Floor 7
Group: 6/6
Quest: The mountains of the remote island of Isoterra are treacherous, infested with deadly creatures, and inhospitable. Exploring them will all but ensure injury and death. But rumors of vast treasure around a nest of monstrously strong beasts still call to those explorers, including you. What will you find nestled between and in the mountains? Only time and blood will tell.
Wyn gripped his Reef Glider tight in both hands. Transporting through the portal was nothing new, but holding an object while being transferred through space was definitely a strange experience. He never felt like it was in danger of being dropped during the few moments teleporting to the floor, but it did feel like it was both a new appendage but also separating entirely. The first time they went through he was afraid he actually did drop it, but going again the second time he realized how distorted his body actually became when being teleported.
It was not something he looked forward to experiencing again, but when Gregory told them that the floor opened fifty feet above ground and to use their gliders, none of them hesitated. After an experienced Climber was nearly killed falling the height and was only saved by a well-timed use of an item from their teammate, a mandate was released shortly after to have gliders ready when entering all floors. All of the Climbers entering the portal looked like a small army of ants carrying leaves above their heads. If it wasn’t so serious Wyn would have thought they looked funny.
The Twilight Blades only knew about the seventh floor situation earlier because they climbed higher and faster than the average Climber. The difference in the guild knowing versus the climber nearly dying was only a few days, despite Gregory immediately telling Aureus and the other guilds. To Wyn, that was a valuable piece of information that deserved to be shared with everyone. Though he also knew how slow communication could be distributed.
So, the start of the floor was now trivial instead of life-threatening. Each of the six Climbers slowly floated down through wispy gray clouds, looking like flowers caught in the wind. One by one they landed on the now-blue dirt path, ready to climb.
“New trap formation,” Cedric called, putting his glider away. His topaz-crested scepter floated beside him exactly where he left it.
Similar to the last time they climbed, they immediately stashed their own gliders and moved to position. Cedric had some variations on Wyn’s formations they were used to using, something that Wyn had already been working on. Since Lucy joined them they had to reorganize themselves. It wasn’t a major difference, but it still needed to be done and practiced.
Marcy and Lucy took the front, Tasha and John were in the middle, and Wyn and Cedric took the back. Marcy needed to find traps and alert them to dangers, while Lucy was a strong choice beside her. She was both a capable warrior and a good defender. If for some reason she was hurt by a surprise opponent, she would become more deadly and powerful. John had the bulk of their defense and could easily hold down several enemies, so him being in the middle meant he could move wherever was needed easiest. Tasha was their primary support, so she could protect or heal all around.
Cedric wanted to be as far removed from the direct fight as possible, and Wyn could protect him at the back in case they were ambushed or hold an enemy long enough for Cedric to reposition.
It was straightforward and similar to their previous setups. The only problem with the seventh floor, was that traps and monsters were constantly berating them, and they still had to navigate the maze-like floor despite so many obstacles. Nigel said during their last meeting it took them hours to traverse the floor, and after four grueling hours of fighting, avoiding traps, and dealing with the cold, his group quit to try again another day. Their hope was that they’d get an easier layout on a separate day so they could move on to the next floor.
Wyn’s group met the same problem their first time in the floor. They quickly found a trapped area, and after avoiding it had to deal with one of the four monster types on the floor. An hour in the floor of constant fighting and stress, and Cedric had them leave to try again.
Wyn could have kept going but realized the others weren’t as used to pushing themselves. That was okay, though. If they took their time, he was confident they could make it through.
After only a few minutes of walking they again found their first trap, but it was at least different than before. The environment on the floor was as breathtaking as the previous ones, but it did wind around a mountain with a narrow path similar to the sixth floor. They could walk it three people side by side comfortably, but felt like two at a time was a safer bet with needing to move and fight. Which was important, as the path felt even higher than before. The wind whipped around them stirring up light blue dust, clouding their vision past the already limited sight they had. The surrounding area was coated in a slow moving gray fog, as though the mountain they found themselves was nestled within a massive cloud.
