Spiteful Healer

Chapter 60: The Caverns of Jia'nir

The group of 5 stood in a line at the edge of Rene, staring up at the towering mountain of Jia’nir before them as the mid-day sun shone down on them through the clear skies.

[Aegis - Level 13], [Darkshot - Level 14], [Lina - Level 16], [Rakkan - Level 19], [Pyri - Level 10]. Aegis fastened a few vials filled with lure mixtures onto the side of his belt, ready to brew whatever specific monster lure he’d need inside the dungeon.

“Before we head into the dungeon, here.” Aegis pulled the Longsword from the Ferrawolf out of his inventory and handed it to Rakkan.

Name: Longsword of Suffering

Slot: Weapon (One Hand)

Type: Longsword

Damage: 33-40

Speed: Average

Quality: 40%

Durability: 100/100

Requirements: Level 10

Option 1: Deals an additional 1-6 Shadow damage on hit.

Description: A crudely made copper blade of unknown origins, found plunged into the belly of a tamed Ferrawolf.

“You sure?” Rakkan hesitated.

“Yeah, you’re a member of the party now. We share the loot fairly and sort it as needed, and you’re the only one who can use it.” Aegis shrugged. Rakkan took the sword and replaced his own with it, giving it a few swings to test it out before sheathing it.

“C’mon already, let’s do this!” Darkshot shouted with glee as he started running up the mountain. “It’s this way, come on!” He yelled back.

“It’s been so long since I’ve done a dungeon in one of these games!” Pyri promptly chased after him excitedly. “Come on you slow pokes!” She shouted. Rakkan, Lina and Aegis gave each other quick glances before breaking into sprints as well, giant smiles across their faces. The freedom of running through the grassy fields and up the side of the rocky, not so steep Jia’nir mountain was exhilarating to Aegis. The fresh air blew through his hair and filled his lungs as he took in the view, seeing more and more of the land around Rene the higher up the mountain they got. He spotted several wild critters of varying types scurrying away from the sound of their footsteps as they passed by the odd tree here and there.

He couldn’t tell if they were rabbits, squirrels, or some unknown fantasy creature he’d never heard of before, but it felt freeing to be surrounded by this much nature, beyond anything he’d experienced in the real world.

“Wooooo!” Darkshot shouted from the front as loud as he could, his voice echoing off the rocky landscape. The higher up they got, the steeper and rockier the land, until there was more jumping than there was running, but none of them let up as they maneuvered around the cliffs and rocky hills, and after 10 minutes of moving quickly, Darkshot came to a stop on a small flattened ledge that sat up against a large cliff face. Aegis and the others caught up to him shortly after, everyone taking a moment to catch their breath as they looked on at the entrance to the cavern before them.

The cavern entrance was a large, natural looking hole formed into the cliff face they’d stopped in front of. The light from the sun didn’t reach very far into the cave before it went pitch black, but the sound of the wind howling into it gave a sense that it went very far beyond what they could see. The rocky gray walls were jagged and moss covered, but the floor of the cavern looked flattened and easy to walk on.

“Lumina.” Pyri chanted, causing the end of her simple gnarled staff to begin glowing a bright white light, allowing them to see a bit further into the cave than they could before. As their breathing quieted down they all listened carefully to try to hear any sounds coming from within aside from the howling wind, but it was quiet.

“You said you saw golems?” Aegis asked and Darkshot nodded.

“Yup, some rocks were stomping after me when I left. I didn’t go too far in.”

“Okay, I’ll take the lead. First one might be attacking whoever, but after that I should be able to use it to make a lure.” Aegis said as he took a few steps forward with his shield out.

“Wait wait wait, hold up. This ain't no Darxon hideout. This is a level 25 dungeon. You’re not gonna aggro the whole cave are you? Cause we’ll get stomped.” Darkshot stopped him.

“Darkshot’s right, a lure would be a bad idea until we’re stronger. With higher level enemies it’s good to go slower until we memorize their attacks.” Rakkan agreed.

“Yes, exactly. What he said.” Darkshot pointed at Rakkan. Aegis looked to Lina who nodded in agreement.

