by Ryan DeBruyn
He was standing on a balcony, and stairs descended to the sands on the ground floor.
Azrael’s teeth ground together, and he spat. This was possibly the worst type of dungeon for his current predicament. He checked the archway behind him. He needed to be sure it was sealed.
It was.
Too late now. Time to reassess.
Arena Dungeons slowly ramped up challenges. So, his early calculations weren’t accurate. Statistically, the first challenge would be below the dungeon’s power base, and the last would be above. That meant he could fight through waves of spawns and gain levels for the final challenge. That was the good news.
The bad news was that there was no way to avoid the final showdown in an Arena Dungeon. No way to gain levels until he was ready. There was a finite number of Etherience available before the challenges escalated.
A countdown of sixty seconds began in his interface. Next consideration. Would he be better off on the stairs or down in the sands? The stairs were a natural chokepoint for any creature that couldn’t fly. He stayed on the stairs and readied his sword.
Grinding assaulted his ears. And it was coming from below him. The stairs began to tilt, and his jaw clenched. The dungeon was going to make his decision for him. A heartbeat later, the inertia in his feet was broken and he slid off his balcony onto the slide the stairs had become.
He crashed onto the sand and spat out the granules that got into his mouth. Azrael heaved himself to his feet and ran towards the nearest wall—the next best option. The timer counted down from fifteen seconds and he went through his breathing exercises to center himself.
At zero, a section of the far wall slid away with a grinding noise, and an insect chittered out. Its six legs moved mechanically as its antennae adjusted like individual satellite rods. One of those antennae twitched in his direction and he took in a breath. The other jolted to join the first and the six legs began to propel it over the sand in a clicking run.
He scrutinized it, attempting to prompt an Analyze skill.
Ant
Apprentice-Drone
Level 2
This would be the first time using his Sovereign Sword, which was quite overpowered for a low-level dungeon, though he couldn’t be sure how well it would function, especially against an insect. He needed to find a weakness, to increase his odds in this fight and subsequent ones, as dungeons normally followed a theme. So, if one ant was present, he was likely to find more.
Insect chitin was naturally high in inherent Ether. Azrael remembered a lesson about the Antinium, a sapient species of insectoids. Their joints were the weakest point in their chitinous plate armor. Azrael assessed the enemy. Its joints were low to the ground.
He got into a stance that excelled in waist high and lower strikes. Threshing Wheat. He leaped left and simultaneously torqued his body. He left his sword extended and braced against his right hip. He felt the blade catch and drag before his wrists clicked as the pressure released. He landed, brought his feet together, and pushed off again. His body spun and he was facing his enemy, again, just as it arched around on five limbs. Its sixth limb twitched on the sand nearby.
It screeched and clicked its mandibles in his direction. Its antennae and head followed him, even as its feet made a small circle.
He resumed Threshing Wheat. Using that form, his blade had severed a leg from the creature and proven its strength. The limb now ended in a short stump that spat ichor onto the sand. He could continue to whittle the ant down, but he figured it was time to test his Phantasmal Blade. He needed to know how it would fare against a living sentient creature.
He loaded the skill on the edge of his sword and performed the exact same attack pattern, but this time in the other direction.
On his landing, he turned around to assess the damage. This time the blade had severed a limb right in the middle of the chitin, instead of at the joint. The ant wavered on its turn, before it crumpled to the ground. He nodded and absorbed the Ether back into himself, choosing to assess the actual cost of that strike. Fifteen Ether returned to his pool, and he nodded again—a fee of ten from his one hundred and sixty.
He recharged his Blade and released the ranged version of the skill at his downed opponent. The creature was just getting its four legs under it when his skill circulated through, bisecting it. A single charge of his skill could counter the chitin’s inherent Ether. Test two complete.
Azrael walked over to the ichor-stained sands and looted what remained.
He used Analyze on the strange shard he had just picked up.
Half of Sphere of Sweet Perfume
● The crystal shard is half of an item. To learn more, assemble all parts.
He placed the small shard into his ring and studied the sands. No other monsters had rushed out of the opening during his encounter. A grinding began, followed by an ominous boom as the stone closed again. The timer in his interface reset to sixty seconds.
Standing over the ant corpse, he checked how much Etherience the kill had earned him.
A measly sixty-two points. That wasn’t much, but more than enough to advance to level two. Azrael instantly dumped his skill point into Phantasmal Blade. He would experiment with it again in the upcoming fight.
He was going to need to place all of his free stat points as well. No opportunity to hoard them at this time.
Azrael Sovereign Level 2
Class: Revenant
Class Skills: Phantasmal Blade (II)
Health Points = 140/160 Points
Ether Pool = 134/160 Points
You have 0 stat points and 0 skill points to distribute.
