“Whoa, now. You wanted to see it just as much as I did.”
Ryan was only half listening; his main focus was on the necromancer currently making his way through Ryan’s first floor. The necromancer was taking his time, leisurely strolling through. His dark laughter echoed off Ryan’s walls. Viktor was enjoying this.
“I didn’t know it would take so long.”
The fight had just finished, the water skeletal mage team claiming victory, when Ryan had noticed a figure covered in swirling darkness approaching the dungeon.
Viktor.
As the necromancer drew closer to his entrance, Ryan watched as a small army of undead woodland creatures began to surround Viktor. Had Ryan not been so scared of Viktor, he was sure he would have had a joke or two about the necromancer’s forces. Instead, he had done the first thing he could think of. He called Blake for help.
“We both know how this is going to end, dungeon,” Viktor’s voice taunted as the necromancer stepped into the boss room of his first floor.
Ryan had been creating walls of mana-enforced stone at the entrance to each room, to try and slow Viktor. It was supposed to take a Platinum-level mage to break those walls, but Viktor had been utilizing one of his trusty mana-infused bone lances to drill through each wall.
It didn’t make sense to Ryan. Why was the necromancer so strong? On top of summoning walls to slow the necromancer, Ryan dropped stalactite after stalactite on top of him. His efforts weren’t making a large impact, but he was really just trying to slow him down. Blake and his team had to be getting near.
“Yeah, with your death” Ryan whispered. Quite late on the comeback, but he knew the necromancer couldn’t hear him.
As Viktor drew ever closer, Ryan created a massive stone slab to seal the necromancer into Steve’s room, reinforcing the way out with dark mana. Constantly creating walls was draining more mana than Ryan could regain, but he had no choice.
“We’re almost here.” Blake’s voice pulled Ryan away from the necromancer, who was about halfway through the wall blocking the path down to the second floor.
Ryan was so glad his core room was no longer directly behind Steve’s room. Ascending to Silver had made his core safer. If only he had ascended to Gold by now, he could have had an entire new floor, and even more distance, away from this deranged necromancer.
“All right, take the shortcut and make your way to the room before Buttercup’s.” Ryan had a plan, but he needed Blake’s team to help him.
“I do hope you put up a little more resistance on your second floor, dungeon. Or have you simply given up?” Viktor let out a dark laugh, sending chills through Ryan’s core.
“Just you wait,” Ryan whispered, watching as Blake’s team entered the dungeon. They were definitely ready for a fight, and Jack had already assumed his wolfkin form. That was good.
“Blake,” Ryan said quickly. “Once you’ve all reached the room, I’m going to need you guys to buy me as much time as possible.”
“Buy you time?” Blake’s voice was filled with uncertainty, but Ryan didn’t have time to explain.
“Just… trust me. I have a plan. Buy me time, and when I tell you to, run into Buttercup’s room.”
Ryan watched as Viktor broke through the barrier and started floating casually down to the second floor. In retrospect, the fact that he had put his second floor’s entrance under the first room of his first floor was a blessing in disguise. It meant the necromancer had to make an even longer trek to get to him, and allowed Blake’s team to take the shortcut from the entrance of his dungeon to get ahead of Viktor.
If not for that, Blake’s team wouldn’t be able to get set up like Ryan was planning. Thankfully, the necromancer appeared to be taking his time to torment Ryan, and didn’t seem to notice Blake and his team’s presence. That was also good.
“All right, Ryan. But you owe me.”
“Yeah, yeah, as many cards as you want,” Ryan grumbled back.
“I knew it.” Jack’s voice broke the tension for a moment, and Ryan chuckled weakly, exhaustion from mana expenditure wearing on him.
As the group of adventurers rushed through his second floor, he closed each path behind them, reinforcing it with mana.
He was definitely nearing the end of his mana reserves, but he wanted Blake and his team to have as much time as they could to prepare. A few extra mana-enforced walls had to slow the necromancer down a little, right? Ryan was also hoping his efforts could tire the necromancer out, at least a little. After all, Ryan had spent an entire Silver One dungeon’s worth of mana on sealing the way.
