Lewd Dungeon, Chapter 370

Chapter 370 – Grandpa

“So, here’s the lake,” Charity said, “and we’ve got our three pieces of the key. But what are we going to do about  the guardian?”

As expected, there was a single magical torch on a post next to a rickety wooden pier. A wooden rowboat that looked old but in well repair was resting upside down on the stone shore nearby. Yet, the space was far too wide for a [Magelight] to show them the edges, with the sides of the room trailing off into darkness around the lake. The only reason that they knew there was another side to the lake was a pinprick of light far off in the distance, barely visible in the otherwise utter darkness outside the torchlight.

Catalina looked at the water’s edge, contemplating. Finally, she came to a decision. “Right. I have absolutely no desire to fighting in or on the water. We could try flying, but just like the open desert floor, we don’t know if that will draw in the boss or not. And I don’t like the idea of just hoping we can keep wall-walking magics up until we get around however wide this lake is to the other side.”

That said, she reached into her inventory, and pulled out a special piece of equipment, that she hadn’t had a need to use before now. Jose grinned as he saw his handiwork glint in the [Magelight]. “Ooh, finally, a proper field test of the [Adjustable Spellcannon]!”

The device looked, for all the world, like  the unholy spawn of a science-fiction raygun and a blunderbuss from the age of sail. Catalina didn’t like using it because, well, it was cumbersome, and the MP costs were intense. However, she wasn’t going to turn down any advantage that her team or guild might give her when diving into a dungeon. After all, as the Tome of Kuronoth said, fair fights were for sparring and exhibitions. When fighting for your life, cheat as early and often as possible.

Jonathan chuckled at the device, before turning to its creator. “Remind me again how this doesn’t break the rules on guns in the dungeon, Jose?”

“Because it isn’t a gun, technically. It is a casting aid, basically a different form of a wizard’s staff. Guns, whether they are firearms, plasma blasters, ray guns, or the like, have certain qualities in the System. They’re equipment that run off ammunition or power supplies that deplete and have to be reloaded periodically, and so on.

The [Adjustable Spellcannon], however, has no ammunition. It is a derivative of the Spellshooter class’s main weapon, which basically allows the Spellshooter to focus attack magic through the device, or create magic bullets with their MP, though they typically have a secondary function of accepting normal ammunition, as well. That, fused with the functionality of a staff or wand that gives the user access to a spell they normally wouldn’t have. Like a staff, the [Adjustable Spellcannon] doesn’t use ammunition, but the user’s MP to do the casting. Where it differs from the staff is that the spells it has are not set in stone. Instead, the user can ‘save’ up to three spells, which can be changed later on.

“The dial turns the Spellcannon to one of five modes. Receiving, Safe, and the three spells. To use it, you just turn the dial from ‘Safe’ to, say, ‘slot 1’, and pull the trigger. Then, the spell launches from the cannon, as though you had cast it. Of course, a non-caster probably doesn’t have as much MP, or the skills necessary to really boost a spell’s effectiveness, but it gives them options.”

“What spells did you load it with, Mistress?” Dante asked.

Catalina grinned. “Oh, just some basic ones. [Magic Missile], [Fireball], and [Cure Wounds]. And it is an interesting piece of work. Uses my level and attributes for most things, but some of the abilities are ‘locked’. For instance, while [Magic Missile] normally scales with your character level, producing more and more missiles as you go, this one is locked to four, each doing damage equal to my Intelligence. Probably because I used a Wizard’s spell for it. Meanwhile, the [Cure Wounds] mode heals whoever I shoot equal to my Wisdom, while the [Fireball] mode deals damage based on my Charisma. There’s also the little fact that each shot costs twice as much MP as normal, so there are limits to what I can do with it.”

“So, if we found someone who had those spells that used Charisma, then it would be even more effective for you,” Jonathan nodded. “So, going to call the boss, let us fight it on land?”

“That’s the idea,” she nodded. “Everyone, weapons up and at the ready. We don’t know what form this boss will take, so be quick if I call for [Escape Charm]s.”

Soon enough, everyone was ready, with plenty of distance between them and the water’s edge. Catalina set the [Adjustable Spellcannon] to [Magic Missile], and pulled the trigger four times in succession, causing sixteen bolts of force to strike the water. For a moment, nothing happened. And then, the water exploded.

Grandpa Earl

Giant Ironscale Alligator Zombie

Level 30

Titles: Slashproof

It was an alligator, like the one on the first floor. Except while that one had been a very respectable 16 feet, this monster was a full forty feet long, at least! Oh, and there was the fact that it was Tier 2, had scales that looked like they were made of iron, and had a title that made it all but immune to slashing weapons. Other than that? The only difference was in how badly Grandpa’s breath stank. Maybe his last meal had been rotting away in its undead stomach? Either way, it was awful.

More importantly, its eyes were on them. “KILL IT!” Catalina screamed, losing her cool for just a moment, as she fired the [Adjustable Spellcannon] again and again. Not that any of her team would blame her. When fighting something large enough to gobble you up in a single bite in close quarters, a bit of fear was warranted.

Jonathan focused his efforts on his shield work, doing his best to keep the alligator back, and stabbing with his blade now and then when he could. However, that really was just something to try and keep the thing’s attention on him.  His blade wasn’t going to hurt anything with a Slashproof title on top of their normal defenses, but he could at least forced them to reveal their secrets for the ones behind him.

