“We need to keep it from reforming!” Edgar shouted from behind Jonathan, gathering his power in his hands. “If we can get the lava to cool completely, the monster will die!”
Jonathan saw the truth in these words and gave the mage a thumbs up. As the lava started to pull back together, he barraged it with a steady stream of Void Cannon attacks, stopping the monster from reforming.
Edgar summoned fingers of wind that started to break up the monster’s form, spreading it across the ground. Convection currents started to wick the heat away from the monster’s form, and cooling chunks of black obsidian began to litter to the ground. The creature struggled to get back together, but Jonathan did not let it. His Void Cannon skills scattered the larger chunks of lava, and Edgar dealt with the smaller ones.
As the lava was spread out, the surface area increased, causing the lava to cool as it touched the rock beneath it. A few minutes later, all that remained of the boss was an uneven landscape of black rock.
The two men took a few moments to rest, and Jonathan waited until his burns had healed before accepting the prompt, teleporting to the next floor. As soon as he set foot on the ground, he was met with a notification.
You have entered the second Tier of the dungeon. The monsters will now be stronger than their level indicates, but the rewards will also be greater. In addition, the level design will now feature puzzles and traps.
Jonathan let out a curse as he read this, and closed the notification. As soon as he looked up, he could see the truth of what the System had said. The previous floors had been simple caverns, with a few environmental effects, but this one was very different. It looked like a warzone, and a massive obsidian castle stood in the very center of the room. It was surrounded by a lava moat, and towering walls protected it from all sides. A few monsters lurked in the blasted ash that surrounded the castle, but Jonathan knew that the true mission of this floor was to enter the castle itself. Instead of despairing, he quickly conferred with Edgar.
“Well, it’s pretty obvious what we have to do here,” the man said. “We are supposed to infiltrate the castle, or break into it in some way, shape or form.”
“The castle looked a lot stronger than anything I’ve seen in this dungeon,” Jonathan replied. “Is there any way that you can scout out the area with your wind abilities?”
Edgar nodded, and a tendril of wind shot out of his hand, heading towards the walls of the castle. It took a few minutes to cross the divide, and when it arrived, Edgar closed his eyes in concentration.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
As the tendril explored the castle, a few monsters could be seen loping towards them, interested in the newcomers. Jonathan sent the Void to his fists, and prepared to defend Edgar. The monsters neared a few seconds later, running on all fours.
They looked vaguely humanoid, but when they neared, that illusion was dispelled almost immediately. They were made out of swirling shadow and fire, and only seemed to be in the form that they were because of their preference. Jonathan knew that they would fall before his strikes just as easily.
He ran forward and blasted one of the monsters into a cloud of smoke with his fist. As the purple veins of the Void ran through the monster’s energy matrix, it opened its mouth in a soundless scream.
Jonathan raced towards the other two, using his stamina abilities to keep up. He basically teleported across the ground in pursuit of the creatures, pulverizing them with a single hit. His abilities were very strong against monsters made entirely of energy. A few minutes later, Edgar came to his senses and gave Jonathan a report, oblivious of the monsters that had just been slain.
“The castle itself seemed to have no way in. There were no gates, windows or even garbage chutes. The lava moat is also not what it seems. It leads down into an endless abyss, and the lava is simply a facade. In addition, the defenders of the castle are all a cut above what we have seen in this dungeon before. Many of them are sapient, and I heard a few of the leaders speaking to one another.”
Jonathan frowned at this.
“The System really wasn’t lying. Having intelligent enemies will make planning our assault much harder. You said the basic fighters were still nothing more than monsters though?”
“Yes, but they still can follow the orders of their leaders. On the plus side, the castle is filled with more treasure than a dragon’s lair. All of the weapons that the soldiers are using are high quality Tier 2 armaments, and there are multiple chests within the castle. It is unlikely that we will be able to claim it though.”
“How did you manage to glean all of this from your wind powers alone?” Jonathan asked.
“I gained a new skill recently. It’s called Aeolic Hegemony. It allows me to connect with the air at an almost conscious level, which means that I can use it to relay information to me.”
“Sounds very useful,” Jonathan said.
He meant it. This would be invaluable going forwards. It was likely that there would be other mages with the ability to detect it, but for now, it would be a powerful tool in their arsenal. Jonathan snuck forwards, heading towards the castle walls. Although the defenders could react to his presence, they would be unable to signal anything to the stronger fighters within. Besides, his dark armor made it easy enough to blend in. To the dim brutes standing guard, he likely looked like nothing more than another one of the monsters that prowled the area.
Edgar headed the other way, to see if he could infiltrate the castle with his wind powers. Both men had different approaches. Perhaps only one of them was suited for this mission.