The overwhelming smell of sulfur hit me the moment we snapped into existence on the fourth floor. A quick glance around showed we were standing in a similar golden circle as the first floor, a landing mat of sorts. The circle was located in the cleft of a valley consisting of red stone and, despite the smell pointing toward something volcanic, the air was temperate.
My gaze flicked to the corner of my vision to check the requirements to clear floor four and, despite myself, the corner of my mouth lifted in a small smirk. “I guess we’re going to blow off some steam on this one.”
[Tower of Trials - Chalcedony - Floor 4 - Nightmare Difficulty
Requirements to advance to Floor 5:
Defeat a combined total of 1,000 Imps, 200 Succubi/Incubi, or 10 Shadowfiends. Equivalent values include: 100 Imps = 1 Shadowfiend, and 5 Imps = 1 Succubus/Incubus.
Bonus: Additional rewards will be allotted for every multiple of 1,000 Imps killed.]
Raiju took a few tentative steps into the air before barking happily. “I can run like normal!” She continued spiraling up about fifty feet before bonking her head on some sort of barrier and slowly walked back down to the group. “I couldn’t get high enough to look over the walls, but I heard a lot of noise higher up. I think we’re in the middle of some sort of horde right now.” She looked over to find me limbering up with Ylsa in the middle of the circle. “What are you two doing?”
“Getting ready to kick some demon ass.” Ylsa picked me up and rolled me over her spine before I struggled to do the same for her. “Losing Jaegan…it sucked, but he would have wanted us to keep on living.” I hefted his staff and went through a kata I’d watched Arlo do a hundred times as a kid as he mimed using magic in the midst of his close quarters combat. “I’m going to see if I can put his staff to good use in honor of him.”
Some part of me knew I was just using the excuse of fighting in his memory as a crutch to avoid thinking about him being gone, but I pushed that thought down as deep as I could. I didn’t have time to deal with those emotions right now. They’d have to wait until I met with Dominus the next time I leveled up.
The [Mountain Tempest] bounced on the balls of her feet by the edge of the circle with [Storm Knuckles] already running as she stared straight through me. “Are we good to go?”
Bracing myself, I let out a big sigh before walking over to her and putting a hand on her shoulder. “With Jaegan…not here, I’m going to take care of the tactical side of things. OK?”
She hesitated a moment before nodding. “Tell me what you want me to do.”
“Your role is the same as it always was, you’re our vanguard. Take a lickin’ and keep on kickin’ as your lifesteal Skill puts in work. If you drop under twenty percent health, take one of these.” I handed her a trio of Uncommon [Healing Potions] in a leather armband I’d been working on during my downtime and a single [Megara’s Healing Potion V] I handed her by itself. “That’s in case you drop to five percent or less. I can get more, so don’t hesitate if you hit that threshold. If you run out, find me for a refill. Heard?”
She took the trio of Uncommon potions quickly, but hesitated to accept the Pseudo-Legendary for a moment before claiming it and slipping it in with the Uncommons after putting on the armband. Her nod let me know she understood what I wanted from her, I just wanted her to make it through the floor, regardless of the resources it might cost.
I turned around to address Volta, Voltaire, and Raiju, the remaining members of our once six man party. “Volta, Voltaire, you two are good to roam and snipe any [Imps] or sexy demons you see if you think you can put them down quickly. All I ask is that you keep an eye on the rest of us and help out if you see us getting overwhelmed. Raiju, you’re with me.”
The pair of [Arcweavers] bowed deeply before saluting with their first over where a non elemental elf’s heart would be. Raiju, on the other hand, started circling me like a dog herding sheep. She didn’t even bark as she went straight into guard mode.
“Let’s make Jaegan proud.” Before I could second guess it, I broke the line of the landing zone and the golden energy maintaining it faded. “Volta, fly up and scout. I want to know where the biggest concentration of demons is.”
Her form streaked up past where Raiju was stopped in the landing zone, and she flew up almost three hundred feet. A few moments later, she messaged the party.
‘The biggest concentration of demons is to the right of the exit from the valley, but I’d recommend we go left instead. That’s where the majority of the “sexy demons” are located.’
A moment later, a battlefield map appeared in the Party chat. ‘This is what I can see. It looks like they’re fighting each other for fun, but I haven’t seen any of them dropping, so it looks like they’re not going to do our job for us.’
The map showed a series of triangles I presumed to be the walls of our valley with a small gap near the top representing the gap I could see. All around us she indicated [Imps] with circles, while [Incubi] and [Succubi] were squares focused on the right side of the map, and the ten [Shadowfiends] were stars located equidistant from each other around the edges of the battlefield with dozens of [Imps] surrounding them.
‘Excellent work, Volta.’ I praised her efforts. ‘I agree with you. We should head for that group of sexy demons on the left. Once we clear them out, we’ll reassess. Voltaire, join your sister up there and hound us as we go.’
