by Aleron Kong
He summoned Alma back and psychically clued her in on the plan. Weak Haste increased his movement and attack speed by +10%. Minor Chitin Carapace increased his natural armor by +4; the Earth spell thickened his skin appreciably and made it appear glossy like a beetle’s shell. Unfortunately, the physical change meant his other Earth defense spell, Weak Barkskin, had no effect. He considered casting Weak Life Armor, but the +1 defense wouldn’t make too much of a difference. If they had been battling undead, he would have, as the defense increased to +3 vs Death creatures, but in the Dungeon he had better uses for the mana.
Taking a deep breath, Richter cast Summon Weak Saproling and Summon Minor Chokespore Arachnid. Ever since Hisako’s warning about summoning too many creatures at once, he’d been hesitant about such spells. Both creatures remained easily under his control, however. Richter made eye contact with both, creating a weak psychic bond.
The other magi in the party cast their own buffs. Hisako cast a mass Earth magic buff that reduced their stamina consumption by 20%. With all of that done, the clock was ticking until the buffs ran out. Richter cast one more spell, Akaton Evolution. Targeting the saproling, he used Chaos magic for the second time.
Again, he was struck by how easily his mana filled the Chaotic spellform. Undulating grey power shot towards the saproling and was absorbed into its body. It disappeared and for a moment, nothing happened.
“What was that?” Hisako spat. Richter looked at her in surprise that only deepened when he saw her face. She looked afraid.
“It was my Chaos spell,” Richter replied, at a loss. How could she have such a negative reaction to something so beautiful? He looked around at the others in the party. Except for the decaemur knight, they all looked discomforted as well. “Didn’t you think the light was beautiful?”
“It made me feel uncomfortable,” Sion replied softly. “Just like when I was in the tunnels at the goblin encampment. The light from that thing underground…” His voice trailed off. Everyone else nodded to show they felt the same. Richter remember that Sumiko had had a similar reaction when she witnessed him respawn once. He had apparently been dumped through a portal that had showed raw chaos behind it. He couldn’t argue with the unilateral reaction of his party members, but he still didn’t understand it. The light just felt right to him.
Before anyone could say anything else, the saproling began to change. There was a small crack like splitting wood as it seemed to fold in on itself. It had taken the form of a wolf made out of intertwined pale branches. It was covered in leaves that took the place of fur. As the party watched it began to shrink. The leaves fell off and it shrank from the size of a large wolf to the size of a golden retriever. The color of the wood began to darken. After a few seconds, the transformation completed. The creature looked sleeker and more solid than before. Richter realized that despite shrinking, it hadn’t lost any mass, it had just become more dense and compact. A prompt filled his vision.
Know This! Your spell Akaton Evolution has evolved your Saproling into a Hardwood Saproling, 1 of 3 possible evolutions. Attack increased by +2. Defense increased by +5. Speed decreased by 10%. New attack unlocked: Thorn – Your summoned creature can fire hardened thorns at your enemies.
Richter checked to ensure he still had control over the creature and was pleased to see that he did. Hisako spoke up, “I trust you, Lord Richter. Your control over this magic is discomforting, but I accept that it is part of you.” The redhead visibly shook herself, “I would ask that you limit your usage of it around me as much as possible, however.”
“Fair enough,” he replied.
“Then let’s hunt,” she told him. The look in her eyes said she was ready for violence.
He couldn’t have agreed more.
CHAPTER 47 – Day 143 – Kuborn 33, 0 AoC
Alma continued to give an aerial view of what was happening. Richter sent his hardwood saproling forward and had the chokespore arachnid hide on one of the columns again. Within seconds of the earth elemental leaving his line of sight there was a piercing howl. One of the prowlers had caught sight of it. Despite the fact that The Land operated by game mechanics, there were some very big differences. One of the biggest was that enemies were not dumb mobs that you could pull one at a time. When the animal sounded the alarm, every fucking monster in the place came a’runnin!
