Tower of Souls

For the first time since entering the Tower, Cam took the lead in charging the enemy. At first glance, the three bosses looked almost identical... But, upon closer inspection, their roles seemed almost obvious to him.

While all three were Shamans, and wearing similar robes, the one his clone had identified as the tank was slightly different, its robes having a bit less loose hanging fabric, with slits down the sides of the legs to allow easier movement without tangling its own feet- and, while the other two lacked any obvious weapons, that one held a club in one hand.

Not exactly the most threatening weapon, but Cam knew that any weapon, when properly used, was enough to kill someone- especially if they didn’t take it seriously.

Rapidly crossing the distance of the large, open cavern- and thankful for the lack of rocks or other detritus that could trip him, something that later Floors were notorious for-, the Kobolds were quick to react, with the casters backing away a few steps even as the tank stepped forward to meet him.

Exactly what Cam and Eron wanted.

Stopping in front of the tank Kobold, Cam shifted as much momentum as he could into the opening swing of his greatsword, the massive blade whipping around at the Shaman’s open side, and the Kobold’s skin shifted color as it cast its spell- but, instead of the mottled slate gray of Stone Skin, its skin shimmered dully with the metallic sheen of the slightly more advanced Ability Iron Skin.

Cam’s sword rang like a chime as it bounced back, the impact nearly jarring it free of his grip, and he almost didn’t need to check the Combat Log to know the damage had been minimal.

You slash Kobold Shaman(Boss) for 3 damage.

Cam was so surprised at the damage that he barely jumped back in time to avoid the Shaman’s return strike; With his current strength, the Rusty Iron Greatsword had a maximum damage of 13... meaning that Iron Skin, when cast by the Shaman, raised the armor of its entire body by 10!

He knew that the Ability was strong, and that its main draw back was the short duration... But, during that short duration, it would block most of the damage he could do with his sword- and all of the damage Eron could do with their dagger. And, depending on how many times the Shaman could cast the Ability, taking it down would be a slog... If they didn’t have Fan the Flames, which could bypass armor.

Thankfully, monsters didn’t start showing up with Resistances until higher Floors- assuming they didn’t encounter an Anomalous Floor, as those basically threw out all the rules.

Backing away slowly, Cam led the tank Shaman away from the others and towards the entrance to the room, ignoring as the remaining pair began to cast- because that was the moment his clone went rushing past.

When the tank turned, trying to intercept his clone and protect the casters, Cam quickly brought his greatsword up, slamming it down on top of his opponent’s head- just a split second before his vision flashed red and pain erupted across his body.

You slash Kobold Shaman(Boss) for 9 damage(critical).

Kobold Shaman’s(Boss) ’Firebolt’ burned You for 13 damage(Fire).

Kobold Shaman’s(Boss) ’Minor Accident’ had no effect.

While the flash of pain was intense, Cam was almost relieved at the notifications. For one, the fire Shaman had Firebolt instead of Fireball; While their damage was likely similar, taking almost a tenth of his HP in that one hit, Firebolt was single target and Fireball an area of effect(AoE). Depending on the situation, both had their uses, and he would have preferred the chance to harvest Fireball... but it also meant the Shaman could only target one of them at a time, making the fight a little bit safer for them.

And, even better, the final Shaman only had Minor Accident instead of the slightly improved version; While it having the worse spell didn’t effect the fight very much, it helped. And seeing it fail, which was actually the most common outcome for the Ability, wasn’t unexpected.

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He probably would have preferred it to have Lesser Accident and the tank have its Ability downgraded to Stone Skin, which would make the fight much more manageable... But he would take any advantage he could get- and Iron Skin was a much better option for his potential harvest.

A second flash of fire, this one at the back where the casters stood, lit up the room as the casters screeched in pain, signalling that his clone had fully entered the fray.

Not even waiting for the fire to clear from his vision, Eron dove through the flames in a full body tackle, taking the fire Shaman to the floor as he began mercilessly stabbing, his movements lacking any finesse in the moment as he sought maximum brutality. Wanting to take out the fire slinger as quickly as possible, he completely ignored the other caster even as it plunged a dagger into his side.

