NOVEL NEXT Chapter 102 - Diplomatic attempt
[ Time remaining: 00 seconds. ]
[ Ascendance system quest starting. ]
As soon as the counter hit zero, Sam felt a shift. He blinked and stood elsewhere, in a large cave with only one exit. The cave was surprisingly well lit; like in other cases, the lighting came from nowhere. It was dome-shaped with a naturally rough surface along the walls and ceiling, the floor was flatter and looked more well-travelled.
On the opposite side of the entrance stood a throne of sorts; it was a large stone chair with a pillow for a seat, and the chair was on top of a dais, a raised platform. Making it into the simplest of thrones.
[ Ascendance system quest: Become the Dungeon Boss
-Survive as the Dungeon Boss.
-The Ascendant's information is blocked from appraisal; appraisal will fail.
-The Ascendant's appearance is not altered.
-Emergency exit for Players is available
Reward
-Skill: Appraisal blocker (S)
-Upgrade to a class skill
Note
-Time remaining: #%")! ]
"Ah, well..." Sam commented to himself, his voice echoing in the room. He was happy to see that the Players could leave, so he didn't have to kill everyone. He didn't like the duration being glitched out, not that he was surprised. Another bad part he noted was that his appearance was not altered; if he survives all of this, he will most likely be recognised later.
"That sucks..." He commented to himself as he made for the entrance, wanting to see if he could walk out of the place, or at least explore the rest of what this was.
As soon as he got to the opening, he saw the shimmer of an entrance portal, behind which was only a fake cave, terminating after a few steps. The only way out of here was to be transported, and this portal didn't work for him.
"Emergency Exit," he tried. Normally, a thought was enough to trigger it, but he wanted to give it that extra attempt, but... nothing. No window, no information, no feelings or reactions.
It felt natural that this didn't work; it would be too easy.
He was in the end-boss room, an enclosed area with only a System-supported way in or out. The only comfort was that the players could leave if they wanted, so he could mess with them in that way. But the System wasn't hiding his appearance, he looked just like he did a few minutes ago in his room. If he got out of here, after potentially killing some people, being recorded and remembered by the ones escaping... it was going to be annoying.
Considering putting 10 Energy into his invisibility, he wondered if keeping that going permanently was a good idea. It only lasted up to 30 minutes before he just had to reactivate it. So, not critical, but he might be noticed during that time. He would have to cover his face somehow, steal a helmet, mask or something. Being visible and going invisible would work better for the horror effect in having them perhaps think twice about coming in, but...
Players loved a challenge.
Taking out parts of his packed bedroll, he considered taking some of the cloth from that to make a crude bandana; at least it would let him cover his face. They might remember his way of attacking or clothing, but perhaps it could give him plausible deniability?
"Fuck it..." The more he thought about it, the more he imagined it from his angle. Seeing a human-looking boss monster walking in Aetheria or on Earth, if it killed his friends... He would remember the clothing and general appearance, a mask, helmet or whatever wouldn't be enough on its own. It also didn't help that he attacked with Psyhands, something well recorded from the Tower Break incident, so... When they find a human, even a humanoid boss like this, and after realising some of his abilities, they would figure it out.
He was fucked regardless, so there was no need to hide.
Having wandered around as he tried to find some way out of anything of this, he slumped down on the throne instead. At least the pillow on it was somewhat comfortable, but this was going to be annoying. The Ascendant quests, Solo Dungeons and... the rest, was made to boost him for various reasons but everything was also somewhat tailored to fuck with him. Someone more clever with people than he was could perhaps turn this into a PR stunt and gain followers, but... he didn't have that Charisma.
Right now, his plan was to expect the worst, odds were high that the first ones making it to him were strong Players, after all those have the highest survival chance into an unknown Dungeon.
He didn't have to wait long, the entry portal pulsed a few seconds before a flash of light deposited five people in front of him.
Taking a glance at their stats, he saw much of what he expected.
A frontline warrior in heavy armour, a shield and a sword. Someone clad in white robes with a fancy staff. A man with a bow, light armour and a quiver on his back. A woman in a strangely revealing, light fabric, multicoloured robe. And someone with a bandoleer of daggers, covered face and... all in all, this felt like the most perfectly stereotypical adventuring group. A tank, healer, ranger, mage and rogue.
