Healer Book 4 -- Chapter 35

(While this is a bit longer than my normal chapters, it took me a while to get all the math and updated spells completed. That, and I spent about 2 hours digging out from the 40-hour snowstorm that pounded my neighborhood, with another 10 inches to a foot expected to come starting tonight into Saturday morning. Winter is finally here!)

Chapter 35

As Thaden jumped down from the wall, starting his run toward the undead horde in the distance, he rechecked his active protections and made sure his Access Slots were set up exactly how he wanted them.  He’d done it all before he arrived, but now that he was heading into battle and he knew, in general, what he was facing, it didn’t hurt to ensure it was all correct.

Access Slots: 0/50 Available

Support Spells:

Exceptional Regeneration (Single Cast) – 1 Access Slot

Exceptional Mass Regeneration (Single Cast) – 1 Access Slot

Exceptional Mass Healing (Single Cast) – 1 Access Slot

Exceptional Absorb Health (Single Cast) – 1 Access Slot

Exceptional Health Augmentation (Single Cast) – 1 Access Slot

Exceptional Wild Health Leach (Single Cast) – 1 Access Slot

Exceptional Mana Transformation (Single Cast) – 1 Access Slot

Exceptional Healing Burst (Single Cast) – 1 Access Slot

Exceptional Overheal (Single Cast) – 1 Access Slot

Exceptional Support Sprite (Single Cast) – 1 Access Slot

Exceptional Health Treatment (Single Cast) – 1 Access Slot

Exceptional Full Heal (Single Cast) – 1 Access Slot

Exceptional Repeat (Single Cast) – 2 Access Slots

Exceptional Aura of Life (Reserved) – 1 Access Slot

Exceptional Cleansing Aura (Reserved) – 2 Access Slots

Exceptional Resuscitation (Single Cast) – 2 Access Slots

Exceptional External Stimulation (Channeled) – 2 Access Slots

Defensive Spells:

Exceptional Death Ward (Single Cast) – 2 Access Slots

Exceptional Damage Shield (Single Cast) – 1 Access Slot

Exceptional Protective Guards (Single Cast) – 1 Access Slot

Exceptional Protective Barrier (Single Cast) – 1 Access Slot

Exceptional Stacking Buffers (Single Cast) – 1 Access Slot

Exceptional Defensive Sprite (Single Cast) – 1 Access Slot

Exceptional Secure Bulwark (Single Cast) – 1 Access Slot

Exceptional Focused Cover (Single Cast) – 1 Access Slot

Exceptional Incarnation of Protection (Single Cast) – 3 Access Slots

Exceptional Mirrored Vigil (Reserved) – 3 Access Slots

Exceptional Indomitable Aegis (Single Cast) – 5 Access Slots

Exceptional Repose (Channeled) – 4 Access Slots

Exceptional Internal Automation (Single Cast) – 3 Access Slots

Spiritual Spells:

Exceptional Aura of Confusion (Reserved) – 1 Access Slot

Exceptional Spiritual Reclamation – 1 Access Slot

Some of the spells he had in his Access Slots were there just in case he needed them, but many of the rest were actively being used.  It hadn’t mattered too much when he went to revisit the Descent into Darkness dungeon, as the monsters there weren’t much higher of a Level than he was, but now Thaden was more protected than ever, especially considering the recent strength upgrade to his spells and his own efficiency increases.  And it was all enhanced by his Exceptional Support and Defensive Sprites.

Exceptional Support Sprite (Single Cast): Summons a small, invulnerable Support Sprite that hovers around a living target; for each single target support spell cast upon the recipient of the Support Sprite, the effectiveness of that spell is increased by 300%.

Range: 210 feet

Duration: 20 minutes

Casting Time: Instant

Mana Cost: 9,600

Exceptional Defensive Sprite (Single Cast): Summons a small, invulnerable Defensive Sprite that hovers around a living target; for each single target defensive spell cast upon the recipient of the Defensive Sprite, the duration of that spell quadruples, any charges are increased by 10, and any damage mitigation is increased by 200%.

