Underworld - Vampire Gate: A LitRPG Series

by Apollos Thorne

  I dug out the ore from the pile that wasn’t Firazite and inventoried it. None of it was what I was looking for, but it was easier to inventory than to make separate piles for each kind. Especially since I was about to sift through hundreds of such ore mounds. I assumed the ore that wasn’t fire based was just impurities from the elemental.

  After the pile was sorted, I let my current golem fall into dust and used the base amount of mana to cast Animation again. The spell only took the amount of ore that it needed, but it was many times that of my last golem and its level maxed out at 767. So using the base amount of mana would be a large waste of ore. I tested it a few times until the mound of ore was nothing but dust. To get the most out of the ore, I adjusted the amount of mana I was channeling to 3 times the base mana cost and used about 9 ounces of ore. It ended up costing 3,450 MP per cast and gave me a Fire Golem that was level 910, give or take 2 levels.

  Now that I knew how to best make use of the massive amounts of ore, I turned to Travis. “Help me sort through these piles. Anything that isn’t the Firazite, the red ore, set it to the side or inventory it. The rest I’m going to use to level up Animation.”

  Travis had already bent down to start on his first pile when I noticed the look on the queen’s face. She was staring blankly at the leftover dust from the Firazite I’d used for my Fire Golems.

  When she noticed I was looking at her, she glared at me and said something that sounded rather harsh. Shamash immediately translated for me. “She says that you’re a monster.”

  I gave her a curious look. “Why? Is it because this ore was once from a living creature?”

  The lich questioned her and returned her answer. “No. She considers the ore to be food and you are being very wasteful of it.”

  I heard a sudden chuckle. Travis spun to look at her and cringed when he saw the look she gave him. “Sorry,” he said before turning back to his pile.

  “Tell her that if she is hungry then she is welcome to eat some of the Firazite. Just have her sort out the other types of ore.”

  She didn’t seem happy about it as Shamash relayed the message, but she did just that. I watched her for a moment as she started on the first pile. She didn’t feed on the ore with her mouth as a normal creature did but placed it in her palm and absorbed it into her body. There was a lot of ore to sort through, but it struck me that keeping her with us might have more advantages than I’d originally considered. I hadn’t seen many creatures of her type. There might be some interesting things to learn about her kind and the nature of magic in general.

  I turned my attention back to the piles of ore. It was time to put my Dexterity to use to speed up the process. Unsummoning my golem again, I began grabbing the required ore and casting Animation with one hand and sorting with the other. Almost as soon as a Fire Golem appeared, it fell to dust, and another golem appeared in its place. And so, for the next hour, we sorted through the ore as I power leveled Animation and looked for any trace of Light Magic Ore we could find. If we didn’t find anything, then the second level was our next stop.

  Chapter 10 – Golems

  I adjusted the amount of mana I used with each level I gained in Animation. It wasn’t just hundreds of casts needed to use up the excess ore, but more than a thousand before all was said and done. Like a man possessed, I burned through it. When the spell reached level 80, it allowed me to cast 8 golems at once, or one additional one without unsummoning any that were still in Sanctuary. At level 90 the spell’s progression slowed down, but there was still so much ore to work with, and I gained a 9th golem. As I neared the high 90s, I realized I was probably going to have to go big to reach level 100.

  Travis had laid out the non-firazite ore in piles, and the queen had added what she found to them. I guessed there were over 1,000 lbs. waiting for me if I were to add what I’d found to it. Instead of casting Animation on it, I loaded up my inventory. Most of it came from the Stone Elementals who preferred iron, bauxite, and copper, but there was also coal, tin, phosphate, and gypsum. These were the common types of ore without any elemental properties. Quagate, or Earth Ore, was the most abundant elemental ore. Tundargite, or Lightning Ore, was the second most abundant and only a couple of pounds had dropped. There were only trace amounts of everything else. I even found a few ounces of Blizzarine, or Ice Ore.

