Eternal Dungeon POV
I watched as the raiding team swept through Hokoto like it was hardly a challenge. They had massively improved their strategy for dealing with the goblin village and they made it through without a single loss. I wasn’t too concerned though, they would definitely lose people on the fourth floor.
It wasn’t even their fault either really. I had started designing my floors with the respawn mechanic in mind. Since the price of respawns reset with each new floor you conquered it meant that they could be bought relatively cheaply. I had designed each floor around three deaths.
While these deaths were not guaranteed or scripted for progression, they were simply highly likely. Each floor had two `surprises` that would require someone to know about them to have good odds of surviving. The third death was a freebie, most people died at least once per floor (excluding the first floor). The only groups that didn’t have a death on the second floor were the ones that hadn’t gone into the more difficult northern or southern zones.
So far the third floor has also been going well. Not a single group has made it past the first level of the Wyrmscale Caverns. I was worried that making The Lost Mines section so easy would backfire, but it worked great. Every group that’s gone in has breezed through the first section only to instantly die to the real threats of the Wyrmscale Caverns.
I can’t wait to see what counter measures they come up with to deal with the Wyrmscale Caverns. I’ve been disappointed in my adventurers so far, they’ve yet to really show any creative solutions, mostly sticking to fighting. Like little murderhobos. Unfortunately this DM is going to make it hard to kill your way through everything.
I’ve been more impressed with the raid group that beat Hokoto. They’ve shown excellent teamwork for the short duration they’ve been together and the party leaders are surprisingly adaptable. I have high hopes for their raid on my fourth floor. I really want them to at least make it to the first fortress.
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Second Floor of the Eternal Dungeon, entrance to the fourth floor.
Captain Kal POV
5 minutes before the fourth floor raid.
“Heavy Slash” I shouted as I activated the skill and brought my blade down on the goblin, killing it instantly.
Looking around I could see everyone else finishing off what remained of our pursuers. We had opted for a strategy where we killed the highest threat enemies, like the hobgoblins and archers, and then ran for the entrance to the fourth floor. We used the fact that the entrance was in a cave to funnel our enemies into the choke point negating their numbers advantage. After that it was a simple grind until all the ones who chased us died.
“Everyone take five minutes to rest and recover, the reserve group will watch our backs” I call out to the other members on goblin cleanup.
We all move further into the cave exchanging nods with the people who already rested during our fight. Since we were a raid made up of four five man teams we had the advantage of being able to easily split apart and operate in smaller groups. Two parties had dealt with the goblins in the choke point since the cave wasn’t big enough for the whole raid to effectively fight. This allowed the others to get more rest for the raid itself.
I took a minute to make sure everyone else got settled down, five minutes wasn’t a lot but any amount of rest now would help later. I then made my way over to the other party leaders. I had been voted as Raid leader due to my likable personality and natural charisma, or at least that’s what Shrike had said. We were all pretty ok as tacticians, with Shrike probably being the best due to his extensive schooling and callously logical nature.
Even though I was Raid Leader that title only meant that in the heat of the moment I had final say. When we weren’t in combat or a similarly dangerous situation we discussed things as a council of four party leaders. This way we could ensure that our four parties would be able to seamlessly work together as a raid group.
“What’s the status of everyone's teams?” I ask as I join the circle with the party leaders.
“Redemption will be at maximum fighting capacity by the time we start the raid” Shrike reports quickly
“My healer is down a third of her mana, but the matching affinity with the dungeon should remedy that enough for it to not be a problem” Eartheart of the Five Phases reports in his deep voice.
“Alright then. Eartheart, keep Woodmind in reserve for now until she recovers to 90% mana capacity. Shrike, can you spare Fin to scout for Red Thunder and Five Phases?” I say, getting confirmation from both party leaders.
“Excellent, let's break and rest then. We’ll use formation three going into the raid under assumption that the other end will be a continuation of these tunnels.” I say, giving my order as raid leader.
