The Dragon's Wrath: Ashes of the Fallen (11 page)

The goblin guard attempted to get back up as quickly as he could, but I had already prepared for this moment. With an outstretched arm and an open palm, I began a channel of electricity that connected the two of us. With the tether established, the lightning pulsated wildly as I watched the guard attempt to resist. The creature had a high willpower and was quickly regaining his composure, but it didn't really matter.

The goblin guard had been inside the freezing rain for almost ten seconds now, and it was nearly entirely white. Its movements slowed as it got to a knee, then as it attempted to stand up it stopped moving entirely. I ceased my channel as I surveyed the room, only to find that where five goblins had been leisurely enjoying their freedom less than a minute ago, there were now five frozen statues and a nearly frozen dwarf.

"You alright there, Barik?" I asked calmly.

"I'm a friggin' popsicle, damn," he replied as he stood there shaking.

I was shaking too, but it was only cold, nothing more nothing less.

The frost mage stopped channeling his [Freezing Rain] as the group gathered around the frozen goblins, eager at our prospects. It wouldn't take too long for them to defrost but they were kind of anxious to check the loot.

"That seemed, almost… too easy," I said after some time had passed.

"Told you she'd be right," said Ethan.

"Easy for you maybe, both of your health pools were dropping incredibly fast there at the end," spoke up Alan. "It wasn't that easy to heal you two."

"If I weren't so damn chilly after, I would be in love with that strategy," said Barik as he frantically rubbed his arms to try and warm up.

I had a better idea though, and reignited the campfire that the goblins had been using prior. It had been put out from the rain, but the wood was still usable.

All it took was a little fire magic to get it going again.

Not that I had sufficient control or proficiency in fire magic.

All I could manage was the equivalent of a strong lighter.

It wasn't too bad though; came in handy more often than not.

Warming up at the fireside, I already knew that the loot wasn't of any use to me. During the fight I was able to get a closer look at all of the items that the goblins used, thanks to my hyper-attentiveness recording all of the useless information that entered my field of view.

My memory was in shambles from all of the concussions, but strangely the more useless aspects still worked better than intended. I would rather be able to divide and do multiplication in my head without it taking a few minutes, only to question the results. That assumed I was even able to complete the problem in the first place, which wasn't really a guarantee.

Eh, nothing I could do about that though.

My brain simply didn't work normally anymore.

Normal, being a relative thing.

"Anything you want Sigurd?" asked Alan after he had started to pick through the items. "I think you already have all of these pieces… less you want a backup?"

"Nah I'm good, thanks though," I replied quickly and sincerely.

"Fifth floor?" Barik asked bluntly not more than a second after I had spoken.

"Should we return to the town first, to pick up the quest?" I added on top of Barik's question. "From what I've read, there's a bonus for the first group that completes the dungeon and the dungeon's quest chain. It would be worth it."

"You mean what that forum post was talking about, with that dungeon in the central kingdoms?" inquired Ethan as he playfully shot miniature fireballs into the campfire.

"Yeah, according to the guild that cleared it first, just two weeks ago, they received a huge bonus to their experience and reputation reward from the quest chain, along with some spiffy new title," I started to explain while stretching out in front of the fire. "I think it would be worth it to grind this out and be the first group to clear it, reputation bonuses are hard to come by in this game."

"Right, I agree," replied Barik succinctly. "Any other opinions from ya lot?"

"None here," said Ethan.

"I'm fine with that," said the frost mage that had been mostly quiet.

"It's such a long walk though," complained Alan at the end. "That's at least thirty minutes of our time just walking. I don't even think we can clear the boss."

"He has a point," chimed in Ethan with a disappointed look on his face. "I mean, we don't even know what the fifth boss looks like… it could be something outrageous."

Everyone had gone silent for a moment to think things over, as I started to wonder if there was any merit to what was said. It was true that we didn't know how powerful the fifth boss would be, and there was a good chance it might be too strong for us to handle. What worried me, was that there were two [Goblin Guards] this time around. That meant there could even be three next time, and three was one too many for me.

"I'm in favor of clearing the trash and taking a peek," I finally said, shrugging my shoulders as if it wasn't too important. "There is the chance it's too tough for us."

"I don't mind either way," replied the frost mage as he sat idly by.

Ethan nodded, as did Alan and now all we were waiting for was Barik who seemed to be lost in deep thought. He was definitely thinking of something, but it was taking far too long. And then he surprised us all with his random outburst, "bah this sucks, can't even bring a handle with me, if this were a computer I could have been drinking!"

Four pairs of eyes were locked on the man as we tried to hold in a laugh.

"What are ye lookin' at," said a puzzled Barik. "Got somethin' on me nose?"

"Uh right," I said with a confused expression displayed clearly on my face. "Let's clear the fifth floor then, shall we… I don't think Barik is mentally with us at the moment."

"What nonsense, I'm just a step ahead of ye all!" he bellowed as he confidently started to walk down the next passageway. The rest of us let out a laugh and followed suit. Heading down the narrow tunnel that led to the fifth floor… a floor that was in even worse condition than the fourth.

That was to be expected, though.

The air quality was horrendous and my eyes had instantly started to water as I could barely see what was ahead of me in the dark tunnel. A few steps further and I knocked my head on a low-hanging rock that instantly sent a sharp pain through my skull and deep into my neck.

I cursed under my breath and became pissed as I anticipated the oncoming massive headache and all of the other issues I was used to experiencing. Impaired vision, the ringing in my ears, clouded judgment, those were all things that had manifested and lingered after my previous head injuries… and now, I was so susceptible that the smallest impacts sent my mind a flutter.

