Chilly followed the sounds of marching feet to his next victims. It was a similar group of six soldiers, who went down quicker than the first, in a fight consisting of rapid repositioning with Flame Dash, punctuated with bouts of Incinerate and Starfire Aegis as damaged sources.
Similarly, this group dropped a ridiculous amount of essences. Ten raw essences, four of which were rare. Two Steel, an Arcanite, a Jade, and an Onyx essence. There were also several Regrets in the pile.
Chilly dutifully collected the rare essences but chose to leave the magic ones behind. A couple more Iron and Azurite essences wouldn’t be that helpful, and he was strapped for space at the moment. If he recalled correctly, he had more than 50 Iron and Azurite essences in total back in Sooty’s domain. That was more than enough for his current needs. Especially now that it looked like he had found a reliable place to farm essences. If he ever needed to collect a whole bunch, he could just come back here.
The second band of legionnaires were all level 9 again, same as the previous group. Which unfortunately meant that he didn't gain any experience, but that didn’t bother him too much. There would be plenty of higher level enemies for him to fight soon enough.
The narrow hallways of Black Rock Mountain should have been perfect combat ground for the legionnaires, but turned out to be very convenient for him to fight them, being both long enough to have ample space to retreat and narrow enough that he couldn’t get flanked. That ended soon however when the hallway opened up to a larger room.
It was square and box-like, as if someone had taken a perfect cube and hollowed out an area in the rock, with little regard for how the unnecessarily high ceiling and slightly too narrow walls gave the impression of being in a pit. The walls were unadorned brick, feeling flat and uninspired compared to the beautiful, if faded illustrations leading up to the room. Little veins of lava squirreled their way along the surface of the brick illuminating a single platoon of Blackrock Legionnaires. Along the back wall, the uniform brick was interrupted by a large oval vault door made of silvered steel; a massive facsimile of a man guarded it, inert and quiet.
That must be the sub boss, Chilly thought. It certainly fit. The Juggernaut stood three and a half meters tall and dwarfed the other soldiers with its bulk. Far too big to fit in Chilly’s hallway unless it got down on all fours and crawled. Unlike the legionnaires, who wore finely crafted dark metal full plate armor that made them look regal and knight-like, the Juggernaut was barely recognizable as human. Its body was composed entirely of hard black stone that pulsed and shifted like tectonic plates floating on a magmatic mantle. It held no weapons, instead sporting two gigantic hands that were perpetually fused into mallet-like fists. Likewise, its feet had no toes, just a flat slab of stone that looked similar to an elephant's foot.
Damn, Chilly thought, its head is so cool. Instead of a neck, the Juggernaut's small head was sunk into its shoulders, giving it the impression of immense strength, or that it was piloting a mech. A featureless mask, with two red dots for eyes peered out from within its nook.
Chilly backed up from the room with a grin, as the platoon of marching legionnaires passed by the entrance. They hadn't seen him, but their perpetual marching brought them close to the entrance to the hallway.
He backed up far enough so that he was confident the soldiers would not notice him, and sat down in a huddle with the penguins.
“All right, what's the plan?” Chilly asked. “The way I see it, we lure the platoon of legionnaires into these tunnels, take them out using the usual strategy, then go back and deal with the Juggernaut when it's alone.”
“Silence?” NickXenix said.
“Good point,” Chilly said, pointing at the penguin. “I have no idea what we should do if the platoon doesn't follow us, any thoughts?”
“We life-void hybrids do not welcome void purists here.” NickXenix nodded sagely.
“Kill with extreme prejudice huh?” Chilly grinned wryly. “I like it. Anyone else?”
The penguins gestured to each other, giving looks that somehow conveyed far more meaning than a simple look should be capable of. Then one of them stepped forward, and tapped its sword on the ground three times.
“You're saying... I should let them hit me so that Starfire Aegis does the most amount of damage?” Chilly said. “I suppose I should have tested earlier how much damage these people do with those nasty looking spears of theirs, but anyways that strategy won’t actually be that great, because I’m pretty sure Star Fuel out damages Starfire Aegis’ basic effect.”
The penguin frowned, clearly not satisfied.
“Here, I’ll show you,” Chilly said, bringing up his interface. “Given that I now have eight hundred and seventy life, the reflected fire damage should be around forty-ish per hit I take. Which would go up to nearly one hundred if I take back Coronal Mass Ejection, now that it’s been reverted. On the other hand, I have three hundred life regenerated per second. Which translates to about two hundred fifty damage per second. Or actually a little less, since I’m taking damage from starvation and stuff, but it should still be more than the reflect portion unless I’m getting hit a lot and really fast, like what happened in the Abyss.”
