Chapter 18 – Boss
It’s still pitch-black when I wake up, since I went to sleep quite early last night. Maybe around 7:00Pm. I also woke up early yesterday, so I could travel to Vale--and I was extremely busy all day and became tired.
When it gets dark, there isn’t really anything to do in this world. There are no consoles, T.V.s, PCs, no internet, no movies--there aren’t even any books for commoners.
Of course, I could have gone to the bar for information gathering--but there were a few reasons I couldn’t. First being I’m not good with drinking without friends, I don’t know much about this world and may say things about Earth; I am also unsure how much of this alcohol I could drink…for some reasons, alcohol from fantasy worlds is somehow stronger. Well, Alcohol in Earth’s Medieval Period were stronger.
It wouldn’t be information gathering if I just just got drunk.
I would have to test it when I was somewhere safe--maybe after purchasing Roxanne, if she was my slave, she could learn about things that I couldn’t allow others to know.
Fourth--I don’t need normal information, but information on how to make money quickly--at least for now. I can ask Roxanne about normal information after I buy her.
I feel quite refreshed after a good sleep.
It’s probably around 3am or so now and my room doesn’t have a toilet--so I have to go down through the lobby. There is a lantern hanging on the stairs, but its light is very dim and doesn’t light up much.
“Are you going to the Dungeon?”
As I enter the lobby, I hear a voice behind me.
“Oh…er.”
I was startled, it felt like my heart stopped.
Turning around, I see the hotel receptionist is standing at the desk.
“Be careful. By the way, there are plenty of guys who go to the Dungeon at night; well, maybe not in the case of this Dungeon--since it’s still new.”
“You must be busy until midnight.”
“We are part of the Emaro tribe, and that’s a very special tribe. We don’t need to sleep like normal people--we are two beings, one male and one female, we can sleep in one form or the other…so one of us is always awake.”
He looked at my face, and grinned.
“Yes, I am both the receptionist and the manager of the dining room.” A female voice comes out from the doorway to the dining room, and the very sleepy looking woman walks out.
“But we can’t marry ourselves--it’s the worst taboo of our people…though it used to happen a lot in the past. If one of us were to survive, we could remake our species.” The female muttered as she wandered back into the dining room--going to a back room and probably back to bed.
That is a weird species, but quite cool too.
I looked at him with Appraisal.
Name: Amiro
Age: 35
Sex: Male-Form, Female-Form
Species: Emaro
Class: Hotel Receptionist
Level: 8
“Do you understand?”
“Yeah--it’s cool.”
“Wow, that’s the first time someone has understood, and not been scared.” He is obviously pleased, nodding with a grin.
“Thanks for the information.” I hand him the hotel key.
Though, I can see why the taboo is there--the first thing I would do if I could split…is probably ‘get f***ked’ like a lot of people have advised.
I go to the restroom, with the rucksack slung over my shoulder. There is nothing else to do, after using the bathroom, so I might as well go to the Dungeon.
“Don’t you need a lantern?”
“I should be fine.”
I didn’t know how dark the world could be with no electric lighting.
…
Yep, it’s pitch-black.
I can’t see much more than a meter in front of me, it’s completely dark--I wonder if this world has a moon…or if it’s just a new moon tonight; though I don’t think I could ask normal people about that.
Though, the whole sky is lit up with stars, but the light is too dark since I am in the shadow of buildings. Well, there are torches that seem to be lit with some kind of reddish stone, but they are along the main street, so the shadows are deep here.
Maybe I should borrow a lantern?
But, in the Dungeon…a ghost may blow it out--and in a fantasy world, ghosts may exist.
Well, what should I do?
I don’t have the Adventurer Class, so I can’t use ‘Field Walk’.
Oh, there’s a Warp Incantation in the Bonus Skills, but would this count as something I should spend points on; it could be very useful, and cut down on travel time…as well as avoid the darkness.
