Chapter 8 Dungeon

The Den was dark, but glowing balls of water were floating around the party, dimly lighting the place without blinding them. There was also a strong odor, but that much should be expected when dealing with goblins.

Now entering the dungeon, their formation changed. Alex and Bai Hu were in first line and Percival and Bob took the rear guard. Kordur was still acting as a scout and opened a path, coming back from time to time to give a report. He soon came with the awaited information:

- 3 goblins. Right before us. How do we do?

- One for Alex and Bai Hu, one for me, one for Percy, told Bob. You look after the young ones with Julia, answered Bob.

They went quietly to the group of goblins, and Bob launched the charge. With a war cry, he jumped on one and his battle axe cut it cleanly in two parts. Percival gave a shield bash to his one and the goblin just got crushed against a wall. It took a little time for the last one, but the teamwork between the tiger and the martial artist was good, so they manage to finish it without taking a single hit.

Without taking a break, they want to a bigger group. There were 8 goblins. Percival went in first and just poked 7 of them on the head. They began to attack him, but he just calmly raised his shield, their strikes being less dangerous than mosquitoes’ bites for him. The last one was for Alex. With his tiger companion, he attacked this one and killed him, then went on to take one from Percival’s stock and continued.

After the end of the fight saw two windows appearing before him:

New Skill: Unarmed Mastery (Passive)

Novice lvl 1 03%

Increase the attack power when unarmed by 1%

Increase the attack speed when unarmed by 1%

New Skill: Acupression Mastery (Passive)

Novice lvl 1 01%

Allow the user to distinguish weak spots of enemies

Hitting those spot will result in Critical Hit

Increase the critical hit power by 3%

When he talked to the others about those skills, they explained most people obtained them thanks to their classes. Without, it needed a lot of training, and that’s why despite the tests and earlier battle, he could only obtain them now. And as classless skills, they would grow slower. What was truly impressive in the other hand was for the two skills to appear at the same time, as the amount of hits needed to unlock the first one was the same than the amount of critical hits for the second. It was proof that Alex always knowingly struck the weak spot of his enemies.

It took them a little time to take the loots, and they went on their hunt. Anna soon managed to make her “FengShui Summoning” skill grow to Acolyte, unlocking the “Xuan Wu Summoning”, and the “Water Summoning Buff”. Xuan Wu appeared to be a small black turtle, slow but with a great defense.

At the same time, her skill “Bai Hu Summoning” also grew to Acolyte, and the tiger grew, going from a cat-like height to a panther’s one. His stats also grew greatly, easing the next fights. Four hours after coming to the dungeons, they had managed to kill hundreds of goblins; therefore Alex and Anna had gained levels and skills proficiencies.

Alex had also modified his fighting style a little. He was activating his Inner control buff when possible and used the Tsuuhaiken once after. He did not have mana for more. Following that he was fighting and dodging, using rolls to evade some attacks. During a long time his first soul’s skill had stay at level 1 and he decided to not let it that way.

During the fight, Percival was blocking enemies so there would never be too many of them, Kordur was acting as a scout and sometimes releasing a well-aimed arrow if needed and Julia was healing and buffing the fighters. So, as Alex and Anna were busy leveling up, only Bob was left with almost nothing to do. He decided to collect the loots and went to sell it quickly to the city before coming back.

At first, Alex thought it was too much, but he learned from the others that the elf had gained in his early days the soul’s skills “Mad Runner” and “Heavy Charger”. At his current level, Acolyte level 3 and Acolyte level 5, he could run with a 36% bonus compared to others peoples without using his stamina and he could carry 55% more weight than what his strength should allow him. Those skills also had some effects in battle when he rushed in, but Alex did not hear the exact details of this part.

After fighting and training for a few hours, a normal party would have gone out in search of a safe spot in order to sleep or log out. But they just went in a nook and Percival used one of his own soul’s skills:

- Safe Spot!

