31. The Echoing Abyss pt. 3
We faced blind mermen in addition to the mist elementals during the final stretch of the dungeon, but the mermen were easily overcome. Tefla was pleased to finally face something against which he could do damage after having felt ineffectual for the majority of the dungeon, and the rest of us speculated what this would mean for what we faced next. The Echoing Abyss was called so because throughout the dungeon you could hear the faint echo of the ocean, despite being miles inland. Were we about to enter an aquatic environment?
The passageway we traveled through didn’t change as we moved. The floor was damp, but that had been true the entire dungeon. It was dark, lit only by my [Spark] spells and the [Light] that Rea cast above each of the others, except for Tefla, whose race gave him innate darkvision.
Due to that perk, he had been leading us throughout the linear parts of the dungeon, sometimes getting a ways in front of us, so we thought nothing of it when he motioned for us to stop, then popped into stealth to check out some threat that he had spotted. He came back moments later, his expression grim.
“There’s five of them ahead. Not mermen. They’re men, except instead of heads they have a bunch of tentacles.
I perked up at that description. I had not expected to find more of Mikal’s race in this dungeon, but that’s what it sounded like we faced. “They may be reasonable,” I said. “I’ve encountered another person like this before, and managed to talk my way out of a battle with him. Let’s see if they’re willing to parlay.”
“We’ll be giving up the element of surprise,” Tefla protested.
“If they’re not darkspawn, then it would be monstrous to attack them without provocation,” I argued. “You can hide in stealth in case something goes wrong if it makes you feel better, Tefla, but I’m going to try talking first.”
Having declared my intentions, I walked forward. The passageway opened up into a larger space, and I realized that the stone had been cut away to make the room a perfect cube. I cleared my throat as I approached, and each of the creatures snapped their attention from the table they had been focused on and turned to me.
“Hello. Are you Mikal? I spoke with a Mikal previously. I am--”
“Hail Jeoran,” the creatures responded. They spoke separately, but in perfect unison, the words coming simultaneously from five mouths. “Yes, I am Mikal. Did you deliver my message?”
I swallowed. The way the Mikal spoke was uncanny, and it unnerved me. “Yes,” I said. “I passed your message along to Gyudue.”
“Why have you come here?” the Mikal asked. The way their separate yet unified voices sounded was uncanny.
“I am here to destroy this dungeon at the request of the landholder who it belongs to,” I answered honestly. “I am hoping that, like before in Mikal Mines, I can convince you not to stand in my way.”
“Impossible. This dungeon serves a purpose to the Mikal. Your interests run counter to our own this time. You will die.”
Before I could protest, the Mikal closest to me lunged forward, a dagger appearing in its hand. It was blindingly fast, and the dagger connected to its target, my side.
I cursed and [Blinked] away, teleporting twenty hards from my attacker. The Mikal turned as one, and in five voices they began chanting a cantrip to a spell that I didn’t know. Forcing down my panic, I tried counterspelling the nearest Mikal. It was resisted! I tried again, and once more it was resisted.
The Mikal were not casting five individual spells but a single ritual. Their combined efforts were easily overcoming my individual attempts at interrupting them. Even when Tefla appeared behind one of the Mikal and unleashed a fierce [Backstab], the ritual was not interrupted. The targeted Mikal simply kept casting, even as Tefla cut through its health rapidly.
But not quickly enough. With a flash in the center of the room, the ritual was complete. The Mikal that Tefla was fighting died seconds later, bursting into black smoke. The others began casting a new spell, one that I recognized as a simple teleport. Rather than try to counterspell them, I allowed them to go, because once the blinding lights of the completed ritual faded, I had realized their strategy.
They had summoned a lightning drake from the wild, but they had no method of controlling it. They didn’t need one; the drake was enraged by the involuntary summoning and without a spell in place to control it, it would attack anyone and everything nearby.
I thought back to Kordrom, the Stormbinder, and lamented that he was not with us any longer, as his lightning resistance buff would make this fight much easier.