The penguin shook its head, and made puppy dog eyes up at him. It really wanted Chilly to use Starfire Aegis. Beside it, NickXenix turned its sword into a mallet and bonked the other penguin on the head.
“Silence, he is already part of the Eternal.” NickXenix rebuked. The penguin acquiesced, retreating back into the crowd of penguins.
“Anyway...Did you see that big door behind it though,” Chilly continued. “It looks like a vault door, I bet there’s going to be some good loot behind there once we take down the Juggernaut.”
The penguins all grinned in anticipation.
“All right,” Chilly said. “Nothing for it then, let's hope that the legionnaires follow me out, and if not we'll improvise from there.”
He got up, and made his way over to the cube room once again. He waited at the entrance until the group of legionnaires marched close. The moment they got into range of Incinerate he unleashed on them to draw their aggro.
The reaction was instant, they dropped into a shield wall formation, spawning the dreaded blue haze, and methodically marched at him. Chilly had expected this, and canceled Incinerate which was washing harmlessly over the blue shield, as he began retreating back up the tunnel. The Juggernaut also noticed his presence. It abandoned its post in front of the vault and charged at him. Its shoulders hunched, and arms pumping, it swallowed up the intervening distance with startling speed. Chilly backpedaled deeper into the hallway, suddenly not convinced that the Juggernaut couldn’t somehow barrel his way into the narrow tunnel. His fears were unfounded, as a second later the Juggernaut slammed into the entrance to the hallway with a cataclysmic detonation. The earth shook, as huge chunks of dislodged rock sprayed across the stone floor.
Chilly stumbled, instinctively casting Flame Dash to reappear several meters back where the shaking was weaker. He regained his feet and continued to retreat. Through the cloud of dust, he saw the platoon of six Legionnaires emerge and refocus on him.
A frustrated crack of tortured stone arose from the dust cloud. Sounds of the Juggernaut moving away followed soon after.
So far so good, Chilly thought, as he pulled the legionnaires a good ways down the tunnel, taking no unnecessary risks. As before he waited for them to approach then used an instant cast of Flame Dash to appear behind them and wash their backs in fire. They responded as always, spinning around and reforming the shield wall, but not before Incinerate managed to infiltrate their ranks and crack their armor.
This repeated another three rounds before all the soldiers were mere husks, and Chilly was sifting through the remains for essences. Once again twelve essences dropped, with three regrets, but only one rare; an Essence of Steel.
He looted what he could fit into his plate vest, and returned to the cube chamber. After he defeated the juggernaut, he would return to gather the rest. The Juggernaut had lost interest in the hallway, but not before leaving a vaguely shoulder shaped indentation in the stone around the hallway. Chilly nervously looked at the destroyed stone and enlarged tunnel. The sheer amount of environmental damage was frightening.
Once again the Juggernaut was standing before the gigantic oval vault door in the back of the chamber. It stood with its arms by its side, shoulders hunched low, eyes dim and inert, as if it had gone to sleep.
Chilly wasn't fooled. He knew the moment that he stepped into the room, the sub-boss would awaken. He scanned the room one last time for new threats, but didn't find any. Satisfied, he raised his shields protectively, and stepped into the room.
The Juggernaut raised its head, its beady little eyes flashing bright as it recognized him as a threat. A whirring shudder ran through it, as if shaking off exhaustion after a long sleep, before it charged him in a similar manner to before. The Juggernaut raced towards him, far faster than he himself could run, its long strides eating the distance between them quickly.
Chilly crouched down, flaring Incinerate as he waited for the Juggernaut to reach him. When it was but a step away, he flickered Incinerate off, and shoved his will into Flame Dash.
He imploded in a flare of bright fire, leaving the Juggernaut’s unstoppable momentum to carry it into the far wall. Chilly re-materialized to the room shaking. He struggled to stay standing, as he watched streamers of searing plasma coiled around the creature’s form, and faint embers rise from the burning ground below its feet. He quickly channeled Incinerate and passed it over the Juggernaut, whose body lit up like a firework due to ignition.
