It was not as easy as one might think despite the power-ups their party had gained over the years.
Ordina’s spawned monsters have gotten stronger than the average levels they gained suggest. It was merely the dungeon recovering and was still considered a weakened dungeon.
Ebony left the party behind as he scouted ahead after confirming that nothing much was a threat to the party. They didn’t have a scout anymore and he believed his Perception to be the best out of the 5 of them.
It was doubtful he had better eyesight than an archer with an eyesight skill but possibly having the highest effective Perception should be good enough.
He didn’t have stamina constraints either, so he was the best candidate to act as the team scout.
Same mindset as always, he just blasted Frostblaze Augmentation so that he could save time. It did catch many other parties' attention as he was impossible to miss.
Even the eighth floor was relatively crowded now.
There had never been a real need to scout as the way up was still the same. Getting to the edge and climbing the sandy slope up. It was all just for his Mental Map to refresh, he had roughly remapped the previous floors too, except those they skipped.
He rejoined his party on the ninth floor after they finished scaling the slope and he finished Mental Mapping the eighth.
The monsters were indeed fiercer but they didn’t attack their party that much. There was more profitable prey for the dungeon on this floor.
With his 'wastage' of mana, he was a plus to the dungeon as it could absorb everything that he was expending.
Before long, they were back on the eleventh floor.
Ebony walked to a seemingly random spot and put his palms together. As if a prayer.
‘My apologies, Ryley. We weren’t able to give you a proper burial.’
Ebony didn’t forget, it was a rather bastard move as he put zero effort into doing anything for his previous party leader. It was just a matter of priority. He did not place a dead man’s last words or wishes very high on his priority list.
‘Ryley Vigoureed.' He recalled.
Hector and Scarlet seemed to understand his actions. Hector removed his helmet for a deep bow and Scarlet closed her eyes with a lowered head for a moment of silence.
“I’ve sent a letter to the Vigoureed family. Not that I got a reply but, they should at least be aware.” Hector cleared the silence.
Ryley might not have given them the best first impression but at least Ebony would remember him as his first party leader that fought till the end.
Watching him endlessly pile up monster corpses after he was out of commission in battle said more about him than his first impression did. Neither Hector nor Scarlet would deny Ryley’s contribution.
Mark and Mallory didn’t interrupt and just kept a lookout.
The pyramid was too easy to spot and passed that were unknown lands.
They checked out some of the rooms inside the pyramid but were soon bored and focused on going for the stairs.
"I've checked, the twelfth floor apparently collapsed not long after Ordina opened and this place expanded and became the twelfth floor." Mark, ever the cautious man, clearly did his homework, unlike the irresponsible kids he was with.
Some of the rooms just close on them after they enter and have scorpions and worms crawling out from the hardened sand ground.
The dungeon spewed some rusty equipment out after the monsters were dead. When the door reopened and the rusty armour wasn’t picked up, the dungeon reabsorbed it like all the monster corpses.
It already learnt some tactics to attract people in. Perhaps it didn’t like their party and just wanted them to hurry up and go higher or just leave without harming it too much.
A long flight of stairs later, they were stopped.
There was a blue ceiling above them. The stairs were wide and so was the ‘ceiling’, all of them could fit with space to spare for multiple parties.
“It’s water,” Hector stated.
There wasn’t a need for his statement as all of them could see the swimming creatures above them. There was only one type. It was smaller than the Teen Giant Sandworms in girth but longer. Like an eel with humps. The slick and rocky grey eel had an ugly face and mouth with its long whiskers.
Ebony couldn’t Identify them from where they were standing.
“I’ll check it out first.” Hector took a deep breath and climbed the remaining few steps that brought him past the screen of water. Although he did ask for a stick of ice to poke into it to test the water pressure just to be on the safe side. He should've been able to sense that as a water mage but one could never be too cautious in a dungeon.
He didn’t even wait before he started swimming upward and checking his surroundings. The armour on him didn’t seem to impede his ability to swim by much but he obviously couldn’t move like he was on land.
Scarlet was unnerved and Ebony sensed it more clearly this time. He remembered she had the same reaction when she was jumping from platform to platform on the fourth floor which was a cavernous river.
The closest large eel was already watching their ceiling and the creature’s floor as Hector swam up. The water around Hector bubbled. He looked sluggish with his punch that directly hit the eel’s face. There wasn’t much of an effect.
Hector smashed his fist together again and punched out before the huge eel even reached him again.
The water screen that Ebony and the others were looking at rippled a little.
