Lanek stood before the crystals in the glyph room and began withdrawing monster cores. He had decided to attempt to top off the crystal for the water supply if possible, seeing as this was the most vital system for his continued survival. According to Caelis, the crystal was only about a third of the way full.
With a shrug, he began pressing one core after another against the crystal, watching as the cores were pulled into the crystal. After utilizing all six of his ash wight cores, Caelis informed him that based on the amount of the crystal had been recharged, he would need 100 cores to replenish each empty crystal. Damn, how the hell am I going to do that? Maybe I can get Ograch and the Night Arrows to help out? Then again, they have their own uses for the cores, so that isn’t likely.
Shaking his head in frustration, Lanek grumbled to himself about needing over 450 cores to get the monastery fully powered. The upside was that with Lanek being in the monastery alone, the power would last decades. Additionally, he didn’t need to recharge the crystals fully to restore the systems and he could prioritize systems. Defensive wards and lighting would both give away his position, so he would avoid those two for now. On the other hand, reactivating the heating elements and preservation systems were vital for the coming winter.
“Okay, I might as well kill two birds with one stone. Where is the nearest node? I can try to collect more cores on the way to retrieve it.” he addressed Caelis.
“I would recommend going out in the morning, but the nearest node is in the garrison headquarters to the east. The last time I attempted to project myself into that structure all I could see were orcs.”
“The dungeon has orcs?” Lanek asked, curiously.
“I don’t know if they are dungeon orcs or a clan that moved into the city and claimed the garrison. For all I know, they could even be enemies of the dungeon, but I find that unlikely. It would take a truly powerful tribe to be that near to the true entrance to the Ashen Depths and not be overwhelmed by its minions.” Caelis said.
“I see… How strong are the orcs?”
“They are around your level, but there are a large number of them. I would not be surprised if they have multiple evolutions wandering around as well. If you go that way, please be careful.” she cautioned.
“Well, I’m going to have to head that way eventually. I may as well do it tonight when Sanguineus and shinobi are at their strongest. Maybe I can get a good look at the area around the pit while I’m at it?”
“That makes sense, stealth will likely be your best approach. Before the city fell, we would not allow anyone into the Depths until they had reached at least level 30, which you have done. However, I don’t know how strong the Depths are now. Caution is still needed. Also, Lanek… Please keep an eye out for any spirits. A lot of good people fell near the pit while they were buying time for the populace to evacuate.” Caelis requested in a tiny voice.
Lanek nodded. “I will see what I can do. I’d best be off, the sun is setting.”
Before Lanek departed, he left his pack behind. While he would have loved to take it for any potential loot, he wanted to travel as light as possible to maximize his stealth. If he did need to loot anything, he would have to rely on his pockets or simply carry the items out.
Just before Lanek ascended to the rooftops to the east of the monastery, he waved Sanguineus forward. The wolf’s natural buffs when in darkness would make him a force to be reckoned with, but Lanek still sent Kazuma to watch his back. He wasn’t about to take any risks with the safety of his companions, especially in unknown territory.
While rushing toward the garrison, Lanek paused several times to put down a few stray goblins and ghouls, happy to see that despite not getting any experience for them being below his level he would still receive cores. Not many due to his lack of a harvesting skill, but he managed to collect a half dozen in short order. However, they were all from low level goblins, so he didn’t know how effective those would be at recharging the crystals compared to the wight cores. Dammit, probably something I should have asked Caelis about.
The sun was completely down when Sanguineus and Kazuma sent out a pulse of alarm and took cover in a building. Concerned, Lanek cautiously joined the two, wondering what could have spooked his companions. He peered out into the street, but struggled to identify the source of their concern. However, he could feel a dense pressure suffusing the area, so he knew something dangerous was nearby.
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Wondering if he was just letting paranoia get to him, he nevertheless continued to look for the threat. Lanek trusted his companions’ instincts and if they thought a threat was nearby, then there was indeed a threat nearby.
