Next floor down was pretty much the same situation, the only exception being that the levels had increased by around ten. So, actions including [LIGHT] bolts repeated.
*DING*
Skill: [MANA BOLT] granted.
This skill allows the condensation of mana a distance from the caster in the desired shape and affinity. The condensed bolt may then be moved at will.
Interesting. The bolts were now much easier to use. Not all that surprising though. On the third floor down he found his first sentient undead, barely. Another ten levels higher as well, though there were only around ten of them this time. They all looked at him with despair.
“No more.”
“Please kill me.”
“Enough already.”
Their cries echoed the sentiment. Even as they begged, he couldn’t bring himself to kill those who were still aware and had done him no harm.
“It’ll be okay, I’ll free you from this place” his promise feeling more like a persuasion to go on.
He felt helpless at being unable to take away their suffering. Then a spark appeared, making him hope. One of the prisoners sat by the bars, staring him down with determination and rage. He did not want to get in that lady’s way. They all fell silent once he had passed them by. They couldn’t be freed just yet, he had to find Cole first.
Fourth floor and still no Cole. Just five extremely strong looking variants of undead.
Humanoid – [DARK KNIGHT] – [LEVEL 41]
Humanoid – [WRAITH] – [LEVEL 42]
Humanoid – [DRAUGR] – [LEVEL 43]
Humanoid – [SKELETON] – [LEVEL 43]
Humanoid – [SKELETON] – [LEVEL 45]
Whatever their previous races had been were now entirely absent from their tags, though he strongly suspected the [DRAUGR] had been a dwarf. Unless they used a buff, young teenager to changer over. The bunny thought that was unlikely. He also hoped very much that it was unlikely.
“Ya fittin’ ta brrak as ou’?” came a masculine, lilting, ghostly voice sounding very much like the elves that had entered his home dungeon way back when.
It was the [WRAITH]. He still looked elven, but his entire body, including hair, irises and pupils, were pale white. And although his body was mostly solid, there were ethereal projections coming off it within a few inches, like he was in three or four places at once.
“I need to find someone first then I’ll be back.”
The deeper voice of the [DARK KNIGHT] replied “If its someone on the last floor, forget it. We five have begun training to follow commands at all times. A taming. If any makes it down there, they’ve already been broken.”
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
His stomach dropped at those words. Then, thinking of Chester, he pushed the feeling aside and strode towards the stairs leading down. “We’ll figure it out” he told himself and the audience he was leaving behind.
Three beings focused their gazes on him from behind bars. Instead of a hall, this room was circular with five cells side by side. Each being was in the first, third and fifth cells, meaning there was an empty cell between each undead.
Humanoid – [DEEPSOUL WIGHT] – [LEVEL 81]
Humanoid – [DEATHBOUND LICH] – [LEVEL 83]
Humanoid – [ABYSSAL SHADE] – [LEVEL 85]
Well that was a leap. He was expecting high fifties, maybe even low sixties, but this? For beasts and monsters this meant they had reached the next evolution. Were undead considered the same as monsters by the system? The naming situation as he descended seemed to suggest as much.
Looking around, his senses told him that if Cole had been the lich, then he wouldn’t have been able to trace him. No blood, no [BLOOD PERCEPTION]. Luckily, this wasn’t the case. Turning to his left, the bunny looked at the wight. It was Cole. Now. How much of what the fourth floor prisoners had said was true? Time to find out.
“Hi Cole, your brother, Chester, sent me to look for you. Would you like to see him again?”
Silence. The cell had the basic steel slab bench of a bed on the right wall and nothing else. Cole sat on it, staring at the opposite wall.
“Hey, I’m talking to you [DEEPSOUL WIGHT].”
That got the muscular undeads notice. The wight stood up, moved to just behind the middle of the bars and stood to attention like a soldier. Extreme musculature was only the start. Bone claws extended from the fingers. Teeth were jagged and pointed. The eyes no longer had pupils, irises or capillaries, they were instead just plain glowing white. His ears were also no longer human, they were as pointed as a vampires. “What is your command?”
“Ummm… To come with me to go see Chester.”
If talking it out wasn’t going to work right now then they could just try later. If he had to command Cole to Chester’s side then so be it, for now. “Is Chester my target?”
“Ah… Sure?”
For a moment, the rabbit thought he sensed a flicker of pain from the wight.
“Is Chester my target?”
“Yes?”
“Is Chester my target?”
“Yes.”
Didn’t they already go over this?
“Is Chester my target?”
“Yes.”
“Is Chester my target?”
“Yes.”
“Is Chester my target?”
“Yes.”
“Is Chester my target?”
“Yes.”
On the seventh confirmation, something snapped. “No” came a whispered reply shuddering with expected pain.
Muscles bunched, his claws ripped palms and his head banged against the bars. His eyes glowed with white flames. Roaring ensued. “No! I will not kill my brother!”
The wight began to chant to himself, each time seeming to come to himself a little more.
“No!”
“No!”
“No!”
“Nooo! I will not kill Chester!”
The final roar echoed in triumph as if the undead had overcome some great difficulty. Whoops. The storm rabbit hadn’t realised that the so called ‘command’ was a kill order. Good thing Cole was setting himself straight. “All good now?” he decided to confirm just in case.
“My thoughts are my own again, but I fear my mind is not what it was.”
“Great. I mean, not great. Don’t worry we can figure it out on the way to see Chester.”
“The master keeps the keys to our three cells on him at all times. He does not want someone to command us while he is away.”
[ROGER] walked over hands in pockets, then raised a fist to the bars and knocked twice. Definitely enchanted and that was some kind of special metal too, though [IDENTIFY] didn’t tell him what kind. Still too low levelled. He’d seen it in the rock of the sixth floor back in the dungeon though. Special indeed. Running his magic across the bars, the sovereign grinned like the cheshire cat.
“No worries.” there was a clinking as bars hit the concrete floor “There, dealt with. Now let’s get out of here.”
High levelled [WIND BLADE], combined with [INTENT] and [MANA CONTROL] sure worked wonders. As he had already learned from the over levelled [TIDDALIK] too far from home base, your own personal magic wasn’t the only mana that could be controlled. Sure, he could have just teleported Cole from one side of the bars to the other, but this felt so much cooler. The show off continued to smile while thinking “Man, I’m awesome.”