Ebony’s maintenance or repair abilities were useless for their party.
Scarlet’s clothes were made by Sister Jing. It wasn’t something that he could do anything about. The other problem was that they weren’t even damaged.
The prince and princess just changed out to another set so frequently that they didn’t care if a few of their clothes were ripped or damaged.
Mark took care of his own equipment as there were too many runes on them that he didn’t want people to mess around with.
Mallory obviously had a much better pair of casting gloves than his single glove which was worn out. His own glove may not survive long. It was already very thin as he held a greatsword with it and the constant swinging was wearing it down with friction.
He was thinking of letting his glove retire but it was actually a great help in helping with the casting of Layered Ice Carapace so he still wore it.
They were not interested in going out for another hunt so they just slept. Though he was pestered to cook and make ice cream, it was a night of snacking. Hector didn’t let Scarlet hog all the food.
With milk and some cream that Scarlet provided, Ebony conjured a jar made of ice and just added sugar. They didn’t have vanilla extract and he was too lazy to make other flavourings for now. Adding some small berries should do.
All he had to do was manipulate it to shake fast enough and he was done. It worked surprisingly well and the treat was well liked by even the princess. Scarlet seemed a little unhappy that her share decreased so he said he would make more for her. She was clearly in love with ice cream, more so than potato chips or fries.
They have been seeing their skills which stopped levelling level again but they quickly hit the limit again since the effect of Natural Potential was also limited.
Breakfast the next morning was some kind of pancake with bacon and sweet syrup. Considerably lighter than usual due to their heavy snacking and little exertion.
With little mood or enthusiasm to explore the same old terrain with many different varieties of plants, they just continued upwards.
Mallory was almost visibly relieved when she saw the vines end on the wall of the ground level of the eighteenth floor. Ebony wondered if anybody tried to cut it and drop a few floors worth of vines and maybe people down.
“Did you find out what’s the way up?” Hector asked Mark. He was a little uncomfortable about the possibility of bumping into their ex-party member.
“Urhh… Mana density here is pretty high. All I got from them was that the way up is too obvious to miss.” Mark complained as he tried to get used to the slight rise of mana density. Gravity didn’t increase noticeably anymore, Ebony no longer played tricks on his own party since it was dangerous to do so. His increase in magical prowess also changed things.
“Yeah. There’s a tiny bit of ice mana around.” Ebony looked up to see the blue ‘sky’. Miniscule amounts of Ice mana were sinking from above.
There were no clouds, the lighting wasn’t as dim and it was cooler on this floor. With no other clue other than ‘too obvious to miss’ they had no choice but to explore. The easiest choice was to move towards the centre or away from the dungeon wall.
They could already feel the difference between the current floor and the previous. There was likely a spawning node not too far away since they were attacked by a large group ready to tear them apart.
[Boomarrow Fang Lvl 182]
[Boomarrow Fang Lvl 184]
[Boomarrow Fang Lvl 180]
[Boomarrow Fang Lvl 182]
…
The most obvious of all was the different variants of serpents that were thicker than his arms with fangs as thick as his thumb. They were the most obvious because of their overwhelming numbers. Climbing and slithering on each other as there wasn’t enough space on the ground.
As for the golems, they turned into sleek forms like those in the long walkway. Not just ‘like’, they were the exact same ones but stronger.
[Earthen-Topaz Fist Golem Lvl 185]
[Earthen-Topaz Fist Golem Lvl 185]
[Earthen-Topaz Fist Golem Lvl 185]
[Earthen-Topaz Foot Golem Lvl 185]
[Earthen-Topaz Foot Golem Lvl 185]
[Earthen-Topaz Head Golem Lvl 185]
...
It was quite interesting that they all have the same level. There were about 18 of them in total.
As for the Issiles, they’ve grown wings. They were currently the most concerning to him as a pair of them circled and chased each other’s tails as they stayed afloat above them. Too far in the air for him to Identify.
“I’ll get the snakes,” Ebony said before disappearing from where he was. Fully enhanced because he needed every drop of power.
The outburst of such great numbers wasn't hidden well and was coming from quite a distance, giving them time to react.
In his opinion, he was the best one when it came to dealing with numbers. If the snakes scattered, Hector’s punch might not get them all.
He released the ice mana within his robe into the surroundings as Frost Mist.
Reaching ahead of the bulk of serpents in a single step, he swung out Icicle and manipulated his flames to extend to his Chaotic Repulsive Membrane. The crescent slash of flames streaked out from his greatsword and into the bulk of serpents.
The serpents' reactions were quick as they evaded to the side, those in the centre were stacked together and didn’t manage to dodge. The flames of frost came into contact and started sinking into their scales the moment it landed on them. The dumb ones who touched their burning compatriots caught the flames too.
Ebony was surrounded right after the serpents separated in an attempt to dodge his strike. The thin chill in the air was not doing much to them at the moment and he didn’t want to waste mana on Magnified Gravity Field which may not do much to slow them. He already gained all the Boomarrow Fang’s attention since he was a monster magnet.
