Well, I didn't claim it was my smartest idea.
I had over 20 groups of Lizardmen hot on my tail. There were at least 70 of the monsters behind me. I was pumping my arms and sprinting in a giant circle. An arrow just flew by me, but I refused to give it any thought. I had a mental timer counting down, and as soon as it hit 0, I'd turn around and face the horde I'd gathered. Bran was off standing in the safe zone by the dungeon entrance.
Alright, this should be my last lap. I’ll pull two more groups - those groups there - and then when I next pass this spot, I'll start firing empowered Arcane Explosions.
I had been sprinting around for almost 10 minutes at this point, gathering monsters for this scheme of mine, and I'll be damned if it doesn’t work. I locked on to the two groups I intended to pull and fired my weakened mana bolts at them. The first show went a bit right, but the next got the first group, and the third shot pulled the second group.
Okay, give them a few minutes to join the gang, and I'll be nice and set for act two.
I continued running, and a couple of firebolts exploded right behind me. Another arrow whizzed by my head.
These bastards are getting better at aiming the longer I run. I need to add some zigzags into my pattern, or next thing I know, there's gonna be an arrow in my back.
30 seconds until I started blasting.
Yah know, I really should’ve tried this on a smaller group before I went all out like this. But I never seem to learn, do I?
10 seconds left.
Okay, we’re almost to the point of no return. Am I still feeling this? Yes. Yes, I am. No pain no gain!
I redoubled my efforts to get as much distance between me and the horde behind me. I needed every inch of room if I wanted to survive this. As the last couple seconds ticked by in my head, I prepared the first Arcane Explosion.
3
2
1
I turned on a dime and let rip a 50-point explosion right at the first line of Lizardmen. They seemed shocked at my sudden stop, and the first group was obliterated. Before anything else could happen, I cast a barrier around me and poured 100 points into it. I’m glad I waited until I was at a full mana pool before this stunt of mine.
The next wave of Lizardmen kept charging at me, none were deterred by my display of power. I could see the bloodlust in their eyes. Their claws were elongated and their fangs seemed to drip with their hunger for my skin.
I cast another two Arcane Explosions, these at normal power and separated enough to properly blast every Lizardmen in the line. At least 15 of the monsters died in that attack. A single Lizardman made it through the gap in the explosions, but it fell to an empowered mana bolt to the face. I was alarmed at how close he got before I fired that off.
Keep your cool man. You’ve got this.
There were still about 40 monsters left. They paused momentarily, but continued their charge, spreading out as they ran.
Crap, they’re learning my moves. Okay, no more big explosions. It’s time to throw quantity over quality now.
I started aiming for the smaller groups, throwing 15-point explosions at them. I had 5 casts out before they started separating further. It looked like they aimed to surround me, but they were getting lower in numbers themselves. There were only 25 Lizardmen left.
I aimed at individual monsters, now that they were closer. The group encircled me and started moving in slowly, only 20 feet away from me.
I hit two of the monsters in the chest with empowered mana bolts, and as the second one went down, I felt the barrier around me take damage. I turned and saw a fire caster throw another fireball.
I aimed to take it down with a weaker explosion behind it to throw it off balance, then I cast an empowered mana bolt into its neck. It fell to the ground, bleeding heavily, so I went on to the next monster. This one was pretty close to the Lizardman to its left, so I cast a regular explosion between them then took them both out with an empower bolt to the head each.
As the Lizardmen got closer to me, they had no choice but to get closer to each other. There was a group of three in a triangle formation that got a 15-point explosion tight in the middle. All three went down at once, the glow of loot starting to shine. A Lizardman who was closer to the trio was distracted by the glow and got a regular bolt to the eye.
I was down to the last 16 Lizardmen. I saw one of them start firing arrows at me from the left, so I did the same to him as the fire caster. After it went down, there were no more ranged Lizardmen attackers.
