After selecting yes, the group found themselves transported past the door. It remained firmly closed behind them as they appeared in a grand hall. It wasn’t as big as the inside of the Church of The Dying Light or the first level of the dungeon, but it was the biggest room on this floor by far, with a higher ceiling that made it feel a little less claustrophobic. Though there were no windows, tapestries covered parts of the walls in bright colors, and the entire floor was covered in a massive, dark red rug. There was little furniture, except at the other end of the room, where a raised platform held a throne-like chair. In it sat... something.
High Priest of Rizari. Failed Lizard Man. Level 18.
Lizardlings kneeled in front of the throne. The glowstones on the walls and ceiling gave ample light to see by, and even at that distance, Eli could tell this high priest was not like the other lizardlings. It looked almost human—its proportions were close, except its shoulders were wider and bigger, and its arms were longer. A robe covered much of its twisted body. In patches, it still looked like the priest's skin was human, only discolored in different shades of green. Other parts of its body were scaled, like the lizardlings'. Its head looked like a person’s face melding into something else. One ear was gone, while the other was much too large, with spiked protrusions. Its eyes looked human too but were large and yellow, and at this distance, they looked to be glowing when the light caught them.
“You have trespassed, humans,” the high priest said.
Its speech was slow, and a little slurred, like it couldn’t quite form the words right with its thin lips and sharp teeth. It fell silent, as if waiting for a response.
“We are looking for the stairs down to level 3,” Eli said, speaking loudly and enunciating each word.
“It is sacrilege for you to even be here. Turn around now if you want to live.”
Eli refreshed the party’s buffs, which got the priest's attention. “The Dying Light… How sweet to see you still struggling to keep the flame alive.” It lifted the wooden staff it held in its misshapen hand. “Perhaps we have found our willing sacrifice for the ritual of ascension. But to reach it, you must bathe in my blood, humans.” Its face twisted, and Eli thought it looked amused, though that couldn’t be right.
“Kill them!” the high priest commanded, and those kneeling in front of him—twelve in total—stood and turned around. They were normal lizardlings, but at a higher level than the ones they’d fought before. At level fourteen, this would prove quite a challenge for Eli's group.
“Get ready!” Eli shouted to his party.
The warrior lizardlings wore armor, light but sturdy-looking leather, and even old-looking metal helmets with visors open to see. They were a little bulkier, too, than those they'd previously met, but they still moved with grace as they drew swords, daggers, wands, and bows.
The high priest began chanting. Eli assumed the boss was preparing some sort of spell and realized he now possessed a way of stopping that sort of thing. He cast Silence. The spell died on the high priest's lips. The half-lizard, half-man-looking thing's eyes widened in surprise, and he turned to Eli, shaking his fists as the others began to fight.
Leonardo, the Fighter, struck out for the nearest lizardling, but found himself blocked by a shield. The counter-thrust took him in the shoulder, and he cried out and dropped his shield as his health plummeted. The Rogue, Luca was there in an instant and swiped at the lizardling's neck. That, too, failed as the lizardling spun and slammed an elbow into Luca's gut. Eli quickly healed them both, then briefly cast Light's Seal to allow Trent, the Barbarian, to make short work of one of the two lizardling warriors he was facing.
In a matter of seconds, though, Trent got a long gash along his side, leaving all three melee fighters injured. Eli healed them as best he could and had to step between one of the enemies and the affliction mage, Yvonne, who’d come under attack. Tanking the blows on Aegis, Eli healed-bombed the lizardling to death.
Meanwhile, the conjurer’s slime was eating into the leg of one of the lizardlings, dissolving it and causing the thing to shriek in terror. The Cold Mage was busy launching shards of ice to penetrate one of the enemies' leather armors, killing it instantly. Leonardo was on his feet again, holding his blade with both hands, unable to pick his shield back up for fear of being struck. He fought like a madman, protecting Luca, who was still on the floor, coughing and trying to draw breath.
Silence timed out on the high priest, who immediately cast a heal on one of the lizardlings, restoring it to full health. "Damn it," Eli swore and silenced the priest again. After healing Trent, he began heal-bombing the priest, taking down its health quickly. The light from Eli's heal seared into the high priest. Death by Light.
With the high priest dead, Eli turned back to heal the Lightning Mage, Widelene, to help her fend off one of the warriors. He needn't have bothered. Wide-eyed, he saw her body erupt with lightning in a small area around her, enveloping the lizardling who’d chosen to attack her. The health bar of the lizardling dropped almost instantly as lightning surged through its body, burning it up from the inside. It was the first attack he’d seen from her, and he noted the strength of her attack.
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Several lizardling warriors were now dead, which made the fight a little more manageable and less chaotic. Luca finally got to his feet and entered stealth to sneak up behind a lizardling who was slowly but surely beating Leonardo. This time, Luca’s dagger ended up in the lizardling’s neck. The puncture wound left a large hole that spewed dark blood as the monster crumpled onto the floor.
Trent suffered a lot of injuries fighting the last of the lizardlings. They were mostly superficial gashes, and from the look of things, he was able to shrug them off well enough, even if Eli hadn’t healed him. But what the Barbarian lacked in finesse, he made up for in sheer strength. Eventually, he tired of trying to feint and jab and just turned in a circle, swinging his sword with all the power he could muster, ignoring the many slashes across his back and shoulders from his opponent. Completing that swing left the final lizardling warrior on the floor, his upper body separated from its lower.
