Tec Mage Chapter Sixteen: Shooting Fish In A Barrel
Atlas returned to royal road earlier than he had said, having a good night sleep before coming on line filled Atlas with a good feeling, reappearing out side the cave he tapped on the steel door Mary had made
"tap, tap..... tap, tap...... tap, tap, tap"
This was a code for the gnolls, there was also a hole for them to check who it was, but you first had to knock the code, a pair of yellow eyes appeared from a hole, a grunting came from the hole, this too was a code, the leader of the gnolls had taught Atlas a couple of words in gnoll
Atlas needed to listen carefully, Atlas didn't understand what the gnolls said but was told that the appropriate response was a low growl with a snap at the end
When the door was open it turn out that some one had reinforced the door more than last time, there was two big metal bar that fell over the door when it was lifted up and the door it self had metal bars reinforcing it, Atlas thought that it was due to Marys work
The first thing Atlas did was check on his apprentices, Dracken was reading his messages from his pigeons and writing down his thoughts, Atlas new he had brought the pigeons with him but left the looking after them to him, Mary was doing a spot of mining, not much metal work needed to be done, Forge was also mining but he had a new iron bracelet on, his growth was faster than every one in Atlas group
Atlas felt the mine was getting bigger but the air was getting more stale, Atlas had a plan for that but in the mean time he used gust while the door was opened, many eyes turned to him and Atlas saw lots of crocodile smiles, if Atlas hadn't seen these smiles before he would feel scared, Atlas apprentices came to talk to him, Dracken had a pigeon in his hands and released it out of the door
"Welcome back, were you busy?" asked Dracken
"Hello, no, not really, those pigeons don't come back here, do they?"
Atlas didn't want pigeons coming back and showing any one where the hidden gnolls home was
"No, it's one way, it's so i can give orders to my captains, i will need to go back to the town and pick up my pigeons and messages up soon" explained Dracken
When Dracken had stopped talking Forge came wiggling over, Atlas bent over and placed him around his neck
"Have you decided what you want to do about becoming a pet for the time we go exploring" asked Atlas
"I don't know, my pride wont allow it" explained Forge
" Don't you trust me" asked Atlas
When Forge heard these words he tighten around Atlas neck and the top half of his body stood to attention "no, no i do trust you but, but"
"i don't see the problem, only you and me will know bout it and i wont tell anyone if it upsets you that much" said Atlas
Forge's tail was twitching because he was confused and upset
"Think about it some more and give me your answer when i'm ready to leave for the caves" said Atlas
Atlas placed Forge in to the flames of the camp fire
Mary was hard at work mining and when Atlas used his Magical Aura Of The Eye which allowed him to see all mana he could see that Mary had also learnt the skill "The Way Of The Frenzied Wolf" which increased stenght and agility while sacrificing intelligence and wisdom
Atlas was feeling a bit guilty with his apprentices, he him self had gained a class that allowed him to master all crafting skills but what about them, if the rules were the same for npc then they couldn't learn a skill past a certain level with out a class, " when we get back home i'll make sure that they get a class like mine or at the least a class that they really want
Atlas couldn't do anything for them now so he looked for Loki, Atlas and Loki was the only two freedman here and Atlas plan was for both of them to explore the new cave system, if they died then there was no big lose, both of them would be back on line in a day, unlike the rest of the group death was permanent and a great loss would be felt though out the new tribe
Beast came over to Atlas and started to show him were the new cave system was
Atlas asked were Loki was
"He left like you did" said Beast
That answered that, Loki was off line and Atlas would have to wait in till he came back before he explored the caves
When Atlas was waiting for Loki to come back on line he started his chorus again, the older gnolls had brought so much raw ingredients that not only all his enchanted bags were full but so was Mary's and Dracken enchanted bags were full too, most of the food that Atlas had prepared for his absence was gone and so he started to cook again
