Book 2: Chapter 29
The first thing he did after the meeting ended was gather the others around and head back to the store to pick up his coins from the sale of his arrows. On the way he explained to the others what happened during the meeting and everything that was spoken about, including the whole aura thing. When they got to the store Ulorid greeted him with a bow, it was weird, but he chose to ignore it. They did the quick transaction with the goblin sending him 760.5 gold coin, a huge sum that he could now spend on whatever his heart desired. He did some quick math and realised he lost 10% of the value from what Alannah had told him, which must be the fee, still he wasn’t too upset about it considering that he had only spent a night working on the arrows and made out with a huge amount of money.
He decided against a shopping spree in favour for getting some more rest, he still wasn’t fully recovered from the bonding and tomorrow he had plans to push as far as he could into the dungeon, with all the increases he had in his stats as well as a new affinity, he planned on really pushing himself. He knew the others were curious as to what had happened to him, but Eric and Gabe both knew he wouldn’t answer their questions and Viv and Li had obviously spoken and decided it wasn’t worth pushing him on it, not after everything that had happened the last day.
His dreams were odd, he felt that they weren’t just dreams but some long repressed memory from another being, and when he woke, although he felt rested, he didn’t feel like he had the best nights sleep. His only plans for the day were a morning dungeon run, after he would do some shopping and then some crafting, lastly they had the first feast, where everyone would be coming together after the first round of fights to all celebrate the victor’s. Anyone could attend the feast, including the clans and major faction reps, but it was optional so he wasn’t sure who would actually go.
The moment he got to the dungeon he was nothing but excited, the people around him, not so much. The moment he entered the room people looked on with no small amount of fear, he couldn’t even blame them either, the last time he came out of a dungeon he let loose an aura that drove everyone to the ground, they had no idea what would happen this time.
As soon as he got into the dungeon, looking at the ants that appeared, he tested out his new ice affinity immediately. He channelled the power through his body and into his hand, and with a wave, aimed to freeze every ant in front of him. They didn’t even have a chance, there was very little indication that he had done anything outside of a soft blue glow coming from his hand and coating the monsters. But it was enough, they died immediately, unable to resist the deathly cold that permeated every inch of their body.
He pushed through the beginning of the dungeon quickly, using it to test out what he could do with ice, what he found was that he could conjure a wind that froze everything in its path, literally turn everything surrounding him to ice, not to mention that he could summon ice into any shape he wished, testing this out by creating spears and sending them flying at sparrows. He was an unstoppable force, wherever he moved only icy death followed. When he got to the wolves they didn’t stand a chance, they couldn’t even approach him without feeling the bite of death from his glowing hands. The whole experience was incredible. When the alpha tried to attack him on the 15th wave, it got within inches of his skin before it too joined the other wolves in death, unable to overcome the power the he wielded.
What made the entire experience so much better was that he now had so much mana that he had no need to hold back, it had more than doubled in a day due to the new affinity and his heritage. But that wasn’t the only changes he felt, his body, his mind, it was as if every monster moved in slow motion, he could process everything he saw in less than a second and his body moved so quickly, with so much force, that no monster could bare the attacks that he set on them.
When he got to the worms he was able to weave his way through them when they rose, quicker than they could attack, and dispatch them with no issues, not even needing to use his magic to kill them. The boss, who he had struggled with before, was frozen from the body up to its head, incapable to denying the ice that spread through it. It was truly glorious. He hadn’t managed to get any levels in the first 20 waves, but he also wasn’t getting any bonus experience until the last few waves. He knew he was close to getting to the next level though, he felt it.
*Wave 20 Completed – Wave 21 starting in 1 minute*
Finally. He thought, this was where he had to quit last time, but this time things were different. The cold from the Frost Giants was not going to hold him back, he could embrace the chill, the cold, and use it however he wished. The moment he appeared in the new landscape he felt the cold but it wasn’t anything like last time, he felt comfortable and he found that connecting to all of the snow and ice around him was as easy as breathing to him.
The Frost Giants appeared, standing tall and definitely looking like they could squash him if given the chance. Like last time one of them aimed a club at him, glowing a light blue which he now fully recognised as being an offshoot of the ice element. Rather than dodge the attack he simply stood there, waiting for it to hit him. The moment he did he had a brief second of panic, worrying that it had been a stupid thing to do and that he should have just dodged it, but it was all for nothing. The attack simply got absorbed into him, his own ice magic feeding on the lesser magic the giants used, definitely frost.
