Legend of the Spellthief

The backrooms of the G-Hall were still a bit bare of dungeons at Logan’s level, as Cassius was given even more allowance to reserve dungeons for himself. Thankfully, it seemed the Raid Master still avoided stuff he’d had difficulty with. While Cassius was amazing at close-quarters combat, swords, and fire, he wasn’t great at other things. Hence the part a party played.

Stone yetis, as far as intel told, were resilient. Not as much as the ovensiase, but hardy regardless. Especially against physical damage outside of bludgeons like maces. Logan’s magic covered most elemental bases, the variety of a caster allowed him to counter, or at least avoid the monsters' strengths.

One such dungeon allowed Logan quick access to the foes he had in mind, a tall rocky mountain that was almost like a spire. Naturally formed but was carved through combat and weather to look as if it were a structure created by hand. A spellforced dungeon that was home to many monsters, at the end of which was a stone yeti protector.

Making a few stops before leaving, the pair made room for plenty of components and left-behind gear to bring back, plus bought a few items to aid in their conquest of the dungeon. The Spellthief even planned for a day’s rest before taking on the final fight, as it would be a challenging one.

Warping a few times, the pair arrived atop a cliffside of the mountain, around a hundred feet from the ground floor. Logan had the elementals scout out the entrance and foyer of the mountain’s inside, and it was a good call to make.

As soon as Fahrenheit passed the archway, jagged as it was, several large stalagmites shot from the ground and crashed into the ceiling, blocking off entry and exit. Marcus nodded, enhanced his Strength, and gave a hearty punch into the rock wall, cracking it all over and then smashing a hole in it with a following jab.

Waiting a few seconds to test the waters, the rocky barricade reformed itself with a new earthen spike. This place was similar to the Frost Monarch’s Cavern and worked almost the same way. At least they double-checked to make sure they could escape, as some dungeons did force a defeat of the boss before exit was possible.

As if designed for Logan specifically, and another place to make full use of his abilities, the dungeon was full of spellflinging monsters.

Crowbolds and goblins wielding tall staves, gremlins launching spells from tail hands, and even a few undead mages that retained their ability to cast spells. Logan sucked up countless spells to return them back at their owners and their allies. The elementals continued to guard the rear, bashing away creatures hiding in the ceiling or from other corridors.

One fight of note on the first day was with a pair of Oni. Dark-green-skinned humanoids with flowing grey hair to their upper backs, two long horns near their hairline, and offputting eyes within the centre of their heads. They quickly destroyed some of the elementals, before Logan ordered them to just guard their flanks.

The demon-blooded creature stood over Logan at 7’ tall, a long kanabō-styled club bashing against the Spellthief’s dual Bowen daggers.

Pushing away the club, Logan was about to slash out at the lower-ranked oni but dropped his dagger in favour of grappling a beam of green from the oni’s centre eye.

Absorbing the hasty and dangerous Wind 2nd spell, Logan felt the air almost cut into his clothing. Ducking down quickly, he dodged a wide horizontal swing and rolled backwards to avoid a smashing downward heel slam.

Rolling back to his feet, Logan made a claw with his hand in preparation for a spell but had to warp to his centre to avoid a spinning club in his direction. The club slammed into the rocky wall, while Logan apparated behind his oni foe.

Before the Spellthief could land a hand on the monster’s back, he saw the grey hair spike horrendously. Logan spun his dagger in hand, and drew another, parrying several clumps of hair that became razor-sharp and shot at him, as if they were shards of rock.

Turning to face Logan, the oni had its own clawed hand inflamed with purple fire as it grabbed out at the Spellthief’s jacket.

Logan dove a dagger into the flames and had them disperse over the blade, shattering the knife to its hilt. Letting go of the remains, Logan gripped the oni’s wrist, landed a solid kick into its forehead and chanted, “Necromantic Second Grasp”, exploding the monster’s arm with countless black tendrils.

