NOVEL NEXT 8- Insanity Difficulty Level
With the pup hidden in my backpack, I advance down the dungeon corridor. I haven't taken ten steps when one of those popup windows appears before me.
Analyzing subject... Analyzing... Calibrating power levels...
I stop, puzzled. The wolf pup, poking its head out from the top of the backpack's pocket, barks.
"Shhh," I scold it.
Last thing I need is to attract every living monster in the area.
Since it barks again, I take it in my arms, that calms it down.
The screen keeps flashing with the same phrase, calibrating power levels, for almost a minute.
Traveler from another world, select difficulty level.
Available levels: hardworking, hard, insanity.
Difficulty level determines reward level: generous, abundant, insane.
"Great," I whisper ironically instead of thinking to myself, since my voice seems to calm the pup, which has stopped barking. "No easy level or tutorial. Well, obviously the lowest difficulty, I'm not crazy. I'm not going to die here."
I stretch out my hand to select hardworking and hesitate at the last moment. Because... do I really have to select something? If I don't maybe I can just turn around and leave the way I came in. The other dungeon was for newbies and I'm little more than a newbie in terms of my level, another thing is the magic I possess. If this one has much higher difficulty, I don't think I can do it even on hardworking level. On the other hand, that thing about calibrating, could it be that it analyzed me and hardworking would present a challenge for me? That is, could it be one of those dungeons that adapts to the player's level.
Hmm... I don't know what to do.
If this were a game I would've already picked hardworking, but if I die nothing guarantees I'll return to my body on Earth, it could be the end. It wouldn't be so terrible to fail the academy exam, right? A quiet noble life and that's it. I could look for other dungeons, ones whose level I knew, and keep leveling up at my own pace. Maybe they'd let me take the exam another year.
Yeah... the idea of not choosing is becoming more tempting. I start moving my hand to withdraw it when the wolf pup squirms in my other arm and launches itself at my forearm, making that hand that's near the popup window give a swat, right to the right, touching where it says insanity.
Insanity level selected.
What? Damn seed of evil pup, what have you done?
I let out a couple of curses to vent. My heart's racing and I feel afraid. Terrified.
And by the way, I know it's "seed of darkness", but to me, it just earned the nickname "seed of evil".
"We're dead," I state the obvious out loud while looking at the little creature that with an innocent face climbs onto my shoulder and gets into the backpack pocket I'm wearing.
"Dead."
The dungeon rules are simple. Survive its three levels to obtain the reward. The dungeon can only be abandoned with a special return stone for this dungeon. Good luck.
"Luck?" I snort.
Not even with luck can I clear an insanity level.
Angry, I take off my backpack and hold it with my hands near my face, to glare at the black wolf pup's head.
"You pull something like this again and we're done."
In response, it sticks out its tongue and licks my cheek.
Well no.
Its adorable tricks aren't going to soften me up this time. I tell it seriously. And that's assuming a miracle happens and we survive. I put the backpack back on and, carefully trying not to make too much noise, sword in hand, advance down the corridor.
As I walk slowly, I start hearing a sound, a tapping, ahead. It gets louder and louder. I stop.
I identify metallic sounds, like metal hitting metal and something hard. I look ahead of me. I only see the walls which are made of stone. Not polished slabs but irregular and rough blocks as if they'd been excavated from rock with a pickaxe. There are torches distributed every so often, casting light.
When whatever's approaching enters one of the lit areas, I see it's a skeleton, bones held together by bluish magic instead of cartilage and tendons. I guess it's magic, as it's a glow of that color what seems to sustain the creature, allowing it to stand and move instead of being a pile of whitish bones. In its eye sockets burn two spheres of more intense blue, like flames that move but don't crackle. It's wearing pieces of metal armor that clank as it walks, hitting each other or the bones. In one hand it carries a rusted sword and in the other a small shield, a buckler, that it uses for cover. It approaches quite slowly.
I have plenty of time to analyze it while it comes and, to my surprise, as I scrutinize it, I see letters appear above its head:
Skeleton Warrior, Level 3.
Looks like now I can see what my enemies are, like in video games. I wonder if it's something about the dungeon or a new passive skill I have now. In any case, I'd love to have a mace. Against skeletons that's best.
