Monsters poured out of the dungeon in numbers I’ve never seen before, and at their lead was a great metal beast.
Had a cave-in not separated us from them, I’m sure my entire family would have been lost.
- Eye witness account from the [Demon Lord’s] attack on Buried Haven
-------
If we went through the usual channels, it turned out that it would have been a pain to clear Dave’s Paradise. The main reason is that that little hole-in-the-wall zone I made to level up my subclasses had become an adventurer hotspot.
The reason for that was pretty obvious. Killing a boss was the best way to hit level 10, and the boss for that zone was… well… a bunch of daves. When it came to low-risk leveling, there was no better place.
That, in turn, led to high demand, monetization of the dungeon by the Jenkins government, and wait lists that stretched out for months.
Fortunately, “I’m the [Hero] on a mission to save the world” held enough weight to it that we could skip all that BS and go in the very next day.
And the reason for that… well… the [Demon Lord] accords all the nations had signed after my reign of terror.
Thanks, past me?
“Anything you can tell us about this dungeon?” [Commander] Lee jarred me from my musings as we walked to Dave’s Paradise. “It seemed you were familiar with it when it first came up.”
I chuckled. “Not much to it, other than the fact that it’s only daves.”
“Ah,” he nodded in understanding.
“Daves are those little… slimy monsters, right?” Erica asked. I nodded an affirmative. “Wow. This will be easy then.” She continued. “Even if we ran out of mana, we could just run them around and [Mage Bolt] them to death. Why are they even level 5?”
The others nodded in agreement, and I frowned as I realized something. Maybe we’re a bit too carefree about the daves… I distinctly recalled how a singular giant dave had nearly killed two of our party members back in my first life, and I was getting worried. And the enhanced boss will likely be even stronger than that…
With that line of thought, I decided to make a quick demonstration that daves were a joke… as long as you kept them at arm’s reach.
“[Summon Dave],” I cast, and a lime-green ball of slime appeared in my hand.
Erica gasped. “You can summon them!?” she asked. “Can you teach me?! I know they aren’t that strong, but-“
“No attacking, just hold on, okay?” I told the dave. The party, including the [Hero], looked at me in confusion.
I increased that confusion by hucking the dave right into the [Hero’s] face.
The party went from apathetic to alarmed in a moment, and several rushed to help Erica.
I forestalled them by holding up a hand.
“Consider this part of your training,” I stated. “Your goal is to get the dave off any way possible. Killing it is optimal.”
Erica struggled against it and tried shaking it off, but the dave held fast.
“You’re going to have to get it off faster than that!” I yelled. “Every second you take against a dave is 12 damage!”
Well, it would have been if it was actually attacking her. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel like killing the [Hero] at the moment.
Next, Erica tried casting a [Fire Bolt], but the spell failed as she gurgled.
“The words have to be precise for spellcasting!” I chided. “What else can you do, [Hero]?”
She put her wands away and was reduced to punching the dave, but I just shook my head.
“It will take 50 hits from you to kill that dave. You better hurry it up!” I called out.
“Titania, isn’t this a bit harsh?” Lee asked from beside me.
I stood there impassively until Erica took her first tick of suffocation damage.
Time’s up. I thought. I [Disrupted] the dave, and a gasping-for-breath Erica fell to her knees.
“[Heal],” I cast her way and brought her back up to full. Then walking over to her, I helped her up. “Are you alright?” I asked.
She shivered but then nodded her head.
“I’m sorry about doing that,” I said. “But it was the fastest way to make my point.” I addressed the rest of the party. “And that point was that while daves may be weak, they should never be underestimated.”
I shook my head and continued. “If I had told the dave to attack her there instead of just hold on, she would be downed. It doesn’t matter that she’s the [Hero]. It doesn’t matter that she’s level 21. It doesn’t even matter that she’s wearing the strongest chest piece ever crafted in Placeholder.” I gestured down at the chest piece that she had in mithril mode.
I paused for a brief moment and then finished. “I guess what I’m just trying to say is… stay on your toes. Faroff Forest dungeon was also supposed to be easy, but you all know what happened in there.” I gave a slight smirk. “Oh, and keep the daves off your casters’ faces.”
