The lizards are getting bigger and tougher as their level rises and time goes on. A few dozen of them are spawning every wave now, and each mana dart I launch takes out two or three of them as they scurry towards the obelisk or my companions. No lizards have made it to the obelisk yet, but several have slipped past my teammates and had to be put down by me.
The cavern is filled with the sounds of scurrying claws on stone, grunts from my teammates, and the slam of steel on stone as they move to kill each and every lizard that comes for them. Occasionally a lizard will survive a hit from me or my allies, letting out a shrieking screech until we finally put it down.
At around the fifteen-minute mark is when I notice Corvax starts to regularly use his sunlight energy to kill lizards that are out of his melee range with a beam attack. A bright beam of sunlight energy flashes from one of his palms, creating a burning, smoking hole in each creature it touches. He must’ve been practicing. He wasn’t able to do that before.
Daniel has his hammer in one hand and a dagger in the other, smashing and stabbing lizards with a gleeful smile on his face, occasionally pulling out one of his wide-spread shots to take out a few grouped-up lizards. His armor is still glowing, but it’s clear that he’s going to run out of his extra mana reserves sooner rather than later.
Stella is doing surprisingly well. She swings her giant warhammer around like it’s some kind of toy and not a six-foot weapon of war made completely out of steel. She moves in quick, short bursts, smashing and crushing any lizard that enters her hammer's range. I also notice that whenever she moves, there is a burst of mana in her legs. I think she’s using mana boosting much like how I do, but instead of using raw mana like me, it feels like she’s using some kind of skill instead. She must have a better way to do it with her healing and body-related skills.
I keep thinning the herd, launching mana dart after mana dart through my rifts, making sure that the remaining lizards aren’t too much for my allies. Hundreds of lizards have died at this point, but still they keep coming from the fog like ants out of an anthill. After a few more minutes, nearing the twenty-five-minute mark, a few of the lizards coming out of the fog look a bit different from the rest, with slightly bigger and thicker scales based on my observations. I also feel much more mana coming off of them, probably enough to mean that these guys use it externally in some way.
I create another mana projectile and accompanying rift and feed mana into the [Gravitic Generation Array] in my hand, launching the dart into the side of the new lizard type. The dart rips through the rift and slams into the side of the lizard after a few moments of flight, breaking through the scales and sinking inside the beast, causing it to stumble and crash to the ground. It lets out a horrible screech as well as a quick burst of flame from its mouth as it goes down. I notice that I didn’t get a kill notification, so I quickly aim another dart at its head and launch it as it tries to get back to its feet, finally killing it.
[You have slain a creature]
[Level 15 Fire-Bellied Lizard]
I yell out to everyone that some of the new lizards are able to breathe fire and get back a few grunts in response. I need to modify my projectiles again to be able to reliably kill these new lizards in one shot. And I have to come up with it while still supporting my team. If I let up, they might get overrun.
A smile creeps to my lips as I start feeding mana into [Concentration], putting my mind back into a calm and logical state while simultaneously keeping up my prior rate of fire on the lizards. I feel the strain on my mind as one part of my brain focuses on targeting lizards and creating rifts, quickly shaping a dart and then launching it, all while another part of my brain works on making an even better, deadlier projectile.
I start by shaping my mana into a foot-long cylinder and bring one end to a point while leaving the other flat. I add fins to the back, at a slight angle to promote spin, and start pumping it with as much mana as I can until I feel it reach my current limit with [Mana Shaping]. Next, I use [Concentration] on just the point, making it sharper and sharper as the mana compresses down to a wickedly fine point. I open a second rift so as not to slow my fire rate down but to increase it instead at the cost of more mental strain.
I use the cube in my skeletal hand to launch both projectiles through their respective rifts at the same time, one aiming for a three-lizard collateral and the other for one of the new fire-breathing lizards. I finally start to feel that feeling I’ve missed over the last week or so, the thrill of pushing myself to my limits in the midst of battle. The feeling of relying on my comrades and them relying on me, knowing that we have each other's backs no matter what. And most importantly of all, the feeling of my mana coursing through me, imparting my will onto the world through the use of my skills and techniques.
The first dart flies true and finds its three targets one after another, doing its job and putting down the three monsters. The second projectile, aiming for one of the fire-breathing lizards, also reaches its intended target swiftly, coming into contact with the lizard just behind its front left arm. The dart punches through the scales like a knife through butter, sinking deep into the monster's chest cavity, killing it.
[You have slain multiple creatures]
[Level 13 Red-Bellied Lizard]
[Level 9 Red-Bellied Lizard]
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[Level 11 Red-Bellied Lizard]
[Level 16 Fire-Bellied Lizard]
[You have leveled up to level 33]
[You have leveled up an active skill]
[Concentration] lvl 14
[You have leveled up a passive skill]
[Mana Stabilization Field] lvl 13
Finally, I was starting to worry that I might not get any real gains from this dungeon, but I’m not worried about that now. These lizards are finally getting strong enough to challenge me a bit.
