Escape From Litchfield Page 16
[Tamara: Sol. Pull when ready.]
Sol crept to the entrance, careful to not attract the mob's attention early. He waited for the wandering ant to leave. The trick was to try and catch both Worker Ants in an explosion, while the wandering ant was ferrying materials. After they dealt with the room ants, they could take on the wanderer at their leisure. He started off with an iceball spell. A ball of ice the size of a bowling ball formed and sped off to the targeted Worker Ant. It exploded on impact, catching both workers. One worker merely took damage, but the other had ice form along its legs. Smiling with satisfaction, he withdrew from the room rapidly, noting that one of the ants had a slow debuff from the ice. Myst and Tamara were sure to take care of the lagging ant.
Sol ran to the far end of their room and prepared his next cast. His sword was sheathed as he one handed cast.
When the Worker Ant appeared, Sol unleashed a Lightning Ball, smashing into the ant and staggering its partner. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Myst and Tamara backstab the lagging ant before he gave all of his attention to his opponent. He gave a sigh of pleasure that they had pulled off this attack perfectly, more certain than ever that they were going to make it out of this dungeon. He crushed his two cores, unleashing their spells on the ant. Tamara changed her movements into her strange battle dance that was both mesmerizing and graceful, the ants slowed down noticeably, while his mana regeneration ticked up faster.
Worker Ants weren't the most smartest or fearsome opponents, but they still needed attention. His sphere morphed to block the ant's strikes as he slashed with his sword, scoring a shallow hit against the lead ant. The ant dented and scraped Az's Sphere, leaving deep furrows. But Sol channeled additional mana to reliquify and reform the shield undamaged.
As expected, Tamara and Myst made short work of their ant between Myst's double backstab and Tamara's single backstab, they could take down nearly any opponent within seconds. Tamara engaged Sol's ant with a trio of ice darts.
Sol shook his head in wonder as Tamara's darts finished off his ant. Tamara was shockingly effective. Even without using her newfound runemaster skills, she was keeping pace with him, despite the fact he was using Ball type spells for area damage. Even the elite dark elf royal guards would be hard pressed to keep up with her. His respect for her was growing. He was still the more experienced adventurer and mage. He had been tutoring her in the ways of magic. If she chose to take a mage class, she'd be outputting incredible amounts of damage since she would gain the ability to designate friend and foe with the Precision Magic skill.
Tamara has defeated a level 30 being and has earned 29 raw experience! After bonuses applied, 47 experience was earned!
Tamara has defeated a level 30 being and has earned 29 raw experience! After bonuses applied, 47 experience was earned!
Sol has defeated a level 30 being and has earned 23 raw experience! After bonuses applied, 37 experience was earned!
Sol has defeated a level 30 being and has earned 23 raw experience! After bonuses applied, 37 experience was earned!
Tamara gained 1 level in Fire Magic and now it is 29
Tamara gained 1 level in Sneak and now it is 19
Tamara gained 1 level in Sword and now it is 25
Tamara gained 1 level in Mental Rune and now it is 5
Tamara gained 1 level in Beat Dance Battle and now it is 2
Tamara gained 1 level in Bard and now it is 2
Sol nodded approvingly as he checked the battle logs. "Tamara, you did well to get a critical hit on the backstab, but remember to use your senses to find the weakness in your opponents." A stealthed fighter was guaranteed a 2x critical hit, but with good luck or skill the higher 8x and 20x critical hits could land. Since Sol had learned that she had the ability to sense magic, he taught her the lore of the battlemage. As a mage, he was sensitive to magic, so he had an innate sense of how to find weaknesses in magical armor. Every magical field had a weakness. It was his job to find it and exploit it. He had honed his ability for decades, and he could routinely target weaknesses in the field to consistently score critical hits. Tamara, on the other hand, could literally see the weaknesses in mana, so with practice, she should be able to surpass even Sol, who had a far limited range to detect the flaws.
