Kurt gripped the metal claws in his talons and dove with a might eagle cry, delivered the final blow on the eight-floor boss. It was a monster with a tubeworm-like body suspended on thousands of tiny crawly legs and with twelve five-meter long tentacle parasites around a maw with several rows of teeth. The remains of three crushed golems littered the area around the miasma vent. One again Kate's natural tanking ability coupled with Cless' overpowered heals and shared [Dragon Skin] kept the boss busy long enough to allow them to kill most tentacles and then hack its body apart.
> For defeating level 119 Dreadmaw Worm and 12 Deathgrasper you gained 32,249 kills and 28,000 proficiency Experience. You reached Wizard Princess level 22. +3 Intellect, +1 Magic.
Cless checked her Status, she needed a little less than 300,000 Experience to master her current class. Shad was ready to evolve but that would have to wait until they had a safe place for him to hibernate. Monsters needed a few days to change their bodies during evolution. The good news was that with this fight everyone in the guild reached the twenty-fifth level of their third tier classes and would be able to advance into the fourth tier during their next visit to the Association.
She took her time to skin the tentacles. The stretchy worm flesh would be great for making form-fitting clothing. Despite being able to repair the leather and cloth, some material was always lost when damaged. She'd have to find more Hellshadow cougars to replace the leather. The feeling of the bodysuit holding all the important bits in place was too good to give up. She felt the weight of the several Deeppockets she enchanted to hold the loot.
After they descended to the fifth floor, the signs of being followed by the party behind them vanished. They no longer heard the distant sounds of fighting. Cless thought that for the regular delvers, getting in the Dungeon to obtain loot was a day job, not a risky business. There was no reason to delve deeper than one's safety zone to earn Experience and loot.
Speaking of the safety zone, Cless would reach hers in two more floors, if the progression of levels kept the same pace. She was abusing Kate's defensive trait to tackle the boss fights. Since monster bosses didn't have a wide array of powerful abilities and relied on mostly the same attacks, if Kate wasn't defeated in the first minutes of combat, at least a stalemate was guaranteed. Her guild was too geared toward damage dealing. Kurt and Cless had support abilities, but Vic, Silverfang, and Venaris were pure dealers of hurt. The lycan could take a beating and unless silver was involved he'd get back on his feet eventually, but he could not defend the others.
She looked at her guild members, her family. Despite being left out in the open for a whole day and dredging through eight floors of Dungeon, none of them seemed tired.
"Is everyone ready for the ninth floor?"
They cheered. Even Kate didn't seem bothered by her role as a boss chew toy.
Giggling at the cuteness of his glimmering pet, Cless descended with her guild to the ninth floor. According to their knowledge, this floor had Metal Bulls and was one of the places Cless wanted the most to visit. The monsters here were semi-bipedal and resembled minotaurs. Unlike the latter, they were not bovine humanoids, but bovine monsters. Much like Vic's lamiak and lamia relatives were often confused with Nagas. These monsters ate minerals and grew a metal coating over their bodies. The most common types were lead and tin, followed by zinc and copper. Rarer ones were silver and iron. Sometimes rumor of a golden bull or even one made of fantastic metals surfaced, but nobody ever proved it. Beneath the metal coat, the bull was a normal flesh creature but the meat had a metallic taste and some kinds, like lead, marked as poisonous to detection magic.
Cless wanted to grab at least one or two iron ones. Which meant they would spend some time on this floor.
They reached the floor proper and the sound of metal ringing on metal echoed all around the tunnels.
"I smell several humans," Silverfant said.
Cless could smell the humans too, and even knew some of them were the high-ranked guilds that arrived later and delved before than them. She moved with her guild carefully. As they were warned, encounters with other guilds could end sour. They followed the miasma flows and avoided the guilds the best they could. There was fresh blood on the walls and floor along with scrapes on the stone walls. The Dungeon would regenerate the tunnels later but it showed how strong the fight must've been, being able to damage the Dungeon walls.
They moved forward and found a dead end. A pile of bull carcasses without the metal parts lied against the wall. Most of it was already going bad but Kate cared not. She went ahead and started to feast on the meat.
"Purify!"
Cless used one spell on each carcass. "Does anyone want to try bull?"
"No. The meat is terrible," Venaris replied. "It is one of the reasons they only harvest the metal."