My teammates are still doing relatively well, even with the new lizards who occasionally belch fire on them. It doesn’t seem like they can ‘breathe fire’ exactly, more like an occasional burst of flames from their maw, like a burp. Both Corvax and Stella just take the slight damage and heal themselves afterward, while Daniel’s armor seems to block this level of flame with no issue, but he also often targets the fire-capable lizards first with a spell very similar to the stone lance that the goblin shaman used on us, creating stone spears under the monsters.
I start applying [Concentration] to the tip of all of my projectiles after seeing the difference it made. I keep the double rift tactic going in order to add some relief to my allies, and because it’s kind of fun to push myself like this and surpass my limits. My mind is on overtime as it works on doing two tasks simultaneously, keeping my rate of fire high as my mana projectiles launch into lizard after lizard, rarely only taking down one with how many are skittering across the cavern floor.
Each minute, lizards fall by the dozen to our defense against their relentless approach. More and more of the fire-capable lizards start appearing as their levels keep on rising. Their fire burps last a bit longer and reach a bit further with each rise in power.
At one point I’m forced to finally make a move as Corvax of all people starts to get overrun by a swarm that split off from the other two and focused on him. I grab my sword hilt in my right hand and activate it as I time my teleport to arrive next to him right as he finishes a wide swing with his axe and clears a small area for me. Suddenly I appear next to him in the gap in the wall, the surge of lizards being funneled right into us.
We quickly fall into a rhythm as we slay lizard after lizard next to each other. My sword finds some resistance on their scales, but not enough to save their lives as I swing my mana blade with the cold efficiency that [Concentration] offers. I’m fast enough to kill most lizards before they get a chance to spit fire at me, but for the ones that do, I expand the space between us, causing the fire to dissipate along its lengthened travel time. I pierce, slash, and dismember for a few minutes until things settle back down and I’m able to return to the obelisk and take my seat on its top and check the notification that popped up halfway through the melee.
[You have leveled up to level 33]
Around the forty-minute mark, the number of lizards in each wave, which are coming nearly non-stop at this point, slowly starts to taper until they completely stop a few minutes later. I keep vigilant, constantly changing and adjusting my spatial perception field in case some lizards are trying to use stealth or something, but find nothing of the sort.
“That marks the end of the endurance portion of the dungeon. Good job, everyone!” Stella says after she smashes the last lizard and looks around to confirm everyone is okay. “Now comes the real fight. We should have a few minutes before they come, so rest while you can. We’ll get a chance to loot later.”
All of my teammates decide to gather around the obelisk in front of me as I sit on the top with my legs dangling down. Everyone looks pretty gassed out, but I know from experience that Daniel and Corvax are able to fight for hours if they need to, and I’ve been regenerating mana this entire time. This dungeon has played to my strengths much more than anything else we’ve faced so far. With my mana regeneration being so high, I’m better suited to drawn-out fights than the others are. I’ve probably got about half of my mana left, with more regenerating every second.
Daniel leans on the obelisk next to my legs and looks up at me with a smirk on his face as I slide out of my state of [Concentration]. “I couldn’t help but notice you pulled out a new, completely original move there. Finally putting that heart cube to use?”
I roll my eyes at his first comment. “Like you’re the first guy with the idea to make something small go really fast. And yes, I figured if some poor guy was unlucky enough to be turned into a magical tool that we found in a secret laboratory, I might as well use it. It would be disrespectful not to, I think. Plus, apparently space and gravity are closely related, so it seemed like a good fit.”
“Seems like a good fit to me, too, based on how many lizards never made it to the wall. Fits your whole magic-focused wizardry vibe, too. Think you’ll be able to fly with it?” He asks, somehow able to go from the thrill of battle to casual conversation in the blink of an eye, and he doesn’t even have [Concentration] to force it like I do.
“Why would I want to fly when I can teleport? At best I’d want to hover, and I’m pretty sure I could do that after some practice, probably. And don’t think I didn’t see you using some new moves too. It looks like that earth affinity is working out well.”
He shrugs his shoulders in response. “I always knew it would. It just feels right. Metal and earth, I mean. They complement each other well. One makes up where the other falls short. Well, that and I’m like a super badass modern knight.” He glances at me out of the corner of his eye. “With an almost equally badass sidekick.”
“The sidekick is always the funny one, anyway, and doesn’t have to deal with all the bullshit the hero does. He just gets to tag along for a fun ride.” I respond, not giving in to his obvious bait.
“Yeah, but the hero always gets laid.” He counters.
“Still thinking about Doctor Hari?” I counter back, causing him to turn away from me slightly.
Daniel clears his throat. “Shouldn’t we be preparing for more monsters or something?” He says, walking back to his gap in the wall.
Just a minute later, I see a reptilian foot emerge from the fog, several large claws attached to it. I warn everyone to get ready as I watch the rest of the creature emerge, part of my inner child getting excited at what walks out. A velociraptor, or at least something that looks very similar, albeit a lot bigger.
It stands at about five feet from top to bottom and probably double that from snout to the end of its tail. I can feel the same mana that was on the other lizards, but even stronger from this one. Five more of them step out right after the first one, all in a group instead of spread out. I never thought I would be fighting magic dinosaurs, but I can’t say I’m disappointed!