Janette and the rest of the party were at the port when Luke finally arrived. That section of the area had already been cleared out due to the small cluster of gates about, even if they were of a low ranking.
The female assassin was the first to greet Luke when he approached. "Good to see you made it." She called out, waving him over.
Luke waved back as he finally met with the group after a few extra seconds of walking.
"Surprised you're willing to do this." A man leaning against a shipping truck mentioned. He wore simple leather armor; a pair of golden rings sat on each of his hands in contrast with his light brown skin. His hair was nearly pitch black, short bit frizzy.
Luke nodded to the man. "Lemme' guess, Nino?"
The healer smirked. "Surprised you noticed. Most don't wear armor."
Luke gestured to the rings on Nino's fingers. "Those help you direct your mana I assume? None of you would need that, other then Havik I suppose. But you're definitely not him."
Nino chuckled. "New guys got that right."
Next, a man in partly dented armor stepped forward an stook out a hand. "I'm Freddy, try not to slow us down too much. I'll be up front with Havik." Freddy had short shaggy red hair. A pair of axes hung at his waist by a belt. Small magic stones rested within each axe head.
"Those axes look special." Luke gestured to the items in question.
Freddy chuckled. "They used to he my dad's actually. Before he got some better ones. Pretty fine for C-rank gear." He tapped his knuckle on the axe head. "Ya heard of Vadick Branch?"
Luke nodded in acknowledgement. He did know Vadick. In fact, he'd worked with him a few times. Including the A-ranked dungeon raid where they'd faced a dragon alongside Blake. He was a B-rank fighter. Though calling him a barbarian was more accurate. He often charged ahead of he tankers and scouts to get into the thick of the fight as quick as possible. Granted, his skill was perfect for it. The more damage he dealt, the less he took. When it acted on full blast, a strike from a B-rank magic beast might as well have been a breeze for all that it harmed him.
"I know him. He's your father?" Luke finally asked, to which Freddy nodded.
Luke was about to speak again when a voice spoke up, making the group's head turn. "Yall' done with introductions? We'll have time to talk while walking through the empty parts of the dungeon."
Walking towards the group was a slender figure with blue hair. Deep blue robes flowed down to his knees. Around his neck was a necklace that looked like it was made of ice. A small vial filled with silver liquid hung from the charm of the necklace.
Nino waved to the mage. "Havik, how did the dungeon scouting go?"
"First E-ranked dungeon is cave. But there a bunch of glowing mushrooms to light the way. I suggest not eating any." He glanced to Freddy who threw his hands up.
"It was one time." He replied. "Plus it didn't taste good anyway." He mumbled.
Havik's gave shifted over to Luke. The mage's eyes scanned over the hunter. As he did, Luke's eyes narrowed. He felt a strange feeling from Havik, as if, while looking at him, he could see through him. He could see something about him no one else could.
Luke was about to speak up when Janette threw an arm over the both of them. "Ok, Luke. Ya' heard the mage. No eating the shrooms. Hey bro, any idea what beasts could be in there?"
Havik shot one last glance at Luke before turning to his sister. "It could be humanoid mushrooms for all I know. Point is, we all know the terrain we are going in, and the point we are doing it." he turned to Luke again. "And with your request, once we get to the boss room and you head in, we'll wait an extra half hour once we are out. If you aren't back by then, we're just going to assume you died and move on. If you do manage to come out of the gate, you can keep whatever the boss drops. Baring some exceptionally rare items, like a rune stone. But I doubt you'll find one here."
Luke shrugged. "Sounds fair enough."
With the rough details of the deal situated, the group moved deeper into the area, eventually coming to a swirling blue gate.
Sure enough, as they entered, earth surrounded them on all sides. They stood in a cavern nearly 15 foot wide. While the area was dim, it was lit with a faint orange light by several clusters of luminous mushrooms.
"Remember Fred," Nino said, nudging the tank with his elbow. "Don't eat the shrooms."
"It was one time man." Freddy retorted, ramming an elbow into Nino.
***
[MP: 160/160 > 154/160]
Three bullets scattered across the cavern, planting themselves in the torsos of three humanoid mushrooms. As the bullets collided with their bodies, they burst into yellow spores.
The mushroom people were small, only about 4 feet tall, and lacked arms. However they did have small feet which they used to surprising effectiveness; running and leaping towards enemies before exploding into various types of spores.
Freddy had been struck directly with one of the sentient fungus-people when they first entered. He then became paralyzed for a few moments while the rest of the group had handled the others, this time staying out of their range.
