Standing in front of another cave opening looked shallow like the others have done so far, with the same shimmering field in front of it.
The group had decided just to hike it there. It took a while as there was a lot of up-and-down in the mountain region that made up the Second Floor. Luckily, it was surprisingly straightforward. It did, however, take most of the day to just get there, and they met some locals who meant them harm, but they were easily taken care of as soon as they came into Sam’s range. Most had sub-100 health and little-to-no Defence, so they fell fast.
“I suppose we just go in, then?” Janik commented as he took the first step towards the haze-like portal going to the Fortress Dungeon.
“I don’t see why not?” Sam answered as he did the same, Dia stepping in tandem with his steps, which was a bit amusing as he was quite taller than her, forcing her to take longer steps than she would normally do. It seemed this was a thing she was doing to pass the time as they were walking.
Coming within the range of the field had the familiar window pop up, it was second nature at this point to respond to it and they soon found themselves inside a cave with only a hallway heading forward.
They could see the hallway winding around at least one corner, without any specific light coming from it, hinting that there was at least more than one turn before outside. The pictures that Janik showed Sam before had outside elements, so they should end up there at some point.
After walking into the hallway itself, having taken out flashlights, the familiar Dungeon Clear window popped up.
[ Dungeon clear conditions:
Kill the Forge Golem: 0/1
Optional: Kill all monsters
Monsters: 0/40
Rewards:
1 000 000 xp
1x Random mid-level crafting material
Chance (2%): High D-tier weapon or armour.
Bonus rewards for optional step:
1 000 000 xp
Random Box - X. ]
It was the same one as every other Dungeon, the only change was the XP, which was very interesting! He didn’t know how much XP there was for the dungeon monsters, or boss, just yet. But this sounded like it could be a good place to grind some progress, depending on how easy it was.
“Should we just do this as normal?” Sam asked as he brought the swarm out of storage. Leading with the new Chacram that looked like it would shred the hand that wielded it.
Janik nodded, having already pulled his swords. “I don’t see why not. I do prefer the safer route, after all.” Ending his statement with a smile, Sam had to chuckle.
Though he intended to do his normal part, which was to do everything possible, he didn’t intend to force his allies into danger unless needed. So pushing on with his cloud of blades hovering around him they rounded the next few corners.
It didn’t take long for them to enter into a larger room, much like the first Dungeon of this Floor it had a Golem standing on the floor and two Harpies perched on some larger stones.
[ Storm Harpy
Level: 30
STR: 4
DEX: 20
VIT: 12
SPT: 1
HP: 80 / 80
Damage: Claws 100, Burst of wind 10
Defence: -
Abilities: Burst of wind, Hovering, Dex damage bonus. ]
[ Burst of Wind: Creating a powerful burst of wind, hitting a target can knock them back. The wind destabilises after 10 meters. ]
[ Golem
Level: 30
STR: 15
DEX: 1
VIT: 20
SPT: 0
HP: 440 / 440
Damage: 80
Defence: 20
Abilities: HP bonus, Str damage bonus. ]
“They are quite similar to the others, just instead of bats and echolocation, it’s harpies and a wind knockback,” Sam commented. He knew that Janik’s Appraisal only worked so well due to its limitations, but Sam’s didn’t have the same issue, so it was his time to share.
“The Harpies are dexterous, can knock you back with the wind, they have 80 health and no Defence. The golems are strong, 400 health and 20 Defence. They are all level 30.”
“Ah, that’s no problem for you, then. Right?” Though Janik sounded confident at first he ended with a questioning tone, seemingly more to know if he needed to get ready or not than really doubting Sam.
“Yeah, I don’t imagine this being an issue.” Sam split his weapons up into three groups, the main group had the named weapons to deal the most damage to the Golem, and the other weapons was split up between the Harpies.
The main reason for the weapons against the harpies was to trigger Static Shock, as a triple pulse would handle most things in there.
