by Brent Tyman
All of the women confirmed that monsters did respawn in the Dungeon, though more slowly than I was used to in my RPGs. If you eliminated too many of one monster type too quickly, though, the Dungeon wouldn’t bother to reseed that level.
Both the Adventurer’s Guild and the city state council each had a rule forbidding the over hunting of monsters on a particular floor. Normally though, it was all but impossible for the aggressive hunting of monsters to affect the balance of life on the Dungeon’s levels.
I supposed the Demons didn’t get the memo on that. The situation must have been worse than I thought and there must have been far more of them here than I had seen initially.
A LOT more…
Annoyingly enough, the sixth floor was completely empty, as well. Which led me to complaining about burning our time having to trek across it. The floor itself wasn’t that different from the first floor, with simple stone corridors and the occasional large caverns in between long stretches of empty caves.
The main difference was a slimy green residue that we found on the floor and sometimes, high up on the walls. Evidently, this floor had been the home of Slimes—giant blob-like creatures that were eager to swallow you whole. At least, that’s what I was told.
Now, they were nowhere to be seen.
A theory Juliana put forward on their elimination was because Slimes were pretty slow and tended to stick fairly close together in the same spots, most of the time. A Demon could no doubt crush one with its feet, if it wanted to.
Either way, we passed through the entirety of the sixth floor without finding a single monster to fight, which really did disappoint me.
It seemed the adventurers we passed along our route seemed to prefer congregating here more than on the fifth floor, probably because it wasn’t nearly as hot.
The seventh floor was where we spent more than a day grinding, as the party got used to fighting the Wolves that dwelled there. The snow, coupled with the frigid air, made the seventh floor a less than ideal place to navigate, but at this point, after walking through the much more dangerous parts of the Dungeon many levels below us, I couldn’t complain.
As had been the case back then, Anny’s Pathfinder skill was an invaluable aid—not only in keeping us from going round and round in circles in the blowing snow, but also in tracking down new packs of wolves to take down.
A strange development occurred when I first tried to fight these Wolves with my magic. The ice spike strategy I had adopted didn’t seem to work nearly as well against these Raging Wolves as it had against other monsters. Well, the Red Ravens had been difficult because of their speed and small size, but that didn’t apply to these Raging Wolves.
It seemed they could survive my attack if only one ice spike hit them.
That normally wouldn’t be a problem in an RPG, since there were plenty of times I’d attack an enemy only to leave it with a sliver of health left. It only ever took another strike to bring it down; inconvenient and but not too much of a problem there. Since using Blast Currents took so much out of me, though, I wasn’t able to follow up with another attack for a good, long while.
Also, I had to cast Icy Cloud again for each Blast Current I cast.
The women were able to finish up the Wolves for me, each time this happened, but it did make the fights drag on longer than I liked. Even though each of us were over leveled for the monsters we had encountered up to this floor, eventually, I knew we would hit a point where that wouldn’t be the case.
I had to make sure I raised my magic stats as fast as I could, to make the tougher encounters easier. There wouldn’t always be a furnace on hand, ready to drop onto a Titan. Though… I hoped I’d never have to face one of those legendary monsters ever again.
We had reached the eighth floor of the Dungeon today. Tomorrow would be the official start of the tournament. The rules of the tournament had already been published in the city, but they pretty much amounted to a word by word copy of what Clarissa’s Father had told us in the Grand Assembly.
There were a few extra details provided. You could enter with a group of less than five people, for example, and you had to choose which nation you represented by the second stage, which did throw out Clarissa’s original suggestion of winning it all and choosing no one, out the window.
There was the usual stuff, like how no cheating would be permitted, though I wasn’t sure how you could cheat in the dungeon. Maybe, if they were looking for the first group to get one hundred Rat pelts, you couldn’t turn around to go shopping for them or something. I supposed we’d have to wait and see what it would really entail.
I had received a parchment with a message specifying a time and place to arrive at the Dungeon entrance tomorrow morning. The message also stated that the first stage would be a timed run of various dungeon floors—whatever that meant.
In the meantime, it was finally time for me to fight a new monster. The eighth floor was an entirely new setting, different from any of the other floors I had fought in. That was immediately evident when my foot sank into shallow blue water at the edge of the stairs leading down from the seventh floor.
“Ah, crap,” I grumbled, lifting my dripping foot back up from the bottom stair. “What was the monster here again?”
“Turtles of the giant variety,” Clarissa answered, staring uneasily at the water. “And I am not getting these shoes wet.”
“Don’t be silly, Clarissa,” Juliana said as she took a few sloshing steps into this floor. “We have faced much worse than a little water.”
“Ugh, think you can carry me handsome?” Clarissa asked, batting those eyelashes at me while pouting.
“Given how Dungeon’s work, would not most of this floor be covered in water?” Aurielle asked. “I’ve experienced similar floors much deeper in the Dungeon.”
“Don’t tell him that,” Clarissa whined, “and here I’d hoped he would carry me all the way through this floor.”
