Lilith: Origin of Succubi

("I've never seen anything like this before,") Morrigan whispered.

All over the pillar ahead of us, we could see concentrated miasma forming new banshees by the dozen. It looked as if black smoke was flowing in reverse to create each one. Once their bodies had formed, they leapt into the sky and joined the giant cloud of demons in the air before heading towards the dungeon entrance. They weren't all being created in one place, and there was no portal leaking the demons like in the last dungeon. They seemed to be naturally spawning, but at an increased rate.

("How do we stop this?") I asked.

Morrigan's eyes took on the traits of a succubus so she could better see the mana directly. Her brow furrowed as she looked around and watched the demons form. ("There are a few records of people witnessing dungeon monsters spawn, but it's exceedingly rare. What we're seeing is pure miasma condensing into physical form. Miasma is the stagnant mana of a dungeon, so the best way to disrupt it would be to excite the mana in the area.")

I frowned. ("How do we do that?")

She turned to look at me with a slightly manic grin. It wasn't an expression I've ever seen on her face before. ("For a wild mage like myself, the easiest way would be to turn it into a large-scale spell.")

Ah... she would need to take control of the mana and turn it into something else. Like a giant explosion, for instance.

I took a deep breath. ("Okay. What can we do to help?")

Her face turned slightly more serious, but she couldn't help the slight lift in the corner of her lips. I got the sense that she was going to enjoy this. ("I'll need time to force all the miasma into a state I can use it in. That will take a significant amount of concentration. I'll start by moving all the miasma in the area into a vortex. As it moves, it should release more usable mana. Once the area reaches a high enough concentration, I can start funneling all of that mana into a spell. As more of the mana is excited, even more of the nearby miasma will be converted into usable mana, and the spell will increase in size in a virtuous cycle. The final spell will be massive, but the longer I channel all of the nearby mana, the more danger all of us will be in. If I'm interrupted and lose hold of all of that mana, it could explode in our faces... literally.")

("Wait a minute, this sounds incredibly dangerous,") Silva protested.

Morrigan nodded. ("It is incredibly dangerous, but I don't know of a better way to clear the miasma. Ideally, we would be able to stop whatever forced it into a permanent dungeon break, but we're not going to be able to get past the final dungeon boss or deal with the crystal without doing something about the banshees.")

("How confident are you that you can maintain control?") I asked.

("As long as nothing touches me while I'm channeling, I won't lose control. I would be placing all of my trust in everyone here to keep me safe while I do this,") Morrigan replied.

Silva shifted nervously on her feet as she looked up at the endless number of banshees above us. ("Protecting her from this many banshees would be difficult.")

("We did it before on the bridge. How long would this take?") Torien asked.

Morrigan frowned before shaking her head. ("I have no idea. I've never tried anything like this. I've never ever seen miasma this thick before.")

("We're even stronger than we were at the bridge. I think we could hold out for several bells if we needed to,") Kal'daeryn said. ("I'm willing to attempt this plan if Lilith trusts Morrigan to do this.")

("Will this take several bells?") I asked hesitantly.

("I don't think so, but I can't say for sure. It will get easier the longer I channel, but there's a lot,") Morrigan said with a shrug.

Silva looked around at the spawning monsters. ("Will doing this reduce the number of banshees that continue to spawn?")

("Not at first, but as my spell gathers more mana, it will eventually starve out the miasma in the area and stop any more from spawning. If I do it for long enough, it'll create a dead zone where nothing will be able to spawn because of the low level of miasma concentration. That's what I'm aiming for. It won't stop the dungeon from spawning monsters, but it won't be able to spawn any of them here while we fight the dungeon boss,") Morrigan said.

Silva sighed. ("Everyone will have to ration their mana and stamina carefully. If this is going to be an endurance fight, we'll have to lock down the area for as long as possible. We can't let Morrigan's concentration slip if she's going to be handling so much mana all at once.")

Nelly raised a hand. ("I have a new spell that creates a holy field that restores stamina. It has a high upkeep cost, but I can maintain it for a few bells if I don't cast anything else.")

