Shaun was annoyed at himself for not taking the fight seriously from the very beginning, he had stopped paying attention to his surroundings, that was the first mistake, throwing a fireball instead of starting with his elemental strike was the second mistake. The third was not using all of his skills from the beginning, he had become over confident and although it didn’t really cost him much in this fight, it would in others.
He looted the frog and got more of the toxic slime that it seemed to be able to excrete through its skin, and then moved on through the glade, around the pond and into the next part of the forest. Once he entered he could feel the subtle changes in the area, it was like the forest itself was trying to suppress him, force him to give up and give into nature itself. It took a bit to get used to but still kept him on edge. It took a bit of his willpower to continue moving through the forest but he didn’t slow down his pace. He used his echo skill and found that he was actually surrounded by monsters, far enough away that he wouldn’t notice them by sight, by close enough that they were able to follow him as he moved, keeping to a circular shape and moving along with him.
He checked and he could feel the nine monsters, which in a lot of ways was very helpful as he wouldn’t have to go looking for them, but at the same time he would end up needing to face them all at once and he still didn’t know what they were. Rather than change his movements he continued walking through the forest, keeping track of the monsters around him. They were slowly moving in closer to his location, but slower than he would have liked. The thing he did notice though was that the feeling of giving into nature, the one that weighed down on him got worse the closer that the monsters got to him.
He kept trying to resist the feeling, although it got harder to do as time went on, whatever these monsters were they were working as a group, trying to weaken him before they came in to attack. It was smart, much smarter than monsters he had fought previously, and that meant he needed to be ready for anything. Instead of continuing on he decided to stop, he needed to really concentrate on resisting the urge to lay down his life and dedicate himself to the natural world, he powered his enhanced mind as much as he could spare and at the same time powered up his elemental strike. I am done with this situation, it is time to end this.
He ran as fast as he could through the forest until he was close enough to see one of the monsters that had been harassing him, the others rushing in after him so that they were all together. It was a monkey, sort of? It looked like a monkey but an unusual one, it had a cloak of leaves on its back and a stick in its hand, making it look very wizard-like.
*Druidic Monkey – Level 21*
So it’s a monkey but also a druid? Would explain the magic and the feeling of nature. He didn’t hesitate to send the elemental strike out at the monster, it didn’t even try to dodge, just held up its stick and a wall of green energy appeared in front of the attack. When the fire strike hit the wall it instantly exploded, devouring the monkey magic and continuing on through to the monster and engulfing it in flames.
Thankfully it didn’t cause the entire forest to light on fire but there were a few places where leaves started to catch and if nothing was done it would spread. This wouldn’t really impact him but the other monkeys did seem to have a problem with it. They immediately moved in and smothered the flames, making sure that every single one was put out, while some of them focused on doing this, the others moved in to attack.
Fighting the monkeys had gotten a lot easier, now that they had been distracted and no longer focusing on him as a group, the feeling had abated quite a lot, it was still there but to a much lesser degree. The monkeys' attacks were odd to say the least, they would launch green spells at him, similar to a mana bolt, when he dodged and hit the areas around him it was like an uncontrolled growth of the surrounding plants. On seeing this he made sure that he had his stone skin active and pushed mana into it, hoping that if he got hit that it would lessen the degree of whatever effect it would have on him.
He continued to take down the monkeys one by one, usually using elemental strikes but occasionally he would throw a fireball and if he was close enough just cut them through with his sword. They moved quickly through the trees though and it was hard to pin them down, even when they were distracted with putting out the flames from his attacks. He did switch it up though, he eventually moved to using his earth affinity and sending out his daggers and arrowheads, this ended up causing mayhem for the monkeys as they hadn’t been expecting the change in tactic. He would alternate between fire and earth, sometimes even using the two at once, and eventually he started to make good progress on the monkeys.
They were tricky to actually hit, the way they moved through the trees was fast and efficient and it meant that he wasn’t able to hit them every time. At one point one of the monkeys got so angry at him for the fire he kept using that it jumped onto his back and tried to bite him. His stone skin deflected the attack pretty easily, and luckily for him it meant that he was able to easily dispatch of it by running it through with his sword.
He took out a few more with the daggers, the concussive blast that went off every time they hit a monkey made it easier to move in and finish the job off, the other monkeys tried to protect their comrade but they also wouldn’t risk getting in close to him, having seen what he was able to do with his sword. When there were only three monkeys left, the feeling that had been weighing on him completely disappeared and the remaining monkeys tried to retreat, but he wasn’t going to allow that, he did not want to have to go hunting for monkeys through a forest.
He did find out what the green mana shots from the monkeys did when they hit him though, wherever the shot landed that part of his body would start to undergo a transformation, turning his body into a tree, where his skin would turn to bark and make it harder to move. Thankfully his stone skin didn’t let it get too deep and he was able to add a layer of flame to the areas and it would remove the effects of the spell.
As he was about to finish off the last monkey he held back, there was a chance that it would lead him to the boss, as they tried to retreat, it could be assumed they went to go get back up in the form of a big bad monkey. It was an opportunity that he didn’t want to lose as it would save him a lot of time in finding the boss, at the same time he would be leaving the bodies of the monkeys behind to get to follow the monkey and miss out on looting them, or having to travel back to get them, neither was a great situation.
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He thought quickly as to what the monkeys had to offer him, their sticks? Meh not needed. Kins and meat? He was stocked up. The capes they wore? It was just leaves. Making his decision he followed the monkey, there would always be more monsters to loot in his future, missing out on a few here to save time was worth it.
Now that he wasn’t technically in battle, only following the monkey at a distance that he could track it in his echo but not alert it to him following, he got the notifications for the kills.