“It shall be done.” The male lightning elf disappeared in a flash before reappearing next to his sister. The pair drew bows made of blue lightning and waited for those of us on the ground to move.
‘Move out. I want at least two hundred [Imps] worth dead in the next half hour.’
I thrust Jaegan’s staff forward and Ylsa surged toward the gap in the valley like a bolt from a crossbow. It was obvious she really wanted to hit something. Hopping on Raiju’s back, she loped to follow the goliath toward the unaware horde.
As we exited the valley we’d appeared in, we found ourselves on the edge of a field of broken red stone. The only other raised landmasses in sight were a ring of mountains surrounding the plain.
This is a killing field…
The moment the last of us entered the open plain, the ground began to rumble as the red stone that made up the walls began to sink down into the ground. In less than ten seconds, we were left in the middle of a huge open plain, entirely surrounded by demons who were staring at where the valley in the center of their domain used to be.
Dismounting from Raiju’s back, I squared myself up with the enemies formerly to the right of our starting point, the mass of [Imps] with only a few [Succubi] to corral them. I messaged the party to include the [Arcweavers] far above. ‘The rest of you should continue with the plan, I’ll take care of these small fries and catch up.’ I rubbed a thumb across the head of Jaegan’s staff. ‘Volta, you’re in charge of watching to see if I’m about to be overwhelmed while I deal with these things. If you tell me to get out, I will.’
A deep whine came from Raiju, but she didn’t argue with me. She could tell I had something to prove and trusted me to deal with it as long as she was nearby.
Ylsa, on the other hand, wasn’t as keen on my new plan. ‘Are you sure? We could create a…’ She trailed off as I shook my head.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
‘Like I said, I’ve got the small fries.’ Pushing Mana through the staff, I summoned a quintet of [Arcane Cannons] to bob around above my head. ‘If you need me, let me know. This shouldn’t take too long.’
Putting my party out of my mind for a moment as I heard them working their way toward the [Succubi] and [Incubi], I focused on the field of enemies before me. There had to be at least four hundred [Imps] between me and the nearest [Nightfiend] and I fully intended to reap them all.
A quick push of intent was enough to start my staff boosted, triple damaging, [Arcane Cannons] firing toward the horde. Wherever their individual beams touched, an [Imp] exploded. With my basic safety seen to, I was able to focus on how I was going to deal with the horde at large. Focusing on the monsters in view, I let [Essence Reading] fill me in on what I was dealing with.
[Imp - Rank E Horde Monster
Level: 46
Vulnerabilities: Radiant, Cold
Resistances: Poison, Acid
Immunities: Fire]
[The weakest form of fiendkind, Imps are little more than fodder for the generals employing them. They range in size and color, but all maintain a range of resistances and an immunity to fire. The only things to worry about when combating them are their venomous sting, which can cause temporary paralysis and their ability to throw fire a short distance.]
They’re fodder, I can’t say I’m concerned if even at level forty-six, they can’t seem to stand up to…I guess I’m tripling all my Spell damage now, so maybe I’m a bad example. Either way, as long as they don’t get close, I’m not too worried about them.
[Succubi/Incubi - Rank C Monster
Level: 46
Vulnerabilities: Radiant, Cold
Resistances: Poison, Acid
Immunities: Fire]
[Two halves of the same lustful coin, Succubi and Incubi are fiends focusing more on the mind than their physical combat ability. Combating them can be quite easy as long as you don’t match eyes with them, for if you do their Lustful Gaze ability may drain your will to fight.]
I have to wonder if their ability would even work on me. I’m half tempted to let them use it on me to test it out, but everyone would be pissed if they figured out what I’d done…maybe if there’s just the one left? Nah, too risky. Maybe I can find a summoning Skill for one to test it out later.
[Nightfiend - Rank A Monster
Level: 46
Vulnerabilities: Radiant
Resistances: Acid, Cold
Immunities: Poison, Fire]
[The stuff of nightmares, Nightfiends stand at least fifteen feet tall and continue growing the longer they remain at this stage of evolution. Often serving as generals in the many armies of the hells, Nightfiends exemplify the peak of physicality for fiends. A single fist from even a weak Nightfiend is enough to destroy the average castle wall.]
Alright, something I actually need to worry about. I may have a lot of firepower, but my Radiant damage options still kind of suck. If I get into melee with one of these, I’m going to be in for a world of hurt. I really should wait for Ylsa or Raiju to join me before taking one of them on…probably.
With a thought, I sent the stats and descriptions for the monsters on the floor to the rest of my party through the Party interface before getting down to business.
Triggering [Air Step], I raised myself fifteen feet off the ground to get a better look at what I was looking at. My cannons were already putting in work as I watched them each taking out at least one [Imp] every few seconds. At that rate, we’d be able to leave the floor soon, but I didn’t just want to leave the floor, I wanted to destroy it.
