As soon as the group moved in a large figure maybe 8 feet tall appeared with 4 slightly smaller figures a few feet in front of it.
I hit them with Eyedentify.
Corrupted Dark Knight level ?
Corrupted Dark Squires level 8
"Big guy is level 9, the smallest a level 8" Orlo said. Then added "never seen something with a corrupted aspect before."
Two of the 'smaller' squires pulled out bows and started taking pot shots at our flanks. I was in the center with an Orlo just behind me focusing on creating barriers. To help ward off some of the incoming arrows. The two other squires and the knight all came from the front in a reverse wedge. I was expecting the knight to use a sword but instead it used a glaive while the two squires used sword and shield.
Turnip took the 3 on directly using a large shield to keep the Glaive and one of the swords at bay. Root was on her right with a small round shield and spear harassing the other knight.
"Should I engage the archers?" I asked
"Granted" called Root.
Pushing mana into the arm enchantment the crossbow's string pulled smoothly into place, then I placed a bolt. I aimed and fired at the archer on our right. It just started to turn out of the way so the shot didn't land where I wanted it to. That would not matter though as I detonated the bolt.
Under the armor I could just see a sort of black shadow that was the substance of the creature. But for a few seconds I could also make out a root structure that seemed to be part of its body.
I switched to the second archer and took that one out with a clean shot to the chest.
"Archers down" I said, then I saw Lluvia strike. First the knight then both squires in a single heartbeat, she was crazy fast and I could not even hear her.
As soon as all the targets were down three more knight spawned in. It looked like 3 of the bigger guys, I scanned them.
Corrupted Dark Knight X3 Level ??
Corrupted Shadow assassin level 8
"Three corrupted knights level 10" Orlo said.
"Add in a shadow assassin to that count." I said.
"Got it" said Lluvia from an unknown location.
"Firing on center knight" I said, then waited a second but no one said not to.
This time instead of aiming down the site I tried something else, by attaching a mana thread to the bolt. I fired from around chest height instead of taking the moment to align a shot. I didn't want to give the target a chance to dodge.
The bolt struck into the armed helm that staggered the construct but didn't kill it. I then detonated the bolt, it fell over, missing its helmet.
"Nice but watch your mana, you don't have nearly as much extra to spend as the rest of us." Root called out.
I checked, Mana 87/120
"Got that fucker… I hate rogue vs rogue sometimes." I heard Lluvia say from a distance.
Iser then took out the two knights In Front of us with small and very fast fireballs.
A moment later a new target appeared.
Corrupted Shadow Lord ??
"Level 10" said Orlo.
"No other targets" I said.
"Ok then Nicole you want to try this one on your own?" Root said.
"Umm sure wait, couldn't it kill me?" I asked.
"Yep but we will step in before that would happen and besides you need to learn." He said.
"Fuck… ok then." I said and moved up to the front.
The thing was over 8 feet tall, in what looked like plate if made out of shadow. It also had a large kite shield and a mace.
I moved up then tried a new trick, I pressed a bit of mana into my legs and could feel my legs cover more ground faster. I darted forward with my crossbow armed in one hand and about to activate my vambrace with the other.
The extra speed was minor but it made a difference. It went through a sweeping attack that I slid under. It hurt my ass to do so but it left a nice exposed armpit to fire the crossbow into and it utterly missed its mark.
I quickly got back up to my feet and turned around to face it's back. But the shadow lord was already halfway into the turn and it's shield already interposed between me and it. In very rapid succession I fired 3 blasts from my vambrace all three aimed for where the arm should be behind the shield. The first two shots pushed it back by half a step. The third managed to bore right into its arm making the shield angle a bit funny.
It then shield rushed me which I didn't expect and I was thrown back by 20 feet. It felt like being hit by a car and I knew I would have some bruises from that. The Shadow Lord was still charging at me lifting its mace when I aimed and fired one more vambrace shot into the mace arm's elbow joint.
That really staggered it and caused it to stumble past. I then rolled over and back to my feet where I then fired another shot from my crossbow into its back. It didn't penetrate deep but I didn't think I would need it to. I detonated the bolt leaving a fist size hole in the back armor. It stumbled forward again and fell to one knee. I could see it preparing to spin it's shield into me if I got too close. So I didn't give it the chance. I fired three more gauntlet blasts into its exposed back. It shuttered then fell forward dead. As it disappeared a small object was left in its place.
"Nice kill!" Root called over.
I could still feel my adrenaline had spiked during the fight and I felt like I was burning up.
"Tha… Thanks, I think it dropped… some… something by the way." I said, panting and trembling with adrenaline.
Stolen novel; please report.
"Pick it up and let's take a look." He said.
I did and I used my Eyedentify ability on it with added mana. Which reminded me to take a look at my mana.
Mana 16/120
Ouch I didn't realize I used that much, thinking about it I could feel the lack of it though. The dagger came back with the following.
Dagger Sword with sheath, New
"Dagger Sword?" I asked the group as I almost sprinted back over.
"If it does what I think it does it's a bit uncommon then." Root said as I showed the group.
"Pull it out and 'flick' it to extend… umm just not near us." He said.
I did so and it went from a dagger to well rapier, definitely intended more for stabbing but still useful.
"Yep thought so, I've seen this kind of weapon several times from several dungeons." Root said.
"Yep I have one like that as well, but mine is a long sword. It does not fit my style as well as this one would." Lluvia said as she pulled out a different style of dagger And flicked it into a long sword.
"O hell I'll trade you then, I kindof like the idea of a longsword better…. At least that I can swing around with more abandon." I said and we traded weapons.
The one she gave me looked brand new as well, and even Registered as new when I identified it. I'm guessing she didn't use it very often.
