by Phoenix Grey
Choosing which skill to level up was a bit more difficult since his One-Handed Weapons skill and his Two-Handed Weapons skill still had a ways to go before the next level. Remembering the increase in damage from leveling his One-Handed Weapons skill to 5, Azure wondered if he'd get the same perk from leveling his Two-Handed Weapons skill to the same level. That would add +2.4 max damage to his halberd. For curiosity's sake, and because he'd most likely be using the halberd for the remainder of this dungeon, Azure decided to go with leveling up his Two-Handed Weapons skill.
Congratulations! The skill: Two-Handed Weapons has reached Level 2. This skill enables you to use all manner of two-handed weapons to defeat enemies. Increasing your Strength will make them easier to wield. One-Handed Weapons now do 20% more damage.
Sweet! It was just as he had suspected. The more damage he could do, the better.
"I think that's enough for one day." Lonnell stepped forward to hand him a healing potion.
"Have you recovered, brother?" Uden asked in concern.
He nodded. “The sickness has passed.”
"We haven't made much progress," Azure noted before drinking the potion.
"Better to be safe than sorry. And better to not waste stamina potions when we might need them later." Lonnell extracted another vial from his Bag of Holding and handed it to Uden.
"I'm not sure it's so safe to drag this out." The half-imp turned his gaze to the unexplored depths of the cave as if he expected something to creep out of the darkness. "Yes, if we rest we'll recover stamina naturally, but if we continue to lose sleep, we may become infected with insanity."
“Insanity?” Azure asked, instantly thinking of Call of Cthulu.
"Yeah. I'm honestly surprised you didn't get it after the demon scratched you and you didn't sleep for several days. Insanity typically kicks in after three days of not sleeping. It leads to hallucinations that often cause you to attack your own comrades. It's one of the most dangerous things that can happen in a party."
Azure thought back to when he had wandered through the woods aimlessly after escaping from The Dark One. Every time he had closed his eyes, he had seen the demon's face, and the fear of it had roused him back awake. Sheer exhaustion was the only thing that had afforded him an hour of sleep here and there, but it definitely wasn't restful. Five nights he had spent tossing and turning. According to Uden, that would have been enough to cause insanity.
"Maybe I'm immune." Azure shrugged.
The half-imp gave him a sarcastic side-eye. “No one is immune.”
"Well, I didn't get it." He huffed.
"Maybe you got enough sleep to avoid it," Lonnell suggested. "Insanity is a strange thing, and people are more prone to get it in certain situations. As odd as it sounds, being in a party increases your chances of getting it."
"And this is also the perfect environment for such an illness," Uden pointed out. "A perfect environment for many of the ailments. I think we should press on." He kicked at a rock.
"We are only two floors in. There could be eight more to go. We only have eight stamina potions left," Lonnell argued. "Out of all of us, you are the most at risk of running out of stamina."
"Then give me a stamina potion and let's move on. I want to get out of this bloody dungeon as quickly as possible. You guys are probably both good for one more encounter. We can't keep stopping at every floor to sleep. If we continue this pattern and there are ten floors, both of us will definitely end up with insanity and will probably kill each other. Do you really want that?"
"I think he's right," Azure chimed in. "Besides, if we keep backtracking to rest, we're just going to deplete our supplies that much faster. It's better to take the chance of moving forward."
"Fine," Lonnell relented with a sigh. "I don't like this, though." He dug into his Bag of Holding for a stamina potion and handed it to Uden who promptly uncorked it and downed the contents.
"Now, let's loot these things and get out of here before those large bats respawn." The half-imp returned the empty vial to his brother and then knelt to lift the head of one of the dead bats. He wedged his blade into its mouth and began cutting out one of its fangs. It seemed like a laborious task.
"Are we taking the wings, too?" Azure asked as he walked over to one of the large bats that he had slain.
"Pick and choose what you want to take. Some of us have limited inventory space." Uden glanced at Lonnell's Bag of Holding.
