by Tao Wong
“But why dungeons?” Harry asks.
“Dungeons are Mana sinks. Sometimes, that’s a good thing,” I say. “City dungeons allow cities to broaden the Safe Zone by adjusting Mana flows and sending overflows to the dungeon. Wild dungeons though, those created by chance, can create… whirlpools in locations. Areas where Mana keeps flooding in, making the dungeons bigger. Stronger.
“Rather than let that happen in zones where they’re not meant to be, we destroy them. Help the System regulate.” I run my mind over options before continuing. “Think of it as selective burns. The planet is an overgrown forest with too many trees and underbrush. Easy to set off. Rather than let it get worse, we do selective burns.”
Harry frowns, then asks the obvious question. “So what’s the fire?”
“Uhh… the monsters?” I pause, rubbing my chin.
Not exactly. Monsters are a by-product of the System attempting to shunt Mana into something it can control, but they’re not exactly the fire. Or are they? After all, the production of powerful monsters, including over-Leveled Alphas or worse, do drop the surrounding Mana density. Not by a lot, but by a little. In fact… I look at Bolo.
The Dragon Lord meets my gaze placidly. “You are correct in your thoughts, Paladin. This is how Dragons were first created. A shunting of excess Mana. Though they then took the Mana and made it their own.” Bolo grins. “Magnificent creatures.”
“Uh huh,” I say.
But his words trigger another avalanche of memory, of data. Streams of recordings about dragons, about their care and upkeep. Of how they end up in other worlds, helping to regulate the Mana flows, and how captive breeding of them has been attempted. A million tests, as many as there are worlds, all of it streaming along.
And at the same time, another data packet unveils itself. My head hurts as I struggle to grasp the information. Tests. More tests. This time, the experiments are to create another dragon, another creature that is as in tune with Mana.
The Kirin. Or the Galactic equivalent of it. A successful experiment, though their significantly decreased reproduction cycle was considered a failure.
But more often than not, failures as experiments go horribly wrong. Hydras, one of the failures, later taken by the System for use as monsters. The Ymir, the Namyz, more. So many more failures, creatures that were born and died, forced to evolve under a variety of Mana over-saturated environments. Sudden and gradual, over generations or a single instance. In and out of the System, right on the borders. And in Forbidden Zones.
My mind whirls as pain and data flows, giving me information that I never asked for. And when I come back, the boys are two-thirds of the way through the nest, fighting swarms of creatures. The monsters are warped messes, twisted versions of what they should be. The dungeon is meant to help them reproduce faster, to form and swarm and allow Adventurers to use their bodies, their Mana for the System economy. But with Mana overrun, with the System breaking down…
The creatures are macabre parodies of what they should be. Some have too many limbs, others too few. Hunched and twisted, fur, carapace, skin, and organs hang off them. They swarm and fight, unleashing claws, gouts of poison, and plasma in unequal portions.
Bolo and the initiates watch without moving a muscle, having seen all this before. On the other hand, Mikito has her face twisted up in disgust. And Harry… well, Harry is hocking his lunch over the side of the platform. Ali, being true to himself, is eating popcorn, watching a baking show on another screen at the same time.
“How, how can you stand staring at those things?” Harry says. “They’re monsters. Demons.”
“Eh, less disgusting than the ones I fought in the Forbidden Zone. You don’t want to deal with warped slimes,” I say.
I note the increased pulse in interest from the initiates when I mention my time away. They all know the history, the story of how I got my Class. This is their history, their heritage. If they pass. Not surprising that they’re interested.
But I ignore their interest, turning my regard instead to the people below. They reach the dungeon heart and are met by the Alpha. The Hmefa Alpha. Cancerous growths sprout from its body, making it slow and sluggish. But as they land attacks, its body heals. As they fight, I take note of their styles, their flow.