[ Liam Barrett - Warrior
Level: 67
STR: 38
DEX: 18
VIT: 44
SPT: 0
HP: 1150 / 1150
Damage: Shield Bash 387 / Punishing Blow 438 / Ground Slam 412
Defence: 300
Abilities: HP Boon, STR Boon, VIT Boon, Shield Bash. Taunting Roar. Iron Wall. Punishing Blow. Ground Slam. Juggernaut Stride. Fortify. Blood Oath. Last Stand. Rallying Cry. ]
[ Harold Harrow - Rogue
Level: 67
STR: 14
DEX: 42
VIT: 20
SPT: 4
HP: 440 / 440
Damage: Backstab 432 / Shadowstep 460 / Venom Slash 470 / Quick Toss 441
Defence: 120
Abilities: HP boon, DEX Boon. Backstab. Shadowstep. Venom Slash. Evasive Roll. Smoke Bomb. Quick Toss. Marked Prey. Acrobat's Reflex. Siphon Stab.]
[ Elliot Graye - Ranger
Level: 67
STR: 16
DEX: 40
VIT: 10
SPT: 4
HP: 360 / 360
Damage: Piercing Arrow 450 / Volley 432 / Ricochet Shot 396
Defence: 120
Abilities: HP boon, DEX Boon. Piercing Arrow. Volley. Snare Trap. Predator's Mark. Ricochet Shot. Hawk's Eye. Covering Fire. Camouflage. Windstep.]
[ Mira Aven - Mage
Level: 67
STR: 2
DEX: 10
VIT: 15
SPT: 49
HP: 255 / 255
MP: 3601 / 3601
Damage: Arcane Bolt 561 / Mana Lance 583 / Elemental Wave 507 / Arcane Mine 540
Defence: 120
Abilities: HP boon, SPT Boon. Arcane Bolt. Mana Lance. Elemental Wave. Barrier Pulse. Gravity Well. Arcane Mine. Mana Flow. Blink. Mindburn, Elemental Resistance. ]
[ Talia Crest - Healer
Level: 67
STR: 4
DEX: 12
VIT: 15
SPT: 48
HP: 255 / 255
MP: 3456 / 3456
Damage: Holy Light 508 / Light of Judgement 540
Defence: 120
Abilities: HP boon, SPT Boon. Holy Light. Purify. Divine Barrier. Renewing Prayer. Beacon of Hope. Radiant Ward. Divine Chains. Light of Judgement.]
All of them had 360 cameras attached to them, letting them record everything going on.
In a way, this was a perfect group.
Sam realised now that, though he had the A-rank Appraisal, he couldn't see all the gear on his enemies. That must be the last thing that the S-rank displays. He felt a bit annoyed with this as it was a critical detail when figuring out what someone could do...
They immediately spread out, and the healer covered them in a shimmering field, which Appraisal listed as a damage mitigation field, lowering all damage by 10%, as the rogue activated a stealth ability, going entirely invisible.
Sam stopped analysing them more than he had to and gave them a casual wave in his throne, giving them an even more casual " 'Sup?"
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He had moved his Aura Points into the Barrier and was mentally prepared to raise several interlocked shield plates out of Thoughtform Pyshands, just to handle any spells, arrows or whatever.
"It... can speak?" The mage, Mira, asked the group, surprised.
"I'm not an 'it', but if that makes it easier for you, that's fine," Sam replied dryly.
"Y... why can you talk?!" The warrior, Liam, barked out as he lifted his shield.
Sam still sat nonchalant in his throne, wanting to at least try to talk this out rather than it turning to violence.
"Because I'm human, at least I think I am. I was somehow roped into this, and I'd love it if you just use the emergency exit and leave so nobody has to die here."
"Fat chance," the ranger chimed in. "5 hours to get through the dungeon and then just leave? With just one more target?"
"Ah.. typical," Sam muttered to himself. "The time delay again, classic..."
Speaking to himself in a tone low enough that they couldn't hear it made them defensive, the healer cast another layer of protection, this time it was a flat damage-negation shield, absorbing up to 100 damage before popping.
"If you want this to get over with, just give up!" Mira commanded.
The rogue had started sneaking around, it seemed like he was aiming to get to Sam's side or perhaps behind him.
"Yeah, no, I don't think so. Now... I want to get this over with and... I also don't want to kill you. Same for your friend over there." Pointing exactly at the invisible rogue, which to Sam looked like a ghostly image given to him by Sentinel's Watch. His finger followed the Rogue as he kept moving.