Shad tried a bite and also decided to eat the bull. The little mole was used to eating stone, gravel, and granite for the tiny crystals embedded in the stone. A metallic taste was not going to deter it.
"It might be a good time to take a rest and eat something while our friends help themselves," Vic suggested. "Maybe a bit further away."
They sat and ate a full meal. Combat sprang around a hundred-something meter from them down a set of tunnels. They stand on their toes, weapons ready but nothing happened. Shad and Kate came with bloody muzzles and Cless cleaned them before moving onward.
At the end of a long tunnel, they saw a flickering torchlight and a guild removing the metal plates from the bull monster.
"Delvers," Vic pointed.
The other group also saw Cless' light spell. From where they were, the group had four men and one girl. A man in magician robes was looking burdened.
"They probably use mages with Deeppockets to carry the metal," Kurt commented.
The one holding the torch, a man in plate armor and a shield waved the torch.
"I had no idea what that means," Cless shrugged. "Let's keep away from them. This way."
They avoided the sounds of fighting two more times, going deeper in the maze-like level. They found the boss room and unsurprisingly, there was a group fighting inside. A big golden bull versus a party of four delvers, all-male.
"Stay back," Venaris warned. "Some stray shots might have the range to hit us here. Unlike the tunnels, the ceiling is high enough to angle a shot for extra range."
They moved back on the tunnel. The fight ended and the delvers shouted at them.
"Hey, you! Get away from there. Come inside slowly!"
They did. Their archer was holding an arrow and aiming his shot.
"What is going on? We just want to get through!" Cless shouted back.
She gave up on getting any metal bulls. At least four parties were farming the floor, she doubted there were any if it were not for her witnessing the boss fight. No chest popped up, it meant they didn't clean the floor enough to warrant one. The chest reward could be in cooldown, but then the miasma vent wouldn't be working at a normal rate. It would either be inactive or pumping enough to trigger a migration.
"There's nothing down there. Next level has undead monsters. Go back."
Cless moved near the edge of the ramp and waved a hand for her guild to walk down near the wall. She'd be their shield in case these delvers tried anything funny. All they needed to do was to climb down the ramp, go around the room to the tunnel leading down. She kept her eyes peeled on them.
"Are you deaf, woman? Go back!"
The archer drew the bow to a full pull.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. If you strike first, I will retaliate and take everything you have."
The leader finished removing the metal plates, probably brass, from the golden bull and rose to help his fellow delver intimidate the girl with the monster party.
"You don't know who we are! And you are in the way of the next boss. My second party should be taking another bull here now. Go back and take your monsters away from the vent. You're sucking in all the miasma I need to grow another boss."
A lot of information. Are they making bosses here? How long does it take for a monster to become a boss?
"I could tell you the same thing. You don't know who we are," She shouted back.
The man chortled. "Just because you beat a pushover like Xander doesn't mean you can pick a fight with me. We are Steelhammer, ranked ninth in the Association."
"Blind Eye, we ranked thirty-seventh."
Her bravado elicited a peal of laughter from the veteran delvers.
"Go away, girl. Or things will get ugly. We delvers kill monsters. I saw you up close, and I doubt you are fully human. You are some wretched half-breed and your monster friends behind you are a fair game inside a Dungeon."
Cless sighed. If the guy wanted to attack, he would've attacked already. She looked away and saw the determination in the eyes of her guild.
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"Shield of Faith. Golem."
They moved toward the tunnel.
"Don't make something you'll regret, girl! Last warning!"
She wanted to snap back so badly. Cless held back a stream of insults and taunts that just wanted to be spoken out loud and reached the tunnel.
She looked at the man and just said, "No," retreating into the tunnel leading to the tenth floor. They didn't put their weight behind their threat.
They reached the tenth floor. A stench of rotten flesh assaulted them. The rattling of bones and the moans of the damned echoed in the tunnels. Black mold covered the walls and Cless could tell it was poisonous. The thick dust covering the floor was undisturbed by boots, a sign that no delvers came down here in a long time. The ambient miasma was also very low, proof the monsters were plenty and busy engorging themselves.
"Stay on your toes. We'll move slowly and away from the walls, I don't want to disturb this black mold. Let me test something first."
