Now that Langa had learnt an enchantment, it was time to start inscribing glyphs onto the items that he wanted to enchant. In order to do that efficiently, he needed to use auink. Looking around the forge, he found several ink bottles, each filled with different types of auink. There was lifeblood auink, poison milk auink, trangine sap auink and trollblood auink. However, when he tried to inscribe the sharpness glyph with any of those, he received an error message.
[Error! Crafting material not compatible with your skill!]
Annoyed, Langa took a deep breath, checking in the grimoire for anything about incompatible auink, but what he found was that most enchanters preferred to make their own auink. He supposed it made sense that he was unable to enchant with the trollimps' auinks since his skill was called Lucent Enchanting. Since he was using Lucent Enchanting, he probably needed to use lucent stones or lucent crystals to make the ink.
The only option he had was to make his own auink. First, he crushed five fire lucent stones in the mortar and pestle, he had no choice as he could only enchant with things containing lucents, then he mixed the powdered lucent stones with the lifeblood to make auink. The colour changed from pink to a swirling grey, and Langa stepped back, satisfied as he looked around for something to stir with. Next to the trollblood auink, he found a small metal thing that looked like a stirring rod.
As he stirred it, the texture of the mixture thinned, becoming more liquid as he infused his mana into it like the grimoire said. The mixture bubbled, turning back from grey to an orange-pink colour before it settled and stopped bubbling.
[Congratulations! You have created an uncommon rank auink on your first try!
+50 karma]
[Lucent Fireblood Auink
Item Rank: Uncommon
Effects: +5 - 20 Fire Discipline damage to all successful enchantments made with this auink, depending on the quality of enchantment]
That was a good result for his first try. He was a little disappointed that his lightning affinity mana hadn't granted him any extra damage since fire and lightning disciplines were complementary to each other. Even so, he was glad that he had chosen to use fire lucent stones because it would help him in his fight against the trollimps in the next dungeon room by reducing their regeneration abilities. He still had a few of those lucent stones in his inventory, so he was unlikely to run out. Thus Langa got to work.
Langa studied the glyph for sharpness and dipped the enchanting needle in the Lucent Fireblood auink. Once it was sufficiently covered in the auink, he began to draw the glyph on one of the daggers on the table. The needle lit up as he drew the glyph, losing 50 mana in the process. Once he was done, the glyph was present on the surface of the dagger. Should he not get a notification from the system for completing his first enchantment? He scanned it to see if the enchantment worked.
[Inferior Dagger
Rank: Common
Effects: Inflicts 7 damage against opponents.
+1 Sharpness
Durability: 4/20]
That wasn’t good. It had not gained +5, but only +1, which was basically useless. What had he done wrong? Langa was sure that he had followed all the instructions in the grimoire on how to make the enchantment but the sharpness only partially took, and the durability of the dagger had fallen drastically. He looked closely at the glyph and then he tried again with a new dagger, but even then he got the same result.
This was frustrating, at this rate Langa would have to waste time here and he would not be able to clear the dungeon within the remaining time limit. He sighed. He only had four skill points, and he had at least wanted to raise the skill to Beginner level 2 naturally and then use the skill points to fast track his way to level 5. He knew that practice was better for learning the skill than using skill points, but he was on a time crunch, so he said, “System, I’d like to use one skill point to raise my Lucent Enchanting Skill to beginner level 2.”
[Skill: Lucent Enchanting has reached Beginner level 2! You are now able to see glyph points on common rank items. Glyph Points refer to the points on an item where a glyph can be inscribed to gain a higher chance of successful enchantment.]
All of a sudden, Langa’s head exploded with knowledge of various glyph inscription patterns, as if he had enchanted over a hundred common daggers at Beginner level 1, giving him the practical experience to level the skill to level 2. The pain cut into his head as the new knowledge filled him. It did not feel like gaining natural knowledge like when he learnt the skill, it felt like his head was being forcefully fed the knowledge.
“Fuck!” he shuddered, hands on his head. Would that happen every time? Damn it, it really hurt! That was the price of taking shortcuts, he guessed, taking a moment to breathe. Once the pain faded, he took out another dagger. When he activated the skill, he could see three dotted points on it, where he could inscribe the glyph.
