As Liam proceeded throughout the first floor of the Crackling Cave Dungeon, he ended coming across a few more Twin Fanged Adders and Static Clawed Mantises. As he fought the Twin Fanged Adders he tested both Shade’s Corruption and Epidermis Luminescence separately and together to see how the damage being done were different than when using both together. On a couple of them he used them together and found that the amount of damage caused was differentiated greatly.
First when he used the abilities separately, the damage was lessened quite a lot. Thanks to the snakes he fought being different in levels by one, he was able to determine that the amount of damage he was causing differed due to both the creature’s level and the level of the spell.
He knew that these wouldn’t cause massive damage due to them being Affliction type spells. Affliction spells were damage over time type spells. Or D.O.T.’s as he knew them as. They weren’t meant for causing powerful damage right at the beginning like most spells were able to do. They were used to help bring down the opponent’s health during battles. They were more useful in fights that were battles of attrition or those with massive amounts of health.
He did learn though that with the right combination of Afflictions, the damage would increase. For example, when he used both Lunar and Shadow Affliction spells together. He had a theory he wanted to test out, but he figured he would try it out on the boss instead of the normal monsters he was fighting against. Thanks to his practice he was able to level both abilities to level four.
Also, during his fights against the Twin Fanged Adders, he decided to rotate through the weapons he had. Leaving out the Bow, he used and leveled his Weapon Skills in the whip, sword, and spear. He felt embarrassed when he used those weapons due to him either missing so much or flailing around like a newborn learning how to walk. However, after being able to level them up a few times he was starting to feel a little more confident when using them.
His Weapon Skill in Swords had reached level five, the Spear to level four, and the Whip to level five. He decided he would take more time in learning these weapons each time he came across the Twin Fanged Adders.
His fight against the Static Clawed Mantises went completely different though. He used his daggers since he had the Weapon Arts for those. Thanks to Eri’s instructions and stern disciplining, he was able to feel a lot more comfortable using them in battles. He was able to understand the feeling he felt when using both the Weapon Art skills and cleave together and found a couple of interesting discoveries.
His first discovery was when he decided to use Mana Sight during one of his fights against the Static Clawed Mantises. He saw that when he used Cleave, the dagger that was able to strike was covered in a grey-like color mana. He remembered in his Mystical Landscape that the grey-like color was similar to the roots that represented his Field of the Craft.
The next thing he discovered was when he tried to cleave one of the creature’s limbs. The monster moved his arm out of the way right as Liam was about to cleave through the joint. The joint ended up closer to his other dagger. Liam was about to curse internally when he noticed the grey-like colored mana shift from one dagger to the other and cleaved right through the joint.
This discovery completely baffled him that he stopped mid fight confused on how he was able to do that. Eri had yelled at him for being an idiot for stopping in the middle of the fight, which he completely agreed with. It was a good way to get yourself killed.
After that fight had happened, he explained to Eri why he had stopped. While she agreed that it was a good discovery to find, she still scolded him for stopping during the middle of a fight for something like that. After she scolded him, they went over theories on what the discovery meant.
For now, the only thing they could come up with was the Cleave ability was able to shift to the weapon closest to the area that was about to be struck at when dual wielding. It wasn’t the best theory, but it was the only they could think of for the moment. They both agreed it was something they would need to look into more.
The last discovery they had made while using this training against the Static Clawed Mantises was when he had received a notification stating that his Butcher Section in the Chef Craft had leveled up. Apparently using the ability in battle to Cleave through the creatures’ joints was being translated to him butchering them and rewarded him in leveling that up.
Speaking of Butchering, after defeating each monster he looted them and harvested what he could. The loot wasn’t great. He got a bone here and there and some coins. He skinned the snakes which helped level his Skinning to level six. The snake skin he received from them wasn’t in the best condition, but it was something he could use to help with his Tailoring Craft regardless of the condition.
He drained as much of the venom in them as he could. They didn’t have much in them so by the time he finished harvesting the venom out of the last snake he had defeated on this floor, he had almost a full medium sized vial of the contents. He also took the time to sperate the meat from the bones and used his Food Handling ability called Cleanse Material to clean the meat of any venom he wasn’t able to drain. He was able to level both that Section of his Chef Craft and the ability by one getting it to level six.
