Karl touched the first body, intending to roll the creature over to check if it had anything decent. But as soon as he touched it, the body vanished, and a small stack of coins was left on the ground.
“What the hell was that?” He whispered.
“Oh, it’s one of those dungeons. This will be spectacular. Touch every monster that we kill, and try not to kill any of them out of reach. It will give us loot as we go, and we can split it how we want. The reward could be money, items, clothing, nearly anything, I’ve even heard of them turning into food. So don’t miss any, the item is usually based on the power of the monster.” Corbin informed them.
Dana whistled softly as she followed the Prince’s instructions, and held up a blue coral ring.
Hawk grumbled in discontent, and Karl was almost certain that it was a water elemental buff.
“Does anyone know how to identify these?” Dana asked.
Tessa held out her hand, and a golden glow surrounded the ring for a moment before the cleric looked startled.
“It’s a Common Grade ring of pure water. Like the spell that we use to make water with meals, but anyone wearing it can use it if they have the mana.” She explained, then handed it back to Dana.
It wasn’t like the cleric needed it.
Dana took off her glove and slid it on her finger, then replaced the glove as the Spellswords gave her envious looks.
“It’s just the first fight, and a common grade item. Just wait, we’re bound to get all sorts of good things out of here with the variety of classes in our group.” Prince Corbin promised.
He threw a spell at a nearby group of Naga, killing one instantly, and making the others run toward them. It was brilliant, and almost as if some of the intelligence of the monsters had been removed to make them respond in a predictably aggressive manner, even when they should have been smart enough to just run when someone was instantly decapitated.
The Spellblades and Karl were on the group the next second, cutting them down, then tapping the corpses to see what happened.
More coins, and a pair of black leather gloves that certainly weren’t anything the Naga had been wearing were the results, leaving everyone impressed by the level of magic that it must have taken to create something like this.
“I believe that these Dungeons are a creation of the World Dragon, a form of Divine Magic. The risks might be immense, as the enemy groups will contain opponents that can challenge Corbin because he’s with us, but the rewards should be similarly great, as the World Dragon took care of the people.” Tessa informed the group in a serious tone that reminded them she was a Cleric first, and knew all the essentials of Church Doctrine.
“Step back into the long grass.” Lotus warned quietly, sending everyone scurrying for cover.
Fortunately, there were no bodies left to give them away because there was a patrol of larger, four-armed Naga coming, and by Karl’s guess there were four Commanders and either a high Commander or Prince Ranked leader.
Corbin gestured that he would take the leader with Alice’s Golem as his guard, which left Karl and Thor to hold off the others while the ambush worked its magic.
Of course, Larry and Alice were going to have to help with the leader, but with Rae and her Golems on the team, they weren’t completely outmatched by the other four guards.
The Naga were scaly, but not hard scaly like Thor, they were supple and flexible, meaning hard to hit as they avoided Karl’s strikes.
These guards also had a water barrier around them that had enraged Hawk, who was furiously hurling fireballs at them as his Flaming Body surrounded both him and Dana.
Karl didn’t think that Hawk had even realized he could do that, he was too focused on eliminating the water magic from existence, working through his trauma one charred corpse at a time.
At this point, even Rae felt bad for the angry bird, and did her best to let him get the last hit on a failing shield, before having her Golems ambush from behind to take out the targets.
The Golems were also subtly different than he remembered, Karl noticed. They had plates of black metal armour on their torsos, and encasing their already dangerous forelimbs like blades. That had to be Dana’s Golem Armour type ability. [Durable Constructs] he believed it was called.
Combined with the Lightning, it was incredibly effective, and the Naga were being decimated by the two Golems. The agile warriors that Karl had such a hard time hitting were no match for the eight legged Golems, and Karl wondered if he should invest in [Haste] when he had enough skill points.
For Commander Rank Rae, that would be forty percent more speed, and that should nearly eliminate the chance that the Naga would be able to dodge them.
It might not be the optimal choice, but it probably wouldn’t be the wrong choice either. He would get more points as he adventured, and now that he had a taste of it, Karl fully intended to keep going.
Bob Mackenzie had the right idea. It was better to be free out here than under someone’s supervision. But unlike Bob, Karl was happy to have a reliable group with him.
Karl kept the warriors occupied while the Spider Golems went for their backs, and the two Awakened Rank Spellswords hesitated. They couldn’t take one of those hits like Karl could.
Though Karl was parrying the majority of the flurry of attacks while the beasts took care of business, and Dana’s Golems did their best every time they were resummoned after taking enough damage to have their combat ability reduced, the two boys didn’t dare approach and risk a misstep that would mean instant death.
Tessa couldn’t even hold out against the Naga patrol, and had been forced to retreat from Thor’s back. The Spellblades had a Commander Rank barrier over them, courtesy of Alice, but that wouldn’t last long against opponents with blades in all four hands and magic on their side.
The mages did throw some spells, but Awakened Rank magic against Commander Rank beasts didn’t do much.
The leader of the patrol fell just before the last of the patrol team, and Karl took a moment to tap the Commander Rank corpses.
“Oh, there are more leather gloves. Tessa, what are those good for?” He asked, tossing them to the Cleric.
“Awakened Rank gloves of watery death. Enhanced water magic damage.” She replied, then carefully patted Hawk’s flaming head as he glared at the item.
“They’re just gloves, they don’t make their own water magic. Relax.” She consoled him.
Hawk was feeling better after killing a bunch of water magic users, but Tessa was pretty good at preening his head, so he kept up the act just a little longer.
Karl suspected that he was learning bad habits from the others.
“This is pretty good stuff.” Dana noted as they prepared to move forward.
Corbin shook his head. “That’s the Dungeon equivalent of trash. It’s two full Ranks below the monsters that dropped them.
When these were originally made, the System Users who fought in them would have had full sets of gear at their own Rank, and they would be looking for rare items, and specific benefits.
Times were different then, and everyone was so much more powerful.”
After clearing three more groups without gaining anything but a water orb, which was a basic magical crafting resource, and some coins, the path led them to a large open area where a massive four – armed Naga was standing.
It was wearing strings of bones and shells, and it carried a staff with a glowing blue crystal in one hand, with trinkets in the others.
Some sort of Shaman, Karl decided.
It was also at the Commander Rank, and the lower ranked members of the team sighed. They would be basically sidelined again, and the best rewards would predictably go to the strongest among them.
“Alright, we know how to fight together. Dana, keep your golems back to protect the others, just in case.” Prince Corbin announced as he activated a spell that let him leap into battle with a single stride.
Karl and the beasts were a step behind him. Hawk had moved to stand on Thor’s back so he was closer to the action, and so he didn’t draw attention to Dana.
Rae was blended into the lichen covered crystalline plants around the platform, and circling behind the Shaman when the first strike landed, and the enormous Naga leader activated a spell that called out a dozen ethereal Naga spirits.
Karl swiped at one, and it dissipated when it was cleaved in half.
“Dana, you guys are on the spirits, they’re Awakened Rank.” He called as he sent a [Shred] toward the shaman.
