Tec Mage Chapter Eighteen: Water And Bosses

Atlas entered the gnolls home after giving the secret knock and password, as he walked in he was hit with the hot stale air, Atlas started to cough slightly, he didn't worry about it to much, he had found out that he could enchant stones with gust and they produced a small wind thus circulating the air, Atlas made sure to talk to his apprentices and Nelious first

"Are you ok?" asked Mary

"Yes, just a little trouble" replied Atlas as he picked up Forge and placed him on his shoulders, "fuut your'e getting big there Forge"

Mary was looking at the hole in Atlas robe and the blood stain material, her eyes was filling up with water, it was the first time Atlas had seen her like this and it was just plain weird, this was the girl who mange to withstand the teaching of the monster blacksmith dwarf, the girl who purposely sort out the male dominant skill of blacksmithing and had succeeded in her craft

"It's ok, i'm fine" said Atlas

"It's just we're always such a burden" it turned out that Mary was crying over her weakness and not Atlas damage

"It's fine, we can fix that today, but lets get you ready for that" said Atlas

Mary wiped her tears with the sleeve of her tunic, when Atlas looked over at Dracken he looked shocked like this was the first time seeing Mary in this state as well

"Ok" said Mary

Before anything else Atlas made the cave more comfortable, he placed small enchant rocks of wind on the roof of the cave clearing the air, after that Atlas made two extra belts the same as his, he filled the belts up with potions and gave them to Mary and Dracken

"Lets get your future weapons made" said Atlas

Atlas had brought more iron ore with him because the mines didn't produce that much, Mary had loads of strength and she told Atlas her plans to increase her strength to make blacksmithing easier, with these thoughts Atlas and his apprentices made two weapons for her, with the combined efforts of Atlas, Mary, Dracken and even Forge the work was easy and quick

The first weapon the group made for Mary was a massive two handed spiked steel war hammer with a big spike at the top of the hammer and a sharpened bottom, the handle had a leather grip and a guard that also had spike's on the out side, Atlas and co also made a smaller weapon for her, a single handed hammer with a long handle and a spike on the other side of the flat hammer head

For Dracken it was harder, Dracken was a speed type but the only weapon mastery he had was in spears, Mary had gain spear mastery but because she was a hard core blacksmith she had gained hammer mastery as well

Atlas decided to make Dracken twin short curved swords, a shorter sword can be drawn from the scabbard qiucker and the swords wouldn't get in the way of stealth or quick attacks

"Dracken i want you to use the short wooden swords in the barrel and practice with Nelious in till you've got the mastery over the weapon" said Atlas

Dracken was looking left to right "who is Nelious" asked Dracken

Atlas had forgotten they couldn't see a spirit, seeing him all the time made Atlas forget he was unseen by others, instead of explaining with words Atlas went to the cart and lifted the new scarecrow off the cart and set it up in a corner

"This is Nelious" Atlas pointed at the scarecrow, Dracken was confused and he was about to say some thing when suddenly the arm of the scarecrow lifted to it's head in a salute and nodded at Dracken

"WHAT IS THIS" shouted Dracken, he was taking a step back

Normally Dracken had a cool head but this was big, in Dracken eyes Atlas had made a sentient being, never before had Dracken heard about this let alone see it, Atlas placed his hand on Dracken shoulder to calm him down, Atlas quickly told Dracken about Nelious and about his training for possession

"Oh, oh" Dracken sounded a bit disappointed, making life would of been big news and a apprentices to the person who did it would feel pride to his master

"With Nelious help we can increase our skill growth faster, i think a real fight gives the best skill growth and this is the closest i can make it" explained Atlas

Atlas handed Dracken his wooden short swords and gave him a small push towards Nelious, back at the forge Mary had started on the twin swords

Atlas left Mary to make the twin swords while he started on Dracken secondary weapon, Atlas was creating kunai throwing knives, the weapons was just a simple short knife with a ring at the end, after the weapons were made Atlas modified the main weapons of both Dracken and Mary, for Mary giant two handed war hammer he hollowed a foot from the top of the metal handle and slide a chain down it, he also removed the head of the hammer and attached the chain to the head, this allowed the hammer to be used as a normal hammer but if there was need for some distance a button could be pushed to extend the weapon by a foot, a chain allowed swinging in a circle this would give even greater damage, the other modification Atlas made was to the bottom of the hammer, he cut the handle and threaded both pieces so the screwed on to each other, again the bottom was hollowed out but this time a short blade was placed in the handle, the whole weapon was as long as Mary and incredibly heavy, if for some reason she was over come by a faster enemy she could discard the hammer and twist the handle to gain a long dagger, with this Mary could deal wield, a one handed hammer in one hand and the long dagger in the other