Warping away, again, Logan appeared low behind the oni and pierced the back of both its knees with two daggers, causing the foe to falter onto his shins. Bringing out another twin daggers as he stood, Logan dug both into the neck of the oni, twisting them to decapitate the monster.

Looking up to his ally, the Spellthief saw the other oni severely impaled from the floor and the ceiling with earthen spikes created by Marcus. With the idea of resting ahead before any boss fight, the Devout wasn’t being too conservative with his spellforce reserves.

Logan kicked over the body as he scanned the area for more beasties awaiting them. With such an expansive interior, he was sure there were many hiding in the shadows or as part of the walls. This forward-thinking pinged many dots on his mini-map as he motioned Marcus to continue.

After felling just over a hundred monsters, Logan let out a deep breath as he wiped the sweat from his brow. Marcus slowly walked to his friend’s rear, using his staff to aid his steps. The rolling sounds of elements followed at the back and front as the party reached the entrance to the dungeon, Marcus smashing it apart again to allow them to leave.

Sitting at the cliffside, the pair brought out food and water to recuperate from a long day’s work. Logan looked to his window which appeared when the experience numbers had started to appear from clearing the interior.

“Level up! Gain: 8 HP, +1 Str, +2 Agi, +1 Con, +2 Int, +1 Cha. You have 1 attribute point to spend.”

Logan’s base intelligence had reached 69, a nice number that would reach 75 in another three levels. Celsius, Spark, and Fahrenheit had grown 3 levels to 16, 1 below the current max of 17, while Servoir and Umbra had also gained 3 levels to 15.

The more surprising turn of events was Marcus reaching level 21, mirroring Logan’s experience almost. The tripled growth given to his ally certainly had done work to speed up his progress, but it seemed it had its limits as another window appeared.

“As your partnered NPC has reached your level, any increased experience from the skill ‘Partnered Growth’ will be restricted past your own experience (4,235 remaining). This limit will be removed if your presence is permanently removed from Avanar.”

Logan chuckled, “Was expecting some sort of drawback to that skill”, he thought to himself.

“Sorry, Logan. I had believed at the time you were leaving Avanar when I suggested this skill. It seems your stay has lessened its power somewhat”, Fol replied in Logan’s head.

“It’s fine. It did amazing work at keeping us even”, Logan consoled his System, Fol, “It does make me curious as to if you’d get inherited by him if I were to leave.”

“Logan?” Marcus called over, “You alright?” he waved as if to break Logan out of his concentration.

“Yeah. Just looking over your changes. Your hastened growth will slow down soon as the skill is reaching its limits.”

“Well, that’s sad to hear. I just ranked up as far as I could tell.”

“Twice.”

Marcus let out a loud laugh, “I doubt any other Avanarian wouldn’t put up quite the offering to get this speed of empowerment.”

“You’re still wanting physical strength, right?” Logan asked about the bonus attribute points.

Marcus nodded. “I guess this means we will be fighting one another at the tournament then”, he announced after getting his increase.

“I hope you won’t slack off before then”, Logan laughed back.

“If you promise to not hold back whatsoever, use all you’ve got against me. Then I will work myself to wisps of spellforce”, Marcus promised.

The night passed without much issue, the pair guarded eternally by the ever-growing elementals of Logan’s psyche.

With a double-check of their effects, Logan did the normal absorbing method for getting MP for the day. The increase in levels equated to 54 MP, much more than the maximum allowed by his current combination of MP Thievery and Backstab, he dealt 80% extra damage and had 5 charges of Backstab, for a total max of 40 MP from theft. He just needed to find foes that he’d benefit from stealing MP.

Logan made sure to swap out his Flame 2nd spell for Wind 2nd, for the boss ahead.

Entering the dungeon for the second time, the party made a cautious approach to the final chamber that was kept near the top of the spire. There were many smaller chambers along the way, alcoves, and ditches for the dead. Thankfully, there was no sign of devour rooms.

Plenty of loot filled Logan’s inventory, from coins and potions to weapons and trinkets. However, it was what was hiding in the boss's room that enticed him, and what guarded it.