Charity dove in when she could, targeting the softer parts of the boss, like the eyes, as best she could. However, her skill set and attack style was very much at odds with this boss’s nature. Like Jonathan, the best she could do was to contribute what damage she was able to slip in, and maybe rescue anyone who get caught by the jaws.

Thankfully, the [Magic Missile] spells from the [Adjustable Spellcannon] seemed to work, even if they were basically just chipping away at the creature’s HP. But Catalina wasn’t confident that her electro-whip would be any better, since undead tended to have muted reactions to it. Still, the damage helped take some pressure off the three members of the team that were actually carrying the group at the moment.

Dante’s hammer hit again and again, working on that front-right knee. The Demonsoul Protector’s plan was simple. Destroy the legs, and the undead gator suddenly becomes far simpler to deal with. Granted, actually doing that was easier said than done, but even with an undead’s general disregard for things like pain and the System throwing everything into question, physics were still a thing. A creature, even an undead one, without functioning legs was crippled in how quickly it could move around, unless they had magic to fly, or something like that.

Jose, on the other hand, was going with a different approach. His magitech armor allowed him to land hover over Grandpa Earl’s back, while his Omniweapon arm reconfigured into Drill Mode. Like something out of an anime, brought the weapon down, as the oversized drill became surrounded by a spiral of magic, focusing its power. Sparks flew as metal met metal, but soon the piercing power of the drill won out over the iron scales, and an opening formed, a chink in its armor, growing wider by the second, until he had to pull back, jumping high to keep the undead alligator from whirling about and trying to take a bite out of his armor.

As Jose crashed back down upon the gator’s back and began drilling once again, Ryan unleashed bolts of hellfire at will. It seemed as though every time the gator opened its maw to bite, a jet of hellfire was blasting it, threatening to go down its gullet and fry it from the inside out. Any time that tail whipped about to try and smash someone, hellfire erupted under it with enough force to shake the creature’s balance.

All in all, they were playing it safe. Yes, there were probably ways that they could have sped the fight along, especially if they had weapons designed to work against this boss, but they didn’t need to go for a time trial. They just needed to keep everyone alive, and make it through to the next floor. So, everyone watched their spacing, and did their best to keep out of trouble. The few times things got a bit hairy, Charity used her ability to dive into shadows to pop up and drag them into a shadow with her, before returning them to the surface once the threat had passed.

And then, finally, it was done. The giant undead alligator crumpled to the ground, and did not move. Catalina shot it with the [Magic Missile]s one last time, just to be sure. Then, the body began to dissolve into light, and the kill notification appeared.

CONGRATULATIONS!

You are the first party to successfully bring down Grandpa Earl and clear this floor of the dungeon. In recognition of this feat, rewards have been increased by 20%.

Loot:

124 cp

5342 sp

20892 gp

892 pp

Ironscale Gator Scale Mail

Grandpa’s Lucky Tooth

Iron Hammer of the Deeps

Godoutched Gatorspine Whip

Ironscale Gatorskin Pants

Ring of the Deeps

Almost as one, they slumped to the ground, exhausted. The [Magelight]s, which they had changed just before the fight, were blinking softly. It was almost time to change them. They’d spent almost four hours on this one fight. It felt like days, and no time at all. Combat was funny like that, at times, especially when you were in higher levels.

Catalina sighed as she leaned against Jonathan’s back. “Everyone sound off. No one’s dead or needing major healing, right?” No one did, much to her relief. She wasn’t sure she had enough MP to actually manage more than just stabilizing someone at the moment, and even that was uncertain she hadn’t felt this tired since just after the Apocalypse, before the LA guild had formed, when she was still ‘negotiating’ with different groups. Her [Sensual Recharge] ability recovered HP and MP, but not stamina, something she hadn’t counted on when she had boasted in being able to outlast that whole gang in return for their not causing problems for her, or hers. She’d done it, but she’d needed to sleep for a whole day, after.

“Right, options, everyone? Do we rest for a bit, and then continue on? Or do we call it here, and let someone else get to be guinea pigs for the next floor?”

“Before anyone else weighs in, Mistress, there’s something you should know,” Ryan said, his voice as tired as she felt.

“Well, nothing good ever comes from that. What is it, Ryan? I’m not helping you if you burned your boots again.”

There were a few chuckles, including one from Ryan, but no one was energetic enough to do more than that. “It was only the one time, when I first was seeing what a Fire Sorcerer could do. And anyways, what I wanted to point out is that we are currently short one boat.”

Catalina looked where he was pointing, and groaned. The boat, which had been drawn up on the shore, well away from the water, looked as though a giant undead alligator had smashed it with his tail. Probably because that was what had happened. Evidently, Grandpa Earl had hit it hard enough that his tail just went straight through leaving two mostly-intact pieces from the front and back of the boat, but with a four-foot section in the middle very much smashed, leaving no connection between the two sides.

Catalina groaned in frustration, though part of her was glad for the sight. “Well, that answers that. I’m not bothering with flight spells today, and none of us are swimming. Everyone rest for five, and then we’ll take the [Escape Charm]s out.”