Chapter 016

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‘ ‘ for thoughts.

“ “ for speech.

* * for actions.

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Jack continued exterminating the spiders along with Lt. Gail and his squad. Jack kept an eye out for the disabling blue giant spider’s skills, and disrupted them with his soul scream. Rest of the time, he targeted whatever the rangers were hitting. During breaks, Jack enchanted and repaired everyone’s gear, and focused on looting the venom glands from the spiders for further grinding his Indomitable Spirit stat.

There were a similar number of spiders in this level, as compared to the previous one. However, battles took longer and rests were more frequent. This was because the blue giant spider was extremely annoying to deal with, causing the acolytes to spend significantly more MP on healing.

Jack had noticed that he could disrupt the blue spiders only 4-5 times reliably. After that, the spiders seem to be able to resist his soul scream to some degree. This made fights with multiple blue spiders disproportionately lengthier. Jack also didn’t have any opportunities to use Force breath for knockdown as that spell caused friendly fire.

A little after lunch on Sunday in real life, Jack had assisted in the extermination quest and almost cleaned out the third level of the dungeon. Jack had enchanted all the equipment of the squad, including their body armor. They appeared at a huge oval tunnel which was 6m in diameter. The end of the tunnel opened in a huge cavern with plenty of cocoons. Lt. Gail ordered a halt.

Lt. Gail: “All right men, good work clearing this lair till now. This looks like the final chamber and should have a boss monster. Hunters, when the battle starts, focus on eliminating as many cocoons as you can with your explosive arrows. Jack, can you enchant explosive arrows?”

Jack: “Not right now Lt. Gail, but I could probably replicate a weaker version of special arrows, if I have a few arrows of that kind to study. I may not be able to replicate an enchanting if it is too advanced.”

Lt Gail: “Hmm. Attempt it nonetheless. Hunters, supply Jack with a few enchanted arrows.”

Jack was then supplied with a few kinds of enchanted arrows by the hunters. Jack tried absorbing enchant using system assist on the explosive arrows, but he failed and lost PP in the process. Jack decided to try absorbing that specific enchant of the other arrows, before returning to it.

There were also freezing arrows, fire arrows and acid arrows. Jack used absorb Enchant on them a few times and succeeded in absorbing the runes. The freezing arrows were enchanted with a single ice rune, the fire arrows with a fire rune and the acid arrows were enchanted with a corrosive rune.

Jack: ‘Well a new rune, Corrosive. Now I have to get back to the explosive arrows.’

Jack then used his spirit senses and Mana Control and tried to leech off mana from the arrow. Jack lost track of time, but finally he was able to successfully absorb the enchanting on the explosive arrow. It consisted of a two runes combined into a glyph, which comprised of fire rune and an explosive rune. Jack deduced that the explosive rune added an AoE on impact. The fire rune when combined with it, resulted in a fiery explosion on impact.

Jack: ‘I guess this explosive rune is ammunition exclusive. It could be used on the tip of a spear I suppose. Each poke would result in elemental AoE damage, but will erode the durability pretty fast. It doesn’t seem practical for weapons with shorter reach. Although this can be very useful with cheap darts, turning them into mini grenades! Pity I can’t make glyphs at my current level of enchanting. And I doubt this rune functions when not paired with an elemental rune into a glyph.’

Jack: “Lt. Gail, I can create the freezing, fire and acid arrows. I will be unable to enchant explosive arrows.”

Lt. Gail: “Thought as much. It took you almost an hour to study these arrows. Jack, create around 30 freezing arrows for each hunter. Hunters, after the egg cocoons have been destroyed, focus on using your freezing arrows to slow the boss, while rest of us deal with it.”

Jack then got to work and enchanted 120 freezing arrows. He asked for a few minutes break to meditate as he wanted full PP before proceeding with the boss encounter. After a few minutes, Jack was ready and the squad proceeded to engage the boss.

As they entered the cavern, a huge monster dropped. It resembled the spiders they had battled till now, but was far larger. It was taller than Jack with wicked looking fangs larger than Jack’s sword. It was covered mostly in reddish brown fur, with a few streaks of green and blue arranged in circles near the center of its body. The hunters quickly equipped their explosive arrows and targeted the spider egg cocoons.

Each explosive arrow disposed a few cluster of cocoons. The hunters were targeting the cocoon clusters further away so that their allies weren’t caught in the AoE. The pikemen were using their crossbows to fire bolts at the boss spider. Each bolt barely did 1% damage to the boss.