Finally, he spotted movement. It was subtle, but he saw motion near the top of a building across the street. It looked as if something was simply shifting in place, but he couldn’t tell what it was and [Identify] wouldn’t trigger when used on the thing. Stealth skill? That would make sense, [Threat Detection] isn’t going off either.
Lanek moved his gaze along the street, looking for another path, before swearing. More of whatever the hell that thing was had moved in, cutting off their escape routes. It saw us and waited while its friends closed the trap behind us… I really don’t like this.
Lanek gestured for his companions to follow and crept quietly up the stairs to the second level of the structure, which turned out to be an abandoned home. Once upstairs, he closed the door to the stairwell. If those things wanted a fight, Lanek wasn’t going to make it easy for them. On the second floor was a single window facing the street.
He approached the window very slowly, hoping that his stealth ability would hide him while he tried to get a look at the creature from another angle. That look was enough to make him regret his decision as he saw that the movement had been from a large segmented, chitinous leg. Following the leg, his eyes were finally able to make out the rest of the creature, complete with its bulbous hairy body and eight segmented legs. As if a giant spider wasn’t enough to make Lanek shudder, he could see its coloration change with every motion to match the surface around it.
Fuck. That. Noise. Lanek thought while recoiling away from the window. He slowly raised his hand to the window, but a low growl from Sanguineus and Kazuma’s large paw slapping his hand down stopped him from unleashing [Ethereal Salvo] on the beast. Right, stealth.
He pet the two animals in apology and gratitude. Who knew what would have been attracted by the explosion? God, I hate spiders so damn much.
“Alright, guys. I have an idea. Kazuma, turn into mist and cover as much of the street outside as you can. Sanguineus, I’m going to need your speed to keep those things off of my back while I go for the one on the roof over there. Understood?” Lanek felt twin pulses of assent reach him. “Good, let’s get started.”
Kazuma shifted into his mist form and drifted out of the window and down to the street while Sanguineus returned to his vessel. A moment later, mist began billowing across the street, thickening and rising until it reached the rooftops. Lanek leapt through the window, embedding Sanguineus’ vessel in the building across the street and pulling himself forward.
As he reached the opposite building, he kicked off and launched himself into the fog, narrowly avoiding a strike from the giant spider. The spider hissed in rage at missing its target before leaping down from the rooftop toward the mist-shrouded street. As it descended, Lanek felt Sanguineus leave his vessel at high speed, impacting the giant spider in its soft underbelly while it was still descending. He could hear sickening cracks as gravity combined with Sanguineus' speed produced enough force to rupture the spiders abdomen and shatter its exoskeleton.
While Lanek paused in shock at the sound and the bits of spider gore that were now raining all around, he didn’t notice that the other creatures had joined the fray. However, those creatures had not taken into account that the mist was not their domain, but Kazuma’s. Before Lanek could react to the spider approaching him from behind, he heard the sharp crack of thunder. The Cloud Hunter had caught one of the spiders by surprise, his lightning imbued claws paralyzing and cooking the spider at the same time, causing the entire area to be filled with a truly disgusting stench.
The remaining two spiders leapt out of the mist, frantically scrambling back onto the rooftops before turning to face the street once more. One of the creatures began to spray a sickly green liquid into the mist, which sizzled on impact with stones of the street. Lanek ordered his companions to disperse into the nearby buildings for cover, fully aware that the spider was firing blindly.
Lanek had found himself a perch on a building off to the side of where the mist had collected, keeping perfectly still to allow his [Shroud] skill to keep him hidden. From there, he was finally able to [Identify] his assailants.
Spitting Spider
lvl 34
Spitting spiders are adept at ambush tactics, due in no small part to their natural color-changing camouflage. These creatures are known for incapacitating their foes from stealth with targeted streams of acid, oftentimes targeting their prey’s legs to prevent them from fleeing. However, despite the strength of their acid and stealth, an individual spitting spider will often flee if their ambush fails due to the relative weakness of their exoskeleton.
Why aren’t they fleeing now that their ambush has clearly failed? I have a bad feeling about this...