Chapter 35

I awoke the next morning, disappointed that I didn’t get to spend any time with the others, but that happened. We got dressed and met with the others for breakfast before leaving the tent and clearing the safe zone. With the new change of plans, we adjusted our direction towards the first of the stairwells that Amber wanted us to tackle. It took us most of the day to reach there, dealing with various mobs and taking one safe zone rest before we arrived. There was one nearby to the stairs so we made plans to see how the fight went before we decided to rest for the night in the safe zone or if we would try to press on. This redirection was definitely going to add time to our trip to the sixth floor but not so much that we had to worry about failing the quest. Sure, I loved to get the bonus conditions met so that we would get an increased or added reward.

We made sure to have all of our stuff ready and Amber was excited to be able to actually participate in fighting things. Confident that we were ready, we slowly approached the stairwell and waited for the sign that the guardian was triggered. We continued to close in and were shocked when there was no sign. Confused, I walked over to the stairs but instead of being able to enter, I was held back by the guardian barrier. A moment or two later, we began to feel a rumble and I knew we had a problem coming.

“Worm inbound!” I called out. “Spread out so that we aren’t all in one place and easy pickings.”

They rushed to various corners of the area, and we waited to see where it would emerge. We were all shocked to see that there were two areas of ground that began to shift and move. Two large purple worms erupted from the ground, letting out shrieks that reverberated everywhere. They weren’t as big as the worms that we met to deal with the issue in the mines on the third floor, but they still looked to be formidable.

I glanced at the others, and they readied themselves. I confused Amber by sheathing my sword and stowing my shield away. I drew out my shuriken and waited to see my opening. Instigating the closest one to focus on me, I took a few steps towards the closer of the two. It turned towards me and roared, and I took my chance. Tossing two of the projectiles into its open maw, but it didn’t stay open and the two implanted into the outer scales of the beast. The explosions were substantial, but its hide was too thick and the most that happened was some of its outer protection was worn down. The others began their attacks. Amenthia and Theresa used their explosive tipped arrows and bolts, while Entivala used the ice magic at her disposal to try and break down their hides. Dilbar and Ilthvana switched to ranged attacks as well, leaving Amber to have to adjust.

We continued our assault of the beasts, though it took a while, due to the thick hide and plating. We had to focus our fire and time things right to get our explosive weapons into the open maw of the beast, where they could actually do damage. After nearly an hour, the final beast collapsed to the ground and erupted in a puff of smoke.

“I didn’t expect the worms!” Amber exclaimed as she sheathed her swords. “I feel so useless, as I have never really been a ranged fighter! That was what my other party members were for!”

“You should be able to do both,” I replied as I pulled out a storage pouch from my belt and handed it to her. “We all can do both, even Entivala is trained in hand-to-hand combat in case she runs out of Mana or if she is in a mana dampening area. Inside of the pouch I gave you are more of what you saw me use in the fight. The projectiles are safe to have and will only explode on impact with an enemy. Be careful as damage will be given to anything that is within the blast radius of the explosion. When this is over, you should look into what form of ranged fighting you are comfortable with learning. Being able to do multiple things, instead of focusing on one allows more versatility within the group, and thus be better prepared for shit to go south.”

She nodded, “You are right. I was limited in the fight against the creature that Silvia had summoned as well.”

“All we can do is learn and adapt,” I replied with a smile. “For now let’s get whatever will appear in the chest and then go rest.”

Amber smiled and we walked to the center of the area, just as the chest appeared. I gestured for her to go and open the chest and I couldn’t help hearing The Legend of Zelda music in my head as she slowly opened it. She reached in and pulled out a tome that was bound in thick leather that was green in tint.

“This is a grimoire of magic enhancement,” Amber said as she turned to Entivala. “You would be best served to have this, as it would bolster your arsenal.”

“She is right, my little elf,” I added. “The enhancement of your magic, when paired with your water, ice, and fire magic, will be quite formidable.”

“Are you guys sure I should use this?” Enti asked. “I have unlocked quite a few different magics since we hit level five, but I won’t deny that this tome would increase it even more.”

The whole group looked at one another and agreed that she would be the best one to utilize it. We made for the safe zone and while we got the tent ready, Entivala began reciting the words to activate the book and absorb the magic into herself. As the magic receded, Entivala was smiling happily, and I knew that I had made the right choice.

“For the rest of our time on this quest you should try and test out some combinations that have come with your new power,” I suggested as we sat down to eat. “Not to mention that you have relied mostly on the ice magic so far.”

Entivala smiled, “I already have some ideas, given how we were able to make the unique designs with ice magic I learned.”

“Well what kind of magic can you do now?” Amber asked. “You are an elemental mage, aren’t you?”

Entivala nodded, “I could conjure walls and balls of all four elements at level 1, the power and duration of those spells increased with each level. The tome I got when I first joined Pathios gave me access to advanced ice magic. With his help and insight, I was able to see outside the box to come up with new uses. I didn’t even really put time or power into my wind magic, but with this I can create funnels, wind blades and such.”

“Just imagine how you can use that with the others,” I said as I took a sip of my drink. “You can use the power boost to mix wind with fire to create a flamethrower, or water to help douse fire enemies. The protective walls you could conjure would be all the stronger.”

