Kyron slips on his belt as I douse the remains of the fire, then we slip on our boots and Kyron fixes Frezamikat to his belt. We examine the cave to make sure we've cleaned up everything, then walk through the Dungeon's entrance.
Upon entering, we find ourselves on a very short set of fields with fire geysers. It's only about a quarter of a mile from the Dungeon's entrance to the mountain's base, and the mountain looks to be only around three miles in height. Factoring in the rough and consistent terrain of a mountain, it could end up being a ten-mile hike just to go up the mountain. Then factor in monster battles, recovery from battles, and so on, and the trip could turn from a one-day trip to a two-day trip.
While the fields with the fire geysers are off of the mountain, I can see from here that the forests, mudpot fields, and rivers are on the mountain itself. Navigating those could potentially add a little bit more time, but probably not more than a few hours if we stick to the paths the Dungeon already has in place for us (all mountain Dungeons have paths).
We could just fly straight up to the peak and skip all of that in minutes – Dungeons don't usually prevent flight magics and the runes on the gate don't announce that this one does, so it doesn't. However, that would be stupid for several reasons.
Monsters typically go up in might the closer to the end of the Dungeon they are, and the Dungeon Boss is nearly always the strongest monster (some extremely high-Tier Dungeons have a secret Superboss). While Kyron and I could probably take on the lava golem at the mountain's peak, we do want to gain some decent Levels.
Which means exploring the Dungeon further, taking alternate routes, looking in the caves and tunnels in the mountain, and more. Depending on how extensive they are, that can bump this trip from two days up to five or even ten days.
That's just for the main layer of the Dungeon, too – Kyron and I do want to explore the upper layer. We'll also be exploring the caves and tunnels in the mountain for sure so that we can seek out the lesser golems.
"Considering how abundant in monsters this Dungeon is," I tell Kyron. "We'll probably be able to gain 10 Levels each without having to kill everything."
"We could do that even if we had two others of similar strength with us and we were all using magic items," Kyron pulls me in for a hug. "I'm sure you're already thinking it might be possible to gain 15 Levels if we push for it with the stronger monsters here and with the fight against the Dungeon Boss."
"Yeah," I nod.
"Why are you two bare-chested?"
Kyron and I look over to find Volzaminat standing just-barely inside the Dungeon, in his solid fox form. His head is tilted to the side just a little in his curiosity.
"Why are you even here?" Volzaminat asks. "After Nizkovi's visit yesterday, you know you can just leave."
"Well, yeah," I say. "But I'm burning with curiosity about the upper layer, and we did still agree to get you those lava golem cores. Besides, I want some high-quality materials, and this place can give it. As for being bare-chested, that was what we agreed to do in exchange for getting information from you."
Volzaminat mutters something I don't pick up, then huffs.
"Fine," he says. "Since you humans are always hopeless when it comes to navigation, I'll be your guide. You'd probably never find the Secret Bosses in their secret areas without me."
"Bosses? Areas?" I ask. "Plural? This Dungeon has more than one?"
"It has two," the spirit answers. "And in exchange for this guidance, I expect you to make enough food for me to eat at every meal, as well as half of all lava monster cores and lava magic crystals that drop in here."
Kyron gives me a knowing look as we separate from our hug. Volzaminat wants the food just as much as he wants the crystals and cores. It's still surprising to see him in here, though. We were going to just leave whatever lava golem cores we acquired in the cave after we left the Dungeon, since we didn't think we'd see the spirit again.
"We'll think about it," I say.
Volzaminat starts to say something, then huffs.
"So why haven't you already started on securing the entrance?" He looks around. "Every other party I came in with has done that immediately, wasting no time."
"How long do those parties usually spend in here?" I ask.
"Three to four weeks," Volzaminat answers.
"And they repeatedly come back to the secure camps, right?" I ask.
"Of course!" He huffs. "They make several of them throughout the Dungeon, and fall back to them when they need to rest. The one at the entrance is always their main one!"
That's the more common way of doing things. It allows for more proper rest, and once the area around the entrance is cleared, it's rare for monsters to wander into it. Around the entrance is usually an area with a high visibility as well, which allows for the sighting of potential monster attacks sooner.
