Chapter Three

The increased range on Okembe’s Telepathy since he reached D Rank was a great help in navigating from the camp to the actual Dungeon entrance. Will had made sure the camp was close, but not too close in case it was located by other Climbers. He knew he couldn’t and wouldn’t be the first to Clear every Floor, probably not even every Floor between now and Floor 10, but that time hadn’t been reached yet. For now, it was best to lead the way and manage those who came after. The first Clear rewards would be increasingly valuable, and the more of them that TF could claim the better.

“Three coming from up on the left, over the hill. Judging from the level of thought I can detect it’s just more Claw Beasts.”

Will nodded at Okembe’s words, and before he had even turned to look he heard the telltale “whoomf!” of Daphne’s firebird launching. Well, her firebirds. Along with the Summoner’s Staff and improving her Stats, Daphne had used the Skill Point from Clearing Floor 4 and another gained from an Event to purchase the Partnered Summons [D] Skill, and now she could duplicate any of her summons for no additional cost. It was a great Skill, one of the highest priority in the list he’d distributed for Summoners.

He watched the two large flaming birds crash into the oncoming forms of the claw beasts and burst, sending a nails-on-a-chalkboard screech into the air from the claw beasts. They had all been badly injured by the explosion, and when a pair of lightning hares and two telekinetically lobbed spears followed up, the monsters dropped dead.

“Nothing else in range, we’re good to continue.”

They listened to the Psion and continued on their way. Floor 4, as a whole, had a wildly diverse layout and environment. This particular section, towards the East of the city in which new arrivals spawned, was one of shattered plains and cliffs. They wove through a ravine, picking their way across boulders and rubble, even climbing a sheer face at one point (assisted by the Mountain Goat Ropes [D] Will had made sure to send a team to farm).

Squeezing through a small crack in the cliff face that most would completely ignore, the party was greeted by a tall archway – and within that, a thick oaken door with golden inlay. Floor 5 was a big deal. The first Floor to have Denizens, sapient lifeforms who weren’t just there to kill for loot. That was the most important factor in governing Will’s desire to be the first party on the Floor. He needed to have a justification for promoting a policy of non-aggression among the Clans. Every Denizen was a resource, and killing them was rarely the best way to exploit it. Looking at the doorway, remembering the first time he’d passed through this Dungeon with the Companions, excitement warred with rationality and tempted him to just run in.

“Okay, Unk, lead the way. We’ll be attacked the moment we get in, so I’d link to Daph before you enter. Met, drink your first Shield Elixir [E]. I’m going to cast my buffs, and then we’ll enter. No need for Party Chat unless things get loud, since we’ll be alone in there.”

Will watched as the rest of his party shuffled gear around and checked their Sheets. Unk clearly hadn’t avoided all grinding in the time he’d been absent, as when he linked Daphne Will could actually see a golden light linking the two – the sign that he’d upgraded the Soul Link [F] Skill to E rank. Metrodora chugged a silvery draught and winced at the sour taste, and Will waved his hand towards the group.

“Endure. Verten’s Vitality. Pain Ward.”

The first three Spells were directed at himself and Unk. He could extend them to everyone, but with the casters trying to stay out of the melee it wasn’t worth it. Each additional buffed target had a higher mana cost than the last, so until he’d reached Floor 6 and got his Elite Class he had to discriminate.

“Caster’s Reinforcement. Bleeding Strikes.”

A Spell that would decrease mana drain in the party’s casters, plus one that would make sure his, Unk’s and Okembe’s attacks with swords and other bladed weapons would deal increased damage.

“Alacrity. Vigorous Sharpen.”

The last two were just for Will himself. He still hadn’t managed to upgrade Sharpen again, but with Researcher Jen finally having agreed to work with Towerfall and having “how to upgrade Skills and Spells” at the top of her list, he expected to have better guidance in time.

Unk shivered slightly as the Spells settled onto him, and then shrugged and headed for the door, hefting his shield in one hand and his new mace in the other. A gift from Daphne, and something she’d had to purchase for quite a few Coins from another Climber who’d bought it earlier in the Climb on Floor 3.

“Here we go!”

The door swung open at the lightest touch from Unk’s mace, and Will felt the power of the location draw him and the others inside. With a crash, the door shut behind them, leaving them in darkness.

“Above!”

Okembe shouted, and as light suddenly flooded the room, Will cast his eyes upwards and watched three silver spears slamming into the underside of a huge spider. A pair of firebirds followed, and so did a vial of acid launched from Metrodora’s Vial Slinger [C]. The spider finished descending to the floor, making a horrible clicking and screeching sound as it sustained burns and injuries across its form, and then lunged for the party with surprising speed.

Will and Unk were prepared for this, though. Unk stepped forward and threw a Shield Bash [F] as Will dashed forwards and leapt into the air. He rose to meet the dozens of beady eyes atop the spider’s face and began laying in with Whisper and Shout. Black ichor sprayed from every wound, and Will managed to damage several of the eyes beyond repair before gravity took over and he was forced to land and leap away. Webs sprayed from several spinnerets scattered across the spider’s body, and in his peripheral vision he saw dozens of smaller spiders begin to flood the room from hidden holes.

Metrodora quickly swapped targets, and he heard the crashes of several vials breaking as the plant-tentacle she’d earned from the Bog King took up the role of her missing limb and started lobbing pungent fuel into the mass of minions. One of Daphne’s firebirds diverted from where it was harassing the big spider and keeping it from breaking past Unk’s shield, and the outskirts of the room were alight in moments.