Stamina – 16 (+2) (Stats X +3)
Strength – 16 (Stats X +3)
Agility – 16 (Stats X +3)
Dexterity – 17 (Stats X +3)
Intelligence – 16 (Stats X +3)
Wisdom – 16 (+4) (Stats X +3)
Charisma – 16 (Stats X +3)
Luck – 12
Skills:
Analyze – Weak 12
Combatant – Weak 5
Martial Arts – Moderate 29
Swordsmanship – Strong 8
He placed his free stat points to remain in balance. This meant most of his points went into Wisdom. Wisdom increased Ether pool regeneration, which he would need as fights ramped up. It also increased the speed at which his neurons could fire, making decisions faster. He may choose to specialize later, but right now Azrael had no idea where this particular skill tree would lead him.
How many waves would he have to fight through in this dungeon? That unknown alone solidified his need for the regeneration.
He dropped into a ready stance and waited as the countdown continued. The door ground back open to reveal a slightly larger Ant.
Ant
Apprentice-Fighter
Level 3
Azrael checked his Ether pool. One hundred and fifty-three points. He didn’t bother testing the close-range improvements of his Blade. He just fired the ranged version at his charging opponent and watched it run right into an invisible circular saw. The corner of his mouth twitched up. He rather liked his first skill choice.
He made a mental note to recheck his skill’s capabilities once it was level five. That kill had leveled him again and he didn’t want to waste time assessing the skill when his levels were flying up.
He looted the second bisected ant corpse.
Half of Sphere of Silence
● The crystal shard is half of an item. To learn more, assemble all parts.
Azrael continued his slaughter of the six first waves. Each wave was an enlarged ant of some variety. The sixth wave had been a Soldier Ant and had been the first creature to survive his Phantasmal Blade. However, surviving and continuing to fight were two vastly different things. He had simply walked up and pierced the creature’s eye. Ending that stage.
The encounters netted Azrael four-hundred and fourteen Etherience, which catapulted him to level five. As soon as he placed his final point
in Phantasmal Blade, the Fog of Discovery, as his teachers had called it, flowed back to reveal two new options on the second tier.
He had no time to read the new skills. They were currently unavailable anyway. He glanced at the timer and his Ether pool. Unfortunately, the speed of combat was beginning to place him in a bind. His Ether was recovering from ninety-two points. If he continued like this, he would run dry near the eleventh fight. The timer was at twenty-two seconds. Hoping to conserve some Ether, he had made the decision to place his points in strength as he leveled up.
The three extra points in strength would increase his melee penetration and damage, which should allow him to hold onto more of his precious resource.
As the timer neared zero, Azrael charged his fully-upgraded skill and placed it on his sword. It was time for a change of tactics.
The next creature that exited the monsterside chamber wasn’t an Ant, however.
Beetle
Apprentice-Shell
Level 7
Mini-boss
Oh great! He really needed a mini-boss when he was hovering just above fifty percent Ether. He shook his head and let the slow-moving creature meander its way around the sand. It took a strange path. Not coming directly for him. Azrael’s eyes narrowed, wondering why it wasn’t attacking—at forty feet, it shot towards him like a bullet, sand spraying out behind it.
Azrael hadn’t relaxed his stance and managed to jump sideways and tuck into a roll. Despite this, the domed back of the beetle connected with his right ankle and jolted his entire body, but his quick thinking and action mitigated a large portion of the possible damage.
He shot to his feet and winced at the pain his ankle pumped to his brain. He entered into his deep-mind space that his Swordmaster had taught him. It helped him ignore the screaming agony his ankle wanted him to focus on.
The beetle’s speed had been too much to handle. He couldn’t allow the creature to use that charge skill again, and so he closed with the mini-boss.
He managed two strikes, one to its back, and one to a leg, as it turned to face him. Its mandibles came forward, attempting to surround and crush him in their sharpened vice. Azrael swayed and performed Descending Curtains, sweeping his sword from high to low on a trajectory away from the beetle’s body.
The blow caught the joint of its right front leg, and the combination of his skill and his strength tore the limb off. The boss screeched in his face and swung its head, choosing to batter Azrael. It connected with his chest, but instead of resisting the blow, Azrael continued to sway, absorbing some force and pushing off with his toes and calves to add more. He screamed as his ankle protested this motion. His assisted leap turned into a somersaulting roll that carried him ten feet from the boss.
He immediately realized his mistake. Sand shot into the air behind the back legs of the creature, as it propelled itself using Charge—again! Azrael came out of his roll and jumped straight up. His ankle bloomed in agony again and he clenched his teeth. He’d barely cleared the five-foot-high back of the monstrous insect.
He dragged his skill-surrounded blade over the face and back of the beetle.
His skill managed to sheer off a mandible before the momentum bounced the blade up. It was everything Azrael could do to hold onto the weapon and land without impaling himself as he was forced to avoid putting weight on his bad ankle.
The creature, now short a mandible and a leg, took some time to turn. Azrael limped into range and resumed his close combat.
The beetle still hadn’t fully turned, and Azrael severed another leg from its right side. The bug reacted by flexing all of its left legs and body checking Azrael into the nearby wall. It attempted to activate the Charge again, but instead of rocketing forward, the skill misfired. The face of the boss crunched into the sand as its back legs pushed with skill-assisted maximum effort. Its mandible caught, and instead of a charge, the bug somersaulted onto its back, where it lay waving its remaining legs in the air helplessly.
