Chapter 33: The Full Meep
SOPHIE
As much as Sophie wanted to berate her enthusiastic little scout, the undeniable sounds of the boss monster rushing ever nearer took precedence. We will definitely discuss this later, she promised the astral through their bond before immediately beginning the process of exchanging Sneakers for Mister Biggs. She figured they would need the tank more since she had seen Tristan draw his greatsword.
She dismissed Sneakers into the typical spiral of astral smoke, and a few moments later the massive lion-maned tank appeared in an explosion of astral rays. He somehow looked even more majestic than usual as he flexed his iron-furred chest and took in his surroundings.
“Incoming boss,” Sophie explained quickly. “Prepare to taunt and then try to keep aggro off of Tristan.”
But the swordsman spoke up immediately. “No, we need Poof for more damage. The faster we trim these vines the better. Even if two will grow back, the boss overall has a limited pool of health. Sneakers dragging the boss all the way back here will have made it a lot stronger, sure, but it can't gain any additional health.”
“Why would it be so much stronger?” Sophie asked, starting to worry about his seriousness.
“Because it most likely absorbed every blessed zombie on its way here. Get ready to fight!”
Given that Tristan had done all the prep work for this dungeon, Sophie trusted that he knew what he was talking about. It’s just a level 5 dungeon’s boss though. How bad could it possibly be?
Then she saw it.
Dozens of thorn-covered vines that were as thick as her legs whipped toward them, splashing what could only be blood all over them and the tunnel wall. It was no wonder Sneakers had fled at full speed. She also knew that it was long past too late to wish he hadn’t scouted so far ahead.
But how did he get caught in the first place?
The vines all seemed to be working together as they pulled a mass of green-and-brown foliage behind it. In the wild it might have been mistaken as merely dense or tangled shrubberies. When surrounded by these stone tunnels so narrow its massive body scraped the walls, however, it simply didn't belong. It seemed to know this itself, as the remaining vines pulled down whole sections of the tunnels in its wake.
That didn't deter Tristan in the least from running in to meet it.
Sophie on the other hand had to push through her shock to get moving again. She didn't have time to gawk, but something was bothering her all the same. She could see dust beginning to fall from some of the supports around the tunnel. She looked from one pillar to the next in an attempt at analyzing how much damage had already been done and what would happen if they didn't stop the Hydra soon. She found that Tristan was unfortunately correct: they needed to end this boss as quickly as possible.
Sophie hurried through the dismissal and summoning of her astrals until Poof finally appeared in front of her. She wrapped the fuzzy mage in a warm hug in spite of the pressing threat and quickly explained to her, “Dungeon boss with lots of vines! Blow it all up as fast as possible. The full meep!”
Poof’s grin was as wide and toothy as Sophie had ever seen. “Meep meep meep!” the furry astral promised. A [Mana Bolt] flew out of her and toward the nearest vines a heartbeat later.
Sophie took several steps back and began turning to always keep Poof pointed at the biggest cluster of vines that she could see. It was just part of their routine that Sophie acted as the squishy astral’s legs when positioning and maneuverability were important. She knew that their arrangement couldn’t last forever, but for now every little bit helped. If a swordsman got to hold their swords, then astralists should get to hold their astrals! In this case, it was what enabled Poof to chain-cast [Mana Bolt], pausing only to explode the projectiles that flew near enough vines to make the AOE damage outshine the single-target bolts.
Just as Tristan had warned, each time a vine was cut off or exploded, two thinner vines grew from the stem or stalk that remained.
“Try to keep it in the tunnel!” Tristan was shouting. “We can’t let the vines into the bigger room.”
Sophie adjusted her targeting priority to now point Poof at the nearest vines instead of the most bunched. He’s right. It won’t be nearly as threatening if we can keep it in the tight hallway. But she did worry if the ever-expanding size would end up pushing the tunnel wide enough to collapse it.
Plant parts were exploding into green goo all around them as it seemed Tristan was truly using all his strength for the first time. His blade was constantly spinning around him and slicing through countless vines. Despite wielding a huge greatsword nearly as tall as he was, the swordsmith was jumping around faster than Sophie would have guessed was possible.
Perhaps that was why he avoided every attack while Sophie could not. As an astralist, Sophie wasn’t as nimble as a front-line melee Class would have been. Even though swordsman was only Tristan’s Secondary, he still had several of the skills and abilities that it granted--and all the stat growth from leveling his primary Class to whatever level he was now. All Sophie could do was try to back up and avoid any attack she could see coming for her. Given that each of Poof's explosions also tended to clutter the air with chunks of stone, dirt, and dust, what Sophie could see didn’t amount to much.
That was how she missed the vines that had managed to snake their way behind her. Several snaked around her ankle and sent her sprawling to the stone floor.
Her first concern was still for Poof, who skidded out of her arms. Luckily the battle mage managed to bounce herself upright almost immediately and had already returned to casting at the vines that had snagged her.
Sophie pulled herself backward and kicked away dead vines from the wreckage of Poof’s attack as she checked her little astral’s mana pool. As directed, Poof was burning through it at ludicrous speed and only had enough left for a few casts.
