บท 48: First fights in the dungeon
"Puh, we made it in."
Cyclone sighed heavily, throwing a fierce look at Liam.
"This wasn't your best idea!"
"But it worked.", stated Liam with a shrug.
[Welcome, adventurers!]
[You have entered the dungeon 'Reylar's Curse'.]
[Only Players leveled 5-10 admitted.]
[The limit on deaths will be suspended within the dungeon.]
[A player can only die thrice during a single run.]
[All EXP earned will be stored and only given out upon completion of the dungeon.]
C's mechanical voice rang in everyone's ears.
"Are those the dungeon's rules? Interesting."
Silent Acacia murmured, comparing the rules to past games.
Meanwhile Silver Blade looked at Liam with some curiosity.
"Since we couldn't listen to the priest's explanation, could you tell us more about the dungeon?"
The veteran nodded his head. He still held onto the lore book about the devil Refresnim, handing it to Silver Blade as he began talking.
"Fortune, please don't cut this in."
"Sure, sure."
"Thanks.
So, Reylar was a strong warrior among the original nephilim. Like many others he tried to rekindle the pact with hell, so that original nephilim could regain their dark magic.
To do so he contacted the devil Refresnim.
But the holy nephilim found out quickly. Abhorring the dark side, they sent someone to stop Reylar.
The latter felt threatened and performed a ritual to cast a curse. It stopped the holy nephilim, but also bound himself in place.
Now the priest outside sent us to kill Raylar."
The party nodded in understanding, some more and some less interested.
Silent Acacia obviously wasn't the type to care for lore, urging the group:
"Got it. Go in. Kill boss. Can we begin?"
"Sure."
Liam stepped to the side, letting Silver Blade go ahead. However, he planned to direct the party this time since payment was on the line.
The group looked around, finding themselves in a small, save room, with only one large door leading away. Oil lamps hung from the dark stone walls.
Silver Blade stepped forward, pushing the heavy door open. Cracking echoed between the smooth walls. Coupled with the dim corridor behind the door, it created an ominous atmosphere.
Shadows played on the floor. Balm looked ahead, suddenly shivering as she pointed towards the ground.
"T… there. Corpses!"
"Don't worry. They won't stay dead.", joked Liam.
"What?"
Balm quickly understood what Liam meant. As soon as Silver Blade took the first step, rustling noises echoed in the corridor while the corpses began moving.
The bodies slowly dragged themselves up, their pale skin half rotten, old armors clinging to their bodies.
"Z… zombies."
Balm wasn't able to stay calm facing those pungent monsters straight out of horror stories.
"Don't think too much. They are just mobs like any other."
Silver Blade spoke with an encouraging voice as she checked the opponents.
[Minor Zombie Warrior
Rank: Common
Level: 7
HP: 500/500]
"Level 7? Small fry! Watch me dispose of them."
Bloody Edge spoke boldly as he went into stealth, sneaking behind one of the zombies.
Liam shook his head.
"You shouldn't underestimate them."
[-240!!!]
Bloody Edge's body appeared again; his dagger stabbed into a zombie's back. Coming out of stealth he had a higher chance to hit critically, almost killing the monster in one go.
"A valiant effort!", praised Radiant Shield.
But the others suddenly showed worried faces.
"Careful!"
"Behind you!"
At this moment zombies stepped out of the shadows. There were more than a hundred, all of them staring at Bloody Edge with poisonous green eyes.
The thief felt a shiver running down his spine.
Suddenly the zombies began moving, their speed at the level of an average human.
"W… what? You're zombies, damn it!"
Bloody Edge felt his stomach sink as he was instantly encircled by five opponents.
Silver Blade contemplated whether to save him or not when Radiant Shield already dashed forward.
Since there was no penalty for dying in the dungeon the tank was fearless, slamming his shield into the first zombie.
Silver Blade had no choice but to copy his actions.
"Quick! Form a line! Protect the mages!"
Urgently directing everyone the young woman engaged a zombie as well.
But suddenly she found a tall body before her, blocking a punch.
"Watchful Eye, what are you doing?"
The bodyguard heard Silver Blade voice, feeling somewhat embarrassed.
"Apologies, young lady. Habits…"
Silver Blade rolled her eyes.
"Don't call me young lady in the game."
The others looked at the interaction with amusement while guessing who Silver Blade might be.
