The Ruby Magician

Wyn’s last-second plan ended up being almost successful against the Ashen warriors.

Almost being the key-word.

As the Ashen monsters came into their trapped area the two that formed the left V formation were caught in Marcy’s trap, which meant they were also caught in Wyn’s Wellspring. It only snared two of them, but that was plenty. Multiple earthen chains held their arms and legs and prevented them from moving or attacking at all. Keeping them there meant the group could focus on the three remaining creatures, one of which was their leader, in a much more manageable five on three fight.

That would have been the case if the monsters were brutes like most monsters they fought. Instead, they were strategic.

Wyn should have known. This was the second tier, after all.

The moment after the two monsters were caught the back-most warrior split off from the formation and began slashing at the magical chains while the others defended it. To its credit, it was making quick work of Mary’s trap spell with surprising ease. But while they were only combat focused the Climbers had more abilities and magic, and both Cedric and Marcy fired on the somewhat huddled group. Cedric’s storm cloud was sending small, errant lightning strikes while the Climber himself fired a smaller but concentrated blast of lightning at the group. The warrior with the sword and shield took the brunt of the spell onto its shield, dispersing the lightning all around it and seemingly saving itself from being hit. Marcy’s magical arrow exploded on the two chained enemies, completely blowing off one of their arms and part of its torso while the other one was knocked to the ground.

Wyn gritted his teeth. So much for the trap. They were smarter than he realized, but manageable. That wasn’t the only trick up his sleeve.

Wyn stepped forward and pointed his spear at the group. “Flash!”

A bright light engulfed the Ashen enemies and they all raised their arms to cover their eyes except one, who didn’t even flinch. That was the leader. Was he strong enough to resist that spell? Was that even possible? Maybe his helmet reduced the effect to a negligible degree?

John stepped around the side to bypass the leader and flank the rest of the warriors. He was at a major reach disadvantage with the leader’s size and spear, and felt his services would be best used against the others who were affected by Wyn’s Flash. One of them meandered too close to Cedric’s storm cloud and took another lightning strike from it, jolting it upright. John took the opportunity by stabbing it deeply in the underarm where it wasn’t protected with armor. It didn’t go down immediately, but it would be a relatively easy fight after that blow.

Wyn stepped forward and lunged at the leader, who promptly blocked his spear. The strike felt like hitting a wall and sounded like hitting stone. And that was after being enhanced with John’s aura. The monster’s weapon looked metal but the feel wasn’t quite right. Wyn assumed it was magic, though what magical property it held remained to be seen.

The leader lunged forward with its own jab and Wyn narrowly dodged it to the side. It was a fast, firm strike, but nothing that felt unavoidable or overly magical. The followup jab into his side was the opposite, though, and was far too quick to be performed by any common warrior of its size. His coat took the damage but he felt the hit in his side immediately.

This was no common warrior. This was some monster created by the tower. It was stupid of Wyn to think it wasn’t magical as its entire being was magic.

Wyn had to use a Shield to keep from being skewered a third time, and the hit felt strong against his barrier. Stronger than the warriors on the fourth floor though admittedly not by much. He quickly applied a Speed Up to himself to be able to out speed the leader. Combined with John’s Squire aura he felt fast, strong, and durable, and his confidence grew.

John was already facing another two of the warriors in the back after killing the dazed one, though he found they weren’t as easy as he thought. One of the monsters stabbed out with its spear and jabbed at him several times but only met John’s shield, harmlessly bouncing off it with each strike. The warrior that was directly engaged with John would have lost as his Squire aura was stronger, but a two on one fight made it hard to fully kill it. After the third spear strike the monster stopped, crouched, and held its spear with two hands.

Then the weapon changed, the silver shaft melting and rippling as it shrunk in length but grew in width. John paused and watched in both confusion and curiosity. In a second the weapon morphed from a spear into a large hammer, and the warrior changed its stance to accommodate.

John stepped forward and slashed with his sword but the monster blocked it with its shield. The Ashen in the back moved forward and bashed its newly changed weapon into John’s leg, causing a sickening crunch and John to scream.

He fell to the ground in agony with his leg bent at a very wrong angle. Marcy took the chance to fire several quick arrows at once, hitting the warrior with the sword and shield in the back several times and successfully distracting it. Cedric fired another lightning spell directly at the now-hammer wielding monster, frying it where it stood.

Tasha extended her wand and cast Cure on John. The spell caused a white aura to envelope him as his leg righted itself. He scrambled on the ground to both get away from the enemies and to try and stand up. For good measure, Tasha cast Arcane Aura on him, as well.

John bellowed in anger and swiftly killed the two injured monsters with reckless swings of his sword. The magical armor coating absorbed the hits he ignored, and his own slashes and stabs were able to connect at the cost of ignoring any sort of defense. Marcy and Cedric had done a good portion of the work, but John finished the job.

Wyn had made good progress on handling the leader, landing several good strikes while avoiding every hit from the monster. His magically enhanced body was showing its power, and he knew he was going to be able to kill it. It wouldn’t be as quick as John, and it was taking more resources with energy and mana that he cared to use on one single enemy, but he knew he’d win eventually. And against the leader, no less.

