Crystallize
Janus made certain to note down everything he had learned from the goblin shamans. It always helped when he wrote things down or drew diagrams. The notebook was becoming his most cherished belonging at this point. He was very careful to not trip as he scribbled a diagram of the mana shell onto the pages.
It was difficult walking and taking notes, especially when he had to stay so vigilant. But he was worried that he would forget something if he didn’t get it down on paper. His frantic scribbling might be difficult to decipher later on, but it was better than nothing.
The ravine appeared to be widening as he continued along the ledge. At this point, he couldn’t even see the other side. The extra space was worrying. He had been a lot more confident when enemies could only realistically come from two directions. Now he had to consider the darkness all around.
It did not take long before another group of [Rock Goblins] tried their luck. But with his new mana shell, their arrows were hardly even a threat. The mana array maintaining the spell used less mana to repair the defensive shell than Janus would have spent erecting new mana barriers. It was both more effective and easier to sustain.
Even the goblins with wicked looking daggers had to smash their way through the shell in order to reach him.
Janus waded through the goblins, lobbing balls of reinforced mana. Unfortunately, this group did not seem to have a shaman amongst their ranks.
[You have defeated an enemy: Rock Goblin] x4
Not even a skill level up. It’s like the System knows they’ve gotten easier to defeat.
Janus wasn’t sure just how big dungeons could get, but this ravine never seemed to end. Maybe he had missed the exit he was looking for? He was considering turning back when he saw a faint light coming from ahead. The light wasn’t the expected white light of a [Torchstone], instead, it was more of a pale pink hue.
Curious, Janus got a closer look. Maybe it was the tunnel he had been looking for this entire time.
It was immediately clear that this wasn’t the case. The ravine had widened out to nearly 30 on either side. In the center of the expanse sat a mass of crystals, jutting in every direction. They were the source of the light.
Janus had seen nothing like this in the rest of the ravine. It didn’t look dangerous, but he still approached carefully. As he approached the crystal, Janus emitted a quick burst of his own light, illuminating the area beyond the pale pink glow of the crystal.
The ravine abruptly ended a dozen meters from the crystal mass. He was in a large semicircle. A shiver ran up his spine. There was little doubt in his mind that this wasn’t the dungeon’s boss.
It surprised him that he actually felt the urge to approach the crystal. It was a crazy thought, but he itched to test himself against the dungeon boss. He wanted the rewards. The thoughts brought Dario to mind.
Janus looked through his skills and noted [Bravery]. The skill stated that he would approach dangerous situations more calmly. It had even improved to level four when he entered the ravine. He thought about his conflicts with the dungeon monsters and realized that he had been almost non-nonchalant during some of the fights.
Bravery doesn’t mean stupid. The crystals must be related to the dungeon boss somehow.
It was unsettling to think about how the System could warp his mind. Without the [Bravery] skill, would he have ever even tried his luck in the ravine at all? He knew the skill gave him bonus wisdom, but it didn’t seem to drive him to wise decisions. Or did it? His time in the ravine had ultimately benefited him.
If he could kill the boss, it would cause every monster in the dungeon to dissipate, and no more monsters should appear in the ravine. Even though the dungeon was pretty far out in the tunnels, it could still potentially save lives if he destroyed it now. In some small way, Janus felt it could help make up for his mistake with Lenny.
Maybe bravery does mean stupid.
Janus formed a mana shell surrounding himself, dropped his pack, and inched closer to the crystals. They shifted slowly as he neared. He was only a few meters away when the horrible noise of stone grinding on stone erupted outward from the glowing formation. The crystals slowly slid around, forming a vaguely humanoid shape. The resulting golem was more than twice as tall as Janus.
Expecting an immediate attack, he jumped back and identified the crystals.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
[Crystal Golem - Level 40]
Oh, shit.
Level 40 was a steeper challenge than Janus had expected. He turned around, preparing to run back into the ravine.
He cursed as he saw a row of interlocking crystals. The way back into the ravine had been entirely sealed off.
Before he turned back to the golem, he could feel his defensive shell break apart in some places. He saw slender crystals zipping past and embedding themselves in the wall. The crystals were growing from the dungeon boss’ arms. Once one had finished growing, the golem would launch it towards him.
Sidestepping, Janus managed to avoid most of the barrage. Thankfully, his mana shell had taken the brunt of the attack. Unfortunately, it was now slowly repairing itself.
I need to conserve as much of my mana as possible.
He wasn’t sure if his arrow point arrays would even scratch the golem, but it was worth figuring out sooner rather than later. He formed a few of the arrays above the golem and watched the mana arrows collide with the golem’s crystalline form. The projectiles hardly even had an effect. They left only small chips in the [Crystal Golem] which slowly repaired themselves.