“Understood,” [Commander] Lee said with a frown.
That exchange put the party in a weird mood, and we didn’t say much during the rest of our trip to Dave’s Paradise.
When we got there, I was surprised to see several people from Jenkin’s Watch scattered around the zone, facing out.
“[Halt]!” one of them called as we approached. We obliged, and then he continued. “Today’s clear is reserved for…” He pulled out a clipboard from his inventory. “The [Hero], Erica Jensen and her party,” he continued with a raised eyebrow. “That you?”
We looked over at Erica, and she nodded.
“Alright, can I see your name and class to confirm?” he asked.
“Umm… How do I?” Erica murmured.
“Pull up your stat page, then flick just the top part over to him,” I said as I mimicked the gesture she should use.
She did so. The man nodded and then whistled for everyone else. “Party’s here! We’re good!” he called out.
Immediately, every one of the officers they had stationed just outside the “boss room” part of the zone gathered up while I watched in confusion.
I was going to ask a question, but I was beaten to it by our resident fount of curiosity.
“Wait, you just stood on watch until we got here?” Erica asked.
The man gave a brief nod as the others continued gathering up.
“Why?” Erica pressed.
“Our job is to make sure no one runs the dungeon that hasn’t reserved it,” the man said and then snorted. “Since the boss only spawns once a day, now that you’re here, we can get back to things that actually matter.”
He and the others left without much further ado, but that was fine with me because I was sure our dungeon clear would be a bit non-standard.
“Normally, the boss here is just a bunch of daves,” I stated. “Given how the other dungeons have functioned, it’s pretty safe to assume that this will still be a bunch of daves, but probably with some other kind of gimmick behind it.”
The others nodded along.
“So, prep your AOE spells now, and have them ready for right when we walk in,” I continued.
Erica gasped. “Does that mean?”
I nodded. “Yup. Get it ready.”
“Wind, I call forth the piercing gale-,” Erica stated softly while the others also prepped their AOE spells.
Meanwhile, my best AOE spell was [Hell Blaze]… which I had yet to show to the party and was rather reluctant to.
I’ll use it if we get into a pinch; otherwise, I’d like to hold that in reserve. I thought. Everyone except Erica signaled through the party that they were ready, but it took about a full minute before the [Hero] did too.
That has a really long cast time. I thought as she finally nodded.
We all walked forward together and were treated to the usual spiel.
System: You have entered a dungeon boss room! You will be unable to leave by any means until the dungeon boss is defeated.
The boss health bar also appeared. As expected, it wasn’t just a blob of daves… It was…
“An unending blob of daves?” I muttered in question as dozens upon dozens of the slime monsters appeared in the middle of the “boss room.”
I was slightly worried. The slimy monsters kept piling up and slowly spread towards us just by sheer dint of not stacking together well. If the daves were truly unending, then I wasn’t sure how we would win the fight.
Is there a spawner we have to find? I asked myself as the daves started to number in the hundreds. A specific dave we have to kill? Or…
The daves stopped spawning, and I gave a brief sigh of relief.
Or this will be the easiest boss clear of our lives.
“Light ‘em up,” I told Erica.
She nodded and stepped forward. “[HURRICANE]!”
A gale shot out of her wand with such force that she stumbled backward slightly, despite being braced and ready. It spread the entirety of the zone, and everything in front of her was blown back for hundreds of feet.
That alone was probably enough to kill all the daves as they splatted against the invisible wall of the dungeon’s boss room, but the spell wasn’t just a gust of wind. It was accompanied by spears of solidified air that impaled the monsters and killed just as many daves as the wind, if not more.
We all watched in stunned silence as the spell obliterated every dave that constituted the boss and then continued to take down dozens of trees that were well outside of the “boss room.”
I was the first to break the silence.
“Well… that was a thing,” I stated. Meanwhile, the obelisk had appeared, and next to it was a pedestal that held up a pair of shining gloves.
I nodded in the direction of the gloves, then Erica ran and picked them up.
