Kaden saw the [Rock Rollers] converge and activated his borrowed skill, [Ice Plate]. It drained two hundred points of mana, but coated the floor in solid ice, which Skully’s claws dug into, letting him leap and slide just ahead of the converging swarm.
[Freezing Gale] took another hundred points but blossomed out into a cloud that struck the swarm, slowing it.
You have helped defeat a boss monster (Rock Roller).
The notification rolled on over and over.
They were vulnerable to cold, and Kaden could have destroyed them at the nest.
Kaden kept them moving until they’d circled all the way back to where Sara stood.
“What happened to Skully?” she looked at the burn marks on what were now ankles.
“[Life Explosion] is powerful but has limits, and Kaden didn’t mention having an area of effect cold blast,” Eve said.
He was embarrassed to admit forgetting it. “Hey, why don’t we take Trella around hunting—why are our mages headed this way? How did they pass their trial that quickly?”
“White mage froze her column then assisted everyone else,” Sara said. “Hello, little darlings. Are you having fun on your big-boy hunt?”
“You!” The Nocto-Mage pointed at Kaden. “What are you thinking? We set out to kill the Krystaling. Your monster was dragging the corpse back to camp. A boss monster. All by itself. What else has it killed you didn’t tell us about?”
“Chill,” Trella said. “There’s like a hundred and fifty bosses in this cavern network. Maybe more.”
Kaden thought for a moment. “Where’s Trinity?”
“That Boss was our right!” The Nocto Mage shouted. “She should have backed down! I gave her a chance!”
[Moment of Speed] gave Kaden strength to sprint in the direction he’d felt Trinity. He found her laying on her side, one leg missing, her center head crushed by a block of ice. Her serpentine head had only one eye, but it trilled softly as he approached. “It’s ok, girl. It’s ok.” He pulled her into his soul and headed back to camp, a bundle of cold fury.
“Do you see that?” Eve asked calmly. “That’s the look of a man who’s realized that six gold truly isn’t worth the trouble you’re causing. Sara, are there legal reprecussions to allowing Kaden to dip them all in lava?”
“None,” Sara said. “They’re allowed to choose any challenge they want. I didn’t anticipate it being Kaden, but we’re not to interfere.”
The Noctomage struck, thick black chains coalescing from shadow to wrap around him. They cut. They cut deep. He didn’t stop, even as blood spurted. “Good choice, [Shadow Chains]. See that, Trella? Great spell. I’ll use something different.”
[Mana Drain] hit her like the legendary wagon-to-another-world Tavern Tales often included, and Kaden funneled the mana to Eve, who used it to heal the slices on his body. With no mana, her chains evaporated.
Kaden grabbed her by the face, squeezing. “Trella. Would you do me a favor and mark her with [Ink]? I don’t want her dead, so cut carefully.”
Trella [Shadow Stepped] right beside them, placing minor nicks on each arm. “Done.”
“Who’s Party Leader now?” Kaden asked. “It’s not her. It’s not you, [Life Mage]. You conspired with her to kill the others when you fought the Light Fairy. You would stop healing, the chain collapses, party wipe. What I don’t get is how you expected to get their crystals.”
The Ice Mage gasped. “The rewards are set when the battle begins. She’s the most powerful—”
“No Mana. No regen, thanks to [Ink].” Trella wiped her blades on her armor and sheathed them. “She’s your packmule now. Pick a new leader.”
“I am still in charge!” The noctomage shouted. “We’re only two miles from the exit, and my father will be there to celebrate—and punish you.”
“Two miles?” Trella seemed actually confused. “Two miles? That way? No. Two miles that way is the edge of this cavern. The whole network is bigger than I’ve been able to run in a day, even with endurance potions. I’m guessing you have a couple weeks if you don’t fight anything.”
“Which of you has [Cooking]? You? You’re now the most important party member,” Eve said.
What followed was the fastest election in history, as the [Ice Mage], a black woman named Neshad was quickly chosen as the new leader. The Water Mage with [Cooking] was second in command and looked deeply uncomfortable at the thought.
To Kaden’s surprise, they didn’t kill Osharam. They didn’t load her down with books. Stripped of her power both literal and figurative, she was now at their mercy, and Kaden was surprised to find they had any. Most [Mages] he’d met had been real dicks.
While the party made new plans, Sara called hers together. “Will Trinity have to reform?”
Kaden shook his head. “She’s heavily wounded but alive. Eve could heal her, but I’d rather we conserve mana. If this was just the first cavern, I don’t even want to guess what’s waiting.”
“Fewer monsters, larger bosses,” Trella answered. “Everything after this feels like it’s almost sculpted. Like someone collected [Fire Mana] bosses and packed them. I think they’ve got entirely the wrong idea about how this place is supposed to work.”
