by Dakota Krout
“That was an odd encounter.” Bard released a huge breath, relaxing as the strange man vanished from the temple. “Joe, while we’re here, why don’ ya scan this buildin’?”
“Oh!” Joe’s eyes lit up, and he pulled out a copy of Architect's Fury. Just before he could use it, a huge red light washed over him. He looked at the message that had appeared, the only time that he had ever seen a message where the text was colored red, and put the ritual away as quickly as he could.
If you use that here, your reputation with all deities not associated with your own will decrease by 5000.
“Whoa.” Poppy clapped a hand on Joe’s shoulder. “We could all see that. Scary. Not great to have a few hundred gods ready to light you up, huh? Straight to ‘Loathed’. Yikes. Good call not using that thing.”
“Look at you!” The voice that called out made Joe’s ears perk up and set a fire inside of his heart. Sam continued speaking, “You’re like a bad penny, always showing up when I want you gone!”
“Oh, great, the musketeer is back,” Joe scathingly retorted. “Didn’t you learn your lesson last time?”
“Oh, I sure did learn my lesson.” Sam replied coldly, inspecting a rapier that had suddenly appeared in his hands. “Don’t trust someone not to attack you when you are at your weakest and have spent everything you have on just keeping your team alive. Also, expect that they will rob you at the first opportunity just to take what little you could scavenge from a miserable outing.”
“You were the one that broke their word.” Joe’s voice was cold and quiet, no matter how much he wanted to shout.
“A promise given under threat of my friend being murdered was no promise at all. It took all of an hour for me to get that title removed.” Sam hissed at Joe. “You got shipped to and from the dungeon, while we fought for our right to be there! We created a unique situation to tackle the dungeon instead of just acting like all of this is a game! That was our prize, and you stole it out from under us!”
The Hallowed Land calls for Champions! Would you like your party to be teleported? Yes / No.
“Yes.” Both Joe and Sam said at the same time, glaring at each other until they were whisked away. Joe blinked rapidly to clear the spots from his eyes, then looked around at his surroundings. He and his party were seated on couches, and for a moment, Joe thought they were in a respawn room. Then torches began to light themselves, starting close to them and rushing into the distance.
Welcome to the Event Dungeon: Hallowed Lands. This dungeon is filled with artifacts that will be of use to anyone with a class relating to the divine. The only exit is death. Though no experience will be lost, this dungeon will be closed to current participants until its reopening in one year. All experience and skill gains will be calculated upon leaving the dungeon. You are only allowed to tackle this area with what you have now. Monster Level will increase by one every hour, on the hour. Better start praying!
Chapter Thirty-One
Poppy was the first to point out the obvious. “We need to start moving! Even if everything in here starts at level one, we’ll only have half a day before they start catching up to us in levels. Somehow, I doubt anything worth keeping will only be guarded by something at level one, so that means we need to move even faster!”
Please name your party.
“What?” Joe stated without thinking.
There are 27 parties attempting to use party name ‘What’. Please choose a new name.
“Extra-friendly wholesome clerics of happy happy joy joy.” Joe sing-sang firmly.
Gatherer Ladder ranking for Party Extra-friendly: 40/40.
Hunter Ladder ranking for Party Extra-friendly: 40/40.
“That’s not what I said!”
Every five hours, all parties under the top ten in the hunter rankings will be forced to fight one other party. Gain hunter rankings by destroying monsters or members of other parties! If you defeat a party, you may take any one item they gained while in the Hallowed Land! Use the gatherer ranking to choose parties that have found good items!
“They’re giving incentives for fighting each other?” Alexis shook her head. “That’s… um… that’s really not cool.”
“Alexis! I missed you!” Bard swept her up in a huge hug and twirled the beet-red-faced woman around.
“Bard!” Alexis pouted at him as she looked at the others frantically, “We need to move!”
“I don't care! The curse is gone!” Bard squeezed her, still holding her in the air. Alexis gave up and just seemed to be trying to enjoy the affection.
