The Pinnacle Warrior

As the group gathered together and prepared to sleep for the night, Astrid wondered if she’d be able to find any real rest with the excitement from the day. Fortunately, they’d all exhausted themselves enough that rest came easily. Of course, they continued to maintain a watch at night, even though there wasn’t any real threat on this floor, and as their levels climbed, rest had an ever weaker hold on them. Even so, it was a good rest that Astrid enjoyed before it was time for her to get up in the morning. In fact, Astrid and Felix didn’t have to take two or three times as long as everybody else to get ready now, and instead, were two of the three people who were able to eat their breakfast and go through some warming up stretches with Skandr and Benedict put on their equipment. Once she was warm, Astrid gave it a thought and was covered in her armor. Her attributes climbed, giving her a clarity of mind and additional energy that she hadn’t before, and, though it wouldn’t give her mana burns, Astrid could feel the slight strain that the armor gave her.

Interestingly, the extra 34 bonus to her Alacrity from Steady Load felt different than what her armor gave her. She decided against diving into the difference between a Skill and her armor’s bonus, but did take note. Instead, Astrid took a short time to practice the feeling of pushing the mana and stamina into her hammer to use Spectre Burst, as well as the activation of her new aura Skill.

With her practice with mana and her Power attribute, Astrid didn’t struggle at all with the slightly different pattern of activation to prepare Spectre Burst, but her Immortal Warrior’s Aura was different from anything she had done until now. She imagined that, once she crossed the 100 threshold of any of her mental attributes, she would be able to better understand the principles behind the aura, but she didn’t need to to fully understand anything to be able to use it. Instead, Astrid stepped down the stairs with her shield held high and her hammer in hand, practicing moving her mana to her new gloves to convert it to damaging mana, to her helmet to strengthen her mental defences, then to her legs to hold herself immobile and finally her shield. The Dungeon Silver that made her new equipment was more responsive to her mana’s flow than anything she had felt before. 

Astrid got the distinct impression that manasteel was a harder, tougher, material than Dungeon Silver, but that the silver was better for enchanting and mana conductivity. The way that her mana flowed through her new equipment compared to her hammer and old shield was incomparable. Before, when she would use mana laced with Fortitude to fortify her body, it was just her body that was being strengthened, not her armor itself. Her chainmail would help soften the blow before it hit her, but it was quickly becoming shredded and useless before the weapons of the orc raiders and the fists of the trolls, to say nothing of the attacks she allowed to fall on her now that she was preoccupied with completing her evolutionary quest. Comparatively, with the existing exchange of energy between herself and her equipment, when she pushed her mana to her ribs or her shield or her back or legs, the armor naturally cycled the mana to fortify itself as well.

“I know you guys talked about it,” Skandr said as he made lightning dance up one of his arms and down the other, “but getting used to this high-quality equipment is hard.”

“I can tell that, without really thinking about it, I’m going to be using mana all the time,” Astrid agreed. “I’m going to need to make sure that I am not wasting it with how it moves so easily. At least I have basically twice what would be my regular recovery rate due to Immortal Warrior’s Body.”

“I wonder how your mana recovery’s going to interact with that once you finally pass 100 on Magical Potency.” Skandr wondered as he investigated and evaluated his amateur attempt at lightning enchantment on his knife. “When you can feel the mana in the air, you’ll be much quicker to pull into yourself. As it is, I can already feel mana cycling through your armor, and how you are drawing the ambient mana towards you.”

Astrid nodded along as he spoke, not having anything else to add. After a few minutes, the party was done making its lackadaisical way to the entrance to the eleventh floor. Here, they would finally make contact with the other delvers, and this was also the floor where Iron tiers would begin to appear. Stepping out of the ambient, soft light of the stairway, Astrid could see more or less what she’d expected to find here:

A sandy desert stretched out in front of them, and Astrid could feel the moisture in her throat already escaping out of her mouth, arid air drying the sweat running down her spine. The air overhead was the pink of a permanent sunset, burning clouds filling the sky in the light of the “sunset” that filled this floor of the Wandering Trials.

“The eleventh and twelfth floors will be like this,” she reminded everybody. “We are looking out for scorpions, burrowing snakes, jackals, and jackalopes.”

“The jackalopes are magical, right?” Skandr asked. “Something about wind magic?”

“Yes. They’re something like a meter–tall jackrabbit with antlers and the ability to throw wind into your face. The wind’s strong enough to cut flesh. Do you think you can keep them from doing that?”

“I’ll need a little bit of practice,” Skandr answered, “and even if I can’t take them out of the picture easily, I’ll be able to do so against the next mobile enemy we come across.”

Astrid nodded her thanks as she turned to Muti. “The adders are going to be your responsibility to notice and be ready for. They’re venomous and more dangerous than their levels would indicate, but they aren’t particularly well protected once they’re spotted.”

The Ambusher nodded, her eyes immediately on the ground as she looked out for the signs of any lurking snake. 