Several of them shot for him and ended up with their head pierced through his fully compressed Layered Ice Carapace. He had 4 shields constantly working, he didn’t hide that he could quadra cast for a long time now.
Ebony only slashed downwards at the same time that he manipulated his shield to angle the serpent’s neck right where he slashed. Fortunately, even with their high Vitality and Constitution, he was capable of beheading them and their bodies would jump around on the ground for a bit before they froze stiff and died.
Two of his shields contorted and reformed into his sculptures within a short time with Ice Swords in their hands. They didn’t have the strength that Ebony got from enhancements but they were hardy enough from the sheer compression of mana they were made of.
They were unable to slay the Boomarrow Fangs but was able to hold them off his back as he dealt with those ahead of him. Ebony got the Ice Swords wielded by them to bleed ice mana onto their target and over time, as long as the ice mana was within his range, he could ignite them into frostflame to exponentially increase the freezing capabilities of his ice magic.
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The Boomarrow Fang’s explosive burst of speed was not enough to even graze his sleeves as he dodged them within a hair’s breadth and counterattacked.
“Ebony!” Hector’s shout caught his attention. Ebony jumped up high without hesitation.
The shockwave that came a second after tore apart everything in its path. Hector’s punch had come all the way from his battle almost a hundred metres away from him. The Boomarrow Fang were merely blasted away but not blown apart due to the distance that Hector threw his punch from.
Ebony charged Icicle with a little bit more mana and stabbed downwards with his whole body. He didn’t even hit any of the snakes but Icicle sliced into the ground with ease and the added weight that he magnified on himself cracked open the dungeon floor.
The ice mana within Icicle exploded forth and through the cracks in the earth. Then flames burst forth and latched on to all the Boomarrow Fangs that were left.
He quickly stopped casting Frostblaze Augmentation to regenerate mana. Taking a step away from the battle as the Boomarrow Fangs struggled to shake the flames off.
‘Hmm.. that move has potential.’ Ebony thought about what he just did without thinking. He didn’t have the mana to use that all the time so he’ll practise that more after he evolved.
More than half of his mana pool was emptied out already. It was really hard to get used to this style of combat. Too bad he had no choice at the moment as the power output was helping him heaps.
The other four were having trouble with the golems. The golems were probably the best at fighting in the whole dungeon. Used in the shortcut walkway and one that they had some trouble with at first. The evolution and levels gained compared to the ones on the lower floors powered them up even more.
Ebony saw that Hector and Mark’s equipment had yellow crystals growing on them. The troublesome topaz magic likely got more troublesome.
‘No core golem. I rather not see that at this level too.’ He remembered that they called the core golem variant, Ordina’s elite monster.
Scarlet was streaking all over the place and was hard to catch sight of but she should be fine. The golems were very tough and Hector couldn’t destroy them easily. Mallory was supporting Hector and Mark as they slowly dealt with two fists and feet golems each.
Scarlet was too fast for Mallory to support and she also decided that Scarlet was not in need of any support. The speedy swordswoman was single handedly keeping the remaining golems busy.
Hector’s previous punch on elemental steroids was likely to take out the head golems because Ebony didn’t see a single one remaining.
Ebony didn’t join in to lessen the pressure on his party members. The five minutes that he stood there to recover was spent watching the two gigantic flying eels that were still circling above them. During these five minutes, he already regenerated over 1200 mana.
For Scarlet not to finish a fight in five minutes said much about the golems' strength. he remembered that she said that she was disadvantaged against golems or anything that wasn’t really alive or an ingredient. That might’ve been the reason why the fight was dragging out.
The topaz magic and general durability of the golems were keeping them going against his party members. Mark has been pushed to the defensive without showing much of his skills. His fire magic proved to be ineffective against the golems and he fought like a warrior instead of the runic fire mage he was. Somehow, Ebony thought he was weaker than he had been.
Ebony waited no longer and blasted compressed Frostblaze Augmentation again. Jumping and conjuring scales in the air as platforms for him to jump higher. When he was within range of the pair of Issiles with 2 pairs of wings each, he couldn’t help but be aware of the dense mana that they were circling.
They were conjuring water as they circled it. He sensed that there was something else on top of the [Falls Issile Lvl 178]s. More Boomarrow Fangs, 2 on each Issile.
Wasting no time to attack them to disrupt whatever the hell they were trying to do. The Boomarrow Fangs that were supposedly hidden was probably there to protect the Issiles but they were no threat when exposed.
The Issiles didn’t react to his arrival. They couldn’t disrupt their cast.
The serpents had no choice but to take action and shot at the attacker. Their charge was promptly welcomed by his Layered Ice Carapace that came up along with him. Ebony sliced the heavy greatsword in his hand down but he forgot that he was in mid air and the momentum pulled him along to fall to his doom.
It was then, he felt the dense mana above him ripple.
