Ruthless ~ 7!

~ 7 ~

“Gonna be honest wit’ yah.” Bard took and released a deep breath as he rubbed his legs and arm. “I am not ah big o’ this dungeon. Ah know ahm gettin healed, but ah feel like it's still damaged.”

The group had gotten into a fight with two more Everwatch monsters, and had learned several not so fun facts. When you were chosen as the target of the self-sacrifice, you were the only one that got experience from the monster. The damage done was on a point-by-point basis, not percentage based, which meant that it really made sense for the tank to try to get targeted. Finally, the dungeon was a bust so far. 

“I think that’ll fade really fast here, Bard. mental effects and all that. On my end, I can’t believe that they haven’t dropped a single item yet.” Joe was getting a little grumpy about the fact that they had agreed to come and try out the dungeon. He had been trying out his ‘Corify’ spell, but the stasis effect made the Everwatch immune. Not only that, but as soon as the monster was defeated, it seemed to rot at an accelerated rate; there was no way to get useful materials from the things.

“It's fine. Jess has been working her tail off, we can do this for her.” Jaxon spoke up. The others looked around, then finally rested their eyes on the man. Had he just said something… nice? Helpful? Normal? Jaxon smiled extra-brightly at the attention, and the others slowly went back to watching their surroundings.

“Wait!” Joe’s eyes caught on the floor, then checked the map again. There was a green outline on the map with a small question mark on it, and Joe’s dungeoneering title and perception had worked together to sowk an irregular crack. “I’m pretty sure there is a secret door here.”

“Please let it be ah shortcut.” Bard muttered gruffly. Poppy and Alexis worked together, running their hands around the outline until they found a small catch, and the door popped open. They stepped through, looking around cautiously. To their right was a hallway, to their left was a large door with a skull on it. 

“Oh, look.” Poppy deadpanned. “A shortcut.”

Bard beamed and hugged Alexis, and together the group opened the door to the Boss room. It swung shut behind them with a *click*, and the boulder in the center of the square room moved. Specifically, it parted; showing that it was a massive version of the Everwatch monsters. Bard groaned as a red aura appeared around him and the Boss. Unlike the smaller versions, it didn't stop moving; instead lifting into the air and slowly drifting toward them.

“Intrusive Scan.” Joe stared at the creature, and it stared back.

Evan the Everwatch.

Highest stat: Willpower

Ongoing effects: Levitation, Boneless Body, Damage Trade III, Self Damage = only Damage. 

“It has damage trade three, but no stasis. Looks like we are going to have to-” Joe was cut off by an intense whipping sound.

*Crack*. The Everwatch hit itself, leaving behind a red welt that quickly faded and appeared on Bard.

“Arther’s thundering Seat tha’ hurt!” Blood started dripping out of Bard’s armor, and Joe slapped a heal on him. “Joe, what was that?”

The Rituarchitecht scanned the information on damage trade three, his eyes widening, then narrowing. “His version of Damage Trade makes it so that the first to strike themselves gives all the damage to the other! It switches targets, too!”

Indeed, the aura had vanished from Bard, but no one had been expecting or looking for it. Another resounding crack, and Alexis was clutching at her backside and yelping. Joe started glowing red, and instantly slapped himself in the face. He only did a single point of damage, but it was enough to make the aura vanish and appear on Jaxon.

Jaxon started poking himself in the wrist, and as a tentacle whipped toward the Everwatch, he took a breath and activated, “Adjust!”

There was a sickening crack as Jaxon’s wrist twisted and broke, but the damage vanished in an instant; leaving behind only the memory of pain as the Boss’s health bar dropped by a quarter. It wailed, and the target switching started happening faster and faster. As it’s strike came down on itself, the aura would shift to a new target just before impact. If the team member was able to hit themselves first, the aura would be interrupted and the creature would damage itself.

Conversely, if the team was too slow, they would often damage themselves without hurting the Boss. The fight quickly became a bizarre version of rock-paper-scissors, with every being in the room becoming heavily damaged rather quickly. But in the end, the Everwatch was a level ten beast, and the majority of the humans were at or near level fifteen. The humans also had Joe, who was able to keep them healed up. Inevitably, the Everwatch fell.