For the modification for Dracken weapons Atlas put inch long spikes on the guard, this would allow Dracken to disarm other weapons by locking them in the spikes, in the handle Atlas put springs and blades so that if by chance Dracken was having trouble with a powerful enemy a button could be pressed and small knifes would come out of the bottom of his swords, all the weapons Atlas and company made were made from steel so it had a level cap of 50 so they couldn't use them yet

Mary had already placed her new weapons in her bag, so Atlas picked up a new belt filled with steel kunai and picked up the twin curved swords, Atlas walked over to Dracken and Nelious, a crowed of gnolls had surrounded the+m, all the gnolls were looking at what seems to be a man fighting a scarecrow but they were amazed because of it fighting back, Atlas didn't blame there interest, after all this was a rare sight for any species, Atlas pushed passed the gnolls to get to Dracken, he was using the wooden swords with ease, the Aikido he taught him he was applying to the fight, he was keeping close because the scarecrow couldn't move from the spot but he was still side stepping, evading and blending the attacks using the weapons in his hand, Atlas thought that he had improved so much so quickly made Atlas full of pride

While Atlas watched Dracken train he realised that he had skipped an important piece of training for his apprentices, in Aikido foot work and unarmed hand to hand training comes before weapon and Atlas had only taught them foot work and weapon, Atlas would have to fix that after they came back from hunting

Atlas called out to Dracken, with out taking his eyes off the scarecrow Dracken backed off and joined Atlas

Atlas handed Dracken his new weapons and belt, he showed Dracken the way each piece worked, Dracken tried to test the weapons but the level wasn't right and it refused him, after that Dracken placed the weapons in his bag

"Did you get the mastery of the weapons" asked Atlas

"Sword mastery and duel mastery" answered Dracken

"That was quick" said Atlas

"Yea, i think it was due to the combat with Nelious" replied Dracken

Everything was ready, Atlas invited Mary And Dracken to his party and changed Forge's class to pet again, Loki had log off and so Atlas had to carry on with out him, Atlas asked for the 50 strongest gnolls to accompany him and they all started to move in to the cave system ware Atlas had found the fish men, Atlas didn't meet up with any fish men as he moved though the cave system, he had purposely blocked the cave in different parts with clay hand so that the fish men couldn't move about if they spawned there and due to the fact there was no fish men Atlas concluded that they didn't spawn here but moved here from a different spawn location

The group had made it just out side of the massive underground lake, Atlas made a hole in the clay hand wall he had made last time, the room was in complete darkness, Atlas moved his mana flare in to the room, Atlas was correct to be careful of this room for this was were all the fish men had concentrated, Atlas moved his mana flare around the room to gather how many there was, while Atlas was roughly counting the fish men he noticed more was coming from the water every now and again

Did they spawn from the water, or perhaps a different place, the huge lake had a small river flowing in and out of the lake so the water level was constant, and because of that it wouldn't be strange if they did spawn from the out side and swam here

Atlas brought back his mana flare and turned to Mary and Dracken, he started to explain what he was going to do

Atlas started to speak in a whisper "the fish men are blind but have great hearing, so we are going to position are lights like so"

Atlas mapped out the plan on the dirt floor using his staff/spear, he scratched out the choke point he had all ready made

"I will position my mana flare at the beginning of the choke point, this will allow for for us to see what's coming, your flare's will be position either side of us, so if they did brake though we can see each other and help" Atlas said while he drawed circles on the map

Atlas had no problems with the fish men before but this time he had brought people who couldn't respawn if they died and this made him plan more, Atlas explained the fighting technique he use last time where he placed fire traps on the wall so when the fish men passed they would be pushed in to each other and a new fire trap, as he finished his explanation he added on some more

"When they come down the hall way, use your magic freely in any way you see fit, i and Forge will be at the front of the choke point casting our spells and you two will be just a little behind and beside me in a triangle shape" said Atlas "Finally if i should fall then you go straight back to the gnolls home leading these gnolls and stay there in till i return, got it?"