Cless picked a really long tunnel for her test. She aimed at the furthest she could and shot her spell.
"Fireball."
The flames burned the mold, causing a cloud of black dust and fine ashes to linger around. With her clerical and house magic, she cleared a section of tunnels after half an hour of spellwork. The guild fought a few packs of humanoid skeletons and zombies during that time, but even though they were tough and around level sixty to seventy, they were able to kill them without much problem.
> For defeating 17 undead you gained 22,913 kill Experience.
Since her tame monsters fought, she earned her share of the Exp, but no proficiency experience because she didn't do anything to aid in the fight.
"Everyone gather here. I'm going to farm this floor in bulk."
She focused. After laying Protection on everyone, she used her favorite spell.
"Hallow."
The thick golden cylinder of holy magic burst forth from around her, covering everything in almost a hundred meters around Cless. That was as little as a tenth of the Dungeon floor size, she knew it. The black mold was corrupted with infernal miasma and burned all along the tunnels she covered, making the Dungeon as clear as day for a few seconds. Sounds of hurried rattles and heavy steps on the stone floor approached.
The burning dead. Hallow was supposed to cause only minor harm to undead and corrupted creatures but at Cless' level of power, they burned. The reason she used Hallow instead of Song of the Accord was to allow her guild to kill the undead while they were drawn to her. Bolstered by Cless through several sources from her class, professions, and spells, the Blind Eye killed dozens of the weakened undead as they came near Cless.
The bones and flesh from the defeated undead would crumble to a cloud of fine gray dust that burned like will-o'-wisps as the displaced air from the constant fighting blew it away. After an hour of intermittent fighting, no more undead was in the range of Cless' spell. She dropped the magic and dropped down, her legs tired from staying in the same place for too long.
"Hehe. We did it."
> For killing 89 undead, you gained 121,891 kills and 22,250 proficiency Experience.
>
> You reached level 94. +1 Stat point.
>
> You reached Wizard Princess 24. +1 Health, +2 Charisma, +3 Magic.
> — [Protector IV] learned: Assign up to 4 Royal Protectors, each gains +8 to all stats and to defensive level.
"Did you cap your class?" Venaris asked, excited.
"No. I was just talking about the fight," Cless chuckled. "I need seventeen thousand more to reach it."
Silverfang coughed and complained. "There's too much bone dust in here."
Cless got back on her feet, drank some water and stretched her legs. "I got it."
She used Earth magic to bury the bone dust underneath the Dungeon floor. She thought it was funny how she could manipulate it using Earth magic with just a modicum of resistance but [Tremorsense] was nullified. Everyone but Cless had to cover their nostrils with a piece of damp cloth because of the mold dust. Even purified it could be harmful. Cless didn't need to breathe.
They moved down the tunnels and out of the Hallowed area Cless created. It was easy to just follow the tunnels until the walls were covered with the black mold again. They went deeper, fighting two more packs of skeletons and zombies.
> For defeating 6 undead you gained 8,042 kills and 2,000 proficiency Experience.
Tantalizing close. After moving far enough, Cless readied herself She spent thirty-three Stat points in Intellect to round it up to five hundred. "Vic, I'm borrowing [Stage Magician]."
She placed Fireball Wards set to detonate only with ten or more monsters across the tunnels leading to the intersection where she'd lure in monsters again. Deeper in the floor, the monster's levels would naturally be higher due to the thicker miasma coming in from the boss room. She buffed her whole guild, setting Vic, Kurt, Venaris, and Shad as her guardians. The fireballs would deal more damage to the monsters and grant her more proficiency Experience. Cless readied her bow and chanted.
"Hallow."
Reaching the next hundred threshold improved the power of her magic by a large amount. Coupled with the flat twenty percent efficiency from the borrowed Skill, Her Hallow was half as much stronger and wider than before.
The undead horde came. Stronger than those near the entrance as expected, they came as a burning mob rubbing shoulders and scraping against the Dungeon floor. The threshold of ten enemies was reached even before the lead undead were past half the Ward's detection range. Explosions rang in the tunnels as the first layer of the wards detonated their stored Fireball spells, tossing the undead horde back and against each other.