The drake reared back, flapping its vestigial wings, sucking in air as it prepared to unleash its breath on me. I [Blinked] away just in time, then turned and ran back into the hallway to join my friends. The entrance to the hallway was too narrow for the beast to follow, and we vanished around a corner to prevent it from attacking us directly.
“So that didn’t work,” Tefla said, joining me. “I don’t suppose you know some secret weakness to this monster as well?”
“It’s a lightning drake,” I announced. “It’s not as strong as a dragon, but it’s still fierce. In the wild adults are usually level seventy plus, but this one should be restricted down to our level by the dungeon. We have a chance of killing it, but it’s going to be hard.”
“Wonderful,” Tefla commented. “How do we do that?”
“Tank and spank,” I announced. I glanced around, and the mist which accompanied the elementals was nowhere to be seen. “Let’s rest up to full before we charge in there, however.”
Rea healed the damage I had taken from the Mikal’s dagger, then rested until her mana had regenerated to full. I glanced around at my party, trying to figure out a strategy which would be both successful and keep everyone alive. Unfortunately, I couldn’t think of anything other than what I had said previously.
“The lightning drake will have lightning breath, of course,” I said as we were gearing up to charge into the cubed room. “And it’s bite will be venomous, so try to avoid that. Has anyone ever fought a dragonling before?”
They had not, and I explained to them the basic strategy that would be entailed. When everyone was as prepared as we could get, Rea buffed Nefeline up as much as she could with damage shields and healing over time effects, and the young soldier charged into the room spear first. The drake hit her with its lightning breath, which ate through the shields Rea had cast instantly and dealt forty percent damage to our tank, but Nefeline was able to get its attention and turn it away from the entryway long enough for the rest of us to get inside.
I went one way, Rea and Tefla went the other. Tefla, as a melee DPS, would be most effective darting in from the side while Nefeline held its attention, but he was at the most risk of suffering a swipe attack from the Drake, while I should be relatively safe at ranged, unless the monster turned its attention to me in the form of a breath attack. I held myself ready to [Blink] away should the monster turn its attention my way, but as soon as everyone was in position I began to chaincast [Fire Volley], anticipating that this was going to be a long fight.
I was right. I burned through my mana sixteen times. The drake sometimes turned my way, or toward Tefla, who was turning the beast’s side into mince meat, but each time its attention wavered Nefeline was able to promptly get it back under control. We were very fortunate that Rea had brought plenty of Mana potions, because she burned through at least three of them, using the first one as soon as her mana deficit was high enough that it wouldn’t be wasted.
However, aside from a high Health pool and the heavy damage it was able to inflict on its primary target, the strategy for overcoming the drake was very simple. Soak the breath attacks, avoid the swipe attacks, and the tail. It would have gone faster with a third DPS, but we managed to kill the beast before Rea ran out of mana. It roared in indignation at the end of its life.
I sort of felt bad for it; it had probably been minding its own business before getting caught in the Mikal’s spell. It burst into black mist, however, proving that it was darkspawn.
It dropped a pair of [Drakehide Boots] and a [Dragontooth Amulet]. The boots went to Tefla, while I won the amulet in a roll against Rea. Thanks be to RNG.
“Is that it?” Tefla asked as we were recuperating. “Was that the final boss?”
“I don’t know.” I motioned towards the door opposite the one we had entered. Unlike the open passageway that had brought us here, the way forward was barred with an iron gate. The lock, however, was a simple puzzle lock that took me only a moment to figure out.
When the door opened, we were hit with the smell of rotting fish. Inside the room were piles of corpses of the blind mermen we had encountered earlier. The others all gagged, but I was far more disturbed than they were.
The mermen hadn’t despawned with death.
<
<
I frowned. This was the first time the system had utterly failed to answer a question for me, but if the adversary was involved then perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised. <
I looked at the mermen in the room. I was deeply troubled, but I could think of only one thing to do for them. There were too many to administer the rites individually, but I gave them the final blessing of Thedum anyway. They burst into white light, which slowly faded away, along with the stench of their rotting bodies.