Both Mary and Dracken nodded, for his final preparation Atlas spook to Nelious

"You can hover over the heads of the fish men with your steel tipped wooden spear and attack, there weakness is the giles on there neck" ordered Atlas

"Got it, chief" answered Nelious

Atlas started to bring down the clay hand walls that blocked the entrance, the results of the killing was even better than last time, Atlas concentrated on fire traps while Forge fired fire balls, Mary and Dracken didn't have a lot of mana but due to the potions Atlas had given them it didn't matter

When the first couple of fish men were blown off there feet by Atlas spell Mary and Dracken was shocked, they hadn't seen Atlas use offence spells to kill before and the power was completely different

"WE CAN'T BE A BURDEN FOREVER" shouted Mary, she didn't have any spells that caused projectile damage but she did have her gust spell, her gust spell was stronger than Atlas due to the fact she used it on the forge all the time, the wind didn't do any direct damage but with Atlas explosions and Forges fire balls it melded and caused stronger fire damage

On the other hand Dracken class was of a mage so he could duel cast like Atlas after practising, he had some water based magic but that would weaken the attack of the others and so Dracken used his magic missile, Drackens affinity with magic leaned towards lightning and that was the reason his magic missile was lightning based, he fired double magic missiles at the fish men's head, neck and belly

The combined magic's worked well with each other, fire and wind feeding of each other and electricity running thought the fish men who seemed to be greatly affected by it

Clearing out all the fish men only took half of the time it did before, the gnolls had picked up the dead fish men and carried them back again, Mary and Dracken had gained 47 levels from the battle and Atlas and Forge gained 10 levels, Atlas still had the experience boast from discovering the dungeon and he was able to share it with his apprentices

In the darkness Atlas could hear splashing as more fish men left the water, Atlas was sure now that the fish men were coming from some where else, Atlas destroyed the new fish men that left the lake, he didn't need more coming at him from different sides, a new plan had raised in Atlas mind, a plan that would increase the security of the gnolls, increase there space, make then self sufficient and bring down there reliance of him, before the last gnoll left with the fish men he asked then to bring all the stones that the gnolls had mined while he stayed with his apprentices to clear out any more fish men that came out of the lake

Atlas wanted to cover the out side of the lake with fire trap but that would take time and it took two fire traps to kill a fish man, to stop the fish men from interfering with his plans, Atlas turned off his Avatar Of Fire skill. it couldn't increase in skill in till he found some moonstone and Forge didn't need it any more now that Atlas had enchanted the iron bracelets with fire magic, Atlas activated Ice walk and started to walk slowly nearer the water, the ice flowed all around Atlas and seeped in to the water freezing the top, with each step Atlas took forwards the ice got thicker, Atlas was standing at the edge of the lake and step on to the ice that had all ready frozen, the ice started to make noise's and tip to one side, Atlas was stumbling and sliding a little, after he gained he's balance he walked on top of the lake some more, with more ice expanding on the lake's surface and the remainder of ice getting thicker Atlas could walk freely, when Atlas first walked on the ice it was like surfing but now there was a raft of ice, it didn't take too long to cover the surface of the lake with ice, every now and again he would hear thumping on the ice as the fish men tried to get to shore, Atlas walked over the top of the lake some more to thicken the ice

Atlas was walking over the lake a third time when he saw the gnolls bring his cart full of stones cut from the gnolls mine, Atlas slide all the way back to the shore and with the help of his apprentices, Atlas marked the area around the lake with stones, after that he got everyone too dig a trench around the lake about a foot deep, with 60 gnolls, three apprentices and Atlas all with mining skill above level five they were done in no time at all

Atlas had architect skill above intermediate, this allowed for simply wooden huts and stone walls to be erected with in seconds by using mana and materials near to the hand of the architect , walls using the stones that the gnolls brought with them were skilful put up in the ditch using the skill, Atlas ordered the ditch to be filled in after he put up the walls, this happened all around the lake in till there was a 15 foot wall around the lake, by using the skill and the massive amounts of skilled labour the whole processes was completed quickly

The lake was still frozen because Atlas was still going over it with his ice walk every now and again to stop it from melting, this was excellent training for the skill, Atlas hadn't finished, the walls were strong but a combined attack could fall them, they needed to be thicker, as Atlas went around the wall checking it the gnolls were playing on the ice, they had seen Atlas skating on top of the ice while freezing it and wanted to do the same and it turned out they enjoyed it