All the ingredients had been prepared by the older gnolls, meat was striped from the bones, organs had been cleaned, fur had been treated and even the bones had been grind in to dust ready for potion making, they had copied Atlas actions and made it very easy for Atlas to make tasty food with little effort
Sausages, blood pudding, roasted, salted, smoked meat, thick stews, pate from the liver and mushrooms, roasted vegetables and all types of food were made from the stuff they had gathered, so much food was made that it took the whole day and three new fires with pots and pans to make,
The potions Atlas had left to brew was ready, the new ingredient, bone dust had made the potion a darker red colour
"Identify"
Potion Of Regeneration Healing And Fortitude
increases health regeneration by 300% for 1 hour and 20 points in fortitude
Normally the potion would have been a simple healing potion but with one new added ingredient it had turned into some thing different, Atlas poured the potions in to his enchanted test tubes that could carry 10x more with 5x less weight and placed them on to his belt that he wore over his shoulder down to his waist, after he cleaned the flasks and other enchanted things he started a new batch of potions using more bone dust
Loki was still not back and Atlas didn't want to waste his time, so mining was the next thing to carry on, Atlas skill in mining was increasing super fast, the three skills he used over and over again helped him to increase there efficiency, first was mining
Mining beginning level 5
Able to mine faster and more efficient,
Each level increase hp by 500 permanently
Soul Drain beginning level 4
Able to take mana from a any host by physically touching them and fill lost mana that the user has lost
When Atlas was low on mana he would offer a drink and some small thing to eat to the gnolls then absorb mana from the gnolls that wasn't doing anything
The Way Of The Frenzied Wolf beginning level 5
Effects last 10 minutes
strength +5
Agility +10
Effects last 1 hour
Wisdom -5
Intelligence -10
Can be stacked up to 4x
1x cost 100 mana
2x cost 300 mana
3x cost 900 mana
4x cost 1800 mana
When Atlas reached level 5 in the skill he was able to stack one more frenzied wolf buff for a total of 4
After hours of in game mining Loki came on line with a skip in his step, Atlas thought it now could start
"Are you ready to go exploring" asked Atlas
"Hold on there, i've only just got back on line, how about a hello" said Loki
Atlas was a tiny bit out of practice with greeting people " you're right, hi, i will leave you to your preparations, so get ready, ok"
"That's better, ok, i understand, it wont take me long to get ready" replied Loki
Atlas wanted to make sure every thing went smoothly so he advised all work on the mine be suspended and the old gnolls stay in the mine instead of hunting and foraging, the entrance was closed off and all the gnolls was given weapons that had been made by Mary, or the gnolls old weapons repaired, the strongest gnolls were lined near the entrance to the Cavan in a v shape so if there was anything coming they would be prepared
Now Atlas was ready he asked Forge one last time what he wanted to do
Forge's tail was hitting the floor and his head was swinging from side to side, Atlas could see that Forge was having a hard time deciding what to do, he wanted to go exploring but some thing deep in side of him was telling that he was more than a pet
Atlas decide to speed things along "i vow to any gods that hears this, that my apprentice Forge will be returned to apprentices after we finished exploring this cave system and i won't talk about this to anyone apart from Forge and who ever he agrees to, by punishment of complete striping of my power and skills"
Forge didn't look any more happier, Atlas saw this and thought some thing was up
"What's wrong" Atlas asked
"I don't know, some thing tells me that i'm too good for being a pet" replied Forge
"Don't ever let you pride stand in the way of what you want to do, you may regret it later" said Atlas
Forge was still undecided, "that's it" Atlas thought, he picked up Forge and spoke clearly while looking Forge squarely in the eye
"You want to come with me" said Atlas
"Yes" said Forge
"Then you have to be my pet that's all there is to it, think about it in the way a master is giving a order to a apprentices" said Atlas forcefully
Forge didn't say anything and just nodded
"Ding"
You have a new pet
Pets are dependent on there masters, if they die they can be resurrected by the master sacrificing two levels, when pets get revived there is a waiting period of 4 days and they lose a level
Atlas wrapped Forge around his neck, "your job is to keep a eye out and defend me, i will do the same for you"
Atlas needed to know about Forge stats but asked for the permission from him first