“It’s more than that Pathios,” Enti said with a grin. “This boost has increased my abilities enough to create multiple walls. If we decided to do a full ranged attack of a target, I could create cover for us all that would all pop up at once. I think that I could even create an ice storm of ice blades and our little liquid death to the mix with it to create a deadly sleet.”

I pulled her into a deep passionate kiss and said, “I am so in awe and am proud of you my little elf!” I turned to Amber and asked, “How many more stairs are we going to have to hit before we move up to the sixth floor?”

She thought for a minute and then answered, “I think it should be three, not including the final one that we will enter to reach the sixth floor. I think that we did rather well, but you were right that I need to expand my repertoire.”

Dilbar let out a belch and then said, “Who knows, maybe we will find something in one of the chests there that will help you.”

Once dinner was done, we retreated to our rooms, and I wondered what would happen tomorrow. Over the next four days we made our trek through the fifth floor. The number of mobs we dealt with was impressive. Entivala had fun mixing her magic together in fun ways to see what worked and what didn’t. She made sure that we gave her plenty of space to work, so that if it went out of control none of us would get hurt. The guardians were a slight challenge, though we had to deal with another arsenal scorpion, A swarm of giant praying mantis, and another pair of worms. There was an armored giant spider that gave us a lot of trouble. It reminded me of a skulltula that you see in some fantasy games, but much more horrifying.

It was eight feet tall, with every limb covered in natural armor like a scorpion, only it seemed even more dense. Its body was also covered in the same protection which made trying to damage it so difficult. It then mixed two chemicals in its mouth to produce a stream of acid that quickly damaged anything that it hit. It was the final one that we needed to deal with before heading upstairs and it did a serious number on our weapons and armor. We had to concentrate all our firepower against the thorax, and we nearly ran out of explosive weapons and magic before we killed it. I had wished that there had been space for me to call in the dragons, but the space was already confined. Theresa had to hide behind Enti’s defenses, since everyone was knocked out, even Lion-o.

The damage we were doing took longer than expected and I didn’t expect it to put up this much of a fight. We were lucky that Entivala was given the boosted magic, because she decided to use an onslaught of wind, water, and ice magic to inflict the final damage to the beast. When the storm passed, there was nothing left but a bright gem, a red crystal, and a chest. One of the upsides of fighting all the guardians was that all of us crossed over to level six, save for Theresa who hit level five.

The other upside was the various items that we got from the other chests. There was a bow and arrow in one, that Amber claimed and began putting to use. It didn’t have the returning arrows of Amenthia’s quiver, but the quiver came with enough arrows to last her a bit.

The next was a hammer of returning that Dilbar asked to take. I couldn’t help but smile since it was basically Mjolnir, only minus the lightning abilities. Dilbar was excited since he could save having to use his crossbow, but he would need to get himself a shield for how he planned to fight. Next was a bestial great sword, which Ilthvana called dibs on, and I didn’t blame her. It was a dragon steel blade, with bone and hide making up the hilt of the great sword. It had the ability to summon a were beast that matched the level of its user. The summoning was at the cost of the health of the fighter, with them losing half of their total health and all of their mana.

The final item we found was an amulet of protection. When worn, it would create a shield of energy that would lessen or cancel out incoming attacks, so long as the wearer had the mana to power it. This would prove useful for Theresa, as she had to focus on giving commands to her companions. We knew this would help all of us, as we could worry less about her, though the speed in which she was learning and adapting told me she would be okay. We used up the last of our potions to prepare ourselves before heading up the stairs to the next floor, since there was no telling what could be waiting for us when we got up there.

Unlike the last time we had all come up here, we were on the mainland of the floor. I was thankful since that meant there would be a lower risk of running into more of those Sahuagin that gave us trouble before. I looked forward to when we did, as I was aching for some payback, but we were in no condition for that right now. It would still take us two hours to get to the village from the stairwell and there were still other threats that we could come across. Our weapons and armor were severely weakened from the past few fights, and we would need to do repairs before we headed out again. We agreed that this time we would return to our pact houses. We needed Brot’k to help deal with the repairs to our goods, and Amber said she needed to stock up on arrows. Amenthia suggested Amber visit her friend Arvin to see if he could enchant her quiver to work like hers, but that would depend on the coin she had available.

Over the next two hours we had to take things easy. While normally I would be all for grinding, there was not telling the battle strength of the enemies we would face. Amber used the map to guide us around the various mobs that we approached, and I was shocked at the amounts. She confirmed this was a less traveled area, but not to the extreme that we could get easily wiped out. Since we had dealt with both a manticore and the Sahuagin on this floor, I had no idea what we would be dealing with. There were Gnolls traveling with hyenas, small herds of Aurochs and even some lions. Thankfully, we didn’t trigger any conflicts with the mobs and got to the village in relatively one piece.

We collected roughly three hundred and eighty thousand gold from our share of the orbs, which would be good to go towards our fund for the upgraded tent. I knew that it would take some time and money to get everything purchased, since we were looking at quite a significant bill to stock it as I planned. I wished Amber a good night and we shocked her by heading towards the Armory door. Curious, she followed us and was surprised to see us open a door and everyone stepped inside.

“Where the fuck does that door lead?” Amber asked in awe. “I have never seen that door before today and I have come through this building a lot.”