Atlas was looking at the playing gnolls, he was worried about there safety, In the beginning Atlas was indebted to the gnolls for releasing Loki and he promised to help them, but now instead of been bound by a promise he had gained feelings for them, the feeling had gone from a family pet to a member of the family and now to a mother who worried about them, it was time to stop helping them and help them to help them self for Atlas knew he wouldn't be around forever, but for now they could play, they did work so very hard that they deserved a brake

Atlas started to use his clay hand to move earth against the wall, clay hand could of been used to make the wall around the lake but the wall would of taken the same effect as the earth under it and most of it was soil and it would of been easy to tear down, by sandwiching the earth between a second stone wall and the first Atlas could save on stone but make it almost just as strong, if any fish men tried to push the wall down they would need to be able to move tons of earth and rock witch Atlas knew that they didn't have the strength, just as Atlas started on the steps leading up to the top of the wall Loki came down

"You've been busy since i've been away, what are you making, it looks like a Colosseum" said Loki

Atlas didn't thick about making a Colosseum but now that he thought about it having a building that filled multi-purpose would save time, space and effort, with a Colosseum he could train the gnolls, feed them with the fish men, have a supply of fresh clean water and have a place to play

"Why not" said Atlas to him self, the construction of the Colosseum would take a long time to make if Atlas was doing it alone, just on the top of his head he decided to teach the gnolls crafting skills, but before that Atlas dropped on to the ice, he had his hammer and chisel in his hand and he worked his way around the in side of the wall chipping any foot holds away, the fish men couldn't jump over the wall or swim out of the water fast enough to make it over but they could climb if they had a hold of the wall

"There finished" said Atlas the walls were smooth as steel, there wasn't much chipping Atlas had to do because the gnolls had all ready cut the stones in to uniformed sizes and they fit together very well, Atlas wanted to test the new simple Colosseum right away

After ordering the gnolls out of the Colosseum though a small arch way he had left unfilled he started to lay down fire traps on the ice surface, Atlas left the Colosseum and filled the hole with stones using his skills, he made his way to the top of the wall with 60 strong gnolls that all had there weapons from when they lived in the bloody gnoll clan, Atlas had a brief thought about making better, stronger weapons for them but for now he was testing the Colosseum, he ordered the gnolls to space them self's out along the wall and asked them to keep alert, each of Atlas apprentices was spaced out across the wall, even Forge was taken part, Forge was as big as a medium sized dog and now the gnolls didn't accidentally step on him, Nelious was floating around the wall with his steel tipped wooden spear and Loki was on the wall but he had change his weapon for a pickaxe

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When every one was in place Atlas started to throw stones at his fire traps, the fire traps were invisible to the eye and only became visible though movement in there area but Atlas had Magical Aura Of The Eye which allowed him to see mana in it's raw forms, with each rock that hit the ice a fire trap spell erupted and started to melt the ice, it didn't take long for the ice to melt, the fish men started to go to the shore but was stopped by a wall that they had never felt before, being blind they started to follow the wall around, all the gnolls knew not to make a sound as the fish men would be attracted to the noise, 5 minutes passed with more and more fish men coming out of the water and being stopped by the wall

The first test was how strong the wall was, Atlas started to tap on the wall with the help of many gnolls it became a racket, many fish men heads turned around and started to make there way to the noise, when they got to the wall they started to go mad and scrap there fingers against the walls, the fish men had higher levels than the gnolls and had greater strength but there fingers had no natural weapons like claws and so did no damage to the wall

Atlas pointed at Dracken, that was the signal for Dracken to make noise on the opposite side of the wall, the fish men turned there heads and followed the noise, when they had left Atlas jumped down and check the wall, the wall had no damage but the fish men had clawed at the wall so hard that they had cut opened the hands and left blood over the wall

With the help of two gnolls reaching down Atlas was pulled from the Colosseum and was on top of the wall again, the test was a success, the walls were strong and the gnolls would be safe from the fish men, Atlas wanted to see how the fish men reacted when they were attacked in a opened space like the Colosseum