“Felix, you and I are on scorpion and jackal duty. The scorpions’ll try to ambush us but aren’t as hidden as the snakes, and the jackals might lurk around a hill or a rock, but won’t be hiding. I’m sure Muti’ll give us a heads up before we can find them anyways.

The Guardian didn’t reply except to nod and make sure his hold on his axe was solid. Astrid returned to speak to Benedict, who had obviously been waiting for her to speak and had a small smile quirk at the corner of his lips. She ignored it as she said, “Benedict, this is one of the worst floors for us, we aren’t particularly well equipped to deal with poison. We all have a good portion of antidotes, but we don’t want to use them if we don’t have to. Hasty Rebuke should help make sure everyone’s able to stay out of really dangerous situations. Try to keep it up at all times.”

“Of course, my leader.”

He managed to keep the worst of his sarcasm from coloring his snark, so Astrid didn’t engage. Instead, she nodded as she gestured for Muti to take the lead. The party stuck together as they jogged forward. Astrid could feel as their scout started to use Ambusher’s Aura. Astrid’s steps landed more softly in the sand and the plates of her armor began to glide more smoothly over each other than before. Knowing what dangers lurked, the party stayed no more than five or so meters away from each other, and continued their path.

After maybe five minutes of jogging, Muti’s head twisted sharply to the left as she pointed at a dune, maybe 20 meters away.

“One snake, a quarter of the way up the Dune. It is 2 meters long.“ She gave her report quickly, stopping where they all stood. Astrid nodded, tried to see the signs but failed to do so. She instead gestured for Muti to step forward. 

“We’ll all be close to see what signs there are, but take care of it. I want to see how close we need to get before these things strike.”

Muti grinned, her sharp teeth visible through the cross hatches of her helmet’s mask. She stepped lightly up the dune, her steps confident but slow. As she got closer, she held only her regular short sword, the seax still stowed on her right hip. With her left hand in the air, she took two confident steps before hopping back. However she’d known it, her timing was perfect, and the adder lunged out with its mouth wide open towards her calf. With a flash of her sword, the snake was decapitated.

Dune adder slain. 216 Experience gained, split among party

“Level 17, huh?” Felix grumbled. “Benedict and Skandr, you’ll probably be in for a rough time if one of these gets you, what with the venom and all.”

“That’s the same as usual.” Skandr replied, his tone as dry as the desert that surrounded them.

“We’ll leave the corpse,” Astrid refocused the party. “Once we start killing Iron tiers, then we’ll start collecting materials.”

The party had long since agreed on this, and with their food and water safely stored in their pouches, they had plenty of time before they needed to slow their path to make money or harvest materials. With the first monster of the eleventh floor killed, the party continued on their path. Before long, Muti drew both blades and pointed towards a dune.

“There are two snakes in the hill, and a pack of jackals approaches. One’s steps are heavier than the others, maybe an Iron, maybe level 20.”

“Everybody heard her. Stay off the dune until all the jackals are dead.” Astrid gave the command as she readied herself for battle. Felix stepped in front with his axe ready. Muti stepped back and to the side, ready to resume her more customary position whenever the party was in an unfamiliar situation. The party didn’t need her to be ranging out and culling a few monsters just to be ambushed, they all needed to stay together while so many new threats had been introduced on this floor. For now, those were the jackals.

As the canine creatures loped into view, Muti breathed out a curse that Astrid often heard, but hadn’t bothered to learn the meaning of in the Barbarian tongue.

“These should not be called jackals.” Muti stated after her curse.

“It’s what the Great One calls them, I don’t know what to tell you.” Astrid replied to the angry woman.

Muti just growled in response as she lowered her stance. The jackals that approached were huge, as big as the biggest wargs that the party had seen on the first and second floor. They were maybe a meter and a half tall, with large pointed ears standing straight up on their heads as their rangy forms rushed forward. Their Sandy forms blended somewhat into the surroundings, but Astrid didn’t need to try to pick them out in the distance. These were right here, and there were nine of them.

Felix stepped forward, his axe held high as he readied himself. The monsters continued to approach, then he took a lunging step that took him maybe 5 meters forward. With Guardian’s Wrath propelling him, his axe cleaved directly through the jackal in the front, its skull split as the kill notification flashed in Astrid‘s eyes. The second half of the Skill drew the entire pack‘s attention to him, and he dodged two attacks before activating Whirling Blades.

Three jackals took serious wounds and faltered back after his initial assault, but one in particular, 50% larger than the rest, seemed fine and held itself back for the second that Whirling Blades existed. As soon as the Skill faded, it threw itself forward at the Guardian, a spectral form of its own head clamping down as an additional bite at Felix’s head.

