Alright… so, fair to just chuck prior assumptions about these “Phantoms” out of the window then I suppose. Unless I’m missing something and there just so happened to be some freshly killed goobers around here, I do believe those things just spawned out of thin air, no?
Once more they come charging forth, the slowly encroaching entourage not quite threatening, but certainly a threat.
So… what’s the deal with these things? Do they respawn infinitely? Weak minion that keeps coming back for as long as the master is still around? Would the master be the phantom lynx then? Shame I can’t see any of their levels or class names… but on that same note, if I can’t see any of their classes, then they’re probably not the “master” in this scenario.
“I’m gonna do the same thing again!”
“Try it with 15 MP this time.” I nod as I give her the okay.
Either way I suppose they’ll be very efficient sand bags. Thanks for being my test subjects you silly little gooberinos! Though, I probably shouldn’t let whatever this is drag on for too long if I can help it. My stamina isn’t exactly a finite resource, but MP is slower to recover and I used… how much of it to drop Screech sixty stamina?
80/90
Oh, not that much actually. Around fifteen I’d guess? It has had some time to recover… on that note, what’s my stamina at?
61/122
…Huh, actually now that I think about it, my stamina might be the finite resource here… I haven’t exactly been doing much running so I haven’t felt it, but being below a third of my stamina probably isn’t a great idea in general? So I can’t actually give much more than this out…
“Don’t cast any more spells after this one.”
45!
53!
34!
43!
41!
58!
55!
64!
“What? Why?”
“I need some time to recover my stamina, and you-” quick check on Screech’s MP…
22/165
Uhhhhhhh. Damn. I mean I guess that makes sense? Forty five used just now on water spells, if she used about… ninety or so I guess for that giant fire spell that’s a hundred thirty five total not even counting the light she’s been constantly maintaining, and I figure she doesn’t out regenerate that… oh, having her cast spells at all besides that might’ve actually been a bad idea…
“You need a lot of time to recover your MP. I might have to step in and give you some of mine just so we aren’t floundering in the dark. That’s my fault, I should’ve kept tabs on it.”
“...Oh yeah!”
And… the rats respawn again. Not getting any experience for these kills, so… they’re phantoms of some sort I do believe, or at least summons. But then what’s summoning them? I don’t think it’s this phantom lynx, but…
“Jasper, summon your [Phantom Assailant] and have it tear through the phantom rats for extra summon time, then have it attack the other phantom in the back.”
“Mmh… Mm.”
[Phantom Assailant] is activated the moment after, but her trepidation is clearly expressed through her dialect. Something about not being sure it’d be all that helpful.
Once again, the rats aren’t an issue worth mentioning. They're very, very weak to be honest. Assuming they are phantoms similar to the ones that Jasper would summon, and that they’re also phantoms of the Karst’s Scourge enemy, then I can infer that they have like, twenty agility and incredibly low base stats. Barely enough HP to survive a basic hit from Jasper in all likelihood.
And my theory is promptly proven correct, given the phantom copy of Jasper tears through all of them with eight hits total.
Welp, now it has but a mere one task remaining, to claim the head of what seems to be the enemies leader! Lo and behold, it moves to complete it with utmost efficiency. Bounding towards the opposing phantom with almost a full minute of time to its name.
Instead of engaging directly, the phantom attempts to pivot backwards, backing deeper into the tunnel and away from the light that Screech continues to maintain, but the simple fact is that much like the Scourge phantoms, it too is incredibly slow. If it’s about half the stats of its living counterpart, then… yeah, that checks out.
With a heavy… pawed strike? Jasper’s phantom copy slams its paw into the head of the enemy, knocking it off balance with the sheer force of the blow, driving it down into the wet floor with a whump 52! …Followed by a CRCK as the earth frays at the force.
However, not staying down for a moment longer than as is necessitated by the basic laws of physics, the phantom lynx once again attempts to back away into the safety of darkness, this time covering its retreat with yet another summoning of the four rats.
“Ignore the rats, kill the main enemy.”
“Mhm.”
Leaping forwards, Jasper’s phantom’s jaws opened wide in one moment, and with blistering speed they closed shut in the next, piercing straight through the head of the phantom, casting its shadows to nothingness immediately thereafter.
67!
And after the thereafter? The rats disappear too! It really was a summoner, that’s weird. Kind of expected something more gimmicky, you know?