Chilly however looked past the bright flames. From his time using Incinerate he knew that the visual effect could be misleading. Ignition was flashy, but it didn't actually deal a whole lot of damage. It only dealt 35% of Incinerate’s base damage, which was even smaller now due to having only one augment selected. A closer inspection of the Juggernaut's body revealed that it wasn’t taking much, if any, damage from the flames.
As he watched, he noticed something going right; the Juggernaut’s upper body was stuck in the hole it had made in the rock. It slammed both fists against the far wall, dislodging more rock, as it ripped its upper body out of the stone, leaving behind a comically deep indentation in the wall. It turned around with robotic stiffness. Its eyes flashed, as it caught sight of Chilly once again.
Another shudder ran through it, and it sprinted towards him.
Chilly rolled his eyes, continuing to channel Incinerate, as the streamers of plasma slipped in and around the behemoth's feet. A second before it reached him, he vanished in a flare of bright fire, dodging the indomitable charge and reappearing to the side as the Juggernaut crashed once again into the room walls.
It's like them Mrawll wardens all over again, Chilly thought with a grin. The Juggernaut struggled to extract itself from the stone wall as Chilly blasted it from behind with his two damaging abilities, a lazy grin on his face.
Once again the Juggernaut extracted itself from the wall, turned towards Chilly, and charged him with the single-minded attention of a machine. Its hard stone feet made the air whoosh loudly as it accelerated, causing the flames that clung tenaciously to its body to flicker and sputter. Chilly canceled Incinerate, teleported behind it and instantly channeled Incinerate as the Juggernaut crashed into the far wall for the third time.
The room shook. Chilly stumbled, but watched in fascination as tiny hairline fractures spread across the Juggernauts chest. A hint of doubt crept in, as he watched the fractures heal before his eyes, despite the constant spray of fire and plasma engulfing the behemoth.
This is silly, Chilly thought. As he dodged the Juggernaut’s reckless charge for the fourth time. I must be dealing some damage at least.
The 5th room shaking crash came and went.
By the 8th crash Chilly had confirmed that there wasn’t any form of shield protecting the Juggernaut. It was simply out regenerating Chilly’s attacks.
By the 13th, he learned that guiding the Juggernaut into the vault door did nothing but allow the Juggernaut to recover faster in between charges since it didn’t get stuck.
By the 16th, he began to doubt if his abilities were dealing any damage in the first place.
By the 20th, Chilly was bored.
Chilly dodged the 21st charge, but didn't bother channeling Incinerate afterwards. Dejectedly, he left the room whose walls now resembled Swiss cheese rather than the original smooth black brick. The room was significantly larger, with chunks of large stone littering the ground, making traversing the ground difficult. Chilly didn’t bother walking around them, using Flame Dash to dodge the worst of the boulders.
Chilly Flame Dashed deep into the hallway, turning and frowning at the room in annoyance. The Juggernaut raged ineffectually against the small entrance, dislodging more rocks before it eventually lost interest and returned to its post in front of the vault door.
I don't have enough damage, he thought as he brought up the list of augments. As he did so he unclasped his plate vest and extracted the essences he had stored within. A bunch popped out, but Chilly collected just the Regrets, and set the rest to the side. They were becoming a valuable tool in this part of the dungeon.
He sifted through the menus, bringing up the augment list for Incinerate.
Choose an Augment for Incinerate. Costs 1 skill point.
Maximum 3 Augments.
Channel a beam of fire that burns enemies that it touches.
Empowered Flames
Your flames burn ever hotter.
30% more Incinerate damage
Ignition
Enemies burnt by Incinerate catch fire dealing 35% additional fire damage over 4 seconds
Embered Heart
Ashes resonate with the power of Incinerate.
100% more ash effect
Chaotic Flames
Incinerate bolsters the flames within you.
12% more damage over time
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Massive
Incinerate gains an additional 3m of range
Scorching Ray
The flames of Incinerate leave lasting scars.
Incinerate inflicts scorch
Scorch
Enemies take 20% more fire damage
To maximize his damage, he would need Empowered Flames. The next best was probably scorching ray, since it granted 20% more damage, though Chaotic Flames would be nice if he couldn’t for some reason tag an enemy with Incinerate. He would need two skill points for that which he would have to take from some other skill.
He first pulled up Starfire Aegis’ list of augments
Choose an Augment for Starfire Aegis. Costs 1 skill point.
Maximum 3 Augments.
Cloak your form in starfire, granting you an intrinsic protection from the spark, and burning foes that strike you.
