The motes of spatial magic spun around me for a moment before the mana formation broke off and got sucked into the nearby crystals.
I sighed. Guess we’re going spelunking then.
I continued moving forward. Let’s hope not.
“Let him know I’m okay, but it might take me a little while to get back. Have him bring the army back to our base and wait for me there.”
There was only one tunnel for me to go through, and it was a jagged, uneven thing. As I entered it, I noted that the upper part was perforated with thousands of thumb-sized holes. Thin rivulets of water dripped from them and the ceiling was wet with condensation. “What do you think those are?”
“Thanks, that’s reassuring.”
Bouldite Smasher sacrificed! X 2
+200 Faith Points
Level up! You have reached Character Level 78. You have 1 ability point to allocate.
Faith spell school skill increased to level 57.
Soul spell school skill increased to level 52.
I was glad to see the Soul discipline increasing. Apparently, blasting off the arm of a higher-level enemy with Blood Wrath was enough to take it over the edge. This boss ability was incredibly potent, and if not for the terramage’s incredible magic resistance, it would have done over 2,000 points of damage. Then again, I had to nearly die for the ability to trigger four times to reach that power level.
“How come Dark Mana didn’t level up?” I asked. “Even though the crystals prevented me from launching spells, I was using Mana Infusion the entire time.”
“Right.” I quickly assigned the new point to my Mental attribute. Then cast Drilling Arrow. The nearby crystal formation instantly started sucking the mana, but I clenched my will, force-feeding the spell with more mana to compensate, and completed it. Ten spinning arrows launched away from me, but they only went a few meters before dissipating.
Dark Mana spell school skill increased to level 102.
“Let’s continue,” I said. “I think I see the tunnel opening up ahead.”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. You’ve made that joke before. It’s not nearly as funny as you think, you know.”
I ignored him and exited the tunnel into a medium-sized chamber.
There was a mound of crystal on the floor ahead of me, and the walls and ceiling were practically covered with the sparkling growth. The mound was weirdly shaped – as if a novice sculptor was trying to beat it into a specific form but did it so poorly his intent couldn’t be recognized.
I moved a few more meters inside the cave. Crystal protrusions were growing out of the mound, snaking across the floor, and climbing to the ceiling. The tiny holes were everywhere here as well. There was no discernible exit.
A particularly thick growth drew my attention. It was almost as wide as I was tall. It grew sideways out of the mound, forming a thinning spiral around it. My eyes widened as I suddenly realized what the shape reminded me of.
“It’s a dragon,” I finished. “A dead, crystal dragon.”
There was no question about it, the thing was the size of a small truck. The crystal seemed to grow out of its very skin.
Crystal Dragon, Level 200. Dead.
Now that I knew what I was looking at, I could clearly see deep gouge marks on the creature’s bulk beneath the thick layer of crystal coating it. “It looks like it was blasted by several small explosions. See there – where the neck is supposed to be? There are small craters all over it; it even looks severed in some places.”
I wasn’t paying attention to him. My mind raced at the possibilities. Dragons were extremely rare in NEO, and every part of their bodies was worth a fortune; their meat was prized, their hide and scales could be used to craft Epic-ranked armor, and their bones were almost indestructible. Also, as a monster, I could use a dragon trophy in conjunction with the Breeder’s Den to summon a truly awe-inspiring super-soldier. I put my hand on the petrified dragon to loot it.
Nothing happened.
I bowed my head in disappointment. There was a slightly different-colored sparkle at the bottom of the pile. I hunched over to take a closer look and my eyes widened. “Gold,” I whispered.
The dragon appeared to have been lying on a pile of gold when it died. The crystals that grew out of its corpse had sealed in the treasure. I needed to get it. I grabbed my staff with both hands and neatly pierced the glittering layer.
The Epic-ranked weapon easily shattered the crystal, and a small pile of gold coins spilled out. I grinned and stabbed again, enlarging the hole.
More gold came out, then something wet and glistening rolled out with it.
I studied the thing closer. It almost looked like a giant white booger. It took only a second for my mind to catch up with the information tendrils the thing gave off, and I jumped back in alarm.
Manaleech [Crystal variant]
Level: 1
Trait: Mana Crystallization
The slimy creature wriggled and raised its front, its thin proboscis visible as it squirmed in my direction.
