[Shrubley, the Monster Adventurer] Chapter 105 - Dungeonley, the Dungeon II

Preparing for battle, Shrubley poured mana into his [Bark Armor] essence ability. If he hadn’t been preoccupied conversing with the Dungeon, he would have built up the Nature defenses earlier.

As it was one of his earliest essence abilities, Shrubley was fairly practiced with its use.

[Bark Armor (Nature)]

Cost: Moderate mana per second

Cooldown: 30 seconds

Sometimes, the best offense is a solid defense.

Imprint: When channeled, builds up a small amount of (Nature) armor over time that absorbs damage. The longer you channel this ability, the more armor you gain.

He possessed significantly greater stores of mana than when he was a Mundane Ranker first wielding [Bark Armor]. As such, the magical defenses Shrubley formed were denser, with a more thorough coverage that resembled the protection a suit of armor could offer.

He wondered how much more potent the ability would be if he achieved an even higher rank.

Shrubley struck out first into the massive miasma filled chamber, his [Morph Shield] and [Death’s Razor] at the ready. His glowbug familiar darted overhead, marking out the first enemy.

Though Shrubley could hardly see through the murk, he could make out the glowbug’s greenish-yellow light and marched forward, trusting in his ally’s judgment.

A hissing scream filled the room and the air immediately around Shrubley began to clear.

What he first expected to see–a snake–was instead a fleshy sack that he had just punctured with his sword. The pulsing organ deflated, leaking a foul condensed liquid form of the miasma and clearing the air in the room.

Shrubley could feel the poison of the miasma coursing through his body. His leaves began to wilt seconds after venturing into the deepest parts of the room. He tried to shout out a warning, but he knew it was no good.

His friends, coughing and hacking, were already there beside him.

He didn’t want to use so much mana so early in the fight, but there was no hope for it. [Counteract] took some time to get going, so Shrubley used it and felt his mana drain away like water spilled on the desert sands.

[Counteract (Light)]

Cost: Very High Mana

Cooldown: 1 hour

What doesn’t kill you, only serves to make you stronger.

Imprint: Once you gain an affliction, you can utilize your natural ability to cultivate materials to create a counteracting agent.

I still don’t agree with that sentiment! Shrubley told the Shard disapprovingly. “Show them the way!” he called to his familiar, the Elder Glowbug.

Through the dark purple miasma, the glowbug flitted about this way and that, hovering over the unsettlingly fleshy organs that pumped noxious vapors into the room.

They were not left undefended, however.

Whatever had been tending to these things had been caught off guard, but it was not without defenses. Burrowing creatures broke through the stone as if it was little more than loamy soil. They were big black beetles with mandibles that could slice through a full-grown oak.

Shrubley hated parasites like that. They would burrow into a healthy tree and drink its sap, poisoning it and killing it by degrees until the tree could no longer stand on its own.

Spinning with whipping clouds of Sky essence, Slyrox crashed into one of the foul beetles with the full force of her [Tornado Kick]. The beetle tumbled into its fellows, ending up in a twitching heap.

A sorcerous glassy mirror conjured in the air, angled towards the beetles. Cal raised his staff to the air, its magical focus crackling with frozen Elemental mana.

A flurry of frozen spikes shot out from the skeleton, peppering the piled-up beetles and bouncing off the mirror to crash into more of the foul creatures.

Filled with an anger that he didn’t expect to find, Shrubley lashed out at the nearest beetle with [Budding Barrage]. The Nature-imbued strikes cracked open its black shell and sprayed bug bits throughout the room.

As soon as Shrubley was finished with one, another one appeared. They were as large as cows as they skittered about the floor, fading in and out of the dark murk.

However, their greatest advantage, the poison air, was slowly fading as Shrubley’s friends followed his familiar’s prompting to attack the strange organs producing the fumes.

Smudge plummeted from the ceiling, solidified with Stone essence. With the force of a falling boulder, he crushed a bug even larger than he was with a triumphant, “Pyuu!”

By degrees the room cleared, though Shrubley could see that his friends were already flagging from the poison.

Shrubley, as a plant and with so much Life mana within himself, was naturally resistant to such afflictions. They took much longer to take hold than on him.

Only the Countess and her oppa remained largely unaffected. Miranda looked weakened, but hardly out for the count. She did not attack anything, only those creatures that came looking for a fight, and many of them were smart enough to recognize the overpowering form of a Steel Ranker in their midst.

When it became clear that the Countess wasn’t going to intervene on behalf of the other monsters, the beetles switched up their tactics, avoiding the large woman and attacking her allies with reckless abandon.

One of the bugs scurried toward Smudge, who twisted around and opened his mouth wide enough for the beetle to charge straight to its doom. He shut his mouth and Shrubley watched through the clearing haze as the beetle broke apart into motes of shimmering darkness.

“Slyrox wishes to not have eye-peeked that,” she muttered.

“Down with bugs!” Cal shouted. “But not you,” he added to Shrubley’s helpful familiar.

He cast spell after spell, lighting up the room with ice, fire, and lightning that blasted the beetles apart.

Slyrox deftly wove in and out of the magical artillery, punching and kicking the beetles onto their sides and into the air, making them even easier targets. She took more than a little damage for her efforts. As Slyrox fought, she tapped her Braver essence ability, [Brightsong’s Hope], to gradually recover some of that lost health.