Richter ordered the saproling to lead the monsters back towards his group. He didn’t specify exactly how though. It wasn’t clear who was more surprised, him or the prowler, when a three-inch-long thorn with a wickedly barbed tip shot from the saproling’s mouth. The projectile stabbed into the crook of the prowler’s front leg. The animal went down with a pained yelp. It started biting at the section of wood that was still outside of its body, but the spike was embedded deeply and the barbs kept it anchored in the flesh. Richter was pretty sure that if the thorn came out, a large chunk of flesh was coming out as well. Only a minute into the fight, and his evolved creature had already taken one of the monsters out of the battle. He loved Chaos magic!
The other monsters continued to surge forward. His saproling retreated back towards the party, but it was soon overtaken. Even if the hardwood saproling hadn’t had its speed reduced, it never could have outrun the prowlers. The dog monsters sank their teeth into the forest elemental, but its increased defense let it shrug off at least some of the attacks. Richter ordered it to focus most of its efforts on retreating. He needed the monsters to get closer.
Some of the approaching creatures caught sight of Richter’s group and charged them instead, but the low-level monsters were easily dealt with. Sion picked one off with a moderately-imbued arrow strike. Beyan had switched the decaemur knight’s weapon to a heavy two-handed spear. It skewered an approaching tusker with its undead strength, then lifted the creature off the ground before bashing it into the cavern floor again. The knight looked at the boar with dispassionate eyes and saw that it still moved. The undead raised the body and slammed it back down several more times for good measure. Other stray monsters were dispatched by members of the group with equal efficiency. As powerful as the Dungeon might one day become, Richter’s party was ridiculously overpowered for this first room.
The hardwood saproling continued its slog back towards the party. More monsters had piled on, and its health was flashing red. It finally came into view though, two prowlers with their teeth sunk into each of its forelegs. A herd of ten tuskers milled around the creature, jostling each other in an attempt to bite the forest elemental. They were crowded so close together that their hardened bone ridges dug into each other. Several were bleeding. Alma continued to fly overhead, watching the whole thing but not intervening. More monsters were running up from the far side of the cavern.
Richter watched them approach, willing the saproling to get just a little closer. It struggled to free itself and return to its master. It managed another two feet. It was enough. With a grim excitement, Richter thought, *Now!*
The chokespore arachnid followed his command without hesitation. From its perch twenty feet up a nearby column, it plummeted unseen towards the knot of monsters that was almost two dozen strong. The jumping spider landed lightly on the backs of two tuskers. It had the delicate and unnatural grace of all spiders, the lightness of step that made spiders the stuff of nightmares for so many. The boar monsters didn’t even notice until the spider released its special attack.
Richter’s arachnid hunched down for just a moment before hundreds of thousands of tiny spores shot from the holes in its abdomen. Because it was higher off the ground than the monsters the effect wasn’t immediate, but that served Richter’s purposes as well. Nodding to Sion, the chaos seed started imbuing his shot while his friend did the same. Twin fires of blue and gold sprang into existence around their arrows.
The chaos seed had already spent nearly four hundred mana on his buffs and summoning spells, but that still left him enough to max out the secondary effects of his Enhanced Imbue Arrow skill. With Alma at level thirty-e
ight, there was up to an 80% chance to inflict Mind Fog, a 50% chance to cause Stun and up to a 20% chance to cause Psi Crystallization. The level six Psi Bond he and Alma shared gave another +12% chance to all the effects. That wasn’t even counting the 38% boost to damage he got because of Alma’s personal level. At a cost of two hundred mana, it wasn’t something he could do again and again, and it took seven seconds to fully power up. With an AoE of six feet though, once his imbued shot was charged, it was almost fire and fa’get’about it!
While Richter imbued his shot, he also used Analyze on one of the prowlers.
Name: Jenit ProwlerDisposition: Angry
Jenit prowlers are known for their cackling laugh. Though they are often heard before they attack, few prey escape. The prowlers possess a body built for prodigious speed. Their bite is also magically enhanced, allowing them to do far more damage than they could otherwise. A prowler’s teeth are angled backward slightly, almost assuring massive bleeding if its victim manages to break free.
Special Attack: Clamping Bite – Increases bite damage by +100%. The jaws can then clamp magically shut, ensuring they cannot be opened without massive trauma.
