Accidental Reaver

Silently stepping onto the crystal foundation soil, Luke froze the shard laden blood trickling down to his feet. A cave formation shielded the narrow silver corridor.

The electric sting from crystalline thunder tried to cling to his clothes. Luke pushed out some frosted mist to stave off the sensation. Sooty's feathers expanded from the static. She attempted to plaster shadows onto her plumage—it smoothed down the side effect. She opted to hide in Luke's shadow instead.

While the Reaver's movements naturally silenced from the Ethereal passive Whispering Tome provided, the zone in front of him was anything but. Hostile Shardlings stabbed into desperate crystal infested deer, rabbit, and fae wildlife. Sounds of struggle colored the soundscape while the smell of blood thickened.

Too preoccupied with annihilating the other side, neither the wildlife nor Shardlings noticed the Reaver. The misty layer expanding from him hid his body well, while being completely silent prevented most tells from leaking out of his presence. Shifting Xera to a blade, Luke layered his typical buffs onto the artifact as Runes spread up his forearms and ice layered.

A mist shroud covering him, Luke diced through the warpath, often double piercing a Shardling pack in the way. Any poor wildlife—assuming they didn't freeze to death from touching him—scampered away from the Reaver when the nearest Shardling war band mysteriously split apart. Five or so Shardling clusters later, Luke stood at the precipice before the silver reflective corridor. Taking pity, an Essence Lance shot out his mist shroud. The three smaller ice shards consumed to twist its path, and it exploded in the middle of what Luke surmised at the Shardling's main camp, killing off the monsters at the blast radius center. Various light silver and white orbs entered his Inventory.

Pacing inside the corridor, about half a minute later, a quaking sensation overtook the silver plane. Luke turned around and saw the entryway shut close, a silver glass-like barrier covering it.

"There goes any backtracking," Luke said, taking Xera to the side, "stay alert with me, Xera. Same goes for the rest of you."

"Of course, no monsters will escape my wrath today. I'm totally refreshed from the crystal cleansing those shard things do."

Sooty rattled from Luke's shadow but stayed put. Whispering Tome guarded behind Luke's neck. Light refracted off the silver corridor at ill-conceived patterns, creating pockets of deep shadow and sharp light, almost blinding. A beam tore straight into Luke's back, yet it reflected unexpectedly. Feeling the spot, Luke figured out soon enough why.

Ice subconsciously placed itself there at Luke's command.

The Reaver laughed incredulously, "I don't even think about it anymore. It's become so natural I fail to feel it sometimes—I'm as much ice as I am flesh. If this light hazard reflects off ice, then…"

A thin ice layer covered the Reaver's body, melding with it. Against the natural laws he knew back on Earth, Luke moved perfectly fine with it, better than usual, even. Refracted light bounced harmlessly off him, returning to the silver surface all around the corridor. The bright light reduced visibility, but Wayfinder's vision stat seemed to mitigate most of the reduction. Luke hooded his eyes, handling the visibility issue enough to keep moving with minimal hassle.

Mist flooded down the narrow path, expanding out rapidly due to the lack of space. Since the mist was an expansion of his sense, Luke came into contact with creatures several leagues ahead. They plastered to the silver mirror walls, unmoving—waiting for something. A faint stink came from them, covered by the ice smell constantly surrounding the Reaver. From the mist feedback, the creatures popped in and out of the mirror surface.

The terrain held a unique advantage for Sooty. Since the refracting light beams created pockets of shadow in countless places, plenty flanked the awaiting ambushers. Luke counted seven within the mist's perception. Tugging on their spiritual link, Sooty hopped from one shadow to another. Her body dripped out a nearby shadow beside the suspect monster, a semi-invisible beast made of white flesh and silver crystal, except for black claws and jagged rows of white teeth.

A merciless Talon Strike sunk into the creature's upper neck, cutting off half the connected flesh. It roared in surprised pain, cut short when Sooty used Reaver Beak, applying Vorpal Touch to its brain. The rot ceased any sign of life within the target, but the alerting roar informed the remaining six monsters. They vanished into the mirror surface beneath them, reappearing before Sooty, encircling her. The bird served her role already, jumping from one shadow to a distant one away from Luke's direction.

Cascading hiss's followed after, as red enlivened the monster's eyes. Each started after the crow. Three became shock still, while three others slowed tremendously.

"Silence."

A grey domain covered the six crystal monsters, the Reaver capitalized on their positioning mistake. He Triple Stepped, imploding ice at his feet to achieve near-instant acceleration. Xera sliced right through one crystalline body, followed by another and another. Essence Lance showered upon the three slowed survivors, and Sooty's Essence Screech pounded into them. Blue frost, brown rot, and flickering shadows paralyzed the creatures, groveling in confusion and pain. Using Triple Step to hop forward quickly, Luke brandished Xera, swiftly ending the fight.

Flipping over the most intact specimen, Luke inspected it.

[Crystal Stalker] (Elite)

Tier: 1

Level: 50

HP: 0/4710

Feeds on unaware adventures traveling the prism's maw. Its scales absorb the light, granting clear camouflage. Having evolved alongside the corridor it was born in, it can hop within the mirror's reflective surfaces with a short interval period.

