If Erik closed with any of them, he could kill them, and more than fourteen of the elites and guards lay on the ground. But there were still fifteen or so ringing him, using their techniques one after another. Erik was like a tough beast that just wouldn’t go down, getting his health ground down.
Erik was dropped to the ground once again, fighting as mud and water was thrown in his face. He fought with his Mana Detonation and Mana bullets. It hurt the elites and if they were unlucky, killed them, but their armor and abilities were much higher than the rest of the bandits so they weren’t forced back, keeping up the pressure so Erik couldn’t get back on his feet.
***
“Lee Pak, go and help Lawrence,” Xiu Xuan grimaced. The people of the White Orchid Trading Company might be good fighters, but they could be overwhelmed with numbers. The group that had charged after the man holding off Lawrence had killed nearly two to one, but they had also lost people. With time and enough bodies, they could be worn down. Those on the left side were faring worse as there were no distractions for the ranged fighters needing them to split their attention.
Xiu Xuan didn’t miss the fact that over a quarter of his people had been killed, while there were only two dozen or so deaths on the side of the caravan.
The caravans had less people than the attackers but all of them were picked for their fighting ability.
A carriage’s roof opened, as four pillars climbed out of the roof at the four points of the carriage.
The caravans had been moved by the traders to create a defensive formation. Buffs started to fall on the defenders and curses on the attackers as the spell formations on the carriages were activated.
The staffs on the carriages activated, firing on the attacking bandits under the traders’ direction.
Quickly, dozens fell.
Xiu Xuan scowled. They needed to end this soon.
He heard a noise behind him. He looked to see two glowing eyes charging him.
Xiu Xuan jumped to the side with a yell. His guards looked in alarm, one of them being cut down by the wolf creature formed from shadows.
Xiu Xuan wanted to glare at the summoner in the middle of the trading caravan’s formation. He had been distracted with the battles on the ground and the circling firewolf; he didn’t think that anyone could sneak up on him.
His guards readied themselves to fight the shadow wolf.
It blurred and then disappeared. They all looked at where the wolf had been.
“Get in a circle!” Xiu Xuan yelled.
They started to move as there was a wet coughing noise. They saw the shadow wolf with blood on its fangs as it disappeared. A guard collapsed to the ground, holding his neck.
So powerful, this isn’t a normal summon. Xiu Xuan thought it was now his life on the line; with such stakes, he couldn’t just watch from the sidelines.
He held twin daggers but didn’t dare to attack. He had trained as an assassin, but he was gravely outclassed by this shadow wolf.
Though Xiu Xuan had one thing wrong: Sally was a rare breed of summon, being a shadow wolf, but a summon’s strength wasn’t just reliant on their type; it also mattered what level their summoner was. The stronger their summoner, the more powerful they were.
Sally still wasn’t good for direct confrontations, but bleeding the enemy—she could do that.
Xiu Xuan was looking around when he heard yells from the ranged fighters. There were flashes as he saw the shadow wolf moving among them, its eyes almost mocking him.
He had been shaken up by the sudden attack. Looking at his own defense, he hadn’t coordinated with the bandits underneath him. Now that they were being attacked from behind, chaos started to spread.
The firewolf and rider came out of the sky, cutting down tens of bandits before they climbed back into the sky. The ranged bandits were too concerned with the hidden attacker to shoot at the duo in the air.
Bandits came together for mutual greed and sadistic tendencies. They weren’t willing to lose their lives for one another.
It seemed to be too much as the bandits started to break apart and run away.
Xiu Xuan knew that he had lost control of them. There wasn’t anything that they could do now.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said to his guards.
They all nodded and followed him away, hearing the cries among the ranged fighters keeping the shadow wolf pinned down.
***
Boros felt the tide changing as the melee fighters started turning and running. Then they broke like a dam, running away for their very lives.
“Forward!” Boros yelled, sporting a nasty gash on his arm and his axes covered in blood as they ran toward where Erik fought off a group of elites.
The elites, seeing what was happening, turned and tried to run, only to have Erik fall on their backs. The thirty or so elites and the bandit captain’s guards had been reduced down to eight.
Boros charged in. Adrenaline filled him as he saw the bandits retreating.
His axe cut in and upward, cutting at his attacker’s body and hitting him in the side.
He turned and used his sword to gain distance, turning to face Boros, his eyes wide in fear.
Boros used his momentum, his axes raining down on the elite. He pulled the elite’s sword down to the left and cut across with his axe, catching the man in the neck. It was deep but not deep enough. Boros struck again.
He moved forward to see Erik there. His armor showed bare skin and wounds underneath as he stood there, breathing heavily. His entire frame moved with his breathing as mud and blood covered him.
An elite charged; Erik moved to the side, grabbing the man’s arms and hitting him in the side with a powerful blow, sending him flying. He rushed forward, making to end the man’s life with his finger. The bandit captain chopped at his exposed back. Erik jumped over the damaged bandit and kicked some mud, sending it at the bandit captain’s face. He raised his hand to block it as Erik fired a crossbow that appeared in his hands, putting it into the bandit captain’s groin.
