Revenge of the Sorcerer King 2 - 17

Hey Guys! Nothing too much from me today!





 

Chapter 17

Alessa

We basically slaughtered our way through the first five floors of the dungeon. The goblins didn’t improve more than getting better weapons and a few that could cast magic. I almost started feeling bad once we reached the fifth floor. After doing some counting, Helena said we’d killed close to five hundred goblins in total.

Sadly, after the third floor the vampires stopped leveling. That’s when we started having the goblins and some of the undead to participate. I thought they might feel bad about killing the goblins, but that worry was unfounded. In fact, they seemed to revel in using their new bodies to rip through the still cursed goblin ranks. 

Without the barbaric strength of the vampire behind them, the weapons we got from the smiths in the city were working much better. Of course, that is usually the case when you’re not cleaving through bone in one hit. A few of the goblins had some tribal magic that helped heal the wounds suffered by our goblin allies so thankfully, we only suffered minor injuries. 

The undead, well, were undead and didn’t have any trouble the few times I let them join the fun. Even though they were dungeon creations, the goblins still had an innate fear of the undead and the undead appeared to know that. They hounded the goblins like it was a game until every last one of them was dead in a puddle of their own blood. 

“So… Large golden door usually means there is a boss behind it, right?” 

“That is the general policy, but damn that thing is tacky!” Sarius said looking up at the shining golden door. It was easily tall enough for a ten meters tall and eight or nine wide. An army could march through it and still have elbow space. 

“Don’t say that. If the dungeon is listening then you might hurt its feelings.”

Helena laughed before she pushed the doors open. An army of goblins stood at attention about a hundred meters in. A large goblin that was twice the size of the other stood breathing heavily with a large battle axe. Mana pulsed in the air as all the goblins’ eyes glow a deep blue from being overcharged.

“A hobgoblin,” one of the goblins said from the line behind me. 

“Does that make much of a difference?” I asked. 

He tilted his head then looked back at me. “Think four goblins put together.”

“I suppose that could be a bit of problem for an ordinary party.”

We moved into the boss room. The enemy goblins not budging as we entered. The dungeon must want this to be an epic last stand sort of deal. Again, showcasing that Oberon helped create this thing. Always one for theatrics. 

“How many?” I asked Helena once we were in the room. 

“Three hundred give or take.”

I nodded then waved my second force forward. Four hundred undead goblins shambled into the room past Oberon’s undead and the goblins. It felt like an unending stream as they formed their own lines only a few dozen meters from the panting goblins. My undead were only two lines deep when the hobgoblin roared and the goblin army started to rush. 

Almost immediately, a dozen blue lines streaked through the air exploding into globes of ice that froze the goblins instantly. I glanced at Jade as she formed arrows from ice before launching the attacks. She become firmly locked in the path of a magic archer, but I wasn’t complaining. I would likely need to get her a much stronger bow soon. It was getting to the point it couldn’t handle her.

The undead went into a frenzy as the flesh and blood goblins got close to them. They were slightly lower level then the goblins they were fighting but as undead they had their advantages. One was cut in half and still tore into the ligaments of the goblins stepping over it.

Undead claws and fangs met steel as the two lines devolved into a maddened frenzy. When the battle was well under way, I turned and nodded to my vampires. They gave me their own crazed grins before they threw themselves into the melee. I hoped I hadn’t broken them. 

I glanced around the battle to make sure my more mortal party members didn’t meet a gruesome fate. As the leader of this deal, I wanted as many of us to get back home in one piece. Our goblins were hanging back and dealing with stragglers that were making their way around the undead. It was a decent strategy and they were still getting kills. 

“Someone’s mad.” I heard Helena say just as another roar sounded out from the battle. The Hobgoblin started bulldozing his way through the undead like a battering ram. His goblins following in his wake managing to get some better ground on the undead. 

I cracked my neck before looking at Helena. She just waved with a yawn and I grinned my own crazy grin. Crouching, I shot into the air arcing over the battle aiming for the Hobgoblin. He was able to detect me before I slammed into him and guarded with his bracer. I felt mana ripple from it as my force was sent back at me and I rebounded to land a few dozen meters from the brute.

I formed magic sigils on each of my hands, causing fire to wrap around my right and ice to wrap around my left. Kicking off, I flew at the hobgoblin and moved his battleaxe to counter me as my path was quite predictable. I smacked the ground just before the edge of his axe would have sliced through my middle and rolled over the blade. 

He didn’t like that and dropped his axe to free his hand as he brought his fist around. I twisted to gain some momentum and met his punch with my left. I was thrown back, but not before I heard a roar as the hobgoblin’s hand completely froze. 