The materials he had received from the Mantises were completely different. While the materials he had gotten from the Twin Fanged Adders helped in both his Alchemy and Chef Crafts, the Static Clawed Mantises gave Blacksmithing materials. The claws that weren’t badly damaged during battle were materials called Serrated Static Claws which could be used for making weapons. The other material he was able to harvest from them was something called a Static Mantis Carapace. This material was excellent for armor. If used by a Blacksmith who really understood the material, and what they were making, they would be able to make armor that had some resistance to Lightning or could bring out an effect that could stun opponents when they were close enough.
All in all, he was happy with the results so far. However, he was now standing on the edge of the first floor boss’s room. The room had rounded out into a dome-like shape giving more room. The stoned ground, walls, and ceiling were still smoothed so nothing had really changed. The boss monster wasn’t able to sense or see that he was there thanks to his Veil of Shadows.
In the middle of the room was a snake coiled up with its head resting on its body facing the entrance of the room. Its body looked to be slightly bigger in length and width than the Twin Fanged Adders he had been fighting. It had pale yellow skin with tan spot markings throughout its body. Its tongue flickered out every few seconds. Every other time the tongue slipped out, sparks bounced off the tongue and onto the ground around it.
He stared at the monster and assessed it.
“Static Fanged Macrovipera. 190/190 HP. 95/95 MP. Level – 6.”
Hm. It’s a different type of snake monster that’s only a level higher than the normal ones. Its health is only slightly higher, and it looks like the Lightning it uses extends to its tongue as well. Liam analyzed to himself. It would be best to fight a bit farther away and try to restrict is movements. However, I’m not sure what restrictions Eri is going to give me this time.
Listening in on Liam’s thoughts, Eri chimed in, When it comes to Boss type monsters I am not going to heavily restrict what you should do. I know that you have something you want to test out so I will give you some free reign on what you want to do. I will suggest that you not use your Gravity magic in this fight though. I know what you want to try out with one of those spells, but I don’t think this monster will be the best test subject for that.
Liam frowned at that. He didn’t like how there were times she could read him like a book. He really needed to stop being predictable. Alright. Then I’ll try some other things out instead. He replied to her as he switched his daggers for his Crude Bone Whip. Since he didn’t want to get too close to the creature he decided that the reach of this weapon would be a better choice.
After formulating a plan, he cautiously stepped into the room. After taking a couple of steps in he started chanting his first spell as quietly as he could, “Hidden within the dark, I call upon you to bind my target. Grasp them with the tendrils you possess. Remind them why they should fear their own Shadow. Grasp of the Shadows!”
As soon as he finished the chant, the shadows underneath the Static Fanged Macrovipera rippled then sprang up and wrapped their cold touch around different areas of its body. Each shadow that wrapped around the snake’s body tightened and pulled down as hard as they could, stopping the creature from moving.
The Static Fanged Macrovipera locked its black eyes onto Liam as his Veil of Shadows deactivated and opened its jaws and let out a menacing electrified hiss. Sparks of lightning shot out from its two fangs and tongue, crashing into the ground around its body.
Liam didn’t waste time and chanted his next spell as quickly as he could while the snake opened its mouth again revealing its fangs starting to glow. “Hidden beneath and lying in wait, the unseen’s poison is never delivered late. Bellow out in a puff of smoke and slip into the stream. Corrupt the body, Corrupt the mind. Deliver the fear you wish to create. Shade’s Corruption.”
The shadow underneath the snake suddenly exploded into a cloud of black smoke, covering the whole body of the snake. Liam watched as the smoke around the creature’s mouth was sucked in.
After the cloud of black smoke around its entire body disappeared, Liam saw that the glowing fangs suddenly dimmed, and it had snapped shut its mouth. Probably to prevent any more smoke from entering through. However, it was too late for it. The snake had breathed in enough of the smoke for the spell to take effect. This was proven when the snake coughed, and a puff of black smoke had escaped its mouth.
Continuing his experiment, Liam went on to the next spell. “Shadows so dark come forth, pierce through this pour creature’s sight, temporary blinding it with a pain it never knew existed, Blanket of Darkness!”
Liam watched as a single line of shadow slithered its way towards the Static Fanged Macrovipera’s head and wrapped around its eyes. The pissed off creature let a pained hiss as the shadows around its eyes pierced them. Sparks of lightning once again shot out in random directions, this time they had reached out a bit farther than the previous times it had happened.