A golden light flowed around them, creating a 5 meters wide circle. Percival had managed to grow it to Expert level 1, which was an incredible feat knowing that even players of above level 200 rarely had a skill in the expert stage. He could create a safe spot anywhere he wanted, as long as no monster was in the zone at the invocation time. It used all was left from his mana and stamina, but for this width, he could create a safe zone lasting for nearly 7 hours already.

They quickly set up a camp and went to sleep, not wasting a single moment. Alex did the same, but he was used to really short nights after long tiring days, and woke up only four hours later. During the three next hours, he simply trained his inner control skill, managing to bring it to Novice level 9, as the Seikuken which had grown a lot the day before. He was also at level 18 and had earned a few points of fighting spirit, perseverance and willpower.

When the others woke up they went back to fighting. They all decided to keep cleaning the first floor of the den for today. So they fought and fought again, taking break when Anna’s stamina was low. Usually, the frontline fighter would have weakened first, but with the bonus of his Inner Control and his perseverance stat, Alex almost always kept a good margin of stamina.

At the end of the second day, Alex saw a new message:

Skill Test: Seikuken

Kill fifty enemy using only deflected blows’ power. 0/50

Reward: Seikuken step Acolyte

- Something called a Skill test appeared, told Alex to his companions…

- Already, asked Julia?

- I remembered Anna went in the Acolyte level without any test for her skill yesterday…

- It’s true, answered Bob. Class related skills do not need test to grow. But you don’t have any class, and soul’s skills do not belong to any class. Almost everybody can make it to Acolyte, but it becomes increasingly harder later on. Will you be able to manage?

- No problem! It will take a little time, but there is no problem.

- Fine. Then we shall go.

Percival used once more “Safe Spot” and they all logged out easily. Except of course for Alex. He took this chance to take off his mask and went hunting. He had been under a lot of stress during the last days, following the antics of Julia and doing his all to avoid making more trouble for Percival. They had not talked much during the last two days, but he could sense the knight being calmer in his presence. But now he had a lot to take out.

The level 30 goblins were hard to kill for him, especially alone and using only the deflected blow from his Seikuken skill which was now:

Seikuken (Passive)

Novice lvl 10

You are aware of every movement 50cm around your body.

When deflecting an attack, you can send 20% of its power in the direction of your choice

But Alex was skilled enough to not take any blow during the fights. It took him a long time to do enough damages, but the enemies could not manage to harm him. It took him 6 hours, but he finished the test.

Seikuken (Passive)

Acolyte lvl 1 00%

You are aware of every movement 110cm around your body.

When deflecting an attack, you can send 32% of its power in the direction of your choice

He quickly went back to the safe spot and logged out before he converted back to a normal zone.

***

During 21 days, or 3 and half real life days, they continued to fight. When the group logged out, Alex continued to fight a little before going to his sessions with the doctor Nathalie Vercoss. Here he talked about a lot of things, about the game, but never truly about himself. But it was just a week since he had been send inside Edge of Magic, so the doctor wasn’t really bothered.

After logging back in, he had nearly two days to go on without anyone coming in. He decided to clean each of the floors completely, and was so thorough in it the party had to go down a floor each time they connected back.

The four strongest did not really leveled up, but Anna managed to attain level 37 thanks to the hunt. Even if he had been the weaker one, with all the hunting he had done overtime Alex was now at level 42. Still weak for this dungeon, but his bonus stats for the three trials and his experience in fighting gave him the edge against numerous enemies.

He had also, thanks to one of the few advices from Percival, let some enemies’ attacks in, in order to obtain the endurance stats which could lower the damages taken from attacks. He had also, with a whopping 3 hours of meditation, managed to obtain the Acolyte for his Inner Control.

During his fights, he had to deal with archers and mages, and so he learned to use his Seikuken to deflect those attacks. It was hard to hit someone with it, but he could at least avoid almost all damages from those attacks.

