None of these guys are past level three, except for Henry who is exactly at three and Mr. Herman who managed to reach level four. A few of them also sport the gears I provided instead of conjuring a Trilattic Swarm, while Mr. Herman, I know, is wearing the Ring of Allure under his swarm, maybe they're newcomers. The teams describe the horror of seeing a large swarm of cockroaches rushing out from the general direction I walked towards two nights back. Since then, some of them may be found almost everywhere in shadows and dark areas, and have been quite a good source of experience. Maybe the Goblin's filth had been keeping them interested in the mall, and when the weal-lifes cleaned everything up, that made the place less ideal, so they left en-masse.
"Ahh!!" I shouted, earning me some shh from several people, I clamp down out of reflex. The weal-lifes! I left them at the mall!!
My shout alerted the occupants of this shophouse, our second one so far, making them rush at us in a frenzy. But with some applications of Latent Coatings in a five by five perimeter around us while leaving the middle area hollow, in order for us to make a stand, with the liquid's property set to be very adherent rat glue like traps from the old world, managed to halt the charging rats. There has been a mix of the usual Giant and Big Rats, as well as a new variant called Sire Rats which is an even larger and buffer version that is quite rarely seen. The basement takeover ended from slaying a Rat Matriarch after she screeched and summoned every single surviving rat in the building to die. It wasn't easy, but also nothing overly too tough between my spells and the amount of people we have flinging disks at them, well, shooting in Mr. Herman's case.
The first shophouse before the rats, held Giant Spiders that are half a human's height tall, there were quite a few of them though the battle felt like fighting multiple individuals rather than a family of creatures, some stronger than others. Their problematic factor being masterful stealth, their venom, their webs and the amount of time they had to fill up two floors with a pseudo-maze that would trap you for any missteps. My Mana Sense worked well to find any hidden spiders and the new disks are easily enough turned into a wheel of fiery spider web cleaners. I took on a tank role along with a few others and some of the team suffered damage and thus, got injected with poison, but the injuries were dealt with well enough using Disinfect and Lesser Heal. I gotta say, wielding two shields -- made out of Trilattic Swarm -- while casting spells is a truly novel experience.
Third building was a house infested by giant noblesque wasps called Vespas, we encountered Baron and Viscount Vespas the size of volleyballs, Earl and Marquess Vespas which are about the same size just bulkier, Duke Vespas that are slightly smaller and sturdier, several Vespa Queens and one Empress both around the size of a basketball. Their nest expanded to cover the insides of a whole house and then some outside, the battle was so far the most perilous on account of their incredible numbers and the ten centimeters long stingers. We did end up just collapsing the whole structure, which basically meant I AoE bombed the building and then we picked off the survivors which were mainly the Dukes, Queens and the Empress.
The last building was a small chinese food restaurant that had a bunch of centipedes, massive earth attuned centipedes! They were about twenty centimeters in diameter, and at a minimum two meters long, though the higher leveled ones tend to be even lengthier. They are also covered in durable earth layered exoskeletons with fangs that are each two-thirds their diameter in length and strong enough to puncture my trilattic swarm with a well placed crunch. Said crunch would incapacitate a person with pain and extreme swelling, might even break bones without the swarm armor's rubbery quality, while our attack would barely scratch theirs. Unlucky for them, they seem to be afraid of fire, judging from the way they recoil when one of our members ignited their disk in a bout of panic from seeing one of his teammates collapse from a bite. We had to retreat and treat the injured, but the battle soon came to an end after that fortunate coincidence of finding their weakness. Turns out fire dries their joints up, making them very slow and a slight bit more fragile.
** DING **
Spell mastery rank up, Lesser Heal Basic > Intermediate
Having been delegated to healing duty for most of the injured, I managed to improve my spell mastery from gently healing their venom impaired veins and preventing rupture. Gonna need some diagnostic spell, in a way, we were fortunate that the venom causes intense pain which is a good indicator for when the wound is clean and healed. The fireteam also has plans to allow at least a member or two to begin dabbling in healing.
---
** DING **
Combat summary
Enemies slain, Participants: 13:
Junior Huntsman Spider lv 1 x 117
Senior Huntsman Spider lv 3 x 25
Chief Huntsman Spider lv 10 x 2
16 syscred and 23 exp awarded
Combat summary
Enemies slain, Participants: 13:
Big Rat lv 1 x 68
Giant Rat lv 2 x 32
Sire Rat lv 5 x 4
Rat Matriarch lv 10 x 1
12 syscred and 17 exp awarded
Combat summary
Enemies slain, Participants: 13:
Baron Vespa lv 1 x 712
Viscount Vespa lv 1 x 438
Earl Vespa lv 3 x 345
Marquiss Vespa lv 3 x 147
Duke Vespa lv 5 x 69
Vespa Queen lv 10 x 10
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Vespa Empress lv 20 x 1
237 syscred and 382 exp awarded
Combat summary
Enemies slain, Participants: 13:
Terrasian Metepede lv 20 x 13
20 syscred and 228 exp awarded
Skill Obtained, Shield Proficiency
Skill level up, SYMPHONY 8 > 9
Skill level up, Unarmed Combat Proficiency 5 > 6
Skill level up, Heavy Armor Proficiency 7 > 8
Skill level up, Shield Proficiency 1 > 2
Skill level up, Mana Sense 13 > 14
Skill level up, Taunt 7 > 8
Skill level up, Mana Manipulation 19 > 20
Skill level up, Shield Proficiency 2 > 3
Skill level up, Thrown Weapon Proficiency 4 > 5
Skill level up, Evasion 5 > 6
Skill level up, Heavy Armor Proficiency 8 > 9
Skill level up, Inspect 11 > 12
Skill level up, Unarmed Combat Proficiency 6 > 7
Hmm, that much exp barely leaves a dent compared to the 22,000 I now require to level up to 8, though it might be decent gains for the others. Turns out the two tougher spiders, found separately on each floor is another evolved variant. The battle was so chaotic after the initial clash that no one managed to Inspect much. The Vespas were definitely the most challenging, lucky we found them this early, any later and there would be twice, maybe thrice their numbers.