I wait several moments in case any of the party leaders wants to dispute my call, when no one speaks up I move back to my team to rest. We’ve got to be ready for the unknown that is the fourth floor.
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Fourth Floor of the Eternal Dungeon
Captain Kal POV
Raid in progress, 30 minutes
This damn tunnel! A wordless shout projects from my throat as I bring down my blade on another oversized centipede. We’ve been on the fourth floor for half an hour and we’ve already had to fight dozens of supersized insects. The tunnel stretches upwards at a steady incline seemingly forever. The only reason we can see is due to the light spells of our party members.
The tunnel itself is actually incredibly straight and smooth, as though made by a machine. More likely it was made by either the dungeon or Boring Worm, maybe both. Thanks to how straight the tunnel is we can actually see the light at the end of it, however it is incredibly faint due to most of the light getting bounced off into the many side tunnels. The same side tunnels that have dozens of bugs pouring out of them in a tide of chitinous fury.
A wave of golden flames washes over the front line indiscriminately hitting ally and enemy alike. However it has a potent healing effect on the members of the raid party while simultaneously incinerating the insects. The Holy Flame, said to be a magical power derived from the flames of the Golden Flight. The raw power of even a watered down version of a draconic breath weapon makes me shudder. I’m glad Dragon’s leave our world alone for the most part, Wyrm’s are bad enough as is.
I turn my head towards the source of the golden fire seeing Shrike deep in a chant as the flames pour out from sigils projected in front of his outstretched palms. Redemption is a party entirely made up from ex-criminals who were reformed by the guiding hands of the White Cross Church. While religion isn’t exactly prominent in a world governed by the System, some of them still manage to survive. If the White Cross has the ability to teach one to harness the power of Dragon’s I might actually have to attend a sermon at some point.
I hear a loud roar behind me that draws my attention back into the battle. A massive spider has appeared easily the size of the Guild Building back in Brahmstone. I check its tag and immediately regret doing so as I gulp down a lump in my throat.
Lurking Huntsman (Superior) Level 40
Six levels higher than the highest leveled member of our raiding party, not only that but we only have 3 Superior ranked members in the Raid. This monster out-ranks us and out-levels us, however we’re still a raiding party. While I have zero confidence in beating this thing with just my party, our raid of twenty people can definitely beat it.
“Strikers focus on it! I’ll main tank, Eartheart, you're my offtank! Everyone else occupies the extras!” I shout my orders while charging forwards.
I activate my Superior rank taunting skill Enraging Challenge forcing the oversized spider to focus its attention on me. As soon as I see its strikes coming I raise my shield and activate my defensive abilities.
I feel myself being pushed backwards and my internal organs being bruised from receiving the powerful blows of its mana enhanced legs. My defense is strong enough that I can hold out so long as I have enough mana to keep all four of my defensive skills active, however I won’t last long.
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I feel the healing from Holt mending my internal injuries before they worsen, keeping my health high enough to keep tanking the blows of the spider. I can see our heaviest hitters laying down powerful attacks on the monster as I hold its attention with my taunt. However time is running out, once only five seconds remain on my taunting skill I make the call.
“Switch!” I shout using my only CC skill to place the spider into a stunned stupor for three seconds while I retreat and Eartheart activates his own taunting skill.
We manage to swap places almost seamlessly, all the practicing our raid has done together paying off. I watch as the tank of the Five Phases manages to tank the blows of the boss using his earth affinity skills, he requires even less support than I did. I must’ve miscalculated something if he’s doing so much better than me. As the strikers manage to finally finish off the spider I realize what I missed. Eartheart and the spider share the same affinity, Eartheart must have his innate earth affinity leveled high enough for the innate resistance to come into play.
Eartheart gives me a questioning look as the beast is defeated and I give him a nod, from now on he’ll main tank these monsters. We need to last long enough to get out of this damn tunnel. Hopefully the dungeon will be nice enough to give us a break once we’re out.