I took another step back. I hadn’t encountered one of these things in a while. The last time was when I’d been held prisoner and tortured by Barska. The hobgoblin warlord had used manaleeches to ensure I wouldn’t be able to use magic to escape. The slimy creatures were as dangerous as they were easy to kill. A single stomp was enough to kill a lone creature. But manaleeches were never alone.
As I retreated from the dragon corpse, more leeches streamed out from under it. Then a wet splatter sounded behind me, and I realized manaleeches were dropping out of the holes in the walls and ceiling.
I now understood what had killed the dragon. Manaleeches latched onto their victims and gorged on their mana. The more mana a leech absorbed, the more dangerous it was to remove it. Their bodies tended to explode on removal, with the explosions more powerful the longer they feasted. The creatures had probably latched onto the dragon when it slept, and when it woke up and tried to remove them, the ensuing explosions ended its life. This crystal variant also explained the presence of the weird mana-sucking crystals that grew everywhere.
I was in trouble. There was nowhere for me to run, and I couldn’t use magic. The crystals drained any mana I tried manifesting outside my body, and the manaleeches would drain any mana inside my
body if they latched on. It was the perfect trap for spellcasters.
The closest manaleech crawled toward my boot and I stomped hard on it, making it explode in a wet splutter. I drew back, but more leeches were converging on me from all sides. I stomped, kicked, and killed scores of them in seconds, but they just kept on coming. On a sudden inspiration, I let loose my boss aura at full force, but it had no effect on the mindless creatures.
Desperately digging through my inventory, I found a single Goblin BoomBoom grenade and tossed it at a group of leeches. The ensuing explosion killed several dozens of them, but the area was soon covered with more leeches.
Then I felt one land on my shoulder followed instantly by a sharp pain in my neck as the creature’s proboscis dug into my flesh.
Debuff: Manaleech Drain
-20 MP per minute. -10 max HP.
I ripped the thing off, ignoring the blood streaming down my neck, and hurled it away. It detonated in the air with a weak explosion.
The movement gave the other leeches the opening they needed to start climbing over me. I felt my panic rise and I started stomping my feet, ripping out those that found places to latch onto.
But it was hopeless. More manaleeches dropped on me, and I felt their sharp needles piercing my neck, crawling under my armor, and latching onto the flesh beneath.
Someone was shouting in my head, but I was in too much of a panic to hear them. I ripped out another leech and it exploded in my hand before I could throw it, the force tossing me onto my back. Directly into the living carpet of leeches.
They were everywhere. On my legs, torso, arms. I felt dozens of needles piercing my body. I continued thrashing, squishing some of the critters, and the ensuing explosions disoriented me further.
I finally heard the voice in my head, somehow piercing through the panic and pain. I’m covered in freaking leeches, I shouted back at him mentally, too afraid to open my mouth.
He was right. I forced myself to calm down despite the unbelievably claustrophobic and horrifying experience of being covered with crawling, slimy things that sucked out my mana.
Debuff: Manaleech Drain X 52
-1,040 MP per minute. -520 max HP.
I lay perfectly motionless, watching my mana bar drain as the leeches engorged. It looked like 52 was the maximum that could cover me at any given moment, so the ones attached acted like some sort of gory armor. It was another small benefit of being a goblin. There would have been much more surface area had I still been a human.
Vic was correct. The damage those creatures inflicted was trivial compared to my health total of over 2,700. My health bar hovered at around 70 percent, but that was mostly from the damage of the explosions I had caused in my panic. Now that I forced myself to relax, I realized I could withstand the pain. It was unpleasant but not agonizing. The pain resistance I’d gained by surviving torture served me well.
I got to my feet slowly, careful not to squash any of the manaleeches and accidentally set off a chain of explosions like the dragon probably did.
The manaleeches covering me pulsed like slimy hearts, and they swelled, becoming fat and round. Their moist bodies caused small rivulets of water to pour down around me.
It might not be immediately fatal, but it’s disgusting.
I shuddered at the disturbing mental image.
I need to get the hell out of here.
Sudden dizziness caught me as my mana hit bottom. The manaleeches remained on me, though their pulsing slowed as they were left with the trickle of mana my body regenerated.
“You’re right,” I said. I moved through the crawling floor toward the dead dragon. I bent down, reaching with a leech-covered hand toward the gold. Thankfully, my gloved fingers were free, and I was able to sweep hundreds of coins into my inventory. But I could tell there were more down there. Much more.