Solar Prominence
To be one with the stars is to become acclimated to the heat
60 fire resistance
Coronal Mass Ejection
Your starfire burns ever hotter
Deal 6% of maximum life as fire damage to melee attackers
Star Fuel
Your very blood burns to sustain the inferno.
While at full life, consume excess life to burn enemies within 4 meters for 85% of the life recovered as fire damage
Body of Plasma
Infuse your very being with the matter of stars.
25% increased fire resistance
Solar Flare
The power of a star is not so easily avoided
Reflected damage also applies to ranged attackers
Gravitational Center
A star may be moved, but only at a steep cost.
150 knockback resistance
He didn’t need fire resistance right now, since the Juggernaut was not able to hit him. Solar Prominence and Body of Plasma were useless right this moment. He swallowed two regrets, and lost Solar Prominence and Body of Plasma.
He pushed the two spare skill points into Empowered Flames and Scorching Ray.
Incinerate
Unleash a beam of fire that burns enemies that it touches. The beam dissipates after 5.9m
Deals 210.5 (252.6 w/ scorch) Fire damage per second
Ignites enemies for 73.7 (88.4 w/ scorch) Fire damage per second
Inflicts Scorch
Channeling
Empowered Flames increased Incinerate's base damage by 30%, while Scorch would make all his fire damage significantly more powerful. That would also make Starfire Aegis and Flame Dash’s burning ground stronger as well.
Chilly juggled another regret but decided to test out the current setup first. There was no reason to waste regrets, especially since he would likely be reverting back to his previous setup since the fire resistance was mandatory outside of this specific scenario. He hopped into the Juggernaut's room dodging around the boulders on the ground, and blasted the behemoth with Incinerate.
Several bone shaking crashes later, the Juggernaut still looked the same. It didn’t seem phased even when it was standing on his burning ground, and just continued charging and smashing.
Chilly cursed in frustration and retreated back into the tunnel. He eyed Vitality’s augments, but dismissed the thought quickly.
Choose an Augment for Vitality. Costs 1 skill point.
Maximum 3 Augments.
Your body thrums with a powerful vitality increasing both your life and life regeneration.
Heart of the Warrior
Your heart thrums with the might of the warrior.
Regenerate 3% of maximum life as life per second
Troll’s Blood
Your blood pulses with life.
24% more life regeneration
Titanic Vigor
Your flesh toughens, mimicking the endurance of Titans.
12% more life
Stalwart Bulwark
You stand firm against the powers that would see you fall.
Regenerate 3% of maximum life as life per second while stationary
Unity of Purpose
Those who have allied with you share a fraction of your indomitable vigor.
Vitality affects nearby allies with 50% less effect
Indomitable
To resist is to live.
150 added sap resistance
Life regeneration converted directly to damage with Star Fuel. Titanic Vigor was an option to sacrifice, but as the penguins had said all those cycles ago, more life translated directly to more regeneration.
He dismissed the menu and brought up Pious Path’s augment list.
Choose an Augment for Pious Path. Costs 1 skill point.
Maximum 3 Augments.
Walk along the path of the holy. If the path does not exist, create it yourself.
While moving or stationary, consecrate the ground beneath your feet granting life regeneration to you and allies.
Militant Faith
Your faith burns every brighter, unchallenged by both blasphemers and undead alike.
Consecrated Ground grants you an additional 2.5% of maximum life as life per second
Radiant Faith
Your faith radiates with the power of your will, further enhancing any consecrated ground that you spread.
50% increased effect of Consecrated Ground
Inevitable Judgement
You find those who are lacking, and bring them to justice. Regardless of their might.
Consecrated Ground causes undead to take 15% more damage
Divine Aegis
To walk the path of the holy is to be protected from the unholy.
Consecrated Ground grants 8% less damage taken from undead
Ceaseless Crusade
The path of the holy never truly ends.
Consecrated Ground spreads at a rate of 1 m/s for 4 seconds upon creation
Righteous Providence
To believe is to take one step closer to the divine.
Consecrated Ground grants 100 curse resistance
The same logic applied here. There wasn’t anything that he could sacrifice reasonably without reducing his damage. He hadn’t done the exact math, but it seemed unlikely that losing a quarter of regeneration, and therefore damage due to Star Fuel, could be compensated elsewhere.
He brought up Flame Dash’s augment list.
Choose an Augment for Flame Dash. Costs 1 skill point.
Maximum 3 Augments.
Dissolve your very essence into flames, allowing you to blink to a location within line of sight while leaving behind a trail of fire that burns enemies who walk over it
Primal Familiarity
You become familiar with the process of transforming into a living spark.