Kino stands in front of the Alpha, literally brawling with it. For a Soulbound weapon, the Risen doesn’t have a sword or polearm or anything traditional. No, instead both of its arms are covered in metallic gauntlets, gleaming dark red and brown as he blocks and attacks, keeping the creature’s attention on him. His build is almost purely defensive, so he doesn’t bother manifesting his equivalent of the Thousand Blades Skill. Instead, the other Skill he purchased is in play, a dark brown glow infusing his body with each blocked strike, each point of damage taken.
Retribution Delayed (Level 3) (A)
Passive effect that allows the Grudge Holder to collect damage done to it and release it in a single, retributive attack. Reduces Mana Regeneration by 15 permanently.
Effect: 6% of Damage Taken is stored in a Mana Cloud. When triggered, the next attack will deal 6% of stored Damage.
At first glance, the Skill might not be that useful. 6% of 6% is just 0.36% of damage taken. But there’s literally no limit to how long Kino can store this damage. Which means in a dungeon crawl like this, he’s been storing all the damage he’s taken as he journeys in. All the damage, even damage he’s healed, is just waiting for him to release.
That he isn’t using it right now is a bit surprising, but I wonder if he considers the Alpha too weak for him to bother. After all, the longer he holds off, the more damage he can do. It’s the kind of Skill that I considered, but even if I do play tank, I rarely get a chance to wait around for a single person. Still, I’ve mentally bookmarked the option for when I can find a Master Class equivalent.
Freif, the sniper, on the other hand, is showcasing the difference in his Skills. While his initial build mostly focused on stacking Mana Imbue with a small increase in Blade (Gun) Strike to increase range and penetration and a single point in Thousand Guns, his amendment has been to purchase up Thousand Guns. Now, rather than a single weapon, he has multiple rifles floating around him. Each of those are linked passively with other Skills, allowing him to independently control and fire them. They’re almost automated, using his other Skills to increase damage and accuracy.
What it really means is that unlike his initial build of being a single-shot, high-damage sniper—with an alpha strike option of Army of One—he can now hold off the swarming minions on one side by himself. His floating guns fire and retarget constantly, drawing upon the base Mana density to make him a one-man army without triggering the Skill.
Of course, there’s a negative to that—part of the reason he’s so effective is the huge disparity in Mana density here. Otherwise, the guns he’s using would run out of Mana much faster. On top of that, the damage is lower than his main weapon—unlike melee weapon variations of the Skill—which means he often needs multiple shots to kill a monster. Still, with his base Skills, he’s able to cripple them with the first shots.
“New tactics,” Mikito says. “They listened.”
One of the aspects of our briefing was instructing them to mix it up, to change how they were going to do things. Normally, it’d be Freif who ends the fight while Kino holds off the monster. While Kino is still the tank, Ropo is the finisher this time.
I watch as the Grimsar sneaks around the back, using his smaller stature and enchanted equipment to make him easily ignorable. He lines himself up, his traditional axe by his side, and waits. Unlike the others, Ropo’s used a generalist build in his attributes for the Honor Guard. He’s a little like me, with a ton of different Skills all over the map, though he’s put a greater emphasis on Sanctum. Sadly, he was a little unlucky and missed an Evoution for the Skill. That left him with the problem of lacking a finishing move. Even his secondary Classes don’t help, since the poison and toxin Skills he has just don’t add u
p enough.
Now, he’s using a new Skill he purchased. It’s not what I would have picked, but that’s his call. And in this case, it makes sense.
The Waiting Doom (Level 10) (A)
A base Skill for the Assassins of Hansen, the Waiting Doom allows the assassins to prepare a finishing strike on their target. Feared for its ability to increase base damage of a single type of attack while hiding the point of origin, the Assassins of Hansen are barred from 2,985 solar systems at this time. Luckily, their need to be flamboyant and have a specific calling card makes them slightly less of a Galactic threat.
