Wild Era, Ch 34: Coralfire Dungeon

The Path’s notification rang in Kelin’s mind as the starlight of the portal faded around him and he walked out on the other side.

You have discovered the Coralfire Chaos Remnant.

Average Level: 78 (72-85).

Elemental Affinities: Fire and Life.

Mana Density: High.

Relative Danger: High.

Rewards: Variable (High). 

Requirement: Kill 90% or more of the monsters inside.

Additional Bonus: 100% completion and kill the final boss.

Possible Rewards: Experience, Wealth, Common to Uncommon-grade Items, Alliance Credit.

Additional Reward: Bonus Alliance credit for searching the dungeon for signs of tampering. 

A note from the guild was also included.

[The Coralfire Dungeon is one of the most dangerous at its level in the region. The environment is harsh and accounts for the deaths of most of those who delve it. Proper protection is essential.

The monsters of this dungeon are known as the Coralfire Tribe. They are humanoid and have some features similar to merfolk, but they walk on two legs and carry regular weapons. Their gills and fins are used to redirect the heat around them, giving them a natural affinity for Fire manipulation and Fire spells. 

Be wary of their innate fire shields, which will strike back at any melee fighter who closes with them. Their shamans and spellcasters are equally dangerous. It is unwise to engage them with Fire spells, which they are capable of seizing from your hand. Instead, the guild advises you to use Water or other contrasting elements.

Elite monsters are more common than normal in this dungeon, especially when the mana density builds up. The dungeon boss is usually one of the Coralfire nobles, but it can change if the density is high enough.]

The note was useful and one of the reasons it was good to have some standing with the guild.

The average level for the dungeon was 78 instead of the usual 75, and he noted that the top of the range had gone up 5 levels to 85 instead of the regular limit at 80. 

That was the result of the high mana density, but it meant this dungeon was even closer to breaking than the last two. 

If left alone, it would probably break in a month, maybe two at most.

That put it on the guild’s critical list, which meant that it was due for an elite team to run through it and deal with the issue, but Kelin had gotten here first.

If things went well, he would be the elite team.

Either way, it was another dungeon full of danger and high rewards, which was the best type to train in.

He looked around with interest. 

The world was a wash of yellow sand below a bright blue sky. There was no grass here, only the sand extending as far as the eye could see, but tumbled boulders and pillars of colorful coral rose up all around, breaking up what would otherwise have been an endless plain.

Tall, leafy fronds stretched up from the sand like seaweed, their leaves waving in the air like sea creatures. They were also smaller plants with colorful veins and leaves in a thousand shades, a mix of blues, pinks, reds, yellows, greens, and more.

The more he looked around, the more of those plants he saw, mixed in among the coral pillars, and in the distance he could see even larger groves of mixed fronds and coral rising up from the earth.

It was like being on the bottom of the sea floor, except there was no water anywhere.

Bits of coral and bright pebbles were scattered across the ground by his feet, adding touches of color to the yellow sand.

It was a pretty place, quite a bit different from the reputation the dungeon had, but he could feel the intense heat radiating from everything.

The ground alone was hot enough to char his boots, similar to the surface of a frying pan, and the air was almost as hot. 

A regular human’s skin would have started to burn within a minute.

Kelin could sense all of that heat around him, but by the time it actually touched his skin, the temperature was perfectly cool. 

The Ring of Everlasting Flame flickered on his hand as it absorbed the excess heat, channeling it into the tiny ruby that was a gate to the Plane of Fire.

The old salamander would have liked it here.

The dungeon entrance was at the base of a coral pillar, and when he turned to look at it, it towered into the air behind him. The coral was covered in a tight web of living fronds, which gave rise to a swirl of different colors that changed every five to ten feet. 

It wasn’t a perfectly round pillar, more like a knobby tree trunk that occasionally extended off in knobs and branches, the same as regular coral in the ocean.

As impressive as it was, he wasn’t here to sightsee, so he began to look for signs of monsters.

