He saw Michael jogging back, expression grim—not much different from normal, Ben chuckled, but it probably meant that there was a significant challenge ahead of them.
“Evolved Retskul. Thirty percent bigger, stronger, faster than the ones we know. One legendary challenge upstairs, path cleared, group feasting downstairs, number unknown. Path to the top cleared.”
That was a lot of information in not so many words. “So your recommendation is to go upstairs and deal with the legendary one first?” Ben asked.
Michael nodded.
Ben looked at the others, finding consent and determination.
“Let’s do it.”
They quickly moved towards the entrance where Michael pointed towards one hallway, making the sign for an explosion, and then upstairs.
They tried to be quiet as they made their way towards the second floor, Michael in the lead, followed by Jamal and Ben, Anne covering Allison’s back.
Ben had been aware that Michael was a strong fighter, but he was slightly taken aback by the bodies marking his path through the keep. He could also clearly see how much stronger the evolved Retskuls looked compared to the species they had been fighting so far.
They quickly made it to their destination and Michael pointed towards a door at the end of the hallway that stood ajar.
Ben missed [Cleave] in this moment, as it would provide the option of him taking out the enemy in one massive hit, and resolved to investigate how to evolve his perk again.
He pointed at Michael to cross the doorway and hide in the shadows and his mother to summon her crow companion to lure the Retskul out of their room.
It took a few minutes for Michael to find the right moment to cross the doorway unseen, by then Ben’s mother was ready and sent the crow forward.
His mother’s twitch told him that the bird had died within a second of entering the leader’s room. Nothing seemed to happen. Then, a roar. A roar that felt loud enough to shake the foundations of the keep, loud enough to shake Ben. He froze and the Retskul jumped out of their room.
Ben wasn’t the only one frozen, his whole team was affected. Michael, Allison, and Ben broke free quickly. Jamal and Anne took a moment longer.
Their ambush was invalidated, turned on its head. The massive Retskul landed in front of Jamal and wasted no time slashing with their sword at the shield bearer.
Jamal managed to get his shield up, but too late. The sword had already penetrated his armor and cut deeply into his shoulder. He dropped to one knee with a groan.
Ben entered the fray, attempting to cut into their opponent’s side, but was greeted with a kick to the belly that made him not just lose the air from his lungs but also pushed him back towards the wall.
Anne managed to land a couple of quick jabs into the lizardkin’s ribs, but it seemed to barely annoy their opponent and she had to duck under a vicious backhand.
The Retskul’s powerful, skilled motions made it hard for Michael to get close enough, but he seemingly chose to ignore prudence and jumped in, managing to draw blood on their enemy’s back with a slice of his dagger but paid for it with a pommel strike that made him wobble and struggle to stay upright. For the moment he was out of the fight.
The Retskul’s roar was now answered by an angry [Mother Bear]. Allison, with her silver bear form, entered the fray, slashing wildly with claws made from Energy. This was the first opponent the lizardkin seemed to tunnel vision on, which Ben used to take two quick steps, closing in and swinging with the full might of his 19-point Body attribute… at Anne.
With a yelp, he threw himself backward to prevent cleaving Anne in half, who had been thrown at him by the Retskul.
His mother’s attacks had left their mark on their enemy, but the silver outline of the bear seemed to fade away and would be gone in moments.
Ben could hear shouting from the direction of the stairs. Reinforcements were coming.
[Frenzy] triggered.
He pushed himself from the ground, axe held close to his body, pike pointing outwards. He tackled the Retskul to the ground. The pike had penetrated their chest, not enough to do material damage, but it was a brief distraction. A moment that he used to raise the axe over his head and cleave right into the armored chest. Instead of a deadly wound, an amulet worn by the Retskul broke. Ben did not let himself be distracted. He cleaved again. This time, blood splattered, and for a moment Ben was unsure whether it was enough, but the Retskul sagged back and did not get back up again.
He turned to find Allison already feeding a health potion to Jamal, who looked gray from blood loss. Anne was back up and Michael still seemed to be clearing his head but getting better.
From the corner of his eye, Ben saw movement at the other end of the hallway… and charged.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Half a dozen Retskuls were coming at him, with two more seemingly trailing on the stairs.
Buying time for his team to get back into fighting shape seemed the highest priority for Ben. So instead of going all out and jumping in their middle, he used his initial charge to make the opponents flinch and lose momentum. Then he tried to find the Flow.
Stand. Defend. Defend. Breathe. Stand. Enter. Strike. Defend.
He managed to hold his own against the two Retskuls in the front and the occasional stab from one of their backliners. However, these were different enemies than the unevolved Retskuls they had fought before. The sword wielded by one of the backliners seemed to extend towards him when they lunged forward. The hammer of the left frontliner glowed red when making contact with his armor, and he felt heat rising from the contact.
This is what it feels like to fight against enemies with perks, apparently. I prefer fighting wolves…
Though he suffered some wounds, he managed to inflict a massive cut and several superficial injuries.
Within seconds, Anne was by his side. With the enemies still focused on his axe, she managed to land a massive combination of kick and strike that left the Retskul on the right debilitated. Ben used the opportunity to enter the space of the lizardkin behind that one and take them out with a strike to the face. He more felt than saw Michael’s sword using the opening he had left to strike at the Retskul on the left.