Determined to use my sword as if it were one, I take advantage of wearing leather gloves to grip the blade, allowing me to strike with the pommel or guard. I take a deep breath and run toward the creature.
It fixes those malicious blue orbs from its eye sockets on me and opens its jaw in a silent scream. It tries to cover my blow to its head with the buckler but it's slow, very slow, so slow that it's no trouble to change trajectory and go for its rib cage instead of its skull.
There's a dry sound of my steel against its ribs, which shatter into splinters. Like a proper undead, it ignores its missing bones and keeps fighting.
I quickly withdraw to avoid the thrust it launches at my side. I take advantage of it just lowering its guard to strike him on the head with the guard, which while this time doesn't break bone does seem to hurt it, as it stays like stunned.
I don't even think about it, it doesn't cross my mind that it could be a trick to catch me by surprise.
I start hitting it savagely until I burst its skull. Then yes, the blue flames of its magic go out and like a broken doll its parts collapse to the ground.
I crouch and pick up its shield. I don't know how to use it but maybe it'll be useful, so I grab it with my left hand.
"That wasn't so bad," I mutter.
Instantly regret my words. I hear the same sound the skeleton had made when approaching, only much louder.
I prepare myself.
When they approach one of the torches, I see there are four.
I let out a not-very-nice curse and go for them.
I don't want to use magic; I have few spells and prefer to save them for when I have no choice. So with my sword and shield I get into a fight too close for my taste. They're slow, very slow, and that's the only advantage I have over them.
I go quickly for one, hit it and run back. I can't let them trap me between several. My strategy works until fatigue and pain in my arms start taking their toll.
I've managed to eliminate two of the skeletons and decide to stop sprinting and jumping to dodge because I've been out of breath for a few minutes now.
I stop and wait for them. Let them come. I block the sword strike from the one on my left with the buckler and with my sword deflect the blow from the one on the right.
This is insane. My shoulders and arms are in agony and I don't know how to fight. I'm going on instinct more than anything else, I'm sure if I could see myself from outside I'd raise an eyebrow at how uncoordinated my movements must be. However, they're slow and that saves me.
I manage to defeat them, not without ending up with a cut on my side. It's not very deep and in my backpack I have an alcoholic bottle that smells similar to Earth's cognac. I brought it for this, to use as disinfectant.
I wrinkle my brow and hold back the urge to scream, because it hurts. Then I bandage it. I check my sheet. I've lost one health point. I'm going to save my healing spell as long as I can.
The pup licks my face, taking advantage of me leaving the backpack on the ground and being crouched down. I sigh and resign myself.
This dungeon is clearly not an easy one with slimes. If this is just the beginning, I'm more and more certain that either I find the exit stone or I'm dead.
"And it's all your fault," I whisper to the little wolf.
I stand up, put the backpack on, ignore the pain in my side when walking and continue. I haven't taken three steps when I stop again.
"You're an idiot," I mutter, berating myself.
I can't just advance like this. What's next? Eight skeletons? Sixteen? I couldn't even handle four.
I review my spells: minor fire bolt, minor splash, minor channeling. Minor breath control which isn't very useful right now and earth control, which with such a small volume doesn't help much. Well, and minor healing.
The fire bolt lacks magical penetration, so it will only damage a single target. I'd rather save it for a more powerful enemy, like the dungeon boss.
The splash can hit multiple targets, but since it has a very short range, I'd better discard it. Channeling sounds great, to give more defense to my body or more damage to the sword. The problem is it doesn't last more than a minute.
Something occurs to me, it's crazy but it might work.
I open my sheet and, regretfully, choose the runner skill. It's the one I'm least interested in but it raises my agility by one point and I'll run faster. Also, with great pain I raise those three free attribute points I was saving, spending them on agility. Then, I wait until I hear the skeleton footsteps again.
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This time there are seven.
When they're close, I run toward them with the buckler in front. I dodge those in the front line, slipping between them while thanking the corridor's width. The ones in the middle don't react and I also slip between two. However, I have one of the back ones in front of me, blocking my path.