…
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
No experience though, so… summoned by a summoner and it itself is a summoner? What’s the dungeon hierarchy looking like here? Summoner summons summons, those summons summon their own summons which summon lesser summons that can’t summon their own summons? Is that what we’re dealing with? Cause that’s kinda messed up if there’s only one real enemy that gives any experience, like, what’s the point y’know?
Bleh, of course I know what the point is. Users of [Blessing Of The Hunt] can absorb Wild Hunt energy or whatever it’s called in order to advance their own skills. Maybe somebody that’s not me wouldn’t have a reason to be here, but not getting experience isn’t necessarily the worst thing if it provides one of my core players the opportunity to advance their class abilities…
Oh well, I’ll see how it plays out. For now?
“Thank you Jasper, good work. What were you worried about though?”
“Mmmmm…”
“Not sure? I’ll give you a moment to think on it.”
Now… I haven’t actually uh, transferred MP before with [Fable Bearer] have I? As good a time as any to figure out the exchange rate for it, right?
Jasper’s only used 25 MP, so she’ll recover on her own in due time for a fight, but Screech…
21/165
Is, literally, ACTIVELY LOSING her damn MP! Wowee! Ain’t that just glorious? Sure hope we run into some kind of natural light soon enough! I’d love to have my main damage dealer being able to do her job! Actually, maybe we can have that happen…
“Screech, if possible, could you lower the output on your spell a little bit? I know you did something like… splitting 1 MP into a dozen different spells? How about splitting 1 MP into, I dunno… thirty?”
“Oh I already tried that! This is already really difficult to control. It takes a lot of focus to cast this many spells back to back constantly. I’m actually casting to just about my reasonable limit right now believe it or not! Although I’ve been trying to get better and better!”
“...I see.” I can’t help but smile in annoyance at that bit of news, guess I’ll have to be the sole man carrying then.
[Fable Bearer]! Give Screech… 5 MP!
And, how much did I lose…?
66/90
YEOUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALMOST TWENTY???
[Fable Bearer], 1 MP!
63/90
…So the ratio is 2:1, then? Takes 2 MP to give away one? That’s kind of… not great actually? I have a few MP potions, sure… but at this rate, I figure we’ll probably be completely out of MP if Screech doesn’t stop to let her MP recover in, give or take… a little less than an hour? Since you get about one MP per minute, I’ll be able to funnel her… around thirty, maybe forty total if i’m lucky? Then she seems to be losing about one every thirty or so seconds… oh, scratch that last thought, probably more like twenty minutes.
…
“Alright, from here on out, we’re running our way through this place. Screech, absolutely no spellcasting without my say so.”
“...Even the-”
“No not the torch. Jasper? Same thing I told you before. If you have any concerns, given this is all CLEARLY RELATED to The Wild Hunt, no worming your way out of it, if you have any pertinent information, say it immediately. Capiche?”
“...Mkay.”
“We don’t have much time, so we either need to find a safe spot, a source of light, or we finish the dungeon in its entirety. That’s all I’m gonna say, we’re going, now.”
True to my word, I start jogging the moment the words leave my proverbial lips, splattering the puddle left from Screech’s magic every which way as I stomp right through it, with Jasper sticking to my side despite the spray.
Now, a kinder developer, may have, in their recognition of the plight of lack of sight, actually placed a source of light in the dungeon for its would be intrepid explorers. But the devs of this game? You know what they give me? No, really, take your best guess.
…
More monsters?
…
Perhaps a pit fall?
…
Or maybe a more eloquent trap?
No, really, take your time.
…
Your answer is locked in, right? Yeah? Yeah? Good, good… shame you spent all that time thinking about it, BECAUSE IT’S MORE MONSTERS.
34!
Completely imperceptibly this time around, a bolt of energy lodges itself into my gut, almost sending me toppling over as it makes contact, though I manage to steel myself at the last moment, preventing a complete collapse.
Right after the attack lands, my mind goes into overdrive scanning the cave walls, zipping between each crack and crevice… only to settle on the ceiling, with two little batshit bats staring me down, hanging upside down as if they think I can’t see them.
Underflow Huntsmen-LVL 10
Oh, well, there goes the initial idea. Monsters, right here in the flesh! Clearly, they aren’t summons of the summon-I’m not doing that bit again. However, unfortunately, that means I actually have to deal with these not nerfed monsters, with my dwindling resources.
Grrrrrreat.