  Checking Animation, I saw that it had reached level 96. If I were careful with what I had left, I’d likely make it to 100. In the end, we still hadn’t found an ounce of Light Magic Ore.

  The most surprising thing about the entire ordeal was that the Faeastein Queen didn’t stop eating ore during the entire process. It was only Firazite that she ate—devoured, absorbed, or was it processed... As she ate, she didn’t balloon up in the hips or gut but became uniformly larger. I’d taken a few short breaks to watch her and, as far as I could tell, eating the ore didn’t make her more powerful, just bigger. Maybe she was replacing the ore she’d lost when making the Firazite spears? Even though she’d eaten only a fraction in comparison to the amount I’d used for power leveling Animation, she could make dozens of such spears for the amount she’d eaten. Just in case, I inventoried the last couple mounds of Firazite. If she did need it to sustain herself, having it might be a good bargaining chip for later on.

  “Are we done?” Travis said, reaching into his inventory to fetch his helmet. He’d removed it while playing around in the ore.

  “Just about,” I replied. “Ready for the next floor?”

  He answered by placing his helmet on his head and giving me a wicked smile before fastening his faceplate.

  “There’s one more thing I need to do,” I said, glancing at my inventory’s menu. Taking out a few pounds of Iron, I placed it in a pile. I did the same for bauxite and quagate. “Everyone, move back.”

  As a magic user that relied on my mana regeneration, using a large portion of my maximum mana pained me. The thought of leaving myself vulnerable, even if there were no obvious immediate threats, was like stepping on a rusty nail. Remembering that Shamash was here to back us up was a small relief. If he really wanted to harm us, even if I were at full power, I didn’t think I could stop him. That didn’t mean I fully trusted him. Not yet.

  Mana gushed into my arm and out my palm. In seconds, 100,000 mana hit the iron ore. The very ground shook beneath our feet. The couple pounds of iron that had been lying before us grew at an incredible rate. Within moments, a massive Iron Golem was formed that shot up to stand over twenty feet tall. It was humanoid in shape, but unnaturally thin. If it weren’t for the scrappy muscle definition it would have looked like a weird art project of a person made out of metal pipes. I quickly observed it.

  Ferric

  Elite Golem Champion

  Level: 1,200

  Health Points: 3,000,000

  Mana Points: 5,000

  Strength: 3,000

  Dexterity: 150

  Constitution: 3,000

  Intelligence: 50

  Wisdom: 50

  Even though I’d used half the MP I had when creating Firaestus and Quake, Sanctuary’s guardians, Ferric was only 100 levels less than they were and had HP that was off the charts. He was even less mobile than the Faeastein queen, but he’d make a great tank, and if you happened to get in the way of his fist—ouch sandwich. Animation was even more potent now that it had leveled up.

  I moved on to the next pile and filled it with 100,000 MP as well. I didn’t wait and cast another 100,000 MP on the last pile as well.

  The bauxite grew faster than the quagate. It remained half the size of Ferric at about ten feet tall, but it had the solid build of an athlete. Unlike the elite iron golem, this one wasn’t as well polished but had a lighter dull grey color. Seeing the golem’s stats, I couldn’t help but laugh. The iron golem was as skinny as a bean pole but had enormous strength. The bauxite, or aluminum, golem looked powerful but was actually a dexterity monster.

  Aluman

  Elite Golem Champion

  Level: 1,20
0

  Health Points: 500,000

  Mana Points: 5,000

  Strength: 1,000

  Dexterity: 4,000

  Constitution: 1,000

  Intelligence: 50

  Wisdom: 50

  I just shook my head while examining its stats. His Dexterity was ridiculous.

  Turning my attention to Quagate Golem, I was fascinated by its granite-like surface that was speckled with many different shades of blue, green, and orange. Its height was between Ferris’s and Aluman’s, but its girth was at least four times the other two put together. Where Ferris looked like a sickly thin giant and Aluman looked like a sculpted bodybuilder, Twerg looked like a literal rock monster.