From there, the fight went just as planned. Will dashed around, splitting focus between the main spider and dismantling her webs. The conceit of this fight was supposed to be that the webs created tripwires and traps which could be activated all at once to crush an overconfident party, but Will’s Alacrity boosted speed and Vigorous Sharpen boosted cuts prevented that from happening.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Okembe kept launching spears into the main spider, finding gaps in its armour plates and chitin and driving the weapons deep with both precision and force. Daphne’s summons kept up a blistering pace of attack, new ones filling the space whenever one was destroyed, and Metrodora’s various concoctions kept the minions from advancing in more than small numbers. Blanik would have been helpful to clear the few that did make it through, but between Will’s buffs and the rest of the party’s focus his absence wasn’t felt too keenly.

Unk’s mace snapped two of the main spider’s limbs as he activated its associated Skill.

“Revenger’s Strike!”

That was the reason Daphne had paid such a fee for the mace. Though its Skill was only E ranked at the moment, the weapon was a growth item just like Will’s own swords, and the ability to turn a portion of the damage you’d sustained into attack power was endlessly useful for a tank.

Taking advantage of the opening, Metrodora pointed the large slingshot contraption she’d taken as her reward from the Third Eye Trial and fired off a specialised insecticide that he’d been forced to smell her brewing for the past few days. It slammed into the spider’s open mandibles as the creature tried to lunge for Daphne, and Unk used another Shield Bash to force it deeper. A few seconds passed, and then the spider dropped to the floor convulsing – its minions scattering back into their hidey-holes.

“Nice work everyone. Let’s keep up the pace. I don’t want to have to drop the buffs.”

Will swigged a mana potion quickly, gesturing to Unk and letting the man take up his position at the head of the group as they moved into the small corridor that the spiders had been blocking.

With over 30 in both magic Stats, Will’s mana pool was significantly larger and more efficient, though he’d begun to hit diminishing returns in the benefits of his Soul Anchor training. With Metrodora being able to improve on the Store-bought mana potions so they had less toxicity and could be used more repeatedly, he didn’t expect to have to remove his buffs until the Dungeon was completed.

Progress through the next rooms went fast, as they navigated the maze-like internals of the Dungeon with ease thanks to Will’s memory. The Companions had failed to Clear the entire thing, but that was because their primary caster – Sam – had been badly wounded by a trap they missed, and not due to a lack of information. That had been before Will had joined them, since he had skipped up to 5 by spending his life savings and avoiding fights in the time it took them to reach 5 and stall. He’d made the party into a five person group, and they’d pushed to the 10th together, even though it took them over a year to do so and ended up with them joining the FCA and crippling themselves. Now, though, they were already a 5 person team and Will had ensured they were both more powerful and more prepared than John and the others had been.

“Careful with that!”

Unk shouted as one of Daphne’s lightning hares bolted between his legs to electrocute the Vampire Mole that had just burst from the ground. She laughed, but Will could see as she flicked her wrist to pull the summon back and away from the tank. Okembe’s floating sword danced past his vision, another mole impaled on its length, and the smell of burning fur filled his nostrils as Metrodora lobbed explosive vials by the dozen. The draining status effect that the moles inflicted was difficult to cure, so they were using overwhelming force.

As Will delivered a finishing blow to the last of the moles, the door to the final room shimmered into view. Inside was the Millstone Guardian, a huge stone golem that promised to be the biggest (and in truth, only real) threat that the party had to contend with on their way to the next Floor. They’d spent roughly 8 hours in the Dungeon, although they had taken an hour’s break at one point to allow them all to recharge some mana and recover some health and stamina, but were still well on pace for Will’s goal.

If he wanted to have time to meet with the most important Denizens in the Safe Area and prepare them for the rush of Climbers, if he wanted to have time to bring Brunjar and Dane up and get them ready as well, he needed at least a full day head-start, and it looked as though they’d get two.

“Daph, time for you to bust out that new summon. Met, Okembe, I’m dropping Caster’s Reinforcement on you two, so be aware.”

Smiling excitedly, the young woman waved her Summoner’s Staff and let loose a burst of fragrant blue mana that brought with it the scent of sea breeze and beach air. The mana quickly coalesced in front of her, forming into a pair of humanoid figures about the same height as Will that were constructed entirely from a constantly undulating mass of seawater.

“Everyone ready?”

Unk asked the group, placing a hand on the final door and meeting the rest of the party’s eyes one at a time for confirmation. Six nods, as Daphne even had her summons make exaggerated motions with their featureless heads, and the door opened. They walked in, spreading out into formation around the huge boulder that took up most of the space.

Rumbling, cracking, crunching sounds drowned out the closing and disappearing of the door they entered through, and the boulder began to shift and move. Splits and crevices appeared within its round form, and like some sort of low-tech Transformer the Millstone Golem began to assemble and craft itself.

Stone-etching fluid and mixed acids sprayed across the forming golem, sizzling pockmarks into the dense grey rock even as it drew itself up into a large, multi-limbed humanoid appearance. Metrodora’s Vial Slinger clunked with each shot, and her efforts were immediately joined by Okembe and Daphne, who sent their own strongest attacks forwards as one.

A half dozen spears, each having had their tips soaked in a special acid Metrodora had brewed up (which would dissolve stone, but not metal) found their way into the joints and cracks of the golem’s body, and the two Minor Ocean Elementals surged forwards as a unified tidal wave, splitting apart and starting to lash eroding whips against the Boss.

Unk lunged in, his shield coming up to block one of the golem’s huge stone fists with a resounding clang. Will sprinted under a downward strike from another limb, twisting out of the way just in time to avoid being flattened, and then used the pillar of the monster’s arm to kick off. Thanks to the Millstone Golem being slow but strong, he had plenty of time to do this before it withdrew for another attack, and with another deft kick and flip he’d managed to make his way onto the golem’s huge form. The footing wasn’t steady, but Will’s Agility was high enough to compensate, and he started scrambling around looking for the crevice that would let him fire his sword’s Skills straight into its core.