He really hoped his plan worked. He didn’t want Blake’s team, or himself, to die.
“You’re just making me angry,” Viktor called as he smashed into another wall. “You’re not going to like me when I’m angry.”
The bone lance floating beside the necromancer grew, and the darkness around Viktor seemed to condense. Uh-oh.
“All right, Ryan, we’re here.”
The adventurers stood, panting, in the room before Buttercup’s, looking grim-faced towards the door that Viktor would eventually come through.
“Right, so, I’m going to slow him as much as possible.” Ryan did a quick check of his dungeon, making sure he could enact the next part of his plan.
“Why don’t you just send waves of mobs at him again?” Blake asked, and Ryan mentally shook his head.
“No good. He’s too strong, and my mobs just get destroyed too easily right now. What’s more, he can then use their bones against me.”
He did not need Viktor’s bone arsenal getting any larger. In fact, that was part of why he needed Blake and his team here: to help whittle away at Viktor’s defenses. The necromancer had to be less intimidating without his arsenal of bones, right?
“We need to beat him, Ryan,” Blake said. “He’s got an army destroying the town as we speak. I’m not sure how, but I’m certain if we beat him, the army will fall.” His voice was panicked, and irritated. Ryan could guess the young knight did not like being powerless. Neither did Ryan.
“Trust me, we will,” Ryan promised.
The dungeon shook, and Ryan noticed Viktor had transformed his bone lance into a massive bone hammer, which he used to break into the second floor. Uh-oh.
“So yeah,” Ryan said. “Hold him off. I’ll be back.”
With that, Ryan closed off his communication with Blake and his team and summoned his level and experience triangles. If he planned to beat Viktor, he needed something new, something powerful.
The most powerful thing he could think of was a Gold-level boss mob.
Chapter Seventy-Two
“Are you sure about this?”
Erin pulled herself off Ryan’s core, her eyes filled with fear. He could tell her emotions were in turmoil. Truth be told, he wasn’t certain of anything right now.
“It is dangerous to ascend when you’re so low on mana,” she wailed. “Normally you would wait until you were completely full of mana to try this.”
“This is our best chance of beating him. We don’t have the luxury of time, Rin.”
Just as he had before, Ryan pushed the two triangles together. The shapes flashed and combined, once again creating a six-sided star. The star began to spin, and the room was suddenly filled with crackling dark energy. The energy condensed around the swirling star, and Ryan stared into the darkness of the void.
Where before a single light had appeared in the darkness, this time, two spots of light appeared, and it almost seemed to Ryan like the void was staring back at him. A moment later, he felt his consciousness ripped into the void, and the world around him was consumed by darkness.
---- Blake---
“Ryan, are you there?” he yelled into the pendant, but the glow in the crystal was gone. For some reason, he could no longer contact the dungeon.
“So, Blake, what’s going on?” Jack asked. He stared at the door they had entered as the entire dungeon shook once more. The tremors had been gro
wing in frequency, and Blake knew Viktor was drawing nearer.
What if he had led them all to their deaths?
He shook his head, fighting that feeling, and tried his best to steady his nerves.
“We’re going to work with the dungeon to bring Viktor down.”
“So, so many questions about you and the dungeon’s relationship,” Jack began, but Karan raised her hand.
“Just how strong is Viktor?” she asked. Her eyes were shifting across each member, and Blake knew she was worried.
“According to Marcus, Viktor is a Gold One necromancer,” Blake said. “But Marcus mentioned Viktor is much stronger than a Gold One should be. Perhaps even Platinum level.”
Karan’s sharp inhale was easily heard.
“We’re doomed,” she whispered, and her eyes filled with tears. “Once again, my party is going to fall.”
Their cleric, who had always been the stable one, who had always supported them, dropped to her knees.