The eel had blood escaping its lips after it felt a large force crashing into his head and body.
Hector urgently swam back down and fell onto the stairs, coughing out the water he swallowed.
“Kah! Haa.. It’s not as bad as it looks. The pressure isn’t that strong and I can see pretty well, it shouldn’t be that deep. But we need to avoid battles since we can only hold our breath for so long.” Hector reported.
None of them was built for underwater battles. Not even Ebony with all his training had much experience in fighting underwater. Only once or twice and it was to spar with people, not creatures larger than a truck.
It’s not too late to practise swimming and get relevant skills but according to Hector the eel or [Issile Lvl 153] was pretty damn tough. It wasn’t dead and was just circling right above where they were.
It blasted a high-pressure stream of water at them but it just bounced off the water screen before it reached Ebony’s Layered Ice Carapace.
Water weakened Hector’s punch considerably and it was the Issile’s home ground.
Scarlet and Mark’s fire magic was rendered moot.
Ebony sent an Ice Sword flying in but it was so slow that it looked cute to all of them. Ice Sword could be said to be his weakest skill. Even if it was durable when compressed, his Intelligence was low enough that his control and projectile speed were too weak to overcome the big level difference.
“I’ll go.” Mallory volunteered.
Before he sensed her mana about to box her up, Mark grabbed her wrist and stopped her from completing her barrier.
“Can’t exactly let our healer move alone,” Mark commented.
He didn’t know that she was a barrier mage and thought that she was about to swim up by herself. Mark didn't have the mana perception Ebony had.
It was a coincidence that his hand managed to grab her before her barrier enclosed her. Mark had pulled her and he was inside her barrier too.
Mallory stared at Mark’s hand uncomfortably long before Mark let go. Mark didn’t expect to start floating and entering the pool.
He had only just sensed the mana with his weak senses but only realised it was an arcane barrier. They could even breathe in her barrier.
The three of them who stayed under the water screen watched for a few seconds before Ebony and Hector bolted in.
They had silently watched as Mark and Mallory were swallowed whole by another Issile that was under them and burst out from some corner closer to walls.
Ebony, who had Frostblaze Augmentation’s output kicked up, had to retreat as the water around him was freezing. He would be in Hector’s way and an unenhanced Ebony was unbelievably weak compared to the monsters here.
With Mallory’s barrier, they shouldn’t be in grave danger for the time being. If she could do the same as him and create sharp barriers to cut themselves out that would be great too.
Instead of Hector reaching the Issile that was a distance away or Mallory’s invisible slicing from within, the Issile glowed brighter and brighter orange. From the centre of the Issile came bursting out a pillar of flames that was instantly extinguished by the water.
Flooded with water, there was no point for Mallory to create a barrier to box them in when they had no air. Mark wrapped an arm around her waist and swam up with the hand that was holding his spear.
Hector only swam to that point and supported their ascent by fending off the other Issile that was alarmed by the one Mark burst out from.
It didn’t take long before they were all out of sight.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“Alright. Let’s go as well.” Ebony said.
“...” Scarlet fidgeted.
“Scarlet?”
Ebony received incomprehensible mumbles in response. It was quite amazing that she could whisper so softly that his enhanced hearing couldn’t catch it.
“I said-I said I can’t swim!” Scarlet had to speak up after his staredown.
It was a little unexpected that the almighty Xeng couldn’t swim but her reaction to the river or this pool of water was understandable now.
“...Do you trust me?” Ebony changed the topic.
“I trust you.” Scarlet didn’t blink or hesitate to answer.
The chill in Ebony’s heart had long disappeared. It was replaced with warmth.
He didn’t really have a very good plan. It was merely Layered Ice Carapace in orb form.
There were some problems with the plan.
He was definitely going to compress ice mana as much as he could. In addition to the dense ice was their body weight. Even with lots of air encased, it was likely that they might not be floating upwards.
It should be very possible for him to manipulate and carry them up in water since he was getting better and better and standing on his own ice.
The Issiles were another problem.
Ebony didn’t like to think so much. He took some time to cast and compress an ice orb around them and rolled them into the water screen. He subconsciously took advantage of the situation and made the orb smaller inside.
If it wasn’t for her mask they could feel their breaths on each other’s necks.
His Vibrational Gravity Sense couldn’t pass through his own ice which was quite ironic. Ebony hadn’t been as blind when he was blinded.
Despite that, it was not hard to tell that they were not moving or floating upwards as he expected.
Manipulated themselves upwards like Mallory but much slower. Not because he wanted to stay within close proximity with Scarlet. He was really trying to go as fast as he could.
