Imri wasn’t surprised when everyone in their 5 person group reaffirmed their commitment to going. Russ had been practically indignant when Imri suggested that he didn’t need to come. Rayden had been more subdued but no less firm. Only Sawyer seemed to waver, but he eventually agreed.
As with the last time, a group of soldiers stood on watch over the entrance. They had each been given Temporal Expansion rings to give them a fighting chance, but Imri still thought it was a fool's errand to guard the location.
Despite the disastrous first attempt Imri was optimistic. Emelia had gained 2 levels and the stats from her heritage rank-up. Russ had gained 3 levels from killing the second troglodyte, though all 3 of his level types were in the F rank. Even Rayden had gained a level by occupying the Troglodyte's attention and dealing some damage.
They were only in the second cavern when the ambush occurred. There were four troglodytes this time, all attempting to use the stalagmites as cover. They attacked in a coordinated fashion, each leaping out from cover to attack. Fortunately, Imri was prepared, having been deliberately trying to draw their attention, stomping with heavy steps. As the lead troglodyte attacked, Imri disappeared, teleporting a short distance away with a Blink spell. If the troglodytes used vision they would have known Imri hadn’t gone far, but with no sound being made they continued their charge into where he had been.
Russ took advantage of their confusion, lobbing a baseball-sized chunk of condensed mana into the location where the troglodytes swarmed. It landed in the group's center, exploding into dozens of smaller shards with concussive force that shook the cave. The nearest troglodyte died instantly, shredded to pieces by the majority of the shards. The rest didn’t escape unharmed, several fragments embedding themselves in their limbs, debilitating them.
The blast also had the secondary effect of confusing the troglodytes, who heavily relied on their tremor sense to navigate the cavern. Rayden took advantage of this, closing in and attacking before they could recover. He had eschewed the hammer in favor of his short sword, the lighter weapon more than adequate to take down the relatively fragile creatures. His sword bit into one, decapitating it in one clean slice.
The two remaining troglodytes recovered quickly, charging in on Rayden. Imri unleashed his Spatial Collapse spell, targeting the area around the lead Troglodyte. His immense increases in intelligence and willpower made it so that defining the parameters of his spell was almost second nature. The spell connected with the creature and it imploded from being squeezed like a tube of toothpaste.
The final Troglodyte closed in on Rayden, attempting to grapple and bite the stout warrior. Fortunately, Rayden hadn’t overextended this time and was easily able to keep the fast creature from biting anything. While the Troglodyte was preoccupied with Rayden, Sawyer went behind the creature and impaled it with a short sword.
“Hell yeah,” Rayden shouted as he finished off the dying troglodyte. Both he and Russ had gained 3 full levels. Even Sawyer, who had picked up a level 1 Ranger class, had gained 2 levels from his brief contribution. Emelia hadn’t needed to contribute, as no one had sustained any injuries. The only resource they had consumed was mana, both personal and from the Temporal Expansion rings, which had been recalibrated for a more significant expenditure to compensate for the incredible speed of their opponents. Imri had expected this, and his pack included two fully charged Espeonite crystals. He almost fully depleted one to recharge the expended mana and hooked it into a portable charger, like the ones he had built into the Dimensional Storage backpacks.
They didn’t get far before they encountered another ambush. Fortunately, the creatures were only semi-sentient, and they didn’t seem to have more advanced tactics. The fight played out similarly, though Imri could already see the level-ups and practice making a difference. This time the troglodytes didn’t even manage to attempt an attack, and there was another slew of level-ups for the lower-level combatants.
The third fight, which took place only a few hours into the expansive cave system, did not go as well. It started in much the same fashion, with Imri drawing them out and using Blink to escape. He counted six of them charging towards him, more than they had ever faced, but not an insurmountable number given how well the previous two fights had gone. Unfortunately, things quickly went to hell. Russ’s Crystal Grenade spell was far less effective as he had started to suffer from the over-channel debuff but hadn’t spoken up. The grenade exploded with far less force, and small shards, while still painful, were not the lethal force they had been in the previous two fights. The lesser force also wasn’t nearly as effective at blinding their tremor sense, and Rayden wasn’t able to take them by surprise.
