All in all, the second floor wasn’t much different from the first - sure it had a few ghouls here and there, but because of their sluggish nature an limited senses they didn’t pose much of a challenge.
The traps also quickly started to get repetitive, halfway through the level both Cassian and Maya started picking up the simpler symbols.
"I know that it’s supposed to be just a game, but isn’t this..." Elira couldn’t find the word.
"Dull? Repetitive? Uninspired?" Maya suggested. "If his jokes are as bad as his games then no wonder he couldn’t even entertain a kid."
"You two know he probably hears us, right?" Cassian pointed out.
"If he wants to improve he should listen to honest criticism." She shrugged.
"I would like to remind you he’s dead, after we turn off whatever is supplying the magic to the crypt he will cease to exist." He flatly added. "Besides not everything needs to be a challenge."
At the very end of the level they’ve found something they didn’t expect - right in front of the staircase leading down another undead stood.
It wasn’t a ghoul however.
"Scavenger." Cassian grimaced.
"How can you tell? It looks almost identical to the other ones." Elira asked.
"Its eyes are clear, and its movements are less erratic."
That didn’t mean Cassian had any issues dispatching the creature - after all it was trapped in these catacombs for centuries, it hasn’t eaten anything for so long that the difference in power from a ghoul was negligible.
Just as the body hit the floor, a familiar jester mask appeared out of nowhere.
"Congratulations on clearing the second level! I took your feedback to heart and decided to use everything at my disposal to spice up the difficulty a little bit!"
"Well since you’re keen on dealing with the undead as well, I decided to not let them go to waste and put them in as a part of the game! After a few modifications they were just perfect for the role."
"That doesn’t sound good."
The mask didn’t respond but instead screamed ’good luck!’ and disappeared into nothingness.
Cassian turned to Maya.
"I swear, if I see anything more than a zombie I’m going to assume it’s your fault and strangle you."
"Not my finest moment, I admit."
The third level didn’t have ghouls - their place was taken by Scavengers, and Cassian suspected they would find a zombie at the the end of the level.
It seems that the modifications the Fool made because of Maya’s scathing review included artificially juicing up the undead to be more powerful.
"How many levels are there?" Cassian queried, slightly scared of the answer.
"Five, according to old city plans." Maya answered.
If his theory was correct, that would mean they would be facing a vampire at the end of the catacombs - it was unlikely since creating one was more complicated than simply giving a dead body more power, but archmages were a shrewd bunch and it was better to be prepared.
Although to be honest he wasn’t sure how to even prepare for fighting something like that, those immortal demigods of blood were well above his level.
He couldn’t believe he was admitting it, but he wished they had taken Alison with them, as her aura attacks would be at least capable of harming the creature.
The only thing that didn’t change were the traps - either the jester didn’t have time to alter them, or was incapable of directly changing the catacombs.
Still, they progress slowed down significantly, the fights were no longer settled with one swing, and sometimes even Maya had to act as a distraction when they took down the Scavengers, so that they didn’t take too much time dealing with them. Fortunately none of them managed to cause any harm so far, but they needed to stay vigilant.
When Cassian saw what stood in front of the entrance to the next level he could only sigh.
"Please tell me I’m not seeing what I’m seeing."
"I’m afraid I see the same thing." Maya smiled bitterly. "I’m sorry, I’ll treat you both to a dinner as apology, okay?"
The thing standing a few meters away was indeed a zombie, just like Cassian predicted - the problem was with what he was wearing. Unlike the rest undead they’ve encountered so far, this specimen was clad in a poorly made armour, wielding a rusty sword.
"Where did he even get that?!" Elira whispered. "This looks way too new to be something left behind with the bodies."
"He probably created it."
"Why make it rusty then?"
"So that we know the enemy is stronger when we inevitably run into a vampire wearing tunic plate armour holding an enchanted sword." Cassian glared at Maya.
"I said I’m sorry, what else do you want me to do?"
"I’d prefer if you didn’t openly criticise a man child who got upset over a seven-year old, but clearly it’s too late for that-"
He barely managed to hold up his sword to block as the rusty blade of the zombie fell from above.
"Shit, I forgot he was there." He grunted, and escaped the clinch with a spin.
He parried a few more attacks to grasp how the zombie behaved before retaliating.
The monster was about as strong as a regular person, but his technique was abysmal - if you could even call it that. Its posture was all wrong and it was swinging its weapon randomly, without any apparent thoughts behind the attacks.
Just as he was about to counter the zombie, a mace came down on it’s skull, completely obliterating it’s entire head.
When the body fell Cassian saw Maya standing behind with a bloodied weapon in hand - one that looked suspiciously similar to what joker arms produced yesterday. He also noted that Elira was now holding a very simple quarterstaff.
"Do you bring them everywhere with you?"
"Of course, I often forget to take my weapon or find myself in... unexpected circumstances, so I always carry an entire deck with me."
"Entire deck? Why? You use only one of them."
"Well, their light so I might as well, you never know what are you going to need and for how many people."
"Aren’t they rather difficult and expensive to make?"
Maya put on an innocent smile.
"I might have been putting larger orders for the Verdant Watch than we need, and taking some for myself."
"How did you even end up as a guard? From everything we hear it sounds like you dislike your job and aren’t a particularly good fit for it."
"Ah you know one thing led to another-"
"Ohoho, it’s quite a fascinating story!" A mask appeared. "Why, if you don’t want to tell it yourself allow me to indulge them."
"One more word and I’ll break that ridiculous mask of yours." Maya hissed.
The Fool fell silent for once.
"Ekhm, what was I going to say? Ah right, Level three completed! As a reward I’ll allow you to ask me one question."
Cassian didn’t hesitate:
"Did you put a vampire in the fifth level?"
"Haha I see you figured out my new plan! But to answer your question no, I didn’t - even if I wanted to I can’t make a proper one without killing someone, and we wouldn’t want that, would we? There’s a special challenge at the end of the fifth floor, but don’t worry it’s not something you wouldn’t be able to defeat... I think."
The Fool changed his tone and announced:
"I will not appear after the next floor, the modifications took a lot out of me and I can’t stray from the core anymore, we’ll tak once you reach my tomb."
Instead of the usual ’pop’ this time he slowly fizzled out without any special effects.
"He can’t hear us anymore." Cassian stated.
"Why do you think that?"
"If he can’t sustain a physical form outside of the tomb, then he most definitely can’t extend his senses this far." He turned to Maya. "You should be proud, you’ve made an archmage use most of his power just because you mocked him."
With those words he entered the dark staircase.
"Was that a joke or an insult?" Maya cocked her head.
"Neither, he was just stating a fact." Elita chuckled. "Besides, I’m not sure if he’s even capable of making a joke."
The alchemist followed into the tunnel.
"And somehow I’m the weird one?" Maya asked no one in particular, before plunging into the darkness as well.
"There are almost no traps here." Elita pointed out.
"But significantly more undead." Cassian agreed.
He still wouldn’t describe the amount of the undead as ’large’, especially considering the catacombs very limited capacity, but the increase was noticeable because of the difficulty spike between the ghouls at the beginning and the armoured zombies now.
Thankfully once Cassian learned all the limitations of the monsters dealing with them became much quicker. He still occasionally got some help from Maya or even Elira, but in most cases the fights were over after a few exchanges.
And it all went smoothly - untill they found the guardian of the next floor.
The monster appeared like a young man, it was dressed in light armour and held a simple sword. Cassian could see a hint of intelligence in its dead eyes, which made the creature all the creepier. Luckily it haven’t noticed them yet.
"There’s no point in dueling that thing, on my command we attack it at once."