Wind blades appeared and flew towards the two tower shield wielding undead. It was an obvious attack, and the two Awakened Shieldbearers reacted by both using their skill [Barricade]. Sol also had the skill and knew its details well.
[Barricade] Lv 3: Take a defensive stance that greatly enhances defense by 300%. Duration: 10 seconds. Cooldown: 10 minutes.
Sol had fought these undead before and learned the skill for himself. It was a great skill that allowed one to block powerful attacks, but it had one glaring weakness. Once it was activated, they couldn't move for the duration.
“Amber, now!”
A blur jumped out from the side and dashed towards the Skeleton Mage. Its skull was chattering as it appeared to be casting a spell, but before it could finish, Amber arrived behind it. Unleashing a flurry of stabs, the cast was interrupted, stopping whatever spell it was about to cast upon Sol.
Being caught unprotected, the Skeleton Mage was unable to endure the swift onslaught, and its health was reduced to zero before the [Barricade] duration was complete.
You have slain a Lv 60 Skeleton Mage! Gained 84,000 Exp (420%)
[Intermediate Fire Magic] leveled up! (4 -> 5)
[Quick Cast] leveled up! (7 -> 8)
With the death of the mage, the two shieldbearers were easy pickings for the duo and were quickly dealt with.
You have slain a Lv 60 Awakened Shieldbearer! Gained 84,000 Exp (420%)
You have slain a Lv 60 Awakened Shieldbearer! Gained 84,000 Exp (420%)
[Barricade] leveled up! (3 -> 4)
[Intermediate Shield Master] leveled up! (4 -> 5)
[Siphon] leveled up! (3 -> 4)
Seeing the last system message, Sol's eyes widened, and he immediately checked the updated description.
[Siphon] Lv 4: Siphon 3 skills from dead beings. Increased efficiency, lowers the longer they are dead.
‘3 whole skills… That will make leveling skills much faster.’
Sol was amazed by how long it took to level up the skill. He wasn’t sure if it was normal for skills to take that long, but if he compared it to [Analysis], it did seem to grow slower. He felt like there was something lacking to make it grow faster, but he didn’t know what could be that missing ingredient. While he wanted to take time to figure it out now, the main goal was to become stronger for the knight selection.
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Sol turned towards Amber, “Give me a minute to figure out all its spells.”
Amber gave her usual nod and reclined on a nearby wall. Sol had briefed Amber a bit more on how his [Siphon] skill worked and how it could be used to learn the spells of fallen enemies. The guide lacked a proper list of spells the enemy could use, and rather than figuring out the moment they cast it, it was better to learn the spells himself.
With additional concentration thanks to [Meditate], Sol analyzed the shortlist of spells the Skeleton Mage knew. Of all the spells it knew, only one could realistically pose danger to them.
Sol stood up from his meditative pose and called to Amber.
“Most of the spells it knows are projectile based, [Fireball], [Burning Wave], and [Fire Blast] to name a few. Those don’t worry me because we can dodge them pretty easily. The tricky one is [Incinerate]. If they successfully cast it, the target is instantly lit on fire; the only way to evade the spell is by losing line of sight before it finishes casting. Do you have a way to do that?”
Amber nodded while raising her hand and swiping to the side, releasing a wave of sand that obstructed vision. It lingered for a few seconds before disappearing into the air.
“Yep, that should work. I don’t have anything like that, but I have a spell or two that could work instead. Let's keep going.”
The two continued to travel deeper into the dungeon while slowly making their way towards the next floor. If Sol were alone, he would have to slow down and level up more before heading to the next floor, but with Amber, who could target the Skeleton Hunters and Skeleton Mages, it made it much easier to take down groups.
The more time they spent in the dungeon, Sol was having to rely more and more on his bow and magic rather than his sword. Although he had been avoiding taking hits with his sword, sometimes he had no choice, and the damage was adding up to the point that scratches could be seen throughout the blade. The bow was much more preferable for these fights as Sol also found the sweet spot in mana usage for the mana arrows to deal considerable damage without spending too much.
Of the four enemies they encountered, the only dangerous one was the Skeleton Mage, which if left unchecked, would rain down destruction upon them. That's why they would repeat the same tactic of Sol distracting the group as Amber sneaked around and finished off the mage before it could cast any spells.
Sol’s skills rose slowly as they finally arrived at the stairs of the next floor. There was no sun in the dungeon, making it hard to tell the time, but with a watch Sol bought when they were making preparations, he knew they had been in the dungeon for 10 hours. Before proceeding to the next floor, Sol decided to do an equipment check to make sure everything was in order.
‘Everything is fine except for the durability of my sword…’
Warhawk’s Talon
Rare
Attack: 50-60
Durability: 494/750
Skills:
[Sharpness] Lv 4, [Penetration] Lv 4
‘It’s still good.’
Sol had been careful with his sword not taking any strong hits with it and only using it to deal damage. He now took the brunt of hits with his sword instead and mixed in even more magic to his fights to not wear down his weapons as much.
“Hey Amber, how are your daggers looking?”
Wordlessly, she presented her daggers filled with scraps and scratches to Sol.
The Lost Twins
Rare
Attack: 45-55
Durability: 632/800
Skills:
[Penetration] Lv 5, [Severing] Lv 4
“Okay they look fine as well, you down to keep going?”
Amber nodded.
The two decided to delve to the next floor, wanting to make the most of this trip.