Level: 14
Health: 391Mana: 34Stamina: 290
Strength: 12
Agility: 36
Dexterity: 37
Constitution: 35
Endurance: 29
Intelligence: 3
Wisdom: 4
Charisma: 5
Luck: 10
The creature definitely wasn’t a pushover. The Dungeon’s +10% health bonus was also obvious. It meant it would take more to put it down. Richter wasn’t worried. Hisako could probably solo this Dungeon. Hell, Yoshi and Randolphus could probably do it as well.
Richter was just happy neither of the creatures they had encountered so far seemed to have any innate stealth abilities. The added +10% to Concealment that the Dungeon gave its monsters and traps did jack if their base value was zero. It did remind him though that somewhere in the Dungeon there was a giant snake that had been known as the “unseen killer” before it had gained scales made of pure high steel and been imbued with Higher Energy magic. That was a concern for later though.
The golden glow around Richter’s arrow included black streaks after the first second that started speeding over the surface by the third. Pulling on his psychic connection with Alma made blue-white lightning dance around the aura. The black streaks stabilized to a constant level and the imbuement took on the appearance of a barbershop pole. Gritting his teeth in a bloodthirsty smile, he shouted, “Now!”
Both he and Sion released simultaneously. By the time they were ready, the spider’s spores had taken effect. Every creature within the spider’s AoE except the saproling and the spider itself had fallen to the ground, hacking. The sprite’s blue arrow was surrounded by yellow lightning, courtesy of his meitu'pixie, Sapir. The Air pixie had transitioned to battle form while his meitu’sprite was imbuing his shot. Sapir’s wings clacked furiously as he flew above Sion in an agitated circle. Celestial or not, the pixie child always seemed hungry for battle. The bolts of blue and gold-black struck the cluster of monsters with explosive force.
The saproling’s already mauled body succumbed and the arachnid’s soft body was literally blown apart, but they had served their purpose. Almost thirty monsters had inhaled the spider’s spores and were down on the ground gasping before the imbued shots even struck. The two Companions’ attacks created fields of overlapping force that ravaged the tuskers and prowlers.
Sprites were physically small, most three to three-and-a-half feet tall. They were excellent archers but did not have the skill and range of elvish bowmen, though Richter would never say that out loud. What truly made them dangerous was their racial skill, Imbue Arrow, which let them convert mana into explosive force. The fact that Richter was the only known non-sprite who had ever learned the skill had gone a great way towards earning their trust.
The bonuses of the skill started modestly. With a +5% increase with each skill level to both magical damage and the speed with which they could convert mana, Imbue Arrow let them bring the pain! Bonding to their pixies had evolved the skill to Enhanced Imbue Arrow and had, in effect, doubled the base damage. Sion’s thirty-two skill levels in his now-evolved skill meant that the two hundred and twelve MPs he invested caused up to one hundred and ten points of damage to anything in his AoE. Combined with Richter’s similar although weaker output, the monsters were turned into pieces of meat.
Ten monsters that were in the center between the two Companions’ AoE died immediately. The rest lost hundreds of points of life as the force from Richter’s attack tore flesh, broke bones, and burst organs. Their choking status rendered them helpless, greatly increasing the damage they suffered. A cascade of prompts washed over the chaos seed, giving him up-to-date combat information.
BEGIN COMBAT LOG
Koran Tusker suffers from Mind Fog.
Jenit Prowler suffers from Psi Crystallization.
Jenit Prowler is Stunned.
Koran Tusker hit by Richter with Enhanced Imbue Arrow for varied damage. Damage Type(s): [(26.3 Physical x 76% Dex) + 76.2 Magic (Force) – 4 Armor] x 1.8 Helpless. Total Damage: 213
6-foot AoE Damage (no modifiers): 76
Richter has slain Koran Tusker!
Richter has slain Koran Tusker!
Richter has slain Jenit Prowler!
