blacksmithoftheapocalypse
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778. Hard to end
🕑 Added 2023-05-07 11:13:46 +0000 UTC--Theater Dimension--
“Are you lovebirds trying to get in my way or something?” the dungeon god gave the two figures sitting two rows behind him the snake eye. One couldn't see anything but shadows under his hood, but he definitely gave off the aura of giving a disapproving/warning look.
The god couple looked shocked and intimidated, they huddled together but didn't dare say anything. The dies were cast, they couldn't take back what they did.
“Hey, now. You are saying that as if they know about our bet. Leave the kids alone,” the system god said gloatingly.
The two in question were Klinker and Lohe, a divine pair of earth god and fire goddess. They were by no means well known or very powerful, but still bonafide gods. All gods paying the fees were allowed to choose champions or saints through the system.
Young gods like them usually used this method to spread their religion. A chosen would often also be a saint. Since it was part of the system, the System God was bound to side with them. The fact that it helped in his bet was just icing on the cake.
“Urgh- Fine. It won't help them anyways.”
…
--Elemental Dungeon--
<Ding! You have killed Terran Scout lv.94. Experience gained.>
A humanoid figure made of earth and stone crumbled for the fifth time when Monique finally heard the notification. They had climbed down the gorge and found that it was like a cut directly through an anthill. The light they could see at the bottom seemed to be from the flowing magma.
The jagged walls of the gorge were filled with entrances to caves and tunnels. The party entered the close one, after which they met the Terran creatures for the first time. Albeit not immune to physical damage, they had high defenses. They had several layers of armor that encased their bodies and great regenerative powers. It strongly reminded her of the stone giant Seth had talked about.
Fighting these guys was not as bothersome as the phantoms, but they were tricky. They had to pay attention to the system messages, or otherwise, it could happen that they didn't actually destroy their true body that was hidden somewhere in the dirt.
While Jonah and Monique were able to gain back some of the confidence they lost in the previous fight, Shay started despairing. He was a mage who specialized in water and a little in ice. His specialty was useless in the previous fight and he was the least useful this time again.
Whether he used the tridents <Cascade Pierce> or similar offensive water magic, it had little effect on the creature made of earth. He was barely able to crash the outer shell of one enemy with several spells. It was impossible to not feel inferior when he saw Monique break several shells in a single stab...
Even Alison and Shay were doing well, for themselves, Curses worked well, while Alison had an above-average Magic Damage. Even when the Terran humanoid had not THE weakness, the wizard simply powered through with firepower. This worked a lot better when there was something physical to hit.
The best Shay could do at this point was playing the support for the others. Using Ice spells he kept impeding the movement of the enemy to make it easier on the others. He was playing a role, but it still bore heavy on his thoughts, that he couldn't do anything more productive.
“Shay, get your head out of the clouds,” he suddenly heard Monique shout from the front.
“I know what you are thinking, and it's okay. We all have opponents we are weak against. I and Jonah felt the same on the surface. Stop worrying and just conserve your strength. I'm sure your time will come.”
Although he didn't want to admit it, her words helped lighten his worries and concentrate on playing the support using frost magic.
<Ding! Your skill Ice Magic(Adept) lv.4 has become Ice Magic(Adept) lv.5>
At least he was not without gain. He was mainly a water mage, so his skill in <Ice Magic> did lack a little behind. Now that he constantly used the ice magic, its proficiency kept increasing and it even leveled up.
The party kept exploring the tunnels they first entered but didn't find any paths further down. They all calmed down a little since the earth elemental creatures had a much better compatibility with them. They farmed all the mobs they could find and returned to the gorge where they climbed to the next hole in the wall.
“Urgh! Be careful!” Alison suddenly called out the moment they arrived in the new tunnel. They looked back, seeing blood running from her ears. Tekar acted quickly and erected his shields again.
“I thought we were past that...” Ray grumbled. He had also felt the pressure on his ears, but Alison had been the main target. He hurriedly used a shamanistic healing spell, when he saw blood seeping from tiny cuts across her exposed skin.
They all knew what this meant. There was at least one more of the air mobs from the plains in the tunnel, hiding its presence. It seemed like the difficulty had risen, as the presence of the Terrans was quite obvious.
“These *****,” Alison cursed pissed as she chugged down a health potion in addition to Ray's spell. The moment they entered, the monsters had immediately tried to get rid of the party's strongest caster, her.
“Alright, I doubt there are many of the airheads, but probably stronger than the ones on the surface. They must be hiding, waiting for a chance. Everyone, be careful. Tekar, keep up the shield. We will go with hit and run.”
Since they had already faced both types of enemies, Monique quickly came up with a simple strategy. For the sake of their health and armor durability, they would use Tekar and his shield as a moving base.
They would fight from within the shield. The caster would hit the terrans with magic while Jonah and Monique would enter and leave the cover to fight the earthheads before they reached the shield, only exposing themselves to the attacks of the airheads for short moments at a time.
The strategy worked surprisingly well, as the airheads alone could not break through the shield. Maybe if all the mobs simultaneously besieged the shield, it may have had a chance to break, but currently, it was hard to imagine what kind of creature it would take to get past Tekar's main defense.
They kept proceeding this way without major problems until the surrounding started changing three tunnels later. The places the earth heads appeared resembled tunnels dug into the ground, like the borrows of animals, but further down the party entered natural caves.
It was dark and wet inside these caves, but the moist air was refreshing to breathe compared to the oppressive atmosphere further above. The first thing they met here were stronger Terrans. Instead of the mix of earth and rocks, these guys were closer to stone golems with an even better defense.
While the airheads had vanished for now, the new aptly name stoneheads hot supper from a new kind of creature. More elite enemies also started to appear further down, but they had not med anything one could call a boss, yet.
<Aqua Hound lv.93(Elite)>
Following their naming convention, they called them waterheads and they came in a lot greater variety than the air- and stoneheads. Some were the shapes of humanoids, but most had varying shapes of animals. There didn't seem to be a big difference in base ability, but they could be easier and harder to deal with depending on their shape.
At this point, it was finally time for Shay and Alison to truly shine. The waterheads shared the same immunity to physical attacks as the airheads. In addition, their attacks and spells had a greater damage potential. Their basic water blades and guns chipped away a lot more durability from Tekar's shield than any attack from the airheads.
If any party had somehow managed to get past the phantoms on the surface by luck or accident, this would have been their end once and for all. One tended to underestimate water, but these water elementals had the same strengths as the air with a higher damage output.
Fortunately, their party had not made it down here by pure luck. Since the waterheads had a physical shape, they were a much easier target for magic, especially Ice and Lightning magic showed great effect against them.
While Alison would raze them with spells like chain lightning, Shay could not only negate most of their water attacks but also freeze several of them at a time with spells like frost nova or ice field.. Since the casters took care of the water-based opponents, the vanguards had more than enough time to concentrate on the strengthened stoneheads.
They were basically the same creatures, with several shells and hard-to-end lives. Only their damage had gotten a tremendous increase, forcing them to hit them a few more times per layer of the shell. Nonetheless, they proceeded on their path further down, without major problems.