Using the knowledge gained from the skill upgrade, he made sure to be careful with his inscription as he drew the sharpness glyph on one of the glyph points on the dagger.
[Enchantment Successful! Please state the signature you want to appear on all enchantments made by you. If you do not wish for your enchanted items to have your signature; ignore this prompt. You can always change this setting in your enchanting tab.]
A signature huh? What was he, a serial killer? Well, if he thought about it, branding his enchanted items and selling them in the future would make his name known throughout the Tower, so he said, “Does it have to be my name? Can it be a symbol or something like that?”
[Please draw the symbol that you wish to be your signature. If it does not belong to any other being, then it will be used as your signature.]
Langa drew a circle with three lines around it, like a sun. That was how his father had taught him the meaning of his name before he could read. He would draw a simplistic sun with a smiling face and say that it was a happy sun, like the happy day when he was born, Langelihle. Unfortunately, the system did not accept this as his signature. It appeared someone already owned this symbol.
Thinking about it, Langa wanted to add something that represented him on the symbol too, as well as his deity to be, so he drew a zigzag line over it, like a lightning bolt and then he drew a spear point at the end of the lightning bolt. Finally, he drew a foot inside the circle of the sun to represent running. Thankfully, the symbol was not taken, so the system accepted it as his signature.
[Inferior Dagger
Rank: Common
Effects: Inflicts 7 damage against opponents
+5 Sharpness, +6 Fire discipline damage
Durability: 13/20]
The symbol was visible next to the name of the dagger. Finally, he had done it, Langa had managed to enchant an item successfully.
Motivated by his success, Langa spent the next half a day doing nothing but enchanting. He managed to raise the skill from Beginner level 2 to level 3 without using a skill point, but since he was running out of time, he used two skill points to get to Beginner level 5.
In the end, he was spent, but he was ready to make an enchantment to break through the common rank darkness barrier trapping him in this dungeon room. He had found a plain necklace in the forge without any effects, so once he disenchanted the trollimp’s broken ring, he would place the enchantment on it.
Once he was satisfied with his results and confident that he wouldn't mess up, Langa carefully disenchanted the damaged Inferior Barrier Sleutel Ring, extracting the remaining enchantment from it.
[You have learnt the Enchanting Glyph: Resist Darkness.
At Beginner Level, only 13 Enchanting Glyphs can be stored in your Enchanting Table. To add a new Enchanting Glyph, one must be deleted, and cannot be used again.]
[Resist Darkness Barrier (1)
Type: Enchanting Glyph
Rank: Common
Effects: On successful inscription, protects the user from common rank corrupted barriers by nullifying 50-95% darkness damage.
Restrictions: Can only be applied to common rank items. Does not add darkness discipline resistance.]
He studied the glyph for breaking through corrupted magic barriers and dipped the enchanting needle into the Lucent fireblood auink. With a steady hand, he began to inscribe the glyph onto the necklace.
As he finished the inscription, a surge of mana flowed through the necklace, indicating that the enchantment was successful. Langa inspected the necklace to see the new effects.
[Inferior Barrier Sleutel Necklace
Rank: Common
Effects: Allows the user to pass through a corrupted magic barrier of common rank or lower by nullifying 67% darkness damage.
Durability: 3/25]
The necklace now possessed a similar effect as the damaged ring, allowing him to bypass the magic barrier relatively unharmed. The durability was low, but he was still proud of his creation. Langa felt relief wash over him. He had finally found a way to escape this dungeon room and continue his quest.
"I cannot believe that you actually did it," the Legacy's unwelcome commentary cut into his victory, souring it.
"You have zero faith in me, don't you?" Langa asked, turning to it.
"Faith is earned."
Rila snuggled against Langa's leg. "Rila have faith."
Langa picked her up once again, and patted her head, much to her joy. "Well, since you believed in me and you saved my life, I'll go save your elder and the rest of your people. Then you'll be free to leave this place."
"Free?" Rila asked curiously.
She probably had no concept of the word, having grown up and lived her life inside a cage. "If you could do anything in the Tower, what would you do, Rila?"