Channeling lightning into Jaegan’s Staff, the head of it started to blaze with blue light as I crystallized what I wanted to happen with the gathered energy. While [Elemental Mastery] gave me a hell of a lot of flexibility in what I could do with my Mana, it had a not-inconsequential downside as well. Every single time I used it, I had to create the image of what I wanted. It was easy when I was just imitating a Skill I used to have or had seen used before, but when I wanted to make a change or, Dominus forbid, something totally new? That was a bitch.
What I wanted now was a combination of two Skills, with one being [Chain Lightning] and the other being [Fireball], but shifted to use lighting instead of fire. I wanted each point in the chain of the [Chain Lightning] to explode like a lightning based [Fireball] a [Sparkball] if you will. I’d toyed with the idea the night before, but hadn’t had a chance to try it out. Now I had the chance and I was having a bitch of a time with it.
I can visualize exactly what I want, but when I try to let the Mana loose in the pattern I’m thinking of, it doesn’t want to go. I have to be missing something! Maybe I should just go with [Chain Lightning]? I waffled about it for almost a minute, even letting a single [Chain Lightning] go as I thought, but I was unimpressed by the mere seven [Imps] it killed for the Mana spent. That’s not going to work, or we’ll be here all day. What would Jaegan do?
As my mind wandered, I remembered something Jaegan had told me around the campfire after learning about my past issues with magic. “Magic is easy if you let it be. Don’t try and force it to do what you want, let it do what it wants and you’ll always be good to go. That’s how I got my Unique Skill, [Wallbreaker]. [Magic Missile] was ready to evolve and I just let the System do what it wanted, I didn’t even look at the notification when it popped up.”
Crazy bastard, letting something so important just happen… sonofabitch.
Taking the electricity gathered on the head of Jaegan’s staff, I threw another two percent of my Mana into it and just let it go. The results weren’t exactly what I wanted, but they were damned impressive regardless.
The bolt of blue lightning leaping from the staff streaked toward a lone [Imp] rushing toward me, burned a hole through it, and barreled deep into the gathered group of [Imps]. It must have bounced from a dozen dead [Imps] before it really showed what it was meant to do.
The fifteenth chain bolt struck the leader of the section the Spell had ripped through, a [Succubus] with a blinding flash of light. The electric energy surged through her body, building and intensifying until she was a living conduit of pure electricity. Her form shimmered and distorted, her eyes glowing with an unnatural intensity. The succubus let out a blood-curdling scream as the energy within her reached critical mass. With a deafening explosion, the succubus’ body was consumed by a torrent of electricity, her form obliterated in a blinding flash of light. The air was filled with the acrid scent of ozone, and the ground trembled beneath the force of the blast, leaving behind a hundred and fifty-foot crater where the succubus once stood.
I stared down, stunned at what I’d just done when a System notification popped up in my vision.
[New Unique Skill Discovered - Resonant Bolt
As the first person to discover this Skill, it has been added to your list of Unique Skills.
Skill Dominance Mastery Increase: 41→46%]
“A whole new Unique Skill… and look at that [Skill Dominance] boost! Holy shit…” I took a deep breath before letting it out slowly. “I can’t say it was what I was hoping for, but I can’t say I’m disappointed. Even without Jaegan’s staff, I’m pretty sure it would have been pretty impressive. Took nearly seventy Mana to do it, but it was pretty damn impressive.”
‘Are you OK?!’ Raiju’s voice cut off my musings. ‘That was a big explosion! Were you in it?’
Shit, I should have let them know I was OK. I hurried to do just that. ‘Just testing out a new Skill. It seems like it worked out. I think it killed at least fifty [Imps] and a [Succubus].’
‘You don’t know?’ Ylsa deadpanned. ‘Typical for my liege, not taking care of his accounting.’
My dwarven sensibilities were offended. ‘I’ll have you know I have every coin I’ve ever had tracked down to the copper. As of now–”
‘Not that kind of accounting.’ She let out a surprising laugh. ‘I meant you never seem to realize how crazy the things you do turn out. We’re still fighting our first [Incubus] and you blew one up just now? Crazy.’
I kind of like the new Ylsa. Maybe Jaegan was a bit too much of a stabilizing influence on her and now she’s getting to spread her metaphorical wings?
I pondered what she said for a moment as my [Arcane Cannons] picked off a dozen [Imps]. ‘You might be right. I’ll have to work on that.’
‘Don’t bother, we’ll take care of that stuff.’ She assured me. ‘You just need to focus on being the brilliant [Suzerain] you were meant to be and we’ll make sure to document everything.’
The [Arcweaver] siblings chimed in their agreement along with Raiju.
‘Fair enough.’ I shrugged to no one. ‘I’m going to see how much I can push [Elemental Mastery] as I work on this horde. If you hear any big explosions, they’re probably me. I’ll make sure to message you guys if I’m in trou–’
A two hundred pound boulder flying hundreds of miles per hour cut my message short as it slammed into my shoulder, breaking it, and sending me spinning to the ground.