If we had come in here with a group and were training the group or assisting them, then we'd still do that. Most people can't just keep pushing through a Dungeon as much as Kyron and I can, so they often need a day or two of rest between pushes.
Which is why a Tier 2-3 Dungeon can take three or four weeks for others to complete. Us pushing as hard as we do is part of why we have plenty of stamina to do so – we built it up by pushing this hard over the course of years.
"We don't do that when it's just us," I tell the spirit. "It makes the Dungeon run take longer, and we can usually get by just setting up camp wherever we need to. That said, we are about to take action."
I turn around and conjure half a dozen [Ice Spear]s, then send them at the fire boars charging toward us. There are roughly twenty of them in the herd, having built up their group before beginning their charge. While Dungeon monsters tend to be less intelligent than their equivalents outside, they can still sometimes use basic strategies. This is no doubt something that typically happens if a group that arrives doesn't immediately start clearing the area.
Kyron draws Frezamikat, a frosty aura forming around the blade before he begins slashing the air, sending [Ice Arc]s toward the herd.
As my husband isn't strong enough even while using Frezamikat to do much to the boars, his attacks aren't aimed at killing them – they're quite literally incapable of doing so. The most he could hope for with his [Ice Arc]s is just breaking skin – and he's more likely to just slightly bruise than break.
Instead, Kyron's attacks are focused on striking the ground in front of the herd, breaking it up to make it more uneven. It doesn't just break up the ground, however – it adds an extra terrain feature. Boars in a charge can't exactly stop on a whim, and they can't really turn, either.
Some of the boars manage to avoid stepping on the holes just by nature of how they're running but a few of them find their feet landing in the created holes. Several find themselves unbalanced by the arcs of ice protruding out of the ground, and after hitting a few of those and the uneven terrain, they fall.
Those which fall are in the path of others, which slam into them.
I focus on taking out the boars that aren't a part of the pileup, retaining control over my [Ice Spear]s so that I can shift them around as needed. Due to these monsters having roughly 40 Constitution while I have only 34 Magic, it takes a bit more force and effort to pierce the boars.
Thankfully, Kyron's able to create a second pileup of the ones that managed to return to their feet and resume their charge, allowing me enough time to kill all of them.
"Impressive," Volzaminat says. "I haven't seen that tactic before. How did you know that would work?"
"Experience," Kyron answers. "Sadly, it doesn't give the person breaking up the ground much Experience, but it does still grant some."
"I didn't get much, either," I say. "Only about 11% Experience, total. Let's head clockwise as we go closer."
Kyron nods, then we begin walking forward. Volzaminat stays near my feet as we begin taking on the monsters here. Most of the ones in the fields and fire geyser fields are the fire boars and fire deer, but we do deal with a few snakes and a few flaming birds. The more annoying ones are the snakes and birds, as they're harder to strike. Thankfully, their main attack is physical, their fire just adds to it.
"How come you're sticking to the geyser fields?" Volzaminat asks when Kyron and I stop to take a short rest. "Wouldn't it be better to move into the forest? You'll have reduced visibility due to the trees, but the monsters can't group up on you like this and the birds aren't as frequent. Most groups I've come in with have cleared a zone straight to the forest, then worked on grinding in there."
Most of the forest is on the lower portion of the mountain, so unless we go in through one of the spots where the forest isn't, we'll have to go through the forest to ascend the mountain.
"Monsters will also be stronger in there," I tell him. "In here, Kyron is nearly useless when it comes to his spells, so he has to strike close in. The [Enchant: Ice] he's using on his sword is just for a slight additional power to those attacks, and to help protect the blade against heat. The [Ice Arc]s and [Air Arc]s he's using to break up the ground are only useful with charging enemies."
"So we're working on getting a few Levels first," Kyron tells him. "It will take us a little while, but it will prepare us better for being in the forest. It will also give us more Mana and Mana Regen to handle monsters in the forest. We're also looking for a potential better route up the mountain."
"The mountain is fairly wide," Volzaminat says. "It will take days to do that. Didn't you two mention wanting to do this whole thing in just a few days?"