“So… umm… are we done here?” she asked.
I guess so… I thought, but then I remembered the other part of my plan.
I beckoned her closer and then whispered. “Did you get an achievement for that?” I asked.
She frowned and then shook her head. “No. Was I supposed to?”
“I guess it’s because you were in our party,” I murmured. “Well, we can fix that…”
I turned to address the party. “Could you all head back without us?” I asked. “I have some training that I want to do with the [Hero].”
Lee furrowed his brows. “Isn’t it safer to keep us around? What if the [Demon Lord] shows up?”
“As much as I would love to keep everyone around-“ which was not much at all if I was going to be honest. “-this training is secret, and I would rather it not get back to Gram in one of your check-ins.”
Lee continued frowning, so I added on.
“You can stay a bit away, just like… a minute or so south of the zone?” I offered. “That way, you’ll be close enough to help if the [Demon Lord] shows up but far enough away that I can be sure that none of the secrets I’m going to pass to the [Hero] will be found out.”
He nodded slowly. “That will work.”
“Good,” I nodded in reply. “Off you go, then. The [Hero] and I have some special training to do.” I paused as I belatedly remembered something. “Oh, and if you see the [Hero] drop out of the party for a bit, don’t worry about it. That’s just part of the training.”
The [Commander] raised an eyebrow about that, but it was something to say about how much he trusted me that he left without any complaints.
As soon as the [Hero] and I were the only ones left, Erica launched into her questions.
“So, what’s this special training?” Erica asked. “Are you going to teach me to summon daves?” She gasped. “Or how to do your [Lightning Spear]?”
“Summoning daves isn’t that special, and I’m not teaching you any lightning magic,” I stated. “But before I answer any of your questions…” I snapped a brief [Disrupt] at the [Scry] spell that had been following Erica since all the way back in DeepMine. “There. Now we’re alone.”
She gave me a quizzical look, but I didn’t feel like elaborating.
“Anyway, we’re going to have you solo the boss fight for this dungeon,” I stated as I started walking toward the obelisk. “It will get you 5 perk points, and that will be enough to get the [Enhanced Map] perk so that your quests will give you map markers on it.”
“Oh! That would be really helpful!” Erica replied. Then she frowned. “But how will I fight the boss again when it won’t be back for another day?”
“We’re going to cheese the System a bit,” I replied. “And I want you to promise me that you won’t reveal any of this next part to anyone. Not even the [Commander].”
She nodded emphatically.
“Good,” I replied. “Now, as the [Demon Lord’s] sister, I am technically in the Demon Lord faction,” I stated. “That means I can claim obelisks for the [Demon Lord], and I can only upgrade my skills and subclasses at one owned by that faction.”
Erica wrinkled her brow. “But didn’t you upgrade with us back in Gram?”
I shrugged. “I faked it. Anyway, I’m going to claim the obelisk and pick up some upgrades. Then, you will leave the party, claim the obelisk, and fight the boss again.”
“Got it,” she nodded, but then she cocked her head. “How do I claim the obelisk, though?”
“It’s pretty simple,” I replied. “You just put your hand on it like this and then say claim.”
I made to claim the obelisk as I did so, and I forgot an important rule about obelisk claiming.
… In my defense, it had been a couple hundred years.
System: Warning! Attempting to claim obelisk for 2 different factions. Hero and Demon Lord
Oh. Right. I thought as the memory came rushing back.
System: Force quitting all from obelisk. Jettisoning offending entity from obelisk
The subsequent explosion tossed me a couple dozen feet, and I rag-dolled unceremoniously to a stop.
“Titania!” Erica shouted and rushed for me.
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Meanwhile, the party also started rushing my way.
I sent them a quick stand-down command and then got back up to my feet. “Ow,” I said as I brushed myself off. Still only did 50 damage. I thought. That’s a lot less of a deal when you aren’t level 1.
Meanwhile, I had a slightly concerned [Hero] standing in front of me.
“It’s fine,” I replied. “Just 50 damage. It’s a weird interaction if you’re in two factions at once.”