I decided to wait for the remaining Lizardmen to get close enough to start attacking the barrier before I shot any more. Three rushed in behind me as a group and went down to an empowered explosion.
A duo approached from the front and each got a 10-point bolt to the neck as they reached me.
From that point on, every Lizardman who reached me got a 10-point Mana Bolt to its chest.
I looked around me and saw there were still two more groups of Lizardmen off in the distance, but every last monster I had just pulled went down without even injuring me. My ego just got an enormous boost.
I pulled up my resources to check how much that little venture cost.
Health 260/260
Stamina 155/260
Mana 175/670
“Nicely done! I'm impressed you didn’t get injured at all! I expected at least one arrow to the back, but the little maneuvers you added towards the end saved you at least twice. Good call!”
Bran jogged up to me and I let the barrier around me dissipate.
“Thanks. I figured their aim was improving as the chase went on, and I didn't want to deal with that while running. But all in all, I'm surprised at how well that went. I didn’t even have to take any potions.” I had moved a regular health potion to be at the first slot in my storage for just that specific reason.
I walked around and collected the drops from the fight. After they were in a large pile, I added it all to my storage. I pulled up the Ui to see what exactly I got.
Storage (17/22)
0 g 95s 33 c
1. Health Potion
2. Bowie knife
3. 25 shirts (varied colors, cloth)
4. 10 pants (cloth)
5. 10 underwear (5 boxers, 5 sock pairs)
6. 15 rations (varied flavors)
7. Potions (varied)
8. 2 leather armor sets
9. 5 books
10. Water skin
11. Camping gear (tent, placemat, sleeping bag)
12. Slime bracelet
13. 51 portions Lizardman meat
14. 63 Lizardman claws
15. 4 Lizardman bows
16. 2 Lizardman slings
17. Essence of Lizardmen
“What is ‘Essence of Lizardmen’? I’ve never heard of it before.” I asked Bran about the unusual loot I got.
“Essence is one way to increase your resource pools.” Bran lectured. “It has an extremely low drop rate though. Like 0.1% or something like that. You won’t find it in any dungeon lower than D rank. Its drop rate increases the higher the rank though. Not by much, but enough that it’s worth it. Its highly valuable and can break parties that have known each other since birth. Don’t go letting anyone know you’ve gotten that. It can be dangerous.”
I thought about it for a second. I took it out of my storage and examined it closely. It looked to be a small orb that glowed yellow.
“The color indicates which resource it’ll increase. Yellow means it’ll bump your stamina. I recommend eating it now bef-”
I tossed the orb to him and he stumbled to catch it.
“All yours. I’m good on stamina as is, and I can call that repayment for all the equipment you bought me before we left. Have at it, homie." I smiled at the dumb look on his face.
“I’ll tell you what, for that, you can call me ‘homie’ all you like.” He had a dumb grin on his face as he popped the pill sized orb into his mouth and swallowed. He glowed for a split second then started laughing.
“You know Claff, I might just have to promote you anyways. Not many people can solo a D rank dungeon, especially the way you just did it. Sure, there’s still a few groups out there, but you just took out the overwhelming majority of monsters in here in one swoop.”
It’s true. I only saw two more groups of Lizardmen left in the dungeon. One was close to the entrance on the opposite side of the first group I killed, and the second group was standing on the opposite diagonal of the first.
Huh. I just realized I have never tested the range on my spells. I’ve shot an explosion over a hundred feet away from me today, but that’s the furthest I've gone. Time for some experimentation. I still have just shy of 200 mana left at the moment. Let's give it a try.
The group by the entrance was at least a half mile from where I stood. I concentrated on the idea of my explosion happening right in the middle of the group. I added an extra 20 mana to the pattern and let it fire.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Success!
“Impressive distance. But wait to take out the other group until you’ve fully recuperated. The boss will spawn as soon as you kill them.”
Oh right, the boss.
I had gotten so caught up with killing what was currently present that I had forgotten that there was supposed to be a boss in the dungeon.
