Theron’s theory proved to be right… mostly.
He had never noticed it clearly before, but damage in this world was variable. A lash of the treant elite dealt damage within the range of zero to one or two points if its lashes collided against Berys’ softer parts.
Each whipping was answered by Cuby’s icicle spears, and with the taunt active, Trolgar had all the space in the world to whack the poor elite with all its might. Each punch slammed against its bark with relentless fervor, bouncing off its rigid skin with a thunk, carving out thin pieces of wood chips in the meanwhile. Doubtless, the troll did some damage this way, but Cuby’s icicles proved to be the most effective out of the two. Theron’s necrotic aura worked its magic in this fight, its might debilitation reduced further damage from the treant, and he was more than willing to chug his mana potion if, say, it didn’t die after Theron unleashed all of his mana.
Although, no amount of defense could safely shelter against Berys’ savage slam, empowered by its emboldened claws. The treant shuddered when his bear’s fists battered its trunk, stumbling over its own legs, but it kept itself upright, unwilling to fall. Its whips restarted after Berys’ first ability usage. Theron willed Cuby to aim at its exposed innards after that attack.
All that planning and Theron’s aura led to the treant’s death… after Theron spilled all of his mana, and Berys ended up losing close to half its health. Even with taunt and necrotic aura active, paired with Cuby’s icicles and Trolgar’s relentless assault, the fight still proved arduous. And long.
He sat atop the carcass of the dead treant, pulling his hand out and extracting its essence, relieved.
[Your aspects earned 400 experience points!]
[Aspect of Ghostwood Treant(elite) is added to your compendium. You can now summon it after materializing the aspect using an aspect core.]
[You acquired: 1x R2 - Ghostwood Treant(Elite) materia.]
[Your aspect core - Silver-back Beast Troll leveled up! It gains +5 might, +3 speed, 1 toughness, and +1 resistance. +2 free attribute points.]
[Your aspect core - White scaled Basilisk leveled up! It gains +2 speed, +6 magic, and 2 resistance. +2 free attribute points.]
Level nines… all of them. He allocated both his supporting casts their appropriate stats before continuing.
A light shaking rumbled the cavernous space, not so shaky as his previous lairs, but enough to signify that something had changed. His eyes scanned the chamber of dirt and moss, attempting to find peculiarities in the sea of brown and green. At first, he found absolutely nothing worth his interest, but a rounded square crack in the wall gave him cause to peruse the quaint shape of depressed dirt. It was a hidden dirt gate, not unlike all the previous dirt gates he’d seen. Brushing his hands atop the gentle indentation bulging inward, Theron pushed with all his might against it, praying his puny might did something. But the steadfast wall loomed as rigidly as it always had been, which prompted Theron to call his bear over.
Berys’s massive might budged the impression a little, and only after a savage slam was used did the dirt gate crumble. Within… a queer opaline gem glinted. Theron pinched that thing out of the floor, studying its surface with his squinted eyes. Almost fully orange in color, marred slightly by dirt, it felt warm in his hands.
[Rank-2 Orange Opaline crystal. Use along a rank-3 evolution to grant extra +3 toughness when the aspect evolves. Gene slot cost: 3.]
Gene slots? This term again, just like the seed… Theron re-read the passage and stored it in his satchel, keeping it for later.
The stone safely kept, Theron headed back and scoured the next path, and the next, and the next, with the first two displaying the same set of enemies he’d expected; elites paired with their normal counterparts—Trolls and Basilisks. With this secret lair branching from a beetle’s lair, Theron stood agape when the second-to-last passage led to a sight he didn’t expect.
Another spacious opening sat silently before they sneaked before the entrance. Within, the quiet call of a few treants and the whirs of beetles clamored, subsisting off the moss and lichen abundant within the cave. They appeared to be allied with one another, and a closer look at the far distance revealed a pair of basilisks resting their hinds atop a gentle slope, their eyes acting as sentries for intruders. A strange composition of monsters, for sure, but their abilities mixed well with one another.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
The treants served as great front-line bodies, the beetles acted as flanks, and the basilisks performed their role as their ranged assault team. 20 meters… I think the taunt reaches the basilisks if I push in a little closer.
Naturally, Theron planned to use his taunt again for this fight, abusing the drawn aggro, allowing Trolgar safe passage to fend off the two basilisks at the back. In the meanwhile, Berys and Cuby would deal with the rest. On paper, this appeared to be the best plan, given their party setup. Theron sneaked closer to the massive pit, rounding their numbers all over again; two trolls… three beetles… two basilisks….
He raised his hand, waving his aspects over as he took out his wand. Without any elites, he had little to worry about in terms of overwhelming damage. With taunt and his bear’s innate trait, he trusted Berys’ capabilities to absorb the hits while unleashing his own version of calamity when they inevitably grouped up. The beings resting here lifted their curious heads from his massive bear’s appearance, each reacting in their own ways; the trolls roared and pumped their chest, the beetles whirred their wings and extended their carapaces, and the basilisks hissed.