And now, they were getting ready for the last room, the boss room. So Alex looked at all of his stats one last time before the fight:

NameAlex SandersRaceNephilimLevel42TitleØHealth (HP)1839/1839Stamina (SP)920/920Mana (MP)797/797Fame100Infamy0

Class 1ØNovice lvl 0Class 2ØNovice lvl 0Class 3ØNovice lvl 0

Profession 1ØNovice lvl 0Profession 2ØNovice lvl 0

Primary AttributesStrength (STR)66Agility (AGI)76Dexterity (DEX)77Vitality (VIT)76Intellect (INT)66Wisdom (WIS)66

Secondary AttributesReading (REA)28Focus (FOC)81Willpower (WIL)76Asceticism (ASC)58Perseverance (PER)84Fighting Spirit (FS)76Endurance (END)32

Magic Affinity/ResistanceEarth0Wind0Fire0Water0Light10Dark-10Nature0Lightning0Gravity0

Soul's SkillsUkemi Mastery (Passive)Novice lvl 5 46%Inner Control (Passive&Active)Acolyte lvl 1 15%Seikuken (Passive)Acolyte lvl 1 77%Seeker of Truth (Active)Novice lvl 3 97%Tsuuhaiken (Active)Novice lvl 7 48%

SkillsUnarmed Mastery (Passive)Novice lvl 5 31%Acupression Mastery (Passive)Novice lvl 4 86%

Ukemi Mastery (Passive)

Novice lvl 5 46%

By rolling upon falling you can reduce the damage by as much 10%.

The effective percentage depends on your dexterity and timing of your action.

Inner Control (Passive&Active)

Acolyte lvl 1 15%

(Passive)

You have gained perfect control over your body. All of you stats increase by 21%.

Your skill and class growth increase by 11%. Your stamina, life and mana regeneration increase by 21%.

(Active)

By meditating you can gain a temporary buff:

All stats +63%

Mana, Life and Stamina regeneration +63%

Meditation time: 4min

Duration: 11min

Seikuken (Passive)

Acolyte lvl 1 77%

You are aware of every movement 110cm around your body.

When deflecting an attack, you can send 32% of its power in the direction of your choice

Seeker of Truth (Active)

Novice lvl 3 97%

By examining objects and seeking bits of information, you have learned to discern if NPCs or books detain hidden information. By focusing on a particular subject, you can filter the information. You’ll see a glowing aura in such a case. With each level, you can see the glow with less focus.

You can also gain bonus of fame when discovering new facts, information or even discern hidden motives.

No cost.

Tsuuhaiken (Active)

Novice lvl 7 48%

Powerful energy attack. Need a direct contact, or an indirect through a solid material to work.

Ignore all Defense

Injure the enemy by 12% of the caster total MP amount

Cost: 500MP

Unarmed Mastery (Passive)

Novice lvl 5 31%

Increase the attack power when unarmed by 5%

Increase the attack speed when unarmed by 5%

Acupression Mastery (Passive)

Novice lvl 4 86%

Allow the user to distinguish weak spots of enemies

Hitting those spot will result in Critical Hit

Increase the critical hit power by 12%

***

- Listen well! The boss level is 62, and he is a King Goblins. But in Edge of Magic, a boss power is usually around 50% stronger than what it should be at his level, and his health, stamina and mana are even more overdone! Consider him like having a level 90 or more power, and a level 150 life bar. That’s why there are usually only raids to fight against bosses.

- And you want us six to defeat him, remarked Alex?

- Yes, Colonel. That is why we searched for new members in the first place. Or one of the reasons, as there is a lot of dungeons we want to clear. Normally we would have train you longer, but you both are already quite strong, and we don’t need much more…

- What, Anna shouted! But we’ll all die.

- You mean, Alex stated calmly, that you already nearly managed to defeat him once?

- He had around 30% or 40% of his life bar left. He would take a lot of time for us to go strong enough to defeat him, but with new members…

- It will be easier… What should we worry about?

- I’ll let Percival explain how we will fight. He should be good enough for that now, and it’s better if our strategist take care of that himself.

Bob sat on the floor, and the others followed his lead, letting only the silver knight standing up.

- First the Boss! The Goblin King is an earth magician. He can attack with “Earth Javelin” or with the AoE “Spikes”. He can increase his defense with “Stone Skin”, but it will also slow him down. Last, he has the skill “Muddy ground, to slow us down. He will also use the skill “Magma Geyser” once. Are you fine?