Finishing up his plan, Liam chanted the last spell to this combo he wanted to test. “Radiant and majestic, we admire you in the night. Deadly and poisonous, many don’t know your terrible might. Caress my target with your light like a gentle kiss. Remind them why you’re as dangerous as the abyss. Epidermis Luminescence.”
After Liam had finished chanting he watched the snake’s body. The last few times he used this spell, it had appeared around the snake’s neck and close to the tail. This time he saw the middle section of the snake’s body flash a pale white light, causing it to jerk violently.
After he saw what he wanted, he switched his attention to its health pool.
“Static Fanged Macrovipera. 138/190 HP. 82/95 MP. Level – 6.”
Liam smiled as he stared at it. The amount of damage being caused increased significantly thanks to having all three of his Affliction spells in action. The critical damage added to each hit was great due to having both Lunar and Shadow spells colliding.
He knew his Blanket of Darkness spell was probably doing more damage than the other two, but that was only because it was higher than his other two spells. If he was able to get them to catch up then not only would they be doing damage, but he would also be able to cause the creature to flinch from the pain of Epidermis Luminescence, but also blind them from his Blanket of Darkness. If he was able to get that Confusion Debuff to land from his Shade’s Corruption, then that would also be great.
Using Grasp of the Shadow wasn’t a part of the combination he had originally planned, but after seeing it in action with everything else he felt this whole combination was just nasty. Movement restrictions, Blind, and damage over time, that could create a deadly combination. Confusion added to that would help distract the creature while it was already blind and taking damage within.
This kind of combination would be invaluable when fighting solo creatures especially if they were a lot stronger than he was. It would also serve as a great way to keep single targets out of the way during battles when fighting multiple others. If he were to get his Affliction spells to become an area of effect type spell instead of single target then the combination would be even more invaluable.
“Now that I have this creature trapped like this, its time to add in more damage with my whip,” Liam muttered as he sprinted off to the side away from the monster’s mouth. When he reached striking distance of his whip, Liam moved his right arm back then swiftly flung the tip towards the monster and cracked it back as fast as he could.
He could hear the crisp cracking sound it made as he wrenched his right arm back as hard as he could. He frowned though as he realized that he had misjudged the distanced and missed.
Liam clicked his tongue and took a couple steps forward and tried again. This time he saw the tip strike the snake’s skin. He went to strike again, but then stopped and jumped back as he noticed in the corner of his eye the snake whip his head around and face the area where Liam was standing at and shot a bolt of lightning right at him.
“Kind of like those damn mantises,” Liam muttered as he ran around the creature and struck it again with the crude bone weapon.
Liam continued this a few more times. He moved around to dodge the attacks the snake made, guessing where he was made by his own attacks. The Static Fanged Macrovipera’s health continued to tick down with each attack made from his whip and the Affliction spells tearing it up from within.
He felt good with this method of attack. He didn’t think it would be possible with how most of his spells worked. If he had something to compare it with, it would be using his Gravity Well spell and then pouring oil on the creature and then using his Light and Burn spell to catch his enemy on fire.
The only difference was he needed to have plenty of oil on him to keep using that tactic. While effective as it was, it heavily required him to have the resources in stock to pull it off. His current combo attack did require a resource, but he could replenish that over time.
Now that he thought about it. If he added the oil and Light and Burn combo to his Affliction combo, then that would add even more damage to it. That would help out even more during long battles.
He noticed the boss monster was almost dead and went to land the final hit, however as he cracked the whip, he didn’t realize the Static Fanged Macrovipera had opened its mouth and charged an electrical attack along its fangs. It fired the spell it had readied right as the tip of the bone whip struck it . Liam tried to get out of the way, but failed as the Lightning strike hit him.
Liam felt his muscle tightened as he tried to move. The spasms that coursed through his body made him realized he was paralyzed from that last ditch attack. He cursed himself as he waited for the Debuff to disappear.
Even though he wasn’t happy with getting hit at the end, he was happy that he had dodged all the previous attacks the snake had tried to land while blinded. This Debuff was stronger than when he was hit with the Twin Fanged Adder’s venom. It also helped cement that this combination was great since he was able to restrict the monster from moving and blinded it from seeing exactly where he was.
“Congratulations! You have defeated 1st floor boss of the Crackling Cave Static Fanged Macrovipera – Level 6!”