Cless kept chanting and holding an arrow nocked on her bow. She was standing behind a set of Lapidate wards, set to shoot their shower of stone shards outward from her once enough undead were in the range of the cone-shaped spell. The second set of fireballs blew up in the tunnels, the deafening sound of the explosion soon surpassed by angry hisses and rattling bones rushing forward. The fireballs added another layer of complexity for the horde's advance as the undead monsters tangled on one another and were kept from moving for a while, taking even more damage from the supercharged Hallow spell.
Cless shot a few arrows at the undead and felt really dumb. Without the squishy sensitive organs, piercing damage did nothing to the skeletons and only hindered the zombie's movement because the wood stuck to them. She might be able to snap some bones if the arrowhead hit right, but it was a waste of resources.
They reached the last glyphs and the Lapidate spells triggered. A shower of crystal and stone darts burst forth from the Ward and pelted the undead horde. The armor-piercing features and volume of projectiles smashed the first one or two rows of undead but then the horde crashed into melee. The Blind Eye members jumped to protect their leader and Cless fought the impulse to drop Hallow to use other spells. She knew the spell was helping threefold, bolstering her allies, weakening and damaging the undead. The skeletons were so damaged that even a single well-placed claw swipe from Shad would one-hit the monster.
Aided by the better strategy and power boost, the horde this time was dispatched in half the time even though they were stronger and in greater quantity.
> For defeating 127 undead, you gained 181,042 kills and 76,200 proficiency Experience.
>
> You reached level 97. +2 Stat points.
>
> You reached Wizard Princess level 25. +2 Strength, +4 Agility, +2 Health, +2 Intellect, +2 Wisdom, +2 Charisma, +3 Magic. Select a Technique.
Excited, she looked at her choices for the capstone ability of her Class.
> [Bishop *]: While inside one of your Strongholds, all spells you cast use half the Magic Power and have half as much strength, effect, area, and range.
>
> [Knight *]: Replaces [Protector IV]. Increase the number of protectors to 10 and the granted bonuses to 15. The Princess can borrow one Skill at a time from one of her Knights. The knight does not lose access to the Skill.
>
> [Rook *]: Gain a third Stronghold, that sits on its own pocket dimension. By spending 50 Magic Power, the Princess can summon reinforced steel gates leading to her fortress. At least one gate must exist at all times. The princess can summon one gate in the field anywhere and another linking the Fortress to each of her Demesne and Strongholds. Fortress' dimensions depend on the Princess' Stats. Structures and facilities must be built.
She felt her heart clench at the choices. All of them were good but she was divided between two of them. [Bishop] was not her thing. If she had to fight in her own domain, she was already losing. She could boost all her guild and access their Skills at any time without bothering them, or she could get a safe haven for everyone. Even better than a safe haven, it could be a transportation hub between her domains.
She weighed between the two and in her mind it was clear what was best for her. Cless made her choice and selected her technique.
Status:
Name: Queen Cless Hreidmar of Myrkheim and Infernal Realm (in exile)
Race: Human.
Level: 97 ( 4,678,774 / 4,753,000 Exp ) [Experience Threshold > level 40]
Class (tier) level (Experience):
— Dabbler (1) 25 — Beast Tamer (2) 25 — Vicar (3) 25 — Wizard Princess (4+1) 25 (2,100,000 Exp / ** )
Professions — Veteran Warmaster 25 — Master Instructor 22 (756,387 / 803,000 Exp)