Before he struck another blow John’s sword pierced through the Ashen leader’s stomach causing it to lurch forward. Wyn stabbed completely through its leg and made it fully fall to the ground where both Climber’s treated it like a pincushion until it died.

It wasn’t a smooth fight, and far from ideal, but it did the job.

“What in the hells are these things,” John said.

“Is your leg alright?” Tasha said. “That was an awful sound. And your leg was terribly bent to the side.”

John kicked the air a few times, twirling his foot in the air and moving his leg in several directions. “It’s mostly better. A small hitch here and there, but nothing some rest won’t help.”

Tasha tapped him on the shoulder and cast another Cure.

John nodded. “Or that. That’ll do it, too.”

“They’re strong, I’ll give them that,” Cedric said. “That took more mana than I thought.”

“Smart, too,” Wyn said. He checked his mark and saw it was only a fourth greyed out. Even if he recovered some from the enemies staying inside his Wellspring his mana recovery wasn’t nearly as much as he would’ve liked. “We need to be careful with them again.”

“Careful, as in me and Cedric blast them to hell before they get anywhere close to us,” Marcy said. “I don’t care if it takes a whole mana potion and a dozen arrows with each group, I don’t want to hear John scream like that again.” She shivered as she thought of the recent sound.

“I didn’t expect it to be able to change its weapon like that,” John said. “One second it had a spear and the next it wielded a hammer. Its stance and its style of fighting completely changed. And their weapons were just… strange.”

“Guys, look,” Tasha said. She was holding an item that looked like a plain, silver helmet that a foot soldier might wear. While appearing simple, all magic items were until identified. And this one radiated a blue magical aura.

“A blue item drop already?” Cedric asked. “That’s great!”

“I think it’s my turn, now,” Marcy said. She extended her hand and Tasha gave her the helmet. Reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small monocle, Marcy quickly identified the helmet. It morphed into a helmet like what the Ashen warriors wore, and Marcy pulled out a small piece of parchment from her belt.

“Ashen Gallidium Helmet: A helmet made from the rare metal Gallidium that has the unique property to liquify and keep its integrity. The Ashen people have harnessed Gallidium to mold their equipment into pieces that are able to be shaped and changed on a moment’s notice to fit the wearer and adapt to the task at hand. This helmet provides moderate resistance to both physical and magical attacks, and improves the effectiveness of physical skills by one stage. Will magically fit the wearer and its appearance can be changed at will.”

Cedric whistled. “Damn. That’s a great item!”

“It doesn’t seem that special,” Wyn said. He wondered what Cedric saw in it. It had good physical defenses but was it the physical skill effect that made him wonder if it was a rare feature.

“Improving skills are valuable effects on items,” Marcy said. “An entire stage’s worth of skills is fantastic! It’s what you get when you upgrade your class, after all, so having that on an item let’s you use skills well before you’d be able to.”

That was it, then, Wyn thought. If it was that valuable, then this was an excellent item drop.

“So that helmet is basically improving physical skills as though your class was already in the next tier?” Wyn asked.

“Exactly. And the fact that it can change its appearance is arguably an even bigger bonus. Climbers love their look, remember?”

Wyn slowly nodded. It made sense. A beneficial effect and a cosmetic one was a great combination. Any physical Climber would love to have an item like that. The appeal was obvious.

But he remembered what Benedict said about items that changed shape. If these warriors had items like that - and it looked like they did since this helmet mentioned it and the weapon changed before - he figured he might be able to find his weapon here sooner rather than later.

“I remember,” Wyn said. “Hopefully we’ll find another group of these Ashen, though. I want their weapon.”

Marcy put the helmet in John’s magical backpack. Like all items they found, their agreement was to catalogue and decide whether to keep or sell in batches rather than immediately. Wyn had a feeling John would weigh the options of using the helmet, but even he saw its use. He decided to go with the safer skill Silence Attack for his class upgrade instead of Weapon Bond, and having that boosted to the next tier along with Speed Up would be a huge boon. John could make use of it further, but he just got a helmet and armor pair that were part of a set. That wouldn’t be easy to break. Wyn, however, also got a new helmet, and it was perfect to add to his magical ability. If he could get a weapon and use this helmet that was part of a set, though, well… his options would definitely open up.

He finally understood why it wasn’t easy choosing equipment and why most Climbers stayed with the same items. Changing one feels like it requires changing everything.

But that was a problem for another day. For now, the task was getting through the floor.

Working through the rest of the floor was, unfortunately, slow. Admittedly, Wyn thought, a little too slow. The pattern for the floor seemed to be alternating between fiery rocks from the sky and groups of Ashen warriors. They didn’t find anymore enemy types while moving towards the wizard tower, and the back and forth pattern seemed to be time-based. After avoiding the rocks from above, a few minutes would pass before the monsters showed up. Once the monsters were defeated, it took about fifteen minutes before the next series of rocks came from the sky. This happened no matter how fast or slow they moved throughout the floor.