Sooty flapped back to Luke's position, covering herself in shadows. She unfurled a wing, and the loot from the seven corpses entered her Spatial Feather. The thin shadow layer sucked in the refracting light, albeit with much greater struggle. Despite the option to hide away in the shadows, Sooty stayed put, treating it as training. Icing over the Crystal Stalker viscera and gore, Luke noticed a pulsing brand and rune on the silver corridor, roughly in the center of the seven monsters previously clustered around.

Thankful to be able to read the curiosities, Luke deciphered the meaning after a short struggle. The etching was similar to a combination he recently learned, but not the same. Context clues solved the rest.

"Left for death, right for might. Center for light." Nodding slowly, he said, "A real head scratcher."

While just outside his normal line of sight, within the mist feedback up ahead was a three way split. Left, right and center. The narrow silver corridor minutely shifted, and Luke noticed the left closing up as rushing screams echoed from it—faint enough that you could mistake it for the slight wind draft coming from the center path. Another pack of Crystal Stalker's awaited in ambush at the intersection.

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Employing similar tactics, this time with Essence Fissure instead of Silent Domain, the man and crow pair swiftly took care of them. Slowly shifting his head around in a semi-circle, Luke imbued frost essence into his eyes, trying to pierce the veil of blinding reflective light deeper within each path. The right appeared clear out as far as he could see, and the left beheld red eyes and sucking mirror vortexes.

Hoisting Wayfinder up, Luke spoke to the compass, "Time to pay neck rent. Which way do you think is best, Wayfinder?"

"Left for a needless rainy day, the center if ye want a snooze fest, and right for something in between. You gandered enough, but the right is my vote."

"Same here," Xera said, "as fun as it is to try and clear a path before it closes us inside with crunchy monsters, I think right is more mystery."

Excluding the left path, Luke thought over why he came to this dungeon in the first place. The promise of a quest reward and the lure of final boss loot drove his motivation. The vanity reason was seeing how he stacked against the best tier 1 hunters in Sylen, but most essentially….

To find an edge for the coming Tide.

Sooty appeared indisposed to whichever direction Luke took. Placing Xera into a front guard position, Luke chose to go right. As if confirming his choice, the silver corridor snapped shut the left path, and whispers caressed to the Reaver's ear.

"Come and play…"

A reflection of an unrecognized party appeared on the nearby silver surface, as radiant light squared it. Black crystals grew from their backs, as did their eyes, the same color liquid leaving their orifices. A white crystal formed on the glabella of one adventurer in the party, the Warrior, based on his gear. A crystallized square augmented his eyes as the insanity-plagued ripped his axe into the nearest victim. The Warrior grew upon strength greater than his party members, slaughtering two before the final member, an elf Mage, put him to rest.

The shaken woman in the image plastered her back to the silver surface, shuddering as more black fluid flowed from her body.

[The Silver Prism has attempted to corrupt you. The Spectral Heart resists, assisted by Authoria's Mark and Dual Soul. The faintest remnant wafts around your body]

[Through her link with you, your companion, Sooty, nullifies the majority of the corruption]

The corruption counter ticked up a single point in the left hand corner of his vision. Nothing too threatening, although Luke knew the usual hunter in this dungeon would've been far more affected by now. Granted, they too could have a measure against the corruption attempts—a fat chance they all did. In the note margins on the information book about Crystal Demon Point, Luke remembered an off-handed mention about bringing along anti-corruption potions.

Oh well.

The Reaver covered in ice sauntered down his chosen path, hostile light refracting to attack him but bouncing off like a harmless kitten, returning to the silver surface from which it came. When the concentration of light lasers became too much for Sooty's shadow, Luke formed an ice semi-circle barrier on the most pressured side, allowing the corvid to recover safely. She stubbornly refused when he expressed she could rest in his shadow.

Since the danger to Sooty was minimal at best, Luke cast aside the worry and let the bird do as she wished. A trail of browned and frozen Crystal Stalker bodies exposed his path, the enemies too weak to be considered more than an afterthought. Sometimes, Luke forgot why there was gemmed blood on Xera's blade, a half conscious slash or two, and the monsters died horribly, often imploded by frost within—Sooty cleaning up after any leftovers.

Luke ceased the mist he formed, trying to train his vision instead with frost essence. He glanced at Sooty, "You'll be covering my six, Sooty."

Planting her feet so that her body faced the opposite direction, Sooty answered with a confident coo. Whispering Tome also floated behind Luke's neck, opening itself up, as if showing it would assist. The pockets of shadow grew as the refracted light became thicker and layered over itself. Luke tried dodging around to get a sense of how in the hell someone would handle this terrain hazard without being layered in an element.

He found it within the realm of possibility, almost leisurely, but a slip up in concentration and he'd get a light beam to the body, reflected due to the ice layer already present. With a little thought, he started deflecting the light with Xera, sometimes intercepting other light attacks trying to come his way. Perhaps with incredible weapon sense, a hunter could handle this problem just with that maneuver.