Effect: Total calculated damage of designated primary attack increases by 55% per minute while user is still and unmoving. Charged attacks can be interrupted. Upon use of attack, assassin gains a 0.55 second time displacement on light, sound, and other incidental effects of attack.
Cost: 100 Mana per minute
Duration: Channelled
It’s not base damage, so this includes buffs and other damage increases. Combined with his Skills as a Poison Specialist, it allows him to stack damage in his attacks. On the other hand, the disadvantage of the Skill is that your primary attack has to be chosen, decreasing your attack options. If you’re sneaking and hiding, waiting for the time to launch your attack, it’s less of a concern.
In Ropo’s case, he’s able to combine the ability to sneak and Skills like Soul Shield and Stand my Ground from the Basic Class to ensure he can charge up the attack, even in a crowded battlefield.
Kino snarls, punching outward and catching a swinging claw as it arcs toward him. His punch shatters the claw, leaving it limp—much like the monster’s other appendages, mutated tentacles. A few formerly mangled limbs twitch and rise as regeneration brings them back into play, but Kino charges in, grappling the monster via its arms, while a remaining sting-like appendage beats on his back. Freif looks back at the group, the reinforcements having died off. Literally.
Ropo is finally ready, the Alpha held still. He throws himself forward with a single, glowing swing, his attack launched from behind. Waiting Doom lights up his axe, highlighting the Mana imbued into the weapon and leaving a trail of golden and sickly green light. It’s the least assassin-like attack I can think of, but there’s a slight delay in what I see and his actual motion. The statistical number of the effect is tiny, but the actual effect in a fast-paced fight is huge.
By the time we—and the Alpha—see Ropo move, the dwarf has already cut through his opponent, leaving a six-foot-long gash across the creature’s body. The wound pulses gold and green, the green rot spreading at speed as the poison modifiers within the attack stack up.
Damage notifications flare all over, but even with Ropo’s charged attack, it’s not enough to kill the creature. Not immediately. As it turns to flee, Freif fires a single shot from his rifle, burning through the stinger arm and tearing it off before it injects itself into Kino. Freed of the distraction, Kino roars and twists, tearing at the torso and the flesh that holds the monster together. The injured portions part, blood and viscera spilling out like a wet, noisy fart.
Probably smells just as bad too.
The Alpha dies, and with it, the Mana storm that makes up the dungeon dies almost immediately. The cleansing of so many monsters by itself was sufficient to start the process, but now, without the anchor of the Alpha, the System has more control.
The trio pant, staring at one another for a few seconds. Freif absently kills straggling dungeon monsters. And then, in unison, they run.
For this is only the first of the three dungeons they must clear.
***
Three hours later, the second team of Magine, Gheisnan, and Anayton are cleansing the fourth dungeon of the day. Deep within the remnant and twisted town, the group clear buildings—or in some cases, just tears them down. They’re making good time, having taken over from the original trio, and are busy decimating the remaining monsters.
The monsters here are a weird semi-sentient amalgamation of golem and matter, so the group has to switch attacks constantly to deal the most effective damage. However, Gheisnan is making his usefulness known by calling out resistances well beforehand, allowing the damage dealers to really go at it.
Unlike the first trio, all of the combatants are clad in full powered suits, using their tech advantage in a different way. They still use a few drones, but those are tasked with dealing with smaller menaces—the usual array of Leveled insects, prey, and scrap eaters that make up the fauna of a world.
I’m only paying partial attention to the fight below. Instead, I’m facing the original trio. They’re looking worse for the wear, though damage is quickly healing on Kino’s side, leaving his rocky skin pristine. As for Freif, his scout power armor has been stored away, having taken quite the beating in the second dungeon. And Ropo is clad in his traditional enchanted outfit, axe casually held in one hand.
“Report,” I say.
“Three dungeons destroyed as ordered. Thirty percent of forces in fourth dungeon were eradicated, but Alpha was not located for completion. We used seventy-eight percent of all allocated consumables, with no loss of life on allied part,” Ropo barks.