“Oh,” Erica replied. Then she chuckled. “I was kinda worried that was a part of the training you mentioned.”
I laughed. “No, you don’t need to get yourself blown up. Don’t worry about it. Anyway, I guess I could just leave the party and…”
I trailed off. The error only happened because I was trying to claim the obelisk for two factions, so what if I…
“Titania?” Erica asked as I walked back up to the obelisk and put my hand on it again.
“Claim for the Demon Lord faction,” I stated.
Erica covered her ears. I winced and looked away…
And the claim went through.
System: Zone, Dave’s Paradise, has been claimed by the Demon Lord Faction
Huh. Interesting. I at least knew how to not get blown up if I counted as being in two factions, but I wasn’t quite sure how relevant that would be. And I had more important things to think about.
“Upgrade,” I stated.
I was level 18 and hadn’t spent any of my points. That meant I had 18 skill and spell points that I could use.
I first looked at skills and prioritized ones I could upgrade from level 5.
My options are… [Cast From SP]… that one’s pretty good. [Ignis], which I frankly don’t use much… and… [Pack Mule]. There was no way on Earth or Placeholder that I was using my hard-earned skill points on [Pack Mule], so I started by increasing the cap on [Cast From SP].
Unfortunately, it didn’t seem I had enough banked experience with it to get it to level 6.
I still can’t believe such an insane skill is only 3 points to buy and 6 to upgrade. I thought. Then, to play devil’s advocate with myself, I did rationalize that it was limited to the [Cleric] class, so it wasn’t like it was terribly unbalanced… at least until I got ahold of it.
12 skill points left. Pump them into [Ignis]? I asked myself. I would much rather have put them into [Electricus], but my late-night practice had only been enough to jump that to level 4.
I wasn’t too sold on [Ignis], but I had some other options that I could pick up. Things like [Power Strike] if I wanted to make my sword worthwhile, or the dubiously named [Stance Change] that I was still unsure about.
I settled on a different skill mostly because of curiosity. [Spell Scholar]. A [Wizard] skill that cost a total of 10 skill points to purchase. I wasn’t entirely sure what it would do, but if it helped with learning or casting spells of any kind, it would probably be helpful with my eventual casting of the [Restart] ritual.
I got a slight surprise when I took the skill.
System: Choose a spell school for Spell Scholar
I waffled about that for a few seconds. There was a part of me that really wanted to pick [Electricus], but I also knew what the correct choice was. So, with a sigh, I made the boring, correct choice.
“[Temporus],” I stated softly so Erica couldn’t hear.
That changed the skill from [Spell Scholar] to [Spell Scholar – Temporus]. At its current level, it seemed that it would help me with learning low-level time magic spells… which wasn’t that useful, but that was about par for the course for most level 1 skills.
Next, onto spells… While I already had [Hell Blaze] for good AOE fire damage, I decided to get an AOE spell that wouldn’t immediately out me as the [Demon Lord] in any given situation.
Even though it wasn’t optimal, I picked [Fireball]. It doubled down on fire damage, which anybody fighting against me would probably take steps to bring resistances for, but I honestly didn’t like the other tier 2 spells that much.
And 8 spell points left… I still had a few options, but I decided on [Strengthen]. After enchanting my gauntlets with that spell, I knew how ridiculous it could become. Not that I expected much from my casting of it when I didn’t have any levels in that school of magic, but I just mentally added it to the list of things I could practice.
With skills and spells done, that just left perks and subclasses. I checked perks again, just to make sure I didn’t randomly get another perk option for 2 points. As always, the only perk I had left was [Health Regen – Fast].
I wonder if there are even 8 perk points of achievements left to get… I idly wondered. I still had one for [Interdimensional Traveler], but that one literally told me to go to Hell. I didn’t think that was worth it just for the ability to get my health back a bit faster.
As for subclasses, it didn’t look like I made many gains. The only one I could see was that [Dancer] was now at level 2, so I had both [Improved Balance] and [Improved Footwork], but I seemed awfully far away from level 5 where I would be able to predict my “partner’s” footwork.