She blinked up at him, and he wondered if she even had the capacity for that kind of thinking. She wasn't a monster, but she wasn't an NPC either, yet she was a sapient being. "Rila like flowers. Pretty flowers and playing."
Langa laughed, what a simple answer for someone with a fresh taste of freedom. "Well then, once I defeat the boss monster, you'll be free to play all you like in a garden of pretty flowers as big as this dungeon."
Her eyes widened as if she could not comprehend the scale of that as Langa put her down.
"You're good with children. Do you have any?" the Legacy asked.
The incredulous look that Langa gave it was loaded. "Do I look like someone with the mental capacity to be a parent? Someone with mommy and daddy issues alike? I fear for any child that has the misfortune of being mine." Besides, his curse was generational, so bringing a child into this world just for them to suffer from the same curse he had, had never been appealing to him. "Stop screwing around, let's go."
He placed as many of the items as he could into the Feathervault bag, and strapped it to his back. It was getting heavy now and weighing down on his belt, and it would definitely slow him down in a fight. For interest's sack, he had tried to disenchant it but since it was a high-ranking item, his skill did not work.
Most of the items in the forge were common rank daggers and shortswords, but the most impressive item he received was a shield. Part of him wanted to disenchant it to learn the enchantment since he did not really use a shield as a tool, but he decided to keep it as it was. It still had a durability of 14/20, so he could always disenchant it once it was completely damaged.
[The Deiwos Clan god: The Lackadaisical Herald of The Lightning Storm, reminds you to make sure that you leave nothing valuable behind in a dungeon.]
Langa frowned, was that a hint? He had checked everywhere in the forge room and packed everything he could carry. Searching the cavern once more for any hidden treasures, Langa checked the trollimp warden’s room as it was the only one left. To his surprise, he found another broken chest with five flaxes of two whitish-pink and three blue-black potions. At first, he thought that the pink ones were just more of the allemak lifeblood but they weren't.
[Inferior Vitality Potion
Rank: Common
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Restores +50 HP instantly when consumed.
In those with the special stat: Endurance, adds +5 endurance for 60 seconds.
Cool-down: 120 seconds]
It was not as good as a Basic Health Potion but to Langa, who had none, it was a blessing. A Blessing? Had The Lackadaisical Herald answered the prayer that he’d made on his first day in the dungeon now? Talk about a god’s timing.
“Thank you, Lackadaisical Herald,” he murmured. Then he checked the black potion.
[Inferior Darkness Mana Potion
Rank: Common
Effects: Instantly restores +50 Darkness Mana.
Cool-down: 30 seconds.
Restrictions: Darkness Affinity >/= 50%]
Huh, he had no use for that, but he was sure he could sell it and earn a few copper.
It was time to go, so he bade the little allemaks goodbye and entered the tunnel. It wasn't that Langa didn't trust his own creation, but he hesitated before stepping into the barrier.
With the necklace securely around his neck, Langa approached the magic barrier. He took a deep breath and stepped forward, bracing himself for any potential resistance. To his surprise, he effortlessly passed through the barrier, feeling no darkness damage whatsoever. Both the necklace and his darkness resistance nullified the damage from the barrier.
*
The necklace protected Langa as he walked quietly along the tunnel. According to the map, this area was residential. There were multiple wooden doors scattered along both sides of the tunnel, but at a bit of a distance from each other. He crouched down when he reached the first door.
It was quiet inside the space and he peeked inside to find that the room was practically bare, but were two smaller trollimps asleep on a bed of straw. One of them looked to be an older trollimp and the other was very young.
Corrupted Trollimp Worker
Level 5
HP: 250/250
Corrupted Trollimp Spawn
Level 2
HP: 60/60
He slowly and noiselessly backed out of there and went on to check the other rooms along the tunnel, and they all seemed to be about the same. All these doors along the tunnel were full of sleeping non-combatant trollimps. Was it right for him to kill them? He did need their healing sacs, but it honestly did not feel right.
In one of the rooms, two small trollimp spawn and their parent lay soundly asleep as Langa stood over them. He hesitated, and the Legacy jerked its head towards a potion flax on top of a counter in the room. Tiptoeing towards it, he opened it and examined the contents. His blood went cold when he realised that the flax was full of allemak lifeblood.