Percival looked around, and soon continued:

- He has guards. Around a hundred. Goblin Knight level 55, around 40 of them, Goblin Archers level 50, around 20 of them, Goblin Mages level 52, around 20 of them and Goblin Healers level 47, around 20 too. We will have to take care of them quickly.

Once more, he looked around. It was strange for him, but it was the first time he was so calm since the coming of Alex in the party. The tension of the boss fight was his battlefield, and he could feel strangely relaxed here: it was not the underground arena of the Dark Lord; it was Edge of Magic, and a boss chamber.

- In the rear guard will be Julia, Kordur and Anna. Julia, you will take care of the healing and the buffs. Don’t bother about Bob, and when he activates the “Undying Warrior”, use your “Healer’s Heart” with “Raining Life”.

- Fine, answered the healing mage.

- Kordur, you will have to protect our fighters, especially the Colonel. He can avoid most damages but he did not have much life.

The dwarf simply nodded.

- Anna, you’ll only use your special invocations. The turtle shall use its “Prey Cry” to aggro as much of the guards as possible. Bai Hu will be on the offensive and kill those. I will personally take care of the other goblins. Are you fine with it?

- Yes Percy, she shouted in a smile.

- Bob, you’ll be on the offensive. Directly on the King. You’ll take some damages, but don’t care about it as we go for the usual scheme. Just hit him with all you have.

- Great!

- Colonel, you shall fight at midrange. Avoid it and deflect those aimed at the rear guard. Don’t bother about Bob or myself. Just protect the others.

- Fine!

- When the guards are finished, all the attackers shall go to fight the King. Anna, you will at that time call back Xuan Wu and use the gain of mana to put more buffs on Bai Hu. If I shout “Protector” at this time, all of you shall go behind my back without losing any time, okay?

All of them agreed. Percival continued his explanation:

- Now, we will give as much loot as possible to Bob. His skill “Heavy Charger” can do a great deal of damage depending of the weight of his inventory.

So they all stood up and Bob loaded himself as much as he could. They were ready for the fight.

***

The party entered the Boss chamber. It was a big cave, nearly 30 meters long and 20 meters width. The height was around 5 or 6 meters, but it was obviously needed as the Goblin King was really big. Even sitting on his throne you could see he was at least 5 meters high.

But they did not come to sightsee and Bob went on the offensive. He used “Fire Aura” and rushed toward the boss. Alex could only see a red blur before in and hitting the big goblin. What was incredible were the 6% of the boss total health which disappeared because of the charge. The goblin was stunned for a moment, and Bob took this chance to empty his inventory, being overweight and having already used a great deal of stamina for the first attack.

At the same time, Xuan Wu had already attracted nearly 70 of the guards, and Bai Hu was busy ripping them. Percival was hitting either with his shield or with his sword. Ten hits were enough for most enemies, but the healers were making it difficult. He was also using skills from his second class “Born Commander” to increase the damages and defense of his party.

Julia used some stamina regeneration spell on Bob, and defensive buffs on the other party members. Kordur was sending arrows in the directions of the guards to protect the summons, looking from time to time in the direction of Alex.

Alex was spinning around, deflecting attacks from the archers and mages which had not been aggroed. But the boss still did not attack the rear guard, focusing on Bob, hitting him with his scepter. But even as a mage, he could do some damages to the PyroBarbarian whose life was decreasing steadily.

The fight continued for twenty minutes before Bob life disappeared. Alex had hesitated more than once to help the elf, but decided otherwise, trusting in Percival. And he had been right:

- Now! “Undying Warrior” is on, yelled the axe-wielder.

- “Healer’s Heart”! “Raining Life”, Julia followed.

In this moment, a rain of green light appeared around the group, and Alex saw he was around 100HP every second. But no matter how surprised he was, he did not give up focusing on the fight. At this time, an “Earth Javelin” went toward Julia, but he managed to send it toward the goblin healer group. Three of them died from it, easing the fight for Percival and the summons.