Jack broke off from the group and used his fire breath on nearby clusters of spider cocoons, obliterating them. His fire breath was far more effective at destroying multiple cocoons compared to a single explosive arrow. However, there were 4 hunters and they had the advantage of range and speed, while Jack was noticeably slower and had to target cocoons in close to mid-range.

Hence, the hunters as a whole were destroying the cocoons faster than Jack. However, a single fire breath from Jack was still quite potent at disposing the cocoons and he wasn’t limited by ammunition like the hunters.

Jack’s flashy fire-breath presumably irked the boss spider the most, as it spat a green bolt of acid towards Jack. It executed the acid spit a lot quicker than the green spiders. Jack was barely able to sidestep, dodging the acid projectile in the nick of time. He heard a sizzling hiss as the acid corroded the cavern wall.

Jack: ‘Oh fuck. The boss casts a lot faster than the other spiders. Have to be on the defensive while I dispose of these eggs. It will be a bitch to deal with them if they hatch during the boss fight.’

Jack (shout): “I will distract the boss and dispose of as many eggs as possible.”

Jack then taunted the boss spider with a void bolt as he ran towards the next cluster of eggs. The peppering from the pikemen had caused the boss spider to lose around 5% of its HP. The void bolt was comparatively more effective, causing the boss monster to lose another 2% of its HP. This seemed to reinforce the notion that Jack was the biggest threat, and it spat three quick acid projectiles at Jack.

Each projectile looked smaller and weaker than the previous acid spit, but Jack was in no mood to find out exactly how much of his HP the acid volley would deplete. Jack quickly rolled to the side, causing the volley of acid spit to hit the egg cluster he was standing in front of.

Jack: ‘Nice the boss can take care of its vile spawn itself.’

Jack was then in a shooting match with the spider. Jack would bait the boss to damage its own eggs while dodging its acid projectiles. Jack would return fire with void bolts. In this manner, Jack and the pikemen managed to reduce the HP of the boss to 75%. The hunters were out of explosive arrows, and most of the cocoons were destroyed.

After the boss lost a fourth of its HP, it shot an entangling web at Jack from its forelimbs. Jack targeted it with fire bolt and countered it successfully. The hunters then shot a volley of freezing arrows at the boss spider. The boss spider lost another 6% of HP and was visibly slowed.

The boss spider then changed targets from Jack and spat acid at Lt. Gail and the rest. After the acid projectiles were blocked, the boss spider rushed towards the hunters. Despite being slowed, it had significant speed and covered around 15 meters in a couple of seconds.

The swordsmen engaged the boss spider in melee, while the pikemen unequipped their crossbows and readied their spears. They supported the swordsmen and poked the boss spider with their spears. The boss spider was very resilient to melee attacks and their combined pounding caused it to lose only 7% of its HP, leaving it with around two thirds of its HP.

Jack took this opportunity to use another fire breath and destroy a few egg sacs. As if on cue, the boss monster let out a screech and three spiders emerged from a cocoon. Two of them were brown, and one of them was green. They were smaller than their counterparts Jack had encountered till now. However, if they boss summoned more of them, it would quickly escalate the danger and difficulty of the battle.

Jack shot the green spider with a couple of void bolts, and the green spider lost around half of its HP. The brown spiders then moved towards Jack, who prepared a fire breath as he rushed towards them. His fire breath dispatched the brown spiders and Jack equipped his sword and activated force blade on it.

The green spider spat acid at Jack, who failed to dodge it. The attack caused Jack’s leather armor to sizzle and he lost around 3% of his HP. Jack quickly dispatched the green spider and fired a couple of soul strikes at the boss. The boss lost 3% of its HP and was left with almost 55%. However, the acolytes were quite strained, as few of the guards had almost half their HP missing.

The boss monster screeched again, this time a couple of cocoons near Jack hatched and a total of 7 spiders emerged. It had two green spitter spiders; one blue disabler spider and the rest were brown spiders. Jack readied a fire breath and caught all of them in its AoE. Most of the spiders were dead, and only the blue disabler spider had some HP left. Jack slashed it with his mana blade enhanced sword and quickly dispatched it.

Jack: ‘Last time all the eggs in one cocoon hatched. This screech caused two cocoons to hatch. I need to deal with rest of the cocoons ASAP, if the boss keeps following this trend.’

Jack then found the nearest cluster of cocoons and unleashed a fire breath to dispose of them. Meanwhile, Lt Gail and the others had reduced the boss to half of its HP. The boss spider released a greenish mist around it.