In the end they realized that leaving most of this dungeon's magic beasts to Luke, and Havik- the only ranged fighters- was the best option. As such, Luke ended up getting a rather decent payout with killing roughly half the dungeon over the course of several hours.
Havik was a surprisingly versatile ice mage. He could create walls of ice to block off the escape of the magic beasts. Fire half a dozen shards of ice. He even created an axe made of out ice at one point to throw at a charging mushroom.
"That's a pretty fancy gun." Havik noted as he shot a shard of ice through the torso of a humanoid mushroom.
Luke just glanced at his gun and shrugged as he fired a bullet coated in a thin line of electricity- dumping only a single extra point of MP into the attack.
[MP: 154/160 > 151/160]
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"Got it from a friend." He lied. "From what they told me is around a C-rank item."
He recalled the items description for a moment before the crimson screen appeared before him.
~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~
[Helsing's Revolver]
[Rank: C+]
[Ammunition Cost: 2 MP]
[Attack: +35]
[Description: The gun wielded by a renowned hunter of the undead, still emblazoned with their latent magical properties]
[Effect: Deals an additional 15 damage to undead creatures]
~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~
He quickly swiped the screen away as he fired down the cavern again, this time causing a streak of flame to follow the bullet.
[MP: 151/160 > 148/160]
The bullet illuminated the cavern as it flew by before striking the back wall.
"What about the elements? I've seen you use lightning and fire so far." The ice mage noted.
Luke held up his wrist, revealing the black bejeweled bracelet beneath his jacket sleeve. "This bracelet does that, not me."
"Can you guys stop running ahead." Freddy shouted as he and the rest of the group caught up to the two other hunters.
"I get you two are the only ones who can reasonably attack those shroom-men," Nino began. "But you guys don't need to race ahead to fight for the next kill."
"Havik," Janette turned to her brother. "You don't need to compete with an E-rank just to kill a few mushrooms."
Luke and Havik exchanged glances. Luke's gaze shifted to the rapidly dispersing spores of the 'shroom-men' corpses.
"We weren't 'competing' to kill some E-ranked mushrooms." Havik rolled his eyes. His gaze fell on the cavern before them. The luminous mushrooms had gotten more sparse as they went deeper into the dungeon. Nonetheless, in the near complete darkness of the dungeon, a faint blue light shown down the path.
"Ya' think the boss room is around there?" Nino asked, gesturing to the faint glow at the end of the cavern.
"Already?" Freddy retorted. "We've only been at this for like," he thought for a moment. "Four, maybe five hours at most."
Janette shrugged. "E-rank dungeons aren't really known for being all that big."
Havik patted Luke on the back, gesturing him to go down the cavern. "You can go check, if it is the boss room, we'll let you have your fun. Either way, tell us if you're going in or not."
Luke did as Havik suggested. As he turned the corner to the cavern, he was met with a constant wave of mana attempting to repel him. He could still walk forward with relative ease, but it felt like the air had become thicker.
With his sense stat far above what any E-rank hunter could manage, he could see the faint blue wisps of mana as they surged towards him, only to harmlessly wash over his form.
Before him, the cavern opened up to a room lined top to bottom with mushrooms of various shapes and sizes. A few of them glowed; the source of the light the party had seen.
In the center of the room was a humanoid mushroom, much taller than any others he'd faced since they entered the dungeon.
Even though the magic beast was sitting on the floor, Luke could still guess it was 7 foot tall, at least. Unlike all the other mushroom-men, this one actually had arms, rather long ones at that. Each one ended in a mushroom head that was each the size of Luke's torso.
Luke walked back down the cavern to the party and told them what he saw.
"Well, you heard him," Havik stated. "Let's let him have his fun." He turned to Luke. "Remember, we'll wait for about 15 minutes. So a little over an hour from now. If you aren't out of the gate by then, we'll just assume you died and move on."
Luke nodded as he spoke. "Yeah yeah, I remember the deal."
***
The large mushroom creature rose to his feet as Luke entered the room.
As it raised its head, Luke finally saw its face. It was only made up of two holes for its eyes and a larger one below it for its mouth, which was contorted in a constant growl.
Luke started the fight with a [Sundering Blow] to its chest.
[MP: 148/160 > 145/160]
The bullet passed effortlessly into the beast's skin, causing its body to begin spewing purple mist from itself.
The boss roared and swung its arm towards Luke.
