Chapter 23

Crystallize

Janus made certain to note down everything he had learned from the goblin shamans. It always helped when he wrote things down or drew diagrams. The notebook was becoming his most cherished belonging at this point. He was very careful to not trip as he quickly scribbled a diagram of the mana shell onto the pages. It was better when he took notes as soon as possible after replicating a new skill.

It was difficult walking and taking notes, especially when Janus had to stay vigilant. He was worried that his hurried scribbling might be indecipherable by the time he reviewed it, but it would have to do for now.

The ravine appeared to be widening as he continued along the ledge. At this point, Janus couldn’t even see the other side. The extra space was worrying. He had been a lot more confident when enemies could only realistically come from two directions. Now he had to consider the darkness to his left.

It did not take long before another group of [Rock Goblins] tried their luck. With his new mana shell spell, their arrows were hardly even a threat. The mana array maintaining the spell used less mana to repair the defensive shell than Janus would have spent erecting a new mana barrier. It was both more effective and easier to sustain.

Even the goblins with wicked looking daggers had to smash their way into the shell in order to reach him. His mana shell was still missing the thorns that the goblin shaman he had copied it from displayed. He was sure once he perfected the spell and added the thorns, it would be a better against nearby foes.

The goblins were not nearly as threatening now. Janus waded through them, lobbing balls of reinforced mana. Unfortunately, this group did not seem to have a shaman amongst their ranks.

[You have defeated an enemy: Rock Goblin] x4

Not even a skill level up. It’s like the System knows they’ve gotten easier to defeat.

Janus wasn’t sure just how big dungeons could get, but this ravine never seemed to end. He was considering turning back when he saw a faint light coming from ahead. The light was not the expected white light of a [Torchstone] and instead was more of a pale pink hue. Not to mention that the light was coming from what appeared to be the center of the ravine.

Curious, Janus got a closer look. Maybe it was just a tunnel with a different lighting system.

It did not take long before he realized that was definitely not the case. The ravine had widened out to nearly 30 meters. In the center of the ravine sat a mass of crystals, jutting in every direction. They were the source of the light.

Janus had seen nothing like this in the rest of the ravine. It didn’t look dangerous, but he still approached carefully. He was still about 20 meters back when he lit up the room with a flash of light.

The ravine abruptly ended a dozen meters from the crystal mass. He was in a large semicircle. A shiver ran up his spine. This room looked very similar to the one he had fought a dungeon boss in while accompanying Fao.

It surprised him that he actually felt the urge to approach the dungeon boss. It was a crazy thought, but he itched to test himself against it. He wanted the rewards. The thoughts brought Dario to mind.

He told me that the System can mess with your personality…

Janus looked through his skills and noted [Bravery]. The skill stated that he would approach dangerous situations calmly. It had even improved to level four when Janus entered the ravine. He thought about his conflicts with the dungeon monsters and realized that he had been almost non nonchalant about the fights.

Bravery doesn’t mean stupid. The crystals must be related to the dungeon boss somehow.

It was unsettling to think about how the System could warp his mind. Without the [Bravery] skill, would he have ever even tried his luck in the ravine at all? He knew the skill gave him bonus wisdom, but it didn’t seem to drive him to wise decisions. Or did it? His time in the ravine had given him even more spells and levels.

If he could kill this boss, it would cause every monster in the dungeon to dissipate, and no more monsters would appear in the ravine. Even though this dungeon was pretty far out in the tunnels, it could still potentially save lives if he destroyed it now. In some small way, Janus felt it could help make up for his mistake with Lenny.

Maybe bravery does mean stupid.

Janus formed a mana shell surrounding himself, dropped his pack, and inched closer to the crystals. They shifted slowly as he neared. He was only a few meters away when the horrible noise of stone grinding on stone erupted from the mass of crystals. They slowly slid around, forming a vaguely humanoid shape. The monster was nearly twice as tall as Janus.

Expecting an immediate attack, Janus jumped back and identified the crystals.

[Crystal Golem - Level 40]

Oh shit.

Level 40 was a steeper challenge than Janus had expected. He turned around, producing another flash of light. Rows of neatly interlocked crystals had sealed his exit from one end of the ravine to the other.

Before he could turn back to the golem, he could feel his defensive shell break apart in some places. Slender crystals were growing from the dungeon boss’ arms. Once a crystal had finished growing, the golem launched it towards Janus. Sidestepping, he managed to avoid most of the barrage. His mana shell had taken the brunt of the attack and was slowly repairing itself.

I need to conserve as much of my mana as possible.