He shook his head. Yeah, these may be non-combatant and young trollimps, but they were all complicit in the enslavement of the allemaks. They had to go. Compassion was useless because he needed all the healing sacs he could get. Plus, they were all corrupted creatures. He did not fully understand what corruption was, but he knew that it was the reason why Earth had been integrated into the Tower. He was going to do what needed to be done.
The best type of mercy was to be quiet, and end it all in one hit, so Langa took a deep breath, and sneaked into each room as quietly as he could, slashing their necks with his newly enchanted daggers. He did not give any of them a chance to react or make noise, as he killed them with one strike without using a single skill. They had low health anyway. By the end of it, he had obtained a lot of healing sacs.
Adding up the total with what he had earned from all the other dungeon rooms, he was now at 86 healing sacs. He only needed 14 more. Once he cleared the residential area, Langa moved on to the next dungeon level. It seemed much bigger than all the others that he had been to so far, including the garden. The door was a wide wooden thing with the drawing of a large trollimp wearing a crown.
From the little hole on the door, Langa saw that this dungeon cavern was divided. There was the area where the allemaks were being held captive in cages, and then a large cliff-like hole where a river of allemak lifeblood flowed into somewhere below. The two sides were separated by a large cauldron as tall as Langa, similar to the one in the forge room that contained the lifeblood of the allemaks that the trollimps were constantly draining with magical pipes from the allemaks.
Beyond that, beyond the gulf, was a large doorway encrusted with precious jewels and Langa could barely make out the label; throne room written on the door. That was the final place he wanted to reach, where he would face the boss monster.
For now, he focused on what was right in front of him. The tiny cells holding the allemaks were cages enchanted with runes that repelled magic, and according to what he had gathered from Rila, only physical force could damage them, but the allemaks were tiny, weak creatures with only magic blood.
Five trollimp guards stood outside the cages both watching over the nearly fifty allemaks in the cages and ensuring that no one went through to the throne room. They were protecting their king and his assets. Two trollimp archers stood with their bows ready, one wore a robe and carried a wooden wand, while the fourth carried a sword, and the fifth held a giant shield and was wearing plate armour, he was standing further away from the rest and closer to the cliff.
The archers would cause him the most trouble, plus they had the lowest health, so Langa decided to take them out first.
Counting to ten and making sure that his HP, MP and Stamina were full, Langa burst into the cavern and threw an Exploding Fire Orb drenched in Kiribo's Sweat towards the area where the trollimps stood in front of the cells.
The cages repelled magic, so the explosion would not hurt the allemaks.
Ideally, Langa wanted to save the allemaks trapped in the cages first so that he could fight against the trollimps without worrying about hurting them. So when he threw the Exploding Fire Orb, the explosion shattered the floor and the walls of the cavern. It had more power thanks to the synergy of the fire and his lightning affinity. The three trollimps in the explosion's path were struck by the fire damage, and it was enough to slow down their health regeneration.
Langa wasted no time, Flash Stepping straight towards the first fallen archer and instantly killing it with Tonare, using Kiribo's Sweat to increase the strength of the fire, thereby preventing it from regenerating, and it fell to the ground. He moved so fast that the other trollimps were still scrambling about, two covered in flames, confused about what was happening. Langa took advantage of the confusion, heading towards the second archer. This one had taken the brunt of the explosion, and its entire left side was on fire. Langa had no intention of putting it out of its misery quickly, instead throwing the Kiribo's Sweat on it so that it could burn to death while he focused on the others.
While the archer screamed in agony, Langa kicked back the one holding a sword, using it as a springboard to leap towards the one holding the magical shield. It was clearly the strongest and had protected both itself and the trollimp mage. When he tried to pierce through the shield with Tonare, it wouldn't budge, so he stepped back and threw one of his Kiribo's Sweat and anti-heal potion-coated enchanted daggers into the throat of the sword-wielding one. All of this happened in the span of less than twenty seconds, so the trollimps had no time to react.
He received the notifications of his three kills, but thankfully it was in the background so it did not disturb him.