"It's fine, i guess" Forge had a little attitude but Atlas forgave him, he was a good kid really
"Stats and skill window for Forge" Atlas called out load
[Character Name: Forge] [Alignment: Neutral]
[Level: 6] [Profession: Apprentice]
[Title: Imugi] [Fame: 20]
[Health: 4275] [Mana: 6900 ]
[Strength: 37] [Agility: 37]
[Vitality: 37] [Endurance: 135]
[Wisdom: 52 (+40)] [Intellect: 52 (+40)]
[Concentration: 61]
[Luck: 5] [Leadership: 0]
[Attack: 0 - 5] [Defence: 20]
[Magic Resistance: Fire resistance 120%
Blacksmithing beginner level 5
Mining beginner level 3
Fireball intermediate level 3
Tail whip beginner level 4
Forge stats were ok but he got triple points in mana and hit points, unlike Atlas who for every 1 point in vitality he gained 25 hit points not to mention Forge had a spell in the intermediates
"Your going to be a big help when we go exploring" said Atlas
Forge tail was shaking, Atlas noticed that Forge would shake if he was happy but he was still pretending to be angry and wasn't talking as much
Atlas checked his gear, every thing was in place and fully repaired, Loki was waiting for him beside the rubble that blocked the entrance to the Cavan
"Ready?" asked Atlas
"Ready" replied Loki
The gnolls opened up the cave system by moving the rubble to one side, Atlas, Forge and Loki quickly went to the other side
"Ding"
DUNGEON: You are the very first players to discover Hidden cave.
Reward: Fame +100.
Every day for one week, double EXP and double item drops. The rarest items will drop from killing the first monster of each type. Subsequent kills will drop common items.
The gnolls started to block the entrance again, "Don't forget every one if the worst happens leave us and retreat back to the bloody gnolls cave" said Atlas
Just as the last rays of light was being blocked, Beast buffed them, he waited in till the last moments so the buffs would last the longest time possible
The group was in total darkness, Atlas activated his Magical Aura Of The Eye skill, this allowed him to see mana but it wasn't high enough level to see all the mana in every thing, just magical traps and creatures
Nothing, there was no magical energy that he could see "Forge, can you see anyone" Atlas was hoping that Forge had the special ability to sense heat, like snakes do
"I can't see anything with so much heat around you, or i need some light" explained Forge
"How about you Loki" asked Atlas
"All i can see is the dark in front of my face" replied Loki
Atlas sighed, he had little choice but to use his mana flare, so he could see, better to see what's coming than death in the dark, the mana flare would show there position if he wasn't careful, Atlas adjusted his flare so it barely emitted light, the cave they were in was a one way, working there way down deeper in to the caves for 10 minutes, it was slow work because even though they had light, it was only enough to see a couple of feet a head
Atlas suddenly turned his light off, he hadn't seen anything but heard a shuffling a head, with his eye skill activated he could see a small bobbing mana orb, Atlas wanted to attract it towards them so he casted a mana flare beside the floating mana orb
Atlas felt shocked about what he had seen, a 5 foot tall fish man, the face had teeth of a angler fish and the top of his head had a fin in the shape of a mohawk, the rest looked like a man's body except the web feet and hand, a tail hung from where a man's bum would be, the whole creature was covered in green scales and most surprising was it wasn't reacting to the light
Atlas used full power on the light to see if it would take notice, the fish man didn't react at first but slowly start to take notice of the light, it would appear that the fish men were almost completely blind, this made Atlas feel better, now they didn't have to be in almost complete darkness
Atlas started to tap his spear against a stone, the fish men had excellent hearing because when Atlas tapped the rock with the first tap the fish man came to investigate
When the fish man was further in the dead end cave, Atlas used his spell clay hand but instead of killing, he grabbed the creature, the monster was struggling and the clay hand spell started to loosen and crumble, these monster were stronger than the level 50 gnolls who Atlas managed to pin down using the same technique
Atlas used a second clay hand to reinforce the first but the creature just struggled harder and the 2nd clay hand started to deteriorate as well
"I don't think it's working" said Loki as he stepped forwards with sword in hand