“Alright, fine, slow and careful.” Aegis took his hand off the lure bottles on his belt, fastened his strongest Reinforced Copper Shield to his left arm, then began walking forward into the cavern. Darkshot stood back beside Pyri while Rakkan walked beside Aegis and Lina just behind him.

Entering Dungeon: [Caverns of Jia'nir - Level 25]

The message appeared in Aegis’ peripheral vision and he quickly waved it away.

“This should be fun, to be the first players to explore this place.” Aegis turned with a smile to look at the others behind him, getting a few in return. “By the way, Mom, I know what everyone else does but what kind of spells do you have?” He asked her.

“Well. I looked a bunch of spells up while you were studying for your exams…” She trailed off for a moment. “Wizards are tough.”

“That’s true, they’ve got the most known intermediate class specializations out of all the beginner classes.” Darkshot agreed.

“You can learn almost any beginner spell in the Magic Academy in Kordas, but, trying to level them all up would take forever.” Lina explained to Aegis.

“That’s right, and I didn’t want to keep you guys waiting too long, so I only learned two. I made sure to get a damage spell that focused on control though.” Pyri said.

“Control?” Aegis asked. Rakkan cleared his throat as he prepared to speak.

“When you get the Wizard beginner class, you start with four passive skills. Power, Control, Concentration and Meditation. Power’s for how strong and big your spells are, Control is for manipulating the spells after you’ve casted it, Concentration is for focus, casting speed and channeling spells, and Meditation is for mana recovery and usage.” Rakkan said proudly.

“Right now this spell is gaining me Concentration experience.” She motioned to the Lumina spell glowing on her staff. “I took it because it’s easy to learn and there’s always dark places in games like these. But because my concentration is low, if I try to cast another spell, this spell will end.” She shrugged.

“And that Cinderbolt spell, that’s a control spell?” Aegis asked.

“Yup. There’s not a lot of controlled beginner spells that deal damage so I didn’t have much choice… Cinderbolt.” She whispered, casting the spell. The light from her Lumina spell vanished but was replaced by the red glowing light emitted from the ball of flames that formed above her right hand and just hovered in place.

“Unlike the other firebolt beginner spell, this is just a tiny ball of flames that I can tell where to go to try and burn things. The downside is it does a lot less damage, but the upside- ” She waved her hand around and the Cinderbolt levitated along with her hand motions. “I can control where it goes and how long it burns stuff, even make it move around objects. So at the cost of more mana and less damage, it helps me raise all four Wizard passive skills at once. Power for its size and damage, control for moving it around, concentration for keeping it burning, and meditation because it drains mana while it’s active.” She finished by snapping her finger and making the Cinderbolt disappear.

“Lumina.” She casted the glowing light on her staff once more.

“Do you know what intermediate class you want to be already?” Aegis asked her.

“That’s a secret.” She whispered back mischievously. As she spoke, the sounds of rocks falling on the cavern floor ahead of them echoed off of the cave walls, mixing in with the howling wind that had quieted down. Glancing back Aegis saw the light from outside still, they were only a couple meters into the cavern. He held up his hand to signal them all to stop.

Lina pulled out her daggers, Darkshot took his bow out and nocked an arrow while Rakkan brought out his spear and longsword. Aegis slowly took a few more steps forward while staying in the light radius of Pyri’s Lumina spell, but he couldn’t see very far beyond it save for the outline of a few small, blunt stalactites hanging from the 3 meter high cavern ceiling that the light was reflecting off of. A moment of silence was followed by the sound of stones grinding against each other slowly in the darkness of the cavern ahead of them, followed by a loud stomp that sent vibrations through the floor of their feet. Then another echoing grind, and a second stomp to follow. It repeated slowly as the stomps and grinding got closer and closer. Aegis held up his shield to brace, and after the 5th stomp Aegis saw it.

At the very edge of Lumina’s light radius, the approaching stone golems outline became visible as it pulled back a rock fist and thrust it forward at Aegis with an echoing deep roar. Aegis threw up his shield and braced the attack as best he could as the fist slammed into his shield.