I wonder if the Mana used for Movement Magic, it might be less that Attack Magic; also when I leveled Hero up to 3, it almost doubled my Mana. I quickly open my Character Screen and get Warp; it uses a lot of my BP--but it should be worth it.
I face the outside wall of the Vale Pavilion and think about Warping, and imagine the small entrance room inside the Dungeon. A black wall appears in front of me and I can walk into it.
However, even though it was a success--I feel depressed. Sadness surges through me…instead of the joy of success, I feel helpless and empty. Thoughts of ‘why did I bother coming here?’ enter my head as I walk into the room.
I know why this is, it means my Mana has run out.
As I fight off the sudden onslaught of sadness, my cheeks wet with tears, I look at the three corridors that lead out of the room. I don’t think I should use Warp again until I level up. If I was like this during combat…I might just lower my sword and let it end.
Well, the only way to get out of this terrible mood is to use Excalibur’s MP Absorption. Suppressing the urge to just give up and lay down against a wall, I go down the corridor.
If I went to the right, it’s likely that I can go to the second floor, but I go straight--I don’t want to go to the second floor, well, I don’t really want to do anything.
Ahh, I finally see a Needle Wood.
I want to lay down, but I hold back on that desire, swinging Excalibur viciously at the Demon’s head; and I defeat it with a single blow--when the smoke disappears, a branch is left behind.
“Ahh…that’s much better.”
Feelings of relief rush through me, and I can’t help but let out a relieved sigh--that was difficult…Magic has a downside in this world.
I set my third Class to Soldier.
One kill got me up to level 2 and a bit--I have the feeling that the Demons in Dungeons give more Experience Points. I chose Soldier because I heard that it’s needed to unlock the Bounty Hunter Class, and Knight Class, while Swordsman unlocks Warrior.
After hunting too more Demons, and refilling my Mana, I try the Skill ‘Rush’.
Everything seemed to blur slightly as I dashed at the enemy, my speed multiplied many times--crossing a couple of meters in a second. A high-speed interception-type attack.
It’s good to defeat Demons in one hit.
There seem to be a Needle Wood every couple of corridors, I wonder if all the Dungeons in this world are like this, or if it’s just because I am on the first floor.
This is so much faster than hunting Demons in the wild.
I hunted until I found two more leaves, and then left the Dungeon; I wasn’t going to use Warp again, so I just used Dungeon Gate and then went home on foot. The sun had just come up, so the timing was perfect.
I returned to the inn and had breakfast, before going to my room,
Quickly switching out Soldier, which reached level 6, for Alchemist--I used my three leaves and Create Potion (Crude) to make 30 Antidotes--then I went to bed for a quick nap.
Sales price for all of them would be around 1,100 copper, or 1 gold and 1 silver. The sales price for the Antidote is only 25 copper.
After buying 2 Antidotes yesterday, and then selling 40, I am curious what the receptionist at the Adventurer’s Guild must be thinking. Then again, even if she thought it was strange, she was professional enough to not show it on her face.
She probably also doesn’t remember who bought what.
I stopped by the Armour shop and got a shield, a small wooden shield with a metal centerpiece; it can be strapped to my back when I am not using it and using Excalibur two-handed. This time, I don’t plan on getting hurt--
After that I went to the Dungeon for several hours, but only got branches, which I ended up selling for 4 silver and 87 copper--then I went back again until I got 3 more leaves, and then made Antidotes inside the Dungeon.
With that done, I start searching the right side of the Dungeon, I found the room that the Knights had been in yesterday. The small room looked a lot like the Demon Room, but here, I could use Dungeon Gate.
After looking around the room, I continue defeating Needle Woods, and two leaves dropped.
A wall slides down with a quiet sound, and another small room appears. There were two parties waiting inside, it seems that they are waiting in a line--after looking at them, I sat down at the end of the line.
After a while, another party comes in behind me; there are six of them with Explorers and Soldiers between levels 14 - 20.
“Line up!”
When the six people tried to cut the line, they were shouted at by a man in the front.
A door opens up, and the party in the front head in.
