Even knowing how to kill the things, Kelpies were a pain to deal with. There only seemed to be one in a cavern, with multiple frogs. I would have ignored the things but needed the kills for the quests. I managed to do it, but it really slowed me down.

  10:13:45

  Almost eight hours down and I wasn’t even near the end.

  OBJECTIVES:

  DESTROY THE MOSSPOND KELPIE STALLION 0/1

  DESTROY MOSSY CAVERN FROGS 13/20

  DESTROY CAVE KELPIES 6/10

  The way it was set up, I had about four caverns to go before I’d deal with the boss. I had to speed this whole thing up. The Kelpies dropped crap for loot too. I’d gotten some Water Essence, which was good, but nothing for crafting. The Frogs dropped some leathery skin.

  So far this Dungeon sucked. I had to speed this run up or I wouldn’t get a good ranking.

  Just wasn’t sure how to do it.

  To kill the Kelpies, I had to throw rocks and stuff at them until they had no substance left. I could punch them too, but that wasn’t any faster. My Essences weren’t really made for this kind of monster. I wasn’t sure what Essences would be. Harry could probably do it with a fireball or something. Throw it and explode the Kelpie’s body.

  Which gave me an idea.

  I did have an Essence that could work. Just meant that I’d have to get up and close to the Kelpies and get very, very wet.

  ***

  My fist slammed into the Kelpie’s chest. I could feel the water of the body flowing around it. Smiling, but keeping my mouth closed, I didn’t want it full of Kelpie water, I pushed Force into the fist inside the Kelpie.

  It all exploded as I fell to the ground. I landed hard on my back was water splashed all around me, drenching me even further. Wiping water out of my eyes, spitting out the bit that got into my mouth, I stood up. Shaking, I tried to get as much of the water off as I could. Which was hard. The cavern was damp, so I’d already been wet. Now I was much wetter.

  More water splashed up out of the small pond as the Kelpie’s column collapsed. And of course, it splashed all over me.

  I got wet but at least the plan worked.

  I’d killed the Kelpie and in only a couple of minutes.

  I was going to be very wet by the time this was all over.

  Standing up, slushing as I walked to the tunnel, after having killed the three Frogs, I wondered how heavy wet leather armor would be.

  ***

  It got heavy. The water seemed to stay stuck in the leather, not drying because of the damp atmosphere. It didn’t really slow me down, it wasn’t that heavy, but I could just feel the additional weight. But I got the job done.

  I stood in front of the last tunnel entrance. All the required Frogs and Kelpies killed. One of the Frogs had dropped a Reflect Essence, which was a nice drop. I’d thought about that one years ago, but it worked against how I used my Motion Essence. I needed to absorb the energy directed at me, not reflect it back.

  It was a good Essence for someone going with a Tank build. Gary had thought about it, but he’d gone with a different build. The problem with reflecting attacks was that it didn’t allow the Tank to build up aggro. Gary was a pure Tank. He took damage and used it in a variety of ways. I’d chosen Resistance over Reflect. Harry had taken Reflect and used it as his main defensive Ability to redirect attacks and magic thrown against him. He’d be happy to get another Essence Crystal. Reflect tended to be a rarer drop.

  I was a little surprised that the Frogs dropped it, but in a way their rubbery bodies served to reflect attacks against them. I bet it was really hard to cut with a sword or pierce with an arrow. Did they have any magic reflection?

  I also got a couple Extension Essence, probably related to the way the tongue could shoot out. Personally, I didn’t know of anyone that had used the Extension Essence. It was a bit of a weird one. There had to be someone in Solace that could use it though, but if not then could sell them.

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  I twisted my neck to the side, working out the stiff joint. Arms extended, I cracked my knuckles. The boss was a Kelpie, probably be a big one. Once I’d figured out how to deal with the Kelpies, they started going pretty quick. I made up the time in the second part that I’d lost in the first part. The longer run took less time. So I was doing pretty good on time.

  2:03:35

  I walked into the tunnel. Fish still swam down the river, providing a bit of light. It was a longer tunnel and the light on the other end was already growing brighter.

  I stepped out into the boss cavern. It was larger, with a higher ceiling, but there wasn’t as much land. The river ended in a large pond that took up the majority of the space in the roughly circular room. A walkway ran the perimeter, only about five feet wide and shrunk down to three in other spots. In the middle of the pond was a small and flat island, twenty feet in a rough circle. Two bridges ran to the island, only three feet wide. The walkway, island and bridges were clear of obstacles, just thin. The water was filled with fish, all glowing. I didn’t see a sign of the Kelpie Stallion, but could already see what the idea of this battle was.