I wonder if it’s even worth the effort. I thought. Eh. I have time. I mean it’s only… I trailed off as I realized that I hadn’t checked the date in months.
“[Get Date],” I cast.
System: Current Date is August 15th, Year 394 Age of Adventurers
See, look at that. 600 years to go! I’m not even at the halfway mark.
However, while I had all the time in the world, the resident [Hero] did not, and she was starting to look a bit antsy.
“Okay,” I said as I turned to her. “Go ahead and pass me the party lead, leave the party, and then I’ll teleport out. Once I do, claim the obelisk, leave it in training mode, and then wipe the floor with another batch of daves. Got it?”
“Ummm… I think so?”
I had my hand on the obelisk, ready to teleport out, but that response made me hesitate. Just to be sure, I went ahead and had her repeat the plan to me until I was satisfied.
From there, it went without a hitch. I got the notice from the System-
System: Zone, Dave’s Paradise, has been claimed by the Hero Faction
-and then I heard Erica cast a [Fireball] in the middle of the clearing.
“All done?” I called out.
“Yup!” she called back. “I got the Boss Solo achievement, just like you said!”
I walked back to her as I continued calling out directions. “Go ahead and claim the obelisk now. You should have enough perk points to get [Enhanced Map].”
“On it!” she replied. “Oh! I got another achievement! [Conqueror]?”
Oh. Forgot about that one. She hadn’t claimed an obelisk yet.
I figured we should probably stop shouting out the secrets of her build, so I jogged the rest of the way to her.
“How many perk points are you up to?” I asked when I got close.
“Umm… 11,” she said. “If I buy [Enhanced Map], I’ll have 6 left. I could get… Oh! What does [Survivalist Party] do?”
“You know how people constantly lose HP if they drop below 0?” I asked.
She nodded.
“As long as they’re in your party, they won’t do that anymore,” I replied.
“I think I’ll pick that one,” she replied. She shot a slightly concerned glance in my direction. “Just in case.”
I laughed. “I don’t think it would have helped that much in DeepMine but thank you for your concern.”
I shot her a party invite, made her the party leader, and then we walked back to Jenkins together.
Then, with her new perk showing her quest objectives on her map, we strategized our next steps.
“So, it looks like the next piece of the [Demon Lord’s] armor is deep in Pumil,” I stated as we all stared at the 2D projection of the world. “And the [Hero’s] next piece is up in Gert… I mean, the United North.” I furrowed my brow. “If I had to guess, the System is taking us on a world tour. The next piece of [Demon Lord] armor will also probably be in the United North, and then we’ll likely be headed to Dryadal. That should put the last [Hero] piece in either Besti, or the deathlands.”
“I’ll talk with command, and we’ll get the matter of our boat settled,” [Commander] Lee replied. “Last thing we want is to lose to the [Demon Lord] because of logistics.”
The map was a great boon for planning out our quest. And I was sure the party thought it gave them even more of an edge over the [Demon Lord]. Unfortunately for them, I had the coordinates. And that meant…
It looks like it’s time for “Titus” to make his appearance.
------
It took a lot more finagling than I thought it would to get “Titus” and some of his cultists in place at the next dungeon before the party got there.
The first problem was with auto-translate. Don’t get me wrong. It was fantastic and much, much better than trying to learn 5 new languages (and yes, there were 5. Virian, Bestian, Dwarvish, Elvish, and Gertian. I wasn’t quite sure why the System went with “Gert” for the last one when it had to have been named something before Gertrude showed up, but I didn’t feel like putting too much effort into that train of thought).
Where was I? Right, auto-translate problems.
So, the basic premise of how it worked was that I automatically understood anyone when they spoke or even wrote something in a different language. In turn, people automatically understood me when I spoke or wrote in English. So, what’s the problem?
[Message] is costed on a per-word basis, and you can only reply with up to the number of words that were sent to you. That means that I had to deal with randomly cut-off [Messages] that appeared to me to be the wrong length.
It took both sides quite a while to figure out that, with enough effort, you can ignore the auto-translate and see exactly what was said/sent to you. However, once we got that figured out things went much smoother.