When it came down to it, the Firebolt was the only real threat in this fight; Iron Skin would only drag it out, and the other caster... wasn’t really worth considering, as its spell was garbage, and even the dagger it wielded wasn’t worth much, as he would basically have to stand still and let it stab him dozens of times for it to kill him. While Eron couldn’t actually see the Combat Log like Cam could- another minor drawback of the Ability-, based on how little the stab bothered him, he could imagine it wasn’t very impressive.

Kobold Shaman stabbed Clone(Eron) for 3 damage.

Kobold Shaman bashed You for 7 damage.

Cam almost wanted to snort in amusement at the notifications as they scrolled by out of the corner of his eye; Even with their careful planning, trying to make sure that Eron took the more dangerous role for the sake of his safety, he had still taken more damage than his clone- all from just a single Firebolt and a graze from the tank’s club that he didn’t manage to avoid.

He had to admit, the tank Shaman was smarter than he expected, putting Iron Skin to full use; Instead of trying to dodge or block the heavy swings of the greatsword, it simple let the blows clank off its temporarily metalic body to push in close, keeping Cam on the back foot.

Steadily backing away and forced to circle slowly so he didn’t back into a wall, Cam limited his attacks to simply trying to keep the Shaman focused on him; By restricting his own attacks, and keeping the Shaman at the very edge of his own reach, he wasn’t giving it many chances to hit back, forcing it to try to rush in close...

When Iron Skin finally fell off- in the middle of the fight, it felt like it had lasted forever, even if it wasn’t really that long-, Cam raised his sword above his head and stomped his foot... Only to suddenly back away, a small grin on his face as he successfully baited out another cast of Iron Skin.

The small hint of frustration on the Shaman’s face, followed by a calculating glint in its eyes, told him all he needed to know: Floor Bosses weren’t the simple, stupid creatures he had fought so far. And it would only get harder the higher he climbed, with even normal monsters becoming more clever- some people claimed that, should you climb high enough, Floor Bosses would reach a level intelligence rivaling actual people!

But even the rudimentary intellegence of these Bosses wouldn’t matter if he didn’t give them a chance to use it- and, as another notification flashed past, he knew they wouldn’t get that chance.

Kobold Shaman(Lvl. 1 Boss) has been slain. + 200Xp

One Boss down, and more than double the XP than the regular shamans granted. More importantly, it was enough for him to level again!

Not that he could be distracted by spending his Stat Points in the middle of the fight.

Seeing his clone throw himself at the other caster- which, surprisingly, had both the presence of mind and the Agility to dodge the tackle attempt-, Cam knew the fight was basically over... as long as Eron could take down the caster, which he was confident of; Its Ability was next to useless, and Eron was clearly the better fighter, with higher Agility, and had the better weapon- if only slightly, as the Rusty Iron Dagger of Bleeding was only a second Floor drop.

Cam just needed to keep the tank occupied- which he knew he could do- and wait until they could team up on it and grind it down, as it would run out of Mana sooner or later and be unable to cast any more.

Or...

Grinning to himself, Cam cast Fan the Flames; With one Shaman down, and his clone dealing with the other, he didn’t need to hold back on this one... and Iron Skin didn’t protect it from the burst of fire that erupted practically in its face.

Your ’Fan the Flames’ burned Kobold Shaman for 12 damage(Fire).

The Kobold Shaman’s cry of pain and surprise was almost like music to his ears, and, as if taking inspiration from him, Eron similarly threw out the Ability against his target...

But a part of Cam’s mind began to worry. While the First Floor was always the easiest- even if getting Kobolds was consider the hardest of the First Floor possibilities-, it almost felt too easy to him. Maybe it was just because they were a level up on the Floor- and had a Mythic Class, granting them more Stats than most people-, putting them relatively even with- or even slightly above- the Bosses... Or maybe it was because one of the Bosses was severely limited by having a bad Ability... Or maybe just because they had a solid plan, and were able to fairly effectively counter the enemies in front of them...

Still, it just felt a little too easy; Everything he had heard told him that even the First Floor was a potentially lethal threat, so why were they able to manage it without too many problems?

Though, he also reminded himself that Eron had just loss about half his health from being stabbed while he took down the fire Shaman- and even Cam had taken a decent amount of damage this time-, so maybe it wasn’t as easy as he was thinking?