Wyn learned a lot about this pattern. The negative was that this floor was designed to prevent resting. There was a bit of a lull after the monster group was defeated, but if they took the time to rest they’d be forced to get up and work on avoiding being burned up or crushed from the never ending rain of hellish boulders. Not being able to rest meant no natural recovery of mana, no stopping to eat or drink, and no chance of a long break to reduce fatigue. It was another part of the floor’s difficulty, even if the challenge was predictable.

There were some positives about the alternating pattern, though. Knowing what was next allowed Wyn to plan accordingly, and he came up with a decent solution for both dealing with monsters and avoiding the fiery boulders.

With both Wyn and Tasha casting Shield, they were able to combine and layer the spell to completely remove the threat of being hit. Marcy and Cedric were able to dodge without much intervention thanks to their boots, and John decided to just stay beside Wyn and Tasha. With both of their magical barriers they could completely absorb all but the largest of rocks, which only took being able to look up to help predict their trajectory. That job came to John who was quick to point out the largest of rocks coming for them. This strategy allowed them to only cast the spell about five times per encounter, which was easy for Tasha and manageable for Wyn.

That led to Wyn either recovering some mana by utilizing Wellspring on the incoming group of Ashen monsters, or drinking a mana potion. Which he was forced to do after the third set of falling rocks and monster group. But, that was the cost of using his spells and continuing to climb. One or two potions on the floor wouldn’t set him back too much at all. He’d still come out with a net gain of coins at the end of the day.

For the monsters, Wyn tried to use the boulders and uneven terrain to their advantage. But that strategy only lasted one time after he realized they were also at a disadvantage when John kept tripping. Coupled with losing time after the rocks fell and waiting for the Ashen to show up, Wyn decided to change their plan. What he learned was that it was easier to fight in his Wellspring glyph and keep at least two enemies occupied while Marcy laid a trap, Cedric blew them up, and John and Marcy killed the remainders. While Tasha wanted to help, her mana was better saved for support spells. She understood, but was reluctant each time. Then when they were done, they killed the ones Wyn held off. That setup allowed Wyn to recover as much mana as possible without any of the others stepping inside the glyph, and it reduced the Ashen warrior’s attacking ability drastically. Cedric went through mana like John went through food, but he didn’t mind. He enjoyed using his spells and said it was part of being an elemental Wizard.

Another positive of the floor’s pattern was that they could go at their own pace. After four more cycles of challenges, they guessed they could run in their short times of reprieve and cut their overall time by nearly half. That would serve them well if they only wanted to make money for clearing the floor. Which they did. Well, Wyn did, at least.

But he also really wanted those weapons.

So far, the only drops were coins and a few potions. Wyn certainly didn’t complain about getting rewards in the floor, and the potions were great finds since they were using them more than ever. The potions helped the group break even for the ones they had used to keep their mana topped off and after one particularly nasty hit on Marcy that Tasha couldn’t heal in time. But what Wyn really wanted was another item drop. He had a feeling these were exactly the kinds of items he wanted after talking with Benedict and seeing the helmet.

After the sixth total group of monsters Wyn came to the understanding that he probably wouldn’t find another of the items during this climb. They’d try again, of course, but for now, simply completing the floor and moving on to the seventh floor was enough. Wyn had a suspicion they were nearing the end as the tower was actually getting closer in their view, something he found odd. The far-off background images of previous seasons never moved despite their advancement. They would only teleport closer through the floor portals or were given an update through their parchment’s floor description. But now he could actually see the tower closer, which was interesting.

When the group came to the tower’s base, Wyn knew they were at their end. The red portal hung in the air just in front of the stone tower, an alluring call that the seventh floor was just in front of them. Unfortunately standing between them and the portal were five more Ashen warriors.

Except these Ashen opponents were different. They didn’t follow the floor’s previous advancement, but instead were waiting at the tower’s base to be faced. A perfect line formation was formed with them, and the lead Ashen was armored better than the creature’s they’ve seen so far, with the same Gallidium helmet as the item they found and the same spear and shield, but also possessing greaves, bracers, and a cloak that draped across its back. It looked more like an officer than the previous ones, and stood a few inches taller, too.

It was a strange sight. The look reminded Wyn of a military leader. He shuttered at the thought.

The two immediate creatures to its sides both had swords with shields and looked similar to the leader, but didn’t wear capes. They were stockier and looked menacing. Worse, though, were the two final enemies at the back that carried staves and wore gray robes with hoods over their heads. Bright lights then flashed under all of them, coating them all in a white aura.

One of the enemies cast some sort of support spell.

Wyn immediately dismissed the thought that the monsters were a group of champions. This was the final challenge, the bosses to defeat before passage to the next floor was earned. It would be a hard fought battle if the monsters could utilize their own spells.

Tasha began muttering her Calling without any prompt from Wyn. That was good. They’d need the extra support.

Wyn made a quick glance to his mark. He was nearly spent, teetering between needing a mana potion or not while slowly recovering his mana throughout the floor. With a deft hand, he pulled out a vial on his potion belt and chugged the contents like a strong drink. At the same time, he felt John’s aura envelope him in a familiar but welcomed sensation of improved strength and vigor.

No sense in testing abilities or pushing his luck with low mana. This would likely be their hardest fight yet.