“Snap out of it, Karan.” Jack lifted her up. His wolf-like face had a strange, tender expression on it as he stared into her eyes. “We aren’t going to fall to some guy that has a hard-on for bones.” He offered her a toothy grin and winked. “Besides, I’m not about to die before I get a first kiss.”
Karan wiped away her tears as she smiled back at Jack. “You’re going to have to live for quite a while, then.”
“So, what’s the game plan, Blake?” Matt had his bow drawn and was glancing between Blake and the door. They could tell Viktor was near.
“Ryan has a plan,” Blake said. “We just need to keep Viktor occupied until Ryan tells us to head into Buttercup’s room.”
It really wasn’t much of a plan, but it was all Blake had to go off. He pulled at his mana, enshrouding his sword and shield with ethereal mana. Using both affinities at the same time doubled the cost of his skills but amplified the strength of the abilities even more.
“Right,” Jack said. “Keep the scary necromancer that nearly killed you occupied so that the magical dungeon, which has also nearly killed us, can help us defeat him.”
Jack had drawn all of his daggers and had them floating behind him in an arc. He called it a blade fan, and Blake knew he could easily sling those daggers at foes and then retrieve them magically with his wind mana.
“Seems like one of our simpler plans,” Blake said. He offered the thief a smile as Karan placed divine protection on the group and began making her way to Buttercup’s door. Being the healer, she needed to stay as far away from danger as possible.
“Cynder is excited to get new bones,” Emily called out, taking her place next to Karan. Her form glowed red, and Cynder began to glow red as well, while the dragon let out a happy chirp. At Silver One, Emily had enough mana to constantly enhance Cynder, making the dragon faster and stronger, on top of increasing the power of the baby dragon’s flame attack.
“Right, guess I’ll just provide cover fire,” Matt muttered.
He walked to one of the corners of the room and nocked an arrow. Blake knew the archer hated not having any special skills to show off, especially since his ice storm nearly drained him of all his mana. That was not an attack to use at the opening of a fight.
“All right. I’ll make sure he doesn’t get past my shield.” Blake steadied himself, shield raised as he stared at the door. Cracks were starting to appear, and dark tendrils were seeping into the room.
Viktor had arrived.
---- Ryan ----
“Ryan!”
A voice cried out his name, but it was muffled by darkness.
“Ryan!”
The voice came again, but it was quieter this time.
Who is Ryan?
His consciousness floated along in darkness, countless images passing him by. The colors, the visions – everything he saw moved so quickly it simply faded to black.
“Ryan.” The cry came again, fainter this time. He wasn’t even sure he heard it. Perhaps it was simply a figment of his imagination. He turned his attention back to the two golden lights, the only source of hope in the dark void. The ‘eyes’ stared into him.
“You’re an odd one, dungeon.” A gravelly voice echoed out from the ‘eyes’, and a skull, ever changing in shape, slowly began to appear. “Why do you seek more power?”
Why did he seek more power? What was he doing?
“Ryan.” There was that voice again.
It tickled at his memory, and slowly, the darkness in his mind lifted. He had something to do. He had to… he had something to protect. An image filled his mind: a small female figure with magnificent feathered wings.
Erin.
“I need power to protect the one I love.” His voice sounded strange in the void, and for a moment, there was silence.
Then the skull before him seemed to smile, and a dark laughter echoed around him.
“Never would I have thought a darkness dungeon could understand love.” The skull looked down at Ryan, and the light in its eyes seemed to burn with even more brilliance. “You have amused the God of Death this time. I shall allow you to ascend to Gold.”
Ryan felt the grip on his consciousness slipping as the darkness began to release its hold on him.
“Know that I will expect more from you when you decide you are ready to ascend to Platinum. That Goddess is not the only one with plans for you.”
With those parting words, the darkness freed him, and Ryan was suddenly back in his core. Power flooded his very being, even as he tried to make sense of what had just occurred.
“Ryan.” Erin gazed into his core, her eyes filled with tears.
“I’m here,” he whispered back.
