Maybe it was egotistical of me, but I began to wonder how much further it could have went, and if I could get there myself. I guess I wasn't the only one feeling confident about our parties capabilities, because everyone else seemed gung-ho on the idea of pushing as far as we could. But first we would need to slay whatever beast was waiting for us on the 40th floor.
Cautiously entering the boss room we were met with a minotaur, body of a man, legs and head of a bull. This one was wielding a massive war-hammer and already charging at us. Woulfgang threw a orb of blue energy in the enemies path and when they came into contact with one another a burst of ice froze the creature in place.
I moved to flank the creature as Dash drew its attention while backed by Lucretcia’s protective incantations. It seemed Murgil, Lady Darkrose, and myself were going to be the damage dealers for this battle. Just as I unleashed my empowered back-attack Lady Darkrose struck from the front and Murgil cast a perfectly timed weakening spell of some sort. The spoils of the battle flowed from the location out target had been standing and the gateway leading to the 4th lobby opened.
In this area I upgraded my ring once again. Now I would be able to open a two-way portal at my home forge. The king told us just to call him Murgil, and also informed me that I would need to first visit the location of my home forge, but when we left the dungeon he could allow me to use his two-way portal to return to his kingdom if needed. Before continuing the dungeon Murgil recommended that, once I set up a two way portal; only to run time at 5 or 10 times the normal rate if I planned to allow people open access to the area.
Before entering the next floor we checked our loot again. And found a decent crystal ball for Lucretcia to use, Murgil showed her how to best utilise it, and how to conserve her mana by borrowing it from her orb. We also exchanged a few pieces of armour with any upgrades from our pile of loot. The mass of treasure was getting to be a bit much, but ironically some of the items laying in our pile made several unique solutions to that problem.
A [Bag of Holding] as they are known. And a much rarer storage ring. We decided to roll some dice for it later on and allowed Lucretcia to hold onto and make use of it for now. After picking through the pile and stowing it all away we were ready to move onto the 41st floor.
On the 41st floor we encountered giant floating eyeballs that shot beams of energy at us. Murgil and Lucretcia were able to reflect the attacks back at them, and combined with a few added projectiles we made quick work of them. The next floor consisted of heavily armoured demonic elite soldiers. These creatures were very powerful and by far the most powerful we had encountered thus far. I called on Lilith to drain their energies and she did so quite effectively. It was not an instant kill by any means, but the constant drain on their essence caused their movements to become clumsy and feeble.
Moving onto the 43rd floor we were met with a large number of harpies, weird ass birdlike humanoids with winged arms. They were very tough creatures, both offensively and defensively. But their lack of weaponry and armour made them a relatively simple encounter. Their talons were very solid and powerful, and their numbers made things a little messy. Murgil used wind magic to force them to the ground and the rest of us were able to cripple their wings with ease.
We encountered more were-beasts, and giant animals, toads, turtles. On the 47th floor I made a note that I had reached the same depth into the dungeon that Chance had. We encountered a pack of unicorns and it was terrible. The ferocious beasts stormed our ranks, breaking our formation from the very start. Lucretcia’s protection magics held strong as we engaged the savage creatures. It seemed Murgil may have finally expended more than a trivial quantity of mana during the battle, but yet again we prevailed. I wondered what kind of creatures forced Chance to turn back when he entered the dungeon, and if he had been alone, or simply the party leader. I wondered how far I would have made it had I only been a human, or a half-elf. I cleared my mind and with a stern heart, I ventured forth.
On floor 48 we faced off against sirens. This was an awkward encounter, because well… sure they sounded sexy, but we could clearly see the crow-like bodies attached to their feminine human looking faces and heads. I think that the original idea was to lure sailors into the rocks, but considering we were all on foot it did not work out for them. We began picking them off one by one which alarmed them, causing them to begin unleashing sonic attacks. I found these attacks overwhelmingly painful, and had to instruct my symbiote to repair the damage done to my hearing afterwards. Murgil also shared some techniques for dealing with such annoyances, assisting Lucretcia in the formulation of a new noise protection spell.