All in all, the mission took us about 6 hours. It is now about 5.30 pm and we are just about done checking our System update and is currently prepared to head back so we can call in the harvesters.
** DING **
Quest received
DUNGEON TAKEOVER II
Task: Slay the soul residing within a Dungeon Core that may be found at the location provided through your Map and assist The System in taking control of the Dungeon before the seventh day come to an end
Fail condition: Death / Leaving Dungeon premises / hour 0 of the eight day
Competition Rewards:
* 1 SysPoints
* Increased affinity with The System
Penalty:
* Decreased affinity with The System
Accept?
Y / N
The box came with an update to my map. "Wait guys." I blurted out in haste. 'Hello, what would happen to the first one still left unclaimed if I take this one?'
It shall be claimed for you
Darn, 'please give me time to claim them myself and talk with the others... That's okay right?'
So be it
'Much appreciated.' Seeing me look up at them, Henry asks, "what is it?"
"Well, there seems to be a Dungeon that way," I point at its general location using the newly available System map and what I remember of our our old map as reference. "And I've just been offered a quest to, uhh... takeover it."
"And you accept?" Henry has on, his thinking face.
"Not yet."
"But you plan to?"
"Kinda, if possible, yes. It's got a very lucrative reward." I told him.
"Can you tell us what it is? Get us in on it?" A member of Henry's team, someone I do not yet recognize, asked me.
"That's not your business Agus." Mr. Herman reprimands him. The guy seems rather young, under twenty? In This day and age, almost anyone old enough to own a phone has at least dabbled in Video Games, or been exposed to enough Manga or internet tubes to get a general idea of quests. Which is probably why he's interested.
"Nah, it's fine Mr Herman. I honestly don't mind sharing resources when I can." I cut in, "one moment."
'Hi! Umm, did you hear our conversation? Uh, can I share the quest you gave me?'
… we shall allow it this once, on account of the time restriction. It shall be limited only by the Dungeon's imposed limit. Active participants shall be awarded a Point each upon completion
'Awesome! Thank you!!' The System is quite the nice fella. My conversation with The System took more than a moment, but definitely no more than three minutes. "So, it seems I can share this quest, but we need to get it done before tomorrow." A few of the guys modestly cheered at the good news. "But, there is a limit on that, a limit I will only know of by checking the Dungeon involved, not to mention it might all be moot if nobody else but me can get in, in the first place"
When nobody said anything else, I added. "Time's-a-tickin', so what now? Who's willing to take the chances?" I look at Henry then at Mr. Herman.
They end up drawing straws, well kinda, they just use whatever's available nearby. 2 fireteams are coming with me, Mr. Hendra opt out and will be leading the three unlucky men with him back to HQ for a debrief, his words.
We all rush for Garuda Hospital, as it's in the way. Then, at the supermarket across the street, separate, where our group follows my Map… or Henry's due to Shared Map, while Mr. Herman and his team go the other way and into HQ. I took vanguard decked in three layers of my Trilattic Swarm, in as offensive a color scheme as possible while making loud noises to Taunt out any enemies for the others to snipe from a little further behind. Between my six disks and the 8 people behind me, we made good time. Ohh, didn't I totally forget to make more disks before bed last night...
Our trip to the Dungeon takes us past the supermarket where I came up with Will-o'-Woe, and into a residential area that is now overgrown with an incredible variety of plant life. I took the chance to grind Inspect as we made our way though, occasionally stopping to fight incoming enemies or, once, skirting around an eerie looking banana tree. Inspect called it a Musa Phasma Treanter.
The buildings along the road are mostly roofless rubbles, debris and sand, the concrete road itself starting to break down and mix with the earth underneath. Sending a disk up high shows several almost intact houses scattered around the area, which might be the clue to find more survivors.
Soon after, we end up finding another hospital, this one is abandoned and in major need of repairs, it is also the target marked by the quest marker. A disk-drone later, I found the Dungeons gates to have replaced the emergency entrance. It has a beautiful floral design that gives out a vibrant feel. I find myself standing straighter and breathing lighter even after all the exertion of rushing here. Various flowers adorning the gate shifts between the seven colors of the rainbow in a random harmonic pattern.
Is the whole hospital part of the Dungeon? We approach the doors and I gently lay my hand on it.
** DING **
Antrum de Druidants (uncleared)
Level 1 - 20 Dungeon
Party limit: 5
Instanced: -
Entry prohibited
Enter solo?
Yes / No
No.
"Well, it says here that five of you may enter at once." I tell the 8 people behind me, I shouldn't count towards the limit, thanks to my trait Dungeon Phantasm. Now to draw more straws, share the quest and somehow get recognized as a party.