CHAPTER XXV: CHECKMATE
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{17:55 LOCAL TIME 21TH MAY 1ME}
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DUNGEON CORE ROOM
THRALL ALDO
Aldo watched the battle as it unfolded disgusted by the efficiency at which their enemies were killing their lesser ghouls. He scowled, his face turning hard, he didn’t have a beating heart after all. ‘We are running out of Lessers.’ He thought as he looked at the monitors.
His eyes narrowed as the ugly cannons, they were like flame throwers burning away all of his allies. “Hold your position.” He ordered the greater ghouls to hang back because of the flames, and this damn sunlight where did it come from. He couldn’t fathom a team actually building a full stronghold in a Horde Dungeon. That would have been suicide at any other time but still might be fatal as the ghouls got their bearings. He then smiled maliciously at the relatively short range of the fire. The sunlight was more annoying, it just made the ghouls weaker to attacks that exposed their insides to the sun, which was basically every attack with the Lesser ghouls.
“Identify those cannons.” He commanded as the Dungeon’s dwindling mana reserves were slowly refilled with the death of his troops. He got the information back almost instantly.
[One Mage class, one Ranger, and I can’t get a read on the last one, but he seems to be the leader, probably a fighter class.] Aldo said to Lisette.
[I think they have a way of identifying the lessers in their area.] Lisette replied.
It wasn’t strange to Aldo at all that all of the knowledge of the world was imprinted in him, he did have the blood of an over one thousand-year-old vampire lord pulsing through his veins. Anything the vampire lord had seen before was now his knowledge because who wanted an uninformed thrall?
Aldo used his hands to scroll through his dungeon interface when he got the information he needed. Knowing everything his master knew was one thing, being able to bring up that information was another.
His master’s intelligence was much higher than his, and Aldo was still not used to running a Dungeon, as it was growing. Sixty percent of the resources were being funneled to expanding the dungeon. Another twenty percent was set aside to maintain the bosses which included him and Lisette.
That only left twenty percent of all the power at his disposal. Which until those monsters in elf and dwarven skin came was more than enough. He had sent everything they had at them. But since he couldn’t identify them he didn’t feel confident that they could kill them. They weren’t even fighting back.
Luckily they didn’t seem interested in taking the Dungeon core. “Thank the Lord for simple blessings,” Aldo whispered frustratedly. He had a fail-safe against overpowered Dungeon divers, but that would be at the expense of growing, and the Lord had said to expand.
That didn’t mean they weren’t a pain in his rear though. But they had allowed this last team to fight on their own. Aldo had assumed they were Adventurers breaking in new initiates when they finally got to the team, and it looked like he was right.
Looking at it objectively he was in good shape generally Adventurers didn’t kill dungeon cores as they knew that Dungeons were the lifeblood of the GREAT GAME. They helped the sapient races grow in the crucible of battle, and combat. They were clearly Peak True Classers. Possibly Cappers. That thought sent shivers down his spine when he first figured it out.
A Capper is a max-level Classer, level 100 on the mortal realm in a pre-Runic world. They are often impossible to kill even for Cultivators under the Heavenly realm, which his Lord was most certainly not, yet.
But Aldo had let his mind wander again. He chuckled softly some traits were hard to change. He needed to focus though. He had a blinking icon on his Dungeon interface. He mentally clicked it, still looking at the fort and Lisette’s progress. She was almost at the wall still undetected.
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< IDENTIFY >
{Weapon Name: Greek Fire
Weapon Type: Defensive Siege system
Weapon Rank:(UNCOMMON)
Description: An incendiary weapon that uses the mana of its gunners to create a flame that can be used until all gunners are out of Mana.
Weapon Damage: 50 damage plus Strength stat of all gunners per second. Mana Cost: 20 Mana per second. Range: 30 meters
Manned By: Unknown Party}
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Aldo was happy it was uncommon that was some of the good news. Its range was also good news the greater ghouls were not in their range just yet. He was willing to sacrifice whatever pieces he needed to win, but bringing those behemoths back would cost a lot of mana, and time.