Ebony’s Intelligence wasn’t able to support such a heavy load but the bigger problem was the weird reason that flight through manipulation was so difficult. Or rather, carrying himself with the strength of the mind was weird and not due to the weight.
To speed things up, he tried to creatively conjure 4 Ice Swords that’s connected by a thick rod of ice at an angle. Then, like a helicopter’s blade, it spun.
It was similar to how he escaped the sandworm's belly. Also surprisingly working at speeding their ascent up.
A hard impact knocked them spinning round and round. Ebony took the chance to hug Scarlet tight, an arm around her back and another behind her head. Clearly to protect her from impact.
The spinning blades broke off with that.
With no idea which way was up, he had to wait for the orb to settle and sink before moving again.
Not a minute passed before he felt the pressure his orb was under. They were swinging where he was going to assume was left and right.
‘Eaten huh.’ Ebony predicted. The constant pressure on his orb was likely the muscles of the Issile.
Breaking out in the exact same way before continuing on their way up after sinking a little. There was actually a lot of resistance when he tried to cut through the innards of their 'consumer' and it hadn't been easy.
They were eaten a couple more times and he even received a notification he forgot was the entire reason they were here.
‘Ting’ ‘You have killed [Issile Lvl 160]. No experience is gained due to maxed level. Enemy 60 levels or more above your own, sufficient potential experience accumulated. Experience converted to Natural Potential.’
As for his training trip into Hoarfrost Glade, he hasn’t killed those that were level 160 and above. There were plenty of them but he had avoided them during the start of his journey. Those that attacked Hector weren’t that strong, just numerous.
To begin with, he would say the difficulty of fighting any level 100 creature in Hoarfrost Glade was higher than any monster they faced in Ordina so far.
Before long, Ebony felt like they were being lifted up. He didn’t attack as Hector already called him through the callstone and asked what was taking them so long. Ebony picked up the call only to hang up since Scarlet didn’t want others to know and he didn’t like lying.
Guessing that the one who lifted them was Hector. He was right.
During the entire underwater trip, Scarlet had her eyes tightly closed. Her bone-crushing hug was just as tight. She was unquestionably so scared that she might not have noticed Ebony hugging back.
Unravelling the orb slowly for light to shine in instead of water was a good sign.
Revealing Scarlet hugging him tightly may or may not have been on purpose.
Hector’s exaggerated voice woke her up. Ebony got kicked. Hector had his pants on fire.
Surveying the area, they came out of a lake. It was dim and the smell of rot was pretty distinct.
It was a swamp.
The lake they came out from had pretty clear water but everywhere else on the 13th floor was a forested marsh. Muddy waters, moss-covered tree trunks and floating algae on every puddle.
The dungeon either didn’t restore broken trees back or it was designed that way.
The lake where they swam up from should’ve stopped the large majority of parties scaling Ordina but there wasn’t a lack of people here.
They climbed out into something like an outpost or camp.
Many large tents were set up. There were even food stalls and the sound of hammering was pretty distinct.
It took a while to catch on that the ecology here interested many. Enough that they deem it worthwhile to set up an outpost.
“Won’t Ordina try to remove the outpost?” Ebony dumbly asked.
If monsters were the eyes of the dungeon it was hard to believe that the outpost was hidden.
“Depending on the dungeon, maybe,” Hector answered.
“It’ll be rare to find a dungeon that wants to remove its source of energy. They are trying to attract people in and stay as long as possible to drain our essence after all.” Mallory added.
That sort of slipped from Ebony’s mind. Since the dungeon’s constantly sending monsters after people it seemed like they were trying to get rid of them.
While dungeons would prefer dead people because there’s much more essence to absorb, live ones supply them with the stamina and mana spent in the dungeon as well.
If people weren’t wearing myriad bracelets, all their excess mana would’ve been food for the dungeon.
Hence, as long as the individual dungeon wasn’t too dumb and hostile, the relationship between them and the people was symbiotic. Ordina apparently learnt fast enough that it was not a predator. No wonder its behaviour had been very mild compared to its infancy period.
There were quite a few [Master Scholar]s and even [Master Herbalist]s around level 130 to beyond what Ebony could Identify. Those with Appraise could tell the difference between [Master Ecologist]s and pure [Master Researcher]s among the scholars.
Each of them had bodyguards sticking very closely as they collected samples from the area. Even within the outpost that had earthen walls covering them.
The moment they swam up the lake they were already assaulted with stares.