Everything hit, and the Void Fang even triggered its Defence ignoring, this easily triggered three Static Shock pulses, and though the Harpies weren't close enough to the Golem to be hit by the Pulse from it, they were close enough to each other to be hit by those. All three targets died in one attack, the Golem crumbled like the ones did in the first Dungeon on this Floor, and the two Harpies fell to the floor limply.
[ Experience gained: +82 500. ]
Dia didn’t wait and got to work gathering the cores, this time they brought the picks for the Golems, and the Harpies were just normal fleshy creatures, she had no problems with either of them.
“Well...” Janik started with a small pause before he continued. “That doesn’t make me envious at all...” His tone was monotone and deadpan. He never hid the fact that he was envious of Sam’s powers, but it seems that he sometimes got a refresher he might not like.
“I could have taken them but that would be like... One at a time, perhaps the Harpies in one move, then two or three hits on the Golem, not counting if I get hit...”
“Well, even if you did get hit, with your Defence they wouldn’t even get you,” Sam commented back. With Janik’s Defence of 96, the damage of the Harpies would barely go through.
“True... but that thinking gets you killed, a crit or two and pop; you’re dead.” To emphasize his point he used his hands, still holding his swords, to simulate something exploding out of his chest.
“Yeah, been there... It’s not as fun as it sounds. And it doesn’t really sound fun.” Sam thought back to not that long ago before he started getting good gear and higher health. He was at the mercy of critical hits more than once.
Janik chuckled and changed the subject back to the matter at hand. “Well, that aside. I’d like to get hit by one of those wind attacks. They do shit for damage but I want to feel just how hard it hits, in case we need to know.”
At first, Sam thought this sounded dumb, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. If this was one of the main dangers in this place, then experiencing what it can do to you wasn’t entirely idiotic.
“Well, the next group, we can leave one and keep it at a distance, see if it does the thing?” Sam comments, that they looked light and confirmed their weight by reaching out and lifting the corpse, they weighed less than his normal max carry weight. It wouldn’t be a problem for him to just grab one and keep it at bay.
“Yeah, I’d like that if possible,” Janik confirmed.
Since this was a Dungeon with monsters intending to stop them, they didn’t have to wait long before this became a possibility. After another hallway, they came to another opening which led outside. There were three Golems as well as a single Harpy.
The process was simple, much like before, weapons were grouped up and since the Harpy was out of range of the Static Shock pulse, it made the whole thing easier to handle. Since Static Shock now did 88 damage, triggering it on three targets who overlapped each other meant that this alone did 264 damage. They had no elemental defence and the little weapon defence they had didn’t do much to save them.
The fight only lasted a few seconds before Sam returned his weapons to the Item Box, since his Psyhands worked for that skill he could just pull the weapons back before grabbing or harassing the Harpy.
Janik stepped out, making sure he had walls behind him so he wouldn’t be knocked off a mountain, and made sure he was the clear target. Sam and Dia made sure they were halfway in the hallway so they didn’t stand out as a target.
Angry noises and attempts to attack the unseen force, came from the harpy as Sam somewhat held her in place, just enough so she wouldn’t leave the cave or get close as she was listed to do 100 damage. Though not dramatic in itself it it hit Janik, a good crit could change all that.
Luckily it didn’t take too long before she let out a kind of howling chant and flapped her wings in a powerful stroke, sending a pulse of wind towards Janik.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
He had taken a stance and was doing his best to tank it. The wind was surprisingly visible, picking up dust as it travelled and hit Janik. The damage wasn’t enough to get through even relatively cheap armour, but it did knock him back. He lost his balance a little and had to take a few steps back to avoid getting knocked over.
“Ohshit. That hits hard.” Janik commented once he got his footing.
He was ready for this one and was leaning into it as it came. Had he not done that he’d easily have been knocked over and perhaps even rolled a bit on the ground. On ledges or in mountains this is indeed dangerous.
“You can take care of that one now.” He ended as he pointed at the increasingly angry Harpy.