I stood up and gestured to the axe. The hobgoblin roared at me but retrieved his weapon before he charged at me. With only one hand, he couldn’t use his full strength behind the axe but there was still quite a bit of it. Each swing caused a gust of air to blow past me. On his nineth or tenth swing, I struck out with my flaming hand and managed to melt a good section of the axe.

He threw the weapon at me before he charged again. After another ten or twenty seconds I realized the main battle had almost drawn to a close and I should stop playing with the monster. Shaking my hands to put out the magic spells, I charged the hobgoblin. Landing a solid blow on the tired monster’s chest, I heard his ribs shatter as I managed to blow him back a few meters. Given that he was nearly three times my size, quite the feat.

I looked around at the battlefield until I located all my vampires. They were all feasting on there spoils. Deciding it was safe enough, I walked forward and grabbed the head of the nearly dead hobgoblin. With a shout of my own to announce our victory, I sank my fangs into the hobgoblin’s neck. 

The cave grew quiet as the various different groups did there own thing. The vampires drank, the goblins tended to their wounded, and the undead put the ones that had been dismembered back together. Once I had completely drained the hobgoblin, I dropped the body to the ground. It faded to dust and a wooden chest was left in its place. 

“Ah, the spoils.”

I turned and found Helena walking over to me. “Is it safe?”

“Genereally, but there are dungeons out there that like to trap them. The worst is usually a mimic.” I walked up to the chest and balled my fist before I brought it down as hard as I could. The wooden lid exploded into splinters. Dusting my hand off, I reached in and grabbed the item that laid on the bottom. “I would recommend finding a new way to check. Soon you’ll turn the entire area into a crater if you do that.”

I laughed but noticed that her eyes were serious. “Got it.”

I looked more closely at the item. It was a ring that radiated mana. Not having the required knowledge to know what it did, I handed it over to Helena so she could inspect it. She filled it over a few times before she handed it back. 

“Likely was originally a low level ring that was meant to give the user some added strength. Its sat here for a thousand years and is close to a Master level item now. You should use it. It would work best for you as it adds strength based on your base. That will eventually be a scary amount.”

I slipped the ring on as I nodded. I could instantly feel power flow through me. Wanting to test it, I moved over to the wall. Before I would have been able to put a decent sized crater in the wall. Pulling my arm back, I punched with all my new strength. 

A ten-meter section of the wall spiderwebbed before it fell to pieces collapsing to the ground. I had to jump back to avoid getting hit with the debris. I coughed from the dust but admired the destruction I had managed to cause.

“Don’t slap anyone on the back anymore. You might kill them.”

Oberon

We’d been on the fire floor for close to ten hours now. Everyone in the party had gained sizable improvements. The goblins and Irgire seeing the most improvement as their levels were close to hitting the nineties. Sadly, the floor had reached about the end of its usefulness when I reached level seventy-three. 

Most of us had stopped gaining experience from the monster. We had just gotten that good at killing the elementals. Promise was dyed red from the amount of mana it had drank. I’d had a thought I was surprised I didn’t think of before and checked the blade’s status. 

Name: Promise Bringer. Ender of the Soulless.

Age: 1573

Level: 135

Quality: God- work

Mana: 23,345,987/ Infinite

“Well old friend. You certainly drank your fill today.” I got a satiated growl from the weapon before I sheathed it. 

Irgire landed with only a slight stumble. He was still regaining the feeling in his wings not to mention the rest of his body. The fact he was flying already was quite an achievement. “I found what looked like the exit. Its about three kilometers that way.” 

“Good work. We’ll head that way once the goblins finish resting.” 

Ten hours in a smoldering hot place like this was no easy task. I had been forcing the ones with magic potential to learn water magic. It might help to relieve the heat, but it was still mentally exhausting to use new magic. I was sure some of them would have passed out by now had it not been for the threat of death from the flaming land around us. 

I had decided to be nice and form an ice dome over all the mortals to let them cool down. Once the spell expired, we would be moving on. I walked over to Irgire since I had some time to kill. “Are you sure you don’t want to join the others?” He was the only one of the mortals that hadn’t rested. I’d rather him not collapse while we were in middle of a battle. 

“Don’t be thinking me weak like those other mortals. I might be a black dragon descendant but I can handle fire much better than that weak human.” 

“Very well.” I looked into the distance watching the magma erupt from the top of the volcano. “Tell me of your father?”