The party stopped outside a massive door, around fifty feet tall and twenty wide. Inlaid with golden carvings of a large monstrous head, an amalgamation of orc and ogre, with four sets of fangs. A Madamra Rampart.

The reports stated that the stone yeti was a rank 20 elite monster. Its major power boost came in the form of magic, a blessing of an encounter for an anti-caster. With the knowledge ahead of time, Logan and Marcus were able to prepare themselves wonderfully. Though there was always the issue of incomplete intel.

Marcus improved all six attributes of the pair, drinking a potion to restore his spellforce afterwards. Logan cast Skin of Ice and Haste on himself, his body getting coated in blue before turning back to its speedy norm.

Logan placed a hand on the door and had his body vibrate with power, creating an afterimage that went outwards before dissipating. A swirl of wind and power danced around Logan as the door shuddered off dust from his command, “Madamra, I challenge what lies within. Your monsters have no hold!”

The door clunked and crashed as it opened into the chamber within. A tall-roofed cathedral of black slate and dark marble. Braziers lit with purple flames, tall columns displaying fanciful shadows as the team entered.

At the end was a massive statue of a saeber in their bipedal form, coated in spiked metallic armour. At the feet of the statue was the boss the party had aimed to engage, Logan scanning his foe as the doors shut behind him with the final elemental entering.

“Identify.”

“Stone Yeti ☠️ - Yeti. Level 20: 300/300 HP, 52/52 MP.

This thick, 12' tall, yeti has skin made of a stone construct, with coarse steel-coloured fur all over. As a walking mass of rock, this creature is ludicrously heavy and defensive, often told in tales of thick walls to defend monsters in the past.

Stone yetis are sometimes mistaken for golems, humanoids thinking they could tame or communicate with them.

Skills: Open List ↓. Warning: First and second-level spell immunity.

Spells: Open List ↓.

Reduction: Damage 10 (Except bludgeoning).

Resistance: Damage 50%, Earth 95%, Fire 75%, Holy 50%, Ice 50%, Lightning 95%, Shadow 50%, Water 25%, Wind 0%.”

Logan stared four eyes at the foe with his red eyes darting around to spy any helpers, thankfully this foe was alone for now.

The yeti let out a massive roar, the ground shaking from the effect and exploding upwards as tiles went flying. Logan tapped Marcus, who had all the elementals grabbing on for dear life, as the whole party warped above the yeti.

Dodging the Chatter-style skill, the party were able to use their skills and spells without worry.

Celsius was the first to land, though his body landed in the slamming spiked kanabō of the yeti that was covered in red mist. The fiery elemental was destroyed in a single swipe, its core shattering for the day.

Fahrenheit and Servoir grappled their bodies around the arms of the yeti, while Spark and Umbra went for the legs, their morphing elemental forms making it easy to wrap the monster like a present.

Marcus landed next as he crashed his staff into the head of the yeti, cracking the stone a bit before Logan threw a duo of daggers at the foe, cutting apart the rock and separating chunks.

Logan spun in the air to land his foot on Marcus, warping the pair away as the yeti started to tremble with the floor beneath it. Massive stalagmites erupted from the floor and crashed into its form, dealing a pittance to itself but destroying the elementals that had surrounded its body, the clink of cores hitting the floor signing their defeat.

“That was a heavy-damage Earthen Eruption spell, he must have mastered it or something as it’s only second-level”, Logan thought to himself as he expected his elementals to survive at least 1 hit.

The yeti then placed its club on the floor with the weapon’s head keeping it aligned vertically, aiming both hands at the party they got into a defensive stance.

Marcus jumped to the side, circled the columns, slid under braziers, and flipped around to dodge countless spikes of rock that formed in the air to impale him. Those he couldn’t dodge he destroyed with his staff that showed signs of cracking all over.

Logan, however, caught several rocks in his hands as he mentally commanded, “Spell Absorb”, each time. His vaskt eyes looking in the opposite direction of his normal eyes to keep up with all the projectiles. It almost felt like he needed another pair of arms to anticipate all the spells.