Unfortunately, the next problem wasn’t one of simple communication. It was more of a staffing issue. Namely, I didn’t have much of a cult presence in Pumil. It was hard for a group of “tallfolk” to infiltrate that society, so I just told them to make do with whatever we could scrounge up. I got a group of 9 low-level cultists to help me clear my dungeon, but that sounded about right. I didn’t want to bring anyone that wasn’t expendable since I had low hopes for their survival in an enhanced dungeon anyway.
The last problem was getting there before the [Hero’s] party. That one was actually the easiest since they were used to me leaving the party at night to practice my [Electricus] magic. With the power of [Teleport], high-level [Athletics], and panic, I managed to make it to the dungeon overnight while the party was still a day or so away.
I even had time to throw on a dark cloak and use a quick [Disguise Self] so that I looked like “Titus” underneath that before I met up with my cultists in the underground dwarven town of Buried Haven right by the dungeon.
Unfortunately, I hadn’t figured out a good way to disguise my voice yet, so I mostly made it as deep as possible and kept my directions to simple phrases.
Speaking of my cultists, I was surprised to find that there were now some dwarves among their number since I had stopped my own efforts in advancing the cult in that direction a while back.
I’ll have to give a reward to whoever started that. I paused as I remembered that it had likely been decades or centuries at this point. If they’re still alive.
After that, my “party” fought through the standard amount of stalagfights and cave spiders, with me mostly clearing our way with [Hell Blaze] cast from my staff. I was on a time crunch, after all.
“The boss room is right through here, your lordship,” one of the cultists stated as we stopped in front of a large, ominous door.
I stopped and looked at my mana before proclaiming. “30-minute break.”
They all breathed a sigh of relief and thanked me for my magnanimity. In actuality, I didn’t care about how hard I was running those under-leveled dregs. I called for a 30-minute break because that was about how much time I would need for my mana to be back at full. Given the sorry state of my subordinates, I was pretty sure that I was going to need as much of it as I could get.
“You. Boss. Details,” I stated gravelly as I pointed my staff at one of the cultists at random.
He gulped. “O-o-of course, your lordship. The boss beyond these doors is a giant stone centipede that is supported by smaller centipede monsters the size of a large dog.”
He clammed up a bit as I simply stared at him, so I had to nudge him. “Continue,” I stated.
“The smaller centipedes attack by biting with their pincers, while the giant one mostly uses its legs. It will step on you or… kick you with them?” he asked hesitantly. He turned to the others, who nodded along with his story.
“It will also drop on you if you stay underneath it too long!” another cultist added.
This sounds exactly like the iron spider fight, but with centipedes. I frowned beneath my cloak. Couldn’t be more original than that, System?
After that, a few awkward minutes passed. I had no further questions for them, and we all had nothing to do while we waited.
That waiting time made me think, and I realized I had made a blunder.
Don’t quests notify people when they’re failed? I thought as I almost started pacing. “Stay,” I ordered the cultists as I rounded a corner and got out of sight. Then I started pacing.
If Erica is told that the quest was failed, she might go looking for me. If I’m not there, that could cause all sorts of problems. I mentally cursed myself. I could either head back to the party right now… after I had gone through all the trouble of getting to the dungeon boss, or I could try to find a way to salvage this.
Some reason for Titania not to rejoin the party… Some reason that she would get here before the rest of the party…
And I finally got an idea.
“[Message] Erica Jensen,” I cast. “I’ve got a bad feeling. I’m going on ahead to check on the town.”
Erica Jensen: Huh? Titania?
I could practically hear her groggy reply in my head as I woke her.
Erica Jensen: Oh.. Umm… Sure. Go ahead. Stay safe... Wait! Rejoin the party?
Frick. Didn’t think about that…
“[Message] Erica Jensen,” I cast again. “Sorry, already on my way. I feel like I need to hurry.”
Erica Jensen: I’ll wake the others then, and we can all join up with
I groaned. Not because Erica didn’t count her words again, even though that was a little funny. No, I needed them to stay put so I would have time to establish my cover story.