There were none immediately by the dungeon entrance, but some were moving in the distance. There were a few groups of colorful humanoids with scales and fins, as well as some other creatures that looked like giant starfish and snails. 

He stretched the limit of his Analyze ability, but his soul’s aura would have to expand before he could get details at that range.

Two Soulfire Bolts and two soul arrows were already spinning around his staff, so he pulled out a couple of talismans and checked his reactive sigils.

Then he camouflaged his mana shield and headed away from the dungeon entrance.

The guild information said the dungeon was usually centered around a city of the Coralfire Tribe, a base made of coral where the dungeon boss ruled, but its location changed.

He would have to clear out everything else before he reached it, since this type of open dungeon was prone to monster waves. Otherwise, they would all rush there.

Given the mana density, there was also a potential for more unique challenges to appear, like the arena in the last dungeon, but he would take those as they came.

It didn’t take long for him to run into one of the wandering groups of monsters. There were three of them. 

The first two were clearly part of the Coralfire Tribe, while the last looked like some sort of pet or animal companion. He analyzed them as he came into range.

Coralfire Walker. Level 72.

Coralfire Scout. Level 74.

Sandstar. Level 73.

The Coralfire denizens were humanoid with scaled skin that came in a variety of shades, from blue to pink, with slashes of green, red, and yellow interspersed like a colorful fish.

The shading was appealing, but it was hard to pay attention to it when they had a mouth of full sharp teeth that resembled a piranha’s.

They had a ridged sail-like fin on top of their heads, smaller webbed fins for ears, and some small spikes and other fins along their backs. A ripple of fiery energy surrounded them, and it was particularly intense near their fins.

Some dungeon monsters were intelligent and a few special ones could hold a conversation, like that vampire in the last dungeon, but these looked fairly savage.

They were wearing minimal clothing with only loincloths and a few straps that crisscrossed their chest, which seemed intended to hold their weapons and gear. 

Both of them were holding a trident in one hand made out of a coppery metal. The scout also had two daggers at his belt made of the same metal and with twisted coral handles. 

The Sandstar next to them looked like an oversized starfish that should have been in the ocean, except it was floating along on a wave of fire. 

Kelin had seen stranger things in his life, so he didn’t pay it too much attention, but this was an interesting dungeon for its level.

His analysis made the monsters snap to look in his direction and they let out a hiss of heated air as they raised their tridents and hurled them in his general direction. 

The tridents shot past Kelin as he stepped to the side. He replied with two Soulfire Bolts that flew toward the monsters.

The bolts were the same size as usual, but more intense than anything he had used before, blazing with a brighter golden flame.

That was thanks to the Compendium of Soulfire Runes. 

He’d rewoven the structure of the spells to incorporate the first two runes in the list, which were all he could use for now.

The walker and scout let out another hiss as they saw the attack. A wave of fire gathered around their fins and formed a shield around each of them.

The bolts struck the shields and exploded, sending both of the monsters flying backward. Their shields cracked apart, but they’d blocked a good part of the damage. They went rolling across the ground as they tried to recover.

The sandstar let out a whistling sound like a steam kettle. Two spears of burning sand formed in front of it and shot toward Kelin.

Each of the spears was about five feet long and similar in size to a regular spear, but made of compacted sand that was heated enough to make it glow yellow and red, and they were partially melted into glass.

Instead of dodging, Kelin hardened his mana shield and let the spears strike, which they did with a sharp explosion that sent shards of half-molten glass and heated sand flying away. 

He replied with two more Soulfire Bolts, both of them targeted at the sandstar.

The monster’s skin hardened like sandstone armor, but the bolts tore through it and sent it flying in half a dozen pieces.

Two more bolts targeted the walker and scout that were just getting to their feet. 

Their fire shields had recovered and absorbed part of the blows, but their defense was weaker than before. 

This time, the spells ripped through and their skulls exploded.

Their fire shield was making it twice as hard to kill them, but it wasn’t strong enough to hold up for long. 