Tamara collected samples of the moss and fungi, despite not knowing any herbal use for them. At first, she thought to use them as light sources, but their glow subsided quickly after harvest. "Thanks for your guidance, Sol." She acknowledged his compliment.
The wandering ant appeared to be the last mob blocking their path to the next level. There wasn't a first floor boss, but as usual, there was an exit portal from where the boss room was located. As they descended, the pathway up closed. They found the second floor portal room which also doubled as a safe zone free from monsters. They took a break as Tamara recorded the runes. The floor portal rooms allowed adventurers to skip previously explored floors. The deeper dungeon levels tended to have higher level monsters that dropped better loot, so many adventurers skipped the earlier levels. This dungeon was an outlier in that no one wanted to go lower since the dungeon master set the dungeon to drop bad loot despite the increasing difficulty.
Tamara has defeated a level 30 being and has earned 29 raw experience! After bonuses applied, 47 experience was earned!
Sol has defeated a level 30 being and has earned 23 raw experience! After bonuses applied, 37 experience was earned!
Tamara gained 1 level in Sword and now it is 26
Tamara gained 1 level in Beat Dance Battle and now it is 3
Tamara gained 1 level in Bard and now it is 3
Quest Completed:SubClass Quest 6: Drummer
You have chosen the subclass Drummer. Use your skill in combat or with a paying audience 600 times. This has a Level D difficulty.
Reward:1200 experience.
Failure:It is impossible to fail this quest.
She accepted the new quest.
Tamara has earned 1200 raw experience! After bonuses are applied, 1920 was earned!
Ding! Tamara has gained a level. Welcome to level 36!
Quest:SubClass Quest 7: Drummer
You have chosen the subclass Drummer. Use your skill in combat or with a paying audience 700 times. This has a Level D difficulty.
Reward:1400 experience.
Failure:It is impossible to fail this quest.
The second level of the dungeon appeared to be an ant level as well. Myst crept forward in scout mode and sent Tamara his vision. After a short hallway, the path opened up to a room with two Army Ants and a Warrior Ant. The Ant Warriors had thicker carapaces and claws sharpened for war rather than digging and foraging. They were still a solitary unit, but they were strong, armored, and fast. It was the Army Ant that was the dreaded one. They were faster, stronger, and more armored than the Warrior Ant. And they attacked in groups. Tamara and Sol had the advantage that the Army Ants did not have any ranged attackers, so Sol would usually limit the Ant's movements, allowing Tamara to use ranged attacks on them. The Ants, in turn, attacked as available.
Sol opened up the fight with Fireball and spellcores, drawing the ants straight for him. His Az's Sphere flared out and blocked their attacks.
Tamara's sneak attack scored a 20x critical hit, smashing her opponent for 1033 gross damage and 826 damage. Her sword sliced right through its hitpoints and sheared through its carapace, nearly cutting it in two.
Myst's double backstab scored two milder hits, but it was still enough to tear his opponent apart, leaving it still.
Sol, on the other hand, was fending the last two ants with mild difficulty. His sphere held, but it was clearly starting to fail. Tamara and Myst combined attacks on one ant, leaving the other for Sol. Tamara got in a few hits with her sword, while Myst used his backstabs to finish off the ant. Sol, seeing that he was falling behind in the kill count unleashed a barrage of fire darts, bringing the ant low on hp. Tamara and Myst ganged up on it, another squished ant smashed into the dirt.
Tamara gained 1 level in Sneak and now it is 20
Tamara gained 2 levels in Sword and now it is 28
Tamara gained 1 level in Beat Dance Battle and now it is 4
Tamara gained 1 level in Bard and now it is 4
Tamara has defeated a level 31 being and has earned 30 raw experience! After bonuses applied, 48 experience was earned!
Sol has defeated a level 31 being and has earned 30 raw experience! After bonuses applied, 48 experience was earned!
Tamara has defeated a level 31 being and has earned 30 raw experience! After bonuses applied, 48 experience was earned!
Sol has defeated a level 31 being and has earned 30 raw experience! After bonuses applied, 48 experience was earned!
