NOVEL NEXT Chapter 113 - Night Fight
Not a damn thing on this floor was edible!
There was the round little fire spirits, somewhat larger than apples, that would wink in and out of existence until they appeared right next to him, never near his shield, and explode. Those rattled him around in his armor something terrible, and they were the worst.
There was the regular fire specters that would shriek and call more specters from nearby before they all swarmed him, trying to overheat him. Thanks to his new amulet, these were the easiest.
There was the fire bat monsters, which behaved exactly the same as the bat monsters had on the first floor of the dungeon, and on the previous fire-themed floor. Their meat still tasted foul, and when he cooked some up anyway just in case, it made him vomit and left his mouth numb. He literally could not keep the meat down no matter how charred it became.
Flaming bush monsters, fire spider monsters, and even a brittle stone monster, in the vague shape of a human but dark, with glowing red lines, that collapsed after a good strike with his Blue Iron War Hammer.
Not a damn thing on this floor was edible, and he had wasted a day exploring various tunnels.
James now sat halfway up the staircase to the next floor. Finding it had been trivial, and the heat of the floor below had faded. It wasn't as hot as the other fire floor had been: rather, the monsters inside it all generated a lot of heat and were fond of swarming tactics. Maybe to lure adventurers into a false sense of security? He propped himself up on the stairs with ingots of various iron, to keep himself from falling down the stairs, and he slept.
He woke hungry.
It was a struggle not to eat his fill, but he rationed. Ate just enough that he wouldn't have to deal with hunger pains for a few hours. After cleaning up his ersatz campsite, he crept up the stairs, and peered down the passage at the next boss room.
It was dark.
This gave the Smith pause.
Lighting had generally been variable in the Dungeon so far. The first floor was dimly lit by glowshrooms. The second and third floors had been as bright as an overcast day outside. The fourth floor had been like the first, but more brightly lit thanks to blazing mushrooms and glowing lava.
The fifth floor had been blindingly bright.
The bottom floor had been unnaturally, magically dark.
The next floor up had been blinding in the boss room, then merely unpleasantly bright for the rest of the floor.
And the last floor he had been on had been dark, but dark like the first floor, except lit by fires hanging in braziers giving the light a flickering quality.
The floor ahead was dark, but in none of these ways. It was like…
The darkness of the night of the new moon.
Vague shapes were visible. Thankfully this staircase, like most others, was faintly lit, so his eyes didn't have to adjust between differing light levels.
There was another issue.
James had some level of pattern recognition. He had expected this next floor to be Air-aligned. He had even nearly changed into his Wind Armor before checking. So he expected something like the Lightning Serpent, or another tricky, empty-seeming boss room.
Instead, it was just too dark to see clearly. But there was something, something large, lurking just beyond the passage he was in. It was perhaps three yards tall, and wide, much wider than a man. Other than that, it was just a vaguely oval outline.
James sat and thought for a time. He ate a small amount of his dwindling supply of meat, let it settle in his stomach, and then changed his armor. Not for his Wind Armor, but his Dark Armor, enchanted with [Shadow Concealment].
He kept his Red Iron Round Shield, enchanted with [Reflect], and swapped his hammer for his Light War Hammer.
Wreathed in dripping shadow, the Smith crept forward to the end of the passage, mere yards from the outline of what was undoubtedly the boss.
He stood there for a while, lurking in the dark, letting his eyesight adjust to the dim light. It was impossible to get more than a vague sense of the boss room, but it felt like it was large.
The air was perfectly still.
Eventually, having gleaned what he could in the darkness, the Smith raised his hammer in front of his shield, and activated the hammer's enchantment.
[Glow].
Reflected in his shield, a wide cone of light dispelled the darkness before him, revealing a large green owl.
Its head whipped around to face him, turning a full half-circle without moving its body. Its face was flat, with large eyes ringed in darker feathers set against a white feathered face. A dark, nearly black beak opened—
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Hoot!
It hooted at him and took flight, a whirling mass of wings and feathers and the flash of sharp talons before it disappeared, taking wing into the gloom above.
Other than the hoot, it was totally silent.
The decision came easily to James, now. He had fought flying monsters, and bird-type monsters, before. This one was large, large enough to pick him up and fly him away, in fact, but he had several advantages.
First, his armor. He would be hard to see, thanks to its enchantment, and it was some of the physically strongest, most durable armor he had created so far. He knew that owls were hunting birds of the night, but this should even the battlefield somewhat.
Second, his armor was heavy. The owl monster, even large as it was, would have a hard time flying while carrying him. He could strike it in that moment, as he had when the Lightning Serpent, and even the Giant Crab boss, had lifted him up.