“[Message] Erica Jensen,” I cast for the final time. “Just stay and rest. If it’s the [Demon Lord], you’ll need to be at full strength when you fight him. If he’s here, I won’t fight him alone.”
Erica Jensen: Oh.. Okay… Well… If you’re sure.
There was a pause, and I thought I was finally clear.
Erica Jensen: Just make sure to stay safe
I rolled my eyes but sending her any more assurances would just backfire.
Fortunately, the mana I wasted on those [Messages] wasn’t much more than a drop in the bucket when I had Singularity out. That meant it wasn’t long before I was standing back at the entrance to the boss room with my cultists at the ready.
“Deal with the small ones,” I ordered. They chorused various affirmatives, and I shoved the door open.
As expected, the boss that greeted us was not a giant stone centipede. Similar to the upgrades that my spider friend had received in the previous dungeon, I stared down a giant adamantium centipede.
Just like I thought. I remarked to myself. Fortunately, I had just the thing. “Lightning, become my radiant blade-“
I traced the necessary arc in front of me. My staff started sparking while the boss charged our way.
“-that will pierce the darkened heavens-“
The boss impaled one of my farther-ahead cultists with one of its legs and killed him instantly.
It was coming for me, but I was already done.
“[Lightning Spear],” I said as I thrust my staff forward.
I dumped every point of mana and stamina into the spell. It chunked through the boss’s HP as it screeched in pain.
My yells joined it, but they were mixed with laughter… because, in this case the self-damage was a feature. Not a bug.
System: Critical HP Detected. Sufficient Level Detected. Demon Lord Form detected. Auto-activating Demon Lord Form.
System: Attempting to activate Envy Form
Let’s see what you’ve got, Envy. I thought
System: Envy Form Activated
-----
Damdoul Thirdsmith, first follower of the Lord of Flame in Buried Haven, and a dwarf who was sure he would be honored with the title of speaker eventually, watched in horror as the [Demon Lord] fell to the ground screaming after piercing the giant centipede with a blinding spear of light.
His horror turned to awe as the [Demon Lord] stood back up, laughed in a multitude of voices, and a second health bar appeared titled “Demon Lord of Envy.”
Damdoul had heard tales of the [Demon Lord’s] second form and had only a few moments to be confused as to where it was before the [Demon Lord] spoke to the boss, which was eying him cautiously.
“That’s a nice form you have… I think I’ll take it!” he shouted.
Damdoul and the rest of the cultists could no longer focus on the fight. They could only watch awestruck as the [Demon Lord] shapeshifted into the very same monster that was facing them down.
What followed was a clash of titans where the minuscule followers of the Lord of Flame could do nothing except stay out of the way.
Fortunately, the battle was resolved quickly. The [Demon Lord] started the fight at full HP, while the boss had only a quarter, and even though the [Demon Lord] was not used to the new form, he possessed tactics that the monster simply didn’t.
Soon enough, the adamantium form of the [Demon Lord] was left perched on top of its fallen enemy that vanished soon after. The [Demon Lord] roared in triumph, and all of his followers rushed out.
“Hail to the Lord of Flame!” they all shouted as they prostrated themselves before him.
This was the greatest day of Damdoul’s life. He would remember this day forever. He would pass this tale down to his children and his children’s children about the [Demon Lord] and his magnificence. He would-
Damdoul’s thoughts were cut off as the shapeshifted [Demon Lord’s] leg swept out and flung the remaining cultists into the wall, killing them all instantly.
-----
I roared my triumph once again until I realized no enemies were left.
… And that perhaps the current form was affecting my judgment.
I shapeshifted back into Titania with a thought and then surveyed the situation.
Nothing much of importance lost. I thought as I looked over the cultists. Now, for the reason I came here… I continued as I spied my gauntlets, sitting on a pedestal.
“I missed you,” I said as I picked them up and almost put them on. “Right,” I sighed. “That would be difficult to explain.” I stuffed them into my inventory and then turned to leave the room when I spied the obelisk.
There was no reason to claim it. It wouldn’t serve much purpose.
