Sure enough, the deeper they went down the Smokesong Caverns, the tougher the Lodytes seem to become. Fifteen minutes down the spiraling and branching route towards what suspiciously felt like a boss arena if had had any luck, he encountered a new type of enemy. This time, he was forced to stop and look at the lumbering creature, using [Analyze] on it on instinct.
Lodyte Bruiser
Level 35
It looked like the average Cavern Lodyte, but was about three feet taller and wielded what looked like a crude iron battle axe in its meaty hands. It was also covered in shoddy, rusted armor made of some kind of cheap iron no doubt. The lumbering monster turned towards the party and let out a bellowing roar that seemed to shake the very air. Most of the party seemed to be frozen in place but Tyler was unaffected. He imagined this might be because he had his WIll attribute but he wasn't sure. Still, he hesitated for only a second before he charged at the behemoth stomping forward.
The metal axe swung downward, attempting to cleave Tyler into two meaty chunks. The attack was faster than he had anticipated, and he had to drop to the ground completely to avoid getting killed. He did manage to take a rather nasty gash that dropped his health points by a whole 40%, making him wince and bite out a curse from the pain. Weaving his hands awkwardly from his prone position on the ground, he cast [Grasping Tentacles] on the creature to slow it down. The spell took effect, though at a slower pace than normal, making him have to roll to the side to dodge a heavy kick from the bruiser that would have likely broken several ribs. By the time the spell had taken full effect, the rest of the party had shaken off the effect of its roar and joined in on the fight.
Agha surged forward with surprising speed, red eyes leaking hot, flaming energy as she shouted her own ability's name to invoke it.
"Fire of Etrigh!"
Her stout body became encased in flames as her height grew to that to match the Bruiser, and her axe met his as they traded blows. Though they seemed to be matched at first, Agha proved more skilled than the creature in using a weapon and pushed it back and up against a wall where it was forced to defend. Durgin tossed a small flying device, a fucking drone of all things, to attack the bruiser's head with jolts of electricity that made it cry out. The rogue of the group, Desha, was stabbing at its ankles and calves with her poisoned daggers. Oren hurried up to Tyler, whose head was getting woozy from blood loss, and cast a healing spell on him.
"Lay on Hands!"
Immediately, the pain started to subside, and Tyler gave Oren a nod of thanks as he rolled his shoulders.
"Thanks for that, the damned bruiser is faster than I anticipated."
"No problem lad. Encountering one of these beasties is supposed to be rare, so we just got unlucky."
It took a bit of effort, but between the five of them it was simple to whittle down the bruiser's health to zero. When he did, he felt the rush of energy from the creature's kill. Apparently the System awarded more than the usual amount it normally did, as he received a prompt.
Combat Casting is Level 3
...
Combat Casting is Level 6
Dodge is Level 5
...
Dodge is Level 9
You and your party have slain:
Lodyte Bruiser (Miniboss) x1
Bonus experience is awarded for killing an enemy above your level, as well as for this being your first miniboss.
Congratulations, you have reached Level 21. You have five unused stat points.
Immediately, he put the five new points into Strength, feeling the System work his muscles in odd ways before his limbs and chest settled with the new influx of power. With his notifications looked at and points distributed, Tyler returned his focus to the party, and after a nod from the others they set off even lower into the caverns, wary of any other minibosses they might encounter.
Thankfully that seemed to be the only miniboss in the area as the party of five made their way to the final and central chamber. They had killed twenty more of the lesser monsters, culminating in quite the experience gain for them all. Sadly, it seemed Tyler hadn't absorbed any new cards to add to his Catalog. Still, the XP gain and training was quite the boost. With a decent team at his side, plenty of healing, and rejuvenating food, it was a much better experience than the first time he had partied up. As they all reached the final cavern, Tyler took the time to go over his prompts and allocate points. He ignored the smaller notifications of how he had killed twenty enemies, focusing on what really mattered. Numbers going up.
Congratulations, you have reached Level 22
...
Congratulations you have reached Level 28. You have thirty-five unused stat points.
Dodge is Level 10
...
Dodge is Level 14
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Combat Casting is Level 7
...
Combat Casting is Level 13
Unarmed Combat is Level 6
...
Unarmed Combat is Level 14
None of us his Spell Cards had leveled up, perhaps due to focusing on throwing punches, kicking, and dodging instead of trying to move his mana in the spells in new patterns. Still, the gains were massive and he had to think the System that he had the XP Aura active. Looking at his stats, he put five into Strength and four into Dexterity, bringing them both to 30. Next he put nine into Wisdom to bring it to 40 and even it out. ANother nine went into Constitution to take that attribute to a fat fifty points. The last eight he dumped into Intelligence. Tyler hunched over a bit after accepting the changes, pain searing through his flesh as a slimy black...substance poured from his skin and slopped onto the floor. Agha looked at him as this happened, and scrunched her nose while laughing.
"Ah, I forgot how thae first half-step threshold for Constitution went. It's a wee bit nostalgic."