Lastly, he knew that owls had good eyesight. The owl boss had had large eyes in the glimpse he had gotten before it flew away, but he had a counter to that.
His Dark War Hammer, enchanted with [Blind]. Even an owl needs to be able to see to fly.
He swapped his hammers, and switched his shield to his Light Tower Shield, just in case the boss had some kind of magic attack.
And so the Smith stepped forth into the night.
It was silent. The air was still. He was wreathed in shadow, and even his footsteps were muffled by his enchantment.
He was quite fond of [Shadow Concealment].
But he was caught totally off-guard when razor-sharp talons collided with the back of his cuirass, thrusting him forward with a shriek of metal.
Screeeeech!
The sound rang in his ears, and he caught himself with his tower shield, and fast as he could, he whipped around with his Dark War Hammer, mana pouring into the enchantment should his strike land—
Whiff
There was just the softest ruffle of feathers and the boss was gone again.
James quickly moved a few yards away in the gloom. The floor, at least, was level and free of obstructions.
Screeeeech!
Again, talons raked his armor. But the Smith was faster this time, and his wide swing with his hammer made contact with something, and there was a rather large drain on his mana. Larger than each strike against the Glimmering Tortoise had caused.
He grinned beneath his helmet. Now blinded, the owl would have to stop flying, and he could hunt it down at his leisure.
He swapped his hammer, this time taking out his Light War Hammer. He held it up to his tower shield, and had just started pouring his mana into the enchantment, when—
Screeeeech!
He was nearly knocked over, again. Light spilled forth from his hammer and shield, lifting the veil of the night, and he could see the large green owl monster flying, its face locked on him, covered by a darkness save for its eyes shining brightly, staring directly at him.
Hoot!
James bit back a curse. It had resisted the blindness.
He hadn't even known that could happen!
The boss monster flew higher, out of the range of his light, and disappeared.
The only thing James could hear was his own breathing echoing in his helmet.
He fell back on instinct, swapping out for ol' reliable.
The hammer he had first used to take out a flying enemy.
The hammer he had first learned [Enchantment Activation] with.
The hammer he had always used to take out the bird monsters of the second floor.
His Green Iron War Hammer.
[Appraisal: Green Iron War Hammer, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 15/15, Enchantment: Rapid Blow (4)]
The enchantment rating paled in comparison to his more recent crafts. And even in the darkest night, hindsight is twenty-twenty. But it was too late now to sit down and craft a new war hammer, saturated with sylph essence and enchanted more strongly.
It would have to do. The Enchanter remembered the advice of Meridox, the only other Enchanter he had ever met.
And so, he didn't use the enchantment at first.
Screeeeech!
Whiff
Screeeeech!
Whiff
Screeeeech!
Whiff
Over and over, the owl monster raked its talons over James' armor. A few times it even caught his helmet, rattling his head against the Fire Lizard hide padding, which he was coming to realize wasn't nearly soft enough.
Over and over, James swung and missed with his hammer. But the hammer was also his lightest, and at his level, he could swing it all day and night and not tire himself. He tried to anticipate the timing of the owl monster's strikes, but the boss was too clever, and always struck when and where he wasn't expecting.
Still, the Enchanter refused to use his enchantment.
Sc—
From the side!
James swung his hammer, and from the corner of his eye, he saw the oversized bird gazing at him through a haze of shadow with large eyes.
[Hammer Strike]
[Rapid Blow]
Crunch!
A hit!
His hammer smashed into the owl monster's head and caused far more damage than James had expected. It as as though the bird's skull was made of paper. His hammer tore through the owl monster's head and crushed one eye before the arc of his swing carried his hammer onward and his body rotated to face the boss, mid-swoop, losing its balance.
It tumbled and rolled on top of James, oddly light despite its size, and was grounded for the first time in the fight.
The son of two Brawlers didn't miss his chance.
He was on it instantly, striking anywhere on the body until he discerned the vague shape of the wings, and then with soft crunches he set about destroying those. It was only when the monster flopped around on the ground, showing that it could no longer take flight, that James swapped his hammer for his other ol' reliable.
His Earth War Hammer.
[Hammer Strike]
[Heavy Blow]
BOOM
Over and over he struck. Feathers flew everywhere, blocking his vision even further in the darkness. The beast hooted and scrabbled with its talons in the dirt, but then James struck its head—
BOOM
And it was over.
Enchanter Class has reached level 14.
Smith Class has reached level 14.
Smith Class Skill [Tough] has reached level 2.
The Smith fell to his knees, right hand still gripping his Light Tower Shield in numb fingers, and panted heavily. The sound of his breathing was the only thing to hear in that wide open space of still air.