He was out of time, reverberating the mana in the air downwards. “Scarlet, dodge. Mallory, barrier.” Ebony projected his voice with sound magic.
Another scale was conjured at the bottom of his feet as a single Treading Stride pushed him out of the range of the circle. He spun around in the air as he slashed out another Frostblaze Clad swing at the Issiles, hoping it would do something to weaken whatever spell it was.
He knew Scarlet was at the peak of her speed and could easily dodge as long as she reacted and heard his warning but he was worried about the other 3 that were directly below the Issiles. Mallory could cast pretty damn fast since she could react to Ebony’s attack but she was still tired from flying up to the current floor.
He watched the torrent of a waterfall blast down. Not for long, he already kicked off another scale and appeared atop the closer Issile and stabbed down on its head. The Issile didn’t even react at this point in time. They were fully engrossed in casting their spell.
Ebony couldn’t hear the sound of his greatsword colliding with the Issile that had scales instead of slick skin but he could feel and see that he didn’t even draw blood with Chaotic Repulsive Membrane and Sonic Overlay working overtime.
His body didn’t lag and walloped ceaselessly with Frostblaze Cladding spreading all over them and he manually manipulated them to dig into the Issiles.
The Issile he was standing on slowly started falling from the sky and the spell was finally stopped, Scarlet had somehow found her way up into the air and was about to reach the other Falls Issile. Ebony leapt onto it before he fell together with the dying Issile.
He landed the same time as Scarlet who grabbed on and climbed, almost falling. Without a spell to focus on, the Falls Issile violently shook around. Ebony quickly moved to catch Scarlet who was about to fall off. Catching her forearm as she caught his.
The other hand was frozen onto the body of the Falls Issile so he wouldn’t be shaken off. It did hurt being swung around as one of his hands was frozen on but even Scarlet didn’t notice that from his expression. Not even her Sublime Instinct could sense it.
The Falls Issile thought that it had shaken them off after a while and stopped its violent shaking, stabilising its flight.
He pulled her up and threw her up onto the back of the Issile. Flipping himself up after unfreezing himself.
The flames on the surface of his body died down as he ran out of mana. He didn’t even have time to start pondering what he could do now before he almost fell from the sudden unbalanced footing.
The neck of the Falls Issile was on fire as its head was separated. He didn’t see how she sliced it off so easily but assuming she built up a lot of power over a long period of time it was not too surprising.
He took a step towards her and grabbed her but was burned by her body temperature without his Augmentation. He ignored it and relied on the ice mana in his robes to quickly cool his arms down. Leaping off the falling Issile and slowing his fall with some conjured scales. He was lucky there was plenty of ice mana left in his robe, a few scales were all he could manage to conjure with his quickly regenerated mana.
Rolling onto the muddy ground when the last scale failed him as his mana was truly emptied. He hugged Scarlet’s head to prevent any rock or hard objects from hitting her. Slamming into a tree trunk with his back. He couldn’t help but cough out blood as he wasn’t protected by any enhancement nor did he have increased Constitution from compressed mana in his body.
He was lucky he managed to slow their fall by so much.
'Damn, I could have summoned the scales on my robe to protect myself.' Ebony complained to himself for forgetting the functions of his robe against blunt force.
Covered in mud as he didn’t have Chaotic Repulsive Membrane cast, he struggled to move his arms that were wrapping Scarlet up ‘tightly’. His Strength stat was practically non-existent compared to anyone else without his enhancement magic.
“Are you alright?” Ebony asked with concern. He was a little sad that he couldn’t even feel the concern in his own dead tone.
Scarlet who was already forcing her heart to calm down was washed with another wave of warmth. Her Sublime Instincts detected the concern Ebony had for her even though he was the one that got injured. She didn’t even care about the mud and dirt all over her or Ebony.
“Mmm, I’m alright.” Scarlet picked up a little of his speech patterns without noticing.
Hearing that, Ebony’s consciousness faded out. The impact on his back was stronger than he imagined and unenhanced Ebony just couldn’t take it.
Everlasting Tranquility brought him back in and out of consciousness before Scarlet started panicking.
‘...I can’t move.’ Ebony realised that he didn’t have feelings in his legs. The ground shook from the weight of the Issile crashing down.
Talking as best as he could to distract Scarlet to buy himself time. Regenerating a little bit of mana, he conjured ice around his back and legs and manipulated them to help him stand. Moving a body as naturally as possible with Ice Mana Control was what he had been training for years.
He managed to hide his inability to walk.
Hector and Mark found their way over to them. Mallory was supported by Hector as she had difficulty even walking. The redness above her lips was clearly from blood that she didn’t completely wipe off.
The area where the large waterfall spell landed turned into a tiny lake already. If one dived down they would see a crater or indentation that was from Mallory’s barrier getting crushed into the ground.
They were definitely not in the state to fend off another attack. Changing locations immediately as the dungeon knew their current whereabouts.
Ebony said they shouldn’t move too fast in case they aggravated Mallory's pain. He silently thanked her for hiding his own pain and injury.