The swordsmen closest to it were poisoned, and they were forced to withdraw as the mist caused them to become poisoned. While the acolytes detoxified the swordsmen, the boss spider let out a ear-splitting screech, far louder that its previous screeches.

Jack noticed that all of the remaining half dozen cocoons hatched and around 25 spiders rushed towards the boss spider. There were quite a few blue spiders in that mob. Jack let out a soul scream. The boss was unaffected, but the soul scream caused the spider spawns to stop their charge toward the boss.

Jack took this opportunity and prepared a fire breath. Jack then unleashed it disposing most of the spiders. Three blue spiders were alive and they raised their forelegs preparing to shoot Jack with the entangling webs.

Jack. ‘I will be screwed if they manage to hit me with that. I am too close to dodge all of them, Need to disable them quick before finishing them off’

Jack then prepared and unleashed a force breath, knocking them down and disrupting their cast. While the blue spiders were recovering from the knockdown, Jack prepared a fire breath and finished them off.

The reprieve from the boss spider’s attack had allowed the acolytes to fully restore the swordsmen HP and gulp a few mana potions to restore their MP. Jack then joined Lt. Gail and rest of the guards. He targeted the boss with soul strikes, and the hunters were using the freezing arrows to keep the boss constantly slowed.

Lt Gail: “Good work men. The boss only has half of its HP remaining and is out of minions. Vanguard charge and engage the boss in melee. The acolytes are out of mana potions however, so be on the defensive and retreat at the first sign of the poison mist. Hunters and Jack focus on the boss and chip its HP while the vanguard keeps it engaged.”

Jack and the hunters targeted it with range attacks while the swordsmen were on the defensive. The pikemen were cautious too, poking the spider less frequently than before. After the boss was down to 40% HP, it started releasing the poison mist. Lt Gail shouted at them to retreat, and the vanguard did just that.

Only two swordsmen were poisoned this time, before they could escape the mist. While the swordsmen retreated, Jack pushed ahead. He had an idea and wanted to test it. Jack stepped ahead of the vanguard and prepared a fire breath. He unleashed the fire breath at the boss spider and the surrounding poison mist. The poison mist instantly combusted and caused a small explosion. The whole attack managed to damage the boss for 6% HP! It was the highest so far.

Jack: ‘Nice. The poison mist is flammable. That combined with fire breath really did a number on it. The boss may be immune to its poison…but sure it isn’t immune to its poison gas exploding. I am starting to run low on PP though. Should target the future poison mists with a fire bolt.’

Jack then quickly retreated behind the vanguard and continued firing soul strikes at the boss. The boss had a third of its HP left now, and Jack had used up almost half of his PP. One of the hunters exclaimed that they were out of the freezing arrows.

Lt. Gail: “Use regular arrows for now. Avoid using the acid arrows as the boss seems to have poison and acid attacks. Only use fire arrows when it uses the poison mist and the vanguard has retreated sufficiently.”

Jack and the rangers continued attacking the boss from range, while the swordsmen and pikemen engaged it in melee. The boss seemed to be avoiding its poison mist spell, and focused more on melee and acid spits. The swordsmen had trouble blocking the acid projectiles at such short range. Each acid projectile caused a member of the vanguard to lose a fifth of its HP. The acolytes were prompt with their healing and restored their health after a couple of seconds.

Soon, the boss was reduced to 20% of its HP. The boss released its acid mist and quickly jumped back. When the vanguard finished retreating, the hunters released a volley of fire arrows and caused a small explosion to occur. When the explosion cleared, the boss was not present.

Around 10 meters back, there was a large cocoon on the floor. The hunters fired a volley at it. It did negligible damage; however the HP bar above the boss indicated that it was regenerating HP at the rate of approximately 1%/s.

Jack: ‘Shit. This boss is annoying. Need to stop it regenerating HP. Fire burns the spider silk cocoons and the entangling webs… maybe it will burn this boss cocoon as well’

Lt. Gail ordered the hunters to use their fire arrows. The hunter’s fire arrows stopped the regeneration, but it wasn’t able to destroy the cocoon. Jack prepared a fire breath and stepped ahead of the vanguard. Once the entire boss cocoon was in the AoE of his mana breath, Jack unleashed his fire breath.

The cocoon was burnt away, and the boss countered with three quick spits of acid. Jack was able to dodge one of them. The rest hit him and caused his HP to drop to 70%. Seeing this, the vanguard quickly rushed ahead of Jack and engaged the boss. The acolytes cast their healing prayer on Jack, and he felt a warm pleasant feeling as his HP recovered.