“Alright, lovebirds.” Jaxon poked Bard three times, then pulled his needles out of the areas he had struck a moment later. “There you go! That should be enough to slow your blood flow! Good for reducing bleed damage, and keeping your mind in the moment.”
“Jaxon, ah think ah might kill ya.” Bard growled, slipping back into his accent now that his elation was dissipating. The group seemed to relax as they got into formation, which was odd for a dangerous location such as this. Perhaps it was the difference in feel between them, the compatibility that seemed to be back in place. They chose one of the six paths and started walking.
The relaxation didn't last long. Before they had gone thirty feet into the tunnel, they heard flapping wings. Oddly round balls with wings swooped at them, and the group was forced to dodge by diving out of the way. Jaxon ended up driving his fist into one, and screamed as his hand started to smoke. “They’re flying slimes!”
Joe decided to take out the group of creatures all at once, “Acid Spray!”
Damage dealt: 0. Angelic Slimes are immune to acid damage!
“Oh, that’s really bad.” Joe swatted one onto the ground with his staff as it zipped at him, and the round slime splattered into a puddle before quickly reforming. Joe’s staff sizzled where it had touched the slime, and he noticed the durability drop. “And now I have no abilities that can damage these things. Guess I’m going full support!”
“My axes are doing nothing!” Bard complained loudly, his point proven by slicing an Angelic Slime in half, only for it to reform as soon as his axe was out.
“Slimes are resistant to physical damage unless there is a core for you to target!” Poppy informed them while he punched a hole through a flying creature with his rapier. That seemed to be effective, and he quickly told them why. “Using skills that require mana make your weapons hurt them!”
Jaxon let a dozen silver needles fly, and the slimes that were struck were yanked to the ground as if ten-pound weights had been dropped on them. “Joe! Shock them!”
Joe jumped toward the fallen slimes, “Dark Lightning Strike!”
*Crack*!
Lightning struck him, washing over his shell and dissipating into the slimes on the ground. A shadowy copy of himself appeared, stared at him for a moment, then vanished. Joe swallowed deeply as he made a realization. Had his passive retaliation almost hit him? It seemed like it! The dark lightning dealt forty-five damage to the pinned slimes, which finished them off when the damage was combined with the needles. However, more were coming and Joe didn't know what he could do to help; Dark Lightning Strike had a six-minute cooldown.
Then he remembered what Poppy had said, that they were resistant to physical damage unless there was a core to aim for! He targeted the first one and barked, “Corify!”
The slime sank a few feet as a portion of its innards were pulled into a cube. Joe slapped the slime with his staff and the forming core was torn out of the creature, killing it instantly and making the synthetic core solidify fully. Joe pumped his fist in the air and tried again. This time no core formed, and Joe had to face the fact that at Novice six… there was a good chance that the skill was going to work very infrequently. Still, it gave them options.
Joe moved back in the formation, focusing on healing his team when needed. Over the next hour, they plowed through an unceasing trickle of slimes. The tunnel looped and twisted, but there was never a time where an offshoot or branch appea
red. Finally, they found the end of the tunnel and a floating conglomeration of slimes. Joe used Intrusive Scan, only getting to see the creature’s name before it started launching magical attacks at them.
Laura, the Angelic Slime Hive Queen.
“Boss monster!” Joe called as the others retaliated or dodged acidic icicles. There were a few grunts of acknowledgement, but no more words were spoken. The battle was very straightforward: don't let the slime engulf you, dodge the attacks, hit back with the most powerful attacks you can.
“Dehydration powder! Don’t breathe this in!” Alexis called as she whipped a canister at the slime. It entered the body, then the powerful corrosive effect of the slime came into play and destroyed the canister, releasing a burst of pressurized powder. The powder foamed, absorbing liquid from all angles before it became too heavy and fell out of the floating slime.
The next few attacks hit semi-solid surfaces, and a huge amount of damage was dealt to the queen. It roiled and condensed; dropping portions that were badly dehydrated onto the ground. It was still over six feet in diameter, but progress was being made! It flew into the air, paused, then zipped toward the ground. When it hit, it turned into a giant puddle that washed over their feet before sucking back into a giant ball. This inflicted acid damage on all of them, and pulled the lighter members to the ground.