The fight quickly devolved into a frantic melee, with the sounds of shrieking troglodytes drowning out any other noise. Rayden quickly realized he wasn’t going to escape this fight unscathed, so he shifted his focus to inflicting maximum damage, quickly killing two of them while receiving superficial bites. Imri also didn’t hold back, using Spatial Collapse to quickly implode another one of their opponents. Sawyer engaged, his Dimensional Saber activated allowing him to quickly bisect an unsuspecting troglodyte who was unable to sense the space-destroying blade. Emelia supported from the rear, using her Emotion Projection spell to keep everyone clear-headed and focused while conversely amplifying the terror that their opponents felt.
Just as the tide of battle had swung in their favor, Imri heard more shrieks echoing from the connecting cavern. The battle was about to be joined by several more troglodytes who had heard the shrieks of their fellows. Things were going from bad to worse, as the mana in their Temporal Expansion Rings would only last a few more seconds. When that effect ended they would be outmatched, unable to keep up with the ridiculous speed that the troglodytes naturally possessed. Rayden and Sawyer were beginning to fade, the fast-acting poison already starting to take effect. Russ watched on in horror, utterly incapable of helping as the over-channel debuff sapped his stamina.
Imri rushed to intercept the oncoming troglodytes, leaving the lone remaining combatant to the others. The next cavern over was large, but the connection involved squeezing through a narrow passage that connected them. It took people a couple of minutes to traverse the short but tight passage. The troglodytes had no such issues, they were smaller and naturally adapted to squeeze and contort their bodies through tight spaces. Because of this, he had only seconds to act. He reached the confined space and studied it, quickly coming up with a plan.
The first troglodyte came into view just a couple of seconds later. It shrieked and charged towards Imri, three more following close behind. Imri retreated, but as he did he cast Dimensional Tear. However, unlike his usual method where he threw it in a line, this time he left it fixed in place. It was only forty centimeters across, but it completely covered a narrow passage about half a meter off the ground. To anyone who could see, the trap was obvious, the ominous black nothingness readily visible with any light. However, to creatures who relied on sound and touch, the trap was nearly undetectable as sound waves wouldn’t bounce back the way they did when they normally encountered a physical object.
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The four Troglodytes raced after Imri, oblivious to the trap. They passed through the tear in space, not even realizing anything was there until it was too late and their bodies were bisected. There were still more troglodytes pouring through the small passage, and while they couldn’t detect the dimensional tear, they could detect that their comrades lay unmoving. They had enough intelligence to pause and reconsider. Unfortunately, Imri couldn’t keep the Dimensional Tear active for long, his mana was already taxed from the fight. However, their terror of the unknown was amplified as Emelia arrived, sending the terrified Troglodytes scurrying away.
Imri Padar has reached Level 29 in Celestial Mage (2F) Imri Padar has reached Level 29 in Primordial (1E) Primary Stats Intelligence 207 (+3) Willpower 170 (+2) Secondary Stats HP 176 (+1) FP 132 (+1) MP 519 (+22) Mana Efficiency 490 (+18) Crafting Efficiency 544 (+20)
Achievement Upgraded Horde Slayer 4 (+1): .4% to all primary stats (+.1%)
Spell Rank Up Dimensional Tear F to E: +3% to spells mana efficiency
Despite the momentary respite, they were in dire straits. The antidote Caroline had concocted was effective but it wasn’t instantaneous. This left Emelia doing her best to hold off the damage while the antidote worked its way through their bloodstream. Rayden and Sawyer were in no danger of dying, but everyone was drained. They quickly harvested the corpses, taking a calculated risk. They only took the most valuable components, cores, teeth, and venom sacs.
It took them several hours to backtrack out of the caves, and only when they had reached the entrance did they allow themselves to relax. Despite the harrowing ending, they had made great improvements. Rayden had gotten all the way to level 19, making him perhaps the fifth highest level citizen of Celestia, depending on how the Reclaimers or Sylvi were doing, only eclipsed by Imri, Caroline, Emelia, and Zhaire. Russ, despite his disastrous contribution in the third fight, had gotten to level 12 in his Warlock of the Ancients class. Even Sawyer, who had been a level 1 ranger, was now level 7, only 1 level behind his explorer profession. Emelia had the most modest gains but had still gained two levels to 19.