[Brightsong’s Hope (Braver)]

Cost: None

Cooldown: None

Though you are far from home, the tales of Brightsong still live in your heart. The deeds of the Havior have empowered you, allowing you to take common bravery to new heights. Though you are now on Almora, through this essence, you bring a piece of Aldim and Brightsong with you wherever you go.

Imprint: When you take damage, you gain access to [Rally] for a short period of time.

[Rally]: Any damage you deal to your attacker recovers a portion of your lost health.

And yet, there were still more bugs. Anyone willing to take on a greater portion of the beetles’ focus lacked essence abilities to draw them towards them. They had to rely on tactics, speed, and wide sweeping attacks to get the job done.

As it was, most of the damage inflicted directly by the beetles was spread between Slyrox and Shrubley. The koblin flagged first, her Braver essence unable to keep up with the rising damage. As a Mundane Ranker, she couldn’t fight on the same level that Shrubley could.

Shrubley’s [Bark Armor] crumbled around him as he took more damage from the rampaging beetles. As the fog thinned to a purple haze, Shrubley found where they were coming from.

Seeing how effective Cal’s ice spells were, he called out to his friend, “I need your ice magic, Cal!”

The skeletal mage answered promptly, though there was no way he could get through the hordes of bugs to Shrubley at the moment. He began to chain cast one icy spell after the other.

Shrubley tapped [Lifelong Student], watching with intent as the essence wove itself throughout the spells he cast.

[Lifelong Student (Curiosity)]

Cost: Low mana per second

Cooldown: 5 seconds

The Druid instilled within you the potential for life, but it was you that acquired an unquenchable thirst for knowledge.

Imprint: After witnessing an ability, you can augment your body or abilities to incorporate facets of the knowledge you have gained. Repeated viewings increase this effect.

Shrubley had never tried to use [Lifelong Student] in such a way before and was pleasantly surprised when it worked. He could wield Elemental essence, at least to a lesser degree.

It had to be enough.

Tucking himself into his [Morph Shield], the layers of metal sliding into place to create a perfect sphere, Shrubley rolled across the room toward the holes where the beetles were pouring out of.

The beetles that tried to stand in his way quickly found out what the serpentii did back on the mirror world. That Shrubley was a force to reckon with and that metal beats carapace any day of the week.

Rolling through the crushed remains of the beetles, Shrubley stopped at one of the holes and unfurled himself. He used his borrowed Elemental essence to ice up the hole, and then quickly moved to the next one.

In short order, the deluge of monsters eased and the monster adventures were able to establish a foothold. The ice didn’t last, but it was harder to dig through than stone for the creatures. They were not magical creatures, they could dig through anything provided it was not too heavily fortified with mana.

Once the room was cleared, the beetles quickly found their burrowed entries filled with fire, frost, water, and lightning as Cal chased them with spells wherever they dared to break through.

Eventually, even the dumb insects finally got the hint and fled.

With the battle finished, Shrubley concentrated on creating antidote berries on his many branches with the culminated work of [Counteract].

A tiny, swirled berry appeared right between his eyes, then another, and another. Shrubley handed them out to his friends, each of which were looking rougher than he would have liked.

Slumped over, Slyrox was injured the worst. Her koblin mask’s filters had cracked. As he approached her and gave her the antidote berry, he could see a glimpse of a green furred lupine muzzle within.

He paired [Enlightenment] with [Recovery] to heal them, but that cost him nearly all of his mana. However, the boosting effects of his class’ ability dramatically improved the efficacy of [Recovery], allowing Shrubley to heal his friends back to full health with a single use.

“It’s okay,” Shrubley told her, giving her the first berry. “This will rid the poison from you.”

Slyrox nodded drowsily and popped the berry into her mouth through the rip. She gave a rattling wheeze that Shrubley did not like. Sensing this, Smudge bumped against Slyrox’s side, making encouraging noises. The koblin picked up the smaller slime and held him.

The effect of the berries produced by [Counteract] were fast-acting. Within moments, each monster was back on their feet, the poison purged from their bodies.

While Shrubley would be permanently immune to the effects of the same poison, such immunity would only be temporary to his friends. Lasting only so long as the berries were in their systems. He would have to be careful with his mana expenditure. Fortunately, he could manipulate the sunlight from his [Verdant Inventory] if the situation was truly dire. However, that was risky and difficult to manage.

Just to be safe, Shrubley concentrated and produced a few more, handing them out again. “For later,” he told them.

Slyrox shook her head, felt with alarm at the rip on her mask, and looked around to see if anybody was gawking at her.

Shrubley was the only one who appeared to see. She covered up the rip with a mittened hand. “You eye-peek?!”

“I did not mean to look, but you are beautiful, Slyrox,” Shrubley told her with all honesty.

Flustered, Slyrox hiccupped. And continued to hiccup.

Removing a few items from her satchel while continuing to hiccup with nerves, the koblin used [Kludge] to create a sticky sort of tape from some goo she had in a pot and a strip of cloth. She slapped the tape-like mixture onto the rip and held it in place for a few moments.

[Kludge]: Tinkerers to the last, you are a member of the proud koblin race that can take a few bits of string and some lengths of wood and turn them into nearly anything.

When she took her mittened hand away, the rip was covered, and the mask sealed once more. She breathed a sigh of relief.

“Guys?” Cal asked, backing away toward the center of the room where Shrubley and Slyrox were. “I think we might need to regroup.”

The far wall of the room was bulging and cracking. A beetle the size of a two-story house burst through the wall and screeched in insectile rage as it barreled toward them.