When he applied Polar South, he accomplished that task. As soon as it fell off, Luke found himself lacking once more. Still, it became decent practice for fine control over blade play. The Reaver failed to fully take advantage of his inflated attribute foundation in many ways. He tried not to beat himself up about it, adjusting to rapid change took time—something he had precious little of lately.

Cutting an aggressive Crystal Stalker in twain, the blood sprayed onto Luke, freezing on contact.

[Excessive crystalline blood has suffused with your body. Attempting to corrupt the vessel further. Internal ice prevents the blood from passing its membrane, halting the attempt]

Another way to get under my skin. I need to keep a watch out for anything else that can spread corruption, staunching monster blood with Ice prevented trouble without my knowing so far.

Following the narrow corridor for a while, Luke hopped backward. Hanging crystals, almost like stalagmites in formation, fell at random. Harshly glaring at the second hindrance, Luke qued into when one would give way. At their base, cracks spread; once fully matured, the crystal sharply dropped, stabbing into the silver crystal ground. If it came into contact with a shadow pocket, it melded right in, before exploding back out in a shrapnel cone.

Slipping right behind him, a hanging crystal sucked into a shadow pocket. Sooty alerted Luke, the Reaver slashed Xera out behind him, the icy arc smashing into the forming cone, killing the threatening phenomena before it could be fully born.

"Good job," Luke patted Sooty on the head. Whispering Tome floated side to side. Luke got a sense of what it wanted.

"You too, Whispering Tome, " the Reaver rubbed the book spine for a moment, before orienting back to the path, pressing onward.

Packs of Crystal Stalkers later, Luke came upon another different enemy archetype. A large white crystal golem creature, light from the silver surface reflected onto it, absorbing into its skin, lighting up dimmed brands all over its body.

[Prism Golem] (High Elite)

Tier: 1

Level: 50

HP: 10320/10320

Sentries of the Prism Maze. Light empowers it. Its incredibly tough outer shell is a known ender to melee type hunter careers. Beware.

A larger pack of Crystal Stalkers awaited around the Prism Golem, the two monster types in harmony with one another. The Crystal stalkers stretched out their tongues, soaking themselves on the silver surface like a reptile did on a sun scorched warm rock.

The Reaver hardly feared an armored enemy. Xera naturally cut through 20% of armor anyway, furthered by Essence Bond when he applied it to her, and frost often split right through heightened defense with nary a concern. Plus, worst case, Essence Lance could make that rigid exterior brittle enough to shatter with a single command. The interaction with the brands around the Prism Golem's skin caught his attention. A barrier from absorbed light seemed to form around it. A tank type, if he ever saw one, with Crystal Stalker minions to do the ambushing damage.

He wondered why they never noticed him—until Luke remembered that he made no sound unless he shut off Ethereal. Despite not being in the description, Sooty's movements became silent too—when she sat on him. Her vocal noises were unaffected otherwise.

Since he knew well enough what the Crystal Stalkers were proficient in, Luke focused them first, aiming to isolate the Prism Golem before it could adequately react and bring out its abilities, if it had any. Sooty hopped about, dwelling in a prime shadow, above the Prism Golem, and in between three Crystal Stalkers in a triangular formation.

Caking ice around, Luke halted its growth right outside what he figured the Prism Golem's alert radius would be, about ten feet. He stood three times that distance away, a thin mist shroud now cloaking him. The dumb monsters didn't notice a thing.

Shifting his eyes to account for the positions of each Crystal Stalker, Luke communicated a plan to Sooty over Reaver's Link. A way to test the waters safely.

A Shadow Wing formed in front of the Prism Golem, the black shifting nether entity planted a Reaver Beak right onto the Golem's skull, spreading the armor debuff with an Essence Screech. Since the nine Crystal Stalkers were sufficiently spread, only six came under affect. Two dropped from their positions, dizzied. The golem whacked a slow-moving arm right through the Shadow Wing, the shade unaffected, although taking longer than normal to reform. The shade returned fire with a Talon Strike, and Luke noticed brown rot beginning to eat away at the absorbed light surrounding the Prism Golem.

Vorpal Touch applies to Shadow Wing as well?

Shifting light formed a barrier, shattered by the attack. The nine Crystal Stalkers acted, trying to pounce onto the shade. All this time, Sooty stayed put in her nice cozy shadow, she signaled her shadow copy to fly down the corridor—away from Luke.

Diving out like a condensed spray, Shadow Wing allowed black claws to harmlessly rip right through it, flying away. The Crystal Stalker pack dashed after it. While the Prism Golem sucked in refracted light like a vortex, its brands all lit up in flame. The brands swirled in a circle in the air, rapidly orbiting the golem's right arm.

Light condensed, absorbed within a twenty foot radius, in a blast too fast to be avoided, the Golem sent its obliterating attack in Shadow Wing's direction.

Let alone the Shade, the hyper condensed light beam sundered apart the Crystal Beasts. Only the three within the attack's margins lived, smoking from outrageous temperatures. The shade became cleansed, coming apart by the particle—sensing its demise, it gifted a shadowed Iron Feather to its creator, Sooty. With a silent screech, Shadow Wing died alongside six of the nine Crystal Stalkers.

In amazement at the unexpected potency, Luke whispered, "True damage…"