“For this operation, I will be in command. Glosil will be in second; Yao Meng after him. Our goal is to take our time, to improve on our fighting skills, get rid of the rust, level up and hopefully earn some good loot!”
They all grinned at his words. Even Glosil looked excited.
He had been hunting in the Beast Mountain and training at the barracks, but he hadn’t gone to the Second Realm. He hadn’t found opponents who were able to challenge him other than the people on the special teams.
Fighting people was a lot different from fighting beasts.
Beasts could have innate skills and abilities. Also, their natural skin and armor could be a lot stronger, their Strength and Agility higher depending on the type of creature they were and the purity of their bloodline.
“Let’s get going,” Storbon said, seeing everyone was ready.
They left their room. Special Team Three and those training in the barracks were there to see them off. Blaze was off watching the Beast Mountain Range.
“Save some of the beasts for us,” Niemm said with a smile as he and Storbon braced arms.
“I’ll do my best. No promises.” He laughed.
They quickly said their good-byes and headed off, walking toward the teleport pad.
Waiting for them there was a newly built building. It was a smaller version of the healing house. After the Metal floor incident and knowing about the battlefield floor, Elise had the building made with Blaze and Glosil’s recommendations.
There was also an area where a group of fighters were to stay to assist in case anything they didn’t want came through the teleport pad.
Egbert was with the medical and fighting team that were on shift.
He pulled out medallions from within a finger bone. “These are your admission medallions. If you are in danger, break the medallions and you’ll return to the teleport pad,” Egbert said. The medallions were silver in color, covered in a magical formation with a glowing crystal in the middle.
Everyone accepted the medallions and put them away carefully.
“Step on the teleport pad and I’ll send you to the battlefield dungeon. When you arrive, the beast that you fight will be randomized. Remember: there is not only the Metal floor; there are also the Earth, Fire, Wood, and Water floors. These areas have highly concentrated attributes, so it is possible that there have been new creatures not seen outside of the dungeon born in the lower floors. They have also probably grown stronger. Although their level might be low, their overall Strength will be high,” Egbert said.
Storbon moved his shoulders around, taking a deep breath and letting it out. He had spent all of his coin on Body Cultivation and had passed through four of the strengthening stages. He had also opened some of his Mana gates, firming up his foundation. While stats and attributes were good to have, increasing the ability of his base body had an accumulative effect. It was like a house: the stronger the foundation, the taller it could be built without issue.
With their training, their leveling up since the Metal floor, and their Body and Mana Cultivation increases, their combat power had taken another leap but they hadn’t been able to use it. Now, as they were getting ready to fight, they felt the nerves of starting, but also the electric thrill of adrenaline pumping in their veins to see just what they could do.
They all stepped onto the teleport pad without any shenanigans, eager to be about it.
Power that had been stored up in the Mana cornerstone reversed, coursing back down and into the powering formations, lighting up the road that led to the teleport pad. Power poured into the teleport pad that activated, sending the energy somewhere else, activating the battlefield dungeon.
The teleport pad lit up with power and hummed.
Special Team One pulled out their weapons and readied themselves.
“See you on the other side,” Storbon said.
There was a flash of blinding light and Alva disappeared.
They arrived in a room, facing a large door.
“All right, I can talk to you from here, but I can’t tell you anything that might help you clear the dungeon. Basically, just passing messages back and forth from you to Alva.” Egbert’s voice came through the room. It was the same room that Erik and Rugrat had been in when they were taking the Beast Mountain trial.
“Thanks, Egbert,” Storbon said. Hearing Egbert’s voice eased their tension a bit. When they were in the Second Realm, even if they wanted to talk to someone else, they couldn’t.
“Yuli in the rear. Ian, Glosil—up front. Tian Cui, Yao Meng, and me in the second rank. Setsuko with Yuli. Cui, if you see an opening, go for it—you don’t need to hold position. Yao Meng, you’re on first aid,” Storbon said, getting everyone organized and focused.
They had teleported basically in their formation but they oriented themselves to the door.
“Ian, want to knock for us?” Storbon asked.
“Sure thing.” Ian walked up and kicked on the door. The door opened slowly, revealing a molten lava world on the other side.
The temperature rapidly increased as they moved forward. There were islands of rock here and there, some floating in the sea of molten lava. There was a sulfur smell in the air as bubbles popped in the molten sea.
There was no sign of any other life.
“Detect Life scroll.” Storbon pulled out a scroll and tore it.
A greenish-white light went out in a sphere from Yao Meng’s scroll, passing through the rock and lava.
The green and white light revealed a long creature hiding in the lava, the light sticking to its body.
“Let’s go to the right, see if it knows we’re here,” Storbon said through his sound transmission device.
They moved to the right side and the long body of what looked like a snake moved, following them. Its head was just barely peeking out of the lava.
“All right, so it can tell where we are. Let’s set up defenses and prepare,” Storbon said.
Yuli pulled out a Mana Gathering formation and put it on the ground. Ian and Glosil pulled out ready-made barricades and slammed them into the ground, securing them. Storbon pulled out a ballista from his storage ring. Yao Meng and Tian Cui pulled out a modified ballista while Setsuko grabbed a repeating mounted crossbow.