A cute and ferociously yelled “MEEEEEEP!” seemed to double as Poof’s war cry and apology for letting the viny boss get too close. The little fluffball then rushed to stand between Sophie and all further threats.
“Thanks Poof,” Sophie said, breathing a bit heavily as she began casting her [Heal Astral] spell. She could see that the poor little astral was bleeding from two separate gashes... and of course had also somehow lost her pink bow.
Poof fired off a final [Mana Bolt] but didn't get to explode it before the fight was apparently over. It was jarring in its sudden silence, punctuated only by the flood of notifications and relieved panting as the boss shriveled down like a leaky balloon to barely a third of its prior size.
She saw Tristan kneeling by the body. “Any loot?” she asked.
He sighed. “Not that I can find. Think it's because we're not in the boss room?”
Sophie tapped her chin. “It's definitely possible.“ Then she expanded every single notification at once as she became overwhelmed by the desire to see her entire screen filled with her success.
You have slain [The Vine Hydra, level 6]
{{Boss of the Deepstone Mines}}
[Quest complete: Baby’s First Dungeon]
You have gained the Fledgling Dungeon Delver Achievement!
You have gained the title: {Fledgling Dungeon Delver}.
Next stage of Achievement revealed:
Novice Dungeon Delver!
Requirements: Complete three different dungeon Quests.
Hidden Achievement unlocked:
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Hardmode Boss Slayer!
Rewards: When entering a dungeon, you now see the requirements to unlock any hardmode bosses present.
Congratulations! You have reached LEVEL 6!
Skills Earned:
[Swift Summon] A passive skill that grants the user a major decrease (25%) to the cast time of summoning Astrals.
“I got the notification for completing the quest,” Sophie said as she allowed herself to sit down on the floor to read and reread her newest gains. When the squishy astral hopped onto her lap and snuggled into the usual spot between Sophie’s arms, Sophie decided not to berate her for losing her bow for once, even if it had been on purpose.
Instead she allowed the purring warmth to calm her nerves as she began to really analyze the incredibly useful new passive she'd earned. The wording seemed to make clear that the bonus would apply to all her summon spells and not merely the ones she currently knew, which suggested that some day her little family might grow. A part of her wondered if she would be able to improve upon the bonus somehow with enough experimentation and mastery like some skills could, or if it would only improve through future skill selections.
She became a bit pensive when she examined the title she’d gotten and only briefly debated whether it was worth equipping.
{Fledgling Dungeon Delver} Gives +1 to your highest stat
It wasn’t exactly bad, but it was undoubtedly common. After a little bit of experimenting proved that the stat boost would always apply to whichever stat was her highest even if she didn't wear the title, her decision was sealed. The title just felt too basic to her and was barely a step above {Awakened}. She had never seen anyone wearing that.
Tristan walked toward her absolutely covered in green slime. “Congratulations are in order,” he said with what appeared to be a genuine smile. “You’ve now completed a dungeon and gotten to level 6. Pretty good for a single day’s work, I’d say. Do you know how far Sneakers pulled the boss? How long of a walk do we have before you get your boss loot?”
Sophie cast [Heal Astral] one more time even if the display showed Poof’s health at full. The poor thing had gotten hurt and deserved to feel good after all her hard work. It was only then that she turned to Tristan and answered him. “I honestly lost track of him a bit there before he accidently pulled the boss, so it could be a ways off. At least the Vine Hydra saved us from having to clear the remaining rooms.”
“I guess that’s true,” Tristan admitted with a lopsided grin. “We did practically speed-run this place.” Then he frowned. “I wonder if the dungeon will take away some of your smart loot for having a party member that was so over-leveled.”
Sophie knew a lot about how smart loot was supposed to work, but she couldn’t remember any of the stories being about people who were carried like she had been. If it happened then she would still be totally fine with it, as she had gotten the levels she’d come for anyways. That didn’t stop her from hoping that she would still get the astralist loot the place was so well known for.
After a long and leisurely walk through the empty remains of the dungeon, she was delighted to see a big golden chest in the middle of what would have been the boss's chamber. The room looked to be modeled off of a mining camp’s central hub, with boardwalks and stairways leading to tons of smaller tunnels across multiple levels. It was clear the viny beast had ended any actual mining operations long ago. Everything was completely overgrown, and now that the boss was dead the greenish-gray slime that remained seemed to be decomposing at an alarming rate and leaving a rancid smell in the air.
“Still better than oozes,” she heard Tristan mutter.
“Did you know what we did was officially a hardmode?”
Tristan blinked at her. “Is that a good thing? It doesn’t sound like it.”
“It usually gives better loot,” Sophie said. And she hesitated a moment, debating with herself about whether to share her newest ability with him before finally deciding to just go ahead with it. “I got an achievement that will allow me to see how to unlock them in the future.”
“Wow, that sounds awesome. I guess I’m glad one of us has it if we’re going to party together again.”
Sophie was glad he’d said it, as she was kind of worried he might hold it against her or something. His attention seemed to be drifting though. He wasn’t even looking at the chest any more, but instead at the tunnels leading out of the boss’s chamber, Sophie asked, “Do you think the dungeon populated those tunnels with any ore deposits? Would it be worth checking?”