The bandit captain let out a sharp breath of pain. Erik fired a Mana Bolt at him and he went flying back, crashing into the ground as Erik stepped forward. He unleashed a number of Mana bullets on the elite he had put on the ground until a tombstone appeared. He moved forward. The bandit captain was badly injured and confused.
Erik grabbed a sword as he pulled himself upright. He rushed the bandit captain, who stood shakily.
Just as he was within arm’s reach, Erik pushed on the ground and slid to the side before a Mana Bolt exploded behind him and propelled him forward. His blade came across the back of the bandit captain’s knees, making him fall down as he dropped the sword.
Erik grabbed the man’s head and drove his finger forward, stabbing it into the bandit captain’s neck and tearing it back out as he stepped away.
The bandit captain dropped forward and a tombstone appeared above his head.
All of the guards and the mercenaries looked at Erik as he looked over at the fleeing bandits.
“They’re moving to the southeast. Rugrat is tracking them from the sky. I’ll need some time to recuperate,” Erik said.
Boros nodded and cleared his throat. “With me!” he yelled, leading his group forward.
Chapter: Different Attitude
Yui checked on Qin again as they entered the valley that the entrance to Alva Dungeon could be found. They had left their carriage behind long ago. Qin was slower than Yui as she had put an emphasis on increasing the power of her Mana system instead of her physical capabilities.
Yui, on the other hand, had focused on a nearly pure Strength, Agility, and Stamina build.
When they got to the gates, the guards nodded and greeted them and let them pass. The defenses had been beefed up, being made from stone with layered walls of iron and wood. There were Mana Gathering formations placed so that spellcasters could fight for longer, as well as modified rapid firing ballistas and heavy ballistas.
The traps tha
t lay between the defensive posts were deactivated as they walked by poison mist outlets, arrow walls, spike pits, and more.
While Alva had grown, Glosil and Blaze made sure that the defenses never lagged behind. They passed patrols as they were headed out into the Beast Mountain Range, as well as miners heading to the iron mines.
They passed through the final gate and into Alva Dungeon. The sounds of fighting could be heard from the barracks and beasts from the beast stables that had nearly tripled in size. One could see the secondary market that was now five times the size of the original market. People moved around there, trading in all kinds of goods. The healing house stood proudly among the blocks of houses that had expanded, with more under construction. The library tower of the academy still reached into the sky, with only the dungeon core building being taller. It was pushing more power to the Mana storing formation instead of drawing it away now.
Yui used his eagle eye to look at the ceiling, seeing the Mortal Mana cornerstone there. A number of Mana stones could be seen around it. The cornerstone had recovered from the energy drain and once again produced Mana stones.
They walked toward the center of the dungeon and their home. They greeted and smiled at the others they knew. Yui’s ear twitched as he heard two friends talking as they passed.
“More spots have opened up to join the special teams. Do you think that another group will make it?” one man asked his friend.
“I would say that it was impossible before, but now—well, if one passes their combat tests and has the cash, they can head to the battlefield dungeon. I’ve got a sister who is a party member. She says that they’re stronger than ever before.”
“I can believe it. Have you seen them ever kill anything in the Beast Mountain Range? Now most of them can kill a creature in one hit. Without a challenge, they can’t get stronger,” the other said.
Yui’s nerves seemed to just vibrate in excitement.
“Don’t get yourself hurt,” Qin said to Yui as they made it back to their house.
They were about to walk inside when there was a rumbling from the Alchemy lab. A deep, growling noise that made the hair on Yui’s neck stand up on edge rolled out from the Alchemy lab. Their house was one of the closest to the Alchemy lab. Everyone turned to look before the noise disappeared and the Alchemy lab went silent.
“What the heck was that?”
“Did someone summon a beast?”
“Maybe they were working to increase the fighting capabilities of one of the beasts?”
The alchemists worked closely with the beast stables to create items that the beasts could use to awaken their bloodlines and evolve. The beasts’ bodies were much stronger than humans’, allowing them to increase their strength from most items that would kill a normal human.
***
Fehim looked at the pill that Delilah had created with an excited look on his face.
He wasn’t very good with the formation of concoctions—it was something that he had hidden from others—but after he and Delilah had become friends, she offered to try to show him her meager skills.
So they had worked together, Fehim and her working to harvest, then prepare the ingredients, sharing information and new methods. Then, when they reached the formation stage, Fehim assisted Delilah as she made powders first; then they would switch and he would attempt to do so. Eventually, helping each other, their skill increased.
Then, with the first special team coming back from the battlefield dungeon with their different blueprints, forging designs, and formulas, the two of them had gone through the few Alchemy formulas and picked out the Strength of Beasts pill. It was a mid-Apprentice-grade pill, but it would allow one to exert two times their Strength and Agility for three minutes.
They had failed a half dozen times, needing them to work in the alchemist garden to raise the ingredients three different times.