  Twerg

  Elite Golem Champion

  Level: 1,400

  Health Points: 2,000,000

  Mana Points: 1,000,000

  Strength: 2,000

  Dexterity: 1,000

  Constitution: 3,000

  Intelligence: 1,000

  Wisdom: 100

  Special Abilities:

  Earth Siphon – Twerg is able to draw ore from the ground on which he stands and use them for various purposes.

  His legs and arms were pillars of rock, and his torso was a thick column. His head was a small bolder with dark glossy eyes. Compared to the other two golems he was 200 levels higher and seemed more alive.

  “Whoa… Are they going to fight for us?” Travis said as he stared up at them.

  “Nah. I’m just going to have them watch our backs. You won’t get as much experience if you aren’t finishing mobs,” I replied, rapping my knuckles on the armor covering his shoulder.

  “That’s perfect.”

  “I’m going to recover my mana, then let’s go.”

  I exited the popup I’d received. Animation had reached level 97. It was one step closer.

  ***

  Looking back at the Faeastein queen I saw her walking in front of Shamash and between Twerg and Aluman. She was glancing uncomfortably from golem to golem. It may have crossed my mind that their presence might help encourage her to behave.

  The ramp to the next level was only a short climb. While we advanced, Shamash spoke. “As we near the fire vein, we will start to run into creatures that feed off its elemental energy instead of scavenging for ore. The closer we get, the richer this energy will become and the more powerful the creatures will be. The richer the energy is, and the longer they’ve been able to feed off of it, the stronger they become. That is why some of the natural veins that aren’t consistently visited by the monster, beast, and humanoid races can be extremely dangerous.”

  “Wererats the size of dragons?” I replied.

  “Exactly. This vein is close enough to be raided fairly often, but there is no way to know how long it has really been. The last time its monster population was wiped out could have been a week ago, or months. Be prepared for the worst.”

  I stationed our golem bodyguards at the base of the ramp to guard our backs. I doubted we’d have any company, but I’d already used my Light Magic buffs against the queen for longer than was safe. Who knew if some ancient creature that wanted to get drunk off my blood was in the region or not?

  Unlike the first floor, no mobs were waiting out in the open for us. The ramp to the third level was also only a quarter-mile away, so if we started fighting here, it would likely draw the attention of anything on the floor above. It didn’t look like we’d be able to sit back and clear one floor at a time.

  Travis and I headed forward alone to see if we could draw anything out. I remained on my feet for the moment, walking by his side. We’d only taken a few steps when we were greeted with the creepiest greeting imaginable. Spiders. Large red ones the size of bulldogs. Hundreds of them rushed out of the flame-geysers that were spread out all around us. I screamed—on the inside.

  Ventilating Arachnids

  Level: 403

  Health Points: 43,300

  Mana Points: 6,700

  Attributes

  Strength: 361

  Dexterity: 1,002

  Constitution: 433

  Intelligence: 67

  Wisdom: 55

  They weren’t especially strong, but there were a lot of them, and they were swarming like a thousand itches that had to be scratched—preferably with a machine gun from a distance. I did the only rational thing that anyone would do if they could fly. I launched myself into the air while calling out to Travis, “You got this!”

  The look of horror that he gave me was one that I’d normally tease him about for the rest of his life—if I weren’t already fleeing to the air. Because of that, I’d give him a pass.

  Shaking his head the entire way, he darted forward and activated his wall of spears. Because the mood struck me, I held out both hands and unleashed a rapid onslaught of Alpha Bullets. Taking the machine gun inclination I had literally, I let loose.

  Their exoskeletons gleefully exploded, sending spider goo into the air. Poor Travis was getting splattered with it even if he was trying his best to keep his distance. The entire floor was crawling with the creatures in what seemed like never-ending waves. I was having too much fun mowing them down to use a larger spell to wipe them out quickly.

  It was a good ten minutes before we finished the last one. As much as I disliked gaining a Spider Form, it would be a good one to play with on Halloween. I had the sudden mental image of trying to scare the Head Mistress. All of a sudden, her mouth grew larger than I was, and she devoured me in a single bite… I shook the image out of my head.