They continued attacking the boss, and steadily reduced its HP. Whenever the boss attempted to use its cocoon, Jack would use a fire breath on it. A couple of swordsmen would guard his flanks, and rush ahead of him to intercept the acid projectiles. In this manner, they finally managed to defeat the boss.

A couple of pikemen stabbed its eyes just to be sure. Having confirmed the death of the boss monster everyone cheered, including the acolytes and Lt. Gail. When the fanfare died down, Lt. Gail had a big smile on his face.

Lt. Gail: “Looks like we finished this extermination without a single casualty! You played a large role in it Jack, I am sure Cpt. Zubin will be thankful.”

Jack: “Thank you Lt. Gail, I was just doing my best to not be a hindrance to your squad.”

Lt. Gail: *snorts* “No need to be so humble. Your timely actions prevented many situations from escalating and you know it. Now hunters, thoroughly search this alcove for any remaining spider eggs or anything suspicious. Few of my men will accompany you, just in case. The rest of you start butchering the boss. The alchemist’s guild will probably pay quite a bit for every bit of its corpse!”

Jack: “Lt Gail, can I harvest its poison gland, some of its skin and one of its fangs?”

Lt. Gail: “Sure Jack. You can take the poison gland. I will however deduct some gold for the fang and carapace from your share proportionately, depending on what the alchemist’s guild pays. Is that acceptable?”

Jack: “Yes Lt. Gail. Thank you.”

The soldiers began dissecting the corpse carefully. After they were done, Jack selected the larger fang and stored it in his inventory. He figured that someone could craft a weapon from it. The spider carapace was quite tough, and Jack aimed to have some armor crafted from it. He also pocketed the poison gland, as he wanted to grind his indomitable spirit stat later.

Jack: ‘This is a good haul. I wonder what kind of weapons and armor I can get crafted from the boss materials. Sure hope it is good. And I bet the boss poison is more potent and will increase my Indomitable Spirit quite a bit!’

Jack noticed that the hunters had returned and were reporting to Lt. Gail. Lt. Gail barked short orders. After the soldiers completed looting the boss spider, everyone followed the hunters. At the far end of the cavern, there was a small pedestal, with a circular depression on it.

Jack: ‘Oh boy. It looks like the hollow on the first tombstone. The circular hole seems larger than my coin though. I wonder where I can get the coin that fits here. Best ask Master Janus once I return.’

Lt Gail tried tapping the depression a few times. When nothing happened, he closely examined the surrounding area. Finally Lt Gail gave up, and ordered everyone to get ready for the return journey. Jack took this opportunity to repair and re-enchant everyone’s gear. They then made their way towards the entrance. On the way Jack struck up a conversation with one of the acolytes.

Jack: “Thanks for the timely heal back there guys. It really helped me.”

Acolyte 1: “Not a problem Jack. We were just praying to Isis. It is she whom you should thank.”

Jack: “Well, in any case, Isis has my sincerest gratitude. In any case all of you have fully regenerated mana right?”

Acolyte 2: “Yes, we are. Why do you have any need for our prayers?”

Jack: “Not right now. I planned to travel the way back with everyone. I can match the canter of a horse on foot, but my stamina depletes after around 40 minutes of running. Can you please bless me with your prayers to Isis to regenerate my Stamina and MP during the return journey?”

Acolyte 3: “Yes we have prayers to bless you with improved Stamina and MP regeneration. But why do you need MP regeneration while running?”

Jack: *short pause* “Remember that jump I made when we first encountered the giant blue spider?”

Acolyte 4: “Yes, that was quite impressive. If it weren’t for your strange spells, a few guards could have lost their lives before we could recover from that web.”

Jack: “Well I have skills to augment my movements with mana. I am not strong or agile enough to jump that high without the aid of mana. Also I have one more request if it isn’t too much trouble.”

Acolyte 2: “Please state your request. If it is within reason, we will pray to Isis and appeal to her divinity to fulfill their request.”

Jack: ‘What is with their prayer fetish? This is why religious people are so annoying.’

Jack: “I actually have to poison myself to train one of my survival skills. Please do not detoxify me and let me be poisoned. But please pray to Isis to heal me whenever my HP drops significantly.”

Acolyte 3: *visibly cringes* “Well seems like a painful way to train your poison resistance. Why not just keep spare antidotes, or better yet include an acolyte of Isis in your party.”