“Taunt.” Theron chanted under his breath, his words whisked away by the dins from his foes. Trolgar escaped from his flank, its silver figure breaching past the line of trolls and beetles, intercepting the basilisks with its fists. A barrage of fists and beetle strikes nicked at Berys’ thick furs, its defenses shielding Theron’s position as Cuby shot all the icicles its jaw could produce. Trolgar’s furious fist shattered the thin layer of defenses the enemy basilisks generated, then proceeded to slam repeatedly as the basilisks turned their heads away from it, focusing entirely on Theron’s bear. Both died after a relentless assault—inflated stats meant more work for his aspects—and Berys’s savage slam clamored the entire cavern as bloodied heads shuffled out of its strike zone. Most of the beetles died after a swing, and the trolls didn’t fare much better either. Two shots from Cuby ended the battle with its icicles.
[Your aspects earned 240 experience points!.] x2
[Aspect: (Elite) Savage Metal fist Bear gains reduced experience: 120] x2
[Your aspects earned 200 experience points!.] x2
[Aspect: (Elite) Savage Metal fist Bear gains reduced experience: 100] x2
[Your aspects earned 160 experience points!.] x2
[Aspect: (Elite) Savage Metal fist Bear gains reduced experience: 80] x3
[You acquired: 1x R2 - White-scaled basilisk materia.]
[You acquired: 1x R2 - Black-chrome beetle materia.]
Only silence congratulated his victory. Theron opened the pages of all his active aspects, each hovering so close to their max level he could lick them. All needed a max of 660 experience points to level up, yeah, Berys included. Another quake erupted within the cavern, and like the one before, out popped a small incision in the wall when the shaking stirred to a halt. Theron spotted it nigh instantly and wasted no effort in opening it on his own. Trolgar, why don’t you give it a shot, he turned toward his aloof troll, idling on his back. The troll heeded his command with an explosive punch, shattering the dirt wall with its bulging fists. Yeah… it’s strong, he chuckled, as if I needed confirmation of its strength.
Trolgar’s punch revealed some kind of an undergrown vegetable or fruit shaped like a stone, its roots extending and latching unto the soil all around it, akin to a spider’s web. Theron grasped the brown, misshapen thing from where all the roots originated and yanked with all his might. The tendrils of roots snapped, giving way until the rock-looking thing rested within his palm. Once its shell cracked, he recognized the thing he was holding.
A summon slot stone.
What? a summon slot gem… Is this how they are naturally found in the world?
Theron crushed the gem in his hands, opening up another all-too-precious slot in his status page. If he had one more, just one more, he could summon another rank two to clean up the rest of this lair. As it currently stood, Theron had little chance of defeating the other empowered elite forms. He sighed as he pulled away from the empty chamber, returning to the room where the paths split. Avoiding the entrance leading toward the resting elites, he stopped behind one which he hadn’t gone through yet, praying it’d lead him somewhere better.
Hey, maybe a place where the golden beetle can be used? Let’s just see where this path leads me.
Theron shifted to the furthest passage on his right, entering the final road coursing deeper into the cavernous space—if that was even possible. The darkness thickened at this depth, the smell of moss and damp soil almost suffocating at this point, yet their party trudged on.
A rush of stale air brushed his damp skin as they ended in another impasse; a baleful, cavernous chamber with two passages leading into nowhere. A loud, grisly rattle emanated from the right passage, a path he assumed leading to the beetle elite. So that’s the last one I’ll go through, if ever, he surmised as he searched the other path, eyes squinting, prying into the sable unknowns. He gave up looking and breached into the left-most burrow, heart beating wildly in fear of what would be unveiled at the end of the route.
As the light bounced against his corneas, Theron finally came upon it, a place where his golden beetle found its use. A large insect clad with silver from top to bottom quiesced beneath the shower of moonlight beaming from a hole up high, bathing in its silvery goodness. Theron tilted his head as he studied the insect from where he stood, eyeing its queer-shaped abdomen. It wasn’t the bulbous, pulsating organ he expected, no, it was shaped like a… like a box? Wait… don’t tell me…
Theron retrieved the golden beetle from his satchel, stabilizing his grip as its wings burst when it sensed the presence of the silver beetle. Realizing it had found its partner, Theron relaxed his grip and allowed the beetle to guide him, unwilling to let this little shit go without an absolute certainty it wouldn’t just bolt away. Catching it proved too onerous with his party composition lacking in agility.
[You found the silver beetle!]
It led him to the tail end of the silver beetle’s box-shaped abdomen. The thing opened both elytra located behind its thorax, exhibiting its soft abdomen beneath its shell-like wings. On the furthest end of its abdomen, a small hole throbbed, awaiting some kind of insertion. The golden beetle inched its head toward the dark aperture, begging Theron to insert its horn into it.
[Event completed! The golden beetle.]
[Quest completed! Complete all hidden events in the Ghostwood forests. (4/4)]