With a total of eight empty charges, Logan had the fortune of not failing a single absorption, even gaining a tier of mastery with Gaia 2nd.

Sliding his feet across the floor, Logan formed Gaia 2nd Walls across the room to empty his charges to allow him to absorb more. He had to ignore a window that appeared and stayed in place as he ran away from it, alerting him of increasing his skill mastery.

Both Logan and Marcus began their charge back to the monster, its MP was sure to have run out at this time.

The stone yeti picked its club back up and made a wide swing for Marcus who knee slid under the attack. Logan leapt over and aimed for the yeti’s eyes, but was met by a backhand to his daggers, sending him into a flip before kicking off the floor to swipe at his foe again.

While the foe had amazing footwork to dodge many blows, its size gave away too many openings to foes close to half its height. Logan was able to land a few glancing slashes, with Marcus landing solid smashes with his staff.

The yeti then spun around, landing a solid collision with Marcus’s staff, snapping it in two before a following kick sent the Devout flying.

Logan then jumped up to aim for the eyes again, but instead, teleported behind the yeti to jab at its kidneys.

However, the stone floor at the feet of the monster flowed up to its shins and twisted around, as if he were standing on a spinning top. The yeti turned to face Logan almost instantly as the yeti swung a green glowing fist into the two Bowen daggers, shattering them to pieces.

Logan stumbled back and let loose the handles. The foe had a skill similar to the Knight’s Shatter Bash, or maybe one he had yet to see. Either way, he didn’t want to risk his artefact blade against that.

Jumping back a few more times, Logan aimed his hands high and drew them back as he chanted, “Wind Second Skystrike”, utilising his new Multicast skill to cast both simultaneously without delay. Before he had to do two chants, and had them offset by how long it took to speak.

The pair of wind scythes cut at the yeti’s back as it roared in pain, Logan hadn't mastered this spell too much, however, dealing only 65 and 67 damage respectively. But the yeti didn’t resist them whatsoever.

Having done mostly melee and avoiding tactics, the yeti hadn’t expected its weakness to appear so quickly. It was left defenceless as it had to adjust to the new parameters.

Wringing back its club to throw it at Logan again, golden chains erupted from the floor as they grappled the weapon in the air before it was pulled to the floor into a restrictive prison of gold. Marcus was afar after casting Chain Guard, the yeti was immune to the spell, but if his weapons were away from him, then they weren’t.

Logan then chanted again, pulling one hand back and the other forward, “Wind Second Skystrike”, creating a wind scythe above the yeti which it dodged back jumping backwards. However, Logan had mixed in a Shot variant, cutting the chest of the yeti as the creature was in midair.

Then, with a bluff of grabbing daggers, Logan Silentcast two more Wind spells as they dug into the back of yeti. It was a bit more expensive on MP, but it was devastating to the foe.

The yeti fell to the floor on one knee, its silvery blood painting the area in quite an extravagant way. It had to have healed during the fight, Logan’s calculations for its health equated to its death, but it still had thirty HP left.

With its dying moments, the yeti started to raise its hand, the silvery blood pooling around the arena floating upwards and forming into a mass near its hand. Logan then swiped two hands in a cross from hip to shoulder, two wind scythes cutting at the yeti’s neck and severing its head before it could complete what it was doing.

Logan let out a breath as he only had 14 MP to spare, though plenty of spell slots and rings, he praised his preparation of resources for the fight. Without his elementals, this would have been quite a different fight.

Checking the experience gain, Marcus gained a bit less than Logan at 1,200. However, this was mostly due to the creature being much closer to Logan’s level, so the reduction wasn’t as severe.

“Good work there, Marcus”, Logan called out as he walked to Marcus.

“It was a good plan to hold back spells to the end, you see the look on that monster’s face?” Marcus laughed.

“I’m guessing it relied a lot on its magic and weapon. Take away both and it can’t defend against spells at the end.”

“Can’t defend its loot anymore to boot”, Marcus announced with a grin.

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