You take 973 Bludgeoning damage.

Reinforced Copper Shield's durability has dropped by 3.

Aegis’ vision went white as his ears rang. The force of the fist pushed the shield along with his arm back into his chest and knocked him back off his feet despite the effects of his Shield Mastery, causing him to slam into Darkshot like a ragdoll. Darkshot stumbled back a few steps and dropped his bow as he struggled to keep his balance and act as a net for Aegis.

The pain was excruciating for the few seconds it remained, as if Aegis’ arm and all his ribs, along with his spine had all been broken. After two seconds the pain subsided and his vision came back to him as the ringing faded, but it was quite a shock to his system. It’d been an entire in-game week since Aegis had properly fought, and he hadn’t yet fought an enemy with such a big level discrepancy before.

He did his best to regain his composure while accepting that he had severely overestimated his tankiness, and severely underestimated how strong a monster in the 20’s would be. [Lesser Gneiss Golem - Level 22] was just barely visible above the monster's head as it took another stomping step forward towards Pyri’s light. Despite ‘lesser’ being the name, the creature towered over them all in height, roughly 2.5 meters tall just barely clearing under the stalactites on the ceiling. It wasn’t a single bodied creature but rather was made up of several jagged stones sticking together to form limbs, all attached to a singular large torso stone that had a smooth, perfectly carved circle in the center of it with symbols etched into it. Aegis found himself looking up at the head to see two stones stuck together. A large jagged stone with a smaller curved stone stuck on the bottom as if it were a jaw, but no eyes or nose. As the jaw stone lowered downward to the bottom of the headstone, a loud grinding roar could be heard again. The golem followed up its roar by leaning forward, using its bulky uneven left arm for balance as it pulled back its right one to prepare to strike again.

Lina and Rakkan both jumped back out of the way to dodge the fist as it slammed into the floor of the cavern, shaking the entire cave and causing dust and small pebbles to tumble down from the ceiling and walls around them.

“Aegis!” Lina turned to run to him with a concerned expression.

“I’m ok… Healing Wind!” He quickly cast himself. He followed that with three Minor heal cast in the time it took the Golem to take another swing at Rakkan which he ducked underneath, causing it to slam into the cavern wall. The healing had costed Aegis a quarter of his mana and caused the Golem to focus back on him.

“That thing’s a bit too high level to block, try dodging.” Rakkan suggested.

“No, it’s perfect.” Aegis groaned back painfully.

“Didn’t look perfect.” Darkshot retorted.

“It's good for Shield Mastery experience, and if I’ve gotta heal myself this much, I’ll have plenty of aggro.” Aegis replied as he prepared his shield for the charging golem as it closed the gap between them in a few steps. Darkshot grabbed his bow and rolled out of the way to one side while Pyri jumped back to the other. Once the Golem had gotten around Rakkan and Lina it thrusted its right fist at him.

You take 949 Bludgeoning damage.

Reinforced Copper Shield's durability has dropped by 3.

This time he was more prepared for it and wasn’t knocked in the air, but instead the soles of his leather boots slid back three meters along the smooth cavern floor before he lost his footing and stumbled backward a few steps.

“The only problem is, it’s costing me a quarter of my mana and 8 seconds to recover after each hit. So I’d appreciate it if you guys stopped watching me get pounded and kill this thing fast.” Aegis shouted as the Golem recovered its balance from the strike and started stomping through the cavern towards him again. Luckily, it wasn’t moving very fast, which gave Aegis time to heal himself and back up a bit in between casts. In this time, Darkshot nocked an arrow again and unleashed the full force of his abilities into the Golem. Lina used the darkness to Shadowstep behind the golem and began slashing at the stone while Rakkan slashed at its lumpy, heavier left side and avoided the smaller stones on the right side that it was favoring to attack Aegis with. Pyri canceled her Lumina spell to use Cinderbolt, which changed the bright white light around them to a dim red glowing light, but it was still enough to see where the Golem was for all of them. She forced the Cinderbolt into the Golem’s chest and held it there to cause as much fire damage as she could, and Aegis could see the barrage of red damage numbers now appearing around Golem from all sides.

