New Story -- Chapter 21

Chapter 21

After daybreak, which was hard to see because the fog rolled in again just after dawn, Thaden ate some breakfast before untying his rope from his makeshift sleeping spot in the tree. Despite his lack of sleep the latter half of the night, when he was prepared for another attack at any time, nothing appeared to disturb his stay.  During that time, he was able to check his message feed and found that he had acquired more PICK, adding to the total he still had accumulated inside of him. In addition, he had Leveled his Support Spellcasting Competency another 3 Levels and Defensive Spellcasting Competency by 2 Levels; he suspected it wasn’t that big of a jump because he had killed the Phantasmal Shriekers so quickly.

After he was all packed up, Thaden spent the day moving around the area surrounding the Mausoleum of Despair, waiting for any sign of another group of Adventurers that he could join with in a party; unfortunately, unless they came from a different direction and were killed with no sign of their bodies afterward, he found absolutely no one.

What he did find were more Undead, the same three varieties he’d faced the day before, though in much smaller numbers. Facing only 10 to 15 of them at a time was comparatively easy, especially with his new spells, and they lasted only a minute or so before they fell. It was over so quick that he didn’t even end up getting covered in nasty rotting flesh or fluids, especially when he stayed on the move and didn’t let them surround him. Kiting them around wasn’t exactly easy, as they were actually fairly fast when they were chasing him, but he was still able to maneuver out of the way to prevent being encircled.

Thaden was expecting at least someone to show up during the day, but as morning turned to afternoon and then evening quickly approached once again, he began to think that no one was coming. With perhaps two hours or so of daylight left, he had to make a decision before he was forced to spend another night in a tree.

Do I wait another day out here? Should I just head back to Ashcleft and call the Quest done? Or, would it be beneficial to visit another town to see if they have any Adventurers I can join there?

Just as he was deciding not to stay another night and head back to Ashcleft, where he would make some decisions from there, it seemed as though the Quest had other plans for him.

ALERT! The Mausoleum of Despair (Medial) is in danger of breaking!

Already overflowing with Undead, The Mausoleum of Despair will break open with 12 hours and release its full assortment of monsters onto the nearby populace! Brave Adventurers from the Coalition must heed these warnings and stop Arpath, the Bone Defiler, from establishing a foothold upon the world of Tarth!

SPECIAL Quest updated…

[Quest Type: SPECIAL

Rank Requirement: Any

Quest Time Limit: 12 hours

Quest Difficulty: Mid-Medial

Minimum Recommended Level: 25

Minimum Recommended Party Size: Any

Quest Description: The breaking of The Mausoleum of Despair Dungeon (Medial) is eminent! All nearby Adventurer Coalition members are needed to enter The Mausoleum and defeat Arpath, the Bone Defiler, and stop the catastrophic breaking of the dungeon

Completion Requirements: Defeat Arpath, the Bone Defiler inside The Mausoleum of Despair (Medial) within the time limit

Bonus Quest Rewards: 60 gold, 30,000 PICK, 150 Rank Progress up to Bronze, and 3 Additional spell/ability selections

Quest Failure Penalties: Destruction of nearby towns and expulsion of assigned members from the Adventurer Coalition

Current available nearby Adventurer Coalition Members Assigned: 1/1]

“Well, that’s just great. What do I do now?”

Looking at the window that popped up with the alert and update to his current Quest, his heart sank at what it was telling him.

“Where’s my Fortuity stat in all this? Is this supposed to be lucky?”

Not only did it seem as though something catastrophic was going to happen with the dungeon if it wasn’t addressed with the next 12 hours, but the penalty for failure – if he did nothing – was the deaths of the many people in the nearby town and his own expulsion from the Adventurer Coalition. The latter would be highly disappointing, especially considering that it was his main avenue for making money, but the former was what worried him the most. As much as he’d been treated poorly by many of those in Ashcleft, that didn’t mean they deserved to be overrun and killed by a horde of Undead.