Sam let go of the creature and manifested his swarm, there was barely anything left of it once hit by everything Sam had.
[ Experience gained: +110 000. ]
Dia went to work gathering the Cores, while Sam walked over to Janik. “So, how was it?”
“It hit harder than I expected. Had I not leant into it I’d be knocked over for sure. It felt like a stomp in my chest, so I’d get knocked off a ledge without much effort. The damage is shit but that’s not the danger there.” Janik looked a bit hesitant, and rightfully so. Unless you can fly or halt your falling, then fall damage takes out everyone.
“Well, I have double the range they do, and they don’t have much health. So I think we’ll be fine.” Sam replied. And he was feeling confident.
The knockback would be dangerous, yes, but if he took care of them before they came in range that would remove the danger.
Walking towards the opening of the cave and looking outside, the landscape changed dramatically. A vast mountainscape spread out as far as the eye could see. Mountains were covering the horizon in every way, a multitude of plateaus at various heights with smooth bridges stretching between them. There was a bridge leading from the plateau they were on, to another mountain ‘shelf’ of sorts. Then another went from that to the next, and it went on for several shelves until it landed in the centre of a large fortress wall, looking like someone had taken a castle wall and just stuck it to the side of a mountain. It was too high up for Sam to see anything past the walls, but it was at least clear where they had to go.
The windy air was crisp, not cold or uncomfortable but strangely clean and clear.
“Well... I see where we need to go.” Sam commented to his group.
As the others came out to take in the sights, Sam started noting the dotted creatures around the different shelves. He didn’t know how many there were in the Fortress but he could see several Golems on the shelves as well as the bridges. There were Harpies both in the air and perched on various rocky protrusions here and there.
“Ah.. yeah... well... I’m gonna guess over there.” Janik commented like he had discovered the secret as he pointed at the only building in sight.
“Most likely, yes,” Sam replied as if he didn’t get the joke, causing Janik to sigh.
The group existed the cave mouth to the large open area in front of them, which slowly tapered inwards towards the connected bridge. As they walked towards it, being the only place they could proceed, piles of stones started to collect on the other side until there stood three Golems near other piles of rocks.
“Ah... there it is,” Sam commented dryly, referencing the rock throwing that Janik read out of the guide material earlier.
One of the Golems, almost to test the metaphorical waters, picked up a rock and like a trained athlete made a powerful throw. The rock, easily the size of a man’s head, soared through the sky heading towards the group.
Janik and Dia moved to the sides, to avoid its path rather than interacting with it. Sam had a slightly more complicated plan he needed to test before they took to the bridges.
Readying himself as the rock came closer, he sent his collection of blades towards it.
[ Active Defence used ]
The weapons honed in towards the rock and contacted with a surprisingly dull sound, splitting the rock up into enough small pebbles, dust and chunks that it all fell to the ground without any dangerous momentum. As most of it fell into the chasm of the mountainscape, and a few pieces landed on the platform they were standing on, Sam felt confident that this would fix the only remaining problem he had here.
A part of him also considered alternatives, his Item Box could be surprisingly practical for this as well if needed, just storing a rock and depositing it elsewhere, needing only two hands, perhaps more to make sure, would give him total defence.
“Well, I think we’re fine here.” Sam smiled.
“Hold on, the fuck was that?” Janik barked rhetorically at him as he stepped closer
“Active Defence, I think you call it something si-” Before Sam could complete his response, Janik broke in.
“You stealing my shit, eh?!” There was a hint of a smile in his voice, this was an honest question masked by a bad over-the-top joke.
“Yes, I am.” Sam smiled and lifted his eyebrows once in a challenging manner. “What are you going to do about it?”
“Oh, gonna praise you, that’s amazing!” Janik changed the tone of the conversation from joking confrontation to happiness. “I didn’t know you learned how to do that!”