Range: 210 feet

Duration: 20 minutes

Casting Time: Instant

Mana Cost: 9,600

The Support Sprite, for instance, used to only increase the effectiveness of single-target Support spells by 125%, but the Exceptional version boosted that all the way up to 300% -- but even that increase was enhanced by his current spell effectiveness when he cast upon himself.  With an increase of an additional 339% spell effectiveness to Support Sprite, it increased Support spells by 1,317% – an incredible and mind-boggling difference.  When many of those single-target Support spells that would be cast upon himself were healing spells, which also benefitted from an increase of over 1,100% bonus healing plus an additional 339% in spell effectiveness, something like an Exceptional Full Heal, which had also changed significantly from its previous Superior strength—

Exceptional Full Heal (Single Cast): Fully replenishes the Health of a single target and adds a healing-over-time effect.

Healing Amount: 100% of maximum Health instantly and an additional 10% of maximum Health every 10 seconds

Duration: 50 seconds

Range: 120 feet

Casting Time: 5 seconds

Mana Cost: 19,800

Cooldown: 15 seconds

—with an additional heal-over-time effect, and with his current Health pool of 53,030 with just his equipment without any other increases, such as a Health Augmentation or Overheal applied to it or the other bonuses from being in a dungeon while solo, he was looking at healing himself for nearly 1.3 million Health.  When he did tack on all of those other spells to augment his Health, as well as his Achievement bonuses such as the 25% increase to all of his stats while in a dungeon, he was looking at a Health pool of around 17.6 million.  When that was used with his Leach combination, he was looking at restoring around 250 million Health or more whenever he healed himself – and that didn’t even account for all of the heal-over-time effects he had that would trigger with the healing spells.  With the new Exceptional Wild Health Leach and the damage it imparted, and the increase in effectiveness, that translated to hundreds of millions of points of damage – which was further increased by his Class trait of 300% more damage within 300 feet, as well as the 60% damage increase from his upgradeable Achievement, Best Of The Best.

Exceptional Wild Health Leach (Single Cast): Affects a single target; whenever a healing spell is cast upon a target with Exceptional Wild Health Leach applied, the healing amount is increased while a percentage of the extra healing is leached in the form of Health from a random target within range of the caster, including the caster themselves; cannot target self.

Extra Healing Amount: 300%

Leached Health Amount: 50%

Duration: 60 seconds

Range: Can be cast on targets up to 180 feet away; leaching effects random target within a 120-foot radius of caster

Casting Time: 4 seconds

Mana Cost: 13,500

His protections weren’t quite in the realm of hundreds of millions of points of damage mitigation, but he was still well-protected, especially since, as stated before, his Exceptional versions of his Protective Guards and Protective Barrier were able to negate damage and afflictions for sources up to 40 Levels above his own, which he hoped might be enough to cover the majority of the monsters in this dungeon.  For monsters past that range, which he expected to be some of the Horde Leaders and the Horde Chief, or Dungeon Boss, he had multiple protective spells that would add damage mitigation, including his Exceptional Damage Shield, which had undergone an overhaul with the new strength.  Instead of a flat 5,000 points of damage mitigation, it was now percentage-based.

Exceptional Damage Shield (Single Cast): Creates a full-body protective barrier around a single target that prevents all types of damage; once damage is prevented, Superior Damage Shield disappears; cannot target self.

Number of Targets: 1

Range: 120 feet

Duration: N/A

Damage Mitigation: 50% of caster’s Mentality*10

Casting Time: 2 seconds

Mana Cost: 16,200

Cooldown: 2 seconds

With the change in damage mitigation amount to 50% of his Mentality times 10, that equaled approximately 150,000 points of damage mitigation at its base.  That was multiplied by 4 by his Defensive Sprite, another 391% by random bonuses, and then another 339% in spell effectiveness, granting him nearly 13 million in damage mitigation.  That wasn’t even factoring in conditional bonuses such as being in the dungeon with an additional 25% to his base stats, and a few other random effects, and then there were other spells such as his new Internal Automation spell and Stacking Buffers.