Kelin studied the result as he considered ways to improve his spells, as well as the incorporation of the new runes. 

Then he collected the cores and materials. 

Each of the Coralfire denizens had a blue-pink core that resembled the pattern on their scales, while the Sandstar had a bright red one like a desert ruby.

There were a few other things as well that he analyzed.

Sandstar Hide (Common). 

Coralfire Scale (Common)

Both materials were Fire-aligned and of decent quality.

The sandstar’s hide could be turned into clothing or talismans, while the scales were infused with fire essence. They were too small for talismans, but they could be used for other purposes.

The sandstar gave him several long strips of hide, while the walker and scout had a couple of scales each, where they must have concentrated their energy.

The trident and knives were interesting, but low quality and without any enchantments. He tossed them into his storage for the moment anyway.

After that, he moved on, heading toward the next group that he could see. 

The Fire Blade Talismans wouldn’t be of much use here. These monsters all had decent fire resistance, which negated most of the damage. 

The Soulfire Bolt Talismans would still work, but not as well.

Normally, this dungeon would have been a terrible choice for a fire mage, but that was why he’d chosen it. 

He didn’t want his soulfire abilities to grow weak while he relied on soul magic all the time, and that meant he needed a good place to train. He was only going to use soulfire against the monsters here unless he was facing a large group. 

Soulfire wasn’t the same as regular fire, and by facing a resistance to the regular version, it would accelerate his training. 

If he had been a regular fire mage, then fire resistance could be overcome in a variety of ways, from persistence to overwhelming power. He could either strengthen his spells or rely on technique and higher principles. 

Condensing his bolts, enhancing their persistence, adding more mana, and improving his fire manipulation and mana control would all help, at least unless the monster had a perfect fire resistance and couldn’t be harmed by it, like a salamander. 

A perfect resistance would cut down about half of the power of Soulfire, since it was a fusion element, but that was only if he stuck to the basics, with spells that were little more than Fire and Soul energy mixed together.

He hadn’t been familiar with the Law of Soulfire before, but thanks to the Compendium of Soulfire Runes, his spells were moving past that.

The scroll had come at the right time. 

It had ten runes in it, each with a facet of the Law of Soulfire. They were elegant, curving shapes that resonated with higher truth. 

Runes were power made manifest. 

Each of them was a little window into the power of the Sixth Evolution, where the Truth of a Law changed reality, condensed in a reduced and more rigid form. 

Most importantly, these runes were perfect, formed by the Path itself, and not someone trying to copy laws they barely understood, which would have introduced errors. 

They held the potential for eternity. 

They could be used forever, keeping him company from the beginning of his path to the end, with their power increasing as he grew stronger.

His progress in moving through the compendium was based on fully comprehending the principles in each rune, but each of them was more complex than the one before it and had a higher requirement for its use.

As he comprehended a rune, he was able to draw it himself, as well as to merge those principles into his spells. 

Right now, he was only strong enough to use the first two runes, and he didn’t have a complete grasp on them.

The names were simply Ignite and Blaze, but they were quite a bit different than the basic Fire runes that shared the same name. 

Their elegant curves spelled out the truth of soulfire, twisting together the foundation of the law. 

It was neither Fire nor Soul, but its own element with independent principles, which was why the fire resistance here wasn’t that effective against it.

He was still working on drawing the runes perfectly, and each of his soulfire spells was an attempt to master the principles again.

The closer he got, the stronger his soulfire.

The nice thing about training against fire resistance was that his mistakes were closer to regular fire and did less damage, while his successes were more effective.

As he continued through the coral desert, he pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind, where he was constantly studying the nature of Soulfire.

Before long, a second group with two Coralfire Walkers and another Sandstar appeared. 

He killed one of them with two Soulfire Bolts, and then he spent a few minutes letting the remaining two beat on his mana shield as he worked on his defenses.

When his mana dropped to 50%, he killed them and meditated to restore it. 

Then he moved on, heading for the next group.