The elder brother seemed to be slower to want to dissect the creatures for their parts. “You have five minutes to loot before we need to move on. We've already wasted too much time here.” His tone was stern.
Prying the large bat's tooth from its mouth proved to be challenging. The root was well-seated. Azure could only assume that the fang would be more valuable than the wings, though it seemed that he could have collected much more of them in the same amount of time. It took him a bit over five minutes to extract the tooth, and once he did, it was a bloody mess. He made a face as he stuck it in his bag, thinking about how he'd probably have to wash it later. What was worse was the smell, like an old dog's mouth with rotting gums. Azure certainly hoped it would be worth the effort.
You have received the following item:
Large Bat Fang
Quantity: 1/1
Item Class: Common
Quality: Average
Weight: 0 kg
Uses: Weapon Forging, Jewelry Crafting
Checking out the uses for the large bat fang, it definitely seemed more valuable than the wings had been.
Finally, the three adventurers pressed on. It seemed like they had walked a good hundred yards before coming upon another set of stairs.
"Thank the Gods," Lonnell said with relief.
"It seems that there's only one set of foes per level," Azure pointed out.
"That could always change," Uden told him. "I've heard of dungeons of super strong bosses spanning for miles and having an almost endless supply of monsters."
"Those are probably just stories," Lonnell said, making it sound like the tales of children.
"There's truth in most stories," the half-imp mused.
"You're obviously not very well read." Azure snorted then immediately wondered if he was being ignorant. Without encountering a sizable library, there was no way for him to tell if the books contained within The Realm were mostly fact or fiction. Hell, he wasn't even sure which side the scale fell on in his own world"a world that was seeming more like fiction with each passing day. Whether this was a game or not, it was his reality now. He had accepted that much as the truth.
As they descended the stairs, Azure noticed that they gradually became weathered the further down they went. The stone was cracked and crumbling in some places. One misplaced step and he nearly fell, though luckily he was able to regain his footing before his ass met the ground.
"Careful," Lonnell warned. Completely unnecessary, as the error had already been made. Azure had known to be careful when he was walking down the stairs. That hadn't stopped him from stepping on a weak spot.
At the bottom of the stairs, the cave opened into a large circular chamber. It was a gigantic space, and oddly well lit with torches adorning the walls every five feet. The ceiling must be a good fifty feet tall, with sandy-colored stalactites hanging from it. Water dripped softly from their tips, making the floor moist and slick. The walls appeared to be made of the same weathered stone bricks that comprised the stairs. Some were missing in spots, making it seem as if the walls could cave in at any moment. A few large stalagmites dotted the outer ring of the room, but the inner portion of it was bare aside from a giant egg-looking stone. It seemed strategically placed, perfectly set in the center of the floor, signifying some importance that Azure wasn't catching onto.
You have been infected with sickness. You will now move 5% slower and will lose one health point per second for the next 10 seconds.
Azure exhaled in annoyance. “Are you kidding me right now?” Almost the second the words left his
mouth, nausea hit him.
"Shut the fuck up and get back up the stairs." Uden threw his arm out, practically pushing Azure back towards the stairs.
Lonnell was staring wide-eyed at the egg, a mix of shock and panic on his face. “Seriously?”
"Go, go, go, go!" Uden urged them on as the egg made a strange noise, like that of a humpback whale followed by a rattling purr, and began to move.
Seeing Uden literally running for the stairs told Azure just how afraid of the creature he should be. Quickly Analyzing it, he saw why. It showed up as orange. Now that they were all the same level, Azure knew it Analyzed as a hard kill for his companions as well. Even with the three of them together, this would likely not be a creature that would be easy to defeat, especially given its scale.