Reduce the cast time of Flame Dash by 50%
Incendiary Resurgence
You grow resilient to the fatigue inherent to transforming your form.
Reduce the cooldown of Flame Dash by 50%
Arsonist
You are not satisfied by mere ignition. To be one with fire is to burn all
40% increased area of effect of fire skills
40% increased duration of fire skills
Fire Walker
Gain strength from standing among the flames
24% increased fire damage while standing on burning ground
You are unaffected by burning ground
Second Wind
If you have not used a movement skill in the last 4 seconds you may bypass the cast time and cooldown of Flash Dash.
Unchained Fire
Your flame resists containment.
150 slow resistance
With a grimace, he swallowed another regret, and shifted Second Wind to Fire Walker. It was the most replaceable augment at the moment, and it only provided raw utility that he didn’t need in this fight. Basically the same reason that he had given up Solar Prominence earlier.
He cast Flame Dash to create some burning ground, and reappeared a meter to the side, lamenting the loss of the instant cast provided by Second Wind.
Incinerate
Unleash a beam of fire that burns enemies that it touches. The beam dissipates after 5.9m
Deals 261.0 (313.2 w/ scorch) Fire damage per second
Ignites enemies for 91.4 (109.6 w/ scorch) Fire damage per second
Inflicts Scorch
Channeling
He instantly felt an empowerment seep up through his feet, and knew that all his fire skills would deal even more damage. Up till now, he had been quickly stepping out of the burning ground at his feet after Flame Dashing. It was almost instinctual, since the burning ground was unpleasant to stand on, but now he would use it to his advantage. He Flame Dashed again, feeling how fire at his feet didn't burn anymore, instead granting a small but significant boost to all his abilities.
A penguin at his side, caught his attention and punched itself in the face.
“Hell no,” Chilly replied, closing all the open menus in his vision. “There is no way I’m letting that thing hit me just so that Starfire Aegis can deal like...two damage to it.”
The penguin nodded in disappointment as Chilly smiled grimly at his improved numbers and dashed back into the boss room.
Once again he jumped into the room, unleashing Incinerate at the Black Rock Juggernaut, making sure that both he and the sub-boss were standing on the burning ground.
Fire and plasma arc across the space, hotter than ever before, and licked hungrily at the Juggernauts massive frame.
And...nothing.
Despite the increase in damage, Chilly still couldn't recognize any visible indication that his efforts were achieving anything. He frowned, but continued channeling for several more rounds before giving up, and retreated back into the tunnel.
This is ridiculous, Chilly thought. Now well and truly annoyed at the situation.
There was only one other augment that he could take to increase his damage; Inevitable damage made undead standing on consecrated ground take an additional 15% more damage. That was significant, and might put him over the edge to outdamage the Juggernaut’s regeneration, but only assuming that the Juggernaut was even undead. It looked more like a golem of some sort, though Chilly had no clue how the system classified undead. The thing was, he would have to sacrifice regeneration to get that augment, and because of Star Fuel, that meant he would be sacrificing damage. A zero sum game.
“Except that's the thing,” Chilly said to himself as he watched the Juggernaut give up and return to its post. “I don't actually have to kill him with my damage, I just have to deal enough to overcome his regeneration so that the impacts against the walls destroy it.”
If he could make it repeatedly slam into the vault door that would maximize the self damage it was inflicting to itself. Reassured, and with a further plan of action, he hopped back into the room.
For what felt like the thousandth time, Chilly’s entrance drew the Juggernaut’s ire, as he flared Incinerate and watched its charge carefully. The Juggernaut charged him, shaking the earth, as its enormous feet kicked aside boulders that easily weighed more than a car.
By this point however Chilly was unimpressed by the golems impressive feats of strength. Even without Second Wind, he timed the teleport perfectly, having dodged the charge way too many times.
Chilly now oriented himself between the golem and the vault door. The Juggernaut charged, and Chilly dodged. He reappeared and continued dpsing, as the sub-boss bounced off the vault door. Even its incredible charge was unable to dent the silver steel. It bounced off, immediately veering towards Chilly as tiny cracks in its body healed up.
“Oh, come on!” Chilly cried as he continued to channel until the very last moment where he dodged with Flame Dash. Even before he reappeared he knew this was a lost cause. Despite constantly blasting, he was unable to get damage to stick.