Everyone stood panting for a while, just looking at the mess. Blood from the lizardling warriors covered the floor and the fighters. Even Eli found a few spatters on his robe. The wall to the left of the room rumbled and then slid to the side, opening up into a stairwell down to the next floor.
Luca left stealth and carefully made his way to the high priest, not wanting to slip in blood again. When he touched the body, a bunch of items appeared before Eli’s eyes. A quick glance told him none were as powerful as the equipment he was already wearing, so he dismissed the list and messaged Cruella.
Eli: You took down the boss by yourself? That's impressive.
Cruella: It was a bit of a challenge. I’m not going to lie. At least the first time.
Eli: You’ve done it multiple times?
Cruella: Sure, it respawns every 15 minutes. It gives some decent loot and experience.
Cruella: Are you almost down on the third floor? I could actually use a little help. I’m kind of stuck.
Eli: Stuck?
Cruella: The next floor is this huge open cave filled with a whole lot of lizardmen. They’re sturdy, but slow. You can kill a bunch as long as you keep moving. Unfortunately, I moved into what turned out to be a cell, and they’re trying to get in. Meaning I can’t really get out.
Eli: Hold on. We’re coming.
Eli found the party chatting excitedly and soon found the reason for it. They’d all reached level 10 after killing the boss. The Lightning Mage, Widelene, had already picked Healer as her multiclass option and was casting the spell on herself, nodding as if very pleased with the result. The Cold Mage, Agnes, did the same a moment later.
Widelene. Human. Mage (Lightning) (10) / Healer (1).
Agnes. Human. Mage (Cold) (10) / Healer (1).
Eli turned to the other two. "Are you picking Healer?"
The Affliction Mage's face soured and shook her head. "Affliction and healing do not go well together."
"Of course it does," Eli countered. "You can stand back and heal your party while adding effects and damage-over-time spells to whatever you’re fighting. It’s the perfect combo."
"Fine," Yvonne grumbled.
Yvonne. Human. Mage (Lightning) (10) / Healer (1).
Hikari refused. "I don’t want it."
"It was a condition of you joining this party. You made a promise," Eli reminded him.
"So, what are you going to do? Force me? You going to kill me?"
"I’m not going to kill you, Hikari," Eli said, "but I’m not going to trust you, either."
"Well, I’m not doing it," the Conjurer stated firmly.
Eli shook his head and made an attempt to cast Warp, not really expecting it to work. To his surprise, it did work. He marked the spot where he was standing, overwriting the now useless place where the graveyard had been standing. Then he Warped back to the first floor of Infinite Innovation Solutions, taking only the Hikari with him. Once back, he booted him from the party.
He called out in a loud voice, "Any mage here who wants to be power-leveled? You have to pick Healer as a multiclass option when you reach level 10."
Unfortunately, he saw no Mages in the crowd, but he did see a Commander who raised his arm.
Alcott. Human. Level 3 Commander.
Eli added him to the party, then cast Warp again, returning to the dungeon. "Since you’re only level 3, I want you to stay near me so I can protect you, right?"
Alcott nodded with a quick jerk of his head. "Sure."
He was a little older, maybe in his 50s, but Eli didn’t recognize him as one of the managers. Just like quite a few people picked Mage without being in HR, it stood to reason that some picked Commander without being management.
Now, it didn’t really matter where you used to work.
"What was that skill?" Agnes asked.
"Which one?"
"You just took her and disappeared," the Cold Mage explained.
"It’s Warp," Eli said. "I can teleport myself and my party."
"That... is just crazy good," Luca said.
"If you get Healer to level 10 and specialize with Priest of the Dying Light, you can get it too. Also, there’s a talent called Harming Healer that allows you to, well, harm with your heals rather than heal whenever you want."
"What do you want us to pick?" Luca asked.
"Whatever you want," Eli said. "Leonardo, if you can pick something that can act as a tank, that’s probably good, since you’re going to be helping others."
The Fighter shook his head. "The plain Swordsman is not a defensive sub-class. But perhaps I can do some sort of hybrid."
Light shone across him.
Leonardo. Human, Level 10 Knight.
The light flashed across Luca as well.
Luca. Human. Level 10 Assassin.
"Dad wanted me to specialize in stealth so I can be safe, you know? So we worked together and settled on Assassin."
"You two worked together before this?" Widelene asked, throwing a sorrowful glance over to Leonardo.
Leonardo's face fell. "No... He was visiting me. Luca’s high school was closed, and I didn’t want him to stay on his own."
Having your child come to this place with you would surely be a terrible feeling. Or perhaps a great thing, considering they didn't know what'd happened to the rest of the world.
Light shimmered across the Barbarian as well, as everyone's eyes turned to Trent.
Trent. Human. Level 10 Warchanter.
"What does specialization do, Trent?" Agnes asked.
"Focuses on war cries and shouts. That's good, right?" Trent said, glancing at Eli.
"I mean, if you’re going to help people, that’s really good, Trent. Nice pick!"
The approval made Trent brighten.
"So," Eli began. "Everyone ready for the third floor?"