Starfall.
A powerful magic that uses the constellation of Artemis to unleash arrows of starlight from the night sky. Targets enemies that are illuminated by your moonlight. Requires a short chant and strength relies on how much mana you provide.
Mana Cost: 1% - 100%
Lunar Blessing (Complete)
Using the constellation of the Eye of Odin, increase your strength or the strength of allies. Provides the following bonuses:
20% Increased Strength
10% Increase Agility
Imbues the power of star or moon light to the attacks of allies (Waxing and Full Moons will increase this power)
Relaxes the users body, removing any fatigue, stress or exhaustion during the duration. You will be affected by the accumulated fatigue, stress of exhaustion once the duration ends.
Mana Cost: 500. Can only be affected once a day.
You have forgotten Moon Glow.
You have forgotten Star Dust Fists.
You have forgotten Astral Ice Wind.
You have forgotten Lunar Barrier.
Magic
Alisha, the Aspiring Hero
Lunar Magic: Astral Ice Magic: Wind Magic: Lightning Magic (Incomplete): Lunar Lullaby Astral Glacial Spikes Wind Explosion None Lunar Blessing Gale Armour
Your Lunar Magic Tier has increased to 3.
A Hidden Condition has been met.
Wave Complete! Time Remaining till Next Wave: 9:30:00
Leaning back and sighing, I looked around at the group sleeping. Stroking Aubrey’s hair while she used my lap as a pillow, I kept an eye on the other group. Joan was throwing us angry looks through the darkness. I knew she couldn’t see me since she never once looked at me, but she continued to glance towards us hatefully. Her reaction told me one thing, Amelia hit the nail on the head.
Amelia’s plan was spectacular. Thinking back, the moment the doors opened we had been prepared. Amelia used her Domain for the first time, and I started to understand why she could be a bit scary. Her Domain was called out as “Blood Well”. It was something referred to as a “Remote Domain”, she said it could be used away from herself. The Domain wasn’t a separate dimension, it summoned a vast large amount of blood from the ground and covered everything within the area.
The blood massively weakened enemies, those weaker than her might as well have been level one. Because the enemies had yet to emerge from the door and beyond, all of them had been hit, and with the Starfall I had prepared, the wave had ended seconds after the doors opened.
The downside was that Amelia would be unconscious for a day. Bloom told me that the blood that was used came from the enemies she’d killed and it became cursed while stored in her Domain. I asked him if it was related to the Blood God, but Bloom said it wasn’t. From what he knew, her magic aligned to warfare, specialising in weapons and the blood of the fallen.
Sighing and leaning back, I thought over what happened in Selenia’s realm. From my understanding, she had taught me the basics to how to fully utilise Lunar magic. She told me she’d wiped all the knowledge I had before from my mind, as well as all knowledge of certain spells that would hinder me or couldn’t become stronger.
Looking over the Status windows once again, I sighed as I let them disappear. I had offered to stay awake to keep watch over the other group while everyone got a full rest, something they haven’t had in days. Going off how Joan was glaring towards us, I couldn’t help but feel frustrated.
Top Kill Counts:
1. Joan: 2,589
2. Alisha: 2,391
3. Leon: 2,245
I hadn’t been on this list before now. Amelia had shared a theory while telling me the plan. This Joan wasn’t angry that people had died, she was angry because I had killed all the monsters. When I asked her the reason behind it, she shrugged and said it was a guess. Between her and Bloom, they had never heard of Joan before and the same went with Aubrey, who usually knew every Silver or Bronze Grade.
Eating a ration cube and passing a monster core to Alice, who was now on my head, I thought over the next plan. With Amelia out of commission, this time Leon would use his Domain to bind and damage as many monsters as he could. If we couldn’t kill everything, Alice would bind them while Elizabeth worked to finish off the remainders.
I had asked why we didn’t do this before and Bloom answered simply. Having a spell as powerful and widespread as Starfall wasn’t common, and Bloom only knew three others outside of Gold Grade that could perform it. Otherwise most used controlling spells for larger areas. So even if we had sat at the doors and binded them from the beginning, all the monsters would’ve eventually broken free and swamped.