In seconds they had taken out three of the enemies.
His instinct—or maybe [Frenzy]—told him to jump into the midst of the remaining enemies, but he fought against it and stayed in formation.
He could now see that the two incoming Retskuls looked drunk, which meant there were three main enemies left.
Ben focused again on defense, waiting for an opportunity, Anne by his side, Michael waiting in the back, ready to strike.
“Roots?” he shouted.
“Not in the building,” Allison replied apologetically.
Ben grunted in acknowledgement. “Jamal?”
“Boss?” came the still-weak response.
“Shout?” Ben didn’t want to ask for a taunt directly, so as not to warn their enemies.
He heard some shuffling behind him and then Jamal’s [Provoking Roar].
It barely seemed to affect their opponents, but barely was still something.
Ben and Anne simultaneously attacked the Retskul on the right, while Michael distracted the one on the left with another stab of his sword as well as a throw of his dagger. Neither did any damage, but it was enough to give the two frontline fighters time to take out their enemy. Ben then used the momentum to bypass the left lizardkin and, instead of facing the remaining enemies, struck them from behind.
They had now reached the stair landing, which opened the space for Michael to slip by, opening another flank, while Allison provided backup with her staff.
The urge to quickly end the fight with a charge grew, but again Ben remembered Barry’s mantra of ‘harmony breeds victory’ and remained in line.
This paid off as the two drunk lizardkin were barely able to defend themselves. Within less than a minute they had cleaned up the remaining enemies.
Ben sat down, taking a deep breath, trying to clear his mind. “I need a moment.”
Meanwhile, a dungeon portal had risen at the end of the hallway, providing them an easy exit.
Ben waited a few minutes until he opened the first message waiting for him.
Congratulations for clearing a Tier 1 dungeon with three levels during a dungeon break. For this difficulty level, additional rewards are provided. Choose:
- 1500 Credits
- Uncommon or rare item in line with your perks or attributes
- Rare or epic raw materials or natural treasures in line with this dungeon’s theme
“Boss?”
“Yes, Jamal?”
“Will you insist on taking raw materials or take something for yourself this time?”
Ben chuckled. “Are you trying to tell me something?”
“I don’t know, but I think so far nobody has even started working on the metal we got out of the mining dungeon…”
“I hear you, but in fairness, we haven’t built a smithy yet.”
“Son, I think it is ok to take something for yourself from time to time.”
“I am living in a 600-square-meter apartment, Mom, it’s not like I never take anything for myself.”
“I could point out that you are living there with your whole family, but anyway. Do what you want, all we are saying is that you wouldn’t have to feel bad if you take something that makes you, and therefore the Protectorate, stronger.”
Ben let his thoughts wander.
He was looking forward to getting home but dreading the ceremony for Simon once they were back.
He was happy to have given almost 140 people a new home in the Protectorate, but worried about how to keep them safe.
He enjoyed the training and improving in his abilities, but was terrified of it not being enough.
[Frenzy] was something he would have to deal with. Most fights in the dungeon had been relatively short; he did not want to find out what would happen if the negative effect on his Mind would stack for longer.
“I seem to remember that somebody promised me a vacation,” Ben said with a dry chuckle.
“I am afraid that was you, Ben,” Anne laughed, “but I am sure we are all happy to come along.”
“Would be nice, wouldn’t it? Just doing nothing. No responsibilities. No fighting.”
“It would. But think about everything that you have already accomplished in the last month. Not saying it wasn’t exhausting and continues to be so, but maybe you can draw some strength from that. And there are a lot of people who are here to support you as well,” she replied.
Ben sighed. “I know. And I am grateful. Just tired.”
“Why don’t we wrap up here. It should still be morning outside. We go home, do a small ceremony, and then we don’t do anything meaningful for two days. There is nothing super urgent that needs doing right away,” Allison said.
“Yeah, maybe the systems will have a bit of compassion and won’t send a mission,” Anne said wistfully.
Ben’s mind returned to the reward choices. He was curious to see what an epic raw material might look like, but in the end he followed his friends’ advice and chose an item.
The familiar golden outline formed beside him and turned into five thin silver wristbands with some light ornaments that looked runic in origin.
Band of Coordination. System-generated item. Tier 1. Rare. Allows for telepathic communication between party members wearing a linked band within the radius.
He smiled widely; that could be extremely helpful in the right situation. Obviously, they would have to determine the radius first.
It looked like jewelry was a theme for the items most of them got. Anne received an Amulet of the Steel Tooth Adder, which was supposed to increase the penetrating power of her unarmed strikes. Allison got a pendant in the form of a bear claw that would extend the duration of her [Mother Bear] perk. Jamal was happy with an amulet that increased his Body attribute by 1 for the purpose of defending against blows with his [Shield Handling] perk. Michael was the only one to get something completely different: a rare Dagger of Backstabbing that would increase damage dealt with the corresponding perk even further.
Ben got up and handed everyone their band, which they happily put on. They harvested cores, took some of the equipment from the Retskuls, and then quickly left after having collected the dungeon core.
It was time for a funeral and afterwards finally building some of the infrastructure Ben had been keen on since the beginning of the Protectorate.