Now knowing that the only harm that they could do to him was going to be physical damage he decided to really test out his new stats, going all in with a physical assault until he found his limit. The giants weren’t quick, at least to him, dodging their physical attacks while unleashing his own was almost child’s play. They were only 4 levels higher than him but it felt more like he was 40 above them. He cut through the giants one by one, none able to even land a hit on him, the only thing letting him down was his sword, he needed a better sword now more than ever. He had the strength to truly wield a blade with impressive force, but he felt resistance in his attacks that should be there. It was now his number one thing on his to do list after the dungeon, he was going to craft a sword to rival anything he had ever made before. The giants fell to his blade on after another, none were able to stand up to him in speed or strength, too quickly did he finish the wave, wanting to move through to the next immediately.
*Wave 21 Completed – Wave 22 starting in 1 minute*
*You have defeated a (Frost Giant – Lvl 45). Bonus experience for killing an opponent above your level gained. 5000 TE awarded*
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*You have defeated a (Frost Giant – Lvl 45). Bonus experience for killing an opponent above your level gained. 5000 TE awarded*
*Class: Elemental Blade Slinger has levelled up by +1 levels. [Advanced] Elemental Blade Slinger has reached Level 44. +3 Str, +2 Dex, +3 End, +3 Vit, +4 Soul gained*
*Race: Human has levelled up by +1 levels. Human (E) has reached Level 42. +16 Ap gained*
He knew he had been close to a level, but seeing it was always nice. When he looted each of the Frost Giants, he obtained each of their weapons. More useless loot. Doing the quick math he would have over 150 weapons by the time he had cleared the next 4 waves. The next 3 waves went about the same way as the first one, he continued doing the entire thing with just his sword, enjoying the feeling of really pushing his body. Nothing had changed with the increase in both the levels of the giants or the number of them, they all fell by his blade. On the 25th wave things finally got a bit more interesting, the boss had made its appearance and it did not disappoint.
* Frost Giant King – Level 50*
It was almost funny how predictable the dungeon was sometimes. The king was taller, beefier and stronger than the others, it also wore a pendant around it neck, within it a blue gem that looks nice and shiny. The 29 normal giants stood behind their king but didn’t advance in front of it. It was only when the king lifted up its giant sword and the blue gem started to glow, did Shaun notice what was happening. The dungeon was getting colder, the snow was being whipped up into a frenzy and ice started to form in the air. If he didn’t have an ice affinity he probably would have frozen, as it was he simply acknowledged the changes and stood waiting for something more to happen.
He didn’t have to wait long, when the temperature suddenly plummeted even further an explosion of snow and ice was blasted towards him from the king. It probably would have killed him if it had been only a day ago, as it was though he simply let the attack fly over him, even the sharp icicles that were sent his way did no damage, almost as if they recognised him as having full control over them, they simply were commanded to stop once they got to his skin, forming a wall of shrapnel made of ice. Once the attack stopped he parted the wall, manipulating the icicles to allow him to pass. He made eye contact with the king, simply acknowledging its useless attack with a nod before giving it a cruel smile. Let’s see how you like it.
With a thought he sent every single one of the shards of ice back at the giants, hundreds of them flew through the air, quicker than even the kings attack. The giants couldn’t stop the barrage of tiny icicles, it pierced them over and over, ripping them to shreds. One by one they fell in pools of blood, until only the king remined, barely standing in front of its fallen kin. It had been fun, seeing the attack turned back on his enemy, but what he really wanted was a great finishing number.
Shaun pointed his gauntlet at the king, using a comical amount of mana in the process to power an attack. Then with a thought he sent a fire strike directly at it. The king wasn’t quick enough to dodge, too big and slow to truly move out of the way, and when the strike hit it in the chest the resulting blast of fire completely engulfed it. Steam blew into the air afterwards, blocking his vision, but that didn’t stop the notifications.
*Wave 25 Completed – Wave 26 starting in 1 minute*
*You have defeated a (Frost Giant – Lvl 49). Bonus experience for killing an opponent above your level gained. 5800 TE awarded*
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*You have defeated a (Frost Giant King – Lvl 49). Bonus experience for killing an opponent above your level gained. 5800 TE awarded*
*You have defeated a (Frost Giant – Lvl 50). Bonus experience for killing an opponent above your level gained. 6000 TE awarded*
*Class: Elemental Blade Slinger has levelled up by +1 levels. [Advanced] Elemental Blade Slinger has reached Level 45. +3 Str, +2 Dex, +3 End, +3 Vit, +4 Soul gained*
He looted the king first, and obtained what was called The Amulet of Winters Fury, it was a fitting name considering what it did, but in all honesty useless to him now that he had the ice element. He could still have some fun dismantling it though and using the gem in crafting something.