‘And with the Wild Fourth floor is almost completed...” he shook his head. “Focus Aldo!” The longer their Lord was away the more his old personality came into play.
[I am sending you information from the Dungeon ID] He told Lisette.
[I will be going after the Mage first, she wields fire once she is gone the rest will be easy pickings... those cannons are a problem.] Lisette replied.
[They cost a prodigious amount of Mana per second for the NPCs manning them, but something is buffing them.] Aldo smiled as he saw it.
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< IDENTIFY >
{BUFF NAME: Boost
BUFF TYPE: HOT/MOT
BUFF DURATION: 2 hour
DESCRIPTION: Primary skill of Chibi Kuma. It boost regen times 20 for one hour per level }
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[The dog first, they are using Mana at a ridiculous rate.] Aldo couldn’t believe their luck.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
[Looks like they are playing checkers]
[And we are playing chess.] Lisette chuckled maliciously.
[Checkmate] Aldo replied in kind.
***
LONG BEACH
PRIME
“NO!” Colonel yelled.
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< BUFF REMOVED >
{Boost has been removed because Chibi Kuma has perished.}
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Sugar screamed grabbing her head as she fell to her knees tears flowing from her eyes.
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< WARNING >
{Your teammate Sugar is suffering from skill feedback.}
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Colonel crushed the rocks in his hands in anger, his over two hundred constitution made sure it did zero damage to his skin. He focused, admonishing himself, but not dwelling on it. There was work to be done.
Their enemy had out-maneuvered them perfectly. Their biggest advantage was Kuma’s Buff and their second biggest was Sugar. In one move they had taken out both at least for the moment.
Colonel was still rising since he didn’t take into account his two-hundred-plus strength stat when he jumped. But he now had a pseudo-birds-eye view of the battlefield.
[Sergeant Major!] He yelled.
Without hesitation, Soto spun around, nocked an arrow, and fired at the ghoul Colonel had identified and shared with his teammates. The icon on both of their HUDs was a red skull which they both knew meant that this enemy was out of their league. But so were their wives, and they had bagged them at the time. The prompt showed them that they may be in trouble.
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< ANALYZE >
{Name: Lisette(High Ghoul)(Undead)(Elite)(Final boss)
Level:49
HP:??????
MP:1,500
DR:?????
Highest Stat:
Physical: ???
Mental: Charisma
Bane: Fire
Weaknesses: Light magic and Life magic. Decapitation = True Death.
Description: Ghouls come in many varieties but the one constant between them all is the insatiable appetite for living flesh. Undead Ghoul's appetite is seconded by their strength and constitution. For their level, they will always be stronger and tougher than their frame suggests. High Ghouls are the creators of all the ghouls in a current area. Their bite can make all different types of ghouls depending on their level. They are always Elites with every bonus that offers, but also can absorb other ghouls for a temporary boost to their power.
EFFECTS: Insatiable Hunger. Undead dexterity, undead Regeneration, Creator’s bite. Undead absorption}
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Colonel was very much aware of the lack of information in his Analyze ability. But he didn’t have time to worry about that, the final battle was about to begin.
Lisette caught the arrow without even looking at Soto, eyes full of rage looking up at Colonel as he still hadn’t reached the apex of his jump. “Checkmate you puta...”
BOOM
Whatever she was going to say was cut off as the arrow exploded next to her face. Soto took no chances and fired two more arrows at her location. Only to have them caught easily as well.
Lisette walked out of the smoke with minimal damage. To her face. Pieces of shrapnel slowly fell out of her as she healed instantly.
Colonel wasn’t idle, while any of this was happening. As soon as he yelled at Soto he mentally switched to party chat.
[Everyone on Greek fire adjusts fire to that ghoul inside our perimeter. Everyone else hit the deck!] He ordered.
Soto fired dark arrows now not wanting to waste precious milliseconds drawing more silver-bladed arrows.