If they did, so did Kaden. “Tell me how it’s supposed to work?”
Trella looked around. “My best theory is that this is a gift. A gift those idiots are squandering. You’re supposed to prepare for an experience. Plan ahead. Pack gear. Learn skills. And then you stay. You level. You get stronger and as you outgrow one cavern, you move on to the next. They’re not earning the right to reach level twenty five, they’re supposed to be doing it.”
“I can see it,” Sara said. “Those six got the wrong message. They focused on a single hidden boss with a huge benefit. Surviving a trial is the minimum. They should be aiming to survive them all.”
Kaden sent the [Falcrow] to Ashi, but it refused to leave. “Ashi must have gone back to Vichor. She said her wraps weren’t enough to protect her from this place. Wren can’t stay down here for years. As long as you three are leveling, I’m happy to wait. Eve and I can cook, Trella can create water, and we can all get stronger.”
“Wren,” said Wren, “Is working on a suit of armor made of [Mirror Shields] and has made more progress down here than I did at the Academy. Wren is perfectly happy where she is.”
“The only thing we’re not allowed to do is force them to do something,” Sara said. “I say we make use of our time here. For every opportunity they pass, I want us to take two. Trella, is it possible to complete your map of this cavern?”
“Probably.” She unrolled it. “We have to pass through this section anyway, I left it because it’s small. The real problem is this arc here, near the [Rock Rollers]. Hmmm.” She walked toward the [Mage] camp. “It’s a real pity the [Rock Roller] swarm boss is vulnerable to area-of-effect ice attacks. Such a pity, since we heavily weakened them earlier.”
“Don’t listen! She probably just wants to kill us.” Osharam hadn’t lost her flair for dramatic.
Before Kaden could speak, Trella [Shadow Stepped] to stand beside Osharam, her Deception on the other side. “Between you and me? If she wanted you dead, you’d be dead.”
In trail of shadows, Trella burst back into existence beside Kaden. Instead of pale after images, her [Shadow Step] left deep, dark, actual shadows that continued to move on their own for a moment.
Neshad organized her party. “You can all stay here or you can come help, but I can wipe out this boss on my own.”
That was the spirit.
###
Each ‘day’ began with Sara checking in with the party to understand their goal: Rest, Hunt, or Boss? They were completely in control of decisions, but deciding was essential and communicating those decisions was no longer optional.
Kaden took Trella and Eve hunting, letting Trella level [Shadow Chains] and Eve grow more and more effective with [Life Explosion]. Eve hit level twenty seven the same day the Mages suffered a full party wipe, which strangely, they took better than their successes.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Trella returned at noon, out of breath and worried. “We’ve got a problem. Where are the mabies?”
“Eve and Sara escorted them to Golem of Fire,” Kaden said. “What’s wrong?”
Trella pointed west. “We have to leave. We have to leave now. I was doing an final pass on the first cavern. Look south.”
On the horizon, a bright line of red stood, like a coming sunrise.
“It’s a wall of fire mana. I think it’s meant to force people to keep moving,” Trella said. “I may have been slightly wrong about the purpose of this place. The Farportal we came in by is completely engulfed.”
Wren immediately stored her workbench and began packing, loading camp onto Skully’s back. She’d crafted slings for him, and Skully carried bag upon bag of materials reaped. Even Kaden’s inventory was getting full.
They raced to find Sara and explain the problem.
Osharam spoke for the first time in a week. “My grandfather warned me about this. He said you had to pick your pace. Go too fast and you’re not strong enough to defeat the final guardian. Go too slow and you’re turned to ash. The timer resets with each cavern you pass.”
“We should pass on into the next cavern. Preferrably far into the next cavern. Trella, how far have you scouted?” Sara kept her eye on the horizon. The glow was definitely brighter.
“I’ve been almost to the actual exit. Straight down the middle would be hard for us. The highest is level thirty, but they’re all level thirty, and it’s a gods-damned boss rush. The sides are more densely packed but closer to twenty six.” Trella looked to the mabies. “This is your expedition. Worst comes to worst, I’ll [Backstab] you all and stealth to the far end with your corpses in inventory.”
“We’ve barely gained three levels each. Twenty five isn’t far off, but if we die, it’s even further off.” Neshad’s tone said she’d made up her mind. “I have something differerent in mind. We form a [Raid Party] and push the middle. We’ve got two dedicated buffers, a [Life Mage] who’s probably on par with your [Transfusionist] and if you let Osharam regenerate mana, her damage output is phenomonal.”
Sara looked to Kaden.
