This Ascent to Divinity is Lewder Than Expected-7.56 – Relic

She and Astrid made a solid duo—definitely better than the last shard Zoey had been split up for, where Maddy had been her partner. Two backline mages weren't an ideal combo, but a tank and a damage-support hybrid? Nearly perfect.

Despite the strength of their opponents, a Bolstered Astrid was all but unkillable. Sure, she probably wouldn't be able to literally stand there and let a monster do whatever it wanted, but the huge bonuses in speed, strength, and durability made her a juggernaut. Normally, Zoey used Bolster on Rosalie, since she was their team's star player; she could tear through monsters with her spear with such fluidity it stole her breath. And even the breath of experienced warriors like Astrid.

But seeing Astrid catch a giant sand golem's fist on her shield with only a grunt before tossing it away made Zoey wonder whether Astrid would be the better recipient when the full team had reunited.

Zoey appreciated the breathing room Astrid created. Even when multiple targets burst out from around a corner, the fearless berserker—or maybe just bloodthirsty berserker, however well she could control the negative side effects—sprinted in and smashed her shield into them, roaring and swinging with such reckless abandon that they had no choice but to turn and look at her. It was a rare encounter where Zoey had to fend for herself for more than a handful of seconds before her team's guardian occupied everything's attention.

When they ran into a swarm encounter, Zoey got to test how effective her newest spell was in a real-world scenario. Her Ball Lightning tore through the swarm of red-eyed bronze-skinned bats, discharging huge bolts of lightning toward every target that came in range. It churned through the crowd with a mesmerizing light show. Astrid didn't even need to lift her shield. The whole swarm dropped in piles of smoking corpses, not a single one surviving the massacre. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ

Astrid turned and raised her eyebrows when it was over. "Burst?"

"I empowered it, yes," Zoey laughed. "Still. Pretty good, right?"

"Pretty good," she echoed, nudging a bat corpse with her foot.

Three fights later, for no seeming reason, something strange happened: the entire labyrinth shivered. Not a great rumbling that shook the dust from the walls, but a soft, pained exhalation that Zoey felt more than heard. The shadows around them lengthened, and the walls of the thin hallway grew cramped and claustrophobic. Astrid and Zoey looked around, alarmed, before sharing a look.

"Curse went up," Zoey said.

"Yes."

She hadn't known they would be able to feel the effect of the Curse growing throughout the labyrinth, but she couldn't imagine what else that had been.

"Defeat by Possessed?" Astrid asked.

That was her best guess. The reminder that something—somebody, and a teammate, no less—was out there hunting them reinvigorated them both. Without a word, they continued their hunt with a renewed sense of urgency.

After a dozen fights and an hour of winding through the pyramid's sandstone labyrinth, they found their first obvious 'special encounter'. The archway covered with hieroglyphs wasn't quite so eye-catching as to imply it was a boss room, but it wasn't far.

"There's gonna be something strong in there," Zoey said, partly a question, but mostly a statement. "Is that a … scepter?" she asked, peering in.

On an elevated dais in the center of the room was a golden staff carved with a falcon's head. It was too far to Inspect.

"A relic. Like from mural?" Astrid asked. Almost idly, she corrected herself, "The mural."

"Bet so."

"Destroy it?"

"Yep. But there's gonna be a guardian, for sure."

Astrid studied the room through the doorway, but it seemed empty. They both knew it wouldn't be for long.

She shared a look with Zoey, and after she nodded, Astrid brought her shield up and cautiously entered.

One giant scarab mini-boss later, Astrid was leaning heavily on her shield, panting hard, with her eyes slightly manic. Sweat covered her skin. She had needed to rely heavily on her rage, and however practiced she was at defending against the mental influence of her core skill, having raw fury boiling through her veins wasn't easy to ignore.

"Good fight," she growl-laughed. "Good fight!" She slammed her shield into the ground several times for emphasis, cracking the stone, then straightened out. "Now destroy, yes?"

Zoey noted how her words had grown clipped and accented, like when they'd first met. She nodded cautiously, eyeing the woman. She almost offered to drain some of the rage, but not only was it a resource Astrid could use for her abilities, it would be condescending to try to manage the resource for her. Astrid knew her limits, and she was the one who asked for it to be stoked or quelled, not Zoey.

The wild look in her eyes made Zoey's heart skip a beat, though, as did the way she grinned at her and ran a hand across her forehead to flick her sweat away.

"I'll destroy it," Zoey said, nodding.

An Inspect on the golden scepter revealed it as an 'Ancient Relic of the First Pharaoh of Ketem-Ra,' and described it as 'a vessel of the Supreme One's cursed power.' Joined with the murals, it was obvious what they needed to do.

"Be ready, just in case," Zoey added, pointing her staff toward the scepter and backing away to the archway—best to make space. "Who knows what'll happen?"

She fired a lightning bolt into the relic, and it seemed to hold for a second, absorbing the energy—but then it cracked, clattering into two pieces on the dais's floor. Black and purple energy exploded outward, pouring in huge clouds from the scepter, making Zoey flinch and Astrid cover the two of them with her shield. But rather than rushing toward some distant location like when they'd bought Astrid's protective artifact, the crackling energy dissipated into the air.

The shadows of the room seemed to lighten around them, the labyrinth no longer as ominous as a few seconds earlier. The decrease in Curse was more noticeable than the increase from earlier—destroying a Relic, then, reduced Curse more than a defeat at the hands of a Possessed. Assuming that was indeed what had happened.

A second guardian didn't jump out afterward; the Relic broke, the Curse loosened, and that was that. Zoey breathed a sigh of relief.

"We should probably inventory the pieces?" Zoey said. "Might be useful later." Either in the shard, or on the surface as a crafting resource.

Astrid, having higher defense, picked the item up to ensure some part of the Curse wasn't lingering—Zoey had been dubious on whether they should touch it, seeing how that seemed like a reasonable way to get possessed. But she sensed nothing coming off of the relic, and nothing had indicated that was how possession worked. Indeed, it was an unfounded worry; nothing happened when Astrid touched it.

The two of them studied the golden falcon head, intrigued, and Zoey threw the two pieces into her inventory afterward.

Astrid was bouncing on the balls of her feet when they finished, eyes flitting around.

"Keep momentum?" she suggested, already striding forward. "Next fight."

She was clearly itching to vent her rage in a useful manner, but Zoey had no complaints, since she agreed that they should get a move on. More than most shards, they needed to be efficient. She had a strong suspicion one of their teammates had been possessed and was wandering the labyrinth looking for targets. Destroying Relics quickly would minimize how many opportunities the Possessed had to add to the Curse.

The realization struck her a second later, and she abruptly stopped walking. Astrid shot a glance over her shoulder, perfectly aware of her surroundings as always.

"What?" she demanded, and Zoey didn't let the hostility in her voice put her off; it was part of Astrid's class.

"If you were a spirit that possessed people, or however that works, and one of your ancient relics was destroyed, would you come running in this direction?"

Astrid paused, and a grin split her face. "Can hope."

That wasn't quite what Zoey was thinking, but it confirmed the theory had merit.

It probably wouldn't be long before they found out which of their teammates had turned hostile.