His response was hesitant. “There might be some, but I don't really want to spend the time digging it up right now. Besides, you have this awesome gold chest to open before we get to anything else.”
Sophie smiled as she walked the remaining steps to the golden chest. She took a moment to fully appreciate its glistening splendor since she knew these chests were relatively rare as far as rewards came.
The moment she placed her hand on the gold chest, the lid lifted to some invisible symphony playing a heroic celebration. Sophie couldn’t help but smile as the music filled and lifted her spirit.
“I love that music,” Tristan whispered.
What she found inside was a beautiful, rainbow-colored ring of some sort. Luckily Tristan didn’t even hesitate to help when she asked him to [Identify] it. Though he did gasp at first.
“It’s unique! And it has your name on it!”
She made him read the full description twice just to make sure she heard him correctly.
[Sophie’s Ring of Exchange (Unique)]
A ring made of coalesced essence from the Astral Sea.
Once per combat, you may instantly change astrals.
Sophie lost herself in the bliss of what she knew was an insanely impressive reward. It was far better than the one she’d heard about and hoped would drop! More than just its power level, the item’s ability felt like recognition in a way that proved the unique choices for her Path were valid. This was the kind of effect that usually only appeared in tier 2 and above, because that was when other astralists got more than one astral.
Finally something to show for all my hard work, she thought with pride.
Then she heard Tristan mutter something barely over a whisper that sounded like, “Huh, my ability recharged.”
“What was that?” she asked, hoping to have heard him correctly since that would mean that all the time spent in the dungeon with her wouldn’t have been wholly fruitless for him.
“Well, it’s just that the unique ability of my sword recharged, and I’m not entirely sure why...”
Sophie wasn’t exactly sure where to begin questioning that statement, since it seemed to be unusual in several ways. “You made that sword though, didn’t you?”
Tristan nodded. “But I incorporated some magic that was kind of above my ability at the time, and it went way better than I could have expected. I’m still learning the finer points of it though.”
Sophie just nodded along with his non-explanation. “But it’s a good thing that it recharged, right?”
“Definitely,” Tristan replied without a moment’s hesitation. “It’s a really powerful ability. It probably saved my life the last time I used it.”
“Then I’m glad that you got something for coming out here and helping me after all.”
Tristan shrugged. “I appreciate that. Obviously I would have helped you even if I hadn’t gotten anything from it.” His voice quieted as he added, “Maybe that’s actually what did it.”
“Well if you ever want to help me again, I can think of a handful of other dungeons I’d love to run," Sophie half-joked.
Tristan laughed. “I’m sure you would. I don’t know, maybe in a week or two, once I get a bit more training, we can do something like this again.”
“After more training with Jamal of all people,” Sophie added deadpan. “I still can’t believe you’re that lucky.” It still blew her mind that this silly swordsmith had somehow managed to secure the best mortal swordsman in the realm as his teacher.
Tristan waved her off as he looked toward the exit portal that had appeared on the far side of the boss’s chamber. “Yeah, speaking of, I probably should be heading back about now. I kind of blew off Cherry without telling her where I was going.” He sighed in a way that didn’t tell Sophie which piece of that statement was bothering him more.
“Afraid she won’t approve of your decisions?”
“Something like that. She seems to like keeping me on schedule.” Luckily Tristan didn’t dwell on it and instead asked, “So are you ready to head back to The Agora now, or what?”
Sophie raised an eyebrow and practically had to hold Poof down, since the little fluffball was clearly delighted at the idea of spending more time with the boy. That wouldn’t do. She didn’t want Poof to get too attached to someone who was going to be gone so often. “Weren’t you just saying you needed to head back to Jamal? That’s not even remotely the same direction as Rockmoor.”
Tristan shrugged. “Thought I’d offer to walk with you. It’s the better part of an hour...”
“Tristan, I’m an astralist with three very capable astrals. We can take care of ourselves.”
“Yeah, I know. You more than proved that today.” He glanced at the exit again. “But alright. I’ll see you in a week or two then?”
Sophie decided to remain sitting on the floor in a deliberate attempt to show that she had no intention of moving until after he was gone. She didn’t want to become too reliant on him and was serious in her desire to prove that she could take care of herself.
Still, she responded genuinely with the gratitude that had been building for hours. “Of course! This was really fun and I look forward to doing it again.” It had been one of those rare days where she could be totally honest about herself and her Path and not be judged for it. It didn’t hurt that she’d also made a lot of progress. She was hoping that it would be enough that they could actually be self-sufficient now.
“It was,” Tristan agreed, adopting a lopsided grin once again as he began walking backward toward the exit while facing her. “And you know, I haven’t thought about how I disarmed that giant in hours! I guess it’s true that there’s nothing quite like a dungeon run with friends to take your mind off your troubles.”
As Sophie watched the tall swordsmith go, she felt an unexpected happiness bubbling up in her. And maybe a bit of regret about not walking back with him. He called us his friends. Perhaps more alarming was that she’d already felt the same way about him. She trusted him now.
It had been a long, long time since Sophie had felt that way about anyone that wasn’t an astral.