I push it with the shield and manage not to fall. I run leaving them all behind. Don't even turn to see how they turn around and come after me.
I move forward, slowing my pace, and spot some kind of small balconies in the stone walls ahead. I speed up—good thing I do, because several arrows whistle past me. They are skeleton archers, also level 3. Worst of all, I'm closing in on another group of skeleton warriors.
My strategy remains the same: dodge them. I just hope I do not take an arrow while trying.
Somehow—though I still don´t know how—I slip into the group of warriors, weaving between them. Once I'm mixed in with their ranks, the archers stop firing. With my heart pounding like mad and adrenaline masking my fatigue, I make it through.
I don't know how many there are, but definitely more than before. I pick up the pace. I don't run in a straight line because doing so would be asking for an arrow to the chest. I keep sprinting. After a hundred meters there are no more archer skeletons. After two hundred the path ends at a wall.
I stop, exhausted, and tap the wall with my sword's pommel. I still don't know how to tell if a wall is solid or hollow. I close my eyes for a second—I don't have time for this. Two waves of skeletons are coming after me; hopefully the archers are still up on their balconies.
The first wave is almost here. I haven't managed to reach the next level of the dungeon and leave the enemies behind. So much for rushing a dungeon. My other option, grouping them all together and using channeling, doesn't seem realistic either. I'd have to go back through this group and take hits from all of them halfway, plus the archers would be shooting at me.
I check my experience bar. Still need more to level up. Maybe I'll get it with the first wave, but I've already experienced that I don't recover strength or mana when I do. I don't heal either.
I catch my breath as best I can while they approach. Before they reach me, I throw a fire bolt at one of them. The creature, slow to react, fails to dodge. A quick, small arrow flies from my fingers and hits its forehead bone. It sticks, and the creature bursts into magical flames. A few seconds later, it dies.
Yes! They're vulnerable to fire magic—just like in the otome.
I activate channeling. Spend two mana points. Three left. I enhance my sword with fire and wait for the rest to arrive. With my back against the wall, I swing my weapon in wide arcs to keep them at bay and, whoever gets too close, I strike it with the blade. It's neither blunt damage nor am I cutting through bone, but the fire magic burns them. It takes longer than the fire bolt did, probably because the arrow dealt more direct damage, but eventually they all fall.
I barely get a small break before the other group arrives. Good. Because my channeling doesn't have much time left. I manage to defeat them too. The magical fire goes out when there are still three left. I've lost two more health points from hits they landed.
I switch tactics, using the pommel and guard like as a mace again. I'm exhausted, the pain's setting in, but I refuse to go down. I'm not going to let myself be killed. When I finish one off by sweeping its last leg with a kick and crushing its skull with my boot, I suddenly feel a sharp pain in my back and neck.
The damage received would have lowered your life below one point. The Major Protection Necklace activates. You are at 5 health points.
I swat away the window while regaining my back-against-wall position that I'd lost without realizing it. Two. I have two enemies left. If not for the item, I'd already be dead. Blind rage floods through me and I finish them off, pulling energy from reserves I didn't know I had. It ends. Everything ends. I close my eyes for an instant, realizing I no longer hear the metallic clank and bone rattle of their footsteps. I've defeated both waves.
Exhausted, the adrenaline drains from my system and I let my back slide down the wall until I'm sitting on the floor.
A couple of minutes pass before I hear a whimper. I frown and pull off my backpack. The pup looks at me with what I can only describe as a complaint in its eyes. I think I hurt it somehow during those moments when I crushed my back against the wall. I pet it gently and examine its small body—it seems fine. Then I check my character sheet. I've leveled up. However, though I just received a notification about the level increase, there's nothing about accessing the dungeon's second floor. No door has opened, no new passage revealed itself. I guess I still have to deal with the archers.
Bianca L'Crom
Race: Human
Age: 18
Level: 5
Constitution: 6
Strength: 2
Intelligence: 3
Agility: 5 + 1
Wisdom: 6
HP: 5
MP: 3
Magic Affinities: Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Spirit, Light
Skills: Runner
Spells: Minor Earth Control. Minor Fire Bolt. Minor Breath Control. Minor splash. Minor Healing. Minor Channeling.
