Dungeon Salvation

The next day saw Elias in another grueling training session with his mother and sister. Isabela had surprised them all with how resilient she had shown herself to be during training. Elias had actually expected her to give up within the week, so continuing to show up was already beyond his expectations.

He began training at a younger age and due to his low physical attributes, it was more arduous than his sister’s. He simply reached his limits very quickly back then, spending most of the training sessions completely exhausted, pushing through his limits with pure grit. It was what had allowed him to increase his Vitality twice before even being able to level, something nearly unheard of. Having reached the limits of how his body could grow due to his attributes, he decided to focus on his fighting skills instead. However, even that training was inefficient, since he would quickly grow tired and unable to keep up.

Isabela had none of those issues and the results of her training were already showing. She didn’t push herself to the absurd degree he used to, but she didn’t have to. If she maintained her current pace and attitude, she would begin combat training with Peter soon. She might even become a better fighter than him by the time she turned eighteen years old.

She is still an uncoordinated mess but I’m sure mom will fix that, somehow. He doubted it would be pleasant.

He talked to Vivian about his increased Charisma attribute, gaining both consolation and advice. The consolation came in the form of the knowledge that he wouldn’t need to train his Charisma like he did his physical attributes. She said that she had a plan to deal with that, when he reached level 10. Elias was immensely relieved at that, as training the Charisma attribute was as notoriously difficult as training the Spirit. It involved a lot of introspection or strange potions.

The advice that his mother offered was actually in regards to Melinda. She told him that he shouldn’t treat the girl any worse because of her attitude towards him, surprising him greatly. It had finally made sense to him why his mother disliked his old friend so much. She must have seen through her narcissistic tendencies a long time ago.

“Look Eli, this is the reason why I dislike Melinda. She treats others poorly when she can get away with it. She disparages those she thinks herself superior to. In fact, I once had to have a few harsh words with her regarding a rumor she spread about you a few years ago.” Vivian patted his shoulder comfortingly at that, looking at him like she was expecting him to get angry or upset. He did get upset, of course, but waited for her to continue.

“But – you need to learn how to deal with people like her as well. She thought she was better than you because of how sickly and frail you always looked, but we both know she was wrong. One day, you will show everyone who doubted you that they were wrong. Forgive her if you can Eli, and you will better be able to move on and grow. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about this before, I don’t think you were ready for it then.” She looked at him with compassion and love in her eyes as she finished speaking.

Elias thought about what his mother said for a while before responding. He felt somewhat betrayed at not getting a warning regarding how Melinda was really like. However, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that Vivian was right. Despite everything, Melinda had always been polite with him. She had probably ridiculed him behind his back often, now that he thought about it, but that spoke to her character, not his.

In the end, he decided to heed his mother’s advice. He doubted that he would ever be friends with Melinda again, or even have an amicable relationship, but he would keep any interactions with her as polite as possible. One thing was certain though, he would never allow himself to be blindsided like that again.

His parents weren’t the least bit surprised when he told them about his intentions of forming a party with Marco, when he came back from his trip. They even decided to have him level faster in preparation for it. They devised a plan to have him reach level 10 as fast as possible, perfect his foundations, and pick his Skills, all before the other man returned. They could then begin delving into the Beginner areas of the dungeon together.

To that effect, he would take the next week off from training and go to the dungeon every day instead. In order to gain all the necessary experience points within a week, he would have the daunting goal of gathering at least 45.000 exp every day. He would need to grind in the core area of the zone by himself once again.

He arrived at the clearing early the next morning, eager to get started with his day. He got there before the sun had even finished rising, so there were very few people around as well. He quickly entered the jungle and moved at a fast pace to the core area.

Without Marco, he didn’t bother to try and beat a path through the foliage, just slipping through any gaps that led to the right direction. He moved much faster this way. He ignored any of the large monsters he passed, killing the smaller ones quickly. He noticed that the monsters would follow him for some time as he ran by them, giving him an idea.

Why go to the monsters if they can come to me?

Minutes later, he ran from a pair of blue angry-looking squirrel monsters and a giant bat with a disproportionately long tail. He had realized that running through the jungle quickly was the best way to quickly kill monsters. Only the small ones would be fast enough to keep up with him and they were the easiest to kill. Case in point, the three delicate looking monsters he gathered in less than two minutes of running. He used Analyze on them.

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Bat Constrictor

Common

Level 10

This large bat has a very long and powerful tail that it can use to crush its victims. Its leathery wings can be used to entrap its victims, further reducing their mobility.

*******

Nut-Bomb Squirrel

Common

Level 10

This squirrel can store up to five exploding nuts in its stomach, regurgitating them to throw at its opponents. The projectiles explode into an irritant powder.

*******

The Squirrels had already thrown their projectiles during the chase, hitting him only once in the back. Thankful, he was running away from them and the irritant powder didn’t stick much. It made his back itch unbearably for a few long seconds but the irritation cut off completely after that. It took everything he had to just keep running when he was hit. He would have his revenge soon enough.