"ATTACK" shouted Atlas

The gnolls with spears on the wall started to attack the fish men, with there long reach they were safe and could freely attack the fish men with out worry, every one was attacking the fish men, now that Mary and Dracken had reached level 50 and a bit above they could use the new weapons Atlas had made, Mary was using her new weapon by hanging the huge war hammer from the wall and swinging it around, the war hammer was just long enough to crush the heads of the fish men, Dracken was use his throwing weapons but Dracken had tied a steel wire to his kunia's so that after throwing the weapon at the necks of fish men he was able to recall it with a sharp tug of the wire, Forge was using his fire ball spell and Nelious was just stabbing at random, Loki was doing nothing, with the short reach of the pickaxe he couldn't hit any one

Things were going fine, when the gnolls with the spears got tired attacking they would step back and hand over there weapon to a different gnoll, Atlas was going to step back and leave the clear up of the fish men to the gnolls but then he heard a noise that gave him a small chill

A gnoll had fallen in to the Colosseum, when he landed the gnoll gave a sharp yelp, this attracted more fish men, the gnoll had attacked a fish men but the fish man had grabbed on to the spear after it had pieced him and pulled the gnoll off the wall, the gnoll had backed it self to the wall which had saved it life due to the fact the other gnolls were keeping the fish men at bay with spears but the one who had pulled the gnoll off the wall was much closer and was about to strike at the gnoll, Atlas couldn't see the floor where the gnoll was because of all the dead fish men and that meant he couldn't cast clay hand or fire trap to protect the gnoll, Atlas was out of options, suddenly just before the fish man could strike, a kunia stabbed the fish man in the neck, Dracken had seen everything, with all his strength and the strength of the gnolls standing beside Dracken they pulled the fish man off his feet and left him dangling below Dracken, Loki who was around Dracken at the time and swung his pickaxe and buried it in to the fish man's head with an all mighty crunch, the fish man started to shake but then he stopped and died leaving a limp dead fish man on a wire

Now that the fish man was out of the way Atlas could see the ground, he raised the fallen gnoll off the Colosseum floor using his spell clay hand and placed the gnoll on the wall, Atlas got ride of the hand so that the enemy couldn't climb up it

It was a close call but due to the quick actions of Dracken the gnoll was safe, after the place was cleared of fish men Atlas gave a thumbs up to Dracken from across the wall, Dracken was being patted by the gnolls for saving the life of one of there own and Dracken was smiling in fact he was beaming, Atlas hadn't seen Dracken smile before and it was a nice change to see one of his apprentices happy

While Atlas froze the lake again the gnolls collected the dead fish men, while Atlas put the finishing touches to the lake Loki came to him

"Did you see a boss monster? there is all ways a boss monster in dungeons" said Loki

Atlas wasn't quite sure if what Loki said was true, he had read that bosses do live in dungeons but not all ways

"You know you should find and kill it before the bonus of finding the dungeon runs out, you get what ever they are carrying" said Loki

Atlas didn't care strongly about boss monsters but it was a unknown, what if this boss monster could jump the wall or had a skill that hurt and killed the gnolls, Atlas couldn't allow this

Atlas knew where the boss would be if it existed and that would be the lake, Atlas had a plan but he wasn't sure it would work, breathing was the main problem with underwater dungeons

Atlas had made enchanted glass vials that held 10x the amount with the same size, the bottom of the vials had a small glass tap and the cork was also different, it had a glass straw that went threw the cork and all the way to the bottom of the glass vial, the end of the straw had a small cork on it as well, he picked up one and used gust to pour as mush air in to it, Atlas knew that compressed air was used in tanks for diving in the real would but this way would still give him 6 to 7 lungs full of air before running out even though the air wasn't compressed

Atlas made 25 bottles in the same manner he then placed 15 of them in his belt and gave 10 to Loki, the only people that Atlas wanted to come was Loki, Nelious and Forge, Nelious was already a spirit and didn't need air, Loki was a player and if he died he would be respawned in 4 in game days and Forge was in his pet title and if he died he could be resurrected in 4 days

Atlas tied rocks to his feet to weigh him self down, Loki did the same and Forge wrapped him self around Atlas, the spear that Nelious used had to be put in Atlas bag because it was made out of wood and would float

They were ready or as ready as Atlas could make them, Atlas recasted Avatar of fire for the extra warmth it would give Forge, Atlas and Loki moved in to the water up to there head, both of them had a bottle in there hand, taking deep breaths they submerged there heads