He summoned Trinity. “Girl, your job—your only job—is to watch her. If she looks at us wrong, eat her, then kill her. Eve, purge the [Ink].”
Eve activated [Life Explosion] which both raised Osharam’s health and let her regenerate. “If we’re going to do this, we need to be clear, Sara calls the shots. She’s got more experience with boss battles than all of you put together.”
“There’s three we can probably bypass with a little planning and one we absolute can’t engage,” Trella said. “The third cavern is going to be different. It’s going to be harder.”
“Hard how?” Neshad asked.
“Best I can tell, all the spawns are mages who died down here. They have an [Ensnare] skill that makes it hard to fight back against them, and the truth is, they don’t need to kill us. They just need to slow us down.” Trella expanded her scroll and showed it to Sara “There’s no ‘around’ the first four, but it’s actually number eight that worries me. It’s a grind battle. If we have to go a long way around, it’s probably still faster.”
Sara nodded. “You’re the scout. Take us to the first boss.”
Trella lead them around a line of scorpions and detoured far past what looked like boulders, but she assured them were hibernating trolls. The ceiling arced downward sharply to an opening thirty feet across.
Kaden stepped through into a white rock floor that radiated heat.
You have entered the secondary training zone.
Zone timer is reset.
The rewards in this zone are greater, but the more you harvest, the less time you will have. Choose your opponents carefully.
Sara swore as she read the notice. “Buff up, the first boss is a regular, boring [Fire Boa]. Loot goes to the Mabies.”
Kaden dosed Remembrance with [Bleed] potions from Trella, took a sip of Mana Regen potion, and waited as three stacks of [Speeding Wind] hit. It felt like [Moment of Speed] as he raced toward the coiled Boa. Flames raced down its back and it struck as Kaden activated his on [Moment of Speed] to slam Remembrance’s hammer head straight into the boa’s nose.
Immovable made him a force of nature. The boss flipped aside, momentarily stunned, while Remembrance made the heat drift downard as it screamed. Kaden delivered an axe blow that chipped off rows of scales, then burned the stored up power in Remembrance to split the skin in a ten foot segment. “That’s your target!”
The boa whipped itself upright and slapped at Kaden with its tail—and a chunk of tail went sliding free as Kaden chopped with Remembrance. “It’s bleeding now. We’ve got this.”
Chopping the tail triggered the boss to back up. A vast hood swelled from its head.
Kaden broke all polite protocol, using Thorn Caster to deliver two stacks of poison before the Boss could finish its transformation.
With ice shards in its neck and shadow chains sawing at it from both Trella and Osharam, the fire Boa was dead before it knew it was dying.
Kaden [Field Harvested] the body and tossed fangs to the Mabies. “Move on. Next boss is a twin Fire Moth boss, the key is movement patterns, I’ll keep it busy, you knock them down.” Before they even engaged, Kaden opened fire with [Thorn Caster], poisoning both of the Fire Moths.
He boosted off of Skully to land atop one moth as it completed a ceremonial swoop, which was probably a funeral ceremony. They were meant to strafe mages, forcing them to learn the boss pattern and where to stand. Kaden used the Levicon blade to slice one wing until it began to waver.
“It’s Blasta all over,” Sara shouted, dodging a gout of fire to grab a moth leg and climb on board.
Their first dungeon boss. An unfair challenge. Spells thunked into the moth Kaden perched on, and it began to spiral toward the ground as the injured wing went limp. Kaden leaped off and switched to using the Eldritch Shield to block flames.
“Shoot faster” Sara called as she stabbed at the moth’s thorax. “Must. Shoot. Faster!”
The fire moth burst into flame, sending Sara leaping away, batting at her hair.
Oshara screamed as she triggered [Shadow Chains], lopping the boss’s head off its body. “That is what a noctomage is capable of! Next time…”
Trinity’s low rumble from behind Oshara silenced the shadow mage.
“[Field Harvest]!” Kaden collected both wings, both eyes and forced the Mabies to take them.
Trella was already ahead of them. “Crystal Goblins. It’s a wave boss. One, two, up to ten at a time.”
“Sara, [Mana Conduit] for the later waves.”
“Hold,” Eve called. “First, we overheal.”
Kaden’s health surged upward two thousand points as [Speeding Wind] struck. “Leave the first few to me. When they start to overwhelm, Sara will take care of them.”
The creature standing there looked a lot like a goblin, except it was see through, and clusters of crystals jutted off of its shoulders, eyebrows, and down its back.
[Crystal Goblin Horde - Stage 1]
The Crystal Goblins were normal goblins who couldn’t shake their love of enticing crystals, which slowly grew over their skin. But even the forces of nature underestimated the greed of goblins, because as it overtook them, their nature overtook it. Now they are their horde. Defeat a single goblin and its brothers will rise to take it back.