It was mounted on the ground but one would sit above the ammunition, pulling on the crank handle to pull back the drawstring—using their legs and upper body to do so. A bolt would fall from the magazine into the breach; then, as the crank was pulled all the way back, the bowstring would be released, shooting forward.
It used the pulley system that Rugrat had created and used gears that could be operated by the pedals to move left and right, up and down.
There were seventy bolts in the magazine and a person could fire as fast as they could pull back.
It was currently the most advanced piece of emplaced weaponry in the Alva Dungeon’s armory. There was only one of them in existence and required the help of the tailors, blueprint office, blacksmiths, woodworking shop, Alchemy shop, and formations workshop. This would be the first battlefield test.
“All right, I’ll wake it up. Yao, can you buff the bolt?” Storbon took out a pot. He poured the gray sludge on the tip of the ballista spearhead.
Yao Meng cast a spell. Blue runes and lines appeared on the bolt as a frosty mist could be seen coming off the ballista bolt.
Storbon aimed with the ballista, using the Detect Life glow that outlined the snake lying in wait in the lava pool.
He took his time and fired the ballista bolt. It arced slightly and came down, piercing through the thin amount of lava and hitting the snake in its exposed nose.
The snake shot back into the lava in pain.
“Get rickety rekt!! Like a solid nineteen damage on that.” Storbon laughed.
The snake rose up out of the lava, exposing its black and red body. It hissed angrily, which is hard because it’s a snake; they don’t really sound anything but angry danger poles.
The
ballista spear was stuck in its snout as if a third fang. There was a patch of ice around it and threads of smoke from the wound as the poison entered the snake’s veins.
Coming out of the lava, they could all clearly feel a heavy pressure weighing down on them.
Level twenty-one. Storbon’s expression turned somber as the snake turned.
Diving into the lava, the ice effects that Yao Meng had added were reduced heavily.
“Setsuko, Yuli, bring it in. Ian, Glosil, hit it with ranged attacks. Cui, Meng, wait on my order!” Storbon threw hooks onto the bowstring and cranked on the lever at the back of the ballista, dragging it backward. A bolt whistled out at the snake, piercing its hide and going deep into its side.
Yuli stabbed her staff forward as Mana spears appeared around her, firing at the snake.
Setsuko used the pedals to get on target and heaved on the crank, firing and adjusting with her pedals.
The snake contorted in pain as Ian and Glosil used slingshots to hurl grenades at the snake.
It dove into the lava again as its wounds increased.
Storbon seated another spear and coated it in poison again, looking for the snake.
The snake launched itself out of the lava, sending lava everywhere, landing on the rocks and burning anything in its path.
It was seven meters long and a half meter in diameter.
The snake was weaving toward them. Setsuko adjusted onto target as Yuli’s spears changed to Water element and attacked the snake.
Storbon fired on the snake, grazing it and opening up its scaled hide.
“Cui! Meng!” Storbon yelled out.
They had been following the snake with their ballistas.
Cui fired first. The ballista’s payload wasn’t a spear but a series of them attached to a net.
The net opened up as it traveled. The spears drove into the snake and the ground, pinning it there as Meng fired his net. His net aided the first in trapping the snake, rendering it immobile as it struggled against its restraints.
“Damage it!” Storbon yelled.
Glosil and Ian yelled as they rushed out from behind their cover. The snake spat out poison at them.
Glosil dodged it. The poison acted like an acid, burning the ground where it fell.
Ian followed up with a shield bash. The snake’s head moved around with a loss of bearing.
Glosil’s sword stabbed out, finding gaps between scales to increase the internal damage.
Yuli and Setsuko adjusted their aim to miss them.
“Focus on the left side—leave the right open for us!” Yuli yelled out.
Glosil moved to Ian’s side, sliding under the snake. It dropped down, smashing him against the ground.
Ian let out a yell as his muscles bulged. Mana moved through him as he empowered his strike. His hammer hit the side of the snake’s head, making it snap up and to the side. There was a breaking noise as the snake’s jaw took on an unnatural curve. Ian’s hammer had cracked its scales where it hit.
Ian’s hit also threw the snake off Glosil.
He was roughed up but he rolled out from under the snake and jabbed at the area where Ian had cracked the scales, cutting deep as he turned and ripped his sword out, using his full body to do so.
Storbon fired his ballista, followed by Cui and Meng. Storbon and Cui missed, going high and low. Meng’s struck it in its open mouth, making it reel in pain, painting the floor in blood. It struggled against its bonds. Yuli and Setsuko continued their barrage, cutting and wounding the snake.
The Mana Gathering formation increased the amount of Mana around Yuli, increasing her Mana Regeneration and allowing her to cast more spells at a faster rate.
“Ian, hammer!” Glosil yelled, running out in front.
Ian tossed the hammer as Glosil jumped up. Using his strength, he used the hammer to hit the end of the ballista wedged in the snake’s mouth.
The ballista spear drove through the top of the snake’s mouth and into its skull.
It dropped to the ground as Glosil did.