Jack: “Well antidotes are expensive, and I might not have them all the time. While partying with a priest of Isis is good. But I won’t have one in my party always. I also plan to just go off the beaten road and explore solo. I like the feel of adventuring the unknown alone, but it is always best to be prepared. And poison is pretty common in the wild.”

Acolyte 1: “Yeah, that somehow makes sense. We can pray to Isis for it; however we may have problems managing our mana.”

Jack: “Thank Isis and her acolytes! I have a suggestion to manage your mana though.”

Acolyte 2: “By all means do share!”

Jack: “Well, you three are here with us, and there is another acolyte at the camp. That makes four of you. One of you can bless and heal me until you spend a third of your total MP. Then the next acolyte can heal and bless me till a third of his MP is depleted and so on. This way all four of you get a chance to train your divine spells, while always having plenty of MP in reserve for any unforeseen situation. If an emergency arises, I can be quickly detoxified by your prayers to Isis.”

Acolyte 3: “That sounds like a fine plan! It is the will of Isis that we aid you in your request. ALL PRAISE ISIS!”

Everyone in Earshot (including Jack): “Praise to Isis!”

Jack: *smiling outwardly* ‘No you dumb fucks; it is just simple reasoning which has nothing to do with Isis. Praying all the time may give you Faith, but it sure doesn’t help you with even the simplest of tactics.’

(A/N: By Isis I mean http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isis and not the crazy fucks in the Middle East. Praise the Egyptian goddess all you want though.)

Jack: “That’s great! I will begin my poison training now if it is all right?”

Acolyte 1: “Sure. Please feel free to begin. We will pray to Isis to heal, if your HP becomes too low. If you want a prayer for detoxification, just say so and we will appeal to Isis.”

Jack was happy to hear this reply. He wanted to make the most of the time left with the acolytes. It was a golden opportunity to get free heals while grinding his Indomitable Spirit stat. Furthermore, he wasn’t really doing anything else, so it was effective time management.

Jack then took the boss spider’s venom gland as it was the most potent. He then squirted a bit of its venom on his tongue. Immediately he became somewhat dizzy and his vision became blurry and he started losing 100 HP every 5 seconds.

Jack: ‘Is this how people who use spectacles see otherwise? Must be extremely shitty living RL like that.’

Jack: “Acolytes of Isis, I have one more request to ask of you.”

Acolyte 2: “Please tell so. Do you wish for a prayer of detoxification? Perhaps you would like a blessing to increase your poison resistance if this poison is too potent for you”

Jack: “No thank you. I don’t wish for it now. The poison actually made my vision very blurry, and I am having some trouble walking. Perhaps one of you can guide me till I am used to it?”

Acolyte 3: “Of course traveler! Place a hand on my shoulder and follow my footsteps. Isis guides my way, and I will in turn guide you.”

Jack: “Thanks.” *pauses for a while* “Umm, I still can’t see clearly. If you can place my hand on your shoulder, I would be grateful.”

The acolyte realizes his oversight and hastily places Jack’s hand on his shoulder. Having a tether Jack manages to navigate his way forward with his dizziness and blurred vision. Whenever Jack’s HP dropped below two thirds, one of the acolytes healed him.

Jack slowly gained resistance to the boss spider’s venom and increased his Indomitable Spirit. Jack had completely exhausted the boss spider’s venom by the time they exited the spider lair. He had overcome the dizziness and blurred vision, but he was still taking a significant amount of DoT from the boss spider’s venom.

While the guards were packing up the camp, Jack waited for the last of the boss spider’s venom to expire. He then tried squirting a bit of poison, from the poison glands of the regular spiders, on his tongue. He wasn’t poisoned at all.

Jack: ‘Since I already developed tolerance to the boss spider’s venom, a bit of the regular venom isn’t affecting me. It looks like it is time for me to take a long swig of spider venom!’

Jack then placed the narrow part of the gland, which had a valve, in his mouth and squeezed the bulging portion of the gland, gulping down the poison like beer. After he finished ingesting all of the poison, he felt a slight dizziness and started losing his HP. However, his vision was largely unaffected.

By now everyone was ready to depart. Jack found the acolytes on their horses and went towards them. Lt. Gail gave an order and the guards arranged themselves in a practiced formation with the priests, hunters and Jack in the center. One of the acolytes muttered a couple of chants and blessed Jack with boosted regens. Jack then continued the journey towards Rotang City, all the while exploiting free heals and buffs to grind his Indomitable Spirit and Free Running.

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