"The vast majority of deaths in low level dungeons is due to bosses. This is because low level dungeon mobs and even minibosses have their intelligence and survival instincts severely reduced so they get used to fighting stupid creatures that don't adapt, so when they fight something that has those innate fighting instincts that all monsters have fully intact, they flounder and die."
-An excerpt from the Guilds mandatory training class
----------------------------------------
Even though I knew I had to do something, I barely had any mana and even with shock and adrenaline keeping the pain at bay moving was still a herculean task considering I was almost certain that I had broken several ribs and who knows what else from my collision, and since the healing crystals were split between Leo and Jackson it was unlikely that I'd get one anytime soon. The only silver lining of the situation was that the centipede wasn't paying any attention to me, likely having assumed I was too injured/mana drained to do anything, which was only mostly true. With only 30 mana I had to make sure I used it as efficiently as possible to turn the current stalemate into our favor, and considering the distance and lack of any part not covered by emerald carapace, Lightning was out, meaning that Crystal was my only option. While my initial crystal spike was mostly ineffective, the glow that it let out prior to it hitting made me think it was due to a skill rather than its pure defensive ability, an idea that was reinforced by the multitude of cracks that Jackson had managed to create on its lower body with his spear, plus the throbbing pain throughout my body meant that I was likely to lose concentration and waste the mana if I tried anything more complex than launching a spike or something similarly simple. Calling up the Crystal that lay within me but not manifesting anything yet, I observed the fight and waited for the right moment when my attack would have the most effect, refusing to blink even for a moment and using the taste of blood in my mouth to sharpen my focus more than I'd ever had to before.
Leo slashes at the centipede to no effect as it manages to move so the blade just skitters off of its carapace while Jason just barely manages to get behind a pillar before an emerald spear crashes into the ground sending dust and shards of rock flying, and jackson manages to injure one of its many legs while it focuses elsewhere.
Not yet...
The centipede retaliates against Jackson sending him stumbling backwards as his spear bends to its limits when he uses it to block its tail, but holds firm while Leo manages a shallow strike that draws blood before being forced to block its mandibles, his shield dented and bent but still usable, Jason targeting its eyes with glowing blue cards that cause small bursts of lightning to scatter across its armored body ineffectually.
Just a little more...
With Jackson temporarily out of the fight the Centipede takes this opportunity to reel back on its lower body like a snake as it prepares to use its weight against a panting Leo and overwhelm his immovable shield with sheer size while ignoring the cards that Jason throws, letting the cards sneak between his carapace and causing a multitude of small cuts in exchange for getting rid of Leo.
NOW
When the centipede raised up to the apex of its height I launched the rest of my mana in the form of a crystal boulder, forgoing sharpness and strength for speed and size, sending a crystal boulder three feet in diameter to crash into it near the top of its body, the unexpected attack having enough inertia to overwhelm the support of its lower body and making it whip onto its back with a loud CRUNCH. Still conscious but completely drained of both mana and mental stamina I watched as my friends charged the beast, unleashing a flurry of skills and attacks to remove as many legs as possible and prevent it from righting itself as it wildy fired emerald spears from its mouth and tail while thrashing its body as much as it could in an attempt to land a lucky blow, and while it did manage to get to its feet after a little while, it did so missing many legs and bleeding profusely from every chink in its armor, lasting only a few minutes before collapsing from blood loss, during which time Jackson came over to me with a healing crystal while the others watched the body and waited for the kill message.
Once Jackson managed to put the crystal in my hands I willed it to activate and felt a refreshing sensation flow through my body as it crumbled to dust, causing the pounding throb of pain recede into a much more manageable thrum.
"How do you feel?"(Jackson)
"Like I've been thrown into a stone pillar."(Mason)
Saying that I got up with a groan and using my staff that I had instinctively held in a death grip when I was thrown as a walking stick I trudged over to the others and leaned against a pillar as I watched the yellow blood seep through the now heavily cracked carapace of the boss and waited for the death message. Looking over the others for ant sign of injury it seemed that beside everyone being visible exhausted I was by far the most injured, with the others all having wounds, but mostly scratches with only Leo having wounds that would've been far more concerning if we hadn't witnessed first hand how quickly he can heal in one night with his massive 67 endurance, though he was still likely to wake up with cuts and bruises tomorrow.
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
"Are you gonna need another crystal or should we save it?"(Leo)
"If we plan to run the dungeon again today then yeah, otherwise it'd be better to wait until tomorrow."(Mason)
Hearing my response the others all gave me a weird look for a second before Jason voiced a question that seemed to be on everyone's minds.