Needless to say, he wasn’t really worried about being hurt – if anything could even get close enough to hit him, of course.

In case the worst happened and he was overwhelmed with so many monsters that his spells couldn’t keep up, he also had Secure Bulwark and Focused Cover to create room for him, and if even that wasn’t enough, he had Indomitable Aegis for the ultimate temporary protection until he could figure out a way to escape the situation.  And if all of that wasn’t enough, Death Ward and Resuscitation were cast on him to bring him back if his Health hit 0; by that time, if that wasn’t enough, then he just might die.

Fortunately, he not only had Sadia with him to help with casting spells, but he also had Mirrored Vigil creating a copy of himself as well as the protective form of Incarnation of Protection to block any individual attacks against him.  He was as prepared as could be as he ran toward the horde.

Unfortunately for the undead horde, they were completely unprepared for his coming.

As thick shadows obscured the sun above, Thaden saw that the front edge of the seemingly endless see of undead was inhabited by what Sadia had previously mentioned was the “cannon fodder,” which were large, 12-foot-tall skeletons armored in rusty iron breastplates and helmets and wielding 6-foot-long broadswords.  Accompanying them were skeleton archers in rank after rank of leather-armored, bow-wielding figures, and then behind them were thousands of bulky skeletons that looked like if the Hulk had lost his green skin and flesh, leaving only oversized bones behind – but their fists were approximately the size of Thaden’s entire body.  He imagined that these were the ones that would attempt to batter down the stone walls circling the town, as they had the look of siegebreakers.

Skeletal Fighter – Intermediate Minimal

Level 180 (Perceived Level: 234)

Skeletal Archer – Intermediate Minimal

Level 180 (Perceived Level: 234)

Skeletal Breaker – Intermediate Minimal

Level 182 (Perceived Level: 237)

Also as Sadia had mentioned, the fodder was weak, as they were around 40 Levels under what the recommended Level was, which meant that most Raid Parties wouldn’t get much – if any – PICK from killing them, but fortunately because of their Perceived Level, Thaden would.  As he ran at full speed into the leading edge of the horde with Sadia and his Vigil by his side, they absolutely melted before him as he made sure he cast Repeat on himself for multiple instances of single-target spells, Regeneration was refreshed, Aura of Life was active, and then cast Health Burst on himself which was repeated multiple times at something like 400% effectiveness, followed by Full Heal  (with repeats) a few seconds later.  Like he had suddenly waved a hand and cast down the undead filth ahead of him, bones shattered and collapsed into piles of calcium, iron, and leather. 

There was no way to see how much damage he was actually doing, because as Leach and Absorb Health bounced back and forth in the millions of healing and damage points, nothing could stand in his way.  To add to the destruction, he jumped in an upward trajectory to get a better look of the sea of undead, before aiming Mass Regeneration at the extreme limit of his range, which then caught a wide swath of undead in regenerative healing.  While they didn’t die immediately, it only took a single tick of the Mass Regeneration on them to kill them, as it “healed” them for more than their maximum Health.

Needless to say, it was a slaughter.  Thaden and Sadia, not to mention his Vigil tore through thousands of skeletons in a matter of seconds, and each of them spread out to encompass even more within their range.  

What was even better, at least for him, was that as soon as the horde realized he was within their ranks, they stopped moving toward the town he’d left behind and closed ranks in order to crush the insect that attempted to infiltrate them.  That was their first mistake, as it just made it easier to kill them all at a faster pace, and soon the only real danger to Thaden was losing his footing as he raced over their broken piles of bones.

A few arrows fired by the Skeletal Archers were easily avoided by simply moving too fast for them to hit, and the single one that managed to accurately hit him did absolutely nothing as his Incarnation of Protection was there to block the arrow.  For the first minute as he tore through the horde, that was the only attack that actually managed to get close to him, as everything else was demolished before his advance. 