The bat had been continuously gaining on him and Elias slowed down his run in preparation. As soon as the beast pounced, he arrested his momentum abruptly and turned, punching it in its face. It was momentarily stunned and crashed to the floor, bouncing due to its accumulated momentum.

He didn’t wait for the squirrels to catch up and jumped on the bat while it was still down, pummeling its face with his fists. Despite its size, the monster was very delicate and soon died.

You have gained 100 exp.

The squirrels took even less effort to kill than the bat. Having expended their irritant projectiles, their only recourse left was to throw themselves at him and try to bite him. At this point, they were little better than regular squirrels. They launched themselves at him in their maddened rage, trying to cause him at least some amount of harm before they died. They failed.

Elias dodged one of the squirrels by taking a step to the right, and punching the other one while it was still in midair. The one he punched died before it even hit the ground after being hit by a first that was almost its own size.

You have gained 100 exp.

The last squirrel looked to its dead companion in shocked rage for a moment, failing to comprehend how the pincer attack could have possibly failed. It did not need to wonder for long, as Elias took that opportunity to kick the squirrel at a tree. It flew from the kick and bounced off the tree, dying on impact.

You have gained 100 exp.

Elias observed his handiwork for a few moments and smiled. In little more than a minute of work, he had made 300 exp with little effort on his part. If he kept this pace, he would make his goal of 45.000 exp with time to spare. He might even be home for dinner.

The strategy was simple in concept and in execution, he just needed to run as fast as he could without tiring himself out. Admittedly, as fast as he could wasn’t very fast due to the vegetation, but he could still outrun most monsters. Any that were fast enough to chase after him were bound to be delicate, resulting in a fast and easy kill.

He found through experimentation that three monsters at a time was the peak of efficiency in this case. Any more and he would take much longer to kill the creatures, slowing his exp gathering rate. He still ended up facing more than three monsters simultaneously, as it was simply unavoidable that he would attract larger groups of monsters sometimes.

In a particularly unlucky run, he just gathered a group of three monsters and was about to face them when he ran into another five. In order to avoid fighting a group of eight monsters by himself all at once, he continued to run to try to make them approach one at a time. Soon, however, he ran from a group of twelve monsters.

Elias tried to whittle down the group one monster at a time while running away. Any time one overextended, he would kill it by way of punch, kick, or by grabbing and smashing it against a tree. He couldn’t stop running or else the monsters would catch up to him. It was beginning to worry him that the monsters were growing into a veritable horde despite his efforts. Something needed to change, but not yet.

Although the situation he found himself in was generally unpleasant, he was currently gaining exp at an unprecedented rate. He should be able to keep this pace for nearly an hour too, so time wasn’t much of a worry. He just had to make sure to extricate himself from this running fight by then.

He picked up a particularly sturdy-looking stick he found and began swatting at any monsters that got too close, killing them with ease. Many of them had some kind of nasty ability he had to dodge, but were easy pickings afterwards.

By the ten minute mark of the chase, he had already killed more than thirty monsters, making more than 3000 exp. There were roughly twenty more chasing him already.

By the twenty minute mark of the chase, he had killed another forty monsters, making another 4000 exp. There were over thirty beasts chasing him and he was beginning to suspect that this hadn’t been a very good idea.

By the thirty minute mark of the chase, Elias was really, really, worried. He had stopped counting how many monsters were chasing him, but it was a lot, and they wouldn’t stop coming! He focussed on thinning the horde after the twenty minute mark by slowing down his running speed and letting the creatures reach him more easily. This would have allowed him to kill a greater number of the beasts every minute, while attracting fewer. His strategy would have worked too, since he had still been able to kill the monsters faster than he attracted them. However, the racket the monsters were making while chasing and fighting him was so loud by then that it kept attracting even more.

Elias had switched course to the natural springs in the heart of the jungle to engage the beasts there. Most of the monsters chasing him were flyers of some kind, so he would have an advantage in the water. Also, that is the most likely place for him to find a higher leveled adventurer protecting or power leveling a group of newbies.

Afterwards, he would even be able to heal from the wounds he received in the magical waters of the pool. He already felt like he had fallen asleep while getting a tan, from how much his back hurt, but he couldn’t stop running to check if it was bleeding.

He was killing almost ten monsters per minute now, having found another stick to pair with the one he already had. They were close enough to machetes that he could use them well, giving him the confidence to face the horde in a more favorable terrain. He had also been yelling for help whenever he had the breath.

Twice already, a group of people had come to lend assistance. They likely expected a newbie way in over their head due to heading too deep into the jungle too soon. What they saw was a wide eyed man holding a pair of sticks and yelling incoherently, all while running from a horde of monsters. They ran away as well, of course, thankfully taking a fraction of the monsters with them.

At some point, the horde of monsters seemed to have stopped growing, but it could just as well be his imagination. It would be impossible to keep track of any monsters joining the group behind him. There had to be well over one hundred of them running or flying towards him by now.