"We're focusing on the Levels," Kyron tells him. "Once we're both Level 27, we're going to use [Flight Wind] and continue our circling. We're able to adjust it to allow our spells to fly through when needed, so we'll handle the fliers. Unless the lesser wyverns attack us for our flight, we'll be fine. The flight will take us less than an hour, and that's when going slower to be more watchful."
"And you'll be carrying me, yes?" Volzaminat asks.
"No," Kyron answers. "Because I may need to use my sword while flying. Caleb will hold you."
"He's going to pet me," Volzaminat huffs.
"It's what you do with cute, fluffy creatures," I answer. "And we're almost to Level 27. Maybe another half-hour of fighting."
I'm actually closer than that, but Kyron's taking a little longer due to both using that sword and not always hitting the monsters directly. The only reason we're resting right now is because he needs to recover a decent portion of his Mana before we continue.
Once Kyron's recovered enough, we resume fighting until Kyron hits Level 27, then we stop to recover our Mana to full to take flight. The only monsters we have to deal with while flying are the flaming birds, so it's a fairly nice flight.
I watch for a decent way up the mountain, spotting a few trails that look good, both through the forest and in areas where the forest isn't.
Volzaminat insists on sitting on my left shoulder (he says it's for a better view, but we all know it's so I don't pet him), and is watching dutifully. His tail swishes against my back as he observes the ground.
"Why aren't you just flying up the mountain, if you can do this?" Volzaminat asks as we're nearly eighty percent of the way past the back of the mountain, coming up on where we'll be turning to start curving around to the front once more. "I'm sure you'd be able to handle the monsters at the top. You're the Saint of Magic, your powers are incredible for a mortal. The lava golem up there would be of no issue for you."
The only reason I can actually hear him is because his mouth is relatively close to my ears right now. If he were on Kyron, our [Flight Wind]s would prevent his words from reaching me entirely. As it is, my husband can't hear us for that very same reason.
"For starters," I say. "We want to look for those other two lava golems. That means looking for the caves we can locate and going through them. I've already spotted about a dozen entrances, and I'm taking note of each. As already stated, we're also looking to get stronger, so we want to take more time with this. Go up zone by zone, progressively fighting stronger and stronger monsters. By the time we reach the top, we want to be at least Level 35, maybe even Level 40. That will put us much closer in power to the Dungeon Boss."
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A Dungeon Boss usually has 10 Might more than the Dungeon's start. Since this Dungeon starts with 40 Might, that means the Dungeon Boss will have around 50 Might. For Kyron and me, that would be the same as Level 40. We'll gain less Experience from the Dungeon Boss if we're already close in Might to it, but that's not as important if we're already around Level 40 when we get there.
"I see," the spirit muses, then pushes my jaw with a paw until I turn my head, almost as far back as I can turn it. "Those mudpots have a hidden cave entrance. The series of tunnels and caves entered through it does progressively grow stronger in monster count, and it is also one of the fastest routes to one of the lava golems. My estimates put it at roughly 45 Magic."
Considering that I'm at 37 Magic and Kyron's at 37 Strength now, the lava golem Volzaminat's pointing us to is within our capabilities right now. If we both fought it, there would be almost no threat to us. We'll also be a higher Level than we are right now when we reach it, since we'll be killing monster along the way. One of us could potentially take it on solo when we get there.
"Turning back," I tell Kyron, making sure to manipulate our winds so that he can hear me. "Volzaminat's let me know about a way to one of the lava golems."
Kyron doesn't say anything, but he flies down with me. As we draw closer to the mudpots area, we can see that this is also the one with the lightning snail Side Boss. The monster is about ten feet in height and a little more than that in length, its main body yellow-white while its shell is reddish-orange with yellow-white streaks through it, patterned akin to the branches of lightning.
It's sitting on a large boulder in the middle of a massive mud pot – that one's over a hundred feet at its narrowest. I can make out a few mud golems and a few fire golems, some more large snails and some large slugs, but no snakes here. One of the slugs looks like it's made out of lava, otherwise, they're all either made of mud or on fire.
"Got any info about the lightning snail?" I ask after we land outside of the mudpots and kill all of the monsters immediately around us, to allow us a small safe space for recovering our Mana.
"What do I get in return?" Volzaminat asks.
"Our ability to defeat it and safely enter the cave entrance it's no doubt protecting, thus giving us a way to get to the lava golem whose core you desire."
