Chapter 477

The group’s climb to the sixteenth floor had barely taken more than a few hours, even that time was mostly due to the relatively slow speed of the people participating in the climb and not the floors themselves. Finally the group had found itself to catch their breath as they waited.

“Are you sure we should be standing in the open?” one of the nobles asked, his voice just barely not stuttering with fear. 

Ajax didn’t blame the man for being afraid. Jungle biomes like the one they were faced with usually housed some capable ambush predators, for someone under level fifty five a beast above level one hundred and five would mean a death sentence. 

“It’s actually the best place to be.” another member answered. This man wasn’t a noble but instead a very talented retainer of a noble house, one who had delved into dungeons regularly and more than once faced the threat of death. “Until the Floor Boss arrives the two remaining squad members will be killing anything that dares to come close.”  

Despite the more confident tone of the second man it was clear that all that everyone aside from Ajax and the squad members were nervous. The sheer pressure of being in such a high mana density area as the sixteenth floor all but guaranteed it, at this level all of them would struggle to damage the dense vegetation surrounding them in an efficient manner due to its high mana density.

“No point just standing around.” Ajax said as he removed the staff from its specific storage ring and planted it in the center of the clearing. After that he started molding using very small amounts of mana to shape the earth surrounding them into a more defensive position.

“What kind of weapon is that?” While only one voice asked the question it was clear it spoke for everyone from the way they gazed at the massive staff.

“One that will allow you to contribute.” Ajax answered. “Once the floor boss is in sight you will channel as much of your Mana and Stamina into the staff as you can. From there your only objective is to stay clear of the fight. I’ll do my best to keep it away from you but depending on what it is I am fighting that might not be possible.” 

Ajax could see some of the color drain from their faces in real time. The idea that they would be left with little Mana and Stamina seemed to stress them out and exasperate the fear they were already feeling. 

“No need to panic.” Ajax removed some of the restraints from his Aura to help center the group. “The royal squad is here to ensure nobody is in any danger of permanent or lethal harm.” 

Ajax’s words helped but the more time passed the more the group had to think through every worst case scenario they could dream up. It didn’t help that the royal squad had to be careful when clearing the floor. They couldn’t be sure where or when certain Floor Bosses spawned so their clear had to be slower and more methodical to ensure they didn’t engage the Floor Boss once it did spawn.

After about half an hour the panic level reached its highest point before, yet still nothing happened. Seeing that they were indeed safe the nobles started to relax more and more, they stopped seeing their gathering as bait for the Floor Boss and more as an opportunity to socialize. Because the people there were specifically chosen because of the lack of wealth and influence of their Houses they saw this as the perfect opportunity to make a connection to the royal family, two of the three archducal houses and the newest landed duke.

Ajax’s behavior shocked the rest of the Academy graduates. They had all met at least once or twice during their time at the Academy but because they had been in different years that had always taken place during large gatherings. Here where there were only eleven people, four of them Ajax was already extremely familiar with, he was very different from the young silent Baron they remembered.

It took another hour before the royal squad members returned. That could only mean one thing, that the Floor Boss had spawned.

“What creature is it?” Ajax asked.

“A beholder.” The answer was both good news and bad news.

It was good news from Lexi’s and Anna’s point of view. Beholders were spherical creatures covered in eyes with each eyeball focusing on a type of magic. More than that the creature’s reliance on magic made it a particular good matchup for Ajax’s [Mana Syphon].Ajax could practically feel the rest of the group let out a disappointed sigh, their stats were all heavily invested into Endurance, the chances that a beholder would give them a matching boon was low.

The bad news was two fold. The big one was that the Floor Boss could fly. This meant that at any point it could flee and decide to attack the group if it ever decided Ajax wasn’t the primary target. The other bad news was that before the fight started Ajax had no idea what type of magic the beholder would be using. At level one hundred and ten beholders had access to four or five different fields of magic, even worse was that they always had access to one Legendary type. 

“That’s good for a magic type boon.” Lexi said as she hugged Anna in celebration, both had hoped they wouldn’t need to sit out, following that she turned towards Ajax with a bit of worry on her face. “How confident are you in winning the fight?” 

While Ajax had still gotten stronger this was still a Floor Boss he would be going up against all by himself. More than that a beholder was much more offensively focused than an ettin. While this meant Ajax shouldn’t have any real problems dealing enough damage to kill it the fight would most certainly not turn into a slog. 

“I’m pretty sure I should be fine.” Ajax said as he took out his bow and quiver from his spacial ring. “I’ll try to keep my distance for the start while I figure out what it can do.” 

Once they knew what the Floor Boss was all that was left was the fight. Despite that nobody rushed Ajax. They all were more than happy to patiently wait for him to plan out the fight, something much harder than usual on account of the fact that none of them were aware of what magic the beholder had access to. 

The biggest question Ajax faced was what should his opening spell be. Out of Ice, Earth, Lightning and Life that had made his previous shortlist both Life and Earth were instantly dropped. 

Life Mana would actually have been Ajax’s preferred choice here. A sentient golem to start the fight with would have been perfect in helping him determine what magic the beholder had access to. Unfortunately Ajax wasn’t yet capable of creating any type of flying construct with his Life mana. Beholders were extremely cunning, while they were still extremely aggressive towards delvers like most creatures found in the dungeon; it was a documented fact that they learned and adapted over the course of a fight. Many delving parties had returned from the dungeon missing party members after an encounter with a beholder who spotted a weakness or pattern and took advantage of it to kill one or more party members. This meant that a golem would be useless as the beholder would quickly realize it couldn’t fly and simply rise above it.

Earth Mana had a similar issue. There was no chance the beholder wouldn’t sense the mana gathered by the staff so any Earth attack would be slow to launch and the beholder would be far, waiting for it to get close was out of the question as it would put the rest of the group in range of the beholder’s attacks. 

That brought everything down to Ice or Lightning. Out of the two of them Ajax was more inclined to go with Lightning. The attack would be fast enough that even with the warning the beholder would have from sensing the gathering mana there would be little he could do to properly defend itself.

“Alright, I’m ready.” Ajax said with confidence once he had his plan ready. He would start with the biggest lightning bolt he had ever cast before proceeding to turn the creature into a pincushion with his arrows. “Do I need to bait it?” 

“No, it's heading this way.” the scout said. 

No more than a few moments later Ajax could make the creature out patrolling the skies above. It hadn’t spotted them yet, that was good. “Alright hands on the staff.”

Ajax could see the beholder focus on them as soon as the staff started channeling the mana and stamina it was infused with but he could barely pay it any attention. Other than ensuring it wasn’t launching a long range spell towards them all of Ajax’s focus was centered on controlling the mana to launch his spell.

A migraine like a searing spike struck Ajax as he tried to direct the mana. It was one of the disadvantages of his casting style, while his spells had practically no constraints in comparison to chanted or rune casted spells he needed to direct the mana. With his previous attempts there was barely any discomfort but now he was feeling like his head was about to burst.

The Lightning blast Ajax released wasn’t a slight target blast. Instead it spread out from the tip of his staff like the roots  of a tree across the sky in the direction of the beholder. The creature was quick enough to react, revealing its first magic wind, with a wind wall but that barely slowed the strike. 

More than that Ajax focused on his spell, willing the spread out roots to reconnect into a single path as soon as one of the roots made contact with the beholder. In the end more than half the spell missed the target, striking trees far in the distance. Half the spell however was still a lot considering how much mana had gone into it. With a vicious grin that scared a few of the nobles looking at him in awe Ajax took off towards the Floor Boss.