“So,” Felix said once they were all back together again. “Tell me how it went.”
“It went well, for the most part,” Jake said, grimacing as he remembered how close that last fight had been. “It was right at the end where it went wrong. I got separated from the others and almost died at the hands of the Murkling.”
“I see,” Felix said, leaning back and running his gaze over them before nodding. “I hope that this is the wake up you all need to not grow overconfident?”
“You can say that again,” Alan said, looking vaguely nauseous about the whole thing.
“Then I have nothing more to say about it,” Felix said with a slight shrug. “As I’ve said all along, I will provide you the opportunity to learn, but I can’t force you to.”
Jake nodded, taking the words to heart.
The conversation shifted to them providing Varin with the physical items they’d gained from the delve, including the spearhead of the Murkling’s weapon, and the crafter promising to return soon with more for them.
“We should do it again,” Jake said, interrupting Aspen discussing what they should have for lunch. “Once we’ve eaten, we go back and do it again.”
“But you won’t be able to use any of your Boons,” Nepthys said, frowning at him with a slightly confused expression. “Even the leftover usage for your spear will run out by the time we get to the end from what you’ve said.”
“True, but now we know what we’re doing,” Jake said firmly. “We can plan our approach to that final floor, and I can get a normal spear from Ivaldi’s to use in place of my Boon.”
“I don’t know, Jake,” Alan said hesitantly. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. We need the Wyrdgeld to get our Skills and our ranks up, and we can’t stay here too long. That means using what little time we have to its fullest.”
“If we come up with a solid plan, then I’m in,” Aspen said, holding up a hand before Jake could say anything. “But only with a good plan, and one that’s better than charging headlong at them.”
“Agreed,” Gargan said, leaning forward with an intent look. “I think Jake is right, though. If we have a plan, we should use it.”
“Alright then, let’s go over the layout of the floor and what we can use to our advantage.”
-**-
Their second trip into the Dungeon was a lot smoother than the first as they had the benefits of experience and the only downside was the lack of Boons that Jake could use.
In their place, he was using his infusions a lot more, and realising how much he depended on the excellent quality of his Boon spear to deal with everything.
Jake had bought a standard replacement spear from Ivaldi, and that meant he needed to infuse every attack if he wanted to do real damage to them.
By the time they’d reached the final Guardian floor, Jake had used far more Wyrd than the last delve, but a rest outside of it gave them time to go back over their plan and recover their Wyrd.
The plan, such as it was, was simple but effective.
Aspen had a Dash Skill, which let him move short distances very quickly. He would move to the far side and blitz one of the Murk Hounds, ideally killing it as quickly as possible and then
Aspen would then retreat to the edge of the area with the decaying mounds and they’d wait for the Murk Hounds to appear before hitting them with everything they had.
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From there, it would turn into a running skirmish where they tried to not get pinned down by the Murk Hounds until they had killed enough.
Entering the final floor of the Dungeon, they set the plan into motion, holding off at the first mound they came to while Aspen crept further inside.
The first Murk Hound died quickly, and Aspen managed to take out a second by briefly using his Flame Infusion Skill before falling back to rejoin them.
The following few minutes were a blur of fighting and moving quickly, but by sticking together and staying on the move, they overwhelmed any Murk Hounds they found.
Eventually, the monsters became organised under the command of the Murkling, but the moment it showed itself, Alan put an arrow through its chest.
The key weakness of this floor was that the Awakened monster wasn’t physically tough or imposing like the Woadite had been.
With the Murkling was dead, the Murk Hounds lost their leader and went back to acting on instinct alone.
While there were still quite a few of the giant rats, Jake and the others swiftly took them down, staying grouped tightly together the whole time.
“Now that was more like it,” Jake said, pulling his spear out of the last rat, which he’d finished off after Gargan had burned it badly.
“Much better,” Aspen said, sounding relieved. “Good job making do without your Boons, Jake.”
“Thanks, it wasn’t too bad, actually,” Jake said, hefting his spear and eyeing the damage to the spearhead that had accumulated over the fight. “I think I’d rather have them than not, though.”
Aspen chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, I can imagine. Let’s get what we need and clear out of here, though.”
“Way ahead of you,” Nepthys called out from where she was rummaging through the rewards box. “I’ve got the spearhead as well.”
Jake nodded, finishing drawing out the Wyrdgeld of the Murk Hounds near to him before heading over to the exit.
After two big delves like this, he was ready to get some rest.
-**-
“So, now that we’ve done that, what’s the plan?” Alan asked once they’d offloaded all the rewards and had some food. “Are we doing that again?”
“Maybe, but I’m not sure if we should stay that long,” Jake said, glancing over at Ari. “Any sign of anyone following us?”
“Not as far as I can tell,” Ari said, shrugging slightly. “We lost them on the way here and no sign since then.”
“So we could stay here for a bit longer, then,” Aspen said, giving the Dungeon a considering look. “After that second delve, we’ve shown we can do it, so this could be a good place to push ourselves.”
“That would be good, if we can,” Jake said, thinking of his Skills. If he waited until the next day to spend his Wyrdgeld, he’d have enough to upgrade more than one of them.
“Another day it is,” Felix said before giving Ari a nod. “We’ll keep an eye out for anyone who might be looking for us, just in case. One day is all we can spare, so work hard, and then we’ll push either north or east.”
Jake nodded and got up with a sigh. “I’m going to get some rest, I think we’ll need it if we’re going to delve twice again tomorrow.”
They’d delved tier one Dungeons multiple times in the same day before, but they were a lot shorter than one of the second tier.
Jake wasn’t so comfortable in these delves to think they could do them when tired, either.
Still, what mattered was that he had another Dungeon bound, and he couldn’t help but feel proud of what they’d done.
-**-
The next day they took on the Dungeon twice more, with Jake using all of his Manifestations across the two delves, but sparingly.
Varin had to give them every Wyrdgeld he’d saved to pay for all the materials they’d brought out, but Jake could hardly complain.
He’d gained what must be more than a thousand Wyrdgeld in the last two days. It had been exhausting, but he’d managed it.
Ari had seen no sign of anyone following them either, so it seemed that taking the extra time had paid off despite the risks involved.
An enterprising utility classer had come to the Dungeon selling Wyrd-infused food and drink, much of which Aspen bought with his earnings from their delves and stored with Ivaldi.
The leftovers, however, were served up as a revitalising meal to end the day and the five of them stayed up for several hours, simply relaxing in good company.
Things had felt a little weird at times since his talk with Nepthys, but Jake finally felt like they were back to where they’d been before.
Sure, it wasn’t quite as smooth or easy, but they were getting there, and Jake was fully relaxed again for the first time in what felt like an age.
This Dungeon felt like a turning point for them, one more of these and some more days like this one, and he’d be at tier three.
If the others weren’t ready, Jake would go on alone at that point. Taking him away from all this would be much safer for them, after all.
A hard decision, but one that he’d made well in advance.
Shaking off the darker thoughts, Jake stripped off his armour and climbed into bed, letting his tired muscles relax. Tomorrow was no doubt going to be a long day.
Reaching out for the System, Jake triggered his rank up.