The field was set. Merrick stood in the center of his rocky labyrinth. All three Riot Guards were within ten feet of him but several layers of rock with enough twists and turns to dizzy a hunting dog separated them.
The Riot Guard that had been just within reach struck the wall that now protected Merrick. It reverberated with a dull thwomp. Thanks to Crudle's power-up the Riot Guard stood no chance at breaking it down. Merrick turned with a smile and headed off toward his first target.
The labyrinth was designed to make it easy for Merrick to pick off his opponents and difficult for them to find exactly where he was coming from. Crudle had curved the walls so that every sound bounced back and echoed in on itself. Even as Merrick took his first few steps, it was a little disorienting to hear his own steps coming from ahead of him.
After a few turns, Merrick came up against one of the Riot Guards. Fortunately for Merrick, the guard had sheathed their heavy sword. Though Merrick still doubted he could win in a fistfight against the heavily armored and well trained opponent. Instead, he did not give the Riot Guard a chance.
As soon as he closed the distance, Merrick released a blast of arcane energy. Just like when casting the lightning bolt spell, he focused it into a single point. However, instead of his hand, he poured it into the relic dagger. Spell Stealer absorbed his energy and immediately released a cone of lightning that arced across the Riot Guard's armor.
The guard fell to the ground with smoke rising from within the armor's gaps. Merrick moved on toward his next target. The second Riot Guard had also sheathed their sword but this guard noticed Merrick quickly. Rather than a decisive strike, Merrick was forced into a melee with this opponent.
Even though it was a game, each punch from the Riot Guard's armored fists shook Merrick to his core and he swore his ribs could feel the pressure of nearly snapping. After absorbing a few blows poorly, Merrick managed to put some distance between them. As the guard rushed to close that distance, Merrick summoned enough energy to knock the guard's feet backward.
His helmet struck the ground with a heavy thud. Between Merrick's blast of energy and the guard's own momentum, it was enough to spray blood across the ground and knock the guard unconscious.
Before Merrick could celebrate his minor victory and move on to his final target. Crudle sent out a distress signal. --INCOMING FROM BEHIND--
Merrick had not felt the presence of the last guard approaching. He trusted his elemental companion enough to take the signal to heart though. Merrick dove forward, over the unconscious guard, with just enough time to avoid a heavy sword that would have cut him at the hip.
As he rolled back to his feet, Merrick turned to see that the final guard had found him. Despite his best attempts to fully disorient the trio of enemies, this one seemed unphased. Not only that, but the guard was giving off a strange aura. It was as if the guard was possessed by something.
There was no time to investigate the aura, though, because the guard followed up with another attack. Unlike the first two, this guard kept using the heavy sword despite the cramped space. The blade was held low to the ground and swung in tight arcs. The tip of the blade always turned at the last moment before scratching the labyrinth walls.
Merrick retreated through the labyrinth with purpose. He led the guard backwards to the place where he started. He suffered for the plan. Not every strike could be avoided. By the time they reached the center, Merrick had cuts across his arms and a nice shallow wound across his chest.
With his back against the first rock wall, the one that started the labyrinth, Merrick appeared trapped. The guard slowed the assault and switched stances. Now the blade was held high like that of an executioner. As it came down, Merrick pressed back against the wall and shouted to Crudle, "Collapse!"
Merrick felt the wall behind him topple backward as the labyrinth wall's dropped like an intricate set of dominos. The blade barely missed his neck. Merrick rolled back up to his feet with the motion and was ready to counter but the guard was thrown off rhythm by the change. Crudle dropped one of the walls directly onto the guard. The heavy blade somehow cut through the rock and it fell to either side of the guard.
Without wasting the opening Crudle gave him, Merrick held the relic dagger steady. Instead of focusing his own energy into it, he released the energy that was already trapped inside. The blade released a solid beam of yellow energy. Merrick twisted his wrists so that the beam flashed across his opponent's chest and the Riot Guard was cut as easily as the heavy sword had cut the rock wall.
As the enemy fell, Merrick saw a system notification rise. He ordered Crudle to smooth out the fallen rocks back into the floor as he looked over the notification.
--SYSTEM NOTIFICATION--
Knowledge Archive complete for the relic Spell Stealer.
--Spell Stealer--
A relic-class dagger created by the Great Wizard Barlataxin for Spymaster Comet to destroy the Ancient Lich of Wes Drevo. The dagger was lost to time and it is unclear how it ended up in the possession of a nameless mage in the Elemental Cage. Spell Stealer has the following traits:
Magebound: If the owner of the dagger is a mage, it can be summoned to hand from anywhere.
Spell Tank: the dagger's runes allow the metal to store three complete spells or enough raw energy to cast three spells. If a fourth spell is captured, the oldest is overwritten by the newest.
History: If the owner of the dagger can use psychometry, they may meditate for fifteen minutes to check what spells the dagger is holding.
--END OF SYSTEM NOTIFICATIONS--
Merrick closed the notifications and instead turned his attention to his wounds. Luckily his health had not dropped to a dangerous level and the cuts were only minor so there were no debilitating debuffs. However his robes were torn.
After sneaking back into the storage area and then back into the Dungeon, Merrick took a second to fix his robes. To do this, he instructed Crudle to vaguely stitch up the cuts while he meditated about the dagger. After fifteen minutes, Crudle had done a passing job as a seamster and Merrick received the following system notification.
--Spell Stealer currently holds one charge of ELEMENTAL ENERGY (LIGHTNING) from defeating a Sylph of Lightning--