Chapter 87 - The First Level

Vivi stepped into the main dungeon.

A low-hanging spectral chandelier welcomed her to a broad chamber filled with caskets and coffins. Stone bricks were arranged in patterns on the well-maintained floor. An ice-blue glow radiated faintly from between each brick. The glow was brightest in the middle of the floor, growing weaker as it traveled to the edges and up the walls.

The glow was bright, but the dungeon was dark. Ethereal light always had weird properties. Sometimes, the brightest light didn’t illuminate its surroundings in the slightest. Vivi squinted to see a dark stairway leading down at the end of the room.

Aang and Lydi stepped deeper confidently but slowly. “The coffins all have skeletons,” Aang said. “Monsters are weak on the upper levels. The same difficulty as grievous skeletons. By the third level, they’ll get difficult.”

“Should we destroy the coffins?” Vivi asked.

“No, avoid hitting the coffins at all cost,” Aang said. “Last time we were here, destroying the coffins enraged monsters, as if a taunt had been placed. There’s no choice but to walk into traps, letting skeletons spawn behind us.”

“My summons can protect me on the first level,” Lydi said. “But they’ll quickly demote to distractions when monsters grow stronger.”

“Your staff will become necessary later to deal with archers and other ranged enemies,” Aang said. He stepped forward. “This room will become active the moment we try to step deeper. We’ll be ambushed with skeletons. You two deal with the skeletons behind. I'll attack the ones below. Focus on warming up.”

“Very well,” Lydi said. She glanced at Vivi. “You'll be protecting me, then.”

Vivi called forth her dark mithril greatsword. The one that she still hadn’t named. “I have practiced.”

They stepped deeper. Vivi’s senses were heightened, body already strengthened with a slight amount of ether. Even still, she couldn’t sense a single monster anywhere. The dungeon was eerily silent and empty. She felt idle ether within the glow of the floors, clouding her senses with a feeling of unease.

Aang stepped on the first stair leading down. The dungeon became active.

A stone slab crashed on their exit, blocking the way out. Coffins and caskets opened up. From within rose the dead. Skeletons with swords. Downstairs was filled with clanking. Bony footsteps. Vivi clutched her sword, ready to fight.

The skeletons’ swords had engravings on the surface of their blades. Outside-carved veins. The blades were made of white serrated bone with saw-like edges. Vivi spotted a swiftness rune on the hilt of one of the swords. Further behind, a tall skeleton wielded a greatsword with a strength rune. A total of ten skeletons stared at her and Lydi with blue glowing eyes.

Lydi’s face paled a little. “Runeswords?”

There was no time for talking. The skeletons approached from both sides. Their auras were oppressive, far stronger than the grievous skeletons’. Aang faced his opponents below.

Lydi summoned her skeletons. Two of them. Her summons had steel swords, strengthened with ether from the outside. Their eye-holes were entirely black. The summons weren't anything impressive, but they would hold their own.

“Cover my sides,” Vivi said. She attacked the nearest skeleton in the middle of the room. Its sword had a strength rune.

Vivi threw a claw-swipe first, prompting the skeleton to block. Its stance was good, and its sword blocked the claws without a problem.

But it wasn’t fast. Vivi swung her sword straight at the skeleton’s block, her crush greatsword making contact. The skeleton’s bony runesword couldn’t withstand the force, snapping straight in half. The skeleton was crushed into bits of ether.

Two swiftness-sworded skeletons tried to attack her from both edges of the room. Lydi’s skeletons stood in the way, blocking. Vivi could fight the skeletons one-to-one with Lydi’s assistance.

But Vivi felt strong. She didn’t need to fight one-to-one. She didn’t even need her skill, saving ether.

She rushed straight for the next skeleton, cutting it in half. The skeleton attempted to block. Its bony runesword snapped in half. She charged straight into the fray, cutting skeletons all around her.

She was quickly surrounded. An overhead swing came at her from behind. Vivi turned and slashed at the same time, hitting the skeleton’s attack. Her sword demolished its weak runesword.