“When I was in my last Dungeon, I used some time and copied what I saw you doing. It took a bit of time but... I had time.” Sam forced a solemn smile at the end, still not liking his time spent in the last Solo Dungeon.
“Well, though that’s bad, it’s going to make this dungeon... much easier, right? I mean, if you can handle the rocks... and the Harpies..... and the Golems......” Janik’s pauses between statements became longer and longer as if he realised something before he turned to Dia. “Why are we here again?”
Though his tone was sarcastic and joke-toned, it didn’t seem to land well with Dia.
“Zar brought us, Zar make us strong.” She flexed a bicep not showing that much strength, her fighting style was based on speed and dexterity, after all.
Janik’s smile and expression sank. “Well... yes... I know that but... You need to learn sarcasm...” ending his statement in an almost sigh, he no doubt understood that sarcasm was probably hard for her.
Sam laughed at their interaction, though as he considered the fact that he was glad they were getting along, his expression saddened a bit as he realised that Janik had spent more time with Dia than Sam had done.
The fix to that was simple, he just needed to make it up to her, as long as the dungeons didn’t keep eating him, that was.
A pulse of frustration and anger surged in Sam, deciding to capitalize on it he started walking across the bridge. Knowing that he still had his 44 seconds of Telekinetic Boost, enough to carry all of them at the same time if it came to that, would keep him safe.
Golems on the other side started doing their thing, picking up rocks and hurling them at him, Dia sounded like she wanted to run in and help but Janik stopped her, seemingly understanding what Sam was planning.
Rocks were cut into pieces, slowly Sam lowered the amount of weapons needed to break them into harmless rubble. At the same time, he effortlessly took out the incoming Harpies before they were in the range of using their wind attack, which was frankly more important in this context. To test his earlier theory he stored a few of his cheap daggers and used those hands to grab onto the incoming rocks. They didn’t have enough strength to do much but he just needed the connection. Triggering the Storing into his Item Box had them disappear, doing so with another incoming three rocks had them all stacked up in his storage.
Sam stopped attacking the rocks at this point and just stored them, it was faster and easier, also leaving his weapons free to focus more on the incoming Harpies. This change of pace trivialized the whole encounter. Finding out that the rocks were stacked to five in his item Box, it let him take in a surprising amount of them with the remaining slots, but as they filled up he could just deposit them down the ravines without issue.
As his steady and calm walk across the bridge came to an end, Harpies almost exploded in the air to blades and electrical pulses and incoming rocks disappearing only to reappear on the edge of the bridge to fall out of sight. He eventually found himself at the end of the bridge, within reach of the Golems. Their slow pace and failing tactic of throwing rocks made it easy to take them out and stop the bombardment.
A few harpies tried their luck against Janik and Dia, but all they needed to do was to retreat into the cave to force them to get down into their reach or leave them alone as they couldn’t get close, meaning that they were out of harm's way as well.
Only a few minutes after they left the cave, had this zone been handled. Five Golems and eight Harpies had been taken out before it calmed down, but at this point, everything was silent again. Though they could see golems on the other ledges as well as Harpies in the air or standing here and there in the distance, it was calm and silent around them.
Janik and Dia started walking across now that it was safe, or at least seemed safe. They were hesitant and aware even if everything looked clear. A good mentality as a safety precaution.
It didn’t take long for them to get all the way across, which had them all look happy before Janik’s expression faded slightly.
“You know, seeing you do all that, doesn’t affect my envy at all...” His tone of voice was overdramatically deadpan and fake-annoyed to further his envy in a sort of odd compliment to Sam.
This was emphasized by his smile returning right after. “But it does make it easier for us.”
Sam had to chuckle at his expression, but it did make him think when Janik explained earlier that Sam was cheating. Ranged attacks like bows, thrown or magic would most likely take care of the Harpies easily enough, but tanks or defensive Players had to get across and take the Golems. Everything costs resources. It was hard to not let this go to his head.
Shaking the thought out of his mind, he turned towards the next bridge. They should get to the Fortress easily enough.