"How is it that despite being the one who almost dies the most you are still the one who wants to enter the dungeon and fight the bosses more than the rest of us."(Jason)
Hearing this actually made me pause for a second, after all before the system came I wasn't exactly living a dangerous life and it wasn't like I was some adrenaline junky either, hell I had refused skydiving offers multiple times because I was too scared to do it. And it wasn't like I wanted to die or anything, hell with magic being a real thing I was actually more excited for the future than ever. After thinking for a bit to formulate my response, I spoke up while looking into everyone's eyes.
"I guess it's just because there's not really any other choice. I mean I could bury my head in the sand and hope that other people manage to protect me, maybe get a crafting class and become useful enough where I can live comfortably, but at the end of the day even excluding that the world's likely gone to hell, that civilization will have to pretty much restart, and that my family might need protection, I still remember the feeling of wonder when I first felt Lightning in my skin, waiting to be called, I remember the feeling when I connected with the world and gained Crystal that sits patiently for its time, and I remember the wonder I felt in that integration room when I learned that magic and monsters and all those things that I've spent countless hours reading about were going to be real and I cant just sit still and go with the flow anymore, I want to actually make my own decisions for the future and forge my own path, and for that I will need strength. So if that means I get launched into a few pillars or crushed underneath a giant hermit crab, or run over by a deer, then so be it but at the end of the day, I'll take that trade."(Mason)
As if in response to me finally articulating my feelings about everything going on a system message appeared in front of us.
Congratulations, you have defeated the Boss of the first floor of the Crystal Caverns dungeon, the Emerald Cave Centipede and gained 100 EXP
Congratulations, you have cleared the Crystal Caverns dungeon and gained 400 EXP, go through the portal to exit the dungeon
With the notification causing a sense of relief to flow through us and a bit of happiness at the unexpected EXP reward that made this one fight worth more than clearing the rest of the dungeon on some runs not to mention the loot from the boss itself, which after waiting for it to finish dissapaiting turned out to be much better than any of us were expecting, consisting of a rare shield, an uncommon class gem, an uncommon orb that turned into a bracelet of dexterity, a chunk of emerald carapace, and an actual emerald the size of my fist. The system stats of the items minus the bracelet which only gave +3 DEX were-
Name: Growing Crystal Shield Rarity: Rare Requirements: Level 10, 30 END Effect: Channel mana into the shield to repair it and make it uniformly grow in size, Minor Increased Toughness
Name: Class Gem of Gemstone Jeweler Rarity: Uncommon Category: Non-Combat, Crafting, Magical Description: This class uses the innate magical conductivity of various gems and crystals to imbue them with permanent magical effects.
Name: Emerald Cave Centipede Carapace Rarity: Uncommon
Name: Emerald Rarity: Common
Besides the disappointing lack of information on the crafting stuff we were all very happy with what we got, the shield obviously went to Leo, the bracelet went to Jason, and the rest went into communal storage, though I could see Jackson eyeing the class gem and if not for us deciding to gather highly tradeable items for when the tutorial ends in case we need to bribe people or buy vital items he probably would've used it right away, though if we manage to get more loot of similar value from this boss he might still end up with it.
Once the loot high ended and we walked towards the portal the conversation turned to whether or not we would run the dungeon again today, with the final verdict being that yes, but we wouldn't do a full clear and further discussion lead to the rule that we would not fight the final boss at all unless all of us had a healing crystal, since while hard, beyond the initial surprise at the intelligence of the boss and its ambush, it was still manageable and would be noticeably easier if I didn't get put out of commission at the start of the fight. The rest of the day went by with us repeating the dungeon as much as possible and during one such clear Jason brought up a good point about why we were so surprised during the boss fight.
"I think I've figured it out."(Jason)
"Figured what out?"(Mason)
"Why we reacted so slow when the centipede ignored Leo"(Jason)
"Oh? and why was that?"(Leo)
"Because it acted like an actual animal."(Jason)
"What?"(Jackson)
"Everything else we've fought in the dungeon, even the salamander, always attack the closest person even when Leo usually isn't the biggest threat to them, and we got used to that, even the turkeys would change targets to whoever hurt them the most but the crystalmits and the salamander never tried to disengage, and we got used to it so when the centipede acted like an actual living creature and ignored Leo for Mason, who had attacked it, it caused all of us to stutter as it went against the rules that we had subconsciously gotten used to."(Jason)
After hearing Jason's explanation and thinking it over we all realized that it was true, and that it was good that he managed to catch it early as if we tried fighting anything as strong or stronger than what's in the dungeon and stumbled over a similar situation it might result in something more serious than a loss of two healing crystals. Over the rest of the day we managed to clear the dungeon three more times, minus the final boss, making a total of four for the day, and while we did get two more healing crystals there wasn't any other particularly good loot, but a total of ~1800 EXP apiece was always welcome.