Irgire looked at me but I kept my gaze on the volcano. He shrugged before he answered. “I’m not sure what to tell you. When you were killed my grandmother took my father back to Dragonflights. As a half breed, even one that was basically created at the council’s orders he was an outcast. Once he was old enough, he left the islands and sought a new life.”

“I’m not sure of what exactly transpired but he found a love for books. He could never have enough. It was probably his sin taking effect, but I was too young to understand that at the time. He also found my mother. A human that shared his love for books and knowledge.”

“Sounds like you lived a peaceful life. What happened?”

“Eventually, as the people divided up your kingdom. Lucifer’s deal with the others no doubt. One of your rivals created a curse on your bloodline. Families were being hunted, the ones we kept in contact with. One night, when I was a few years younger,” he paused as he chuckled, “Sorry. When I was about Alessa’s age, we were attacked by raiders. My mother never had a chance. They blew up half the house with spells. My father and I barely survived. My father had received a fatal wound by covering me.”

I could picture the scene as he talked. I had to do some mental exercises to keep my anger under control. “Bastards,” I said with gritted teeth.

“Yes. Luckily, our manor was built next to a cliff that led to the sea. My father threw me over the ledge as the raiders closed in on us. His last words were for me to run.”

I grabbed his shoulder but kept my silence. No words could help him through the agony of losing a loved one, besides he had worked through it in his own time long before I met him. I patted his shoulder then walked over to the ice globe. 

With a clap, it shattered. “Time to go!”

Everyone gathered up there gear and started to head towards the ecit of the floor. I stared after them before following after them. When we reached the exit, I sent the undead through first. I could tell we would be forced to head deeper into the dungeon before we could escape. No reason to test our luck again.

~~

We were three floors deeper. I estimated we’d been stuck down here for close to two days. Each of the floors followed a theme like the fire floor, with it going air, water, and finally terra. The change allowed us to gain some more levels but each floor had reduced returns. We’d only been on the Terra floor for an hour or so and we were already seeing members of our party getting reduce experience from the elementals. 

If the dungeon kept to accepted standards after this floor would be a boss room. Given that we’d dealt with four different elements so far. It would either be a combination of the pervious floors or a higher-level elemental. I was ready to fight something new anyways.

After exploring the Terra floor for a while, we found a golden door. It was massively oversized and served little purpose other than to showcase the dungeons mana supply. Alchemy wasn’t easy even for a dungeon. The mana required to create this much gold would be more than enough to level a few cities if used in an attack spell.

Glancing over the door, I turned to the others. “I like this place.” 

With a grin, I pressed on the doors and they swung open without a sound contrary to their massive size. An empty room met our gaze as we walked in. I had the undead take point in case it was one of those boss that appeared violently. To expectations, the door swung shut after we were all in the room but still nothing happened.

“Maybe the dungeon hasn’t made the boss for this floor yet?” Ted speculated. 

I shrugged then moved deeper into the room. Still nothing happened. After we checked the entire room, we finally found what might have been the boss. A large pile of rocks that shifted as it snored was tucked away in one corner of the room. Parts of the greater elemental showcased each of the pervious floors. 

Its feet were made from lava, while there was a waterfall on its back. While the overall torso was pure stone, I noticed that the center was composed of some sort of metal. Its head possessed what looked like a cloud for hair. Even with the noise of the undead and the goblins’ armor, it was deeply asleep.

I motioned everyone back to the entrance to the boss room. “Well. This boss is going to be easy as long as I stab it in the right place.”

“I feel like this is a bit anti-climactic. Surely, the dungeon won’t just let us kill a boss without a fight?” Ted asked.

“It very well might be a trap, but if its not. I don’t think we should let this opportunity slip us by,” Irgire added.

I drew Promise and started heading back to the boss. “This boss would have been difficult for our current group. It possesses all the elements which likely would have caused all our attacks to have been worthless.”

Once I reached the giant elemental, I carefully made my way up to the metal section on its chest. I was worried moving around directly on the thing would awaken it, but that didn’t happen. I was almost starting to feel sorry for the thing if it went out this easily. Still, I had my own plans to worry about.

Once I was in a good position, I carefully aimed the tip of the blade at the center of the metal plate. Glancing back to the others that we standing back, I grinned then thrust the blade. Living up to its name, the blade sank all the way to the hilt as mana started to pour into it. As you can expect the elemental instantly woke up.

I tethered my mana to the sword before I jumped away as the elemental roared shaking the room. Pieces of the ceiling and walls collapsed from the force it exhibited as it stood up. Promise remained lodged in its chest, and with a few well placed magic missile, the elemental’s focus remained on me. 

“Everyone do your best not to get crushed!”