"Yeah, I just, I dunno, it took a lot out of me and I barely used anything...my head hurts," Yang says, looking at the small flames on his arm as he inspects his magic.
"You've been non-stop incinerating shit since we got to the middle floors, maybe it's just exhaustion..." Thalie suggests with an uncertain look.
"Yeah, probably," He replies, taking another sip of water.
As he raises his hand, small blue flames dance across his gauntlet, he pours more magic into the flames, upon leaving his body the flames dissolve in the air while falling to the floor, as if the magic itself was falling apart.
"Uh, that... isn't normal, right?" Welf questions as they watch the small fire magic fall to the floor.
"Uh, fuck no... something's definitely wrong here," Thalie says as she goes on full alert, looking at their surroundings cautiously.
"I can feel something..." Yang suddenly says, " I'm using my seismic sense right now, it keeps getting weaker, but there's a shaking coming toward us..." he trails off.
"Maybe we should get out of here, yeah?" Welf suggests, becoming a bit nervous at the prospect of not having their strongest member.
"Agreed, we need to move," Thalie speak with finality, causing everyone to immediately begin making their way toward the exit.
As they make their way closer toward the exit, the group remains on full alert quickly bypassing any monsters they find.
"It's closer... in front of us!" Yang suddenly says, his seismic sense barely reaching 20 meters ahead even with all of his focus, the moment the cause of this situation reached the edge of his range, his range began to shrink rapidly.
Welf and Thalie prepared for combat, standing in front of Yang by a few steps. Clearly intending to protect their handicapped teammate.
"My seismic sense doesn't work anymore, it's not working!" Yang says, panic in his voice.
*BOOM*
The ground between the adventurers immediately erupts with barely any warning.
As Welf tumbles forward, Thalie leaps away from the danger, turning in mid-air, her feet skid across the rock floor as she tries to peer through the cloud of dust.
As the ground erupted, Yang, on instinct, immediately leaped into the air and activated his magic, as his magic hits the air, it disappears. Falling apart, but to his surprise, it moves toward the cloud of dust.
As his body begins to fall, a sensation that hasn't worried him since he learned to fly, a massive mouth with a dozen rows of small 2 inch teeth lunges through the cloud directly toward him.
Stuck under the influence of gravity, with no magic to assist him, Yang can't do anything to fight what happens next.
As the cloud of dust finally clears out, Thalie and Welf are horrified to be greeted by the sight of Yang, with his mage armor sputtering and trying to protect him, trapped in the mouth of a 10-meter snake creature. The white Anaconda creature looks down at the smaller adventurers as it tries to swallow Yang.
As the last of his magic runs out, the strength in his limbs finally gives out.
*SNAP!*
The mouth of the creature closes completely as all the magic in the air released by Yang spreads in the air, before rapidly clinging to the scales of the new monster, its eyes glowing a bright blue as its neck cranes down at Welf and Thalie.
*CRACK!*
The monster's scales begin to shake, a soft glow emanates from the cracks between the scales, and new scales erupt from within.
"Uh, is it just me or... it's growing..." Thalie mutters out as she tries to understand what the hell just happened, keeping her cool only by calling on her lifetime of experience.
"YEAH IT'S FUCKING GROWING!" Welf says, his inexperience showing as his cool facade breaks.
As the now 30 meters long, 4-meter wide white anaconda stares down at them with blue glowing eyes. The white scales shifting to a myriad of colors, mirroring the colors of Yang's magic in a random kaleidoscope of colors. Hungry for its next meal.
END CHAPTER---
So how many of you groaned and thought I was nerfing Yang at the start there :)