Lucius was ecstatic within her, his whole being brimming with gluttonous excitement. The skeletons weren’t weak monsters; they were all stronger than the grievous skeletons. A few weeks ago, Vivi would have struggled.

After practice, and after smithing proper runeswords, cutting them down wasn’t a problem. Vivi cleared the ten skeletons in under a minute.

Aang walked up from the lower level fifteen seconds later, having cleared his monsters. He had no wounds, but he was frowning. He glanced at the closed-off exit. “Something’s off,” he said. “The dungeon didn’t do this before.”

He tried pushing the slab out of the way. Nothing. He tried pulling, then lifting it off the ground. The slab didn’t budge. “We’re locked in?”

“The skeletons didn't wield runeswords last time,” Lydi said

“No,” Aang said. “The skeletons were a lot weaker. And nothing shut off the exit back then. Something weird is happening.” He turned to Vivi. “Want to try cutting the slab down?”

“Sure,” Vivi said.

“Don’t use your main sword,” Aang said. “I have a feeling this wall isn’t going to fall.”

Vivi raised her eyebrows, but complied. She put her greatsword back to spatial storage and called her one-runed crystal mithril runesword. She gripped the sword with two hands, activated thorn sword, and slashed at the stone, intending to cut it in half.

A jolt shot through her arms. The sword clanked against the slab without causing the slightest of dents. The wall was perfectly solid.

Aang bit his lip. “Well, that’s interesting.”

“We're trapped?” Lydi asked.

“Looks like so,” Aang said. “Not that I planned on exiting regardless. But I’ve never seen this before. Lucius, do you know anything?”

“You’re asking me?” Lucius asked, his voice echoing from Vivi’s core.

“You’re a spirit of the demigods,” Aang said. “And you’re a hunter. Have you ever seen anything like this?”

“Not personally,” Lucius said. Vivi felt his tail wagging from the compliment. “But I’ve heard of something similar. When strong hunters enter a dungeon, they say Tyvlan, the Trickster God, enhances his dungeons. To match the level of the hunters.”

Aang didn’t look too eager. “The boss will be harder, then…”

“That’s just a legend I heard,” Lucius said. “It hasn’t been confirmed. But if it’s true, we might have a higher chance of earning skills.”

Lydi faced Aang, hoping for answers. The leader looked troubled. “We’re clearing down regardless of what happens. But if the skeletons wield runeswords, we’ll have to be careful. They’re weak now, but by the third level, we’ll be in trouble.”

“Who gathers the ether?” Vivi asked. The room was filled with sizzling skeleton corpses.

“I’ll hold all drops for now,” Aang said. “We'll save it for your debts eventually. Right now, endurance is our main concern. Our ether reserves will eventually dim out. Killing monsters will replenish our reserves. Lydi, avoid using your summons unless we have to. Our runeswords are more efficient than your summons. Save your ether for the boss fight.”

“I will stand around while you clear the rooms, then?” Lydi asked.

“Defend yourself and don’t get yourself killed,” Aang said. “Support Vivi if she needs help.”

Aang collected the ether from the fallen monsters. Each skeleton was worth around 80 ether. “The first level won't be a problem. We will use a similar formation. I will clear the path forward, while you deal with ambushing skeletons.”

“Sounds good,” Vivi said.

“We have five hours to find the boss,” Aang said. “I hope to clear the first level in thirty minutes. Preferably less. Let’s go.”

***

Similar coffin-lined rooms filled the first floor. Their opponents didn’t have much variation. Each skeleton wielded a single-runed sword, either a strength greatsword or a swiftness rapier. With each room they passed, the skeletons’ ether auras grew slightly stronger, and their strategies became incrementally more intelligent.

Cutting them down was still easy. Aang could barge in, killing all skeletons without issues, while Vivi defeated skeletons behind. The skeletons’ outside-carved runeswords were simply outclassed by Vivi’s swords.

Eight rooms later, a large stairway led down, where a bulky skeleton with a two-runed sword welcomed them to the second level.