“Hmm, the auras here look a tad… cooler?” Anny frowned as her eyes unfocused. “But I think it is water across the entire floor.”
“Lovely,” Clarissa snapped as she pinched the bridge of her nose. “My poor shoes…”
“Then, by all means, stay on the stairs,” Juliana growled as she stood with her fists on her hips. “I’m sure the rest of us will manage fine without you.”
“Ugh, fine. Just… fine,” Clarissa grumped. “Here, grab my hand, handsome.”
I helped Clarissa down into the water, although she made an effort to find the shallowest bits.
It honestly didn’t matter, our boots would get soaked no matter what.
Apart from the clammy water, this place had a strange vibe to it. The walls were soaked with water, but I couldn’t tell how the water had gotten so high. There was the occasional sloshing we could hear from around the corners, but when we looked around the bend, there was nothing there.
Surprisingly, that had drawn the most complaints from Anny, since she had trouble differentiating monster auras from all of the blue she was sensing.
A strange floor, indeed.
In terms of aesthetics, I found the water just irked me. There could be anything under the murky ripples, even though most of it didn’t come above my ankles. The occasional drop off, which rose to the top of my shins, kept me on edge.
If there were Turtles here, I wanted to be sure I didn’t get surprised by them.
Luckily for us, Anny was finally able to discern some Turtles’ auras that were distinct enough for her Pathfinding skill to fix on. It wasn’t long before we came upon a few of the monsters. There were five of them, altogether, in this pack.
When I’d visualized giant turtles, though, I had thought they would be the size of a large dog or something. Instead, they were bigger than a lion and even that was probably underestimating their size.
The Turtles here were big. Damn big!
All of them were resting in the water, with their heads either just under the water or poking just above it. Their block
y green shells looked truly massive on their wide frames, and their slimy scales contrasted heavily with the blue water.
“Damn,” I whistled, “that thing is huge.” I tried to get my brain beyond how badly I’d underestimated just how big the turtles would be.
“How do you wish to proceed here, Alex?” Aurielle asked, all business.
That was a good question. Normally I would go in and logically work through a new monster’s behavior patterns, but that would probably be much more difficult if I had to stay at range.
“Let’s take this one slow and see how they react to me first. Stay back for now,” I instructed.
The women nodded, and I slowly approached the pack of Turtles.
The one closest to me reacted first, ever so slightly turning its head to look in my direction. The Turtle narrowed its eyes at our presence and rose out of the water.
As soon as it did so, its buddies did the same. In no time at all, all five turtles had started waddling towards us, although rather ponderously.
Since this was a new monster, I decided it would be alright if I fought as I usually did. I’d worry about incorporating my magic into our attack on the next pack. I drew my sword and took slow, careful steps toward the Turtles. I would have gone faster, but the last thing I wanted to do was trip and fall face first into the water.
That would suck for the rest of the day…
The Turtle that reached me first didn’t really give much away about its behavior as it simply opened its massive jaws to bite me. I easily dodged to the side and retaliated with my sword, aiming for the head, as I usually did.
To no one’s surprise, my sword struck true and sliced right through the beast’s skull, ending it in an instant. The rest of its body sank down into the water, leaving only the top of its shell visible above the waves. That had been pretty easy, but I supposed that was to be expected, given how high my Strength stat was.
I turned, expecting to face the next turtle but instead was smashed back a step by a blast of water striking me in the chest. My armor held it back with ease, but I almost fell backwards in surprise.
What the heck was that!
“Alex, watch out for their ranged attack!” Juliana shouted. “Do you want us to join in?”
Ranged attack? What ranged attack could these Turtles possibly have?
As if answering my question, I watched as all four remaining Turtles dipped their heads under the surface before raising them to spit globs of water at me.
I managed to dodge three of their attacks, but one of the blobs smacked into my arm.
With my Defense stat being as high as it was, it didn’t surprise me that the attack did little damage, if any, but the pressure it exerted on my armor felt strange.
That was when I noticed that some of my armor was actually melting off with the water that dripped back into the massive pool. I could hear a slight sound of sizzling, as well.
Was this water acidic?
Jeez…
“I’m fine,” I shouted, “going to try something, here.”
The Turtles had stuck their heads back down into the water, preparing for another ranged attack, so I quickly got as close to them as I could.
They were right next to one another and seemed to mimic each other’s actions. I noticed that each of them waited to attack me until the last one had raised its head and was ready to spit its water at me once more.
I had hoped they would revert to biting me, like the first Turtle had done, but even though I was within melee distance, they still opted for their ranged attack.
Strange.
I jumped forward and managed to dodge all of the globs of water that came my way. It felt off putting, sloshing forward in water that was just above my knees, but thankfully I didn’t trip as I reached the side of one of the Turtles.
It dipped its head again, which no doubt meant it was still preparing for another ranged attack. Instead of striking out with my sword, I sheathed my blade and grabbed the edge of its shell from the side and flipped it over.