  The Kelpie would burst out of the water, dive back in and pop up all around the pond. The attackers were supposed to run around the thin platforms and engage the Kelpie, where the water streams could hit and knock the attacker into the water. And once in the water, the Kelpie would be in its element.

  Most people, this would be a challenge. For me? Maybe not as bad.

  Only one way to find out.

  I stepped out of the tunnel and into the cavern, standing on the walkway, the bridge off to the right. It only took a minute for the Kelpie Stallion to appear, near the other end. It was the same as the other Kelpies, just bigger. Much bigger. Instead of just a light blue color, like the water around it. The boss Kelpie had a green tint, bands running through its body. The water seemed to glimmer and shine in the strange luminescence of the moss. I thought it looked pretty cool. Beautiful in its way.

  Too bad I had to kill it.

  I ran to the bridge, running down it to the island. The Kelpie flowed across the pond, meeting me at the island. I pushed Kinetic Energy into my feet, leaping up. My Force-infused punch slammed into the body of the Kelpie. I expanded the Force, exploding part of the Kelpie. It neighed in pain, a large splash of water falling over me. It had some pressure to it, slamming me into the rocky island. It hurt, but gave me some energy to absorb.

  I hoped up, a water stream catching me in the leg, knocking me back down again. Cursing, I rolled out of the way of another jet. The water streams from this guy were a lot stronger than the other Kelpies. That glancing hit would have broken bone if my field hadn’t absorbed most of the pressure. I ran down the other bridge as the Kelpie turned, outrunning the water streams that splashed against the bridge.

  These streams were strong, leaving marks in the previously smooth rock. That could be an issue as those would become tripping hazards.

  I stopped and turned, watching the giant Kelpie quickly flow across the pond. I leaped up but hit nothing as the Stallion flowed back into the pond. It appeared on the other side, a water stream slamming into my back. I landed on the island, sliding toward the edge. I used my Motion Essence to stop my motion, coming to a stop before I could fall into the water.

  A water stream washed over me, pushing at me and trying to make me move. It was strong. If I hadn’t used those four Motion Essence, I might not have been able to withstand the attack. Even though my field absorbed a lot of the pressure, it still hurt. People always forgot how hard water could be when it was shot with a lot of force. I was being reminded.

  The pressure let up and I got running. Not away from the Kelpie, but toward it. I took it by surprise and managed to score another solid hit. I landed on the ground, half my feet on the island and the other off. I started to fall forward but managed to get myself backward, stepping away from the edge. The Kelpie hadn’t moved so I punched the closest part of it, knocking away more of the water that made up its body.

  It disappeared and I ran down the bridge. I didn’t know where it would appear so I figured I’d go somewhere it wasn’t expecting me to go. Sure enough, it had appeared on the other side of the bridge. The horse’s head looked back and forth before it found me, disappearing into the pond again. It would probably appear a good distance from the walkway, where I couldn’t get at it.

  That was okay for now.

  Surrounding my fists with force, I punched the cavern wall. It hurt, but I was getting a lot of kinetic energy and the force made the hits harder, breaking off large chunks of rock. I kept moving down the walkway, leaving a trail of debris.

  Stopping, I started walking back the way I’d come, picking up rocks and throwing them at the Kelpie. It was a good distance away, but with kinetic energy added to my throws, the rocks had no problem slamming into the monster. Each strike knocked bits of water off the Kelpie. I kept throwing until I ran out of rocks.

  Mad, the Kelpie flowed back into the pond, popping out right in front of me. Since I’d been expecting that, I leaped up and punched it. A good hit with my right, a decent with my left and I even managed a kick before I landed. My Arcanum-infused blows did more damage than the rocks, but it was all starting to add up.

  I needed to take more substance off the Stallion. It was time to play with my Manipulation Essence.

  The Kelpie got closer, firing water streams at me that I dodged easily. I ran onto the bridge, letting the Kelpie get right up next to me. Leaping up, I punched both fists into the chest at the same time. I pushed out with Force but then used my Manipulation Essence and took that Force and made it bigger. Instead of just right around my fists, I expanded the waves of force.

  I started to fall as I released the expanded force bubble. It exploded out as I dropped to the ground, landing on a pile of water, which caused me to slip. I fell hard, rolling out of the way as waves of water splashed down on the bridge.

  Even though I was moving away, I still got covered in water. Spitting out the water, I stood up, looking around for the Stallion. It had disappeared.

  I ran to the middle of the island, waiting for the thing to appear again.