Experience gained: 400. (Evan the Everwatch)

Jaxon walked up to the beast and shifted his hands into a pair of T-rex heads. “Lefty! Terror! Din-din!”

“Craw!”

“Nyah!”

Joe and the others looked on with complicated expressions as the Everwatch was torn into. A good amount of it was devoured before it could rot too much, and Jaxon babbled and cooed at his hands until the effect wore off and they shifted back to regular hands. In his left hand he was holding a golden key, and he tossed it to Joe. “Lefty nearly choked on this! Mean little key!”

Joe grimaced as he caught the key that was coated in rotting meat and dinosaur saliva. “Um… thanks.”

The door was opposite the one they had entered, and it swung open on well-oiled hinges as they pushed it open. The key fell apart as soon as the door was opened, and in the room was five small treasure chests. Poppy walked over to one and popped it open, pulling out a small skill book. “Huh. Look at that. ‘Mass Riposte’. Never seen that before…”

Each person that opened a chest got a manual that was useful to them, so Joe was very excited to see what was waiting for him. He pulled open the small chest, noticing a flash of golden light as he did so. It was likely that the treasure was added into the chest as it opened, or just before. He really wanted to know how that worked. Joe pulled out his book, and looked at the title in confusion.

“‘Alchemically Enhanced Components’?” Joe read the information that popped up out loud, too shocked to stay quiet. “Book three of five in the ‘Basics of Rituals’?”

He couldn't wait to see what this contained, he had to know now. Joe pulled open the cover and read the first page out loud. “Foreword. This set of books is designed to teach the basic requirements for effective ritual usage, and it is recommended that you read and understand all five before beginning your pursuit of this arcane art. By the time you read this book, you should have read ‘Ritual Circles and You’ as well as ‘Magical Matrices: Ritual Edition’.”

Joe kept going, even as he realized that he was being led outside by the rest of his comrades. “After this, don't forget to study ‘Advanced Enchanted Ritual Circles’ and ‘Micro or Macro: The Pros and Cons of Mega Circles’. Don't sell yourself short… make sure to read the ‘Journeyman’s Rules of Rituals’ and ‘Master of Rituals’… series?”

Blinking at the sudden light hitting him as he walked outside, Joe looked around woozily. “Guys, I think I'm gonna be sick.”

“How was the dungeon?” Jess excitedly started, pausing and squealing softly as she was flooded with notifications. “Holy…! That was a secret door, then? That was worth nearly half as much as the rest combined!”

“It was an interesting dungeon.” Alexis took the lead since Joe had his nose in his new book and was mumbling nearly incoherently. “No rewards until you beat the Boss, but then each team member got a book that was useful to them. A skill book or a manual of some kind.”

“We broke Joe!” Jaxon chimed in.

“Yeah, what’s happening there?” Jess poked Joe, only to be met with a sparkling force that stopped her finger cold.

“As far as we can tell, Joe just found out that he has barely been using his rituals or something. He read off the titles to a few books, and it seemed that he almost fainted a few times.” Poppy chimed in.

Joe closed the book with a *snap* and looked around. “Everything I’ve been doing until now… just… gah!”

Jaxon gave him a few pats on the back. “You okay there, lil bald buddy?”

“I’m fine. Also. Jess. I don't need you to look for professions for me anymore.” Joe took a deep breath and looked toward Towney McTownface. “I need to get back and read through this. If I’m right about it, I am going to need to start hunting down the rest of this series.”

“What do ya think it is?” Bard inquired as they started the walk back to the Guild.

“I… alright, you know how I could add in a health potion to that ritual that keeps monsters away? If I did that, then there was an extra effect of getting a rested bonus?” Joe waited for Bard to nod, then burst out with, “That’s an entire school of ritual magic! It’s called Alchemical Enhancement. Not only can I add on potions and various pastes and such, but if I can figure out how to do it with this book… I can basically bottle entire rituals, or add on effects that make a ritual something completely different from what it was supposed to be.”