The Turtle let out a grunt as it landed on the back of its shell with a huge splash. And just as I expected, it struggled futilely to right itself. I watched as all four of its legs flailed about uselessly in the air; it was unable to turn itself back over.
Its buddies had to maneuver around a bit to attack me, and I used the flailing turtle as cover to stay out of their line of sight. One by one, I maneuvered myself to each Turtle’s side and flipped it over, causing its scaly appendages to flail about uselessly in the air.
One of them did manage to land a hit of their acidic water on me, but it didn’t seem to affect my skin, just my armor. Even then, the effects didn’t seem to be too destructive.
When I’d turned the final Turtle over onto its back, I stood panting in the middle of four pitifully flailing Turtles, each of which grunted and hissed uncontrollably.
They were actually more active now than they had been before, even while I was fighting them. I watched the four of them flail in silence, ready in case they managed to free themselves, but it seemed their efforts were fruitless.
These Turtles were well and truly stuck.
“Alex!” Juliana said as she rushed over to me. “Once again, your methods prove truly amazing.”
“I agree,” Aurielle added. “Never would I ever have considered doing this to a foe.”
I couldn’t help but smile at that, while beside me a Turtle grunted as it wriggled.
“I doubt you could flip most enemies over to make this a viable option. Pretty sure this method will only work for monsters such as these giant Turtles,” I said.
“Even so, I have learned many things just from your approach, alone. I hope you will continue allowing me to accompany you,” Aurielle said with a smile.
“Of course we will, Aurielle,” Clarissa cheered. “It wouldn’t do, not to have an amazing fighter like you on our side.”
“Ahh, is it safe to just stand here while they… you know?” Anny asked, her eyes watching each Turtle carefully.
“No, no, this is great,” I said. “Once I flip the Turtles onto their backs, then I can use my magic to end them and level our Magical Power stat with ease.”
The women all looked at each other with thoughtful expressions.
“That’s… quite ingenious,” Juliana commented. “Incapacitate your foe first, and then use your magic to kill them… It almost seems too easy.”
“If we hadn’t gotten that massive boost from the Titan, then it probably would have taken a lot more effort to flip them over. These monsters are probably quite heavy,” I said.
“Even so, this is an excellent way to continue… grinding your Magical Power,” Juliana said.
I had to grin when she used my term.
She returned my grin with one of her own.
Gods, she was gorgeous.
“I was thinking I’d start the next fight by flipping each of them over, as it seemed they only began their ranged attack after one of them perished.” I explained. “Aurielle is even stronger than I am and can help me with the turtle flips. Then, Aurielle and Juliana can pitch in with their magic, and I’ll attack with mine. That should be a fairly straightforward way to grind this floor out.”
“This sounds like a viable plan,” Aurielle nodded. “What of these Turtles here?”
The Turtles were still rocking back and forth in the water, and one of them almost looked like it was about to get the right angle to flip itself upright before it splashed back onto its back. Another tried in vain to bite me from its overturned position, but I was a foot or so out of its reach.
“Oh yeah, would you care to do the honors, Aurielle?” I asked.
“It would be my pleasure,” she replied back just as formally. Why did I know she was going to say that?
Aurielle’s gravity magic made short work of these Turtles in this state, and I moved in to collect the loot. Despite the shell of these Turtles being so massive, the loot for them was a small piece of the sh
ell. This shell piece had a slight contour to it, which would have made it easy to stack several of them together, if not for the short spikes dotting its exterior.
As I collected our spoils and stuffed them in my backpack, I found that I couldn’t wait to try our new tactics on the next pack.
Despite the water on this floor, the Turtles turned out to be relatively easy to deal with and if we played to our strengths, we should be able to breeze through this floor with ease.
And get some juicy stat increases by the end of it.
19
After spending the rest of the day grinding out those Turtles, we’d come back early and had a celebratory dinner at the Golden Bear together. It was nice just to relax with my ladies and enjoy good food, good drinks, and good company.
I made sure none of us overdid it, though. I wanted all of us to be in top form for the first stage of the tournament. Aurielle still insisted we meditate together for two hours after we got back to our room.
Despite Aurielle spending ever increasing times holding my hand as we meditated together during the evening as part of her unconventional magic training, I still didn’t have a clue how to cast her gravity magic spells. I hoped I’d have some movement on that soon, but figured it would happen eventually—if I kept at it.
The first day of the tournament was finally here. We had risen fairly early in the morning and headed over to our assigned Dungeon entrance. Given that the Academy and city state council were organizing this tournament to begin with, I would have thought they’d have us start at the Academy instead.
They likely didn’t want every single adventurer in the city crowding into the Academy and figured it would be easier to just have everyone show up at the Dungeon.
It made sense, I suppose.
Juliana, Clarissa and Anny planned to meet us there, which gave me a little time alone with Aurielle.
“Have you noticed your stats improving with my Growth skill?” I asked Aurielle as we walked down Tringall’s main street. Even at this early morning hour, there were still plenty of people going about their business.