I couldn’t afford to go through the vigorous motions of using my spear to break through the rest of the crystal mound. One wrong move and I might share the fate of the dragon. It wasn’t lost on me that dying was one possible method of escape. I’d simply respawn at the valley’s cemetery. But being a tier 4 boss meant a much longer respawn time. I couldn’t afford to spend days, or maybe even weeks, floating around in the ether, waiting to return to NEO.
Trying to enlarge the hole.
The crystal proved too hard for me to break, and I was out of mana to bolster my muscles with.
If only I had something I could use to break through that stuff. I grimaced, trying my best to continue and ignore the uneasy feeling of having 50 leeches pulsating against my body.
I don’t know … I wish I had brought more Goblin BoomBooms with me; I’m pretty sure they could have broken through the crystals.
There was a long pause, then Vic gave me a very pointed mental look.
What?
But I wasn’t listening to him anymore. I nearly smacked my head at the obvious conclusion, stopping myself just in time so as not to damage the manaleech clinging to my forehead. Vic was right.
I stepped away from the opening and reached for a manaleech hanging from my side. I could tear it away, but it was dangerous. I might not be able to throw it before it exploded. But I had other ways of accomplishing that – now that I was no longer panicking. I was a Master-ranked mana wielder after all.
I took out one of the two bouldite void crystals, a level 100 one, and drained it. My mana bar jumped up a little before rapidly starting to shrink again. Before it could drain completely, I siphoned a tendril of mana and used it to cut off the flow of one of the manaleeches.
The creature fell into my hand like an overgrown booger grenade. I tossed it into the hole before it could wriggle free.
The ensuing explosion shattered parts of the crystal and sent some of the gold flying.
I fought down a grin.
A new mana leech was already pushing its way to the open spot on my body, but I barely felt the pinprick this time. I tossed out a few more leeches, and the mana-engorged slimes detonated with enough force to rip through the upper part of the crystal mound, cracking it open like a gold-filled egg.
I carefully got onto the pile and started pouring the gold directly into my inventory. There were also gems, jewelry, and other valuables, and I placed them all in my inventory as well. Thankfully, one of the features of the game made it so that gold coins didn’t count against an individual’s weight-carrying limit, so I could hold virtually any number of them. The other expensive items I found were lightweight enough not to bog me down.
Having cleared out the cavity below the corpse, the gold count in my inventory soared to over 150,000. There were just a few more items left; a weapon and two vials.
Crystal Dragon Claws
Description: Made from the mummified foreclaw of a crystal dragon, this weapon fits over the wielder’s hands and grants a claw attack. If the creature already has claws, they become diamond-hard and gain the weapon’s properties. The claws absorb a portion of the target’s life with every hit, gradually making the weapon stronger. The strength gained is permanent.
<
br /> Runecraft Viability: –
Type: Weapon (two hands)
Rank: Epic
Durability: n/a
Damage: 120-150 (ignore 200 points of armor)
Item Level: 0
Points drained to next level: 0/20
Percentage of damage absorbed: 10%
Vial of Crystalized Dragon Blood
Description: Crystal dragons are famed for their invulnerability to magic. This vial contains some of the mighty beast’s power, permanently increasing magic resistance to anyone who drinks it. Bonuses from multiple vials don’t stack.
Type: Potion
Rank: Epic
Durability: 5/5
Effect: User gains +10 magic resistance.
Base Price: 100,000
“Holy crap.”
It seemed like the dragon had dropped some loot after all. The claws were an incredible find. They didn’t seem all that powerful at first glance, but they were only level 0, and there was no upper limit to the amount of power they could gain, meaning they had the potential to reach incredible heights. For a moment, I was tempted to switch my staff for the claws, but I thought better of it. My strength was in my spellcasting ability, and I had a much more suitable candidate for them in mind.
The vials were especially rare, as items that permanently raised character stats were hard to find. And though they were considered Epic-ranked, my Barter skill was able to put a price tag on them. The two vials alone were worth more than the gold I’d found. That was an incredibly lucky find, especially since I wasn’t the one who killed the dragon.
As if summoned by my thoughts, a notification popped open.
Lucky Bastard skill level increased to 54.
Haven’t seen that one in a while, I said. Though I’m not feeling all that lucky being completely covered with mana-sucking pests.
Life Reset: Salvation (Life Reset - Neo Book 6) Page 25