Syl

Chapter 163: Phantoms and Shadows

The third floor was not what we expected. As we continued through it, we found ourselves relaxing more and more after the stressful second floor was put further behind us. While Ethereal was annoying, our composition was quite suited to counter, especially since Ian's new axe could harm them.

Our next encounter was with Phantom Yetis, and even though Pelopi had to give up using [Frostclaw], we still dispatched them relatively easily. Honestly, it was a bit weird how much the dungeon seemed to favor the large white furry creatures as this was their second appearance, and Ian boasted that the dungeon must really like him since it was throwing something he so effortlessly countered. He technically didn't even need his new axe to beat them since they were extraordinarily weak to fire.

I would have loved to have gotten my tendrils on their profile to see if there were some hidden gems for the dungeon to keep throwing them at us. Unfortunately, any cool and interesting monsters I saw on this damned floor were nothing but a tease, and it looked like the few monsters I got to eat on the second floor would be all I would be getting. Well, except for my orange slime, which was the true prize.

Our loot for the yeti was some ordinary chainmail armor and some coin, much to the rest of the group's disappointment. Everyone else was suspicious that the dungeon wasn't being so ruthless on this floor. Pelopi still claimed it was trying to lure us into a trap, while Eliza wondered if the dungeon was just trying to get rid of us as soon as possible, as even the trapped hallways seemed to be gone. Ian defended the dungeon's virtue, while Jet had no comment and still seemed extremely peeved about going through so many crossbows against the cat.

Our next encounter was against headless knights called Dullahan. Their blackened armor and weapons looked extremely impressive and intimidating, which seemed to favor greatswords that they could wield one-handed. At first, we wondered how their being Ethereal would help such a clear physical monster, but they cleverly were only keeping their heads ghostly while their body remained entirely physical.

The Dullahan hid their vulnerable ghostly heads inside their chest cavity, trying to exploit their intangible dual nature to their benefit. This rapidly turned in our favor as [Lightning Bolt] nearly killed one in a single blow, likely due to all the energy surging inside such a convenient conductive metal trap.

After that demonstration, the remaining Dullahan hilariously all withdrew their heads from their chests with great haste. Seeing a dungeon monster act with such a determined effort to save itself was peculiar. I wondered if the dungeon master was taking a more direct approach, something like a course correction on what was supposed to be a challenging encounter suddenly being too easy.

Sadly for the Dullahan, I could still just throw [Conductive] on their vulnerable head specifically, and it would help redirect my spells toward it. Dewi might have said [Fireball] was the solution to everything, but now I had begun to wonder if the true solution wasn't [Lightning Bolt].

Noting that the Dullahan head was an entirely separate target, I cast [Conductive] on both the head and body of one and then cast [Chain Lightning]. The body tried to block the bolt of magical energy with its body, as it knew trying to dodge with its head wasn't viable. The result was the [Chain Lightning] violently striking into the armored body before sparking off into the head, then back into the body and repeating over and over until the Dullahan exploded into dead ghostly mist. Thankfully, the remaining energy within the spell was not enough to jump toward any further targets, and it was discharged safely.

"As I warned, the spell can be extremely dangerous." Jet shook his head. "At least you aren't using yourself as a conduit like Lisa once tried."

'One in three lightning mages end up killing themselves... I'm starting to think Trixie wasn't just joking around.'

These monsters also proved that Ian's axe had a limit; it wasn't called Ghostflesh for nothing, and the red enchantment seemed to give no additional benefit against their blackened armor. At least it still dealt damage, though, which could not be said for the blue enchantment, which seemed incapable of dealing even blunt damage against corporeal targets.

'I'll need to be careful if I successfully reproduce that enchantment effect. Imagine if I put that enchantment on my core and made myself permanently unable to deal damage to non-ghosts. I'd be forced to destroy my core.'

Other than my lightning, Jet was actually the most effective against these heavily armored foes. His umbral crossbow bolts seemed to pierce through any and all defense, and it was abruptly clear he was not holding back. It was surreal to see the actual bolt ricochet off the armor relatively harmlessly, only for a puncture wound to abruptly burst from seemingly nowhere.

'My debt is almost paid off...'

After a brief respite, we swiftly continued since there was no loot to gather or corpses to harvest. Our theory that the dungeon was trying to get us out of it as soon as possible was called into question when the next room was full of rock, crystal, and earth elementals, clearly in retaliation to my abundant use of lightning.

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To make matters worse, they didn't just have a generic Ethereal mutation; instead, they had one that clearly skirted the theme's edges. Shadow. I would have thought Jet would have thrived against such foes, but it appeared that would not be the case, as it seemed the Shadow mutation gave a generic resistance against almost everything due to its strange sort of ethereal nature. Big tanky earth elementals with improved resistances...

"Well... This is going to be a slog." Ian grumbled.

And a slog it was. We dispatched most lesser elementals without much trouble, but the Crystal variety was highly resistant to magic even before its Shadowy mutation. It finally went down after a lot of combined effort from Pelopi and Jet, absolutely pummeling it with endless attacks. It finally cracked, shattered, and collapsed into a lifeless, hazy black blob.

