Book3, chapter 16

16. The Rozen Guardian pt. 2

Except for the Giant Voles, we faced little resistance until we reached the heart of the dungeon.  It had only taken us about an hour of ‘clearing trash,’ which, according to Thena, was a miracle for this particular dungeon, where it was common to get lost and face sub-bosses with very minor loot along the off-branches of the path.

While there weresome pieces of equipment I whished that I could upgrade in this dungeon from minor boss drops, I was in more of a hurry to finish reclaiming the core for the Marquise to move on to the next stage of my plan.  Most of my planning had been contingencies in case I couldn’t get the Marquise on my side, but that didn’t mean that I should simply abandon them if I succeeded.

Finally, we came to a well.  As we approached, a large black shape leapt out of the depths, and a massive bipedal panther landed in front of us.

“That’s the usual final boss,” Thena announced, and as soon as she said as much, the area closed off, the hedges closing off all retreat.  However, from the path behind us, the brambles twisted into something else, something which I can only describe as a humanoid rosebush monster.

That description failed to highlight how horrible it actually looked, as the ‘head’ hissed at us with ferocious looking teeth.

“Kill it with fire!” Corinth shouted, and I decided that he was likely right.  Fire was the plant beasts most likely weakness.

Stan picked up the panther boss, quickly getting it under control with the help of [Slow] debuffs cast by myself and Larissa.  We couldn’t simply ignore the plant boss, however, as it would shoot thorns at us from a distance and, even more frustratingly, it could heal the panther if we ignored it.

“Corinth, offtank the rose,” Thena called.  “Try to block the barbs it shoots at everyone else to keep your boon active.  Larissa, Hail, once he has it under control, it’s time to go firestarter on that thing.”

I nodded, and as soon as Corinth had the plant under control, I began [Swiftcasting] [Fireball] in an endless chain until I ran OOM.  I might have empowered the spell instead of swiftcasting, except that empowering increased the explosion radius of that spell, while swiftcasting did not.  Not that I always cared whether my allies got caught in the blast radius or no.

The rosebush did not survive me and Larisha dumping our collective mana pools on it, making a gods awful screech as it died and turned to black mist.  We turned back to the Panther boss; I activated [Aqua Blade] to go with a [Piercing Lunge] to apply wetness, then switched to [Imbue Sword: Lightning] for maximum damage while waiting for my mana to regenerate.

When I was at 80%, however, there was another screech, and another rosebush monster burst up from the hedge in a different part of the zone.  I cursed and looked at the primary boss, noticing that it was at 78% health.

“We’re going to get five of the rosebushes,” I predicted.  “We need to kill them all before the boss or they’ll heal.”

“On it, getting in position,” Corinth said.  He [Leaped] and [Charged] to reach the new add, and quickly got it under control.  Stan, for his part, slowly dragged the boss in the same direction to make the switch easier on the rest of the DPS.  I once again dumped my mana into the rosebush monster, but this time there wasn’t enough damage between myself, Larissa, and Corinth to finish it off without me getting into melee.

So I [Dashed] closer, Imbued my weapon with fire, and finished closing the distance with [Piercing Lunge] before going to town with my other melee skills.  I quickly generated enough for a very short chain of [Fireballs], which I used to dump my mana just as the rosebush was dying.

I used the last of my mana to refresh the [Slow] Debuff on the boss before [Dashing towards it to repeat the process.

There really wasn’t anything more too it than that, however.  The phase repeated five times total, with the final rosebush boss appearing at twenty percent health.  When the panther boss died, it simply burst into black smoke and was gone, it’s loot appearing moments later in a treasure chest.

It was a Dexterity amulet.  [Lucky Panther’s Foot].  Nobody else had a Dexterity class, so it went to me.  Fortunately I had leveled a second time in the dungeon, even though it was a straight shot with only trash to destroy, and I was now level 40, the minimum level to equip the amulet.  It gave 12 Dexterity and 4 Vitality, replacing an old level twenty spellcasting amulet called the [Amulet of Insight], which I had purchased at level 20 a very long time ago.

I still had three level twenty items left which I had purchased at the same time as the [Amulet of Lesser Insight] which I needed to replace, but I would wait to do that until after The Near Future had recursed into The Recent Past.  Judging by how much damage I was doing now, I was doing just fine with the gear I had.

“So is that it?” Corinth asked.  “That was fun, but isn’t there supposed to be a Dungeon Core?”