"Wait" said Atlas, he didn't want to kill for no reason, he wanted to talk to it first, Atlas used the clay hand spell in a different way, the two clay hands were useless as they were broken and couldn't be used to hold anything, Atlas brought his hands up in a cupping motion, earth hands erupted from the ground again enclosing around the fish man body, Atlas didn't have long before the earth hands crumbled, Atlas with his hands still up in the air then brought it down, the earth hands that was pinning the fish man body started to descend in to the earth, pulling down the fish man with it self
When Atlas was finish with the spell only the head of the fish man could be seen, he was still struggling but with tons and tons of earth on either side of the fish man he couldn't move a inch, Atlas could now take his time with the monster, first he tried to talk with it to no avail, it was snarling and biting thin air, Atlas started to use the same techniques he had used to gain the trust of the gnolls, Atlas couldn't see any injures but most of the creatures body was underground, Atlas brought out a week healing potion and placed it in the fish man's mouth, instantly the fish man started to bit on the glass and drink the potion, before the potion could be finish the glass broke and blood stated to pour out of the fish man's mouth
"This guy is insane, look at him, even though there's glass still in his mouth he biting down just as hard" pointed out Loki
Now that Atlas was closer, he could see that the fish man's eyes were pale white and darting around, "maybe it's insane with hunger" said Atlas
Atlas feed the fish man with the food he had packed but no matter how much food he gave to the fish man he still had the darting eyes and snapping jaws, Atlas didn't know what to do "we need more info" said Atlas
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Atlas keep the fish man underground but magically placed a earth hand over the mouth of the creature, Atlas thought it was weird that the fish man hadn't called out for help
The group moved on and after 10 minutes of walking and meeting 4 more fish man and grounding them, they came across a small room with three big fish men, Atlas told Loki to stay there while he went ahead with his sneak skill, Atlas hide near a rock and was listing to what the fish men were saying
Nothing, none of them said anything, Atlas was there for 5 minutes when a smaller fish man walked in to the small room, the small one had scars on his chest and a very small limp, what he had in his hands and mouth looked like a very big piece of scaled meat, the small fish man was eating the meat and doing a loud job of it
Atlas spotted the three big fish men turn towards the noise and quickly and quietly moved towards the noise, Atlas assumed that they were going to steal the food but when they got to the small fish man some thing different and more terrible than Atlas could think of happened, they rushed the smaller fish man and started to rip it apart, Atlas could hear the screams of the fish man and the wet noise as the three bigger fish men was eating him alive
"CANNIBALS" thought Atlas, it started to make sense, from the first time they meet a fish man and the fact it didn't scream for help, it new it would be killed and eaten, now Atlas thought about it when he had seen the smaller fish man come in to the room with a mouth full of scaly meat, it was eating it's own kind, it also didn't matter how much they filled there stomach with there brothers, they wanted more, Atlas new this was the case due to the feeding of the first fish man and what these animals were doing right now
Atlas made a hypothesis, the creatures couldn't be reasoned with, they didn't have a clan or family that they cared for just like real fish, no armour or weapons suggested that they had no culture, Atlas with what he had seen so far came to the conclusion that they were purely instinctive breed with no intelligence, even stupid animals knew not to kill there own, a bigger clan meant more protection
Atlas moved away and joined with Loki, "We're going back" said Atlas
"Why, we can take them" replied Loki
"You saw what happen there didn't you" asked Atlas
"Yea" said Loki
"Well, we have 5 fish men behind us that we can't afford to have there, if the freed them self then there's a good chance of a surprise attack happening to us" explained Atlas
They passed all of the buried fish men and got to the rubble were the gnolls had blocked the entrance, with the same tapping code he used on the front door Atlas started to hit the rocks, straight away a small rock dislodged it self and a growl started to come from the hole, after Atlas had given the pass word the rocks were placed out of the way