Selenia had also warned me about becoming too reliant on magic as well. I was a fighter, not what she called a “Mage”, meaning my strength laid in fighting up close and personal. She’d taught me Starfall since it used both star and moon light in a way that could be used to create or inspire more spells later. She’d said at some point magic like Starfall would become a trump card and not to rely on it, since enemies that were aware could easily deflect, reflect or dodge.
As the countdown slowly ended, I knew when this whole thing was over I would have less than a day to get to the twentieth floor. I’d still attempt it regardless, I wanted to know where I was in strength. With ten minutes left on the countdown, everyone had awoken as we sorted the last of our plan. Amelia was still unconscious.
As we moved to the doors, a very faint amount of mana pulsed from Leon for a second. To avoid Joan and her group from knowing we were doing this again, Leon made the darkness around the doors deeper so we couldn’t be seen. Bloom would act and use his Domain to distract them in case they attacked, since Leon and I would be exhausted.
As the doors banged open, Leon used his Domain silently as a mass of tendrils spewed out of the walls and ground, binding and harming the monsters. At the same time, I finished using Starfall and massacred almost every enemy. Only a few dozen survived and Elizabeth quickly finished them with Blazefyre. I had recovered most of the mana this time, but I could tell that the next wave would be more difficult.
“WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!”
“Ah, so Amelia was right.” Chucking, Elizabeth turned to me and helped me up.
“We’re killing the monsters so we can get out of here, isn’t that what everyone wants?” Speaking loudly, Aubrey asked her a question back only to be met with silence.
“Ah, she can’t do anything.” Turning to Elizabeth while tilting my head, she giggled. “Still got that habit when you don’t know? Well, Joan just rallied people together to make sure they survived, and now we’re here killing the monsters before they can even leave the gate. If she tried to kill us, they would turn on her. If she tried to order them to hurt us, they would turn on her. To think, she only cares for the so-called additional rewards and being the number one. What a selfish person.”
Knowing what she meant now, I turned to look at Joan. We had discussed possibly just killing her, but Bloom said it would be impossible. He told us he suspected she was a noble brat and that it would be impossible for her to not have an escape in the form of the stone tablet that Aubrey had shown me before. He also said if she were to try and cause problems, they had a back up plan.
When I asked what he meant, he just grinned. Resting again, we had over nine hours again, this time I decided to sleep.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
***
Wave Completed! Time Remaining till Next Wave: 5:00:00
Exhaling while keeping myself steady, my mind spun as I felt the mana exhaustion. I had recovered all of my mana before this wave and used 95% of it. This time, Alice had been the one to tie as much down as she could, Leon also helped. It was more difficult, but the enemies we faced were still weaker compared to their level, this time it was about level 30.
We had discussed the reason for why the monsters weren’t as strong as their levels showed, and the one to answer was Aubrey.
“Mutations aren’t good or bad. This mutation is a bad one, can’t deny that, however there is always a balance to them. For us, this mutation is horrifying. By all rights this should’ve been an impossible mutation to overcome, since not only did at least six floors mutate to create this place, it also brought all adventurers on those floors here.”
This was something I’d learnt while speaking to Elizabeth. Bloom and his team were currently on the eighteenth floor, where else we were on the twelfth. We weren’t sure if it was all floors from the eleventh down to the nineteenth, but at this point it didn’t matter.
“As I said though, mutations are just good or bad, there are upsides to them. One of those upsides is the mutated quest and the monsters being much weaker. The mutated quest may offer rich rewards, or no rewards, so it doesn’t matter too much, but it did make these waves of enemies weaker…I think.”
“How do mutations happen?” As I ask, Aubrey shrugs.
“No one really knows. Some think it's the System that causes it, some believe it's a natural phenomenon. All we know is it can just happen randomly or with set conditions being met.”
Closing my eyes while the rest continued to talk, I rested to recover as much mana as possible. Amelia said we would avoid approaching the doors this wave, since it’s the final wave it’s highly likely it’ll be different like the fifth wave had been. As the countdown hit ten minutes, we checked over our equipment.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw movement, and looking I found Joan and the group she was with moving towards the doors. Out of the fifty or so that were first here, only our group of six remained while Joan’s group had seven. By the looks of things, she was attempting to replicate what we had done. Quietly sharing this with the rest of the group, Bloom looks over at the door and smiles.
