Caspian could hear it all around him the rocks slicing the air the chill of ice as it left a frost in the air. He couldn’t see a thing couldn't tell how many people there were or if somehow it was all that old man in the robe. He had no idea how long he had been out just an endless stream of the same notifications letting him know he was slowly being killed by whatever was out there in the darkness.
Suddenly he could hear shouting. A male voice directing. A female voice yelling something in a language he didn't understand. Each time she did he felt another cool breeze blanket him. Not exactly what one hopes for while almost completely naked somewhere they've never been before as they slowly die but hey beggars can't be choosers now can they? Caspian lay there thinking over what had happened. Should he not have tried to save the man? He could've turned around and gone back into the tunnel. He was powerful now though he punched through a Boar. He destroyed solid rock with his …. Scent. He was not going to die due to being noticed by some powerful being.
NOTICED. Not attacked. Not hunted. He had been noticed by this thing and what? He had just fallen over and died? The heck kinda story of woe was that? Stupid. Stupid. STUPID.
Caspian opened his eyes and sighed.
Wait
He opened his eyes.
Couldn't he not do that before?
Caspian attempted to sit up immediately feeling nauseous and closing his eyes again. With all his strength he tried again. And again. And again. He could almost do it if he just … wanted it … just a little more … more .. more .. Yes! He was upright with eyes open.
He could see its shape illuminated in the dark. A wild thing. A massive undulating form of tentacles bits of dead monster and way too many teeth. Why did a giant jelly monster have to have teeth? Couldn't it be cute and dangerous not scary and dangerous? Either way, the massive fire arrows and spikes of ice certainly seemed to do a lot more actual damage to the thing than he would have any ability to … punching it. He had to start thinking about his build and choosing what to fight and or avoid more based on an actual strategy rather than a blind ‘I'll just punch it till it stops moving’ belief.
It was now that Caspian noticed he wasn't getting the notifications for being debilitated anymore. He stood up or tried to stand up falling to his hands and knees as he was greeted by a new message.
Ding
You have successfully resisted the attention of Nightmare Slime Behemoth: DEEEATH
You have gained xp!
You have gained a New Skill!
New Skill: Fear Resistance Lvl 1
-You have witnessed that which should not be seen by the force of will or stupidity you have stared it down and survived next time it'll take longer for your will to shatter
…
Fear Resistance Lvl 5
Self-Heal Lvl 10
Self Heal has reached peak Tier 1
Brawlers Resolve Lvl 10
Brawlers Resolve has reached peak Tier 1
Gain experience to Ascend your Tier or Combine skills
Alright, so clearly skills have a cap. The prospect of combining skills was certainly intriguing but nothing he could do much with at the moment. At least he knew what the creature was now. Interesting that the difficulty was set at Deeeath with the 3 e’s.
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“Hey wait there's someone out in the chamber!!” yelled someone from behind Caspian
“I think he's alive otherwise this thing can raise the dead and that is not a C-class group target”
“Is he naked?” asked a woman from somewhere
“Yep a dee doo that's for sure looks pretty good for someone lost in the labyrinth in just a rag what do you think should we grab him” whistled another woman seemingly above Caspian somewhere in the air
“I am going to go with yes on account of him being able to hear you three besides… there!”
Two massive chunks of rock split off from the walls to either side of the Slime Behemoth and slammed into it looking a lot closer as if some giant pair of hands crushed a snowball onto each side rather than sheer stone. A silence fell over the chamber and a slow pair of footprints approached Caspian where he knelt.
“Hey there bucko. I am gonna walk real slow up to you and place a healing potion down then back up you just take a second and let that kick in”
Caspian did the one thing he could tell would be the right choice. He knew what the description said and knew at least a teensy bit about how people react to the word Chaos. He disabled every skill he had that even mentioned chaos or an eternal anything but he did flex his Stalwart Legs as he sat up reaching back for the potion.
Sitting there on the cold ground fully naked with his senses giving him a pretty good idea of the relative crowd standing just over 50 feet behind him Caspain sighed and tipped the bottle back. Nothing against a potion that was literally named a healing potion. As he chugged down the contents the fluid felt grainy and metallic like an unnamed chemical that was slightly spoiled and had all its taste filtered out. His health was returning he could feel it but gosh darn was it slow. He focused his internal energy towards the parts of his body that had taken the most damage from the Slime Behemoth effects. Quickly his natural healing outpaced the vial and he chuckled.
“Something funny kid?” asked the leader of the group who had given him the potion.
“No just turns out almost dying really is the fast track” laughed Caspian
“Ain’t that the truth kid why else would people be in a place like this”
A man came around to face Caspian and reached out his arm. He had a massive beard braided into 4 strands that each ended in a large monkey fist-looking knot as if the man could use his beard as a whip if need be. He wore earth tones mostly greyish and embedded with chunks of stone or something similar between a pebble and ones the size of a small fist.
“The name is Darock, I'm what passes for our team leader though that may be due to me being a specialist in stone magic so I don't go down easy”
“He's just good 'cause he never has to dodge anything with his fancy wall” chided a woman dressed in green flowing robes that appeared to be actively holding her an inch or so off the ground.
“The name is Ezmarelda” she added.
“Over in the blue and red is Nathaniel he’s an ice caster, The lady in yellow is Freya our healer but she does a lot of crowd control too, and finally is Tina in that orange …. Dress though I’d call it basically just rags to cover the saucy bits shes a priestess though don't ask what of, she doesn't talk. Just takes orders and nods then starts her little chant and BOOM goes the enemy”
Caspian looked at each of them in bewilderment which they must have noticed cause they all looked around at each other.
“You mute too kid?” asked Darock
“Not mute just sur-surprised to see you all down here I haven’t seen anyone in what I'm pretty sure has been days but as you can tell there isn't much light.”
Caspian stood fully and reached out shaking each team member's hand.
“Thank you for saving me could you tell me how to get out? Also where we are. Also, could I ask you about a million likely super weird and silly questions”
Darock just looked at his hand then nodded and gestured for him to follow. Caspian waited up for a moment then followed until they reached the other end of the cavern roughly 30 feet from the old man he tried to rescue. The man lay in a pool of foul-smelling ooze and seemed to have lost all the flesh on his lower half as if he'd been sitting there for decades not minutes or hours. Caspian rushed over and pulled the soiled robe off the corpse and was prompted with a message.
Ding
You have a target available for offering
Would you like to gift this offering?
Y/N
Caspian rejected the prompt feeling on edge about it all. As he wrapped the robe around him he felt his energy enter the fabric then return and could see the stains on it visually disappear and the color come back to the clothing. Well, that was a helpful surprise. The runes on the sleeves glowed faintly and Caspian felt the slightest bits of energy enter his body where it contacted the robe. Double helpful surprises.