Finally they had been able to create the pill. Delilah and Fehim were covered in sweat. Their faces looked haggard but there was excitement in their eyes as Delilah opened the lid of the cauldron and pulled out the pill, sealing it into a jade bottle quickly. The pill was the size of an almond and had just reached the formation stage. Its body was light-gray, with lines of color running through it.
Fehim frowned as he looked at the pill.
“Fehim?” Delilah asked.
“Delilah, I feel like this is not just an ordinary pill. It seems that it is stronger than just an Apprentice-grade pill.” Fehim sounded unsure. He had dealt with a lot of ingredients, but he felt that this one was somehow stronger than it should be.
Delilah looked at the pill and then stood. “Let’s go to Egbert. He might be able to help us more.”
Egbert used Alchemy items to keep himself alive and his body in good condition as the dungeon had run out of power. Now that the dungeon had been restored again, he didn’t need to use alchemical means in order to keep himself going and from his body from deteriorating.
Fehim nodded and followed her out. He watched her and smiled, a proud look on his face.
Delilah had been quiet for the most part, looking to her studies, increasing her knowledge of ingredients of the different stages, and challenging herself constantly.
He knew that she was chasing after her teacher’s strength, wanting to show Erik her ability.
She was the strongest alchemist in Alva Dungeon. She walked with a confidence that she didn’t have before. She was a timid girl in many ways but when it came to Alchemy, she had another name: the Cauldron Dragon.
People moved to the side as they looked at the two of them passing. It looked as if they had all heard the growling noise that came with forming the pill.
They exited the Alchemy lab and headed right for the library.
Egbert was at the door. Even with just a skeleton face, Fehim could see the excitement on the old skeleton’s face.
“Can I see it?” He rubbed his finger bones together.
Delilah let out a sigh, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips as she pulled it out.
Fehim couldn’t help but stand a bit taller. It had been a group effort to make the pill, each of them assisting the other; he couldn’t help but be excited to hear what Egbert had to say.
He pulled off the pill bottle top and rolled the pill around in his hands. The blue flame in one of his eyes turned green before he put the pill back. “It looks like the dungeon is up to its old tricks!” Egbert said.
Delilah and Fehim both looked at him with questions.
“If you were to make this in a normal cauldron, you would have been able to reach the formation stage, but because of the pure Mana and the tier-two Alchemy lab, the pill was able to evolve. Turning it from a mid-Apprentice-grade pill to a high-Apprentice-grade pill!”
“That would explain that growling noise,” Delilah said.
“Yes! So you used the blood of a beast in the pill—it wasn’t much, but with the pure Mana and high-grade ingredients, the blood’s impurities were washed away and the bloodline evolved, increasing the power of the pill. If you didn’t use high enough ingredients to balance out the power of the pill, then it would have failed.” Egbert sounded impressed.
“Do you know what the effects of this pill would be?” Delilah asked.
“What do you think that it will be?” Egbert asked.
Delilah paused for a moment, before she opened the pill bottle and started to check the pill—staring at it, smelling it. “I would need to take it back to the lab to do a full test, but I would think that it will increase someone’s power more than two times but it will last for less than a minute,” she said after a few minutes.
Egbert’s serious expression turned into a nod of approval. “That is correct. It will increase someone’s Strength by three times, though it will only last for forty-five seconds.”
Delilah closed her hand and a smile appeared on her face. “Now we just have to try to get it to last three or five minutes!” Delilah turned around.
Fehim’s b
lood boiled at the challenge. “We will need to increase the maturity of the ingredients or change a few of them out. Also, if we could make the blood go through an evolution before we add it to the concoction, then we would have more to draw from.”
“Let’s go!” Delilah said, heading for the Alchemy garden.
“Will the two of you get some damn sleep sometime!” Egbert yelled as they started walking away, talking about how they could extend the effect of the pill.
Fehim waved half-heartedly at Egbert, acknowledging his words.
Egbert let out a deep sigh and shook his head. Are all of the people in Alva just workaholics? Have they forgotten how to sleep?
“Charles! You know you’re not allowed to drink while in the library! That’s the fourth time this week!” Egbert yelled.
***
“Will. You. Fucking. Die!” Blaze yelled out as he hacked at the tentacled creature with his sword. A tentacle shot out at him as if in response. He brought his shield up in time, and was sent flying until he hit one of the small islands and fell into the water that covered the floor.
The tentacle creature dove into the water as the others were all peppering it with attacks.
“Crack your medallion!” Niemm yelled as he saw the massive shadow of the beast rushing underwater at Blaze.
He grit his teeth and broke it.
The creature rose up through his disappearing body and snapped at the empty water. Its tentacles clammed into the surrounding islands, cracking two of them as it dove once again and disappeared.
“Boss,” Davos said.
“What?” Niemm hissed.
“Is this a bad time to say that I fucking hate fish? That I don’t swim in lakes because of the seaweed touching my leg is like a tentacle?” Davos asked, his voice louder and higher pitched.
“Now you want to talk about this!” Hayley hissed, holding her two-handed axe as she looked around for the tentacled opponent.
“Yup!” Davos said.
There was a ripple of movement.
The Third Realm Page 24