END COMBAT LOG
More and more prompts fed into Richter’s subconscious mind, letting him digest the combat info and make the appropriate choices in the battle. Half the monsters were down in the opening salvo and it had only cost them two arrows and two summoned creatures. Keening and hacking screams still came from the creatures that had survived the imbued attack, and several blue-white crystals hovered by their heads. Richter could feel Alma’s immediate interest in the psi crystals, though hunger might be a better word.
*Later!* he commanded. When he felt her resistance to the command, he added, *The sooner the battle is done, the sooner you can drain them.* She sent him a disgruntled psychic pulse in response, but it was good enough for Richter. Who wanted a woman without a lil’ fire? *Then get in the fight!*
The monsters had reached his group.
Yoshi’s blades wove in a graceful dance, though the damage they wrought was anything but delicate. Large rents appeared in the skin and muscle of any monster dumb enough to enter the sword adept’s range. White frost crystals formed at the edges of the wounds as extra ice damage was unleashed from his blades’ enchantments.
Terrod used both his sword and shield well. The captain’s exposure at the birth of the Quickening had increased his affinity in Shields to 100%. Since then, he had advanced several levels and learned a few tricks. He triggered Bash, knocking a jumping prowler to the ground with a large crash. His counterattack opened the dog from chest to crotch. Red blood spilled over the ground. In two seconds, the Dungeon drank most of the sanguineous fluid.
Beyan ordered his knight to defend him above all else. The undead creature jabbed at tuskers and prowlers alike, keeping them at bay while the gnome finished a Death spell. Purple-black light surrounded his hand. A second later, a laughing skull wreathed in necrotic energy shot from his hand and impacted against a tusker. The sow went down squealing while Death magic writhed over her face. In his other hand the necromancer held his Wand of Dark Bolts. Black bars of energy shot into the monsters as Beyan targeted beast after beast.
Hisako focused on Light magic during the battle. Beams of incandescent white luminescence shot from her fingertips. Some burned holes through monsters while others made them snap at illusory creatures. Still others bound the beasts into glowing cages, inflicting burn damage each second they were imprisoned. Relaxed would be the best way to describe the Master of Earth, Light and Life magic’s mood. She had no wish to deprive the other party members of battle experience, though she could have cleansed the entire chamber with just one high level spell.
Randolphu
s phased in and out of Stealth. The chamberlain kept his enchanted throwing knives in their bandoliers, preferring to attack his targets from behind and from the shadows. The Rogue would appear and stab down with a heavy blade. Each attack severed spines, punctured hearts, disemboweled abdomens or created huge gaping holes that made his victims bleed out. The combination of backstab damage plus critical strikes coupled with the use of Professional Rogue attacks made the Spy a deadly foe.
Sion continued to fire arrows at approaching enemies. The columns meant he didn’t have much time to identify, target and release at monsters as they raced towards them, but sprites’ racial disposition channeled points into both Dexterity and Agility with each level they attained. He didn’t take the time to imbue the arrows, especially with the shots fired at almost point-blank range at times, but his high level and archery skills served him well. Drill Shot, Stun Shot, and Double Shot drained his stamina quickly but crippled several monsters and wounded many more.
Richter shouldered his bow and drew his blades. In his left hand he clasped his Elementum Short Sword of Freezing. In the other, for the first time, he held a spiked mace. The high steel blunt weapon had just been completed and enchanted that morning.
You have enchanted:
Sonic Spiked Mace of Shadows
Attack: 14-22
Durability: 57/57
Item Class: Unusual
Quality: Superb
Weight: 4.2 kg
Material: High Steel
Traits:
+10% Damage vs Spell Barriers
+6 Earth damage*
6% chance to Disarm
3% chance to Shatter
Ignore up to 4% Defense
Charges: 325/325
* +200% vs Air creatures, +300% vs Crystalline creatures
It was a powerful weapon, though nothing compared to his elementum blade and its thirty-three to thirty-seven damage range. Still, Richter had decided he’d been ignoring his education. It was time that he started learning to use other weapons. Now that he could dual wield a normal-sized weapon without an extra penalty, he wanted to learn blunt weapons. The Dungeon, surrounded by some of the most powerful people he’d ever met, seemed like a good place to start training.