He saw the first of the Horde Leaders a split-second before it died, a 20-foot-tall zombie-like panther beast that had been crouching low to the ground as it attempted to pounce on him; it wasn’t like he could really see it anyway, as his vision was relatively limited to about 300 feet or so because of the darkness that fell over the land.  Regardless, as soon as the Horde Leader entered his range, it collapsed into a pile of putrid body parts.

Mutant Panther Wight – Horde Leader – Intermediate Minimal

Level 250 (Perceived Level: 325)

The Mutant Panther Wight was definitely more in line with what he expected to find in the dungeon, though even with its Perceived Level of 325, which was 124 Levels above his own, it didn’t survive even a single hit by his Leach.  Whatever Level Compression it possessed was also basically nonexistent, or he was so protected against them that he didn’t notice it.  If he ever did encounter a monster, such as the Adversarial Elite, that was already a much higher Level than him, he could consciously turn off his Visible Charisma and therefore eliminate their Perceived Levels, but he found that there was currently no point in doing that.

Without any obvious communication between them, Thaden and Sadia continued drilling straight into the heart of the horde, encountering nothing but more of the same sort of skeletons they’d already seen, though they did end up killing another two-dozen Horde Leaders, all of whom didn’t last any longer than the first.  There was a single Ancient Lich, however, that managed to launch a van-sized ball of greenish black necrotic energy at him from outside of his killing range, which his Incarnation of Protection managed to block with no seeming harm to it other than a significant reduction in its glow, but it was unable to get off a second attack before Thaden got close enough to kill it.

After a little over 5 minutes of absolute undead destruction and tens of thousands, if not over a hundred thousand, dead skeletons, he finally saw the Horde Chief, which was flanked by two other Horde Leaders, one of which was another 15-foot-tall Ancient Lich dressed in ragged black robes, with the other a floating, ghost-like apparition of a hideous, skeletal female… something.  It wasn’t originally a Human, at least as far as he could tell.

Ancient Lich – Horde Leader – Intermediate Minimal

Level 260 (Perceived Level: 338)

Screaming Banshee – Horde Leader – Intermediate Minimal

Level 260 (Perceived Level: 338)

Dark Death Knight – Horde Chief – Intermediate Minimal

Stage 1

Level 265 (Perceived Level: 345)

As soon as the Ancient Lich and Screaming Banshee saw him coming, the former launched another orb of necrotic energy, but the latter did something a little more dangerous.  A reverberating scream that seemed to pierce him to his very soul stopped him in place, and he involuntarily fell to his knees.  The clear psychic attack wasn’t negated by his protective spells, unfortunately, as none of them were strong enough to counter the psychic affliction that was affecting him.  The stabbing pain flowed through his body, and while it didn’t hurt him, it incapacitated him to the point where he couldn’t move or even think about casting another spell.  He sensed that Sadia and his Vigil were likewise affected nearby, meaning that they essentially frozen in place without the ability to speak or cast any spells.

Of course, this didn’t affect the spells they currently had active, so they were in no danger from the horde that attempted to reach them, but it would only be a matter of time before the duration on his spells ran out.  Unfortunately, from the little he could perceive of the area around him, the Horde Chief and the two remaining Horde Leaders were content to stay back, letting their minions throw their undead lives away.  After what felt like hours, but was less than 30 seconds, his Incarnation of Protection – which was unaffected by the Banshee scream – blocked a final necrotic orb from the Lich and disappeared, leaving Thaden and the others relatively vulnerable to the next attack.

All during that time, the Omenic Drifter felt the intensity of the ongoing scream starting to lessen as his Psychic Edging Advancement for his Psychic Resiliency Competency got to work, reducing the attack’s effectiveness by 1% every second, but it wasn’t yet enough for him to move significantly, let alone cast a spell.

But then, fortuitously, Thaden felt his Missed Connection Advancement trigger, which had approximately a 2% chance to make him permanently immune to the psychic ability being used on him.  Feeling the pain and immobility drain away, he got to his feet and dove to the side just in time to avoid the necrotic orb headed attempting to envelop him, and he saw Sadia and his Vigil break free from the psychic attack, as well.  With a nod to the giant squirrel as he sprang back to his feet, he jumped toward the Screaming Banshee while Sadia hopped toward the Lich, closing the distance in a few seconds. 