— Crafter 25 (*) — Farmer 25 (*) — Herbalist 25 (*) — Alchemist 25 (*) — Diplomat 25 (*) — Administrator 25 (*)
Base Stats — Strength: 97 [239] — Agility: 126 [311] — Health: 141 [348]
— — — — Intellect: 248 [509] — Wisdom: 202 — Charisma: 308 — Magic: 310 [641]
Available Status Points: 121
Skills:
S-rank: [Absolute Contract]
B-rank: [Fear Aura] — [Perfect Might] — [Succubus’ Kiss]
C-rank: [Appraise Immunity ] — [Craftsmen] — [Dangersense] — [Dragon Skin] — [Earth Magic] — [Eat Anything ]
— [Elven Longevity ] — [Master Miner] — [Perfect Accounting] — [Seductress' Charm] — [Shadow Eminence]
— [Shrinking] — [Underdog] — [Will of the Mage]
D-Rank: [Acute Smell] — [Alchemical Tolerance ] — [Alchemist ] — [Architectural Ingenuity ] — [Breathless] — [Curmudgeon crafter ]
— [Dancer’s Grace ] — [Darkness Resistance ] — [Diplomat] — [Druidwalk ] — [Farmer ] — [Gemsense ] — [Giant's Stamina ]
— [Great Leap ] — [Grounding] — [Herbalism] — [Intimidating Authority] — [Ladykiller] — [Merchant sense ] — [Miasma Sight]
— [Ore sense ] — [Poison Resistance ] — [Runner's Dash ] — [Sharp Mind ] — [Singer] — [Snakes' Flexibilty ] — [Spell Resistance ]
— [Steelshine ] — [Sundering Magic]— [Tinker ] — [Tremorsense ] — [Woodworking]
E-Rank: [Air sailing ] — [Burrower Bond ] — [Cat User] — [Chick Magnet] — [Coin Sense ] — [Enhanced touch ]
— [Food Conservation] — [Gravebreath ] — [Hearth’s warmth] — [Heavy Lifter] — [Howl ] — [Lady's Countenance] — [Pack Rat ]
— [Pickpocket] — [Seamstress] — [Silk Hair ] — [Splinters ] — [Sword User] — [Virility] — [Wanderlust ] — [Weavertouch ]
F-rank: [Florist’s Wonder] – [Gardener’s touch] – [Inner Compass]
Techniques:
Beast Tamer: — [Beast Taming VI] — [Beast Status] — [Share Skills *]
Vicar: — [Sanctuary *]
Princess: — [Stronghold II] — [Demesne] — [Protector III] — [???? *]
Spells (Master Instructor: +2 to all. Spells without a number are at the soft cap / * denotes a level 25th ultimate):
Divine: — Mending — Detoxify — Light — Turn Undead — Blessing — Holy Bolt — Purify — Protection
— — — Hallow — Flametongue — Cure — Uncurse — Banish — Heal — Warding — Revivify*
— — — Censure — Bulwark — Mass Mending — Sacred Dance — Judgement — Song of the Accord*
— — — Water Breathing — Shield of Faith
Arcane: — Detect Magic — Mage Bolt — Armor — Firebolt — Icebolt — Lightning Grasp — Shield
— — — Fireball — Resistance — Shockwave — Magic Missiles — Wind Blade — Deeppockets* — Blink*
— — — Soften — Earth Armor — Spike — Stone Shape — Earthen Maw — Earthwave — Terrakinesis — Golem*
— — — Earth to Stone — Grasping Hand — Spike Wall — Construct* — Crystal Dart — Gem Amulet
— — — Crystal Messenger — Gemcutter — 95 ?? — 99 ?? — 100 ??? *
House: — Detect Dust — Doorwatch — Prestidigitation — Never Overdone! — Touch Up — Dry — Repair
— — — Clean — Bloom — Hearth Recall*
Wiz.Princess: — ???? — ???? — ???? — ???? — ???? — ???? — ???? — ???? — ???? — ???? — ???? — ???? — 24: ????
Proficiencies (Master Instructor: +2 to all. Values under 10 hidden / {A} = Automatic Proficiency: Soft Cap +5):
Appraise: Status: 80
General: Prayer — Reading: 70
Academic: Magic Theory: 60 — Spellcraft: 60 — Architecture: {A}
Crafting (+9 Profession): Tailor: {A} — Embroidery: {A} — Knitting: {A} — Glassblowing: 85 — Blacksmithing: 85 — Carpentry: 85 — Pottery: 67
Farming, plants (+38 Profession): Foraging: 30 — Forestry: 30 — Gardening: 40
Farming, livestock (+13 Profession): Dismantling: 30
Production (+9 Profession): Mining: {A} — Weaving: {A} — Quarrying: 35
Social (+25 profession): Negotiation — Persuasion — Bluff — Flirting: {A} — Sexual Technique: {A}
— — Etiquette: {A} — Dancing: {A} — Singing: {A} — Gambling: {A}
Movement: Running: {A} — Athletics: {A} — Balance: {A} — Jumping: {A}
Martial (+18 profession): Leadership — Intimidation: 80 — Tactics
Weapon (+18 profession): Long Blades — Unarmed: 80 — Archery — Maces: 60 — Pickaxe: {A}