Mana System Chapter 166: A new horde (Patreon)

It took some searching to pin down the location of the dungeon but we eventually found it. At first, we had mistaken the rocks peaking from the grass as nothing but scattered boulders. There had certainly been enough of those throughout the grassland. But as we got closer, you could see the cut surfaces and even cornerstones marking where the buildings had once stood. All that remained now was a few scattered and weather-worn rocks to mark what had once been a massive structure.

We had overlooked it for the simple fact that every horde dungeon we had come across had been some insect burrow. But the entrance to this one proved to be a trap door set in the crumbling remains of a basement.

Another oddity was the fact that no creatures were spilling from the entrance as almost all other dungeons seemed prone to. The only one that didn’t feature this was the undead dungeon Fiona and I braved so long ago.

“You think this is another undead dungeon?” I asked, coming to a stop near the closed doorway.

“That seems likely given its location. Still want to give it a go?”

“Might as well, but keep an eye out for traps. Also, here, take this,” I said, pulling out a mace from my ring and handing it to her.”

“Thanks, but don’t expect to sleep with me after we’re done with this dungeon,” she replied with a straight face.

I choked in surprise and spluttered. “Wha- I- Tha- That wasn’t what I was thinking at all.”

She just laughed. “You were way too tense, now let’s go kill some undead.”

I glared at her reproachfully but she was right something about undead dungeons just got to me. “Just open it will you.”

She heaved the heavy iron ring and the door protested but eventually opened. And the world went white for a split second as a blast threw me into the air. I landed with a grunt as all the air was pushed out of my lungs upon impact.

If it wasn’t for my armor absorbing most of the impact I was pretty sure that blast might have killed me. I would worry about my health later though as I levered myself off the ground slowly and painfully, every bone in my body feeling like I had just run a marathon. I looked over to see if Fiona was ok. She was alive but fighting off three armored skeletons, with more rising around the ruins every second.

I felt my body heating up as it slowly absorbed the energy from the armor, strengthening it. I quickly cast Rejuvenate on Fiona and Healing Touch on myself as I got to my feet. Dominion and Destruction was already a blur in my hand as I batted away rusty blades that sought to slice me apart or stab through my squishy bits.

I had barely enough time to use Identify on the creatures.

Corpse Knight | Level 28

I had expected the dungeon to be a higher level but this was nuts. I batted away another stab that skittered across my chest armor before Imbuing my staff with water and ice. Elemental damage wouldn’t harm the undead much but it would enhance my next spell.

Regenerating Rain poured down on one of the skeletons and it burst into pinpricks of bright flame where the water touched it. Two closer skeletons were also hit by the increased radius of the spell, giving me time to reposition and blast another with an Energy Lance. I also tried stealing a skill to see if the undead counted as sapient, they did not.

The shockwave of my Energy Lance attack blew another skeleton apart and sent two more tumbling to the ground, not much more than shattered bones. I did a quick check on Fiona and saw she was holding her own against seven or eight more skeletons. I was now extremely glad she had decided to take the duelist class.

“Fiona! Go spectral, I have a plan.”

“Well, hurry it up, I can’t keep this up much longer!” she yelled in response.

I blasted another knight with my mana cannon and started casting Eye of the Storm. I was forced to dodge a few blades and take a stab to my torso but I got the spell off.

The remaining water from regenerating rain was sucked into my spell, giving the driving maelstrom of wind, water, and ice a touch of holy damage as well.

That didn’t stop the undead from trying to push through my spell and I had to kick a few into the storm, taking a nasty slash across my leg for my effort. I kept it up though as Fiona joined me in the center, returning to her physical form to fight off anything that broke through. She had the mace I had given her in one hand and the Prismatic rapier in her other. The sword wasn’t much good against the undead but the energy attack it delivered was effective at pushing them back if not outright carving through their bodies.

I continued the spell for a full thirty seconds, blowing through a large portion of my mana but the effects were worth it. Most of the undead were reduced to burning cinders from the holy damage. The five that weren’t were not well off and Fiona and I were able to deal with them.

Once the last undead fell, I healed us both and sat exhausted on a short stone wall.

“Still want to explore this dungeon?” I asked tiredly.

We did go in, probably not the wisest move but it was hard to pass up the chance for more stat points. The open trapdoor led into a blackened stairway that led down.