What was even worse was when he looked at the bottom of the SPECIAL Quest update, Thaden could see that he was the only one that was both available and nearby to be assigned to carry out the quest – or he assumed that’s what 1/1 meant. It wasn’t even referencing Ashcleft anymore, as it apparently expanded in scope to include any of the nearby population centers in range.

And… he was the only one that fit the criteria, apparently. That meant that he was out there running around the dungeon for no reason whatsoever, because there wasn’t anyone coming in a party that he could join with. The only ones he’d seen were apparently the only ones that had been available, and now they were dead.

So, it’s up to me to, what, save the world? Or at least save this portion of this world?

No, that wasn’t him. He wasn’t some hero that could just do something like that. As much as he didn’t want to be the one responsible for lost lives, he was just one person, and they couldn’t expect him to take it on all by himself.

He pulled up the SPECIAL Quest window again and tried to see if he could get rid of the Quest, as he didn’t want to be a part of it anymore.

Current SPECIAL Quest cannot be abandoned.

So, even if he chose to do nothing and not save everyone, he would be expelled from the Adventurer Coalition. Again, that wouldn’t be the most horrible thing that had happened to him ever since coming to the world of Tarth, but it was certainly not ideal for his situation.

As he stood there and contemplated his choices, Thaden heard the groans and clicks that indicated another group of Undead approaching his location, so he closed out of everything and bent his attention to absolutely destroying the stupid Zombies, Skeletons, and Swarmers that attacked him. When they were no longer a threat, he discovered that he had finally achieved Level 81 in his Support Spellcasting Competency, giving him another Advancement to choose from. It had gone up slowly over the course of the day, mainly because he wasn’t needing to cast spell after spell after spell for minutes or hours on end, but it all added up after a while.

It was as he was selecting his new Advancement that he made up his mind, thanks to his newest Advancement option.

Please select (1) Advancement for your Support Spellcasting Competency:

Faster Healing – All Support spells now have a 50% permanent casting time decrease

Longer Healing – All Support spells now have a 50% permanent duration increase

Even Stronger Healing – All Support spells now heal or reduce 100% more Health

Group Healing – All multi-target Support spells now have a 50% range increase

Self Healing – All single-target Support spells now heal or reduce 100% more Health

Radiant Afterglow – All Support spells now heal an extra 2% of max Health every 5 seconds for 60 seconds

Instant Gratification – All Support spells are now instant-cast, but have triple the Mana Cost

Instant Gratification seemed like a trap for most Assistant Healers, but for Thaden, it was perfect. He didn’t care about Mana Cost all that much, though he had to calculate whether he had enough maximum Mana to cast his Minor Mass Healing spell if it were tripled, because he didn’t think he’d be able to cast something beyond his maximum. Thankfully, it came out to be 270 Mana per cast, which was just under his maximum 280 or so if he had his Weak Aura of Life active at the same time.

The biggest drawback, at least for the time being, was that he couldn’t cast Weak Resurrection because it would cost him 450 Mana – far outstripping his current 330 maximum without his Aura active. But, when he considered that he was the only one there and that there was no one nearby from the Coalition that he could actually party with, he thought the exchange would be worth it.

Being able to instant cast any Support spell he had available was incredible. It still wouldn’t allow him to cast two channeled spells simultaneously, such as Minor Healing and Minor Repulsion Field, but he could now utilize Weak Health Reduction and both affliction cure spells without having to drop his protection. Based on the fight against the Phantasmal Shriekers, he knew that could save his life in the future if he was able to utilize a Cure Affliction spell while maintaining his invulnerability.

It also opened up a lot of possibilities in the future if he was forced to stick to a Support Class, as the Advancement applied to any Support spell. He knew he would be more inclined to pick spells that were powerful but had a longer casting time, which he may have passed over in the past because he couldn’t afford to drop his protection for any length of time.

All-in-all, while there were a few downsides to picking it, it was also something he thought could end up being extremely powerful if he used it right.

Which was what decided him on his course of action, just to see how powerful it could be even right now.

