Valknar
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Chapter 70
🕑 Added 2024-09-28 10:33:43 +0000 UTCAnother day has arrived. The dawn light was now touching the tower.
The adventurers were expected to arrive at any moment. Meanwhile, I was painstakingly grinding up my essence count, inching it up to 45%.
“This is taking forever!”
There had not been any deaths which would have accelerated my essence gathering. The adventurers were getting better and running the first few floors. The weaker ones were avoiding the last two. The third was challenging enough for most.
The development of the new snakes went well but very slowly. This is no surprise. I had been trying to integrate enchantments into the latest designs, but they were failing at the moment. I continued to test different ideas every night. Most failures were explosive and I spent most nights clearing up the mess left behind.
I reviewed last night's designs, thinking about the failures when the doors opened.
“Let's see who first.”
I was surprised to see the elven group was back. This would be the third time they had been into the Dungeon. Looking them over, I noticed a new member. It was another male armed with a sword and bow. He wore light leather armour like the others.
“Are you carrying any magical gear?”
I activated my Mana Sight and…..
“Fuck Me!... Deactivated Mana Sight.”
Looking at him blinded me with the amount of magical equipment he was carrying. The sheer amount reminded me of Doltum for number and power. It took several seconds for my sight to recover from looking at him.
“Well, you're not my usual visitor.”
I now paid attention to the group's dynamics as it might tell me something about what was happening. The group communicated with hand gestures and being not human was another hindrance.
I watched as they made their way to the stairwell. They ignored Larry up in the rafters. He sensed my concern and was hiding. I was sure they knew he was there but was no threat.
They moved well together and covered each other. If I did not know that there was an additional member to the group, I would say that this was their usual lineup. Descending the stairs, they got off on the first floor.
The new elf took the lead and the others hung back. Was the group just here to support him?
I watched as he moved with unnatural grace throughout the floor. The traps were exposed with a casual stamp of the foot to break the surface layer and the wasps were cut down with an ease that bordered on contempt by his sword. The others collected the reward drops as he advanced. He was here for a different reason.
The floor boss was sliced in half with a single strike, which I was sure was not even backed by a skill. This guy was good.
I started to get concerned.
They descended to the second. My toads met a similar end. He walked on the surface of the water and strode across each room. The toads tried and died just as fast as the wasps above. It was painful to watch.
The floor guardian died to a single strike as well. He ignored the reward drop and flowers. The others collected the reward, but they ignored the flowers.
“Queen, beware, we have a powerful individual descending through the floors!”
“I Understand and will be ready.”
Puck had sensed my growing concern and was making himself not present.
The third was reached and the slaughter continued. The first boar charged in at the elf. He sidestepped and inserted his blade into its skull, killing it. I did not hold any hopes of this floor slowing him. The next room had the three boars, which he danced around as they died to single sword thrusts.
The group behind him barely had time to collect the reward drops as he had moved on. I sensed they were afraid of him from watching them on these last few floors. His attitude towards them was not dismissive, but he knew they could not match him. My creations, on the other hand, demonstrated with every kill what he thought of them.
I was getting more concerned and angrier.
Doltum, when he slaughtered his way through my floors, had spoken about what he thought about what he was fighting. This elf was destroying all and moving on. Room by room, boar by boar, they fell.
He now reached the guardian. The fight was short and brutal. The guardian died but forced him to use two strikes to bring him down. I was elated by that small win. Petty, sure, but I would take anything offered.
The female elf who had led the group on the last two runs stepped in here and made several gestures to the male. This made him pause and he replied with several gestures. They had a brief conversation and he turned away and knelt. The group stripped the corpse of its hide.
The male elf stood when they finished and continued back to the stairs. The others followed at a slight distance, allowing him to lead again. He descended to the fourth.
The spiders fell at the same speed. Single strikes were his favourite means of dispatching my minions. Their attempts at ambushes were spotted and thwarted by the elf. Fast and single strikes killed each one by one.
He moved room by room, killing with the other’s collecting the reward drops. He reached the room with the eight spiders. Here, he was slowed as they flooded forward; numbers might work.
Skills were brought into play now. The elf blurred and glowed slightly as he attacked the eight, attempting to swarm him. His strikes were faster than before and the spiders died, not just with single strikes. Body parts flew in different directions as the blade cleanly sliced through their bodies. Guts and ichor splattered around the spiders as they got in each other's way, trying to get to him.
The numbers did not get to him and the webbing did not hamper his movements. Bodies piled up, and before long, he was the only one left standing. The group was still in the corridor, waiting for him to finish. Once he was done, they moved in and collected the reward drops.
His blade was heavily enchanted and the ichor flowed off it. He stood looking across the room at the next exit. The others picked up the loot and counted what they had received.
The led female elf gestured and they moved onwards. The following two spiders were stronger, but they fell without even coming close to injuring him. They just remained long enough to collect the reward. Next was the guardian.