I went over to the group I just killed and grabbed the loot. It was just some claws and lizard meat chunks.
Bran and I sat around eating lunch for about an hour before deciding I was ready to fight the last group and kill the boss.
Health 260/260
Stamina 183/260
Mana 641/670
Mostly full mana with plenty of stamina, and topped off health. I’ll be fine. Now let's check and see if I can kill the last group from here. After that, Boss man should be showing up. Lez go!
I let Bran know I was going to aim for the last group from here, and he looked ready to see if there’s a limit to the range of my spells.
Okay, that’s just over 3 miles. I got this.
I loaded the arcane explosion pattern with 30 points of mana and concentrated on the group.
I ‘m glad the dungeon is pretty damn flat. It’s literally the perfect test zone for this. I wonder though…
“Heads up, I'm doing a test really quick.” I told Bran. he nodded and I unraveled the pattern I was weaving.
I aimed a mana bolt straight up to see how high it went. I estimated it went about a mile high before it hit a barrier similar to the edge of the dungeon. An evil grin grew across my face as a plan formulated for my next run through this dungeon.
“What was that about?”
“It’s a secret for now. Something for me to experiment with in the future.”
He looked confused but overall ignored my shenanigans.
“Alright, I'll get the last group now.” I loaded the pattern again and killed the last group with minimal effort.
I barely saw the glow of loot from this distance, but it was there. I decided against getting it since the familiar pop of a monster spawning could be heard.
I examined the boss as it spawned. It didn’t have the usual lethargy of a newly spawned stray monster. Neither did its two attendants.
The boss was a giant Lizardman who stood at 8 feet tall with a giant spear at its side that was a foot taller than it. Its claws looked shorter than the regular Lizardmen’s, but I guess it was to allow for an easier time wielding the spear.
It had a horn extending 3 inches from the edge of its snout, and 3 spikes on either side of the end of its tail. There were strange protrusions jutting out the end of its elbows that honestly looked badass. The boss as a whole looked awesome.
It made me wonder what could have been if I had chosen to be a summoner instead of a caster. An army of this guy sounded EPIC.
After I finished admiring the boss, I checked out the side pieces that spawned with it. The Lizardman on the right had a gnarled staff that had a flame constantly glowing at the top end. The one on the left held a longbow that stood almost as tall as it did, with a quiver full of arrows as long as my arm strapped to its back.
The group had just noticed Bran and I as I finished my fantasies of an alternate time where I had different skills. I shook my head and readied myself as the boss charged at us. It was a lot faster than its weaker counterparts, and it had a weapon unlike them too.
I charged 30 points into a Mana Bolt and aligned my shot so that if the boss dodged to the side, the bolt would continue past it and hit the caster. I dashed to the side to get the perfect angle, the bolt thrumming with power in my hand.
When it was perfectly aligned, I loosed the spell and it flew faster than any bolt I've cast before. I immediately cast a 15-point barrier. The boss jumped to the side and the bolt grazed its hip. It flew past the boss and impaled the casters right arm. Its appendage went limp, forcing it to drop the staff it was holding.
The bow user had plenty of time to shoot 3 arrows at me, but they all smashed into the barrier. It brought it down to 3 points of charge, so I dropped it and bolted to the side again, aiming to get the boss between me and it.
The boss was kneeling, favoring its injured side. It stood up as I made my maneuver. I charged a second 30-point bolt and aimed at its hip again. The boss side stepped completely and fell to the ground due to its last injury. The bolt continued past and got the bow user in its stomach. It made a hole through it, right through the spine. The bow dropped to the ground, followed by a glowing Lizardman.
A little morbid, but fuck yeah! One down, two to go. The boss has barely been a challenge so far, what the heck? I’d be dead if 3 bow users spawned. But I could probably deal with 10 of the bosses.
I was too distracted. The caster cast a firebolt at me that went straight through the meat of my left leg, cauterizing the wound as it went.