Kyron is clearly trying not to laugh at my response, but it does get the spirit thinking.
"It shoots lightning from its eyes," the spirit eventually tells me. "The bolts can travel up to fifty feet away from it. Close-range attacks are generally a no-go, as it creates a field of static for the space ten feet around it if someone draws close. As with most lightning magic, pure water magic is the way to go – if your conjured water gets contaminated, it becomes conductive."
Conjured water has no impurities that can conduct electricity, so water magic at its core is a natural counter to lightning magic. While lightning can evaporate it, using enough water will prevent that trick from being effective.
"The best way to defeat it is to cut off its head," Volzaminat adds. "While most try to go for the shell, the moment the shell is damaged enough, a static field forms around it and won't go away until the beast is dead."
"So basically," I say. "Kyron will be largely useless against this thing."
"Yeah," Kyron nods. "It will simply break my [Ice Arc]s with the impact from its lightning, and possibly with its static discharges as well. My [Water Arc]s won't be too effective, either. My Magic is too weak to handle this. I'll take care of the monsters around it while you handle the snail."
"Also," Volzaminat says. "There are four stone snails hidden in the mud around it. They'll pop out to defend the beast if it starts taking damage, or if someone doesn't go down from the static field."
"In that case," Kyron says. "Let's take out most of the monsters together. I'll handle the stone snail defenders."
With any Boss that has additional monsters that are a natural part of its encounter, those monsters are decent for Experience as well. Kyron will likely use [Enchant: Air] on his fists and [Air Strike] with it to fight them, since they'll be more resilient to piercing attacks.
"Our main thing while cleaning up the area to avoid additional fights during the Boss fight," I say. "Will be staying more than fifty feet from Sparky. I saw a few monsters closer to him than that, so I'll leave handling them up to you."
"Will do," Kyron nods.
We finish recovering our Mana, then enter the area with the mud pots. The snails and slugs are relatively easy to kill, we just need to hit them with arcs, bolts, and arrows of their opposing element enough times to take them out. The fire golems are combated using purely ice and water magics, with Kyron using [Ice Arc]s to help weaken them while I use [Ice Bomb], [Water Bomb], and [Ice Bolt] over and over to wear away their bodies. Once their cores are exposed, I use an [Ice Spear] to pierce them, ending the lives of the golems.
The lava slug proves trickier than I expected. I've never fought one before, and this one likes to dive down under the mud to disappear. Kyron's fighting some other monsters at the moment to allow me the ability to properly focus on the lava slug. It isn't just made out of lava, it leaves a trail of it behind as it moves and it can send bursts of lava in all directions. I use [Water Barrier] to deal with that, but it's still annoying.
When the lava slug shoots up out of the mudpot nearest me, sending a spray of lava in all directions, I'm ready for it. A [Water Barrier] forms in front of me to shield me from the attack, and I reach forward in a wide V and grasp the air with my hands, then pull straight toward me.
Water draws out of all of the nearby mudpots in an instant. We're by the massive one the lightning snail is in, and water draws out from up to twenty feet into that one. As I've pulled out all of the water that was within my range, the affected areas are now solid dirt. There are also large orbs of water floating in the air now, three-inch-wide streams flowing around me and through the orbs.
Volzaminat lets out an impressed whistle at the sight of this, and it nearly distracts me from the fight. Fortunately, the lava slug attempted its usual tactic and tried to dive right back into a mudpot – only to hit the ground that it now is.
"Sorry, buddy!" I say. "But that was making it hard to fight you!"
I raise my hands up in the air as Volzaminat snorts, and some of the streams and orbs of water flow upwards. The lava slug is fairly decent in speed for a slug, able to travel about a foot per second. In the mudpots, it could move even faster than that (and the fact that it could dive into one and pop up in another suggests they're all connected).
Despite that speed, it's not fast enough to avoid the pillar of water that slams down onto it, a spray of water spreading in all directions from the impact point. I continue drowning the lava slug with the pillar, the force of the water flowing downward enough to create a wave that splashes up and flows away. Only a small bit of magic on my part keeps it from soaking me, the water parting to flow around me instead.
+8.63% Experience!
"Oh, yeah! Take that!"
