It didn't take long to collect all of the liquor bottle and bring them to the roof of the building. Even less time to find pieces of cloth to soak in the alcohol, to use as wicks. None of them were quite brave enough to try a shot of the gate alcohol, but Myra could have easily been convinced. She spent some time arguing with them and herself over whether it would be safe to drink or not.
Once they were all ready, Owen counted down from three, "3...2...1...0!" He whisper shouted. All three of them activated empowered body and began chucking the Molotov cocktails as far as possible. They crashed into the hordes of roseborn enemies and it was all but a few seconds before the red clouds grew wider and wider. They waited on top of the building to watch the monsters come in droves.
They saw several other types of roseborn monsters be attracted to the distress signal or whatever function the red cloud was supposed to preform. The worst of which looked like people who were still partially alive, though a quick use of keen eye helped ease that worrying thought.
*Superior Roseborn Elite Level 19. Roseborn Elites are a much more powerful version of roseborn humans. Elites have the ability to use some of the skills their host body originally had access to. Elites often act as guards to the Roseborn Mother.*
"MY CHILDREN WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO YOU?!" A shrieking voice called out, as a being several times faster than Owen's fastest speed dashed through the streets towards the new fires. All three of them ducked down as far as possible as the new enemy started darting her eyes back and forth along the skyline of most of the buildings. Not seeing anyone, she set to work dousing the flames, by overpowering them with rich green plant life.
Owen barely had a chance to peek, before Myra pulled him back from the ledge of the building. She was looking more and more like a ghost as enemies seemed to continuously meander towards the source of the commotion. He used his chance to use Keen Eye on who he assumed was the mother and ducked down to lie flat on the rooftop as he read the notification.
*Roseborn Mother Level 23. The Roseborn Mother has the ability to summon large swarms of roseborn plants from the earth, to quickly surround and overpower her foes. Unable to learn more.*
Owen shared the notification with both Peggy and Myra as both of them looked sick. Owen on the other hand was surprisingly not feeling all the anxious about it. The thought of being okay with being surrounded by enemies was slightly uncomfortable, but he still didn't feel like they were guaranteed to die. He and Myra made eye contact and he whispered.
"We should wait a couple more hours, but as soon as the Mother leaves we need to go find some loot." Myra shook her head frantically. She had felt fine with things like this ever since the system arrived. But something about the Mother's strength made her shiver in fear. Sure when they had been surrounded, she felt like she could power her way through it, but 13 whole levels higher than her, there was no way.
Owen stared at her with a confidence that she didn't often see from anyone and finally relented she nodded and looked to Peggy who was nodding as well. If they wanted any chance of surviving this gate, they were going to need to get powerful. They waited for several hours after the Mother left, whispering now and again to keep each other awake. Once 4 hours had elapsed and Owen felt confident, he peeked over the roof ledge to see if the coast was clear and was surprised.
Most of the roseborn enemies looked fully healed from the flames and had even started walking, not anywhere specifically and it seemed like most of them had stayed in the area, but there was one of the Elites still standing watch over the group standing on the building opposite theirs. It was scanning most of the rooftops and Owen ducked before it glanced over to see him. "We are going to need a distraction." He said, looking around to see if there was anything to use. "You guys go to the first floor I'll figure something out."
Both of them shook their heads furiously but he smiled and gestured for them to go quickly. Myra eventually tugged at Peggy's jacket and pulled her with her down the stairs towards the ground floor. They had accidentally made an extra alcohol soaked piece of cloth, so he gingerly took it and placed it as far into the shadows of the rooftop as possible, hoping it would make a flame stand out more.
Lighting it on fire, he quickly pushed himself back against the ledge, so he would stay out of sight. He had already seen how strong some of the elites were and he knew it could probably jump from where it was to the rooftop he was on. Thankfully, he was right as the roseborn elite landed a couple feet in front of him, having not seen him, but still inspecting the flame on the alcohol soaked cloth. Owen moved into a crouching position, careful not to make a sound and began charging up his empowered body.
It had been a long time since he had used the sneak attack skill, but he hoped it would help. They had no chance of escaping this rooftop if there was still an elite present, so it simply needed to die. Owen picked up speed when it looked like the elite was about to lose interest in the flame. It began to turn and face Owen before he had any chance of slicing it, but before its attention turned to him. Myra burst back onto the rooftop pointing one of her axes at the Elite. It cause it to pause for only a moment.
In that same moment, Owen brought his short sword down, slicing from shoulder to opposite hip, with the full power of his empowered body combined with the sneak attack damage. It tore through skin and vines as it dug several centimeters into the body of the elite. Before it had a chance to attack, a flying axe dug itself several centimeters into the chest of the elite sending it to the ground a meter or so back. Myra threw the other axe at the elites prone form, digging deep into it's leg.
Owen and Myra dashed forward together, her holding Owen's sword and him brandishing his spear. A wave of power burst out of the chest of the elite roseborn, every injury it had taken seeming to have healed in a matter of seconds. A new aura seemed to empower the elite as it tore both axes out of it's body, those injuries healing as well. It crossed the axes in front of it's chest and a red energy began pouring out of it's body enveloping the axes. It swung as Owen who managed to jump back.
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The attack continued until it collided with the ground, creating a small crater that instantaneously filled with one of the roseborn plants that Owen had remembered seeing trying to run away. It tried scurrying away, but Myra threw the sword at it slicing it in twain. "You have to stop doing that," Owen screamed at her as the third weapon she had had was now no longer in her hands. He wasn't able to give it anymore attention as it seemed to have selected Myra as the weak link and rushed forward.