  There was no time to relax and loot. Not that I was excited about sifting through spider parts. I half hoped I’d damaged them enough that there was nothing worth taking. A mass of smoke was lobbed from the third floor toward us. By the time it reached us, I saw that it was as large as I was.

  Travis retreated to the edge of the first ramp and we both watched the mass of smoke impact the ground. There was a loud hiss of air as the smoke pushed out and covered a large area. Whether the smoke was to blind us, or it possessed some kind of poison, we didn’t dare test it.

  I waved Travis back as I lifted myself higher up to get a good idea of what we were dealing with. What I saw left me scratching my head. There were five humanoid looking mobs hunched over near the edge of the third floor looking down at us. Instead of flesh and blood, they were made of smoke itself. Taking a closer look, I saw something similar to my Fire Golems. Their body was made of smoke, but there was a deeper concentration of mana inside them. Instead of it being inside their chests, it was where their stomach might be.

  When the creatures saw me lift high into the air, they took to their feet and immediately sent five man-sized smoke projectiles right at me.

  Chapter 11 – Smoking Hot

  The projectiles of smoke were not fast, so I easily moved out of the way and observed the creatures.

  Rog

  Level: 1,023

  Health Points: 101,000

  Mana Points: 301,350

  Attributes

  Strength: 1,000

  Dexterity: 300

  Constitution: 1,010

  Intelligence: 2,009

  Wisdom: 1,102

  All five of the creatures were over level 1,000 and I almost flew over to them and gave them each a big hug. Running into creatures with a focus on Intelligence was extremely rare. It also meant they were creatures of magic. My fear was that their nature would make them impossible to Drain, but if I could…

  Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to slow down. I was about to fly over and shatter their cores with my bare fists without taking the time to test what they were capable of. They’d glowed with a mix of Earth, Fire, and Air Mana, making them one of the most complex existences I’d seen. I quickly theorized what their Smoke Magic might do. Hindering vision was a given, but they might also rely on it to hinder breathing. There might even be a poison aspect to their smoke, even if there was no sure indication of it that I could see in their mana. I had too little exper
ience with such a complex creature, so I wouldn’t assume. Was there something else?

  I slowly descended to land at Travis’s side and relayed what I’d seen. I was completely honest with what I suspected.

  “So don’t breathe in their smoke,” he replied. “Got it.”

  He was more than willing to take a chance even if he was hundreds of levels below them. I could either hold him back and take care of them myself or support him. Using the connection I had already established with him through my Light Surgeon thread, I didn’t hold back supplying him with my full range of buffs.

  “Just save one for me,” I said.

  He snickered. “I’ll try my best.”

  Without any more delay, he took off at a run, heading right for them. He started slow, but even as he reached the bottom of the ramp to the next floor, his speed built exponentially.

  Just like a batter facing a major league pitcher, the Rogs knew he was coming, but his speed made it nearly impossible for them to judge his time of arrival. One mob preemptively threw a smoke bomb at its own feet, which billowed smoke up to a full body length over Travis’s head. It was unclear where they were, for the entire top of the third level was shrouded in a cloud of darkness. Even with Mana Sight, I could only barely tell where the densest concentrations of mana were.

  Lifting off the ground, I flew up to get a better vantage.

  Travis didn’t slow upon seeing the cloud. He plunged into it. Even if it was difficult to see, it was impossible to miss the loud crack that sounded as he unleashed his wall of spears. My best guess was that he’d hit at least two of the Rogs directly. He wasn’t sticking around to find out. He continued his hit and run strategy, and I saw the glow of his mana from within the colorful cloud grow brighter as he tried to escape.

  There was a screech from below. I looked to find the Faeastein Queen trembling with a newly formed spear cocked back in a defensive stance. She noticed me looking at her and her eyes shot up to meet mine. I was caught off guard by what I saw. It was anger mixed with fear.