‘I wonder how the non-combatants came up?’ Ebony pondered.
The average levels of the people here were only around Mark’s. He did not doubt that they were all pretty strong to be able to cross the dangerous lake.
They were extremely disadvantaged in water.
There was the flag of the Empire hung up in the centre. A round symbol of multiple waves. That mostly ruled out the possibility that they would be attacked by people for no reason.
“Journeymen? I praise your persistence to have gotten here. Are you their guardian?” A dark greenish haired man that appeared to want to blend into the surroundings walked over and addressed Mark.
There was a momentary silence as none of them answered.
Mark checked for his new party members’ reactions before deciding to speak since one had a mask, one had an expression that never changes, one was averting his gaze and the other ran off to chat up some bespectacled lady.
“I am the oldest.” Neither confirming or denying.
“I’ll take that as a yes then. Feel free to set up camp in the residential area on the south side. There is more than sufficient space.”
“In exchange?” Mark was pragmatic.
“Just the basic rules. No fighting within the walls, do that outside. Try not to interrupt the scholars, if you’ll assist them in any way they require that would be wonderful but no obligations. Should there be any attack on this camp, all freelancers or clearers alike are to defend the camp. Though that’ll not likely happen.” The man shrugged.
He was just doing his job at explaining things to newcomers.
“...That’s all?” Mark couldn’t say he was very familiar with the ‘basic rules’ of such camps in dungeons but it was a little too nice to be true for him.
“Of course not. Those that intend to stay for more than a night would have to talk and register with the guard captain here. You’ll be tasked to join the guards and man hours would be split accordingly. Other possible jobs might be to clear the surrounding area for any stray monsters. Alright, that’s all I’m paid to explain. See ya around, I hope you don’t bring these kids to their deaths.” It was not the first time some rich and talented noble journeyman came with a bodyguard for natural potential but it was the first time he personally saw them come up this high and with four of them.
The relatively young man who was busy at a table full of books, papers and different plants didn’t even associate Scarlet’s mask to the Xengs because his mind was more on what a bother the new group was that disrupted his work. Not to mention, Xengs were hardly the only people who wore full masks.
“Let’s rest here for now. It’s a good chance. While I don’t trust some stranger smith with my equipment they have food, water and a semblance of shelter.” Mark proposed.
There really weren’t any disagreements within their group. Other than Scarlet asking them not to eat dungeon meat or use any potions made from dungeon material.
To the people here, it just looked like a group of obedient kids listening to their guard. They prayed and prayed that it stayed that way. Journeymen that came up so far are usually arrogant enough to think they own the world and are more of a threat than the dungeon itself. Moreover, this group seemed like the youngest group that came so far.
Leisurely checking out the wares that included some monster meat or parts like scales, cooked food, dry rations, potions, weapons, armours and even a stall that dealt with elemental mana ores. It was a small village.
The south side was half filled with tents already. Ebony could sense that they were mostly empty. It was still daytime both inside and outside Ordina.
They still guarded against theft and not much was left inside tents.
With no real reason to rush, they set up and went about with their own agendas.
Mark went to chat, make connections and most importantly gather information about this floor and maybe those above.
Mallory actually followed Mark saying “gathering information is but the basics of survival”. Both she and Hector changed out of their wet clothing.
Scarlet and Ebony were dry inside his orb and Mark dried off quickly enough with his body heat. Mark wouldn’t remove his armour inside a dungeon for a silly reason like how wet it was.
It would be foolish to assume it was safe within elemental earthen walls. Even if it was conjured by some earth mage, the dungeon could remove the wall by absorbing it. It was merely a stop-gap measure to slow down any attacks from the dungeon.
Hector went around and easily joined a group of drinking buddies that were around a makeshift bar. No strong alcohol was being sold, just the common ale and beer. It was a spot of relaxation in the tiresome dungeon.
Scarlet was gone before Ebony could see or ask what she was going to do.
Ebony took a walk around as he let the atmosphere of the somewhat bustling camp pass by him in his usual trance.
Realising that he walked through the entire camp a few times when he found himself sitting at the edge of the surprisingly tall earthen walls. Night fell.
Time passed by faster and faster to him whenever he walked around like that.
He had never been very bothered by it but perhaps he should try not to fall into a trance so easily. He would hate to lose grasp over important matters just because he wasn’t so aware.
At the same time, probably due to Everlasting Tranquillity, he felt that it might not be so bad to just let his life pass by in a trance.
But no.
Ebony now has things that he doesn’t want to let pass by.
People.
Person.