Another Lurking Huntsman bursts out from a side tunnel, this one lower leveled than the first at least. I need to stop jinxing myself like this, I heft up my shield and sword and follow Eartheart as we charge the new threat. We just have to kill our way through this tunnel one bug at a time.
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Eternal Dungeon POV
Wow these guys are doing quite well. I made the entry tunnel a grindy nightmare with the sole intent of chasing off teams too weak to fight on this floor. If a team couldn’t handle hundreds of Greater rank monsters and dozens of Superior rank ones that were at or below the minimum floor level, then they would get annihilated by the actual raid. The Orcs were all Superior with levels between 40 and 45, not only that but they also had higher power Superior evolutions mixed into their forces.
I watched as the raiding team slaughtered their way through the insects getting closer and closer to the end of the tunnel. It has already taken them two hours and they’ll likely be fighting for another two before they make it out. The entry is a test of every facet of the raiding party.
High numbers challenge their AOE and multitasking ability. The occasional elites force them to work as an effective team to remove the high threat enemies before they can severely damage the raiding group. The variety of enemies challenges their tactical ability as the raid leader needs to appropriately access and respond to each threat with the correct counter.
Tanky beetles need a high damaging striker to deal with them quickly. Fast crawlers need to be removed by ranged damage dealers before they could close in. Acid and poison spitters created a constant strain on the healers since their damage couldn’t be avoided in the tight tunnels. Finally there were the mantis, an enemy type they recently encountered.
The Mantis was a monster type that would choose a random party member and ambush them from stealth, dealing critical damage in a lightning fast offensive. The raiding party got lucky when the first mantis targeted one of their tanks, who was able to survive the initial strike. Afterwards their perception focused members went on high alert, using mana skills to spot and dispatch the stealthy bugs before they could get in range of their target.
As I watch the raid party continue to slog through the swarm of monsters I feel a tugging sensation that pulls at the edges of my aura. Interesting, I’ve never felt something like this before. I move my attention away from the raid to inspect this new phenomenon.
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Fourth Floor of the Eternal Dungeon
Captain Kal POV
Raid in progress, 4 hours
Finally the end of this damn infested tunnel. Four whole hours of constant fighting. I must’ve taken over a hundred blows from Superior ranked spiders and I was even nearly murdered by some kind of super mantis. Luckily I hadn’t used my best defensive cooldown yet, which let me survive its brutal ambush. Better me than one of the others, we had to be on high alert for them after that.
I swung my blade in a horizontal arc bisecting three smaller insects that resembled flies. They were one of the many highly annoying trash mobs that would stall out members of the raid while stronger insects dealt damage. Whenever I wasn’t tanking one of the spiders I was keeping these kinds of monsters off of the rest of the raid.
As I finished off the last fly I finally stepped out of the tunnel and into the light. A bright red sun beat down mercilessly onto orange clay and yellow sand. The exit of the tunnel was high up on a gray slate mountain top looking over a vast and barren landscape of browns, oranges, reds, and dull yellows. The only green in sight could be seen peeking out from massive canyons carved into the surface below. It reminded me of the appearance of cracked clay, just with green in the cracks.
It was incredibly hot, reminding me of a mission we once did in the Red Desert. The sun was relentless and heatwaves could be visibly seen in some places as a distortion created in the air. It definitely seemed hotter down there than where we were up in the mountains.
I cupped my hands over my eyes like a visor and squinted as I looked out for a better view at the landscape below. I could more easily make out large dark spots that were in fact, massive birds, swooping down occasionally to grab something from the canyons. I could also make out some of the vast swathes of brown as huge collections of round branchy bushes, a species I didn’t recognize. I made note to question Holt about it later, hopefully he would know the plant.
“Captain, I think I’ve spotted something!” Jones Jr., or Junior as we liked to call him, was pointing at something on a plateau above us.
Everyone turned their gazes from the scene below to look up a slim mountain path that led from where we exited the tunnels up to a plateau above us. I could just barely see the tops of buildings poking above the ridge line. Now that I was focused on my perception my weak mana sense was also detecting some kind of barrier or ward was also around the entire top of the mountain.