Swimming would cause the air in there lungs to run out faster and walking with there stones on there feet would be slow, Atlas understood that they had a limit supply of air so he used his clay hand to move under water, using clay hand to push him and Loki along the bottom of the lakes floor they easily found a cave leaving the lake, the cave was still under water but was darker then even the area around the lake if that was possible but Atlas had a light source, his mana flare was able to be use under water because of Atlas neutral magic affinity, Mary's flare was fire based and would need oxygen and would be extinguished in the water but not Atlas's mana flare

Atlas was running out of air and so was Loki, Atlas turned his bottle upside down and placed the glass tube in his mouth he was about to turn the tap on the vial when his attention was brought to Loki, Loki had uncorked the bottle right side up and the air had left all at once, he was able to get a mouth full of air before it ran out, Atlas rolled his eyes but then stopped, the water was stinging them, Atlas gained the attention of Loki and showed him how to do it

With an upside down bottle Atlas turned the tap on the vial, the water rushed in to the bottle filling up with water and thus pushing the air up and though the glass straw where Atlas took a deep breath filling his lungs with fresh new air, Atlas offered the glass straw to Forge in the same way as he did for himself, Forge just shaked his head to refuse the bottle, it turn out that Forge didn't need as much air to live

Atlas carried on with travelling underwater using his clay hand, every now and again they stopped to take a fresh new breath from the air bottles, Loki was wasting a lot of his air with trying to get the air in his mouth, just as he was getting half way though his bottles he started to move back to the Colosseum, Atlas was quite sure he could make it on his own by using the current that they had been working against

It was just Atlas, Forge and Nelious and with out Loki the pace quickened, Atlas could use two clay hands on him self and moved though the water with ease, after many twists and turns Atlas came to a hole in the ceiling of the cave system, there was more cave to explore but Atlas needed to refill his air bottles, carefully Atlas brought his head out of the water and sent his mana flare a head, the new place was big and wide, all along the wall was broken wooden creates with iron bars on the floor, the wood had rotten a lot, some thing had been kept here and escaped, maybe the fish men but that was speculation

Atlas left the water quietly, he didn't want to draw attention to him self by making to much noise, out side of the water Atlas used the spell gust and his skill Avatar of Fire to dry his robe and hat, while doing this Atlas asked Nelious to scot ahead, while Nelious was away Atlas checked the area out

There must of been at least 150 crates that had been broken and rotted by water and time, there was also barrels that had been ripped a part, nothing was in side them or on the sides of the broken barrels

Nelious came hurrying back and if he had lungs he would be out of breath

"What did you find" asked Atlas

"There's a small corridor that has a cave in to the left and a door straight ahead but there's a fish man, or what looks like a fish man trying to get though the door" replied Nelious

"What do you mean, what looks like a fish man" asked Atlas

"It's bigger and has a different face, it seems to have bigger fins as well" answered Nelious

Atlas gave Nelious back his wooden spear and made his way to the door, looking though a crack in the door Atlas could see the back of what looked like a fish man but Atlas could see a red name above him"Razor Fin"

Atlas knew he was the boss, Atlas had a sip of antidote and so did Forge he casted his ball of fog and poured poison in it, the poison mist seeped in to the room, Atlas wasn't sure if this technique worked but it was worth trying it on a bosses huge hit points

Razor Fin was still looking at the door as the poison mist reached him, Atlas spent 10 minutes using his ball of fog to weaken Razor Fin, Atlas entered the corridor to see if the poison was taken effect but with his first step caused a explosion of light, the floor rippled with light and the light spread to the walls and ceiling

Ding

Atlas didn't check what the message was because he was being rushed at by Razor Fin, Atlas lifted his staff to block the hands of the boss monster, Atlas used his Perceptual Chronometer skill, this skill slows down the perspective of time alloying for more time to think, the first thing Atlas noticed with Razor Fin face right up on his was the eyes, they had colour and light, unlike the other fish men Razor Fin could see, Razor Fin face was more shark shaped than fish, the other thing was Atlas was losing ground to the strength of Razor Fin, Atlas used the buff The Way Of The Frenzied Wolf gave him increased strength and speed from sacrificing intelligence and wisdom but even with the buff stacked 4x he was still losing ground, Atlas pushed his left gauntlet against his spear, this push all of his test tubes that were attached to the gauntlet, healing, mana, antidote and a buff that increased stats like strength, but even this wasn't enough

Fire trap was a spell to be used when the enemy was away from Atlas, too close and Atlas would be caught in the spell as well, clay hand needed Atlas to have a free hand to cast a big earth hand that would cause damage to a boss, Forge couldn't use his spell without hitting Atlas