Tyler simply glared at her, now smelling something foul from the gunk. "What the hell just happened to me?"
Durgin spoke up, a cheeky smirk on his face, though it was hard to tell from the Dwarf's, no Tyler supposed he should think of them as Duergar now, hair-covered face.
"Yer body is purging impurities that build up over time tae prepare ye for breaking through tiers. Ye got what, two levels till you need tae breakthrough? Assuming ye got thae Historum and can find treasures fer it."
Tyler grimaced slightly. "Yeah I still don't know how that works, care to enlighten me, oh wise leader?"
This time, Desha spoke up, even as she sharpened one of her daggers on a handheld whetstone. "Simply put ye need to seclude yourself in an isolated spot, surround yerself with treasures, then break the treasures down by flooding them with mana. Then pull thae energy created into yerself. Jumping from Level 29 to 30 doesn't require XP actually, just breaking through. It's how it is at all jumps from True to Low of the next tier."
"Right..." Tyler said, idly thinking it over as he tried to wipe the slimy substance off as much as he could. "So basically get a bunch of expensive items, destroy them with mana, and hope I have the titles, skills and such that the System accepts."
She nodded, putting her dagger back in its sheath and pulling out her other one. Oren walked up and slapped Tyler on the back, muttering a spell that sounded like 'Cleanse' before handing him a dried biscuit. The mana washed over him in a sheen of bright yellow light that quickly disappeared. Though the gunk that was on him disappeared as well, much to his relief. "Don't worry, I'm sure we can find something fer ya to break down and so ye can break through. Least we can do since being around ya seems to give us a bonus to our XP gains. Now, are we all set?"
The healer spoke these words to the entire group at the last bit, making them all give varying degrees of acknowledgement. With nothing else to do, Tyler scarfed down the dry biscuit with a small cough and followed behind the others as they entered the final chamber. What they came too was nothing more than a large, if damp, cave. There was a pool of deep azure liquid in the middle, sloshing back and forth for some strange reason. Next to the pool was what appeared to be a Lodyte Shaman, but he had a more elaborate headdress than his brethren and was wearing actual clothes, if raggedy ones. Likely stolen from somewhere. He didn't speak, just gibbered on to himself before pointing at the group of five and diving into the water with a wet splash.
"Uh...is that normal or..." Tyler started to ask, before he was cut off as a large explosion came from the pool of water.
He had expected the shaman to pop out or something, but what he got was much different. It was a large, almost twenty foot creature made of churning water. Its head, featureless and as blue as the rest of its body, looked almost like a crashing wave that constantly moved back and forth from front to center. Its arms were bulging with water bubbles and liquid that seemed to form some kind of pseudo-facsimile of arm muscles. It had no legs, instead its torso extended to the ground, where frothing waves emanated slightly outward in a circle before dissipating. Aside from the two golden manacles on its arms, what stood out to Tyler was what was inside its chest. A damned skeleton, obviously the shaman's given the height.
On instinct, he shoved mana into his eyes and used Analyze. There was a barrier of resistance, almost like a shield that prevented him from seeing what he wanted. Clenching his jaw, Tyler focused even harder, attempting to push his Will attribute to assist. Like a hand through latex, he eventually did push through and the two prompts showed up.
Analyze is Level 2
...
Analyze is Level 5
Lesser Elemental Lord of Water
Level 45 Boss
Lore: Elemental Lords are beings from planes inhospitable to humans. Generally shamans make deals with them in exchange for taking a small amount of a lord's power for their own. To summon one to the mortal planes requires a blood sacrifice, sometimes multiple. This is an elemental lord of water from Hydroxia. Like all elementals, its power is stronger than its level indicates.
Good luck.
Agha spat on the ground, chugging a green potion. "Standard boss fight formations, lads and ladies. This'll be a tough one!"
Then she charged, activating her boosting skill, Fire of Etrigh, once more. Flames met water as Agha swung her axe at the elemental, who pushed against her with its limbs spinning. It swept one arm under her legs and made the berserker fall to one knee, then followed up with a spinning double arm attack that knocked her back and into a wall. The cave shook from the impact, Oren dodging a falling stalactite as he got in range of Agha to heal her.
Desha cursed to herself, seeing as her knives , being plain iron, would be useless against an elemental and simply switched to a miniature crossbow she kept hidden for situations like this. While she wasn't an expert at using such a weapon, she was adept at it at the very least. Grabbing a bolt from one of her many pouches, she pushed mana into it before locking the ammo in place and aiming. With a loud twang, the magically-infused object sailed straight into the elemental's body, making it pause mid-slike to look at her, only to get a sword of burning metal slashing across its torso. Seemed like Agha had joined the battle.
Dugin was busy pelting the creature using his drone's electric bolts, so that just left Tyler to do his part in the battle. He couldn't use Geyser as it was likely a water attack would be useless against a water elemental, so he began inhaling deeply, taking in the scent of the water and smell of the sea through his nose. Finally, nerves steeled and ready, he began to invoke his dark magic.
It was time to attack.