“Everyone! Start moving up the path, hopefully this is Spirit Mountain, in which case we’ll all be getting some well deserved rest!” I shout my orders, breaking everyone out of their staring and making them move down the path.
Everyone shuffles single file down the pathway. We could probably fit two people side by side, but no one wants to be that close to edge. I peer over it for a moment just to confirm that it is a long way down with hard rock at the bottom. I carefully move back away from the edge and follow up as the rearguard of our raiding party. I notice everyone else once again stopping at the top of the ridgeline and I see why once I finally join them.
A large town sprawls out below us, with houses built into the cliffs themselves and surrounded by terraced farmland. Everything is centered around a large flat plateau where several large buildings are in place around a large central plaza. The streets are lined with tiled white stone and the houses are made of white walls with roof tiles in a variety of bright colors. Spiritkin walkabout enjoying their daily lives.
“What are you all staring for? Go enjoy the town.” I say which results in the raid breaking apart into smaller groups as people wander off to look at the various shops.
“Everyone meet up in the central plaza in two hours!” I shout before anyone gets too far away.
A smile comes across my face as I watch them all excitedly move to explore the new town. Hopefully there will be a portal link in the town so that we can skip the goblin village and the tunnel the next time we want to get to this floor. As everyone else wanders off I notice a pair of familiar faces waiting for me.
“Junior, Holt, you know you two don’t have to wait for me right? Heavens knows Mary and Kit already ran off to shop for clothes or jewelry.” I say with a smile
“We wanted to wait for you, besides if you let us wander about we’ll lose track of time. You don’t want us to end up missing the meeting in the plaza do you?” Junior says with a grin on his face
I notice even the stoic Holt has a slight smile.
“Alright, I’m coming. I think I saw that inscription shop you need to deliver a letter to. Why don’t we go that way first?” I say joining the two of them as we begin to walk down the path into the town.
We still have a raid to do, but relaxing and recovering is important between fights. No need to go running off into a death trap right as we get here. Besides, there might be some crucial piece of information or valuable tool in the town somewhere. With my two scholars with me we’re bound to find something interesting. I enjoy the idle conversation with my two friends as we meander down the winding path into town. The raid can wait a few more hours, not like there’s any rush.
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Adventurers Guild Outpost, directly outside the Eternal Dungeon
Explosions rocked the reinforced barrier that covered the outpost. Skills and spells raining down in a hail of destruction and death only held back the combined efforts of dozens of guild mages.
“We can’t hold!”
“Where’s the Guildmaster?!”
“I’m almost tapped on mana!”
Shouts filled the outpost as a group of bandits sieged it from the tree line. Far above the outpost three bandit captains and their leader faced off against the Guildmaster of the Brahmstone Adventurers Guild. Despite outnumbering him four to one they were barely managing to not lose to the powerful guilder.
“Your death’s are inevitable. The moment one of you falls or runs dry, the others will quickly die” The Guildmaster states with the finality of a god.
“Don’t worry about us Guilder, we’ll be long gone before things get that far” The Bandit leader said with a smile doubling down on her attacks to keep the Guildmaster focused on her.
The Guildmaster frowned as he changed the direction of gravity, throwing the bandit away from him before launching several strikes at her, all blocked by her comrades. He didn’t like this, they were stalling him and there was no way out of it without hurting himself. They were here for the dungeon, that much was certain, he just didn’t know what it was they wanted with it.
He halted several projectiles reversing their direction once his magic took hold. He couldn’t afford to be distracted right now. He would have to deal with these bandits and then clean up whatever mess they left behind. If he was lucky his reinforcements from the Guild Leader would arrive before they managed to escape. He knew for a fact that even one of his old teammates would turn this fight into a one sided slaughter.
Just need to hold out or win, deal with the problems as they come. The dungeon will have to take care of itself.