Razor Fin was pushing down on Atlas, Nelious was attacking Razor Fin's gills but the bosses skin was as hard as steel and the metal tipped spear couldn't pierce it, just as Razor Fin was going to bite Atlas face off Forge dashed forwards and bit Razor Fin on the shoulder, this angered Razor Fin he raised his hand to strike Forge down, Forge closed his eyes as the hand came closer to him but it never came, Forge opened his eyes to find Atlas had catched the punch with his hand, Atlas strength wasn't as great as Razor Fin's but his speed was now on equal terms and he was able to intercept his punch

Atlas only had a short time before his buff ran out and then he would truly be out classed but some thing had changed, Razor Fin was struggling and sweating, the more time passed the weaker Razor Fin got in till finally he screamed out in pain and passed out

Razor Fin was still alive but unconscious on the floor, Atlas had seen and felt the same thing before, it was the venom from Forge, it didn't kill but made your mana feel like it was burning, this was how Atlas gained Avatar Of Fire, there was little time before Razor Fin would wake up but when he did he would be even more powerful than before, Atlas stabbed at the weak points he knew the fish men had, the neck and the belly was the fish men weak points but the skin or scales of Razor Fin was too strong or Atlas didn't have enough strength behind his attacks, this was a problem, if Atlas couldn't hurt it then he would be the one to die

Atlas didn't even try with his fire trap spell, fish men had resistance against fire and Atlas guessed that the boss would be even higher, instead he used triple clay hand to hold Razor Fin down, he wrap a earth hand around Razor Fin's neck and giles and one on it's mouth and noise, Atlas felt bad doing it this way, suffocating Razor Fin was the quickest way Atlas could think of to get ride of Razor Fin, when Razor Fin started to shudder Atlas knew it was near the end of it's life,

"Ding"

Atlas checked the messages

You have discovered Moonstone ore, depending on how well you processes the ore will grant new and better effects with your Avatar Of Fire skill

With every step Atlas took the room light up, this was because the whole room was made of Moonstone ore and physical movement or energy was the ores energy supply, Atlas carried on reading the other message

You have levelled up

You have levelled up

You have levelled up

Atlas was looking at the body of the boss, he felt it was an anticlimactic end for a boss, the boss didn't drop any thing but Atlas didn't expect he would, all the fish men had never dropped anything before but Atlas still needed to harvest the boss, cutting the skin was near impossible, Atlas just couldn't pierce the scales with his spear or knife and the whole body was covered in them, Atlas pulled a small glass vial out from his bag, the liquid colour was creamy white, Atlas uncorked the vial and poured the liquid on to a single point of Razor Fins belly, as soon as the liquid touched the scales of the boss it started to sizzle, the liquid was acid but it was pretty weak so Atlas had to keep pouring the acid on the same spot

When the acid had done it's job Atlas could put his knife in to the belly and cut the skin from the inside out, the harvesting went smoothly after that, Atlas placed the blood, teeth and eyes in to vials and cut the flesh up in to manageable slices, the bones were stronger looking than fish men so Atlas didn't grind them up but just packed them away, all the organs was packed away and Atlas cut in to the stomach and drained the acid in to a vial, as Atlas was draining the acid out of the stomach some thing bright and shiny fell out in to the vial, Atlas lifted the glass vial up to his eye to check the bright thing

"Identify" said Atlas

Moonstone that has been refined in the stomach acid of Razor Fin, it's still could be refined more but the added refinement has made the stone glow brighter with less energy

"Ahh so acid can help with refinement of ores" Atlas said to him self

Atlas finish packing Razor Fin away, he started to talk to Forge

"You saved us Forge" said Atlas

Forge would of gone bright red with embarrassment if he could but instead he just stammered

"N N No it was a te team effort" Forge replied while his tail hit Atlas shoulder from nervousness

"What about me" asked Nelious

"You tried, but you and i need more training, or things like this will just happen again" answered Atlas

Nelious knew Atlas was right but he still was a bit miffed at what Atlas said and he went quite

Atlas picked up his bag and moved to the door that Razor Fin was looking at, Atlas had kept his skill Magical Aura Of The Eye on all the time to increase the rating but this time Atlas could see a red swirling magical energy on the door, Atlas reached out for the handle when suddenly a bright light blinded him

End Of Chapter Eighteen