“Ah, well, let’s just watch shall we?” Giggling, Amelia too turned to watch. Without any planning to save any of them, we watched as the countdown slowly ended. If they killed the wave we wouldn’t care, we just wanted to get out of this damned place.
With a bang, the doors exploded out as the System came up with a new message.
Mutated Quest Update:
With the fall of Her army, the commanders sent one of their own to ensure that those who still stood fell.
Wave 9/10 Completed, Wave 10 starting.
“Heh.” Hearing a chuckle from Aubrey, I watched as the doors slammed open to reveal a massive red spider. A naked female’s torso came from its midsection, and the moment the doors opened, its eyes locked onto the group right in front of it, Joan’s group. Without warning, it swiped two of its front legs at the group who were completely unprepared, instantly killing four.
Without skipping a beat, a magic circle lit up underneath the last three, including Joan. At the last second, Joan threw me a hateful look, or at least looked in our direction, before crushing something in her hand. The moment it was crushed a blue glow encased her as she disappeared. The magic circle invoked, sending spikes made of some strange earth upwards, piercing the last two.
“Amelia, ye got that, right?”
“Yup. Abandoning adventurers in the middle of a threat, coward.”
Hearing Bloom and Amelia talk, I felt a bit confused. What did Bloom mean by ‘got that’? Not having the luxury of time to think, the monster turned its head towards us.
Level 45 Commander of the Red Army, Kian
Army of Lilith
Health: ???/???
“Maybe this one doesn’t match its level either?” Hearing a comment from Elizabeth, I shook my head. Pairing up with Xia, the others also got ready as Aubrey retreated all the way back. Invoking the wind around me, I once again looked forward to fighting up close to it. As we discussed, I opened the fight as we had planned, by singing.
Visualising a full moon, I opened my mouth as I got close to Kain.
“Sleep well, and don’t you fear.” Dodging its leg it threw out, I let my voice sing out loudly. During our downtime, I had been using Lunar Lullaby and as the System said, they soon grew immune to it after four times.
“For the moon will always be near; guiding you through the darkest of nights.” As I sang, my voice was more pure than the first time I had sung this due to knowing how to utilise the moonlight within my mana realm. Hearing a roar, the monster turned its head to me as its eyes were slowly glazing over. At that moment a magic circle appeared directly in front of it as from the human mouth it spat out a big ball of web that quickly spread out.
Using my wind, I blew the web to the side while I pivoted to dodge the rest. The magic circle finished and a massive hand appeared from it, reaching towards me. Xia created a large purple shield that stopped the hand's approach but it quickly cracked. Running around it, I finished the lullaby.
“Close your eyes and drift away; into a land of make-believe; where all your dreams shall be received.”
As the song finished, I saw the monster's eyes completely glaze over, but almost right away the effect started ending. Hearing Bloom shout, I quickly leaped up with Xia by my side as I threw a heavy punch at the female torso as Xia cut into its spider body. Bloom joined me while Amelia joined Xia. Slamming a punch down, the torso was rubbery, I couldn’t pierce it but I knew it had done damage.
As Bloom and I laid into the monster, its eyes regained its clarity but with some haziness to them. Pushing myself back with Wind magic, I landed on my feet as the boss stared angrily at us as a familiar energy came from it. Domain…
“Tsk, ain’t she a toughie. Amelia!”
Crushing a gem in her hand, a flash of blue light spreads as a message comes from the System.
Domain Restricted.
“Tsk, another 5 Mithril coins down the drain.”
The Domain from the boss stopped as Bloom called out to Alice and Leon. Alice had at some point started sitting on Leon’s head, and it wasn’t hard to understand why, the two got along very well. Elizabeth had said it was likely due to the two of them sharing the same type of magic.
With a cry from Alice, a large talon rose up from underneath the monster and grabbed it, trying to pull it down and pierce it. With a clap of his hands, Leon summoned a giant raven head that bit down on two of the monster's legs, tearing them off.
I knew Leon was level 42, while Amelia was 43 and Bloom 40, yet seeing the difference in the strength was astonishing. Amelia used her magic to summon thirty weapons of various shapes as they bombarded the monster. Without letting up, Bloom moved in, drawing his fist back slowly as a swirl of energy and mana appeared around it.