Except that I wanted it.
One quick claim and teleport out later, I was poised to re-enter the town just outside my dungeon.
If I do that, it will spawn a wave. I thought about what that would do to the unsuspecting town.
The unsuspecting town full of people living peaceful lives.
The town full of ingrates with their families and loved ones living idyllic little lives.
Without further debate, I stepped into town and shapeshifted back into the form of the boss I had just fought.
And if I can’t have that… why should they?
-----
When Envy form finally expired, there wasn’t terribly much left of the town. If I hadn’t decided to slip away and come back in as “Titania, who definitely hadn’t been there the whole time,” there might have been nothing left. Without me, the monster wave would’ve taken down the few remaining defenders that had gathered in the middle of the town, and that, in turn, meant all the remaining civilians.
Instead, I showed up, saved some lives that I had initially put in danger, and otherwise cleared myself in the minds of everyone there.
The party arrived mid-day, and we pretty much just helped with relief efforts for a while. We rescued people buried under cave-ins, handed out food, and got in touch with the authorities who would be able to send lasting aid.
Oh, and we reclaimed the dungeon I had claimed so it could go back to training mode under the Hero Faction.
After that, there wasn’t that much else that we could do. So, after we said our goodbyes, we set off toward the United North. Just like I predicted, Erica’s quest updated to show that the next piece of the [Demon Lord’s] armor was up there as well.
That trip was largely uneventful. Though, I do have to admit that I gave Erica a bit of bad advice going into it. I warned her about how rough the place was and told her to be prepared for a fight.
… That info was about a century outdated, I think. The people of the United North were pleasant, especially once they realized they could understand both Erica and me. The number of shirtless [Berserkers] was also few and far between. It seemed they had switched to fishing for their primary food source instead of trying to fight monsters.
Anyway, the bosses weren’t too much to write home about. One was a hydra. That would have been terrifying if my [Lightning Spear] didn’t basically one-shot it. And I didn’t even use full power because I was getting a bit tired of nearly electrocuting myself.
The other one was even easier. It was some form of ice monster that Erica basically took care of with a single [Shining Barrage].
With those dungeons cleared, Erica and I each gained our greaves. I only had one piece left to go, and Erica only had two.
The problem that came up was where my next piece was located.
Smack dab in the middle of Dryadal. AKA the time wastes.
The party was well aware that no one had ever come back out of there alive, but they were confident that we could do it with the [Hero] and me there.
I was… less so. And that made me realize that it was time to break from the party for a bit.
------
It was late at night, and I breathed a sigh of relief as I exited Erica’s tent without being caught.. or so I thought.
“Not like you to be sneaking around,” [Commander] Lee remarked from right next to me and jump-scared me.
“Nor you,” I managed to reply while keeping my surprise to myself.
We looked at each other for a moment, and then he sighed. “So, you’re leaving then.”
I raised an eyebrow. “How could you tell?”
“You’ve been acting off since we realized we’re headed to the time wastes,” he stated. “Are they truly that dangerous?”
I kept silent, unsure what to say, and he eventually continued.
“By Jake’s sword, that bad?” he asked.
“I’m worried that just the environmental effects will be enough to kill all of you if I’m being honest,” I replied.
“But not you?” he asked.
I replied with a shake of my head. “But not me.”
“And you’re just leaving without saying goodbye?”
“That’s what the letter I left her is for,” I said softly. “It explains everything.”
“I… see,” he replied.
We stood there in awkward silence for a bit before I finally broke it.
“Well, I better get going,” I finally said. “Can’t have Titus beat me to the boots.”
“Right… Stay safe, Titania,” Lee replied.
“You as well.”
After that, I got out of there as fast as I could. Not because I needed to get to the time wastes faster, but because I had been incredibly worried that the [Commander] would go for a kiss.
Eww. I thought as I shuddered. Well, at least all this BS should be over soon.
As soon as I got far enough from the camp, I started running and casting my [Teleport].
Next stop, the time wastes.
I was sure that I could handle whatever they threw at me… but I never in a million years could have guessed what… or who… I would find there.