He summoned his level triangle, confirming he had reached Gold Seven, and he grinned at his mob points. Ryan now had 1200 mob points.
“I thought I lost you.” The fairy broke down in tears as she hugged his core.
“I’ll never leave you.” Ryan wanted to say more, but he couldn’t stay in that moment. A quick check showed Blake and his team had begun their fight with Viktor, and he didn’t have time to waste.
Viktor launched another attack on Blake. So far, Blake’s ethereal shield had been able to block the attacks, but every strike of the bone lance drained more of his mana.
“You are a resilient one, aren’t you?” Viktor cackled.
“You’re one to talk.” Blake gritted his teeth, pushing back against the spinning lance. As he did, Jack darted past the necromancer, his knives launching themselves at Viktor’s shrouded form. Blades met bone, and the necromancer once again blocked every attack. Three glowing blue arrows flew over Blake’s shoulder, smashing against even more bones.
So far, they hadn’t managed to land a single blow on the necromancer, but slowly, the number of floating bones he had at his disposal were decreasing.
“Now!” Blake called out, and Cynder let another wave of fire blast down onto the necromancer, coating his entire form in brilliant flames as Blake and Jack leapt away from him. Bones turned to ash in the heat of those flames, and even more of Viktor’s bone armor faded away.
“Ye—“ Blake’s cheer was cut short as a bone spike shot from the flames, catching him by surprise and piercing his side.
Even though Karan’s divine protection healed the wound, it was more wasted mana, and reminded Blake that Viktor was not someone they could let their guard down around.
“I grow tired of this,” Viktor said.
Dark tendrils erupted from the flames, extinguishing them. Cynder cried out in alarm and the baby dragon darted away, just in time to avoid a spear of darkness. The gloom around Viktor sank back into his body, and the shroud solidified around him, revealing his true form to Blake and his team.
Blake had seen a glimpse of the necromancer’s body once before, and the sight had revulsed him. Now, as he got a good look at the necromancer’s entire form, it scared him to his core. Viktor’s body was a mismatch of rotting body parts, all connected with twining bits of dark mana. Some of the body
parts didn’t even have flesh on them anymore and appeared just like Blake’s hand. The only part of the necromancer not in a state of decay was his head, and Blake was certain that was the vital part they needed to target.
“Go for his head,” Blake cried out, trying to shake the paralyzing fear that washed over him. He wasn’t sure if that was the result of an ability, or just his own panic. Even as he spoke, dark mana created a set of black armor around the necromancer, protecting both body and head.
“Allow me to finish this quickly,” he said from behind the helmet of darkness, as his form drew closer to the ground.
The moment his feet touched stone, tentacles of darkness shot out around him, each one clutching the last of his bone fragments.
“Watch out!” Blake warned.
He poured his mana into his skills, summoning a massive, ten-foot ethereal shield. The bone spikes launched towards all the members of Blake’s team, and while his barrier blocked most of them, Jack and Matt, who hadn’t managed to get behind Blake in time, were cut dozens of times by the bones.
The shards were expelled from their bodies by the golden light of divine protection as it started to heal their countless wounds, but Blake knew that amount of healing had cost Karan a lot of mana. The cleric wouldn’t be able to keep it up much longer.
“Everyone, move closer to Buttercup’s door,” Blake ordered, backing away as he pumped more mana into his shield.
Jack and Matt scrambled behind him. They had gone in an instant from being on the attack to barely being able to defend themselves.
“Matt, how much mana do you have?” Blake whispered through gritted teeth as his already depleted mana pool emptied even further.
“Enough,” the marksman whispered, and he pulled all the arrows from his quiver.
A second later, his bow was raised, and in a swift moment, he let fly all the arrows.
“Ice storm!” he shouted.
Thousands of tiny shards rained down upon Viktor’s form, cutting into his dark armor, finally piercing his skin. The necromancer let out a slight cry of surprise, and a grunt of pain.
Bone Dungeon (Elemental Dungeon #1) - A Dungeon Core LitRPG Page 34