Roughly fifteen minutes later, Elias finally spotted the towering fig tree he was looking for. His heart leapt in joy at the thought of this nightmare finally ending. However, when he jumped through the last bits of foliage, entering the glade, his heart fell.

The first thing he spotted was a group of five people who were just about finished getting dressed. He must have startled them, as they snapped their heads towards him as soon as he appeared. There were two women and two men in the group, and he even recognized one of the women, Rebecca. They were on the island where the fig tree was rooted, so they wouldn’t get the brunt of the wave of monsters at least, only perhaps the flying ones. That wasn’t what made his heart drop however.

On the other side of the glade, he saw another group breaking through the jungle foliage at a run. They were one of the two groups that had tried to help him during his flight. It seemed like they had the same idea as him in coming here, as they had their very own horde of monsters chasing them.

They saw each other at the same time and Elias imagined he looked similarly slack jawed and heartbroken. Without breaking stride, they pointed at him and yelled.

“You! This is your fault!” Rebecca’s group turned away from him to face the other side of the glade at the outburst. From the look on their faces, they seemed to be finally realizing the situation that they found themselves in.

Elias didn’t even bother to argue with the other group, he jumped into the water with his two sticks in hand while yelling, “Jump in the water!”

The two other groups also jumped in after some hesitation, forming up close together in a clumsy attempt at a battle formation. They settled on a shoulder-to-shoulder semi-circle with their backs to the island, at the spot where the hot and cold water met.

He immediately felt the magical waters of the pool begin to heal his wounds and diminish his exhaustion, helping his battle readiness immensely. He only had a few seconds to recover before the wave of monsters crashed into them, but it should keep him in good enough condition during the fight as well.

Utilizing the moment’s break to check on how much experience he had gained from his running fight, he was taken aback by the number. He had made just under 40.000 exp in the last 45 minutes. It was almost as much as he expected to make all day in less than an hour. Bitterly realizing he could have done it during the chase, he quickly added the points into Vitality and Agility to help with the upcoming fight.

Congratulations! Your Vitality has risen to level 9.

Congratulations! Your Agility has risen to level 9.

The next moment, the wave of monsters crashed into the consolidated group of adventurers. The land monsters fell into the water and started swimming towards them, while the flying ones dove at them like missiles. They braced for impact by diving beneath the water until the rain of birds ceased.

In just the first few seconds, Elias had already gained dozens of kill notifications, thanks to the monsters crashing into each other in their suicidal dive. The group emerged from the water and quickly began to climb into the island, following the second step of their plan. Now that all of the monsters were in the water, it would be much easier to kill them all from higher ground.

The next few minutes, the group slashed, punched, beat, and stabbed the beasts as fast as they physically could. The flying monsters had a very hard time climbing out of the water, making them easy pickings for the group of adventurers. The land ones were further away and arrived at the island interspersed, preventing them from overwhelming the group. When the last monster died, they all let out a breath of relief.

Now that he could take a closer look, Elias made note of the other two groups’ composition. The two men in Rebecca’s group were identical twins, tall and slender. The other girl was petite, blonde, and cute, little more than half the size of the men. She seemed to be in a relationship with one of them, judging by how close they were to each other.

The other group was composed of three stocky men wielding hammers. They seemed related, sharing similarly thick eyebrows and wide jaws. They all had black hair and full beards, though one of them seemed older than the others.

“That went well,” said Elias cheerfully. He’d been expecting to have a much harder time with the monsters. The plan was to cycle between jumping into the pool and climbing out to avoid being overwhelmed as many times as necessary. They hadn’t even needed to jump back into the pool a second time.

The three men didn’t agree with his assessment, berating Elias for putting them in this situation in the first place. He was very embarrassed, but his relief that no one had gotten truly injured because of him was greater. He made a show of being hurt to garner some pity, which only got him a snort from one of the men. He was unceremoniously pushed into the water to recover.

The group calmed down after a few minutes, thanks largely to the relaxing atmosphere of the springs. The amount of experience points they gained in such a short time was impressive. Elias alone earned 4.900 exp from the wave of beasts in less than five minutes of combat.

Maybe there is some merit to this as a leveling strategy after all.

It turned out that the three men were all cousins and would-be smiths, which explained why they all used hammers as their weapon of choice. They planned to open their own smithy someday to cater to the low level adventurers found in the area. Elias talked to them for a while and apologized for putting them in danger. They were pretty easy-going about it now that they had vented their anger.

He also apologized to Rebecca and her group, who seemed much happier about the entire situation than he expected. They were elated at how much experience they had managed to obtain in such a short time. Apparently, they had hired Rebecca to escort them to the core area of the zone in order to level up faster.

He was about to bid farewell to the group when he heard a crash in the jungle, followed by a young couple bursting through the foliage into the glade. They looked at his group wide-eyed and pale-faced.

“You! This is all your fault!” the man yelled angrily, pointing at the eldest of the three cousins.

“Jump into the water!” the woman shouted before diving in and swimming towards them, followed closely by the man.

Elias felt a sinking feeling in his stomach.