The edge of the cliff had no visibility past a few feet, and Wyn was afraid of what was beneath his line of sight. So, he felt far more comfortable staying a few feet from the edge. He had no means, mundane or magical, to be able to lift himself back up if he fell over.
Not for the first time, the thought entered his mind that he should likely look into obtaining an item with a flying effect.
The trap they stopped at was one they were briefed on but hadn’t encountered yet. Two rock-like bushes sat like mounds on either side of the path, one at the edge of the cliff to their right and one at the edge of the mountain side on their left. Each pile was several feet high and large, easily a few feet wide. Per their report, they didn’t yet have an identifiable name, but Faye referred to them as “living rocks” since they activated and sprang to life when approached. Sturdy tendrils lashed out from the mounds and grabbed whatever was close, securing them in a trap while bashing them with other rock tentacles or throwing them around. The danger came in possibly being thrown over the cliff’s edge, or being held and distracted if monsters also came to fight the group.
A simple blast of wind would disrupt the traps and temporarily paralyze them, but the cost was an entire spell slot dedicated to using wind magic, something Wyn could’t afford and Cedric couldn’t do. Their solution was to have a green rarity wand that had a number of uses per day of first tier wind magic, a simple enough weapon that was easy to obtain. Both Wyn and Tasha had one that carried a dozen uses a day each, which they hoped would be plenty. Their backup plans were to have Cedric change his spell elemental type to wind, or for Wyn to cast Elemental Weapon either on his weapon or Marcy’s bow to bypass the trap.
After Tasha used her wand on both traps without issue, they continued on. Immediately after stepping past the traps, they met their first monsters of the floor - a pair of Riocks that cawed and swooped down on them from the clouded cover above. They were larger than the previous ones they faced, and had bluish-white glowing runes on their huge gray wings.
“Take them down quickly so the traps don’t come back!” Cedric called, immediately charging a spell at one of the flying creatures.
Marcy infused an arrow with Ignite before firing it at the furthest Riock, hitting its body. The creature bellowed in pain before crashing into the cliff wall to their side. The impact caused some chunks of rock and sheets of ice to fall into the group, and everyone scrambled and spread out to avoid them.
“Stay together!” Cedric called, firing his spell at the weakened Riock. The creature spasmed on the ground, sizzling from the fire and lighting, but still lived as it moaned in pain. “Lucy, on the weaker one! John and Wyn, hold the other!”
Wyn activated Speed Up and dashed forward along with John. He activated his Squire Aura and raised his shield, ready to defend. The healthy Riock yelled in anger when it saw the other monster on the ground writhing in pain, as though they shared some sort of bond. It elongated its body and stood up, spreading its wings out wide. The runes that spread across it glowed as it stood over ten feet tall.
“Tasha, Wyn!” Cedric yelled.
Wyn didn’t need to be told what to do, but he was impressed with Cedric’s timed response. Both mages put up barriers between them and the monster, Tasha with her Improved Shell and Wyn with his Shield. Tasha’s barrier was thicker and had a brighter aura than Wyn’s, and he recognized it as her casting it with the power of a second tier spell.
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That was something that Wyn was again envious of as a deficit of his class and boon of the other second tier mage classes. While he did have a couple tier two spells, all of his magic was limited to their own tier. Cedric and Tasha could upscale their tier one spells, improving their effect at the cost of more mana.
The Riock’s attack fired almost immediately after the barriers went up. It created a large, barrel-thick white and blue magical beam from its beak directly at the group. Wyn’s protective spell held for only a second before shattering, though Tasha’s held longer as the beam collided with the curved barrier.
Wyn immediately cast another directly in front of them as an emergency precaution. Right as it was formed, the beam broke through Tasha’s spell and dwindled against Wyn’s second Shield. The spell held this time, and the magical light reduced in size dramatically.