Regardless, it stayed focused on Aegis, and once it was close enough it pulled its right fist back before thrusting it forward into Aegis’ braced shield.

“Why’d it have to be bludgeoning?” Aegis complained in anticipation for the hit.

You take 980 Bludgeoning damage.

Reinforced Copper Shield's durability has dropped by 3.

Aegis wasn’t so lucky on the balance front this time, flying off his feet onto his side and rolling backward against his will as his body momentarily felt like a pile of jelly that’d been set on fire and stung by a thousand bees.

“Oooh.” Pyri winced as she watched him roll on the ground beyond the cavern entrance and back out into the sunlight. “Hang in there!” She tried to encourage him. The sound of blades and arrows piercing, cutting and chipping away at the golem echoed off the walls of the cavern around them, shouting all of their abilities to maximize their damage, but the golem seemed indifferent. He regained balance on its lopsided body and began stomping after Aegis once more, disregarding the fact that Aegis wasn’t even in the dungeon anymore.

“Minor heal… Minor heal…” Aegis desperately casted on himself as he stood back up, trying his best to regain his composure as he watched the stone jaw lower again, releasing a horrendous roar that echoed over the mountain. “Anytime now guys!” Aegis shouted at them as he watched his own mana drop to 25%.

“We’re trying, it’s a level 22 pile of rocks, what do you expect from us?! I’m dealing like 0 damage to this thing!” Darkshot yelled back angrily between his shots.

“I heal and take hits, remember? The cool speech?” Aegis shouted back.

“How bout you heal and try dodging instead!” Darkshot retorted.

“Dodging’s not as cool.” Aegis groaned as he lifted up his shield, now standing at the edge of the ledge they’d entered the dungeon from, shouting into the cave at his companions of which he barely saw due to the red Cinderbolt.

“Oh yeah, you’re looking real cool right now rolling around on the ground.” Darkshot mocked him. Rakkan, Lina and Pyri were having a hard time not laughing at the two angrily shouting at each other, but it wasn’t just Darkshot dealing reduced damage - the golem’s armor and resistances were extremely high. The golem once again closed in on Aegis and dug its oversized left fist into the ground for grip as it pulled back its right fist once more.

“H-healing Wind.” Aegis whimpered to refresh it on himself as he braced the attack.

You take 961 Bludgeoning damage.

Reinforced Copper Shield's durability has dropped by 3.

Aegis flew off the flattened ledge outside the cavern into the air a few meters, rolling onto the rocky mountainside over a few patches of grass until finally coming to a stop. Looking up he saw the golem glaring down at him under the bright afternoon sun, now visible in all its glory as it pounded the ground once triumphantly, still glaring at Aegis.

“Well at least I’m outside of the dungeon, so it’ll probably give me a break and stop chasing, right?” Aegis said as he stood up. “Minor heal.” He started casting.

“N-not necessarily!” Lina warned him as she ran out of the cave behind the Golem alongside Rakkan, both swinging furiously at the golems legs to no avail. The golem bent its rocky knees and then with incredible force, jumped up into the air with a lunging strike, for the first time leading with its left fist as it prepared to slam down on Aegis.

“Huh, it can jump.” Aegis watched in disbelief as the giant rock creature plummeted towards him.

“Dodge you moron!” Darkshot shouted as he watched Aegis stare at it in a daze. Aegis didn’t need to be told twice, and quickly dashed into a roll off to the side just narrowly missing the walking boulder's ground slam.

...

Amlie was happily tending to a row of cotton plants in her field with the peaceful sound of birds chirping around her, humming along with their chirps cheerfully. As she reached down to grab a bucket of water she watched the water within it ripple violently, followed by the sound of a distant monster’s roar echoing over the mountainside.

“Oh, sounds like their adventure started.” She cheerfully said to herself before picking up the bucket and continuing her humming.

...

Where the golem had slammed the ground was now a small crater in the rock and dirt, and the unbalanced weight of the golem’s limbs had resulted in its left arm being stuck in the ground where it had landed. This gave Aegis time to stumble away and finish healing himself up, but his mana was close to empty and he didn’t have enough to top himself off again yet.