Azrael tilted his head. The beetle just waved its three remaining limbs uselessly. It couldn’t get back up. He walked over and prepared his blade to kill it. Then thought better of it, and waited for nearly fifteen minutes.
His health ticked to full first and Azrael tested his ankle. No pain. He checked on the boss continually, and while it had begun re-growing mandibles and limbs, it stayed trapped on its back.
Once his Ether was also back to full, he dispatched the mini-boss.
The timer that joined his interface gave him three-hundred seconds, and he shrugged. His precautions became somewhat unnecessary, but now he knew for the future.
He gained eight-hundred Etherience for the level seven beast and was propelled into level six and partway towards level seven. He knew from school that the first fifteen or so levels in the Apprentice ranks were the fastest anyone reached. That was why he had made the assumption of being capable of beating a low-level dungeon.
The five-minute timer meant he could check his new tier two skills.
Tier 2 Skills
En Sphere
● This skill creates a sphere of converted Ether around the user. Within this sphere, the user can feel all movements as it disturbs the En. At one skill point, the En Sphere reaches one foot from the heart of the user. Increase points to increase the radius of skill.
Passive Skill gained at 1/5, “En.”
0/5
--
Mend
● Mend increases the natural healing of a body. At higher levels, it will even rearrange structures within the organism to ensure healing occurs most effectively. At one skill point, healing speed is increased by 100%.
Skill gained at 1/5, “Mend.”
0/5
Ether cost is 40 Ether per stack.
Azrael then looted the boss’s body and surveyed the items he had managed to compile in the first seven fights. Each of the first six waves had dropped a half sphere which he combined, while the Beetle boss had dropped a shield.
Sphere of Silence
● This sphere, when broken, will cast Silence in a twenty-foot area. Can only be used in Apep’s Dungeon.
--
Sphere of Sweet Perfume
● This sphere, when broken, will spew forth a sweet-smelling perfume, created from the local flora above. Can only be used in Apep’s Dungeon.
--
Sphere of Command Interrupt
● This sphere, when broken, will interrupt communications between creatures. Can only be used in Apep’s Dungeon.
--
Beetle Shell Shield
● This shield is created from the hard exoskeleton of a Beetle. It has naturally high inherent Ether and has an Enchantment to increase strength.
Ether Pool: Small
Current Ether Pool: 5/40
Enchantments: Deflect I (10%)
Deflect I
● Increases the chance this shield will turn or rebound an attack away from the user by 10%. This shield is extremely effective against stingers.
The shield was a disappointment. Using it would force him to wield his sword in a single hand and make his sword strikes far less powerful. Still, it did give him a huge amount of information. The fact that it was unlocked right after looting gave him hope. Some dungeons locked the enchantments, and others didn’t. If he could defeat the final boss, he might receive loot that was immediately valuable.
The spheres seemed to be strategic items. He would look for opportunities to use them.
Lastly, he chose to place his skill point in En. While Mend would be useful to have, it was reactionary. Only of value after damage had been taken. En was preventative, and Azrael hoped that it would stop the injuries Mend would be useful for from occurring.
Chapter Eight
He had finished dispatching the eleventh challenge and the sixty second countdown timer for the twelfth challenge ticked down to zero. The monster entrance door slid open but nothing emerged. Azrael’s arms were burning, his heart was pounding, and he kep
t having to blink the sting of sweat from his eyes. The dungeon wanted to throw something new at him, again?
At least he had gained another level and a skill point. Still, the combat was getting more difficult.
The last four rounds had been humanoid ants. They stood on two legs and used their other four limbs to strike at Azrael with ferocious intensity. There was no longer an easy win. He scanned the air above him and saw nothing. Where was his opponent? Were they too small to see?
His En flared, warning him of something being within the three-foot perimeter around his heart. He reacted immediately and stepped left, allowing the En to act as his eyes. Just because he couldn’t see the opponent didn’t mean the opponent wasn’t there. Using a downward slash, he connected with something his En highlighted as the probable neck of the creature. He felt no resistance, like he was swinging at air.
Had he missed?
A bodiless head materialized and flopped to the ground, rolling away as it became visible mid-collapse. His En flared again from two directions and Azrael leaped into the air. Turning and swinging below him in a flurry of movements directed at the area where his En indicated the opponents were.
Two more ant corpses hit the sand, ichor spreading out from head wounds. He examined their exoskeletons and saw why there was no resistance to his attacks. Their chitin was dull black and absorbed what little light the arena provided. It was also as thin and light as cotton. That was all the time he had because his En flared again.
Twisting in mid-air, Azrael moved flawlessly and deflected two strikes from two more Ant Assassins. The dagger-like fists of the creatures almost broke through his blade’s barrier. He hadn’t noticed during his rushed examination, but those things must have been as hard as Eternium. Landing, he assumed a ready posture, then flowed through stances. Using his En sense, the final two Assassins posed no threat. In a few short minutes, he had managed to dispatch them both. And he hadn’t even needed to use Ether attacks—just physical endurance, which admittedly was starting to waver.