Tasha still fled behind them right after casting her Improved Shell initially to be closer to Cedric, though Wyn stayed so he could cast his second Shield. They didn’t have to stand still once the barriers were placed, but he did need the right angle so the barrier could stop the attack from hitting the group. Tasha could cast her spells from a distance but Wyn was far more limited.
He extended his weapon into a spear and cast Wellspring. The beast was settled on the ground, and a huge part of its advantage was flying. It could either escape them to return later or attack them from the sky, a disadvantage he didn’t want. The glyph activated right away being under the monster, and it glowed with a faint aura showing it was caught.
Wyn then cast Feeble to reduce its strength, his last planned spell. He would let John’s Squire Aura give him the physical boost along with Speed Up needed to relentlessly attack the creature. When Feeble was cast, though, his class mark appeared under him, and the spell duplicated. His Chaincast activated, and the second one latched onto the other Riock.
It was a systematic fight from then on. The damaged monster was already hurt, but having its power dwindled further made it basically like attacking a stunned enemy. Lucy wailed on it until it perished, and the others moved to the second Riock. They overpowered it with their numbers, magic, and variability of attacks. Cedric unleashed several strong spells of lightning while John used his sword skills to increase his weapon’s effectiveness. Marcy shot it with a couple standard arrows, but after realizing they hardly pierced the tough hide and dense feathers, she shot two magical fire arrows that were far more effective.
In less than a minute it too was dead, and they were once again alone on the side of the mountain.
After the fight, Cedric had them check in to see their current status. Lucy had some injuries to her arms but nothing outside of her normal. John took a few hits that his shield and armor mostly caught, but he winced when moving his sword arm, reporting either a bruised side or possible damaged rib. Tasha promptly healed them both.
Wyn’s mana was about half spent, but he would recover that relatively soon. Two mana potions rested on his belt, and he wanted to save them when needed in the middle of fights. He would recover a fair amount between engagements. The others also used a fair amount of mana, especially Cedric and Marcy. Her arrows weren’t effective unless coated in magic, so each attack not considered useless required one of her Ranger spells. She had to drink a mana potion after the fight while Cedric said he could hold off until after their next fight being around half of his mana already.
They were fine physically but already spent valuable resources, and they just started their climb. Faye told them that higher floor climbing meant resource allocation more than anything, and Wyn understood what she meant.
The treasure piles left behind the two Riocks were nothing to complain about, though it was mostly silver cloaks. Two sapphire gems were nestled inside, both of which went to their collective pot to be distributed after. John already had enough gemstones for his sword. The most valuable reward, though, was a feather that was found in one of the piles. It glowed with a blue aura and was stark white and cold to the touch.
Wyn remembered what Gregory reported about the floor’s secondary quest in their most recent meeting. He pulled out his parchment and confirmed it.
Secondary Quest: Dangerous monsters patrol the more rugged mountains of Isoterra, protecting or taking territory as they see fit. Proof of their defeat is a mark of a true warrior. Each component must be of a differing element.
Riock feather: 0/2
Ta-Yurk scales: 0/3
From what Gregory and Faye confirmed, the items had to be different elements from each monster. The Riocks were of the wind and ice elements, while the Ta-Yurks came in any pack of water, ice, wind, or lightning. They were stronger and faster version of the first floor Ta-Yitz, smaller beasts called dinosaurs that looked like large and deadly chickens. The Ta-Yurks were the size of big dogs, and even faster with vicious melee attacks with their bites and claws and elemental attacks at range. According to their information, they had a mane of dense, brightly colored feathers that glowed when readying their elemental attacks, and tough scales that served as natural defense like metal armor.
They had plans for all of the enemy types, but it would still be tough fights. Wyn hoped they wouldn’t be too overwhelmed when the time came.
Moving on, the winding path offered no reprieve from the winds or foggy clouds, making their trek slower than normal. Wyn even had a feeling the winds were picking up and fog growing more dense. Their blue dirt path was going slightly uphill, adding to their slow speed, though at least the width stayed the same. Tasha was continuing to map out their progress on a small piece of parchment, and so far they only had split paths to take that branched off in differing elevations. After about five minutes of walking and passing a second forked path, they found another set of rock traps that Cedric and Tasha disrupted. They waited for more monsters to show but nothing came.