5 minutes later Percy finished the last of the guards. Anna called back her turtle and went chanting:

- Bai Hu! I invoke upon you the strength of the Metal. Shall all of your attack be strengthen by His great sharpness!

At the same time, Alex saw a ball of mana. He barely managed to divert its course, sending it to a wall where tens of spikes of hardened rock appeared. Then the true fight began. The boss still had more than 90% of his life, and he had now stood up.

Percival, Bob and Bai Hu were attacking, but he just stomped on them while sending magic toward the rear guard. Hopefully, his physical attacks were not strong enough to one-hit the attackers and Julia’s “Raining Life” could last for 1 and half hour:

“Undying Warrior”, one of Bob’s soul’s skills, was automatically activated before his death, letting him with only one life point. This skill could only be used once a day, but after activating, he was invulnerable for a whole 4 minutes at his current level. But “Healer’s Heart”, a soul’s skill from Julia, useable only once a day too, would enhance a healing effect, from spell, skill or mixture, depending of the percent of HP left from the most damaged person of a party. That is why a weak AoE healing spell like “Raining Life”, only useful for its long duration, could have such an overwhelming effect.

At the same time, Alex had his first real challenge since coming to this world. During the test, he could have taken a break without risking failure, and he never truly felt any danger during battles. Even when his opponents were strong enough to kill him with one strike, he somehow knew he was always able to dodge.

But this time, he was fighting to protect someone. He had to jump right and left without any break, deflecting blows and diverting spells. Julia used stamina regeneration spells on him, but the tension was rising as he could not allow one hit in. But it was exhilarating for him. For the first time since long ago, he could have some pleasure from a fight, and not just the disgust he had grown accustomed to.

It took more than 50 minutes for the attackers to bring the boss to 50 percent of his HP. At this time, the Goblin King took a breath in and a step back. He raised his scepter and began some strange guttural chant.

- “Protector”, yelled Percival!

All of them run to stand behind him when the “Magma Geyser” erupted, destroying half of the room. But “Protector” was one of Percival Soul’s Skills. For all of his remaining stamina (and at least 2000), he could invoke a spherical barrier that would dispel any attack for some time. Longer the time needed, lesser the area protected. That was why he asked them to come near him. In this configuration, he could hold it for a whole 5 minutes.

When the barrier disappeared, the magma had already begun solidifying and the attackers went back on the offensive. Percival stayed there, panting, while Julia helped him with some buffs. He also took the time to take out a potion and drink it. Alex was still protecting the group from spells.

After 40 more minutes, the boss only had 10% health left, but the “Raining Life” ended.

- Everybody attacks, Percival yelled!

Without waiting, everybody launched attacks. Bob used all of his mana in one big attack, with fire swirling around his axe. Kordur send tens arrows in seconds toward the boss, each doing great damages. Anna send her summon to attack. Percival used strong sword skills and also some commander’s ones to enhance the others’ attacks. Julia used strong “Ice Spear” to hurt the boss, but still kept more than half of her mana in case of emergency.

Alex went to attack and precisely aimed at the joint, dealing a lot of damages and crippling the big goblin who soon fell to his knees. It took them 5 minutes to finish the fight. During those, Julia nearly depleted her mana pool, and the three close quarter fighters had lost quite a lot of their health. But they managed to win.

You’ve gained a level

You’ve gained a level

You’ve gained a level

You’ve gained a level

You’ve gained a level

You’ve gained a level

You’ve gained a level

You’ve gained a level

You’ve gained a level

Achievement: Goblin King Slayer

You belong to the party which manage to slay the Goblin King with only 6 players below level 80

All Stats +2

The loot appeared, but none moved to take it. They were all exhausted, and fell down on the ground, smiling or laughing loudly, happy from their victory.

- That’s the way a fight should be, Bob yelled!

- True, Kordur added.

- Tiring, but rewarding, Julia said.

- It was so hard, Anna complained a little but nonetheless happy.

- That’s how we do things, Percival commented on. Without fight, no glory as some would say.