"By the way you did quite well against an opponent 3 levels higher than yourself." Lluvia said
"Thank, I could have been more efficient on my mana usage." I said in reply.
"You fall far more into a caster style role, I would not worry too much about mana. You will regenerate that much faster than most others." She said.
We gathered back up and the group give me about 10 minutes to recover. My health had taken a 30 point hit from the shield rush but had already gone back up by 2 points by the time we started to move forward. I also gained back about 20 points worth of Mana during that recovery.
“Ok ‘knowing’ my health seems so weird…” I said to the group.
“Is it? Wait you did say you didn't receive prompts or anything like we do here.” Orlo said.
“No… we had to rely on biology, pain receptors and such. Nothing has been as clear cut as this world.” I said.
“What do you mean by that? Don't you heal where you are from?” Orlo asked.
“Yes… but that can take weeks or months depending on the kind of injury. A broken bone if not set properly will heal out of place and has all sorts of serious ramifications for instance. Even if set properly it will take 6 to 8 weeks that assuming you don't do anything else to it during that time.” I said.
“Yeah broken bones and severe injuries can take quite a toll on one's health here as well but 8 weeks… that reminds me of the stories of places where magic doesn't work.” Root said.
“Wait there are places magic doesn't work on this world?” I asked
“A few and everyone tends to avoid them… slower healing and other issues. Why anyone would want to live there is beyond me.” Root added.
“So wait it takes you days or weeks to heal from any injury?” Orlo asked.
“Yeah, the bodies cells need to replicate and I think there is something about collagen needing to bind a wound or something. Its a long slow process.” I said.
“What are cells?” Iser asked.
“Okay… that I didn't consider.” I said after a long pause and a look of shock.
“Umm a very complex topic involving biology, both areas of which I really didn't do well in during school. Let's add it to the list of things we should discuss later.” I said.
The courtyard we were in had a second door attached to it via a large palisade like structure. Our group approached cautiously. While we moved forward I took a look at my two most used skills while in this dungeons, Mana manipulation and Eyedentify.
Eyedentify C - 08%
Mana Manipulation C - 12%
Both skills were growing but it was much much slower than before. It looked like the real barrier for skill growth started at rank C.
As we approached the next door Lluvia stopped holding up a hand.
"Something feels off, Orlo, Nicole either of you picking up on anything?" She asked. We then both scanned the idea.
"Yeah I feel something but I can't pinpoint it." Orlo stated.
I was picking up a bit more.
"Something flanking both sides of the door. The door seems off as well." I said.
Two large shadow knights bleed away from the walls flanking the door while the door changed to another shadow lord. I was worried but the rest of the group seemed to almost expect it.
"Lluvia take them out." Root said.
Before I even had a chance to ask a blur appeared around all three then they all collapsed one by one.
"Anything else?" I heard in Lluvia voice from the shadows. I then pinged the areas again and not nothing. However the door was still missing.
"Nothing but not seeing the door either." I said I an almost shaky voice. I then felt a familiar weight kind of appear next to me.
I then felt warm lips against my cheek, "Don't worry you get to this level soon enough." Lluvia said in a playful tone.
I let out a soft relieved chuckle and press myself a little into her side. I got a quiet hum of amusement and enjoyment out of Lluvia from the brief contact.
"Lluvia please stop playing with the Newbee and let her find the door." Turnip said.
I blushed at that comment then focused on my identity and Pathfinder abilities. The Pathfinder one was harder to pin down but I did get a phantom sense of something down maybe? I then said as much to the group.
After maybe 15 minutes of searching Orlo said they found it.
"Not bad…. We seen misdirections before that could take hours to find. But… that was also a much higher level dungeon so the rules were a bit different." Iser said.
The path down was well hidden in the flagstone floor. The gravel and sand that filled in the seam between the flagstones camouflages the hatch very well. It really made trying to look for a seam impossible without digging out all of the filler in-between.
The door itself was very heavy requiring Root, Turnip, Lluvia, and myself to lift. I might be out of shape but I still had some power in my chunky legs.
The next floor we ended up at started us off at the entrance of a hedge maze. I heard some grones and muttering from the group as we all took in the sight before us.
"I'm guessing based on that reaction the group really isn't built for mazes?" I asked.
"Give me a straight fight any day." Turnip said.
"Yeah… they always have traps and tend to be time syncs. One took us over 6 hours to complete. The rest of the Dungeon was maybe an hour of that." Orlo said.
"Ouch…" I just said in response.
"This one should not be as bad, Nicole one of your skills seems well suited for this, which should be good experience." Root said.
“Alright, I’m guessing try to keep a slow and steady pace?
“Yes, everyone else keep an eye out for possible traps. I don't want Nicole distracted by pulling double duty on this one.” Root said.
I expanded my sense, and I could make out two paths. One path ahead into the same and one path behind back through the route we just took.
"Forward into the maze, paths left and right neither indicate anything hostile it seems." I said. And we started moving forward as a group.
As we where traveling I was working with Iser on drawing a map. From what I was told it likely would not be all that useful for future endeavors into this dungeon as mazes and such tend to change from instance to instance. We spent the first 15 minutes kind of wondering getting a lay of the land as it where. As I was constantly using my skill it was rising fast and I figured after about 15 minutes it should rank up.
We came across a few minor traps like pitfalls and spikes but nothing all that intense. That was until we started to hear padded feet quietly moving through the maze. We could hear the individuals ragged breathing like it was panicking.
After a few minutes of this a figure scrambled into view facing away from us almost back peddling until they tripped. They tumbled then got backup and ran out direction only to stop short with it's hands up.
I was in shock at the face I saw. It was my twin brother's.