Tamara has defeated a level 31 being and has earned 30 raw experience! After bonuses applied, 48 experience was earned!
Sol has defeated a level 31 being and has earned 30 raw experience! After bonuses applied, 48 experience was earned!
The pathway ended with black double doors, obviously the boss room. Sol prepared ten cores with fireballs. He could use the cores to cast multiple spells quickly, and the only issue was that the cores, once prepared, needed to be used within the hour. It also used up a core that could be used for other things like potions and enchantment. However, their priority was in survival over loot. Ten spellcores was his hard limit, the channeling and mental strain were so intense that he literally had to release all the spells at the start of combat. After Sol and Tamara had a quick lunch and refreshed their buffs, they took a peek into the boss room.
The boss of this floor was an Ant Queen. She was enormous, but ultimately just a larger, stronger, and armored version of the Ant Warrior. Surprisingly, the queen sported some plate armor along her carapace. There were gaps at the joints. An already imposing ant was made far more capable. Guarding her were two Warrior Ants and ten Army Ants. This was not going to be a walk in the park. The room was large enough that the queen and her soldiers didn't notice the door cracked open. The place was lush with greenery. A small waterfall fell near the queen, and a massive crystal formation that appeared to reach the surface glowed with sunlight refocused from above.
"Those ants seem to be about level 35 with 900 hit points. The queen herself had 1800 hit points. I don't think we can take the room, " said Sol as he shook his head sadly. They had been off to a good start, but a two man dungeon team just couldn't cut it. Twelve mobs and the boss was too much for them. He was sad that he'd wasted 10 cores, but there was no point in doing the room. The moment he cast his fireballs, the ants would scatter.
Sol turned from his musing to see how she was taking it. The half-elf was furiously thinking of ways to counter the ants. Even after just a few days of knowing her, he could tell that she hadn't given up. Shaking his head, he waited.
After a few minutes, Tamara nodded. Turning to Sol, she said, "Can you make enough fireball cores to take out 900 hit points?"
Sol nodded. "I will need to use all ten cores, but I should be able to do it. The problem is that the ants will scatter the moment I cast my first fireball."
Grinning, Tamara said, "Leave that to me. I'm going to box them in. They will regret standing in formation so conveniently for me. Give me a moment to configure my runes."
She closed her eyes to envision her modifications to her runemagic.
Sol shrugged to himself. She's been pulling out miracles since the moment he met her. Worst case, he died. Best case, they win another impossible fight.
After a minute, Tamara nodded to Sol. Then she focused her attention on Myst. "Myst, go dragon mode. Fly up and wait until my air walls drop. They should be visible with a small opening allowing us to throw spells in. After Sol launches his last fireball, use your Dragon's Breathe on full blast." Turning back to Sol, she said, "Sol, launch your fireballs one at a time at the closest ant. Your fireballs should blast the ants back, hopefully, all the way to the Queen. I'll wall them in with air walls."
They opened the door, and the entire formation shifted their gaze to Tamara's group, some even began taking steps towards the group. Tamara was ready though, and walls of air dropped down in an oval shape, with a gap large enough to accommodate the fireballs facing them.
Aiming for the gaps, Sol launched his fireballs, blowing back the first ants. The air within the enclosed space began to shimmer due to the extreme heat after the fourth fireball, and each of the fireballs smashed them into the Queen, who herself had her back to the wall. After the fourth fireball smashed into the group, the floor of the space liquefied into magma, yet the ants continued futilely to struggle weakly to escape the space. The Queen roared and pushed her way through her guards and tanked the fireballs. Tamara launched her freebie gravity ball, smashing into the queen and negating enough weight that the next fireball pushed her back. And as Sol's tenth fireball rained in, Myst as ordered, blew Dragon Breath into the space. At the same time, Tamara launched a rune altered fireball overloaded with 350 mana, smashing into the survivors for 480 damage.