But, nothing happened; the pain simply washed away.

"Ah… that's right," I whispered to myself.

We were in a game, my mind was fine.

I was still moody, angry that I had accidently hit something once again. I didn't consider myself a clumsy person, but when a little bump happened, it always seemed to end with the worst possible outcome. I faltered in that other boss fight and ended up stabbed and in ghost-form shortly after, from such an infinitesimal lapse in judgment.

Oh well, it is what it is.

It didn't take long for us to reach the first group of trash mobs on the fifth floor, but when we did… well, we were all a bit surprised. They were a step above the rest, and to call them trash was incorrect in every sense.

Yeah, even I didn't expect this kind of change.

"Can you believe it?" Alan asked while scratching his head.

"Nothin' surprises me anymore," said Barik while shrugging his shoulders.

"Well, we'll get plenty of practice in," I said casually as I looked over the situation. In front of us were a level forty-four [Outcast Goblin Guard], a forty-four [Goblin Priest], two level forty-five [Goblins] and lastly a level forty-five [Goblin Archer]. That lineup was essentially on par with the third floor's boss, if not slightly better.

There were also seven such groups on the way to the fifth and final boss now, which wasn't going to be a cake walk. Sure, it wouldn't be too bad, but we would have to take a break after every sub-boss fight… in the end, I was expecting it to waste a lot of our time.

And my expectations came true.

After nearly an hour of clearing through the seven groups we had finally made it to the fifth floor's final boss, the final boss of the dungeon. The fights were a lot harder than those on the fourth floor, and only a step below the previous boss fight. Barik broke three shields on the way, but was able to replace them every time with another [Cracked Aspis] off each [Guard].

We had actually amassed a rather sizeable collection of fourteen sixty-copper swords and seven spears from the trash on the fifth floor alone, plus the seven shields that were used to replace Barik's shattered ones.

It was quite the haul really.

The only thing I found disappointing was the bow that the [Goblin Archer] dropped.

It was a fairly basic bow, a [Crude Practice Reflex Bow] which was a poor quality, common grade item and was maybe worth fifty copper at the trade post. The only benefit to a Reflex bow was its shorter length compared to the Recurve bow I was using, which made it easier to use in the tight confines of the mining complex.

My [Old Hunter's Recurve Bow] was a decent quality, common grade item that was fairly good for the level and didn't cost me that much in trade. It had good range, was accurate enough, and if it did break, I wouldn't mind.

The cost to acquire it wasn't that bad really.

In the end though, there were hardly any items worth picking up as an upgrade and everything was considered vendorable. Ah, but we couldn't really complain, we were making a couple hundred copper each easily from the fifth floor alone. If anything, despite the harshness of the fights, the increase in experience and monetary value of the loot was certainly worth it.

Yeah, I had no complaints there.

Now, all that was left was the final boss.

"I'm thinkin', we've got no shot," said Barik to break the silence.

"Yeaaaaah, that looks impossible," followed up Ethan.

Alan and the frost mage just stood there silently, waiting for the rest of us to make our decision. I was in agreeance with them, as the goblins that were gathered in a line were beyond the normal scope of the dungeon. To say it deviated greatly wasn't an exaggeration… in fact, I'm not even sure why it changed so much.

The final boss' entourage had completely betrayed the style and theme of the dungeon. We had been fighting groups of five goblins from the very start, eight groups of five goblins per level, for four levels plus seven groups from the fifth. That was  thirty-nine groups of five goblins… yet now, we were faced with a group that defied the dungeon's logic.

There were two rows of goblins, lined up on display.

The first row featured seven [Outcast Minor Goblins] at level thirty-five, then the second row featured seven goblins all at level forty-five. At the wings there were [Outcast Goblin Archers], one on either side. Then followed [Outcast Goblin Priests] just inside, one of each as well. Then came the [Outcast Goblin Guards] flanking the singular goblin at the center, the same ones that were considered the "boss" of the sub-boss or mini-boss fights prior.

Now they were actually living up to their namesake.

They were actual guards here.

That goblin that was in the center was special, it even had the name for it.

The [Outcast Goblin Chief] stood taller than all the rest and was clearly well-built and well-equipped in comparison to all the other goblins we had previously faced.

Goblins were short creatures, ranging from four feet tall to five feet tall, but this [Chief] was at least five foot six, with powerfully built shoulders and a weapon that truly stood out. The [Chief] was armed with a halberd, of roughly the same length as the [Old Dory] that a [Guard] used… only, instead of being a simple spear, it also had an axe-head on one side and a hook on the other.

A pole-axe with three distinct uses, at around seven feet in length, would prove problematic. It also had leather armor that covered its entire body, leg guards, arm guards, pants, vest, shoulder pads, and gloves and boots. The only thing it was missing was a helmet; it wore some kind of bone crown instead.

Thankfully, it didn't have a shield, but the guards on either side of him still had their shield and spear combo… and the three of them would pose quite a problem.

I, actually, didn't want to even risk it.

"I'm thinking we pass on this fight," I said with some regret. "Even if the fourth floor's boss was smooth, I don't have the confidence that we make it out here, not yet."

"This fight's a whole 'nother level," said Ethan while shaking his head.

"How strong ye figure that chief is?" asked Barik plainly.

"At least stronger than the guard," I replied quickly. "Creature hierarchy is almost always based on strength, especially seeing as their intelligence is quite low. I wouldn't be surprised if that chief had all the proficiency skills of both axe and spear."