Getting up from his chair, he looked them over again and winced a bit. "I... I'm not sure I'm able to just hurt you and not kill you... I'd prefer for that not to happen..."
He wanted to formulate a plan, preferably with them, to get them to leave, but this was not looking likely.
"Why would we listen to you? You don't look so tough, we've beaten worse things than you." The fighter asked and claimed, through what Sam could hear was a wide smile.
"No, I doubt that," Sam shook his head. He knew his abilities and his weaknesses; he could easily take them out without much effort, but if they got their attacks off first, he might be in trouble.
He didn't intend to let them do that.
"Will you hold it against me if I kill just one of you? Is there anything I can do to persuade you instead of fighting?" Sam asked, he made sure to not have a pleading tone, he wanted this to feel like the better option.
"You can die!" The mage shouted, drew on her energies and her hands engulfed in teal energy as she cast a spell.
Sam expected this and had the simplest of workarounds. He extended his Area to cover the entire room, then just as she was casting her spell, he manifested a small wall of Thoughtform shields. They wouldn't be able to stop anything incoming properly, his testing showed that, but as the spell she had manifested left her hands, it hit the solid surfaces and detonated, sending magical shards flying as it delivered its pulse near her. He instantly dismissed the shields so they wouldn't fly and hit him or give off too much.
The mage shouted in pain as she was at the outer edge of the arcane pulse from the detonated spell; her elemental defences handled that well, but she still took a massive 100 damage from it.
[ Mira HP: 155 / 255 ]
[ Mira MP: 3301 / 3601 ]
"The fuck just happened?!" she shouted questioningly as she drank a potion, putting her health back to full.
"He did something," the healer, Talia, explained. "He summoned a shield in front of your spell just as you cast it."
Sam had to mentally commend her, she caught that in the brief moment of the explosion. But then again, they were higher level Players, so they should be able to realise things like this... right?
Out of all the skills he saw, one stood out to Sam, Liam, the warrior had a skill that he could use to attack them without killing them.
[ Last Stand: Survive a fatal hit with 1 HP once per fight. ]
"I have a suggestion," Sam continued, his diplomatic attempts. "I see that you have an ability that'll let you survive anything once per fight. If I let you boost up, protect yourself and everything, then hit you with one attack. If I can have that trigger with damage to spare, will you leave?"
This had them look at each other a few seconds before Liam replied hesitantly. "You're... going to let me buff up before fighting?"
"Well... I guess if you plan to keep your promise, I'm fine with giving that a go, it's better than killing your invisible friend who keeps sneaking behind me."
It seemed that their rogue decided to not care if he was seen, and kept sneaking anyway, not a bad tactic as he wasn't stopped.
The others didn't ask questions and took a moment to cast their buffs on Liam, as well as themselves. In the end, Liam had several defensive buffs on him.
[ Fortify: Increases Defence by 20% ]
[ Rallying Cry: Buffs self and allies with +5% Defence. ]
[ Radiant ward: +10% Defence ]
[ Barrier Pulse: +5% Defence ]
He was no doubt ready to use the Iron Wall ability to defend himself when Sam was about to attack.
[ Iron Wall: Reduces damage by 30% for 5 seconds.]
This bumped his already substantial 300 Defence to 420. Iron Wall would lower the total damage taken by 30% before the Defence kicks in. Assuming from the gear, Sam could see that Liam now also had a short-duration Fire Elemental Defence buff as well, cutting Fire elemental damage in half.
"Alright then," Sam commented as he manifested his full swarm. He could see the terror and regret in their eyes as his 7 named weapons and 121 Psi-weapons manifested around their tank.
"I'll attack in two seconds, trigger your defences," Sam commented honestly.
He didn't expect them to trust him, but that wasn't something he cared about at the moment as he had given them all chance to talk, but Players are going to Player.
Mentally counting two seconds, he delivered his attack as stated. Liam activated a skill that pulsed energy through his body right before all 128 weapons landed. Static Shock triggered, sending a short-ranged pulse around him as the total, combined attack delivered a summed damage of 10 336 before defences.
Doing the math, this would be lowered by 30% before the 420 Defence kicked in, lowering it to 7235, and then to 6 815. Sam didn't know what other abilities Liam's gear might give him, but even with his respectable HP of 1150, there was no chance.