While he opted to kill the sword-wielding trollimp, the shield trollimp had recovered from its shock and it bashed Langa’s body with its shield, the massive force sending him flying into one of the cages. It stood, roaring in anger, its heavy plate armour clanking loudly. How many fucking times was Langa supposed to endure the pain of being thrown around like this? He lost almost 100 HP, but thankfully, nothing felt broken, just that his back was sore.
Corrupted Trollimp Guard (Mini-Boss)
Level 11
HP: 2500/2500
Ah, so it was a mini-boss, that explained the pain. Langa groaned as he tried to get up. The trollimp mage, now free of the shield, also raised its wand, composed and ready to unleash its magic on him.
Blood rushed like fire in Langa's body as the adrenaline flowed into him. Excitement bubbled in his heart. This battle was not over yet, it was just starting. He rolled to the side as two red beams blasted out from the mage's wand, and they struck the broken pieces of the wall with a heavy thud that blasted the wall into smithereens.
Whoa, Langa had no interest in getting hit by a skill with that much power. Once again, the terrible impact of a shield struck him from the back and he stumbled, but thankfully his reflexes were fast enough to allow him to Flash Step away before the full strength of the shield hit him, but his landing was so poor that he nearly fell. Despite the unfavourable situation where he had to fight two strong trollimps—a mage and a tank—Langa's heartbeat picked up.
He braced himself, recovering his stance as fast as he could and quickly assessed the situation. He could feel the pain from the impact of the shield, but he couldn't let that deter him. He held Tonare in his left hand and pulled out the protective shield that he had gotten from the forge, shielding himself from the impending blast from the mage.
As the trollimp mage unleashed another blast of its magic, Langa felt the heavy beam of red light hit his shield, pushing him back, and he gritted his teeth, trying to remain balanced. That was too much force for the creature, no matter how big it was. Langa guessed that it must have some sort of charging skill.
Strength had never been his forte, and those blasts were too heavy for him to hold the shield against them. He held his breath behind the shield until a massive force blasted it into pieces. Shit, the mini-boss had used brute force to break his shield. It was only common rank, but still, that was a pitiful performance. Now he may not be able to obtain the enchantment from it.
“You’re not focusing on the battle,” the Legacy told him. “Don’t try a new fighting style like that without practising first.”
Having no other choice, Langa reverted back to his normal fighting style.
He discarded the broken shield as the trollimp mage shot a different corrosive blast from its wand, and he swiftly dodged the toxic projectiles, his lightning-fast reflexes allowing him to evade each one. He knew he had to get rid of the mage quickly before it could cast any more spells, but that was hard to do with the mini-boss always at his tail. He was faster than it was, but it was relentless in its pursuit.
The mini-boss swung at him, but using Flash Step to create distance, Langa closed the distance between himself and the mage, the infused lightning in his spear brimming with power. Using the extra damage from Flash Step, Langa wasted no time plunging Tonare into the mage's chest from behind. Its cloth armour was nothing to Tonare, and all it took was just that one hit, and Langa made sure to pour some Kiribo's Sweat onto the monster's body, so that the lightning caught on fire, killing it before it could regenerate.
[You have killed a level 9 Trollimp Mage
Rewards will be issued upon quest completion.
Please wait]
With the mage defeated, Langa turned his attention back to the shield trollimp. The trollimp, now enraged by his own slowness and the loss of his allies, charged Langa with brute force. But Langa was prepared. He sidestepped the trollimp's attack, using his agility to his advantage. With a quick movement that had the Legacy nodding in approval, he slashed at the trollimp's exposed back, leaving a deep gash.
The trollimp roared in pain and swung its shield in a desperate attempt to bash Langa. But he anticipated the move and gracefully jumped over the shield, landing behind the trollimp. With its shield no longer in the way, he swiftly delivered a series of lightning-infused slashes at its armour, each blow weakening the trollimp's defences.
As the metal plate on its chest finally broke under his assault, the shield trollimp stumbled, and Langa seized the opportunity to finish the battle. With a final, powerful thrust from Tonare that was coated in Kiribo’s sweat to amplify fire damage from the lightning mana he infused into the glaive, he drove Tonare through the trollimp's heart.
The cavern fell silent, the only sound remaining was the faint cries of the imprisoned allemaks.