"Caleb!" Kyron's calls out, and it sounds like he's trying not to laugh. "Really?"
I look over to find that he was close enough to get soaked, and apparently didn't notice my spell in action. That, or I moved too fast for him to properly register and prepare for it.
"Sorry!"
Kyron just rolls his eyes and gets back to work, and I continue killing monsters as well. Soon, we've cleared out everything that could potentially affect the battle with the lightning snail. Strategically using spells, we were even able to clear out most of the monsters in the area around the beast without going within its casting range.
"Are you going to stay on my shoulder for the fight?" I ask Volzaminat as I scratch behind his ears.
"Mages don't move around much during battle," he says. "So I'm not at risk of falling off."
Kyron's about to say something, but I just grin at him and he sighs.
"Speaking of battles," I say. "Ky, mind if I handle the Dungeon Boss solo again? You can handle the other lava golems."
"Be nice," he tells me.
"Let's get this fight started!"
Kyron and I enter the lightning snail's range and are immediately attacked with two bolts of lightning. A [Water Barrier] from me is enough to stop the attack, the conjured water hissing as it evaporates. The bolts aren't enough to break through, however, and the lightning snail soon finds itself under attack by several [Water Bomb]s and [Ice Bomb]s.
The beast hastily begins shooting smaller, weaker bolts of lightning in an attempt to quickly destroy my attacks. Though it manages to detonate some of the spells early, it fails to take care of all of them. Some are detonated close enough to it for them to hit it. The beast conjures a static field to deal with most of those attacks, but a few manage to get past the electricity and strike it.
Shards of ice from the [Ice Bomb]s cut into its flesh, and four snails made of stone immediately pop out of the mudpots.
Not as effectively as they would have before, however. My [Water Bomb]s have soaked the ground, and the stone snails are going to have a harder time moving around – especially since there's now an inch of water on the ground.
My husband gets to work on drawing those away as I continue battling the lightning snail. I conjure [Ice Spear]s to attack it, and it uses the impact from its lightning to break them apart. A few of its bolts of lightning are aimed at Kyron or me, but I stop those with [Water Barrier]s. On a few occasions, I use [Water Spear]s, [Water Bolt]s, [Water Arrow]s, and [Water Jet]s, but the lightning snail simply summons its static field to defend against those since bolts of lightning don't work as well.
I suspected it would do that in order to deal with attacks it can't simply break, and it's perfectly fine that I was correct. Even the fact that the sparks of the field are drawn to the pure water doesn't bother me, though it does make me curious how that works. An interception aspect added in? I've been able to do something similar, but I didn't think a monster in a Dungeon this weak could do it.
My suspicions about it being some sort of homing aspect are confirmed with my [Air Bolt]s are taken out by it as well. Those are invisible to most, and I doubt the lightning snail is perceptive enough to observe them. The electricity in the static field isn't drawn to impurities, its drawn to anything moving close by.
"I really don't see how you're going to break through," Volzaminat tells me as my current wave of attacks causes the beast to summon its static field for defense. "It normally takes five to ten people at your Might to take on this beast. Even if your husband was helping you – as little as he could – you couldn't win. I can see this, watching you now. You're too weak on your own. Even with your vast abilities, you simply can't break through its defenses."
A snort escapes me.
"I broke through its defenses with my very first attack," I tell him.
"I don't think a few minor scrapes count," he says. "The lightning snail effectively dealt with that, and you won't kill it with lesser attacks. That static fields moves to intercept objects."
"Not that," I tell him as I send more [Water Arrow]s and [Ice Spear]s at the beast. "Didn't you wonder why I used [Water Bomb]s in that first attack?"
"Why wonder the reason behind the actions of an idiot?"
"That was me being several steps ahead," I tell him as I point my hands at the ground to either side of me, my arms at an angle and my palms up. "Pattern learned."
The static field conjured to help deal with my last wave of attacks fades away. I quickly bring my hands up, nearly touching them together in a prayer-like motion.
Spikes of ice shoot up from the ground, piercing into the lightning snail faster than it can react. Volzaminat stares slack-jawed at this, especially as he realizes that I was intentionally building up the layer of water on the ground just for this attack. I've drawn the water up and converted it into ice for the attack.