At a distance, Azure could tell that it was about twenty feet tall in its egg form. Glancing back, the last thing he saw before he made it up the stairs to the point that he couldn't see it anymore was it...unfolding, for lack of a better word. Its skin looked hard and armored like that of an armadillo, but it shared the gray and brown patterning of a snake. To be honest, Azure wasn't sure what he had just seen. The egg seemed to open up, and there was only darkness inside.
"What is that?" he asked, following Uden who was taking the stairs two at a time. Sediment flew back as their shoes tore up the dilapidated staircase. Due to his sickness, Azure was at the rear, which made running feel like a desperate act.
"It's a dawnflayer. Now keep running," Uden responded.
"A what?"
"Don't worry about it, just run."
Once they were about halfway up the staircase, Lonnell began to slow. “I don't think it saw us.”
Uden stopped finally, hunching over a few steps above them to catch his breath. He took in air in gulps, pausing to listen between them. There was thankfully no sign of further movement at the bottom of the stairs.
Azure refused to tear his eyes away from the steps below as he slowly ascended them until he was on the same level with Lonnell. Bile raced up his throat from a mixture of his sickness and exertion, and he had to steady himself against the wall as he retched and emptied his stomach acid onto it.
The half-imp let out a long sigh and straightened himself. “I think we're safe for now.”
"I certainly hope so. Running for your life while sick is miserable." Azure rested his head against the wall, trying to get the room to stop spinning. A few seconds later, the sickness passed, leaving him feeling fine again.
"We're going to have to plan this attack strategically." Lonnell rubbed his chin, obviously already working on a plan inside of his head.
"What are we up against, exactly?" Azure raised an eyebrow.
"It's a dawnflayer," Uden said again. "Basically an unholy mix between a dragon and a bat. They have almost impenetrable defenses and can inflict deafness with one good screech, making it difficult to coordinate attacks," he explained.
"So how do we kill it?" Azure asked the obvious question.
"Most of their bodies are covered in a protective skin so thick that it's impregnable by arrows and blades. Only their stomachs and eyes are vulnerable to attack."
"That sounds easy enough. So I snipe it in the eye from a distance, and we're done with it." He shrugged as if it were no big deal.
"Did you even get a look at its face?"
Azure shook his head.
"Their eyes are set back in their heads, so tiny that you almost can't see them. The way they're sunk in provides a type of protective shield with the skin around them. Even the slightest movement of their head would be able to deflect an arrow. To easily shoot one in the eye, you would have to be an expert marksman.
"Like bats, they mostly use echolocation. Once we rouse it, it will screech loudly and often. Without charms to protect us, we will all succumb to deafness. There is no way to avoid it."
"Then we go for the stomach..." Azure said hesitantly, knowing that the half-imp would have a counter for that as well.
He crossed his arms over his chest. “As I mentioned before, most of the skin is an armor. Their heads are oversized and hang low, guarding against what would otherwise be an easy shot. They also have massive wings that they use as shields. Pretty much the only way to get a good shot is at point blank range, and that puts you right in line with their massive jaws.
"Being in range of their breath will immediately cause sickness, further weakening you and making it harder to focus. They kill in two ways, with their teeth and by crushing victims with their massive claws. Thankfully, they can't fly far, but they will make the distance to put you under them. And if it lands on you, you are dead."
"Can you make this sound anymore bleak?" Azure gave him a sarcastic look. "Give me the silver lining." He gestured.
Lonnell inhaled deeply. “Unfortunately, there isn't one.”
"But it is still possible to kill it from afar. I would just need the right angle." Azure began working up his own plan.
"It's unlikely that you'll be able to kill it with your bow, considering the level difference," Uden told him.
"But my arrows are imbued and do +4 damage against dark magic. That has to count for something." Azure glanced between the brothers.
The half-imp nodded slowly. “Yes. It will help. But you have to get the shot in, first. The way their eyes are set, you'd have to shoot at the perfect angle to penetrate all the way to the brain. I'm not sure if the bonus would be enough to do the trick.