With that fight done, Langa took a moment to catch his breath, his body aching from the intense battle. But he knew he couldn't rest just yet. He had to free the allemaks and put an end to the trollimps' awful imprisonment of them. Thus, he approached the cauldron, ready to release the lifeblood of the allemaks and reaching for the magical pipes, removing them from the trollimps.
"Not over! Not over!" one of the allemaks screamed as Langa kicked open the cage with brute force.
“Dodge!” The Legacy shouted, and Langa did it immediately, a sword sweeping above his head an instant later. He turned around to find that the trollimp mini-boss was up once more, its wounds completely healed. It really was a mini-boss; the thing refused to fucking die.
"Fuck me," Langa muttered.
The fight began again in earnest as Langa faced off against the regenerated mini-boss. The creature had picked up a sword from one the bodies that Langa had killed. The sword oozed darkness magic, making it a troublesome opponent. The trollimp charged forward again, its sword held out, and Langa used his speed to jump back. The skill propelled the trollimp forward until it hit the wall with a resounding crash.
Even with Kiribo's Sweat on Tonare, the fire damage was not enough to kill the trollimp. What's more, the energy coming from the trollimp's sword was sinister and Langa knew that even with his darkness resistance, he could not allow it to touch him, it could end up being fatal.
”Now’s the time,” he heard the Legacy say. So he struck the trollimp’s knee and retreated backwards so that the dark energy from the sword dissipated before it could reach him. The charging trollimp skidded to a halt as Langa crouched down to catch his breath.
He did not want to use his attribute because he was worried that the trollimps in the lifeblood pool might be a hard fight, and he did not want to get into that fight without stamina. Also, his attribute was fucking taxing, and using it always left him feeling like he had been hit by a bus.
"Player, we can help," one of the allemaks he'd freed said.
"How?" Langa asked panting heavily. He did not have time to waste trying new things.
"Our lifeblood doesn't just facilitate life, it can reduce it too," the allemak said. "We can manipulate the lifeblood inside its body to reduce the health regeneration rate."
That sounded mighty convenient, so why had they not done it before, to escape? "It takes all of us together to pull our power to slow the health regeneration down enough for you to wound it," another trollimp explained as Langa leapt back to escape from the mini-boss' next sword thrust.
Inadvertently, he ended up landing right next to the wall. The trollimp activated its charging skill, instantly reaching him. He brought Tonare up to block when the sword came down upon him with inhuman strength, and he felt his shoulder snap. Fuck, his shoulder was useless now, but at least Flash Step was off cool-down and he sped away. He only had one arm to fight with now.
He Flash Stepped back to the allemaks. "What do I need to do?"
"Keep wounding it. It’s better if you can instakill it," the allemak said as the trollimp roared with fury at having to chase Langa again.
It was strange that this mini-boss had no intelligence while the guard at the beginning of the dungeon did. He quickly converted his mana to health, but it was not nearly enough to heal his shoulder, only numbing the pain a little.
With a new strategy in place, Langa slashed at the trollimp’s abdomen, his glaive making another dent in its armour. As he engaged the mini-boss in combat, the allemaks huddled together and started chanting the spell that used their lifeblood to disrupt the trollimp's regenerative powers.
When Langa once more stabbed its knee, the wound regenerated slower than usual. He grinned broadly, the little guys were alright. The decrease in its health regeneration weakened the mini-boss, allowing Langa to land critical blows at its joints that gradually wore it down. With each strike, he sent the trollimp reeling back and roaring with fury.
“Cut in.” Did the Legacy say that or was it Langa’s own thoughts? It felt almost as if that was what Tonare wanted him to do. Without a specific direction, Langs concentrated his mana in his legs, something he had not done before, and felt a hum of electricity from the glaive as he shot forward with unimaginable speed, glaive pointed outward and collided straight into the mini-boss.
He struck with Thunderbird's Stunning Strike in one final motion, instantly killing the creature. This time he made sure to pour a generous amount of Kiribo’s Sweat to amplify the fire damage and ensure that it was really dead.
[You have killed a level 11 Trollimp Mini-boss.
Rewards will be issued upon quest completion.
