Return to Jorgaldur Volume I: the battle mage

1vs1vs1 (III)

Although he knew that it would still hurt him more, and the energy expenditure is high, Eldi was prepared to use Feline Response while he was still healing himself. If that was the case, he would use a potion as an emergency.

However, Dikgo fell again into a trap created through Mole's Power, in which, this time, there were Icicles. He screamed in pain while his legs were being pierced, but he wasted no time and tried to break free, and immediately decided to drink a potion.

But Eldi didn't just stay watching, but instead skewered him with a spear imbued in fire, by Perforating Impact. He immediately took out another one, piercing the arms that were trying to get in the way, being the mercenary's body unable to resist when the neck was brutally pierced. It laid inert on the Icicles.

Eldi got up, having confirmed Dikgo's death after receiving some experience, and turned to the skeleton that had just hit a dark sphere on his back, and forced him to renew Magic against me? He had barely enough manna left to heal himself, but he didn't want to waste any more time there, so he held the hammer and approached while his wounds were closing.

He dodged the huge skeleton's kick, letting his protections deal with the area of effect magic, and dealing a Devastating Blow to its leg. A difference of more than ten levels is too big, even if it is a floor boss, so the hammer first cracked its bones and then broke them.

With the huge skeleton on the ground, he used Earthquake to jump and attack the skull, just destroying it after a new couple of Devastating Blows. Shortly after, it disappeared, while Eldi was breathing heavily, because he didn't have much energy left.

He heard noises, someone was approaching, so he had to leave as soon as possible. Leaving the corpses would imply that an alarm could be given, that they would investigate, and he could end up discovered by those who were looking for him. So, despite the chills, he kept the corpses in the inventory, and covered the holes using Mole's Power in reverse, while his assistants collected the weapons. After that, he went down to the next floor.

The rest area was close, but he preferred not to enter. Although he had the nobles' passes, it was better that no one saw him, so he invested his last mana reserves in Sleepyhead's Shield, casting it in a secluded corner where he decided to rest, taking out something similar to a sleeping bag. Although, before falling asleep, a group descended.

"It has been fortunate that someone has just defeated it," one of them congratulated himself.

"Yes, I don't know if this time we would've succeeded. That way, we can explore this floor and gain strength faster," another voice nodded.

"Do we rest a little or start?"

"We better start and rest later. Those who have beaten it could be still resting and, depending on who they are, they could ask us for a compensation for opening the way."

"Not that we have asked for it!"

"Yeah, but we better avoid problems."

The voices were getting weaker, farther away, and he was also closing his eyes. He set the alarm in six hours, and had nightmares in which the three noble young men, the mercenaries, the counts of Tenakk and their children appeared. But the appearance in his dreams of the craftsman and his daughter, and that of the four adventurers he had protected from a threat they didn't know, gave him some peace.

He had breakfast fresh bread, with butter and some sugar, plus some hot meat skewers, not wanting to look at a certain corner of his inventory. He used Sharpening Senses a few seconds, discovering that there was someone in the rest area and on a detour to the right, so he got up and went straight. According to the map he had obtained from Aljhon, there was the boss' room in that direction.

There were also skeletons on this floor, level 38, that wielded the materialization of a rusty sword. He would have wanted to use them to practice, but Sharpening Senses and Ear to the Ground were telling him that there was a lot of activity around, and he wanted to avoid meeting anyone. The latter is a skill he had learned with the warriors-mole. And that he was far from mastering, but even in its early stages, it was useful. He couldn't know exactly where the sounds came from, but it gave him an idea of the distance, besides it was cheap and easy to practice.

"How odd, I would've sworn to have heard fighting sounds," a mage was surprised. She was wearing a long dark blue robe with some patches.

"Maybe they were going back, like us. Or they are training and have gone to a side tunnel," suggested an archer who now was using maces, because the arrows are quite ineffective against skeletons.

"That must be it. Well, it's great if they clean our way. I need a break."

"This floor boss is hard, it hasn't given us any chance. We need to train more," a warrior with a mace and shield lamented. He was carrying a sword in his belt, which indicated that the mace wasn't his main weapon.

Hidden behind the Sleepyhead's Shield, Eldi watched as they sighed and walked away. It was a waste of energy, but he wasn't needing much mana either, and hiding was more important. Besides, he now knew for sure where the path to the next floor was.

"At least, I am leveling it up," he resigned himself. He wanted to raise it to 8, so he could sleep another hour.

In addition to the sword, the boss had an extra resistance to fire, which is usually the weak point of the skeletons. That boss was also quite fast, which helped it to stumble comically with a Rock Wall when it was trying to Ram Eldi for the second time. It was a floor boss, so he had to be careful, but it wasn't a challenge for him with a difference of 10 levels. Nor did it give him almost experience, so it was a waste of time, except for filling the mana stones, and following the Oracle's prophecies.

At least, it was quick to go through the floor, being his main concern not to be discovered.