Lisette easily dodged them, which was annoying because in the dark the near-invisible Dark Mana arrow should be impossible to see. Her smile grew more confident as she watched everyone around her cower to the ground. Then out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the flames coming at her. She hissed and jumped back. That was when she was hit by what looked like a bunch of flaming rocks sending her careening into the northern wall of the fort and destroying a part of it.
She screamed in pain and fire burnt her arm.
Soto continued to shoot at her. Her left arm was burned off and her right arm pinned under the rubble, leaving her face exposed and Soto would never give up an opportunity to get head shots in. ‘Show me your face ma, I’ll show you a good time.’ He mentally thought.
Colonel was surprised that worked. He had combined his ridiculous strength and dexterity, plus the fact that he was fifty meters up to throw his a piece of rock at her, but not before he infused it with SIEGE WEAPON and WALL FORGING skill.
He had essentially made himself into a human trebuchet shooting flaming stones.
Prompts push themselves to the front of his HUD. He let them wash over him as he saw Lisette struggling to raise herself up. ‘Tough girl.’
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< CLASSES LEARNED >
{CLASS: Ranger
Rangers are the range and sneak specialists. Can specialize into Sniper, Scout, or Rogue.
The RANGER Class grants: +1 Dexterity & Luck per level
{CLASS: Mage
Mages are the caster. Can specialize as an Engineer, Cleric, or Warlock.
The MAGE Class grants: +1 Intelligence & Charisma per level
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{ALL CLASSES ARE ABSORBED BY YOUR LEGACY CLASS}
< CLASS UPGRADED >
CLASS: Legacy
Legacies are jacks of all trades and one can potentially master them. They can learn any class by doing certain actions, and also learn all skills associated with them. You have started to walk down the Prime path.
Legacy grants +2 to all attributes but for magic per level & +2% Bonus to all stats per tier not printed on CS.
Includes: Fighter Upgrade grants +1 Strength & Constitution.
Ranger upgrade grants +1 Dexterity & Luck.
Mage upgrade grants +1 Intelligence & Charisma.
Legacies do not get skill progression bonuses from their class level-ups.}
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< CHOOSE BASE RANGER CLASS SPELLS >
{1. Zoom (Active): Player can visually zoom 2 times
Cost: 10 mana. Duration: 10 seconds. Cool down: N/A.
Requirements: chant.
2. Increased Accuracy (Passive): Whenever a player uses a ranged weapon they get a permanent 10% bonus to dexterity.
3. Sneak (Passive): Gain an innate awareness of how to move undetected.}
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< CHOOSE MAGE CLASS SPELLS >
{1. Fire bolt (Active) Shoot a small bolt of fire.
Cast Time: instant Cost:10 mana. Damage 10 + I/2 where I is intelligence. Range: 10 meters. Cool down: 5 seconds Requirements: Chant and hand gesture
2. Ice Shard (Active): Create a shard of ice.
Cast Time: 2 seconds Cost:10 mana. Damage 10 + I/2 where I is intelligence and 10% chance of slow. Range: 10 meters. Cool down: N/A Requirements: Chant and hand gesture
3. Regeneration (Active): Accelerate the regeneration of other creatures.
Cast time: instant/Channel. Cost: 1 mana per second. Heal: increase healing by 3 times. Range: Touch. Cool down: none Requirements: chant}
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< CHOOSE COMBINED CLASS SPELLS >
{1. Meteorite strike (Active): The Legacy can spend mana to propel a rock of flame. The higher the Legacy, the more damage the meteorite does.
Damage: Variable + chance of burning. Cost: 50 mana. Cast time: 10 seconds. Cool down: 120 seconds. Requirements: Any throwable, and chant.
2. Comet strike (Active): The Legacy can spend mana to propel a rock of ice. The higher the Legacy the more damage the meteorite does.
Damage: Variable + chance of slow. Cost: 50 mana. Cast time: 10 seconds. Cool down: 120 seconds Requirements: Any throwable, and chant.
3. Feather fall (Passive): When the player is jumping from any height they can control their fall up to as slow as a feather.}
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Colonel was surprised by the class upgrades for his actions, but he didn’t have time to think about what spells to choose. The fight was just getting started.