The pup stays quiet. It can clearly smell how pissed off I am. If not for it, I would have tried to leave the dungeon and, if that hadn't been possible, would have selected the lowest difficulty level. Like this... it's fucking insanity.
I look at my character sheet. I have one free attribute point to allocate. Saving it isn't an option. Death seems certain, so I have to burn through all my resources. The plan is simple: finish off those skeletons, then rest, eat something, and sleep on this level before moving to the next one to recover my mana that way. Right now, I have three mana points. One is clearly going toward a healing spell, since the necklace that saved my life is on cooldown. The other two are for combat.
If earth magic could move more volume, I might try crushing those skeletons inside their balconies, but that's not the case. Channeling is my best option again. With fire I'd kill them quickly, with earth I'd raise my defense and maybe survive the arrow shots to the back that I'll undoubtedly take when I try to kill any of those skeletons with my sword. I didn't get a good look at them—was too busy running for my life. Couldn't say how many there were, but without doubt, many.
Well, I'm going to tie the buckler to my back to cover my neck and head. With how small it is, it won't do much more. I take a rope from my backpack and get to work. The pup stays quiet.
Next, I look at my sheet again. The problem won't be killing the archers, it'll be surviving the arrows from the others while I do it. Those balconies are separated by several meters on both sides of the wide corridor. If I start with the closest one on the right, for example, I'll get shot by the next one on the right and two on the left. The others probably don't have the range.
I have five of six health points. I need to raise my defense, which I'll do with spirit channeling using the earth element, and my health. I move my finger toward constitution and hesitate. If I raise wisdom, it will increase my mana, and if I raise intelligence, it'll boost the damage or, in this case, what channeling protects me with. I'm going to assume this works like in the game, since everything I've seen so far follows those rules. So I can raise my health by one point, raise my mana by one point, or increase what that channeling does, as it simulates a stone skin spell that protects me. If I can reduce the damage those arrows do to me by even one point, it'll be much easier to survive. Especially if, as I suspect, right now an arrow only deals one point of damage unless they crit—at least that's what it dealt before.
I decide.
I choose intelligence.
"You're going to stay here. I can't protect you," I tell the little wolf while taking it out of the backpack and leaving it in a corner.
It stays quiet, looks at the ground, and remains still.
"Good."
I put the backpack on again, since it'll provide some protection, and begin to approach slowly. As soon as I see the two closest archers, one from each wall, nock arrows and start drawing their bows, I take a step back. Their arrows don't reach me; I'm barely out of range. I spend two of my three mana points and activate the spell. It can't cover my entire body, so I apply it to my back and the back and sides of my legs. I feel warm energy flow through me and see a brownish glow on my skin. Perfect. Sixty seconds.
I run toward the archer on the left.
At the last moment, I jump to the side to dodge the point-blank arrow he just shot at me. I think I got lucky and dodged a couple more with the movement. I go for him, sword in hand. In close combat he's as slow as the skeleton warriors and much easier to kill, since he only has his bow to block strikes from my sword's pommel. Three impacts push me forward, throwing me against him—three arrows that hit the buckler, the backpack, and my kidneys. None take health points from me. As for my strike, it lands on his skull, cracking it. The next one splits it into several pieces while bone shards fly.
Then I grab his bow to break it in two. I might have taken his head off, but I don't trust he won't keep shooting if I go for his companion across the way, since the bones of his body haven't collapsed yet. Despite being wood and looking somewhat flimsy, I don't have the strength to break it. Several more arrows hit me. One of them, from the skeleton peeking from the balcony on this same wall, gets me in the side of my leg. It's a critical hit—takes one health point from me. If it had hit me in the face... I realize that kind of arrow shot could kill me instantly, with or without stone skin. I raise my sword and destroy one of the skeleton's arms so it can't shoot. Then I run to the one across; I'll finish this one off later if it's still alive.
Like this, one by one, carefully positioning myself well inside each balcony so the skeleton next door doesn't have a side shot at my head, I keep finishing them all off. I thank the buckler, which stops hits that otherwise would have been killing blows. There are fourteen total. I finish eleven during that minute of channeling and the remaining three without the extra protection, but I manage it.