A dark mirror of Joe slapped the hive, and Bard used the distraction to bellow a chant, then dove at the creature as it reformed. His axes were glowing, and he managed to split a large chunk off of the main body. The chunk seemed to have no will, and splashed against the ground like regular water; deforming completely. The queen seemed upset by this, and retaliated by engulfing Bard entirely. In no time at all, the group could see him start to dissolve along with his equipment.
Joe targeted the queen in a panic, “Corify!”
Failure. The team started attacking with all their might, but they could see the area around Bard filling with blood. Five seconds passed, and Joe tried again. “Corify!”
This time, there was a clear disturbance. Joe targeted the center of the movement, then used everything he had to jump at that spot. He dove into the queen, emerging on the other side with a large cube in his hands; which he swiftly stored in his codpiece. The slime queen stopped flying and splashed onto the ground like a water balloon. Even so, Bard didn't move.
“Mend! Lay on Hands!” Joe saw Bard’s skin reforming where the Mend had landed, so he knew that at the minimum, the man was still alive. It took some coaxing and plenty of healing, but Bard was soon back on his feet. After he could stand again, the group searched the room and found several items that they couldn’t identify. Almost all of them seemed to be accessories of some kind: rings, necklaces, bracelets, and bangles. There was sure to be a use for them, but right now… they had no idea what that could be.
Zone cleared! For party ‘Extra-friendly’, current Hunter ladder ranking: 12/38. Gatherer ladder ranking: 8/38. Time elapsed: 1:38:56. Returning to safe zone in three… two…
In a moment, the team was back on the couch in the starting area. The lights on the path that they had finished started winking out, leaving the hall in murky darkness. Joe nodded excitedly as the group got off the couch and started down another hall. Over the next two and a half hours, they cleared another path. This one had many small rooms that branched off the tunnel, which held either treasure or monsters. These monsters were mainly sanctified skeletons, which sent Jaxon into fits of joy. The final boss barely required any help from the other team members to fall, but Jaxon did claim most of the loot.
As the loot was holy bones, the team didn't fight against him very hard. They were back on the couch, and only had a short while before they would find out if they would be forced to fight another group. At the end of the tunnel, their group managed to take number ten on the hunter list, but stayed at number eight on the gatherer list. While they recuperated, their hunter rank dropped to eleven. They rushed down the third hall and started crushing small pixies that zapped them with holy light and lightning.
The group didn't bother to collect any remains, focusing entirely on destroying monsters as fast as possible. Their rank went back to ten, then down to eleven, over and over again. As the final seconds ticked away, they held onto position number ten.
Hunter / Gatherer results at the end of five hours: 10/34, 15/34. Keep working hard to stay ahead! All groups below position ten on the hunter ladder will now be forced to battle another group!
“Take a breather!” Joe gave a very welcome order. Thanks to stamina and mana regen, they were able to keep going. Still, Joe could see that small debuffs were starting to appear due to the strain and required endurance. They could easily be cleared with a long break or nap, but until then they were slowly decreasing the very regeneration that was keeping them going. “We need to start collecting stuff again, or this will turn into a giant waste.”
Their pace slowed, and the group felt much better after a short while, thanks to Joe’s Neutrality Aura. About twenty minutes later, a new message appeared that made their hearts sink.
Battles concluded! Current Hunter / Gatherer rank for party ‘Extra-friendly’: 23/23, 22/23.
Jaxon succinctly summed up everyone’s thoughts. “Well that plan backfired.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
There was nothing to do but keep fighting. Eventually, the group got to the boss of the area, or where the boss should have been. The room was covered in battle scars, and clearly a serious battle had taken place. However, it seemed that the group must have died right as they finished off the boss, as it was an empty room with a non-looted treasure at the other end. Joe looked at the item with excitement: it was a book! Not only that, the cover was a deep, burnished gold.
Joe had found what he was looking for! Cautiously moving through the room, they watched for traps or sudden boss encounters. But there was nothing.