He vanished into a flare of bright fire and dodged the Juggernaut’s following charge. Once again, more from anger than rational thought, Chilly unleashed his full combo at the monstrosity.
The Juggernaut once again ripped itself from the wall, kicking aside a large boulder that nearly clipped Chilly in the head as it turned to face him. Chilly dropped his hand and just stared at the golem.
He didn’t know what to do.
Just then, a faint, almost imperceptible wave of distorted air flashed across the room. It was nearly invisible, moving so fast that Chilly could have thought he had imagined it.
But he hadn’t, and its effect was immediate.
The dust in the air cleared. The stone on the ground dissolved, and the walls repaired themselves, becoming smooth and uniform once again. The tiny amount of damage that may or may not have been inflicted on the Juggernaut repaired itself, as six effervescent spheres of energy materialized between Chilly and the exit hallway. A second later, the spheres disappeared to reveal six level 9 Blackrock Legionnaires in full armor.
The six legionnaires turned in unison to look at him as they fell into a shield wall formation.
“Wha-” Chilly cursed, and ran backwards away from the Blackrock Legionnaires, straight towards the charging Juggernaut. He cursed again, and cast Flame Dash to dodge out of the way. He appeared to the side, frazzled and not entirely sure where the exit was, or what had just happened. A spear stabbed him in the side.
Spoiler :
https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FrljcDmc.gif [https://i.imgur.com/rljcDmc.gif]
He stumbled back, flaring Incinerate out only for a blue haze to disperse the fire. He cursed again, as another spear jabbed into his gut. He stumbled back taking an additional spear to the forearm. He scrambled, making distance desperately, as he heard the Juggernaut rip itself out of the wall somewhere in the room.
Spoiler :
https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FLBb7nL7.gif [https://i.imgur.com/LBb7nL7.gif]
Another spear went into his thigh, but was quickly pushed out as his flesh knit back together. Flame Dash went off cooldown, and he desperately pushed his will into it. Another spear scraped across his plate vest just as he vanished. The Juggernaut raced by the place he’d been standing.
He landed roughly, the spear to the chest overbalancing him enough that the quaking earth from the Juggernaut’s passage knocked him over. He flowed into the fall, using the momentum to spring back to his feet. He threw a fearful gaze around, found the exit, and ran towards it.
Behind him the crash of steel boots echoed, as the platoon of legionnaires gave chase. A frustrated crash indicated the Juggernaut’s failure to pierce the narrow corridor.
Chilly ignored the chasing Legionnaires. He raced down the tunnel, flanked by his penguins as he used Flame Dash on cooldown to escape. He came across another group of legionnaires, but used Flame Dash to skirt them. He continued sprinting away as the sound of crashing boots on stone intensified. He felt thoroughly done with Black Rock Mountain, dodging around another group of soldiers who barely had time to react to his presence.
With the soldiers’ insistence on running in a defensive formation, and Chilly's liberal use of Flame Dash, he gained ground until they were but a faint sound in the distance.
The smooth square hallways morphed into rough stone lava tubes.
“Warn me of the crawlers,” Chilly said to the penguins. They nodded dashing away on itty bitty feet that moved so quickly they blurred. “And lead me to Sooty’s Hell.”
Chilly raced down the tunnels, not entirely sure what had gone so wrong in Blackrock Mountain. All he knew was he wanted to go back to a safe place. Away from the monsters, and the unbeatable challenges.
He spotted a pair of penguins pointing their swords at a segment of the tunnel that looked identical to any other. A wall crawler was there. He didn't slow his sprint, rather speeding up as he approached that part of the tunnel. He watched the penguins with an eagle eye, until the moment they flinched. He cast Flame Dash to appear a half-dozen meters ahead, as stone shattered behind him from the wall crawler’s failed assassination.
He wryly smiled, and continued running. A quick glance back revealed the wall crawler vanishing once again against the wall.
After dodging a dozen more wall crawlers in this fashion, he came upon a wall of glowing embers floating in the air. He slowed his stride for a second, but followed the penguins who dove head first into the cloud. A status ailment appeared in his vision.
He cursed as the slow made the air around his limbs turn to molasses. Nevertheless, he ignored the message and continued running.
He burst into Sooty's Hell, panting and heaving breath into his lungs as he scanned the room.
It was as before. Three lava geysers gurgled around the room, as a decapitated man made of soot and ash hammered continuously on a glowing lump of iron.
Right, Chilly cursed, ...dungeon reset.