I'm bleeding, with an injured leg and a disabled arm—not my sword arm—and exhausted. I ignore the popup window that appears, remove the arrow stuck above my elbow in the triceps muscle, and also the ones from my back and leg. I immediately cast healing. My wounds close, the bleeding stops, and I can move my arm again.
Then, yes, I look at the message:
You have just completed the dungeon's first level. The stairs to the second floor have just opened.
That's it? No loot, no treasure, nothing?
Because none of the skeletons dropped any items. I look at the balconies. The archers are like piles of bones stacked without trace of that blue energy that held them together and animated them. There are no chests or any hint of a secret room full of my reward. This difficulty level was supposed to have the best loot. But it's insanity level. If they gave me equipment and health potions now, wouldn't that make it easier?
Because the other times I cleaned the newbie dungeon, they only gave me small jewels like rings, no magical equipment or potions.
"Damn seed of evil," I mutter between my teeth.
I return to where the mentioned one is, in the corner where I left it, only it's not a corner anymore because where there was a wall before there are now spiral stairs descending. They have torches. I peek over, several meters below I can see floor.
Perfect.
I'm not going down until I eat, sleep and recover my mana, which right now is zero.
As for my level, I haven't leveled up again. In the otome game, you needed massive amounts of experience points for that. Maximum level is twenty.
I had to clear a newbie dungeon several times just to reach level four. The experience needed to level up increases exponentially; it more than doubles each time. That's why I know they must have given me tons of experience from the skeleton warriors to reach level five. I'm guessing that with insanity difficulty, they also boost the experience gain. These archers have only filled my experience bar by thirty percent. Well, I shouldn't say "only" because it's actually a lot for fourteen enemies.
I sit on the floor and examine my arrow-riddled backpack. Thanks to my tough skin, the arrows that went through it didn't injure me.
I remove the arrows one by one. My water skin is punctured. I drink what little remains before it all spills out. Luckily, I have a spare. The food—bread, cheese, and some kind of raw bacon strips—is edible. A bit beaten up and full of holes, but edible.
I take a big bite and plan my next steps while chewing. With my six mana points recovered, I should be able to clear enough of the second level to level up again. At level seven they offer specialization and new skills and spells. My goal is to find the return stone. If I can secure a place to rest and recover mana again, even better. I'm in no hurry—I'd rather face a scolding from the steward for being gone several days without notice than end up dead.
The pup is looking at me, placing one of its tiny paws on my leg. It's clear what it's asking for.
"Here, but don't get used to it because I'm still mad at you." I give it some of the bacon.
It eagerly takes it from my hand.
We finish eating, not much since I don't know how long we'll be trapped in this dungeon, and I pack everything away. Then I look for a place to lie down to sleep. I'm getting comfortable with the backpack under my head when another notification appears.
Warning. The dungeon's first floor is going to close. Proceed down the stairs if you don't want to end up crushed. Time remaining: 10 seconds.
"What?"
The pup barks at noticing my startled jump.
9.
The ground starts shaking.
8.
"Fucking hell, I curse my luck for finding this wolf!"
I grab the backpack and run toward the nearby stairs.
7.
6.
5.
I start hearing collapse noises.
But there are still seconds left!
I throw myself down the stairs. The pup has grabbed onto my leg and comes along as a stowaway.
2.
I keep going down.
1.
A deafening crash sounds above my head. The entire upper floor is collapsing. I speed up so much that I trip on the last steps and end up falling face-first on the floor. It hurts, but doesn't lower my health. I look up, scared, anticipating all the earth and debris that's going to fall on me. But it's not like that. There's some kind of invisible barrier that prevents the rubble from entering through the stairwell.
I pick up the pup, which has its teeth clamped on my right boot, and hug it. I thought we weren't going to make it. Carefully, just in case, I move away from the stairwell. Instantly, it disappears, replaced by a stone wall.
"Well, welcome to the second level of hell," I mutter to myself.
The seed raises its head from between my arms and licks my face.
Screwed. I'm screwed. Zero mana points and I highly doubt they'll let me sleep here. This is, without doubt, the fucking end.