Zone cleared! For party ‘Extra-friendly’, current Hunter ladder ranking: 23/23. Gatherer ladder ranking: 22/23. Time elapsed: 5:38:56. Returning to safe zone in three… two…
Joe darted forward and grabbed the golden book, which felt warm to the touch. A moment later, they appeared in the safe area. He held up the book and shouted, “Yes! We got it!”
He opened the cover to read the title, and a strange note caught his eye.
Thanks for clearly stating your goal when you fought that priest. Gave me a clear target that you wouldn’t expect. -Sam
Joe blinked, then realized that he was on the ground with Alexis waving something under his nose. “Wake up! We’ve lost almost two hours to whatever knocked us out! Joe! Get up!”
As soon as he was awake, his Aura of Neutrality kicked on and it became far easier to awaken the others. Joe wasn't sure how his aura had been turned off, but once it was on, the ‘unconscious’ debuff started flashing and draining away from his team, helped by the smelling salts that Alexis had pulled out.
“Whatever that was, it got through my poison resistance… but only a little,” Alexis told Joe. “I think that it should have held us down for three to four hours, but…”
“Thank you, Alexis. Now we’re behind, but at least we aren’t getting dropped into a fight with other parties while knocked out.” Joe’s sincerity made Alexis blush and shut down, and she simply nodded in reply.
“Well, that’s it for us then, isn't it?” Poppy flopped onto the couch and laid down. “Might as well just wait and get ready for the fights in a few hours. At least we’ll be rested.”
“No, remember that we only get to take a single item from another party if we beat them.” Joe motioned at a different hall, “Let’s get going. We can still figure out a way to get some good gear and such. This is a treasure hunt! Let’s go hunt some treasure!”
Everyone was on board except Poppy. “Joe, think about this logically. Everything in there is going to be at least, what, eight levels higher than it started? We’ve already cleared a hall just to find a defeated boss and a trap, wha
t’s to say we won't get stuck battling, only to not find a reward?”
“Poppy, it’s better than just giving up.” Joe looked at the Duelist, and a hint of a smile appeared on his face. “You know… are you just having trouble waking up?”
“I am not known as a morning person.” Poppy unrepentantly snuggled into the couch. “Feel free to motivate me, boss-man, but I’m feeling pretty cozy. Pretty sure this couch is the entire reason that this area is considered ‘hallowed’. It’s heavenly.”
“Feel free to motivate you? Can do.” Joe nodded sagely as he summoned Mate from his sleeve. “I have a cure for what ails you, friend. Mate, use hyper-caffeinate!”
Nothing happened, and it took Joe a moment to realize why: he got the ability wrong. “Shoot. Mate, use over-caffeinate on Poppy!”
This time, streams of scintillating liquid lanced out of Mate. The rainbow effect looked nothing like coffee, and Joe realized that he was seeing distilled and purified caffeine being injected into Poppy. With a yell, Poppy suddenly shot out off the couch and started vibrating. “What in the…! Joe! I don't feel energized! All that happened is that my heart is pounding!”
“Tone it down a notch next time,” Joe muttered to Mate, who bobbed in place happily before wrapping around Joe’s arm, giving it a squeeze-hug, then seeming to evaporate onto Joe’s sleeve again. “Right! Let’s go!”
“I’m gonna vote to boot you the next time Alexis brings it up.” Poppy grumbled at Joe as he grabbed at his rapier and missed due to his jitters.
Alexis looked stricken. “I… I won't do that!”
Bard laughed as Poppy grumbled. The Duelist was moving fast, and his rapier seemed to be everywhere at once, practically doing sonic damage from how much he was vibrating. “If I die from this ‘buff’, Joe, you're going down next.”
They were speeding through the tunnel, though the monsters were all level eleven. The most numerous creatures by far were the fairy-like creatures. Each of them seemed to use a basic element of magic imbued with holy power, making their damage output terrifying. Yet, they were fragile. With Poppy’s speed and accuracy, combined with his critical hit range, the fairies dropped like common flies.