*You have defeated a (Druidic Monkey – Level 21). Experience gained. 210 TE awarded*
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*You have defeated a (Druidic Monkey – Level 21). Experience gained. 210 TE awarded*
*Class: Elemental Blade Slinger has levelled up by +1 levels. [Advanced] Elemental Blade Slinger has reached Level 30. +3 Str, +2 Dex, +3 End, +3 Vit, +4 Soul gained*
He got notifications for eight monkeys, which was to be expected, and also finally gained a level. He had to get a lot more kills now that he had upgraded his class, and even after killing 15 monsters that were all of a similar level to him inside the dungeon plus what he had killed since leaving the fire dungeon, he had only gained one level.
He followed the monkey for close to 10 minutes before he felt the presence of a second, stronger monster. He slowed his approach at this point, making sure that he could prepare a little beforehand so he didn’t end up putting himself at risk like he had with the frogs. He checked over his health, stamina and mana levels, all of which were still at a good point, his mana was at about half, but as soul was his highest stat now, he still had plenty left.
Pretty confident that he should be able to face the boss as he was, he moved in to get a better look, it didn’t take him long to get to the clearing with the boss, it was on the ground in front of a huge tree, the other monkey with it, moving around frantically, as if it was trying to communicate everything that it had seen from the fight.
*Druidic Gorilla – Level 23*
They seemed distracted, not yet aware of his presence so he moved in wanting to make the first hit while they were not expecting it. The gorilla was much larger than the monkeys, it had huge muscled arms and a beefy chest, it was going to be tougher to take down as it seemed not to just have magic but also strength behind. He was going to go all out with this fight, aiming to end it as quickly as he could before it had a chance to attack him with any force.
Setting off his fire strike at the gorilla, he immediately followed up with one of his daggers and an arrowhead. When the blast from the strike cleared he could see that it had done some damage but it was still standing where it had been originally, glowing a soft green with both its arms and legs firmly planted in the ground. The follow up dagger and arrowhead barely made a scratch on it either, practically bouncing off of the monster's body, if the green glow was anything like what the monkeys did it was a protective barrier, one that was much stronger than the others.
He didn’t let up with his attacks, he sent two more elemental strikes, one fire and one earth, to see if either of them would have an effect on the shielding. The more he attacked it seemed the dimmer the glow became, but at this rate he would need to send all of his mana into an attack to be able to do enough damage to not only break through the shielding but also hit the body. The lone monkey attempted to fight but he killed it quickly, sending a dagger at it and following up with a fireball. It was nothing but an annoyance to him at this point, the main fight was with the gorilla.
The battle took a turn when the gorilla raised one of its arms into the air and pointed at him, the trees around him started to shake and roots sprang up from the ground, coming towards him like snakes. It’s controlling the trees? From the leaves to the very roots it can control and tap into nature?
He didn’t have a choice but to defend, he threw fireball after fireball at the roots, burning them to cinders as they came close, but there were too many. He shifted his attack to try something different, rather than trying to attack with singular fireballs he attempted to use his flames like a flamethrower. He found that he could do this if he concentrated, but the amount of mana it used was insane, he wouldn’t be able to keep it up for long and still have any left to attack the gorilla.
Shaun was getting angry and frustrated, he couldn’t keep this up forever and he would eventually run out of mana and then what would he be left with? His sword was the only thing that didn’t require mana. So why aren’t I using it? Cutting off his flames altogether he started attacking any roots that came at him with strikes with his sword, cutting them to pieces as they came near. He had been an idiot, he had become too reliant on his affinity and had forgotten that he was capable of wielding his sword as just that, a sword.
It was having an impact on the amount of stamina he had but he could spare plenty seeing as it was full when he started this fight. The roots couldn’t get close to him, he was a whirlwind, swinging around and cutting through roots as quickly as he could. The gorilla roared when it realised it couldn’t get close to him with its magic, turning to face the monster, it was no longer glowing green.
It’s run out of mana? Shaun couldn’t help but laugh. This fight just got a lot easier. He still had some mana left, not enough to finish the battle, but just enough for one last attack, and with the gorilla no longer having its shield up he would be able to strike with an elemental strike and actually do damage.
He powered his sword up with the last of his mana and ran at the boss, it had the same idea and headed straight towards him. Just as it was close enough that it could attack him, he released his attack first and sent it exploding backwards. Shaun didn’t let up though, knowing it wouldn’t be enough to kill it, only weaken it, he ran to where it had landed and jumped on top of it, slamming his sword into its stomach, before withdrawing his sword and backing away.
He didn’t go in for another attack, he wanted to see what shape the gorilla was in so he could evaluate his next best move. The gorilla wasn’t dead, he knew that, but it struggled to get back to a standing position, it was able to get on to both its legs and arms but could make it any further. Perfect.
He ran back at the gorilla, it didn’t run to meet him but that was fine by Shaun, he feinted a strike to the right and went left, slicing through its front arm, creating a deep wound that caused it pain if he put weight on it. He kited the monster again and again, he would go in for the attack, cut it up with his sword and then back away. It tried to attack him but with its growing number of wounds it just couldn’t move quick enough to cause any damage or even dodge his blade. He didn’t delay its pain though, when he was confident in going for the kill he took the opportunity and sliced through its back, straight into its chest, ending it quickly after that.
*You have defeated a (Druidic Gorilla – Lvl 23). Bonus experience for killing an opponent above your level gained. 230 TE awarded*
He didn’t delay after that, he looted its body and the monkeys, he got the knuckle bones from the gorilla, a very odd thing to get, and as expected got the cape and stick from the monkey. With that he expected he only had one more fight left in the dungeon, something he would need to prepare for, as he now needed to make a decision on whether he would risk bonding the nature affinity.