All of it's movements were a blur as the axes seemed to have turned into spinning wheels of death. The only advantage they had was that it didn't truly know how to combo it seemed. It could wield weapons at them but each of its attacks make it difficult for the elite to recover, however no opening felt worth it as Owen was pretty sure he could survive one attack, but would die almost instantly to a second one. Myra weaved through the attacks, though she was currently covered in the same greenish aura as the day before and it had already began to dim.
Owen was already beginning to run low, so he reactivated empowered body, leaving him with slightly less than 20% of his mana. Charging the rest of his mana into his spear, he felt an intense wave of exhaustion run through him, but he pushed through it. He dashed at the elite that had stopped paying attention to him and he thrust it with his full strength into the back of the elite causing it to double over. Myra who had been focused on dodging immediately focused her energy into her fist as she tore the axes from the elites hands. "Ivar's Fate Blow," She spoke coldly.
The elites head fell to the ground without much fanfare and Owen having not seen a notification even after beheading the elite, grabbed and tore his spear from the chest of the elite, cutting up as much of it's inside as possible. Myra also swung both of her axes into the chest of the elite, finally causing the notification to spawn, both of them were covered in viscera from the dead body the roseborn had controlled. Both of the began spitting out rotting blood and meat from the carcass and Owen quickly read the notification.
*You have slain level 17 Roseborn Elite. 90 experience gained. 45 experience has been consumed by your 2nd grade soul. Your skill Sneak Attack has been upgraded Silent Execution*
Owen collapsed to the ground panting as Myra also deactivated her skill and sat down next to him. Neither of them spoke, but just did their best to recover. Peggy soon joined them up on the roof again, scolding both of them. "I will admit, my idea was stupid and I definitely would've died if Myra hadn't turned back to help. For some reason I didn't think it would be that strong. The other elite I saw had the specification that it was Superior or something and this one didn't and was two levels under." Myra smacked him on the arm and grinned.
"Well, it worked out well didn't it? I gained an entire level just for that fight." Myra showed off. Owen grinned and showed his skill notification. "And I managed to upgrade one of my skills, so definitely well worth it." "Well, you two make quite the stupid pair, congratulations." Peggy scoffed at the two of them. "You're just jealous you missed out on the fight right?" Myra said in a teasing tone. "Hey, guys, we should try to leave as soon as possible, I don't need all of my mana," He said while picking up his sword that Myra had thrown.
"But we will want to try and avoid as many enemies as possible while we try to collect gear. And if we don't find anything, we will just have to try and pick off as many of these guys as possible. I don't want to risk fighting this Mother monster before we have at least gained a couple levels." Both of them nodded and after another half hour of Owen focusing on recovering his mana, they set off in search of loot. Several more hours passed as the sun began to sink low in the sky and they had gone through more buildings than Owen could keep track of.
Thankfully, Peggy had been thinking ahead of him and had begun mapping out the buildings they had been to, crossing them off of a makeshift map she had made. Owen wasn't certain how much time had passed, but he was almost shivering in excitement. They had made it into a building and assumed it was just going to be another one to scratch off of the list, but for the first time since starting one of the roseborn enemies on fire, they found a group of roseborn monster huddled in a corner.
"I think this is it," Myra whispered, before Owen had had the chance to. They did their best to stay out of sight, slowly moving closer to the small group of enemies. Owen counted seven of them, but when he used keen eye he felt his stomach drop. Sharing the notifications to the others, they turned white as sheets.
*Superior Roseborn Amalgamation Level 25. This monster type will often disguise itself as a group of weaker enemies and ambush those trying to take it's treasure horde. Congratulations, you have located the hidden boss of the Wasteland of the Overgrowth!*
None of them dared make a noise as they carefully backtracked outside of the building. They waited until they had made it to the roof of a separate building before speaking. "No, we can't fight it, you guys we can't." Peggy pleaded. Owen nodded. "You're right, there is no way we can fight it." Myra was ghostly pale and didn't say anything. "In fact, we severely underestimated these gates. I was honestly expecting enemies close to level ten, because the system had said that we unlocked them because enough people reaching level ten."
Peggy still looked like a nervous wreck and with Myra being unresponsive, Owen was lost as to what to do. "We need to fine a way out of this gate. There is no way we can stay and fight these things, at least for now, if we can get stronger, then maybe you guys can stand a chance, but I level too slow to be able to catch up." Peggy just looked at him concerned, but he smiled and sat down across from her. "It's part of the inheritance I have, most of what I can do combat wise gives me a lot of advantages as my stats are worth more, but I get a lot of experience penalties because of it."
"I don't think there is a way out of here," Mumbled Myra, interrupting both Peggy and Owen. "It spawned us in the very center of the city with no gate nearby. We've been almost everywhere you can go here and there isn't anything. We are just trapped in here with things that could kill us like we're bugs." She had started shouting at the end, before remembering where they were and freezing. They all waited for ten minutes or so, before they felt safe. "I'm sorry Myra, I shouldn't have helped push us to start trying to run gates before we knew for sure how dangerous they are."
Owen was trying to decided whether or not to explain his skills or not, but finally relented. "I have this skill, that let's me channel someone several times more powerful than I am for a small duration of time and I get an experience penalty for using it. I get the same experience penalty when using my spear skill's special effect. Because of this I think we still have a chance of clearing this gate, but I may end up getting stuck at level ten forever if we aren't careful." Both Myra and Peggy stared at him a moment, but nodded, finally looking the slightest bit assured.
"I've got an idea to try and get some levels fast, but we will need to test it first. Myra do you think you could pick up and throw one of the normal roseborn enemies?" Owen asked an evil glint in his eye.