Janus wasn’t sure if his arrow point arrays would even scratch the golem, but it was worth figuring out sooner rather than later. He formed a few of the arrays above the golem and watched the mana arrows collide with the golem’s crystalline form. The mana arrows hardly even had an effect. They left behind small chips in the [Crystal Golem] which slowly repaired themselves.

Janus was glad that he didn’t have to rely on his [Torchstone] to see the dungeon boss, but the pale pink and purple hues were shifting too much. The effect was distracting as he tried to focus on his foe.

The arrow point arrays had been a significant drain on his mana. Janus muttered a curse and wished he had only used one array to test their efficacy. He had little time to consider his mistake, though. The golem was barreling towards him. It was much faster than Janus expected.

Thinking quickly, he compressed mana in front of himself and shielded his torso with his arms. Releasing the mana created an explosion that tossed him back and out of the way of the golem’s charge.

Janus landed on his back with a thud! The fall had driven the air from his lungs and he gasped for oxygen as he scrabbled back onto his feet. His eyesight was blurry, but he could feel the crystalline projectiles collide with his defensive shell. Movement was key. If the projectiles pierced the same location on his mana shell more than once before it had finished repairing, they would easily penetrate the defense.

Breathing heavily, Janus sprinted to the other side of the arena. If he could stall long enough, he could get most of his mana back through passive regeneration. However, his plan was almost immediately foiled when the [Crystal Golem] reached into its torso. The grinding noise was so loud that Janus clapped his hands over his ears.

He looked on, bewildered, as the golem pulled a mass of crystals from its chest and tossed them onto the ground. Janus’ confusion turned to dread as he saw the crystals form into smaller golems. The mass of crystals on the dungeon boss’s chest were already reforming.

Janus identified the two smaller golems.

[Crystal Offspring - Level 20]

They didn’t appear to be all that threatening. The genuine issue was that Janus would have to spend mana getting rid of them. He began acting before the [Crystal Offspring] pair had fully formed, launching a ball of reinforced mana at each of them. It satisfied him to see the reinforced mana collide with a crunch! Small shards of crystal scattered everywhere.

The [Crystal Golem] hadn’t moved since it created the two offspring. Janus guessed that it must be a restriction on whatever ability it had used to create them.

His triumph was short-lived. The shattered crystals from the offspring were slowly dragging themselves across the floor and returning to the pair. They appeared to be slowly reforming.

Janus nipped that in the bud as much as possible, launching another orb of mana at the pools of slowly assembling crystals. He got the result he wanted. Crystals shattered across the ravine floor. They began moving again shortly after, but Janus was certain he could simply keep breaking the offspring apart before they fully formed.

The [Crystal Golem] had started moving again and was preparing to launch more crystals at Janus. As soon as the first crystal detached, he began to sprint. He could hear the crystals smash into the ground behind him and didn’t stop until the barrage subsided. The golem was already preparing to charge at him again and Janus rocked side to side on the balls of his feet.

As soon as the dungeon boss moved, Janus jumped to the right. He narrowly avoided the golem, but it had completely shorn a part of his defensive shell off. Once again, Janus made as much distance as he could, heading to the opposite side of the arena.

To his dismay, he watched the golem reach into its torso again, throwing even more lumps of crystal onto the field. Janus could already see the crystals forming into [Crystal Offspring].

Janus scattered the offspring before they could finish forming. The original offspring still hadn’t amassed enough crystal to regenerate themselves.

The entire process repeated. Janus ran from a barrage of slender crystals and successfully dodged the golems’ charge. Once again, it was reaching into its torso.

This is getting ridiculous! There are already six [Crystal Offspring].

Janus noted that the golem had to pause for even longer after creating the latest batch of offspring. In a wild gambit, he created as big of a mana pearl as his concentration would allow him.

He had been avoiding using mana pearls in the tunnels because he didn’t want to trigger a cave-in. Now, however, he was in an open space, the top of which was who knows how far above him.

I can scatter the offspring and maybe even hurt the golem in one go. I only have a few chances at this.

Janus tossed the pearl and slammed his hands over his ears. He had learned his lesson the last time he had used one of the explosives in an enclosed space. The pearl hit the ground, bouncing along until it rolled near the golem’s feet. Janus steadied himself, shoved his eyes closed, and activated the mana inside the pearl. The shock wave pushed him into the ravine wall. He could feel small pieces of crystal sting his face and cut into his skin.

Opening his eyes, he saw crystals littering the ground along the edges of the arena. His back felt sore where he had been pushed violently into the wall. The [Crystal Golem] was missing an entire arm and even a part of its torso.

Janus nearly whooped in victory before he realized that no notification had come. The [Crystal Golem] was slowly regenerating.

Even that wasn’t enough?!