"And honestly, even if the creature does move in just the right way for you to go for a body shot, the odds of hitting a vital organ are few and far between. I hate to put so much pressure on you, but your sword will be the best weapon we have against the beast. My small blades might be able to slit open its stomach if I'm lucky, but they're not long enough to hit a vital organ like a lung or the heart. For this battle, my role is best as a distraction while you go in for the kill."
Azure was both honored and mortified that the half-imp was willing to hand off this important task to him. While he had been longing to feel like a hero, the weight of this responsibility was crushing.
"My staff won't be much use against it either," Lonnell said with a frown. "I think my brother has the right idea. He can distract from one side with his throwing knives while I attack with the bow and arrow. Hopefully, we can keep the dawnflayer occupied while you make the close-range attack."
"I think you guys are missing a big advantage that we have." Azure gazed back down the stairs.
"And what would that be?" Uden hummed.
"The stairwell is narrow. If we lure it here, it won't be able to come inside. It would just snap at us from the outside. We could shoot at it with the bow until we hit it in the eyes, then lunge in to make the kill when it's blind. Easy peasy."
The half-imp chuckled and shook his head. “There is still much you don't understand.”
"Dungeons have certain rules," Lonnell began to explain. "Most creatures cannot move from floor to floor. We headed for the stairs to escape, not just because it was the obvious choice, but because the dawnflayer can't come up here. Its range of attack is to the bottom of the stairwell. Similarly, we cannot attack beyond the stairwell if we are standing on it, meaning that the monster is protected from unfair attacks as well."
"In many dungeons," Uden continued, "once you reach the next floor, the way back will close, trapping you in with the monster. We were actually very lucky that didn't happen." There was clear relief in his voice.
Azure was still a little confused. “If the dawnflayer can't come up here, then why did we run so far to get away from it?” A Flock of Seagulls song played in his head for half a second.
"Because we don't want it waiting at the bottom of the stairs for us when we go back down, and because it also still holds an advantage. While it can't physically pass the barrier between floors, its screeches and putrid breath would still affect us.
"It's bad enough that it began to stir. It knows we are near. It will be alert now." Uden
lowered himself so that he was sitting on the stairs.
Azure tried to think of some other advantage to having the dawnflayer follow them to the edge of the stairs, but he came up empty-handed. The plan that Lonnell had laid out seemed the best. There would be no easy way to finish this.
"Now I think we should rest," Lonnell announced. "Facing the dawnflayer tomorrow will take everything we have. We need to approach the battle clearheaded and focused if we hope to succeed."
"It's hard to be clearheaded and focused when you're sleep-deprived," Uden commented beneath his breath but then relented. "Yes, it is best if we rest tonight. I don't believe we have much farther to go. In most circumstances, a dawnflayer would be considered a mini-boss. And the mini-boss almost always comes right before the main boss. We are very near to the demon now. I can feel it." He gazed down the stairs, looking distant.
Azure hesitated. “You can...feel it?”
"Yes." The half-imp dropped his head.
Lonnell walked over to where Azure was standing, keeping his voice low. “In many ways, they are made up of the same kind of dark energy. I'm not surprised he can feel it nearby.”
"If Uden is made up of dark energy, then how can he use light magic? Don't the two contradict?"
"He can use light magic because of his human half, and because his heart is good. If he were evil, he would not be capable of wielding light magic."
"You guys know I'm right here, right? I can hear you." Uden raised an eyebrow at them.
Lonnell chuckled. “Sorry, brother.”
“Oh, don't be so sensitive,” Azure teased him.
"If you think I'm grumpy now, you should see me tomorrow after another night of no sleep." The half-imp closed his eyes and rested his head against the cold stone wall.
"Well, we should eat before we sleep." Lonnell rummaged through his Bag of Holding for enough dried meat to feed the three of them.
"I'm too tired to eat," Uden groaned.
"I've never known you to be so whiny." Azure smirked, taking a strip of meat from Lonnell.