<<In the well>> a voice whispered to me.  <<I’m down in the well.>>

“It’s in the well,” I answered, and, walking over to the object in question, I put a hand on the brick siding and launched myself into the hole.  I was surprised to find no enemies, just a large crystal the size of my head hovering in the dark, giving off a faint purple light.

<<Do you promise to do what you said earlier?>> the dungeon core asked.  <<Will you give me back to Jorva?>>

“I already gave him my word,” I told the core.  “We are founding an alliance based upon this action.”

<<I’m very vulnerable right now.  A dungeon master has come to face me, and because he promised to help I brought him right to me.  But you can break your word.  I’m scared,>> the core informed me.

“I’m sorry.  But action is the only way I can prove my words,” I said, and I reached out to touch the core.

You have reached the Dungeon Core of The Rozen Guardian Dungeon

You have declared intention to reclaim the Dungeon Core

Has your intention changed

Yes

Options and additional rewards will be made available

No

Reclaim core.
Rewards suppressed.

As tempting as it might have been to destroy the core instead of reclaim it and therefor receive additional rewards, I had given my word.  First to the Marquise, and then to the dungeon itself.  I do not know what would happen if I betrayed the dungeon, but I decided that I didn’t care to find out either.

I selected no.  The dungeon core ‘Popped,’ and I was able to put it into my inventory.

<<Thank you!>> the core said to me.  <<You know, I hid some extra junk around down here, just in case you kept your word.  It’s yours if you can find it.  If only you had a light spell or something.>>

The core was silent after that, but I took the hint and swiftly cast a handful of [Spark] spells.  Laying on the ground were a pair of gloves, a belt, and a pair of earrings.  The timer popped up notifying me that I had only ten minutes before the instance collapsed and I was returned to the nearest safe zone, so I quickly picked the items up to [Analyzed] them.

Belt of Faux Magic

Requires level

40

Vitality

3

Intelligence

7

Spell Damage

6

Pantherskin Wizard’s Gloves

Requires level

40

Intelligence

5

Spell Damage

9

Earrings of the Lesser Spellswift

Requires level

40

On Use

Increase Dexterity and Intelligence by 20 for 20seconds

“You okay down their, Hail?” Larissa called from up above.  “You don’t have a [Sprained Ankle or anything, do you?”

“I’m fine,” I called up.  “I found the Core, and some loot.  I’m keeping it, if you don’t mind.  I think the Core meant it for me.  It’s all level 40 stuff.”

“If it’s stuff you want, then it’s probably either not for our spec, or in Larissa’s case she’s probably moved past it,” Thena called down.  “There’s eight minutes left on the teleportation.  Do you have any idea where we will be portaled to?”

“Nope,” I admitted.  “I guess we’ll find out together.”

Since I was stuck in a hole for a few minutes, I decided to take a look at my status again.

Name

Hail Jeoran

Level

40

Guild

<Nethersong Mavericks>

Strength

31

Health

25,200/25,200

Dexterity

95

Mana

36,800/36,800

Vitality

63

Experience

674/32000

Endurance

46

Age

15

Intelligence

92

Race

Human (blood of the travelers)

Wisdom

42

Class

Spellblade

Charisma

60

Job

Earl

Armor

40

Title

Dungeon Master I

Spell damage

142

Veteran of Mooncrest Manor

Attack Power

199

My numbers had changed considerably.  Aside from the usual increase in health and mana I received for leveling, my Spell Damage had increased by almost fifty points, and my Attack Power by more than thirty.  I was excite to try out the new gear in combat, although I knew that if things went well, I wouldn’t have the opportunity for a while.

Since there was nothing else to do, and I didn’t feel like trying to climb out of the well, I leaned against the wall of it, waiting patiently for the timer to end and ignoring the lick of the few inches of water against my feet.  When the timer hit zero, I felt the displacement I always felt when my avatar was being moved by the system.

~~~~~~~

Notice:

You have performed an action of note in The Recent Past!

The news of your actions is spreading like wildfire in the Near Future.

You have less than 48 hours until Travelers from the Near Future will be able to enter The Recent Past without your guidance!

I ignored the prompt and looked around to get my bearings.  I was back in the portal platform in Zhesa city, and my party arrived a moment later.  We nodded towards each other, ignored the mages who were demanding to know how we had arrived without passing through the network, and rode off towards the North District to report our success to the Marquis.