Before any questions could be asked, Atlas asked for six strong gnolls who could understand him to volunteer for lifting duty's, it didn't take long for the volunteers to came forwards, Atlas had a huge positive relationship with the gnolls and they trusted him almost as much as they trusted Beast the leader of the gnolls
Atlas, Forge, Loki and the group of 6 gnolls walked towards the first fish man that was trapped under the earth, Atlas had given orders not to make any sounds unless he spoke them them first, he didn't want to attract any wondering fish men
The fish man who was under ground had almost chewed though the earth hand that Atlas placed on his mouth, Atlas placed a new earth hand on its mouth, Atlas decide to kill the fish men, he couldn't have such a dangerous enemy so close to the gnolls, if the fish men didn't care for there own kind then they would tear thought the gnolls
Atlas used his spells on the fish man to decipher what there weakness was, fire trap skill was ok, the beast seemed to have 25% resistance to fire, the ice walk skill didn't hurt them at all but slowed the down a lot, clay hand skill did massive amount of damage but it was easy to avoid, so fire and earth would have to be used, Atlas used his spear on the animal to see were the weak point was, the scales were as strong as iron and was difficult to cut, only the neck and the belly was easy to slice open
The experience Atlas gained was great,even though he shared it with Loki and 50% of his own experience went to Forge, now Atlas knew some of the animals weakness he ordered two gnoll to carry the body back so it could be processed and used for ingredients, after all Atlas had made a vow to use every piece of an animal he had killed
It didn't take long for Atlas and co to get to the room that Atlas had seen a smaller fish man being ripped apart, the three big fish men were still in the room but they had bigger belly's now, all three of them were sleeping off a big meal, he backed off and started given orders, the gnolls job was just to deliver the body's back and so Atlas told them to hang back and if anything happened to himself they were to return back home
Atlas told Forge to freely use his spell when the action started and for Loki he told him that if they mange to get close to them to use his skills and buffs that his class gave him, Atlas moved in to the room using sneak and started to lay down his Fire Trap skill all over the place, after Atlas was finish he returned to the group
"Get ready, 3.. 2.. 1.. " Atlas count downed
Atlas started to tap on the floor, almost straight away the fish men were on there webbed feet moving towards the noise, when they had got 5 feet from there resting place the first fire trap went off, original the fire trap was a small fire dome but now it had reached intermediate level the dome was much bigger and a added effect of explosion was applied, one of the fish men was throned in to the air and landed on one of the other fish men, Forge was spitting fire balls at the downed fish men, Forge had only one spell so he had concentrated his efforts on it and it had reached intermediate level, the added bonus was splash damage, so he could hit many things with one fire ball, the 3rd fish man was still on his feet but he was confused, so much noise was around him, in the end the 3rd fish man moved towards the injured fish men, but before he even managed to close the distance by half he stepped on one of the fire traps and his leg was blown off, falling to one side his whole top body landed on a new fire trap and that was the end of the three fish men
Atlas deactivated the remaining fire traps that hadn't erupted and ordered the gnolls to take the died fish men body's back home, the battle was much easier than Atlas thought, this was due to the power behind Atlas spells and high wisdom which increased power to spells, not to mention the enemy was blind and stupid or greedy
Atlas didn't stop, he used the spell clay hand to close the other exit so fish men that was attracted by the noise couldn't get to them, for added protection Atlas used more fire traps on the other side of the newly made wall so he knew if any fish men had came to see what had happen
Atlas was waiting for the gnolls to return so he could carry on his killing with out breaking his vow or wasting his time skinning and cutting meat up, every now and again Atlas could hear explosions from his clay hand wall
Exploring the tunnels and caves was simple, even though the fish men were at least 40 levels higher then Atlas, planning out and his spells power closed the gap, Atlas level had increased insanely fast, when he first started he was level 21 but now he had killed 14 fish men his level was 28