With monsters that were nine or more levels above him, the experience was good, and when he finished off the third group, a familiar chime rang in his mind.

Congratulations, Lord of Wildfire.

You have gained a Level.

You are now Level 64.

He dismissed the remaining notifications.

His Intelligence was up to 529, so he tossed the five free points into Aura, which took it to 241.

Then he continued on.

Over the next several hours, he jogged in wide arcs through the coral pillars and the fiery seascape, getting an understanding of the dungeon’s design as he took out similar groups, most of which were a mix of the Coralfire Walkers, Scouts, and Sandstars.

The dungeon was contained in this valley, stretching about ten miles in each direction to the north and south before he reached a shimmering silver barrier that blocked the way. 

Beyond that barrier, he could see mountains and more of the same landscape, as well as what looked like an ocean of blue flames, but he couldn’t go there.

It seemed like the dungeon was a narrow splinter of land and the portal was on the far eastern edge, in a relatively quiet region. 

The only way left to go was to the west, so after he cleared the nearby groups, he headed in that direction.

The groups were widely scattered, so he took the time to train as much as possible with soulfire against each one, testing it against their resistance and spells.

The Coralfire Walkers were quick with tridents and could cross a dozen feet almost instantly with a lunge, and the Scouts were even faster at throwing their tridents and knives if he gave them the chance, but their innate fire shields remained their strongest ability.

They had excellent control of the element and guided it around them with their fins, using it for both offense and defense. Searing waves of heat and bolts of flame accompanied their strikes, while their defense was like a mana shield.

He hadn’t seen a lot of them gather together yet, but he had the feeling they would get stronger as a group when their shields started to overlap. 

Individually, the Sandstars were even deadlier opponents, taking the place of mages in the scout groups. If he hadn’t had a strong shield, their half-molten sand bolts would have been very dangerous.

By the time he cleared out all of the monsters on the eastern edge, he gained another level and reached 65.

That took his Intelligence to 532, so he tossed the free points into Aura, putting it at 246.

Eventually, the encounters began to get harder, and it wasn’t long before he found some new types of monsters.

The next group he ran into had a Coralfire Guardian at Level 75, along with a Scout and a Sandstar.

The guardian was wearing sections of pearlescent shells that had been shaped into armor. Broad, curving pieces protected his chest and shoulders, while smaller sections had been made into bracers for his arms and greaves for his legs.

He held a trident and a spiral shell shield in his hands.

When he noticed the analysis, he spun toward the source. A bolt of bright blue fire formed along his trident and flew toward Kelin.

It was a stronger fire than the ones the others had used, and it had a unique sense of fusion to it, a mixture of Fire and something else that Kelin had never seen before, but the name of the dungeon made it clear enough.

It was the essence of coralfire.

It was a strange element that felt a bit like the ocean and the earth, as well as that bright blue flame that matched some of the coral pillars in the desert. 

He suppressed his bracers, as he’d been doing for the earlier training in the dungeon, and let the bolt slam into his mana shield, where he studied the collision of the energy with soulfire.

The blue and golden flames twisted around each other like two dragons fighting, refusing to merge as the principles within them fought for supremacy.

Strange emanations resulted as the coralfire burned against soulfire. 

The energy from the attack was too weak to break through, but the quality of the fusion was high, probably since it was a racial energy for the monster, and the comparison to his own energy left him thoughtful for a moment.

It was almost like fighting against necrotic energy, but coralfire was more aligned with life than death.

That didn’t stop him from responding with two Soulfire Bolts, one targeted at each of the other two monsters. 

His skill at breaking through the fire shields had improved and he only needed one for each. The spells blew apart the scout’s head and shredded the sandstar while they were in the middle of attacking.

Then he turned to the guardian, which was channeling another wave of blue flame into the trident in its hand as it prepared to release another bolt.

A smile appeared on Kelin’s lips as he saw it, one touched with an archmage’s interest in something new.

“Show me what you have,” he said with a grin.

Then he focused his attention on the spell, waiting for it to hit his mana shield.