I fell to the ground in extreme pain.
Don't black out, don't black out. YOU’VE GOT THIS DAMMIT IT! YOU’RE GOING TO BE THE VERY BEST! LIKE NO ONE EVER WAS!
I cast a barrier around myself, dumping an entire 200 points into it. Good thing I put so much into it, too. The boss reached me and started assaulting the barrier with rapid heavy blows. I felt the barrier drain at an alarming rate.
“Need any help?” Bran had called out. Instead of answering him, I gathered half my remaining mana into a massive mana bolt and fired at the boss.
The mother fucker can’t dodge from this distance.
The bolt went straight through it, vaporizing the left side of its torso. The bolt carried through the boss and in the direction of the caster, who unfortunately wasn’t where I thought it was. It had run far to the left of where I aimed the bolt.
That’s fine. I'll get you with this next shot.
I pulled my resources up to check how much I had available to cram into my next spell.
Health 180/260
Stamina 183/260
Mana 165/670
I had more than enough for this. I put 60 points of mana into an Arcane Explosion and cast it right in front of the caster.
And with that, I had finished the dungeon entirely by myself.
“Well, that last fight was a lot more intense than I thought it would be.” Bran came over to inspect my wound. “It missed any major arteries. You should still take a potion though.”
The pain was intense, but I could feel it getting easier to deal with the longer I sat there.
It’s been a while since I thought about using my regeneration for health. Let’s see. 2.6 health regen multiplier from level 8 Enhanced Body, 9 multiplier from Regeneration, 10/hr for base health regeneration. All that puts me at 234 health per hour. I only need to regenerate 80 points for my leg to be good as new.
“No. It’s practice for my Regeneration. It hurts like a bitch, but I'll be fine in about 25 minutes. Let me just rest for a bit.”
Rest was exactly what I needed. Bran looked skeptical but let me be. He pulled a file out from somewhere hidden and started reading.
“I see, so your regeneration gives your health and mana then? Impressive. I’d love to hear what version it is, but it’s against policy to ask for details beyond skill name. My own regeneration is used strictly for my health pool. Though others have guessed it’s for stamina too. Keep that between us though.” He winked at me at the last bit.
“I’d love to hear more about your skills, if you’re willing to tell me. I haven’t even heard of you before today.” It was true. I had wondered for a bit about the Adventurer’s Guild Master after I had met with Paris. I figured I'd meet him eventually if I kept to my path of being an adventurer, but I truly wasn’t expecting to meet him so soon.
“Feel free to ask more about me at the guild. I’m sure there’s plenty of stories going around, if you ask the right people. And if we do end up working together as equals at some point, which judging by what I saw today will happen sooner rather than later, you’ll find out plenty.”
That was quite the non-answer. Unfair given he has a file with all my skill names, and even knows some of my skill levels.
“Fair enough. I guess a guild master can’t show all his cards.”
“Exactly. Speaking of ‘all the cards’, mind telling me your current skill levels so I can write them down for your file? I’ll consider today your Silver Rank exam, but it won’t be made official until you finish the list I'll be giving you when we get back.”
“Why do you need to know my skill levels? I thought the skill names were good enough?”
“Levels only need to be given during a promotion exam. When you register as a member, we only need your skill names to try to determine in what manner your battle skills will be used in the case of an emergency, such as a wave of monsters coming from the Dark Forest Southeast of here. It’s rare, but it has happened twice in my lifetime.”
“I see. Give me a second.”
I pulled up my extended status.
User: Claff:
Health 220/280
Stamina 190/280
Mana 205/670
Achievements
Slime Slayer!