Torien nodded. ("This can work. We have lots of javelins and arrows, so that should help us.") She turned to me. ("Lilith, if you could maintain a [Light Domain] and a [Zone of Silence] around my sister, that should stop the banshees from getting close or disturbing her. Can you maintain both of those for long enough?")

I nodded. ("I should be able to keep both of those active indefinitely. The two together are less than my mana regeneration at this point. As long as I don't expend all of my mana using other magic, I should be able to keep them up forever.")

Raya raised her hand. ("If she's going to be standing still channeling mana, I can cloak her from the banshees as well! I don't know how well my illusions will hold up once the mana really gets flowing, but I should be able to hide her for a while!")

("Can we all hide in the illusion?") Sibyl asked.

Morrigan shook her head. ("No, as soon as I start moving the miasma, it'll be like a beacon for them to attack us. Even if they can't see me, they'll know we're there. You're better off fighting them from the beginning while I channel.")

("Damn,") Sibyl said with a frown.

("Lilith, I think I can do this. No, I can do this. Trust me,") Morrigan said to me seriously.

I looked around at everyone. ("Does anyone have any serious reservations at this point?") I asked. ("Lori, Bella, Mimi, you haven't said anything this entire time.")

Lori smiled. ("I believe in my niece. She can do this.")

Bella nodded. ("I agree! I know Morrigan can pull it off. I've never seen her this confident before. I believe in her.")

Mimi raised her arms. ("She'll do great!")

The wave of emotion that came from Morrigan almost brought tears to my eyes. She tried to smother it, but it still leaked through the bond.

I cleared my throat to refocus. ("Good. Then I think I'll start by creating a structure with [Ice Wall], then put up a [Zone of Silence] around it. After that, Raya will throw her illusions on it, and Morrigan will hide inside and get started. Everyone else will protect her using everything we've got. This will be a long battle of attrition. Is everyone ready?")

I got nods of agreement from everyone. Despite the serious and brave face I was trying to project, I felt nervous. These monsters had ceased being difficult for a while now, but we were planning on fighting them for an indefinite amount of time while Morrigan channels a nuke behind us.

("What are you going to do with all of the magic once you have it in your control?") I asked.

Morrigan smiled and looked up at the near endless swarm of banshees blotting out the sky above us. ("Expand my mana pool.")

Torien couldn't stifle the laugh that came from her mouth, and we all froze. Luckily, none of the spawning banshees noticed the noise. ("Sorry!") she said with a sheepish grin.

I shook my head. ("Okay. Everyone, get ready.")

We waited a minute while everyone planned out what they were going to do. It wasn't necessary for me since I already had a game plan, but the minute went a long way to give everyone a chance to prepare themselves for the fight.

("Okay, let's go!") I called through the bond.

I spread the creeping frost along the ground ahead of us before creating a small hut out of solid ice. As soon as it was done, I removed the creeping frost, and everyone ran ahead. Silva, Sibyl, and Kal'daeryn ran in front and quickly began to attack the nearby banshees while Morrigan, Nelly, and Raya ran into the hut. Once Morrigan was in position, Raya threw up an illusion that made the hut vanish, and I created a [Zone of Silence] around our group to protect us from the banshee wails. Once that was up, I threw up my [Light Domain] next and made sure to attach the small ice hut to myself with the creeping frost so that I could maintain the mana in the hut while Morrigan worked. I poured mana into my blade and flared my [Arms of Light] now that we were no longer hiding under Raya's veil. Here we go.

The fight immediately turned into a slaughter. Thousands of the banshees ineffectually screamed at us and began to dive bomb our position. Each of our battles with the banshees has made us better at dealing with them. We only ever ran from them in the past since their number was essentially endless. The other times we could only try to escape, but this time we would be standing in one spot until we were finished.

It didn't take long before I could tell what Morrigan meant by them noticing once she started channeling her mana. She had created a large vortex of wind magic, rapidly cycling the air all over this platform. At first, it wasn't obvious what the purpose of the vortex was until I began to see the little clusters of magic that were appearing in the surroundings. Just like she said, her wind magic was slowly converting the miasma in the area into usable mana.