“Is this your first time in the Dungeon?” The female Explorer in front of me starts to speak.
“Yes.”
“That room ahead, it leads to the second floor. There is a boss inside--only if you defeat it, can you get to the second floor.”
“Ahh, thank you.”
So that’s why we’re lined it?
I listened to what she was telling me, “If the previous party is defeated, their equipment is left behind. But, that’s fate.” She looked up at me with a grin.
“I see, thanks.”
“The Bosses are a lot stronger than normal Needle Woods. You should go back if you’re not confident.”
“I will hopefully be fine.” I smile down at her, resulting in her rolling her eyes and then quickly glancing around before looking back at me.
She’s a level 15 Explorer.
Before long, the door opens again and she gets up, her party enters the boss room. They are higher level than the group behind me, so I don’t think they will be annihilated.
I wonder if I will be alright, since I am lower level than the group above me.
Well, I have both Rush and Overwhelming, and Excalibur--so I should be fine.
I can’t make 1 gold a day, so I need to go down deeper.
The door opens again, I wonder if that girl and her party survived.
As soon as I enter, the door closes. It looks like a fairly normal 5m square room, and no equipment is scattered around; so it seems that the friendly, or talkative, girl survived.
With a ‘poof’, smoke gathers and a Demon appears.
Udo Wood - level 15
It’s a Demon that looks like a larger version of the Needle Wood--it’s much taller than I am, with thick arms and legs; it also has roots instead of foot.
Where’s that Erlf when you need it--I mean…roots are close enough to tentacles; we could reenact that scene in Evil Dead.
Anyway.
A blue light appears near its root-feet, a Magic Formation.
Well, that looks like it may be bad.
Then again, it’s the first time I’ve seen it, so I have no idea what it does; but it definitely seem dangerous.
Is it a Magic Attack, Magic Defence, De-buff, Curse?
I shouldn’t let it complete the Formation, so I charge in, using Rush; stabbing deeply into the boss’s shoulder. Hmm, Excalibur only goes a few centimeters into the hard wood, it seems that the wood is rather tough.
However, the Incantation Interruption Skill that Excalibur has stopped the Magic, causing the formation to disappear.
The Demon can’t speak, so it seems to use Formations instead of chants--visual Incantations.
The Udo Wood swings a branch at my face.
Excalibur is still stuck in the Demon’s shoulder, so I can’t block with that; but luckily a bought a shield--I release the sword and position the shield, all it does is causes a minor shock to run through my arm. It’s Attack Power is much higher than a normal Needle Wood.
Using the recoil, I manage to pull Excalibur from the wooden shoulder; and it swung a branch again, I hear the sound cutting through the air--I blocked with my shield again.
But, now I am more used to it, I can avoid its attacks; martial arts training is actually useful. After a quick roll, I see an opening, driving drove Excalibur into its face.
It causes the boss pain, and it emits a shriek that sounds like an old tree screaming and grinding. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to kill it.
With another shriek, it starts moving--darting towards me. I block the branch from the right with my sword, and it swings a branch from the left; which I block with my shield.
I quickly use Overwhelming, the Demon seeming to slow down. I swing Excalibur, taking a huge chip out of its right branch; using Rush, I speed up even more and attack twice more, cutting the arm off.
It attacks with its remaining arm, I barely manage to dodge--while its unbalanced, unused to the uneven weight…I rapidly chop its neck, after a few chops, its head comes off and the Udo Wood finally collapsed to the ground
Smoke puffs out of the holes where its head and arm are missing, and then it disappeared.
Wooden Cane
There is a completely straight branch laying on the ground. It has a strange gem on the end, looking as though it’s made from leaves…it’s an organic gem; there are strange things in this world.
It seems to be some kind of weapon, a cane is usually associated with Magic, so maybe Mages use them.
Unfortunately, there’s nothing else--not even a treasure chest.
A door on the far side opens up.
With a shrug, I put the cane into my Item Box.
One last double-check the area for items--I leave the room and begin my journey to the next floor.