He ducked below the attack, keeping both feet solidly on the ground as he whipped his axe blade towards the monster’s neck. It dodged to the side as Muti carved into the back ranks of the surviving jackals. Her blades carved through flesh as the large jackal seemed to reconsider fighting against the party. Skandr’s lightning spear smashed into its face, knocking it back a step as it twitched in voluntarily. At that, Astrid lunged forward, and, with an overhand blow, pulverized the monster’s head against the ground.

Jackal Alpha slain. 1,000 experience gained, split among party.

“That was an Iron? Not so hard now, huh?“ Benedict laughed from behind the rest. Astrid herself lamented her lack of an opportunity to let loose, but she agreed with the sentiment. The last time they fought an Iron tier, they all had been significantly lower level, but it had been a struggle, even with the unseen support from Christophe. Now, though, they shredded through a pack of jackals in the final watershed of Bronze led by an Iron tier Alpha that had been entirely unable to do anything.

Astrid smiled as she stepped forward to help dispatch the last few monsters. That single Iron tier monster granted Astrid alone 200 experience. It would only take 250 of those to give her enough experience to get her to level 22. That was so fast!

“Perhaps I should not have been so terrified of the stories of jackals as a child.” Muti mused as she wiped the blood and viscera from her two blades.

“Or, maybe,” Benedict countered, “the stories were told to you before you had a Class, and a regular pack of jackals would have posed a serious threat to you back then.”

Muti didn’t respond with anything other than a grunt, but she seemed to agree. She didn’t say anything else as she stepped up the dune to get close to the snakes still waiting in ambush. As before, she dispatched both with a casual ease. Astrid watched while she herself cut the ear from the Iron jackal as well as its four canines before tossing them into her spatial pouch.

“Anything else we need to do here?” Astrid asked Muti as the Barbarian returned back to stand beside the rest of the party.

As soon as her companion shook her head, Astrid gestured to continue on their path. As they went forward, Astrid turned to Felix.

“I appreciate that your Skills work together so well and I’m glad to have seen it. Can I actually get an opportunity to use mine, please?”

He chuckled and put his hands up in surrender. “You’re right. I’ll just take a slower approach, let everybody get accustomed to the new Classes and Skills.”

Astrid squinted, not particularly appreciating the insinuation, but, despite herself, she chuckled as the Guardian dismissed his helmet just long enough to give a cheeky smile. Astrid waved him off and stepped in line beside him as his helmet reappeared.

“In all seriousness, I get it.” Felix said. “Having your Skills shift, even if they’re combinations of previous ones, is just… it takes getting used to.”

Astrid nodded as she asked him and Muti, “In this next fight, will you stay near me and then let yourselves get hurt so I can try using my Aura and healing?”

“The things we sacrifice for our friends…” Felix joked as he nodded his agreement. Muti agreed as well, though her posture was much more serious than Felix’s teasing. For another 10 minutes, the party jogged in quiet companionship. Benedict continued to use Hasty Rebuke while Skandr let out the occasional grunt of pain as he tried to use Lightning Reflexes on himself and accidentally gave a zap instead. With Benedict’s Skill and flute’s assistance, every step Astrid took felt supernaturally sure, the sand unable to suck in her boots while her legs were untiring. They continued on their path forward, and before long, Muti padded Astrid on the back.

“More jackals are approaching at a run. There is a cave there,” she pointed, “that has movement within. Two scorpions. They may strike if provoked, but until  then, they seem somewhat reticent.”

“Should we go past them to engage with the jackals?” Astrid questioned. “I don’t want to get surrounded, but I don’t want the jackals to get scared off when we have a training and experience opportunity here.”

“If I’ve got support,” Felix offered, “I can take care of the scorpions.”

“No,” Astrid shook her head. “There’s no reason for you to get trapped against enemies that we’ve never fought before. Let’s try to draw the jackals here while ignoring the scorpions for now. Muti, are they coming here specifically or should we make more noise to draw their attention? This little divot between dunes should be a pretty defensible location for us.”

“They are coming fast,” she reported.“Surprisingly fast. They are—chasing a jackalope. It is very fast, barely touching the ground. It is coming this way. It will probably attempt to use us as a distraction to escape with its life.”

Astrid raised her shield and hammer, ready to possibly engage with three different types of monsters, all at once. Despite the potentially deadly situation, she felt her grin spread wide as the jackalope came bounding around a dune up ahead. It bounced off of one tall dune and towards the next. Bouncing back and forth, it made its way closer until it landed 20 meters ahead of the party. The desert wind swirled around the creature as it landed, long, rangy legs immediately throwing itself higher than Astrid could have imagined. It soared well over ten meters above the party as it sailed past. Its magic obviously helped as it started to almost glide forward, but Skandr turned and hurled a lightning javelin that smashed into its back.

It fell from the air, twitching and tumbling on the ground as the jackals closed in. Now that she’d seen them, Astrid was relatively certain she could see two Iron tier variations of the jackals leading the pack, and she laughed as Muti and Felix got into battle positions beside her.

Now, finally, the Immortal Warrior could make her debut.