Interestingly enough, even though Liam caught on fire from the glaive and got the damage over time from Void Fang, both of those effects instantly deactivated. Sam expected this to be gear-related.
[ Liam HP: 1 / 1150 ]
Sam hovered his weapons around Liam as a threat, though he had survived an absurd amount of damage, any attack that got through his defences now, doing just 1 damage more than he could mitigate, would kill him. Due to the amount of weapons he had around the warrior, Sam had dismissed a few hands to keep in backup in case the Rogue decided to try anything, just as a backup for himself.
The brief insight through Sentinel's Watch only showed the poor man standing still and drinking a potion.
Sam allowed this.
As Liam's HP bumped back to 100% in a split second after drinking, his pained expression and terrified expression didn't fade. Sam's swarm was still hovering around him, ready to strike like a snake locked onto its target.
"Now, consider I can split up my attack, I can hit all of you at the same time if I want to, sure my damage won't be the same for everyone but as your logs can confirm I'm sure you understand this isn't a lie." Sam's expression had lost it's politeness, his eyes had taken up a cold stare.
"Liam, the fuck just happened?!" The healer shouted as she looked distraught. She seemingly almost blanked out for a split second, which had Liam panic and drink the potion.
"Just how much damage did he do?!" the ranger, Elliot, asked, fumbling with nooking an arrow.
"Before mitigation... over 10 thousand." The man's eyes were wide and bloodshot. His shield arm lowered.
"That's bull, no way that's possible," Mira barked. "It must be some kind of trick."
Sentinel's Watch pulsed a source of sudden aggression behind Sam. Turning around, Sam could see that the rogue, still invisible, had taken out a bow and nocked an arrow. It was already pulled back and aimed at him.
Manifesting a few Thoughtform shields in front of it, the rogue seemed to expect this and suddenly vanished. Before Sam could properly react, he felt the arrow sink into his side.
[ Armour, Defence 80 has lowered the damage. ]
[ Barrier 0 / 165 ░░░░░░░░░░ ]
[ HP: 439 / 570 ████████░░ ]
[ Vitality not high enough to save against Venom. ]
Though the damage dealt was surprisingly easy to handle, Sam's eyes widened at the horror of being injected by Venom. He had no way to get rid of that.
"Hah! Yes!" The rogue, Harold, shouted as his invisibility faded after his attack. "Take that, dickhead!"
[ Venom deactivated. ]
Sam's eyes widened even more, but not in horror, more in surprise. It took him a second to consider what was going on.
"Wait, the fuck?" Harold exclaimed a second after the venom deactivated.
"What's going on?" Mira asked, looking like she wanted to cast more spells but was very hesitant to do so.
"The venom just deactivated; he must have some anti-venom ability," Harold replied, cursing under his breath. "Fucking thing cost me 80K as well."
Sam chose not to correct him, but in his mind, this could only be one thing. They bought the Venom from Elara. This realisation caused him to laugh, which had a weird effect on the morale of the others, but his laugh stopped abruptly as he locked eyes with the uncertain Rogue.
"You should have left when you could." Sam's expression went from amused at the venom situation to anger. He gave them all options to leave, even a non-lethal solution with the Tank to showcase everything, but...
In a single movement, Sam's entire swarm disappeared from around Liam, manifested arond Harold and attacked. He didn't even get the chance to mentally trigger the Emergency Exit before hit by Sam's full wave. He had little proper defence and low health, though buffed he didn't have the same survival mechanics as their frontliner.
A split second after Sam's annoyed comment, Harold exploded in red mist, fire and an electrical pulse. As his remains fell to the ground, the others shouted his name.
Sam took this moment to Psyhand-reach out and grab their cameras, tearing them off their harness with his full force. He managed to get all of the cameras before the party triggered the Emergency Exit and disappeared.
Again, being alone in the cave, he sighed deeply, the sound of his exhale echoing off the stone walls. Walking over, he squatted down next to the dead rogue. The first thing he realised was that his camera, though shoulder-mounted, had a cable connected to it. Following the cable, he saw that it connected to a battery pack, which also housed the memory card.
"Balls..." he muttered to himself as he realised his failed attempt to take their footage. He had taken their cameras, but they kept all the recordings.
"Well... I suppose I got some new gear, at least." Sam decided to focus on the positives, metaphorically speaking, and checked what the man was kitted out with.
As soon as he started looking at the Rogue's gear, the entry portal pulsed like before.