“What the hell was that? You almost got us all killed,” Rayden demanded of Russ the moment they were safe, not caring that they were arguing in front of the nearby guards.
“I thought I could manage, we still have so far to go,” Russ said.
“So far till what?” Imri asked.
“You know, the caves, we still have so much to clear out,” Russ said.
“We did have a way to go to reach the site where the explorers were killed. If we have to fight in each cavern I doubt we’ll ever reach there,” Sawyer said.
“Perhaps it's a lost cause, maybe the council was right,” Imri said with theatrical despair. It was a lie, Imri thought they had made great progress. Despite the dangers, it was far more efficient than fighting Drakes, which required a more significant mana expenditure to kill. He had said this entirely to gauge Russ’ reaction.
“No, we can’t give up. We have to clear out the caves,” Russ said with fervor. His vehemence surprised the others, but Imri had expected it.
“Why is that Russ?” Imri asked.
“You know, because of the crystals. We’re also leveling at an unbelievable rate; If the Chixel or Azala come we’ll have a few unstoppable elites,” Russ explained. The reasoning was sound and Imri agreed with all of it, though he strongly suspected those were not the real reasons Russ wanted to keep clearing out the caves.
The team of five made their way back to Celestia, spending a day recovering and regaining their resources. The council did not panic when they returned so soon after setting out, the results in levels spoke for themselves. The nexus had a feature that kept track of everyone within the settlement and displayed the top ten for all to see.
Celestia Leaderboard 1: Imri Padar, 29 Celestial Mage (2F), 19 Runic Engineer (2F) 2: Caroline Calderon, 20 Afval Alchemist (2F), 9 Farseer Witch (1E) 3: Emelia Fields, 19 Empathic Healer (1E), 7 Beast Tamer (1E) 4: Zhaire Reeves, 21 Frenzied Berserker (2F), 2 Beast Tamer (1F) 5: Rayden Watts, 19 Guardian (1E), 2 Sergeant (1F) 6: Sylvi Vesik, 16 Sharpshooter Ranger (1E), 7 Trailblazer (1E) 7: Avery Winters, 13 Blacksmith (1E), 12 Pyromancer (1E) 8: Veronica Costa, 16 Telekinetic (1E), 2 Beast Tamer (1F) 9: Elliot Anderson, 16 Boneshaper (1E), 1 Necromancer (1F) 10: Antonio Costa, 15 Telepath (1E), 2 Beast Tamer (1F)
If Imri expanded the list to the top twenty there was a log jam of people near the same level. Just missing out on the top ten were Russ the warlock lawyer, Christoph the merchant cleric, Naomi the leatherworker, Brock the Bowyer, and Freya the Druid, all were at least 26 combined levels when counting their heritage. While it looked like several of them could break into the top ten, the list only updated your level while you were within the radius of the nexus. This meant that four of the people on the top ten hadn’t been updated in over a week, the three knights and Sylvi.
“There’s one of these names that isn’t like the others,” Rayden said, interrupting Imri’s musings.
“Everyone on that list belongs there,” Imri said resolutely.
“You and I both know I don’t deserve to be that high. Maybe on a good day, I could sneak into the tenth spot, but top five, certainly not. You know I only have three stats that are above average and none are over 115 base?”
“I didn’t know your exact stat distribution, but I know you were effective. We wouldn’t have made it out of that last fight without you,” Imri said.
“Maybe, but I’m replaceable. I was chosen to go on this mission because I was one level higher than several other soldiers. Any of them would be just as high level now, and they would have been just as effective, if not more so,” Rayden explained.
“You want someone else to go in next time,” Imri concluded.
“Yeah, I know it's not ideal for clearing out the caves, but this is too good of an opportunity to hoard for myself. I’ll lead the guards watching the entrance, that way they would at least have a fighting chance if a small group of those monsters decided to come out.
Imri nodded in understanding. He just hoped that having a new fighter wouldn’t slow them down too much.