Jake swung his battleaxe at one of the grunts surrounding him, cleaving its skull cleanly. Another one thrust its spear at him with incredible speed. He managed to dodge the blow, only to be hit by a mace wielded by yet another ratman. Those grunts were empowered by a magic spell cast by a bonecaster, making them much faster and stronger. Fortunately, Adaptive Armor momentarily generated an additional plate to cover the point of impact, effectively protecting him from taking any damage.
He attacked one of the ratmen, his swing splitting its cranium in half. His second swing caved in another thing’s skull as his battleaxe’s blade made a mess of its oily fur, covering the creature in its own blood. Jerking the blade free with a fierce tug, he instantly moved on to the next target, severing the thing’s hand holding the mace. Jake ducked as one of the other grunts attempted to hit him and immediately countered, his battleaxe thunking between the thing’s eyes with a spray of dark blood.
All the grunts surrounding him were taken care of. Now, nothing stood between him and the bonecaster. He closed the distance with a single, powerful leap and plunged the blade of his battleaxe through the bone of the ratman’s skull, deep into its brain.
Finally, all the enemies in the room were dead.
Multiple enemies killed. +25,550 XP
After defeating the ratmen, Jake took a moment to look around. The room he was in was large but completely empty. There wasn’t even a primitive chest tucked away in a corner. He meticulously scanned the walls, illuminated by the flickering light of the wall-mounted torches, searching for any hidden secrets. Nothing stood out, so he eventually exited the room and pressed on in his exploration of the dungeon.
At some point, he came across a vast chamber filled with medieval-like cells suspended from the high ceiling by heavy chains, hovering about three feet above the ground. Some of the cells contained human skeletons. The cells were hardly big enough to accommodate a human being, though. Many of the skeletons trapped inside the cells were in sitting positions, with their skeletal legs protruding from between the bars and dangling down.
The chamber was quite large, but before scanning the area more carefully, he first needed to deal with a group of ratmen meandering between the hanging cells. He quickly assessed the beastmen and was pleased to find that most of them were grunts. A few archers lurked among them, but there were no bonecasters, tamers, or other advanced types of ratmen. Since only generic enemies occupied the chamber, dispatching them shouldn’t take him long.
He lunged at the nearest enemy, cleaving its skull in half with his battleaxe. The nearby ratmen noticed him and raised their weapons, forming a tight circle around him. One of the archers loosed a bolt from its crossbow, but he deftly leaped aside to avoid it. As the grunts surged forward from all angles, he unleashed a flurry of spikes from his body.
Using this ability wasn’t really necessary at the moment. It consumed a significant amount of mana, and he could simply have used Gravity Jump to leap out of the encircling enemies. Yet, he couldn’t help but enjoy bringing Spikes into play now and then. It was a fun ability to use, which disrupted his enemies, creating confusion he could take advantage of. Besides, even when employing mana-demanding abilities wasn’t necessary, it was still beneficial to utilize them occasionally to aid in their progression.
The grunts halted their advance as they spotted the numerous spikes jutting from his body. Caught off guard and momentarily dazed, they had little time to react before he unleashed the spikes like missiles. They shot through the air in all directions, slicing through the air and striking several of the ratmen before they could regroup. Several were killed on impact, while others sustained severe wounds. Not wasting a second, Jake charged at the ratmen, swiftly dealing with the remaining enemies.
Just as he expected, the battle proved to be quite simple and ended in the blink of an eye.
Multiple enemies killed. +14,250 XP
Since there weren’t any tough enemies in that group, he didn’t gain much XP. He then took a moment to check his current experience points.
After that, he proceeded to explore the chamber. In one of the corners of the room, he spotted a primitive chest. Since it was a common container, it wasn’t trapped. When he lifted the lid, he discovered a few lesser mana consumables and a familiar-looking item inside. He first extracted the magical energy from the consumables, recovering some of the energy he had lost during the two previous battles. He then turned his attention to the last item nestled at the bottom of the chest.
It was a sun-shaped medallion. Jake pulled it from the chest and examined it briefly. It looked quite similar to the star-shaped medallion he had recently used to activate a Dark Spirit Conduit. He knew there were at least two such obelisks on this floor as he had already discovered two, but he suspected there were likely more hidden away.
He stashed the medallion in his mouth, picked up his battleaxe from where he had put it on the floor a moment before, and stood up. Before leaving the chamber, he decided to take a moment to look around more closely. The room was spacious, and there were plenty of cells hanging from the ceiling, suggesting there could be some secrets hidden away. He walked around the cells for a while, examining both them and the skeletons trapped inside some of them. They weren’t undead, so they remained still. He figured that since the first floor was undead-themed, he wouldn’t have to deal with the undead again. Each floor of the dungeon had its own distinct theme, setting it apart from the others. The first floor teemed with the undead, while the second was filled with beastmen. The types of enemies awaiting him on the remaining floors had yet to be uncovered.
As he neared another cell, he examined the skeleton trapped inside. The cramped space forced the skeleton into a sitting position, its legs pulled up to its chin. One arm had slipped through the bars and dangled down. When Jake glanced at it, he noticed the skeleton was holding a rectangular object. With his left hand, he pried open the lifeless fingers and took the object from their grasp.
It turned out to be another jigsaw-like puzzle piece. Its top and right edges were straight, while the left edge featured a round indentation. Jake recalled that the puzzle piece he had stashed near the portal featured a rounded knob extending from its right side, which indicated that it would fit seamlessly into this piece. Afterward, he resumed his exploration of the chamber. He meticulously examined each cell, but finding nothing else of use, he eventually left the room.
He then returned to the chamber containing the portal and connected the two puzzle pieces together. As expected, they fit together perfectly. He then briefly examined them and noted that if the entire key was square, then there should be two more pieces that would connect to the bottom of the current double fragment. The real question lingered: what was the purpose of that object? Jake speculated that the four fragments would create a key of some sort, but he had no idea what it might unlock. So far, he hadn’t encountered anything where a square-shaped key could be used.
He removed the star-shaped medallion from his mouth and set it down on the floor beside the two connected puzzle pieces. He was aware of the location of the Dark Spirit Conduit into which the medallion could fit, but he chose not to take it there just yet. After all, he still hadn’t figured out the purpose of summoning spirits from those obelisks.
After that, Jake stood up and exited the chamber. He consulted his mental map and headed toward one of the unexplored sections of the floor.