Queen launched her ambush as soon as he entered the room, far enough for her to strike. She was in a new spot on the cave's ceiling. She dropped from the ceiling, aiming to fall and trap him. I think he was aware of her presence when he entered the room, in how he moved and avoided her.
With a slight blur, he moved away as she hit the ground where he was once standing. She turned quickly as she recovered from the fall. His attack was striking her carapace before she could respond. The blade cut cleanly through, wounding her but not fatally. Her red health bar did drop quite dramatically.
Before he could move in to kill her, [Shadow Arms] grabbed his legs, causing him to stumble and get distracted. Queen used this brief distraction to attack again. She darted forward even with her bulk to strike but found only air as he moved back quickly, evading her.
Then again, he was attacking, and Queen was backtracking to avoid a fatal wound. She summoned her spiderlings, but the elf ignored them. Causally killing any that got too close to wound him.
Queen was running out of combat tricks and as well as space to move in. Her health bar continued falling as glancing hits cut through her armoured hide. She cast [Shadow Arms] again, but he just pushed through them this time. This got him close enough to land the killing blow, sliding his word into her head. I watched her health bar drain away as she died.
The elf was not even breathing hard from the fight.
“This is getting to be just plain rude. How is my Dungeon even supposed to handle someone of this level?”
I was getting flashbacks to Doltum again and how he just swept through the Dungeon. Then located me….
“Shit! Is he looking for me?”
Now, I was worried about what was happening here. Was he looking for me? My Core room has no individual defender and I relied on my ability to stay hidden.
The reward drop was collected before they moved, but they are now. The elves were moving to the last floor down the stairs. I was not confident that this floor would convince the lead male to leave.
I watched with growing concern as he started to move through the floor. The worms began dying like all the others before them. Single strokes sliced through their hides, killing them. They reached the junction room, and they communicated with hand gestures. After a few more motions, they ignored the side route to the copper vein.
The traps were spotted and avoided; the worms just died. The reward drops were collected, which was the only thing that slowed them down. He did not take long to reach the floor guardian.
It erupted from its mound, attacking the led male elf who had entered ahead of the rest. It triggered its [Charge] ability immediately after it emerged, crossing the distance to its target. The elf sidestepped the attack, slicing across the guardian's hide. Its health bar dropped slightly as the blade did not entirely cut into its flesh due to its tough hide.
It swung around, trying to face the elf. The elf continued to move as it stayed out of striking range of the guardian’s mouth. More blade slices scarred the hide of the guardian as more attacks connected. It glowed slightly as it triggered [Harden] to protect itself from the enchanted blade.
The blue mana and red of the health bar fell in response. The attacks were now doing less damage as the guardian became tougher. It rolled as it could not face the elf trying to pin him. The elf jumped out of the way, avoiding the attack, forcing him to roll across the room floor.
He was back on his feet, turning to face the guardian, but the worm was facing him this time. The mouth opened, revealing its teeth and then it attacked. The elf had little room to back up from the attack as he sliced away at the guardian. He made good use of what space was available.
The guardian got close to hitting the elf, but he was too fast. The blade continued slicing away, wearing down the guardian's body. The health bar was draining away to the point that it would not last much longer. Each slice caused an additional slither of health to disappear.
The guardian was tough and hardy, but it could not last, and it did not. The final blow from the blade brought its death and it collapsed. The elf was breathing hard from this fight. This fight had pushed him like no other in the Dungeon. My problem was that it was the last of what I had to throw at him. Puck and Larry were left, but I had no hope that they would be able to do anything against him.
The rest of the elves collected the reward drop as the male pulled something from his pack. He now had a small amulet type, a clear crystal surrounded by a copper circle band. The band was inscribed with some form of runes that glowed slightly. He started channelling mana into the item and the glow began in the crystal and the runes got brighter.
Now I was getting afraid. I could feel the crystal reaching out, inspecting my aura, looking for me. The elf was turning as the crystal light grew stronger as it got closer to my location.
He was going to find my Core!
Suddenly, I sensed something enter my Dungeon from the tower and moved quickly down the stairwell. I was torn about where to focus: stay with the elves or look to what had entered. The male was walking towards the stairwell, where he was going to find me.
Whatever had entered reached the bottom of the stairs. With a flash, a bird appeared and landed on a stair. Silver and emerald in colour, the small bird was surrounded by a strange aura. I have encountered a similar aura before. The fairy that Astraus sent had a similar aura; was this a divine emissary?
It might be based on the elves' reaction. They all bowed slightly, and the bird began speaking to them in elven. I had no idea what was happening, but the male spoke to the bird. They had a brief back-and-forth, then the bird took to the air and flew from the Dungeon.
The elves looked confused and then left the Dungeon. They did not speak as they left, but even I could sense their tension and confusion. This was not the ending that they or I expected from this Dungeon dive.
Had I just been saved by divine intervention?