Janus was glad that he didn’t have to rely on his [Torchstone] to see the dungeon boss, but the pale pink and purple hues were shifting around too much. The effect was distracting as he tried to focus on his foe.
The arrow point arrays had drained more mana than he would have liked. Janus had little time to dwell on his mistake, however, as the golem charged toward him with unexpected speed.
Thinking quickly, he compressed mana to his side and braced himself. Releasing the compressed mana resulted in an explosion that propelled him out of the way, narrowly avoiding the golem's charge.
He landed on his back with a thud. The fall had driven the air from his lungs and he gasped for oxygen as he scrabbled back onto his feet. His eyesight was blurry, but he could still feel crystalline projectiles collide with his defensive shell. Movement was key. If the projectiles pierced the same location on his mana shell more than once before it had finished repairing, they would easily penetrate.
Janus didn’t want to think about what one of those chunks of crystal would do if it hit him.
Breathing heavily, he sprinted to the other side of the arena. If he could stall long enough, he could regain mana to fight more efficiently. However, his plan was almost immediately foiled when the [Crystal Golem] reached into its torso, emitting a loud grinding noise that made Janus clap his hands over his ears.
He looked on, bewildered, as the golem pulled a mass of crystals from its chest and tossed them onto the ground. His confusion turned to dread as he saw the crystals form into smaller golems. The chunk of crystal the golem had torn from its chest was already reforming.
Janus identified the two smaller golems.
[Crystal Offspring - Level 20]
They didn’t appear to be all that threatening. The real issue was that Janus would have to spend mana to get rid of them. He acted swiftly, launching a ball of reinforced mana at each of the forming [Crystal Offspring]. It satisfied him to see the reinforced mana collide with a satisfying crunch, scattering small shards of crystal everywhere.
The [Crystal Golem] remained stationary after producing the two offspring. Janus guessed that it wouldn’t be able to move for a short time after creating the [Crystal Offspring].
His triumph was short-lived, though. The shattered crystals from the offspring slowly dragged themselves across the floor into two separate mounds. The monsters appeared to be slowly reforming.
Janus nipped that in the bud as soon as possible, launching more orbs of mana at the pools of slowly assembling crystals. He got the result he wanted. Crystals shattered across the ravine floor. They began moving again shortly after, but he was confident that he could continue breaking them apart before the fully formed.
The [Crystal Golem] started moving again and was forming more crystals to launch at him. As soon as the first crystal detached, Janus began to sprint. He could hear the crystals smash into the ground behind him, and he didn’t stop until the barrage subsided. As soon as the projectiles had stopped, the golem prepared to charge once more.
As soon as the dungeon boss moved, Janus jumped to the right. He narrowly avoided the dungeon boss, but it had completely shorn one side of his defensive shell off. Once again, Janus made as much distance as he could, heading to the opposite side of the arena.
To his dismay, he watched the golem reach into its torso again, throwing even more lumps of crystal onto the field. Janus could already see the crystals forming into [Crystal Offspring].
Janus scattered the offspring before they could finish forming, taking the time to scatter the other mounds of crystal from before.
The entire process repeated once more. Janus ran from a barrage of slender crystals and successfully dodged the golems’ charge. Once again, it was reaching into its torso.
If I don’t end this fast enough, I’ll be completely overwhelmed by the [Crystal Offspring].
His plan to stall out the fight and slowly whittle the boss down wouldn’t work. However, he noticed that with each new batch of [Crystal Offspring], the dungeon boss appeared to pause for longer and longer amounts of time.
He took advantage of the pause, forming a hardened shell of reinforced mana. Within, compressed energy swirled chaotically. He had been avoiding the explosive technique for fear of causing a rock slide in the ravine, but now he was in a relatively open area.
I can scatter the offspring and maybe even hurt the golem in one go. I only have a few chances at this.
He tossed the pearl and slammed his hands over his ears. The pearl hit the ground, bouncing along until it rolled near the golem’s feet. Janus steadied himself, shoved his eyes closed, and activated the mana inside the pearl. The shock wave pushed him into the ravine wall. He could feel small pieces of crystal sting his face and cut into his skin.
Opening his eyes, he saw crystals littering the ground along the edges of the arena. His back felt sore where he had been pushed violently into the wall. The [Crystal Golem] was missing an entire arm and even a part of its torso.
Janus nearly whooped in victory before he realized that no notification had come. The [Crystal Golem] was regenerating.
Even that wasn’t enough?!