At first Luke thought he was well far enough away to not be hit, but as the arm swung, it grew longer, colliding with Luke's side while spewing yellow spores from the mushroom top on its hand.
[HP: 195/195 > 185/195]
Luke was sent tumbling across the room, but quickly rolled to a kneeling position. He aimed his gun forward, but coughed as he took a breath of air.
~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~
['Fungus Guardian' has effected you with 'Fungal Spores']
[Effect reduced due to high Vitality]
[Agility temporarily reduced by 2]
[Agility: 43 > 41]
~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~
The debuff was more an annoyance than an actual hinderance. The 'Fungus Guardian' didn't seem to have gotten any faster.
When it swung its arm again, Luke raised his pistol and fired a flaming bullet into the creature's arm.
[MP: 145/160 > 133/160]
The bullet exploded as it collided with the beast's arm, blowing the limb completely off.
The Luke smirked as he cast his free hand forward, letting a hook and chain shoot from it.
[MP: 133/160 > 83/160]
The hook seemlessly passed through the monster's skin before getting stuck on something within it.
Luke pulled his hand back, reeling the hook back in. But this time, the hook held a stone in its crook.
As the hook retracted into Luke's hands, the stone caught in his palm.
Before the hunter could look at the stone in his hand. The Fungus Guardian swung his other arm. This time however, Luke vanished in a flash of fire and sparks, reappearing behind the creature. He turned and fired a fire-infused bullet into the back of the guardian's leg, blowing it off.
[MP: 83/160 > 50/160]
The boss fell to one knee. Luke took the chance to look at the stone in his hand.
~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~
[Rune Stone of 'Fungal Spores']
[Rank: E+]
[Description: A stone imbued with a skill from a magic beast. Rune stones are formed when a magic beast has fully mastered its skill, forming it into a solid object within themselves to pass it down onto those who have slain them]
[Effect: When crushed by a being possessing magic, the being will obtain the skill 'Fungal Spores']
***
[Fungal Spores]
[Rank: E]
[Type: Active]
[Cost: 5 MP]
[Description: You channel mana throughout your body to produce a burst of spores from your skin. The spores have stunning effect that limits movement on creatures. Weaker creatures can often be paralyzed momentarily by the spores. Creatures with a high Vitality can resist the effect. This skill effectiveness is slightly increased by the Vitality stat.]
~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~
Luke shrugged and crushed the stone in his hands. A stream of magic flowed from the stone before seeping into his skin.
Almost immediately, Luke felt a surge of knowledge rush into his head. He immediately knew how to change the flow of mana in his body to produce the spores. As the knowledge rushed into his head, another message appeared before him as the former closed.
~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~
[Effect 'Fungal Spores' has ended]
[Agility: 41 > 43]
~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~
Luke smirked. "Might as well see what else this thing's got." He said, before casting his arm forward. The hook stuck into the boss's back but pulled back soon after with nothing in its grasp.
[MP: 50/160 > 0/160]
~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~
['Hook of Hades' has failed due to no skills being present within target]
~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~
"Oh come on." Luke groaned, putting his gun in its holster. He turned his attention back to the boss.
Now it was rather pathetic, crawling around on a single arm and leg. He could see the tops of the mushrooms on its head and arm pulse now and again, trying to exude spores that weren't there.
Luke looked at his hands, then shrugged. "I have like forty-something strength right?" He asked himself as he stepped towards the boss.
He stepped aside from a weak swing from the boss's arm before rearing back a fist and bringing it down on the creature's head.
The entire top third of the guardian was reduced to pieces as the body went limp.
Luke waited a few seconds for a 'level up' notification to appear. But nothing happened. He sighed.
"Guess leveling up is going to be getting harder." The hunter said as he grabbed the magic crystal from the boss's corpse.
***
The rest of the party was only outside the gate for a few minutes before Luke walked out.
Nino was the first to speak. "Did ya' stare at the boss room for a few minutes and chicken out?"
The gate responded by pulsing with mana for a moment before shrinking down to nothing and collapsing.
The partys' eyes widened at the sight.
"You took it on by yourself?" Freddy chuckled in disbelief. He turned to Janette. "Ya' said you met the guy at a coffee shop?"
Havik said nothing, but kept his eyes glued to Luke.
The same feeling as when he'd first seen Havik washed over him. The same feeling of being cracked open and revealed to the world. The feeling faded just ask quickly as it had come.
"Let's move to the next gate." Havik said, looking among his party members. "Let's see if that last boss was just dumb luck." His eyes met Luke before finally shifting away.