*Wave 26 Commencing*
He was ready for what was to come, some part of him had expected the environment to change but it weirdly stayed the same. What did change though was the monsters, all around him he felt them appear, 30 of them, blending in with their surroundings. Not that it stopped him from knowing they were there. He quickly pinpointed one and identified it.
*Snow Leopard – Level 50*
And here we go again. Shaun remembered what it was like to fight the lioness and lion back in the second stage, even the panthers in the forest. Cats were quick and lethal, but this time he was ready for it.
When the first leopard made it move from behind him, he felt it. It wasn’t just moving on top of the snow, it was moving within it, almost as if it could become one with its surroundings. As soon as it made the move to attack though Shaun turned so quickly that not only did he have time to move out of the way but he was able to cut through its neck before it even had a chance to hit the ground. He let out a huff of frustration, he had hoped that these leopards were going to prove more of a challenge but it seemed that the increase to his stats were still too much for even a monster nearly 10 levels above him.
He killed them all as they came at him, he even got to the point where he was using both his sword and the claws in his gauntlet as they tried to overwhelm him with sheer numbers, but it was so pointless that he started to get even more annoyed at how slow they were actually attacking him.
The 26th wave came and went without a level, getting nothing but pelts from the damn leopards. The 27th was the same, as was the 28th, but at least that time he got a level in both his class and race. The 29th was equally as boring. He had hopes for the 30th wave with he boss, a monster called a Cloning Snow Leopard, but the only exciting thing about it was that it was able to completely dematerialise into snow, which made it slightly harder to kill, especially when it seemed to be able to create multiple replicas of itself from the snow around it which meant he had to keep killing the damn things until it finally lost the energy to create clones and he could just kill it. The loot was even less exciting that what he had gotten previous, just the full pelt which had the power to replicate the wearer, but only for a moment and not very often, the only upside was that it looked cool.
Just before the start of the 31st wave the environment finally shifted, assuming that it would do so every 10 waves now, but he was greeted by a desert, a sandy, barren dessert. The monsters were at least different, although he couldn’t find any part of them that seemed like it would cause him any real issues when killing them.
*Sandstorm Scorpion – Level 55*
The most annoying thing about the dungeon now was the sand that kept trying to blow in his eyes, which he resolved quickly with just parting the air in front of him with his element. He realised pretty quickly though that the sand wasn’t the most annoying thing, when he made his first cut into a scorpion, taking off its stinger, he found that the entire appendage dissolved into sand and then quickly returned to the scorpion, the stinger reforming within seconds. After that he decided to just let loose, he had more mana than he knew what to do with, so he put his sword away and decided to just go crazy with his two most powerful elements. Anywhere that lightning struck glass would be left behind, the scorpions crystallising and shattering when struck, those that were unlucky enough to be frozen solid found were quickly dispatched by ordering the ice to simply explode. The wave ended and thankfully he was rewarded with another level. The loot was the poisonous stinger from the scorpions, something that he considered playing around with.
Shaun rampaged his way through wave after wave, gaining another level on the 33rd and then another on the 35th. The boss was a Tri-tailed Sand Scorpion, and at level 60 it didn’t go down easily. It had the ability to launch stingers from its tails, each one a deadly attack. It left him dodging almost nonstop until he decided enough was enough and simply froze it at the same time as calling down a bolt of lightning, its body blasted into hundred of pieces. That was when he learnt that you can’t loot a body that no longer existed enough to count as a body. He was still pretty happy about reaching level 49 in his class though and getting to level 44 in his race.
When he went into the 36th wave he was greeted by Dessert Vipers, vicious snakes that slithered through the sand and aimed to eat him whole. Killing them was easier than the scorpions, purely because they couldn’t reform when cut to pieces. But when he got to the 37th wave he was pissed, there was still only 40 monster’s and they were still only level 60. The entire thing was a joke. He completed the waves over and over but nothing changed. He had capped out, this was the best the dungeon could do. It wasn’t until he completed the 40th wave, killing a Jewel headed Viper and gaining another level, putting him at level 50 in his class did he decide enough was enough. But thankfully he got a nice reward from it, apparently level 50 was the special number.
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