“It’s gotta have a weakness right? What about that symbol on its chest! It looks like Pyri’s doing full damage by burning it there. Pin it down here while it’s stuck and hit the chest thingy!” Aegis called out.

“Pinning Shot!” Darkshot shouted, the glowing arrow piercing into the back of the golems right leg. It shot out vines in all directions that wrapped themselves around the leg, binding it to the ground as best as it could.

“Shadow step!” Lina disappeared from the darkness of the cavern entrance and re-appeared in the shadows cast by the golem’s large body, so that she was immediately underneath it as it gave another yank to its left arm, trying to pull itself free. Rakkan on the other hand did a running jump with his weapons out, Leaping down on the golem from above in the same way that the golem had jumped. Pyri moved to the edge of the ledge, holding out her staff in her right hand as she maintained concentration on her cinderbolt to the best of her ability.

“Redirect!” Darkshot fired a few arrows above the golem, unable to shoot the front of its chest due to it facing away from him and Pyri, and instead shooting arrows past the golem and then redirected them so that they doubled back and hit it from the front. He and Lina immediately saw a dramatic increase in the amount of damage they were dealing.

“It’s working, we’re doing more damage!” Darkshot cheered. Rakkan heard this as he landed on the golems' back and drove his new sword into the stone. He immediately ran over the golem’s shoulder to land in front of it just as it gave another powerful yank and freed it’s left arm from the dirt, but it stumbled backwards due to the vines around it’s foot and couldn’t regain its composure immediately. Seeing Lina follow it’s movement to continue her flurry of blows on the small target, Rakkan decided against competing her for space in front of the boss.

“Switch, Rapidfire!” He switched out his spear for his crossbow and began firing bolt after bolt into the chest. They got in a lot of good hits before the golem ripped it’s foot free of the vines and turned to glare at Aegis once more.

“Aw man…” Aegis rolled his eyes as it started charging at him. He raised his shield in preparation for the hit, and it came just as expected. Another nearly 1000 points of bludgeoning damage as he skidded along the dirt a few meters until his back slammed against a large boulder jutting out of the landscape, taking an additional 1 bludgeoning damage from the impact.

“Ow, son of a… of course there’s a boulder here!” He shouted angrily at the inanimate object as the sensation of having all his bones broken subsided.

Level Up!: Leather Armor Proficiency has reached Level 22!

He waved the message away and tried two minor heals on himself, but he didn’t have enough mana to cast anymore.

“I’m out of mana!” Aegis announced anxiously as the golem prepared to charge again. “Any second now guys!” Aegis shouted as it let out another ferocious roar that echoed over the mountainside. It took two more stomping steps before there was a sudden explosion of dust and stone centering on its chest. Immediately following the explosion, the limbs of golem fell apart and tumbled to the ground like a pile of plain old rocks, forcing Lina to quickly dash out of the way to not get crushed.

Lesser Gneiss Golem slain!

You gain 10,053 Experience!

Congratulations, you have reached Level 14!: 3 attribute points available, +91 health, +47 mana!

“Phew!” Darkshot sighed with relief as he watched the stones tumble. “What did it drop?” He said as he and Pyri hopped down from the ledge and slowly walked towards the others.

“It didn’t drop anything.” Rakkan replied as if this was something obvious.

“You know, if that thing hit any of us other than you, we’d die in one hit? Maybe we should find a lower level dungeon to train in first. We can always come back later, right?” Darkshot suggested. Aegis wasn’t listening though, as he’d spotted a strange shimmer coming from the torso of golem as it exploded and was falling. He walked forward to the golem’s body with determination and kicked away some of the loose broken rock until he spotted it embedded into the inside of the torso of the golem.

“What is it?” Pyri asked curiously as she spotted the same thing Aegis had. Aegis immediately fumbled into his inventory and pulled out a pickaxe to take a swing at it.

“Iron.” He grinned from ear to ear.

“We’re not going to a lower level dungeon, are we?” Darkshot asked.

“Nope.” Aegis replied enthusiastically.