The queen swam towards the group with over 15% health left, but her health was dropping rapidly from the molten lava. The heat was completely encased within the air walls, so normally heat would dissipate and form a crust of cooling rock. Instead, the top layer was an incandescent yellow with pockets of boiling lava. The queen submerged into the pool. The party waited with breathlessness, prepared for the monstrosity to breach, splashing boiling rock. But she never reappeared.
Tamara gained 2 levels in Rune Magic and now it is 51
Tamara gained 3 levels in Air Magic and now it is 4
Tamara gained 2 levels in Fire Magic and now it is 31
Tamara gained 1 level in Beat Dance Battle and now it is 5
Tamara gained 1 level in Bard and now it is 5
Tamara gained 1 level in Mental Rune and now it is 6
Tamara has defeated a level 35 being and has earned 66 raw experience! After bonuses applied, 105 experience was earned!
...
Tamara has defeated a level 35 being and has earned 66 raw experience! After bonuses applied, 105 experience was earned!
Sol has defeated a level 35 being and has earned 66 raw experience! After bonuses applied, 105 experience was earned!
...
Sol has defeated a level 35 being and has earned 66 raw experience! After bonuses applied, 105 experience was earned!
Quest Completed:SubClass Quest 7: Drummer
You have chosen the subclass Drummer. Use your skill in combat or with a paying audience 700 times. This has a Level D difficulty.
Reward:1400 experience.
Failure:It is impossible to fail this quest.
Tamara has earned 1400 raw experience! After bonuses are applied, 2240 was earned!
Quest:SubClass Quest 8: Drummer
You have chosen the subclass Drummer. Use your skill in combat or with a paying audience 800 times. This has a Level D difficulty.
Reward:1600 experience.
Failure:It is impossible to fail this quest.
Tamara closed the air gaps with the last of her mana, and they watched as the intense heat began liquefying the ground past the air walls. "Let's move back. We got the experience for all thirteen of them. The air wall should fall soon and we don't want to be around when all that heat is released."
Moving back into the hallway, they decided to camp for the night. Myst took the guard position as everyone slept.
The next morning, they entered the boss room, and it was still molten, even though a hardened crust had formed on the top. Myst flew Tamara over to the Boss chest to loot. She simply opened the chest and threw everything into her backpack. The only thing of the Ants that survived was the Queen's core since it was a large elite core. The lesser ant's cores were lost. They descended to floor three without commenting on the destruction they had wrought.
Chapter 11
"The first trial is to know your god. Think about him and what he means to you. Meditate and fast until you know him." Ja
re kept the paladin's guidance in his mind as he worked.
"So. I need to meditate and think about the Unishi god." Jare was a warrior, not a thinker. But he did think and know his god, so he thought this was going to be an easy task. He thought about the time when he leaned on his god to get through the death of his parents. He thought of the times he prayed for his sister to Awaken. He thanked the Unishi God when he met Tamara, and when she rekindled his hopes that his sister could be saved. Even now, he was silently praying that Tamara would survive the kidnapping.
Despite thinking of his God and knowing him, he didn't get anywhere. A whole hour had passed, so Jare decided to browse the books. "How to Meditate for Beginners" was one of the top books. After reading the book and practicing for hours, he still didn't get anywhere. He couldn't let go of his worries about Tamara. He couldn't stop berating himself for not being strong enough to protect her, or even stand by her side as she attacked an army. He felt guilty that Tamara had taken on Jenny at the last moment. For him. To cure him of his disease.
An unknown amount of time passed. Days perhaps. Maybe even weeks. Being in the room alone with his thoughts and his guilt and his fasting hunger. The time passed by. Then one day, a voice spoke, "Jare. You wish to be my Paladin. My Champion on The Last Redoubt?"
Jare instinctively knew the voice belonged to his god, so he immediately said, "Yes, I do."
"You choose me, even though no boon is guaranteed. Nay, not even the boons granted by other gods."
Jare opened his eyes and clearly said, "Aye. You are the God I serve, the one who has been there through it all. I choose you." As he said it, his resolve grew.