We fought endlessly. Minutes passed, and all of us quickly fell into a kind of trance as we killed the demons. The pack tactics skill gave all of us a sixth sense of where each other were, and when to best step in to help each other. Mimi dropped barrels of javelins and arrows for everyone to use as they willed, and joined in the fighting herself. Torien's shadow arrows were empowered by [Light Domain], and she took advantage of this by killing two or three at a time with each shot. Lori disappeared and reappeared in the shadows, killing two or more banshees with each shadow leap. Sibyl jumped around like an acrobat from banshee to banshee, slashing through them endlessly while barely touching the ground. Raya threw fireballs and disguised us with illusions while being careful to pace her mana usage. Bella threw bolts of caustic looking poison and acid, while making sure to keep everyone in perfect shape with her regenerative healing. Silva and Kal'daeryn killed anything that came even remotely near them with a single strike, and Nelly held a giant field of holy magic up that kept us full of energy through the long extended fight. Never before had all of us ever worked so smoothly as a team.

After a bell, something had changed. The ambient mana in the area had gotten thicker, and the glitter of the mana in the air had significantly increased. I could see and feel the exact moment Morrigan began to channel all of that mana into a spell. A small point of fire began to form above the small ice hut I created to protect our casters.

The banshees had been single-mindedly attacking us from the beginning, but now they were becoming frantic. They were dive bombing us even more recklessly now, getting into each other's way, and even crashing into each other in a mad dash to stop Morrigan from what she was doing. Even before they could see it, they were crashing into the ice hut, and I was forced to pour more of my mana into it to keep it solid. Through all of this, Morrigan hadn't even briefly wavered in her hold over all of the mana she was collecting. The small amount of fire that had initially formed was growing larger and larger as it concentrated. As the fireball grew, more of the miasma transformed into more mana, and that was sucked into the ball of fire like it was a black hole.

We continued to fight as Morrigan's ball of fire raged above us. Any of the banshees that tried to attack the fireball directly were vaporized when they got too close. Somehow, the ball of fire didn't affect us, or even increase the temperature. We just continued to fight as it grew larger and larger. Eventually, we could see the monster spawns slow. Rather than be thick with the dungeon's miasma, the air began to hum from the gathering magic. The hairs on the back of my neck started to stand up, and my body began to react in fear to the giant ball of death that was still growing above us.

("Almost done,") Morrigan said with a pained voice through the bond.

Just before Morrigan finally released the giant spell she had constructed, I saw someone run up to the edge of the pillar overlooking us with a shocked look on their face. It was the cultist I had fought outside the last dungeon. Her golden fur shined in the intense light the fireball gave off. Her eyes were wide as she stared at the ridiculous display of magic hovering above our group.

"Rain of fire!" Morrigan screamed.

The giant ball of fire suddenly began to spit out thousands of bolts a second and shoot them into the air. Each one rocketed up and targeted the nearest banshee, burning it to a crisp in moments, and making way for the bolts behind it to search for the next closest target. A blinding amount of fire colored the horizon as the giant spell endlessly spat out projectiles that homed in on each demon. The spell raged on for dozens of minutes as all of us watched. Even the cultist on the next platform watched in awe as the insane display of magic raged on. More cultists now stood next to her, but none of them took their eyes off the magic killing thousands of banshees in the sky.

As the spell burned, the number of blazing spears of flame increased, shooting faster and faster as the ball of fire slowly shrank. All across the horizon from here to the dungeon entrance was an endless inferno. The corpses of banshees turned black as their bodies disintegrated, creating giant clouds of smoke that swirled in the remnants of the fire magic.

Morrigan stumbled out of the hut exhausted, but she had a look of pure awe on her face. She, more than anyone else, seemed shocked by the enormous quantity of magic she had just used. Her face lit up in a smile just before she lost consciousness and fell into my arms.

"I've got you, Morrigan. Good job," I whispered to her.