Reaching the monster quickly, he punches out, the fist explodes with a blue blast of energy, blowing half the monster's torso off. I remembered when I punched it earlier, the most I had done was likely bruised it. I had been told my stats were about ten levels higher than those at the same level as me, yet here I was watching these three easily damage this boss. Even Elizabeth was doing something.
“It’s something you need to learn, Alisha. Teamwork. You’re hesitating because you don’t know how to approach, right?” Turning to see Aubrey had arrived at my side, I nodded as she hugged my arm.
Watching as Bloom’s team decimated the final wave by themselves, I saw no chance to even get a punch in, they worked together so well. The only one who didn’t seem to do much was Alice, but I could sense she felt excited. Smiling, I started to realise I had a lot of shortcomings.
Sure, I could effortlessly kill monsters my own level, but they were mindless beasts that only knew how to attack. The Blade had shown me that I lacked so much when it came to adapting while fighting, Selenia had shown me my foundations in magic were severely limited and filled with missing knowledge, even if I had improved my Lunar knowledge I still had a long way to go, especially with Wind and Lightning.
Watching Bloom’s team made me realise just how little I knew when it came to fighting as a team. I had fought with everyone back in Crater, and compared how the four in front of me were working it looked terrible. Shaking my head, I smiled. These shortcomings would help me, I knew that as well.
“Aubrey?”
“Mm?”
“Let’s go home.”
“Giving up? You can still make it there.” Turning my head, I smiled as I looked at her.
“Mm, not giving up. No, I just know what I’m missing now, what I need to learn, what my shortcomings are.” Watching as Bloom’s team finally killed the monster, I chuckle to myself. “I might be able to kill mindless monsters Aubrey, but imagine if we weren’t fighting monsters who were weaker and mindless in this place. What if this was a real, thinking army with powerful people? I’d have been dead in the first wave, Bloom and his team would’ve survived a little longer but I wouldn’t.
“And that’s okay, cause now I know. I want to learn more before I come back here…no, I want to fight things more powerful than this, and perhaps work with others to do so.” Turning, I see Aubrey smiling at me while hugging my arm more tightly.
“I said it before, I’ll come with you. Don’t forget we have Xia.” Gazing at Xia, she’d been watching Bloom’s team as well, and seeing me glance at her, she moved over and bowed. We waited for everyone else to come over before I told them I was planning to leave. Alice jumped into my scarf and made herself comfortable before falling asleep.
“A mature decision, Alisha, and the correct one as well. May I ask though, what was the purpose of this task, if you don’t mind me asking?” With curiosity, Amelia smiled at me.
Telling her about the ceremony, Alexander’s declaration and his task for me to become his disciple, Leon shook his head while Bloom looked thoughtful. For some reason he sent a questioning look at Aubrey.
“His disciple, huh? That’s a big deal, Alisha. Are you sure you don’t want to continue?” Patting me on the shoulder while asking, Amelia looked a bit concerned.
“Mm, I just realised my shortcomings. Becoming his disciple sounded like the best decision for me at the time, but now I’ve realised my shortcomings I know the path forward for myself. I don’t need him as a Master to forge my own way forward.”
“HAHAHAHA!” Loudly laughing, Bloom looked at Elizabeth. “Ellie! Isn’t she just a gem?! Well said Alisha! HAHAHA!”
Wondering what was so funny, a new System message appeared.
Floors are returning to normal, mutation ending.
“Aubrey. Wait for us on the twelfth floor, resting zone four. We’ll meet up with you guys and head back together. I’m a bit concerned that bitch might try something, so let's go together.” Speaking quickly, Amelia waved to us before vanishing from our eyes, the void showing for a second before we seemed to reappear in a corridor.
Looking around, Aubrey smiled. “Right where we left. Resting zone four is about an hour of a walk from here, can you fight Alisha?”
“Not alone…” Turning to Xia, I smiled at her. “I’ll be relying on you, Xia. Watch my back, I’ll watch yours.”
Seeing her eyes reflect surprise for half a second before it returned to being emotionless, she simply nodded and placed her hand on her sword. The air around her seemed to change…she seemed happier?
“Alright, let’s go.” Still hugging my arm, Aubrey took the lead as she half-dragged me along with her. Smiling, I felt relieved. Relieved that I was finally starting to figure out more about myself and about where I needed to improve.