Quests [2]
Kill Goblins 0/∞
Kill Slimes 0/∞
Party [1]
Equipment
Ring of Mana Regeneration (+20%)
Slime Bracelet (+290 mana)
*Robe of Regeneration (+10% mana regeneration, +10% casting speed)
SKILLS
PASSIVE
Enhanced Body Lv 9 [1%]
Increased Mental Capacity Lv14 [79%]
Regeneration Lv15 [93%]
ACTIVE
Arcane Magic Lv 12 [12%]
Barrier Magic Lv 11 [89%]
Game-like Storage Lv10 [98%]
Storage (16/22)
0 g 95s 33 c
1. Health Potion
2. Bowie knife
3. 25 shirts (varied colors, cloth)
4. 10 pants (cloth)
5. 10 underwear (5 boxers, 5 sock pairs)
6. 13 rations (varied flavors)
7. Potions (varied)
8. 2 leather armor sets
9. 5 books
10. Water skin
11. Camping gear (tent, placemat, sleeping bag)
12. Slime Bracelet
13. 51 portions Lizardman meat
14. 63 Lizardman claws
15. 4 Lizardman bows
16. 2 Lizardman slings
“Oh sweet, my Enhanced Body leveled.”
Bran erased then wrote something in his - my - file. Probably my level up.
I told him the levels of the rest of my skills, and when I was done, I learned the next level of Arcane Magic. It was the best chance I had, and since the last few level ups hadn’t been much of a headache, I went for it.
Spell modification Guided Projectiles has been learned.
Oh, come on! I could’ve used this 30 minutes ago! The boss wouldn’t have been able to dodge if I had that!
Ooh, I was mad. But also extremely happy. Having this would make future runs through this dungeon a whole lot easier.
Bran could see the displeasure on my face. “What’s wrong? Do you need a potion after all?”
“No, it’s just the new spell modifier I learned. It would’ve made this last fight a WHOLE lot easier.”
He laughed at me. “HAH, I get it, kid. Believe me. I get it. I’ve learned plenty of moves that would’ve been great for previous fights in my life. The only thing to do about it now is consider how you’ll use it in the next fight. Just move forward, never backwards.”
“Sage advice. I’ll take it, I guess. But the next time I come back here, I'm coming fully prepared to explode everything.”
He laughed some more. “I like your spirit. But let’s get you patched up so we can get back to the guild. I’m ready to get a warm meal.”
“Screw it. I’m drinking a potion.”
I could feel that my Regeneration would’ve leveled as soon as my leg was fully healed, but I wanted to get back to civilization and get some sleep.
So much for a day off. I’ll sell some more mana when I get back, but that’s as much as I'm doing for today. The same goes for tomorrow too. I pulled one of the health potions Duke got for me and drank it. I could feel the muscles in my leg stitch back together. I could even see it if I wanted to, but I looked to the sky, refusing to watch. I was sad about the hole in my brand-new robes though.
Once I was all healed, I went to check out the drops from the boss fight.
The pile consisted of 5 chunks of Lizardman meat, 5 Lizardman claws, and the boss’s giant spear. The spear shrank down to my size when I picked it up. The rest of it got sent to storage.
I started twirling the spear around like I used to with the flags when I was in band camp in my old life. It felt like second nature.
“Impressive, but I wouldn't play with that if I were you. One mess up could get quite bloody, and you just got fixed.”
I laughed and tossed the spear up rather high. When it came back down, it landed blade down a foot in front of me. The shaft wobbled a little, and I put it in storage.
“Alright, I’m ready to go.”
Without another word, Bran and I left the dungeon.
The run back was uneventful, but also fast. We made it in 2 hours and 30 minutes. The sun still had a few hours left before setting. When we entered the city, I told Bran I was heading to the Enchanter’s guild then Half Moon to relax for the rest of the day.
“That’s fine. Make sure you check in with Luke tomorrow morning to pick up your monster list. It will be listed as an official quest for you, though there won’t be extra payment, just the regular fees for stray monster extermination. Get it done quickly, because the sooner you do, the sooner you get your promotion.”
With that, we split ways. Tomorrow was going to be much more exciting than I wanted it to be.