Another ten minutes of walking and a third forked road later, they came upon a three-way split, one of which was a cave alcove leading directly into the mountain.
“Thank the gods,” Marcy said, raising her voice over the whistling winds.
“What is it?” Lucy asked, raising her axe.
Marcy pointed with her head to the cave on their left. “The cave. Finally.”
Lucy narrowed her eyes. “I don’t understand.”
John sighed. “Didn’t you pay attention during the briefing?”
“John, I’m honestly surprised you did,” Marcy said.
John ignored the slight. “The cave system is the second part of the floor. It traverses through the mountain and ends at a large plateau, which is the third and final part of the floor.”
“Sorry, I was too busy focusing on all of the items that lightning boy came up for me,” Lucy said, nearly yelling so the rest of the group could hear.
“Please don’t call me that,” Cedric said. “And pay attention next time. It’s valuable information we review.”
Lucy raised her arms in surrender. “Alright, alright. Cedric the Lightning God it is, then.”
Cedric started to reply but paused. “Actually, I quite like that.”
“Can we get into cover, please?” Tasha said, holding her raised hood to block out most of the wind. “I can barely hear all of you!”
The others quickly moved into the opening of the cave, and Wyn was startled at the sudden quiet. Outside back on the path, blue dirt was being blown about by the wind, a change that Wyn either failed to notice on their journey or a phenomenon that was so gradual he failed to realize it. The fog was already fairly dense, but in the relatively peaceful area of the cave it was much easier to see the contrast. The only downside was the cave was dark. It was impossible to see much further than a few feet past the entrance.
“That’s much better,” Tasha said, using one hand to brush off dirt from her clothes. She then pulled up her wand and cast Torchlight above her, causing a small orange blob of light to float a foot above her head.
“I can’t believe we’re already in the second phase,” John said. “Is it just me or did that go a little quick?”
“Either we were incredibly lucky or this is a false path,” Cedric said. He walked a feet into the cave and looked further inside. Their area was lit from Tasha’s spell, but it wasn’t a direct beam of light. It just covered a wide area around them.
John walked up beside Cedric and pointed ahead. “You know what they say! A wrong path means a right reward!”
Wyn walked up beside them. “No one says that.”
“I’m saying that. Just now.”
Wyn just shook his head while John looked proud of his own joke.
“Either way, it’ll be good to explore,” Marcy said. “Any further out there and we’d be next to useless the way that wind was picking up.”
Wyn grabbed his Mushroom Lantern out of his backpack and started to attach it to his belt. He briefly thought about hiding it from Lucy but figured it would be fine to use. It was too valuable of an item not to use, and if they found a hidden room then so be it. He had a feeling she wasn’t going to give them any trouble. Despite her allegiance to the Assembly she still climbed and fought alongside them, and did so relatively well. She was more rough around the edges than the others but she at least was a reliable teammate. And Wyn had a feeling she may have hated their mutual organization even more than he did.
With a shake, the small mushrooms inside bounced around and began glowing a soft green light. The dim light extended further than Tasha’s spell, and they could now see at least thirty feet into the cave. The space expanded into a larger room, and there didn’t seem to be any immediate threats. The ceiling was generously tall and the walls thankfully wide, giving them plenty of room to move freely. It was likely a massive cave system if this was just the entrance.
“That’s a creepy item you got there,” Lucy said.
Wyn shrugged. “It does what we need. Won’t see me complaining about it.”
A rumble ahead caused everyone to move in alarm. They all drew their equipment in anticipation.
“Wyn, Lucy, you lead with Marcy behind you,” Cedric said. “Tasha in the middle behind her, then John with me.”
Wyn took a deep breath as he moved forward with Lucy beside him. They exchanged a shared look of concern before heading further into the cave.