The number of gnolls had to be increased as well, at first it was 6 gnolls, two in a team but now it had increased to 18, the larger distance was the reason, more time was taken to get back home and return
Atlas made sure to kill all the fish men but when he got to the end of the cave system it really shocked him, the area was huge, a small town could fit in it, a massive lake was near the middle and hundreds of fish men were around it and every now and again more would come out of the lake, none of the fish men were attacking each other, Atlas thought it was due to self preservation, the slightest injury to a fish man would cause the others to attack it and in battle there was always injury's no matter how small
"Bloody hell, that's a lot of fish me.." Loki had started to say but Atlas had quickly grabbed him and placed his hand over Loki's mouth, The shock of seeing so many enemy made Loki forget that the fish men had great hearing
Many heads turn towards the noise that Loki had made, the fish men made there way towards the entrance where Atlas and the group were, Atlas told the gnolls to back up to a safe location, far enough away from Atlas so if Atlas died they would have enough time to get back but closer enough that they may be of some help if needed
Atlas casted many fire traps on the floor, while Forge started to use his fireball freely to slow the advancing fish men, the fire traps were doing a great job, confusing the enemy and making them spread out but there was so many. In the room with the three big fish men it took two fire traps to kill one of them but these fish men were higher levels and or had better fire resistance, Atlas had to slow them down, so Atlas casted the ice walk spell, this was the first time he had used this spell on a attacking force, before this skill entered the intermediate level it just made the ground slippery near Atlas but now it was intermediate it spread out more widely and when ever the fish men stepped on the ice field it would start to creep up the fish men legs slowing them down, the bad side of this spell was that it also covered the fire trap spell, so no more damage was being done
Atlas quickly noticed that there was no more explosions and deactivated the ice walk spell and re casted the fire trap spell, he need to slow down the monsters but there was no point in slowing them down if they sustained no damage, Atlas used his clay hand skill to make waist high hands pop out of the ground all over the place, the fish men kept bumping in to the new earth hands and tried to feel there way around, Atlas had placed fire traps on either side of the earth hands, more explosion were being set off but no matter how many Atlas put down it wasn't enough, the fish men were too spread out so one fire trap would only hit one fish man, two if he was lucky
Atlas uncorked one of his enchanted test tube that he kept on his belt, the mana potion would fill up his lost mana, after Atlas had taken his fill he offered it to Forge, he too had been spamming spells constantly, Atlas re corked the test tube and place the semi full potion back on his belt
The area around Atlas was getting crowded, with so many fish men coming at once, Atlas didn't have enough time to react and cast spells, to give him self more time to think and act Atlas used Perceptual Chronometer skill
Perceptual Chronometer intermediate level 4
Slows down the perspective of time alloying for more time to think
movement speed is 40% faster but the minds speed is 390% faster
not a passive skill needs to be activated, cost 2 mana a second
Now Atlas had more time to think and was 40% faster, he assessed the situation, his spells weren't working as well as before, he needed the fish men to bunch up together, the clay hands were working at slowing them down but it was only a matter of time before they were over run from all directions, Atlas had a lot of time to think, looking at the walls and ceiling
"Forge, use fire balls directly in front of you forget the sides for now" ordered Atlas
Atlas was building a lot of mana up, he was standing in front of the entrance, bring his arms up and using clay hand skill, the ground started to rumble, giant earth hands started to rise slowly from the ground and connected to the ceiling, Atlas repeated the skill in till the entrance was almost closed off but had a long hall leading to Atlas
Now that the fish men had to bunch up to get though the hall way that Atlas had made, he could use fire trap to it's full potential, instead of casting them on the floor he placed them on the walls of the hall way, this gave twice the area that Atlas could cast the spell on and allowed the spell to be combined with each other