“What was that all about?” Tefla asked.
“I honestly have no idea,” I said. I took a step further into the room, and promptly saw the object I had been searching for. The dungeon core was part of the wall at the far end of the room; previously hidden by a stack of bodies. I cautiously crossed the room to touch it, expecting some last trick or trap by the dungeon to defend itself, but nothing happened.
You have reached the Dungeon Core of Echoing Abyss.
You have declared intention to destroy the Dungeon Core
Has your intention changed?
Yes
(Additional Options will be made available for the evolution of Echoing Abyss)
No
(Maximized Rewards will be received for the Destruction of Echoing Abyss under the highest difficulty)
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
I selected no, and the core burst into light.
Echoing Abyss Has Been Cleared!
Calculating Rewards
Kill Percentage
100%
Time
6 hours 52 minutes (.98 RT)
*4%*4error&$^%
Survived
Jolt Eel Swarm
Survived
*#@$*%Error
Navigated
Cave Hydra
Killed
Aqnaman the Gargoyle
Killed
Salamandras
Killed
*34h24Error
Error
You have interfered with the plans of Mikal and Nyxandra.
DH34h2*$h
Rewards (All Members)
Gold
13,576
Experience
100,000
Reputation With Eliyenia of the Shallow Pools
10,000
Reputation with Crescentis
3,000
Ire of Nyxandra
Ire of Mikal
Favor of Thedum
Favor of Lumina
Favor of Stonebeard
Favor of Starweaver
Favor of Mossheart
Additional Rewards (Hail Jeoran)
Dungeon Daughter Core
9
I frowned at the summary screen which appeared, troubled as much by the nonsense that appeared as the warnings that I had earned the ire of the Adversary. <
<
<
I turned to my party members, who were celebrating the notifications of the experience. The notification that the instance was about to close appeared, and while the others celebrated, I simply sat down to wait. I would have to ask Thedum or Thomas what was going on with the errors I was seeing, but I couldn’t do that right here.
The timer wound down to zero, and my friends disappeared, portaled away by the system. I, however, remained.
<
<
I felt my skin grow cold. It was one thing to know that I had done something to impede Nyxandra’s path without knowing exactly what. It was another for her to impede mine directly in response.
“Well? You know I’m paying attention. Are you going to say something?” a familiar voice asked. I had last heard the voice of the adversary in the Deadlands, when I had been held captive by my great-uncle Aurorars. He had saved me then, but I had no Gray Man with me this time.
“What do you want from me, Adversary?” I asked, my voice shallow.
“I am not your adversary, Hail,” Nyxandra said coyly. “In fact, if you were but to ask me, I would happily give you anything you wanted. I wouldn’t even demand service. I’m truly not as evil as you believe me to be.”
“What do you want from me?” I repeated.
“Nothing.” Nyxandra said. “I’m simply annoyed with you right now. You have broken several major questlines with your actions today. But it’s not truly your fault. The other gods have tricked you into it, so I forgive you. Mikal, however, is not the forgiving sort. The next time you see him, I suggest you run. Especially if he is in numbers.”
“If I have broken quests written by you, then I have done this world a favor,” I declared. “I am not sorry.”
“Perhaps if you could see further into the future, you would be,” Nyxandra said. “Oh well. It doesn’t matter how you feel about what you have done. You’ve cost me a bit of time and effort, but that’s all. A few of my followers among the Travelers will be upset to find that their quests are impossible now that this dungeon has been destroyed, but I am more annoyed with the entities which put it on your radar than I am with you. I will find a way around this obstacle, as will Mikal. I cannot say what this will mean for the challenges which will face the world in the future, however.”
I felt the presence of Nyxandra withdraw. I exhaled a relieved breath, then pulled up my fast travel to return to the Shallow Pools and report my success to Eliyenia.