Liam smiled as he felt the debuff disappear. His smile had grown a bit more as a few chimes echoed in his mind and new notifications appeared.
“Congratulations! Focus Point Affliction (Lunar) ability – Epidermis Luminescence has reached level 5! Progression to level 6: 2%!
“Congratulations! Focus Point Affliction (Shadow) ability – Shade’s Corruption has reached level 5! Progression to level 6: 2%!”
“Congratulations! Weapon Skill – Whip has reached level 6! Progression to level 7: 0%!”
“Congratulations! Ailment Resistance – Paralyze has reached level 6! Progression to level 7: 0%!”
That was another thing about this dungeon. Even though he hated getting hit by the lightning attacks and received the Paralyze Debuff several times, he was slowly getting his resistance up from them.
Even his Venom Aliment Resistance was getting a work out from each time the Twin Fanged Adders scratched or bit him. However, the results for that one would become apparent because it was his highest level Ailment Resistance, and the Stat Shatter prevented it from leveling up due to its effect. He knew that because the last snake that had poisoned him he had received a red notification about it.
Not bad. Eri stated. You could have ended the fight quicker if you used your long ranged magical abilities, but I applaud you on taking the time to work on your Whip Weapon Skill. It was also smart of you to not get in close. You’re using your head more. Good job.
“Thanks,” Liam smiled as he looked at the snake.
He watched as two portals appeared in the back of the room. One leading out of the dungeon and the other to the next floor.
The combination you used was a great idea as well. Eri continued. Restricting your enemies’ movements, blinding it, and then pumping it with Affliction spells is a great strategy and combination. However, there are some flaws in executing this combination.
Liam was ready for this. She did this with most of his fights so far in this dungeon. She would compliment him then address the pros and cons of the strategy. He wasn’t complaining about it. The things she pointed out were helping him. They would also help shape how he fought in future battles. The sooner he kicked bad habits the better.
This combination relies on a few things in order for you to pull it off. Eri continued. If you’re alone then it requires your target to be alone as well. If you were in a group it could be used easily, but that also leads me to my next point. Right now, it’s only a single targeted combination. If your Shade’s Corruption and Epidermis Luminescence were to be able to target multiple targets then it could be better. Next is, if your target is a lot faster than you then you won’t be able to restrict their movements. They would be able get away before the shadows gripped them.
The same with Shade’s Corruption. The black smoke that explodes out from underneath them requires them to enter through the mouth or the nose which means the smoke could be avoided by just moving really fast before taking it in. Your Epidermis Luminescence also has some cons. If you use it on a monster that has a high pain tolerance then the fact that it causes pain wherever it appears could be nullified.
Both those spells also require that your targets need to breathe, have a nose or even flesh. I’m not too sure your Lunar Affliction spell can work on bones until we test that, but for now we will treat it as it needs to have flesh and can feel pain. The last thing is, your spells are too low level to keep up with Blanket of Darkness. So, you’ll need to work on leveling them up as fast as you can.
Liam smiled as he listened. Besides the facts she stated about the cons, he was on the same mind set. He also agreed that he would need to test Epidermis Luminescence on bone type creatures.
Liam nodded. “Alright. Anything else that needs to be noted?”
Not at this exact moment. Eri stated. For now, loot the boss then harvest what you can and get to the next floor.
“Sounds good,” Liam replied as he looted the body of the Static Fanged Macrovipera.
“You have received Static Macrovipera Chest Piece!”
“Static Macrovipera Chest piece has been sent to your inventory.”
“You have received Vial of Snake Oil x 1!”
“Vial of Snake Oil has been sent to your Inventory.”
“You have received 10 copper coins!”
“10 Copper coins has been sent to your Inventory.”
Liam closed out his notifications and then pulled out the armor piece he received.
It was a short sleeved shirt covered in the Static Fanged Macrovipera’s scaled skin. It felt smooth to the touch. He then assessed the item.
“Static Macrovipera Chest Piece. Item type – Armor (Chest). Item Rarity – Common. Item Rarity – Poor. + 5 Defense. + 5% Lightning Resistance. + 5% Paralyze Resistance.”
“Not bad,” Liam muttered as he put it away.
After he put the item away, he looked at the dead snake in front of him. As much as he liked harvesting for materials, he really didn’t like the butchering and the skinning. The blood he had to wash off each time was tedious to him. He then shook his head and thought to himself, Oh well. Nothing to it but to do it.