Please wait]
For some reason, Legacy of The Tonare Thunderbird Spearmanship finally reached Beginner Level 10 from that last move. It had felt a little like an out-of-body experience for him, as if he just knew which stance or movement he needed to use.
Having defeated the mini-boss, Langa needed to move on to the throne room, to defeat the boss monster and clear the dungeon.
"Are you guys okay?" he asked the allemaks as he freed the rest of them. He hadn’t paid too much attention to them with the fight, but now he observed them. These trollimps were slightly bigger than the little ones he had met in the forge, and they had more scars too. Some of the ones that had their lifeblood drained were passed out on the dungeon floor.
"We will recover with time," the allemak that had first spoken to him earlier said. He was the size of a boerbel dog, so it was a little weird to see him walking up to Langa on two legs, not crawling. He had the most scars, all the way down his back. Seeing the scars made Langa tighten his hold on Tonare. He did not regret killing those non-combatant trollimps after all. "I am the allemak tribe's elder."
"Oh," Langa said with a nod. "You're the one Rila spoke about." He could actually speak Towerspeak very well compared to Rila.
At the mention of Rila's name, there were screeches from the other trollimps, and the elder said, "Is she alright? Are the children still alive? They don't regenerate their lifeblood as quickly as us, so I was worried that they would run out of it, and die."
"No, they are doing fine for now, and I killed all the trollimps on that side, so you don't have to worry. But if you want to go back, you'll need to get the trollimps’ rings to get through the darkness barrier. So, you guys should take the rings and leave," Langa said, collecting the dead trollimps’ healing sacs and weapons. He would have loved their bodies too, but he was running out of space.
"You saved them?" the elder's eyes sparkled with admiration, and then he looked at the Legecay. "Ah, no wonder! You are Blessed by a god of life! You may be able to set us free."
"Right, I have to clear the dungeon, right?" Langa asked, done looting.
The elder nodded. “There are about twenty or so trollimps in the lifeblood pool below the cliff. You will have to defeat them first before you can take on the boss,” he said. “It’s mostly warriors and crafters in there.”
"Is your lifeblood flammable?" Langa asked the elder allemak.
"A little? It's a mixture of water and life energy," the elder said. “Life energy allows it to be flammable but it would be hard to ignite the fire.”
"Water... hmm," Langa muttered.
Langa’s heart was racing uncontrollably as he gazed down from the edge of the cliff. The sheer drop was terrifying. It was at least 50 metres below this level, no wonder the trollimps had not heard the fight. He could hear the stones breaking free from the walls of the cavern where he’d just fought the mini-boss trollimp, falling down to the dark abyss of pink lifeblood.
Over twenty trollimps were swimming inside the lifeblood pool, and it disgusted Langa that they were literally using the blood of the allemaks that they had captured to soak in it and improve their health regeneration.
“It looks like this will be your toughest battle yet,” the Legacy said, watching the pool below. The trollimp warriors and enchanters hadn’t taken notice of Langa yet. “I think with your speed, you should be able to swim across quickly, and take out as many of them as possible.”
Langa looked down, and shuddered. “Uh-huh, that’s a great idea, except for one teeny tiny problem,” he said. “I can’t swim.”
“What?” the Legacy was appalled.
“Don’t worry, Legacy, I have just come up with an amazingly diabolical plan that will kill all those trollimps with one attack,” he grinned and tried his best impression of an evil laugh. "Mwahahaha!"
"Langa,” the Legacy said in a voice clearly meant to pacify Langa. “I’ve only known you for three and a half days, but you saying you're using your head and laughing like that is what worries me.”
Langa rolled his eyes, his mana was made of lightning, so his great idea was to infuse some exploding orbs with his mana, coat them with the anti-heal potion and Kiribo’s Sweat, and then throw them into the lifeblood pool. Water and lightning were inverse disciplines so the damage he could do would scale up.
Thus, he wanted to make his preparations to attack before the trollimps noticed him. He still had no idea how to get across the pool to reach the throne room though.
“It’s okay,” Langa assured the Legacy, digging into his inventory his grin still on his face. “I’m going to pull what's known as a pro-gamer move."
"What does that mean?" the elder allemak asked curiously.
The Legacy was frowning. "It must be one of his lost-worldisms. What I can tell you is that this can't be good."