“And how do you think you did?” I say.
“We completed the objectives as requested,” Ropo replies without missing a beat. When I meet the Grimsar’s gaze, it has no give in it. Nor any hint of his other thoughts.
So I turn from him. “Kino. Your thoughts.”
“We comple—”
“Thoughts,” I snap. “I want you tell me what you think, not repeat what Ropo said.”
Kino freezes in place, the gentle crumbling of rock that makes up even the smallest of his motions stopping. Then he speaks, looking directly at me. “We could have completed the fourth. If we were allowed to use normal tactics. If we went with a trash-and-burn plan for the fourth dungeon when we realized the terrain.”
I note Ropo shift, and I gesture for him to speak.
“We are Honor Guards. And Paladins-to-be. Our job is not to destroy planets, but to save them,” Ropo says. “This town only fell two years ago. There are significant salvage options available, as well as numerous remains of our citizens. Destroying it to expedite a useless—” Ropo clamps his mouth shut.
“A useless training exercise?” I finish for the Grimsar.
The old Honor Guard refuses to finish his sentence, so I ignore it. Knowing him, he’d probably add a lot more inventive cursing to it. The only reason he’s not right now is because we’re on the battlefield. Even then, I’m curious how long discipline will hold.
Dismissing that thought, I turn to Freif. “And you?”
“The new Skills give me more flexibility in small group tactics,” Freif acknowledges. “It decreases my Mana regeneration, which is inefficient in long-term engagements. It decreased my effectiveness by the third dungeon.”
“And you were already heavily invested in Intelligence with low Wisdom,” I conclude for him. “I’d look at fixing that on your next Level ups.”
Freif inclines his head.
“Anything else before Bolo has his say?” I ask, flicking my gaze over the group. Challenging them to challenge me. To voice their opinion.
“I am considering purchasing another Skill to increase regeneration,” Kino says. “It is more efficient for me to take damage and heal with my new Skill than to block damage. It might be even viable to respec entirely.”
I frown, tilting my head. There’s a little truth to what he says but getting a respec done is a painful and expensive process. There are also negatives in terms of experience gain in most cases. Resets of just Skills are even harder, requiring specialized individuals.
“I wouldn’t go that far. Efficiency is one thing, but putting yourself out there to constantly get hurt gets old fast too. Training and will will only take you so far,” I say. “I’d also hold off on any major changes until we get to phase two.”
“Phase two?” Ropo frowns.
I wave Bolo forward.
I have no reason to explain my plans to them, not till everyone is here. Instead, I let Bolo dress them down, explain where they failed in their tactics in working together, with the occasional interjection by Mikito on their individual failings. I keep half an ear out, mostly because I can learn a lot from the Dragon Lord on these aspects.
In truth, I kind of feel bad trying to bitch them out about their team tactics. Even with their new Skills and their new formations, they’re smoother and cleaner, more professional than myself and my team. I’ve been learning a lot from watching them, seeing how the pros do it for real compared to the way myself and my team have done.
We’ve been learning and putting it into practice late at night, when the teams are done for the day or with their own trainers. Because at the end of the day, I’m just a talented amateur.
Luckily, Bolo isn’t. And he’s more than happy to advise and critique. I’ve not seen the Dragon Lord this enthused about anything before, almost as if he’s missed working with groups, missed training others. Even if the Dragon Knights aren’t as team-oriented as the Honor Guard, they still train and work together. They have to.
And so, half-listening, half-learning, I watch the group below take on the new dungeon.
***
Hours later, we’re on dungeon number five for the second trio and time’s running out. They’re pushing faster and harder than the previous team—so much so that I’m a little concerned. I eyeball their Health and Mana bars, gauging their needs, and frown further. They’ve used all their potions, popped them into full regeneration and instant increases. Thrice. Additional uses will see significantly lower gains, to the point that it’s not really worth it.