After selecting the Instant Gratification Advancement, Thaden moved away from the rotting corpses of the defeated Undead and sat down, pulling out some of the last of his food and water. Eating it quickly and washing it down with some quick gulps of water, he moved over to the pile of corpses he’d left behind to relieve some pressure on his bladder and to release some tension that he was suddenly feeling, before heading for the front red-stone doors of The Mausoleum of Despair.

There were a few small steps that led up to the entrance of the dungeon, and he hesitated for a moment at the bottom while he made sure his Access Slots were fully prepared. With both Fields at the ready, each of them able to protect against up to Level 40 sources, Minor Mass Healing, Minor Regeneration, and Minor Cure Mental Affliction rounded out his Slots – though he was prepared to switch any of them out if needed. His Weak Aura of Life was already active, as it had been since that morning, and he was as prepared as he could be.

Of course, he would’ve rather been surrounded by a party of strong Adventurers, but he would have to simply deal with what he had at the moment.

With a deep breath, Thaden walked up the stairs one at a time, his feet reluctant even if his resolve was forcing him forward. By the time he got to the top, he was breathing hard and he took another minute to regulate his breathing and calm down. This’ll be easy. It won’t be anything like the Vogmite Tunnels. You’re stronger now, and these Undead won’t know what hit them. Psyching himself up, he pounded his right fist against his left palm, letting out what he hoped was a manly grunt at the same time.

“Alright, let’s do this.”

He reached out to push the doors open, but they wouldn’t budge. The reason for that popped up with a window a half-second later.

The Mausoleum of Despair Dungeon

Please select dungeon difficulty:

Minimal   Medial (Breaking)   Maximal

Dungeon Slayer World First Achievement override!

Please select dungeon difficulty:

Minimal   Medial (Breaking)   Maximal

Thaden watched the reward from his Dungeon Slayer World First Achievement activate in real-time, allowing him to choose something other than just the “Minimal” difficulty for the dungeon. He could only assume that someone would normally have to clear a lower difficulty in order to progress to the next tier, but his reward eliminated that need.

Still, he was almost tempted to run through the Minimal difficulty first just to make sure it wasn’t too much for him, but he knew that he was on a time constraint now and wasn’t sure if there were any limitations from simply challenging the dungeon so soon after completing a lower difficulty. He still didn’t exactly know everything worked in this world, such as how the dungeons were populated in the first place or how he was even able to choose different difficulties. Regardless, after only a few seconds of hesitation, he chose the “Medial (Breaking)” difficulty; as soon as he did so, he felt the door that his hand was still touch him begin to sweep open, followed a half-second later by the other one.

Just like creepy haunted house, the doors swung open with a creepy creak despite them not being wood, and when the screech of the stone against whatever the joints were made of stopped, Thaden looked inside to find a short, black stone-brick hallway approximately 10 feet tall and 6 feet wide in front of him leading inside. While the hallway was completely dark with no lighting, he could see the hallway end ahead and open into a larger area, which showed the flicker of flaming torches, magical or otherwise.

Thaden walked inside with hesitant steps, unsure of what exactly he was getting into. After approximately 10 steps, he heard a horrendous squeal behind him, and he froze in horror as the doors swung shut much faster than they had opened, closing together with a wall-shaking *boom*.

Because the Medial difficulty of The Mausoleum of Despair is currently on the verge of breaking completely, the exit must remain closed. At this time, there is no chance of premature evacuation; the only hope of those who enter the unholy depths of this dungeon to escape with their lives is to clear it by defeating Arpath, the Bone Defiler. Good luck!

“What?! You couldn’t have told me that before I walked inside?”

Thaden cursed under his breath, afraid to call too much attention to himself after his initial outburst, especially when he heard groans coming from down the hallway where the larger, illuminated area was located.

Great. Do or die, I suppose.

Shaking out his hands and bouncing on the balls of his feet a few times, Thaden stretched his arms above his head and twisted a few times, as if he was getting ready for some sort of sports competition. While it wasn’t really something he’d done much of in the past, he’d seen it done on TV too many times to count. When he was done stretching, he had to admit that it helped to calm down his nerves a little, which had spiked after the door had slammed closed.

“Alright, stupid dungeon of disgusting Undead. Ready or not, here I come.”