With Watchful Eye taking a step to the side, the fight continued normally. Bloody Edge got rid of the zombies. Making use of his agility he darted left and right, taking out opponents at low health.
Meanwhile the warriors formed a line of defense, allowing the long-ranged combatants to fire freely.
Liam ignored the rusty swords swinging at him. If he kept defending, he would never be able to attack.
[-4!]
[-5!]
[-4!]
The zombies dealt little damage, but Liam knew that their sheer numbers would still provide some difficulties.
"Balm. This time it's on you. Use your [Heal] cleverly.
The rest need to juggle their health. Don't drop to low health at the same time! Keep your eyes open!"
Everyone acknowledged Liam's words. This would be a test of their awareness.
The zombies smelled living souls, swarming at the party with drooling mouths.
"Now I know how those guild players felt like.", joked Fortune while leisurely throwing out her magic attacks.
[-91!]
Cyclone chuckled happily, fighting alongside one of her idols.
[-109!]
"Your damage is not bad."
With a single praise from Fortune, the smaller woman felt elated, as if on cloud nine.
Liam continued fighting in the frontline, keeping his eyes on his HP.
[-4!]
[-5!]
[-4!]
While his own health was trickling down, he swung his sword robotically on cooldown, easily hitting multiple of the densely packed monsters.
[-120!]
[-122!]
It took about four attacks for two zombies to fall, but their numbers were simply too much.
After a bit more than a minute, Liam looked worriedly at the other warriors.
The two tanks were alright but Watchful Eye's and Quickstep's HP were about to run out at the same time.
However, Liam refrained from saying anything. It was necessary for everyone to adapt.
But at this moment a faint red energy enveloped Quickstep, giving off a fierce aura. Liam immediately recognized it as [Combat instinct].
Although the skill was somewhat wasted this way, it allowed their party to continue without troubles.
Balm was somewhat tense, keeping a close look on everyone's HP, even her attack speed decreased because of it.
When she saw Quickstep and Watchful Eye close to critical health, she was hesitating to speak up and berate others.
But luckily Quickstep resolved the situation.
Balm flicked her wand, a warm light immediately embracing Watchful Eye.
[Heal (rank 1)
Cost: 25 Mana
Effect: Heal the target for 400HP+78HP(CONST&INT). Has a 2%chance to cleanse one status effect.
Cooldown: 30 seconds]
Watchful Eye nodded thankfully as his HP were restored. But Balm still felt anxious. After five seconds Quickstep's skill ran out, her HP reducing steadily.
The female warrior on the other hand didn't feel any pressure. She was a pro player, having been through many difficult fights.
As her health slowly reached a critical state, Quickstep switched from attacking to defending, losing stance instead of HP, waiting for Balm's heal to come off cooldown.
Thiry seconds later a warm light filled up her HP.
Meanwhile Liam went through the same rotation, soon brimming with life once again.
Thus, the fight continued orderly as zombies fell one by one.
Soon only a few stragglers remained. Blocked by Silver Blade and Radiant Shield those couldn't make any big waves and soon died under the party's attack.
Cyclone sighed briefly, her arm already feeling numb from attacking.
"We did it. What a hassle."
"May their cursed souls find relief."
"Well said! That's definitely in the vid!"
Fortune was glad to at least get something noteworthy at the end as this fight against the zombies would be rather boring to watch, not suitable to put into a video in full.
Silver Blade scanned the dead zombies with a smile, but as she glanced at Liam she found him frowning.
"Mirage? What's with that face?"
"Sorry to speak bluntly guys, but this was a terrible performance."
"What do you mean, expert?"
While Cyclone was confused, Quickstep and Silent Acacia, the pro players, nodded in agreement.
"How can you go into a dungeon and not communicate at all? You should call out your HP, the opponent's movements, your comrade's HP, basically everything you see.
If we go into a boss fight like this, we will surely be wiped."
The party members looked at each other, not daring to refute.
"The expert is right. Let's do better next fight."
"Alright."
"I'm sorry guys, this should be my responsibility.", said Silver Blade guilty.
But the others disagreed. Most of the group had spectated pro games before. They knew that communication was key in many situations.
If they wanted to rise swiftly in Fate of Crunaboul, they had to take it seriously.
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Mykrail
Mykrail Hope you are excited for the dungeon ;-)
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