Two more spears landed on its body but it didn’t move.
“You have passed the first level of the battlefield dungeon.” Egbert’s voice rolled through the Fire world. A tombstone appeared above the snake.
“Return to the teleportation room to head to the next level,” Egbert continued.
Everyone relaxed slightly, looking at their first beast as Experience started to flow into their bodies.
“Okay, let’s skin the sucker. Ian, Meng, Glosil, check the area to see if there is anything else of value on the floor. We spent a thousand gold to get down here—hopefully we can make some of that back!”
Everyone put their prepared weapons and defenses away as they set to work. Storbon helped with extracting the nets. They had been made from a special material and hadn’t broken, even with the snake’s struggles.
Meng and Tian Cui reloaded the ballistas with the nets as Setsuko and Yuli walked up and down the snake, talking about how to break it apart.
They worked together, harvesting everything useful from the snake’s body.
“Variant core, Fire, Mortal grade.” Yuli pulled out a monster core.
“Greater Mortal grade,” Setsuko called out, pulling another.
“Not bad. Only when one of the creatures reach the Fourth Realm will their monster cores combine together and they can attain an Earth-grade monster core,” Storbon said.
“Wouldn’t be bad if we could get five Mortal variants,” Cui said.
“That would be nice, but I don’t want to be fighting a beast from the peak of the Third Realm right now,” Storbon said.
“Be a story at least,” Cui said as she put away her ballista.
“We’ll go in the opposite direction of the others and search the floor.”
After it all, they gained about fifty gems as well as ore veins that Ian had taken a pickaxe to that were found across the floor. Then there were some plants that they might be able to transplant that they had sealed in jade boxes. Anything that looked different or valuable was cleared, pried, dug, and cut out.
They cleared out the snake and stored it in their storage rings. With the tombstone, they gained three potions of fire resistance, Journeyman grade, and each of them gained one hundred points that was added to their medallions.
Egbert already told them that when they broke the medallion they would be taken to a prize hall. Here, they could use these points to purchase something or enter into a lottery to get a random item; it might be worth more or less than the points they put in.
The points were bound to one’s soul, so when they entered any kind of dungeon with a prize hall, they could accumulate their points and try to buy something better later.
“How is everyone?” Storbon asked.
“Richer,” Meng said.
“I think I leveled up,” Cui added.
“Smell like fire snake,” Yuli grumbled.
“I think I have some of it in my hair,” Setsuko added.
Glosil shook his head. He seemed a lot more relaxed than normal. Without having to worry about being the boss, he was even having fun. “I leveled up, but I’m good to go.”
“Sorry, what was the question?” Ian asked, looking up from the ore he had mined.
“Next floor?” Storbon asked.
“Good to go,” Yuli said as Setsuko found the bit of snake in her hair and tossed it on the ground. The others agreed and checked their gear.
“Let’s go for it.” Storbon led them back to the room outside the gate.
The gate closed and the flame level disappeared as they entered a new room, this one with the door closed.
“Ian?” Storbon asked.
Ian moved to the door and kicked it.
There was a grassy hill and trees in the middle of the room.
Storbon pulled a Detect Life scroll, ready to tear it as they moved out of the room in formation.
A shrieking noise came from the hill as the “grass” started
to move, picking itself up and charging toward them.
“Setsuko, kite it! Yao Meng, be ready to take aggro from her! Everyone else, hold your attacks!” Storbon put the scroll away and grabbed his spear as Setsuko took a potion to increase her speed and fired arrows at the moving pile of moss.
Its shrieking changed in pitch as it turned toward her. As it moved, it grew larger and stronger, but it was like a vacuum, destroying the ground that was underneath it.
“I’ve got it!” Setsuko called out as the floating moss rushed toward her.
She started running, keeping ahead of the moss and firing back at it.
“Ranged attacks—spread out. If it turns on you, pace yourself and stop attacking to let Setsuko or Yao Meng regain aggro,” Storbon yelled.
“Normal arrows only go through, don’t do much damage. Need to use attribute arrows,” Setsuko reported after having cycled through her arrow selection to find out more from their opponent.
“Area of effect attacks if you can,” Storbon said. They needed to grab the weaknesses of the floating moss and quickly. If they could find how to weaken and hurt it rapidly, then the fight was as good as over. If they couldn’t find a method, then this second level would be as far as they made it in the battlefield dungeon.
Setsuko expertly kited it around the open area, keeping it far enough away from the main party that they had time to react if they lost aggro, but close enough that their ranged attacks could still hit.
Yao Meng expertly switched off as she took a breather and downed a Stamina concoction.
The moss was getting smaller as it covered up its wounds, the old destroyed sections falling to the ground.
“It’s slowing,” Glosil said, hesitantly at first, but his words got everyone’s attention. “When it goes over the areas it has already traveled, its speed drops.”
Storbon looked at the dead lines that were left in the moss’s passage.
“If I was to make a guess, I think that the moss is consuming the energy of the plants it passes over, allowing it to move. Once it passes over an already consumed area, then it doesn’t have that much energy—it can’t pull from its environment and has to use its own,” Yuli said.
The Third Realm Page 7