“I’m not sure who’s the tankiest one here, but I think I’ll go first,” I said, looking into the darkness.

“Probably for the best, I only survived that blast through sheer luck and being able to phase out before it hit me as I was behind the opening door.”

“Remind me to make you some new armor,” I added before crossing the threshold of the dungeon.

You have entered Carthan’s Forgotten Legion: Level 30 horde dungeon. Recommended team size of 6 people level 25 in at least one class or higher

I winced at the level. While the main mobs might be a bit lower, probably around twenty-eight going by what we fought above, the boss would likely be over level thirty. There was no way we were making it through all of the waves. If we managed through a hundred I would be surprised.

The bottom of the stairs led out into the crumbling remains of a training area. Broken weapon racks lined the walls and the once tan sand was stained a dark red of dried blood. The combatant’s having shed that blood now rising from the arena floor to take up new arms against the interlopers.

Over a dozen skeletons, most wearing rusted and bloody armor and carrying similar weapons, ran at the two of us. The rattle of bones against steel set my nerves on edge and made me really want to just leave. But I endured and cast a wall of Brimstone in the path of three charging skeletons.

Not even their rusty equipment survived passing through the wall. The problem came when one of the unarmored skeletons passed through. Instead of being burned to a crisp like his fellows, he emerged out the closer side engulfed in flames and heading straight for us.

My eyes went wide and I quickly backed away and cast Regenerating Rain, to both smother the fire and deal holy damage to the skeleton. But not before the skeleton gathered the flames into a ball in its hands and projected them toward us like a flame thrower.

“Look out!” I shouted, diving to the side to avoid the hellfire that shot our way.

I felt the passing heat burn my skin through my armor as it splashed against the wall behind us. Left in its wake was glowing melted rock. I rolled to my feet and snapped my staff out at the unarmored skeleton with a resounding boom, throwing it back across the room through the force of the lion’s head enchantment.

I did manage to get an identify off on the second skeleton.

Damned Skeletal Cleric | Level 29

I groaned as I read that and watched the undead cleric rise from the far wall. Sickly green light covered its body and the other injured skeletons, healing them to full. The only ones not healed were the ones turned to ash by my fire.

I already knew this dungeon was going to suck.

***

It took Fiona and my combined effort to kill off the two clerics quickly enough for their healing to be overwhelmed. If Fiona hadn’t been able to get the other skeletons trapped by her Shackles, it wouldn’t have been possible as they constantly harassed us.

With the two clerics out of the way, another quick Brimestone wall took care of the remaining knights.

I looked around the room in confusion. “Does something feel off about this dungeon to you or is it just me?”

“Now that you mention it, yeah… where is the next wave of undead?”

We found out after clearing the next room, which turned out to be some sort of barracks. Thankfully it was only filled with skeleton knights. As we were finishing up, the unmistakable sound of bones clattering against metal resounded from the previous room we had just cleared. Into the barracks room poured the same twelve skeletons we had killed originally. If that wasn’t bad enough, as we fought those, the ones in the current room, we had just killed, were starting to glow and reassemble themselves.

We made a quick decision after clearing the path. This place was too dangerous to be caught between two groups of enemies. Dying for the sake of maybe one stat point each wasn’t worth it. So we fought our way back to the entrance and back up the stairs. All the while the undead kept reconstituting, even from my Brimstone. I used Shockwave with the lion’s head to send the knight I was fighting tumbling down the stairs. Now clear, I rushed out of the basement and Fiona slammed the entrance closed.

With some metamagic, I pulled the rock walls of the basement down on top of the dungeon entrance.

“Well… that fucking sucked. Let’s not do that again,” I stated tiredly.

“Sorry about that, I thought it was finally my chance to gain some stat points since I missed out on the last ones,” Fiona replied.

“Don’t put this all on you, I wanted to go in as well. I should have listened to my gut and called it off. Especially after we had a hard time fighting off the undead outside of the dungeon. Anyway, let's get out of here and get some rest, I'm beat.”

Fiona eventually nodded, finally looking away from the rubble covering the dungeon entrance. I understood her desire to grow stronger, but some things just weren’t worth it. I’m sure we would come across another horde dungeon eventually. Hopefully one of a lower level.