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The 49th floor was once again inhabited by unseen entities, this time it seemed like a pack of large shadow-cats. We could sense their presence just as before, and after our encounter with the unicorns we had learned our lesson about taking advantage of battle formations. I took point with Lucretcia on my right and Lady Darkrose on my left. Dash would improvise based on our opponents, and the high-elf king would hold a safe distance behind us. The shadow cats were decimated by our synergistic wedge manoeuvre/onslaught. The animals were completely dependent on our inability to detect them.
Finally we were ready to enter the 50th floor. We had already ventured beyond any one in the modern era and felt we were quite a way from meeting our match. We were met by a dragonkin with serpentine features. It seemed almost too easy though, one long slender neck supporting its tiny looking head when compared to the oversized body attached. I rapidly moved to sever its throat, drawing my blade and cutting the entire head and snakelike neck clean off. As I turned to check the reactions of the rest of my party they engaged the best despite the fact that it seemed I had slain it. When I looked back I saw Lady Darkrose severing one of two additional heads that had sprung up. It was almost unfortunate how fast the both of us were with our bladed attacks; For whenever we severed one head, two would appear in its place. Murgil was familiar with these creatures known as hydra, but by the time he shared this information we had already figured it out on our own; Too bad the strange creature was already sporting a dozen heads or so by the time we caught on.
The swarm of angry heads made it very difficult to approach, and forced our party into a defensive position. The heads spat fire and ice and venomous acids, Murgil threw a concealment spell on me, and before he could instruct me on the plan I was gone. I looped around the large arena and made my way behind one of the beast's hind legs, careful to avoid its tail. Then I slipped beneath the creature and sniffed out the location of the creature’s heart using my enhanced vampiric senses. I lined up my sword with my target and drew on all my strength, including my protective cloak to propel me forward. The creature’s massive form flinched and quivered before going completely limp. Just as the overwhelming weight of the creature was beginning to squat my body, it began to release an enormous burst of treasure; Which buried me alive instead.
Despite the intense weight of the loot pile, I couldn’t help but laugh as my party rushed to dig me out. Each time I would laugh the air would be squeezed from my lungs, but as I struggled to fill them with air it became easier as the pile of loot was tossed carelessly about the room. When it was clear that I was okay my companions finally joined in on the laughter.
We gathered our loot and moved onto the 5th lobby. Once there we saw more dragonic writings, and another pedestal. I moved to inspect the writings, and at the same time Murgil moved to the altar. As I recorded the writings, the king waved his ring-hand over the centrepiece of the room and when I finished I moved to do the same. While there was a reaction from the ring it did not take a new form. Instead Murgil consulted his crystal ball and began conversing with something. He spoke for a while and I realised he was communicating with entities within his pocket dimension. So after upgrading my own royal ring I attempted to do the same.
I was able to sense each of the 209 people currently inhabiting Sanctuary. I was quite surprised by the numbers but after consulting with Dash she concurred that was accurate. However I was unable to establish contact with any of them. Murgil began to demonstrate the benefit of having a crystal ball both within a pocket dimension as well as with himself. Although it was just a fluke that he had been so prepared for the upgrade. I left the new future tasks to Dash and Lucretcia as the custodian of Sanctuary. And I also mentioned to Lady Darkrose about her taking over the gardens and agriculture in my royal pocket dimension.
After we finished up in the lobby we decided to keep pushing forward! The battles were getting much tougher and we were making a lot of use from Lucretcia’s healing incantations. We tweaked out strategies, and our equipment to reduce the risks of injuries on these powerful creatures. Finally we reached floor 60, another boss battle; This time, a giant three headed dog, cerberus. Again this battle was a challenge, but not a huge one. We struggled to grab the attention of more than one head at a time which forced us to spread out a lot more than we had been getting used to. But it soon became clear that we were in fact the most capable party currently in the world, and we defeated the beast. Again, even more treasure exploded from the beast. This time we found several powerful upgrades right away, their power was too much to ignore. A new crystal ball for Lucretcia, and a hand-me-down crystal ball for me. Then we moved onto the 60th floor’s lobby area.