The Horde Chief, a 30-foot-tall Dark Death Knight, which was a fully armored knight with black plate covering its entire body, with burning red eyes peeking out from behind its helmet’s eye slit, moved so quickly in front of the Screaming Banshee that it crushed its skeletal minions under its feet; Thaden assumed it was trying to use its invulnerability to block any attacks against its Horde Leader, but it was already too late.  Once it was within range of his Leach and he could visually see it, the Banshee screamed one more time as its Health was sucked away, collapsing in a pile of ectoplasmic goo.

Somehow seeing this happen despite facing the other way, the Death Knight retaliated, practically teleporting forward with a 12-foot-long sword emitting billowy clouds of darkness, before slamming it down on Thaden when he landed in front of it.  The blow hit him right on the top of his head, and while he felt it touch his mask and brush against his hair, his damage mitigation stopped it from actually doing any damage.  On reflex, he cast Damage Shield on himself to refresh his damage mitigation, but before he could do anything else, Sadia and his Vigil managed to get close enough to the Ancient Lich, killing the last Horde Leader—

—which eliminated the shield of invulnerability around the Horde Chief.  Before another powerful blow could strike him ineffectually, there was a sudden squeal of metal on metal as the Death Knight’s armor suddenly fell apart, dropping piece by piece in an avalanche of dented plates, revealing a desiccated, ghoulish figure inside.  As the armor fully fell to the ground, the ghoulish Death Knight suddenly swelled in size, growing larger not only in height but in strength as its muscles grew to the point where it looked like it could crush boulders in its hands as easily as an egg.  A shield of invulnerability surrounded it during this process, indicating that it was undergoing a new phase, but as soon as the Knight was finished with its changes, the shield cracked and disappeared.

Dark Death Knight – Horde Chief – Intermediate Minimal

Stage 2

Level 270 (Perceived Level: 351)

For a brief second, Thaden finally felt a hint of the Level Compression that had been missing up to this point, before his Leach did enough damage to kill the Death Knight—

—except that it wasn’t quite dead.  Another shield of invulnerability surrounded it as its 50-foot-tall body collapsed, while its now-skeletal head remained floating in the air.  The burning red eyes were glowing even brighter now, as if they were going to start shooting lasers or something, as it gazed down on Thaden, Sadia, and his Vigil.

Dark Death Knight – Horde Chief – Intermediate Minimal

Final Stage

Level 275 (Perceived Level: 358)

Again, there was an even stronger sense of the Level Compression, going so far as to put some pressure on his entire body, but that lasted for all of a half-second as the bubble protecting the floating head broke.  Before it could project its red laser eyes at him, the blazing sockets were suddenly snuffed out as the attacks from all three of them hit it simultaneously, and it plummeted to the ground as whatever force was keeping it aloft was cut off.  When it hit the ground, slamming through the piles of bones from the dozens of Skeletal minions that had been previously killed, the skull cracked and fell apart, releasing a cloud of green-tinged darkness into the air before it dissipated. 

A few seconds after that, the rest of the undead that had continued attempting to reach him grew completely disorganized, with the majority of them running the other way, dispersing from a cohesive horde to random pockets of undead.  Thaden stood there with Sadia, surrounded by corpses and piles of bones as he watched them disappear from his vicinity, and the darkness that had enshrouded the horde broke up and disappeared.  As soon as the sun shone back down on the battlefield, the Skeletal monsters he saw collapsed, likely killed by the bright light, leaving the area littered with bones almost as far as the eye could see. 

For all of about 10 seconds, because the piles of bones and rusty armor that used to be the weak cannon fodder dissolved into the ground, leaving only the corpses of the Horde Leaders and the Chief behind to loot.

Thaden looked at Sadia with a huge grin on his face.  “So, uh, you think that was a record, or what?”