As the first 4 fish men started to move in to the hall way, Atlas gave Forge the order to stop, Atlas took a sip from his mana potion and offered it to Forge and waited
In Atlas eyes the fish men were moving slowly but this gave Atlas even more time to think about the hall way, using his clay hand skill again he made smaller and longer hands erupt from the walls and join up horizontally along the hall way about waist height, this meant that the fish men had to go over or under the barrier thus slowing them down further and causing the other fish men to bunch up even more while waiting to go though
"Boom"
The first fire trap went off pushing 4 fish men in to the other wall, the hall way was tight but still could get 8 fish men down there, the fire trap had pushed the fish men but because they had no place to go the trap could still reach them, this caused blunt force damage and continuous fire damage, if that was all there was to it the fish men would of survived but Atlas had placed fire traps on either side of the walls, so after slamming against the walls another fire trap went off causing the same damage as before
Some fish men managed to get though but with Forge using magic and Loki using Atlas spear for long distance damage there was no problem, Atlas ordered some gnolls to go and get 10 more gnolls and Atlas's cart so they could collect the dead body's
Killing the fish men who had more than double the level than Atlas was easy, this was only possible due to the fact the fish men were blind and Atlas had changed there territory with clay hand, after an hour of fighting this way ten gnolls turned up with the cart, Atlas again built up mana and used clay hand to push the fish men out of the hall wall and sealed the entrance, now it was safe the gnolls packed the dead fish men on to the cart, Atlas could hear the scratching of fish men on the walls he had made but wasn't worried, if they could brake though the extra think clay hands that he made with a huge amount of mana then they would of done so all ready
While Atlas waited for the gnolls to clear the area of the dead he pulled out a long metal container, the container was a flask that Atlas had made, this allowed him to have a hot meal with out cooking, the invention gave a permanent vitality and health regeneration bonus in stats, Atlas offered a cup full of stew to Loki and gave some stew and mana to Forge to eat
Things were going smoothly so Atlas decide to carry on with the wiping out of the fish men, Atlas casted fresh fire traps on the walls and unblocked the entrance, the fish men were waiting, they could hear the activity going on behind the wall and most of the fish men had concentrated to that point, the killing was absolutely one sided, any fish men that managed to get though the hall were greatly weakened and were easy for Loki and Forge to mop up
After some time went by the fish men stopped coming, they hadn't learned any lessons like retreat but had been wiped out, the only noise or movement that was going on was the movement of the gnolls picking up and carrying dead body's, Atlas had reached level 54, Atlas put 70 points in to intelligence and wisdom, the rest went into agility, apart from the levels Atlas gained a new title and a upgrade
Shooting fish in a barrel
Killing fish men in a closed area has given you insight in killing water based creatures
10% extra damage to water based creatures
10% to water affinity
The upgrade involved his other title
Levelling Fiend x 2
Mission exp is greater than normal
exp from missions is 1.6 x more
Everyone was busy except Atlas, while the gnolls and Loki carried the fish men back, Atlas looked back at the lake, he had a bad feeling that there was something more, some thing he had missed, Atlas had gone around the room with the lake in it, he was looking for any exits or secrets, that fish men could hide in, when he got back to the only entrance that existed he got a message
"Ding"
You have completely mapped out Hidden Cave
+ 100 fame
Atlas had to accept that there was no other place to go, Atlas sealed off the cave using his skill to stop any spawning monsters from wandering about, as he sealed the last of the area the light coming from his mana flare was blocked and the lake was once again in complete darkness, Atlas and his crew walked back with a full cart of fish men ready to feed the clan of gnolls
In the darkness of the lake area splashes could be heard, if anyone could see in the dark they would see many fish men leave the lake area, it turned out they didn't spawn in the Hidden cave but moved there from a different area
End Of Chapter Sixteen: Shooting Fish In A Barrel