Skills: Crystal Smash, Crystal Slice, Spearing Charge
Talents: Stone Skin
Kaden activated [Moment of Speed] and brought Remembrance down on the first Goblin’s skull as it moved to spear him. [Immovable] broke its arm on the metal in his chest. Remembrance broke the goblin.
[Split Second] let him twist to dodge a crystal sword that tried to slice his throat open. It didn’t do a damned thing for the one that stabbed deep into his back. Kaden threw himself forward, then brought Remembrance down overhead to smash the arm of the stabby goblin, then caught the thrust of the other goblin and picked it up to hurl it at the other.
You have acquired a [Mortal Wound].
You have acquired a status condition: Heavy Bleed.
“Eve!” He shouted, even as [Life Explosion] struck him. The bleeding stopped.
The health loss didn’t. Kaden had bigger problems to deal with, using [Split Second] to leap back as three Crystal Goblins materialized in a crescent. Drawing on Mr. Dervish’s training, he didn’t commit to an overhand swing, instead moving constantly, waiting.
The Mabies were finally earning their keep. [Shadow Chains] and ice blasts struck over and over—and inspired Kaden. He used [Ice Plate], trusting his heavy boots to keep traction.
The first [Crystal Goblin] to lunge slipped—and shattered. Four more appeared, as a wave of water washed over their feet and froze into ice. Kaden summoned his [Eldritch Shield] and charged, bashing through the crowd. Five, Six, Seven more took their place, too crowded to swing their weapons.
“Sara!” Kaden shouted.
You have channeled [Lightning Bolt].
Chance Procedure Activiates! [Lightning Bolt] strikes as [Chain Lightning].
[MultiTasker] provides targeting bonus!
Thankfully, Sara didn’t stop to see if she’d succeeded, because now Kaden stood in a mob of goblins.
Neshad Cobb is requesting permission to use [Mana Channel] [Y/N]
Sometimes, you had to take a risk. Kaden accepted.
You have channeled [Glacial Blast]
A wave of ice blasted out from Kaden, followed by chunks of ice that left [Crystal Goblins] destroyed. Kaden had to kneel to catch his breath. “Health is still going down.”
“[Mortal Wounds] do that. You’ll loose your entire health amount. If you had five hundred, you will loose five hundred, even if you’re healed.” Osharam sounded eager to be helpful. She probably had a [Mortal Wound] skill. “That’s really bad luck. All Mortal skills have at most a two percent chance of activating.”
Even less with [Leader of the Pack].
While Eve refilled his health, Kaden studied the remains. “There’s nothing to harvest. There’s always something to harvest. Even Torrods have jaws you can harvest.”
Trella shrugged. “You win some, you lose some.”
But Eve hadn’t moved. “Did you get a decent [Identify]?”
Kaden shared the logs.
“They have become the treasure. The treasure is them. There’s nothing to harvest because they are treasure.” Eve waved to the crystals. “Do your thing.”
Kaden waved to the Mabies. “You heard Eve. Do your thing. This loot is yours.”
Skully lingered behind after the Mabies took shards, stuffing crystals into Inventory, then loping forward to catch up.
Trella hadn’t moved forward. She studied her map, then turned to Sara and Neshad. “This isn the same. I recognize this boss but it should be near the exit, not a quarter of the way through the cavern. I don’t like it when bosses change. Do we hold while I scout, start fighting our way around, or plunge in?”
Sara waited for Neshad to speak.
“Hold?” she asked.
“Hold,” Sara confirmed. “We need to regen from that last fight, and it will only get worse. Can you safely scout?”
Trella was already gone.
She came back an hour later. “Look at the scroll. Look at it!”
Kaden took it and watched as clearly labeled bosses swapped places, then swapped again, and again. “It’s a pattern.”
“Possibly. Or it could be the scroll can only show what we see and I haven’t seen something key.” Trella put it away. “There’s three bosses I really want to avoid and one we absolutely must not engage. That means there’s more bosses left to avoid than fight.”
The exit from the first cavern was a blinding wave of red and the wave hadn’t even reached it. Kaden considered what the zone message had sent. “Stealth. Ignus said he’d seen teams make it through without defeating anything. It’s possible to [Stealth] your way through it, but we don’t even need to do that. I know how to Portal. Trella, take me to the next cavern. I’ll open a Portal back to here. We don’t have to leave but we can choose our battles.”
“Do we get a vote?” Neshad asked.
Sara nodded. “The only vote that matters.”
“We watched what you did back there. We’re stronger than we ever could have been, but there’s not a chance we could take on these bosses. We’re done,” Neshad said. “We’re entirely done.”