Dark Dungeon: Level 2

"Level two, huh?" Levi frowned at the faint shadow hanging in the air. "Looks like someone's been playing on their own side, this one wasn't listed on the wiki."

"How long would it take for someone to level a dungeon solo?"

"A couple weeks, if you ran it every day. Most people don't, though."

"What should we expect different about a Dark dungeon? Besides, you know, all the darkness."

“Night Wisps are the base creature, I believe. Or else Shadevine. Both are abundant. Night Wisps are stealthy, their bodies are dark and translucent like a living shadow, and they can throw darkness that'll stick to you. If they get you in the face, you'll be basically blinded for several seconds, which is a long time in a life-or-death battle. Dark dungeons are known for their traps. Expect them to be much more dangerous than equivalent dungeons elsewhere. We'll need to be extra alert."

"So it'll be even worse than the smashy corridor of doom?"

"Might, might not. Every dungeon is different. Dark dungeons in general have deadlier traps. I've never seen it for myself, so I can't say exactly what form those traps may take. But I'd guess they're similar to most others." He looked sideways at Gordon. "You'll need to be willing to go through trap corridors sooner or later. We've been very lucky with the dungeons so far in that they're rarely requiring active trap evasion, but as we get into higher and higher levels of dungeon we're going to have to go through them. And detours won't be simple for long. To get maximum value out of dungeon trips, you have to be willing to do difficult and uncomfortable things."

"I'm not unwilling, I don't want to kill myself without purpose."

"Put your next few points into Spirit. Health is all well and good, but it's not going to save you in the long run. Mobility is more important."

Especially with humanity's severe limitations in leveling compared to other creatures. Cen and Centoo gained as much health at level 1 as a human fighter would at level 10, and he still hadn't seen their threshold gains. And they were lower power than most creatures in higher level dungeons, which in turn were lower power than the demonic invasion forces.

"I really would rather not die," Gordon said. "That one fight was way too close."

Levi snorted and punched him. "The one that made you addicted to leveling?"

Gordon rubbed at his arm, lips set in futile denial. "I'm not addicted."

"See that you stay that way. It's not a good way to live."

"But I'm not the fast and agile sort."

"All the more reason to put points into Spirit. System stamina will enhance and expand on your existing strengths and let you do more."

"Sure, alright, I'll do what you say. What else do we have to worry about with the Dark dungeon?"

Levi could tell Gordon wasn't convinced, just agreeing to get Levi to change the subject, but he also didn't believe the man would go back on his word. He'd been nothing but honorable so far, so Levi allowed the change of subject. "More shadow creatures. Shadevines, probably. Those things are annoying."

"Something to make potions out of?"

"No, they're a monster, not an elixir ingredient. Shadevines absorb power from their surroundings, in a passive kind of way, and also from any creature they come in contact with. In our case, that power includes health, mana, and stamina, as well as draining powerstones and weakening powered armor. Fortunately, they're a bit stupid. They're drawn to any source of energy they can find, but don't use any strategy beyond straightforward attacks."

"Are they fast? Do they fly?"

"No, and no, but they're relentless. They'll climb along walls, drop from the ceilings, crawl up legs or down shirts for any exposed skin they could find. They're almost harmless so long as you have full body protection. The problem is…” Levi gestured at their hodgepodge outfits, “when you don't have a complete seal. I've heard enough horror stories to know they're nothing to be taken lightly. The most dangerous part about them is how they have an almost anasthetic effect. Unlike most power draining effects, shadevines manage to make it comfortable, so it feels right that they're sucking the life out of you with every moment. Very insidious. If you ever start to feel comfortable in a dark dungeon, check yourself for shadevine immediately. They have an annoying tendency of winding around anything they can reach and holding on."

"Should we go buy hazmat suits or something?"

"I wouldn't bother. We'll need to be fighting the other things too, and false confidence could be more dangerous than known vulnerability."

"Are you planning to tame a shadevine? It sounds like it could be useful."

"Hmm, perhaps," Levi mused. "They're not very sturdy, but it could be fun to see what some of the bosses make of that. Strangle it while it doesn't know to fight back. Well, it would probably notice something blatant like that - even if it didn't hurt, the inability to breathe would be a major red flag."

"Any additional chance to weaken it could help. Even if it is small."

"True. Not sure it would be worth tying up a minion slot with it though. Shadevines are very weak. Two or three fireballs can clear out a whole room of them."

"Too bad none of us knows fireball."

"Hopefully, this dungeon will be too low level to have any serious swarms of them."

"Do you really think so?"

Levi sighed. "No. With our luck, it'll have a Dark Essence too, guarded by thousands of shadevines."

At least any rewards they gained should be commensurate. The upgraded dungeons may have more monsters and more powerful versions thereof, but they'd also had much better treasures even leaving aside the Seed Fragments.

Levi held the map out to the shadowy wisp of darkness, and its indicator changed.

Dark Dungeon: Level 2+

"I'm just glad it wasn't a level 3," Levi confided, as they stepped into the shadow. "Given how much more dangerous a 1+ is compared to a 1, I would not be prepared to face a 3+."

The interior was black, black patterned floors, black tiled walls, black smooth ceiling. What little light there was seemed to be sucked into the architecture in little glints and patches of deeper shadow.

Levi took a moment trying to spot anything that could indicate a Night Wisp or a Shadevine, but the light and dark spots shifted erratically with every step and he couldn't tell if it was natural or otherwise.

It was so much dimmer than he was used to, so dark compared to the usual dungeon illumination. He'd heard about this kind of dungeon atmosphere existing, but experiencing it for himself was still disconcerting.

He carefully strapped on his beast lens helmet contraption, then closed one eye and ran mana into the lens to search for enemies.

"Can you make a light?" Gordon asked.

"No. We never needed light."

"Really? Even with society collapsed and electricity gone?"

"Anything we fought was either in a dungeon which provide their own light, or a demonic creature that comes with fire." A field of hellhounds, rippling flame lighting up the horizon in crimsons and gold; the purple flare of a demon Lord, the blue of the elite warriors, the white-gold glow of the imps. There was never a difficulty in locating the enemy. Light spells were not among those taught to new warriors. Recipes for basic emergency elixirs, the location of dungeons, lists of materials to always have on hand. Eventually, you picked up other things: spells for cleaning and repairing, tricks for controlling mana and stamina flows more directly; how to micromanage health recovery and expenditure, or apply recovery elixirs topically to limit the side effects.

"Well, no problem, I can use my phone." Gordon reached for his pocket.

"Don't!" Levi grabbed his arm to stop him. "It's protected where it is, if you pull it out in this kind of place, especially if you try to use it, the mana in the atmosphere will fry it immediately."

Gordon raised his hands. "Okay."

"Besides, this isn't absence-of-light darkness, this is tangible darkness. A flashlight or torch won't do much to burn it away." A flicker of movement caught Levi's eye, and he spun. "There!" He pointed, and Cen and Centoo immediately surged forward past Levi and into the darkness. It was strange, watching the fight without any of the environment clearly visible.

The night wisp, like a tiny dancing fairy of darkness, threw black energy from its hands as Skarm closed in atop Centoo, leaping off to slash the wisp out of the air. Two more wisps emerged from the ceiling behind them.

"Cen, above you!"

The centipede immediately reared up and slashed out at the darkness. Levi heard the slice as bladed centipede legs hit something solid and squishy. The two ambushers fell to the floor, fading from his view as their life left them.

"I don't like this," Gordon said, edging closer to Levi. "This darkness is giving me the willies."

Levi turned quickly to check behind them and on either side, but detected no other creatures. "This'll work," he said with full confidence. "Stay close."