That only left the Obsidian one, which, despite our best efforts, resisted almost everything we threw at it. Water and Corrosion seemed the best available out of my magic options, but even that produced a lackluster result. Seeing [Waterjet] fail to penetrate the elemental despite [Permeable] and [Hexed] being applied to it was extremely demoralizing, and I wished I could have gone full slime on the blasted thing.

The way we finally dealt with the monster was boring but effective. I cast [Mana Burn] on it, and we waited till it eventually ran out of mana and died. Sure, there was no glory, and it wasn't very fun, but we won against the blasted thing. We each had to take turns kiting the slow and cumbersome monster around the room, as Ian did not have the stamina to handle the task for the full duration.

"So boring!" Pelopi whined.

"I didn't expect the dungeon to throw such a high-tier monster at us, although thankfully, it was just one of the durable variety." Jet said.

"I've been meaning to ask this for a while, but my [Identify] leveled up, and it's... Different." I asked Jet while thinking of the strange obsidian elemental.

"Oh? You do unlock more stuff as it goes. What changed?" Jet asked.

"The Obsidian Elemental had a symbol next to its name?" I said, holding out my index and middle finger to mimic the V-shape.

"Ah! Yes, I know exactly what you're talking about," Jet said rather happily. "It's a curious number script, believe it or not. Nobody knows why the Gods use it, but that means tier five. The Crystal elemental was tier four, and the Rock elemental was tier three."

I used [Identify] on myself and looked at the result.

'So I'm tier four then?'

"Does that mean the obsidian elemental evolved five times?" Pelopi asked.

"No, wouldn't it be four evolutions?" Ian interjected. "One plus four."

Jet chuckled. "You're both wrong. Not all monsters start at tier one."

"That makes sense. No way you can compare a goblin to an orc." Eliza joined in on the conversation.

"Yes and no," Jet replied, swishing his hand. "Depending on how it evolved, a goblin, in theory, could have more potential than an orc. Evolutions and Mutations can be scary, depending on which ones are stacked together. For example, an Ogre is tier three, but personally, I'd be more cautious around a tier three goblin."

"Why, though?" Pelopi asked.

"The goblin would have more levels, wouldn't it?" I asked.

"Correct!" Jet replied. "I'm glad to hear someone has read up a bit on monster theory; there are quite a lot of books at our Kaerlin branch otherwise gathering dust... Anyway, a tier three goblin has, in theory, thirty monster levels behind it."

"That many?" Ian asked, looking a little shocked.

Jet pointed to me to answer, perhaps wanting to test my knowledge.

"Ten for the first evolution and twenty for the second evolution. Their level resets on each evolution, so it's a cumulative thirty." I answered.

"That's thirty trait points. Bloody hell." Eliza said wide-eyed.

"Bingo!" Jet chuckled. "Now, obviously, a fresh Ogre doesn't start with no traits, but a goblin that survived that long? It would also have a ton of encounters and experience in addition to whatever it evolved."

"Assuming it survives that long..." Eliza added, and Jet nodded in agreement.

"But we fought some evolved goblins, and they weren't so tough?" Pelopi questioned.

"They were dungeon spawned, though," Jet replied. "They come in at a set level; they didn't work and earn that level. They are also like slimes in how mindless they are, as are most dungeon minions."

'Hey... I resent that comment.'

"Okay. So, if I see an evolved goblin in the wild, I must be super cautious. Got it." Pelopi said, nodding enthusiastically.

"Cautious is an understatement. Having gone through two or three evolutions, a goblin would be downright sadistic in its quest for more power." Jet warned.

"Evolution crazy...." Eliza muttered. "It's a pity; imagine if we could have civilized goblins on our side."

"Goblin adventurers would be kind of fun," Pelopi giggled.

"It's been tried and failed far too many times, unfortunately." Jet shrugged. "It never ends well."

"Boo! That's no fun." Pelopi whined.

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger," Jet waved his hand. "Go complain to the Gods."

"What about [Bonded Companions]?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah! Monster Tamers!" Pelopi agreed with unbridled energy and enthusiasm.

"Damn, you aren't giving this old man a break." Jet chuckled.

"You're not that old yet." Ian countered.

"Compared to you lot, I feel like I am." Jet teased. "Now, I'm no expert, but from what I understand, the bond helps keep the sanity in check, but if the monster evolves too quickly before a well-established relationship, the companion becomes feral and must be put down."

Pelopi flinched, and her ears drooped in disappointment.

"Brutal," Ian commented.

"Harsh," Eliza agreed.

"Hey, I said I'm not an expert!" Jet defended himself. "There are probably other ways around it, like dominating the beast until it complies or perhaps tricking it with snacks, or who knows."

Rested up, we continued onwards, only to be met with an extremely large set of ornate doors not long after.

"Final boss room already?" Jet murmured, unable to hide his surprise.

"The dungeon must genuinely want to get rid of us," Eliza giggled.

"Hardly any traps. No forked passageways. Looks like the dungeon is treating us well." Ian said passionately.

"Almost no loot though," I added.

"I'm not going to complain! I can't wait to see the sun again!" Pelopi cheered.

"So... The final boss will be all three mutations?" I commented.

"A mismatch of multiple monsters with illusions and ethereal..." Jet answered, then shook his head. "I get the feeling I'm going to despise this."

"Look on the bright side; at least you don't need to eat your hat anymore." Pelopi teased.

I could've sworn I felt my oversized witch hat tremble at that comment.

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