+12.82% Experience! You are now Level 28. Increases have been applied.
The lightning snail turns to ash, leaving behind a few pieces of loot. A high-quality, one-inch lightning monster core, two small, high-quality lightning crystals, a jar of lightning slime, and a knife that has [Enchant: Lightning] enchanted into it. It's not until I've picked them up and sent them into my ring that Volzaminat speaks.
"You set up its death at the very start," he tells me. "You were already planning from the start to kill it that way?"
"That was actually Plan D," I tell him. "Plan A was to simply kill it using the [Ice Bomb]s in the first way. That was the optimal plan, as it would mean the beast died right at the start. Since that failed, I began Plan B. Plan B was to kill it using [Ice Spear]s if Plan A failed. In theory, I'd be able to simply cast enough that it couldn't keep up, but the beast proved its ability to cast quickly enough to deal with that. Since Plan B wasn't working, I attempted to go with Plan C. Plan C was to wear it down until it wasn't able to fight as efficiently anymore. That was already mixed in with Plan B, since it wasn't too much extra effort to work on both at the same time. However, Plan C proved useless, as the lightning snail had plenty of Mana and didn't really need to exert any extra effort. I tried drawing it away from its boulder, but it wouldn't move."
"And that's when you went with Plan D," Volzaminat says. "Which was to kill it using the water that had built up since the very beginning of the fight."
"Yes," I nod.
"Why not go with that from the start, then?"
"Because of its static field," I answer. "That would have disrupted and weakened the attempt. After I did it once, the snail would also no doubt keep the field up all times, making things much more difficult. So during Plans B and C, I observed what triggered the static field, how the static field worked, and if there was a cooldown. The lightning snail took about a second and a half to recast the static field after it went down. Since my attacks weren't doing much, and I wasn't doing the more dangerous ones too often, it found it better to just have it active when needed. That way, it conserved Mana."
"So you studied it the entire time to see if Plan D would be able to work," Volzaminat says. "And what you needed for it to work. Why did you wait until I brought up how pointless the fight was to finish it, if you could have done it the entire time? You didn't use all of the water you'd conjured for the attack. What would you have done if Plan D failed? What was Plan E?"
"If Plan D failed," I say. "Then the lightning slug likely would have kept the static field up at all times. As a result, I wouldn't get another chance like that unless it ran low on Mana. That would have made it more difficult for me to combat it on my own, so I would need to wear down its Mana much faster."
That's the same reason I wasn't using air magics – the beast likely would have noticed anything like an [Air Spear], making those useless. While they might be largely invisible, the creature would no doubt have still noticed the disturbances in the air caused by them. There's enough steam and dust in the air for a large object like that to make a noticeable change.
Once it was struck with invisible attacks enough, it would no doubt have summoned that static field to defend itself from them.
"Which leads me to Plan E," I say. "And the reason why I seemingly waited until you brought that up. You didn't say anything until after Kyron finished taking out the stone snails. Plan E involved Kyron assisting me with his own water and ice magics. I had to wait until he was done with the stone snails for that."
Volzaminat is quiet, and Kyron takes the opportunity to give me a hug and a light kiss.
"What would you have done if you and Kyron weren't able to wear it down?" Volzaminat asks.
"Had I dropped down to 100 Mana during the fight," I tell the spirit. "Then I would have switched to Plan F and pulled out Novabodos. My ultimate creation reduces Mana cost by 20%, but increases the Magic of spells channeled through it by 100%. For having nearly double the monster's Magic in those spells, I'd have gained nearly no Experience at it, but it wouldn't have been able to defend. Its Magic would have been too low to stop my spells. A single [Ice Spear] with that would have been more than enough to kill the beast."
Volzaminat is quiet once more, and I can tell by his expression that he's in shock.
"I think I see now why the gods and many spirits are enamored with you," he says. "You had six plans in place, including with ones that built upon the previous should they have failed. And that was for a monster of a type you'd never face before."
He shudders for a moment.
"You're more terrifying than the mage who sealed away the demons."
"We're going to clean up the rest of the monsters here," I scratch behind the spirit's ears. "Then I'm making lunch. After that, show us how to get to the secret cave entrance, so that we can go take on that lava golem."